Ladies and gents, start your vacuums Posted on Sat, May. 31, 2003  
By S.L. Wykes - Mercury News

French horn player Max Mazenko went to Orchard Supply Hardware's garden section for the instrument he'll play at Sunday's Peninsula Pops show. Joining him will be harpist Carol Holsinger, who said she's been aspiring for years to step on stage with a tuned vacuum cleaner. Alan Wilmunder, usually a Pops ticket seller, is practicing his vintage floor polisher switch-flipping technique.

Leading this uncommon set of musicians will be Pops conductor Kim Venaas. At one point, though, he'll step away from the podium to reprise the musically cued typewriter routine he first tapped out as a student at Palo Alto's Jordan Middle School.

By now it should be clear that the Peninsula Pops is not, as Venaas is fond of saying, your father's orchestra. It doesn't play sleep-inducing moldy oldies concerts, although classical music is occasionally on the program.

At Sunday's season finale, the Pops' slightly oddball take on concertizing means the program will include the "Grand, Grand Overture for Three Vacuum Cleaners, Floor Polisher and Hose Pipe." In deference to contemporary feelings, a starter pistol will be substituted for composer Sir Malcolm Arnold's original inclusion of four rifles.

The audience also will be treated to some of Rossini's very hummable 1816 opera, "The Barber of Seville," as rendered famously by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in a 1950s cartoon that's become a classic, too.

Venaas' enthusiasm for the Pops springs from a lifetime as a musician -- one of his earliest childhood memories is of falling asleep in music halls as his father, a stride piano player, did evening rehearsals. Venaas began conducting in middle school and led the Palo Alto High School orchestra and band as a student. Now, in addition to the Pops, he heads a big-band group, the Black Tie Jazz Orchestra.

He joined the non-profit Pops nine years ago, determined to expand the orchestra's size and reach out to new audiences. The all-volunteer orchestra has 52 members, ranging from a high school junior to musicians in their 80s.

Venaas' philosophy is to perform music that families can enjoy together. "We do shows, not concerts," he said. "We talk back and forth from the stage to the audience. And we get more kids each time as parents realize, `This is actually something my kids will sit through.' "

The program Sunday will include music easily identifiable as culturally iconic -- the Muppets, the Simpsons, Monty Python, "La Cage Aux Folles" and "The Producers." There's even a "Sitcom Symphony."

Mazenko's garden hose playing will be tested in one of Handel's famous Water Music series. He's ready. The hose is 14 feet long. Mazenko drapes it as efficiently as he can over a music stand and lets its remainder fall where it may. He adds a regular horn mouthpiece and, with much effort, has learned to produce tones in a four-octave range. "I've been struggling with this art," he said. With a hose, "There's only so much you can do!"

Holsinger has a much easier task with her vacuum cleaner. "I'd hate to give away any secrets, but turning it on and off is the usual method of playing a vacuum cleaner," she said. Each machine is tuned in its own way, "but it's a subtle thing." She'll be bringing a strip of carpet to act as a mute.

Venaas always wanted to conduct the Arnold piece. "This was a dream of mine," he said. He's obviously the right guy for the job. He knows that a vacuum cleaner sings pretty close to a B-flat and can reach an E-flat with a detachable sucker.
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Peninsula Pops Orchestra, "Comedies, Cartoons and Other Mayhem," 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Spangenberg Theatre at Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $12, $10 for seniors and $8 for students. Children younger than 11 are free with an adult. For more information, call (650) 856-8432 or click on www.californiapopsorchestra.org

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Contact S.L. Wykes at swykes@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7599.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5984257.htm