It has been quite some time since I have jotted my now known to be "Very Infrequent Blog". I felt I just wanted to say so many thanks to each and every one of you that have been a part of ROM in any capacity from the very beginning in 2009 to now going into our last show of
ROM-2012.
That Grand Finale show will be this coming Monday on 12-10-12 and will be Featuring our dear friend and incredible artist, MF Daisy. Please come and be a part of this wonderful night of of Artist's as we close out this most incredible year at ROM.
I do want to say a personal thanks to: our past features since my last Blog, OY!!! I need to keep up!!!
Many thanks to, Mark Stepakoff, Jackie Damsky and String River, Johnny Flaherty, Chris Lee, Ron Cummings and Dawn Frost.
To each one of you, you brought a wealth of very special and unique to yourselves entertainment & a brilliance, to light up our stage at ROM. This year at our little Community, I have recd so many letters of thanks for what WE do at ROM.
In reality, it is I who is thanking all of you for bringing your incredible gifts to our stage! This year and even most recently we have been honored by so many folks that have been ROM first timers! Please feel welcome and pass the word to family and friends that YES, Mike & I are honored that you have chosen to join us at ROM but please also remember, we are but a small piece of the Community of Artist's Pallet available to ALL of us in our most gifted part of the country that offers so much for so many. We strive to let it be know that we are an equal opportunity Open Mike and encourage everyone to seek out and explore the other horizons of other venues. To the right of this Blog is just a sampling of some of our friends of ROM, I encourage you all to take a look at the websites that are there, if yours is missing please do let me know and we will try and figure out how to add them to this new Format to the Blog, (I have NO CLUE OF how to add at this point)!! WE shall succeed and persevere!!
I can tell you at this point that we have completed our ROM - 2013 FEATURE LIST which will be made available at our 12-10 Grand Finale Show! Mike & I are so pleased and honored to all that have accepted our invite to feature as part of ROM - 2013. It will be a spectacular year! We also wish to thank those of you that did request a feature and did not get chosen for this year. You will ALL remain on our back- up Feature list for the 2013 Season. We had a total of 168 request for feature's for the 23 venues a year we do at ROM. it is a very difficult choice to make and we feel we did the very best and followed all our ROM basic guidelines for features. Please feel free to be in touch with myself or Mike if you have interest of being considered for
ROM -2014 request list which we begin over each year.
Before adding some very special announcements, I wish to say my many personal Thanks to those of you that have gone far and above any volunteer organization could ask for. I do want to especially want to thank Mike Delaney for being the Host of Roslindale Open Mike. Mike also maintains and updates both the website and the ROM emails many of you just got tonight. Mike (Aka Mandolaney), also will play with anybody that asks all he need is a key. (With moi, I never know)!! He has been that very special pot of Gold I found at the end of a prism-like rainbow! So many other parts with Mike too many to mention. I cannot mention everyone here as it would take a week or more for all the help with Set up, break down, bringing wonderful talents foods, Utensils doing our dishes and Community to ROM! You all know who you are!!! I will leave out some but I do wish to mention a few others! I do wish to thanks to Ken Porter for all he adds to ALL aspects of ROM, To Branson Bofat our most wonderful ROMuhost for this entire year. To King Yee our official ROM videographer who also has been working together with Steve Friedman from Melville Park Studio while working together to sync audio and video. To Lynn McCaffrey for ALL the great Homemade foods & soo many other gifts you bring to ROM as a most wonderful Audience member. To Junko Ogawa for ALL your artistic talent & all you do with regard to ROM regardless if it is for our normal ROM Venue, our Fundraisers and always going that extra mile at the end of the nights with you kitchen patrol and helping all around. To Ed & Bill Banatt for your endless energies and and for being our official ROM stage light setter uppers and taker downers and even more tedious, after a long night, putting all equipment away. To Chris Lee, thanks so very much for all the extra after hours you have helped in shutting down ROM after such wonderful evenings of entertainment!! To Bill Duncan who is always willing to sit in for sound and all around anything anyone at ROM may need.
On a different over-all scale of thanks, I DO WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU WITHIN OUR ROMulin Community. Those who listen, those who play, those who listen and will soon play or those who simply walk by the Venue and hear incredible talent and come in and join us and become part of our Community, A HUGE Thank you to all.
I do have a very timely couple of very special messages from a dear friend of mine personally and a dear friend and supporter of ROM and All places that do support ALL within Live , Local Arts Communities and the host of 2 of her own most wonderful Venues. I will now copy in 2 very special and important and endearing messages from Ellen Schmidt, Known to many of you and a great dear friend to get to know to the rest.
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving! I am thankful for this wonderful music and spoken word community and for my family and friends. May you all have an excellent holiday season!
I want to announce a very special benefit event on Tuesday December 18th 8pm at TCAN
( The Center for the Arts in Natick) Open Mike hosted by Mark Stepakoff. I will be featuring at 9pm. I have coordinated a musical revue with some amazing performers who are all donating their time and talents. The benefit will be for those impacted by Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey. Performers will include Ergo Canto, Cheryl Perreault, Jake Kensinger, Oen Kennedy, , Rob Siegel, Hatrack Gallagher, Seth Connelly, Jackie Damsky, Mary Pratt, Steve Rapson, and maybe a surprise guest or two! These artists will perform some of their own songs and also perform with me on a few of mine. We will include some holiday tunes as well!
I am very grateful to Mark for letting me put on this kind of program and I’m so thankful to all who are going to participate.
How can you help?
If you are performer and can come that night and show support for Mark’s open mike and this event, that would be wonderful! Your music and spoken word performances will only enhance the night! If you are coming to listen, you’ll hear an array of great performers joining me and I welcome any publicity help you can provide. I will have a flyer ready soon and I’ll circulate it and I would encourage you to help me publicize.
People who wish to write a check may make it out to Red Cross NY or Red Cross NJ and I will mail them. You are also welcome to make a cash contribution. If you can’t make it to the event but want to contribute, you can mail a check made out to one of the charities and I will send it along with the other contributions. Send to Ellen Schmidt at 199 Cambridge Tpke, Concord, MA 01742 or go on line and contribute that way.
Here are open mike specifics:
Sign up before 8, feature at 9. 15 Summer St,,
Natick, area code 508, at 647-0097 , www.natickarts.org.
Admission $5
for non-members, free for members at the $50 level or higher
Natick, area code 508, at 647-0097 , www.natickarts.org.
Admission $5
for non-members, free for members at the $50 level or higher
Thank you all so much!!!!
In closing dear friends, I do not embody enough thanks for ALL of you do to make life better for so many, from the on going Fundraiser efforts on so many fronts to the Always, incredible ART-forms you bring to our stage as well as many other stages near & Far!
Have a great and wonderful ALWAYS!!!
Make every Season Special, as "YOU ARE THE REASON" these Communities exist!
Thanks again, Hoping to see you soon, Always, Neal :)))
As a different ROMulin type may say, "Live long and Prosper through the ARTS's"
