Are You Dave?

Last month’s Neil Young night was such a blast that everyone decided to do another one! Keith, in particular, is a rabid fan, and very quickly produced a set list that was every bit as awesome as the first, without a single repeat. I claimed “Helpless” (in fact, during the February Neil Young show I texted Jim that I wanted to do “Helpless” at the next one), imagining those rich backing harmonies in my head.

Over the next few weeks I felt pretty full of myself, and booked “Roll Another Number for the Road” and “Needle and the Damage Done” as well. In addition, Keith asked me to sing “Union Man” and even to play bass(!) on two tunes, “C’mon Baby Let’s Go Downtown” and “Bite the Bullet.” I was a little intimidated, but Jim encouraged me. “A monkey can play the bass,” he’s fond of saying. I borrowed Justin’s acoustic bass and practiced whenever I could. That’s the great thing about these shows, they’ve got me practicing again. I’m pushing myself to play better, to rise to the level of these other cats.

As usual, it was a fun night, with cold beer and hot tunes. Everything came off seamlessly, everyone sounded fantastic (though I mumbled a couple of lines of “Needle”). Joff, in particular, sounded great, playing gentle pedal-steel with me on “Needle.” I invited him to come to Howard’s annual birthday jam at the end of the month, I think he’d fit in nicely.

Anyway, we raised over $650, not bad for passing the hat in a wee pub.

Keith wrote everyone afterwards: “I’d like to thank everyone for doing a great job last night, especially with regard to keeping things moving along by following the setlist and being ready to play. I thought it was one of the smoother running shows we’ve done. The theme for the next show will be: ‘Songs of 1969′.”

Can’t wait!
~ Dave

The Hoboken Family Alliance has been hosting their groovy “Cabin Fever” event at the Hoboken High School gym for a couple of years now, and not a moment too soon! The event had long since outgrown the Elks club. In a twist, however, I was barely involved this year, and the Lemons weren’t there at all! I did a half hour of ukulele songs to advertise for Guitar Bar, Jr., and that was it. I did get to visit with Daniel from the Rockdoves, and Michael of Preschool of Rock, and you know how much I enjoy networking. The Rockdoves (along with Erin Lee & the Up Past Bedtime Band and some others) are working with the Lemons to get a family concert series going in NYC, watch this space for details.

Tonight was Neil Young night, two hours of rockin’ tunes and cold beer in an appropriately grungy (yet still quite pleasant) bar downtown. I performed “Harvest Moon” and “From Hank to Hendrix” with Keith, Ereni, Ty, Joff and the rest. It was even more fun than November’s Dylan night, because I felt much more relaxed and prepared, I had gotten to know my bandmates better, and because several friends came out to sing along.

The event raised some $500 for a scholarship run by Pete Martinez, drummer and proprietor of the Drum Den here in town.

Can’t wait to find out what next month’s theme will be…

Way back in October, I got this message from Jeremy Zmuda on Sprockster: “We are organizing a fundraiser for our nonprofit, Kids Need A Melody, that provides free music classes, instruments, and books to young children living in the shelter system. We are targeting late January/early February, and want to have a family event with children’s music performances.”

Never one to pass up a worthy family event with fellow Kindie rockers, I wrote back and offered my help (and, of course, the music of The Fuzzy Lemons). As the autumn wore on, the event took shape rapidly: A huge, multi-band performance, with face-painting, raffles and prizes, the works. Some of my fellow Sprockster-ians joined in as well, including Suzi Shelton and Joanie Leeds, whom I’d met briefly at KindieFest, and Rebecca Frezza, a former Music Together teacher who is making the big time.

And, at some point, Bob McGrath of “Sesame Street” fame came on board as M.C.! Are you kidding me? Bob from “Sesame Street!” This was the guy who taught all of us to sing, sing a song, when we were knee-high. I could tell it was shaping up into a serious shindig.

Unfortunately, the Lemons weren’t available! No one was free that day except me. Undaunted, I contacted Suzi via Sprockster. We’d just donated a song to her for her daughter’s school (music budgets are being slashed everywhere!) so she remembered me, and was open to the idea of doing something together. She wrote “How bout you pick one of your tunes so that we can promote your CD’s and I will just learn it and sing backup or harmonies? (maybe think of a simple song, as I am a simple girl…).”

To be honest, it never occurred to me to just do a solo tune; if I’m gonna play Kindie Rock I gotta play it with a Kindie Rock Band, whether it’s mine or someone else’s! Anyway, I sent her “Please Don’t Cry” because it’s easy, three chords, cool harmonies.

