Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com. It beats listening to nothingness.
Speaker 2: Being Frank, where the only way to be is Frank.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to Being Frank. We're the only
Speaker 2: way to be is Frank. I'm your host, Frank Lebono,
Speaker 2: and I'd like to thank you for joining us on
Speaker 2: what we like to call the Intelligent Conversation podcast, where
Speaker 2: no conversation is out of bounds at all points of
Speaker 2: view are welcome. We record live to tape, and I
Speaker 2: always give you the dates so you have some context
Speaker 2: and relevance. It is twelve twelve, the twelfth of December.
Speaker 2: Regular listeners to this podcast are aware that one of
Speaker 2: our more popular themes has been the amazing amount of
Speaker 2: top quality music and musicians that come from such a
Speaker 2: small geographic area Rockland County, New York. In addition to
Speaker 2: the great local musicians, many internationally known artists like Bruce Springsteen,
Speaker 2: David Bowie, and Mick Jagger have either recorded or lived
Speaker 2: in the county. But there's one more thing of note.
Speaker 2: In addition to lending their considerable talent to entertain us,
Speaker 2: they also give back in big ways to their community. Recently,
Speaker 2: we did a podcast highlighting good Stock, a day long
Speaker 2: music festival whose proceeds go to benefit People to People,
Speaker 2: Rockland County's largest food bank. And with this podcast, we'd
Speaker 2: like to reintroduce you once again to the granddaddy of
Speaker 2: all charity music festivals in the area. On Sunday twelve fifteen,
Speaker 2: for the twenty eighth year, the legendary Hudson House for
Speaker 2: a restaurant in downtown Niake will host Blankfest and all
Speaker 2: day and most of the night music festival featuring the
Speaker 2: finest music talent this area has to offer all of
Speaker 2: it for the simple admission price of a blanket that
Speaker 2: will eventually be distributed on Christmas Eve to the less
Speaker 2: fortune in New York City. Over the course of twenty
Speaker 2: seven years, that number is in the thing. It's a
Speaker 2: massive undertaking and needs an army of volunteers and one
Speaker 2: mad genius to make it happen. As it has been
Speaker 2: since the very beginning twenty eight years ago, that madman
Speaker 2: has been ken Raw. Without his dedication and boundless energy,
Speaker 2: those thousands of blankets would never be in the hands
Speaker 2: of people who need the most. But he doesn't do
Speaker 2: it alone. He joins us now along with his co
Speaker 2: producer and poet who also happens to be his wife,
Speaker 2: Yvonne Soltamiora. Guys, welcome once again to being Frank. Thank
Speaker 2: you for joining us.
Speaker 1: You're very very welcome.
Speaker 3: Hi, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2: Frank. Always a pleasure. Well, you know, let's before. We
Speaker 2: always like to give people a little relevance. As I said,
Speaker 2: so let's talk a little bit about you guys first, Ken,
Speaker 2: let's and we'll cut right to the chase. What would
Speaker 2: you like to people to know about you? Oh?
Speaker 1: Geez, why now that one you call me off guard?
Speaker 2: That's what I do.
Speaker 1: I'm just your average guy who likes to scream into
Speaker 1: a microphone and uh on occasion to help other people.
Speaker 1: That's basically it.
Speaker 2: Okay, if yvon your your turn. What would you like
Speaker 2: people to know about you? Uns? And you can take it.
Speaker 2: You can take as much time or or as little
Speaker 2: time as as you choose.
Speaker 3: So describe myself bilingual poet, wife, daughter of Peruvian immigrant dreamers.
Speaker 3: How about that.
Speaker 2: That's I like it. That's that's that's that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: You guys did pretty did pretty good. Being caught uh
Speaker 2: off the cuff like this, But of course that's what
Speaker 2: being Frank is all about is to get open and
Speaker 2: to be frank. It will play on words if they
Speaker 2: haven't got it over the two years we're doing this Problemly.
Speaker 3: Frankly wouldn't understand that.
Speaker 2: Thank you keep going. We'll use all of these Yvonne,
Speaker 2: I knew I could count on you. That's why you're
Speaker 2: here a poet, uh, you know, because Ken and I
Speaker 2: And then afterwards also we got a really special botus.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk to the mailman, as I call him,
Speaker 2: our engineer, Neil Richter, who is known by listeners of
Speaker 2: this program, who has had an intimate relationship with Blankfest
Speaker 2: over the years, and he's going to give us our perspective.
Speaker 2: We'll call for him in a little bit. We want
Speaker 2: to talk to him right now. We'll let him know
Speaker 2: when we need him. But anyway, let's get back to
Speaker 2: the topic at hand, and that's blank Fest. Let's go
Speaker 2: back to the beginning. We mentioned this is the twenty
Speaker 2: eighth year, Ken Man, that's a long time. Go back
Speaker 2: to the beginning. What was the germ of the idea?
Speaker 2: When and why and where did you come up with
Speaker 2: this incredible idea of music fest and the admission of
Speaker 2: a blanket to help those less fortunate. How did you
Speaker 2: come up with that?
Speaker 1: It started, I guess in my twenties and when I
Speaker 1: was reading in the tabloids. You know, every year they
Speaker 1: run that same standard story about somebody freezing to death.
Speaker 1: And I just read one of the one story too many.
Speaker 1: And I'm very much of a react kind of person,
Speaker 1: very knee jerk in my reaction capacity, and so I
Speaker 1: read this story. I see some poor person, some poor
Speaker 1: man froze to death out of sidewalk in New York City.
Speaker 1: And the first thing that pops into my head is,
Speaker 1: I guess, think I could have used a blanket. And
Speaker 1: so next thing, you know, I'm going around to friends
Speaker 1: collecting blankets. And you know, one year I drove down
Speaker 1: with a friend, an acquaintance really actually, and handed blankets
Speaker 1: out on a rainy Christmas Eve. It felt good. Next year,
Speaker 1: we were out of blankets. And that's when the light
Speaker 1: bulb goes off over my head that, geez, I'm a musician.
Speaker 1: I have friends or are musicians. Let's see if we
Speaker 1: can pull everybody together and we'll ask for blankets at
Speaker 1: the door. That's the short of it.
Speaker 2: What was the reaction to some of your friends when
Speaker 2: you again said oh, I need you to play, I
Speaker 2: need you to play for free again and pull this
Speaker 2: all together and with the result of being, you know,
Speaker 2: being awarded a blanket that they don't even get to use,
Speaker 2: they get to give to someone else. What were the
Speaker 2: reaction of some of the people when you first approached them.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, you know, our circle of friends,
Speaker 1: we're all independent musicians, were kind of used to playing
Speaker 1: for free already. You know, It's not like it's not
Speaker 1: like anyone was bagging down our doors to hear us
Speaker 1: play songs we'd written. And so it was like the
Speaker 1: hardest part was finding a venue that would let us
Speaker 1: just like set up and play, you know, with no
Speaker 1: promise of bringing in any crowd. So I had to
Speaker 1: sell us to a local bar just since going out
Speaker 1: of business. I don't know if you remember a bar
Speaker 1: in downtown Nya called My Place. It was next to
Speaker 1: the Thai restaurant and mine was spelled any I my Place,
Speaker 1: and NOI was the owner Thai restaurant next door, And
Speaker 1: when we sold to him, John Brodersen was the guy
Speaker 1: that booked all the bands, And the way we sold
Speaker 1: it was listen it's the son night. I mean, you
Speaker 1: don't get any traffic in here anyway on a Sunday night.
Speaker 1: So we'll just set up, we'll play. It's not going
Speaker 1: to cost you anything because the bar's already open. And
Speaker 1: I had to pay for the soundman out of my
Speaker 1: own pocket, and I borrowed the money from my mom,
Speaker 1: believe it or not. And it was so only supposed
Speaker 1: to be for four hours. And after three and a
Speaker 1: half hours, a soundman who already had the money in
Speaker 1: his pocket started rolling up the equipment, and so I get,
Speaker 1: all right, I guess we've come to the end.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It was nobody left in the club, and oddly enough,
Speaker 1: I hadn't even planned beyond that point if there was
Speaker 1: going to be another show or not. So I just
Speaker 1: looked out at the two or three people that are
Speaker 1: left and I said, for want of a better phrase,
Speaker 1: I just said, see you next year, walked off the
Speaker 1: stage and said, oh oh, what if I just committed
Speaker 1: to And that's how we were often running.
