Drivetime
The Band

 
Bernie's Blog
December 19, 2011
As Christmas heads our way I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support and encouragement through this year and to wish you and your families Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May all the best of life come your way. In many ways this is a pivotal point in the band's development.  Do realize the band will have been together seven years as of February 2012. Through difficult times and many personal changes, we have finally settled into our own sound and our own stride. I am happy to report that six of the tunes from the new CD INGNITION are in mix-down at Clear Track Studios, Tampa Bay, Florida.  At the mixing console is my good friend and EMI associate Jim Forbes, who mixed our first CD “Movies For Your Mind." He was phenomenal then; I can only imagine how much he’s grown since. From there we’ll take it to Abbey Road Studios in London for the final mastering. If that doesn’t get you excited you better check your pulse.
So all in all it’s been a great year for us, and we will have the CD done as soon as we can.
I want to thank Andrew Neu, whose performance on the composition “Lincoln Drive” is like butter. Andrew effortlessly finesses’ the daylights out of this tune. I want to thank Phyllis Chapell for her killer Portuguese version of “Mas Que Nada” as the original made popular by Sergio Mendaz & Lani Hall back in the 60”s. Also want to thank Justin Guarini for taking a chance on one of my original compositions “ Urban Symphony” which is really my 60’s peace loving side of me popping out.  I’m letting my freak flag fly on this one, boy’s and girls, but seriously Justin nails this suck-a to the wall. And my deepest thanks to Jimmy Dell'Orefice who helped arrange and engineer most of the live performances. Many thanks to Richard, Chris, Mike and John who haven’t killed me yet. To say I’ve been picky or focused on what I want is an understatement. Hopefully it will pay off in the final product. In closing, again I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and the best in the coming year. Bless each and every one of you.


August 31, 2011
Last week Phyllis Chapell came out to record a few tracks with us for our upcoming album “Ignition”. Jimmy and I worked with Phyllis and I have to say, every time she comes out, magic happens. It’s really great working with such a talent like Phyllis! For those who don’t know, Phyllis can perform as a solo with vocals and guitar, or as a duo with varying instruments (keys, bass, percussion, wind instruments) and upwards to a full ensemble. She’s amazing. Definitely check out one of her upcoming shows or purchase her latest album, “The Other Side of the River”. You will not be disappointed!
Since having Phyllis Chapell in town was so amazing for Jimmy and I, we wanted to share that experience as best as possible with you, Drivetime fans! With that said, we conducted a brief interview with Phyllis to help you get to know her, her love for jazz, and why she decided to take time out of her busy schedule to come record with us!
Below is the Q&A between Drivetime and Phyllis Chapell:
Drivetime: How was it working with Drivetime when recording tracks for "Ignition"?
Phyllis Chapell: Love working with Bernie and Jimmy. They're the best!
Drivetime: What's your all-time favorite Drivetime track? Why?
Phyllis Chapell: Well, I do love Gettin’ Wit’it -- very well-written, funky and well-produced.
Drivetime: Who are some of your favorite Jazz artists out there right now?
Phyllis Chapell: Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Esperanza Spalding, to name a few. In my band SIORA, is actually my favorite male jazz vocalist--he's my drummer but also does some vocals--his name is Paul Jost.
Drivetime: How would you describe the Jazz scene in and around Philadelphia? What are some of the best local Jazz hot spots?
Phyllis Chapell: Chris' Jazz Cafe has been the main jazz room in Philly for a few years. I haven't played Chris' though many of my band members have. I did play the Tritone with Drivetime a few years ago. It's a fun room. World Cafe Live (Phila) is the place where I'm doing my release on September 13th (upstairs) at 8:00 p.m. I've played the Firecreek Restaurant in Downingtown. Also a lovely restaurant in Exton called Duling-Kurtz House & Country Inn. Andre Cafe Acoustique in Chester, PA. The PSALM Salon in Wynnefield. Jazz Bridge, a wonderful organization based in Philly area, has some great jazz venues around town (in Mt. Airy, Collingswood, NJ, and other places). And then there's also the Tin Angel in Olde City.
Drivetime: What's your favorite track off of your new album, " The Other Side of the River"?
Phyllis Chapell: Oh, my goodness, it's like picking your favorite child--can't be done! But Otro Lado del Rio, which is the cover song (Other Side of the River), AEIOU and Water Song are the 2 originals. I do love Here's to Life, Crazy, Shenandoah, the Middle Eastern medley (Hinei Ma Tov/Ma Achla'a). Yikes, I love them all!
Well, there you have it, a glimpse into the mind of the great jazz artist, Phyllis Chapell. A very special Drivetime ‘thank you’ to Phyllis Chapell for taking time to record a few tracks for “Ignition” and for answering a few questions for our fans! We can’t wait to record with you again Phyllis!

