We had a real treat on Friday as local artist Les Gilliam performed with "Riders in the Sky" at the Poncan Theatre. Les is just back from a forty-five show engagement at "Silver Dollar City" in Branson where he and his trio, the Silver Lake Band, performed three shows a day for three weeks.
Riders in the Sky was returning to Ponca City a year after their engagement in October, 2007 that I profiled here. Les did a solo set at the beginning of the show where he performed songs by Woody Guthrie, Gene Autry, and Dale Evans and joined Riders in the Sky at then end of the show for their encore.
Last time Riders was in Ponca City, I used a wide-angle lens and took a lot of group shots. This time I used my telephoto lens to take some great close-ups of Les and the band that I have already added to their Wikipedia biography.
All in all, it was a terrific performance. I would say there were about 500 in the theatre. The balcony was pretty full. A lot of the season ticketholders must have been out of town however, because several rows hear from front seemed almost empty.
This Thursday coming up, Ponca Playhouse will be performing "Steel Magnolias" directed by Jo Ann Muchmore and we are looking forward to seeing the play before we start back to Baltimore.
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