Jaylene Armstrong of the Santa Clarita Artists’ Association will be the featured artist at a “First Thursday” reception at the OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center Jan. 5.

Armstrong will display her one-of-a-kind heart collages, which will be available for viewing and sale at OutWest throughout the month. A former art educator, Armstrong is known for her unique, jeweled “heart art,” jeweled necklaces and earrings.

Repurposing semi-precious beads, jewel fragments and comic sculpture, her heart collages are engaging and captivating.

“With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, a heart collage is a unique way to say ‘I love you,’” said OutWest proprietor Bobbi Jean Bell.

Jaylene Armstrong | Photo: SCAA

Thursday will also provide an opportunity for patrons to rub elbows with glass artist Laila Asgari, gourd artist Nadiya Littlewarrior and fine art photographer Ken Lubas.

Hours for the reception are 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. OutWest is located at 24265 Main Street in Old Town Newhall and online at SCVOutWest.com.

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Fleming’s New Trio to Make SCV Debut at OutWest
By Leon Worden, SCVNews.com Staff | November 16, 2011

Almost Kin: Steve Coon, Kathy Coon, Mike Fleming

Fresh off an appearance the night before at the Coffee Gallery in Pasadena, the brand-new folk-rock trio Almost Kin will make its Santa Clarita debut Saturday, Dec. 3, at Bobbi and Jim Bell’s OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center in Old Town Newhall.

Almost Kin is none other than Michael Fleming, director of the city of Santa Clarita’s annual Cowboy Festival, together with pals Steve and Kathy Coon.

Before taking over the festival and joining the city staff as a full-time arts and events supervisor, Fleming led his own Western trio, New West, for 15 years.

Now with Almost Kin, he’s moving beyond the Western scene and taking a stab at a new style of music.

“(They’re) still story songs but more in the folk rock genre,” Fleming says.

An accomplished Western songwriter, in 1997 Fleming won both the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers award for best Western swing song and the Western Music Association’s song of the year award for his composition, “Sometimes This Old Cowboy Gets the Blues.” It wasn’t a fluke. In 1998 he came back and won the WMA’s song of the year award for “Below the Kinney Rim,” which he co-wrote with fellow Santa Clarita Valley resident Les Buffham.

Rounding out the new group are voice-over artists Steve and Kathy Coon, who were two-thirds of Scambooty, a popular if somewhat raunchy comedy trio.

As Almost Kin, the three artists promise an eclectic-acoustic mix of new original songs and smooth harmonies with dollops of humor thrown in for good measure.

OutWest is located at 24265 Main Street. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m. A donation of $15 includes light refreshments. It’s OutWest’s final concert of the year and a full house is expected, so reservations are essential. Call 661-255-7087 to reserve a seat. Guests should dress for TV because they’ll be on it.
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Women On The Move Trio in Concert October 15
By Leon Worden, SCVNews.com | Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011

Women on the Move Trio– Trish Lester, Joan Enguita and Linda Geleris – will share the stage in the next installment of the OutWest Concert Series on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Fresh from winning the singing competition in the 51st annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival, the trio “draws on generations of womanly whimsy to musically explore love and the soulful challenges of life.” Their folksy, story-telling music is said to bring out their individual talents and angelic harmonies.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 8 p.m. A suggested donation of $20 includes light refreshments, and we’ll see if we can’t talk co-host Jim Bell into whipping up a batch of his famous buffalo chili.

Seating is limited. RSVP by calling 661.255.7087, and as always, dress for TV because you’ll be on it.

The OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center is located on Main Street in Old Town Newhall next door to the Fresh apparel shop and across the street from the Repertory East Playhouse.

________________________________________________
Artists Abound at Newhall's OutWest Boutique Thursday
First Thursday, December 1, 2011
By SCVNews.com Staff-November 30

OutWest Boutique & Cultural Center on Old Town Newhall’s main boulevard will host a holiday open house and artists reception Thursday, Dec. 1, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. with visual artist Sandy Fisher and stained glass artist Jeff Curtis.

Ken Lubas

Glass artist Laila Asgari, Pulitzer prize-winning art photographer Ken Lubas and Native American gourd artist Nadiya Littlewarrior will join in the festivities, too, with with special holiday-themed works of art and ornaments.

