Glen Burtnik’s 4th Annual Xmas Extravaganza
December 16, 1994 - Club Bene, New Jersey
December 21, 1994 - The Bottom Line, NYC - Two Shows
Through much of summer ‘94, Alan Douches, Tony Shanahan and I worked on fixing and mixing tracks for the live album recorded at the previous year’s Xmas Xtravaganza. It was alotta work. Getting artists to sign the release was hard enough. I remember chasing Syd Straw for months - the girl is illusive - and finally getting her to sign it late one night at the Mercury Lounge with Tony (after a few drinks as I recall). John Eddie was such a colossal knucklehead about it we had to leave him off the disc, in spite of the fact that he claimed to wanna have his performance included
ENTER MIKE CLEARY
I briefly met Mike in the mid-80's when, as Mike says: “We BOTH had different hairstyles”. He knew Alan Douches and briefly stopped by the Stone Pony during the ‘92 and ‘93 Xtravaganza's to see if Alan needed anything and to checkout what the show was about. While working on the live album, I got to know and like Mike and we wound up asking for his help with the Xmas Xtravaganza that year. He didn’t know it yet, but he would become an invaluable assistant to the show in the coming years.
ENTER MARK & DOREEN SULLIVAN
Mark is a professional photographer who I met at the Garden State Music Awards. Doreen his wife, is somewhat of a gear head/computer geek/tech guru brain. They have been selflessly helpful in putting together the Xtravaganza's as well as many of my solo CD releases. When all this is over, I will owe them a zillion bucks.
A LIVE CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA
Deko Music released A LIVE CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA in time for Christmas ‘94. The album included Marshall Crenshaw, Syd Straw, Tommy Conwell, Lenny Kaye, Willie Nile, the Health And Happiness Show (featuring James Mastro), Bernie “BB” Brausewetter, Tony Shanahan, the Slaves Of New Brunswick, and yours truly, as well as what we called the ‘Christmas Choir’. The cover photos were done in the Shanahan's family bakery (S&S Bake Shop - Main Street, Milltown). Mark Sullivan photographed the cakes while Tony’s baker dad, John Shanahan, artistically spelled out the cover’s wording. To add the finishing touches, Tony, Doreen Sullivan (who later did layout) and I added a million little plastic decorative pieces to excess all over.
At this time, I pretty much knew I wanted to do a fourth Christmas concert. I even came up with a new adjusted name for the show (the spelling was evolving). We planned for the Xmas Extravaganza like the previous ones, to take place at the Stone Pony. However, the Pony closed before we got to play and I had to find a new venue for the show. My first choice was Carnegie Hall, but they’re a union hall, so I went to the semi historic (and now sadly defunct) Club Bene.
ENTER ROBBY FUSCO
For years, Robby was my tour manager. (Truth is he did as much if not more for my career than any of my big shot music biz managers ever did). Robby was there, putting together all the details of setting up the stage, the crew and the technical operations. By around 1994 Robby grew tired of rock and roll as a career. He cut his beautiful long hair, gave up wearing clogs and gracefully rode off into the sunset to procreate, program computers and conquer some real estate.
ENTER MARK ZORN
Once there was a New Jersey teenager who wrote me a letter offering his services as a stage hand. He dug my music (so he said) and I guess he liked the idea of learning a bit about the music business by jumping in with a local musician that was blazing a path towards surefire superstardom. I told Robby to hire the 'kid' who has been my friend ever since. Once Robby got married and got a 'real job', Mark Zorn took over helping out whenever I needed it. Mark has been the chief crew dude at all the Xmas shows. By ‘94 I realized how incredibly helpful he really was to me. (He probably makes more money than me now and might still be pissed I didn’t turn out to be as big as Bon Jovi.)
In promoting the ‘94 show, a few of us made another appearance on Vin Scelsa’s Sunday night radio program IDIOT’S DELIGHT which at this point was still broadcasting from WXRK-FM (“K-Rock”).
