If you want to talk about unusual events, than you should hear about the fundraising event Jellyroll performed at on Friday, October 2nd, to benefit the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery. It is not every day you hear about a gala for a cemetery, but Laurel Hill is a truly unique and special place. Laurel Hill is one of the only cemeteries in the country that is a National Historic Landmark, and the Friends of Laurel Hill work to preserve and promote the establishment. This was the 5th annual Gravediggers’ Ball held to benefit the landmark, and this year’s event was held in memory of Harry Kalas whose final resting place is at Laurel Hill. It was inspiring for Jellyroll to be a part of this event, honoring the beloved Philadelphia broadcaster.
The evening started with a moving tribute to Harry, followed by Jellyroll playing “High Hopes,” a known favorite of Mr. Kalas. Guests, many of whom were dressed in costume, really enjoyed this. Everyone sang along, and then stayed on the dance floor to dance the night away. Here is an excerpt from the Kalas family testimonial to the Friends of Laurel Hill: “I loved how the band asked everyone to sing along to High Hopes. Sometimes it can seem kind of cheesy when people do High Hopes in honor of Harry, but because it was such a great band, and what they said before they started singing, it really felt like a loving tribute and I have to commend the band for that because that’s not easy to do. So it was really an incredible night and we were so pleased to be a part of it.”
The following evening, on October 3rd, Jellyroll performed at the wedding of Kristen Bowers and Keith Griesbaum at the Hotel du Pont. The evening was entirely enjoyable as the bride and groom were a pleasure to work with, and Jillian, a member of the Hotel du Pont staff, ran a great show. Linda Simunov, the couple’s wedding planner, ensured that all the details came together to create a flawless and memorable evening for the bride and groom. Michael Kehr was the photographer for the evening, and he took some great shots of the happy couple with their friends and family. Below are a few of his photos from the wedding!
The special dances of the night included the bride and groom’s first dance to “Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” by Elvis. The bride and her father danced to “The Way You Look Tonight”, and the groom and his mother danced to “Wonderful Tonight”. The rest of the night Jellyroll performed high-energy dance songs that really got the crowd moving. Jellyroll experienced one of their most exciting endings to a reception when the bride and groom joined them on stage in front of a packed crowd of guests for the last song of the night, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”.
A Weekend of Fireworks for Midnight Hour
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! We just logged another full weekend of gigs, fun and special moments with some great people, and we wanted to tell you all about it.
On Saturday July 4th, Midnight Hour performed for newlyweds Seth & Calli Alberts at Appleford Estates in Villanova, PA. Our keyboardist (Vinny Dimento) and guitarist (Gerry “Rooster” Corrado) performed the music for the wedding ceremony on the grounds of Appleford, and it was really beautiful. Later, the bride and groom were announced to “Bittersweet Symphony” under the tent, and shared their first dance to Kenny Chesney’s “Me & You”. It was a marvelous night, topped off by some fireworks that some locals set off around 9:30 … and then the band closed out the night at 10:00 with a full dance floor. Special thanks to that guy who got up with us and performed “Satisfaction” by The Stones … that guy was great. Thanks for having us, Seth & Calli!
On Sunday night July 5th, we performed for another wedding at The Chase Center in Wilmington, DE. Rachel & Hal Ossman were married on site, and once again Vinny performed for their ceremony, preparing special Jewish traditional music that they had requested. Later we performed an extended Hora for their families, including “Hava Nagila”, “Artsa Alinu”, “Ose Shalom”, and “Havenu Shalom Aleicham”. When our music for the Hora ended, the dancing just kept going and the crowd stomped and clapped and sang other traditional songs, having a wonderful time. Later, the bride and groom danced to the song “Amazed” by Lonestar, and the dance floor was full all night long.
We also celebrated the birthday of our own Tom “Tiny” Callan this past week – Tiny is a great guy, and boy does he love birthdays! He made sure everyone knew it was his birthday, and we had lots of fun with him this week.
Also wanted to mention we premiered our new light show this past week, and it looks great – it was kind of like having our own little fireworks show on the 4th of July. We can size it to fit any room and it adds great color and motion when the band is playing. We’re excited about it, and we hope you get to see it some time soon.
Take care,
Pepper & The Midnight Hour Band
Midnight Hour Performs at 2009 ISES Liberty Awards Gala
On Wednesday June 24th 2009, Midnight Hour was honored to perform for the International Special Events Society (ISES) Liberty Awards Gala at the Park Ridge Hotel in King of Prussia, PA.
The evening’s theme was “Bring on the Bling,” and everyone in attendance got into the fun spirit by decking themselves out in upscale threads. A special booth was set up to apply glitter and temporary tattoos for those brave souls who wanted to go the extra mile in getting the bling going.
ISES President Nancy Bauman (NKB Events, LLC) was the evening’s gracious host, and we were thrilled to get some time to talk with her about the work she does with ISES. Nancy’s term as President comes to a close soon, and her successor is going to be Larry Ott, CSEP, of Open Aire Affaires. Larry was also great about spending some time talking with the band, not to mention the time he spent on the dance floor … pretty sure his smooth dance moves have a lot to do with him being President Elect of ISES. J
The folks at ISES asked us to open up with a song that they felt would sum up their vision of a “Bling Fling” … the classic Aerosmith & Run DMC version of “Walk This Way”. We were more than happy to oblige, and we had the house rockin’ from the start of the evening. The ISES team had decorated the room beautifully, and everyone agreed the Park Ridge had never looked better. It was the perfect setting for a terrific party. We went on to play other classic house party songs like “Jump Around”, “Let Me Clear My Throat”, and “It’s Getting Hot in Here”.
We’d like to thank everyone at ISES for choosing us to be a part of their special event. We met some of the area’s very best event specialists, from a woman who specializes in puppetry to a guy who does the biggest fireworks shows on the east coast, and we look forward to working with all of them in the future.
Contagious Party Band: Shines at the Crystal Tea Room
The Contagious Band has once again been honored to have the privilege to perform at the Philadelphia landmark The Crystal Tea Room where the standard is set for elegance and style. There was no more appropriate place than here for the reception of one of the most adorable couples I’ve ever met Katie Schuster and Dr. Michael Johnson.
Surrounded by all their family and friends the magical evening started with Katie and Michael’s first dance was to Elvis Presley’s “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”. The moment seemed timeless. This may sounds like a Best Man speech when I say it but meeting them and watching them together it would be a challenge to image them with anyone but each other. They just fit so perfectly together.
For the parent dances the Contagious Band got to show our skills a little by setting up “I Loved Her First” by Heartland for Katie to dance with her father Daniel. With the Groom’s family being from Augusta Georgia we learned and performed a very special “Georgia On My Mind” by the late great Ray Charles. Seeing that Savannah Georgia is my home town we’ll have to keep the Georgia On my Mind song around for future use.
There are so many parts that make up a successful reception. The staff at the Crystal Tea Room made is so easy for Contagious to help make the evening unforgettable. We were aware of all the events that needed to take place and with their expert coordination made the evening seamless. Although I saw a wedding Bouquet completely “destroyed” during the toss to the single ladies J it was a ”fun” part of the evenings events. The dance party was incredible and the crowd met the challenge of The Contagious front line and kept the energy high all evening long. Katie and Michael finished off the evening showing their dancing skills and left everyone with a smile.
A special thanks to The Crystal Team room and most of all Katie and Michael for allowing the Contagious Band to be there when it all began. Best wishes to you both as you share life’s journeys together.
doc
Midnight Hour: Rockin’ at The Ballroom at The Ben
The Ballroom at the Ben is one of the most stunning ballrooms in the city of Philadelphia, and we’ve played there many times. It’s always a treat to perform in the storied walls of ‘The Ben’, looking up at the high ceiling and the beautiful chandeliers that light up the room. On Saturday June 6th, we had the pleasure of returning to The Ballroom at the Ben to perform for the wedding reception of two of the nicest people in the world, the newly married Aaron & Allison Greenfield. As it happens, Aaron’s grandfather once owned The Ballroom at the Ben many years ago, so it was a very special return to a family landmark for the Greenfield family.
Aaron and Allison chose the song “Amazed” by Lonestar for their first dance, followed by a traditional Jewish Hora. The 200+ guests were all on their feet dancing to “Hava Nagila” (Hebrew for “Let us rejoice”) as Aaron & Allison were carried on chairs in the center of the circle – a moment the band always loves.
Later on, Aaron danced with his mother to “Stand By Me” by Sam Cook, and Allison with her father to the song “In My Life” by The Beatles.
After the main course, the dance floor opened and it was full for the rest of the night. Aaron and Allison had requested that we play lots of 80’s music for them, and we were ready for them … “What I Like About You” by the Romantics, “Summer of 69” by Bryan Adams, “Walking On Sunshine”, and many more. Ott is the Manager at The Ballroom at the Ben, and as always he was masterful in making sure the night flowed smoothly.
Aaron also secretly requested that the band learn a special song for him to sing to Allison, and we were happy to oblige … so right after the cake cutting, he took the microphone and we played “Everything I Do, I Do It For You”, another great Bryan Adams song. Allison sat in a chair surrounded by about 200 people who were all cheering as Aaron made the most of the big surprise moment.
We ended the night with the crowd on its feet, singing “Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. It was a blast, and we had a great time. Thanks to Aaron & Allison for choosing Midnight Hour!
Midnight Hour returns to West Shore Country Club
One of our favorite venues is The West Shore Country Club in Camp Hill, PA (not far from Harrisburg, PA), so we were really happy to perform there over this past weekend for the wedding reception of Kate and Eric Bowles. Their friends and family were an incredible group, and the band fed off their energy all night – the dance floor was just absolutely full all night long.
Kate and Eric chose a beautiful song for their first dance – “This Year’s Love” by David Gray. Of course we performed it live for them, and it was a great choice. Their dance had been professionally choreographed, so we worked with them in advance on the timing of the music and their dance moves. We received a lot of compliments on the song, so we’ll probably keep playing it at other weddings this year.
We also learned “Waiting on a Sunny Day” by Bruce Springsteen, and “Comes A Time” by Neil Young, at Kate and Eric’s request. We’re always happy to learn 2 or 3 songs for each of our wedding clients, and we had a ball playing those songs for them. “Waiting on a Sunny Day” turned into a sing along, with the whole crowd joining in on the choruses. Another one we’ll keep for future weddings where people want us to ‘bring out the Bruce’.
We enjoyed working with photographer Amy Deputy of Amy Deputy Photography. It was our first time meeting Amy, and we had a chance to talk with her when we all sat down for a quick bite during the main course. Amy was very nice and loved the band, and I’m sure her pictures of the event will turn out beautifully.
As always, the staff at West Shore did an incredible job of making the room look beautiful. Our sincere thanks are extended to Stephen Hanawalt (Director of Catering) and Bruce Bortone (Assistant General Manager) at West Shore for being so gracious to the band.
Congratulations Kate & Eric, and thank you for choosing Midnight Hour!
Back2Life performed at the Meals On Wheels “Evening With The Masters” on Friday, April 17th at The Chase Center on the Riverfront for over 1600 guests. The band played as an acoustic trio for the first hour as guests sampled food from the regions best restaurants and then filler the dance floor as a rocking 5 member band until the end of the night.
For the third consecutive year Brandywine Valley Talent provided the live musical entertainment for the 32nd Flyers Wives Fight for Lives Carnival. Since it began, the Flyers Carnival has raised nearly $21 million for charities in the Philadelphia region. Brandywine Valley Talent’s exclusive dance bands, including the award winning Jellyroll, provided high energy entertainment on the Wachovia Center’s arena floor while BVT’s specialty and acoustic acts entertained throughout the carnival. BVT again partnered with Toner Sound who provided sound and lighting production on the main stage as well as DJ entertainment. We look forward to supporting the event again next year!
Philadelphia Party Band Contact
Establish with whom in the Philadelphia party band is your contact. This is the person who you should meet to discuss and plan details.
Philadelphia Party Band Event Timeline
The next step is to establish an event timeline. Prepare a timeline to be given to the Philadelphia party band, the caterer and other event professionals. Meet together to make sure each has a complete understanding of the event timeline.
Philadelphia Party Band Music Preferences
Agree ahead of time on the music choices and special requests. The Philadelphia party band is certain to have a list of music that you can choose from. Choose specific songs and music style so that you know exactly what to expect.
Philadelphia Party Band Responsibilities
Layout the expectations of the Philadelphia party band in regards to the event management. Is the band responsible for keeping the timeline moving? What announcements are to be made and who is the band responsible to make that happen?
Philadelphia Party Band Expertise
Your Philadelphia party band will also become a big resource to you while planning your event. They will have suggestions and expertise to offer as they have most likely hosted many events in the past. Share ideas and help each other in planning and executing the perfect event.
If your event is property planned and your Philadelphia party band has all the instruction needed, your event will be a success. Communication and pre-planning is the key to a perfect event.
Linda Dunkelberger is a freelance writer and editor working for Brandywine Valley Talent. The article “Instruction to Give Your Philadelphia Party Band for the Perfect Event” gives tips for planning the perfect party event. Brandywine Valley Talent is Philadelphia’s Premier Entertainment Company for Dance Bands, Wedding Bands, Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Bands, Corporate, Gala and Social Premier Philadelphia Entertainment.