The Oak Park Arms Retirement Community will transform into one of the grand old Chicago ballrooms of the ‘30s and ‘40s as it hosts a Valentine’s dance with Seymour’s Big Band at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6, in the Grand Ballroom of the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Avenue. The public is invited.
Seymour’s Big Band has been performing at the Oak Park Arms for the past 15 years. Founded by Seymour Axelrood of Oak Park, this band has the ability to transport dancers back to the days when big bands were the rage and going to a dance meant an evening of fabulous music by all the top artists of the day - Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, Count Basie and many others.
Composed of a group of 16 talented musicians with an age span of 28 to 82, the members of the band have a driving passion to provide entertainment beyond the expectations of their audiences. Featured, too, is Patsy Ihrke of Elk Grove Village, vocalist, who magnifies the intensity and versatility of band’s sound.
“Our residents and visitors meet Seymour’s Big Band with unbridled enthusiasm,” said Desi Vasquez, social director at the Oak Park Arms. “The program hails to the time when partner dancing or social dancing was a category of recreation.
The 2010 repertoire of Seymour’s Big Band numbers more than 500 tunes including such hits as “Stardust,” “In the Mood,” “Always,” “Moonglow,” “Can’t Take my Eyes off of You,” “Night and Day,” “Where or When,” “Time After Time,” “When You’re Smiling,” “Till There Was You,” “The Old Piano Roll Blues,” and hundreds more.
The dance is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040 or visit http://www.oakparkarms.com.
