The parade was great, Elvis was in good
2009-07-18 00:00 (America/New_York)
The parade was great, Elvis was in good form, as were big bird, Elmo, The cookie monster and Abbie Kadabra. We will not be in the Amphi, due to other concerts and work, but hopefully the Union Congregational space will be available.

As of today’s meeting the entertainment
2009-07-22 00:00
As of today’s meeting the entertainment committee only had one band. So we decided not to put on an event that doesn’t meet our standards. We’re going to ask for the amphitheater.

Small staff, small audience, last night.
2009-08-29 00:00
Small staff, small audience, last night. The rain was real. The jams & open mic were good fun. Larry & Nick were awesome, Aiden, Anna, the staff: Nick, Anna, Kat. Thanks.

We’re up to 50, audience wise. Roger Roc
2009-09-28 00:00
We’re up to 50, audience wise. Roger Rockmore, The blue kids, Avaiary, Moravec, etc all well done. Thanks to those who stuck out the rain and made the ending a happy one.

Scarendipity had it’s points. Attendance
2009-10-31 00:00
Scarendipity had it’s points. Attendance over 70, for one. Face painting contest, good open mic, great bands. Los Huevos!

We’re back to small. Perhaps the number
2009-11-28 00:00
We’re back to small. Perhaps the number of days out of school effect? But good to see Evan & Daryl do their acoustic sets. Moravec was fine. How about those classical guitarists at open mic?

I have to say First Night was one of the
2010-01-02 00:00
I have to say First Night was one of the great ones. Large attendance, great job by the staff keeping things going, participation of newbies and alumni, having the Mayor in the audience, great help by parents. What a kick! Happy New Year!

We don’t know why the Pyramids disappear
2010-01-31 00:00
We don’t know why the Pyramids disappeared, but the rest of us had fun. A tad too many acoustic guitar/singer types for my liking. Good thing Thatcher and his gang brought their electrics.

The Valentine’s day “Carendipity”. Decen
2010-02-27 00:00
The Valentine’s day “Carendipity”. Decent size crowd, good bands, excellent open mic. Almost made some money. Love that dry ice seltzer!

The best ever Hip-Hop Serendipity, the “
2010-04-30 00:00
The best ever Hip-Hop Serendipity, the “Rap-Fest”. Good sized audience, interesting variety, a whole new bunch of people.

The Relay for Life was definitely an all
2010-06-05 00:00
The Relay for Life was definitely an all-nighter. We set a record for playing outdoor live music in Montclair, playing until 11:15PM without getting complained about! The relay was a great success in terms of money raised. Ken donated the generator rental fee. We could have used some more help at the end. And some better weather.

There is nothing like Festival Undergrou
2010-06-19 00:00
There is nothing like Festival Underground, when it doesn’t rain! There was a decent crowd of our usual audience, including some open mic performers, regulars, and so on. The weather was perfect. Ken was as tough as a circus roustabout, and the staff were very helpful, happy, relaxed. We put on 7 or eight bands, Had a jam at the end with Adam, Jeff, and Vin doing some tunes. Cell phone pix below. The bands were: The Porchistas, Hazmats, Tasm, A vs B, March to the Sea, Ten Sleep, Los Huevos, Slim Deer, Tense Deer. An the Alumi Trio. Alumni: Iris perrot, Adam, Jeff, Vin Demming, Kathryn Weller-Demming Charlee Swanson, Harry Wohl, Ethan Kantor, Max Kravitz, Max Mellman, Julia Berlin, Larry Pope did the recording, Ross Hamilton performed.

The independence day was a great success
2010-07-05 00:00
The independence day was a great success. Elvis lead our group, which included Patrick from Sponge Bob (Jeremy), Winnie the Pooh (Julia Z and Josh), Cookie Monster (Nick Levine) and Cat in the Hat (Aidan Feliciano). The angels, Emily and Lidia (and sometimes Julia) and the Banner makers and bearers, Anna, Johnny Q, Ethan, Thatcher, and everyone I left out really made it a hot one. By which I mean like 101 F. In the shade. You could of fried an egg on this parade! Consider revising.

