Guttenberg’s first free summer concert celebrating its 150th anniversary featured rock-and-roller Kenny Vance, formerly of Jay and the Americans. Vance and his band the Planotones performed Wednesday for a crowd of all ages.
Mayor Gerald Drasheff said this year’s crowd was larger than at last year’s only summer concert. The concert was held on JFK Boulevard East and 70th Street along the waterfront.
Drasheff said it was nice that so many different people were present, and that it almost made it feel like a “town reunion.” He said the show was a reward for the taxpayers in town.
“Being in the middle of the metropolitan area, this is like a small town, and we function like a small town, and I think this is the kind of thing you see happening in small towns,” said Drasheff.
Audience member Richard Sherwin said that he had been following Vance since he was a member of Jay and the Americans in the 1960s and was happy to see him perform for free this time around.
Drasheff said there will be another concert on Aug. 15 with Larry Chance and the Earls. He said that Vance’s performance cost the town between $7,000 and $7,500. He said the two concerts almost cost the same as last year’s concert.
Vance said the free summer concerts they play throughout the country were wonderful.
“We get to meet people, and it’s important to stay in contact with people and just be a free show for the people of the town,” said Vance. “There is nothing better than that.”
50 years in rock and roll
Vance’s first experience with rock and roll was when he was 15, just as the music genre was beginning to take shape.
“There were these amazing people like Chuck Berry,” said Vance. “When you listen to it, the world was different before him. And when he came out onto the scene, and then Jerry Lee Lewis, people like that just revolutionized young people’s thinking, and all of a sudden young people had something to identify with. That was it. It was rebellious. It went against the way the adults had set up the world.”
Vance made his first record at 15 years old. When he was 18, he helped start Jay and the Americans, who performed as an opening act for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones when those groups first came to America.
After staying with his band for 12 years, he left to produce “Saturday Night Live,” various records, and period films like “American Hotwax,” “Animal House,” “Eddie and the Cruisers,” and “Hairspray.”
While he was music director for “American Hotwax” in 1978, he had to recreate the Chuck Berry show he had seen when he was 15 years old. That gave him the opportunity to meet some of the artists that helped shape him.
“We needed [a band] and I figured I would do it, so I called a couple of friends and we became the Planotones,” said Vance.
He said the band took a hiatus until 1990, when he decided he wanted to do what he loved again.
“If you’re lucky enough in life to do what you love then you have to go for it, forget about logic,” said Vance.
The band is now composed of Vance, Johnny Gale, Kurt “Frenchy” Yahjian, Jimmy Bense, Chip Degaard and Tony Gallino.
Yahjian said he has been in the business since the early ’70s and had worked in every kind of music, from opera to the Talking Heads to John and Yoko.
In 2000 he joined Vance, and he’s been with him ever since.
“Kenny has such a unique sound,” said Yahjian. “It’s a little different and we’re really serious about vocal history and harmony and we do some really thick, lush stuff.”
On tour
Yahjian said that the summer concert circuit has become extremely popular.
“This whole Northeast corridor is really the home of doo-wop,” said Yahjian.
He said they now have fans from Pittsburgh to Florida. Vance said that they would soon be heading to Los Angeles.
Guttenberg residents were happy to have the concert at their doorsteps.
“It was really nice,” said Sam Michalowski. “It’s a very wide spectrum of people here, and I only had to walk 200 meters.”
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.