Shoemakes to jazz up Painted Sky Studios with concert fundraiser

After a year of house concerts, Charlie and Sandi Shoemake’s music is moving back to a more formal venue. Their Famous Jazz Artist series is taking up residence in the new Painted Sky Studios — at least for one night, Sunday, Dec. 4.

Painted Sky Studios, which relocated from Harmony in 2015, is at 715 Main St. in Cambria’s West Village.

“My good friend Charlie Shoemake asked me if he could present a fundraising concert to benefit The Central Coast Jazz Institute. I checked with the owners of the building where Painted Sky is now located and they said yes,” studio owner Steve Crimmel said. “This concert will feature many outstanding artists from our Central Coast area.”

The Famous Jazz Artist series, founded and produced by the Shoemakes, has a long history dating back a quarter-century.

“The series began in November of 1991 at (The Hamlet at Moonstone Gardens) and lasted there until February of 2012, when the property was sold,” said Shoemake, a renowned vibraphonist who performs in the series with his vocalist wife.

Over the past five years, the series has played at the D’Anbino Vineyards and Cellars tasting room in Paso Robles and the Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre before moving to the Shoemake home during the past year.

Whether it or other concert events will be held at Painted Sky in the future is an open question, said Crimmel, who staged regular concert performances at the studio when it was located down the road in Harmony.

“It’s up to the owners of the building,” he said. “I’m hopeful someday we can start the Painted Sky concert series again.”

Charlie Shoemake remains optimistic.

“Sandi and I are hopeful that the big series will be back in full swing soon,” he said. “By ‘big’ series, we mean the way things were back in the Hamlet era when we had the perfect venue for substantial attendance, which enabled us to bring the world’s major jazz artists to Cambria. That hasn’t been the case ever since the Hamlet died.” (The former Hamlet site, at 7432 Exotic Garden Drive, has since reopened as Centrally Grown at Off the Grid.)

Shoemake added that he and his wife will continue to perform occasional house concerts if the Famous Jazz Artists series returns to a larger venue — preferably Painted Sky. “We feel, with certainty, that Painted Sky represents the closest thing we’ll ever find to replacing the Hamlet,” he said.

The Dec. 4 concert at Painted Sky is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It’s a semiannual fundraiser for Shoemake’s Central Coast Jazz Institute.

Admission is free, with tax-deductible donations accepted.

For reservations, call 805-927-0179 or email charlie@talsanmusic.com.

This story was originally published November 30, 2016 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Shoemakes to jazz up Painted Sky Studios with concert fundraiser."