Sandy Fisher

Fisher, a photographer and painter living in Newhall, says she’s motivated by “the desire to share the awakening in my soul which is fueled by the infinite beauty and mystery of nature or the scene before my eyes.” She approaches subjects with a fresh perspective and uses dramatic natural lighting to “draw the viewer in to take a deeper and more intimate look. I also hope that viewers will become refreshed, renewed and as filled with a sense of wonderment as I am by the splendor and majesty of nature.”

Past president of the Santa Clarita Artists’ Association and a founding member of the Santa Clarita Arts Commission, Fisher studied fine art and two-dimensional design at College of the Canyons and was mentored by a number of accomplished artists including watercolorist Pong Apinyavat.

Curtis, a longtime Canyon Country resident, has worked with glass throughout his career. His company, Alpha Glass, was named Small Business of the Year in both 2000 and 2001 by the SCV Chamber of Commerce.

As a youngster, Curtis watched the glass blowers at Knott’s Berry Farm and was hooked. He enjoys all aspects of working with glass, from etching wine glasses to creating stained glass French doors, cabinets and windows. His decorative sun catchers, crosses and wind chimes will be on display at OutWest through Jan. 3.

OutWest is located at 24265 Main Street. For information call 661-255-7087 or visit scvoutwest.com.

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Stampede! at OutWest Concert Saturday
SCVNews.com Staff |Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011

Steve and Terri Taylor are Stampede!

The Western music duo Stampede! will hit the stage Saturday at 8 p.m. as the OutWest Concert Series returns to Bobbi and Jim Bell’s boutique and cultural center in Old Town Newhall.

Hailing from Utah, Stampede! is the husband-and-wife team of upright bassist Steve Taylor and two-time award winning yodeler Terri Taylor, aka “The Epiglottis Goddess.”

Recognized by the Western Music Association for song of the year and as rising stars, they’ve averaged 250 performances per year since 2000 and have opened or shared the stage with Riders In The Sky, Roy Rogers Jr., The Sons of the Pioneers, Dan Seals, Rex Allen Jr., Wylie and the Wild West, Baxter Black, Red Steagall, Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell and Belinda Gail.

John Bergstrom

Opening Saturday for Stampede! is the SCV’s own Western house guitarist and crooner John Bergstrom, whose traditional and original ballads bring the West to life. Or as his fans put it, “You can almost smell the campfire smoke.”

OutWest is located on Newhall’s revitalized Main Street across from the Repertory East Playhouse and next door to the Fresh boutique. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., followed by the concert at 8 p.m. Be sure to dress for TV because you’ll be on it.

Seating is limited and a donation of $15 includes light refreshments. For reservations call 661-255-7087.
___________________________________

Mary Kaye, Cross Town Cowboys to Perform at Heritage Junction

By SCVNews.com Staff | Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2011

Award-winning Western vocalist Mary Kaye will join the Santa Clarita Valley’s own Cross Town Cowboys Saturday, Sept. 17, as the OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center takes the show on the road – actually just down the street – to Heritage Junction Historic Park in Newhall.

Mary Kaye was born and raised in the South and currently lives in the small pioneer town of Manti, Utah. A member of the Western Music Association, she was named Female Vocalist of the Year in 2010 by the Academy of Western Artists.

Hanging their hats in Acton, the Cross Town Cowboys are Dusty Hart (vocals, guitar, mandolin, fiddle), Buffalo Bryan (vocals, bass fiddle, banjo, guitar) and Robbie Bausch (vocals and guitar). Hart and Bryan met in 2007 at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival and Bausch joined them a year later. They’ve been kicking it up ever since, and are making a name for themselves as the follow the path to stardom.

Both have performed in previous OutWest concerts, which are usually staged inside Jim and Bobbi Jean Bell’s Western apparel and gift shop on Newhall’s Main Street. This time the proprietors hitched up with the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society to open the concert to a wider audience at the society’s location inside Hart Park. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Mary Kaye and the Cross Town Cowboys will make an appearance on the “Around the Barn” radio show, co-hosted by Bobbi Jean Bell on KHTS AM-1220 at 9 a.m.

The performers’ past concerts can be seen on SCVTV.com under Music/OutWest Concert Series.
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Friday in Newhall: Eli Barsi to Yodel at OutWest

By SCVNews.com Staff | Thursday, Sep. 8, 2011

Eli Barsi returns to OutWest with special guest John Cunningham on Friday, Sept. 9.

A crowd pleaser who is comfortable in a variety of genres - Western, roots, gospel, new country, bluegrass, traditional country and folk – Eli’s show is always uplifting, with a mix of tasty standards and thought provoking originals featuring her “Carter Scratch” style of playing lead acoustic and her exceptional yodeling.

Eli Barsi is driven by her passion for music, committed to giving her best, and strives for excellence on and off stage.

For the past 25 years, Eli has been working as a professional musician. Early in her career she performed mainly in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. After a few years of non-stop shows, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee where she honed her craft as a songwriter. Following several years of roadwork both sides of the border, she started to record albums, released radio singles, and moved on to the bigger stages. Eli was hired to perform with the legendary Sons of the Pioneers in 2002, based out of Branson, Missouri for 8 years. She has since relocated back to her home Province of Saskatchewan Canada.

This year, Eli was nominated for outstanding female performer in the 2011 Wester Music Association awards competition, and in the categories of female Western musician and Western yodeler in the Academy of Wester Artists competition.

The doors open at 7:30 p.m. A suggested donation of $20 includes light refresements. Seating is limited; RSVP by calling 661-255-7087.

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August 11, 2011
www.hometownstation.com
KHTS Around the Barn Up For Western Music Award

 

KHTS Around The Barn Up For Western Music Association Award

Thursday, 11 August 2011 12:00

By Carol Rock and Leon Worden/SCVTV “Around the Barn,” our Saturday morning show featuring Western entertainment and down-home chat has been nominated for Radio Show of the Year in the annual Western Music Association Awards competition. The program airs on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and is hosted by Nancy Pitchford Zhe of Heads Up Therapy on Horseback, Bobbi Jean Bell of Out West Boutique and Western Cultural Center in Old Town Newhall and veteran KHTS host Mike Dowler.

KHTS Around The Barn Up For Western Music Association Award

The Signal Newspaper
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Assistant Features Editor
Michelle Sathe
Photos by Dan Watson

Inspired by the World Around Her
Art: Evie Cook, of Canyon Country, produces digital paintings wit



From wine and chocolate to music and dance, the world is a muse for artist Evie Cook.

She touches on topics that affect everyone in her popular digital painting series called, “The Inspirational Canvas,” which is on display at OutWest Marketing in Newhall throughout July.

Prints range from $15 to $139 and are available unframed, framed or as gallery-wrapped stretched canvas squares.

Cook adds sayings to each piece. Her first effort, titled “Create” is adorned with the statement: “Create from the knowledge of your mind with the passion of your heart.” Birds flying over an ocean are the focal point of “Soar,” which states: “Soar high out of the box until it is but a speck on the sea of indifference.”

She started the series in 2007 and, so far, it’s catching on.

“Usually, I’ll have someone that falls in love with one of the statements or images,” she said. “I want to bring happy, positive energy to someone. That’s what this is all geared towards.”

Learning the skills
Originally from New Jersey, Cook knew from an early age that art would play an important role in her life.

“I remember, as a kid in a high chair, my mom drawing pictures. I was drawing people before learning my ABCs,” she said.

Between the ages of 8 and 13, Cook took lessons from an artist named William Benkert. Every Saturday for four hours, Cook learned techniques that served her for a lifetime.

“Modern art was just coming up, and acrylic didn’t exist. I learned traditional oil and pastels, as well as anatomy, and how material drapes over anatomy. These are the basics that aren’t taught much anymore. They’re very important,” Cook said.
She continued to study art at Purdue University in Indiana and St. Joseph’s College in Chicago.

Cook said elite art professors were brought in to teach part-time at the latter.

“I felt it really broadened the subject of what art was for me,” she said.

Upon graduation, Cook began selling pen-and-ink and pastel drawings in the Chicago area. One night in 1971, she drove to Alice’s Revisited, a club located on the city’s west side, to peddle her wares.

“It was a little dingy, freaky hangout, but they had wonderful acts. I saw the beginnings of Chaka Khan and Styx there,” Cook recalled with a smile.

It was a fortuitous stop.

“The owner saw my art and told me to come over to him. He opened a box and gave me a fistful of cash. He said, ‘Make me some T-shirts for this band, and be here next week,” Cook said. “I went screaming home in my little red Toyota and bought the shirts the next day.”

Rocking and rolling
The band was the Pure Food and Drug Act, fronted by Don “Sugarcane” Harris, a guitarist and violinist who made his name playing for Frank Zappa and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Cook concocted custom commissions to fit each band member’s unique personality using a technique called liquid embroidery.

“They flipped out. They loved it,” she said. “I got a foothold in with the T-shirts.”

Over the next few years, Cook produced an estimated 1,400 more for musicians, such as Joni Mitchell and Lenny White.
“These T’s were all done by hand, never mass-produced. It was fun, like painting, which I love,” she said.

After watching Brownsville Station, famous for their hit “Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” perform at a club, Cook approached the lead singer Cub Koda.

“Do you want some of these for the band?” she screamed at him during a set break.

The answer was yes, with detailed instructions.

“He wanted a red guitar on it, with a rainbow overhead and a certain section tie-died in brown,” Cook said. “Cub was such a little guy; a men’s small didn’t fit him. I had to get the oldest boy’s size.”

Cook presented the shirt to Koda at his dressing room during another gig. The musician was wearing a full colonial outfit at the time, complete with velvet jacket and knickers, plus an elaborately ruffled shirt. She held up the completed T-shirt, to which Koda responded, “Wow” four times.

“I took his guitar off, the jacket and the shirt, too, then put the T-shirt on over his head and tucked it into his knickers,” Cook said. “He put the guitar back on and played the whole concert in my T-shirt. Those were the days. I wish they had iPhones back then.”

California dreaming
It was the mid-1980s when Cook came to California, following her husband, who was business executive.
“I loved it. I never want to go back to the snow and cold weather,” she said.

When the couple divorced, Cook stayed in her adopted state, moving from Corona to the Antelope Valley, working as a special-effects artist for the movie industry (most recently for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1”) and continuing to produce original art.

In 2007, she took a class at Antelope Valley College.

“I was just trying to brush up on graphic design and stay current,” she said. “The teacher, however, wanted to create a big gallery showing, with digital paintings on canvases up to 4-1/2-feet-by-4-1/2 feet. She couldn’t put the show together, but she really loved my piece.”

The piece was “Create,” and it broke artistic rules of design, according to Cook. She divided the canvas in half, which is usually a no-no, adding an embellished font at the top, with hand-drawn images she scanned in throughout, using Photoshop and Illustrator to create the final product.

Eventually, she added “Love,” “Dance,” “Common Sense,” “My Friend” (in dog and horse versions), “Café,” “Vino,” “Chocolate,” “Blues” and more to the series, bringing it to the Santa Barbara Art Walk and other venues to sell.

“I usually sold at least one, sometimes eight or nine. I saw this thing kind of catching on,” Cook said.

New home, friends
Recently, Cook has moved to Canyon Country, and is a member of the Santa Clarita Artist’s Association.

“The support and friendship I’ve received here has been really nice, more so than anywhere else I’ve lived,” she said.

Besides the show at OutWest, Cook’s work can be found on the website fineartamerica.com, and her own inspriationalcanvas.com. Ultimately, she hopes her work gets picked up by more galleries, art dealers and retail outlets.

“A nice level of mass market, not discount stores,” she explained.

Wherever she is, whoever she’s with, Cook continues to be inspired by the world around her.

“Art is in all life and cultural understanding. I just feel really strongly about it,” she said. “These are my own writing and thoughts, but they are all in response to something I have seen or experienced or witnessed that struck me as unjust, illogical and wrong, or a fresh take on an every-day problem many of us share.”

“The Inspirational Canvas” series by Evie Cook will be shown throughout the month of July at OutWest, 24265 Main Street, Newhall. (661) 255-7087.

For more information on Evie Cook, visit OutWest's on-line {>} Art Gallery or www.Evie-Cook.FineArtAmerica.comor www.theinspirationalcanvas.com.

The Signal Newspaper
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Assistant Features Editor
Michelle Sathe
Photos by Dan Watson

Bobbi Jean Bell loves the West. It’s in the music she listens to, the books she reads, the clothes she wears and, for the last two years, the focus of her business.

As co-owner with her husband Jim of OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center in Newhall and its sister website, www.outwestmktg.com, Bell offers a retail taste — from original art to gourmet food stuffs, of what she loves to her community and the world.

“The website has been getting orders from Australia and Japan,” Bell said excitedly. “The West lives in people’s imagination and hearts. It’s without boundary. I know I’ve always been attracted to it. Roy Rogers was my first hero.”



