2017 News

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Click here to read about the summer's FEATURED ARTISTS!

Visit the site's GUESTS page.

Click here for site NEWS.

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Welcome to the site's fifteenth summer! For those of you who are return visitors, welcome back! Welcome, too, to those of you who are here for the first time. The News page is THE place to find important reminders and the most current information about the site! This includes what's new for the summer and month-to-month changes taking place. Please check back periodically - you can get to this page directly from the Home Page and all the other major sections of the site. The page also contains the site's Twitter/Facebook postings so you can find news and updates all in one place. (Latest Update: September 24)

FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS: This site contains a monthly listing of free concerts and music-related events in Orange County and parts of Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire. There are two phases to the site: Fall/Winter/Spring, and the Summer version of the site which is here now through September 30. Most of the events listed are offered to the general public or residents of certain cities free of charge. Events in clubs, bookstores, cafes and other similar venues covered elsewhere generally are not included. You can start your visit to the concert listings by clicking on the "Free Concerts" link above. There is no fee to access the information. More than 120 cities in the Orange County, Los Angeles County and Inland Empire areas are included in the listings. Last-minute updates can always be found on Twitter and Facebook, too, and you can scroll down a little further on this page to find that information. Please take the time to look through some of the other areas of the site as well: read an essay or a poem, view the work of the summer guests or take a look at some of the "Extras" (a few other things you can find for free during the summer). NEVER BEEN TO A SUMMER CONCERT? It's simple . . . pack a picnic dinner or buy a meal at the concert venue, bring a blanket or beach chair (or call the venue to ask about their seating policy), and sit out under the stars and listen to some great music!

FOR EVERYONE:: Well, this is it - the final week of the summer site! For those of you who have been coming to the site for a while, you know that the end of summer means the return of the Fall/Winter/Spring version of the site. Since Oct. 1 falls on a Sunday this year, THE FALL/WINTER/SPRING VERSION OF THE SITE WILL RETURN ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 2. This final week will still be a busy time for adding the remaining materials of summer. The poetry section is now posted, and any remaining materials for that section will come by the end of the week. In addition, the September essay and the revised Essay Archives for 2017 should be available by Friday. The July/August essay, "A Bird's Eye View: The New Drone Universe," will be available on the "This Month's Essay" page until the September article is included. TODAY'S UPDATE WILL BE THE LAST FOR THE CONCERT, NEWS AND "EXTRAS" PAGES. This summer's theme has been "Fine Feathered Friends," and you can read more about it in the "theme" section below. Many thanks to Nancy Kenyon of the Sea and Sage Audubon Society for her assistance with the identification of the birds depicted on the site. The fine feathered friend pictured on this page is the Ring-Billed Gull. As a reminder, short descriptions of some of the sections of the summer site also are included here. Please check back over the weekend before the Fall/Winter/Spring site returns! And . . . as with past summer versions of the site, this summer edition soon will be available for viewing on an ongoing basis via links from the "Site Book Preview" page.

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• Featured Artists - Featured Artists are musicians or concert series drawn from the summer concert performances. Two artists usually are named each month, one for the first half of the month and one for the second half, and one series is also included. Please welcome the final Featured Artists of the summer for September 16 - 30, the members of the band Cold Duck (70s Top 40/Variety). Read more about the band on the "Featured Artists" page! A warm thanks to all this summer's Featured Artists, too!

• Guests - Each year special guests/artists have been invited to display works which either express or interpret the summer theme. Guests in the past have included painters, photographers, poets, sculptors and even quilters. This summer went by just a little too quickly, and hopefully this component of the site will return to next year's "Guests" page.

• "Concerts By Music" Page - Concerts are listed by city and date, for all cities combined and for each of the three areas covered (Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire), as well as by type of music. Trying to separate the concerts by type of music has been problematic for several reasons. First, some cities and venues do not list information on the type of music for every concert, only the band/artist name. Second, some bands list the type of music they play in widely divergent categories (such as R&B/Dance/Latin Jazz), making it difficult to place them in any one format. Finally, some cities/venues do not list groups performing, only phrases such as "live music all day long." To find information based on types of music being played at the concerts, go to Concert Listings by Music. The page is updated along with the regular concert listings. However, it is usually available a day or two after all the other pages of listings. As always, any input visitors would like to provide as to how to improve the page would be appreciated.

A NOTE ABOUT A CHANGE IN THE NAVIGATION STRUCTURE FOR THE CONCERT LISTINGS: There has been a slight change to the way visitors can navigate through the summer concert pages. Because so many of you have indicated that you like the ability to click directly to the concert listings from the home page, I have left the calendar there for these next few months. Clicking on a date on the calendar on the home page will take you directly to the "Concerts By Date, All Cities" page. From there you will be able to navigate though the rest of the listings. The general "Concerts by Date" page, primarily with a calendar for accessing the links, has been elminated, as has the general "Concerts by City" page listings the names of all the cities covered in the listings. With the calendar/date links available from the home page, the other two pages became somewhat redundant.

A NOTE ON THE CONCERT SPONSORS: Some of the concerts and other activities taking place (movies, etc.) are able to continue only through the generous support of program sponsors. Many cities have gone away from funding the concerts and community organizations and businesses have stepped up to present the summer programs. If you enjoy the programs and want them to continue, I cannot stress how important it is to support and thank all the sponsors, whether they are cities, community organizations or area businesses.

2017 THEME: "FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS"

In the summer of 2014, the main motif on the summer site included wings both large and small. This summer's theme turns back to wings, feathers and more - with a look at a selection of birds inhabiting local lake areas over this past winter, plus peacocks. The lake birds are both common and unusual; some were only stopping over on flights either to or from their regular homes. The peacocks on the home and concert pages are not from a lake area but are regularly found at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia. They stroll the grounds, and I happened upon one who kept his feathers up not just for a short time but for several minutes, allowing those of us standing nearby to get several pictures. It wasn't until a woman pointed out the female peacock standing on the grass just slightly behind us that I realized who he was putting the show of feathers on for. But large or small, the birds were fascinating to watch, and the patterns and colors in the feathers both intricate and beautiful. You might say that this summer the site is "for the birds . . ."

Also, for those of you who may be at the site for the first time, each summer (since 2006) has had a different theme. Dorothy completed a book about the site which is still pending publication, and in conjunction with that book, all past summer sites have been recoded and reposted. Visitors can view those past summer sites, as well as find a book preview, by visiting the Book Preview page.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT ON THE CONCERTS: All of the concerts in the listings are free to the general public, and there are some truly outstanding programs. However, many of the groups and organizations sponsoring these concerts incur substantial costs in bringing them to you year after year. Several concert support organizations have had to begin charging a ticket price for entry to some, if not all, of the performances. Donations which allow organizations presenting the concerts to continue their tradition of bringing quality music to the general public at no charge are always appreciated.

. . . AND ONE REQUEST FOR VISITORS: Survey forms are sometimes passed out at concerts/event venues, and the question "How did you hear about this event?" is often asked. If you are attending an event you found on this site and receive such a form, it would be much appreciated if you let them know that you found the information on www.dorothyswebsite.org. Thank you!

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