So Impressed

My calendar had some fun stuff on it this week, including a stop by the Methodist Church Tuesday evening to act as judge for the Rotary regional Instrumental Music Contest.

Normally I hate doing this type of gig. I am just not good at judging people, and even with 40 years as a musician under my belt I never feel comfortable, or even marginally qualified, to grade people on their talents.

It makes it harder when I know one or two of the contestants, which happens a lot in this town. But in this case, I knew all three of these girls pretty well. Elise and Marie Giles and Juliette Singleton are all amazingly talented pianists and I have seen them perform before in various places.

Let me tell you, there are few things more humbling, as someone who has played (hacked away at) piano for four decades, than watching those three high-school girls perform music I could never hope to play, at a level I could never hope to achieve. And do it with flair and style.

Complex, nuanced piano pieces. Not easy stuff. Not your like, average piano recital fodder. It was actual music, made lovelier by the enormous grand piano and the acoustics in the church, and these girls really, truly played it with conviction.

The very, very talented Elise Giles performs at Tuesday evening’s contest

I wish I had thought to roll video, just so I could have shown off the performances to you guys. You would have been impressed.

So, thank you to Patty Gunderson and Rotary for the invitation to come judge, it was a lovely evening and a wonderful set of performances.

I do not know if I am allowed to release the names of the winners yet! I will just say that, at least on my judge’s sheet, the points were very close and judging was very difficult.

Elise, Marie and Juliette all did a fantastic job.

Also

Another great thing about judging the Rotary contest Tuesday evening was that I got to spend quality time with one of my favorite people in the world, Dennis Roberts! Dennis and I usually run into each other, play music together or do something interesting where our paths collide every few months and it is always a pleasure to catch up.

Our third judge was Jacob Mack, a standout Lassen High School musician whose composition ‘Slick Trick’ will be featured at the upcoming Susanville Swing Band performance.

So, as you can see, from contestants to judges, I literally spent the entire evening surrounded by musicians who are better than me.

All packed and headed for Anaheim – the Grizzliettes leaving the LHS campus for Nationals

Go Grizzliette Girls

Another fun place we got to go this week! Marshel and I took our cameras down to the high school yesterday to capture the big send-off for the girls on the Grizzliette Drill Team who are on their way to Anaheim for the 36th Annual USA Dance Nationals.

They will be dancing in front of nearly 4,000 spectators at the convention center and competing against 2,000 dancers from teams throughout the western U.S.

This is a really big deal and it took a lot of work to get to this level of competition. Good luck today and tomorrow girls.

Look at all of those eggs!

The Eggs Have Arrived

This may be the truest sign of Spring yet! Our front porch is full of plastic Easter Eggs!

Our big SusanvilleStuff and Lassen County Fairgrounds Community Easter Egg Hunt happens on April 8th and this year we will have more than 10,000 candy-filled plastic eggs for the kids of the community to hunt on the grass at the fairgrounds.

Right now those 10,000 empty eggs are sitting on our front porch, waiting patiently until our big volunteer party on March 29th when they will all get filled with candy.

Have a great weekend everybody and we will meet up here again next week!

Big Send-Off for Lassen High’s Grizzliettes as they Head for Nationals

Video and Photos by

Marshel and Jeremy Couso

Lassen High School’s Grizzliette Drill Team were given a heroic send-off from the LHS campus Thursday as they headed down to Southern California to compete in the USA Dance Nationals.

Click here to watch our video of the send-off on YouTube.

The Grizzliettes will be competing against nearly 2,000 dancers for the title of Champion at the 36th annual dance competition, held today and tomorrow in the Anaheim Convention Center.

The team was given a parade escort out of town, with full lights and sirens, which included vehicles from the Susanville Police Department, The Lassen County Sheriff’s Office and the Susanville Fire Department, who brought their giant ladder truck for the occasion.

Good luck girls and have fun!

The mill tower under construction at Fruit Growers Supply Company in 1918

New Factory Employs 1,000

March 17, 1921

With its big plant here in readiness for operation, the Fruit Growers’ Supply Company will employ approximately 1,000 men during the 1921 season and will manufacture supplies for several thousand California fruit growers.

The plant under installation for more than a year, is now completed and has been tested for steady runs after about April 4. Lumbering will be resumed soon after that date.

The company plans to employ about 600 men in the different departments of the plant and 400 men in the woods during the summer. The wage scales have been fixed and crews are now being organized.