Art
Inside the store, paintings and sculptures from local artists abound in between the fringed leather jackets, patterned shirts and thick silver accessories. A fixture at the Cowboy Poetry Festival every year with its Buckaroo Book Shop, OutWest also outfits models for the festival’s Cowboy couture fashion show.

Every month, OutWest features a new artist in store, dedicating a whole wall to his or her work, and takes part in Newhall’s First Thursday Art Walk, held on Main Street.

“It’s very important to us to encourage people to come down and experience this district, whether it’s to have dinner or a glass of wine, to catch a show or just to see how beautiful the twinkling lights are here at night,” Bell said. “That’s the Western way, to say, ‘Come on in, the door’s open.’”

Moving out west
Born in Minneapolis, Minn., Bell found her calling later in life. An East Coast resident for most of her life, Bell and her husband, a plastics manufacturing executive, were living in Connecticut in 1991 when the call came for the couple to move to Pasadena.

Bell was not happy about relocating. In fact, she was downright scared.

“I had moved around a lot as a youngster, but moving to California was daunting. I hadn’t been to the West Coast often. I thought everyone would say ‘Yo’ and be tanned, healthy and gorgeous. I didn’t think I would fit in,” Bell said with a laugh.
Her sister in Vermont started sending books to Bell, tomes about pioneer families making the same trek under entirely different circumstances.

“I saw what those people went through, and it put things in perspective. I thought, if they can do that, I can certainly pack a moving van and get on a plane,” she said.

The Autry
The move allowed Bell, who had for worked for decades as a mass merchandise and customer service manager at busy department stores, an opportunity to slow down.

She eschewed management and instead took a lower-stress job as a cosmetic saleswoman at a high-end retail store.

At the same time, Bell began to volunteer at the Gene Autry Museum in Glendale in 1998, where she acted as a docent for seven years before being hired on as its store manager, eventually becoming the director of retail operations.

“I loved it,” she said. “But in January, 2007, like many nonprofits, there were cutbacks in staffing. I was one of 14 employees whose positions were eliminated.”

Working with career coaches, Bell planned her next move.

Finding her place
The first requirement Bell had was staying close to home, which, after moving in 1999, was Canyon Country. The next was finding the best fit for Bell’s myriad experience.

“I had worked with authors, artists, curators and scholars at the museum, which really brought a richness to my day, yet I also had a traditional retail background,” she said. “What I realized in the process was that I couldn’t be divorced from the West and get a corporate job. That just wasn’t where my heart was anymore.”

What Bell wanted to do was to continue telling the stories of the West through carefully selected merchandise. With the encouragement of her husband, who continued to work a day job, the Bells launched OutWest Marketing online and began hosting trunk shows and special events around Los Angeles, featuring their favorite Western artists and manufacturers.

“It was kind of scary, yet very exciting, as exhilarating as any extreme sport I’ve read about. I call it ‘extreme retailing,’” Bell said. “Sometimes Jim would just rent a hotel room, then we’d set up shop outside with some merchandise and a radio playing Western music.”

The Bells began scoping out potential storefronts and settled fairly quickly upon an available space on Main Street in Newhall or as it’s often referred to, Old Town Newhall. With its Walk of Western Stars and proximity to the William S. Hart Museum and Park, the store just felt right.

“No other place had the soul or history this one did,” Bell said. “This area spoke to our hearts.”

Giving back
OutWest the store opened in July 2009, and began welcoming local artists into the fold through exhibits, as well as live musical performances and author readings.

Bell is like a den mother to up-and-coming Santa Clarita Valley craftspeople, such as Kari Hewitt of Serendipity Lights, which makes clever lamps out of empty liquor bottles, including a cowboy-inspired Jack Daniels bottle outfitted with a red handkerchief.

“There’s a creative spirit that exists in all of us, and we really like to help nurture that,” Bell said. “The West is very broad; it includes everything from jazz to country to blue grass and all kind of arts and music. We all live here. We’re all Westerners.”

Hewitt was so impressed by her experience with Bell that she nominated the store owner for the Woman of the Year award given by California State Senator Sharon Runner to women who “do extraordinary things for their community.”

On April 29, Bell received the honor for the Santa Clarita Valley part of Runner’s 17th district area; four women from the senator’s remaining areas were also awarded.

Though she’s a volunteer with the Old Town Newhall Association and Friends of Hart Park, and was also instrumental in bringing the First Thursday Art Walk to Newhall, Bell was honestly surprised by the attention.

