Events
The Original Rockabilly Christmas Show Swings
The Rockabilly Christmas Dinner Show is the perfect place to celebrate this season, with fabulous food and a show that rocks the house. All the way from Las Vegas entertainer Shea Arender brings back Elvis and a time when Christmas music and the holiday held a place in our hearts.
To see The Original Rockabilly Christmas Show head to Swing 46, the Jazz and Supper Club on West 46th Street.
For those who don’t know Rockabilly is a hard-driving fusion of country, rhythm and blues that helped set modern rock’n’roll in motion in the 1950s. With it’s roots in the American South the best-known examples of rockabilly music are the songs recorded for the Sun Records label and the label’s roster, which included Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Most of the songs in the show are from Elvis Presley’s Christmas catalogue. With a a seven-piece band, Sarah Hayes and Jade Litaker his background vocalists, the sound is full and lush and pitch perfect. Expect standards like “Blue Christmas,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Boppin in the Blues,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Rip It Up” and a heartwarming “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
Arender, shakes, rattles and rolls just like “The King,” as he leads us through the history of Rockabilly with music. Hailing from Louisiana, we get “Louisiana Hayride”, which Elvis performed early on.
Arender is also a Broadway producer of jukebox musicals, a composer-arranger, and the owner and C.E.O. of the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, so this man wears many hats.
Who really is fabulous is musical director and piano player, Robert Cookman, who channels Jerry Lee Lewis. He and the band, Micah Burgess on a hot lead guitar, Who really is fabulous is musical director and piano player, Robert Cookman, who channels Jerry Lee Lewis. He and the band, Micah Burgess on a hot lead guitar, Kerry MacKillop on trumpet, Ben Golder-Novick on sax, Corey Wallace on “T-bone” guitar, Andrew Whitbeck on bass and Dan Weiner on drums are spectacular.
Sarah Hayes is delightful as Arender’s sidekick. Her energy is off the charts as she makes jokes and rally’s the audience to join in the fun. She smolders in her solo “Santa Baby,” showing off vocal chops that are award winning. You also get a medley of Christmas classics that make it seem that she and Arender are an item.
Jade Litaker, is soulful with the powerhouse “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and “Zat You Santa?” Arender is not afraid of strong women, who can really take the stage. Bravo!
Not only do you get to enjoy great music from the past, but a three-course meal and food that is delicious. By the way order one of the specialty cocktails, they are terrific! Not only does The Original Rockabilly Christmas Show have enough Christmas music to put you in the mood, but you will find yourself dancing down the streets as you head back home.
Treat yourself to this holiday treasure, you will not be sorry!
The Original Rockabilly Christmas Show with Shea Arender produced by The Girl Behind the Curtain Productions at Swing 46, 349 West 46th Street
Dates: Dec 11, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23
6pm Doors
6:30-8:30 Show
Brunch shows
Dec 12 & 19
1:00 pm Doors
1:30-3:00 Show
Tickets, $110 VIP dinner, show and champagne; $90 dinner and show or $55 for the show only.
For tickets and to receive a 10% discount, go to www.rockabillychristmasnyc.com and enter the code: rockabilly10.
Although composer Andrew Lloyd Webber wasn’t in the house, and missed last night’s opening of his new musical, Bad Cinderella (the first time he’s ever been absent one of his Broadway opening nights), the cast and entire sold-out crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the Tony Award winning Broadway legend and wheeled out a five-foot birthday cake after the bows at the show’s final preview performance last night.
Lloyd Webber explained his absence in a statement he issued last week.
A STATEMENT FROM ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
I am absolutely devastated to say that my eldest son Nick is critically ill.
As my friends and family know, he has been fighting gastric cancer for the last 18 months and Nick is now hospitalised.
I therefore have not been able to attend the recent previews of Bad Cinderella and as things stand, I will not be able to cheer on its wonderful cast, crew and orchestra on Opening Night this Thursday.
We are all praying that Nick will turn the corner. He is bravely fighting with his indomitable humour, but at the moment my place is with him and the family.
Bad Cinderella opened last night, Thursday, March 23, at the Imperial Theatre in front of an expected audience of film stars, stage legends, senators, media moguls, and various ‘Real Housewives.’
G.H. Harding
WOODSTOCK COVER STARS — (Via Best Classic Bands) — Bobbi Ercoline’s name may not be familiar to most, but millions own her photograph: Bobbi, whose last name at the time was Kelly, and her then-boyfriend, Nick Ercoline, were huddled together under a quilt at the 1969 Woodstock festival when photographer Burk Uzzle snapped their picture. The couple, both then 20, were unaware that their photo had even been taken until several months later, when the three-LP Woodstock soundtrack album was released. They were among friends when they first realized the couple on the album cover was them.
“We were passing the jacket around when someone pointed out the staff with the orange and yellow butterfly,” Nick told AARP in 2019 for the organization’s magazine. “That belonged to Herbie, a guy from Huntington Beach, Calif. He was lost and having a bad trip, and we hooked arms with him until he was clear-headed. Then we saw the blanket. Oh my lord, that’s us!”
Bobbi and Nick only lasted one night at Woodstock, and never even got near the stage. They had given it their all trying to get to the festival, ditching their car when traffic became snarled and walking the final two miles. They spent most of their single day there on the hillside where the famous photo was taken.
Two years later, in 1971, they married. They remained together until Bobbi Ercoline’s death Saturday (March 18, 2023).
Nick posted the news on Facebook: “It’s with beyond great sadness that I tell my FB family and friends, that after 54 years of life together, of the death of my beautiful wife, Bobbi, last night surrounded by her family. She lived her life well, and left this world in a much better place. If you knew her, you loved her. She lived by her saying, ‘Be kind.’ As a School Nurse she always championed the kids … ALWAYS! As a person, she always gave. ‘How much do you really need if you have all you need or want?’ So she gave and gave and gave. She didn’t deserve this past year’s nightmare, but she isn’t suffering from the physical pain anymore and that brings some comfort to us.”
We’ve spoken much over the years about how that Woodstock event was so cataclysmic – culturally; musically; and certainly philosophically. Elliot Tiber wrote beautifully about it in his first book Taking Woodstock – a classic if you’ve never read it.
They tried to re-create it in 1994 and though it was good, it just didn’t have that magical flavor of the first one. I wasn’t at either, but as you can imagine, music from that 1969 concert still lives passionately today. I was, however, at Live Aid and that was my Woodstock for sure.
Not to get too poetic, but I came across a great quote yesterday: It’s worth being older now, to have been young then.
Derek And The Dominoes
SHORT TAKES — Derek & The Dominoes Bobby Whitlock on Jim Gordon: “Carl Radle and Jim Gordon … Didn’t get any better than that. The only other alternative [for Derek and the Dominoes] was Jim Keltner. And that’s who should have been the guy and who was supposed to be the guy. But it didn’t turn out that way. He was busy. The rhythm section of Carl and Jim propelled the songs we put together. Jim Gordon is the most musical drummer I ever heard. All of the drums were in tune. literally tuned to a key on the piano. Big kit. But Jim had this wonderful ability to interpret the nuances you could feel but not hear. Carl was solid as a rock. A downbeat player and right on it. So, we have Carl who is solid and down and Jim who is up and on it. So, it was perpetual motion” …
The Ides of March
Do you remember “Vehicle” by The Idea of March back in 1970? It became the fastest-selling single in Warner Brothers history. A little-known fact is that 14 seconds of the completed master of “Vehicle” was accidentally erased in the recording studio, (primarily the guitar solo), and the missing section was spliced in from a previously discarded take. The song reached #2 in Billboard, and #1 in Cashbox. The album “Vehicle” reached #55 nationally … Dolly Parton sings with Elton John on “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” on her forthcoming rock ‘n roll album. I bet it’ll sound great, but how many covers of that song has there been? Maybe they should have picked a John/Taupin deep-cut like “Come Down In Time” or “Amoreena.” Just saying … Does the phrase DLYZECOMKIN mean anything to you?
Micky Dolenz
Believe it or not, in one of those crazy-jumble games online, the phrase translates into Micky Dolenz. Crazy, right? See for yourself: https://invasion24.com/2023/03/19/daily-jumble-puzzle-answers-march-19-2023/
… Speaking of Dolenz, he departs Thursday on a Flower Power Cruise; then starts his Headquarters-tour on April 1 in Orlando …
Charles F. Rosenay does the Zach Martin Big Fat American Podcast next week, for his new release, The Book of Top 10 Beatles Lists (KIWI Publishing) … HAPPY BDAY Gia Ramsey!
NAMES IN THE NEWS — Carol Geiser; Bob Meyerowitz; eYada; Andy Rosen; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Paul Haig; Terry Jastrow; Anthony Pomes; Mark Bego; Charles F. Rosenay; Bill Graham; Kip Cohen; Heather Moore; Charley Crespo; [Robert Miller; John Luongo; LIME; Carl Strube; Jen Ramos; and CHIP!
Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY) is proud to hit the ice at The Rink at Rockefeller Center on March 23, 2023 at 12:30pm with ITNY Ensemble members Liz Yoshiko Schmidt and Danil Berdnikov performing Lorna Brown’s Timelessness. For more information, visit icetheatre.org/calendar.html.
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