Jerry Falzone: News

This has been a long road, a hard road but a rewarding journey and it has almost come to be. Three years ago this month we entered the studio equipped with a handful of songs, a few guitars, really, a lot of guitars and a vision for another chapter in this musical life.

Things changed along the way, people close to us have come and gone yet we stayed the course and the final result will be ready in the very near future.

Just Before The Storm, the new record by Jerry Falzone is near completion. Ten songs, written from the heart, for the heart are sign posts along this highway that we call life.

With titles like Just Before The Storm, Letting You Go, We Will Meet Again, Fade Away, there is a clear sign that these songs run deep. Lyrically these songs explore loss and redemption, faith and heartbreak. Musically these songs represent years of honing craft and art. Simple and elegant arrangements never belie the fact that every musician involved in this project has the fire of Rock & Roll, the heart of Country and the soul of R&B written in their DNA.

Just Before The Storm will be released by Summer 2011. It has been well worth the wait.

When Debbie Randyn and I decided to produce a TV show based on area songwriters it became incumbent on me to find the writers we wanted to interview. There are so many good songwriters in and around Rochester. It was my intention from the beginning to find not only great writers but writers with a story.

I had met Tim four or five years ago at a Daily Perks Open Mic night. Lisa Bigwood was the host and Tim was doing a few songs. Right off the bat you could see he had something going on. He wasn’t playing the same old kind of song that you get used to on most open mic nights. The songs certainly harkened to country music and they were dark but dark in a comforting way. Maybe it was just the way he sang them or maybe it was the way he wrote them.

After awhile, Tim took over for Lisa as the host and Daily Perks became the Mez. Tim was always generous with his praise of other performers and he almost always made me feel comfortable walking in the room. But it wasn’t until he came out to see a Lake Shore Coffee House that I really started to get to know him.

Two days after that show he wrote an entry on my website:

Tim Shea (yeah baby)
January 20, 2008
Very cool site Jerry, I learned lots of stuff I had no idea about you. BTW had a great time at the show Friday Night. I didn't know what to expect, but boy! was I ever surprised. I was blown away both by your professionalism and performance. Not to mention the great line up of folks you had performing with you.
Thank you for the wonderful gift of your art, and also all the effort you put in to giving local musicians a great venue to showcase their talents.
(Oh darn the football game is starting I'll have to finish this later) Go Packers

That was the moment I decided that I needed to get to know him better. I started talking to him at the open mic night and we started talking over the phone. I planned on putting him in the Lake Shore Coffee House but I was already booked for the year. He started telling me a bit about his story, only enough to get me interested.

When it came time to start working on Beyond The Lyric Tim came to mind real fast. I invited him out to lunch and he and Debbie both showed up. I could tell that Debbie was a bit suspicious at first and I realized that Tim had himself a very protective and invested woman in his life. It probably took five minutes and we all warmed up to each other. I was so impressed with their relationship and then Tim started to tell me his real story. I was amazed.
With an open heart and an honesty that was staggering he told me about a previous life of addiction and hurt. He told me about the worst day of his life that led him down a very dark past that would last near thirty years and a redemption through music that would last the final ten years of his life. What was so extraordinary to me was that he had never considered singing, playing guitar or writing songs until he was 48 years old. Now that is a story and I quickly booked him on the show.

Tim’s story on Beyond The Lyric, his openness and his desire to help steer kids in the right direction set a standard for what we are trying to accomplish. He called me after the taping wondering if he might have gone too far. I assured him that he didn’t.

Tim and I talked on the phone a lot after that. In one conversation I told him that I had many acquaintances but few friends and that he had certainly become one of those friends. Tim told me that he had a lot of friends and that I had also joined those ranks.