“I was very humbled. These were woman addressing real social needs. I wondered why I was there. Then one of the other winners told me how important it was to volunteer in cultural areas,” Bell said. “‘I’m so glad someone is doing what you’re doing,’ she said. That was wonderful.”



OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center is located at 24265 Main St. Newhall. For more information, call (661) 255-7087 or visit www.outwestmktg.com.

Sunday, February 13, 2011
Assistant Features Editor
Michelle Sathe

Kari Hewitt believes in serendipity. It’s what led her to Bobbi Jean Bell, co-owner of OutWest in Old Town Newhall.

Hewitt’s family had fallen on hard times and she was desperate to find a way to buy Christmas presents for her six children. It was Dec. 21 and she had 18 cents in her checking account.

She had made festive lamps out of liquor bottles as a way to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for
Life over the last few years.

Hewitt, who lives in Valencia, thought the bottles might sell well as holiday gifts.

She considered selling them at the Saugus Swap Meet, but two weeks of rain precluded that.

“I couldn’t take bottles filled with electrical wire and lights to an outdoor venue,” Hewitt said.

She thought of selling the bottles out of her car, but figured that wasn’t entirely legal.

OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center
A friend of Hewitt’s suggested Hewitt try calling OutWest in Newhall, which carries a wide range of items from local artists.

“I remember it vividly: We were into the last 10 days of the month, and there was this pleasant voice on the other end of the phone. Over the years, I’ve learned to be open,” Bell said. “I told Kari I couldn’t promise her anything, but that I was a woman of faith and to come on down.”

“We were family within 20 minutes,” Hewitt said with a smile. “A host of angels ushered me to Bobbi Jean Bell.”
Bell liked what she saw and immediately placed the Lit Spirit bottles in a prominent place within her store.

“I just happened to have three shelves empty, so I said, ‘Let’s put them here,” Bell said. “I just thought they were beautiful. I loved the look and the colors. Part of our purpose is to encourage and nurture our local craftspeople.”

The next day, two regular OutWest customers came into the store and purchased three bottles.

“That was our Christmas,” Hewitt said, choking back tears.

She named her new art business Serendipity Lights.

Lighting spirits
Since that fateful day in December, Outwest has sold approximately 15 more Lit Spirit bottles, which range in price from $38 to $60. Hewitt has also had a significant increase in website orders at www.serendipitylights.webs.com, including commissions from as far away as Canada.

“Someone ordered a Captain Morgan bottle for their father’s bar,” Hewitt said of the latter. “We did a huge Jagermeister bottle, the biggest I’d ever seen, for a soldier on base in Alaska who had lost his wife.”

Inquiries are coming in from farther parts of the globe.

“A woman in Australia is trying to figure out how to adapt the plugs so she can use two of our Pulchella bottles for
nightstands,” Hewitt said.

Whatever people think up, Hewitt is happy to try to create a Lit Spirit just for them, including potentially expanding to olive oil and vinegar bottles.

“I love to do custom orders; they’re my favorite,” she said.

Lit Spirits bestsellers online and at OutWest include a Jack Daniels bottle adorned with a jaunty red bandanna that gives it a bit of cowboy swagger.

While customers gravitate toward labels, Hewitt has her own criteria in mind when creating a lamp.

“It’s the shape and what it becomes when it fills with lights,” she said. “Each is unique in its own way ... like a snowflake. There’s just something about making a piece of jewelry for a bottle and adorning it.”

It takes a village
Since she started making the bottles, Hewitt has received support from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. Mike Miller of The Tailgate in Saugus has regularly supplied Lit Spirits with castoffs from his bar and recently, El Trocadero and Pulchella Winery in Newhall have gotten into the act.

“It really has become a community effort. It’s taken on a life of its own,” Hewitt said. Hewitt’s oldest son Andrew, 20, picks up the bottles and scrupulously cleans each one.

Her husband, Mark, uses a special drill bit to create the hole from which to insert a string of lights, such as the ones strung around homes and trees during the holidays.

The bottles are then cleaned a second time so that no shards or bits of glass remain. Hewitt’s daughters Sarah, 15, and Emily, 17, are on hand to help with the next step — decorating.

“There are lots of ways to decorate bottles,” said Sarah.

“It’s fun to help pick out decorations and pull the lights through,” said Emily.

Giving back
Sales for Lit Spirits have come at an opportune time for Hewitt.

