What a night at Roxy & Dukes on July 30, 2017, as we celebrated our second anniversary (25th show) of acappella at the Dunellen night spot! The club was packed to the rafters and the featured group, the Cameos were magnificent in two sets. If that wasn’t enough, we had show stopping guest appearances by Sidestreet and Joel Katz (backed by the Cameos). Plus we gave out limited edition Classic Urban Harmony souvenir pens, twelve fabulous door prizes and the Cameos handed out free tickets to their upcoming concert at the PNC Bank Arts Center on September 26.
Sidestreet opened the night for us in splendid fashion, giving us a little taste of what’s in store for us when they return to Roxy & Dukes on December 3 with Quiet Storm. Betty Semel did a great job leading “My Juanita,” “Be My Baby” and “He’s Gone”. Eric Hattenberg was equally strong leading the Skyliners’ tune “Lonely Way”. Rich Hattenberg and Harry Van supplied some fine harmony.
The Cameos, (Danny Ugarte, Chris Cerullo, John Basilone and Arno Petronzio) performed as a 5-man acappella group with the addition of bass singer Bill Pron and were terrific. The Cameos are one of the most popular doo wop groups around, usually performing as ten-person band. For us at Roxy & Dukes, they sang acappella, adding Bill just for this performance. They had the… audience spellbound with two sets of songs like “Acappella With My Friends,” “Duke Of Earl,” “Chapel Bells,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Trickle Trickle,” “Daddy’s Home,” “Sincerely” and “The Girl I Love”. And that was just part of their first set! Two of their many standout numbers were “A Girl To Call My Own” (Avons) that was given to them by Ronnie I,. and “Shu Bop” (a Dion song from his Deja Nu” album).
The Cameos opened their second set with “Morse Code Of Love,” followed by “Please say You Want Me”. To everyone’s delight, the Cameos then called Joel Katz up on stage and backed him on “This Is My Love” and Sixteen Candles”. Joel and the Cameos brought the house down! Although the club was packed to capacity, everyone still seemed to follow our R&D rule – no talking when the group is singing. Congrats to the 12 winners of our fabulous door prizes. Hope you enjoy them. People told us they loved the Classic Urban Harmony souvenir pens, though only the first 49 people got one. They seemed to run out very quickly. Here are some photos and videos of how the night went. Click on any photo to enlarge. Then use the arrows to see others. Scroll down to see some videos. Thanks again, everyone! Next up, Street Corner 5 and the Copians this Sunday, August 13.
