Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg will bring his “Holiday Hurrah” concert to The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Dec. 13.
Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg will perform at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank for the first time on Dec. 13, when he brings his annual “Holiday Hurrah” concert there. The trombonist and singer will lead a 22-piece big band in high-energy versions of holiday songs, with guests including his Bobby Bandiera and Glen Burtnik (his former bandmates in Southside Johnny’s Asbury Jukes and LaBamba & the Hubcaps, respectively).
While this will be LaBamba’s debut on the Vogel stage, he has performed in the Basie’s bigger room, the Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre, many times, starting when he was a member of the Jukes in the ’70s, and most recently in 2016, when LaBamba & the Hubcaps opened for Darlene Love.
He was, in fact, part of the band for three of the Basie’s most memorable shows, which took place on May 12-13, 1977 (when it was still called the Monmouth Arts Center). The shows had been booked as Asbury Jukes concerts, but Southside Johnny was sick, so they became an Asbury Park All-Star Revue, overseen by Stevie Van Zandt and featuring Bruce Springsteen, The E Street Band and Ronnie Spector, in addition to the Jukes.
“It was very last-minute,” says LaBamba. “I had just joined the band at that time. It was really cool to hear Steven singing all the Jukes stuff and then having Bruce come and be singing the harmony parts.”
LaBamba’s first Holiday Hurrah was also at the Monmouth Arts Center, in 1983. “We had Nils Lofgren there, and Bruce, and then the second Holiday Hurrah was in ’84, with Steven taking the helm, and bringing in Darlene Love and Brian Setzer and having it (broadcast) on Westwood One, from one end of the country to the other. Those are great memories.”
RICHIE “LABAMBA” ROSENBERG
LaBamba has been living in California for the last 16 years. He moved there from New Jersey when he was playing in Conan O’Brien’s talk-show band, and O’Brien was leaving the New York-based “Late Night” to take over the Los Angeles-based “Tonight Show.”
In recent years, LaBamba has returned to New Jersey annually to do the Holiday Hurrah at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park — the show even had its own theme song, “Christmas at the Pony.” But it was impossible to find an open date there this year, LaBamba said. (So I wouldn’t expect to hear “Christmas at the Pony” this year.)
Another change: trumpeter and singer Mark Pender, LaBamba’s longtime musical partner, won’t be at The Vogel, as he is on tour with They Might Be Giants. “It’ll be like Sam & Dave, without Dave,” says LaBamba, with a laugh. “But the show must go on.”
The setlists of the Holiday Hurrahs remain similar from year to year, but there are always some changes, as well. “I have a Christmas tune that I wrote called ‘Wrapped up in a Bow,’ ” says LaBamba. “It’s got a little semi-country flair to it. We recorded it with Marty Rifkin playing a pedal steel (guitar), which is really interesting, because a big band with a pedal steel is pretty unique.
“But every year, there’s traditional things that I feel that we have to keep in, like the beginning of ‘Deck the Halls,’ to start the whole thing off. We’ve been doing that since ’84. And then we do ‘(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays,’ which is a perfect tune for our family.”
LaBamba at the 2022 “Holiday Hurrah” at The Stone Pony.
LaBamba sings this one with his daughter Jade, with some of the lyrics changed to reflect the fact that while he now lives in California, he still considers New Jersey his real home. (His son Reed will also perform at The Vogel.) They have been doing it this way since he started doing Holiday Hurrah shows at The Stone Pony, once again, five years ago.
“There’s some things that you just want to hang onto, and make a tradition out of it,” LaBamba says. “Like, we’re gonna do ‘That’s What Christmas Means to Me,’ which we made a single out of, in ’84. And Glen’s gonna sing ‘Sally.’ ” He is referring to “Here Comes Sally,” which Burtnik used to perform regularly as a LaBamba & the Hubcaps member in the ’80s.
“You can’t do anything Hubcap-related, with Glen there, without doing ‘Sally’!,” says LaBamba. “Fun things.”
Joining LaBamba, Bandiera and Burtnik at The Vogel will be:
Saxophones: Frank Elmo, Baron Raymonde, Nick Stefanacci, Tommy LaBella, Sam Bortka
Trombones: Ben Williams, Caleb Rumley, Erick Storckman, Jonathan Shubert
Trumpets: Tony Gorruso, Tony Cinkutis, Vincent Borselli, Rick Savage
Keyboards: Michael Mancini
Mallets/percussion: Mike Monacelli
Bass: Tony Tino, Mike Merritt
Drums: James Wormworth, Joe Bellia
Guitar: Jake Schwartz
Vocals and percussion: Jade and Reed Rosenberg
“LaBamba’s Holiday Hurrah” will take place at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. Visit ticketmaster.com.
Toys will be collected at the show for the Red Bank PBA’s annual Toy Drive.
Here is a clip from the 2023 “Holiday Hurrah”:
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