And that to me was Tim. Tim just had a way of opening up to people, letting them in and befriending them in ways that became deep and meaningful. I asked him to do a concert with me in Warsaw when I tried to take the Lake Shore Coffee House Series into a new area. He readily accepted and suggested we ask Dana Fine to come along. That also was like Tim, looking out for his other friends. The only people who showed for that night worked there. Yet Tim played like he was at Madison Square Gardens. I never saw him put that much passion into what he did as he did that night. On the way home he called me just to thank me for a great night….to thank me for dragging him out to a gig nobody showed up to. But he got to play his songs for the people who worked there and for the people he shared the stage with. That was Tim to me too. H just loved sharing music with people.

I set up one more gig with Tim. It was to benefit the Rochester Family Mission. He called me two weeks before the gig to tell me that he had some bad news on the medical front but not to take him off the bill until he knew for sure that he couldn’t do it. I kept him on to the very last second and then had to let him go. Jed Curran stepped in and said he would be honored to take Tim’s place. That concert was on the Friday before he died.

I visited him one afternoon in his final hospital stay. And the Saturday before he died he called me. He told me that the doctors gave him two months. I said to him that he had to make those two months count and he asked me to come in to talk to him about it the following week. The only two regrets that I have with Tim is that I didn’t get to know him sooner and that I couldn’t talk to him that next week. Then he told me that he and Deb loved me and we hung up.

Well Tim, I love you guys too. You have touched my heart in a way that I never expected and I know that I am the richer for it.

A Promise Kept


August 19, 1983

I made a promise to myself on this date. Though I went through an interesting ordeal that could have cost me my life I promised myself that this day would not be the last day that I would scuba dive. That no matter what transpired earlier in the day, I would once again don an artificial breathing apparatus, a mask, weight belt and fins and would once again descend beneath the waves, breathe underwater and continue to explore whatever I could find of interest.

I had been inspired at a very early age by the exploits of master scuba diver Mike Nelson on the TV show Sea Hunt. As played by Lloyd Bridges I saw a stunning black and white world under the sea. A dreamscape filled with enemy submarines, dolphins, octopus and the occasional beautiful girl swimming below the surface. Nelson usually sported a double tank for prolonged exploration. I would spend one night a week exploring this fascinating world with Mike for 155 episodes.

Then there was color and a show called the Aquanauts. I was one frustrated kid when my father deemed the show too violent for a child my age. He watched though and I would sneak a look from the top of the stairs that led to my bedroom. I always thought that he suspected as much but never really let on.

A few years later James Bond crept into my field of view. Though he had already been featured in a few movies I wasn’t really aware of him until I saw a billboard on the corner of Lake Avenue and West Ridge Rd depicting an underwater battle scene from Thunderball. That was all it took, I was hooked.

In the fall of 1967 I started taking Scuba lessons.


March 10th, 2010

My wife Kathy and I had been on a few Christian music conferences. Two in Buffalo and one in Estes Park Colorado. They were all inspiring and when the opportunity came up to go on another music cruise with Don Moen and Friends we jumped at the chance. After we signed up we found that we were the only two people to sign up for the conference so that part of the program was canceled, but the concert part of the program was still available to us. Kathy was never a fan of the open water. She became sea sick in her father’s boat in Florida, on a river. I was excited about the cruise. In an act of sheer courage Kathy said she would go on the MS Eurodam and cruise the Eastern Caribbean with me if I wanted to still embark on the trip. Without any real hesitation I said I wanted to go. It would be the first time I would be able to use my passport.



Between us, Kathy is by far the more organized so it was up to her to book the excursions that we would take once we were on the open sea. There are a lot of choices once you decide to throw your life into the hands of God and the crew of a cruise ship. Kathy read the options to me and one stood out like yellow writing on a deep blue back ground, Intro to Scuba Diving. This was my chance to keep a twenty seven year old promise to myself.

August 1983.

I had received my CYO certification as a scuba diver quite a few years ago at this point. I had foolishly dived alone in Canandaigua Lake and in Lake Ontario but mostly just a bit off shore to check out my equipment. I had a US Divers aqua lung, bright yellow, a single stage regulator for getting the air from my tank into my lungs, a medium wet suit with pants, jacket, boots, gloves and Helmut, mask, fins and a dive knife. I didn’t own and didn’t see the need for a safety vest or a depth gauge. My tank had a “J” reserve valve that should get me out of any real trouble I could get myself into. A J valve is attached to the air handle on a tank. When depressed it will give you up to five minutes of air to return to the surface should you run out of your normal air supply.

In college I had gone diving in Houghton Lake, in Michigan with the Spinelli brothers a couple times and inwardly laughed once when Rick had dropped his weight belt in thirty feet of water. This was fresh water diving and how anyone could possibly screw something so simple up was way beyond me.

Diving partners in Upstate New York were not so easy to come by. I went with the Kress brothers a few times in a flooded quarry near Victor, New York but I wasn’t fulfilling my real dive fantasies yet.

In 1983 I met and started working with Paul Koetter. Paul ran sound for me in a band I was playing in called The Heartaches. He wasn’t very good at the job and I started a bit of a crusade to have him fired…that is until I talked to him after a gig and found out that he was a master diver. I quickly decided that poor sound wasn’t as bad an investment as I thought it might be.

March 2010

Kathy and I flew into Fort Lauderdale after leaving the kids and our dog behind. Since one kid was in college and the other was about to graduate from high school we felt quite comfortable with the decision. That is as long as we had an adult stay in our house with Angela.








The flight was uneventful, except for the fact that Kathy and I couldn’t sit together. A ticket mishap that put me with a talkative blonde and Kathy in the center of two salesmen. We landed safely and prepared to embark on the MS Eurodam. We were scheduled to make four stops during the cruise, Grand Turk, San Juan, Saint Thomas and Half Moon Cay. The stop for my first diving experience in twenty seven years was Saint Thomas, one of the Virgin Islands.

August 1983

Paul asked me if I would like to go diving with him sometime. I tried to remain cool and contain my excitement at the possibility and simply said “Sure”. He set up our first dive for the following Saturday. It was a beautiful day in June of 1983. The sun was shining and we were in his boat with his brother Walter. Our destination was Braddock Bay were we were to dive on a shipwrecked tug boat. I had never thought about the possibility of actually being able to do something like that.

The dive was very simple. The tug had gone down in a storm earlier that year and was in pristine shape. Red and black, it was in about fifteen feet of water and was very visible once we slipped beneath the waves. We swam around the wreck and entered the cabin. It was so cool! The three of us got along great and decided to meet again the following Saturday in Oswego, NY to dive on a sunken barge.

March 2010.

I told my dentist that I was going on a cruise and mentioned the fact that Kathy wasn’t a big fan of the open sea. Mark, my dentist is also a pilot and loves to find excuses to get his plane off the ground. He told me that he had a magnetic bracelet that was made for sailing. It would help contain motion sickness and he would love to let us borrow it for the price of a battery. The only hitch was that it had left it in Philadelphia a few months ago. I said that was too bad because it would probably really help Kathy out. Mark volunteered to fly to Philly to get it for her. He is a great guy and I never would have gone along with it if I didn’t feel that I had paid for at least part of his plane with a dental implant I had him do for me eight years ago. Two weeks later, Mark’s receptionist Sheila called me to let me know the bracelet was in. I picked it up much to the relief of Kathy.

Kathy and I settled into a La Quinta Inn for the night before the cruise was scheduled to take off. We ate at a Red Lobster restaurant and went to bed early to get an early start on the embarkation process. After checking in we were directed, not to our rooms but to the Lido deck where 2/3 of all of our meals would be held. Anything you may have heard about food on a cruise ship just can’t measure up to what is actually available in the buffet line on a Holland America Line cruise ship. Pastries, chicken, beef, pasta, seafood, deserts galore, you name it, you will find it and that’s in just one of the small restaurants. There are bars and restaurants all over the ship. We ate and then were allowed to enter our cabin.


August 1983

The dive in Oswego went as planned. I guess I did OK because Paul asked me if I thought I was ready for a deeper dive on a little more interesting vessel. Again, feigning coolness I said “Sure”. I didn’t know what he had in mind and he didn’t tell me. He just told me to meet him at his house the following Saturday at 8:00Am.

