The Rap Sheet

Cancelled

2012-01-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

Due to the weather, today's show is cancelled. We will post the new date when it is announced.

Next Show!

2012-01-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

First I would like to thank everyone who came to the Christmas show at Sachem Library. Hopefully this will become a Vendettas tradition. For those of you that missed the show we rallied a 10 piece version of The Vendettas on stage to play great Rock and Roll Christmas songs as well as our regular show. Pictures and video to come.

For the next bit of news The Vendettas have been invited to help out a group called RTMAS in Riverhead. They are trying to raise money for a no-kill animal shelter. We will be playing a fundraiser for them later this month We are playing two sets starting around 7:00 PM.

The details:

Sat Jan 21, 2012 Riverhead Elks Lodge 1239 E Main St Riverhead NY, $15.00 per person Spaghetti Dinner. You get: salad, spaghetti, meatballs, sauce, Larry's famous clam sauce, bread, dessert, The Vendettas Live, cash bar, raffles and door prizes. Please come join us from 5pm to 10pm to help build our town of Riverhead a new animal shelter

2011-11-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

Rock and Roll Christmas Show!

2011-10-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well, after taking a bit of a break to expand my family by one, The Vendettas are returning to the stage December 4th at the Sachem Library! This will be our biggest show yet with many special guests sharing the stage.

The Program will include Rock and Roll Christmas classics from Elvis, Chuck Berry and The Brian Setzer Orchestra, along with many hit songs from our Rockabilly repertoire.

Start off the holiday season with off The Vendettas' 8 Piece Rock and Roll Christmas Band!

Jay

The Vendettas

photo by Theodore W. Lee

Our Last Hamptons Show of the Summer Season!

2011-08-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 6th

CB's Bar and Grill

214 West Montauk Highway

Hampton Bays, New York

Come to Hampton Bays this Saturday to hear your Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll Favorites, Elvis to the Reverend Horton Heat. From the East End's own Rockabilly band, The Vendettas!

If you can't make that show (or one is just not enough) come to Phil's Sports Bar in Wading River, New York for an early show! August 7th at 5:30.

This Weeks Show Cancelled!

2011-06-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

This weeks show as well as our July 17th show at CB's in Hampton Bays have been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

Our August show stands.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

The Vendettas

Saturday's Show Rain or Shine

2011-06-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Saturday show at South Country Library, 22 Station Road Bellport, Starts at 2PM and is Free.

Come on down and dance to your Rockabilly favorites in beautiful Bellport Village!

Summer Residency

2011-04-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

After two fun shows as CB's of Hampton Bays, The Vendettas will be playing dates there throughout the summer. It is a great crowd, the dancing and singing along kind, so you should come down and join in the fun. The dates are posted on sidebar.

We also had a successful show at the Huntington Public Library. The crowd there was a lot of fun, very enthusiastic. Fios shot the show and interviewed the band afterwords for a show called My Long Island. I have no idea what the footage looks or sounds like ( we don't get final cut) nor do I really remember anything that we said in the interview. Hopefully we were having lucid moment when commenting on the cultural relevance of Rock and Roll and the state of music today. Unfortunately we all live in IO cable land and might not see the show.

We have two more library shows coming up: South Country in Bellport and at the Mastic Moriches Library. These are usually open to all comers, so if the the bars and clubs aren't for you or they are just plain too late, this is a really good alternative.

Vedettas Return to CB's In Hampton Bays!

2011-03-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time playing at CB's last month we can't wait to get back there this weekend! We will be doing an afternoon show starting at 3:00PM right after the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Come down for an afternoon of Rock and Roll and Rockabilly favorites from Elvis, Johnny Cash, Stray Cats, Gene Vincent and more! Plus there will be food, dancing and of course refreshing adult beverages!

What would Elvis do?

He would go.

Only 3 Days until The Vendettas Play Live in Hampton Bays!

2011-02-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

The Vendettas will break out two big sets this Saturday at CB's Bar and Grill

214 West Montauk Highway in Hampton Bays. The show starts at 9:00P.M.

Call at 631.728-7574

And...we're back!

2011-02-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Jay and Lenny at the Bolton Center for the Elvis Birthday Concert with The Long Island Hornets.

Photos by Jim Marchese

Hiya Hiya Hiya Kids,

The Vendettas have mostly been laying low during the cruel winter, mostly due to Chin's house arrest. We do however, have some good news to report.

We have a brand new venue on the books, this month we will be making our first appearance at CB's in Hampton Bays, and then again in March right after the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

We also have some great library shows coming up. Check out all of the new dates on the sidebar on the right.

If you visit our website, you will see that it has been totally redesigned by our creative dept. (Chin, a lot of extra time on his hand) to be interactive. It is an inside look at what The Vendettas World Corporate Headquarters looks like.

Lenny and I were invited by NYRMA to participate in Gene vs. Eddie Rockabilly show, and we just played at the sold out Elvis Birthday Tribute at the Bolton Center. This was our third year playing the show and as always it was a great time. Lots of really talented people who donate their time for Rock Can Roll, a local food bank. This time we played onstage with The Long Island Hornets. They are a great band, check them out as soon as you get a chance.

We have spent this winter learning a bunch of new songs and even writing a few of our own. We will be breaking some of these out at our next show.

Show Cancelled

2010-08-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, todays Chowder Pot Pub show in Greenport NY is cancelled due to weather.

New Dates, And Some Changes! Riverhead Blues Festival!

2010-07-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we last checked in, I just want to remind people that we are playing at the Chowder Pot in Greenport, NY this Saturday the 17th and we will be making our THIRD appearance at the Riverhead Blues Festival Sunday July 18th at 6PM. Look for us in the Vail-Levitt Music Hall (air conditioning) which is a beautiful old theater. We are very excited to be playing there. There will be lots of great bands there including our pals, Lil' Cliff and the Cliff Hangers.

Please note that we have no further dates at Sparkling Point Vineyards.

Look for us in the upcoming weeks at Phil's Sports Bar in Wading River, the Chowder Pot in Greenport, The Fisherman's Rest in Cutchogue as well as some more library shows in the not too distant future.

Summer Shows: Phil's, Blues Fest!

2010-05-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

We just got word that The Vendettas will be making a return to the Riverhead Blues Festival this year. We will be playing at the beautiful Vail-Leavitt Music Hall on Sunday July 18th at 6:00! We are looking forward to participating in the Blues Fest again and to playing at such a historic venue.

We will also be returning to The Chowder Pot in Greenport, Phils Sports Bar in Wading River, The Fisherman's Rest in Cutchogue, along with some private shows. Look at the lineup on the right for details.

Our show at Sachem Public Library was one of our best, and one of the most well attended! There were almost 300 people who came out to see The Vendettas. We also had our friend Adam Tese joining us on Saxaphone. It is always fun to have him onstage with us. We would like to thank Jessica Small for her review of the show on patch.com .

This weekend we are playing at Phil's Sports Bar in Wading River, always nice to do a home town gig, next week we are playing at The Fishermans's Rest. If you haven't been there yet, you should check it out. It has become a great little music spot, with really good bands every weekend. People actually go to check out the bands and dance! The food is good too. We hope to see you there.

Thanks to Jane for these photos.

New Show with Big Daddy Deluxe!

2010-03-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks,

We have been invited way out West (to Massapequa) to join Big Daddy Deluxe for their Rockabilly Night at the Blue Parrot Lounge. We hope that if you live out that way you'll be able to join us for an evening of swinging music. Saturday March 20th 8:00 PM

Blue Parrot of Massapequa Inc5460 Merrick Rd, Massapequa, NY 11758-6213(516) 797-5908‎

blueparrotmusic.com

For Every Door that Closes...Blah Blah Blah

2010-02-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

Well , as many of you know, Fatty Beltbuckles, a venue where we have played monthly for almost a year has closed down. It would have been nice if we had gotten a phone call about the impending lock up so we could have posted the cancellation of our show earlier than an hour before our show but whatever. The bottom line is George supported us and gave us work even when we weren't drawing so well. Now that my initial rage has subsided I can say I wish him luck in his new joint. It is always sad when a local business goes under.

The good news is we have TWO new venues! The Fisherman's Rest in Cutchogue and Phil's Sports Bar in Wading River. The Fisherman's Rest has been a great place for us, they have music every week and the crowd is a music crowd, they dance they sing and get involved. We have a lot of fun playing there.

Phil's will be a return to my roots in a way. Some of the very first gigs I ever played were there with The Hackensack Men back when it was Judges Hotel. I was 19 then, that was a looong time ago.

Thanks for coming to see us, and we hope to see you at these new rooms.

