Well gang, it's been quite a while since I posted here, and I'm long overdue! Got a couple of trips coming up, but before I get to that, I want to comment on a few shows that Karen and I have gotten to in the last couple of months.
Back in early January, along with her sister and niece, we made our annual pilgrimage to BB King's in Manhattan to see the great Darlene Love's annual 'Love For The Holidays' show. We've been going to this show for many years now, and Darlene never disappoints us. In addition to doing her Christmas tunes, she performs all of her 'moldy oldies' as she calls them, from her time as a solo artist, as well as singing lead for The Crystals. At 75 years young, she still has those great pipes, her voice is amazing; she brings great enthusiasm and love for what she does to the stage, and the show is really wonderful. Highly recommended!
Next up, on MLK weekend, we drove up to Connecticut, to Mohegan Sun, for 'Bowzer's Rock and Roll Party'. Jon Bauman, 'Bowzer' to fans of the old group Sha Na Na, has been doing these shows at Mohegan for 16 years, and they're always fun. This year, the lineup included a few acts we hadn't seen before, so we decided to go. Tickets were very reasonably priced, I think they were $35 or $40, and we had good seats, in the first few rows of the upper level, just off to the side of the stage. Good view of the acts, the band, and a little behind the stage action as well. For those of you who many not be familiar with these shows, they're a lot like the old Murray The K or Dick Clark shows; lots of acts (10) who each do 3 or 4 songs, with the headliners doing 5 or 6 songs.
The show kicked off with 'Kid Kyle', a young man who first came to fame about 10 - 12 years ago, when, as a very young child, he sang doo wop songs in the style of Frankie Lymon. he appeared on one of those PBS doo wop specials singing with The Students. Now age 21, he opened the show doing some of those great Frankie Lymon songs. His voice, now a little deeper, still has the sound of Frankie, and he did his couple of songs well, to good audience response.
Up next, Lala Brooks, one of the original lead singers of The Crystals (along with Darlene Love). Lala sand the lead on 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and 'And The He Kissed me'. She's still got a great voice, and did the songs well, got the crowd going, and was fun to see.
Out came Freddy 'Boom Boom' Cannon, who I'd never seen prior to this show, but I had heard that he really wasn't much of a vocalist. Well, at age 76, he may look a little frail, but he sounded a lot better than I was expecting. "Tallahassee Lassie", "Palisades Park", "Where The Action Is", he nailed them all! And he really got the crowd up and rocking, a fun act with lots of energy. Not sure I could sit through a full hour of his stuff, but for 3 or 4 songs, he was great.
The Capris came out next, and I was curious to see how they sounded, since thy lost their original lead singer, Nick Santo, to cancer a few years ago. No worries, the new lead has a terrific voice, the original guys backed him up well, and the music was wonderful. They nailed "There's A Moon Out Tonight", and "Morse Code of Love". Well worth going to see if they show up in your neighborhood.
The hits just kept coming, with Terry Johnson's Flamingos, and they sounded just like the records. "I Only Have Eyes For You" brought the house down, this group was one of the highlights of the show for me. I'd seen them way back in 1976 or 1977 at the old Long Island Arena, and to me, they sounded better this year than they did back then.
The first half of the show finished up with Jay Siegel's Tokens, one of the really legendary groups of the early 1960's. We'd seen them many times in the past, and they didn't disappoint us this time. Jay can still hit the high notes on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Portrait of My Love", and "Tonight I Fell In Love". As one of the featured groups, they did a few more songs than the other acts did, and took the crowd into intermission with a rousing ovation.
After a short intermission, we had the final three acts, all of them real legends. Starting off with "Lightning" Lou Christie, who is always fun to watch, and if you don't think so, he'll sure remind you that he is. He did all his hits, from "They Gypsy Cried" to "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", "Rhapsody Of The Rain", "Beyond The Blue Horizon" (from Rain Man - although I like Mike Nesmith's version better!), and, of course, "Lightning Strikes". The crowd really responded to him, and I figured it was gonna be impossible for the next act to follow him. I was wrong.
Up next, Bill Haley's Original Comets. The two remaining members of the group that actually played on "Rock Around The Clock". Now, that song was recorded in April of 1954, so these gentlemen are not kids; sax player Joey Ambrose is 83, and drummer Dick Boccelli is 93 years young! Along with their lead guitar player, who actually sounds a bit like Bill Haley did, and backed by Bowzer's house band Rocky & The Rollers, these guys rocked the place like nobody else! "See You Later Alligator", "Shake Rattle & Roll", and of course, "Rock Around The Clock" all sounded terrific! And Joey and Dick sure can play! They each did solos, and were excellent; 93 year old Dick did a drum solo that was over 3 minutes long, and really rocked! It's always a bit of a gamble when you go to see acts that are real legends, but who may have passed their time; we've all seen them, and it's sad. These guys, however, can still bring it. If they pass through your area, go see them.