That Saturday I went to his house on Irondequoit Bay. He had his brother and another friend with him. The four of us were going to dive about two and a half miles off Durand Beach on a clipper ship that went down in the 1860s.

It was a beautiful day, I can remember that clearly. The water was calm, the sun was shinning and there was very little wind. We went out the two and a half miles and quickly found the clipper with the radar that we had on the boat. It was in 62 feet of water. I hadn’t gone down that far yet and was pretty excited by what the dive had in store for us.

We drew straws, so to speak and Paul and I were the first to go under. We sat on the side of the boat with our backs to the water and dropped in.

March 2010

Needless to say the first couple of days on the Eurodam were less than perfect. Kathy is not a fan of the open water and it takes awhile to get your sea legs. We left port around 5:30PM on Saturday and our first port of call, Grand Turk Caicos wouldn’t happen until Monday morning. We staggered around the room, the decks, the restaurants as we tried to compensate for the movement of the boat. We ate, very well, in fact a bit too well as we successfully fought off any real signs of seasickness.

On Monday we visited the Grand Turk light house, had some fried conch, had our photos taken with a pirate made of plaster, looked at the ocean, took a tour and went back on the boat. Honestly, I thought at this point if this is all there is to this cruise I would have rather gone on a wine tour in the Finger Lakes back home.

We sailed all night to reach Puerto Rico on Tuesday. We had another excursion planned that was called tour and shopping. Neither Kathy nor I am that much into shopping nor are we that much intro touring. We were placed in a bus with a driver named Carlos Enrique Domingo Sanchez, “But you can call me Charley” who really knew his Puerto Rican history. The tour was kind of fun until he dropped us off in the shopping district. We then proceeded to walk up and down stone streets and try to decide where to shop. CVS, Marshall’s, Wal-Mart….the choices were wonderful, if you are walking a mall in any city in the US. On top of that the weather was beginning to look very threatening. After an hour Charley picked us up and we went back to the boat for dinner, a comedy show (by a Rochester comedian, Julie Barr), and bed. The next morning we were scheduled to dock in Saint Thomas.



August 1983

Paul and I followed the anchor chain down to the first atmosphere, 33 feet. We stopped, made sure we were both fine, checked his air gauge because I didn’t own one, gave the thumbs up and proceeded into our second atmosphere. For each atmosphere deep that you dive your air supply is cut in half. I knew this, it was drilled into during training but I wasn’t really concerned since I had a US Diver tank with a reserve “J” valve, the one you could depress for an extra five minutes of air in case the main supply ran out.

When we got to the lake bed the “ship” was in front of us. There was a bit of a mast sticking out of the sand and a bit of the starboard hull exposed. Paul and I separated, him on one side of the hull, me on the other. As soon as he was out of sight I ran out of air. Again, I wasn’t too concerned only disappointed because I would have to cut the dive short. I reached behind me to depress the “J” valve and found, to my dismay that it was already depressed. This meant that I was close to a third atmosphere underwater and completely out of air. I quickly looked for Paul but couldn’t see him and didn’t feel I had the time to look for him. I found the anchor chain and started the very long process of climbing out of a very dangerous situation.

Hand over hand with my eyes to the surface I told myself not to panic. To panic in such a tight spot would be disastrous. I could see the surface but I couldn’t tell how far it was. It just looked like a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Of course, I knew I was getting closer but it seemed to always be out of reach. But, I didn’t panic. I kept focused on the task and after about 80 seconds I broke the surface. The two spotters in the boat knew something was wrong and quickly pulled me over the side into the safety of the boat. That’s when I felt obliged to panic. However, while in the boat I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t let this experience stop me from diving.

A year went past and then another. I hadn’t even considered going back into the water. After three years I needed some money and I sold my SCUBA gear, almost without a second thought. In fact I didn’t think about it again for most of the next twenty five years.

