Independence Day - Countdown to the Semiquincentennial...

 

We New Englanders just marked in June the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  This flag of New England was flown and carried on the battlefield in 1775.  At the end of the year 1775 the first Continental flag was adopted...

And it would be another couple of years before we put aside pine trees and the Union Jack in the corner and replace them with stars of varying designs.  But it was a start, and so we make a start to celebrate a most prestigious year ahead with our Semiquincentenial as a nation.  At this juncture, it would be appropriate to review several of the complaints made against King George III as written in our Declaration of Independence.  They are well worth noting:

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences…

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Jessica Fletcher - Who Killed Candlepin Bowling?

 

It's no mystery, NOBODY killed candlepin bowling.  It is still alive in New England, even if more and more bowling alleys offer only ten-pin lanes ("big balls") like an encroaching weed devastating a native species.  But you'd never know that if you saw the "Murder By Twos" episode of the beloved series Murder She Wrote.

I believe I am second to none in Jessica Fletcher or Dame Angela Lansbury fandom, and hardly miss an opportunity to watch a re-run, so please take this not as a rant, but merely as an observation by a concerned party.  SHE AND SETH WENT TO A BOWLING ALLEY IN CABOT COVE AND IT WAS TEN-PIN!!!!!

I almost choked on my New England clam chowder.  This is sacrilege.  Please see this previous post on candlepin bowling.  And remember, in New England, if it ain't candlepin, it ain't bowling.

While I understand the series was shot in California, one wonders why a New England consultant was not put on staff.  I am willing to overlook occasionally dubious "Maine accents" or even the absence of any kind of New England drawl when the episodes are set in the fictional Cabot Cove, Maine.  I am willing to overlook her nephew Grady constantly calling her "ant" Jess, instead of the appropriate "awwnt" Jess, though it has the same effect as fingernails on a chalkboard.  

I even kept my temper when Jessica once referred to "pop bottles."  Good lord.  "Pop?"  Really?

I am willing to overlook a lot of things, but not ten-pin bowling in this tiny hamlet in Down East Maine.  

"Murder by Twos" is episode 9, season 11 of the program, originally broadcast November 27, 1994.  There's nothing wrong with the story.  A murder happens.  Two of them, actually, but I guess that's a plot spoiler so I won't continue.  

Though Jessica traveled all over the world, stepping over corpses at every turn, I confess, I enjoy the episodes set in Cabot Cove the most.  I just have to overlook a few regional errors.  But I draw the foul line at not having a candlepin bowling alley in town.

For those who are curious, or, like Jessica, need proof, I herewith include this link for places to go candlepin bowling in Maine.  

Above image courtesy of the Encylopaedia Britannica,GNU Free Documentation License.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN - SEE MUGS, SHIRTS, AND MUCH MORE HERE!!!

A Tragic Toast to Christmas - wood alcohol deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.

More than 100 people died of a companionable drink in several towns and cities in New England on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1919, nearly half of them in the city of Chicopee, Massachusetts. How this came to happen, and even how it came to be forgotten are both intriguing aspects to the tragedy.

The story of the grisly incident of unknowingly ingesting poisonous wood alcohol and how it played out in one New England city might stand as a microcosm of the conflict created between the legal production and sale of alcohol, those who would prohibit it, and those who would do anything to profit from it, not only in the years up to 1919, but in the tumultuous decade that followed.

Have a look at my new book, A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Massachusetts.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

New book coming! THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED...

I'm very pleased to announce that my newest book -- the seventh in my Double V Mysteries series, is going to be published soon!

On this adventure, Juliet and Elmer take on a case tracking an about-to-be-released prisoner to recover the money he stole and hid years before -- but as usual, nothing is as it seems, there are more questions than answers, and danger increases with every twist and turn.  It's the Christmas season, 1951, and our intrepid duo, unlike Santa Claus, has a little trouble determining for sure who is naughty and who is nice.