ENTER ALAN PEPPER
I think we were on late in the IDIOT’S DELIGHT show that evening, during which time Alan Pepper was on his way home from his club the Bottom Line (coincidentally thinking about Christmas and what a drag it was his club didn’t have an annual Christmas show this year like the Caroling Carolers used to bring). He tuned in to Vin Scelsa’s show and heard us promoting my Xmas Extravaganza. A light bulb went off above the impresario's head and the next thing I knew Alan Pepper was on the phone booking the Xmas Extravaganza at the historic Bottom Line Cabaret.
I was elated. I ultimately always intended to take the show to Manhattan. I referred to the entire Alan Pepper/Vin Scelsa incident as divine intervention.
This meant some of us had TONS of Xmas-ing to do that year. We had Club Bene already booked for Friday, December 16th, we scheduled the following Wednesday at The Bottom Line (for both an early show and a late show there), and The Slaves Of New Brunswick had that next Friday booked at New Brunswick’s Melody Bar. I recall being pretty involved in promoting the LIVE CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA album as well.
The back line band this year included our revolving crew of faithful keyboardists: Donna Dior and Dusty Micale with Plinky playing the Hammond B3 organ exclusively this year. Tony Shanahan played bass as usual but there were additions joining the returning players in the guitar and percussion departments.
Drummers included Mark Sacco, Jerome Tyus and Pat Petrillo. Mindy Jostyn returned to play violin and harmonica.
The back line guitars were for the most part played by Bernie “BB” Brausewetter, myself and Jimmy Leahey.
ENTER JIMMY LEAHEY?
Put it this way: I KNOW Jimmy played at the 1994 shows...but he MIGHT’VE also played the year before for the first time. We can’t recall for sure on account of my advancing age and all the brain loss (I dunno what Jimmy’s excuse is). In any event, the guy’s a monster on guitar and a good friend.
Backing vocals were alternately handled by returning singers Nancy Sebastian, Mary Lee Kortes, Barbara Hahn, Pam Cutler and new friend Ilene Reid.
ENTER ILENE REID
Ilene Reid was introduced to the show via Nancy Sebastian. Another serious and studied singer (proper!), Ilene helped bring more precision to the background parts. If I remember correctly, she’s originally from Bloomington, Indiana but eventually moved to the Big Apple where she had a cool apartment on the Upper West Side (where we all rehearsed our vocal parts).
I seem to recall Ed Manion wasn’t available this year so Donna Dior suggested I invite Joey Stann to play sax.
ENTER JOEY STANN
Joey’s played sax with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes for years. A potent saxophonist and a good guy, Joey has appeared at a number of Xmas shows since.
This year’s choir, which I dubbed the Dysfunctional Christmas Singers, consisted of (unless I’ve left someone out) Sandy Leone, Donna Dior, Stacy Stempler, Chip Carone, Barbara Hahn, Jessica Micale, Sally Muldowney, Patti Maloney, Pam Cutler, Gail Garabo, Nancy Sebastian, Ilene Reid, Joe Fiamingo, Matty Hahn, John Kubin, Jimmy Leahey, Bob Leone, Bob Ward, Steve Tracy, Chuck Buck, Rob Tera, Buck Dharma, John Rogers, Rosie and Darla Rose Burtnick.
ENTER DARLA ROSE
This year choir rehearsals took place in my home. I persuaded my wife Rosie to sing with the alto section. Meanwhile, our kids were around all this activity and music, which included the repetition of vocal parts. Darla, who has a good ear, was 9 years old at the time. It was no stretch for her to learn the soprano parts, so she joined the choir. After a few rehearsals, I realized she could handle not only singing with a choir onstage at a rock concert, but she would probably be ready for a solo. I gave her the third verse of THE FIRST NOEL to sing by herself. As I write this I realize that she’s appeared in every show since.
CLUB BENE
A 50’s/60’s style “Dinner Theater” owned and operated by the Bene family for years, was once a great venue with a good sized room that sounded a whole lot better than most bars. However, it didn’t stop there. You could once order either the chicken or the fish dinner while watching a show!