I told this story often in the past and always mentioned the promise I made to myself, a promise that obviously was going to go unfulfilled. It started bothering me two summers ago.








March 2010

Wednesday morning we docked at Saint Thomas. I had signed up the week before for a diving excursion. I was apprehensive to say the least, very excited to say the most. We were collected at the dock and loaded into an open air bus/taxi sort of vehicle. It took off with one dive instructor on board. Driving on the left is the rule for Saint Thomas and the roads are very narrow. There is also a lot of construction going on in Saint Thomas. As we were speeding to our destination a construction truck on the right was speeding to its destination. The two met and we lost our side view mirror. Neither vehicle stopped. Auspicious start to be sure.

We reached the secluded beach and met up with our instructors, a husband and wife team. They gave some very rudimentary directions, put this end in your mouth, don’t breathe through your nose, salt water doesn’t taste very good….and then got us set up with our equipment. To say the equipment was beat would be an understatement of the highest order. The tanks looked like refugees from the Second World War. The regulators, the lifeline for your air supply looked cracked and worn in all the wrong places, the snorkels looked like rejects from Sea Hunt….surely equipment has improved since the early sixties.

I was chosen for the first group to dive. Thoughts of the last time I was chosen for a first diving shift were clear. I buckled the tank harness, donned the mask and weight belt, checked the air flow and walked out into the water to put on my fins.

About twenty yards out in the open water we all gathered for some last minute instructions. We spit in our masks to prevent fogging, put them over our faces and submerged. Once underwater, I had a hard time getting air out of the tank. My heart was racing and I had visions of my last dive. The instructor, following the group saw I was a bit disoriented and came up to see if I was OK. I pointed to the surface and she went up with me. I told her my problem and she gave me an extra weight to keep me down and told me to breathe slower, that everything was fine. For some reason, I believed her, pocketed the weight and sunk below the waves.

Almost immediately I saw some movement to the right and just ahead of me. It was a manta ray. I was floored. The front line inspector came up to me and placed a spindly sea creature on my hand…I was grinning from ear to ear. I looked straight down into the sea grass and saw a living star fish. The front line instructor pointed over to a sunken sailboat that went down in Hurricane Ike in 1995. It was fascinating.

We were cruising along about twenty feet below the surface. I watched some of the other divers being just as enthralled as I was. I saw the instructors satisfied that all was going well and that we all seemed to be enjoying the experience. I reflected on the fact that they probably weren’t even born the last time I went diving.




In a very short twenty minutes we were done…That’s it, finished. We surfaced at almost the same spot that we submerged, removed our fins and walked back up on to the shore.

I’m not the nostalgic type and I seldom make promises to myself and rarely take it that seriously when I do. I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution in decades, I don’t give up anything for lent. It just isn’t in my nature, I guess. But the promise I made to myself in August 1983 has always been like a shadow to me, waiting for the chance to jump out as I re-told the story or just waiting to bubble to the surface as something unfulfilled.

It took nearly twenty-seven years to scatter this shadow and keep that promise.

We are always busy here at jerryfalzone.com. Our newest venture is a self produced television show that will feature a different area songwriter each episode. The first five episodes are planned and will feature Jerry Englerth, Jed Curran, Time Shay, Brian Lindsay and Lisa Bigwood. all great artists. The first two episodes have been shot the next three will be done within two weeks. The shows will start to air in October on cable access outlets. I will be hosting the show with Debbie Randyn.

Check out the new website, beyondthelyric.com

Yes folks, an hour of Music, Mirth and Merriment on the Tube. Thanks to Ray Brasselton for allowing us the time.

The Music Show Schedule
Days and times subject to change. • Check websites for updates.