The Vendettas

Show Cancelled

2010-02-12T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Fatty Beltbuckles show in Rocky Point is Cancelled. The room is closed.

We apologize to our friends who were planning to see us tonight or went there before you got this message.

Elvis Tribute Show! New Venues, New Dates!

2010-02-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody

Well the Elvis Show was a success, with somewhere in the ballpark of 40 performers and singers on stage and a tremendous audience (they had to turn people away at the door again this year). The food pantry was able to raise several thousand dollars and got hundreds of donations of canned goods for the needy. Thank you to everyone who came. We would also like to thank Steve Prisco of The Blaggards and The Purple Gang for inviting us again this year. It was great to be a part of the show. As with last years show, we met so many talented and gracious people. It was a pleasure to be there.

We also tried out a new venue, The Fisherman's Rest in Cutchogue. It is right on the main road in town. There is good food there and a great dancing crowd. We are there again next week, check the sidebar for date and time.

The Vendettas also have shows coming up at Phil's restaurant in Wading River, and North shore Public Library in Shoreham NY.

Bonus Show!

2009-11-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

We have a late addition to our show schedule: We will be playing a full show at Fatty Beltbuckle's in Rocky point on Wednesday November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. This hot on the heels of our unscheduled double bill with The Kerry Kearney Band at the same venue.

Following that we will be returning to Matty T's in Deer Park for Rockabilly night on the 28th, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We will be opening for The Blaggards who are just a great band and a really good bunch of guys. We met them last year at the Elvis show. It will be a great show, the bar is the only place where you can wear a cowboy hat or a pompadour and fit right in.

Speaking of The Elvis Show, The Vendettas have been invited to play at this years edition. The show will be ont Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at Hennesey’s Bar & Grill, located on Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station. More details to come.

Check out the sidebar for some recently added dates and venues

Halloween Gig is Cancelled!

2009-10-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, due to unforeseen circumstances at Darin's of Miller Place the Halloween show has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.

A Lot of Catching Up! and Halloween Show!

2009-10-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween Show

We will be making our last appearance at Darin's of Miller Place this Saturday, Halloween Night! The venue has decided not to continue with music. Rest assure we will do our best to rock the house so they remember we were there. We will be doing our usual Rockabilly favorites plus a selection of Halloween songs that you won't want to miss. Get there by 9:30 to catch the whole show!

We haven't posted for a while so let me sum up: We had a great time and a great show playing with the excellent Buzzards at Matty T's. It cool to play for a real Rockabilly crowd and we are looking forward to playing there again with The Blaggards. See the sidebar for details.

Our standing gig at Fatty Beltbuckles keeps chugging along. The owner George has been great to us, he is a real fan of the music and a supporter of live music general. It would be nice to see some more folks at Fatty's but that's just me.

We crossed paths with Sax player extraordinaire Adam Tese once again as he helped us out at the South Country Library show. Hopefully we will be seeing him again.

2009-09-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Our Next Show!

Matty T's

356 Commack Rd

Deer Park, NY 11729-5523

(631) 667-6868

Join us for our first time at Roy Wilson's Rockabilly Night

The Vendetta's played our last show at the Chowder Pot in Greenport NY for the season. It was a great day. There was a ton of people there for the Maritime Festival and the band was joined onstage by the Peconic War Pipes for an inpromtue rendition of "Amazing Grace" which really couldn't have been more... interesting. Still they were good sports and we had a good time with them.

We also unveiled our Spy medley for the first time. I, as a general rule am opposed to the medley as a whole - however this genre seemed to lend itself to that format very well. It got a great response from the audience, come and hear it for yourself.

This Saturday, September 26th we will be appearing at Matty T's Road House for Rockabilly Night. We have been waiting to perform there since Lenny and I played at the Elvis Tribute this past Winter.

We are psyched to be playing there as well as to be playing with The Buzzards. We will be back at Matty T's at the end of November with The Blaggards.

We hope you will join us for our first show there!

Jaybone

The Vendettas

Important Venue Change!

2009-09-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Sept 26th The Vendettas will not be appearing at Darrin's. We will instead, be playing at Roy Wilson's Rockabilly Night at Matty T's Road House at 356 Commack Rd in Deer Park. We will be playing with an excellent Rockabilly Band: The Buzzards. The show starts at 10 PM, we are not sure of the program yet, but as soon as we find out we will post our start time.

We are cranked up to be playing Rockabilly night, we hope to see our Western Suffolk friends there!

We will be back at Darrin's in Miller Place on Halloween night, with a special spooky show.

This weekend we are out in Greenport for the Maritime Festival at the Chowder Pot from 2-6 PM

It will be a great family day with shows, music, great food and vendors.

Vendettas Return to Rocky Point

2009-09-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Vendettas will be bringing their Roots Rock and Roll and Rockabilly sound back to Fatty Beltbuckles in Rocky Point this Friday, September 11th at 10:00PM The place has great BBQ and is one of the best places locally that one can go to hear live music. Please support all of the bands that play there, but if you can only come to see one band, well, it should be us.

As we enter the beginning of Fall of 2009 we come up on a year that the Vendettas have been playing as a trio. Although it was a bit of a job to loose Lenny's rhythm guitar (he switched to drums) and Jerry's piano, the band was able to make the adjustment within a few shows. Lenny and Chin did outstanding jobs, changing their rolls, taking up the slack and generally keeping their sense of humor during the transition. In a way it makes total sense as many of the bands that we hold in such high regard and try like hell to emulate were trios too. You can't argue with success, have been playing more, learning the songs that the audience has been requesting and finding Rockabilly fans!

Checking out the hits on our website shows that we have people looking at the site and reading the blog from all over the country and all over the world: Ireland, France, South America and so on.

Sign up for our mailing list on our main page, book us, talk to us. Let us know if you have ideas about venues, songs, or other bands we should know about.

Jaybone

Vendettas Back in Greenport

2009-08-04T05:24:00.000-07:00

Come see us at The Chowder Pot in Greenport, NY

Saturday Aug. 8th from 7:00-11:00

104 3rd St
Greenport, NY 11944-1610
(631) 477-1345

Our Next Show!

2009-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Vendettas

This Friday

10:00 PM

Fatty Beltbuckles

49 Rt. 25A• Rocky Point, NY 631-403-4056 •. FattyBeltBuckles. com

Come for the Pork-Stay for the Rock and Roll

The Vendettas Sell Out!

2009-07-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Our Next Show: The Chowder Pot

104 3rd St
Greenport, NY 11944-1610

(631) 477-1345

We are celebrating our first sold out show! Our performance at the Roger's Beach Pavillion was completely sold out of all 130 tickets two weeks before the show date. We were happy to be a part of the Summer concert series sponsored by the Westhampton Free Library and owe a big "Thank You" to Nola Thacker and Leslie Millrod who brought us on board.

We were also fortunate to have Adam Tese join us for the beach show. We met him at the Elvis Tribute Show last Winter, he is a fine Rock and Roll sax player and a hell of a nice guy. Hopefully we will see him on some of our shows in the future. Speaking of the future, our next show is a new venue for us: The Chowder Pot in Greenport, NY. I hear the food i

s great and we will find out for sure this

Saturday, July 18th at 7:00 PM.

Above, left to right: Andrew from The Rebel Dead, Adam Tese with us at the sold out beach show and Pat from 2U

Private Party and Guest Stars

OK "star" is such a subjective term, but we did get to play with some other fine musicians at a private Fourth of July party held by a local brewer. We had Pat Rotolo, the "Adam Clayton Guy" from the excellent tribute band 2U, and we had Andrew Bollerman the ferocious Long Island Punk band, The Rebel Dead, sitting in on drums, such as they are. Lenny's truncated drum set can be disorienting to other drummers, but Andrew persevered.

As I have said before, we love playing private parties, we get a crowd that is into the music, that gets what we are doing, and will dance. "How do I get The Vendettas to play my private engagement?" you might ask. Drop us a line right here, we'll play at you freaking house!

2009-06-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

The Vendettas

This Friday

10:00 PM

Fatty Beltbuckles

49 Rt. 25A• Rocky Point, NY 631-403-4056 •. FattyBeltBuckles. com

I Gotta Get a New Shirt!

2009-06-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of the people who came to see the show at Darin's in Miller Place this past Saturday. And a special thanks to the folks from Longwood Public Library who came down to shake it up. There was a special Bo Diddley song for them and the other librarians who showed up. There was a great turn out, it was good to see people dancing. We had a Winters worth of Kierkegaardian angst to blow off, and so we did with a new set.

We will be back at Darin's for three more dates this Fall including a Halloween show!

Look for us June 26th at Fatty Beltbuckles in Rocky Point

Above: Lenny crooning. The band is focused, mostly. Jaybone gets an extra pic for doing the blog.

