Oct. 25, 2011
DAVIS--The Beez Kneez, a Sacramento-based band formed and led by Norm Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, will reunite for one last performance on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the Straw Hat Pizza, 2929 Mather Field Road, Rancho Cordova.
The group, which performed as a seven-piece band in the Sacramento area from 1995 until Oct. 17, 2004, will entertain from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
“Our first performance was at the original Shakey’s Pizza (57th and J streets,” Gary recalled. “Shakey Johnson was there! We were the last band to perform at Shakey's. A big fire destroyed this jazz landmark on Jan. 8, 1996.”
“Guess our hat jazz reached the ignition point,” he quipped.
“Over the years we had a super bunch of faithful fans, and we miss you. Since we disbanded, many of our faithful Beez Kneez fans have repeatedly requested more performances.”
So there’s just one more—Oct. 26.
All surviving members of the original cast will be there. (Tom Tucker is deceased.)
Gary promises that “we’ll play our most popular songs that we recorded on two CDs.”
They include "When the Saints Go Marching In," "If I Had You," "Just a Little While to Stay Here," "New Orleans," "Long Way to Tipperary" and "My Gal Sal."
Gary is the author of a newly published book on beginning beekeeping titled “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.”
“Keeping bees is far more challenging than caring for common pets,” said Gary, who retired in 1994 from UC Davis after a 32-year academic career.
Gary trains bees to perform action scenes in movies, television shows and commercials. His credits over the last 35 years include 18 films, including “Fried Green Tomatoes”; more than 70 television shows, including the Johnny Carson and Jay Leno shows; six commercials, and hundreds of live Thriller Bee Shows in the Western states.
He once trained bees to fly into his mouth to collect food from a small sponge saturated with his patented artificial nectar. He holds the Guinness World record (109 bees inside his closed mouth for 10 seconds) for the stunt.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894