Wayne, Ontario, Seneca, Cayuga, Yates & Livingston Counties
FLTV - Channel 12
Tuesdays 8:00pm
Website: www.fingerlakes.edu/offices/fltv - (585) 394-9444

Webster
WCA-TV - Channel 12
Mondays 8:30pm
Website: http://pages.prodigy.com/wca-tv - (585) 872-6277

Penfield
PCTV - Channel 15
Mondays 3:00pm
Wednesdays 5:00pm
Fridays 1:00am
Saturdays 3:00pm
Website: www.penfield.org - (585) 340-8661
Email: PCTV@penfield.org

Irondequoit
ICAT - Channel 15
Saturdays 9:00pm
Sundays 9:00pm
Website: www.Irondequoit.org - (585) 336-7273 x1071
Email: icat@Irondequoit.org

Fairport
FACT - Channel 15
Tuesdays 1:00pm & 9:00pm
Thursdays 1:00 & 9:00pm
Saturday 1:00pm
Website: www.village.fairport.ny.us - (585) 421-3214
Email: FACT@village.fairport.ny.us

Rochester Metro
RCTV - Channel 15
Wednesdays 4:30pm
Thursdays 8:00pm
Website: www.rctv15.org - (585) 325-1238

Cable 12 West - Greece & surrounding area
Channel 12 - Call/email for times
(585) 227-7710 or Email: cable12@ix.netcom.com

All-day fest to help Greece guitarist in health crisis

Jeff Spevak • Staff music critic • April 9, 2009


Bob Janneck of Greece had no idea he was in trouble.

"I didn't have the classic chest pains and all that stuff," he says. "I thought I was facing more of a bronchitis, asthma thing when I went to the hospital. Then I had the blood test and they said, 'Wow, you had a minor heart attack.' They gave me an angiogram and found out I was pretty blocked up."
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With that diagnosis, "everything clicked," the 48-year-old says. It was an explanation for days when he'd be unexpectedly out of breath, for instance, walking to an eye appointment.

Saturday at the Flipside Bar & Grill, 2001 E. Main St., a handful of bands play a fundraiser for Janneck, a guitarist in local bands like the Insiders in the mid-1980s, then the Dragonflys, the Riviera Playboys, the Beatles tribute 28if (that's the license plate on the car on the cover of Abbey Road) and, most recently, Brian Lindsay & the Bootleggers.

The music leans toward roots rock. "My favorite stuff to play is British Invasion," he says. "The Yardbirds, the Stones, the Beatles, the Who. The stuff I started to do in the Insiders," when the group opened for acts such as Badfinger, Meat Loaf and Steppenwolf.

The last few months have been less rock, more rocky. Janneck fell on some ice and broke his hip on Dec. 20. "We had just started to recover from that, and he had a mild heart attack," says his wife, Susan. That was on Feb. 27; on March 3, that problem was hopefully addressed when Janneck underwent the heart surgery, getting five bypasses.

But there was more: "It was really kind of bad timing," the Greece resident says. Janneck had just started a new job, as a sound tech for a company that builds speakers, and his benefits hadn't kicked in. Like 48 million other Americans, he was caught without health insurance.

The all-day music fest at the club starts at 2 p.m. and goes till midnight. Tickets are $10. The lineup: Jay & Pat, 2 p.m.; Aces & Eights, 3 p.m.; Entwined, 4 p.m.; the Jerry Falzone Band, 5 p.m.; Brian Lindsay & the Bootleggers, 6 p.m.; Connie Deming, 7 p.m.; the Flipsiders, 8 p.m.; Groovement, 9 p.m.; the Imaginary Band (Fleetwood Mac Tribute), 10 p.m.; and Inside Out, 11 p.m.

And the $5 raffle tickets will get you a shot at items like a Fender bass. For more, or to donate, go to www.theimaginaryband.com.

Much gratitude is in order for everyone who made this season's Lake Shore
Coffee House Series so successful. Last nights concert was a wonderful
experience. We had the largest crowd yet, the music was great, at least
coming from Talia, Chris and Warren. I'm just thankful to be keeping my
head above water.

So many people need to be thanked. Carrie Dengler, Mike Pavone, Dan
Kilker, Marilyn Edwards, Diane Brinthaupt, Kim Farnan, Dave Freese, Vic
Lundell, Pastor Vince, Dan SaLotto, Bob Edwards, Dave Cutter, Andy Britt,
Mary Ellen Britt, Kathy Shepanski, Stephanie Supernault, Lillian Reyes,
Mary Niedert, everyone at Celebrate Recovery, Lakeshore Community Church,
every performer who graced our stage and everyone who came in and donated
to keep this ship afloat.

Last nights performance was so special for me, having so many great
friends who came in and the fact that I got to play with Warren, Chris and
Talia again.

Thank you all so much and I look forward to starting all over again on
October 11.

Jerry

The new CD is coming along slowly but coming along indeed. We have a great start on six songs and are into the mixing phase for each of those songs.
Titles so far:
Here For You
Queen Of My Heart
Forget About You
Fade Away
Depending On You
We Will Meet Again
I am planning ten songs and I'm very happy with everything so far. Ray Bellizia has been working harder than anybody on this and his talent as a producer will be evident throughout.

I am very gratified by the response we had to the first CD Off The North Coast. I am very eagerly waiting to see what you think of this new one. It is tentatively titled Waterman's Friend. The first person who e-mails me the correct reason why it might be called that will get a free CD. Good luck.

I would also like to take this time to thank everybody involved with making the Lake Shore Coffee House Series such a nice success. Of course, thanks go to Lake Shore Community Church and especially its staff Stephanie Supernault and Lillian Reyes for all their help in promoting it and printing flyers and the two beautiful banners that we are now using to identify the series. To Scott Regan and WXXI and WRUR radio for so generously letting us come on the air to promote the shows and for letting us play on the air. That goes beyond the realm of reason. Dr. Vic Lundell and Dan Solotto for helping out on sound and Dave Frieze for helping out on lights. To my partner in crime, Carrie Dengler who has done such a great job helping me manage it this season. The catering and greet teams for helping us out, my mother for baking something great each time to the grounds team for keeping the parking lot clear of snow. To Pastor Vince for allowing us to use the church, Dan Kilker for overseeing the events and Mike Pavone for helping us put the plan in place. And to Andy and Mary Ellen Britt and the whole Celebrate Recovery Team, Kim Farnen, Marilyn Edwards and Diane Brinthaupt for their help in making sure the place is looking good and the coffee and deserts are in place and cleaned up at the end of the show. These are all people who had a huge hand in making the series successful behind the scenes.

I also want to thank the artists who came in this season and will try to do it by name right now,
The Jenifer Stambro Band
George Collichio
Ray Bellizia
Warren Paul
Talia Paul
Connie Deming
Carl Lang
Jed Curran
Jeff Riales
Scott Regan
Jim Drew
Steve West
Frank DeLuccio
And to Chris Wilson who will be joining Warren, Talia and me on April 3rd.

And most importantly to all of you who have come out to each show and have generously supported what we are trying to accomplish. Thank you very much!

It's been a great season and we are all thankful for your participation.

The next installment of the Lake Shore Coffee House Series is coming up on Friday November 28th. It will feature Connie Deming, Warren Paul and Jim Drew. I will, as always be your host. I would like to especially thank Jim Drew for filling in for Chris Wilson. Chris actually was held over on his tour of China so we will be getting him back in later in the season. Jim has played at the series before and is a wonderful talent. He recently signed a record deal in Seattle so come and listen to him while you still have a chance.

This season's Lakeshore Coffee Series opens on Friday, October 11th. This season promises to be bigger and better than ever and after all the success we had last year that is saying a lot. We are bringing back some favorites and some very exciting new talent for Lakeshore. The line up for the October 17th lineup will be George Collichio and the Jenifer Stambro Band. I'll be opening the show with Ray Bellizia on guitar. Other acts this season include Connie Deming, Warren Paul, Chris Wilson, Jed Curan, Jeff Riales, Steve West, Walt O'brien and our very own Frank DeLuccio. There will be other announcements as the schedule tightens up. Keep in touch.

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.