Band for seniors is a bonding experience

Joe Freitas, of Long Barn, plays the accordion at the Tuolumne County Senior Center. Amy Alonzo Rozak/Union Democrat, copyright 2009

On bass, Rusty Jones: “If I didn’t have this I probably would just sit home and be depressed, I guess.”
 

On drums, Leo Cortes: “I like to see the seniors happy.”

On accordion, Annemarie Greenberg: “I started taking lessons when I was 65.”

Also on accordion, Joe Freitas: “To get me started on the accordion, I played three hours a day for three years.”

The band, whose members range in age from 71 to 87, play on the third Thursday of each month at the Tuolumne County Senior Center on Greenley Road in Sonora.

At their last session, the band jammed as seniors ate Hungarian goulash over egg noodles with beet and onion salad on the side.

“It’s kind of nice to have some live entertainment in here,” said Maggie York, nutrition manager for the senior lunch program. “You don’t see people play the accordion anymore, really.”

The accordion may be a novelty to some, but it’s a passion for Freitas.

He started playing 18 years ago, after retiring as a heavy-equipment operator. He and his wife, Gladys, live in the Long Barn area.

Freitas, 74, always has one of his 16 accordions in his car or truck.

“When my wife’s in the store, I’m out on the tailgate playing the accordion,” he said.

Greenberg, 75, moved to the United States from Germany in 1963. A retired homemaker, she lives in Twain Harte.

She has played the accordion most of her life, but started getting serious with lessons 10 years ago.

“I always played a little bit, but I was not really good,” she said. “I get better every day by practicing.”

Jones, a 71-year-old Tuolumne resident, said he plays “just about anything with a string.”

The Foothills Seniors Band, Jones explained, was founded in 1984, although its original members have all passed away. Now, the band evolves depending on who is available to play.   

“This is kind of a loose group,” he said. “This is just a jam. It’s all for fun.”

Jones and Cortes, an 87-year-old Sonora-area man, sometimes play in another band called the Leftovers.

That band got its name, Cortes said, “because we are old people. Not everybody’s able to play.”

Laurali Campbell — who celebrated her 66th birthday Thursday at the senior center — said she likes accordion music because it sounds pretty.

“It’s sad that a lot of instruments aren’t being played anymore,” she said. “We got all this junk music out there. There used to be good music, now it’s crazy music.”