Once again Washington Crossing State Park In Titusville, NJ held the New Jersey State History Fair. It ended up getting rained out. I took as many photos as I could and I recorded a worthwhile video of a cannon demonstration. If I arrived when I had planned to arrive (11:00 AM), I would have been able to see all of the sites. I arrived at about 2:30 PM and security began to kick people out, due to what was a drizzle with a few gusts of wind, at just before 3:30 PM. The event was held yesterday (May 11, 2013).
This is hilarious. At this time of the day, security went around telling people that "Washington Crossing State Park is now closing due to extreme weather" (it wasn't extreme at all; the storm was just a drizzle) and the spectators had to evacuate, the Revolutionary War Reenactors continued to put on their cannon demonstration and right after the announcement that "all events are over", the one guys says "we have one round to fire" and they went and fired off the cannon! After that, he said, "the fest is now over"! Hahaha, these Reenactors are wild! I am glad I captured this footage ...
From May 3 to May 5, 2013, the city of Havre De Grace held an event to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Raid On Havre De Grace (promoted as the Attack On Havre De Grace) as part of the War Of 1812 Bicentennial. The Battle took place on May 3, 1813. I offer a brief criticism before I post the photographs and videos ... I was told the Battle reenactment was held at the beginning of the day at 10:30 AM or 11:00 AM. According to the promotional material, skirmishes would be reenacted from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM. Not good. A lot of people missed the skirmish. I was one of them and I was not pleased. There will never be another Havre De Grace 200th Anniversary Commemoration so the organizers of the event truly erred on this one.
This musical group came from Fort McHenry ...
There are three songs showcased in this video. The first song is a British tune and the second song is a medley featuring "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Girl I Left Behind":
Here is another video and it features the big hit of the era - "Yankee Doodle": Musket Demonstration ... Here is a video showing the Musket Demonstration:
The various camps ... Some people sleeping: 1812 fashion presentation and lecture: Video: 1812 fashion presentation and lecture (specifically pertaining to civilians):
Video: 1812 fashion presentation and lecture (specifically pertaining to sailors): The Living Historians took to the streets for a Final March ... Promotional material could be seen throughout that part of town. I was glad to see that. You can spot a bit of graffiti here too unfortunately: Some sidewalk plates had this fine stencil painted on them: Here is a copy of the brochure: After the event, I walked around the shopping district. There were stores and outdoor vendors. I picked up this War Of 1812 shirt: More photos of the day can be seen at this link: http://s169.photobucket.com/user/portaltothepast/library/Reenactments/War Of 1812/1813 200th Havre De Grace May 4 2013
On April 27, 2013, I travelled to Wilmington, Delaware for "The Rock & Roll Legends Show". The event featured Jay Siegel's Tokens, Jimmy Clanton, The Legendary Teenagers, The Tymes, The Passions, The Classics and The Chimes. Each act featured at least one ORIGINAL member. The event took place at a theater called The Grand. The camera policy was strange. The security people radically enforced the policy during the sets of The Tymes and The Teenagers only. Very odd. The first act was The Chimes, with original members Lenny Cocco and Pat DePrisco. I was buying the ticket while they were on and walked in at the tail end of the last song. I will be seeing them again later in the year so I will be able to post an appropriate review soon. By the end of this blog entry, you will see that I did get to see some of the guys in The Chimes perform that night.
The second act was The Classics, featuring original vocalist Emil Stucchio. The music played and vocals were heard although the crowd wondered where the group members were located. This is because the three of them walked into the audience area from the back!! As you can see from the photographs below, they walked up the aisle to the stage and performed "I Who Have Nothing" down there in the pit! After the first number, they walked onto the stage and continued with "Itty Bitty Pretty One". Next up was a song with back-up vocalist Teresa McClean on the lead called "You Are My Reason To Live" (I believe that was the title). According to Emil, this tune landed Teresa a top 10 single on a New York radio station peaking at #8. The forth track in the set was the top 20 hit "Till Then". "Never Let Me Go" with its well-known chorus closed their exuberant performance.
The Passions, featuring Jimmy Gallagher, was the third act on the bill. This is one group that I really wanted to see and this time they performed five songs as opposed to their three song set from last month's gig (Review here: ). They hit the stage with "Made For Lovers". This was a great one to get the crowd going with ... and one of my personal favorites. The next song was the soft and heartfelt ballad "This Is My Love". The third number in the set was "I Only Want You". This was followed by "Gloria", a song the crowd obviously recognized judging by the applause. The Passions closed with "Just To Be With You". Last month, I stated that the group has a bunch of other songs that I would like to hear in the future. On April 27, 2013, that wish came true.
Here is a brief clip of "Made For Lovers":
The url for the above video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAEzhvB8kMk
Here is a brief clip of "I Only Want You": The url for the above video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydwAUFtvLQI
Here is a brief clip of "Just To Be With You":
The url for the above video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mBfXIsJZDg
The act that closed the half of the concert prior to the intermission was The Tymes, featuring original members Albert "Caesar" Berry and Norman Burnett. Their performance was similar to and the setlist was exactly the same as their performance and the setlist from last month (Review here: ). Tymes opened with a cover tune, "Love Train", and continued with their own hit single from 1963, "Somewhere" ... a song that peaked at number nineteen. The band's chart topping number one smash "So Much In Love" was performed next after an introduction that included a reference to the cover versions of the track that were released over the decades. Next up was "You Little Trustmaker". It was a top twenty hit for the band in 1974 ... a song way past the days of the Doo Wop Era, but certainly an important part of the history of the group. Much like last month, The Tymes incorporated funny skits into the set. They tore it up out there and I had an opportunity to tell Caesar and Norman in person after their performance.
Some signed items here ...
I walked up to Jimmy Gallagher and he immediately remembered me from last month's concert in Lancaster. He signed the photo of us taken last month:
I was talking to Jimmy for so long that I missed two of The Teenagers songs! I am sure the two songs I missed were "Goody Goody" and "I Promise To Remember", the first two that they performed last month (Review here: ). I walked in during "Share". The next number was "The ABC's Of Love" and the fifth and final song was the quintessential Doo Wop song of the 1950s, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Prior to leaving the stage, the guys parted with some fast and efficient dance moves.
Since security was out in full force, it was easy to film than to take a photo due to the flash of a camera.Here is a screen cap made from a video (I only filmed a few seconds in order to get a decent photo): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCsvriAncRg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siLcJ3WQr48
The encore and closing moment featured all of the group members. They performed The Spaniels' hit "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite".
Jimmy Merchant's cousin helped me to get some items signed and also took this photograph: Some incredible 1950s memorabilia here ...
Last month I only had Herman's signature on this photo. Now I have Jimmy's signature and Tommy Lockhart's signature. One more to go!
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