July 23, 2011
First off today I want to thank Ryan Taft of Catalyst Marketers for the great interview on the MontcoHappening.com web site if you would like to read it here is the link.
http://www.montcohappening.com/montgomery-county-interviews-bernie-capodici
Thing’s are truly starting to shaping up real nice for the new CD “Ignition”. Last week we did a session with Andrew Neu on one of our tunes “Lincoln Drive”. I want to thank Andrew for being the consummate musician who came in and just blew Jimmy and myself away. I also encourage you to go out and buy Andrew’s new CD "Try Something Neu". I am so excited about “Lincoln Drive”, written by Jeff Bichaylo and arranged by yours truly. I can’t wait to mix it!

We also made an appearance at Warmdaddy’s this week and that is always just great fun. I want to thank Michael Tozzi for keeping the music alive here in Philly and also Ivan the sound engineer at Warmdaddy’s, Ivan does a great job for us and records every date we do there. One of these days I am going to compile a group of tunes that we don’t have on disk and make a Live At Warmdaddy’s CD.

On the agenda for this week is getting Phyllis Chapell back to do a Drivetime original “It’s Love Were In” written by Jimmy Dell'Orefice and myself. We also did a pre-release of John Sorrenti’s original piece “Beige” which has received very positive reviews so far from ijazzglobal.com, smoothjazz.com and smoothjazz.eu so hang in there we are feverously working to complete the project and I will update everyone periodically as to our progress. Thanks again for your interest in Drivetime.




May 4, 2011
Drivetime Brings Smooth Jazz to the Alzheimer’s Chocolate Symphony

Sunday turned out to be an awesome day, we had the opportunity to perform at the Alzheimer’s Chocolate Symphony at Cairnwood in Bryn Athyn, PA. There we’re some very interesting people who just happen to love our sound, I felt like it was a perfect fit. Now let me tell you why. Mostly these functions are picture perfect as far as the food the drink and the atmosphere but when it comes to the music it usually falls short. Here’s why:

1. Because you will either get a small trio doing Standard Jazz tunes which all seems to run together or

2. A Classical Ensemble that fades totally into the woodwork.

Drivetime has that unique ability to set that subtle groove that makes people subconsciously start tapping their foot. It peeks more interest when you can do tunes that everyone recognizes in a way that’s professional and entertaining and the volume is at a tolerable level. I can’t tell you how many folks came up to us and said how much they appreciated listening to REAL musicians. To me this is the ultimate compliment.

I want to thank Jen Miller and Lisa Radin for taking a chance and using Drivetime for this event because there was the possibility that we could have just blown out the place if we we’re less consciences about for who and where we we’re playing. I also would like to thank the Alzheimer Association for doing such great work trying to abate this life stealing disease.


BernieCap


April 14,2011

As many Drivetime fans know, we are feverishly working on our latest project, “Ignition”. To help give fans an inside glimpse into our recording process I’ll do my best to paint a picture of what’s involved when we record our smooth jazz tunes. The very first thing that we need to do is write the tunes and in that regard we have plethora of talent, everyone in the band can write so when we’re looking for material everyone presents their ideas. We then look for a catchy melody and hook straight away, if something that a band member has written has both of these components then it goes into the pool of possible tracks for the album. With the modern convenience of home recording everyone’s individual ideas are easier to present. Once we narrow down the tunes that we think fit the theme of the jazz album, or the band in general, we learn them and play them out as often as we can to give them a more intimate feel. At this point confidence in the material is critical.

