SEQUIM — A live version of “Casablanca” is coming to the Sequim Elks Club, courtesy of a pair of sweethearts.
“Think of Rick’s Cafe Americain,” where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman smoldered, “and you’ll be in the mood,” said Diane Reaves, who with her husband, Graham, is planning Moonlight Memories, a dinner dance and benefit for KSQM-FM, Sequim’s nonprofit nostalgic-music station.
The dance is set for Saturday, Oct. 23, but patrons are urged to make reservations by Friday by phoning KSQM at 360-681-0000.
Tickets are $75 per person including dinner.
The Elks’ chefs need a dinner count, Diane said, adding that the meal includes prime rib or baked salmon, fresh vegetables from Nash’s Organic Produce, wine, champagne and a selection of desserts.
The festivities will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Sequim Elks Club, 143 Port Williams Road, and will culminate with dancing to Stardust, a 16-piece band featuring singer Jenny Davis.
Other highlights of the evening: auctions featuring a vintage sewing machine that reportedly belonged to Howard Hughes’ maid, Kenmore Air tickets to Seattle and bed-and-breakfast getaways; and a performance by Sequim High School senior Rachel Chumley of Robin Hall’s original song “You Belong in Sequim.”
Graham Reaves is the Moonlight Memories master of ceremonies; KSQM listeners know him as co-host, with wife Diane, of the “Romantic Rendezvous” show from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays at 91.5 FM.
Nostalgic music
Like the rest of the volunteers who run the radio station, Graham and Diane play music of the 1930s through the early ’60s — the kind of music that will fill the Elks Club next Saturday night.
“Our goal is to remind everyone through the music we play that love is always ‘in the air,’ if you look for it, and to jog listeners’ memories of special times and special people that have brought joy to their lives,” Graham Reaves said.
As for Moonlight Memories, Sequim decorator Sherrel Melchior of Distinctive Designs Plus plans on re-creating a 1940s supper-club feeling worthy of the elegantly dressed guests.
“We wanted to have a special evening that would transport our listeners,” Graham Reaves said, “back to the days when people dressed up to go ‘out on the town.'”
To learn more about the radio station’s offerings, visit www.KSQMfm.com.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
