May 25th, 2025 : Three Dog Night Brings Joy and Celebration to the Central Coast

                                                              Photos by Barry Sigman

70's band, Three Dog Night performed in concert in the Samala room at the Chumash casino in Santa Ynez California for a Friday night filled with music and memories.  The band, whose lyrics embody a time when people loved freely, talked face-to-face, danced and left politics to stogy-smoking Washington bureaucrats.  With 21 top 40 songs, there is bound to be at least one that is in the soundtrack of any baby boomer or gen Xer's life. Hey. For that matter, even a classic rock-savvy millennial knows a song or two.  Front man and original member, Danny Hutton showed a vitality on stage that surpasses performers half his age!  His sons, Timonthy on the bass and Dash on the drums, have become part of the Three Dog Night Hutton dynasty. Those signature harmonies, so well-known to Three Dog Night fans, are still sweet as strawberry wine!

Throughout the evening, they squeezed in as many hits as the 90 minutes would allow:  Celebrity Ball, Old Fashioned Love Song, Black and White, and Shambala to name a few, saving Joy to the World for nearly last. But they saved the new song off their latest album, Enter, for last.  The song is an angelic prayer sung in acapella titled, "Prayer for the Children" which was adapted from a song they heard in church. The song met with silence and awe from the audience followed by a standing ovation at the end. Three Dog Night has been bringing "joy to the world" since 1968.  ---written by Gina Sigman