Speaker 2: Do you remember Ken, how many blankets the first show
Speaker 2: brought in you do you have any recollection? Forty forty
Speaker 2: blankets and now zero forty blankets? The first time now,
Speaker 2: twenty eight years later, how many do you anticipate this time?
Speaker 2: What would be a reasonable number for you to.
Speaker 1: Expect at its peak, which is the early two thousands.
Speaker 1: I had the cutting room in New York City that
Speaker 1: read about us, and they donated a bunch of coats
Speaker 1: that people had left behind over the years and other venues.
Speaker 1: I had just relocated to New York City at the time.
Speaker 1: We pulled like eight hundred or nine hundred that year,
Speaker 1: just one one show. It was amazing they turnout. Usually
Speaker 1: we're lucky if we hit three hundred.
Speaker 2: Now I was. I've been to most of the shows.
Speaker 2: I'm very proud to say please to say it's a
Speaker 2: great day, it's a lot of fun. We've already a
Speaker 2: manned to. My partner's already got five six blankets to bring.
Speaker 2: And I remember last year it's upstairs at the Hudson
Speaker 2: House by the way where the venue has moved to.
Speaker 2: And I remember that corner where you stack the blankets
Speaker 2: just being stacked literally, looked like hundreds and hundreds of blankets.
Speaker 1: It does look pretty formidable. I always expect to be
Speaker 1: able to go back and say, hey, we made you know.
Speaker 1: It looks like five hundred blankets and then you start
Speaker 1: counting them and you realize that blankets take up an
Speaker 1: awful lot of room. You know, Well, we.
Speaker 3: Also count and as the official counter. Oh yeah, we
Speaker 3: make piles of tens, and well I make piles of tens. Well,
Speaker 3: he's returning the equipment all over Rockland and County, gloves, counting, hats, counting,
Speaker 3: like you said, coats and sweaters and shawls and things
Speaker 3: like that. It's yeah, three hundreds of good average three
Speaker 3: through fifty.
Speaker 1: One year, somebody donated the Harry Potter book, so we
Speaker 1: counted that. You know, that's a donation. Technically that counts.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to talk a little bit more about
Speaker 2: the logistics because it's a huge undertaking. And as we
Speaker 2: go on, we're going to talk about the amount of
Speaker 2: musical acts that are actually going to perform. There are
Speaker 2: quite a few of them. They're all excellent. Uh you
Speaker 2: have which means they have to have equipment. It has
Speaker 2: to be hauled from downstairs to upstairs. That takes volunteers.
Speaker 2: Getting the stuff distributed takes volunteers. You need volunteers during
Speaker 2: the show. Somebody kind of check out all those things.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about logistics. But I think it's
Speaker 2: a good opportunity and I will bring Levon back in
Speaker 2: a minute too to her initial involvement. But let's bring
Speaker 2: in Neil Richter, now our engineer, the male man. Uh Neil,
Speaker 2: you were a member of Ken's band, the Bagdadios. You
Speaker 2: have been on and off throughout the years, and we're
Speaker 2: involved in some of the early days of Blankfest. When
Speaker 2: Ken first approach you guys as a band to do this,
Speaker 2: what were what were your thoughts and feelings.
Speaker 4: Well, let's let's take it back to Ken A nice
Speaker 4: kind of co founded the Bag Daddy Os. What was it,
Speaker 4: nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: Two, yep, ninety two November, So you.
Speaker 4: Know that that starts, you know, that starts the ball rolling.
Speaker 4: By the time the first Blankfist came along, I had
Speaker 4: gone out for a sandwich and hadn't come back yet,
Speaker 4: so it had already started.
Speaker 2: The party started without you ornother pretty much.
Speaker 4: But I rejoined the story of.
Speaker 2: My life, the party starting without me.
Speaker 4: Well, I rejoined the fold about either two thousand and
Speaker 4: four or five, I'm not sure, somewhere in that vicinity.
Speaker 4: So Blankfist had already been you know, was pretty much
Speaker 4: established by that point, and but I was like, great,
Speaker 4: let's let's go. And so I guess, I guess I've
Speaker 4: been involved over the past maybe twenty years on and off.
Speaker 4: I've missed a few. Well then you know, the pandemic
Speaker 4: came along and that kind of knocked out a couple
Speaker 4: of years.
Speaker 1: But we did it as an online virtual thing, right
Speaker 1: for two years in a row where.
Speaker 2: Miss with which is interesting, you really did we have?
Speaker 2: You haven't missed one in twenty This will be the
Speaker 2: twenty eighth consecutive year.
Speaker 4: Correct, Yeah, so yeah, I haven't been there for all
Speaker 4: twenty eight. Let's let's you know, put it that way,
Speaker 4: and that.
Speaker 1: You were there in spirit.
Speaker 4: Oh, of course. And now I won't be able to
Speaker 4: attend this year.
Speaker 5: I have.
Speaker 4: It was health issues keeping me from it. You see,
Speaker 4: every time I play, people want to beat me up.
Speaker 4: So I had I had to bow. But but again.
Speaker 2: I always want to beat up the drummers.
Speaker 4: It's well, you know, and I'm the one who's got
Speaker 4: you know, sticks in my hand. No, but but I again,
Speaker 4: I will be there in spirit. But yeah, So I'm
Speaker 4: trying to think, what.
Speaker 2: Are some of your memories? Do you have one that's
Speaker 2: out in your mind, Neil, at a particular performance or
Speaker 2: a particular blank fest that really sticks out in your mind.
Speaker 4: Well, there have been so many like it was. It
Speaker 4: was good to be part and watch all these other
Speaker 4: great bands play that over the years. I remember, especially
Speaker 4: at Brooks Sales, they were like it seemed like every
Speaker 4: band was phenomenal. There was all sorts of varied and
Speaker 4: various acts, but they were all like you know, of
Speaker 4: course then you know I came on and you know,
Speaker 4: ruined it, but no, but no, all kidding aside. I
Speaker 4: used to get a kick out of a lot of times.
Speaker 4: I would actually be playing in two different bands because
Speaker 4: I was with the bag Daddy O's and I had
Speaker 4: another band, like a cover band going at the time,
Speaker 4: and I said, can't Well, I could bring these guys in,
Speaker 4: and it's going to bring in a whole lot more people,
Speaker 4: you know, like because there's you know, fans of one
Speaker 4: fans of the other. I said, what do you think
Speaker 4: and he said, well, let's give it to try, and
Speaker 4: it seems to work. So that was kind of fun.
Speaker 4: And I remember one time, I think one band went
Speaker 4: on in the afternoon I was working. It's around Christmas time,
Speaker 4: I had a job that was very good, holiday oriented,
Speaker 4: so I was working like weekends, and so I took
Speaker 4: off for lunch, drove down, I was in Nanuett, drove
Speaker 4: down in Nayak, played the set, got back in my car,
Speaker 4: went back to work, took the lunch, dinner break, went
Speaker 4: down and played the next set, and then went back
Speaker 4: to work again. So that that was you know, that's.
Speaker 2: That's kind of memorable, and that's dedication. It really is.
Speaker 2: It's interesting to know that how many of the musicians
Speaker 2: are really dedicated to this as a cause.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it was. It was. It was fun. I
Speaker 4: mean certainly wasn't like what's his name, Phil Collins flying
Speaker 4: from England over to the during was it live aid
Speaker 4: and then playing? No, nothing like that, but.
Speaker 2: Kind of our it No, it was. I want to
Speaker 2: I want to bring it on in now too, because
Speaker 2: you're relatively speaking new to the party. Talk about your involvement.