Mark was disabled for nearly four years before recently becoming employed as an oil-pump mechanic.

The family has been without health insurance for some time, which increased the stress when Sarah was diagnosed with malignant tumors in her neck following a routine tonsillectomy in July.

Still, Hewitt intends to donate a portion of the proceeds from Lit Spirits to the American Cancer Society, as well as continue to provide bottles for raffles and auctions benefiting the cause.

“We’d like to raise as much money as we can to beat childhood cancer. My 15-year-old daughter has a neck full of tumors. We want to see cancer gone,” she said.

When asked about her goals for Lit Spirits, Hewitt became quiet, her eyes filling with tears.

“We would like not to lose our house, to be able to pay our bills and meet our obligations without needing charity,” she said finally. “Hopefully, we’ll get there. We’re a faithful family.”

For information on Lit Spirit bottles, visit www.serendipitylights.webs.com, e-mail serendipitylights@gmail.comor visit OutWest, http://www.scvoutwest.com.com 24265 Main St., Newhall, (661) 255-7087.
_________________________________________________

The Signal
June 17, 2010

Fast draws, easy laughs, good times

Touching Hearts With Harmony

Cookin' Up Great Music are Women on the Move Trio Trish Lester, Joan Enguita, Linda Geleris with OutWest co-owner Bobbi Bell

By Michelle Sathe


Assistant Features Editor
msathe@the-signal.com
Photos by Dan Watson
661-259-1234 x522
Posted: May 15, 2010 8:22 p.m.
POSTED May 16, 2010 4:55 a.m.

It starts with a few guitar chords, then the percussion moves in and is iced with layer upon layer of gorgeous harmony, as Joan Enguita, Trish Lester and Linda Geleris, also known as Women on the Move Trio, launch into the folksy tune "Walk a Mile."

"We might not be the same, but we're not so different you and I, we only have this moment, to see eye to eye," Enguita sang in her clear, warm voice as Geleris strummed her mandolin and Lester kept the beat with a tambourine.

Seeing eye-to-eye is just one of the band's messages. With songs ranging from tributes to American soldiers to ending domestic violence to taking a moment to reconnect with friends, the trio is making their mark in the music world with increased exposure on the internet and concert tours that have taken them as far as Portland, Oregon.

The Women on the Move Trio will play at downtown Newhall's OutWest retail store 7 p.m. Saturday.

"Trish came here during one of our Art Walk events and handed me a CD. I listened and it was fantastic," said OutWest owner Bobbi Bell. "Then I saw them at (U.S. Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon's, R-Santa Clarita) Women's Conference and I was amazed. The audience wept and laughed. Their music really touches hearts."

Formed in 2007 after appearing on the Enguita-produced Women on the Move compilation CD "Beautiful" - which featured 15 female singer-songwriters performing their own music - the trio performs their own songs, with a few Joni Mitchell classics mixed in.

"We're all individual artists who have been playing solo shows for years, but once we got acquainted and became available to work together, we realized we really liked the sound," said Lester.

"It's so nice to have back-ups. I hate to perform alone anymore," Enguita said.

All of the Women on the Move Trio discovered a passion for song as children, but followed very different paths to reach their musical destiny.

Geleris called herself a songwriter at heart who started at 14 or 15 years old, but who didn't delve fully into her talent until after the birth of her third child, who is now 15.

"I decided then to take the gifts that were given me and move forward with music, whatever that looked like," Geleris said.

The Glendora resident started by pouring her feelings into song lyrics and arrangements, followed by networking with other musicians to learn the ins and outs of getting her work heard. During her first networking mission, she made friendships that ultimately led to her original song "Call Me Crazy" being featured in the 1997 Columbia Tri-Star film "Implicated."

Since then, Geleris, a former high school teacher, has released two CDs, including her latest "If I Only Had a Minute," as well as founded a songwriters networking website called SongNet.com.

Lester described herself as a mostly self-taught musician who started playing the piano at age 4. As a teenager she studied folk guitar from Bud Dashiell, half of the 1960s folk duo Bud & Travis, and at 22, began her performing career in front of hundreds of soldiers as part of a trio that played in Korea during her stint in the United States Army.

Once she returned to civilian life, Lester's path changed course. "My mom told me, ‘Don't be a starving artist.' So I got a series of regular jobs, got married, and had kids," Lester said. "But the music was always with me."

So much so that she gave up a three-decade career in public relations after several relatives died in the cour