VARIETY BLOSSOMS AT SPRING MINI-FEST

While the number of summer music festivals seems to be multiplying faster

than the world population, there is very little of the festival nature

happening in the spring. Which is one reason why the organizers of the

Petaluma Summer Music Festival are mounting their first Spring Mini Music

Fest, a series of nine concerts over a three-weekend period between Friday and

April 2, at Petaluma's Cinnabar Theater.

Performers include swamp boogie band the Sundogs, Andean music by Inkari,

Baroque ensemble Musica Pacifica and cabaret singer Claire Victor.

The organizers hope the Mini Music Festival will become a tradition, but

it's not as if the event has been in the planning stages for years.

''The truth is that the theater had scheduled a three-week run of Poulenc's

one-person opera, 'The Human Voice,' but the one person was found to have

throat tumors,'' said Michael Fontaine, general manager of the Cinnabar Arts

Corp. The ''person'' is Elly Lichenstein, whose tumors were found to be

benign, but the show had to be scrapped.

Both Lichenstein and Fontaine are on the summer festival staff, and thought

filling the sudden void at the Cinnabar with a music series ''would not only

bring in some good music, but also serve as a test for whether a spring

festival can work,'' Fontaine explained.

One motivator is that this year the Cinnabar received a larger motel tax

grant, so it has more of a cushion to take a chance on a new arts venture.

''Putting nine acts into the theater is a lot more expensive than mounting

a one-person show that repeats for three weekends,'' Fontaine admitted, ''but

we had the space available, and it seemed like a good idea. It's a sort-of

prelude to the summer festival, which is now in its eighth year.''

Pointing out the stylistic diversity of the performers, he added that the

summer festival features different varieties of music, ''but this is the first

time we've had Middle Eastern music, complete with belly dancers.'' The

concerts were booked by Marvin Klebe, who also books the summer festival.

The high-beamed wooden Cinnabar Theater will be set up cabaret style, with

tables and chairs on the floor, serving food and drink to create a more

festive atmosphere in the 175-seat room.

Friday, March 17: The Sundogs. One of the busiest bands in the Bay Area, so

much so that it doesn't play on home turf that often. Led by fiddler Tom

Rigney, the quintet has a string of CDs out featuring its danceable electric

music that members call 'swamp beat boogie,' a mix of Louisiana Cajun-zydeco

rhythms and rock-R&B, with original songs that range from pure fun to

political fun as in 'Hand-to-Hand Guitar.''

Saturday, March 18: Claire Victor's ''I'll Take Romance.'' Santa Rosa

cabaret singer Victor has sung in Cinnabar musicals, and in the '80s was in

local band the Mix. Now Victor is accompanied by pianist Cheryl Bock in a

collection of songs from the 1920s-'40s by Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Kurt

Weil, even Dorothy Parker.

Sunday, March 19: Musica Pacifica. The chamber quintet concentrates on

Baroque music of the 17th and 18th centuries, played on period instruments.

Friday, March 24: Jazayer. While the band plays an acoustic fusion of Near

Eastern, classical and folk sounds on traditional world instruments, it is

joined in this show by Middle Eastern belly dancers Terry and Alnisa.

Saturday, March 25: The Artaria Quartet. The string quartet takes a period

approach, using 18th century gut strings and lighter bows, as it tackles

classical compositions by Haydn, Mozart and Boccherini.

Sunday, March 26: Dan Reiter and Natalie Cox. The harp-cello duo plays a

mix of original tunes, Celtic and classical.

Friday, March 31: Inkari. One of the best-known of the Andean-based folk

ensembles in Northern California, Inkari plays music rooted in Peru, Bolivia

and Ecuador, incorporating guitars, drums and panpipes (zamponas), with songs

sung in both Spanish and Quechua (the Inca language).

Saturday, April 1: The Girlfriends. The four singers -- Mary Ellen

Essiambre, Connie James, Kim Soares and Amy Treadwell -- sing pop, blues and

gospel with the accent on rich harmonies.

Sunday, April 2: Alternate Currents. The quintet of classical musicians

takes a fresh tack with traditional instrumentation applied to contemporary

composers' works; in this case by Nicholas Maw and Tiburon-based Ron

McFarland, whose music has been used in Cinnabar Theater productions.