The setting for this story is Chicopee, Massachusetts.  But there's a twist to that as well, which you'll see in weeks to come.  The particular part of town where the story takes place is Chicopee Falls.  In 1951, that village was completely different than it is now, because in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of it was demolished in an urban renewal project.  To write this book, I had to recreate not only a time, but a place that no longer exists.  All of the books in this series are a form of time-travel.  This one, The Little Engine That Killed, is especially so.

I'll let you know more in weeks to come.  For now, I hope you enjoy a peek at the cover above.

Big E - 2023

 photo by JT Lynch

It's that time of year again!  Visit New England's great state(s) fair in West Springfield, Massachusetts.  Behind the fife and drum corps band are some of the six replica statehouses from each New England state.  That's Rhode Island peeking out from behind the tree, and Massachusetts next to it.

It's a little end-of-the-summer world and for many of us, a family tradition.  Enjoy!

Westfield River -- Agawam, Massachusetts

 

 

Here are three postcard views of the Westfield River in Agawam, Massachusetts.  They are all published by the Springfield News Company and printed in Germany, as was common in the early twentieth century.  The cards all date from around 1908, and are tinted.

You'll note that on the cards the river is called the Agawam River.  The earliest English settlers to the area named it that for the Agawam tribe that lived in the area, but eventually came to be called the Westfield River.  It begins in the Berkshires and ends in the Connecticut River, forming the boundary between the towns of Agawam and West Springfield.

Despite these idyllic scenes, by the mid-twentieth century the river became terribly polluted, as many of our rivers were through industrial contaminants, but today is clean for swimming, fishing, and its locally famous Westfield River Whitewater Races.

Travelogue film of New England - 1940s

Have a look at a nostalgic view of New England in this travelogue film from the 1940s.  Summer in New England is something eternal.

Or watch on YouTube here.

Mystery series set in post-War New England - the Double V Mysteries

 

Looking for Christmas gifts for the historical mystery lover -- who also happens to love New England?  

My "Double V Mysteries" series is set in New England, beginning in the spring of 1949.  The two main characters -- who will become partners -- are introduced in CADMIUM YELLOW, BLOOD RED.  She is an administrator at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, who has just discovered her husband's infidelity.

He is an ex-con, recently released from the state penitentiary in Wethersfield, Connecticut.  His wife has passed away and his daughter is kidnapped, but the gang who has her assures him she will be returned if he helps them with his particular specialty. He must break into the Wadsworth.  She meets him on his practice run as he literally drops into her office, the same night her husband is found murdered.

They are both suspects.  They have nobody to rely on but each other.  And each has a mystery to solve.

The book is available in paperback through Amazon, but the eBook version is FREE and available through a variety of online shops:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Apple

And a variety of other online shops here.

Give it a try and perhaps you'll like to continue the adventures with Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian -- the "Double V" duo -- in the rest of the (so far) five-book series:

SPEAK OUT BEFORE YOU DIE (in which a murder occurs in a snowbound mansion in Hartford on New Year's Eve, 1949)

Here at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online shops.

DISMOUNT AND MURDER (Nasty doings at the Litchfield, Connecticut, horse show, summer of 1950.  Maine recovers from the year before in the "Summer Maine Burned," Oh, and a murder.)

Here at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online shops.

WHITEWASH IN THE BERKSHIRES (Juliet is blacklisted during the Communist witch hunts. Intrigue and kidnapping in an underground bunker in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts in the winter of 1951.  Oh, and a murder.)

Here at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online shops.

MURDER AT THE SUMMER THEATER (Juliet must join the cast to help ferret out clues in backstage shenanigans in the summer of 1951 on the Connecticut shore when the lead actress goes missing. Possibly murdered.)

Here at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online shops.

Follow the adventure, follow the clues, and watch this blog for the next novel in the series coming in late 2022!

Upcoming Zoom talk on BESIDE THE STILL WATERS - Quabbin Reservoir towns, Massachusetts

 

Zoom presentation on
BESIDE THE STILL WATERS - the "lost towns" of the Quabbin Reservoir

I will be giving an online Zoom presentation for the Amherst (Massachusetts) Historical Society on the historical background for my novel, Beside the Still Waters, about the towns that were demolished to create the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts.

