Glen Burtnik's 2nd Christmas Extravaganza
Featuring The Slaves Of New Brunswick
And The '30 Voice Xmas Rock Choir'
December 19, 1992 - Stone Pony, Asbury Park
It was an impatiently ambitious period for me. I kinda even slightly reinvented myself (or something). In that sometime around 1990-1991, I dropped the "c" in my last name.
I was about to burst. I needed another dose of Christmas grandeur, but this time I wanted it bigger and stupider than the first one had been. I had this ridiculous vision. I needed people around me who could match my enthusiasm and effort, and I wanted a band that was flexible and fun to work with.
ENTER TONY SHANAHAN
I called Tony after a party he threw for a friend which led to the Slaves Of New Brunswick, a ‘jam’ kinda band comprised of players who lived in our neck of the woods. Tony’s a hard worker and a solid bassist (good looking too - women love the guy). We worked together closely on the Slaves project, including the group’s album which had been released earlier in 1992. When I asked if he wanted to get involved with my 2nd Christmas Extravaganza, as always, he was game. Among other things, Tony has been bassist in The Patti Smith Group for years now.
ENTER ARTHUR SCAMMACCA, JEROME TYUS and MARK SACCO
In other words, enter the Slaves Of New Brunswick rhythm section. The Slaves have always had this musical chairs arrangement with drummers. Arthur began the group with Tony and myself. Jerome stopped by the Melody Bar one night and asked if he could sit in. I can’t recall exactly how & when we met Sacco, but he’s been consistently available whenever we needed him. All 3 of these drummers have their own style and I became used to different flavors from song to song with The Slaves. While putting together the 2nd Christmas show we figured, why not bring along all three drummers?
ENTER BERNIE BRAUSEWETTER
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Bernie play. It was at the Stone Pony. I was floored. I mighta told him how much he impressed me after, maybe not. But a few years later, the night I saw him enter the Melody Bar while the Slaves of New Brunswick were playing, I told Tony, “We GOTTA get that guy up here to play!”. His band is called BB & The Stingers and they’re a ripping blues/rock based trio. Anyone who plays AXIS BOLD AS LOVE that well, I bow down to.
ENTER BARBARA HAHNFirst as a primary member of The Slaves Of New Brunswick, and later as choir soprano and ultimately backing vocalist mainstay, Barbara Hahn took the Xtravaganza stage very early on. She has added not only great musical help to the show, but she absolutely sparkles on stage - adored by all.
ENTER BOBBY GORDON, DUSTY MICALE, and DONNA DIOR
Bobby, Dusty and Donna, WE THINK, handled the keyboard duties in ’92. I grew up with Dusty, having written a self-important Progressive Rock “Opera” in the early 70’s, Bobby played keyboards for me in my big haired A&M Records years and Donna was an occasional Slave of New Brunswick.
ENTER GRAHAM MABY
Jigs calls him "A Living Legend", Marshall said he "plays his ass off". He's a gentleman and a solid musician responsible for bass tracks on recordings by Joe Jackson, Natalie Merchant and Marshall Crenshaw. Graham played bass on & off in the '92 show.
ENTER ED MANION
Ed Manion is a wonderful sax player who played for years with The Asbury Jukes, Little Steve's Disciples Of Soul, The Miami Horns (with Springsteen) and a number of other acts. I met him when we both played in LaBamba and The Hubcaps. Ed, getting involved in the show, added the sax element so often needed in the Rock N Roll arrangements and really helped raise the quality of the soloing.
ENTER MINDY JOSTYN
I asked Mindy to play the show. She is quite a talent with a very cool stage vibe. A multi-instrumentalist, she plays violin, harmonica, accordion, guitar and piano. She’s like a sister in musician-hood.