Summer Tour!

2009-05-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

It is a tour in as much as we leave our homes to go somewhere else to play music. It is exciting for us because we have some new local venues and we hope you will come to every single one, buy lots of drinks (but not too many) and dance a whole lot. This helps us keep the gig. You can also expect a new show with new songs (for us) and new shoes!

Come down and hear us at Fatty Belt Buckles in Rocky Point, Darin's in Miller Place and The Chowder Pot in Greenport!

You will also notice that we have some private parties scheduled. These are some of our favorite shows to do, backyard parties, house parties, pool parties, weddings! Don't feel left out. Have The Vendettas at your next shindig! Don't think you can't afford us, you can! Don't think we will eat all of your food, we won't. Don't think we will want to sleep over, we have homes!

Getting Ready for Summer!

2009-04-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since we have posted. We did finally go into the studio (Suffolk Recording in

Patchouge, NY) and were really lucky to

wrangle Void as our engineer and producer. Unfortunately for us, Void got picked up as engineer for the Ryan Star tour so we didn't get to finish our

mixes. We did however do enough to start working the clubs with a new recording.

What we have so far sounds great and Chin will be posting some of the new stuff on our main page. We picked tunes that were a much more accessible the casual fan, rather than appealing to the hardcore Rockabilly fan like our last disc. If all works out, we will combine the two sessions to make one full length disc, which we will then make copies of and put in the basement to avoid a lawsuit.

We have a few shows coming up, but as always, let us know if there is a venue in your town you want us to play. Don't forget we love a house party!

The Library Tour Continues!

2009-03-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

It seems counter intuitive for a Rock and Roll band to play at a library and yet it is happening more and more with all kinds of music. I think piano recitals have been a staple of library programming for years but now you can see all kinds of music for free at various libraries in Suffolk County and all over the country.

We had a great time playing at the Conetquot Public Library, we would like to thank Janet for inviting us and all of our friends who came out on a Sunday afternoon to see us. There were about 150 people in the audience that day and they gave us a great reception.

Sunday was our second show as a three piece and the economy of the instrumentation really lends itself to the authenticity of the sound.

This weekend we are heading back into the studio with our producer Void who worked with many well known bands, most recently "Push Play". We intend to walk out of the studio that day with recordings that capture that raw "Sun Studios" vibe. Soon we will have a full length recording that we will be available for sale at shows and possibly online.

And... we're back.

2009-02-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Above: Adam the sax player, Lenny and Jaybone playing with The Purple Gang.

The Vendettas had a great time at the Elvis Tribute Show at Matty T's. We got to see and play with some of the best Rockabilly players on the Island. The show was great and they were able to raise a bunch of money for the homeless. If you missed the show or want to re-live it over and over again you can check it out on Youtube. Lenny and I perform "My Baby Left Me" in Part 2.

I would also encourage people to check out the scene at Matty T's on the last Saturday of every month for Roy Wilson's Rockabilly night. Roy is in a great band called The Buzzards, you should check them out if you get the opportunity. Watch for The Vendettas to be making an appearance at Rockabilly Night in the months to come.

It looks like the very first place to hire us and our home away from home is not shutting it's doors after all. Eastender's Coffee House, will in fact be moving to a new location in Riverhead. They will be continuing to host live music and I am assured we will be back.

In the meantime we have a few shows coming up. We will be appearing at the Connetquot Public Library in Bohemia, NY on Sunday March 1st at 2:30 PM. On May 2oth we will perform at the Choices show at St Joseph's College in Patchouge, NY. Also look for The Vendettas' Rock and Roll Dance Party at Roger's Beach in Westhampton, NY date TBA.

Elvis Tribute Show!

2009-01-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

Lenny and I are very excited to be representing The Vendettas at the 14th annual Elvis Tribute Show at Matty T's in Deer Park on January 24th. I have heard about, and had friends that participated in past shows and am proud to be taking part in this year's show. As you can see there are lots of talented people playing, singing and otherwise donating their time. All the proceeds are going to charity, we also encourage everybody to bring a few canned goods if possible . You can find more information at www.rockcanroll.org

In the meantime The Vendettas are taking some time to work on a new show, we will still be playing your Rockabilly and Rock and Roll favorites, that is our charter. We are adding new songs to our live catalog.

We will also be heading back into the studio soon and will have a full length product available this year. Maybe we will call it "Chinese Democracy".