The 8/6 event at the Library was smooth
2010-08-30 00:00
The 8/6 event at the Library was smooth and cool, despite the many changes in performers, & the competition with the Acres reunion performance. We got out on time, which helps our chances for doing Serendipity at the Library in the future. On 8/28 we had some difficulties at the Nishuane Park “Camp Serendipity”. Now, the s’mores were fine, and no one actually got hurt, but the electric power was awful, the street light was not turned on, and we had a problem with Lima being too loud. But, it didn’t cost that much and Father Earth was great listening.

The Alumni Reunion worked out pretty wel
2010-09-18 00:00
The Alumni Reunion worked out pretty well. We had some good music, some olde buddies, and some swirley cake. Not to mention ukuleles. Next year I want someone to be alumni invitor.

Scarendipity 2010 featured 10 Sleep, Thi
2010-10-29 00:00
Scarendipity 2010 featured 10 Sleep, Things Keep Happening, Werebears, Mannyfesto, a bit of that gameboy stuff at open mic, Josh on guitar, etc. 67 paid customers, and more than a dozen staff members. Pumpkin pie eating contest. Nick Levine, the winner. Should have had prizes for not being sick afterwards.

Serendipity Café at the First United Met
2010-11-22 00:00
Serendipity Café at the First United Methodist Church. This one was solid. Hip-Hop with harmony! Anna Berlin, Lotsa acoustic guitar players of many different styles. No Actual contests, and slightly OK for a November event. Had a talk with Vidal of the Parish Council and we are welcome there.

The old year was ended at Fletcher Hall
2010-12-31 00:00
The old year was ended at Fletcher Hall of the UUC with a good variety of music, recruited by Josh and Harris. Anna Berlin’s Mocha Coffee, Shirley Temples, Julia as MC, Emily on the sound board. We wish great 2011 to everyone. I hope for more new ideas and enthusiasm for the Montclair Student Café Project in 2011.

Nearly everything went as planned on thi
2011-01-28 00:00
Nearly everything went as planned on this first event of the year, and first time at St. James. There was plenty of music, Battle of the Band winners and runners-up, some spirited moshing. We’re promised some of the doors won’t be locked next time. And we will be back! We split the Snack Bar income with St. James, and they seemed happy with that. The critique at the following meeting was good, too. I happened to notice that the two singers from Stolen Jars performed in Passing Notes the next night at the Concert for Haiti.

Friday’s “Carendipity” went very well. E
2011-02-27 00:00
Friday’s “Carendipity” went very well. Extra help at the start meant a quick Load-In, So we got right to the music, which was quite tuneful, in spite of the complete lack of live drums. The “eat your heart out” jell-o contest was quick, and not too messy. It’s good on the videos uploaded to tumblr. So, to sum up, no one threw up over this one. Notes: Serendipity Café in the Star Ledger at (2/10/11). http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/teen-operated_montclair_cafe_w.html And then Pokey Men were in the Montclair time on 2/24/2011. Good stuff!

We collected some money for aid to Japan
2011-03-28 00:00
We collected some money for aid to Japan, tried out one of the bands that found us through the Star Ledger article, and tried to be good for our newest hosts, the Bnai Keshet Synagogue. It was pretty good, except for having to cancel Open Mic for lack of time. I will speak to the people at BK and see how they feel about us running over. Never had a guitar in the lost & found before, not to mention power supplies, cables, etc.

We taped an episode of “Arts Close Up” w
2011-04-14 00:00
We taped an episode of “Arts Close Up” with Meg Beatty Patrick on Channel 34 for broadcast in early May. Anna, Julia, Josh, Harris, Emily, Thatcher, Charlie and Ed were there. We did some interview-like stuff, some Josh/Harris guitar, some Anna B tunes, and Thatcher & Charlie improvised a Serendipity “commercial”. It will be on the schedule, and in the On Demand menu, I hear. Thanks to Sharon Collucci, and Michael Reitman, the blues photographer. Use the following link, and select category “Arts Up Close” Montclair TV34

show was loud and echo-ey. Good performa
2011-04-29 00:00
show was loud and echo-ey. Good performances all around especially the famous Pokey-Men, plenty of audience members. Staff was non-existent except for Emily and Anna at load-up time, though, and we are currently searching for our missing snare drum stand.

