Jerry Falzone: News

WRUR and WXXI just added Off The North Coast to their radio play list for the week of May 12th. Pretty cool!

Well, as we mentioned here, Warren Paul, Connie Deming, Chris Wilson and I will be playing together again this Summer. In fact we have two dates to add to the calendar, June 20th at the Mez and July 11th at the Cafe at Bethel on East Avenue. If you were at Lakeshore when the four of us played together in April, I'm pretty sure you will want to be in attendance for at least one of these performances. I will be keeping you informed as the dates get closer.

Thank you to Warren Paul, Connie Deming and Chris Wilson for another great night as the Lakeshore Coffee House Series concluded the season on April 11th. The four of us had such a great time playing together that we will be back at it on June 20th at the Mez (see calendar). Sadly, one person who would've loved the show won't be there. Jenifer Neufigliese, a great inspiration to anyone who knew her died last Monday. She was a good friend. Many were the nights that she would brave the elements to come out and catch a show. You would always find her car parked in a handicap parking place as she wheeled herself to whatever venue we were at. She would always be front and center at Lakeshore Community Church, getting lost in the music and message every Sunday morning that she wasn't in the hospital. Jenifer will be missed by so many people. God bless her and her family.

This past Friday, January 18th saw a tremendous step forward for the Lakeshore Coffee House Series. The November installment was such a success that one of the church elders, Dan Kilker asked me to consider holding the next one in the church auditorium. Let's see..real sound system, lots of seats, lights, a sound tech...I think I have to go with the suggestion. We brought in two wonderful local talents, Steve West and Jim Drew. Frank DeLuccio and I rounded out the line up. Steve has appeared at the series three times and always creates a great impression. After the concert, there were so many kids running up to him to check out the steel resonator that he was playing. But the real impact was in his voice and in his song selection. "People Get Ready", "Have a Little Faith' ...It just went on to new heights with every song. Steve has a great heart and mega talent. Go to the link page on this website and you will find him there. Check out his site and where he is and go see him.

Jim Drew was new to the series and what an impression he made. A beautiful, rich voice, an elegant guitarist and a very moving songwriter. "This Old Guitar" is one of my favorites from him but everything he did resonated with the audience.

Frank, as always was just great. A wonderful selection of songs that ran the gauntlet of Beatles and Stevie Wonder to wonderful worship songs like Faith and Made To Worship.

Many thanks to the people who supplied the hospitality, especially Julie Dickinson, great job. But also to all the Elders and Trustees of Lakeshore and Pastor Vince who opened the doors of the auditorium to us. And as always to the wonderful Celebrate Recovery Ministry that sponsors the Lakeshore Coffee House Series. They do such good work in so many people's lives. They are appreciated in so many ways by so many people. Thanks to all who attended and for all the good feedback. The next date for the series is March 7th and will feature the George Collichio band as well as my band, Silver Ghost. It should be another great night.

I have decided to use the NEWS section of this website to chronicle the work that will be going into my next CD project. The purpose is two fold, First I am hoping that reading about the new project will stimulate some
interest n hearing the new songs I am working on and second, so that my wife knows I'm not just wasting my time while we spend hours working on the tracks.

I am trying to get ready to actually go into the studio in February but that does take a lot of prep work. To that end I decided to work with a select few musicians and actually rehearse with them which is something I didn't do with the first CD, Off The North Coast. On the Coast, we built each track up, one at a time. We added parts here and there, instrumental as well as vocal. We brought in many gifted players who donated their time to be a part of the process.

On this one, I decided to keep it a lot closer to home. I asked Ray Bellizia to be involved. Ray has been a brother to me for many years. We traveled together in Pearl and he is just one of those guys I have always looked up to. He is such a great guitarist, has a wonderful ear and is just so adept at hearing through what I am doing to find the song that is sometimes buried.