Speaker 2: How long have you been involved at Blankfest? And obviously
Speaker 2: we know your connection to the guy sitting next to you.
Speaker 2: We can see you. Our audience can't, but we can.
Speaker 2: That could be a good thing, that could be a
Speaker 2: bad thing. But anyway, talk a little bit about your
Speaker 2: your initial involvement with and your initial impression of Ken
Speaker 2: and Blankfest and how it came together for you.
Speaker 3: Well, my involvement began twelve years ago. So what is
Speaker 3: that Blankfest sixteen? We had just been dating a month
Speaker 3: because we met November sixteenth, and that exact month later,
Speaker 3: I was already helping count and helping bring in equipment
Speaker 3: or whatever I could, or babysitting equipment while the guys
Speaker 3: ran and you know, humped other stuff, other equipment and
Speaker 3: brought it in. And my impression was that was part
Speaker 3: of the the what is it like sealing the deal
Speaker 3: to date him? Because he's a wacky guy. We all know,
Speaker 3: he's a chatterbox and all that good stuff and quite
Speaker 3: the fountain of knowledge, which impressed me. But when I
Speaker 3: saw or when I you know, as we're talking, realized
Speaker 3: that he has helm this, you know, I said to myself,
Speaker 3: this guy has a heart, and I'm not wrong.
Speaker 2: So yeah, what are some of your moments, memorable moments
Speaker 2: if you can, over the last twelve years. Is there
Speaker 2: anything any particularly even if within the festival or even
Speaker 2: afterwards in distributing the blankets, is there something or some
Speaker 2: instant that really sticks out in your mind.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I'm glad you said that it doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be within the show, because the memory is not.
Speaker 3: It's we were distributing, and I don't know the area.
Speaker 3: We were downtown, the Lower east Side, somewhere.
Speaker 1: It was Arouse, Second Avenue, fortieth Street, somewhere around there.
Speaker 3: Oh, I thought it was lower Yeah, okay. So I
Speaker 3: was new to going out in you know, late late
Speaker 3: at night and not so safe, you know, seeming areas.
Speaker 3: No judgment, just describing. But I remember him leaving me
Speaker 3: in the car with a bunch of blackens, and he said,
Speaker 3: sit here, lock the doors. I'm going to go around
Speaker 3: the corner. I think I see some folks. And I
Speaker 3: was nervous from him. I was like, you're gonna go
Speaker 3: by yourself. Oh my god, be careful. Maybe we should
Speaker 3: just drop it off here, you know, Long story short.
Speaker 3: I keep looking back and all of a sudden I
Speaker 3: see ken and like an army of people within, you know,
Speaker 3: with the moonlight. It was just like a movie scene,
Speaker 3: like ten twenty people behind him coming towards the car.
Speaker 3: It was like they were flowing over. It was like
Speaker 3: a swarm. And they were the nicest, most polite people
Speaker 3: with the shiniest, brightest eyes that just wanted to be
Speaker 3: be addressed, that just wanted to be spoken to. And
Speaker 3: so I saw what was happening. He let them in
Speaker 3: the car in the back and grab stuff, and so
Speaker 3: then I realized, this isn't a safety issue. I mean,
Speaker 3: we know some folks do have mental illness and you
Speaker 3: do have to be weary, but in this situation, I
Speaker 3: got out of the car and I started helping hand
Speaker 3: out stuff to them and talking to them, and they
Speaker 3: were just so gracious, they really were, and very nice,
Speaker 3: very polite, and eager and picking and choosing and you know,
Speaker 3: like this was like they were shopping and this was
Speaker 3: the greatest thing ever and it was just a blanket.
Speaker 3: So it was heartwarming. It was a lesson for me
Speaker 3: to I don't know, I don't know if it's judged,
Speaker 3: but to not be afraid, not be afraid to open up,
Speaker 3: you know, within parameters. But and also how heart wrenching
Speaker 3: it is, you know, to see this. This is just
Speaker 3: a blanket, This is just a code. It is still
Speaker 3: called out there and this is a blip on the map,
Speaker 3: but it was It's a valiant try by Ken and
Speaker 3: all the volunteers and performers to try to do something
Speaker 3: directly to the folks.
Speaker 2: I want to go back up to Neil too, because Neil,
Speaker 2: I know you've you've participated again not only as a
Speaker 2: musician as a drummer, but you've also helped to distribute
Speaker 2: the blankets on Christmas Eve a.
Speaker 4: Lot times as well.
Speaker 2: What what What's What's What was your impression of that one?
Speaker 2: What was that?
Speaker 4: I'm just going to expand on what Devon was saying that.
Speaker 4: You know, I always thought that all the effort goes
Speaker 4: if you can save one person, one person, you know,
Speaker 4: from freezing, then it was all worthwhile. The whole twenty
Speaker 4: eight years is worthwhile, you know, even just one person.
Speaker 4: That's that's you know, to me, that's the most important part.
Speaker 4: And I'm sure it's more than just one person at
Speaker 4: this point, but you really can't think beyond that. You say,
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's a it's a one on one.
Speaker 4: And I've also said too that the whole idea of
Speaker 4: just distributing them, there's no middleman. It's the blankets get donated,
Speaker 4: the blankets go to the people. There's you know, the
Speaker 4: only middle man of the people who are distributing them,
Speaker 4: you know, no foundation or corporation or anything like that.
Speaker 4: It's it's and it's strictly grassroots too, which is great.
Speaker 1: You can't take it.
Speaker 2: I won't bring you with Keim could talk about the logistics.
Speaker 2: It's perfect timing for that, how many volunteers are involved.
Speaker 2: But you wanted to say something go so complete your
Speaker 2: thought can't.
Speaker 1: Oh, it was just you know, it might sound a
Speaker 1: little tripe, but it's like you can't take a percentage
Speaker 1: of a blanket. So if somebody leaves a blanket at
Speaker 1: the door, that's basically what the homeless are getting, you know.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, let's let's let's talk about the logistics we've noticed.
Speaker 2: You know, you have to get volunteers, you have to
Speaker 2: set up for the show. I mean there are many
Speaker 2: bands we're going to talk about that, many performers, individuals
Speaker 2: as well as bands that takes effort amplifiers, microphones, mike stands, lights,
Speaker 2: sound mixers, et cetera. That has to be brought there,
Speaker 2: hauled upstairs, set up, then during the course of the
Speaker 2: actual performance, getting people on and off, setting the sounds,
Speaker 2: et cetera. Then getting the blankets. We know, if on
Speaker 2: counts the blankets and stuff too. Starts to organize them,
Speaker 2: but then from there on Christmas Eve, you've got to
Speaker 2: get people then to take time out of their Christmas
Speaker 2: Eve to go downtown with these blankets, and as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: sometimes and not the best neighborhoods. Let's leave it at that.
Speaker 2: To be able to distribute them, that's that's a big nut.
Speaker 2: So you have need for a lot of volunteers. Let's
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about the logistics of it and
Speaker 2: how you get by and how important it is to
Speaker 2: have people help you with us.
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny because again, I'm kind of a reactive
Speaker 1: time of person, and even though I know there's a
Speaker 1: lot of moving parts, I forget what those moving parts
Speaker 1: are the minute my obligation has been filled, because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm onto, you know, basically making a living or just
Speaker 1: trying to trying to get from one day to the next.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, Blankfest season rolls around again,
Speaker 1: and as the show gets closer, the enormity of what
Speaker 1: we've taken on sort of is looming, you know, Like
Speaker 1: I go, okay, I've got to go talk to the
Speaker 1: generous benefactors who loan us the equipment without charging his dime,
Speaker 1: one which I am forever grateful for Rockland Music. Jonathan
Speaker 1: Goffin and I forget his dad's name. Was it Pete?
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, Sergio the Pete.
Speaker 2: It's close. Uh, I could I could hear that, you know, Pete.
Speaker 2: I could see that getting confused. You can see I continue,
Speaker 2: let's be let's be Frank here and continue.
