Billy Rogan, kneeling; Chloe Dolandis, white dress; dancers
For my book signing appearance at the Rotary Club of Palm Beach on Thursday, I got more than I’d bargained for. Sure, I was treated like royalty; that’s par for the course at these rotary clubs. But there was entertainment, besides – by a really talented acoustic guitarist.
Finger-pickin’ good
Billy Rogan performed a folkish number to the folks at the Chesterfield Hotel in Palm Beach, his fingers dancing over the strings like a 100-words-a-minute typist. It offered a pleasing prelude to what awaits those who catch the show he’s co-producing April 1 and 2 at the Palm Beaches Theatre in Manalapan. Rogan teamed with Tracy Mozingo, former director of choreography for Houston Ballet and principal dancer with Florida Ballet, in putting this event together.
It’s called Reflections: Modern Acoustic Guitar Inspiring Contemporary Dance. A troupe of six dancers, five gals and a guy (lucky dude), will perform to Rogan’s guitar stylings. But that’s not all. Rising star Chloe Dolandis will add pizzazz to the performance with her vivacious vocals. Dolandis, a graduate of the famed University of Miami Frost School of Music, has performed several times at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, and numerous nightspots, delighting audiences with well-conceived originals and American songbook standards delivered with force and winsome effervescence. The Boca News labeled her “A powerhouse.”
Rockin’ Rogan
Rogan has performed with a number of musical stars, and was described this way by Grammy Award winner Bill Kirchen, a rockabilly guitarist, singer and composer who helped pioneer the Americana radio format: “Rogan is a fearsome, dangerous picker, although picker doesn’t do justice to what he does with and to the guitar.” So look out: He’s not to be messed with – on the guitar, that is. He is in fact a gem of a self-effacing guy whom no one can help liking.
Another plaudit comes from Al Petteway, a Grammy Award-winning guitarist/composer, who said of Rogan: “A rare guitarist with a strong melodic sense, on track to becoming a pioneer of acoustic guitar.”
Read more about Rogan’s impressive background on www.billyrogan.com. Then trot on down to the theater box office at 262 S. Ocean Blvd. for tickets, or call 855-728-8497. You won’t regret it.
The fun begins at 8 p.m.