Party in Calistoga park was a great time

The story really started four days before it happened when a group of young men and women decided they wanted to do something to bring the community about an hour from San Francisco together for a good time.

"It's really all about community, and getting together," said Dalton Morgan, a part-time resident of Calistoga who also lives in Oregon. "My dad (Kelly Morgan) lives here full time, and I plan to spend more time here."

Morgan said he also sees a lot of unknown, independent talent in Calistoga and he wanted to do something to bring some of that talent together.

On April 11 Morgan and a handful of his friends, including the bands God's Oddities - many of whom either live or work in Calistoga, St. Helena or Santa Rosa - and another group, Soul Fire, gathered at Pioneer Park for the first Community Barbecue.

Vendors from as far away as Santa Rosa attended the event, which was also sponsored by nearly two dozen donors of items as raffle prizes. The event was an impromptu fundraiser for the Calistoga Elementary School music program, according to Morgan.

The majority of the music came from God's Oddities. According to information on their Web site, God's Oddities is a North Bay charismatic and progressive hip hop band generally based in Santa Rosa, while at least one its members, Darren O'Brien, lives in Calistoga. Justin "Sike" William is a former employee of the Calistoga Roastery. The band also includes Justin Rector, whose identical twin brother, Brian, still works at the local coffee shop. Other members of the band, include Emily Somple, whose parents live in St. Helena while she resides in Santa Rosa, Justin "Yahk" Woldruff - yes, there are three Justins in the band - Gabriel "Senior Quote" LeFebvre, Cruz Montaño and Davey "Jones" McCracken.

O'Brien is one of Calistoga's 40-or so Eagle Scouts. He was the drummer of the North Bay punk band "Something Cool" for about seven years, playing with his older brother Sean, who works at Cal Mart.

O'Brien, who still helps write songs for "Something Cool," recently became a singer/rhythm guitar player for God's Oddities. When he was about 19, according to information posted on his Web site, O'Brien bought his first acoustic guitar, Lady Luck, and started experimenting with a softer, more emotional style of song writing. Most recently, the public heard him perform a highly emotional version of his own "California Sky" at the memorial service of local music student Alex Ruiz, who died in a traffic accident Feb. 14 with an alleged drunk driver.

A great time

"These boys have got what it takes to make it," said world-renowned musician Herb Gibson, who was present during much of Saturday. "Right now, they're doing what everyone who ever becomes famous has done - playing for free in the park." Along with music, there was plenty of food, too.

"It's just a great time," said Sharon Saunders, a former Calistoga resident and manager of Coldstone Creamery in Santa Rosa. "I heard there was going to be a community barbecue today, so I thought I'd bring up some ice cream. Everyone loves ice cream."

It's the hope of some that the event will become a monthly event.

"I'm going to work and see if we can't make this a monthly community event," said Colleen Morgan, who is not related to Dalton Morgan or his father. "There is a lot of great talent in Calistoga and they don't always have a public place to play and since we don't have anything else to do, why not?"