Talent doesn’t waver at high-quality show

Photo by Patrick Shea Creede Elementary School students Ava Mankowski (left) and Waverly Pearson entertained the crowd with card trickery, jokes and song during the 27th Annual Creede Variety Show.

Annual Creede Variety Show held Saturday

CREEDE — Although the acts on-stage during the 27th Annual Creede Variety Show on Saturday, April 6 varied from a cappella singing to a young pair of jokesters with card tricks and songs, one thing did not vary. They all earned enthusiastic applause for high-quality performances.
With sound control from Steve Reynolds, every voice echoed sweet and perfect. Original songs, covers spanning decades and worship messages provided the variety Creede residents have been sharing for nearly three decades.
Creede High School Principal John Goss switched hats between emcee and performer, kicking off the show to play “Don’t Know Why” by Nora Jones with vocal veteran Stephanie Hester. Goss played guitar and — later in the show — sang with Baxter, Goss, Speake and Turnbull (BGST). They sampled eras with “High and Dry” by Radiohead and “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle. Closing the show, Goss also played harmonica for a Cigar Box Band finale.
Hester sang “Tell Me Why” with Speake for the second performance, and she lead the Creede High School through “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” after Mary Maniak sang a couple songs (one with Johanna Gray).
Kim Kosciusko performed “Follow Me” by John Denver and shared an original piano composition in development.
Hurricanewava is what you get when you combine youngsters Ava Mankowski and Waverly Pearson on-stage to deliver jokes, scramble an audience member’s brain with a card trick and perform a song with choreography.
Brittni and Lavaur Addison sang Smokey Robinson’s “Crusin’,” one of two tastes of Creede Repertory Theatre staff. Brittni is CRT’s education director, and Emily Diaz is an education assistant. Diaz performed “Oh, Biology” from the movie Freaky Friday before intermission, followed by the Steve Lamb Experience (“Good Only Knows” and an original called “Mining Don’t Pay”).
Lindsey Jackson and Janet Reynolds sang “Harvest Moon,” and Hester returned to the stage to join the CBC Worship Team — Erin Tiley, Tim Bachicha, DeAunn Dodson and David Gale — to sing “Nobody Loves You Like I Do.”
Zoe Midgett sang “Back to December” before Diaz and Lamb closed out the first acts of the night. In the second batch of acts after a 15-minute intermission for audience members to peruse the silent auction fundraiser art in the lobby, Rich Ormsby tickled the crowd with a Tom Wait’s song. Lighting engineer Karen Robinson came down from the booth to sing backup for a Reynolds original.
Beth Morris took the stage to sing “No Hard Feelings” with Reynolds and Jackson. Jack Welsh joined Morris for “In This Next Life I Wanna Be Your Hero.”
Soundman Steve Reynolds sang “Vinegar Pie” and “Deep in the Blues” and enlisted Maya Muse to help perform “Don’t Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down” and “Brand New Day.”
Reynolds stayed on stage to greet Jo Johnson for funky versions of “Love & Happiness” and “I Get Lifted” with Tommy Speake and Jim Turnbull (the “S” and “T” of BGST). BGST is scheduled to play from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25 during the Headwaters Music Festival. BGST musicians welcomed a crowd of more musicians wielding unusual instruments to the stage for the finale by the Cigar Box Band.


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