Deepa BharathRock ‘n’ roll is hardly music...

Deepa Bharath

Rock ‘n’ roll is hardly music to Richie Cornell’s ears.

The Corona del Mar resident, who has played drums and other

percussion instruments in orchestras for more than 500 Hollywood

films, is a creature of the big-band era. He loves the swinging tunes

and jazzy melodies that make your fingers snap.

Cornell and others of his ilk will bring big-band sounds back to

the Oasis Senior Center after a two-year absence.

The center had a weekly dance band perform on Friday afternoons

for a quarter of a century. For a long time, the band played for

free. But about three years ago, more professional musicians started

playing.

It became hard for the center to fork out about $400 a week, and

so two years ago, it stopped the program.

But on Sept. 17, the band will be back in its glory with a singer,

piano, bass, trumpet, tenor saxes and Cornell’s exuberant drumming.

The man who pushed for the band to return was Ray Gootgeld, vice

president of the Friends of the Oasis Senior Center Board of

Directors, a nonprofit organization that serves as a support group

for the center.

The dance is an important social occasion for seniors, and the

live music is a big part of it, Gootgeld said.

“The seniors want to dance,” he said. “The ladies want to meet men

to dance with.”

The Friends of the Oasis Senior Center will pay for the dances to

be held monthly, instead of weekly, starting Sept. 17, center

director Celeste Jardine-Haug said. The dances will be held from 2 to

4 p.m. on the third Friday of each month.

“They’ll see how it goes for 12 months and then reevaluate if they

should continue,” she said.

They brought the band back because the seniors wanted it back,

Gootgeld said.

“But they don’t want to pay for it when they can go to a senior

center in Irvine and dance for free,” he said.

Some of the band members get paid and some do it for free. Cornell

is one of the band members who doesn’t care for the money.

“I’m retired, I’m a senior, and I have time,” he said. “This is

what I enjoy doing.”

Cornell has been part of all-time hit movies such as “Sound of

Music,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cleopatra” and “Tora!

Tora! Tora!” He has also played twice in the Academy Awards

orchestra.

Cornell started off simply by walking into the center one day

because one of his friends was playing. Then the band’s drummer fell

ill, and Cornell was asked to play. He agreed and after that became a

regular and a favorite.

“Some of these men and women, they can’t even walk,” he said. “But

they get on that dance floor and enjoy the music. It’s worth it to me

to see their happy faces.”

The band members are from all over Orange County. Betty Woodridge,

the pianist from Costa Mesa, loves it because “the people are

wonderful.”

“We play the oldies, which are really the goodies,” she said with

a laugh.

The band is fanatical about its music, as are its listeners. They

swear by the “good old days” and share their scorn for screaming

guitars and loud rock ‘n’ roll.

They play old favorites such as “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “I’ll Never

Smile Again” or “Moon River.”

“It’s old songs that people like,” Cornell said.

And it’s music for ballroom dancing -- the tango, the rumba and

the cha-cha-cha -- that gets them on their feet.

Very few people at the center just sit down and watch, said Lou

Meier, bass player for the band.

“They like to get up and dance,” he said. “They enjoy it and ask

for tunes.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

[email protected].