The Music in the Park series ended on August 31. By all accounts it was very successful year, and the team of BCLC, the City of Kamloops, Lee’s Music and Henry Small once again did a great job of organizing it. Having a music series with performances every day for the months of July and August is no small feat! The last performance I attended was that of Paisley Groove on August 29. They are a local band that covers artists from the 60s through the 80s with the emphasis on Santana and Joe Cocker.

Paisley Groove consists of David Langevin guitar and vocals, Pat Ebert percussions, Doug Goodman on keyboards & vocals, Ken Sell on bass, and Sandro Cuzetto on drums.

Their Santana set included “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman.” The Joe Cocker set started with “Fellin’ Alright?” and morphed into “The Letter” and “Unchain My Heart.” They certainly delighted the crowd. There were plenty of dancers on the grass in front of the stage.

Many photos and movies were also recorded by people in the audience. Other crowd pleasers were “Summer in the City,” which was a big hit for The Lovin’ Spoonful, and the classic “Mustang Sally.” Goodman mentioned that Prince had done his favourite version of “Play That Funky Music.” It was originally a hit for Wild Cherry and Paisley Groove did it justice. Other fun songs were Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise,” and “How Long (Has This Been Going On),” which may have been Ace’s only big hit. For part of the show they added the wonderful vocals of Nicole Clay, and the talented Mike Whitehouse on trumpet and Cody Inskip on sax.

Aside from the amazing guitar, keyboards and bass on the Santana tracks, percussionist Pat Ebert and drummer Sandro Cuzetto did competing solos, which brought to mind piano cutting contests in jazz bars in the 40s and 50s. It was a lot of fun and showed that these two gentleman can not only excel on their instruments but still have quite a bit of stamina. Goodman on keyboards and Langevin on lead guitar continually amazed the audience with their playing and Sell did a great job with the percussion section holding the rhythm together.

The weather was great, the crowd large and the band hot. It’s no surprise that this series is so good, and so successful. It is one of the nicest things about living in Kamloops.