Blues Band Rocks The House

By AMY DAVIS

The Progress

Music lovers gathered at the Mesquite Community Theater on Saturday afternoon, June 4 to enjoy a live performance from the Mesquite Café Blues Band. Special guest Mike Rye opened for the headlining band. The concert was a fundraiser event for the Mesquite Toes dance troupe. Tickets were $20 and all of the proceeds went to benefit the Mesquite Toes.

Husband and wife Linda and Paul Villanueva and Johnny Norwig (aka Johnny Heart) are the dynamic talent behind the high energy headliner. This trio has a commanding stage presence with Paul as the lead guitarist, Linda as a vocalist and performer and Johnny on harmonica.

The three performers are completely committed to their performance and are obviously doing what they love. They know how to rock, and they know how to move a crowd.

The Mesquite Café Blues Band has been performing since May of last year and are growing in popularity. They play a lot of fundraisers as well as private events and are easily becoming one of the gems of Mesquite.
“It was really Linda’s brainchild to have this benefit concert,” Paul said.

Linda not only sings, but she is a very talented dancer with the “Toes.”
“Because of COVID and everything, it kind of depleted our funds,” said Linda of the Mesquite Toes team. “We are a sisterhood and a brotherhood. My husband and I love to sing so we thought we could do a little concert benefit for them.” said Linda.

Linda said that it was amazing to perform on an actual stage for a change. “My husband has been a musician and I am usually his roadie,” she said. “I used to set up his drums. But we love working together now and there is some kind of chemistry between us. Plus, he takes me out to dinner after the show and I don’t have to cook.”

Linda said that she and Paul love living in Mesquite. One of their main purposes is to bring happiness to people through music and dance, she said.
“I like being silly on stage and I hope that came across in the show,” she said.
It did. Linda was definitely the heart of the performance.

The effects of Covid are still being felt. The Mesquite Toes Dance Troupe were not immune to this. With rent to pay on business space, storage lockers, paying dance teachers and buying costumes, this last year has been a struggle.

Marjean Westwood, Director of the Mesquite Toes, expressed her gratitude to the band. “Three months ago, Linda and Paul came to me with the idea of this fundraiser,” Westwood said. “We were so excited that they would want to do this for us. Our funds have been a little tough this year just coming out of covid, and we are just so happy to get support like this from the community. It really means so much!”

Elizabeth Webb, Director at Large in charge of the dancers’ interests, explained, “We are here for the Seniors. We use dance to promote mental and physical health for the seniors of Mesquite. We want them to be active and healthy and this is such a fun way to achieve that.”

Webb said that she is the youngest dancer on the team at age 58. The oldest dancer is 79.
“We have a very wide range and we are always looking to grow our dance troupe,” Webb said. “You don’t need to have any experience.”
“We are just so very appreciative of the Mesquite Café Blues Band and of course Mike Rye for helping us out,” Webb said.

The Mesquite Café Blues band played for close to two hours and closed their set to thunderous applause. It was clear that all in attendance were well entertained and it was all for a great cause.