Friday Night Pan Lime!

Come play a tune, listen or just hang out, 8-12midnite. Bring a friend. Beverages on sale. PanWest 10855 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito CA 94530.

PanWest to showcase students at Solano Stroll

PanWest students from San Rafael will showcase their talents at the 38th Annual Solano Avenue Stroll, "Step into the future", Sunday, September 9 between 11am and 1pm. Among those performing will be Glenn Bowland, Linda Fox, Albert DeLima, Maureen Delema, Megan Black, Louise Yost and Margie Wade. The students' set will be followed by Shabang Steel Drum Trio featuring Harry Best, Dexter Bruce and Ed McCarver.

Since 1974, The merchants, restaurants, and professionals, as well as the twin cities of Albany and Berkeley CA, have hosted the Solano Avenue Stroll, the east bay's largest street festival! The Solano Avenue Merchants Association invites you to come and see what makes Solano Avenue such a wonderful place.

Over five hundred vendors, non-profit organizations, food booths and entertainers!

Participants and the event guests visit from everywhere throughout California; as well as neighboring states from Nevada to Maine.

The fun begins at 10 am with the opening of Solano Avenue businesses and Stroll booths and the kick-off is the theme parade with about 100 groups.

After the parade, you can visit one of 50 entertainers, 50 food booths, 150 juried arts and crafters, state of the art mechanical rides, and 150 community non-profit and government organizations, not to mention the unique and popular professional services, restaurants, and shops already here on Solano Avenue.

You will hear the best in local music, dance and other performances and absolutely stunning costumes from all over the globe!

This is a family event! A special area set aside just for kids offers giant slides, carnival games, clowns, jugglers, stilt walkers, face painters, magicians, and maybe even wizards and elves -- come and see for yourselves...

Come join us for an afternoon in the sun.

Duvone Stewart Workshop slated for Sept. 1

 

Steelpan Workshop with Duvone Stewart is set for Saturday September 1, 10am-3pm, at PanWest CSMC 10855 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito CA 94530. Come and sharpen your improvisational skills and learn how Duvone rips it up on the pan. Call 510 222 1123 for more information.

Help Needed, Save on Registration-Tuition Fees!

Do you have any skills in the following areas? You can save on registration and tuition fees by trading your services at PanWest:

• e-commerce
• publicity/PR
• booking and managment
• steelpan mallet crafting

Call 510 222 1123

PanWest Open House a resounding success

We wish to express thanks, first and foremost to God, the I Am presence whose activity we acknowledge in all things and everyone; to

• the Best family, especially my wife Romaine, our mothers, my sons, my brother and his family, the whole Best clan.; 
• Claude Gonzalez for landing the building for us and for the numberless conversations on pan.
• Duvone Stewart for his special appearance and for lighting up the crowd.
• fellow musicians and students at the different community centers.
• everyone who turned up to celebrate the Grand Opening and those who intend to join us in activities

All of us who play a pan recognize that we enjoy a truly unique instrument and art form gifted to us through the struggles of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
We feel a sense of fraternity with all others who play the instrument, regardless of what level of proficiency.
 At PanWest, we feel pan is an instrument not just of music but also community. We truly believe that is the purpose of it's emergence. And if you take the time to track it's evolution you will see that everywhere a pan program exists you have the nucleus of a community.
  We also believe that music and the arts is where the answer to our societal woes lies. Because everyone is a creator whether in music or another art form. It's this belief that inspires our mission statement here in this venture:

PanWest is dedicated to enlightening people to their own musical potential. At PanWest we see everyone as a musician whether or not they have ever played a steel drum/pan. We recognize that in each of us is a creative spirit with a unique voice. We believe that for the sake of health that voice needs to be expressed. When that voice is a steel drum/pan, we provide products and support that help that voice come forth.
We are about more than teaching steel drum/pan music. We are about the healing power of music to meet human need for joy. That's why we encourage and support efforts of individuals and groups who work to bring steel drum/pan music to their community. It is our goal to use our mental, physical, and spiritual resources to enrich the lives of our students, teachers, and supporters through steel drum/pan music.

In this way we hope to enlighten you to your own wonderful musical potential and by doing so add harmony to this world.

We invite you to come join our musical community and enjoy a most unique art form that validates you as the creator you are. Bring your children and family members. Make it a family activity. We promise you will gain more benefits and improve the quality of life for you and your family better than any other activity we can think of.
We welcome you and assure you that whether you take our classes or not this will always be a haven for you when you need to enjoy the soothing sounds of pan to relieve the stresses of the day.
Once again, thanks to all of you.