We opened the Club Bene show with the choir, who began the festivities with ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH, THE FIRST NOEL and THE DAY YOUR SHIP GETS THRU (a choral oriented song off my 1987 solo album). Next, as the choir left the stage, Jimmy Leahey and Mindy Jostyn performed an acoustic guitar/violin rendition of J.S.Bach’s SLEEPERS AWAKE.
Now, every once in a blue Christmas I’ll breakdown and write a Christmas song. After the initial choir selections and the Bach piece, the rest of band took the stage and performed my new song, JESUS WAS A REBEL, which featured Mindy on violin and Dave Anthony on tablas.
ENTER DAVE ANTHONY
Dave was introduced to me by Jimmy Leahey, his cousin. He’s a solid player with an in-depth knowledge of drums, percussion and world rhythm. Newcomer to the Xmas Xtrav, Dave played percussion throughout the show (which 90% of the time entails jingling sleigh bells).
JESUS WAS A REBEL segued into a rocking instrumental arrangement of CAROL OF THE BELLS. (I really mean to record these pair of tunes. Maybe in some future Xmas album...)
I next sang WINTER WONDERLAND before the Whirling Dervishes took the stage to perform their classic rendition of THE GRINCH. This year, the tune was augmented by a small horn section consisting of Joey Stann and my old friend Richie LaBamba.
ENTER LaBAMBA
I met Richie LaBamba as a member of his great shore band LaBamba And The Hubcaps. Richie has toured with Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Little Steven and Diana Ross. God bless him. He currently appears on national television each night as a member of the Max Weinberg 7. He sings, plays and arranges great and is a true gentleman.
We next spotlighted Bernie “BB” Brausewetter doing his annual BOOGIE WOOGIE SANTA CLAUS, featuring solos by Bernie, Joey Stann, LaBamba, Mindy Jostyn and the great Rob Paparozzi.
ENTER ROB PAPAROZZI
Super harp player and all around excellent musician, Rob is someone I’ve admired for years. He’s contributed to the show a number of years, starting in ‘94 (also appeared on my ‘96 solo album, PALOOKAVILLE).
Then Tony Shanahan sang EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE COOL THIS CHRISTMAS (a song by E of the Eels) with Mary Lee Kortes singing along and Mark Muller playing pedal steel guitar.
ENTER MARK MULLER
Mark Muller played pedal steel and mighta picked up a mandolin and/or guitar here or there throughout the performances. Mark is a talented multi- instrumentalist who has played with a number of artists (including Tommy Shaw) and a few years after this, his first Xmas show, Mark became Music Director for a little country music artist named Shania Twain.
Next up, Christine Kelly returned to sing her CHRISTMAS SONG then Willie Nile typically rocked the place with his OH COME ALL YE FAITHFUL and CHRISTMAS THING.
AND FROM TRENTON, THE NEW JERSEY STATE CAPITOL
Ernie White and Joe Vadala (a friend of mine since the 70’s), who along with Mark Sacco at the time had a band called Big Sky, appeared to perform an original song titled CHRISTMAS IS EVERYWHERE. Joe’s a hard working guitarist and Ernie I’ve known and admired for years. (In addition to being a noteworthy singer/writer/guitarist, Ernie appeared a few years later on PALOOKAVILLE’S NEVER MIND ME track.)
ENTER JANE KELLY WILLIAMS
I think I first heard Jane at a songwriters circle I performed at along with her. She killed me. I started going to see her band and telling all my friends about her. She appeared at the ‘94 shows with husband Dave Richards (who later played a number of gigs with my band) to sing the COVENTRY CAROL. Jane Kelly Williams’ brilliant debut album, which came out in 1995 on Mercury, is a fave of mine.
