With pots and pans, they play tunes to beat the band

Hand an eggbeater or a plate and cup to Lois Johnston and she’ll cook up some music instead of her favorite meal.

Keeping time with the help of an electric keyboard, Johnston and other members of the Sunshine Kitchen Band perform with kazoos and an assortment of common household items, such as washtubs and boards, meal trays and a five-gallon water jug filled with cotton and plastic flowers.

For example, Marge Bock bangs out a tune on her plate and teacup, while Margaret Rowland clanks a mean beat with her tablespoons.

The retired senior citizens present half-hour shows in convalescent homes, clubs and at charity events around the San Gabriel Valley.

“Everyone who starts out in the band usually starts on the tub,” said Bock, 65, who is the group’s president. “I graduated to plate and cup. Now, I occasionally play the washboard.”

The Covina-based group was formed six years ago when four of the senior citizens started playing for fun, said Johnston, 75, who schedules the group’s performances. Now the band has 18 members, 15 of them women.

The band’s repertoire includes Hawaiian, big band and Western themes. A favorite feature is “L’Girls,” a show of songs named after women.

A recent addition is tap-dancing by 77-year-old Alverta Martin. Wearing glittering gold shoes, Martin taps along with “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Martin said she learned about the group from a flyer posted on a bulletin board at the West Covina Senior Citizen Center.

“I read a little sign that said, ‘Members of a band wanted,’ with all the other signs asking for baby sitters and low rents, and I thought, ‘I can do that,’ ” Martin said.

The band performs about twice a week and practices on Wednesdays at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, which receives the occasional donations given to the group.

“If I knew it was this much fun, I would have retired two years earlier,” said Trygve Syverstad, 62, who is trying to master the tambourine.

Syverstad joined the group in July after watching his wife, Charlotte, perform with the band for a year. She is the group’s arranger and plays the electric keyboard.

“Our residents really enjoy them,” said Anita White, recreational director at the Covina Convalescent Center, where the band plays about once a month. “The band plays songs that they recognize.”

As the band put on its L’Girls show recently at the center, residents sang along and kept time with the music.

“They’re good people and they play good music,” said Lillian Hale, 80, who recognized a tune and called out its name.

Clapping her hands with delight, 95-year-old Dolly Thunes smiled widely and nodded her head in satisfaction. Her eyes lit up as band member Mike Pedtraza crooned his solo, “Rose Marie.”

“That’s an old Nelson Eddy song,” Thunes said, tapping her fingers on the table. “This band plays old songs that even I know.”

“Oh, I do enjoy them,” said Thunes.

The performances are equally fun for band members.

“You see smiles on their faces,” Charlotte Syverstad said. “You feel happy to know you can do that for someone.”

Bock agrees.

“When I retired, I looked for volunteer jobs which were fun and rewarding,” Bock said. “And this is it.”