One advantage Drivetime has is two pre production studios to make the recording process much easier. Jimmy’s studio is mainly for sketching out tracks and live performances, sax, vocals, B3 and drums. My studio is for added FX, bass tracks, percussion and arranging. Everything is kept on an external hard drive for transporting back and forth from Jimmy’s studio to mine. Once the basic form of a particular tune is in place I then concentrates on individual performances. Over time we have learned it is better to work with one person at a time when you really want them to feel comfortable and this way there is no waiting around for someone else to finish their parts, you can lose all your momentum just waiting around. Unless you have an extremely large budget where you can hang for days at a studio in New York or LA without worrying about time, this just simply makes more sense.

One issue we have to overcome recording this way is that when you’re working on twelve tunes at a time it’s really hard to keep track of what you have done or haven’t done. Usually I have to constantly update the inventory sheet of what’s been done, and what we need to do, by going over the tracks with a fine tooth comb to make sure they have been recorded correctly and have no stupid mistakes. You wouldn’t believe how often we find a bad fingering or buzz from an instrument that detracts from the performance which really isn’t that hard to fix. We are going for QUALITY jazz music here. We either have the player come back to do that line or steal it from another section of the tune and just drop it in. I don’t see this as cheating because it really is a time saver and we want to get that quality smooth jazz material out to our fans as quickly as possible.

Next all the tracks go to our producer, in this case that would be Jeff Bichaylo who is also our writing partner and the secret weapon of Drivetime. Why is he a secret weapon you may ask? Talent pure un-censored talent and honesty, he is exactly what you want when you’re doing a project like this. His job is to scrutinize the material, tracks and arrangements. Once that is done here comes the most important and most overlooked part of the recording process, carving out with EQ the spaces for each instrument so when you are listening to a piece each player has his own cut out place in the tune and is not blurred or interfered with by another frequency.

Hey, You done yet? Nope! Once Jeff is done it then everything goes to our label Slot1 Studio for mixing. Then it’s off to mastering which is the process of giving the work the polish or shine for radio. OK now it’s time for the Artwork, cover design, reproduction and promotions and that will have to wait till my next blog.

 
February 15, 2011

Hi ya’ll, what a ridiculous winter this has been and as always, hard winters like this one also bring some sad news with it. James Read our first manager/promoter and good friend has been very ill and the likelihood of recovery is not possible. Drivetime owes it’s humble beginnings to James and we are eternally grateful for his guidance and help in the early days of the band. We are going to dedicate our new CD “Ignition” to James for his faith in us. James is truly a renaissance man, a glass blower, artist, carpenter and all around fun guy who has added so much to our lives it’s almost impossible to express our sadness of James not being around.

Now on to more uplifting news, I just found out today that our version of “What You Won’t Do For Love” with Justin Guarini has made it to www.smoothjazz.com this has been a long time coming and I would like to thank our label manager Rick Denzien at Slot1 Entertainment for his tenaciousness and not letting this opportunity slide on by. We have also had an honorable mention in an article about Justin in the Morning Call http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2011/02/doylestowns-justin-guarini-to-take-over-role-in-broadways-american-idiot.html
Thanks to John J. Moser who always takes care of us.

“Ignition” update: All the tunes are written and in the process of development, although this winter has made it almost impossible to get to the studio we are plugging along, artwork is in the works too. Our artwork is being done by Lucretia Coleman of Jameri Artistry http://www.jameriartistry.com please check out her work, she is amazing.
 
Addendum:  2/17/11
James made a very peaceful transition at 6:02 PM last evening. He was a unique individual to say the least. He will be sorely missed, not only buy us but the whole Doylestown community that he loved so much. As Donna his wife always says "Cool Runnings" bro. See you when we get there.
 


October 14, 2010

Well it’s that time of year again and the holiday’s will soon be here. To make the next few months go as smooth as possible I have only taken three gig’s for Nov & Dec this year. As you all know by now Drivetime is working on our fourth CD and it is so important for us to considerate on making this our best work to date. I do have some problems trying to name this one, Drivin’, Crosstown Expressway, Easy Livin’ Passing Lane and the list just goes on and on. If you have any suggestions please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at BernieCap@aol.com you have no idea how much help your suggestions would be.
We will be back to Warmdaddy’s on Nov 4th and then we have two gig’s at our new favorite place to play Mom’s Maxwell’s on Main in Doylestown. Brian & Nat are doing some renovations to make the upstairs room more comfortable and pleasing to the eye. Until then we will be playing in the bar which personally I like more. So don’t be strangers make sure you come out to at least one of these date’s and Drivetime will make sure you have a good time. The band is seamlessly transforming itself from a Smooth Jazz Top 40 cover band to a driving creative force in the Smooth Jazz World. Thank all of you so much for excepting this transition and going along for the ride. You’re the best supporters in the world. See ya soon!
I also wanted to mention that my son-in-law Justin Guarini is appearing in the Broadway show “Woman On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown”. We are extremely excited about this opportunity for him.
for more info
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/theater/10women.html

August 19, 2010

I wasn’t sure what to expect after not being at Warmdaddy’s for almost a year, I must say it was a very pleasant surprise. It was a packed house and a very appreciative crowed, boy I wish these folks would come out to every gig. Drivetime’s new material went over better then I could have hoped for and the band sounded great. As always Michael Tozzi was as gracious a host as ever, on a personal note if and when you have a chance to go out and see one of Michael’s shows please do it. There are very few of us jazz lovers and supporters who actually participate in the jazz community in Philadelphia which I’m sad to say is an endangered species. Michael will never tell you this but he has worked hard and long to keep jazz in Philly and he deserves more then he is receiving in time and money. If you can please be sure to send him a thank you note at www.ijazzglobal.com he certainly deserves much, much more. Once again thank all of you for being at Warmdaddy’s and Drivetime will see you all real soon.

July 30, 2010

For all the folks who came out to MOM’S Maxwell’s in Doylestown I want to thank you all very much. It would appear your turn out has clinched us a place to play on a regular basis in Doylestown. I will post those dates as they come in. We are also headed down to Warmdaddy’s in South Philly on Aug 12th. This will be monumental because we have been doing more originals and the gang on Columbus Ave have not heard any of our new stuff so I’m excited to see the reaction as we turn from a Smooth Jazz cover band to an all-original Urban Organic Jazz group which has been our goal since we started the band. The other thing is we haven’t been at Warmdaddy's for almost a year so this should be pretty interesting. Now about the new CD that I have been getting hammered about from some of our most die hard fans. I have been in the process of moving and getting Justin & Reina moved into their new digs too so the project has been on hold until I can get my new studio up and running. I promise once this is done we’ll knock it out. All the material has been written we just need to record various parts and then it’s off to our producer who in this case will be Jeff Bichaylo. Jeff has reached a new level of production and I am extremely proud to work with him. I also wanted to mention that Andrew Neu has agreed to do a tune on the CD, Jeff and I are working on something that Andrew can really bite into, Thanx Andrew for agreeing to do this. Check Andrew’s music out at www.andrewneu.com/press/view?id=2 I’ll be posting a new blog after Warmdaddy’s so please check back for the latest news from Drivetime.