Speaker 1: As you can see here, I have a real keen
Speaker 1: eye for detail. But uh, everybody from Rockland Music, you know,
Speaker 1: has been really wonderful to give us the entire back line,
Speaker 1: which includes a soundboard, all the cables, microphone stands, microphones, uh,
Speaker 1: two guitar amps, a bass rig, and a swing amp
Speaker 1: which could be used either for a guitar or for
Speaker 1: a keyboard. And that's just for starters. Then we have
Speaker 1: Frank and the boys down at Long Island Music Center,
Speaker 1: which is oddly enough in New York on Main Street
Speaker 1: and almost from the I might have been the very
Speaker 1: no yeah first show. They actually donated a drum set
Speaker 1: and uh and.
Speaker 2: Sometimes Frank Colonado right at the drum center.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they have never ever flinched. It's always been sure,
Speaker 1: you know, as a matter of fact, I have to
Speaker 1: give them a call tomorrow to remind them because on Saturday,
Speaker 1: I and at least one volunteer, maybe if I'm lucky
Speaker 1: to Oh yeah, I don't count. Ivana's a volunteer.
Speaker 2: And the reason why she gets to do all the work.
Speaker 1: Well, actually funny you should mention that should because you know,
Speaker 1: when you had ask me for topics, I was writing
Speaker 1: down topics and one of them was the silent contributions
Speaker 1: of certain individuals, and I put my wife right there
Speaker 1: on the list because she's involved in every single aspect
Speaker 1: of this show, from the planning to the setup to
Speaker 1: the execution. I mean she's busy, you know, greeting people
Speaker 1: at the front door and bringing them in and showing
Speaker 1: them where to put the blankets. If there's somebody that
Speaker 1: needs to talk to me. Sometimes she's running into fairce
Speaker 1: because I'm taking care of some tech issue or I'm
Speaker 1: taking care of some sort of you know, a musician issue. Uh,
Speaker 1: And it's not necessarily bad, it's just that I can't
Speaker 1: be in two places a one time. So she is,
Speaker 1: you know, figuratively and literally my right hand, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and then everything you know, long after the
Speaker 1: last power cord rings out, long after everybody's is going
Speaker 1: home to a nice RESTful sleep. She's cleaning up with me,
Speaker 1: you know, and then she's watching the equipment while I'm
Speaker 1: getting the van or or maybe sometimes our car, and
Speaker 1: then she's helping with the distribution of the blanket. So
Speaker 1: it's incredible the amount of But it's funny because I
Speaker 1: tried not to think of her as a volunteer because
Speaker 1: I don't think of her as a worker. I don't
Speaker 1: think of her as as like an employee. And that's
Speaker 1: how unfortunately it shapes shakes down with any of the volunteers.
Speaker 1: It's sort of like do this, do this, do that,
Speaker 1: And I'm.
Speaker 3: Like, swing personnel, I do it.
Speaker 1: She's wrastling.
Speaker 2: Somebody's got to do it because Ken is off spinning, and.
Speaker 3: I also make sure instead yeah, because then he'll just
Speaker 3: pass out and Maddie, so I just have to make
Speaker 3: sure takes two bites come out.
Speaker 2: Somebody has to do it. Good luck, it's good luck
Speaker 2: with that. Good luck, it's okay.
Speaker 6: Continue, yeah, but you know, it's it's it's amazing because
Speaker 6: what started as just kind of like an urge to
Speaker 6: bring some people together, gather in a club, plug it
Speaker 6: and go.
Speaker 1: And now it's become this this huge undertaking, which means
Speaker 1: you've got to coordinate equipment. We actually have a volunteer.
Speaker 1: He's doing it for the second year in a row.
Speaker 1: Neil knows who it is. He was the original guitarist
Speaker 1: of the bag Daddy Is. Along with Neil and myself,
Speaker 1: he helped form the band UH he and Rob on
Speaker 1: bass back in the old days. His name is Eugene
Speaker 1: Armstead and Eugene Uh you know, left the band after
Speaker 1: the first year because he was still going to college
Speaker 1: at the time, and then we sort of like drifted
Speaker 1: out of each other's orbit, and then out of no
Speaker 1: we found each other. And as a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: we were with him the first time he met the
Speaker 1: woman that would be his wife, Carrie. He flew up
Speaker 1: last year to help with the equipment hauling and I
Speaker 1: can't tell you how much of a relief it was
Speaker 1: to have an extra set of hands help us. And
Speaker 1: this year he's returning. He actually is flying in right
Speaker 1: now as we speak from Atlanta where he and his
Speaker 1: wife with his wife this time, and they'll be helping
Speaker 1: us out. But here's the thing, I feel horrible pressing
Speaker 1: someone's wife into service, and that includes my own. So
Speaker 1: it's like, right now it looks like it's gonna be
Speaker 1: Eugene myself. We make it. David Tanner, You've met David, right, Frank?
Speaker 2: I think so?
Speaker 1: Yes, Yeah, Frank is a promoter that I know from
Speaker 1: in New York City because I lived there for over
Speaker 1: twenty years, you know, after i'd left Nayak and before
Speaker 1: we moved up up north again. And David is been
Speaker 1: tireless in helping us move equipment. And he's the oldest
Speaker 1: of all of us. We won't mention any ages or
Speaker 1: you know, give any specifics, but he's been at this
Speaker 1: for a long long time.
Speaker 2: He worked. Why do you think people do it? I,
Speaker 2: you know what, I think they could see through.
Speaker 1: They could see through. You could tell by looking at
Speaker 1: what we do that this isn't some sort of corporate
Speaker 1: fronted smoke screen. This isn't something that's done, you know,
Speaker 1: as a commercial venture. This came really out of out
Speaker 1: of a heartfelt need to try and help other people,
Speaker 1: and people see it for what it is, and it's
Speaker 1: probably one of the reasons why it hasn't gotten really
Speaker 1: that much bigger than its local impact, and I'm okay
Speaker 1: with that because you've stayed pure to our ideals. I
Speaker 1: was approached by a promoter, like somewhere around the third year,
Speaker 1: and he wanted to, you know, pump it up with
Speaker 1: you know, commercial grants and have it at the Supper
Speaker 1: Club in New York City and try and book like
Speaker 1: a professional musicians like Phil Collins, who's one of the
Speaker 1: names he floated. And he was going to have a
Speaker 1: board of directors and he wanted us to all get
Speaker 1: a salary. And I put the brakes on that immediately
Speaker 1: because I thought there was just something inherently evil about
Speaker 1: making money at the expense of the homeless.
Speaker 3: Well, then it also jumps out of your hands, you
Speaker 3: know that. Then it gets a little too red tapeish
Speaker 3: and corporate heavy, and then it's like, that's not the
Speaker 3: nature of the spirit of it.
Speaker 1: I think they were going to take on on. They're
Speaker 1: going to take my little Charlie Brown Tree and just
Speaker 1: wrap it.
Speaker 2: And you know, is there something special about the little
Speaker 2: Charlie Brown Tree other than kind of the point of it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if you will bring some of your poetry to the event,
Speaker 2: I know you will do that. And you're also going
Speaker 2: to bring some of it to our listeners here on
Speaker 2: being Frank, So, if would please tell us what we're
Speaker 2: about to hear, and if you would recite one of
Speaker 2: your poems for us, we'd really appreciate that.
