Send In The Girls!

Well, Vin would recover eventually by early in the new year, though it wasn’t an easy road  We would eventually get together and rehearse at RVP Studios in West Haven, CT. During Vin’s downtime, we began auditions for a new girl or two to fill the recently vacated female co-lead spot. First up,  was singer/songwriter Emily Colt, and man does this girl bring it! Emily was a great fit right out of the gate…… She had a great voice, good looks, energy & the band just clicked with her. When I asked Vin, he said yeah this girl is good!  However, sometimes things come with a bit of a trade-off, meaning she is a busy girl and may not always be available. Her full-time career is doing makeup for NBC Sports, and with that comes a crazy work schedule.
Vin called one evening with some sad news, he too had decided to call it quits as a member of Moonshine. He was offered a great job in Hartford,  an hour further away from his current one hour commute to rehearse with us in Easton. We miss him and will always be grateful for the role he played early on in the first chapter of the group
It was time to audition another girl or two to fill for Emily if she was unavailable. This would mean they would need to possess similar qualities to Emily. We found two great girls but unfortunately neither could give us the commitment we needed. They were both from New York,  so to them we were a bit too far……

Our first show was set for 2017 at a place called The Fez in Stamford, Connecticut. Stamford is home to some of the band and birthplace of Moonshine founder’s David & Deena Robushi. We played an early show on a Sunday night to a full house, and we were told they lined up out the door at one point and the staff never knew what hit them at the Fez. The Fez definitely has a Bitter End,  New York City musical vibe going on. Next, it would is onto the Bull & Barrel in Brewster, New York. The Bull in Barrel has got to be the coolest country themed establishment in the Northeast in the band’s opinion, and this place sets the bar mighty high!  From the décor to the drinks and food to the Mechanical Bull. Great staff and service to top it all off nicely, and we can’t wait to go back.
Next: Moonshine To Open For The Spin Doctors At Ives Concert Park July 22nd

The Call Him Goldfinger

So what do you say to your guitar player at the end of a show, when he tells you he broke his finger the morning of and played three and a half hours like a champ? First,  you say thank you followed by how the f–k did you do that? For anyone, who is not a fan of pain can you even imagine not having the use of one of your fingers and trying to work? Now imagine you play the guitar which requires the use of all fingers, and they need to move quickly at times….owwwwwwww! Vin Raucci is the definition of trooper to say the very least, and when he said this at the end of the night we were blown away. Unfortunately for Vin,  he was in severe pain the morning after our show at the Red Room, which is a part of the now famous Cast Iron Chop House. This meant he would not be able to play our next show a benefit for Operation Hope the Horseshoe Café the following Monday, just a few days away.  In years past,  one of the players from the J Geils Band had done the feature show for Operation Hope which takes place each year right before Thanksgiving. Fortunately for us, our bass player Bradley had a friend named Michael Galgano who knew some of our material, and Mikey G was willing to help us out in our hour of need. It felt as if Michael had been with us right from the start and the audience loved his performance right out of the gate. That being said, we decided quickly to add him to our growing roster and make him part of the Moonshine family.

 

Sadly for us after the holidays we would lose two of our original members. John and Stefanie Dennis had something that would require their undivided attention for the next few months and they would eventually leave the band for good. We will always be thankful for the time we had together as a group, and the laughs we had rehearsing in their music room. They will always be a  part of the Moonshine family, and we know good things lie ahead for these two.

 

Next: Vin’s Recovery & Send In The Girls!