On Saturday, May 6th, 2-5 p.m. the Newtown Theater, located at 120 N.
State Street, Newtown, Pa is holding a Centennial Celebration. The 18 piece
Monday Blues swing band will be the first live music to play in the theater
in decades. This is one of several fundraising events marking 100 years of
showing movies, prior to 1906 the theater was a vaudeville venue, and town
gathering hall. The theater's new retractable screen allows the theater to
bring back the music. The big band sounds of the Monday Blues playing songs
of yesteryear seem fittingly nostalgic for the beloved movie theater's
birthday.
About the band:
Charismatic, band leader, Jim McKnight, tells us that the band, comprised of
musicians from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has been playing for over 25
years. The name "Monday Blues" comes from Mondays being their traditional
rehearsal nights and a haunting blues tune they often use for a theme. The
band plays popular big band swing, jazz, bossanova music spanning from the
1940s to 90s. On their recently released CD entitled Big is Back they
play George Gershwin's Strike Up the Band, Glenn Miller's In the
Mood and songs made popular by the late Frank Sinatra -- Summer Wind
and New York, New York, along with several other well loved tunes.
Copies of the the band's CD will be available at the event.
It is a real treat to hear these fellows play live. Having top notch
musicianship, many of the Monday Blues arrangements are original, written by
present and former band members. Their Count Basie arrangements, for
example, are a soloist's dream come true with wide open spaces for jazz
improvisation and the band has many fine soloists in its ranks, The set
they'll be playing at the theater on May 6th will be a tribute to their
tenor saxophonist, Haines Buzz Forbes, longtime member and friend of the
band.
Tickets for this event are $40 and are available at the Newtown Theater,
Issac Newton's Restaurant and the Newtown Book and Record Exchange. Money
raised at the event will go to the restoration and improvements to the movie
theater. Come support the treasured Newtown Theater and enjoy a big band in
a small town.
For more information call the Newtown Theater 215 968-3859 or visit their
website for a full schedule of events www.newtowntheater.com.
see attached photo below:
photo below feature tenor saxophonist Haines Buzz Forbes, 2nd from the
right.