Also look for us in some new venues in '09'. We will keep you updated on all the changes. If you have any suggestions or want The Vendettas to come to your town, let us know through the blog here, or leave us a message on the "hit List" on our main page. As always the Living Room Concert is always in effect. Move that "whatnot shelf" out of the way, stick us in the corner, and watch us go!

Happy New Year!

Jaybone

Bells Will Be Ringing...The Vendettas' Christmas Show!

2008-12-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Take a break from shopping and join us for warm drinks and Rock and Roll Christmas songs on December 20th at Eastender's Coffee House 40 E. Main St in Riverhead, showtime about 8:30.

Sadly, rumor has it that Eastender's may be closing sometime in January. You can blame the economy, or a town board with no vision that can't get out of it's own way, or the greed of a landlord who owns most of the stores on Main Street and whose goal seems to keep those stores empty. Whatever the reason, it is a sad situation. Lindsey and Dianne were the first people to ever hire us, on faith alone. We have played Eastender's more than any other venue. For those reasons we have always considered the coffee shop our home. If in fact they do close thier doors we will miss them, and Riverhead will miss them. Ther is no other gathering place like it around anywhere.

On a happier note: Lenny and Jay will be performing at the Elvis Tribute Show, along with the Hornets, The Purple Gang, The Lone Sharks, The Blaggards and probably a mess of other people. That will be on January 24th at Matty T's. We are excited to be a part of it. More information to come.
Thanks to Dianne Woodcheke for the photo.

2008-11-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

Our Next Show
Saturday, November 22nd
The Artful Dodger, Westhampton Beach NY

Blame it on the economy, or political angst or just the fact that we may be impossible to get along with, but for whichever reason, Joe has decided to take his leave of us. Joe played with The Vendettas for over a year. He is a good guy, a good drummer and we wish him all the best. I think he left because we always stood in front of him when we got our picture taken. I could see how, over time, that might get on one's nerves.

We have continued on, following in the footsteps of some of our heros:The Stray Cats, Reverend Horton Heat, The Paladins, and all the other rock and roll trios. I left out Johnny Burnett because there were technically a quartet. Lenny is back at his old post as our drummer, but he will break out a guitar now and then.

We had a great show at Eastender's Coffee House in Riverhead. We had a special guest sit in with us. My old bandmate from the Hackensack Men, "Teenage" John Englehardt. We haven't played together since... well my wedding in September, but before that it was years. Really.

We are putting together our third semi-annual Christmas Rock and Roll Show. Eastender's in Riverhead will be hosting the show this year. Look forward to all your Christmassy rock and roll favorites. When I say "all" I of course mean some. Plus we'll do secular crap that you love.

Vendettas say "No" to topical analgisics

2008-10-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

We Have New Dates!

On October 11th we return to the place where we started, East Ender's Coffee House on Main Street in Riverhead. Come for the great coffee and desserts and great Rockabilly.

Our friends at the Artful Dodger in Westhampton Beach have decided to continue with music into the Fall. You can support live music in our area by going to check out the bands there. Mostly though, you should come to see us. Our next shows there will be October 18th, and November 22.

I like to call the piece you see above "The Essence of Lenny". Photo by Dianne Woodcheke

Blues Fest- Jerry The Dish- Vendettas Get Rooked!

2008-08-25T16:53:00.001-07:00

Where do I begin, it has been a while.

Vendettas at the Artful Dodger-photo by Diane Woodcheke

Our Next Show: Aug 31 The Artful Dodger, Westhampton Beach

Firstly and most importantly those of you who come to see us on a regular basis will no doubt have notice the absence of "Teen Dream" Jerry "The Dish" Silverstein. Jerry has taken a well deserved sabbatical to do what he does best, scrimshaw. Jerry will be continuing to work in his songwriters workshop and look for him to make the occasional surprise appearance with the band. Once a Vendetta...

We made our second appearance at the Riverhead Blues Festival, we had a great time and would like to thank everyone who came to see us and who helped us get booked. It is great to be a part of it.

Now then, last year we got wind of some complaints that "some of the bands" were not playing blues at the blues festival. While it is true that our music is sort of the bridge between Blues, Country, and Rock and Roll, we played a bunch of blues too to show respect for the theme of the festival. So imagine my surprise when as we were loading in, the band on the main stage was playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". No t that it is not a great song, not that the band playing g it didn't do a great job playing it (it was Jim Moran, I think) but is it Blues? Not frigging remotely. We got flack about playing Bo Diddly at a blues festival (not from anyone affiliated organization) and somehow the Genesis guy gets in there and that is OK?

