Are You Dave?

For many years now, the various bands of Hoboken have “banded together” for an annual concert to raise money for a worthy charity, play some holiday songs, and generally have one last hootenanny before the year’s end. I fist started playing these shows maybe 4 years ago with the Gordys. That year, the event was held for Katrina relief. This year, the money was going to the Jubilee Center, an after-school program in town, so when the Gordys got the invite to play I also passed it along to the Fuzzy Lemons, who quickly agreed that it’d be fun.

Each band only got two sing 2 songs this year. The Gordys have traditionally perfomed “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (featuring me!) and that old Pretenders chestnut “2,000 Miles,” with Pamela on vocals. But Pamela begged out this year, on the flimsy grounds that she’s due to give birth any day now, and the band was kind of done with the Grinch song. So instead we went with 2 numbers that Howard and I have perfected over the last couple of years at our Museum shows: “Winter Wonderland” and John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War is Over).”

The Fuzzy Lemons, meanwhile, had just learned “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” for our own Holiday gig on 12/5, and Dana had been pushing to sing “Santa Baby,” so that short set was easily decided.

It was, as always, a very fun evening. Hoboken musicians are, by their very nature, a warm and friendly crop. We love to jam with each other, a tradition that goes back at least two decades (when the town’s aging population began to be replaced by artists drawn by low rents). And we love to drink together, so piling us all into the back room at Willie McBride’s with a few of our fans is always the recipe for a good time.

The Fuzzy Lemons had a ball, playing what was certainly our latest gig yet. (We went on at 8:15!) Justin’s wife captured our ska rendition of “Santa Baby”:

I got a lot of props for the Grinch song; I’m afraid of what might happen if I don’t perform it next year.

The Gordys, meanwhile, took the stage for the first time without Pamela, and with yet another drummer on the throne: Joe Harari, Rob’s teenage son. He did a great job and will most likely be invited back, if his other four bands don’t keep him too busy. Justin’s wife captured “Winter Wonderland,” and the whole room sang along on “War is Over,” which was great. I wanted to get the whole crowd up on stage for the final chorus but it was still pretty early and no one was drunk enough to try it, I guess.

However, by the end of the night everyone was more than ready to join Geri Fallo on stage for a rendition of “Christmas Wrapping,” the big hit for The Waitresses in the 80s, written by absent Hoboken resident Chris Butler. Now, I take a lot of the blame credit for Geri jumping up on stage to sing; I think Harari (Rob, not Joe) and I were the ones who truly pestered her to get on stage with The Gordys over the summer.

It’s possible that we’ve created a monster.

Shake It Santa, Shake It! from Rowmama on Vimeo.

Here’s me in the Santa suit, dancing. Really.

Video courtesy of Corinna Kramer and her husband. Costumes and choreography by Colleen Castle.

I love this song, I love this band.

With all the craziness of the election and such, I haven’t posted a THING about Fuzzy Fridays!

Kipley hit on the craaaazy idea to do a whole series of shows, back-to-back, for 8 weeks, as a way to (a) develop our material; (b) expand our audience; and (c) hone our performing skills. The church where we’ve been rehearsing was open to the idea, so we opened the doors and Fuzzy Fridays was born. Eight Fuzzy Lemons shows, every Friday at 3:30 in October and November (excepting holidays) and a big Holiday show on Dec. 5.

It’s been a LOT of fun and a huge challenge. Setting up our stage, complete with backdrop (including lights and other decorations), running soundchecks, then playing a 45-minute set, then breaking it all down again, EVERY week… it’s a workout! But I think it’s been very fruitful. We’ve debuted some new material, revisited old material to see how to keep it fresh, and for the week before Halloween we added a whole batch of Halloween tunes (including an original that Maiken wrote!).

We’ve been extra-blessed to once again have Dave Entwistle doing sound for us. We’re hoping that, by the last couple of shows, we will have tweaked the sound well enough to attempt to make a recording of the set. We’ll see if that pans out. 

Fan response has been pretty good, judging by ticket sales: 10 families the first week, 20 the 2nd week, and up into the 30s for the last three shows. We have three left: Nov. 14, Nov. 21 and the holiday show Dec. 5. Here’s a video snippet from the Oct. 17 set:

Nov. 21 will sadly be our last gig with Maiken, as she’s celebrating the holiday season by moving to Sidney with her husband. We’re crushed, but eager to get her into the studio to record a bunch of her material before she moves so we can milk every possible penny out of her keep her music alive with us even after she’s gone around the globe.

Speaking of the studio, our new friends at Garden Street Music will be joining us on Dec. 5, our last gig in the series, with their youth choir! It’s going to be fun to sing “Rudolph” and other favorites with a choir. Meanwhile, word of the event has spread and this particular Fuzzy Friday has suddenly evolved into a giant HFA holiday brouhaha! They’ll be doing snacks and such downstairs at the church, while the Lemons rock it upstairs. Everyone will get goodiebags, and I’m sure there will be giveaways and all the other fun stuff you can expect from the crazy crew at the Hoboken Family Alliance. So check it out!

In 1983 NASA’s Guy Bluford Jr., became the first African-American astronaut to fly into space. In 1992 Mae Jemison became the first female African-American astronaut to fly.

A few years ago Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the Oscars for Best Actor and Actress.

Tonight we have our first African-American President.

I’d be very happy to never* hear the words “the first African-American [fill in the blank]” again. Let’s be done with “separate but equal” once and for all. Let’s all be one Human Race.

Meanwhile, no one says it better than The Boss:

[* With the possible exception of "first female African-American president," which could happen in my lifetime, or maybe my child's.]

I’m in the process of bringing a screening of this film to Hoboken. Anyone who has a boy or knows a boy or was a boy is invited. Watch this space for details.
Dave