Lake Charles Symphony

For Chris Shearman, music is the ultimate form of entertainment. For him, there's nothing better than seeing people dancing, or even just nodding their heads. He shared that times are hard right now, and music is something that can be enjoyed by everyone – everywhere – anytime. And, the Chris Shearman Experience will be playing tunes at the Wild Beast Feast coming up at the Cash and Carry Building, 801 Enterprise Blvd., on Saturday, May 5.

“The Symphony is a part of the fabric of Lake Charles. Many people don't realize that so much popular music of today is rooted in the melodies and rhythms of classical, jazz, ragtime, and the older styles of music. The Symphony is integral in maintaining the education of music's heritage and history,” said Shearman.

The members of the band include Paul Gonsoulin, Blake Thibodeaux, and often, they are joined by Joseph Darbonne.

Chris said, “We have been friends since high school and playing music together for over 10 years. We are not only close band-mates, but good friends. We spend a lot of time trying not to laugh outrageously because of how much fun we have up there. Lake Charles is a wonderful place to play live music. We do it right here in our city!”

The Chris Shearman Experience band is definitely influenced by the rock bands of today like Kings of Leon and such, but they are true to the old-school Beatles, Van Morrison, and Zeppelin. For Chris’ take on classical music and his favorite composer, he shares: “I have always been a ‘Bach or nothing’ guy. His ability to transition from major to minor and his capacity for melody have always blown me away.”

The Chris Shearman Experience cranks up at 6 p.m. at the Wild Beast Feast! Chefs and other activities will also be going on that day including live and silent auctions. The event is 5-10 p.m. at the Cash & Carry Building in Lake Charles. Tastings from the fabulous chefs start at 5 p.m. as well as the silent auction.

Tickets can be purchased at the door, or advance tickets can be purchased at the Symphony Office (located in Central School 809 Kirby Street), Gordon’s Drug Store, www.lcsymphony.org. Adult tickets are $30 or $35 at the door. Children ages 7-14 are $10 or $15 at the door. For more information on the Wild Beast Feast or to contact the Symphony office, call (337) 433-1611 or e-mail info@lcsymphony.org.

Freestyle Acrylic Artist

(Read the story behind this amazing piece of art, and you can get a chance to see it or purchase it at the Wild Beast Feast on May 5 for the Symphony, complete with food, music and auction items!)

If you went to the last Symphony concert, you saw live art created before your eyes with the brush strokes of Vickie Singletary, a freestyle acrylic artist – along with music created before your ears by the Lake Charles Symphony. She painted the soul of Shostakovich in 22 minutes with the Lake Charles Symphony performing his own composition. The painting on stage concept is called “The Music of Your Soul.”

When I talked to Vickie about it, I have to admit, that I hoped that my soul was rainbow colored, like Shostakovich’s soul! She explained to me that everyone’s colors might be different, so his “red” might mean something different than my “red,” as colors have different meanings for different people. I found that extremely interesting. So, I asked her to send me what she painted for Shostakovich – what his colors represented.

Here is the breakdown of the color symbols for Shostakovich:

Violet         
Creative force, inspiration, inspires the receptive soul to express itself in art, music, etc.

Blue             
Idealism, message ideas.

Gold             
Love of spirit, purposeful, meaningful.

Yellow        
Mental force, confidence, curiosity, practical application of wisdom.

Orange       
Emotions, independence.

Red              

Passion, courage in action, and intensity brings out the revolutionary and leads into affirmative thought and action.

White           

Truth, self sacrifice.

Aqua            

Strong individualism, bordering on eccentricity.

Green           

Balancing forces, peace, compassion and renewal.

Dark Blue   

(Dripping over colors) Depression, moodiness, subduing.

And, I have to say, that after I saw (what) the colors represented, I really “felt” that whenever I saw her painting along with the music that night. It made perfect sense. Vickie normally interviews people and gets to have a “picture of the person from the inside” based on stories and conversations before attempting to paint someone’s soul. For the Shostakovich piece, it was a study on the past, history and stories from reading and talking with members of the Lake Charles Symphony. Vickie has a true gift to capture these emotions.

“In the case of Shostakovich, the composer whose music was performed by our symphony on April 14, I used available information and his life story in place of a personal interview. The abstraction was done live on stage during the concert. It was thrilling for me!” said Singletary.

The piece named "The Soul of Shostakovich" will be auctioned at Wild Beast Feast. This is a 30x40 acrylic on canvas abstract which normally sells and has sold for ten years at the price of $1,800. She is also donating for auction at the same event a lively painting named Jazzy. This features jazz instruments with a piano keyboard (in the Vickanese Style as her friends and family say). This piece is also 30x40 and sells for $1,800. Vickie shared: "This project has been fun and inspiring. It is a gift to be able to give back to others and share the blessings God has given me.”

See the blogs below for more information on the Wild Beast Feast! Hope to see you there. Photo by Frank DiCesare. Story by Angie Manning.