Christine DeLeon: Reflections

I love Cafe Z because it's a recipe of fun with a side of friends on a bed of music. Lots of singers in the audience last night, making me so glad I planned accordingly. Nothin' sadder than a crowd who wants to sing without an opportunity, I say. Many, many thanks to Tom and Cheryl Picard who lovingly keep the concert series going.

Celebrating the beauty of the Earth on the Morristown Green yesterday was lovely under sunny skies with a gentle breeze. Kevin Coughlin did a marvelous job organizing the music on the stage and I was thrilled to be a part of it. So many great acts enjoyed the afternoon to help bring awareness to the importance of taking care of our one and only planet. The Members and Bill Griese were quite notable. A fun afternoon indeed!

The CD release concert at the Minstrel was a great sucess. Finace, Mike, and I did such a thrilling folked up rendition of Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven" that I was actually sad when the last note had been sung. But you just can't forget the laughs at the folks tossing their cardboard boxes around the room during "Two Sets of Keys" - now there's a video I'm looking forward to seeing.

So many friends came out to the show and it felt like a real Folk Project family night. Thanks to all!

Had a great time at the Fine Grind Coffeebar last night! After setting up and starting to play, Mike went next door for a slice of pizza and came back with the D"Amatto couple who were part of a delightful audience of coffee sippers. Special thanks to store owner, Rhonda, for providing the atmosphere (especially the glowing fireplace). A good time was had by all!

PLENTY! The Folk Project 2010 Valentine's Extravaganza was quite a blast! So many fun performers and a hearty variety of love songs. And all the money that was raised is going to be donated to Haitian Earthquake relief. Mike and I were so lucky to be a part of the night and we had a fun time hosting. Thanks to the Folk Project and all its hard working members who made the show happen.

I had a marvelous time playing for an hour at the Jefferson Township Public Library yesterday! Christine O'Brien has a lovely concert series starting up there. There were so many fun music lovers in the audience. Definitely a nice indoor way to spend a cold Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Mike for handling the sound too!

Yesterday's live broadcast on WFDU with gracious host, Ron Olesko, was quite a thrill. I got to do an on-the-air phone inteview with WRNJ DJ Steve Randolph back in March '08, but this time I got to jump into the magic of being in the studio.

Ron made it so easy, I could just tell he was made for this kind of thing. It was as if the mics and mountains of equipment weren't even there and it simply felt like we were just sitting around chatting on a lazy winter afternoon.

Please check out his show "Traditions" - 89.1 FM every Sunday from 3:00 to 6:00 PM for plenty of great folk programming.

Finally, love and thanks to fiance, Mike Del Vecchio, for helping out with the set up and capturing the fun of the afternoon on film (check out the PHOTOS page).

I was hired to play last night for some patients at a private health care facility. Obviously, it was a gig that I coudn't advertise or invite friends, but it turned out to be one of the greatest performance experiences I've ever had.

The patients were so kind and grateful for every note, every strum, every word of banter between songs. They were such entusiastic and joyful people, dancing, clapping and singing along. It was a true lift to my spirit and a loud reminder to me of why I love being a musician so much.

Thanks to them and the people at the facility who made the night happen!

Yup, that's a summary of my day.

First the Fine Grind Coffeebar this afternoon where my friends Alice, Larry and Michael joined my new friends Rich and Elizabeth for sipping and toe tapping.

Later, I got to do it all again at Rivara's. After the football game was over, I started playing to a room filled with people. But the two most important of those people were the fun and friendly Jim and Kat. With a table for two right in front of me, we were having our own private music party. You guys are swell - enjoy your new copy of January Hiding!

Two gigs, four hours, seven friends. I'm LIKING this numbers game!!

The Fine Grind Coffeebar in Little Falls last night was such a super evening. I love it when people request a Dylan tune! Jessica, the events coordinator, and Rhonda the manager, were both lovely hosts! They invited me back next Saturday and for another date in November, so the fun shall continue!

For at least a year now, I've been hearing nothing but grand things about electronic social networking. Even many in the music business have sworn that if I'm not on it, the earth will crash into the sun and darkness will rule for eternity. Well, I certainly did NOT want to be responsible for that. So I did it - I swallowed all my reservations and joined Facebook.

Of course, I've also given up sleeping and other necessities of existence.

Oh well, it's worth it. Lots of fun reading about happenings of all the people I know, and many whom I do not know yet. Hmmm ... now if I could just overcome my fear of actually posting something.

Many thanks to good friend, Mike DelVecchio for giving me that final encouraging push to dive in. You done good, Mike!

I've been able to play at Rivara's in Fair Lawn, NJ steadily once a week for about a month now. I haven't done much advertising because the night I play each week remains a bit unpredictable still. At any rate, I was there last night and what a fantastic time it was because of two very special couples!

