Going into this weekend, I planned no blog relating to music. Indeed, I thought a lot about the theme Gotham’s webmaster covered yesterday. As with much of my writing, things change. Then we attended a concert at the now named Theatre at Westbury which used to have Music Fair in its moniker. My familiarity with the music and that the performers included two original (no longer Young) Rascals Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish certainly lent to expectations of an enjoyable evening.

The evening offered more – and delivered mightily. Ronnie Spector opened the show and demonstrated her pipes stand the test of time. From “Baby I Love You” to “Be My Baby” she covered her hits when she fronted The Ronettes (Indeed she was billed as Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes.) Her band include enough horns and keys to replicate the wall of sound approach that supported her original vocals with her sister Estelle and cousin Nedra.

The main act followed. I found myself focused on the drummer. Orginal drummer Dino Danelli plays both with a study backbeat and flamboyance that just stands out. I noticed this drummer as really top-notch. Little did I know he turned out to be Carmine Appice original with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and later with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart. Wow (and I’ll be seeing him again with Fudge later this week). Felix and Gene’s Rascals also included the Asbury Horns. The full set of backing muscians this Rascals lineup really replicated and extended the sound of the original recordings.

Unlike some Felix solo shows this concert solely covered the Rascals fine catalogue. Felix and Gene mixed in stories behinds the songs and even acknowledged a great singles recording artist – Tommy James.

They started with “A Girl Like You” and ran through a catalogue of hits: Groovin', How Can I Be Sure, It's a Beautiful Morning, It's Wonderful
, (I've Been) Lonely Too Long, People Got to Be Free and closed with a rowsing Good Lovin’ that the audience joined in on.

It was the perfect kind of show to enjoy on a vacation.

And that comes back to the theme Mitch raised yesterday. With school out for the summer meaning Shelly is off, whenever my work day ends, the logistics to quckly adapt into vacation mode, if only for a few hours, allows for nice moments, whether it involves a summer concert, a car ride, dinner out, strolling a mall, or just enjoying a deck on a sunny day.