February 7 - 20, 2017 • Vol. 2, No. 1
Every Issue Complimentary Every Time
www.santaynezvalleystar.com
Music series creates community ‘Tales from the Tavern’ concerts celebrate 15 creative years by Raiza Giorgi
news@santaynezvalleystar.com
B
eing troubadours themselves for years, playing night after night at different venues, brother and sister Ron and Carole Ann Colone have both lived the life of wandering musicians. They know the life on the road and how hard it can be. which is why they wanted to provide more than just a venue for fellow musicians coming to play their concert series, Tales from the Tavern, when they launched it 15 years ago. The siblings grew up in a blue-collar household with music around them in Detroit, and they say that music helped shape their souls. Ron got inspiration from the lyrics of Bob Dylan songs, and he knew that he would be involved in music throughout his life. “I remember driving over the San Marcos Pass one day, sick as a dog, and a song came on that I hadn’t heard in a while, and I felt so much better by the time I got to Santa Barbara. I really believe that music has the power to heal,” he said. Carole was part of a rock opera group, Enoch, and has played congas and percussion with Peter Green, the LA rendition of Poco, and now with Michael on Fire. She’s traveled around the world but ended up following her brother to the Santa Ynez Valley about 25 years ago. Every music event has a different feeling or experience for the audience. At some shows you dance, at others you sit and listen, and at others you treat the music like background noise while you have a conversation. The Colones wanted to create a completely different world when a musician walked on stage.
Photo by Jeremy Ball Ryan Bingham is an Americana singer-songwriter who has headlined Tales from the Tavern, an intimate experience for both the musician and audience alike.
“Tales from the Tavern was born at Mattei’s Tavern, hence the tavern in the name, but it has grown into more than just a venue space but a place where people can come and really experience the music from the artist’s perspective and engage,” Ron said. “People really trusted us to bring them a great experience, because when we first sold the idea of the concert series to Mattei’s at the time, we told them they couldn’t serve food. We sold tickets in advance of the audience knowing who was playing, and it sold out in
less than an hour,” Carole added. One of their musicians, Marcia Ball, a wellknown roadhouse rhythm and blues musician, has played all around the world and even at the White House. But when she played Tales from the Tavern she said she was nervous because it
o TAVERN CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
Photo by Barry Sigman Brother and sister Ron and Carole Ann Colone founded Tales from the Tavern 15 years ago as a way to bring music to the Santa Ynez Valley that people wouldn’t normally experience here.