Jimmy Newton will be handling bass guitar. I happen to be a pretty fair bassist myself but Jimmy's playing just blows me away. He is so solid and so melodic at the same time. He adds so much depth to the arrangements and I am very grateful to his dedication throughout the last five years.

Sam Gruttadauria will be working the keys as well as the production boards. We will be recording at his studio. Sam has been a great friend for many years. We have played together in numerous bands and he brings so much talent and wisdom to every project.

Both Greg Andrews and Dan Rolle will be handling drums and percussion. Dan is just on fire behind a kit. I have learned so much about playing bass by working with him. He is a monster drummer. I have known Greg since High School. However, we just started playing together in 2007. Solid, tasty and a wonderful addition to the project. He really kicks butt behind the drums and I am lucky to have him.

We started instrumental rehearsals last night, January 5th. We worked on the first three songs. Here For You is a song I wrote for my daughter Amanda on the event of her going away to college. Come Back Now is a rocker. Ray added a wonderful arrangement to the chorus last night that really gives the song musical direction. The one I had the most fun with is a song that I almost threw out, Real Fine Night. I dropped it before I played it out but tried it once at a gig and fell in love with it. It just seems to be one of those songs that people always relate to in a live setting.

Ultimately, that's how I want this record to come off, in a live setting. With this band, there is an excitement when we play together. Its a great time and that's how I want people to perceive this CD.

Keep tuned in, I'll let you know what songs we are working on, what the dates turn out to be or whatever. As always, thank you for all the support.

Just a note to thank everybody who attended the opening of the 2007-2008 Lakeshore Coffee House Series. Special thanks to Warren Paul, Jeff Orr and my good friend Frank DeLuccio for lending their talents to make it such a great evening. We had a record number of people attend, over 100 I'm told and we were able to pay the performers as well as raise some much needed money for the Celebrate Recovery Ministry. This ministry that sponsors the series has been growing by leaps and bounds. I love the fact that my wife Kathy has devoted so much of her time as the music director. I've seen her grow right along side of the ministry to the point where she is now playing keyboards with the Sunday music team. I've seen so many people helped by CR in the past two and a half years. I am so pleased to be a small part of the ministry by helping with music now and again and by organizing the series. The next installment should be in mid-January and we are expecting some great talent for that one as well.

Hope to see all of you at the next one

Jerry

Cancer is a terrible disease. It can strike anybody at any age...totally indiscriminate. Yesterday, my friend Frank DeLuccio and I met somebody at Strong Memorial Hospital with liver cancer. Because the tumor is also on an artery, they can't operate on it or use chemotherapy. His only real hope is a liver transplant and that is always a crap shoot at best. He is in bad shape, however his spirit is strong. He has a hard time moving around and an even harder time breathing. However, his attitude and quest for spiritual fulfillment is very strong. He is a friend of my producer, Sam Gruttadaurio. The man behind the controls of North Coast. His name is Dick Webb. In fact, he built Sam's Ultra Huge Studio. I met him during construction and was struck by his zest for life, and his sheer talent for building things out of nothing, and for his love of music.

Sam and Becky asked me to play in a benefit for Dick. I am honored to do so. The benefit is on December 9th in Lakeville. As more details become available, I'll get them to you.

Hope to see you there.

Jerry

The long running Lakeshore Coffee House Series begins the 2007-2008 season this Friday, November 9th at 7:30PM. Located at 3651 Latta Rd in North Greece, the series has been a part of the ever expanding Celebrate Recovery Ministry of Lakeshore Community Church. This weeks guests will be Frank DeLuccio, Jeff Orr, Warren Paul and Jerry Falzone. The coffee is free, the music is cheap (donations are appreciated for the visiting musicians).

National Magazine, Harp will be publishing a review of Off The North Coast in the November issue. We'll let you know in the near future when more information becomes available.

Yep, that's right...the big time. Just go to youtube.com and search for Jerry Falzone and there I will be playing Coming Home To You at Boulder Coffee House. It was a great night.

I recently played with Talia Paul and she presented me with her second CD, Trails End. This CD has been playing in my car for two weeks now. I have not been able to put it away. I'll Stay With You, Stream and I Let You In are just the stand out tracks on a truly wonderful CD. This woman has heart and soul and this CD bares both.

Buy it now on cdbaby.com You will not regret it

The next installment of the Lake Shore Coffee House Series will be something very special. George Collichio will be performing with his trio. George has been working with world renown jazz guitarist Larry Carlton on his new CD. If you haven't heard George play before, this is a wonderful opportunity to correct that situation.
Also performing will be singer songwriter Talia Paul. I met Talia when I was playing at Boulder Coffee House a few weeks ago. She is just great. Her music has been featured in two movies, she has acted in a number of films and has also released two beautiful CDs. She is from the Aspen, CO area so I don't know how many chances we will get to hear her. Do Not Miss This Night!

Texas Son, a long time friend of Jerry's will be joining him in Mansfield PA at 10 West Espresso on March 23rd at 7:00PM. Tex and Jerry played together in 1985 in a band called Maiden Japan which also featured Debbie Randyn on vocals, Sam Gruttadauria on keys and John Campbell on drums. Tex, Sam and Debbie all contributed to Jerry's Of The North Coast CD. I guess he likes to keep his friends close.

This Sunday night, Jerry will be performing on the BUZZ radio show Sunday
Night Shake Down at 98.9 on the FM dial. Cohorts Debbie Randyn and Carl Lang will be on board to add their vocal magic as Jerry performs a couple of songs. "I know at least one will be from the CD but I may throw a new one in there too...just not sure yet." says Jerry.

The show starts at 9:00PM.

ZRO 106.2FM in Belgium has added Coming Home To You from Jerry Falzone's CD Off The North Coast to its playlist starting today, January 16th, 2007. The song will be featured on the Mojo Dreams show hosted by Mark Verbet.

"I think its a good choice" said Falzone"It was the song that started off North Coast for me". "When I finished writing this song I could tell that my songwriting had shifted. I had been writing in a mode for other people, blues for Debbie Randyn, country for Mason Tyler but with Coming Home To You I shifted back into writing for myself. That started the run on songs that became the CD."

Jerry wrote Off The North Coast, Hell and High Water, My Hideaway and Thank God For Love with in two weeks of finishing Coming Home To You. "Yeah, that song opened the floodgates, I guess".
The majority of the other songs flowed pretty quickly after that with the exception of Never Let Me Go which was written around 1980. "I always loved that song and was happy to finally find a home for it".

Comming Home To You features some great interplay between guitarist Ray Bellizia and Sax man Mike Edwards. Sparks fly on this one. Yet again, our thanks to ZRO for adding us to their list.

Webradio Golden Falsh out of Westerlo, Belgium has picked up Jerry Falzone's CD, Off The North Coast to feature on the show Somwhere Between. The show is dedicated to new American roots music. Ray Pieters, the program director made a request for the CD shortly after its release in early December and the decision was made today to start playing it on Thursday, January 18th. The show starts at 2:00PM Eastern time and can be heard at www.goldenflash.be. Many thanks to our friends in Belgium.

Jerry will be playing at the world famous House of Guitars at 645 Titus avenue in February. Check the calandar section for updates as to when.

Very special thanks to my friends who played with me tonight at the CD release party, Debbie Randyn, Ray Bellizia, Mike Edwards, Jimmy Newton and Dan Rolle for a great night. You guys are awesome players. Thanks also to all the friends who showed up tonight. Your response was very heart warming and I can't wait til the next time we can all get together. Check this site for more dates as they come up.

Also, thanks to Coffee Cabana for putting up with us tonight. Great place!

Music Clips for a few songs from Off The North Coast are available in the MUSIC section of this web site. Check them out!

Jerry's CD, Off The North Coast is now available on cdbaby.com. North Coast music clips and links to cdbaby are in the BUY section of jerryfalzone.com