Dan Gabel & The Abletones Salute Vaughn Monroe - Boston, Massachusetts

On Sunday, March 2nd, at the New England Conservatory in Boston, a very special musical tribute to Vaughn Monroe by New England's own new Big Band favorite: Dan Gabel & The Abeltones.

From Dan Gabel's Facebook page:

Come listen and dance to the music of Dan Gabel & The Abletones!, authentic 18-piece Big Band, along with a full string section and special guests in a tribute to New England musical icon Vaughn Monroe!

This concert is presented in partial fulfillment of Dan Gabel's Master's Degree from New England Conservatory.

Special guests include Mr. James Demler singing the role of Vaughn Monroe, Ms. Emma Donahue, soprano, as Vaughn's opera collaborator, Patrice Munsel. Ms. Elise Roth joins the big band as the leaad featured vocalist. Plus, we will be introducing our new vocal group, the "Gabel Gals" in tribute to the original Moon Maids vocal group.

NEC's Brown Hall will be transformed to include a large dance floor, plus concert seating. The event is FREE and open to the public. Refreshments will be served, compliments of the Gabel family.


For more on Vaughn Monroe's New England connection, including his The Meadows in Framingham where big band music was featured, have a look here at our previous post.

Colrain, Masschusetts - Rush Hour Traffic

A cart and a carriage on  dusty road.  A faded image of Colrain, Massachusetts, a reprint from Picturesque Franklin (1891).

States of Mind: New England - presentation at Storrs Library, Longmeadow, Mass.

One more reminder I'll be speaking at the Storrs Library in Longmeadow, Massachusetts tonight at 6:30 p.m. with a PowerPoint presentation on topics from my book States of Mind: New England.  Please see this link to the Storrs Library for more information.

States of Mind: New England at the Storrs Library, Longmeadow, Mass.

 This is to invite you to my talk and PowerPoint presentation on my book States of Mind: New England next Tuesday, February 4th at the Storrs Library in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Details below:

Railroad Hobby Show - West Springfield, Massachusetts

The annual Railroad Hobby Show sponsored by the Amherst Railway Society will run this weekend at the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

From their website: Commercial vendors and hobbyists will sell model railroad equipment, photos, slides, video tapes, books and other railroad memorabilia. New and antique railroad items will be on display and for sale.  Major national manufacturers and publishers will attend this Show which was rated number one of the top three in the nation in a recent Model Railroad Industry Association manufacturer's survey.

Hours are 9 am to 5 p.m. Saturday, January 24th and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, January 25th.  Admission is $10 per adult, children 15 and under get in FREE.  Thousands attend this well-loved attraction every year.

 

 

Don't get left waiting at the station.

Baby Grand Jazz Series at the Hartford, CT Public Library

Baby Grand Jazz is a terrific free concert series held at the downtown Hartford Public Library.  I had an opportunity to enjoy David Chevan and Afro Semitic Experience this past Sunday.  Mr. Chevan, bassist and composer, grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts and is currently a Professor of Music at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut.  His latest compositions meld jazz improvisation with Jewish liturgy.  The concert, held on the first floor of the library, was well-attended, with the appreciative audience overflowing, observing from the open atrium second floor above, and the music wafting throughout the library.   Especially rousing was the last number, "Let My People Go", a new jazz variation on the old spiritual.

Here is a schedule for the remaining concerts of the series:

Baby Grand Jazz 2014
Sundays, January - April, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Downtown Library 

Jan 5 - Meg Okura and Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble
Jan 12 - David Chevan and Afro Semitic Experience
Jan 19 - Maxine Martin
Jan 26 - Allie Bosso
Feb 2 - Craig Hartley
Feb 9 - Taino Pacheco
Feb 16 - Erin O’Luanaigh
Feb 23 - Michael Gregory
Mar 2 - William Fluker
Mar 9 - Ray Gonzalez
Mar 16 - Warren Byrd
Mar 23 - Nelson Bello
Mar 30 - Yoko Miwa
Apr 6 - Jeff Wieselberg
Apr 13 - Sonny and Perley
Apr 27 - Emery A. Smith

- See more at: http://www.hplct.org/classes-seminars-exhibits#sthash.avTxrMw4.dpuf

 

New Year's Eve - 1944 in Holyoke, Massachusetts

 

 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot...here's where you can spend New Year's Eve 1944, at a "Gala" party featuring Maxine King and her All-Girl Band.  "All-Girl" was not necessarily a novelty, but a necessity during wartime when your male trumpet player has been drafted. 

 

With a cover charge from $1.50 to $ 3.50, and dancing until 4:00 a.m., along with six (count 'em, six!) New York stage acts, you can't beat this evening the Valley Arena Gardens in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

 

But remember that gas rationing, and raise a glass to the new year of 1945, when hopefully, the world might be at peace.  Just like they wished for last year.