Welcome to Across the Bridge with stories, events and entertainment especially for residents of and visitors to the foothills of the central sierra including Yosemite National Park. I’m Kellie Flanagan reporting for KRYZ Radio.
In Yosemite National Park, travelers will want to note the temporary closures of Tioga and Glacier Point Roads beginning Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. due to an incoming storm. These closures could last several days or longer. Anywhere inside the park and elsewhere in the high Sierra, carry tire chains in your car and be prepared to use them even if your can has four-wheel drive. Chains can become mandatory at any time. Drive carefully on even when there are no chain requirements as there may be icy spots on mostly dry roads. Call 209/372-0200 (press 1 then 1) for the most up-to-date road conditions in Yosemite National Park.
At Bass Lake on Thursday, Nov. 21, prepare to sing your heart out or be entertained by those who do — for Karaoke Thursday at The Pines Bar located in The Pines Village at beautiful Bass Lake.
In Oakhurst, the Golden Chain Theatre opens the classic holiday tale A Christmas Story presented as a musical featuring the mischievous Ralphie. Curtains rise on A Christmas Story the musical on Friday, Nov. 22 and the show runs Fridays and Saturdays with matinees on Sundays through Dec. 22 at the historic Golden Chain Theatre off Highway 41.
In Coarsegold on Friday, Nov. 22 starting at 5 p.m., there’s a free interactive play at the Coarsegold Community Center – The Birding Body, a 45-minute murder mystery — will have you cocking your head and cackling in your seat, no matter the number of Agatha Christie stories or episodes of Columbo you’ve enjoyed! As you’re finding your seat for this unique theater experience, you’ll receive your own mini case file of illustrations, giving you a closer look at each of the clues uncovered by Bestul’s peculiar protagonist, Detective Peterson. Can you crack the case before the detective and his unlikely assistant (played by Bestul and Swanson)? This is your only chance to see the show in California, so clear the calendar for a farce you won’t forget.
Here’s’s The Brothers Strong & Company with I’m Fine – and they will be in Mariposa on Friday Nov 22 at the The Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort, in the June Bug Café starting at 7 p.m.. Hailing from the Sierra Nevada, the four piece folk string band The Brothers Strong has grown a loyal fanbase by bringing an authentic mountain sound to their recordings and live sets. It’s this honest and genuine tone that brings people to their rough and rowdy bluegrass shows where these hotshot pickers and players share their music and emotions, exploring daily struggles of human life from love and loss to success and failure.
Here’s Shiver and Shake by Smith and Tegio – appearing in Mariposa at The Grove House on Friday Nov. 22 from 7 to 10 p.m., Smith & Tegio, features vocalists and acoustic guitarists Austin Smith and Mark Tegio. San Diego natives now living in the Bay Area, the duo is now reaping the rewards of years sitting at a kitchen table littered with beer cans and a dirty ashtray either writing, learning or playing songs together. Smith & Tegio’s amalgam of outlaw country and folk music is said to be the inevitable result of a bad case of wanderlust from a head full of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings and a heart full of Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley — that doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The call it Outlaw folk. Friday at The Grove House.
In Mariposa on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Mariposa County Library, persons 13 and older are invited to make a guardian angel for your home or tree – for free – in a workshop taught by a local artist Nancy Francis. Register in person at the library or call 209/966-2140. All materials are provided and beginning crafters are welcome.
This is 82 Deluxe and they’ll be in Oakhurst on Saturday Nov. 23 for a honky tonk double header at the Snowline Saloon – with 82 Deluxe at 7 p.m. and the Chris Driver Band at 9. 82 Deluxe is outlaw country from Hanford featuring Dalton Walker, Johnny Nino, Amrik Sandhu and Bengamin Cline – they love to play live and get people dancing. The Chris Driver Band plays a little southern country, with rock and blues on covers and original tunes featuring guitar base drums and more dancing. Here’s the Chris Driver Band with Not Lookin’ Back:
In Nippanawasee on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m., Cosy Sheridan (performing I’m Your Landlord) takes the living room stage as the Coolwater House Concert Series continues. Passes available now at Branches Books and Mountain Feed!
Cosy Sheridan first appeared on the national folk scene in 1992 and continues to be one of the most prolific songwriters in the folk scene. She has played at Carnegie Hall, The Cowgirl Hall of Fame and on the Jerry Lewis Telethon. The Cornell Folksong Society says Sheridan is frank, feisty, sublimely and devilishly funny. She fuses myth with modern culture, Persephone with Botox.
That’s all for this week’s edition of Across the Bridge — produced by Ron Iudice and brought to you by Yosemite Home Companion. I’m Kellie Flanagan reporting for KRYZ and we’ll see you across the bridge.