The Golden Belt Community Concert Association will begin its 2023-2024 season with Phat Cat Swinger at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Great Bend Municipal Auditorium, Lakin and Stone. The start time for all Golden Belt concerts is now 7 p.m. (instead of 7:30). Doors will open at 6:15 p.m.
With the success of its membership campaign last spring, GBCCA now has more than 1,500 members, and that number reaches the maximum seating capacity for the auditorium, therefore, the association is now unable to accept additional members for this new season.
However, as in the past GBCCA members – at times when they are not able to attend a concert – are allowed to loan their tickets to non-members, and many of the volunteer workers have “earned tickets” that can be loaned to non-members for a particular concert. It is a way to show others what the concerts are all about and perhaps they will decide to join the association in the future.
Most people, especially in the middle of Kansas, may not have heard the name, Phat Cat Swinger. The group may be a best-kept secret in this part of the country. But on the West Coast, if a person says the words Hollywood, Disneyland and “little big band,” someone probably will say, Phat Cat Swinger.
This 11-piece group billed as the “Hottest” Little Big Band has been in existence since 2002. They play well-known music from the 1940s USO dance era and the familiar Disney classics, performing music from Sinatra to Bublé in re-imagined ways.
Saxophone player Marco Palos is co-founder and leader of Phat Cat Swinger. Vocalist with the group is Mark Kopitzke. Palos explains on his official website that in 2002, he and a friend attended a concert featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – a popular revival swing band that has been in the limelight for 30 years. Palos got to meet the band after the show and from that point on, he knew he wanted to play in that kind of band – and that was the beginning of Phat Cat Swinger. The word “phat” is slang for highly attractive or gratifying, excellent – also meaning something “cool” or “awesome.”
The group first was playing at elementary schools and retirement homes and the musicians were surprised to find that their performances were inspiring in a way that could make a kid pick up an instrument or even bring an elderly woman out of depression.
In 2006, Phat Cat Swinger got to be the opening act for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at the House of Blues in Anaheim. These days, Phat Cat Swinger plays in large and small venues in all parts of Southern California – frequently at Disneyland – and is planning a second “Swing Across America” tour.
For more information about the Golden Belt Community Concert Association, visit www.goldenbeltcca.organd “like” us on Facebook to see updates as the season continues.
