Put those musicians on the same stage at the Simmons Center in Duncan, and what you have is a memorable opening night for the 2010-’11 concert season of CTAC Live, sponsored by the Chisholm Trail Arts Council.When the curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 18, Terry Sylvester, who joined members of The Hollies as they were inducted into the Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame in May, blends his voice with that of John Ford Coley, formerly of England Dan & John Ford Coley.
CTAC Live’s version of “Unplugged” then cruises deeper into the night, when the Acoustically Speaking finale features former Boston lead singer Fran Cosmo and his band, with a mix of acoustic and electric tunes.
It will be a classic evening, as the three veteran performers bring the audience along on a journey through three decades of hits that led The Hollies, England Dan & John Ford Coley, and Boston to well-deserved designations as “mega-groups.”“John and I will be playing a lot of the hits we did with The Hollies and England Dan and John Ford Coley, and we’ll sing songs by old friends of mine—like The Beatles, Badfinger, and Gerry and The Pacemakers—and some tunes by other singer/songwriters from the ’70s,” said Sylvester, whose rock roots go back to The Swinging Bluejeans and the 1964 hit, “Hippy, Hippy Shake.”
In the finale, Cosmo and his band revisit Boston’s platinum-coated years from the mid-’70s through 2002. Cosmo’s vocals helped sustain that hit machine, but he’ll also drop in on the mid-’80s, when the Cosmo-led band, Orion the Hunter, was riding the MTV video crest with tunes like “So You Ran.”
Acoustically Speaking launches a 2010-’11 CTAC Live season that also features
• an Oct. 6 visit from jazz, pop and swing group The Texas Gypsies;
• the amazing voice of country music star-turned-Broadway-phenom Gary Morris on Nov. 6;
• an evening of music by great American composers presented by the Lyric Arts Trio on Jan. 22; and
• a cultural event on March 11 featuring music, dance, acrobatics and illusion by Manding Jata from the nation of Mali.
Individual concert and season tickets are now on sale at the Chisholm Trail Arts Council, 717 West Willow, Suite 6, Duncan, OK 73533-4951. Tickets are also available by calling 252-4160 or at www.chisholmtrailarts.com.
Discount season tickets are available for senior citizens and military personnel, as well as for students aged 18 and under.
The box office at the Simmons Center opens at 6:30 on the evening of the performance.
Sponsors for the CTAC Live series are the Oklahoma Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the McCasland Foundation, the National Rural Water Association, the Duncan Noon Lions Club, KCCU-FM, and the Simmons Center through a Community Spirit grant.
Corporate sponsors for individual concerts are Bank of Commerce of Duncan, Arvest Bank of Duncan, and First Bank & Trust Co. of Duncan.