Sadly, the closing act, who we had really come to see, was disappointing. it's been several years since I saw Jay Black, former lead singer of Jay and The Americans. Most of you know he's been my favorite since I first saw him, way back in the early 1970's. Karen saw him in his last performance, back in November of 2014 at Westbury, where he had a really rough time, due he said, to a cracked windpipe. Bowzer announced that while Jay is actually 'retired' and no longer performs, he agreed to do this show, and only this show, for Bowzer. Jay had closed this show several times in past years, and always brought down the house. Unfortunately, upon being introduced, as he went into his traditional opening number, Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", it was clear that he just couldn't do it. I started videotaping the song, but stopped after about 20 seconds - Jay sounded awful, and frankly, I didn't want to have that to remember him by. He struggled through a few more songs, apologizing between tunes, saying "I'm sorry, I can't sing". Fortunately, with the exception of some who walked out on him, the crowd was gracious, and gave him good applause, and, upon both his attempt at "Cara Mia", and his exit, long standing ovations. At the conclusion of Jay's set, Bowzer came out and made some very heartfelt remarks about Jay that really touched us all. As upsetting as it was to see and hear Jay this way, I was glad that I got the chance to stand up, applaud, and cheer him one last time.
And that was the show. Three plus hours of really good entertainment, with a little touch of sadness. Bowzer announced that next year's show is already scheduled, again on MLK weekend, and Karen and I will be back - great fun!
Next up, we saw The Association out at the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead. We'd seen them a couple of times in the past year or two, as they've been celebrating 50 years together. And as we hoped, it was a great show. All the hits, plus some familiar songs that were done by other artists, all played well, with those great harmonies that the band is known for. With the exception of some minor microphone/sound issues, they did a great show.
And finally, last weekend, for Valentine's Day, we ventured to the Patchogue Theater for "A Celebration of Dino", a 100th birthday tribute to Dean Martin. Starring Andy DiMino, and an 11 piece band, the show was absolutely great. Andy looks a bit like Dean, he has a similar voice, and has perfected Dean's mannerisms. A few times, if you closed your eyes, you'd have sworn it was really Dean on stage. From carrying a cigarette in his right hand, to the ever present glass of 'booze', nattily clad in a tuxedo, 'Dean' entertained us for almost two hours, with all the classic songs, including "That's Amore", "Sway", "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime", as well as some other tunes that were popularized by other members of the 'Rat Pack'.
Dean Martin was not, of course, one of 'our' generation of performers. But you know, back in the day (I hate that expression), when we were kids, there was only one television in the house. And so, everyone watched what was on. And in our house, and in Karen's, on Thursday night, it was The Dean Martin Show. And you know what? It was a great show, and I think I enjoyed it as much as my Mom and Dad did. Dean was a great entertainer, he had terrific comic timing, he could sing almost anything (how about "Houston", a great country tune that he took into the top 20!), and the show was fast paced and funny. Dean was cool. Doubt me on that? It was Elvis Presley himself who once said to Dean, "you were cool before anyone knew what cool was!" So to be sitting in that theater, re-living a lot of those memories was great fun for both Karen and I. Couple of times we both had those damn moist eyes that seem to afflict us from time to time. At the end of the show, they announced that Andy would be back again as Dean in the next year; we will definitely be going!
That's it, the last few shows we got to, and happily, not a clunker among them! In the coming weeks, we have a couple of good ones lined up, and I'll sure do a better job of posting them closer to when they happen.
And, the road trips are starting up again. This Tuesday, Tommy and I are heading off to Detroit for an Islanders road game. We both sort of wanted to get to a game at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena this season, as it is scheduled to close at the end of the season. A new arena is being built in downtown Detroit, and so it's the last chance to see 'the Joe'. Opened in 1979, it's now the oldest operating rink in the NHL. I looked into getting tickets back in November, but the prices were crazy. Since then however, the Red Wings have fallen to the bottom of the standings, and prices have come down. While watching the last Isles-Red Wings game, when they announced that the Isles would be back in Detroit during Tom's winter break, I knew we had to go. So we'll head out early Tuesday, catch the game that night, and head back on Wednesday. Gonna stop and see my sister in law Mary and her husband Bill on the way back, they're near Cleveland, and we're going to be passing right by, so the old two birds with one stone rule applies here.
Next up, I'll be leaving on Feb. 28 or Mar. 1, not sure, to head down to Sarasota Florida for one last "Adventures of Superman" gathering. Jim Nolt, who organizes these events, has said this is the last one he's doing, and so I really want to be there. Some special guests will be there, and the fellow who runs the Super Museum in Metropolis (Illinois silly, not the comic book city), is bringing two actual George Reeves Superman costumes from the show, one of the black and white costumes, and one of the color suits. To see these in person, up close, sounds pretty cool to me. There's going to be a luncheon, a video presentation, and a few guests who knew George well, so I think it's gonna be fun. And hey, I'll get to stop at S.O.B. either going or coming! So keep your eyes on this spot for the usual trip reports in the coming weeks.
That's all for now!
