Patients get preview of cowboy poetry show

Patients and staff at the Carson Rehabilitation Center erupted into cheers after a live fiddle and guitar performance Friday afternoon. Musicians featured in tonight's Cowboy Jubilee and Poetry played free concerts at the center and at Mountain Springs Assisted Living.

"It's just great - I loved it," said Troy Wylie, a patient in a wheelchair in the front row.

"He loves fiddle playing," said his son, Bill, who visits almost every day.

Brain Cotter, director of nursing at the center, said the event was good for patients.

"It's encouraging for them," he said. "It kind of re-energizes them and helps them get back on the path to wellness."

The performance was organized by recreational therapists Rani Reed and Keri Giomi.

Cowboy poets and musicians like Paul Zarzyski, Sourdough Slim and Don Edwards are brought to town by the Carson-Tahoe Auxiliary. The 10th-annual poetry event tonight at the Community Center is their biggest fund-raiser.

"These guys fly in a day early and donate this time," said event chairwoman Delsye Mills. "It's very generous of them."

All money raised at the poetry and jubilee will go toward the auxiliary's commitment of $250,000 toward the new cancer center being built on the north end of Carson City.

"It's good to be doing something for a worthwhile cause," said musician Tom Russell of El Paso. He played a song about lost love and a time-worn Navajo rug with Andrew Hardin of Wimberley, Texas.

It was the fiddle music of Minden's Randy Pollard that got feet stomping. Feeding off the raging guitar of his long-time partner Paul Carelli, his fiddle raced like a steam engine.

"I thought my arm was going to fall off," he said later.

Pollard, who won two grandmaster fiddle championships in Nashville, Tenn., and Carelli, a carrier-based Navy pilot who returned from Iraq in June, will be playing again tonight. They'll be joined by local businessman John McLain.

"They're real good," said patient Franklin Coonley. "You don't see this kind of entertainment very often."

All the reserved seats are sold out for both shows of the Cowboy Poetry and Jubilee. General seating tickets will go on sale today starting at 2 p.m.

There are two shows - 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. - with a barbecue dinner offered between at 5:30 p.m.

Contact Karl Horeis at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.