Are You Dave?

The Larchmont Shore Club is a gorgeous establishment on the banks of Long Island Sound. When we got there we were told that the sprawling, faux-Tudor mansion was haunted, and it was all we could do to keep Chris from going ghost-hunting rather than setting up his drums. But there were campers to entertain!

We set up on a deck overlooking the water, a spectacular backdrop, with a tent to keep the sun off. Dave Entwistle did his usual crackerjack job running sound.

A new tradition was born at this show! From the beginning, we’ve done a little huddle before our set, wiggling our fingers and shouting “Fuzzzzzzy LEMONS!” Dana was inspired to share this tidbit with the kids, and it worked great. She had them all join in, and leave their hands up as we jumped right into the first song. The children were very well-behaved; in fact they sat quite still for our first few songs! We had to give them permission and encouragement to jump up and dance. Not too much encouragement, mind you. By the end of our set we had the camp counselors up on stage singing “Twist and Shout” with us, which the campers loved.

Here’s hoping they invite us back next summer!
~ Dave

My other annual show at the Shipyard is always a treat. My fellow teachers are always energetic and animated, and they love to harmonize. Even the simplest songs become masterpieces when you add rich harmonies. This year, I joined my fellow teachers Leslie, Marina, Bill, and our old friend Catherine Moon to put on a fun-filled show for our hometown crowd.

The Lemons will leap at almost any chance to rock in NYC, and this gorgeous community overlooking the East River is an absolutely perfect place to put on a show. Getting rained out last year was a huge let-down, so we’ve been counting the days until we could get back there for another attempt. We finally made it, almost a year later, and it was worth the wait!

The deck that we used for a stage was wide enough that we were able to situate ourselves almost completely side-by-side, rather than tucking Justin and Chris in the back like we usually do. I think that enhanced everyone’s enjoyment of the show; the kids could see the band, and the band could see the kids!

The audience was really great; there were lots of dancing kids right out front. Not as crazy as the Shipyard, but a lot of fun to watch. And we couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop, with the East River just a few yards away, with the occasional sea-plane taking off or landing. The clouds threatened, a little, but we were granted a reprieve and played a fantastic show. Can’t wait to do it again next year!

We played a private party for a young girl today. I won’t go into detail about the event, but I want to mention that the Birthday Girl is a BIG Scooby Doo fan, and so we learned a couple of tunes from the most recent incarnation of the show. They’ll be back as fodder for Halloween sets, count on it.

Also, Vanessa dressed up all in black and sang lead as a character from the show, a member of the all-girl band The Hex Girls. It was quite entertaining for the rest of the band, and I think the audience liked it too.

Our annual Shipyard show was, as always, an enormous party! There was the usual Great Wall of kids at the front of the stage, and the usual admonitions from the band to (a) keep little hands to themselves, and (b) be careful not to fall down the steps. But no one needed us to make a Lost Child announcement this year (it’s happened in the past).

Ben & Jerry’s sponsored the show, but new rules set by the Shipyard folks prevented them from actually selling ice cream that night. Very disappointing, but at least we had a smart-looking banner to hang behind us on the stage.

And we didn’t get rained on until after the show, when we were loading the van. Bonus!

Fresh off their camp gig this morning, the Lemons swung through town to pick me up and we all trucked out to Long Island for the next in our series of delightful gazebo shows! Manhasset is a lovely little town on the north side of Long Island and we enjoyed a quiet Greek supper at a local joint while the powers-that-be scowled up at the stubborn grey sky and wondered if we’d have to cancel the show. More importantly, if we played the show, would anyone be brave enough to come?

Many weather apps were consulted, tea leaves read and various higher powers invoked… and ultimately we decided to go for it.

This particular gazebo plays host to a variety of shows all summer long, lots of jazz and swing bands, I’m led to believe, and not so many kiddy bands. So when the audience started to arrive (huzzah!) there were as many seniors present as there were toddlers. It was an interesting mix and I’m pleased to say that I saw smiles on faces of all ages throughout the evening!

We did get a small drizzle partway through, naturally. Sheltered as we were in the gazebo, the main indicator we had of the weather was when a few people packed up their blankets and left. But many more stayed, and we played a strong set. Afterwards there were a bunch of kids hanging out, getting autographs and inviting us back to play at their birthday parties.

Oh, and there was an old-fashioned popcorn maker set up next to the gazebo, provided and manned by the local movie theater. They had a couple of huge bags of popcorn left over after the show, so we grabbed one for Dana’s van for the trip home. Very quickly we realized that no one really wanted to deal with a 13-gallon sack of popcorn. We were going to send it home with Chris, the youngest and hungriest of the Lemons, but as he leapt from the car to catch his train to Brooklyn he shoved the bag back through the door into my lap! Dana and I drove it over to the local shelter, where it was received gratefully.

Today’s guest bloggers are Dana and Chris, who were at this mini-show (I was in Hoboken, teaching Ukulele class). Take it away Dana:

One of the counselors from Camp Ychad in Scotch Plains-NJ , who’s a teacher full-time, saw us perform at a Jersey City school for the ‘Week of the Young Child’ event in April. She actually called her camp director during our show, held up her cell phone so the director could hear us and said “we’ve GOT to book this band.” She introduced herself after the show, we exchanged info and a few days later we were booked.

This was our first show at a camp, and at 9:30am I think it’s the earliest show we’ve ever done. It was blazing hot that morning, so we were pleasantly surprised to be told that our show would be inside an air-conditioned multipurpose room. We performed for about 175 three- and four-year-olds. They were very energetic and danced the whole time. We let the kids be rock stars by letting them (as a group) sing the ABC song. It was LOUD and totally awesome!

Chris adds: Driving into the parking lot sparked memories of the days when I use to go to camp: color coordinated teams, camp counselors, and a random guy BBQ’ing a ton of food at 9am?!

Walking into the place, the room we placed in was very open so we had to be aware of the sound, but once the young campers came in we played a great hour-long set that introuduced a medely of new songs (the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star mash-up was cool). “Walk Along the River” was a big hit as well, and it was great seeing all the kids bopping and dancing with their camp counselors also.

Last year, you’ll recall, the Lemons cancelled this gig due to the threat of rain (which never fell, naturally). This year, we DID get rained on… but the show must go on!

I suggested to the other Lemons that we try something different this year. The gazebo is cool and all, but it’s very high, and very sheltered, and it kind of distances us from our crowd. Rather than playing way up high in the gazebo, I asked, what if we played down on the sidewalk among our fans? I thought it would make a big difference, taking away the separation from the audience. (Plus, we had a special guest drummer joining us, and I wanted the audience to have a clear view! More on that in a moment.)

We had another change tonight, as well. A young man named Mark Glindmeyer did our sound for us, and he did a great job. He’s MUCH younger than the band but doesn’t mind hanging out with us old-timers. Justin, Dana and Vanessa know him from their church, so it’s like he’s already a part of the gang.

As we were setting up, we chatted with our neighbors, friends, and fans. About 15 minutes before the show, photographer-to-the-stars Joe Epstein sauntered over and showed me the weather app on his phone. An ominous green blob was moving towards us on the map. We hadn’t anticipated anything of the sort! It had been a clear day all day long. Fortunately, Gene the Plumber was there and quickly provided some plastic sheeting in case it rained.

And rain it did. We were just a few songs into our set… as a matter of fact we had just started playing “Jump in a Puddle” when the first few drops fell. I felt it on my back first - we were facing east and the storm was coming in from the west. I hoped it would pass but it just kept getting wetter. We all grimaced at each other, whipped through the song (I skipped the guitar solo) and started throwing plastic over our gear.

Chris writes “…we started Jump in a Puddle and it started drizzling and we didn’t stop, by the end of the song it was a downpour and when I tried to get into the gazebo, I couldn’t because all of our fans were in it, so I ran under a playground tube for shelter, that didn’t work, so I accepted the rain…”

With the gear safely covered, more or less, we turned to take shelter in the gazebo (I thought maybe I’d grab my acoustic and we’d do some unplugged stuff up in there) but with all the families hiding there, there wasn’t an inch of space left for the band! As Chris wrote, we just sort of accepted it and started dancing around in it (not the first time this has happened!) At one point I hollered “it’ll take more than a little rain to stop the Fuzzy Lemons!”

The shower lasted no more than fifteen minutes. Once we were sure it had ended, we uncovered the gear, plugged stuff back in, and went on with the show! Vanessa’s keyboard, unfortunately, had gotten wet and wasn’t working properly (it was back to normal the next day) so she danced and sang and played percussion. I’m proud of all of the Lemons for displaying flexibility and optimism. And I’m simply overjoyed that so many people decided to stay in the park along with us! I don’t think our crowd was noticeably smaller when we resumed playing. Everyone was soggy and grinning and having a ball.

Oh, and did I mention we had a guest star? An eight-year-old named Jake, who got his musical start in my Music Together class (I’m quite proud to say), has been studying drums with Chris at Garden Street Music. I saw a video of his recent recital and was blown away. I asked Chris, discreetly, if he thought Jake might want to do a song with us at Church Square Park, and Chris agreed that Jake would be amazing. So at their next drum lesson, the two of them rehearsed “Rough and Tumble” and we invited Jake up to bash it out with us on stage.

The kid was awesome. Never missed a beat, and in fact when I shouted out “Drum Solo!” halfway through the song, he pounded out some killer fills. The crowd went wild. He’s gonna go far if he doesn’t let success go to his curly, freckled head.

Overall, it was an incredible night, I think one of our best performances to date in terms of fun and overall looseness. We were really relaxed and just enjoyed whatever came, and I think the audience really got into that spirit as well.

That que sera sera spirit continued all night. After the set we’d hoped for our usual dinner at O’Nieal’s but sadly it was not to be. We went to Three A’s instead and ate a great meal of burgers, tortellini, wings, and I got a big steak. Cheers!
~ Dave

Summer Festival Season officially kicks off here!

Rahway was our first of several Kids Kingdom events through This Is It! Productions this summer, and I think we’re off to a good start. We love playing those enormous stages, and of course our pal DJ Mickey G is always there to get the crowd pumped for our set.

As we arrived, Patricia Shih was finishing her set, and we got to hobnob briefly afterwards. She’s a sweet person and a talented musician who has put a lot of effort into creating CDs for varying age groups. Check her out here.

Regular Lemon drummer Chris Moran was away for the weekend, so our guest percussionist was none other than longtime Lemon friend Dave Entwistle. He’s been listening to our music since our second gig, and he did a great job with the djembe, tambourine, shakers and other percussion.

Next stop, Church Square Park in Hoboken!

Make Music New York has got to be one of the most amazing musical events anywhere. Hundreds of venues and thousands of bands provide free music all over the five boroughs. The sheer variety of music and musicians is overwhelming. We had so much fun last year we just had to do it again!

Thanks to MMNY’s new log-in system, we were able to pick our spots. I did my best to target kid-traffic areas. We hit Peanut Butter and Co. first, the Village’s groovy little sandwich spot.
Click for full size!
Sadly, there weren’t a lot of families around at that early hour. Sure, a few strollers came by, but we were never mobbed as I’d hoped. Instead we played for the shop owners across the street: chinese guys at the Fresh Burrito place, stylists at the hair place, a few hard-hats passing by. People seemed to be happy to be hear music on their block, except for two people. One was a crazy-seeming bag-lady type who muttered angrily as she pushed past us on the sidewalk. The other was someone who actually flagged down a cop car and reported us. So halfway through our set, two cops rolled up to check our permit. Everything was in order so they left us alone, and we all agreed it was a true rock’n'roll moment (well, not really; getting thrown in the back of the squad car would have been a TRUE rock’n'roll moment but we dodged that fate). Also, I should note that Chris had already received a traffic citation and a parking ticket before we even started playing.

At the end of the set, Justin opened his bag to pack up and found our mailing list. Oops. But it was a good warm-up for the day, if nothing else. We learned how our “unplugged” setup worked and what tweaks to make, and had fun playing our songs stripped down.

Anyway, we finished up and scarfed down some Peanut Butter sandwiches and hung out with the next group, A Band Called Honalee. They were great, talented, young and spunky and deeply committed to the folk music of the 60s. Then we headed to our next set at Books of Wonder.

I love this bookshop; I used to work right there on 18th street and I would often poke my head in. I even got J.K. Rowling’s autograph there one time (this was long before I became a dad, mind you). It’s gotten a lot bigger since those days! If you haven’t been there, check it out.

As we were setting up a BUNCH of strollers came rolling up, looking for The Fuzzy Lemons. They’d seen us LAST year at MMNY, apparently, and had come out to see us again. I thought that was pretty freakin’ cool. They were requesting songs by name, which is a really good feeling. And I remembered to pass the mailing list around. After our set, the owner of Books of Wonder said he wanted to talk to us about doing some shows in their store in the future. Not too shabby….
Click for a pic of our fans!
Finally we went to Bleecker Playground. (By the way, Justin and I walked the entire day: from the studio to the PATH, from the 9th street stop through Washington Square Park to Sullivan, from there to 18th, from there to Bleecker, from there back to the PATH at Christopher. When we got back to Hoboken we got in a cab. My feet are KILLING me.)

Anyway, as we were setting up at the playground a nice big mob of kids formed around us. They all wanted to talk to us and ask questions and touch the instruments and just be generally pesky. Chris had two or three little boys on him and his drum kit the entire set. At one point he yelled to me “Lord of the Flies!” But again I remembered to pass around the mailing list, and there were some people there who knew a couple of our songs by name, so it was a good set. About 5 or 6 songs in we started to slow down, we all kinda hit the wall at the same time, but we pulled through and finished strong, I think.

It feels good to be wiped out after a day of gigging in the sun… but pooped is still pooped.  It took the last of my energy to put my kid to bed without falling asleep during storytime. I’ll have to think long and hard before booking three slots next year, but there’s no way we’d miss MMNY!

~ Dave