Music by America and Dinner by Carrabba’s - It doesn’t get any better!

Dinner and a Show at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th.

The Thrasher-Horne Center is partnering with Carrabba’s Italian Grill to offer a plated three-course dinner before America’s performance on Friday, November 13^th.  Imagine enjoying a delicious dinner catered by Carrabba’s, one of America’s favorite Italian restaurants, followed by classic rock hits served up by America, one of the country’s most beloved bands. It will be an evening to remember as you cruise down Ventura Highway!

When you arrive at the beautiful Thrasher-Horne Center, you’ll be greeted by a host who will show you to your seats in the conference room which will be set up as a banquet hall. (Special parking for Horses with No Names will be available outside.) Seating will begin at 6 p.m.  Your table will have Carrabba’s fresh baked bread, olive oil, and signature herb mix, along with a refreshing glass of water. 

We will take your iced tea order and provide it prior to the meal.  Once all our guests are seated, we will begin full service at 6:30  p.m. with salads, followed shortly thereafter by the entrée – scrumptious Chicken Bryan topped with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and our lemon butter sauce. For dessert, you’ll have a sweet mini-cannoli.

After dinner, relax and enjoy some art

There won’t be any need to go to the car and drive anywhere. You’ll be just a short walk from the Thrasher-Horne Center’s main stage. Before dinner, or during the time between dinner and the show, you can take a walk on the landscaped grounds. There’s even a waterfall to enjoy. Or if you simply prefer to stay indoors, you might take a few minutes to walk through the photo galleries.

The Center’s permanent collection features photography by the renowned Jack Mitchell. Over his forty-five year career, Michell was a photographer for the American Ballet Theater for a decade and for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for over three decades. He shot 168 covers for Dance Magazine! His work also appeared on the covers of Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, Life, Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair. He photographed celebrities including Robin Williams, Al Pacino, Angela Landsbury, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Natalie Wood, John Lennon, Neil Simon, Andy Warhol, and many others.

Photography from Susan Michal’s “Flowers in Transition” collection will also be on exhibit. Susan is unusual in that she photographs flowers after they’ve passed their prime. According to her website, “Susan is very aware of the short life that flowers have and has been interested in photographing them as they transition through the stages of bud to full bloom and death. Many of Susan’s favorite images are of blooms well past their prime. As flowers transition through different stages the colors change drastically. The textures become intense.” 

Enjoy the Show

You’ll be comfortably seated when America takes the stage in the Thrasher-Horne Center’s acoustically excellent theatre. Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell have been making music together as America since 1970. A Horse With No Name was a gigantic hit which made it to the top of the charts in 1972. America won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist that same year.

Throughout their phenomenal career, the band has produced six certified gold and platinum albums. America’s journey down Ventura Highway continues. Get your tickets to join them as they make a pit stop at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th.  The concert begins at 8 p.m.

Dinner Reservations

Seating for the three course dinner from Carrabba’s will begin at 6 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will include salad, Chicken Bryan, and a mini-cannoli. The cost for the dinner is just $35.00 and does not include a ticket to the concert. Seating is limited. Order now.

Are you looking for the perfect setting for an event?

The Thrasher-Horne Center has modern facilities, the latest technology, and a courteous and professional staff to provide you with everything you need. It’s one of Northeast Florida's architectural and cultural gems, making it the perfect setting for gatherings of almost any kind. Whether you are planning a lecture for hundreds of people or a brunch for thirty, the Conference Center is the ideal setting.

Rooms at the Conference Center can be configured to accommodate corporate meetings, award banquets, workshops, reunions, weddings, and receptions. And, oh yes, holiday parties. The season for gatherings of family and friends is, indeed, upon us! Your room will be set up and waiting on you, just the way you want it. And when you want to take a short break from your special gathering, you can step outside for some fresh air, stroll by the waterfall, or explore the center’s stunning visual arts galleries.

Coming Soon to The Thrasher-Horne Center

The Thrasher-Horne Center has several exciting events coming up, including:

Boz Scaggs on November 4^th

The Jacksonville Symphony conducted by Courtney Lewis on November 21^st

Peking Dreams performed by The National Circus and Acrobats of the People's Republic of China on  November 28^th

Michael McDonald on December 19^th

Magician Mike Super on December 26^th

Check out the calendar.

The Broadway Season at the Thrasher-Horne Center begins in December. There will be six great shows including Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ragtime, Always… Patsy Cline, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and the Northeast Florida Premiere of Once. Subscriptions are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

In this article, I’ve written about the upcoming performance of America at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13th. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley have been performing as America for over four decades. Their greatest hits include A Horse With No Name, You Can Be Magic, and I Need You.  An optional three course dinner before the performance will be catered by Carrabba’s.

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Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comments section below.

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America Comes to the Thrasher-Horne Center, Friday November 13th

Dewey Bunnell (left), Gerry Beckley

Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell have been making music together as America since 1970. (The late Dan Peek was also a member of the band until 1977.) America’s first big hit was A Horse With No Name, which made it to the top of the charts in 1972. They won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist that same year. America’s 45 year journey along Ventura Highway will bring them to the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th.