ENTER LENNY KAYE
A bit of a local legend where I grew up and regarded as somewhat of a rock historian, Lenny Kaye has written books, produced hit records, and played guitar in The Patti Smith Group, which he co-founded, for years (he also took my sister-in-law to their New Brunswick High School prom). Lenny became involved with the Slaves of New Brunswick, wrote and sang on the record and agreed to appear at the 2nd Extravaganza.
The decision was made to record the show for a possible live album. We advertised it that way - a ‘come be on a live recording’ kinda promotion.
ENTER ALAN DOUCHES
My talented and inspirational engineer buddy suggested he record the ‘92 show. He rented a recording truck, tapped into the microphones and ran tape the entire evening.
ENTER VIN SCELSA
Legendary eclectic NY deejay Vin Scelsa had Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan and myself up to promote the Christmas show on his Sunday night IDIOT’S DELIGHT radio program on WXRK FM. This was something he had generously done for me often. He has been sort of the unofficial ‘Godfather’ of the Xtravaganza ever since.
ENTER SYD STRAW
Syd is a critically acclaimed artist who began as leader singer in the Golden Palominos and also maintains an active acting career (Pete & Pete, Tales of The City). She’s a special singer, a fun personality and a real original. Tony, who had been playing bass with her around this time, had been leaving messages on Syd’s answering machine in an attempt to get her to come make it down to Asbury Park. Vin decided to help us out by letting us call her live on the radio, inviting her to participate, putting her on the spot – a dirty trick for sure (which appears as a hidden track on “A LIVE CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA” disc).
It worked. The exceptional Ms. Straw showed up to sing a song she had written as a little girl which had just been released as a single, XMAS TWIST and Pretenders’ 2000 MILES.
ENTER MARSHALL CRENSHAW
The rundown: I have known Marshall since 1978. We were fake Beatles together (he played John, I played Paul), and we recorded an independent single as a band (my first release ever). He was at my wedding. He played me the early demos that led to his signing with Warner Brothers Records and has been a good friend of mine for longer than almost anyone. Marshall dove into being a part of the show with his own inimitable style - often choosing to perform odd Christmas chestnuts.
ENTER WILLIE NILE
Notable singer/songwriter Willie Nile agreed to do the show and had already released a Christmas song on a compilation but said he might wanna come up with something new. I will never forget when he called me, when he sang me his idea for an up tempo arrangement of OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL over the phone. Pounding on an acoustic guitar, uninhibitedly singing out this rocking version. In that performance, I heard all the spirit, energy and enthusiasm of Willie's personality blasting through the phone connection. Needless to say, Willie's contribution to the show has been explosive and unforgettable.
ENTER JAMES MASTRO
I first heard of James Mastro from his band Strange Cave. Most everyone else knew him from The Bongoes. But by 1992, Jim had another band together, The Health & Happiness Show. A legendary Hobokenite, James showed up at the Xtravaganza armed with a great song by Big Star, JESUS CHRIST. He educated me about that band.
ENTER TOMMY CONWELL
I was a fan of this guy the first time I saw him. I didn't wanna like him, but he's unmistakably great, that's all there is to it. He hails from Philly and has had his following there, particularly in the 80's. He wrote a song for the '90 Christmas show that we learned titled KINDA CHRISTMASSEY.
ENTER EVERLOUNGE
Now the details of this might be confusing, so the only thing to remember is that each show after 1989 has included an appearance of the group now known as Everlounge (or some facsimile thereof) performing their potent arrangement of Doctor Seuss' YOU'RE A MEAN ONE MISTER GRINCH much to everyone's great pleasure. The long story is this: Everlounge used to call themselves the Whirling Dervishes. In 1991, when they recorded and released THE GRINCH, they were the under the name Whirling Dervishes. At some point around 1996 they took on their alter ego as a lounge band (parody?) of sorts which, wouldn't you know it, became something they ended up enjoying more than their earlier incarnation. So no matter that when big shot radio stations like Z100 credit their version of THE GRINCH as The Whirling Dervishes, the band has actually been Everlounge for years now, consisting of charismatic frontman Don Dazzo, guitarist Bob Ardrey, bassist Jerry Heer, and keyboardist Bill Siegel. Their version of the song continues to be a cornerstone of the Xtravaganza ever since their first appearance in 1992 - no matter what they call themselves.
