Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wedding. Show all posts

Friday, July 20, 2012

Private Party - Wedding/Russo's On The Bay 7/20/12 Queens, New York


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At the most elegant and impressive Russo's on the Bay I arrived via hired taxi and asking the valet where to take the Drums/I Am In The Band was personally escorted to the Load-In doors but the valet got his signals crossed and pointed me to the wrong reception room. Two narrow and dark stairwells Up with Drum Set & Cymbals later I was then directed from Banquet room 1, About 300 feet Across the Kitchen/into banquet Room 2.

Dave and myself made the sojourn through the fully staffed and running kitchen with the Keyboards, Drum Kit and P.A. in hand which was kind of a surreal meal, Talk about piquing ones appetite!!! I have never seen that much Tomato Sauce, sliced Bell Peppers or Meatballs in my life at one time mind you.

Of course I Wanted to take photos but "How Unprofessional" would that be.

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After the wedding ceremony was over the party moved into cocktail hour as Russo's staff opened up the room divider wall allowing us and the D.J. in to set up the equipment, all considered everything went very smoothly with three teams working, Team White Wedding even helped the staff move chairs so we could get to our set up a little quicker as there was only a rigidly timed sixty minute changeover window. We played the 45 minute set requested and the rest of the nights music was provided by Funktion 67 DJs allowing us some down time to have some drinks, play the Kurzweil digital grand piano and have some band bonding over mixed drinks and Rice Krispies Treats since Load-Out was after the weddings finale.

Premiered tonight was Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer"

The WORD of the night is "Menagerie"

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"Are You F*@King Kidding Me"

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Riunite On Ice,..... That's Nice. *

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".....and a toy train set...and"

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The wedding specialty drink was a "Coconut Bliss Martini" so I just had to have one. This is a concoction of Vanilla Vodka, Coconut Rum and Coco Lopez served in a Coconut Flake rimmed Martini glass (in this case the Flaked Coconut was garnished). Delicious and Cocoa Nutty.

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Just as we were going on we were served some Al Dente Pasta that was shaped like round Agnolotti (but didn't appear to have any filling) and Delicious Risotto along with a Salad that I had with Romano Cheese (comes with an Orange Slice).

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This is going to be the longest paragraph because I am including the ingredients for all 5 Martinis seen above, I had the center Martini first (The Blue One) followed from left to right by the next four. Number One (The Blue One) is an "Italian Ice" - Raspberry Vodka, Blue Curacao, Sour Mix & a splash of 7-Up. Number Two is a "Green Apple" - Raspberry Vodka, Triple Sec, Green Apple Schnapps & a splash of Lime Juice. Three is a "Cherry Blossom" concocting Raspberry Vodka, Champagne with a splash of Grenadine & Cranberry Juice. Glass number four is the "Summer Air" that is Gin, Triple Sec, Pineapple Juice & Cranberry Juice garnished with a Pineapple. we conclude with number five which is a "Fruit Fusion" pairing Bacardi Limon, Rum, Amaretto, Sour Mix & Orange Juice. Every One Most Delicious and "shaken not stirred" by Stephanie.





TO BE READ IN A THICK BRITISH ACCENT.

At the behest of the groom did we learn "Living On A Prayer" the Bon Jovi song in the eleventh hour as separate/individual parts to perform together on the fly at the reception, I hastened to collect a recording of the premiere performance but due to the reflective Granite/Marble floor all you can hear is the Snare Drum and of course Dave with his triple speaker stackable,........ pish posh showoff that he is.



* - Riunite On Ice for those who are thinking WTF!!!.

Definition of Pish Posh

Funktion 67 DJs site

This Is Show # 181

- Spike

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Sabrina & Sam's Wedding 10/1/11 - Rumson, New Jersey

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Nancy couldn't make it to this show but fortunately at the very last minute we got Mike's friend Cora to fill in at this important wedding performance and she did a great job singing and dancing with very high energy. Rob did his usual outstanding emcee delivery introducing the wedding party under an audio bed of "Walking On Sunshine" and the band played a tight evening of music in very cramped circumstances, I could not get much action from my bass drum pedal (much less get out from behind the kit) since I was crammed against the wall but this is just another one of those challenges a gigging musician sometimes has to deal with.

Unique to this performance was renditions of Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing", Men At Work's "Who Can It Be Now" and Loudon Wainwright lll's "Daughter". Unique for White Wedding is that a member of the party requested a song that we NEVER played before and we winged it in a live setting which was not a Pub either (no offense to the pub's), at first I had no idea what song it was mainly because I don't really know the song but everyone else does. We performed Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" as part of the Metal Block and it sounded just fine too.

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Tonight's M.V.P. in my book, Cora for doing an Amazing job and fitting right in.

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Like most working bands we continue to build strength to strength, Next thing you know we will be performing songs we never played to live audiences!!! oh wait ,.....

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Once again Sean and Ginger provided sound and lighting for us and you can find them at Boardwalk Entertainment

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The Kobe Burger - 10 ounces Kobe Beef, Humboldt Fog Cheese, Garlic Butter, Arugula, Red Onion, Tomato & Mayo on King's Hawaiian Bun, Salt Creek Garlic Fries Too



Cora runs through her songs at the Callbox right before heading to the reception. Notice Dave in the background giving us the "slow down" hand signal, we were speeding on purpose so we could get on the road already.

- Spike

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

27 Union Square West 4/10/10

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My First Wedding,.... Performing at one that is.

One of the most humbling Lesson's for a musician is not only in serving the music but also in serving your employer. There is no room for ego in the wedding setting and it was quite a different experience sitting on the bandstand while speeches went on in front of me. I expended little to no kinetic energy for the first half of our performance as I played at a very low energy level so the guests could talk to each other and enjoy the delicious Sri-Lankan foodstuffs.

The band performed very well and Spiccoli made all of the requested announcements with aplomb and benevolence.

-Animal

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