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PocoNotes Newsletter 2006-3: August 1, 2006
WOW! We already knew that our “From NOLA To NEPA” Benefit Concert For New Orleans Musicians was amazing, incredible and magical...even before we starting receiving so much flattering feedback about it! Now that we’ve accomplished our launch event, it’s time to start planning our next one...but not until we say a few words. Well, maybe, more than just a few....
In our last newsletter, we offered a quote to summarize our journey thus far but it certainly bears repeating: "You'll never know exactly how far you can go unless you risk going too far." For those of you who were with us last Saturday night, we know that we all went to New Orleans - and back!
Boy Scout Troop 322 from Dickson City, headed by Frank Marcin, did an outstanding job as our auxiliary ushers. Okay…they did a few fun things like hand out Mardi Gras beads, but they also worked pretty hard behind the scenes. It's my understanding that the House Manager for The Mellow Theater spoke to the Scout Leaders and asked if they would be available to return for future events. How wonderful!
We cannot say enough good things about The Storyville Stompers Brass Band. These men are what Southern charm is all about. They graciously handled everything that we tossed at them and absolutely blew away each of the six audiences for whom they played during their three-day visit to Scranton. They not only opened the show on Saturday night, but they also were the absolute highlight of the evening with their version of “Big Chief” and “Li’l Liza Jane” with TheSubdudes playing rhythm. For those of you who saw this amazing brass band, don’t worry…we’re bringing them back. For those of you who didn’t, ditto – and you won’t want to miss them a second time!
As we close this very memorable chapter, we want to take just one more moment to offer our sincere and humble thanks to the following people…in alphabetical order…mostly:
- Art Banks, one of the original Mud People, whose love of life is a lesson for all of us
- George Bieber of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre International Airport for the police escort that met The Storyville Stompers’ delayed flight.
- Blues Street at 222 Wyoming Avenue for a dinner with The Storyville Stompers that will remain a favorite memory until we’re old-er and gray-er!
- Carol Bouton, who is so much nicer than her younger brother, for "bumping" our message to the top of the message board over and over again!
- Ginny Buckley - publicist and producer extraordinaire, who put aside all of her personal and professional plans to jump in and help two rookies with the experience of a lifetime.
- Michael Cloeren (Mountain Of Blues) for all of his on-air promotion and support of our show. If you’re not familiar with Michael, tune in to 102.3 The Mountain on Saturdays from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. to hear his show and on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. to hear his one-hour special show on Penns Peak Radio (internet radio). If you’re on the Blue Ridge Cable TV system, you can hear his show on Channels 80 and 97. You'll be transported to someplace terrific each week. Speaking of transporting, come out and support his Pocono Blues Festival at Big Boulder Ski Resort on July 28 th, 29 th and 30th. There’s more info at Poconos Blues Festival.
- Bill Coleman of Funk N Gumbo, who always made us feel that there was more than enough room for PocoNotes in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s music scene.
- Brian Craig AND The Bog for their kind reception of The Storyville Stompers. We do believe that of all the places that they played while they were here that The Bog was their favorite.
- Jim Cullen of The Mellow Theater whose job description we defy you to explain! As long and hard as we worked, he was right there with us…working just as long and just as hard. He's another talented musician hiding in plain sight.
- Patrick Flynn, another exceptional musician, teacher, friend…and newlywed, who took time away from his honeymoon and his lovely new bride to send us a note asking us how it all went.
- Jeff George for taking his sketch book on vacation with him and working on some rough sketches for our logo.
- Ralph Graf, Community Manager for The Hideout, whose thumbs-up on this and future events was some much-appreciated support.
- Lisa Green and Debbie McGowan for their donation of the two full-page ads and the late nights they worked to make sure that they were perfect.
- Mike Gruber and Ken Janik, neither of whom could attend, but who bought tickets anyway.
- Rene and Richard Guerin for supplying all 2,196 Mardi Gras beads that delighted the many, many people who were mysteriously seen wearing them last weekend in and around Scranton.
- Brian Hineline of The Weekly Almanac for taking lots and lots…and lots of photos at Saturday’s show.
- Tom Hippler, our very favorite up-and-coming actor and Second City Conservatory about-to-be-graduate, who did the work of 10 men at our concert and who, without realizing it, was our inspiration for taking this giant step into the unknown. Through his example, we’ve learned firsthand that courage isn’t necessarily the absence of fear!
- Regina Peters and Lackawanna County for being so Lackawanna Wonderful to our New Orleans guests.
- Bob Putignano of WFDU-FM, who honored us with his invitation to be his on-air guests at his radio show. Although we won’t be there, you can still hear Bob on Mondays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at 89.1 on the left side of the dial.
- Dan Reardon, a boss and a friend, who was our sole underwriter - only because he wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
- Jim Rising of The Mountain for so kindly forwarding all of the positive feedback he received on our behalf.
- John Rocklin, another wonderfully talented and kind-hearted musician and photographer and the inspiration behind the First Annual Honesdale Roots And Rhythm Festival, who spent two entire days with us during the hottest weekend of the year preserving this event in film. However, what we will remember the most is how he still had time to offer his help with whatever menial task needed doing. (We LOVE the teapot...really...it is, after all, electric!)
- Mike Trudnak and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons for honoring The Storyville Stompers with the opportunity to play both the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” at Lackawanna County Stadium. But the best part of the evening was undoubtedly their impromptu performance at the Stadium Club. You just had to be there. Fortunately, we were!
- Amy Zellers and The Mall at Steamtown for graciously inviting The Storyville Stompers to play in their air-conditioned halls for some very lucky Friday afternoon shoppers.
- Erica Funke, Brian Hineline, Chris Hughes, Don McGlynn, Alicia Pikul and Kendra Sledzinkski for interviewing us and making almost perfect sense of the volumes that we had to say!
- Last but not least…to our friends – old and new – who, in total, traveled thousands of miles to see history in the making. You know who you are and so do we. We only hope you know how much you mean to us.
Okay, that's it for now…but we’ll be back real soon with some hints about what dates to save for our next event. Until then, you can always visit us at PocoNotes.com to see what we’re doing!
Dolores & Pat
“It’s About The Music!”
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