There was the usual back-and-forth leading up to the event, correcting misspellings in the P.R. material, making sure everyone had the chords to the song, etc. All handled via e-mail. When I walked into Crash Mansion down on NYC’s storied Bowery, I still had hardly met anyone involved face-to-face. But I made may way to the little “green room” backstage and suddenly it was like I was part of the family. Suzi was there with her daughter, Jon Samson was there, Joanie and her boyfriend/drummer were there, Bob was there, the various drummers and bassists were there, and we all were just chattering like kids. (Sadly, Rebecca Frezza had been forced to pull out; it would have been fun to jam with her and her band.)

Bob McGrath is the sweetest cat you could ever meet (and his wife Ann is even sweeter). He was totally into what we were doing, and took the time to talk to each of us backstage. He wanted to know our names, what we played, the works. I slipped him two Lemons CDs for his grandkids, of course. Joanie told us later that, upon arrival backstage, Bob had very casually dropped trou and changed into his “Bob” clothes (khakis and a sweater) right in front of her. What a showbiz pro. (She’s still getting over that image. We had a laugh, wondering how many times he’d mooned Big Bird over the years.)

The whole afternoon was a hoot. Hanging out at a bar with other talented musicians, singing goofy songs to kids, swapping stories with Bob from “Sesame Street.” Joanie and Suzi both joined me for backups on “Please Don’t Cry,” then I borrowed Suzi’s acoustic for a solo “Skunks in my Shoes” that went over pretty well, I reckon. Ann told me afterwards that she could hear everything I sang very clearly, whereas some of the others didn’t enunciate very well. I took that as a HUGE compliment; what’s the point of doing this if no one can hear what you’re singing? (In retrospect, it may have just been that the sound guy had finally found the right balance, but that’s neither here nor there.)

All of the performers were great. Suzi Shelton is a wee little slip of a girl who packs a whole lot of soul and energy into her set. Joanie Leeds, by comparison, is a total over-the-top rockstar (in fact her album “I’m a Rock Star” was a candidate for a Grammy nomination!). Jon Samson did a quieter set, just him and his ukelele weaving magical tunes, accompanied by a bassist and drummer. Then Baze and His Silly Friends led a dance train around the entire bar!

Jeremy Zmuda, the organizer of the entire event, performs as “Jeremy Plays Guitar” and boy does he ever! Everyone captured the crowd in their own way (even though Jeremy had the home-field advantage since he’d sold most of the tickets to his own classes). And in between sets, Bob song some of the classics we all grew up with, and showed us all how it’s done.

All in all, it was a great afternoon. I spread the Fuzzy Lemons name and sold a few CDs to help raise some dough for a worthy cause. But the personal highlight came at the end of the day. For the big finale, the ensemble all joined Bob on stage for “Sing a Song.” Wow. Maybe it’s not on your bucket list but I sure enjoyed every second of it!

I’m not the only one who had a great time. I sent out a note praising everyone for the efforts and skills and the replies were pretty funny.

Suzi wrote “On behalf of Steve, Emma and myself - we thought Kids Rock TOTALLY ROCKED! It was so much fun, and hope to do it again someday with you all. You are amazing musicians and adding Bob to the mix was brilliant. I must admit, I have a little crush on the man… Have a great week guys, and wonderful job!”

Jon Samson: “I agree with Dave on all counts! But was I the only one who drank heavily after the show:)?” [This is even funnier if you know Jon, he was totally kidding.]

Baze: “I agree with Jon, who agrees with Dave! Great event and it was blast meeting and hanging out with everybody. Oh yeah, I did hit the Capri Sun’s pretty hard when I got home.”

Joanie Leeds: “Me too! Agree agree agree and like on Facebook! Thanks so much for an awesome event.”

A day or so later, Jeremy wrote “WOW!! I can’t thank you all enough for taking the time to be part of KIDS ROCK!! You all did such an amazing job performing! We’ve gotten such great feedback from the event. It was a success in every way!! Thanks so much, and hope to be able to share the stage again with you guys. Thanks again for being part of such an amazing show!”

Lizzie Bicknell, who is on the board with Jeremy at Kids Need a Melody, wrote:

Dear KIDS ROCK! celebs,
Thank you all so much for all of your investment into our first annual event! I really appreciate how hard everyone worked, the performances were inspired.

And it paid off in every way!! I am very happy to say that we raised enough money to begin working in a second shelter in two classrooms for families who are recovering from addiction. These kids REALLY need the developmental support and the joy of music! So thanks again for participating and giving to the cause. It will really make a difference.

