Gforce Blog

End of October

Wed, 2 Nov 2005 21:20:55 -0500

We ended up the month at Lake Mohawk Country Club. What a spectacular place! The cocktail hour was on the deck and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking. We played for Devon and Keldas wedding and it went really well. Keldas musical tastes were a bit different than most of my clients...big Tom Waits fan. We were able to play a few songs that we normally don't do. Take me to the river (talking heads) was one they requested and that was a lot of fun to do. Here's a shot of the happy couple doing their first dance.

October

Wed, 2 Nov 2005 21:12:25 -0500

After last weekends marathon, we were lucky to have only one party to play the second week of October. Unfortunately on Saturday, the 8th we had almost hurricane rains that really made getting to the job not so much fun. We did hit a bit of luck because we were at the Parsippany Sheraton and there was a huge overhang at the load in area so we were able to get in the building without getting wet. Unfortunately I forgot my music stand in my truck and had to brave the rain with my trusty umbrella. Needless to say I got a bit soggy but the party went beautifully and everybody had a great time. The following week we played at the Mill in Spring lake on Saturday and the Skyland Manor on Sunday. We had never been at the Skylands before and I was impressed by the sheer size of the place.Both parties went well and we stayed dry... which is more than I can say for the following week at Lowes, Philadelphia. This was a really big wedding in Center City and the rains were a coming down. Philadelphia can be rather congested on Saturdays and the rain made it a bit worse. I always leave extra time for traffic and it was a good because we needed every bit of it to get set up on time.This was a huge party and I think they got the record for the longest conga line in history! Congrats to Steve & Catlin on an extremely memorable evening.

Time Flies

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 21:17:23 -0500

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! Busy Busy Busy. We've been going non stop this fall with weddings, prep work, sales & marketing. To top it off I've been writing the new arrangements for our next CD release scheduled to be recorded in November. We've been getting so many requests for 80's music that I decided to just get some fresh material for the band to play from the 80's. It's real easy because that was the era that I grew up on...oops. I'm giving away my age:^) When I first started playing in clubs back in the day that music was all we did. If anybody has any suggestions for some cool 80's tunes please let me know. Here's a list of some tunes that we're going to do. Living on a prayer- Bon Jovi Call Me - Blondie She works hard for the money-Laura Brannigan? Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer You may be right - Billy Joel and my all time favorite... Blinded by science - Thomas Dolby. We should have some fun with these tunes. As for the gigs...Where did I leave off? We did Melissas wedding at the Somerset Hills Hotel on 9/17. That wedding was really great because they really packed in the guests and it was a real dancing crowd. I don’t have any photos because the photographer told me he would email me a few pix from the party. I didn’t take any shots and I guess he forgot about me… The next week we did 2 weddings. One on Friday and one on Saturday and I forgot to put my camera in the truck:^( The next weekend we did a great party with the 9 pc. Band for Rachels wedding at the Crystal Point Yacht Club. What a nice evening it was by the water. Here are a few pix.

On Saturday night we did Liz’s wedding at the Manasquan River Yacht Club. Have you ever seen such a beautiful bride in your life? Check out the dress! I had to take a shot from the back. This gal should be in a magazine.

On Sunday… yes we did 3 parties this weekend, we played for Robin at the Knoll Country Club. This was the 3rd party we had done for this family. Robin seems like she really enjoyed the day. We had fun! More to come in a later post.

Dropping Trau

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:48:54 -0500

I recently got the funniest letter from a client of mine. Gforce Band had played at Owen & Emily's wedding last summer and the most hilarious thing happened. I scanned the letter... This brought to mind some other funny things that have happened to us on our jobs. One time a groom had asked me to play a CD for him of some Spanish music that he recorded especially for his wedding. He gave me an unmarked CD, I asked him what tracks to play and he instructed me to just play it from the top. I put on the CD and immediately everyone in the room stopped eating their salads and stood up at attention. I thought this was pretty strange. The guests stood there silently for what seemed like an eternity when finally the groom came up to me and told me that he had unknowingly put the Colombian National Anthem on the CD. It went on for about 10 minutes! I guess that our groom would have a nice story to tell his grand children some day. If you have a story you would like to contribute, please do. I would love to get a little interaction going on this blog. Hello out there in cyber space!

On the Island & more

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:30:02 -0500

Last Friday we played on Long Island at the Venetian Yacht Club in Babylon. The weather was absolutely fabulous and the view of the water form the reception hall was breath taking to say the least. We had a 10 Pc band and it was a great party up until the fight broke out. That’s right, the fight. All of a sudden about 6 guys got into it and it absolutely ruined the wedding. I felt so bad for the bride because there was one guy who was really drunk and just wouldn’t stop punching people. The waiters and staff actually had the guy pinned to the floor for what seemed like hours and he had to be physically removed from the hall. I really don’t get why people sometimes get drunk at weddings and start fighting. It’s supposed to be a happy occasion! Saturdays wedding went much smoother. We played for Lauren & Mikes wedding at Doolan’s in Spring Lake, NJ. The wedding went wonderfully and everybody had a great time (no fights and it was an Irish Wedding!). I was able to snap a quick shot of the B&G cutting their cake. Cute couple eh?

