Music Flows From This Fountain of Youth

Joan Lesnick sometimes has fun answering the phone in a little girl’s voice, forcing the caller to ask, “Is your mommy home?”

Never mind that she’s 53, has four children and four great-grandchildren.

“I think it’s fun,” she says.

It’s the same voice she uses while singing in her own band. It’s reminiscent of the tiny-voice style of Wee Bonnie Baker, who recorded the 1930s hit “Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!”

“I really don’t have a singer’s voice,” said Lesnick. “I have a funny voice, and everyone laughs. Kids love it, and when I sing in a club--even the chef comes out to see who’s singing.” She also plays a banjo and a washboard in her novelty band called the Raggtimers, made up of mostly retired people. “I’m the youngest one, and I’m no spring chicken but I feel like one,” she said.

On special occasions a saw player called the Saw C Lady sits in, along with a gutbucket player.

The band was one of the featured entertainment groups at the Fourth of July Concert on the Green at Irvine High School. They’ve also performed in Long Beach at the Spruce Goose and at Disneyland.

Lesnick played in an all-banjo band in El Monte for eight years before forming the Raggtimers.

She also plays banjo with the 33-member Long Beach Senior Band every Wednesday morning.

“I’m so happy with my life,” said the Irvine woman, whose first job was as a roller-skating waitress in a roller rink. She was 12 years old.

“I’ve got to tell you that music keeps people young,” she said during an interview at her home.

That’s one of the reasons she likes to take her band to retirement homes throughout Orange County.

“They hug us, and we hug them,” she said. “I love to be with them.” And she likes to tell everyone she is the spitting image of Bette Midler--or at least used to look like her.

“Now I’m a little heavy, but I can’t worry about that because my life is so busy,” she said in her rat-a-tat speaking delivery. But she notes that “when I dress up I really look good.”

She also said she was a waitress in a Detroit nightclub where Lily Tomlin was a hatcheck girl.

With that fact out of the way, “let’s talk about music,” she sort of ordered. “People should hear music from all over the world because music is love.”

When her band performs and plays upbeat songs, “you see men and women jumping all around. Songs like that make people happy because they remember the old days when they felt good.”

And then she added: “Did I tell you I play with another band called High Society in Costa Mesa? We play for balls and private parties.”

Lesnick said she can play just about any song on her $1,300 banjo and notes that she has only taken a few lessons.

“I’m a picker, and if I hear it (a song) I can play it,” she said. “I’m not accomplished, but I have the rest of my life to improve myself.”

She also had a parting message: “Tell everyone I can make any party a success.”

Acknowledgments--Fountain Valley resident Sharon Clunk has been presented the Honorary Service Award from the California State PTA for her leadership and work in various organizations including the PTA. Clunk is also a nominee for the 1990 National PTA Outstanding Educator Award for her educational relationship with students, parents, PTA and community.