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Hello!
Welcome to the Halloween edition of the Orleans Newsletter (a day late). Thanks for being here. We really appreciate it!
And to prove it to you … TA – DA !!!!
Here’s the long-awaited and supremely overdue link to your
FREE DOWNLOADS and SPECIAL CD OFFER
www.OrleansOnline.com/CDspecialFall2006.html
(You’ll want to save this email and/or bookmark this page)
This is just the beginning of the special perks for List Members Only! Enjoy!
Topics covered in this E-zine:
1. DVD Progress
2. The PBS Connection
3. John Runs for Congress
4. The Fly Connection
5. Gigs?
6. What is S.A.S.S.?
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As many of you already know, we performed a fundraiser show for the Jimmy Fund on Aug. 25th at the First United Methodist Church in Pittsfield, Mass. Not only was the event a success for the Jimmy Fund and for the audience in attendance, but it was filmed for the creation of a 2-hour “Orleans In Concert” DVD. Special thanks goes to Jimmy Boggins for expertly organizing all facets of a very complex mix of gig factors, John Marsden for Directing the video crew and Mike Malfesi for stage managing and mixing the live performance audio.
We played a particularly long set (about 25 tunes), all captured by hard-disc digital recording, as well as by the 4-camera shoot. To supplement the concert footage, each of us, as well as a couple of long-time friends, were interviewed for some personal commentary.
You can see the Orleans “Big Band” cast of characters in the photo to the left. From left to right it’s …
Charley Dechant (from Hall & Oates band) / sax
Larry Hoppen
Dennis “Fly” Amero (our newest bandmate) / guitars, vocals
John Hall
Lance Hoppen
Lane Hoppen / keys, vocals, trumpet
Charlie Morgan / drums
Manuel Quintana / percussion
After a thorough review, we’re pleased to report that the raw data is in great shape! We’ve already finished the minimal amount of audio “sweetening” required, so as to preserve the integrity of the word “Live” (you’d be surprised at how NOT live most “live” albums really are!). Now comes the time-consuming tasks of mixing not only the audio, but the video.
How long will it be before the DVD is available? Damned if I know! As Michaelangelo replied to the Archbishop inquiring about the painting of the Sistine Chapel, “When will it be done?”, the answer is, “When it is finished!” We’ll keep you posted. 🙂
Many of you know that Orleans taped 4 tunes for a PBS TV fundraiser special, to be aired next year, entitled “70s Soft-Rock Celebration”. Some of you were there when it happened back in May at Belmont University here in Nashville (literally a 5-minute walk from my house).
Ever since then, we have maintained a close relationship with Henry DeLuca, the gentleman who puts together all the PBS music shows, and has for years. Great, great performance events in a variety of genres!
Anyway, it is our hope and intention that the Orleans DVD, in its entirety, will wind up as a fundraising show for PBS. Wouldn’t that be awesome? A similar application is already further along in that process for Larry’s “other band”, RPM (www.RPMConcerts.com “All Hits, All the Time”).
We’ll keep you posted both on the first air date for the 70s Celebration show in the Fall of 2007 (so don’t hold your breath 🙂 and any developments on this front. Meanwhile, we encourage you to take advantage of the great programming on PBS for you and your entire family and to support PBS through your contributions.
Most of our fans are aware that we have always involved ourselves in socio-political-humanitarian causes of our choosing, but none of us more so than John.
John has served on his local Saugerties, NY, School Board as well as in the Ulster County (NY) legislature. Among other things, he was in fact THE driving force behind the birth of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which created the No Nukes concerts and spearheaded that movement.
Update on the race for the US Congressional seat in the 19th District of NY:
On September 12th, John had a convincing victory in the Democratic Primary election, claiming 49% of the vote in a 4-candidate race; an election that saw DOUBLE the number of the previous record of voters come out. With the election only a week away, the most pessimistic report has John as neck-and-neck with the 5-term Republican incumbent, Sue Kelly. Most reports favor John to win (as we do here).
Recently, both the NY Times and former President Clinton came out in support of John’s candidacy.
We applaud and commend John for taking the bull by the horns, as there are not many among us who have the will, ability and stamina to do so. If the polls are any indication, it could very well be that soon we will be calling him “Congressman Hall”. So be it!