June 20, 2010

Last night was awesome, playing Chris’ Jazz Café has been a goal of Drivetime’s since we started the band. I can’t say I was disappointed either, what a great venue and I hope we are invited back. It was also nice to have Justin sit in, as always he sung his heart out and definitely was a crowed pleaser. Now we’re off to Doylestown to do Mom’s Maxwell’s in July, it will sure be nice to play at home, haven’t played in town for at least a year. I hope folks remember who we are?????? Anyway I want to thank Margo & Gloria for being such steadfast loyal listeners and always being involved with our various projects. Well Happy Fathers Day, I’m gona just be soaking in the pool all day, these late night gig’s are a bitch…………

May 21, 2010

Thanks to all who attended the show last night. To Steve and Andre I really appreciate your efforts to try and film & photograph in such poor lighting. And for all those folks who travailed to the Tritone to see Drivetime & Siora I can't thank you enough. Now it's off to Chris' Jazz Cafe........

April 2, 2010

Ah, spring is here! I know things have been quite and you haven’t heard much from us in the last three months but I assure you we are hard at work. We have started writing and recording our new CD, which has no title as of yet but we are creating and defining the Drivetime sound with all new original material. It will be full of surprises. I intend to take us in directions that I’m sure you will find intriguing. Drivetime has also reached out to some other artist to enhance the experience. We our bringing on board Phyllis Chapell from Siora http://www.siorajazz.com for a cover of “Mas Que Nada” made popular by Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66 and most recently done by The Black Eyed Peas. We hope to give it a modern but traditional mix and we are thrilled that Phyllis is going to join us. Also Jimmy & I have written our first vocal tune together “Its Love We’re In” and we are bringing in Paul Jerome one of the founding members of the first ever Blue Eyed soul groups out of Philly, The Temptones that included Daryl Hall and spawned Hall & Oats. We have also solicited the help of guitar legend Jef Lee Johnson http://www.myspace.com/jefleejohnsonmusic on one of Jeff Bichaylo’s tunes “On My Mind Again” I am still fishing for other top smooth jazz artists that will give this CD the spice I’m looking for. We do have some appearances this summer at The Tritone, and then back to Warmdaddy’s in August. So stay tune.





January 1, 2010

Well here we are at the end of another year and what an incredible year it has been for Drivetime. Teaming up with Justin Guarini for the Sellersville Theater, The World Cafe', The 10! Show and Preston & Steve Morning Show on WMMR has been a gas. I wish I could adequately express to all our supporters just how incredibly thankful I am for your support. This year we had a new CD releases party at Warmdaddy's hosted by Michael Tozzi, numerous newspaper and magazine articles, we made it to the coolest European Smooth Jazz web site, and of course the wedding. Drivetime is also very excited for 2010 starting off with our appearance at The Triumph Brewery in New Hope on January 15th, it would be real nice to have a local venue again, we hope to see you all there because it's you who make us look good.
Here's wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 16, 2009

I don’t even know where to start for this blog. The past two months have been just unbelievable. I have seen the union of my daughter Reina to Justin Guarini on September 26th, which was one of the most beautiful days I can remember for all of us. Countless articles and interviews about the wedding and the Sellersville Theater concert, appearances on NBC, which believe it or not used to be CBS down on City Line Ave and I got to visit the old studio where we filmed the Discophonic Scene back in the day, boy was that cool, lot’s of memory’s floating around my head for day’s. We also hit WMMR 93.3 for the Preston & Steve show which was a blast, what a great bunch. There are links on the web site for all the promo’s and wedding press, Look at the Press Kit page for most of them, there are also some on the Home page. I am also blown away for the unwavering support from our friend’s and fan’s, for both the wedding and the Sellersville show, I am truly humbled by your kind words and the fact that you were there when we needed you. I will tell you this, it is just the start; I am already at work planning our next CD and a series of shows so stay tuned. And as I like to say at gig’s “Stick around, we are just getting wound up”.


