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Future Project Events:
The Steve Stevens Orchestra Project is grateful to join with the City of Savanna,
Big Meadows Nursing Home, Timber Lake Playhouse, the City of Mount Carroll and others who sponsor the annual radio tribute
to Wayne King and Orchestra over the air waves of WCCI FM 100.3. We are currently working to create and co-sponsor the
6th Annual radio tribute in the spring of 2006.
Gary Scott Law, representing the Steve Stevens Orchestra Project and the Wayne King Entertainment
Network, has contracted Pianist Chuck Bregman to play The Savanna Trade Show on Saturday, March 25. Pianist Chuck Bregman
will perform Ragtime to Richness from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Stevens Orchestra Project is co-sponsoring this entertainment
event with the Savanna Chamber of Commerce.
The Steve Stevens Orchestra Project of Savanna is celebrating its 10th anniversary in
2006. The project has evolved from strictly researching, reasoning, recording and relating area dance band and musician
history to organizing musical events. A good way to learn about the Project is to visit the website at: http://stevensorchestra.org.
In 2006, the Project will begin a long-term process of developing a unified economic
development theme. The Wayne King Entertainment Network will be developed in the years ahead to network entertaintainment,
the performing and visual arts in Illinois and Iowa counties from Dubuque to Davenport so that events can be scheduled, packaged
and marketed to Chicago Land and the world.
Two scheduled events this spring will help introduce The Wayne King Entertainment Network.
On Saturday, March 25 Pianist Chuck Bregman of Dubuque will play Ragtime to Richness from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m at the
Savanna Trade Show. Bregman is well known for his piano stylings and as the pianist for the Russ Morgan Orchestra and
others. This is being co-sponsored with the Savanna Chamber of Commerce.
Second, the 14-piece Eddy Howard Orchestra will play a dance at the old Hanover High School on
Sunday, May 7. The doors will open at 1:00 p.m. and the dance will begin at 2:00 p.m. running through to 6:00 p.m.
Tickets can be ordered for $10 in advance or purchased for $12 at the door. It's estimated this dance will
sell-out at the $10 price. Checks should be made payable and mailed to the "Stevens Orchestra Project" at 1701
Michigan Avenue, Savanna, Illinois 61074. Tickets can also be ordered via email at stevensorchestra@lycos.com or slaw@grics.net. or by cell phone at (816) 804-5360. Leave a message if there's no answer.
To help increase attendance at the Savanna Trade Show, tickets to the Eddy Howard
Orchestra dance on May 7 can be purchased at the discounted price of $8.00. So don't miss out. Come to the Savanna
Trade Show on Saturday March 25.
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ORCHESTRA OBJECTIVES:
The organizer reserves the right to reorganize the Steve Stevens Orchestra as a private
orchestra or as a not-for-profit orchestra for public benefit.
A reorganized Steve Stevens Orchestra
would employ four generations of musicians to bring dance music to old schools and dancehalls from Dubuque to Davenport.
It would play waltz, rag-time, jazz, BIG BAND, swing, square, circle, polka, western swing, western, and some 50's and 60's
big band rock-n-roll, and much of the NEW SWING era. The selections would be 70 percent pre-1950 and 30 percent post-1950.
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Past Events:
In 1999 and 2000 the organizer visited Big Meadows and Good Samaritan nursing homes in Savanna and
Mount Carroll to gather oral history from residents and to play big band music including recordings of Savanna's Big Band
Leader Wayne King, "the Waltz King." In late June 2001, the Project played big band recordings at the nursing home in Elizabeth.
Before Christmas 2001, the Project played big band recordings once again at Big Meadows Nursing Home.
During 1999
and 2000, The Project was also presented to area nursing homes and assisted living residences in Platte City, Plattsburg,
Weston, Smithville, and Kearney, Missouri. One ninety-nine year old resident in Plattsburg was stirred to play the piano again
for which she had not done for many months. Many nursing home residents know the words to dozens of tunes, amazing.
During
January 2001, the Steve Stevens Orchestra Project arranged with Vocalist Ed Bolton to create three one-hour radio programs
on Savanna's Wayne King. These three radio programs aired over WCCI FM100.3 in February in memory of Wayne's 100th birthday
anniversary on February 18, 2001. Mr. Bolton, now 70 years of age, was Wayne King and Orchestra's last male vocalist having
been a part of the band from 1979 to its last engagement in March, 1983. The Project hopes to create and co-sponsor
the 6th Annual WCCI Radio Tribute to Wayne King and His Orchestra in the spring of 2006.
The Project, the management, staff and residents held a Veterans Day dance in the lunch room of Big Meadows on November
6, 2003. The Project hopes to create and co-sponsor the 4th Annual Veterans Day dance at Big Meadows in 2006.
The
Project has communicated with the Savanna School Board, the Savanna Public Library, The Savanna Times Journal, the Carroll
County Historical Society, The Carroll County Genealogical Society, the Savanna Music Boosters, WCCI FM100.3, The Hanover
Park District and and others concerning local musician and band history and events.
The Project's organization of the Thomson Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored dinner dance for Celebrate Grand Excursion
2004 at Buck's Barn on Route 84 north of Thomson, Illinois was a great success, attracting nearly 400 dancers from
seven states. The family of Wayne King returned to Savanna for this dance. Mrs Wayne King, age 92 in 2004, and
her son, Wayne King, Jr., served as Grand Marshalls for the Savanna Celebrates Grand Excursion Parade.
May 22, 2004 - June 28 Wayne King/Savanna dance bands exhibition at the Savanna Center for the Arts, 411 Main
Street, displayed through Grand Excursion 2004
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