Let's connect!
Enjoy Mill Valley
  • HOME
  • EVENTS
    • Winterfest >
      • Activities, Food & Entertainment
      • 2017-18 Winter Guide >
        • Profiles in Kindness
      • About Winterfest
    • 2018 Mill Valley Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting
    • Summer Guide >
      • Summer Guide - MillerUP
    • Calendar
    • Special Events
  • VISIT
    • Muir Woods
    • Stay Over
    • Tour
    • Map
  • EAT
  • PLAY
    • FOR KIDS
  • SHOP
    • Enjoy Mill Valley Store
    • Shopping Areas
    • Apparel and Jewelry
    • Art, Home & Garden
    • Automotive
    • Banking
    • Beauty & Grooming
    • Children's Goods
    • Fitness & Sports
    • Food & Wine
    • Legal, Accounting & Financial Services
    • Mind & Body
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Pet Care
    • Real Estate
    • Specialty Shops
  • ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
  • BLOG
  • Miller
  • PRESS
  • CONTACT US
  • City of Mill Valley
  • Mill Valley Chamber
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise on Enjoy Mill Valley
  • ShopMV

Rita Abrams’ “Mill Valley” Song Turns 45 – Celebrations Abound

8/13/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Local legend will celebrate the 45th anniversary of her landmark ditty with an August 23rd musical and multimedia performance at the Throckmorton Theatre – catch a sneak preview at Mill Valley Chamber Mixer at the Depot Bokstore & Café on August 19.
Picture
For Rita Abrams, the annual anniversaries of her “Mill Valley” song with the Strawberry Point Third Grade Class remind her of her deep ties to the 94941 and her moment of mini-stardom, when her song about a town that “looks as pretty in the rain as in the sun” briefly brought the 94941 into the national consciousness.

But while each of those anniversaries has brought back fond memories and reunions with her (now-middle-aged) former students, Abrams admits that the song’s stunning success – it spent three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a radio staple – had remained a bit of a blur.

“It all just happened so fast back then,” she says with a laugh.

To add clarity to that blur, and as a new way to celebrate the song, Abrams and Terry McGovern, the KSFO disc jockey who played the song on the radio for the first time in June 1970, have built an entire show around the song itself.

“We’ve had lots of great fun over the years celebrating the song’s anniversaries,” Abrams says. “But this is the first time that we’ve done an actual show built around it. It’s very gratifying and a lot of fun.”

They’ve created an audio-visual component about the song and its history – photos and interviews with the likes of Sammy Hagar, former Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres and many of the Strawberry Point students who sang on the song. It also includes short films, particularly the original “Mill Valley” video, shot by a young filmmaker named Francis Ford Coppola before he became Hollywood royalty, as well as “Mill Valley Redux,” the 2014 recreation of the song by local filmmaker Tiffany Shlain.

The multimedia piece will be a major part of the 45th Anniversary Celebration at the Throckmorton Theatre on August 23. Catch a sneak preview of that show at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce’s August 19th (5:30pm) Mixer at the Depot Bookstore & Café.

“It’s like opening up my amazing scrapbook to my whole community and friends,” Abrams says of the multimedia component. “The things I’m finding are remarkable.”

The Throckmorton show will feature also feature plenty of remembrances, including McGovern and Bay Area TV personality and Marin resident Celeste Perry reading some of the more dramatic and touching fan mails Abrams has received over the years.

“I still get them!” she says.

Abrams says she’ll also open up the remembrances to the audience itself, asking attendees to share their own “Mill Valley” song-related stories.

“I want people in the audience to feel free to tell those stories,” she says. “It will be a very full night,” with a party in the Throckmorton lobby to follow.

Abrams wistfully mentions that she moved to San Anselmo nearly a year ago. “I still feel very rooted in Mill Valley though. And it gives me an excuse to come back now!”

Two weeks after her Throckmorton show, Abrams will be back at the downtown venue on September 6 with New Wrinkles, the “hilarious and heartfelt” musical she co-wrote with Gerald Nachman and Morris Bobrow that “serves up the pains, perils, and poignancy of aging in heartfelt and comedic sketches and songs.”

The 411: The "Mill Valley" Song 45th Anniversary Celebration at the Throckmorton Theatre (142 Throckmorton Avenue) is August 23 at 7pm. Tickets and more info. Abrams will preview the show at the Mill Valley Chamber's Mixer at the Depot Bookstore & Cafe on August 19 at 5:30pm.


Want to know what's happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog

    * indicates required
    Click here to subscribe to the free Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!

    RSS Feed

    Blog Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    142 Throckmorton
    Art
    Arts & Entertainment
    City Council
    City Of Mill Valley
    County Of Marin
    Depot Plaza
    Downtown Mill Valley
    Emergency Preparedness
    First Tuesday Artwalk
    Food & Drink
    Holidays
    Kiddo!
    Live Music
    Local Laws
    Marin Mommies
    Marin Theatre Company
    Miller Avenue
    Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
    Mill Valley Film Festival
    Mill Valley History
    Mill Valley In The News
    Mill Valley Library
    Mill Valley Market
    Mill Valley School District
    Mount Tamalpais
    MV Chamber Biz Buzz
    Parks & Recreation
    Philanthropy
    Public Restrooms
    Restaurants
    Shopping
    Strawberry Village
    Sweetwater Music Hall
    Tam High
    Tam Junction
    Tam Valley
    The Redwoods
    Volunteerism

Picture
   
85 Throckmorton Avenue
Mill Valley, Callifornia 94941
415.388.9700
info@millvalley.org



Copyright 2014 Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
All images used with permission and/or source attribution.
Site Design by Linda Rosso Marketing and Communications
✕