August 18, 2009

I wanted to let you all know some of the things that have and will be going on with the band over the next few months. Saturday Aug 15th Drivetime did the Verizon Block Party in Hewlett, Long Island with Justin and it was covered by the TV Guide network. I’m not complaining but it was the hottest day I’ve ever had to played out side, wow……… My hat is off to my band mates who got through the day without a whimper. I want to personally thank Kim from TV Guide who without her help we would have melted for sure, she is now an honorary band member and was dubbed “dude of the day” for having to listen to the Phillies game on the way home without complaining.
Drivetime will be back at Warmdaddy’s in September for the ijazzglobal “Groove Series” with Michael Tozzi which is always a pleasure doing. And now the big news, in October we will be doing our first concert at the Sellersville Theater with Justin and we hope you can make it, I promise it will be the best show you’ll see all year. CD sales have been great and the MP3 of “What You Won’t Do For Love” is doing really well too. Thanx to all of you for your support and kind words on Facebook.
Remember Drivetime loves ya baby………



July 15th, 2009

Let me begin this blog by saying we have the best supporters in the world, you made the CD release party a total success. You people came out in droves……..thank you, thank you, thank you. I want to thank Justin Guarini for flying in from Orlando to appear with us and sing some tunes. I want to thank Jen Miller from Loudseed for the great publicity campaign she ran for the event, I want to thank to Michael Tozzi from ijazzglobal.com for his support. Thanx Peg for your diligence on cd sales. I won’t embarrass everyone by naming you individually, you all know who you are but you all made it a super night and I sincerely hope you all had a great time I know I did. After working for many months on the cd and planning the cd release party I have to tell you for three days after I was a vegetable, I couldn’t get out of my easy chair. But as usual though, there is not rest for the wicked, I am starting work on our new cd and I promise it will not take as long as Reflections. Once again, I want to thank everyone who participated in the CD Release Party, old listeners and new listeners and rest assured Drivetime is just getting wound up………
 
April 3, 2009

Summer will soon be here and I am excited about some of the things that are going on with the band. Once again Michael Tozzi is single handedly working to keep jazz alive in Philly, I knew he wouldn’t let us down. He has a new Internet station ijazzgloble.com and he has resumed the Thursday After Work “Groove Series” at Warmdaddy’s, hope to see you there. We have had some great performances there and want to thank everyone for their support and kind words. Drivetime is proud to be associated with Michael and Warmdaddy’s. The cd will be done shortly, it’s been taking a little longer then I thought only because I’m taking the time to make sure it’s enjoyable, I do promise to have it out before our next gig at Warmdaddy’s. The one note I would like to add is the great performance that Justin Guarini gave on What You Won’t Do For Love, I’m am certain this will be a much listened to cut and hopefully played for years to come.
 
 
 

December 23, 2008

We’ll it’s Christmas, thing's have been just poppin’ for the band, we are just about done our Reflections CD and should be available by the end of January ’09. We had a great time doing the Fat Jack’s gig in Feasterville with Justin so if your looking for some serious rib’s Fat Jack’s is the place to go. Also we have had Delton Walker sit in a couple of nights, what a great player and what a groove. I want to personally thank Justin Guarini for coming out to Stephanie’s on December 20th, his voice is so amazing, please if you ever get a chance to see him do it, I promise you won’t be disappointed. That’s it for now, Drivetime wishes you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!! Be safe and may all your dreams come true in the upcoming year…

 
 

September 8th 2008

Once again 97.5 WJJZ has flipped for a new (hip mellow rock) format. Drivetime would like to send out its thanks to Michael Tozzi & Frank Childs for their stellar effort to keep Smooth Jazz in Philly. Drivetime is also infuriated by the way these two guy's we're treated by the new management. Told to pack up their crap their services we're no longer needed and escorted to the door, like criminals. What's criminal here is the total lack of respect for Tozzi & Childs for fifteen years of service to the Smooth Jazz community here in Philadelphia. No matter whether you liked them or smooth jazz for that matter, this is 2008 and Radio Stations still behave like it's the fifties, In an industry that's falling apart, low Compact Disk sales and download piracy, you’d think they wouldn't start feeding on their own. I’m sure this will be the last time a radio station will try to do Smooth Jazz in Philadelphia so if you love the music you’ll just have to come out to see us. We are the island in the storm the oasis in the desert and we will deliver for you die hard listeners. "Do not look forward in fear, nor back in anger but around in awareness"

