Are You Dave?

‘Tis the season for end-of-summer and back-to-school shows, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate. The All Saints’ gig in Hoboken, scheduled for the 7th, was rained out, and so was this show’s original date on Sept. 24th. But we worked out a new date and were blessed with GORGEOUS weather for our last outdoor show of the fall.

The library is nestled in a beautiful Westchester valley, and the leaves were just starting to turn, but the sun was still plenty warm enough for an outdoor show. It was simply delightful, and music lovers soon covered the expansive green with picnic blankets and enjoyed the show.

A huge thank-you to the Auxiliary Board of the Rye Free Reading Room for making it happen. From the moment we pulled up we were met by helpful volunteers, which came in handy when Vanessa’s keyboard would’t work and we had to send someone to Radio Shack for a new power supply! Vanny didn’t blink, she just grabbed her tambourine and rocked out for the entire set. This band has really become a fluid and adaptable rock’n'roll unit, and I love being a Lemon!

~ Dave

Our busy summer continues! My old neighbor Hank Kramer is now living down in the Morristown area and is on the board of the historic society. He’s been trying to set up a show for us down there for over a year. It finally came together today, and boy was it worth the effort!

Our keyboard player, Vanessa, grew up in that area and had been to the Morris Museum many times as a kid. She bought her first rock collection there. Her delighted squeals as we pulled into the parking lot entertained the band (and woke us up — it was an early arrival).

Setting up went smoothly with the help of sound-guy Dave Entwistle, and it was good to catch up with Hank and his adorable kids while I uncoiled my cables, etc. And because this was an actual theater, there was a green room backstage where we all chilled out with pizza, sodas, and M&Ms. A guy could get used to this.

In addition to the Lemons, Hank and his crew recruited some other talent, including Juggles the Clown and his partner to do balloons and face painting. Our crowd of happy kids was well-bedecked when the show started. Chris wanted a balloon hat, too, so a few songs into our set Juggles crept out onto the stage and wiggled one down on his head. We kept Juggles on stage for “Jump, Wiggle and Shake,” too! He had a ball, and so did we.

After the show we had a lovely afternoon at Vanessa’s dad’s house, snacking and gabbing about random topics. At one point we were ruminating on Dark Matter and the nature of the universe, like a bunch of college freshmen. Good times. Then it was time to drive home in an absolute frog-drowner or a rainstorm.

~ 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

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!

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!

Last June we did a wonderful gig in Jersey City for the school system; this year we were pleased to be asked back for the Week of the Young Child. They honored us by asking us to do three shows in two different school! Dana, Chris and I did two Trio sets during the day, and then the full band rocked out at a second school that evening. It was a blast!

The trio sets were very fun. We could have easily done them as full-band sets, if only Justin and Vanessa didn’t have day jobs. The auditorium was full for both shows; I estimated 10 classes of at least 15 kids each (probably more; J.C. has more crowded classrooms than Hoboken, I’m told). It was slightly intimidating to face such a crowd with nothing but an acoustic guitar. But there was nothing to fear. The kids were marvelous: enthusiastic, well-behaved, and eager to sing and dance. And dance they did, all around the gym! We could do that sort of gig on a regular basis. It’s worth thinking about.

Chris is an awesome percussionist; he rotated back and forth between the djembe and the shakers and a bunch of other goodies I’d brought along. And Dana held the crowd in thrall with her musical ability. I’m so happy to be in such talented company!

The full-band show wasn’t as well-attended, but as before the kids who were there were on their feet dancing for the whole show. Once again, Dave Entwistle did sound, and he and Justin got the PA working despite the absence of a critical bag of components. Bless their hard-working hearts.

Afterwards, packing up, we accidentally packed up a student’s guitar from the auditorium! Dana had to drive it back the next day. Oops. Sorry about that.
~ Dave

Vanessa’s first weekend with the Lemons was a bit of a baptism by fire, as we dragged her all the way to Brooklyn first thing Sunday morning! She was a trooper, and even offered the use of her car, a definite plus when it comes to Lemon-hood. (Just kidding, Vaness! You’d be in the band even without a car!)

CBE is a hip little temple in Park Slope, and there were a lot of young families present to support the band. The concert was a fund-raiser for the school, and had been well-advertised. The CBE staff were super helpful and nice. Someone even decorated the bake-sale table with a bowl of lemons; I was touched by the attention to detail (and grateful that they weren’t, you know, fuzzy).

Once again we had Dave Entwistle riding shotgun for us, which meant that things ran smoothly and sounded great, as always! The kids were great, they really got into the music. During “Don’tcha Wanna Ride?” they had a choo-choo train going. We love that.

We hope the families had as much fun as we did, and we hope the event was as successful as everyone hoped!

Afterwards, we did something that we rarely ever do: We went down the street and had a nice meal together. It was delightful, even though Chris and Dave had to bail. Maybe next time!
~ Dave

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!

We’ve started using a site called GigMasters to book shows, and after a slow beginning we’ve started getting lots of hits. I’m not in charge of that aspect of the Lemonverse so I don’t know all the particulars, but the bottom line is: We landed an end-of-year party at a school waaaaay out on Long Island.

It took us three cars and almost two hours to get the whole band to this show, but I think it was worth it! The Silver School deals with special-needs kids (I have no idea what the current P.C. term is but I think that sums it up). The audience was made up of lots of little kids and also some that were slightly older than we’re used to, but they were no less enthusiastic! Dave Entwistle, of course, did his usual bang-up job getting us up and running. The kids and the staff were grooving and dancing through two rockin’ sets, and afterwards much interest was expressed in inviting us back for future events (and as I understand it they’ve already passed our name on to another group that would like to book us).

Going all the way back to our visit to Spencer’s school, we’ve found that our music appeals to kids in this population, and I think we’re going to keep that idea in mind as we plan 2011 and beyond.

This was a milestone gig for us in another way, as well. Sadly, it was Kipley’s last day as a full-time Fuzzy Lemon. I have a hope that he’ll “guest-star” with us in future gigs, but meanwhile he’s focusing his energy on his career and family, in anticipation of moving back to Chicago later this year. As swan songs go, this wasn’t a particularly glorious one, but I think it was an energetic and fun show for a happy and appreciative audience, and ya can’t ask for more than that.

Sound check before the show. Photo by Dave E.

Ready to rock!