Sandra Tsing Loh (left) and the memorable Marilu Henner perform during “A ’Dena Home Companion” at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena. [Eddie Rivera]
Did you know that actress Marilu Henner can remember every detail of every day of her life?
The phenomenon is known as Hyperthymesia, or Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), and only about 100 people in the world are known to actually possess it. Even though she read lyrics to Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” which she may never have actually seen before, that fascinating tidbit was one of the highlights of the second live performance of writer Sandra Tsing Loh’s “A ’Dena Home Companion.”
Born out of the boredom of the COVID-19 pandemic, the show is a Pasadena/Altadena/Eagle Rock-a-Dena-centric spin on Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion,” and is about as home grown and ragged as you can get with actual professional singers and musicians.
I mean that in a good way, mostly.
Staged at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, the very homey and in-joke heavy local revue takes a huge slice of the Garrison Keillor dynamic, in the form of a “live” radio comedy broadcast from “Station KDNA,” featuring its own commercials and sing-along performances of classic American tuneage.
The Saturday, March 26 show, “Irish Spring-a-dena!,” was a late celebration of St. Paddy’s Day (They only stage the show once a month, so…), with the usual cast of singers and musicians—Danette Christine, Matt Cooker, former Ikette Maxayn Lewis, Randy Lewis, John Michael Higgins, Susan Marder, Frier McCollister, Roger Neill, Novi Novog, Carlos Rodriguez, and Rich Ruttenberg, along with the aforementioned Henner, a special guest.
“Spring in the ‘denas” brings updates from from very local farm gal Ericka Schickel’s Schickelberry Farms and a reading of “’dena Dates” (with Annabelle Gurwitch), actual personal ads from The London Review of Books, with a “Dena” slant.
(For the record, the ‘Dena suffix apparently these days applies not only to Altadena and Pasadena, but as far east as Arcadia, as far west as Montrose, and as far south as Highland Park.)
Back to highlights. Soul singer Maxayn Lewis, who was an actual Ikette with Ike and Tina Turner in the 70s, also delivered a casually magnificent version of the Irish classic, “Danny Boy.”
Sing-along versions of “Mustang Sally” and “Brown Eyed Girl” were a wee bit even more ragged, but she cruised through both. (How does any band not know those two songs in their sleep?)
Whichever “‘Dena” you may hail from, or not, Tsing Loh’s latest community effort is delivered with love and a healthy atmosphere reminiscent of kids performing for their parents, friends and neighbors. What could be more neighborly than that?
Sandra Tsing Loh’s “A ’Dena Home Companion,” is performed monthly at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 North Lake Avenue, Altadena, CA. More information is available here here.