Speaker 3: Oh, sure, thank you.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I said it in the beginning,
Speaker 3: but I'm a bilingual poet, so I write my poetry
Speaker 3: in Spanish and in English. Usually it's English first and
Speaker 3: then I translated to Spanish. And like I said, my
Speaker 3: parents are from Peru, So twenty Peduano's out there a Peruvians,
Speaker 3: and I think in the bodega next door to the
Speaker 3: Hudson House is Avispa. My friends from Avispa, I always
Speaker 3: get ken in mind breakfast and whoever volunteers there on
Speaker 3: Saturday morning or Sunday morning. Sorry, they were one of
Speaker 3: the first ones to put up a flyer this year too, Yes, yes,
Speaker 3: so okay. So this poem is called Nostalgic Christmas. This
Speaker 3: came about actually after I think it was after Blandfest
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, oh, twenty twenty December first actually,
Speaker 3: so it was before Blankfest and we were driving around
Speaker 3: and just taking in the sights and knowing what was
Speaker 3: going to happen in a couple of weeks. You know,
Speaker 3: I was excited to be in the Christmas spirit in
Speaker 3: the city, and then it was sad because I know that,
Speaker 3: you know, we still have a need unfortunately for Blankfest,
Speaker 3: because we still have homeless And so this is born
Speaker 3: out of joy and happiness in the descriptors and what
Speaker 3: makes New York City Christmas y and also remembering what
Speaker 3: we do here with Blankfest Christmas, with green and red
Speaker 3: ribbons going straight to my heart, the warmth and the
Speaker 3: chuckles music to my longing ears. I'd almost forgotten such
Speaker 3: joy and good cheer, kids running around in circles singing Hallelujah.
Speaker 3: I stand in its energy as the skaters go by
Speaker 3: and lovers proposed by the Rockefeller Tree, as hot chocolate
Speaker 3: is sipped through foggy windows onto the cathedral, filled with
Speaker 3: belief and hope, giving respite to the cold admirers whooshing
Speaker 3: in and clutching trendy bags of chocolates. Back outside to
Speaker 3: the storefronts with magical light shows full on display, filling
Speaker 3: the night's noisy crowds with merry music and carols we
Speaker 3: all know. Heading down to Midtown where the center nerve
Speaker 3: pulses is a band of beautiful ladies dancing and kicking
Speaker 3: and synchronous charm. Further down to the windows made famous
Speaker 3: in name, each especial Christmas scene, all different, but still
Speaker 3: in theme the same. It's Christmas, Christmas everywhere, It's Christmas again.
Speaker 3: Can't wait till next year. Nabida concintas verdesi rojas yendo
Speaker 3: director mi corra soon el carloi lassas musica, paramizoidos and ziosos, casilvidadot,
Speaker 3: griegen animo, ninus corind and circulus, cantangolle luja my parents,
Speaker 3: when hiam intros patinadors, pasan ILOs, amantees, proponent juntl arbo
Speaker 3: Rockefeller mintress vevecacola de caliinte traveslas tentanas, cornievle ala Grand cathedral, vamos,
Speaker 3: geno de fe esperanza, dandrspiro, amiradores, riolentos and trand a
Speaker 3: garando Bolsas. The bonbone is the mother, the weltafuera loses
Speaker 3: caparates cono, spectaculus, the luses maxicos and pantaya competta, gennando
Speaker 3: l ridosas multitude lance con musica, le Vian sicos, getotosavemos,
Speaker 3: dirigiendo cl centre de la sida, don del nervous central pulza.
Speaker 3: It's unabanda de mosas damas by landi patio scronico masatanas.
Speaker 3: It's just formosas in nombre navidenes peciale totos dife per
Speaker 3: motema is Navidad, Navidad in TOAs partes is navidad in
Speaker 3: nuevo no maa one to proximoan.
Speaker 2: Thank you beautiful in both languages, are wonderful, wonderful. We're
Speaker 2: gonna take a break and and and talk some more
Speaker 2: specifics about who's going to appear where when all those things.
Speaker 2: But I want to bring up someone who's missing U
Speaker 2: before we get into the line up. There there was
Speaker 2: a key player literally emotionally, physically literally uh who's missing
Speaker 2: this year, who was a big player from virtually the
Speaker 2: very beginning, who brought his joy, his musical talent, and
Speaker 2: his oversized personality in the best way, mister tim o'donnie
Speaker 2: and I know you wanted to dedicate this year to
Speaker 2: his memory. We just lost him recently to cancer. So
Speaker 2: let's talk a little bit about Tim o'donnie and what
Speaker 2: he meant to Blankfest in particular and to the Nayak
Speaker 2: and Rockland community in general.
Speaker 1: It's it is a pity that as time goes by,
Speaker 1: you lose people that you're close with, that you've worked with,
Speaker 1: that are very near and dear to our project and
Speaker 1: what we're doing. And Tim personifies that we actually lost
Speaker 1: in another person who I'd like to mention also, but
Speaker 1: Tim had been with us since the very very beginning,
Speaker 1: and he always was there with his band and his family.
Speaker 1: So it was always kind of you talk about like
Speaker 1: a holiday atmosphere. Ever, Tim was in the room with
Speaker 1: everyone he was associated with. It was almost like it
Speaker 1: was the only thing missing was the Christmas tree and
Speaker 1: the presence being unwrapped. That was that was the atmosphere,
Speaker 1: and it was kids milling about, and you know, of
Speaker 1: course his band, his band members would bring their families.
Speaker 1: He had a ton of supporters and they lot most
Speaker 1: of them brought U blankets or some other form of donation.
Speaker 1: So his contribution over the years was incredible. And for
Speaker 1: a recent article where we were interviewed for the Rockland Journal,
Speaker 1: they had asked to get some photos and I went
Speaker 1: digging through the photos and right on my phone, Yvonne
Speaker 1: had taken the photos and sent them to me. There's
Speaker 1: Tim standing in the middle of the stage. And the
Speaker 1: sad irony was that he was well within the throes
Speaker 1: of his disease. He died of cancer. I guess it
Speaker 1: was September seven this year, but he was already undergoing
Speaker 1: chemotherapy at that point. I know I could see it
Speaker 1: that he wasn't he wasn't himself, and yet he left
Speaker 1: all of that at the door the minute he walked
Speaker 1: through and went up on the stage with his band
Speaker 1: and gave another performance. You would have never known by
Speaker 1: his performance that he was ill at the time, but
Speaker 1: he really gave it as all. And that's why this
Speaker 1: year I just did not have the heart to give
Speaker 1: away his four o'clock timeslot to anybody else, and so
Speaker 1: I reached out to his widow, Robin, and asked if
Speaker 1: it would be okay if we could dedicate this year's
Speaker 1: show to his memory. And then we were put in
Speaker 1: touch with members of the TMU band, Tim's band, and
Speaker 1: they're going to just get up and do a real
Speaker 1: I know it's going to be a moving tribute to
Speaker 1: Tim and his memory, and it's gonna be toughs. I
Speaker 1: feel bad for the act that's got to follow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if I might had my own recollections of Tim.
Speaker 2: I was talking to my partner Amanda a few weeks
Speaker 2: back and I said, you know, I had a special
Speaker 2: relationship with Tim, and she looked at me and says,
Speaker 2: but Frank, that was everybody felt that way about Tim.
Speaker 2: That was his superpower. He made you feel that your
Speaker 2: relationship with him was very special. So he will be missed,
Speaker 2: but his spirit is that strong, and I think it's
Speaker 2: that kind of attitude that really drives the event. It's
Speaker 2: a giving event, right, everybody gives the people who come.
Speaker 2: Not only do they give blankets, but they give their
Speaker 2: attention and their love to the performers, and of course
Speaker 2: the performers are giving everything they have, so it's it's it's,
Speaker 2: for lack of a better word, it's a love fest.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and along those same lines. Earlier this year, I
Speaker 1: think it was late spring, early summer, we lost a
Speaker 1: gentleman named James Lane and he's part of our New
Speaker 1: York City crowd. You know, when Yvonne and I first met,
Speaker 1: we were living in New York city together and or
Speaker 1: eventually would end up living together. And James did a
Speaker 1: lot of tech work for some of the podcasts that
Speaker 1: we did during the pandemic, and I had actually known
Speaker 1: him for a few years before that, and just like Tim,
Speaker 1: he was afflicted with cancer as well. As a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, we played a fundraiser for him. I think
Speaker 1: it was the last winner and unfortunately, Yeah in Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and Neil, I think you played with us at that
Speaker 1: that fundraister, wasn't it.
