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VOL.23, NO.10
Musicians put heart into songs
OCTOBER 2011
I N S I D E …
PHOTO BY FRANK KLEIN
By Carol Sorgen A passion for music has defined Ted Zlatin’s life, from his days playing in a teenage band, to a career that has covered every aspect of the music business, from promoting records to selling pianos. Now retired, Zlatin is using that same passion to bring the joy of music to older adults throughout the Washington/Baltimore corridor through the Music and Art Traveling Heart Show. “Music and arts have shown the power to touch a heart and soul, bring back a memory, evoke an emotion, inspire feelings and stimulate the senses,” said the 62year-old Zlatin, who grew up in Baltimore and now lives in Howard County. The vision of the Traveling Heart Show, which Zlatin established two years ago, is to enhance quality of life for area seniors. Two of his inspirations are his own parents, ages 92 and 89. “They are why I’m doing what I’m doing,” Zlatin said. “We strive to bring out emotions with an interaction of musicians, artists, performers, video and audio to find a way to touch their hearts,” said Zlatin.
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Meet the performers Four professional musicians make up the band: Otis Stroup on keyboard, Jamie Hopkins on bass, and Tim Ghiz on drums, with Bruce Thomas as the vocalist. Zlatin himself doesn’t perform, but serves as the band’s executive director, setting up gigs and raising funds, as the Traveling Heart Show is a nonprofit group. Some members of the band have a lot of experience performing for older audiences. Stroup, for example, has long performed with his wife, a flutist and singer, at nursing homes. “It’s a crowd that I love,” Stroup said. There’s ordinarily a “barrier between musicians and the audience,” he said, but when playing for seniors at a community “there’s a lot more singing along. I don’t think we perform for [these audiences]; we’re sharing music with them.” Stroup has been a mainstay in the Baltimore/Washington metro area, playing for more than 20 years at restaurants such as the Rusty Scupper in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Café de Paris in Howard County.
ARTS & STYLE
The Music and Art Traveling Heart Show — brainchild of Ted Zlatin (left) — brings a lively, interactive performance of golden oldies to retirement communities and senior centers throughout the area. Members of the band (behind Zlatin) include Tim Ghiz, on drums, Jamie Hopkins, on electric bass, Otis Stroup, pianist, and Bruce Thomas, vocalist.
Ghiz has been playing drums professionally for 43 years, including traveling across the country with numerous shows on the road. He particularly enjoys performing for the Traveling Heart Show’s audiences because “I like playing the jazz standards that older generations appreciate a little more.” The great standards of the 30s and 40s that the band now performs were the top 40 back in the day for their audiences, Ghiz noted. “You can see their faces light up,” he said. “That’s a lot more rewarding than playing for people trying to pick each other up at a bar.” But Ghiz also has a more personal connection with some of his audiences. He
said he long served as a caregiver for his father, who had Alzheimer’s. “I saw when I put swing music on for him, that would cut right through the memory loss. He’d have a big smile on his face, unlike with television or even visitors,” he said. Ghiz sees that sense of recognition in some members of their audiences as well.
Passion runs both ways Hopkins is a full-time musician, teaching bass and guitar, performing on bass and singing. He has been performing since the age of 13, and also composes and See BAND, page 54
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