 
The story is about community and the loss of community, and how our hometowns make up a big part of our family heritage and our personal identities. 
 
Photos and map images will accompany the talk, which will be part of the Society’s “History Bites Lunchtime Lecture Series”, Friday, December 3, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. 
 
Join the Zoom presentation through this link:
 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84485731584#success

See you there! 

Beside the Still Waters is available in eBook or print at these online shops:
 
Amazon
 
Barnes & Noble
 
Try this universal link for Apple, Baker & Taylor, SCRBD, Tolino, and more!

Lizzie Borden and George D. Robinson - the Trial of the Century - upcoming talk - Chicopee, Massachusetts

The infamous Lizzie Borden, who was said in the children's rhyme to have "took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks...etc.," was defended at her trial by Chicopee's own George D. Robinson, former Governor of Massachusetts. I'll be presenting a talk for the Chicopee Historical Society on Lizzie Borden and George D. Robinson in the very first "Trial of the Century" on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 6:30 p.m., in the Community Room of the Chicopee Public Library, 449 Front Street, Chicopee. The event is free and open to the public. Please note: masks are required.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts; States of Mind: New England (collected essays from this blog); The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts; and Beside the Still Waters - a novel on the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Hampton Ponds, Westfield, Massachusetts

 

Hampton Ponds, Westfield, Massachusetts, from a postcard published in the early 1900s.  Today, the Hampton Ponds State Park now borders the southern shore.  

Do you have memories of spending summers at Hampton Ponds?

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts; States of Mind: New England (collected essays from this blog); The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts; and Beside the Still Waters - a novel on the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Pecousic Villa - Springfield, Massachusetts

The home of inventor and industrialist Everett Hosmer Barney (1835-1916) - probably most famous for two things: inventing the clamp-on ice skate, and for the donation of 178 acres of his extensive estate to be added to Forest Park in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts.

This Victorian mansion was built in 1890 and had a commanding view of the Connecticut River Valley.  It was called Pecousic Villa.  It was razed during the construction of I-91.  The carriage house, now a restaurant and banquet hall, and the family mausoleum, remain.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts; States of Mind: New England (collected essays from this blog); The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts; and Beside the Still Waters - a novel on the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir.

 

Link to recorded Zoom talk on BESIDE THE STILL WATERS - a novel of the Quabbin Reservoir

 

Here is a link to my recorded Zoom talk  earlier this month on the historical background of my novel Beside the Still Waters for the Holyoke Public Library of Holyoke, Massachusetts, for those of you who were unable to join us.

The novel, a family saga, is about the four towns that were demolished to create the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts in the 1920s and 1930s.  The story is about community and the loss of community, and how our hometowns make up a big part of our family heritage and our personal identities.  Photos and map images accompany the talk. 

Here's the link:

Author Talk-Beside the Still Waters - Zoom

I hope you enjoy it.   For more of my books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Kobo, and a variety of other online shops, please see my website here:  www.JacquelineTLynch.com.

Thanks for reading...

Jacqueline T. Lynch

Benoni Chapin - Revolutionary War grave - Chicopee, Massachusetts

Old Burying Ground, Chicopee, Mass. - photo by JT Lynch

There was a village green in front of the first Meeting House in 1775. In Colonial times, every able-bodied man was required to attend training for the militia, and here is where they drilled. When the Revolution came, some 38 men of this village would fight in battles from the eastern part of the state to as far away as Fort Ticonderoga. The Chicopee Street Burying Ground, not too far from where they first drilled, is the final resting place of many of these men. 
In this photo we see the top of the headstone of Edward Chapin, Jr., who is buried with his father, Deacon Edward Chapin (who fought in the French and Indian War), and behind them, the grave of Benoni Chapin. We know little about Edward, Jr.'s service, but Benoni enlisted on Christmas Day 1776 as part of the Hampshire County Militia. He was 51 years old when he enlisted. 
In those days, there was no Hampden County; we were all part of Hampshire County then. Here is Benoni Chapin's service record: Private, Capt. Daniel Caldwell's co., Col. Timothy Robinson's detachment of Hampshire Co. militia; enlisted Dec. 25, 1776; discharged April 2, 1777; roll sworn to at Springfield; also, Capt. John Morgan's co.; enlisted Jan. 5, 1778; discharged July 1, 1778; service, 5 mos. 26 days; company detached from militia of Hampshire and Worcester counties to guard stores and magazines at Springfield and Brookfield; also, Capt. Joseph Browning's co., Col. Seth Murray's (Hampshire Co.) regt.; enlisted July 21, 1780; discharged Oct. 10, 1780; service 2 mos. 27 days; enlistment, 3 months; company raised to reinforce Continental Army; roll sworn to in Suffolk Co.; also, Corporal, same co. and regt.; order dated Springfield, March 22, 1782. for wages for 3 months service in 1780. Benoni, Private, Capt. Samuel Burt's co., Col. Elisha Porter's (Hampshire Co.) regt; enlisted July 22, 1779; discharged Aug. 25, 1779; service, 1 mo. 7 days, at New London, Conn. 
Source: Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, 17 Vols., pp 304, 307.

He died in 1799 at the age of 73, at the dawning of the 19th century in a new country just 18 years old, that he helped to create.
Jaqueline T. Lynch is the author of States of Mind: New England; The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts; Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain - 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts; and Beside the Still Waters, a novel of the making of the Quabbin Reservoir

Murder at the Summer Theater - coming in December

Coming in December -- the latest in my Double V Mysteries series - MURDER AT THE SUMMER THEATER.

Casey Koester did the marvelous cover, as she has for the rest of the series, and I'm grateful to her for always coming up with stylish, clever, and evocative images.

More to come on launch date details.  Hope on here to my website to join my email list for updates.  For now, here's a little preview:

Rehearsals grow tense at a summer theater on the Connecticut shore.  The lead actress goes missing – or was she murdered?

Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, the “Double V” duo, are called in on the case, but even with Juliet pretending to be an actress and newcomer to the cast, the players are guarding their secrets closely.  There are spurned lovers, jealous wives, scene-stealers and heartbreakers, with enough spirit of vengeance to fill up the loge.  Will the show go on?  Even when a body is found?

Murder at the Summer Theater is the fifth book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

If you like the charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will return you to an era of soft ocean breezes and a glamorous game of suspicion played between acts.  The painted backdrop is the heyday of summer theatre, when greats from the New York stage and Hollywood performed in barns and tents on New England’s famed “straw hat circuit.” Passionate accusations light up the balcony, grim consequences lurk in the dressing room.  Join the nervous producers on the veranda for a champagne cocktail.

It’s a seaside caper where murder is in the spotlight in the summer of 1951, and Juliet and Elmer are on the verge of a new professional – and personal – partnership. 

Minuteman Statue - Mosman book - Concord and Chicopee, Mass.

Happy Independence Day! The Minuteman statue at the Concord Bridge in Minute Man National Park was made here in Chicopee under the direction of Silas Mosman, Jr. and his son, Melzar Mosman at the Ames Manufacturing Company, designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French. It commemorates the stand the local farmers took against the British Army in the first days of the Revolutionary War. Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson called it "The Shot Heard Round the World." I'm currently writing a book on the work of Melzar Mosman, and welcome input in the research process from any collector, or knowledgeable source in history, sculpture, or bronze casting. Thank you! Photo by Jacqueline T. Lynch.

Talk on the Mill Girls - South Hadley, Massachusetts

"Sophie" photo by Lewis W. Hine, 1911, Library of Congress

In celebration of Women’s History Month, I will be presenting a talk on “The Mill Girls” - Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. at the South Hadley Public Library.

At the dawn of the Industrial Age in the early nineteenth century, New England mill owners coincidentally spawned another economic revolution:  The hiring of thousands of young, unmarried women to work in the cotton, woolen, and silk textile factories.  A huge workforce was needed for the burgeoning mill towns, and women comprised the biggest untapped labor force in the United States.  The women changed the economy, they changed society, and they created new opportunities for themselves. Come follow the adventures of the mill girls of Chicopee, Holyoke, and South Hadley at the South Hadley Library, 2 Canal Street, South Hadley.  For more information, see the library website at: http://www.shadleylib.org, or call 413-538-5045.

Dickens, and Christmas, come to New England

English novelist Charles Dickens came on a book tour to the U.S. in 1842, the first of his trips to America. He was already famous, but it was still some five years before A Christmas Carol was written.  While New York and other parts of the young United States were celebrating Christmas, New England at that time still did not observe the holiday; here Thanksgiving was the big day. In some small measure, the popularity of his yuletide ghost story would help bring Christmas to New England, one of several factors that turned the Puritan tide.

When he was in the Boston area, they took this former workhouse victim to Lowell to show him the factories.  We mentioned his excursion there in this previous post on mill girls.

When Dickens left Lowell, his next stop was Springfield, on February 7, 1842, when accompanied by his wife, he toured the Springfield Armory.   This was before the impressive iron fence was constructed around the Armory.  That was made at the Ames Company in Chicopee, and the project was started in the early 1850s and not completed until 1865.  We may assume at the time of Dickens’ visit, the cows of local farmers continued to stray across the quadrangle and the lawns of the Army officers’ quarters.  


After his brief tour of the Armory, Dickens traveled down the Connecticut River to Hartford aboard a steamboat.  We discussed that journey in this previous post.

Though Dickens apparently felt favorably toward Massachusetts, the United States on the whole did not impress him on that trip, and, of course, he was particularly angered and disgusted by slavery.  He wrote of his impressions in American Notes.  He had made two trips here in 1842, but did not return until after the Civil War, when in 1867 on his next trip, both the war and slavery were over.  

Something else was different, too.  New England had adopted the custom of celebrating Christmas.  He could see this for himself as he arrived in late November and remained for the following month, giving readings from his novels in Boston and in New York.

The following year, 1868, he returned for another book tour, this time commencing in February and returning to England in late April.  He gave his readings in Boston, New York City and upstate, as well as Washington, Philadelphia, and in Maine, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.  He read from many of his books, including A Christmas Carol.

His first public reading of A Christmas Carol was on December 3, 1867 at the Tremont Temple in Boston. According to this article at the New England Historical Society website, his agent noted the audience reaction at the end of the first chapter:

When at least the reading of The Carol was finished, and the final words had been delivered, and "So, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us every one," a dead silence seemed to prevail -- a sort of public sigh as it were -- only to be broken by cheers and calls, the most enthusiastic and uproarious.

He spoke at Tilly Haynes’ Music Hall in Springfield on March 20, 1868.  For a long time, the Tilly Haynes Music Hall on Main Street was the only theater in Springfield, built in 1856.  It burned down in 1864.  Haynes rebuilt it, and in 1881, he sold out to Dwight O. Gilmore, who established Gilmore’s Opera House there, until it burned down in 1897.  Twentieth century audiences would remember this as the site of the Capitol movie theater that showed Warner Brothers films. That has long since been demolished and is now the site of One Financial Plaza.

He arrived here on the train during a snowstorm, and stayed at the Massasoit House (part of this building remains in the building that was later constructed in 1929 for the Paramount Theater).  The Music Hall was packed for his appearance, as he was probably the most famous author of his day.

The Springfield Republican reported,

“Mr. Dickens is not a reader... He is simply and emphatically a very natural and delightful actor, gifted with the power of throwing a whole personality into his face.” He spoke in the voices Scrooge, the Cratchits, Mr. Pickwick and other characters from his novels. “There walks on the stage a gentleman who gives you no time to think about him, and dazzles you with 20 personalities.” 

He was “slightly bent, in the street not a remarkably noticeable man.” His face “bears signs of incessant toil.”

The tour was successful, but has been described as grueling, and Dickens died only two years later in 1870 at the age of 58.  That year, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a national holiday.

We discuss two classic film versions of A Christmas Carol in my post “Mankind Was My Business” here at Another Old Movie Blog.

The Vaughn Monroe Show - a review

from Dan Gabel's website

DO NOT MISS the current Vaughn Monroe Show tour presented by Dan Gabel and his magnificent orchestra and singers: their next stop is this coming Sunday, October 15th, Worcester, at the Holy Name High School from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The program is an extraordinary opportunity to experience live Big Band music as it was meant to be performed, and is a notable tribute – perhaps the best kind of tribute—to Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra.

Lynch photo

But the two hours is more than foot-stomping entertainment from an 18-piece orchestra with brass so exhilarating it practically lifts you off your seat.  It’s a recreation of the old Camel Caravan live radio remotes.  It’s October 1949, and you are there.

Lynch photo

Last weekend I was delighted to attend their gig at the Springfield Technical Community College, sponsored by the Springfield Armory National Historic Site.  The only disappointment was that the show as not as well attended as it should have been.  All fans of Dan Gabel need to spread the word, for this Vaughn Monroe Show is as much about skill and musicianship of this young orchestra leader, arranger, and musician and his superlative band members, as it is about Vaughn Monroe and the heyday of the Big Bands.

Lynch photo

The program began with a warm-up act, so to  speak, of vintage video clips – a cartoon, some early television commercials, to set the stage for 1949.  It was a good lead-in; the audience laughed, particularly at the cigarette commercial, which Gabel and his troupe later reprised in a teasing “commercial” for their live program.

Lynch photo

Specialty numbers included Gabel’s regular featured vocalist Elise Roth, who always impresses me not only with her 1940s-look in dress, hair, and makeup, but that she sings with the style of the best of the swing singers of that era.  She displays great control and range, “selling” the songs in the classic manner of back in the day.  For this program, she was joined by a recreation of Monroe’s “The Moon Maids” – Sarah Callinan, Annie Kerins, and Emily Greenslit.  Their vocal blend and dreamy expressions during the romantic numbers—and a lot of Vaughn Monroe’s hits were romantic—gracefully lends the perfect combination of charm and talent.

Lynch photo

Craig Robbins, who plays first trombone, also steps up to the mic and displays a terrific baritone voice, particularly the romantic number, “There, I’ve Said it Again.”

Lynch photo

Steve Gagliastro, who plays second trombone, wowed ‘em with his comic rendition of “The Maharajah of Magador.”  He was Jerry Colonna on steroids—but his tenor voice is outstanding.

Katie Piselli and Steven Plummer, a pair of lively jitterbugs, brought a novelty and physical expression to the music.  Ms. Piselli had a featured role as the “Ballerina” of Vaughn Monroe’s hit song while Monroe himself was seen in video singing, Gabel’s orchestra backing him up, a nice effect.

Lynch photo

Leader Dan Gabel also croons, and was joined by his “girl singers” and “boy singers” for a spirited “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”  Gabel is a genial host, and his youth may strike some fans of this kind of music—mostly middle-aged to quite elderly seniors—as being something of an anomaly.  However, that is doing Gabel, and for those of us who grew up loving music that was popular long before we were born, a disservice, for such completely misunderstands the attraction of this music.  Gabel’s The Vaughn Monroe Show is not simply nostalgia.  That’s part of it, to be sure, especially for those older folks who actually remember dancing to this music.  But it’s more than that.  It takes the music and the musicianship of this era and recreates it, plays it as it should be played so fans new and old can appreciate the magic of it.

Lynch photo

This is not just an exercise in parody.  This, despite it’s being 2017, is the real thing.  This is genuine Big Band music.  Gabel’s orchestra is that good.

To call it nostalgic is to dismiss all that is excellent about this music.  When we hear of a symphony orchestra performing Bach, we don’t think, “Oh, how cute they’re doing nostalgic music from the sixteen century!”  No; we accept it as an art form.  So, too, is Big Band music an art form, a cultural expression from the first half of the twentieth century.  Dan Gabel’s critical success is that he understands that and respects that, and has become a most skilled interpreter.

Lynch photo

Here is Dan Gabel’s website for more information.  Here are links to two previous posts we’ve discussed on Gabel’s music and on Vaughn Monroe’s New England base.

Don’t miss the rest of The Vaughn Monroe Show tour!