• Chords and Vines: Guest Ben Benoit

Today saw another adventure of local radio coming to Wildomar, when host Kat Ellis brought her Chords and Vines show to Los Reyes Mexican restaurant. 

She had local songstress Grace Richardson as her musical guest, and Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit as her Special Guest.  

I've been to several of Kat's broadcasts in the past. One at D'Canters, a couple at The Corporate Room, one in old town Temecula at a cheese shop and now, May 7th's, at Los Reyes.

A photo I happened to take about three weeks prior, when it was NOT raining.

Each experience has been as different as the venues that they've been in. Who knows, maybe they can swing a combo radio show/fundraiser at the VFW sometime in the future?

Originally it was slated for the patio area, but the rains brought the production inside. Normal restaurant ambiance was in full swing. Meaning, at times, it was too noisy to hear the live show.

Left to right: George Hager, Grace Richardson, Ben Benoit, Tom Plant and Kat Ellis.

That's ok, because lunch was great and and so was the margarita I had. Which reminds me, usually the premise of Chords and Vines is to pair wines with various foods. They swapped out the wines for some tequilas on today's edition of the show.

From left to right, Ben Benoit, Tom Plant, Kat Ellis and barkeep JJ.

Erin Hartley, of the ALS ONE 5K that is coming up, was also in the house. She was surprised to find out that she'd be a guest on the show, but she used the opportunity to talk about her upcoming event. 

With spot guest Erin Hartley (far left). Discussing the upcoming ALS ONE 5K.

The 5K is part of the Wildomar Trifecta of Awesomeness that will be held on Saturday morning, May 13th, 2017. Also part of the festivities will include a health and safety fair, the annual Rotary Club bicycle safety event, and three showings of the BMX Pros stunt show. 

Be sure to check out the promotional video done by Wildomar Elementary's THINK Together after school program. Then mark your calendars and come on down to Marna O'Brien park and catch one of the BMX Pros exhibitions.

Don't miss the BMX Pros stunt show

The musical guest, Grace Richardson, performed one song, and though the area she had to work in was confining, that didn't interfere with her hitting every note. Same went for guitarist George Hager —not missing a chord... even after sampling the tequilas. 

To get more information on the Chords and Vines radio program, now a part of the Temecula Entertainment Network, check out their website at this link:LINK

The weekly show is heard from 2pm to 3pm, on Sundays. 
Kat, who has grandchildren at both Wildomar Elementary and Ronald Reagan Elementary, was telling me that they will be starting production on the Chords and Vines TV show on cable TV soon.

Link to replay of the show 

Kat Ellis photobombs her own photo when she spotted me taking a few pics.

On the way into Los Reyes I happened upon the coolest license plate I've seen in quite awhile.

Gotta love that throwback black and yellow plate. If you're under 50, you probably don't remember when those were standard issue. 

If you guessed that this was on Bridgette Moore's car, that would have been understandable, but wrong. It's on Ben and Jaimie Benoit's car. 

Here's a link to the blog covering the 2016 Chords and Vines program when Bridgette Moore was the special guest.

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"I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their job." 

– Samuel Goldwyn, 1879-1974

Wildomar Rap would like to remind Mr. Goldwyn that it's easy to talk big when you don't personally have anything on the line.