VILLAGE OF LIVERPOOL – The Liverpool Is The Place Summer Concert Committee was forced to cancel its entire 2020 summer concert series and most of its 2021 series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After local governments lifted bans on public gatherings last year, the committee came back strongly, scheduling 22 free concerts.
This year’s 37th annual summer concert series got underway with a special noon concert on Memorial Day, May 29, and will return to its usual Monday-Wednesday evening schedule, starting with the Doyle-Whiting Band at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, The twice-weekly concerts will continue through Aug. 17.
Electric guitarist Mark Doyle and saxophonist-singer Joe Whiting first worked together in the band called Jukin’ Bone which was signed to RCA Records when they were both in their late-teens.
Several years later, they formed the Doyle-Whiting Band with Robbie Spagnoletti on drums, Pat DeSalvo on bass and Tony Schimizzi on keys.
“It was a pretty good concept and a pretty good band that recorded two albums that morphed into a recording unit called BackBone Slip,” Whiting recalled.
On June 5, Doyle and Whiting will be accompanied here by second guitarist Terry Quill, bassist Brian Barrigar and drummer Frank DeFonda.
Both Doyle and Whiting are members of the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame.
On Wednesday, June 7 the free concerts continue at Johnson Park with After Six performing jazz standards.
Many Liverpool-area musicians will be featured in several of the concerts. Music journalist and bandleader Chuck Schiele, who lives on Oswego Street, will helm his eclectic band, Quatro, on June 14. The Liverpool Community Concert band will perform patriotic tunes on July 3.
The Stan Colella Orchestra, featuring Liverpool-bred trumpeter Rob Robson, will play swing standards on July 18. Liverpool restaurateur Scott Schimpff – co-owner of Limp Lizard Barbecue – will pluck the bass guitar with the Jamie Notarthomas Band on July 26.
On Aug. 2, the park audience will enjoy Liverpool’s own Power of Two, husband-and-wife guitarists Patrick and Gwen McCarroll.
And on Aug. 14, the Mario DeSantis Orchestra will spotlight vocalist Keith Condon who grew up here on Fourth Street along with opera singer Nick Blaney and saxophonist/arranger Joe Riposo, who taught at Liverpool schools for decades.
Sponsors sought
Since 1985 when the park’s amphitheater was constructed, the Liverpool is The Place Committee has staged more than 820 concerts there. The committee, now chaired by Gwen McCarroll, sells popcorn, soda and water at the concerts which routinely draw audiences of more than 400.
Businesses interested in sponsoring a concert this year should contact LITP Treasurer Colleen Gunnip at [email protected] or 315-652-5029.
“Without the financial support of the local businesses in our community this concert series would not be possible,” Gunnip said. The LITP Committee is a sub-committee of the Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.
The 2023 concert series is generously supported by a grant administered by CNY Arts and funded by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Performance schedule
Free concerts 7 p.m. at Johnson Park, June 5 – Aug. 16. 315-457-3895.
Liverpoolistheplace.com.
Monday, June 5: Doyle-Whiting Band. – Rock and originals.
Wednesday, June 7: After Six. – Jazz.
Monday, June 12: The FabCats. – British invasion.
Wednesday, June 14: Chuck Schiele’s Quatro. – Americana.
Monday, June 19: Mood Swing. – Classic rock.
Wednesday, June 21. – Mr. Monkey. Rock.
Monday, June 26: Mid-Life Crisis. – Classic rock.
Wednesday, June 28: Letizia & The Z Band. – Classic rock.
Monday, July 3: Liverpool Community Concert Band. – Patriotic tunes.
Wednesday, July 5: The Jess Novak Band. – Rock and originals.
Monday, July 10: Ménage A Soul. – R&B.
Wednesday, July 12: Stan Colella Orchestra with Joe Whiting. – Swing standards.
Monday, July 17: The Strangers. Oldies.
Wednesday, July 19: Fate. – Classic rock.
Monday, July 24: CNY Songbirds. – Folk rock.
Wednesday, July 26: Jamie Notarthomas Band. – Rook and originals.
Monday, July 31: Mark Stuart. – Americana.
Wednesday, Aug. 2: Power of Two. – Folk rock.
Monday, Aug. 7: The Horn Dogs. – Classic rock
Wednesday, Aug. 9: The Custom Taylor Band. – Country rock.
Monday, Aug. 14: Mario DeSantis Orchestra. – Standards and swing.
Wednesday, Aug. 16: Two Feet Short. – Folk & oldies.
