My other annual show at the Shipyard is always a treat. My fellow teachers are always energetic and animated, and they love to harmonize. Even the simplest songs become masterpieces when you add rich harmonies. This year, I joined my fellow teachers Leslie, Marina, Bill, and our old friend Catherine Moon to put on a fun-filled show for our hometown crowd.
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Our annual Shipyard show was, as always, an enormous party! There was the usual Great Wall of kids at the front of the stage, and the usual admonitions from the band to (a) keep little hands to themselves, and (b) be careful not to fall down the steps. But no one needed us to make a Lost Child announcement this year (it’s happened in the past).
Ben & Jerry’s sponsored the show, but new rules set by the Shipyard folks prevented them from actually selling ice cream that night. Very disappointing, but at least we had a smart-looking banner to hang behind us on the stage.
And we didn’t get rained on until after the show, when we were loading the van. Bonus!
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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.
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Ah, the legendary annual Shipyard concert. I won’t bother repeating a lot about how great these shows are; you can read last year’s entry and get a good idea of the crowd and the energy.
This year there were a few minor differences. First of all, Hoboken had managed to go a year without any more arrests at City Hall, so there was no politicking. Also, I’d had a great meeting with Sibel, the wonderful lady who runs the local Ben & Jerry’s, and she was sponsoring the event and selling ice cream over by the fountain. Let’s see, what else happened that was different from last year… oh yeah… We got rained out midway through!
That’s right, for once the weather people got it right. The sound crew, Randy and Tom, arrived at the Shipyard and started setting up gear, so we figured Geri had decided the threat of rain was minimal. Kipley was pretty sure it was going to rain halfway through our set and he was dead right (as he pointed out more than once during the hurried tear-down afterwards). Oh well. We went for it, put on a great 30-minute show, then spent an hour back at the studio, toweling off our gear.
Joe Epstein got some great shots of us before the skies opened up. Thanks Joe!
Keepin' an eye on the weather
Funky Hair!
Justin's flyin' fingers!
Kipley wows 'em
Brandon bashes 'em
A typical week in the life of the Fuzzy Lemons can include anywhere from 75 to 200 e-mails. Buried in among the discussions of set lists, copyright issues, technology, marketing and general hoo-ha are actual announcements of gigs that we’ve booked.
In an effort to keep my schedule (and my head) straight, I’m trying to cull all of my events from the e-mail torrent and get them all listed in one location. And wow, turns out it’s quite a list:
Whew! That’s a BUNCH of road trips around NJ, a crop of outdoor shows right here in Hoboken (a favorite), a mind-blowing conference with the biggest names in the business, and jaunts to Brooklyn, the Bronx and NYC. And we haven’t even booked our Knit gigs for the 2nd half of the year yet. I’m exhausted just thinking about it, and eager and excited to rock so many places. The week of June 20-27 promises to be extra crazy… and extra fun! See you there!
~ Dave
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Wow, what a show! What a crowd! What a band! Everything I love about playing music came together last night. Which is not to say we played a flawless show–far from it. There were minor technical issues and I KNOW I made some tragic gaffes on the guitar. But the band’s energy was amped up so high that we barreled right through all of it and kept the crowd dancing the entire hour.
I have to say that it was an amazing sight to see an ocean of people on the lawn; in fact there wasn’t a bare patch of grass exposed anywhere. The place was wall-to-wall kids, and yet (with the exception of one “lost child!” alert, quickly resolved) I didn’t see any wailing, shoving, or anything, just shiny little faces bopping in the evening light.
There’s always a mob right up at the front of the stage, kids clambering over equipment and one another to be closer to the band, but even that mad crush didn’t turn ugly. In fact it was cute as can be, and no one touched our mic stands, which meant none of the Lemons got knocked in the teeth by microphones. Bonus.
It was a bit of a landmark night for the town of Hoboken, in the wake of the recent political shake-up (our mayor got arrested and then resigned recently). Geri Fallo seemed even bubblier than usual as she announced the new acting mayor’s name in public for the first time, eliciting a huge cheer from the gathered throng. I think the enormous energy of the crowd had us all feeling pumped before we even started the show. In addition, we just finished an intense week in the studio and these days we’re feeling pretty darn good about ourselves musically.
Right as we launched into our first song, “Let’s Be Nice to Monsters,” the PA let out a gawd-awful crackle. It interrupted Kipley just as he was about to start his little into monologue. I looked over at him and he had a huge grin, like he was slightly concerned about the technical issue but it wasn’t going to stop him for a second, and he powered on, never losing the grin. (He later told us that he’s never played one of these shows WITHOUT a technical issue, so he just expects it.) I took my cue from that and played my heart out, and I think everyone else did too.
