(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on November 5, 2022)

 

If you’re unfamiliar with this great story, go here and check out the trailer:

https://bandedtogethermovie.com/

 

This is a very appropriate opening image – even if I DID take it as my last photo of the entire two-day, two-screenings event when I was on my way home from the afternoon screening at a different location on October 30.

THIS photo shows the Festival’s street banner above Montclair’s main drag (Bloomfield Avenue) by the Clairidge Theater – the heart of the Festival where the movie had premiered the night before.

The movie’s producer, Barry Rubinow, said to meet him in his hotel’s lobby between 5 and 5:30pm. This is the MC Hotel, a few blocks up Bloomfield Avenue from the Clairidge:

 

Because of the influx of cars carrying a multitude of people to view the various movies playing all day long, parking would be difficult, so the Festival people provided Barry with a guide that showed where more than a dozen parking facilities near Bloomfield Avenue were located. I looked up the addresses of the hotel, the Clairidge and the place where the after-show gathering would be and added them to the map, so I could figure out where to try to park:

As it turned out, I found a free street spot about a block-and-a-half from the hotel on Orange Rd (blue dot on map). That’s a good start.

 

I was early because I had allotted time to search for parking facilities, so I took a short walk down Bloomfield Avenue to kill some time.

The only picture I took on that walk was of a store across the street that seemed to be calling out to me:

I declined because it appeared that I had just missed a visit there by the Smashing Pumpkins…………plus, I was due back at the hotel.

 

I found Barry (standing) and – from left to right – his wife Carey, band members – and Glen Rock High “boys” – Jimmy Vivino and Jeff Venho, their legendary music teacher from 50 years ago (and star of the show), Joe Sielski and his wife Carolyn, and a woman I didn’t know named Karen Barnet – another Glen Rock High graduate (as was Barry, giving him the ability to put all these pieces and their remarkable story together).

By the way, this is a panoramic (PANO) photo taken at close distance with my iPhone. This is a remarkable camera setting that I am constantly finding new and sometimes quite unusual ways to use it creatively. It’s been my favorite toy for the last year and shows no signs of getting old.

It also makes all my PANO shots much larger than normal, so when you see any photo labeled as PANO, click once or twice to fully enlarge the image. Hit your back button to return to normal.

 

So much for the posed shot. Here’s a boring, unposed PANO that I took just for the hell of it:

 

Barry and bassist Doug Romoff:

 

Barry had to get to the venue a little earlier than everyone else, so he, Carey and I walked down Bloomfield Avenue. Of course, a shot that included the theater’s marquee was in order. To cover MY bases, I took a non-flash one with the iPhone and a flash one with my pocket Canon. I like ‘em both, so……………

(why does the marquee say “TIXS”? “TIX” is already plural.)

 

I strolled in right behind Barry and Carey, so between their official Festival laminates and my “The Band From Glen Rock High” (the original title) t-shirt, no one asked me for a ticket. Fine with me…………I’d prefer to have the keepsake.

Time to start doing my job. Barry working the long line in the lobby with his wife is a good shot – especially when it turns out that the man in the couple they’re talking with was a classmate of Barry’s at Glen Rock High:

 

Another line-in-the-lobby shot, but this one shows the movie title:

 

Celebrities in line, as Joe and Carolyn Sielski arrive:

 

Jimmy Vivino trades in his ticket for a stamped hand:

 

I didn’t get a hand stamp, but I DO have this instead to add to my collection:

 

Time for photos in front of the event’s official background.

 

Carey and Barry:

 

Joe, Carolyn and Barry:

 

Jeff, Joe, Barry, Jimmy, Doug:

 

The previous five plus Carolyn, Carey and Karen (the Festival needs to provide a wider background):

 

He’s got a right to smile – he created something very special:

 

Showtime! Some of our seats:

Note: The reason this movie earned a second screening the next day was that this premiere sold out very quickly. That may have something to do with the fact that this theater only has 102 seats. Another factor that’s more likely is that half of Glen Rock probably wanted to see this home-grown miracle. That’s why a second screening the next day at a much larger facility was immediately arranged.