For a good laugh, see John on the Stephen Colbert show:
4) The Fly Connection
With John spending all his waking hours focusing on the election campaign, we found ourselves with gigs on the books and offers that we wished to take, but a few cards short of a full deck. What to do?
Anyone who’s been around here long enough knows that John made a similar decision to follow his personal path by leaving the band in 1977. After the shock of that wore off, Orleans reconvened as Larry, Lance and Wells along with Bob Leinbach and R.A. Martin. It was that configuration which produced the “Forever” album, including the hit “Love Takes Time”, back in ’79.
Once again, bandmate turnover happened in ’81 and Larry and I continued with a new lineup, which included Dennis “Fly” Amero on guitar. Of course, John has been back with us since ’85 and Fly has been off doing his own thing — growing tremendously as an artist in his own right over the years.
So who better to invite to fill John’s rather large shoes (at least until the election is settled) than Fly? And what a good choice that turned out to be! Just ask anyone who’s seen any of the shows we did earlier this year with Fly in the band. In fact, we have to limit his excellent front-man time, lest he take over the band and we’d have to start billing it as “Fly Amero with Orleans” 🙂
To learn more about this talented (and very funny) re-addition to the Orleans roster, check out his site at www.FlyAmero.com
For better or worse, there are currently no live dates on the books for Orleans for the rest of 2006. There are, however, a few RPM (Rock & Pop Masters www.RPMConcerts.com ) shows.
The next Orleans date at the moment will be in Toronto, Canada on January 20th, 2007. This is a fundraiser for a wonderful organization called S.A.S.S. — Scholastic Association of Student Songwriters. More about that below.
We also have a trio show to do on February 3rd in Jupiter, Florida at a place called The Maltz Theater (I believe … my info is sketchy here). The details of this, like all gigs, will be posted on the Touring page of www.OrleansOnline.com as we get closer to it.
Last and certainly not least, Orleans will be taking a trip to St.Thomas, V.I. to play a “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” show on February 17th. Long-story, short — Larry reconnected with Jim Tunick after 40 years at the gig in Stowe, VT, earlier this year. Jim owned the studio at which the original Boffalongo version of “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” was cut back in 1969. (Yikes!) Now he is the foremost purveyor of insurance products in the Virgin Islands. It’s Jim who is enabling our work/vacation in the sunny Caribbean .. just when winter will be getting really old here! Hey — somebody’s got to do it, right? 🙂
Please check www.OrleansOnline.com/touring.html periodically for updates about live shows.
6. What is S.A.S.S.?
My very dear friend, Dale Russell (formerly of “The Guess Who”) and his partner and my new good friend, Artemis Chartier, founded this non-profit outreach program about four years ago as a forum to help young people learn how to develop their innate abilities for artistic expression. Since then, it has blossomed into more than 50 schools in Canada and has deeply touched the lives of over 1,000 High Schoolers.
Now the program is heading into the U.S. via Nashville and yours truly. Please check S.A.S.S out at www.SASSCanada.net and, if you find yourself interested in knowing more or somehow becoming involved, just shoot an email to sass@sasscanada.net
As for me —
I have just finished my all-too-short and very much fun run of 3 gigs with Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals!
www.FelixCavalieresRascals.com
What a cool gig! I don’t know about you, but I was a HUGE Rascals fan in the 60s/70s … especially being a Long Island boy, just like Felix. It was an honor and pleasure to work with Felix and his band (Vince Santoro on drums, Mike Severs on guitar, and Bob Montano on percussion) and a total joy to play a dozen Rascals hits in a row!
Next up is a BIG project I have been working towards for months with my good friend and co-writer, Shawn Gallaway. You can check him out at www.ShawnGallaway.com but, since this deal is not yet closed, I will wait until next time to unveil what’s behind this particular curtain.
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OK. That’s more than enough for one sitting. Next time I’ll clue you in with updates about upcoming gigs, the DVD, etc …. as well as announce (hopefully) the project with Shawn. Until then …
Best wishes for wherever your path may lead you,
Lance Hoppen
(on behalf of all of Orleans)
PS — be SURE to pick up your FREE DOWNLOADS at www.OrleansOnline.com/CDspecialFall2006.html
PPS — please forward this to ALL of your friends, so they may choose to signup and receive “the good stuff”, too! (see the one-click function at the top of this email)
