Local trio to play at Charmian’s Spring Fling fashion show

Sonoma-based musical trio, Shameless, is the musical entertainment for the Charmian’s Circle Spring Fling on April 21 at the B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen.

The Spring Fling is a fundraising luncheon and fashion show in support of education programs at the nearby Jack London State Historic Park.

Shameless is an all-female music group, which is fitting for the feminine spirit of this event, in honor of Charmian London, Jack London’s wife.

Charmian London loved music and was one of the first people in Sonoma County to have a Steinway piano. She arranged to have a 1901 model shipped around theCape Horn to the new home she and her husband, Jack, were setting up in Glen Ellen.

Shameless includes Sallie Romer and Rachel Dent playing violin and Carol Marcus playing guitar. All three veteran instrumentalists provide vocals as well.

Romer shared a fun fact about the band members, quipping that Marcus plays the guitar “upside down and backwards.”

“She’s left-handed, so if you look closely, you’ll notice that she’s actually playing it upside down.”

Shameless has been around for about 10 years, and was at one time a five-piece band. But COVID-19 and the collateral damage of the pandemic has reorganized the musicians into a trio.

“After COVID, we were done as a group of five,” Romer said. It is a reality that many bands experienced as musicians re-evaluated their priorities.

Romer, acting as the spokesperson for the band, continued, “For us, it has really honed in our musicianship, because there’s only three of us. So, there’s not nearly as much hiding as there can be in a big group. And you have to contribute. That’s super fun, actually.”

Romer said the best way to describe the band’s choice of material is “no genre left behind.”

She said they cover “Irish music, bluegrass, pop, Cajun, Klezmer, to country, and back. And the pop that we play is a wide spectrum, from Van Morrison to the Drifters, from the Beatles to John Denver.”

The violinist said Shamless is all over the map ― and constantly expanding their repertoire. They particularly are honing in on tunes best for crafting three-part harmonies.

The band was created while two members were taking violin lessons from local instructor, Leta Davis, the founder of Little Fiddlers. The guitarist of the band, Marcus, was acquainted because her son was taking violin lesson. Romer said, “Leta shook her magic wand at us and said, ‘You’re in a band.’” What seemed obvious to Davis soon became a reality.

Romer said, “Leta took our ‘oh, wouldn’t it be so fun to play music (publically) dream,’ and she shifted it to the reality of playing.”

This gig at B.R. Cohn will be their first as a trio. Shameless will set up near the fashion show catwalk, begin the set at noon and play until the fashion show begins, roughly around an hour.

“Boy, are we psyched for that one hour! It’s whet all our appetites to start playing again,” Romer said. “We do what we do because we have such a great time doing it. We love us!”

Tickets to Charmian’s Circle Spring Fling can purchased online at https://jacklondonpark.com/events.