Speaker 4: Indeed, I was going to ask if that was who
Speaker 4: you were talking about. Yeah, yeah, I think that was
Speaker 4: two years ago now.
Speaker 1: I think that was just you know, the fact that
Speaker 1: he handled tech and sound and stuff like that. That
Speaker 1: wasn't just his only calling card.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 1: He was a dedicated uh public servant. He ran for
Speaker 1: old office as an independent several times because you wanted
Speaker 1: to improve the community. But also with Blankfest when we
Speaker 1: had blankets during the pandemic that we ordered online, that
Speaker 1: was the only year we really encouraged cash donations because
Speaker 1: that was the only way we could pull it together.
Speaker 1: We needed to order these blankets and we just didn't
Speaker 1: have a place to shift the blankets to. And he
Speaker 1: gave up Hey, his wife and his kids apartments Hallway,
Speaker 1: and we went down there all the blankets, yep, tons
Speaker 1: of boxes all the place.
Speaker 3: Until we were able to go back into the city
Speaker 3: to go and distribute.
Speaker 1: And again, you just don't you just don't care about
Speaker 1: the silent contributions that so many, so many people, including
Speaker 1: our good friend Paul Eckert and Congress who lets us
Speaker 1: put the blankets in her house after the show was
Speaker 1: over a year. So and I know I'm going to
Speaker 1: be missing some people and I'm really sorry to miss them.
Speaker 1: And one last thing too. Over the years, we've had
Speaker 1: other people contribute that have fled well, Scott Scott's yep, Scott,
Speaker 1: Oh god, I forgot his last name. Scott h Scott Humphries.
Speaker 3: Who is That's what I'm here for.
Speaker 2: There you go again, I'm bailing his butt out again.
Speaker 2: We know, we know who runs the show here, boys,
Speaker 2: but we know where the brain. We know where the
Speaker 2: brains are.
Speaker 1: I've been saying for years, like I'm a I'm.
Speaker 2: A front man, but we know the brains are this operation.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm I'm a smart ass. But she
Speaker 1: is the smart person in the duo. And uh and
Speaker 1: she and she's she's the one who cuts through my
Speaker 1: brain fog to remind me of like where my left
Speaker 1: hand and right hand is, you know. But yeah, Scott
Speaker 1: Humphries actually uh flies back. During our involvement in Afghanistan,
Speaker 1: he did several tours of duty and he would fly home,
Speaker 1: you know, and sometimes in his uniform and he would
Speaker 1: just you know, barely have time to change and come
Speaker 1: on down to the club. And he's helping us whole
Speaker 1: equipment count blankets every year every year. But I do
Speaker 1: want to mention another gentleman who passed away eight nine
Speaker 1: years ago. His name is Tommy Durkin. He was there
Speaker 1: for the first two blank Fests, for several blankfests. He
Speaker 1: actually had a program on iHeartRadio called Tommy D's Nuts,
Speaker 1: and he is he was somebody that really helped drive
Speaker 1: a lot of traffic into our you know, cause when
Speaker 1: he passed away, I asked his wife Kathy, if it
Speaker 1: was okay we could dedicate a show to him. And
Speaker 1: what we've done is that we've kept his name on
Speaker 1: our website ever since. So in a way, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know how like the New York City Marathon is
Speaker 1: like it's like the Best By sponsored NYC Marathon. Well,
Speaker 1: this is the Tommy Durkin Memorial Blankfest Show. Dicterd this
Speaker 1: year to Tim o'doniue, with special love sent out to
Speaker 1: James Lane. We've covered all the bases and hopefully we
Speaker 1: let everyone know, even if they're not here, hopefully somewhere
Speaker 1: they know that they've been loved and appreciated.
Speaker 2: We've been talking more detail about some of the performers.
Speaker 2: When where all those specifics. It's plug time. Okay, Hey,
Speaker 2: after the commercial break, it's time to yes, do the
Speaker 2: big plug. Make sure people know where to go, when
Speaker 2: to go, how they can get involved, what they should bring.
Speaker 2: We'll do all of that stuff in just a minute.
Speaker 2: My very special guests, the organizers of blank Fest, Ken
Speaker 2: Row and Von Sutttermayor. And we've also been joined on
Speaker 2: occasion by the Mailman, our engineer, Neil Richter, who has
Speaker 2: been intimately involved with Blankfest for many years. And that's
Speaker 2: what we're talking about this evening. Please don't go anywhere,
Speaker 2: will be more. We'll be back with more being Frank
Speaker 2: after these brief commercial messages.
Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 8: This is Hudson River Radio dot com. Hudson River radio
Speaker 8: dot com.
Speaker 9: This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 1: This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Being Frank the Intelligent Conversation Podcast. Thanks
Speaker 2: for sticking with us. I'm your host, Franklebuono. Our engineer
Speaker 2: and part time guests is mister Neil Richter. And my
Speaker 2: full time guests are the organizers for the twenty eighth
Speaker 2: annual blank Fest music festival, where a blank it is
Speaker 2: required for entry, which is eventually given to the less
Speaker 2: fortune in New York City, and they are Ken Raul
Speaker 2: and Yvonne Sotomayoor. Guys, thank you for coming back and
Speaker 2: didn't leave. That's that's a plus. That's always a plus.
Speaker 2: You're talking with me for about a half hour. The
Speaker 2: fact that you stayed is meaningful. So let's let's go.
Speaker 2: Let's go back. We like you, Frank. Well, there's no
Speaker 2: accounting for taste. Guys, Let's get back to blank Fest.
Speaker 2: And I want to talk a little bit about the specifics.
Speaker 2: We talked about some of the esoterica, if you will,
Speaker 2: the feeling behind it, et cetera. Let's talk specifics where, when, who.
Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be on Sunday, December fifteenth. It's
Speaker 1: at the Hudson House, which is one point thirty four
Speaker 1: Main Street in New York, beautiful metropolitan downtown New York.
Speaker 1: And hey, I was born there. I loved it, you know,
Speaker 1: still love going back to visit on occasion. And it
Speaker 1: is going from noon until midnight. Last I counted, we
Speaker 1: have twenty one acts that are squeezed into the proceedings,
Speaker 1: and we might actually be adding one or two more.
Speaker 1: I hope so, and I hope not at the same time,
Speaker 1: because it's always a challenge to get everybody up for
Speaker 1: their twenty minutes of glory and then the ten minute
Speaker 1: change out, and for that, again, we have so many
Speaker 1: people helping us. We'll get into more details about that
Speaker 1: if time permits, but I think we should talk about
Speaker 1: the selfless talent that lends itself to the proceedings.
Speaker 2: And it now's that time.
Speaker 1: I'll just read from our flyer and just please do
Speaker 1: everything down. And by the way, they're not mentioned in
Speaker 1: any specific preference or value to the show. Each performer
Speaker 1: is invaluable to our efforts. I have to fit the
Speaker 1: names on. So when I'm at the top of the
Speaker 1: page and I lead with the undead, you know with
Speaker 1: Bobby Steele, I mean he's been with us now for
Speaker 1: about half of our shows, and he as he always
Speaker 1: delivers a great you know, Bobby Steele was with the
Speaker 1: Misfits before he started the Undead and he and his
Speaker 1: wife Diana and company always always bring you a great show.
Speaker 1: Patty Rothberg has been with us since Blankfest two, which
Speaker 1: is nineteen ninety eight. She was with them I Capitol Records,
Speaker 1: which is a label that I worked for, and I
Speaker 1: actually knew her from back in the day's CBGB when
Speaker 1: we were both in different bands appearing on the same bill. Neil,
Speaker 1: you were there for that one?
Speaker 4: I was, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: We went to see one of our art exhibits down
Speaker 1: on the Lower East Side, and this was before she
Speaker 1: was signed to the label, before she had appeared on
Speaker 1: The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, David Letterman, MTV, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. So we're always happy to have her show
Speaker 1: up and put on a bang up performance. Joe Derso.
Speaker 1: If you're from Rockland County, you know who Joe Derso is.