August 14th 2008

Since June Drivetime has been rehearsing with two new players, Jimmy DellOrefice (keyboard) and Michael Piper (drums) make sure you check out their bio pages. These two guys are “dynamite” they bring to the table the feel and chops that you would expect from the heaviest dudes on the jazz scene today. We are honored to have these guy’s along for the ride.
On August 1st we did a gig at Stephanie’s with the new line up and once again our buddy Justin Guarini sat in and did some tunes, I want to thank Justin and the boys, "you killed them as usual". I would also like to mention that Justin just returned from a USO tour of Afghanistan and we are extremely happy he got back in one piece. Thank you my friend for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this, no matter how you feel about the war you went and did this anyway, you the man!!!!!!!

Don’t forget we have Warmdaddy’s comin’ up on Sept. 11th remember we hit at 6pm for the WJJZ Grove Series.

July 30, 2008

Well it’s been a great summer so far and we hope all is going well for our avid listeners. Drivetime is busy putting together two cd’s an ambitious project to say the least. The first cd is a collection of the cover tunes that we do at gigs and the second cd will be our primer original material. On July 3rd we had a great show at Warmdaddy’s thanks to our good buddy Dave Dales who rocked the house, Thanx Dave. We are still perusing new venues to make it easier for some of you to get out to see us, so keep the faith. In the meantime don’t miss our gigs at Stephanie’s and Warmdaddy’s.


April 2, 2008

Drivetime & WJJZ have partnered up for some great shows. Since February Drivetime has been playing for the WJJZ “Groove Series” at Warmdaddy’s every other Thursday after work. This gig is awesome; there is no cover charge and there’s a free buffet so for the price of a beer you can get a great show and dinner. We hope you join us at this great venue. We are working to expand our influence throughout the Philly area so please make sure to spread the word and make sure you come out to support your favorite band DRIVETIME.

January 11th 2008

Wow! Sorry it took so long to post this, it's been ten months since my last post, can you believe it? Let's start out with our appearance at Warmdaddy's and the WJJZ House Band Contest. Although we didn't win WJJZ has decided to put all their weight behind Drivetime in a series of opportunities’ that we are very excited about. Look for our adds on WJJZ 97.5 for more info............
We would like to welcome a new member to our team Tony Clarke who will be our Publicist & Tour Manager please visit his web site at www.theclarkegroupltd.com for more info
On December 29th we had the extreme pleasure of having Justin Guarini (American Idol) sit in with Drivetime and do some amazing vocals. Justin is a long time family friend and we are pleased at his success. And in my opinion well deserved. Wow! what a set of pipes...............
On another note the CD is in production and we anticipate its conclusion sometime in the fall of 2008. Don't be discouraged if you are looking for something sooner but I have decided to make sure everything on this project is what is expected of us, as they say; patience is a virtue.

March 18th 2007

Notes of interest:
Over the last three weeks we have had some great shows, this includes some very spirited sit in performances by some of the best jazz player’s on the planet. We want to thank Rick Whitehead for coming up from DC, what a superb guitar player and new friend. Congratulations to Rick on his winning of the Washington Area Musician's Association (WAMA) 2006 "Best Jazz Instrumentalist" award! Also want to thank our old guitar playin’ buddy Gene Terramani for sitting in this weekend, Most of the players in Drivetime have played with Gene off and on for over thirty years, and it never gets old. Gene feel free to sit in anytime your busy concert schedule allows. We want to thank drummer Dave Mohn for his enthusiastic performance covering for Denny on the Feb. 17th. And thanks to Dave Dales with his unique vocal style and great keyboard ability made our gig on Feb. 10th a party and a half. And we can’t forget Jeff Bichaylo’s contribution on keys the night Rick Whitehead sat in with Drivetime. Thank all of you for making Drivetime a unique experience every time we play. We also want to thank all the great people who come out to see us, we sure have had some fun gang, we love it and we love you.