ENTER JIGS
Around my In-Law’s house, there has been a tradition since my wife’s brother Joey was a little kid. Each Christmas he would, for a few minutes, become the center of attention while doing a pantomime/dance routine enacting The Twelve Days Of Christmas. He eventually grew up, kinda, got wilder, changed his name to Jigs (like Madonna or JLo) and never got out of the habit of performing his special little holiday ritual. Then it dawned on me. While planning the ‘92 Extravaganza, this unusual performance piece just might add a degree of zaniness required in a variety show. His addition to the show was triumphantly successful and from that night on I knew I wouldn’t wanna do the show without the spectacle. As Jay Lustig wrote in his ‘96 Star Ledger review, “the portly, maniacally grinning Giglio became a whirlwind of motion, executing his moves with surprising grace and having the time of his life.”
The repertoire of the show wasn’t yet entirely holiday music. The Slaves Of New Brunswick played EXIT NUMBER 9 off the self-titled disc. In addition to SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, I sang my recent Patty Smyth/Don Henley hit SOMETIMES LOVE JUST AIN’T ENOUGH.
ENTER MITCH MALLOY and MR REALITY
Mitch Malloy performed his latest single as well as SILENT NIGHT and local major label trio Mr. Reality sang their esteemed IN MY YARD as well as DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?
ENTER CHRISTINE KELLY
Christine is a politically oriented singer/songwriter from New Brunswick, NJ. She performed a song her brother Dani wrote, I believe the title was CHRISTMAS SONG.
ENTER MAX WEINBERG AND DANNY FEDERICI
Max and Danny came by to play on a number of songs. Quite an honor, playing with such legendary players, most notably members of the E Street Band (led by some guy named Bruce).
ENTER SCARLETTE MOORE AND LISA RICCARDI
Lisa Riccardi sang Darlene Love’s CHRISTMAS (Baby Please Come Home) and Scarlette Moore took the vocal improvisations in OH HAPPY DAY.
“The most stunning performances came from the choir”, wrote reviewer Ben Horowitz in his review. Funny thing is, I can’t for the life of me recall exactly what songs the choir sang that night. I do know we did ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH and most likely THE FIRST NOEL and CAROL OF THE BELLS. I’m relatively sure the group included Patti Maloney, Donna Dior, Barbara Hahn, Matty Hahn, Kasim Sulton, Franke Previte, Bob Ward, John Rogers, Ray Anderson, Raphael, Graham Maby, Chuck Buck, Tony Shanahan, Rob Tera, probably the 3 Carone sisters (Gail, Chip and Sally), Lisa Riccardi and Scarlette Moore. I bet I forgot someone. Don’t hate me if it’s you.
ENTER JIM MONAGHAN
Jim is a good guy who certainly gets around. He’d worked at WNEW-FM for years and right around this time he started a successful club band BUMS IN THE PARK. At the show, he joined us to sing JINGLE BELL ROCK.
Of course, Chuck Buck returned as Santa doing his increasingly high-risk humor.
The Stone Pony was packed. According to the positive review we got in the Star Ledger, the show started at 11:15 pm and went until 3 am. When it was over I was exhausted. The drive home was grueling after such a big deal. It was alotta work, but I wanted to do it again each year thereafter.
Mark Sacco has this memory:
“It was the first time playing the Xmas show and I was pretty excited to be doing a song with Andy Young and Syd Straw. I remember at the end of the night during the encore looking toward the back of the Stone Pony. There was Syd with Lenny Kaye dancing to the John & Yoko song HAPPY XMAS (War is Over). It just kinda embodied the whole vibe of the Extravaganza...”
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