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holiday favorites, the concert also will feature
the winner of its Virtual to Center Stage
competition, opera vocalist Lainie Ewers.
GSO Jazz!, led by music director Sam
Skelton, welcomes fans to Earl and Rachel
Smith Strand Theatre on Feb. 12 and April 2,
2022, to enjoy a jazz small ensemble and
classic Big Band repertoire.
The GSO will hold its annual Sensory
Friendly performance on March 12, 2022, at
the Marietta Performing Arts Center. Funded
in part by the National Endowment for the
Arts and designed specifically for individuals
with sensory sensitivities and their families,
the concert features a range of enjoyable
musical selections. Audience members
are free to change seats, move about the
auditorium, sing and vocalize.
For more information,
visit georgiasymphony.org/all-events.
Strand Theatre debuts
theme song to be played
before shows
Marietta’s Earl and Rachel Smith Strand
Theatre is a beloved local icon in large part
because of its historic character — the art
deco building is 86 years old. Now, as the
Strand emerges from the pandemic, its
guests will be welcomed by an official theme
song that pays tribute to its origins.
The 52-second theme song, written by
local musician Travis Cottle, is a swinging,
jazzy tune reminiscent of the big bands that
helped define 1930s American music.
“I kind of wanted to go for something that
maybe you would hear on the radio in 1935,
when the building opened,” Cottle said. “But
something that also kind of sounded really
theater-y.”
Cottle plays piano, with other musicians
on clarinet, trombone, drums, bass and
resonator guitar, which provides a “metallic,
banjo-y quality,” as Cottle put it.
“It’s a subtle part of the song,” Cottle said,
speaking of the guitar. “I think it kind of really
pulled it all together, to have this kind of
thumping, 30’s, banjo-y vibe.”
Cottle’s relationship with the theater
began when he helped produce a series of
indie band shows there. In 2016, he started
producing shows for the Strand, putting
together bands to play Motown, tribute,
country and Christmas shows. Since then,
he’s become something of a composer/
arranger in residence, he said.
Strand General Manager Andy Gaines
previously had Cottle, who he called a “good
friend and great musician,” write and record a
different theme song that was produced for a
late-night talk show pilot hosted by Gaines.
“There was no reason to do it, just to, I
guess, see if we could,” Gaines said. “And so,
we made one (a pilot), and one of the things
that we needed was a theme song.”
The talk show project fell by the wayside,
but ever since, Gaines has used the theme as
a walk-up song when welcoming guests at
Strand events.
“It was just kind of a primer for the
audience to know that things are about to
start,” Gaines explained.
During the pandemic, Cottle was writing
and recording an album when he and Gaines
had the idea to re-record the Andy Gaines
theme, to make it more professional. Gaines,
however, proposed Cottle write an all-new
theme just for the Strand.
Gaines approached Kim Gresh, who chairs
the Strand’s board, and who agreed to fund
the project. Cottle recorded the new theme
in the same studio where he recorded his
album, and had the musicians he was already
working with play various parts.
Gaines was more than pleased with the
result — “it sounds awesome,” he remarked.
The theme will be played before shows at
the Strand, which is back in full swing after
being mostly closed for more than a year
during the pandemic.
“Anything that we could do to make
the patron experience better at the Strand
Theatre, we want to do it,” Gaines said. “If
that means, ‘Let’s make a theme song,’ then
by golly, let’s make a theme song. And it just
adds a slight bit more joy to people’s lives.”
The theme song can be heard
on Youtube and on Spotify. To find the song,
search “Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre
Theme.”
See what Switzer
Library’s $10 million
renovation looks like
Elected officials and other leaders were
among a crowd eager to cut the ribbon on
the newly renovated Switzer Library.
The $9.6 million renovation project has
transformed the building, offering an array of
Switzer Library
SEPTEMBER 2021 | COBB LIFE 59