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November 20, 2005
From NEPA to NOLA
RECENT EVENTS
November 20, 2005
From NEPA to NOLA was a great success!
I can't say enough about all the bands that night. The performances of The Dixieland All-Stars, The Fat Cats, The Great Swamp Blues Band, Funk 'n' Gumbo, Zydecoal, The Indigo Moon Brass Band and of course, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band were outstanding! It was an honor to share the stage with such great talent. The New Orleans food was very, very good. We raised over $1,000 for the Tipitiana Foundation and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. And.. a lot of people were treated to an excellent night of New Orleans music.
George Levandowski of the Indigo Moon Brass Band got the surprise of his life that night. Due to a personal emergency, the Dirty Dozen's tuba player had to fly out to San Francisco and didn't make the show. The DDBB tapped George to play his Sousaphone with them for the entire set. After a short time in the green room with the DDBB to go over some arrangements, George took the stage with them and did a great job! As a matter of fact, the entire Indigo Moon Brass band was invited on stage with the Dirty Dozen for a couple of numbers. What a sound!
If you were at the show, I'd be glad to hear your impressions of the evening. Please email me. I have a few photos of that night on the PHOTOS page. If anyone has any photos of that evening, I's appreciate seeing them. Please email them to me and I'll see what I can do to get them on the web site.
I just want to say thank you to all the bands and performers, Margaret and the staff at Genetti Manor including John and Jesse, all the volunteers: Sean and Linda O'Brien, Arlene Belza, Carl and Mary Pucul, Tanya Hentschel, The Ruddys, Bill Davis (Great Job, Bill!), my son, Chris, who worked on the web page and especially my wife, Susan, who really puts up with way too much from me (I should buy her a new car or something -- yeah...she puts up with that much). Everyone went out of their way to help out... Thank you again. If I missed anyone, let me know.
I have a new found appreciation for what a promoter actually goes through. I want to thank Michael Arnone for his advice and support. Please check out Michael's Crawfish Festival (http://www.crawfishfest.com). Can't wait till June! I also want to thank John Gros of Papa Grows Funk (http://www.papagrowsfunk.com) for the donation of his CD catalog as a prize... and for calling me and sending it out so quickly. He has argue-ably the funkiest band in the funkiest city in the world.
Thanks also to all the companies and people who donated to this cause and helped publicize it (in no particular order): Sweda Advertising, Universal Printing, NEPA Visitors Bureau, Jim Rising of 102 the Mountain, Radisson Hotel, Community Bank and Trust, Gentex Corp., NEPA Blues Society, The Electric City, The Scranton Times, Daniels and Webster of Rock 107, Northeastern Envelope Co., The Weekender, Powell Sales and Service, Joe Snedeker and Laurie LaMaster of WNEP, Lackawanna County Arts Program, Magdon Music and Main Street Music, Denny and Jean Holmes and Jim Kovaleski.
I recently found out that there was another benefit that same night at Gin's to help out Paul Moran from Old Friends who is recovering from a broken hip. Best wishes to Paul from all of us.
Much of american music has it's roots in the Crescent City. Hopefully, we've opened up some minds and some ears for the great, diverse music of New Orleans. There's been a lot of talk lately as to whether that music will return there. From my conversations with the musicians and from what I've read, the music will continue... that's real good news.
If you'd like to attend more events like this in the future, let me know. There's a tremendous glut of musical talent in this area. Let it be heard. Get out and support live music. Get your friends out with you too. Don't worry, in all likelihood, the TV will still be there when you get home. If there's someone you'd like to see and hear, make a call to the local clubs and tell them. Help keep the performing arts alive in NEPA.
Posted by Bill Coleman at November 20, 2005 11:34 AM