Which brings me to Randy Taber, who has been doing sound lately for Geri (we first met him at Kiddiepalooza in June). First of all, he and Sweeney arrived at, like, 5:15 (as opposed to their usual 6:00) which gave us GOBS of time to set up and run soundchecks before the show. Then, when we had the issue with the cable crackling, he jumped up on stage and corrected the problem lickety-split. He’s been a tour manager for Pink Floyd cover band The Machine, he teaches sound engineering at William Patterson University, he’s run sound for the Wetlands and B.B. King’s in NYC, and we’re lucky to have him.
Randy’s the reason we felt so good about our performance: Like Dave Entwistle, he makes darn sure we’re getting a great monitor mix and that we’re able to hear ourselves and each other. That’s the key to a great show (the downside is, when I make a goof on the guitar, I can hear it clear as a bell). If we’re struggling on stage, the audience knows it. That was not the case tonight. We were in sonic heaven and as a result–we ROCKED!
Photos and write up here!
Photo by Joe Epstein
~ Dave
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This show marks the beginning of my crazy summer, 5 gigs with 4 bands in 3 weeks, plus 20 hours in the recording studio. And I love it!
The annual Music Together show (read about last year’s here) is a bit of a departure from the other stuff I find myself doing these days. Whereas the Gordys are a band with lots of regular members who have to learn new material every year, the Music Together gang is an ever-rotating group who all happen to know the same music. And in fact this year we were blessed to not only have Anne and Catherine returning, we were joined by newcomer Kristin Springer as well. Her energy (and love of broadway show tunes) fit right in.
I’m grateful that we got the show together with only two big rehearsals (plus a couple of smaller get-togethers to pick songs and work out harmonies). My colleagues are al fantastic musicians and singers, and man-oh-man can they harmonize. Indeed, try to stop them! So once again we were able to put on a huge show with the simple lineup of four singer and a couple of guitars. We had a wonderfully supportive Shipyard crowd, as always, and the city’s sound crew, Tom and Aaron, did a bang-up job supporting us on the tech side.
Best moment: When I sang the opening notes of “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and the whole crowd answered back with the next line. That was fun.
From the show I packed up my gear and headed straight to Garden Street Music for a session with the Fuzzy Lemons. I’ll be back on the Shipyard stage with them next week!
~Dave
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Wow, the calendar has been gig-free for a few weeks, and I’ve neglected to check in! But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Last week, for example, The Fuzzy Lemons had a great session with Dan McLoughlin in our rehearsal studio–he gave us copious pre-production notes to help us prepare for our next sojourn into the recording studio.
On a personal note, I had two awesome weekends in a row–first I got to go to a ManKind Project bonfire, the first I’ve been to in a whole year, and it was fantastic to connect with some old friends again. Then, last weekend was Memorial Day and I got to take my li’l family up to CT to visit my folks, my sisters, and assorted spouses, nieces and nephews. I even got a waterski run in, as my aching shoulders will attest 2 days later.
And now it’s time to gear up for a whirlwind of activity: I have 5 gigs in the next three weeks!
Photo by Fred Eisner
Then we’ll enjoy some time off until we’re back at the Shipyard in August (and I have sets with Music Together, Erin Lee & Marci, and the Gordys around the same time–everything happens at once!)
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For those of you keeping track:
April 24: The Fuzzy Lemons at All Saints’ spring bash
May 1: TFL at HOPES Father’s Group Dance (tickets available now!)
May 9: TFL play a private party
May 30: TFL at the Waterfront Museum
June 4: Pete Seeger 90th Birthday tribute, featuring some of Hoboken’s top musicians!
June 6: June-A-Palooza in Jersey City (tentative)
June 7: TFL at the OLG Fun Fest at Church Square Park
June 14: TFL at Kiddiepalooza on Pier A
July 28: Music Together at the Shipyard
August 4 : TFL at the Shipyard
August 6: The Gordys at Sinatra Park
August 11: Sitting in with Erin Lee and Marci at the Shipyard
December 6: Annual holiday show with Howie at the Hoboken Historical Museum.
Yes, that’s three Shipyard Tuesdays in a row. Awesome. Meanwhile the Lemons are putting together our mailing to try to book festival gigs all summer long, watch this space for details!
~Dave
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Here’s my latest schedule:
I’m especially excited about the Pete Seeger thing; I’ll be sharing the stage with some of Hoboken’s top musicians, including the amazing Boo Reiners and Elena Skye (the Demolition String Band), The Cucumbers, Abbe Rivers, and Jim Mastro of the Guitar Bar. Jim has agreed to do “Turn, Turn, Turn” with me! I’m utterly psyched.
Notice also the end-of-summer crunch: Music Together, Fuzzy Lemons and Gordys shows, all within a two-week span. I LOVE it when that happens! LOVE IT!!!!!
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