X-Session, Unfiltered

We return to Napper Tandy’s, 15 E. Main Street, Smithtown, for a Happy Hour on Friday, November 2. Start time is 7 PM(ish). And we will do likewise the following Friday, November 9, but at Napper Tandy’s, 275 RT 25A, Miller Place instead.

Then on Saturday, November 10, we’ll be playing a special gig at Nags Head Ale House, 396 New York Ave, Huntington.We’ll be playing as part of an effort to raise money for a very good friend, Eric Curylo. Eric sustained serious brain injuries in a motorcycle accident on July 4th, and we’re hoping to defray some of the cost of his care. Admission is 15 dollars and includes a free buffet. Drinks will be at Happy Hour-type prices and there will be raffles giving away numerous gift certificates donated by local merchants. We’ll play from 1 until 5.  If you can’t attend and would care to contribute by mail, you may do so by sending a donation to: Donations for Eric, c/o Bliven, 7 Waverly Street, Huntington Station, NY 11746.  We’ve also accepted donations at our other gigs and will continue to do so. Please join us in this effort — Eric’s a good man.

The 17th of November finds us back at one of our favorite haunts, Matty T’s Roadhouse in Deer Park, at 10 PM. I know it’s still a few weeks away but some of you have asked when we were going to be back there……

Please have a great week. Talk to you soon.

Pat

As my old friend Alfred Hitchcock used to say when he opened his TV show, “Good Evening”. I’d like to start this week by thanking all who came down to Five Towns College on Saturday the 20th for the Lennon Birthday concert. I wrote a brief synopsis of the evening and posted it to the website, you can read it here.

And as the leaves begin to change and the temperatures drop, even if it’s only slightly, can the words Napper Tandy’s be far behind? Indeed, we open the Fall/Winter season at Nappers by playing a Happy Hour (of course) on Friday, November 2, at Napper’s Smithtown, 15 E. Main Street. We start as close as possible to 7 PM, traffic on the LIE permitting, and end at 10.

Then on Friday, November 9, we’re at Napper Tandy’s, 275 RT 25A, Miller Place. Same as Smithtown – start at 7, end at 10. Miller Place always has a band after us, so you can get a free double feature if you care to stay longer.

And no e-mail will be complete without mentioning the cause for which we’re playing on Saturday, November 10. Our good friend Eric Curylo was hospitalized at Stony Brook University Medical Center for months following a serious motorcycle accident on July 4th and we’re extremely fortunate that he’s still with us. However, his life has changed in numerous ways with regard to his living situation, job, etc., as you could imagine. He’s faced with a continued rehabilitative recovery and is staring at a mountain of medical expenses.

With this in mind we will be performing at Nags Head Ale House, 396 New York Ave., Huntington on the aforementioned 10th of November from 1 until 5. Admission is 15 dollars. There will be a buffet donated by the bar and drink specials. Needless to say, all tips to the bartenders and the band will also go the cause and, thanks to the tireless work of Diane Dougal, there will be quite a few gifts from numerous local merchants raffled off. 

If any of you would like to mail in a donation, you may do so by sending it to “Donations for Eric, c/o Bliven, 7 Waverly St., Huntington Station, NY, 11746″ You can also donate at any of our gigs — just tell us it’s for Eric otherwise Jim is liable to give you a lap dance! Seriously, I’ve come to know Eric in the years he’s been coming to see the band and there’s not a finer cause for your charity dollar out there.

And with that I’ll bid you adieu. Have a great week.

Pat

This is my first attempt at a blog entry as opposed to the “Weekly Updates” that I usually send out.  If this ends up in everyone’s e-mail inbox than I’ve done something terribly wrong and I apologize.

My reason for writing is to mention that we had a great time this past Saturday night at the John Lennon Birthday concert.  The crowd was a near sellout and there was a lot of energy in the building.  We performed second-to-last, playing Lennon’s “Oh Yoko.” Jim stood up front with Ed and I - he sang lead – and played what we call his “cocktail kit,” a stand-up set-up with a snare drum, cymbal, and a rubber pad at his feet that acts as a bass drum — so called because we commonly use it when we play cocktail hours and other low volume gigs.  Ed played electric bass and I used my old number 1 - the Takamine acoustic that I played for ten years almost exclusively until switching to a Taylor T5 this past summer.

Also, thanks to (Wonderous Stories’) Kenny Forgione’s organizational skills, a finale was planned with most of the performers taking part.  We decided to do “Instant Karma” – ironically a song X-Session had considered doing instead of “Oh Yoko.”  Jim sat behind the house drum kit, Eddie played bass, Frank Walker played piano and sang, Kenny Forgione and I played guitars and sang, and Ed Ryan, Tom Sanfillipo, Steve Lee, and Bob Koenig sang also.  All in all it made for a wonderful evening and we thank those of you in the audience for making it thus.

This Friday night, the 19th of October, we can be found at JC’s Restaurant, 2 Country Club Dr., Manorville.  Yes, it’s on the grounds of a country club but you needn’t wear knickers and a houndstooth cap and be toting a niblick or a mashie!  What I mean is, the place is a lot of fun and it’s open to the public so come on down. We go from 9 until midnight.  (I’ll bet there’s a lot of Googling “niblick” and “mashie” thanks to me now!)

