Are You Dave?

Woohoo! MusicFest is one of our biggest shows of the year! We’ve been here twice before; in 2009 it was really hot, and and 2010 it rained. This year was our “Goldilocks” year, everything was just right. The weather was delightful, the crowds were agreeable, and the band was at its rockin’ best.

These festivals are fun for me, not just because we get to play on a huge stage to huge crowds, but because we get to meet (and observe) other performers who are in our line of work. This year we missed sharing the stage with our friend Baze (he played on Saturday), but we met magician Dave Levitan and the awesome cats from Starfish, our neighbors from nearby Maplewood, NJ (Starfish drummer “Grateful Dave” also plays drums for our pal Big Jeff).

As always, HUGE props to the This Is It! people and to DJ Mickey G for making it a smooth, fun, ultra-cool day.

~ Dave

Our crazy week continues! This was a Kids Kingdom Show, and it was good to see Deanna Hunt and DJ Mickey G., our This Is It! compadres. It was a lovely day, not too hot, and the kids were having fun. (Vanessa in particular made friends with a young man named Jose, who wasn’t shy about getting up and dancing with the girls!)

We shared the stage with Buckaroo Bindlestiff, a wild-west offshoot of the amazing Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. They spotted the Corn Mo sticker on my guitar case and we reminisced for a bit over mutual acquaintances (without going into detail, I’ll admit that in my pre-Lemons days I hung out once or twice with some of NYC’s most talented underground cabaret acts). If you haven’t seen the Bindlestiff performers in one of their many guises, you’re missing out.

Our first outdoor show of the season became an indoor show, as ferocious winds and driving rain forced the event into the train terminal at historic Liberty State Park. (And Vanessa’s initiation into Lemonhood continued, as she endured a little of my temper over miscommunication over where to park and unload. I’m sorry, Vanessa! You didn’t deserve to be yelled at!)

The Hudson County Improvement Authority put a lot of effort into creating this Earth Day event, and they lined up a great day of entertainment, with the help of the fine folks at This Is It! Productions. We were all disappointed by the weather, but Deanna and her team did an amazing job moving as much of the fun as they could under cover, and we couldn’t be happier with the work they do. The even provided sandwiches and drinks for the staff and entertainers!

As we got there, Miss Sherri and the Little Animal Band were rocking the train terminal, decked out in full critter regalia. We’ve met them before, at Kids Kingdom shows, and they always put on an entertaining set. I’m regret to say I didn’t catch the name of the dancer who went on stage after Sherri, but she also put on an amazing show, dancing with Spider Man, Sheriff Woody, Minnie Mouse, and some other costumed characters. The kids loved it.

As the final act in the line-up, I think we suffered most due to the weather; a lot of people packed up and went home. But we still had an enthusiastic crowd and we made sure to send as many of them home with CDs as we could. We couldn’t be the Fuzzy Lemons if we didn’t have fans cheering us on! Thank you everyone!!!!
~ Dave

Today was the first of our three gigs with This Is It! Productions’ Traveling Kids’ Kingdom, and what a start it was! Deanna Hunt and the good folks at This Is it! really know how to pull out all the stops and put on a great show.

Our friend DJ Mickey G was there, doin’ his thing as MC. He knows what the kids like! We talked about collaborating with him; Dana has a new song that might be a perfect match for his skills at the turntable. I keep mentioning it in hopes that it’ll actually come true.

I also met another surprise character: Matt Wilson, a.k.a. “Harry” on Cyberchase, one of our favorite PBS kids’ shows. I saw his trademark spiky hair and goofy clothes and shouted like a fanboy “Oh wow, it’s Harry from Cyberchase!” Rather than siccing security on me, Matt flashed a huge grin and said “hi,” introduced himself by his real name, and even asked about my kid.

Then he did something so amazing I can scarcely believe it: When I introduced myself as a Fuzzy Lemon, he said “Oh, you guys are great, I love the Fuzzy Lemons!” He’d actually heard of us and liked our music! I can’t imagine how such a thing is possible but I’m going to act as if it’s true.

Matt and Dave

After Matt and his wife Stephanie performed their “Ultimate Rock and Roll Show” (a real crowd-pleaser) it was our turn. We whipped through a super-fast set up and soundcheck. Deanna had hired Mike K. again and he and his team had us up and running in record time.

I love outdoor shows. The wind and sun feel so good, I think they enhance the music in some mysterious way. But the wind also decided to knock the drum shield over, and the sun was pretty darn hot…

In other words, the gig was a mixed bag, as per usual. We played through a state-of-the-art sound system on a huge stage, but we couldn’t seem to hold the festival crowd. I don’t mean to say the place was empty——we had kids dancing, but Matt and Stephanie seemed to have more. As always, I think the sun was a factor. But there’s definitely an opportunity here for the Lemons to really step up our game and find out how to capture folks’ attention, without giving anything away in terms of the songs we write and perform.

We have two more gigs with This Is It! Productions in September and October; I can’t wait to turn it up another notch!

~ Dave

…Deanna Hunt of This Is It! Productions e-mailed me today and asked if the Lemons wanted to play at the opening of the new Clearview Cinemas theater here in Hoboken in October. The Lemons unanimously said “heck yeah!”

So now my gig calendar looks like this:

• October 10 - Telemundo taping
• October 11 - In-Store concert at Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Triangle, NYC
• October 18 - Jubilee Day - Benefit for Jubilee Center
• October 24 - Clearview Cinema opening gala
• October 24 - private party in Hoboken
• October 30 - Halloween party for Garden Street Music (in exchange for studio time!)
• November 15 - Possible Fuzzy Lemons album pre-release fund-raiser
• December 4 - Fuzzy Friday (tentative)
• December 5 - Dave and Howie’s annual holiday show at the Museum
• December 11 - Fuzzy Friday (tentative)
• December 16 - Garden Street Music holiday party
• December 18 - Fuzzy Friday holiday concert (tentative)