Speaker 1: And if you're not from Rockland County, you still might
Speaker 1: have heard of him from his countless tours of the UK, Italy, Eastern,
Speaker 1: the Pacific Rim. He's involved with Light of Day, Thank You,
Speaker 1: thank You, and Hunger than you Know with the Chapin family.
Speaker 2: Joe.
Speaker 1: I've known Joe since he was a wee young lad
Speaker 1: and i've seen him, you know, he he was mega
Speaker 1: talented when he was in high school and he has
Speaker 1: just grown up to really embody, uh, the personification of
Speaker 1: a strong, successful, independent musician who's not afraid to give
Speaker 1: for a better for a better cause. The horse you
Speaker 1: rode in on. I was sneaking into bars to see
Speaker 1: these guys play ages ago, and after they took a
Speaker 1: little time off, they started having reunion shows and now
Speaker 1: it's just great to see them on a regular basis,
Speaker 1: year in and year out. Chuck de Brune is the
Speaker 1: front man, and as a matter of fact, he owned,
Speaker 1: he was a part owner of Bruck Sells, and he's
Speaker 1: been part of a Blankfast even as a solo axis
Speaker 1: before then. As a matter of fact, I was just
Speaker 1: on the horn with him tonight. He's helping to arrank
Speaker 1: some volunteers to help us move the equipment. And then
Speaker 1: you've got Lance, you've got Joel, and you've got Jim
Speaker 1: d Maria on the drums. They're just a solid, strong
Speaker 1: unit and it's always great to have those guys back
Speaker 1: the guests. They're a great three part harmony group. Hannah,
Speaker 1: who is their front person, is Bobby Steele's daughter, and
Speaker 1: even when she couldn't go because the rest of the
Speaker 1: band was sick, I think it was with COVID, she
Speaker 1: came by herself, wore a mask, got up on stage
Speaker 1: and did a wonderful a cappella version of Allelujah, which
Speaker 1: you know again, I don't have enough happy words to
Speaker 1: describe their contribution. Nuns and Posers is a band by
Speaker 1: John Rehrick who is part of a great band from
Speaker 1: the glory days of Naya's bar scene called Kablamachunk. John
Speaker 1: Rerick is just a wonderfully talented musician and his band
Speaker 1: really really knows how to bring it. Anne Hussick, I know,
Speaker 1: we know her from New York City and she is
Speaker 1: a talented singer songwriter who really really knows how to
Speaker 1: put together a great show and she actually has her
Speaker 1: own promotions crew. Annie Hussick Presents. It's always great to
Speaker 1: have her count of nine dear, dear friends of mine
Speaker 1: Joe and Abbey.
Speaker 2: Was that friend.
Speaker 1: That's right, Yeah, I'm horrible. Well, I knew Joe from
Speaker 1: way back in the day, long before I met my wife,
Speaker 1: and actually long before he met his wife. She came
Speaker 1: on as a keyboard player in his band and they
Speaker 1: had this wonderful uh synergy Ross Byron. Another talented singer songwriter,
Speaker 1: Amanda White, is coming down from Boston to play with
Speaker 1: her band again. More talent Michael G. Potter, a very
Speaker 1: good singer songwriter who you could see very often playing
Speaker 1: at Strawberry Field. Donald Sebasnik. I can't get enough of
Speaker 1: his music. He's got a real lou reed feel to him,
Speaker 1: and I can hardly wait. He's actually starting to show
Speaker 1: at noon. Most people say, is Yvonne on the bill
Speaker 1: because she's married to you?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Ivana is on the bill because she's toured thirty two
Speaker 1: US states. She's played the Jimmy Carter Library, the New
Speaker 1: York City Marathon, she's been published, she's recorded music overseas,
Speaker 1: excuse me, poetry overseas, and her EP has gotten five
Speaker 1: star reviews. So she would be here even if we
Speaker 1: had never met before. She'll be doing the four to
Speaker 1: thirty time slot. Right after the tim O'donoue Memorial. Then
Speaker 1: you've got Zuko Phillips Conan Starr. They're a four part
Speaker 1: harmony group that are going to boil your socks off.
Speaker 1: It's their first year. Quinnin the Eskimos another great outfit
Speaker 1: that joined us just last year along with Sophia McClue,
Speaker 1: is a talented singer songwriter and David Tanner who is
Speaker 1: actually helping us with all the equipment and is coming
Speaker 1: to do a rare spot where he actually gets to
Speaker 1: play his own original music, something he doesn't usually get
Speaker 1: a chance to do because he's usually helping other people.
Speaker 1: And finally, but not least, we've got a band called
Speaker 1: We're Desperate. They are the ultimate ex tribute band and
Speaker 1: being a fan of X, I can tell you I
Speaker 1: can hardly wait to see them strut their stuff on stage.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you gave us kind of a setup
Speaker 2: for Yvonne as a poet and why she's there, so
Speaker 2: we're going to impose upon her again for another poem
Speaker 2: as we start to wrap up our program. So if
Speaker 2: you're ready, Yvonne will tell us about this poem that
Speaker 2: you're about to recite for us.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is called Blankfast poem. So I was used
Speaker 3: to writing poetry kind of to work out my feelings,
Speaker 3: you know, either with Ken or my personal feelings throughout
Speaker 3: you know, the years. I think this is the first time.
Speaker 3: This had been the first time in twenty fourteen. I
Speaker 3: think it was when I was asked, when he asked me, actually, well,
Speaker 3: what do you think about blankfast? What are you're you know,
Speaker 3: because I'd been in there already two years, so he
Speaker 3: actually asked me, you know, write something about it. And
Speaker 3: so this is a blank fastpond, many streets filled with loss, sadness,
Speaker 3: and contempt, lined with broken thoughts of dreams and lives
Speaker 3: that almost could have hungry, wretched souls on fire, left
Speaker 3: cold and forgotten, invisibly regarded less or too much for
Speaker 3: us to bear reality of what we have joined in
Speaker 3: the dance we often play, those people will never be us,
Speaker 3: littering my street, shoulders hunched, rushed footsteps, We gayly powder by,
Speaker 3: ignore the problem. It's not mine. They should all just
Speaker 3: get a job.
Speaker 2: How cruelly we.
Speaker 3: Can unthink we're but a step away from being cold,
Speaker 3: left and forgotten, and freezing all alone. America, the beautiful
Speaker 3: the streets are paved with hope. Let's give our hearts
Speaker 3: and our thanks and make those folks our own, muchas
Speaker 3: cay is genus de perdi de la tristesa il espressio alignido,
Speaker 3: compensamin dorotos, the lasuenos iridees, cecasi, prin abricido, almas miserablis
Speaker 3: and brintasi in sendidaz they had as free asiovidados in
Speaker 3: dissibilmente consideradas menos or the masio paraguantar lerida is the
Speaker 3: gernolos mosonido elvila menudo, the sepegnamos ESAs personas noun casan
Speaker 3: nosotros and susian do migaye ombros and corbados pasos a
Speaker 3: pressurados ale rementeos ladog prolema nus mio de yantos conajo
Speaker 3: como cruel mentemos dispenser is tamos menos pasodesto they start
Speaker 3: frios dejados lvii dados conlados is solos America LaVeda last
Speaker 3: gay is stampa esperanza bamusada nostros corasonesestras gracias maesta hinte
Speaker 3: comoestro Propria.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Bognant and Powerful, thank you for going such
Speaker 2: on my ar and Ken Raul your big day coming
Speaker 2: up Sunday, just a few days from our taping. Again,
Speaker 2: if people are watching this, I highly recommend they get
Speaker 2: to the Hudson House. Begins at twelve, wraps up right
Speaker 2: around ten or so in the evening. Generally speaking about
Speaker 2: can Well, we are.
