A Concert with Friends

Back in 1988, the Community Church at Tellico Village was the first church to be organized/founded in Tellico Village.  At that point in time, the Village was a Cooper Development but now it’s moving forward without Cooper’s direct involvement.  The interdenominational Community Church is very large and it not only serves as a church, but also as a large gathering place where local residents can enjoy various events, and where the 9,000 plus residents of Tellico Village cast their votes in local, state and national elections.

In this instance, we joined our friends Morrie and Jodie for a concert entitled “A Night at the Movies”.  This concert/show was so popular that a third performance was added to satisfy the demand.  It was a Sunday afternoon matinee… FYI, the cost was only $10 per person!

As you can see from the photos above, this is a big church and, as you can see, it accommodates a very large audience or group of worshippers.  The first 2 performances were totally sold out and our matinee was 95% filled as well.  Laurie and Morrie are looking at the camera in the first photo.  The woman seated next to Morrie is a neighbor that he drove to the show… As you can see, the church seats hundreds of attendees or worshipers.

The website for The Community Church at Tellico Village is located at 130 Chota Road in Loudon Tennessee.  The church’s website can be found at https://www.tellicochurch.com/.

The chorus for this presentation was made up by a very large group of vocalists, ‘The Tellico Village Singers’, aka the ‘Tellico Voices’.  The show was put together and produced by Dennis Loy Productions.  Dennis is also the President of The Tellico Community Playhouse.  On the internet, he is listed as the Conductor in Residence at MidAmerica Productions.

As you can see, the combined vocal groups number approximately 100 singers.  They spent many, many hours rehearsing and getting ready for this big production!

This photo shows Dennis Loy conducting part of the choral group in the song “Mrs. Robinson” from the 1967 movie “The Graduate”, which starred Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross.  Note the big screen at the right of the photo.  For every song presented in this “Night at the Movies”, technical folks had edited segments of the movie being presented to match the music being sung.  This effect had to take many hours just to get the timing right and the results truly added valuable context to the overall presentation.

If you were paying attention…reading rather than just looking at the photos…you may have noticed that I had stated that we were attending this musical presentation with our friends Morrie and Jodie…but until now you hadn’t seen Jodie.  That’s because she is one of the Tellico Village Singers and she was actually entertaining us.

There was whimsy and a bit of comedy with the music as well.  Note the outfits, hats and beards worn by this group of vocalists.  They were performing “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” from the 2000 movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”  The movie starred George Clooney, John Turturro, John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Charles Durning.  FYI, Laurie and I loved this movie when it came out…    

Other songs presented came from: “Hollywood Hotel - 1937”: “Paint Your Wagon – 1969”; “Carousel – 1956”; “The Sound of Music – 1965”; “The Pink Panther – 1964”; “West Side Story – 1961”; “Porgy and Bess – 1959”; “Dr. No – 1962”; “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – 1953”; “My Fair Lady – 1964”; “The Little Mermaid – 1989”; “The Wizard of Oz – 1939; “Singin’ in the Rain – 1952”; “Frozen – 2013”; “Titanic – 1997”; “Finian’s Rainbow – 1968” and; “Footloose – 1984”.

Everyone really enjoyed this show!  Even me, and I am not happy if I feel that a play, song or other presentation lacks professional quality.  This was a well-planned, well-rehearsed and well conducted musical production!

After the show we met Jodie and Morrie at the Aubrey’s Restaurant in Lenoir City Tennessee.  This local restaurant chain is one of our regular standby dining venues…always reliable with service ranging from competent to excellent.

This time I didn’t take photos of our food because I’d done that several times previously.  The first photo shows a busy, well stocked bar.  The other photo shows part of the spacious dining room.  Even when this Aubrey’s location is packed, you don’t feel crowded or jammed in…

And this is Morrie with his talented wife Jodie!  Jodie was exhausted after this third performance and all the grueling rehearsals that had preceded the shows.  She was proud of the production and rightly so!

Aubrey’s is part of the Burleson Brands restaurant and catering group which is based in East Tennessee.  Other restaurants in the group include Sunspot, Blue Tick Tavern, Bistro by the Tracks, Stefano’s Chicago Style Pizza and Fieldhouse Social.

The Aubrey’s in Lenoir City Tennessee is located at 401 Town Creek Road, close to the US Hwy 321 exit from I-75.  Phone: 865-986-3113.  Website: https://aubreysrestaurants.com/lenoircity/.  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave