Doo Wop Singers Club’s Third Anniversary
November 20, 2011
North Brunswick, NJ
Back in
January, 2009, we reported to you that we’d attended a newly formed (as of
November 2008) central
New Jersey club called the Doo Wop Singers Club that meets on
the third Sunday of each month from 11 AM to 4 PM. [Click our
initial
review] Pat and Stu Pushkin and a staff of volunteers, provide a clubhouse
and snacks for the attendees. Singers get together and break into groups in
different corners of the room and some even sing in the bathroom. The
atmosphere is always very welcoming and friendly. In attendance each month
are many well known tri-state singers and historians.
Well, time
flies and we just attended the Doo Wop Singers Club’s Third Anniversary
celebration. If you didn’t see it posted on our Events Calendar, it’s
because the event was “sold out” almost as soon as it was announced. We
were lucky to get in, ourselves, thanks to the foresight of Marian and Frank
Cicerale [Re-MemberThen], who reserved us seats at their table.
It was a
pleasure to attend the capacity crowd second anniversary of the Doo Wop
Singers Club. As we’ve noted before, Stu Pushkin organized the club to help
facilitate the formation of new acappella vocal groups. This was a special
meeting of singers and fans of vocal group harmony (a hot lunch was served
by Pat Pushkin and her sisters). Five mikes were set up for all the groups
to perform.
Doo Wop
Singers Club founder, Stu Pushkin
The first
group to step up to the mikes was Stu’s acappella group, Still Around. The
group consisted of Stu Puskin,
Joe Morelli,
Tony Gutierrez,
John Bishop,
Hal Korcarz
and Pat Moschetto. John Bishop sings many of the leads for the group and
does a great job. Still Around got the afternoon rolling with the
Imperials’ “What Did I Do” and “Chapel Of Dreams”.
Acappella
group, Still Around. Left to right: John Bishop, Joe Morelli,
Stu Pushkin, Tony Gutierrez, Hal Korcarz
Still Around
Next up was
Re-MemberThen, led by Frank Cicerale. Frank mentioned that all the members
of his group first met at the Doo Wop Singers Club. Besides Frank, the
acappella group consisted of Jim Offner, Mary Rosen, Marty Geliebeter and
George Marchese (normally of the Vic Donna Group) filling in on bass. Re-MemberThen
opened with their own arrangement of “Crying In The Chapel” and followed
with a Drifters’ medley (“Dance With Me,” Up On The Roof,” “Save The Last
Dance For Me,” “Some Kind Of Wonderful”). They closed with a great version
of the Cadillacs’ “You Are”.
Re-MemberThen,
Left to right: Frank Cicerale, Jim Offner,
Marty Geliebeter, Marty Rosen, George Marchese
Re-MemberThen
The third
group of the afternoon was the Tee-Tones, an acappella quartet from
Brooklyn, NY. We had not seen the Tee-Tones before and were impressed with
their harmony. They performed a mix of styles, from the Elvis’ song, “Teddy
Bear” to a medley of “Shake Rattle & Roll”/”What’d I Say” and some great doo
wop songs like the Turbans’ “When You Dance” and the Teenagers’ “Why Do
Fools Fall In Love”. You can learn more about the Tee-Tones from their
website,
http://theteetones.com
The Tee-Tones
The Tee-Tones
A very
polished veteran group, RB Express, gave us a mixed set of R&R, R&B, Beach
Music and Doo Wop. Ray Block did many of the leads. In contrast to earlier
groups, RB Express sang to a music track, something we’d not seen at the Doo
Wop Singers Club before. The group opened with “On Broadway,” followed with
“True Love Ways” and the Drifters’ “He’s Just A Playboy”. The group closed
with “I Believe,” sung in acknowledgment of the Earls' Larry Chance who was
in the audience. [We should mention that RB Express also provided the sound
equipment for the afternoon!]
RB Express,
featuring Ray Block (left)
RB Express
Returning
to acappella singing, Still Around was up again, this time singing with
Shelly Buchansky of Vito and the Salutations. They harmonized an excellent
acappella set of the Continentals’ “Dear Lord,” the Earls’ “Remember Me
Baby” and the Dells’ “Why Do You Have To Go”.
Still Around singing with
Shelly Buchansky (second from right)
Hattie
Westerfeld was the MC for the afternoon, not an easy chore since there were
so many groups. She did a fine job! Hattie also sang a duet of “Eddie My
Love” with George Marchese, backed by a group consisting mostly Still
Around.
George
Marchese and hattie Westfeld
The Del
Angels were another professional group, entertaining with the use of music
tracts. The female trio gave us energetic renditions of many of the “girl
group” sides, including “Da Do Ron Ron,” “Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad About My
Baby,” “Tell Him,” and “Gee Whiz”. The Del Angels all have powerful voices
and were very well received by the crowd.
The Del
Angels
The Del
Angels
The Earl’s
lead, Larry Chance, who was brought to the Second Annual Party by Marian and
Frank Cicerale, was gracious to sing with a pick up group of Frank Cicerale,
Marty Geliebeter, Jim Offner and Pat Moschetto. Larry and the group’s
acappella rendition of “Gloria” mesmerized the crowd.
Larry Chance
and Frank Cicerale
Larry Chance
(left) singing with Re-MemberThen
Larry Chance
singing with Re-MemberThen's Jim Offner
Back In
Tyme was another smooth professional vocal group in matching outfits that
sang to a music track. Along with their great vocal harmony, Back In Tyme
also showed some exciting choreography. They sang a varied set from
“Operator” to Ike & Tina’s “A Fool In Love” to the Chantels’ “He’s Gone”.
Back In Tyme
Back In Tyme
What a
treat to see the acappella group, Reunion back again. Though having to
recover from the recent passing of their lead, Steve Sharkey, the group
still sounds fabulous. Ray Block (RB Express) started the set with the Mad
Lad’s “Don’t Have To Shop Around”. Other songs included “Kansas City” and
the great bass-led “Old Man River”. In tribute to Steve Sharkey, Reunion
sang their signature song, “Wonderful Tonight”. It was very emotional for
all of us.
Reunion
Reunion
The Del
Vals, an acappella group with all the members from Philly, harmonized to doo
wop classics like the Chanters’ “At My Door”. They sounded great!
The Del Vals
RB Express
and the Del Angels both returned to the mikes for second sets.
The
audience was full of singers from other groups, some famous and some still
on the rise. We ran into Vic Donna (The Vic Donna Group), Lou Ferri,
formerly of the Durhams and Uptites (Lou also got up and sang with the Del
Vals); Alex Augustine of Norman Fox & Rob Roys, Image and many other groups
(see
http://www.alexaugustine.com/); Jim Bakay (Copians), etc.
Shelly
Buchansky, Larry Chance, Alex Augustine, Vic Donna
(Photo courtesy of John Bishop)
Lou Ferri (Durhams,
Uptites), Jim Bakay (Copinas & WRDV), Lou Rallo (WRSU)
Pam Horner,
Bonnie & George Marchese, Vic Donna
John Bishop
photographing Larry Chance and Vic Donna
Charlie & Pam
Horner
(Courtesy of John Bishop)
Alex
Augustine of Rob-Roys and Image
Pam Horner
and Shelly Buchansky (displaying his record wrist watch)
Still
Around's John Bishop
Pam Horner
and Marian Cicerale
Stu Pushkin,
Larry Chance, Pat Pushkin
(Courtesy of John Bishop)
When we
left, singers were still harmonizing outside of the clubhouse. It was a
great salute to vocal group harmony music in New Jersey. Thanks to Stu and
Pat Pushkin and their volunteer staff for keeping our music alive. If
you’re a singer in New Jersey (or want to be), this is the place to be on
the third Sunday of each month. Contact Stu at
doowopstu@hotmail.com.
Singing
outside the clubhouse
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