 

After the premiere, a Q & A took place. This shows parts of 5 little videos I shot from my seat and stitched together and is hardly professional-looking. My only interest was in preserving a little piece of music history. And please hit the “Watch on YouTube” links on these videos – it gives a more accurate view count:

 

After THAT, Jimmy, Barry and Doug posed by the show poster:

 

Finally, it was time to head for the after-show gathering at a place down Bloomfield Avenue called The Pineapple Express. BUT……………

because I had a lot of downloading/photo-editing to get to………….

AND because I wasn’t staying at a nearby hotel and therefore couldn’t get loaded and drive home………….

AND because I had to leave the next morning to come back for the noon screening at a different venue………..

AND because these gatherings are usually not great photographically, I went home.

Big day tomorrow.

 

I guess I should mention that I also shot the reunion show on 12-2-21 and made a big blog post about it here: https://iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com/?p=14920

If you didn’t get to go to this once-in-a-lifetime show, this may be the next best thing (he says semi-modestly)…………at least that’s what some of the post’s comments seem to imply.

 

 

SUNDAY, October 30, 2022

 

I thought I knew where the MKA (Montclair Kimberley Academy) was, but………….

I figured it out after a while. Here’s the entrance (PANO alert!):

It looks like a tiny school, but, of course, it’s not………….but look at all the great Fall colors!

 

I found parking in the back, but wasn’t sure if it was for outsiders. It was early, so no one else was there yet. I waited in the car until someone else parked, asked them if this was the right place to park and they assured me it was.

By now, it was just after 11am, so I walked around to the front entrance to see if anyone was there yet. I saw maybe 15-20 people hanging out. I recognized one right away with a loud porkpie hat and jacket.

But before I could get a word out, I heard him say loudly from 50′ away, “And here comes Bob Leafe!”

“Hi, Floyd.”

 

Right after that, band keyboardist Lee Shapiro shows up. Here he is with Floyd behind him:

 

……..and with Floyd:

“He’s the fourth Vivino brother!”, Floyd says for the first of many times that day.

 

The doors open. I have to trade my ticket in for a stamped hand:

What does it say? Is that a 2?

(NOTE: 11 days later, I found this in my shoulder bag:

How did I not trade in my ticket when I got stamped? Who knows? Who cares? I’ve got my tickets for both screenings.)

 

The next hour is spent in the good-sized hall off the entrance. I explore it.

Interesting “guitar” on display………..it looks like it could use a restringing:

 

There are two interesting-looking classrooms off the hall that appear to be the windows you saw in the first picture (school entrance). The rooms’ contents are quite colorful and the sunlit trees outside only add to it. These are shots worth taking! (the second one is a PANO):

 

Here’s a photographer who’s trying to learn how to smile as his original-title t-shirt gets together with the final-title poster:

The shirts were for sale at the 12-2-21 reunion show, but I didn’t buy it there. As the movie premiere approached, I thought it might be nice to have one, so I asked Barry if he knew where to get one.

He gave me the email address of the woman who had them. I contacted her and arranged to pick one up at her Ridgewood office.

It turns out that she’s the mother of a current GRHS band member and all shirt sales go towards the band fund, so it’s for a great cause and I was happy to buy one and help out.

The shirt got a lot of compliments at the MKA screening (I was surprised no one else had one). If you go to my blog post about the reunion show, you can see some of the shirts that were being sold (same design, different colors).

I contacted the woman who has the shirts and here’s her reply:

People can reach us at: glenrockbandparents@gmail.com

We have plenty of the sizes and colors indicated below. We are accepting donations at any amount in exchange for a shirt. 100% of the proceeds go to support the instrumental music program at GRHS/GRMS. 

Thanks!

 

LOOK AT THE CAUSE…………..BE GENEROUS!!

If you look at my reunion post, you can see that the shirts were selling for $30 apiece at the show. They’re rarer now and should be worth more, so please no under-$20 cheapskates, OK?

 

Time for some more photos in front of the official background. Note: only one band member could not be here today: John Feeney. Unfortunately, Frank Pagano – who’s supposed to be here today – isn’t here yet.

 

(L-R, front): Jimmy, Lee, Floyd

(L-R, back): Joe, Jeff, Jerry, Barry, Doug

Lee looks pretty relaxed (but not for long)

 

Holy shirt! Frank Pagano just popped up, practically in Lee’s lap! Lee’s not looking as calm and relaxed as he was a minute ago. Meanwhile, Doug – the sit-down bassist – has a new picture shirt of John the stand-up bassist, so the gang’s all here:

How the hell…………………..?

 

 

Actually, Frank DID show up later on, saying he got lost. We tried to get everyone together again after the screening so Frank could be included, but it didn’t work out.

When I saw him in the hallway later, I explained to him that we couldn’t do it, so maybe I’ll have to Photoshop him into a group shot.

I didn’t see Lee make that face nor do I know why he did it. He had to have done it just as I took a shot, so I never saw it until I uploaded it to my computer. Wow!

I immediately searched my Q & A video footage, looking for a moment when Frank was either smiling or laughing and……………bingo! Instant pseudo-classic!

 

Lee did better on the next shot when Laura Vivino jumped into his lap with her husband Jerry right behind them:

 

Posing is over:

 

Lee partially surrounds himself with women:

 

Selfie-with-Floyd-time for Karen and Laura:

Note: Someone/something was blowing his/her/its nose in the background above Floyd’s head, so I blacked it out (but if you’re REALLY curious, he/she/it might be in Laura’s selfie).

 

Scott Gordon (from the Uncle Floyd Show) and Floyd pose just before the screening started:

 

Barry addresses the audience before the flick starts:

 

Having seen the movie the night before, I wanted to capture 3 screen-size images that were of personal interest to me. I only managed to get one of them. It was an Uncle Floyd Show cast shot I had taken somewhere around 1983:

You can see stage lights above the screen and the edge of the stage below it.

 

I swung and missed on the other two, so I asked Barry if he could send me two screen grabs and he was kind enough to do so.

The first one was a fooling-around shot I took of the Vivino Brothers Band onstage before an Uncle Floyd show at the Club Bene in Sayreville, NJ, in 1983, with Jimmy on guitar, Jerry on sax and Frank holding his sticks:

 

The second one was a surprise in the closing credits that I didn’t know was going to be there:

Thank you, Barry.

 

And once again, it’s Q and A time! This time, I’m sitting in the front row and here are 8 pictures to start you off with (no captions needed):

 

Jimmy talks to himself:

 

7 more pix:

 

Q and A is over and Tom Hall – Co-head and Artistic Director of the Montclair Film Festival – thanks us all for coming:

 

But it’s NOT over. As I did the night before, I interspersed taking pictures with shooting small videos that I stitched together to make this four-and-a-half-minute vid. And again, professionalism was not the goal………….history was:

 

 

By the way, if you see “EyeShotThis” anywhere in the writeups, it’s my YouTube handle.

 

And I’M wrapping up the Q and A with one minute of a poignant and funny video of Uncle Floyd:

 

During the screening, I sat on the right end of the center section of the front row. When the Q & A started, it was dark when I took a vacant seat right in the middle of that row. When it ended, I took this PANO shot to show the venue when lit. Oh look – three band members and Joe and Carolyn were sitting right behind me!

Unfortunately, as I panned from left to right, I happened to catch a woman in an less-than-flattering position that she might not appreciate me showing, so that’s what the black block is about:

 

Back in the hallway, I met a woman named Susie Tanenbaum, whom I had only met online. She’s a longtime friend of the Uncle Floyd Show and it was her birthday, so I had told her to find me to see if we could get a birthday shot of her and Floyd together. Success!

 

Time to go home.

 

Outside, I found Joe and Carolyn with a movie poster that wouldn’t exist without him. Job well done, sir!

 

As I drove off the MKA campus, I stopped by the sign that was too small to read in the first MKA picture, rolled down the window and took this Fall-colors-enhanced closeup of it:

 

And now it’s on to take my final picture of the day that somehow wound up as the very first picture of this post.

 

Hope you enjoyed the ride.