The Relay for Life on was punctuated by
2011-05-21 00:00
The Relay for Life on was punctuated by a rainstorm, but the drying out worked and we got the system back on line & no damage but mud. There was all night DJ work by Max and Emily, under a point system of great complexity. A grand appearance by Alma and the New No Rehearsals, plenty of darkness, a 2 AM ukulele jam with guitar, good performances by Passing Notes, Stolen Jars, and others, but my notes are all blurry, I’ll probably not be able to read the list until Josh makes a copy for the entertainment notebook. In spite of all that, it appears that the ASC collected over $90,000.00! And it was much better after I went home and put on dry socks.

Festival Underground 2011 was an awards
2011-06-18 00:00
Festival Underground 2011 was an awards fest, with Anna Berlin and Katherine Wolfgang receiving the annual Staff Scholarship Award, presented by Carlos Lejnieks, who, by coincidence, spoke at the MHS graduation ceremony this year. Carlos is a founding staff member, and gave us some history, as well. Ken Pasture received a special award for trucking, and dedication and Farrah Stephenson from the American Cancer Society, presented Serendipity with a plaque thanking us for our participation in Relay For Life for the last 2 years. The music was tops, although I wish we had Stolen Jars. The chalk art was immense, and widespread.

The Warm Serendipity: at least a hundred
2011-07-22 00:00
The Warm Serendipity: at least a hundred in the shade. But we had Los Huevos, Sumi, Stolen Jars, a standup comic, Anna and Carmen, I even got to sit in with Vinnie & Los Huevos. We had S’mores, with a camp stove, lotsa water, and visits by alumi Ethan Cantor, Oliver Rew, Ross Hamilton. And Even Peter Guiffra was there. Many thanks to Ken and Mike for all the help.

Another Warm Serendipity, this time in t
2011-09-24 00:00
Another Warm Serendipity, this time in the Park House in Edgemont Park. The consensus seems to be that it was good, there was a good sized audience, the coffee was great, and the bands mostly got to play their whole sets. Josh Heaps was the entertainment head, and we were slightly overbooked. The Alumi theme was carried on by the Porchisas with founding members Alan and Adam. And then Pinegrove with Alumni Evan Hall, Zach Levine, Nick Levine. Aden Feliciano was there, as well as Catherine Weller-Demming, a founder and current Deputy Mayor. Alma Schneider of the Parents Who Rock presented us with a check for $1363.00 which the PWR raised at their annual backyard party, which we did the sound for, with Emily, Max, and a couple of other Staff members helped out at. There’s pix on Facebookm see link above.

After doing sound for the Veteran’s Day
2011-11-11 00:00
After doing sound for the Veteran’s Day ceremonies in Edgemont Memorial Park, we trucked over to St. James’ church and had a full Serendipity Café with a not full audience. Seems to me we need to work on getting the audience numbers up. Good music, though, and thanks to St. James for letting us use their Parish Hall on short notice after our Scarendipity Cancellation.

The Tree lighting on Friday, followed by
2011-12-07 00:00
The Tree lighting on Friday, followed by the Café at Bnai Keshet went exactly as planned, including more than double the previous attendance. The music was good, The Skin Cells were well organized, so were the Toasted Plastic and all the locals. Nice work, everyone!

The audience was impressive, by being ov
2011-12-31 00:00
The audience was impressive, by being over 160 people, of whom 94 paid $3.00 to come in. The performers were grand, the sets a bit short, mostly, but the open mic was definitely best of the year. Thanks to the staff, the audience, the performers and the advisors for a great year!
