This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
05/11/2017 12:01 AMOn Monday, May 22, Tuxedo Junction: The Sounds of Swing led by Pat Todd will celebrate 1,001 nights at Bill’s Seafood, 548 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, at 7 p.m.
The band started out in 1989 as Tuxedo Junction, an eight-piece Dixieland band in the basement of the “caboose” Senior Center in Madison, Todd says.
“We moved to Bill’s in 1997, 18 of us playing every Monday evening. With downbeat at 7, we will mark 1,0001 nights there,” Todd says. “The band includes men and women of all ages; some high school students, others seasoned professionals. We all share the same love for music and dedication to harmony and swing.”
Todd says substitute players past and present will be on hand to share their stories, when they’re not playing.
Todd, from Guilford, says playing with the band has been a blast.
On a recent Sunday, the band played at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Wooster Square in New Haven.
Todd says there were more than 11,000 people of all ages watching, listening, and enjoying the music “with many people dancing in front of us.”
Todd loves playing birthday parties as well.
“This weekend a birthday party, next weekend a birthday party, Every job is a highlight,” Todd says.
Bill’s is special because it also serves as a rehearsal space.
“We try out new arrangements, and...we just might repeat a tune. Sometimes, rarely, when I stop the band in the middle of a tune, the dancers stop, too, in place, until we get started again. It’s very funny.”
Todd usually arrives around 5:30 p.m. and starts setting up the chairs and the sound system for the 18 band members.
“There is aways someone there to help. And I can tell right away when someone from out of town is dining at Bill’s. They can’t believe their eyes and ears at the size of the band, and the great sound. We have been hired for countless jobs by those in the audience. We’re willing to travel, and have played from the Canadian border to Philadelphia,” Todd says.
For more information about the band, visit its page on Facebook or call 203-458-1310.
—Pem McNerney