Ramona correspondent
A quartet of musical rascals, known as The Wiyos, originally from Brooklyn, spent most of last week in Ramona performing, doing workshops, and getting a day or two of rest and relaxation after a big summer tour where they were the opening act for Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp. They played in 28 baseball parks across 22 states.
In the seven years that the band has been in existence, they’ve traveled more than 400,000 miles, taken their music to seven countries, and performed more than 1,000 shows.
And, on Sept. 13, the band performed in the greater Ramona area.
Pat and I arrived Sept. 13 at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport to collect the four musicians —Michael, Teddy, Joseph, and Parrish — along with a truckload of instruments
Ramona, regrettably, doesn’t have a baseball park or even a venue that can hold 100 for a concert. In fact, two years ago when I got brave enough to call The Wiyos’ agent on the East Coast, I had to finally explain just how small Ramona was. She kept asking about the size of our venue, the price set for tickets, the box office where tickets would be sold, and the type of sound system we had.
“We don’t have a venue,” I explained, slightly chagrined that I was so bold as to call when I didn’t even have a place to hold a concert.
“We’ve got five streets and about a 100 folks — and only two know anything about The Wiyos, and that’s me and my sister. I don’t have a sound system either, but I will find one. I do have a place for them to stay because we have guesthouses. And I’ll gladly feed and transport them.”
After that conversation, I began to wonder, “Who in the world do you think you are, Jess, believing you can get The Wiyos (who we’d seen at Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina) to Ramona, Kansas, population 100?”
Thankfully The Wiyos’ agent persisted, saying that the guys would be in “our area” — within two hours — for another gig. Ramona was “right on their way,” and they’d rather be singing than sitting still for a Sunday night, so I went hunting for a concert site in neighboring towns.
The rest is history — in 2008, we held the event in Hope at the Community Building with a capacity crowd. This year, we took the show to Lincolnville, where The Wiyos held over 150 guests riveted for 90 minutes.
The Wiyos are certainly accomplished vocalists and musicians — Parrish Ellis plays acoustic and resophonic guitars, Joseph “Joebass” Dejarnette plays upright bass, Teddy Weber is accomplished on the dobro and acoustic steel guitar, and Michael Farkas captivates audiences on harmonica, kazoo, and his spell-binding washboard.
What makes The Wiyos stand out is their musical prowess, laced with charisma and a killer comedic style. At times, Sunday night’s concert seemed a visual three-ring circus.
If you were enthralled too long with Michael’s washboard and vaudevillian antics, you just might miss Joe’s show — his expressive eyes saying in an instant what words never could, and his cock-eyed hat jumped about while his hands flew up and down his bass.
When Parrish sang “We Forgot We Were in Kansas,” his raspy voice transported us to the 1930s and we’re on a New Orleans street corner, listenin’ to the blues.
Teddy’s cool, smooth steel guitar carried us “down the road” to unknown destinations.
Sunday night’s stellar event was a collective accomplishment on our part, too. An idea is easy to come up with, but pulling it off takes many folks who step up and say, “Yes, I’ll do it!”
The city of Lincolnville agreed to provide the location. (Everyone who helped build Lincolnville’s beautiful community building can be so very proud!) The Makovec family was an important partner, too, with Gail and Marissa helping us from setup to cleanup. Gail’s brother, Allen of Goessel, brought the music to life when he provided the sound and lights from his band Justus.
When I announced in the newspaper several months ago that The Wiyos were returning to Ramona in September, these folks committed to bringing the funding and audience: Gail and Marissa Makovec, Jeannie Goza, the California Sisters, all of Ramona; Jerry and Enid Cady, Teresa Huffman and Dan Holub of Marion; Ken and Christina Reitz and North-Central Kansas Cooperative of Hope, and Janice Plank who grew up in the Hope area and happened to be visiting from California; Agri-Producers and Pilsen State Bank of Lincolnville; and Tampa State Bank of Tampa.
Last year, when I called The Wiyos’ agent to book them for 2009, I wanted something more than a Sunday night concert. I had a passion for getting The Wiyos in front of our kids. I didn’t realize it at the time, but asking for workshops was a little out of the ordinary.
Early in their career, the Wiyos conducted occasional workshops in the New York area, but that has not been their focus. Gratefully, they agreed to teach three workshops in our area in addition to performing at the concert.
Christina Reitz of Hope, another Wiyos fan, also wanted to see The Wiyos appear at area schools, so she and her husband, Ken, funded a kazoo workshop and an all-school performance at Hope High School Sept. 14.
That evening, Ramona joined with Hope to hold a washboard workshop. Ten kids from Ramona, third through fifth grades, and seven from Hope were handed their own miniature washboards, which had been totally “tricked out” with noisemaking devices. The kids spent an hour with The Wiyos, learning basic washboard rhythms. They even got to perform their own solos with the band. Band members autographed each washboard.
Christina and I assembled the ingredients for a washboard instrument: a washboard, cymbals, tin cans, bike horns, spoons, and thimbles for strumming. Art Stroda, Ramona, spent a whole day attaching these things to each washboard. Art’s mom, Marge, and I joined the assembly line to get the instruments ready for playing. Christina had baskets of decorative supplies so the kids could make their washboards unique.
Even The Wiyos were impressed with the instruments the kids held in their hands.
“I never expected anything like this,” said Michael, who led the workshop.
The late Tony Meyer provided money for the Ramona kids to attend the workshop and to have their own washboard instruments. Before he died in May, Tony left a small legacy in care of the City of Ramona to be used for community events. Tony loved the Ramona kids, so it was very fitting that his gift made this possible.
The Ramona kids who graduated from The Wiyos washboard workshop were C.J. Thompson, James and Josh Mercer, Dylan and Makenzie Deines, Cheyenne Bailey, Troy Jones, Kaitlin Brunner, and Claiborn Schmidt.
On Sept. 15, The Wiyos went to Centre High School where they held a “History of Music” workshop.
Have you ever wondered how folks learned music before there were iPods, CDs, radios, or televisions? Have you ever pondered where the kazoo came from, how you’d make a guitar if you couldn’t afford one, or what the first phonograph records were made of?
The Wiyos had the answers. Folks learned music by listening to the sounds around them and imitating them, and they picked up tunes from each other at community gatherings. The kazoo came from Africa. A person can make a guitar out of a cigar box, or a bass out of a tin tub. The first records were made of acetate and crushed crickets! Yep, you heard right!
The Centre children, grades five through seven, some of whom did the fundraising to pay for the workshop were so excited about The Wiyos visiting they made posters that said, “Rock on! Wiyos,” and could hardly wait until the band began to play, to wave their signs.
The Wiyos were with us in Ramona until Thursday, when we took them back to Wichita to catch the shuttle that took them to the world-renowned Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, where the group had six performances.
Pat and I attended the festival, which was a smorgasbord of musicians from Ireland to the Ozarks. The Wiyos performances stood out among them all, because they bring great musicianship and comedy entertainment to the stage, all at the same time. The crowd was screaming for more when they performed their last song at midnight Saturday.
And to think, we were so lucky to have them in Ramona, where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
I recalled something I heard recently from a famous football coach: “No matter how much I’ve won, or how much outside praise has come my way, or where it goes from here, there’s one clear fact that has never been lost on me — I didn’t do it alone.”