First came Bob and Annette - very charming couple from Hawthorne who came to enjoy a good Rivara's meal. I had just started playing as they were finishing up and getting ready to leave, but they decided to stick around for some music instead. Everybody wins because they were an absolute pleasure. I was so moved when they told me they had been together for 44 years that I pulled out some love songs to play for them. Folks, thanks a million and enjoy the CD!

Enter Bill and Diane - another lovely couple who thought all they would experience from their Tuesday night visit to Rivara's was some good chicken. When I finished up my set, I sat down to chat and thank them for being such a good audience. Turns out that we have ties to the same home town and they know some old friends of my family. The more we talked, the more we found we had in common. What an uplifting chance meeting! Thanks to you folks too!

Right now, I believe I'll be back at Rivara's next Monday night (8/17). All you lovers of good food, drink, and music, please stop by! As you can see, you just never know what you'll find!

Who knew that when I stopped at a diner in my home town last month that I would meet a restaurant owner who would give me a night of music to remember!?! My chance meeting with Frank from Rivara's proved to be quite fortuitous indeed. Last night's straight 2 hour set seemed to fly by in a heartbeat. Thanks to everyone who came, ate, drank and sang with me. I walked away with a long list of requests for songs I have yet to learn ... I guess I'd better get to work!

... so says Webster's Dictionary of the word "Dolce" - and so it was! Last night's visit to Dolce Cafe in Ridgewood was quite a pleasure. My favorite part was when the owner's toddler was dancing around to Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" - just the cutest!!! Thanks to all who came to enjoy the music!

The show was a blast. I never did a theme show before and I loved the way it came together. It was mostly covers (for something different) but it was also songs about day and night. This was one of my more serendipitous ideas since I recently found out the Vernal Equinox (equal amounts of day and night) was only 3 days ago. Timing is everything I guess.

Thanks very much to friends Michael, Brad, Renee and Tom for joining me on stage for some memorable music making!

I have some pics in the works, check back for them!

In a 3 hour show heavily populated with folk musicians, did anyone expect to hear opera? I'm guessing no. But that's exactly what my friend, Judy Bubar, and I did. We had a marvelous time and I think it's safe to say that the 3rd Act duet from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" was a big hit.

For those of you who didn't catch the explanation of the plot before the song started and subsequently wondered why this piece was chosen for what was billed as an evening of songs about love ...

The opera is set in 18th century Seville, Spain and the scene is the palatial residence of Count Almaviva. The Countess wishes to test the true measure of her husband's love, so she enlists the help of her maid and friend, Susanna, to help her write and deliver a tricky love letter. The entire piece involves the two of them scheming to create this love letter which is meant to trick the Count into showing his true colors.

Judy and I had planned and worked on the music, costumes and staging for this duet for almost a year. Now the only question is ... what in the world are the two of us going to come up with next?!?

I've been hanging around the Minstrel for over three years now and I've been fortunate enough to have performed on the stage numerous times. But Chorus Song Night was special. The melodies and harmonies floating around the room from the audience were no less than uplifting!

We sang choruses, verses, rounds ... everything from funny to serious songs ... new songs to classics ... folk to rock and roll. There was absolutely no telling what would come next and all a blast!

Thanks to the audience, my fellow song leaders and the Folk Project for, once again, making my night!

Ok, sorry for that really obvious and shameful pun, but who could resist?

Opening for Tom Rush last night was as fun and exciting as I expected it would be. The sold out audience was a pleasure to play for. The room itself was live with grand acoustics.

All the volunteers that make the concert series run well were invaluable, but I'd like to extend a special thanks to presenter Scott Sheldon, who made it possible, and sound tech Mike Del Vecchio, who made it easy.

Ok, I'm not exactly considering this my emergence into the world of film, but I did have fun playing a live set preceeding a video performance of Abigale Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet yesterday. Not a lot of turnout, but I made the most of that by testing out many of the new songs I have written lately. The small audience lent itself extremely well to an exchange of feedback and ideas for epansion of the songs.

I mixed it up quite a bit too, playing songs that fell into varried genres. There was a comedy I have written called "Say What You Mean," a sing-along called "Last April" and a more serious piece called "This Room."

Then, together with a large bag of free popcorn, I discovered the excellent tradition of Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. I was so impressed with the video performance, I began thinking of traveling to Kentucy to see a taping first hand!

All went well and, in the end, I even scored 4 free movies in the theater where the event was held. I say that is pretty good and I owe many thanks to the Mansfield Clearview Cimema and my good friend who organized the event, Mr. Mark Schaffer!

Washington Borough sure put on a good show today! I enjoyed playing at the Acoustic Stage for the better part of an hour to passers-by and steady audience alike. It was super meeting up with friends, Dan Hirshberg and Renee Paddock (whom I had the priviledge of meeting at the Knowlton Riverfest). Perfect weather added to the great day. Hope to enjoy the Festival again next year!