Malt Shop Memories LIVE! at the PNC Bank Arts Center
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
The stars are out this Thursday, September 12, 2024 evening at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center for a Malt Shop Memories Live concert. Featuring Bobby Wilson, Jay Siegel’s Tokens, The Drifters, The Vogues, Vito Picone and the Elegants, The Chantels, Frankie Pizarro, The Sounds of the Street, The Chiclettes, The Coda Band, and Vinnie Medugno, tonight’s free show is presented by the Garden State Arts Foundation.
Vice President of the GSAF Board of Trustees Ron Gravino welcomes concertgoers to this evening’s program. He thanks the sponsors of the show — notably Malt Shop Memories cruises and Live Nation Entertainment — along with GSAF executive director Cookie Santiago and Bob O’Brien and the many GSAF volunteers for their help with tonight’s event.
Gravino introduces the evening’s first act, The Sounds of the Street, featuring singers Frank DiRobella, Buddy Brewer, Lou Orrichio, Joe Noto, and Tony Aquino.
Accompanied by The Coda Band’s Mary Beth Ryan-Mastropaolo on saxophone, Dennis DiBrizzi on keyboards, Joe DeAngelis on guitar, Paul Page on bass, and Pete Mastropaulo on drums, the New Jersey vocal quintet opens with a lively rendition of Frankie Ford’s “Sea Cruise.”
Moving on to The Capri’s “Morse Code of Love,” concertgoers clap and sing along to the song’s bouncy “Baby come home to me” refrain. Dedicating their closing number to “the late great Larry Chance,” tenor Tony Aquino sings lead as The Sounds of the Street perform a passionate rendition of “I Believe.”
The crowd cheers, and tonight’s emcee, MusicRadio 77-WABC DJ and entertainer Vinnie Medugno, takes the stage along with The Chiclettes vocal trio and launches into The Rays’ “Silhouettes.”
“New Jersey, how are you?” asks Medugno before segueing into two Gene Pitney songs, “Town Without Pity” and “I’m Gonna Be Strong.” Inviting the audience to clap along, Medugno concludes his set by effortlessly popping into his falsetto voice on a compelling version of Jay and the Americans’ “Cara Mia.”
Concertgoers stand and cheer, and Medugno thanks the crowd before leaving the stage to his “sisters in song,” The Chiclettes.
Vocalists Gracie, Kailyn, and Jennie start things off with a bang as they dance and sing in three-part harmony on an upbeat medley of The Pointer Sisters’ “Jump (For My Love)” and Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love.”
Gracie handles the lead on Lulu’s “To Sir With Love” and Jennie is the featured singer on Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” Then, starting off slowly, the trio picks up the tempo on the Ike and Tina Turner version of “Proud Mary” where Kailyn dances while vocalizing with ease.
As the arrangement heats up, it inspires enthusiastic whistles and cheers for The Chiclettes.
Medugno, from Staten Island, NY, proudly introduces Staten Island’s own Vito Picone who, along with his group, The Elegants, takes the stage to perform the upbeat and rhythmic “Whispering Bells.”
Picone, 83, gives a tour de force performance of ‘Screamin’ Jay’ Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You,” as the audience happily claps along in time. Before singing the lovely 1958 ballad, “No One Knows,” Picone dedicates the the song to its original artist, Dion.
Announcing that the group’s song, “Little Star,” was “the #1 hit 66 years ago today,” Picone concludes tonight’s performance with a live rendition of the Elegants’ 1958 chart-topper to hoots, hollers, and applause.
Medugno takes a moment to recognize the Garden State Arts Foundation’s role in keeping the music of the past alive before introducing The Drifters featuring Louis Bailey, Jerome Manning, Steven Brown, and Robert Marion. Chanting, “Hey, hey, hey, we’re gonna party today — let’s have a rock and roll party!” the vocal quartet opens with The Drifters’ 1963 Top Ten hit, “On Broadway.”
Moving on to “This Magic Moment,” The Drifters make magical moments for listeners with an enchanting performance of this classic ‘60’s tune.
Concertgoers sing and dance along to an uptempo rendition of The Drifters’ 1963 Top Ten hit, “Up On The Roof,” where, while singing, Steven Brown and Robert Marion show off their choreographed fancy footwork.
Lastly, Robert Marion deftly handles the lead as The Drifters perform their 1964 Top Ten smash, “Under the Boardwalk.”
Members of the Jersey crowd stand and sing along to this famous melody epitomizing the “soundtrack of summer.”
The crowd enthusiastically cheers, and Medugno returns to introduce Jay Siegel’s Tokens — Jay Siegel, Kurt “Frenchy” Yahian, and Gabe Dassa — who take the stage to sing The Tokens’ 1961 hit, “Tonight I Fell in Love.” Music lovers happily join in on the “Dom, doobie dom, woo-ooh, doobie, doobie” refrain before Jay Siegels’ trademark falsetto rings out on the “Tonight, tonight I fell in love” lyric.