On Saturday night, October 20th, The Dix Hills Center For The Performing Arts will play host to the second annual John Lennon Birthday Celebration in which we will once again be taking part. The concert features a dozen or so Long Island-based bands/solo artists each performing a song from Lennon’s solo career. I believe Newsday will be giving the concert some coverage in this Wednesday’s edition though I’m not sure if it will be in the form of an ad, a write-up, or both. They requested a picture of us for that purpose. Anyway, tickets are 20 bucks — the proceeds earmarked for the Five Towns College general scholarship fund — and are available by calling the DHPAC at 631-656-2148. Click on www.dhpac.org for more information.

And finally this week another reminder to come down to the Nags Head Ale House, 396 New York Ave., Huntington on Saturday afternoon, November 10th between 12 and 5. We will be playing there to raise money for our good friend Eric Curylo. Eric was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on July 4th and is facing some equally serious medical expenses as he works his way through the laborious rehabilitative process. The admission is 15 dollars, and the Nags Head will supply a buffet meal and charge happy hour prices for beverages. I understand that numerous local businesses are donating various prizes, so I imagine there will be raffles as well.

If you need more information or have any questions about this event, PLEASE feel free to reply to this e-mail and I will answer you personally. Additionally, if any of you would like to contribute but won’t be able to attend on the 10th, you can make a donation at any of our gigs (and please specify that the donation is for Eric). Perhaps next week I’ll have a physical address for that purpose also. As I’m sure you can tell, this cause is very important to us so please forgive me if I emphasize it a bit now and in the upcoming weeks.  Besides, the afternoon figures to be a blast!

Please enjoy the week, I’ll talk to you soon.

Pat

With no gig this weekend to write about I thought I’d take a moment to mention a couple of special dates on the horizon.

On Saturday night, October 20th, we will once again be performing at The Dix Hills Performing Arts Center at Five Towns College along with many other Long Island artists in celebrating the birthday of John Lennon. Also appearing at this concert, the proceeds of which go towards the Five Towns College general scholarship fund, will be Quickdraw — many of you will remember them from the concert at Five Towns that we played this past August — and Kenny Forgione of Wonderous Stories as well as a host of other musicians. Tickets are 20 dollars and can be purchased by calling the DHPAC at 631-656-2148.

A little closer to our hearts is the fund-raiser that we’re playing on Saturday, November 10. A very good friend of the band, Eric Curylo, suffered a serious head injury in a motorcycle accident this past July 4th. Following months of hospitalization, Eric is still struggling to recover the most basic of motor, language, and memory functions and — though he has since been released to the care of his family — his medical expenses are staggering.

With this in mind an afternoon fund-raiser is being held on Saturday afternoon, November 10, at Nag’s Head Ale House, 396 New York Ave., Huntington The admission is 15 dollars, there will be a buffet donated by the bar, drink specials and, of course, us. We will probably play from 1 PM until 5. Our good friend and back-up singer/tambourine shaker Melissa Bliven, the main impetus behind organizing this event, will be a guest bartender and will be donating her tips to the cause also.

I’m going to be mentioning this one a lot over the next few weeks because it’s extremely important to us that we get a good turnout. Like I mentioned earlier, Eric is a long-time friend and supporter of the band and he needs our help right now.

And while I’m here I may as well mention that we’ll be at JC’s Restaurant, 2 Country Club Dr., Manorville on Friday evening, October 19th, at 9 PM. The net proceeds from this event go to JC’s, and even though they continue to spell our name “X-Cession” on their website, we like them a lot anyway!

I’ll talk to you next week, please have a good one.

Pat

Thanks to a favorable weather forecast and — for a lot of folks — a holiday weekend, Claudio’s has decided to bring us back one more time this Sunday afternoon, October 7. We’re going to play from 1:30 until 5:30 on the outdoor deck at 111 Main Street, Greenport. I just came back from a Kohl’s department store that had a Christmas display up! I for one could really use this Summer encore.

And of course we’re still at Mike’s Place, 24 Middle Country Road, Coram, this Friday, October 5, at 10 PM.

Sorry for the additional e-mail this week, but the Claudio’s date was a last-minute addition. Talk to you soon.

Pat

The schedule lightens up a bit as Summer turns to Fall, but we have a date this Friday, October 5, at Mike’s Place, 24 Middle Country Road, Coram. This is not a Happy Hour — we start at 10 PM and play until 1 — but feel free to arrive, and remain, happy anyway.

On Friday night, October 19, we’ll pay our second visit to JC’s Restaurant, 2 Country Club Dr., Manorville. The following evening, October 20, we’ll be appearing in the second annual John Lennon tribute concert at Five Towns College, where we’ll be performing one of Lennon’s solo songs along with similar contributions from other Long Island artists.

November will bring us back to both Smithtown and Miller Place’s Napper Tandys as well as to Matty T’s in Commack, and there’s a return date at the Sunset Grill in Seaford in December, but I’m getting waaaaay ahead of myself here.

I’ll speak with you again next week, have a good one.

Pat