Speaker 1: Usually the bag Daddy is going dead last because we
Speaker 1: don't want to take any of the primetime away from
Speaker 1: some of the worthy performers, and this year is no exception.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to go on around tennis, although you know,
Speaker 1: one of the names I forgot because we couldn't add
Speaker 1: them to the flyer on time. There's a band out
Speaker 1: of New York City called Crazy Mary. Their lead singer
Speaker 1: is Emma z and she actually left when she decided
Speaker 1: to start a family to go back to her native
Speaker 1: Australia about five or six years ago, and she's been
Speaker 1: back to visit New York City from time to time
Speaker 1: for little reunions with her band. She was flying into
Speaker 1: town or into the city this week and I just
Speaker 1: picked up the phone and you know, texted her and said, hey,
Speaker 1: how would you guys like to come up and do
Speaker 1: the show. She said, let me run it by the boys.
Speaker 1: And she's been a last minute addition to this. So
Speaker 1: if the back daddy is we're going to go on
Speaker 1: at ten, then we're going on at ten thirty now
Speaker 1: because Emma's going to show up almost directly out of
Speaker 1: Australia and Crazy Mary Bloody Good band, they're going to
Speaker 1: be playing at ninth your ten o'clock. I don't have
Speaker 1: the schedule in front of me, and so Lord knows
Speaker 1: when Blankfist is gonna wrap up. Because if you fly
Speaker 1: in from Australia to do a set for Blankfest, especially
Speaker 1: the night, you can go on as long as you want.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm gonna play, Yes, good, good stuff. So
Speaker 2: Sunday the fourteenth, beginning at noon, going until ten or
Speaker 2: later at the Hudson House of Niak, New York. It's Blankfest.
Speaker 2: Bring what correction? Hold on to fifteenth fifteenth? Thank you
Speaker 2: very good, Yes, the fifteen. I should look at a
Speaker 2: calendar that might help you know. I do all this
Speaker 2: preparation and don't look at a cant the fifteenth. Sunday
Speaker 2: the fifteenth, at noon, begins at the Hudson house, bring
Speaker 2: a blanket. You also accept clothing like a warm jacket
Speaker 2: or you're not going to turn anything warm away, right, guys,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 3: No, never, everything is useful.
Speaker 2: Everything.
Speaker 1: Also, we're always looking for volunteers to help us bring
Speaker 1: the equipment in, to help us bring the equipment out,
Speaker 1: or help us get the blankets out to New York
Speaker 1: City on Christmas.
Speaker 2: Ken, how can how can they get to you to
Speaker 2: find and hook up with you to be able to
Speaker 2: volunteer if they want to? How can they find you?
Speaker 1: Well you can obviously, Uh, well not obviously, but you can.
Speaker 1: You can go to the blank Fest page on Facebook
Speaker 1: and send us a message there. It'll you know.
Speaker 3: We're also just blankfest dot org.
Speaker 1: Well, well that's that's the website. There's an email address there,
Speaker 1: but there's also Blankfest the blank Fast page on Facebook. Also,
Speaker 1: the email address you can reach me at easily is
Speaker 1: surf Vietnam s U R F V I E T
Speaker 1: N A M at hotmail dot com. Drop me an email.
Speaker 1: I promise you it won't get caught in a spam
Speaker 1: filter and I'll let you know what's going on.
Speaker 4: Guys.
Speaker 2: I want to thank you so much for joining us
Speaker 2: here on Being Frank. It was a pleasure again, always fun. Absolutely,
Speaker 2: thank you and I'll see you guys Sunday. We'll be
Speaker 2: there Amanda and I have some fun with you again.
Speaker 1: You gotta take some of your great pictures.
Speaker 2: I'll try, you know. Of course, we offer special thanks
Speaker 2: to our listeners who take time to give us a
Speaker 2: voice in their lives, and we remember we offer a
Speaker 2: fresh topic every week and can catch us wherever and
Speaker 2: whenever you get your favorite podcasts like Apple, Spotify, Heheart
Speaker 2: Radio and the others. Could check us out on the
Speaker 2: Hudson River Radio Facebook page. Like us and leave us
Speaker 2: a comment too. We also ask you to consider sharing
Speaker 2: Being Frank with others. You know what, Neil, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: ask you to introduce our final song. It's one from
Speaker 2: the bag daddios. I know you have a hand in it.
Speaker 2: So what are we going to hear?
Speaker 4: Well, I think we're gonna hear a song. Christmas ain't
Speaker 4: for lonely people? Is that right? Ken that?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: I believe so. And a matter of fact, it was
Speaker 1: recorded by our very good friend Kevin Lacey from New City,
Speaker 1: New York.
Speaker 4: Yeah, right right here in Rockland County. If I remember yes,
Speaker 4: and in the middle of a snowstorm. If I do
Speaker 4: remember too that it was what's pretty romantic?
Speaker 2: It's pretty close show my god fit for our engineer
Speaker 2: Neil Richter. I'm your host, Frank Levono, and we hope
Speaker 2: to have you join us on the next being Frank,
Speaker 2: We're the only way to be is Frank. Thanks everybody.
Speaker 9: Christmas A for lowly people, Christmas April lowly people, Christmas
Speaker 9: Aple lowly people.
Speaker 5: You should know that by now.
Speaker 10: Marry Christmas, I'm alone, not another friend to stone lot's
Speaker 10: of breaking.
Speaker 5: It's okay for me.
Speaker 10: It's just as know.
Speaker 4: The day happy people on.
Speaker 7: My TV send distracts me so much and I almost
Speaker 7: beget now that Christmas April lowly biglow Christmas A for
Speaker 7: lowly be o Christmas A for lonly people.
Speaker 4: You should know that by now.
Speaker 5: My compan's gone to her sister's.
Speaker 10: Face and now a bet is chanced.
Speaker 5: An empty space three days to double on my children.
Speaker 5: Let the holidays begin.
Speaker 1: See these get been messed up.
Speaker 5: Jingle bells said.
Speaker 1: He knows you.
Speaker 9: My friend said, I wish you well. Who Christmas A
Speaker 9: for lowly people, Christmas A for lowly people, Christmas and
Speaker 9: for lowly people.
Speaker 4: You should know that by now. See a crazy man
Speaker 4: talking to himself on the bus.
Speaker 5: But I'm staring passing more I think.
Speaker 1: About his sirs.
Speaker 10: I can trying to call you a bunch of silvers
Speaker 10: Onis off pistol story, maddess of my lonely Spanish, all
Speaker 10: of low I'm my dad and is my mom the.
Speaker 9: Rich I now releave in in Flora on my sister
Speaker 9: and a kid's a living in the verbs.
Speaker 1: But the buses are on, and so I'm stradded out.
Speaker 9: The girl, the girl unaware, the Netwick withers. Smile, here's
Speaker 9: me booked before you won't know the Christmas and for
Speaker 9: lowly people. Christmas a for lonely people. Christmas a for
Speaker 9: lonely people.
Speaker 5: You should know that by now, Yes, Christmas.
Speaker 9: A lowly people. Christmas a lowly people Christmas aple lowly people.
Speaker 4: You should know that.
Speaker 1: For now, Apple, buy a color up to my head,
Speaker 1: weed down, don't talk to me.
Speaker 7: I'm just trying to kire gross town to fest to
Speaker 7: snow as now, judge and slush when you're by yourself.
Speaker 2: Be concerned as me too much.
Speaker 5: All I want is.
Speaker 4: To be with you.
Speaker 5: But I guess the drinking too, who have to do
Speaker 5: a look at pictures and.
Speaker 1: Try to remember do so, which happens to me.
Speaker 5: When we get into sim I Hear's voices, see.
Speaker 7: To it been a carolers, just a memory.
Speaker 9: Christmas a lowly people, Christmas a lowly people. Christmas aple
Speaker 9: loly people. You should know that bye now. Christmas a
Speaker 9: for lowly people. Christmas a for lowly people. Christmas a
Speaker 9: for lowly people.
Speaker 5: You should know that. Christmas aple loly people.
Speaker 9: Talk you forgain. Christmas a for loly people.
Speaker 4: You should know that bye.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: This is Hudson River Radio dot com.