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This Friday at the Jones House: The Lucky Strikes Orchestra and Analog Poets

The Lucky Strikes Orchestra and Analog Poets perform at the Jones House Friday, continuing the 2016 Summer Concerts at the Jones House series, starting at 5:00 p.m.

The Lucky Strikes Orchestra features The Lucky Strikes Jazz Band at the core, including pianist Jim Fleri, guitar player Doug Brantz, saxophonist and keyboardist Steve Roark, and drummer Jamie Blanton. The group describes themselves as a classic jazz band that plays esoteric jazz selections, toe-tapping and swinging dance tunes, and golden oldies.

The Lucky Strikes
The Lucky Strikes

“These guys bill themselves as a jazz band, but they are much more than that,” says concert organizer, Mark Freed. “The last time the Lucky Strikes played the Jones House, they performed Beatles songs, do-wop classics, and even rock hits.”

The Lucky Strikes Orchestra is a project that stemmed from the core group and includes other local musicians to contribute to a big band sound. Some of the musicians the group has collaborated with include Rusty Blanton, Glenn Hubbard, and Ken Brashear.

The Lucky Strikes Orchestra will begin the concert Friday, starting at 5:00 p.m.

The Analog Poets will follow, featuring the melodic and inventive guitar playing of Dustin Hofsess, drumming and percussion of Jonathan Priest, and bass playing of Ben McPherron.

“The guys in the Analog Poets are all superb musicians with a wide variety of influences and musical tastes,” Freed says. “They bring that top-notch musicianship to the table with this group to create really inventive and dynamic music centered around Dustin’s masterful guitar playing.

The Summer Concerts at the Jones House are free, and patrons are encouraged to bring their own chair or blanket to sit under the giant maple trees in the front lawn of the community center. Performances take place rain or shine. In extreme inclement weather, the concerts are moved inside the Jones House to the Mazie Jones Gallery, which can seat the first 40 patrons on a first-come-first-serve basis.

The 2016 Summer Concerts at the Jones House are produced by The Town of Boone’s Cultural Resources Department and sponsored by the Downtown Boone Development Association, Mast General Store, M-Prints, ECRS, Rosemary Horowitz, Melanie’s Food Fantasy, and Stick Boy Bread Company. For more information about the series, including a complete schedule of performances, please the Jones House online or call 828.268.6280.

Dustin Hofsess
Dustin Hofsess of Analog Poets