Siegel, 84, introduces the “B-side” of “Tonight I Fell in Love” as he and the group perform “I’ll Always Love You.” On this number, his stagemates’ rich, lush harmonies float out over the audience as they accompany Siegel’s clear falsetto voice. Siegel and his Tokens follow up with a record-copy rendition of “Portrait of My Love,” the group’s 1967 Top 40 hit which brings fervent applause from the crowd.
After revealing that The Tokens’ next number was a worldwide hit twice — first in 1961 and again following the release of the 1994 animated Disney film, The Lion King — Siegel and Co. impress the audience with a timeless rendition of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Their extended live version of the song has music lovers throughout the PNC Bank Arts Center on their feet clapping and singing along before rewarding Siegel and the trio with a standing ovation.
Following a short intermission, Medugno returns with The Sounds of the Street to dedicate the Randy and the Rainbows song, “Denise,” to a member of the audience seated in the front row named Denise.
Announcing, “Put your hands together,” Medugno introduces Frankie Pizarro who takes the stage with his backup singers — Baby Ray Moyer, Valerie Pizarro, and Orville Bryan. The group sails into 1956’s “Only You,” where audience members sing along with Pizarro’s falsetto vocal on the well-known “Only you/Can make all this world seem right” lyric.
Pizarro and the group present an emotional rendition of the ethereal “My Prayer” which elicits whistles, cheers, and applause before Pizarro performs The Platters’ 1955 chart-topper, “The Great Pretender,” accompanied by his vocal group including his wife, Valerie.
Revealing, “This is my favorite song!” Frankie concludes his set with The Platters’ 1958 hit, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Crooning, “They asked me how I knew my true love was true,” Pizarro’s strong voice rings out before he and the group are rewarded with a standing ovation.
Medugno acknowledges, “I’m so excited to introduce this next pioneer girl group featuring three original members and one daughter.” Here, The Chantels — Arlene Smith, Sonia Goring Wilson, Renée Minus White, and Noemi Ortiz — take the stage to perform their 1961 Top 20 hit, “Look In My Eyes.”
The quartet follows up with The Chantels’ 1958 ballad, “I Love You So,” featuring Noemi Ortiz soulfully singing the lead.
One at a time, each of the vocalists chime in singing, “Gone, gone, gone, gone” on the group’s 1957 recording, “He’s Gone.”
They conclude their set with The Chantel’s 1957 smash, “Maybe,” where Noemi brings back memories as she cries, “Maybe, if I pray every night/You’ll come back to me.” The crowd stands and cheers, and the quartet returns for brief encore of “Maybe” before taking an extended bow.
Medugno introduces The Vogues — Elliot McCoy, Troy Elich, and Royce Taylor — who take the stage and open their portion of the show with the group’s 1966 hit, “Five O’Clock World.”
Music lovers cheer, and The Vogues move on to their 1968 million seller, “My Special Angel.” The audience enjoys the smooth sound that leader Troy Elich and his colleagues create.
Beautiful vocal harmonies on a dynamic rendition of The Vogues’ 1968 Top Ten hit, “Turn Around, Look at Me,” have concertgoers avidly cheering and applauding. Then, after announcing, “Let’s go back to the very beginning,” The Vogues end their set with their upbeat 1965 hit, “You’re the One.”
The crowd sings along with Elich and Co. on this happy-go-lucky tune which inspires a standing ovation.
Finally, Medugno introduces the crowd to “Mr. Entertainment,” Bobby Wilson — the son of Jackie Wilson — who takes the stage along with The Chiclettes to perform a dynamic rendition of the 1965 Wilson Pickett song, “634–5789.”
After asking, “You guys ready to have a good time?” he follows up with a soulful R&B rendition of George Benson’s 1982 hit, “Turn Your Love Around.”
Wilson dedicates his father’s song, “Reet Petite,” to GSAF VP Ron Gravino and follows up with a soulful performance of his dad’s smash, “Lonely Teardrops,” before taking off his jacket and knocking out a punchy rendition of Jackie Wilson’s “Baby Work Out.”
Reminding the crowd, “You can’t love nobody until you love yourself!” Bobby concludes his set with a lively rendition of his dad’s 1967 classic, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”
Music lovers stand and cheer as Medugno invites the Malt Shop Memories cast to retake the stage for a fun-tastic rendition of Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away” which has audience members singing and dancing and Medugno signing off by saying, “Thank you, and thanks to the Garden State Arts Foundation!”
For information on future GSAF concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center — including Cousin Brucie Presents Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. along with Darlene Love and The Soundtrack of Our Lives with Deborah Rennard and Al Sapienza on September 26 — please click on gsafoundation.org. To learn more about Malt Shop Memories cruises — including the upcoming 2025 cruise featuring Bobby Wilson, Vito Picone and the Elegants, The Chiclettes, and The Coda Band — along with Little Anthony, The Brooklyn Bridge, Merrilee Rush, and many more — please go to maltshopcruise.com.