Six of America’s albums have been certified gold or platinum. For the past twenty years, Beckley and Bunnell have been performing over one-hundred concerts per year. This past summer, they performed in New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. America has toured with Chicago and The Beach Boys, and they’ve also done shows with The Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night, and Pat Benatar. 

America’s music has an enduring appeal that is
both inter-generational and international.

"I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally," explains Beckley. "The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad -they're romantic at heart. It's the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don't really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language." 

Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things

Dewey Bunnell is sometimes asked what America’s greatest hit, A Horse With No Name, is about.

“As seen through the eyes of an imaginary traveler on an unnamed mount, this song is quite simply a description of the sights and sounds of the desert. The chorus is my way of explaining how the desert, and nature in general, can be used as a sanctuary from the stresses of day to day living in the human world. The final verse is a call to help conserve the environment,” he says.

A Horse With No Name has been featured on TV in episodes of The Simpsons, Breaking Bad, Friends, and Parks and Recreation. The song has also been featured in movies including The Devil's Daughter, The Trip, and Air America. It was used in a commercial for the Toyota Auris Hybrid and in the video game Grand Theft: San Andreas Fault. Songs by America have also shown up in other unlikely places. In one episode of The Sopranos, Sister Golden Hair was playing on a car radio when a character was shot.

Ventura Highway and I Need You

America’s long list of hits includes Don't Cross The River, Tin Man, Lonely People, and You Can Do Magic. Many of the group’s songs have interesting tales to go with them. For example, people sometimes ask about the "alligator lizards in the air" line in Ventura Highway. Bunnell says that the line refers to cloud shapes he saw when he was growing up near Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.

Of all the songs America has recorded, the one that has been covered the most by other musicians was I Need You. Gerry Beckley says it was the first song he ever wrote - at the ripe age of sixteen. Musicians who have covered the song include Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Harry Nilsson, Linda Ronstadt, Leslie Cheung, and More Than Biology.

Back Pages

Like many musicians, America has put their spin on cover versions of other musicians’ songs. On their third album, Hattrick, they recorded Muskrat Love, a tune by Willis Alan Ramsey. The song was a minor hit for America. Four years later, it became a much bigger hit for The Captain and Tenille.  

In 2011, America released Back Pages, a CD featuring America’s versions of songs by some of their favorite fellow songwriters.  The CD had songs by Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon.

In  a review for American Songwriter, Rick Moore wrote, “Back Pages actually shows the gutsy side of America, in that they aren’t afraid to tackle some iconic material that many would have wisely shied away from… America’s voices and ranges don’t seem to have changed a bit; if anything, these guys are just getting better, as they sing with the confidence that only age can bring.” 

Lost and Found

In May of this year, America released Lost and Found, their first CD of original material since the release of Here and Now in 2007. The music on Lost and Found was recorded between 2000 and 2011, but has never previously been released.

Steve Houk interviewed Dewey Bunnell for an article about America that appeared in The Zebra this past June.  “Lost and Found is a little slice of the last decade, things that didn’t make it onto other albums, things we never got back to,” Bunnell said. “It’s a bridge between a new album, which may or may not happen, and having our real dedicated fans keep wanting to hear new stuff.”

Looking back, Bunnell told Houk, “We’ve obviously accepted and lived each and every one of those years, but when you add ’em up and look back, it’s pretty amazing. We’ve said it over and over that we didn’t really expect to be around this long, at least musically and professionally. But it’s been good to us and we’re more than grateful for it. We really enjoy it that much more as each year has gone on.”

Looking forward, Dewey continued, “I think the music is what it’s all about. The music is what you’re keeping alive, and those songs, you want them to be as fresh feeling as you can every night.  We want people to walk out of there going, ‘Yeah, we got out of ourselves for an hour and a half.’  All the bands from the 60’s and 70’s are bringing a slice of people’s past back to them, and I think that’s what you aspire to. And now that we’ve sort of passed over that line into being more than an also-ran band, it’s about keeping this thing going. It’s about the here and now. And in this moment in time, we really seem to be clicking.”

America’s journey down Ventura Highway continues. Get your tickets to join them as they make a pit stop at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th. 

The Thrasher-Horne Center

The Thrasher-Horne Center has other great performances coming up, including Boz Scaggs in November, Michael McDonald in December, and magician Mike Super in December. Check out the calendar.

The Broadway Season at the Thrasher-Horne Center begins in December. There will be six great shows including Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ragtime, Always… Patsy Cline, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and the Northeast Florida Premiere of Once. Subscriptions are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comments section below.

In this article, I’ve written about the upcoming performance of America at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13th. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley have been performing as America for over four decades. Their greatest hits include A Horse With No Name, You Can Be Magic, and I Need You.

Related articles

• Fan photos: America launches Pacific Amphitheatre concert series with the Pacific Symphony