After Jane, the choir came back to sing OH HAPPY DAY featuring Nancy Sebastian. I think there mighta been more from them, but there’s no record of it... The next tune was the Ventures’ surf guitar arrangement of SLEIGH RIDE with Jim Monaghan joining the army of onstage guitarists, followed by Jim singing JINGLE BELL ROCK. Returning alumnus James Mastro gave a wonderful sermon style introduction before playing Big Star’s JESUS CHRIST and The Band’s CHRISTMAS MUST BE TONIGHT. Lenny Kaye followed with I WISH IT COULD BE CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY before Bernie did BACK DOOR SANTA.
ENTER BUCK DHARMA
The talented creator of DON’T FEAR THE REAPER himself, Buck is an important member of the classic rock band BLUE OYSTER CULT. He’s a great guitarist/singer/writer and seems to dig making the Xmas scene as much as I. Buck fronted the band alongside John Rogers (then, Blue Oyster Cult’s bassist) to do a BOC rewrite, HO HO GODZILLA.
ENTER JOE CONDIRACCI
Tony Shanahan brought Joe Condiracci into the show. A graduate of the New Brunswick music scene, Joe did the vocals on LITTLE DRUMMER BOY. The arrangement began with a great drum corps style cadence featuring drummers Pat Petrillo, Jerome Tyus and Mark Sacco. I believe it was Petrillo’s arrangement mostly, before leading into a rocked up version sung by Condiracci.
The show continued with Tony Shanahan singing BLUE CHRISTMAS. Then, a few songs new to the show came next beginning with Mindy Jostyn doing a song of her own titled LOOKING FOR JESUS AGAIN, followed by Rob Paparozzi’s arrangement of SANTA CLAUS SANTA CLAUS featuring him on vocals and harmonica.
ENTER THE VOODUDES
They’re from the New Brunswick/Highland Park area. Fronted by great pianist Jim Beckerman and giant voiced lead singer Andy Bernstein, they specialize in New Orleans style music. Fun music. They performed a Louis Armstrong song called CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS.
Next, Chuck Buck returned this year appearing as Rasta Claus (the Jamaican Santa Claus). He did his as ever off color bit and we followed with SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TOWN.
ENTER RICHARD BARONE
Originally the co-anchor of Hoboken’s Bongoes, Richard has stopped by to do our show often, beginning in 1994 when he first sang Darlene Love’s CHRISTMAS (Baby Please Come Home).
Next, Tommy Conwell sang a pair of songs beginning with his own CHRISTMAS IS HERE followed by Chuck Berry’s RUN RUDOLPH RUN.
At that point, LaBamba took a turn fronting the show by singing Stevie Wonder’s WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME. After that, Mary Lee Kortes sang I’LL BE HOME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and Syd Straw’s XMAS TWIST. I was next and sang MUST BE SANTA before the choir retook the stage for Jigs’ THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. As always the case, the show closed with HAPPY XMAS (War Is Over).
THE BOTTOM LINE SHOWS
The set list was almost identical to the Club Bene performance we had given five days prior with a few additions (there HAD to be deletions to have fit into the Bottom Line time frame, but I can’t imagine what those were now).
ENTER PATTY SMYTH
What can I write about Patty? She was introduced to show biz as the tough New York chick singer with Scandal who eventually became one of my favorite collaborators as well as a very dear long time friend. Patty sang WHITE CHRISTMAS and HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS.
ENTER JOHN WAITE
And what can I say about John? In my opinion, this guy is the Frank Sinatra of my generation, his phrasing is unlike anyone’s. He was initially lead singer/bassist with The Babys and later singer for Bad English, but he’ll probably be most remembered for songs like MISSING YOU from his solo career. I’ve written songs with him, which was a thrill for me. John sang his own country flavored ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU and a blues number, SANTA'S MESSING WITH THE KID.
ENTER DANNY MALONE
NYC vocalist Danny Malone of the band Diving For Pearls sang ROCKIN' AROUND HE CHRISTMAS TREE. He’s a dashing guy and one great singer who I’ve written some pretty decent songs with in the past.
Otherwise, the NYC shows went much like the NJ one and that was it for 1994.
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