Wed, 7 Sep 2005 21:44:35 -0500

While everyone in NJ was having fun down the shore on the Labor Day weekend, Gforce Band was hard at work. On Saturday, we played at the Pen Ryn Mansion on the Delaware River for Lisa and Nicks wedding. The weather was spectacular and Ernie played some smooth guitar outside on the patio for cocktails while friends of the bride and groom played acoustic piano and bass indoors. We had our 9 pc. Band with the 4 pc horn section and the crowd didn’t stop dancing all night! It was an Italian wedding and boy did we have fun with these people. We even had an appearance by George Bush! On Sunday we were at Mayfair Farms in West Orange NJ for Mike and Melissa’s wedding. They had a beautiful outdoor ceremony with Vinnie on trumpet and Ron on keys providing the classical music. I played jazz for the cocktail hour. The band really sounded great in that room. The acoustics were perfect. We played “Sweet Melissa”, a special request for the bride and groom and I was able to sneak off the band stand to take a quick photo of the happy couple. In between the gigs, I had 3 bridal appointments so it’s a safe bet to say that I had a rather laborious Labor Day. By Monday I was beat! It feels really good when you have such successful parties. Yeah I was tired but it was a good kind of tired knowing that we had made some people happy.

Back From Vacation

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:10:07 -0500

Well I've been away on vacation for a bit and haven't been able to write to the blog in a while. Just before I left we played two great weddings on Friday and Saturday and then I was off with my family to Vermont for some R&R before the busy fall season. If anybodys interested in checking out my vacation photos,we have a photo gallery here: http://www.amenco.com/smuggs After I got back I was swamped with catch up work, emails and calls to return. Luckally for me, Ron, the Gforce II Band leader has been helping me out with the office work while I was away. We recently opened an office that he runs in Rockaway, NJ and it's a real assett having him give me a hand with all the sales & marketing. Even though this week has been extremely busy, I can't seem to get my mind off the poor folks who have suffered through the Hurricane. Last vacation, I was in Orlando and we had a real ordeal getting home. A hurricane had closed the airport on the day we were to leave. I needed to get to a wedding so we opted to drive out. It took us 14 hours to drive from Orlando to Savannah GA. There was so much traffic! We ended up hoping a flight out of Savannah and I was able to make the wedding. The reason why we chose Vermont this time was that we were afraid of getting caught in another big storm in Fla. It turned out to be a great call. I seem to be obsessed with watching CNN coverage of the flooding... almost like the way it was during 9/11. It seems that the government should be doing more to help these people in distress. We can drop supplies to people in countries across the Atlantic. Why cant we get food and water air dropped to our own citizens in Louisiana? My wife works for a software company that has a policy of matching any donations that their employees make for charity. We are going to take advantage of this and make a pledge. I would urge anyone who reads this to try to do the same. Now's the time for all US citizens to pull together to help those desperate people in the south. Once again I seem to ponder how truly lucky I am having a roof over my head and food to eat. So often we take these thing for granted. I pray for the folks in the south.

What a weekend

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:20:32 -0500

I had a great weekend playing with various people. On Friday I went to The Outpost to check out the Ernie White Band. They were exceptional as usual but this evening they really sounded better than ever. I was lucky enough to be able to jam with the band on a few tunes and it really was fun to rock out with the boys again. Earlier in the day, I got a call from John Martin who asked me if I could fill in for him with the Saturday Night Fever Band. As luck would have it, the timing of the gig was perfect. I played a 4 hour wedding at the Seaview Marriott with them from 5:30 to 10:30 and shot over to the House of Blues in AC to do the Nerds 20th anniversary show. Needless to say, that was a gas! The Nerds really pulled out all the stops on this one. We had an appearance by Pope Sean Paul playing blues harp. (He later entered the stage in a wheelchair). We had Rich the Cowboy Guy doing Devil Came down to Georgia. We had a surprise appearance by Kevin the regular guy doing Honky Tonk Woman. Spaz attempted to roast a chicken on stage but to our dismay, the chicken got stuck in the oven and started a small fire. The House of Blues staff asked us to kindly remove the chicken from the stage before the place caught fire. It was just a wacky night and I was so glad to be a part of it. Unfortunately, because of my earlier engagement I was not able to catch the NY Dolls so I really can't report on what they looked like:^( I am looking forward to playing with the Gforce Band this week. We have 2 weddings(Friday & Saturday). I'm really looking forward to Friday because the bride picked some really great songs for us to perform. "Sweethearts together" (discussed earlier) and one of my all time favs, "If I could" by Ray Charles. What a great song for the Father/ Daughter Dance and I'm so psyched to have the opportunity to be able to sing it!!!!. Later...

