Marimba Band Keeps Diverse Fans Dancing In Cda

Bare your toes, roll your shoulders and hips, shake those legs and sweat. It’s Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band time.

The uninhibited dancing the African music inspires is so inviting that Steve Meyer often wants to drop his marimba mallets and join in.

“All the cliches about getting energy from the audience are true,” Steve says. “We need that audience approval.”

There’s no question the Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band has it. Hammering out driving rhythms on African-style instruments in an area with little ethnic variety, the band has a sizable following.

Concerts bring out Save the Earth T-shirts and Birkenstocks, leisure suits and white shoes, scraggly beards and Harley-Davidson black leather, tube tops and white bellies, matted hair and tattered jeans.

Even teens addicted to Pearl Jam’s doleful tunes can’t resist this frenzied beat. Lake City High has booked the band for its fall homecoming dance.

“We all like each other, like playing together,” muses Steve’s wife, Jan, looking for reasons the band is so popular. “Just being in the band’s already so cool to us that the audience response is the icing on the cake.”

The band began as a lark in Thomas and Cassandra Orjala’s living room a dozen years ago. Thomas had planned to build a mandolin but marimbas were easier. Jam sessions with friends grew into practices. Each performance netted new engagements.

Now they play 30 to 40 times a year to thousands at marimba festivals in Seattle and Portland, or to dozens at local get-togethers. They turn down some jobs, but never miss Coeur d’Alene’s Art on the Green. The Aug. 4-6 arts festival is the band’s next public performance.

“Before the band was together, I thought it would be so fun to be playing in the park with people dancing,” Thomas says. “We’re there - and it is real fun.”

As long as they’re dancing.

Who’s on first?

Hayden Lake’s Tyler Ackerman did just what (he thought) the adults told him to do at a recent T-ball game.

The 5-year-old whacked the ball, ran to first base and was thrown out. His coach sent him to the dugout, but Tyler ran to third base where he stayed until the next batter hit him home. No, his run didn’t count.

His next time up, Tyler hit and eventually made it home. While everyone cheered, he stood behind the umpire, who thought Tyler was the next batter. The ump handed him the bat, so Tyler hit again and made it home again. No, that one didn’t count either.

It’s no wonder they don’t keep score at these games.

No love lost

Tennis is out, kayaks and bicycles are in. Seems more people want to paddle on Lake Coeur d’Alene or cycle along its shore than sweat on the tennis courts, if turnout at local tennis tournaments is any indication.

Interest in tennis has waned so much over the past few years that David Dickinson is resorting to dinner certificates and massages to recruit players for Kootenai County’s Aug. 18-20 tournament.

He also wants a lollapalooza of a T-shirt for players - something that makes people crave a racket in their hands. It’s worth a $75 certificate to Tennis of Spokane if your design wins. The deadline is July 24. Call 667-8912 for details.

When it rains, it pours

Last year, the sky unleashed a spectacular thunderstorm while my family sat in The Dockside with visiting relatives. The power went out. The lake rocked with biblical fury. Suddenly we had something in common with the strangers at neighboring tables. We all became friends until the storm passed.

What’s the storm that will stay in your memory forever? Pour those drippy stories out to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83814; FAX them to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes