Are You Dave?

I’ve been slowly developing a Ukulele class at Guitar Bar, Jr.  One of the moms was kind enough to share this footage:

I can’t believe how long it’s been since we played this stage! The Lemons last played the Hoboken festival in September 2008. We had a great time then, and we had a great time again today. The weather was simply perfect, and the audience was enthusiastic. We joked that we had a “captive audience” because the stage was right across from the bouncy-castle line, but truth be told we had a great crowd rockin’ with us. Thank you Hoboken! We’ll see you in July!

This was a wonderful event, hosted by our friends at HOPES and the Association for Science in Autism Treatment. They threw an all-day party at Rue, complete with games, food, and Mike DiVito of the NY Jets. The Fuzzy Lemons provided the music, natch.

We did two big sets; with Dave Entwistle running sound, I think it went pretty well! The Rue gym is a lot quieter than it used to be; they’ve added acoustic tiles to the walls and provided some carpet for events, so the horrible echo has been tamed way down.

The organizers were very pleased after the show:

Big thank you to the Fuzzy Lemons for an incredible evening. You provided an incredible concert! The families loved it! The kids were happy with all aspects, well fed, well entertained! Parents had a good time too! There were many families of kids with autism and they felt welcomed and supported! We raised more than we anticipated!

The Fuzzy Lemons launched a new chapter today, as Vanessa Garaio made her debut on keyboards and vocals. Kipley left some big shoes to fill, so rather than try to replace him with another multi-instrumentalist, we sat back and let the universe’s plan unfold the way it was meant to. And lo and behold, Justin and Dana met Vanessa at their church, playing keyboards!

We played a few shows as a quartet while she got up to speed in rehearsals (and spent a week in Spain!). Today’s gig in Hoboken was her first chance to get out on stage and strut her stuff with the Lemons. And strut, she did! Welcome, Vanessa!

The Fuzzy Lemons return to Hoboken! We haven’t played on our home turf since Maxwell’s back in November. We brought the Pajama Jam to our home-town crowd and it was a blast! We had kids and parents rockin’ in their jammies.

Our newest innovation made its debut at this show: an extra microphone for the crowd! We had several kids up on stage singing “Skunks in my Shoes” with us, and some mommies even got up to sing along on “Twist and Shout”! I’ll do them all a favor, I won’t post that particular photo.

Another great thing about playing locally: We get to work with Dave Entwistle again. Not only did he do a bang-up job getting us set up and sounding hot, but he grabbed Chris’ conga during “Funky Hair” and jammed with us! And man, it sounded sweeeeeeeet. Dave will always be part of theLemon family!

Today we returned to lovely Hoboken after a week away for Christmas. In our absence, NJ was hit buy up to two feet of snow in some places (we got quite a bit up in CT, as well). Our landlord hadn’t been by to shovel our steps, and apparently no one else in our building was around, so today marks the first time I’ve ever had to shovel my way IN to the building.

In other news, I’m all kinds of behind on the bloggity blog. I need to get a few final gig diary entries in, including my recent visit as Santa to All Saints, then I’ll tot up the numbers. I suspect that they’ll be down from last year, owing to the greatly reduced number of classes I’ve been teaching lately. Ah well.

We were up for People’s Choice again, but we didn’t win. Oh well. Congrats to the winners! And thank you to Dave Entwistle for running an excellent awards show!

It’s back-to-school time! Our old friends at All Saints Day School invited us back to help them celebrate at their big kick-off BBQ. We haven’t played for these guys since April of last year, but they always throw a great party and this was no exception. We played two 30-minute sets for the assembled throng, taking a break in between for burgers, dogs, cookies, brownies… in short, a delightful picnic on a gorgeous September evening!

Like Simon and Garfunkle before them, Erin Lee and Marci have finally split up (but they’re still doing concerts together). Now Erin Lee is touring with her new combo, the Up Past Bedtime Band, and in keeping with tradition she asked me to sit in with them for their Shipyard concert!

Fortunately, though the band has changed the songs remained the same, so rehearsing for the show was simply a matter of remembering what I did last year! (Erin Lee’s songs are really catchy and not too difficult to learn.) I like these sets because I get to break out the banjo and mandolin and challenge myself a little. Thanks, Erin Lee… all these years later she’s still pushing me musically!

I loved the Up Past Bedtime Band. They put on a great show, very entertaining, very silly, very musical. Learn more about Erin Lee’s new direction here.

Two in one day!

At the organic store, I heard “Are you Dave?” from a woman near the check-out counter. Turns out it was Karyn Kuhl, another Hoboken-based musician who does classes for kids. Eight years working in the same field in the same town and we’ve never actually said “hi” to each other. But she could have been a Fuzzy Lemon: She was included in the original e-mail I sent out, inviting people to jam with Dana, Kipley, Maiken and myself at Cabin Fever 2008. Anyway, we hobnobbed for a bit. She’s friendly.

Then, after a pleasant afternoon noodling on my banjo (not a euphemism) at Church Square Park, I heard an “Are you Dave?” from the gazebo. A woman named Liz recognized me from the Gordys; she was hanging out with another fellow who introduced himself as Manny The Artist. Manny said he’d enjoyed my banjo picking and told me about his son, who is in a band called Blue Food, and I should check ‘em out on YouTube. Blue Food. You heard it here first, folks!

It’s summer in Hoboken, and that can only mean one thing: The Gordys are on the loose! That’s right, the Mile-Square City’s hottest Klezmer outfit did its thing again this year at Sinatra Park, and as always, it was a blast. It was a gorgeous night, featuring a lovely moonrise over our Manhattan backdrop. Big thanks to Geri Fallo, Tom Sweeney and sound-guy Chris “Gibby” Gibson.”

This year’s Gordy line-up featured:
Dave Lambert, guitars, mandolin, vocals, percussion and harmonica
Howard Olah-Reiken, guitars and vocals
Pamela Strell, vocals and percussion
Adam Laden, guitars, mandolin, vocals and woodwinds
Barbara Arnett, accordion
Rob Harari, keyboards, vocals and percussion
Joe Harari, drums, vocals
Justin Michael, bass guitar
And two special guests:
Donna Coney Island, vocals
Gordy Haas, vocals and guitar

That’s right, Gordy himself, after whom the band was named, made his stage debut with us tonight! He rocked that Bon Jovi country tune, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” And the hilarious and talented (and patient) Donna Coney Island stepped in on several tunes, notably “Time Warp” and “We Got The Beat.”

Also, the night featured some VERY special guests, as the Gordys: The Next Generation took the stage. Rob, Howard, Adam and Barbara’s kids all came up to sing that inescapable Train song, “Hey Soul Sister,” and they did a heck of a job.

We even got asked to do an encore! Stunned, we stumbled our way through “Angel from Montgomery” to the delight of the synagogue crowd. Then we went to the bar at 10th and Willow for afters, already planning the set list for next year’s show.

The photos on this page are by Joe Epstein. Bill Benzon also took some great shots of the night, you can see them here.

-- Weather When Posted --

• Temperature: 81°F;
• Humidity: 54%;
• Heat Index: 82°F;
• Wind Chill: 81°F;
• Pressure: 30 in.;