The Stones

Tue, 9 Aug 2005 23:04:32 -0500

I spent a good portion of the day transcribing a Stones song for an upcoming wedding. It was a song that I sang years ago and I had to write out a chord chart for Gforce band so that we could rehearse it. The song is called Sweet hearts together and I have to say that it's one of the coolest tunes I ever heard. Lyricly, it's really great. A few lines... "Everybody needs someone To tell their troubles to To share the pain and laughter In a world beset with fools To help you with your ups and downs Someone to heal your wounds Sweethearts Together" Aside form the lyrics, the thing that really blows me away about this song is the Stones ability to make a G chord and a C chord sound so beautiful and unique. The subtle intricacies of this simple but potent music just captures the essence of what the lyrics are saying. Another cool thing about this song is that it has an accordion solo. Ron's gonna love that! I attacheda clip of the song to this post. Sorry to say I couldn't fit the whole song on this blog due to space limits. I guess you'll have to...eeek...buy the song if you want to hear the whole thing:^0. Come on now. Mick needs to buy a new pair of shoes for the baby. But seriously folks... I have been a Stones fan for years. Mostly because I always loved the way Bobby Keys played sax. (I play sax in a very similar style) and for the Stones grooves. Today I really am appreciating the true genius of the Stones music and the magic that is created when a bunch of guys play together as a band in perfect sync. Hats off to the ole blokes across the pond! Can't wait to play this song for Katie & Scott's first dance on August 19th! Sweethearts Together clip

Welcome to the Gforce Bands Blog

Tue, 9 Aug 2005 11:05:01 -0500

Greetings to all who visit. I decided to start this blog as a way to communicate with my clients and any visitors who might happen to stop by for a visit. I intend to keep a record of the events that the bands will be playing, give some background on what's happening with the band members, and use this forum as a springboard for comments, questions and /or discussion about the wedding and corporate event industry. Please feel free to share your comments or ideas in this open discussion. To start things off, I would like to say that I have an awesome job and I feel extremely blessed to be able to do what I do with some really amazing people. I feel so fortunate working with my band mates who for the last 11 years have always inspired me to excel in the music business. It is sooooo cool to be able to make music for a living. I can't begin to tell you how nice it is having a job that you love to do. When the band is in the groove and the party is jumping, there is no better feeling in the world. Well.. take that back, there's one better feeling in the world but we are not allowed to talk about that on this forum:^) As band leader of Gforce and manager of Gforce II, I have many tasks that I have to perform in order to keep the whole machine running. I do all the PR, the artwork, the website, the sales, the book keeping and the music arranging. Whew! that's a lot of hats to wear but one of the nice things is that I don't get bored because there are so many things to do. I really enjoy working with computers. I use Logic Audio for writing charts for the band and music production (Mac format). I also use a lot of Adobe products for things like video editing (Adobe Premiere Elements) and of course Photoshop, GoLive and InDesign for all the promo materials. My lovely wife Lynn, who used to be the singer in the band, works for Adobe as an application engineer. The great thing about that is that I get free technical support from her whenever I have an issue to resolve. I suppose I'll keep her around for a while (LOL) More on Lynn in a later post. I could write volumes! Actually I could write volumes on any one of the different aspect of running this business so I guess I'll save the details for future posts. This weekend Gforce II will be playing at Kristen's wedding at the PNC Arts Center. This Saturday, 8/13, I am not working with Gforce but actually playing with the #1 Bar/Party band on the planet, the Nerds. I have worked with these guys on and off for the last 7 years and it is always a blast when I have the opportunity to do so. The Nerds will be celebrating their 20th year as a band! That is a major accomplishment! I used to play with Biff (the drummer) in a band called Ricochet in the 80's. Oops, I'm giving away my age now. Anyway, we will be playing at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. Rumor has it that the NY Dolls are playing before we go on. For you youngsters out there, the New York dolls were one of the first punk/glam bands of the late 70s that dressed in drag. The lead singer is David Johanson IE Buster Poindexter (Hot Hot Hot). It will be interesting to see if these guys are still into the drag thing now that they're nearing 60. Frightening thought... I am sure that we'll have fun because the Nerds are always up for a good time. I have been leading the Nerds horn section (called the C-Section) for over 5 years now. We dress as doctors and have a lot of fun goofing around on stage and providing pro bono surgery for the Nerds. Thats all for now...