I am looking forward to working with you again soon. You guys really are the best of the kindie-rock scene, it was so fun! Thanks again,
Lizzie

Look for Kids Rock to become an annual event, and look for me there every year!
~Dave

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!

Happy Halloween! It’s time for our annual fright-fest and this year we haunt the Knitting Factory!

But first, a note: Last time we played here, Brandon Miller was our drummer. That turned out to be his last show with the Fuzzy Lemons. He’s decided to hang it up (for now) and we’re sad to see him go. Thank you, Brandon, for your awesome musical contributions to the band! To The Moon sounds amazing because of you.

Back to the band: We spent the last few weeks of September rehearsing with a cool young drummer names Chris Moran. Chris teaches drums at Garden Street Music, and when Dan McLoughlin heard we were drummerless he hooked us up. Chris dove in head-first and learned our tunes in two whirlwind rehearsals, including a batch Halloween tunes. And not only did he rock the set at the Knitting Factory, he did it in a Teletubby costume!

I love Halloween because the music is so goofy. We did “The Monster Mash” in full-on camp mode, of course, but the rest of our spooky set was pretty cool, come to think of it. “Five Little Pumpkins” has a righteous Bo Diddly beat (I play slide guitar on it), and our surf-rock version of the “Munsters” theme was gnarly, to say the least. And I can’t wait to record and release “Hallowalloween,” our first holiday-themed song (penned by Maiken DuBois, who has given her blessing to record it). With luck, it’ll get picked up and played every Halloween from now until, well, ever.

Playing in costume is fun and challenging. Dana had nowhere to clip her wireless receiver on her Crayon costume, and my top hat made guitar changes a challenge. But it’s so COOL to be up on stage all dressed up!

Watch this space for photos from the show!

~ Dave

With many of the Fuzzy Lemons out of town this weekend, we had to pass on the Arts & Music Fest gig.  But my old friend Erin Lee was back in town with the Up Past Bedtime Band, and they invited me to join them once again with my banjo and mandolin.

The Fest is always a great event, and this time around we were blessed with amazing weather. I did a total of five songs with the band, including “No Rain,” which I’ve covered in the past with both The Gordys and The Fuzzy Lemons. Erin Lee is teaching in Hoboken again and I’m looking forward to some raucous lunches with her this fall.

~ Dave

I’ve actually been in touch with Rocknoceros for about a year now, since my sister introduced me to them (she and her family are fans in the Rockno’s home state of Virginia). I met them face-to-face at Kindiefest and found them to be sweet fellows. Their albums are highly listenable.

Way back in the early summer, I got an e-mail from Rocknoceros’ booking guy. He said the band was going to be in Philly on Sept. 18th, and did I know of any gigs in our area on the 19th so they could make a mini-tour out of the weekend? It turns our the Lemons were booked at the Knitting Factory that day, so with the band’s approval I offered to share that slot with Coach, Boogie Woogie Benny and Willie Bob.

The Knitting Factory is so awesome, so technologically advanced, that they were able to accommodate two full bands on stage, at the same time, no problem (I’ve been in situations in the past where the headlining band gets a great mix and the other bands get the shaft). This gave me an idea: What song could we all perform together? A quick call to my sister revealed that “Yellow Submarine” was a popular favorite at Rocknoceros shows, so I mentioned it to Coach and the plan was hatched: When Rocknoceros finished their set, we’d join them on stage for an ensemble performance of the Beatles classic, “In the People’s Key of G” as Benny put it.

And whaddaya know, it worked! To my delight and surprise, things went pretty much exactly as planned. We had a decent crowd, including pretty much my entire family from CT and VA. Rocknoceros put on a great show (did I mention they’re really talented, friendly and entertaining?) and then we joined ‘em for “Yellow Submarine.” It was a wonderful moment and I hope it sounded as good to the audience as it felt on stage. My dad got it on video but I haven’t seen it yet.

Then after a few last-minute sound-check-type activities, we did our Fuzzy Lemons set. It was a full-on rockin’ 45 minutes, as always! Rob, the Knit’s sound guy, is crackerjack, we can always count on him to get the job done. We have a fairly new song, “The Firefly Song,” a lovely waltz in D that Kipley wrote, based on Eric Carle’s book The Very Lonely Firefly. It’s been really popular at shows and the audience really got into it today.

Afterwards, we broke for cupcakes (it was my nephew’s birthday) and went home! We’re in touch with Rocknoceros about sharing future gigs, watch this space for details.
~ Dave

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.