Vendettas rock Megan Dascoli's wedding. photo by some dude

Lastly and to me, regrettably we will no longer be playing the Manorville venue. In the words of Spinal Tap's David St Hubbins, "we shant work together again". It is really too bad, I thought that we had found a home, the crowd was really receptive and it was exciting to play for a group who knew the music. Unfortunately there was a problem with the management, money not payed, terms of agreements left vague. It is one of the few places in the area that feature live music every week, so I guess they can make the rules. Musicians beware.

Our show this weekend features original recipe drummer Charles Woodcheke. Like I said, once a Vendetta... This is Charles during his pirate phase.

The Vendettas at The Blues Fest - New Shows Just Added

2008-07-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Vendettas will make their second appearance at The Riverhead Blues Festival, Saturday at 2:30 in Club 91.

Thanks to "The Core" who came down to our new room, The Artful Dodger, which is in the back of Magic's Pub on Main St. in Westhampton Beach. Things went so well there we have been asked back. Our next show will be Saturday July 26th at 10:00. Look for special guest and former full time member Charles Woodcheke on Drums, filling in for Joe. Charles will be back with us at the Dodger Sunday August 31st. You can see Charles at his regular gig with his excellent band Highway 49.

The Maples is another new venue for us. Frank Lattore of The King Bee's sat in with us for our first show, he is always a pleasure to play with. He added great blues harp and slide guitar to our Rockabilly sound. It was great to meet an new and very receptive crowd, we had a great time. The Vendettas will be back (and hopefully joined by Frank) at The Maples Saturday July 19th after our second appearance at The Riverhead Blues Festival. We are booked at The Maples over the next several months.

We will be at the Longwood Public Library on August 1st. It may seem strange but actually it is the third library we have played. Come and see if we can vibrate the books off the shelves.

Jaybone

Vendettas Expand Thier Range With Independance Day Tour!

2008-06-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Choices Benefit at St. Joe's

Coming off of two great although at least one really challenging show. Our appearance at the the
"Choices" benefit was marred only by lack of the appearance of either of the promised light or sound technicians. Luckily for us the security office was sympathetic and there happened to be a sound engineer in the audience who, rose to the occasion and popped into the control booth.
It was for a great cause and the audience could not have been more appreciative or patient. It was great to play in the beautiful theater at St. Joseph's College.

We also did a private show for The North Fork Community Theater, with the cast and crew of their recent production of Gypsy. They were great to work with and we had a good time

playing for them.

Vendettas in the arbor for NFCT

Coming up: We just added a show at Magic's Pub on Main St. in Westhampton Beach. In what seems like an impossibly small place for a band hides a separate bar in the back of the building. The spot is very cool and we hope we will be joined by some of the friends we made during our stint at Westhampton Bowl.

Frank Lattorre a Big Hit at East Enders!

2008-05-01T14:50:00.000-07:00

Jaybone and Chin after their trip to Rockabilly Barbers

Thanks to everyone who came down to see the show at Eastenders Coffee House, I have to say it was one of our best shows yet. As an added bonus we had Frank Lattorre from The King Bees sitting in with us, filling in for Jerry the Dish. He treated the audience (and the band ) to his great harmonica playing. Next we'll get him to sing a few songs.

Frank plays with his band at Patty's Luncheonette in Eastport every Friday night. Please check them out.

The Vendettas have just finished mixing our new seven song demo. We will be posting some of the songs on this website soon. You will be able to hear the Vendettas no matter where you are. Which is scary.

We will be returning to the coffee house on Friday June 13th (also scary) at 8:00.

As always, if there is a venue you think we should play, including your own living room, let us know here at the blog!

Vendettas in the Studio, Brian Setzer, Next Show

2008-04-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

This Saturday We will be back where we started at East Enders Coffee House on Main St. in Riverhead, NY. Showtime will be 8:00 PM. We will also have a special guest for the evening, the most talented harmonica player I have ever had the good fortune to play with: Frank Latorre of the King Bees. He wll be sitting in for Jerry the Dish who has an out of state court appearance. Please join us on the 19th for an evening of rockabilly and rock and roll as it can only be played when fueled espresso and cake. http://eastenderscoffeehouse.com/

The Vendettas are now working on a new recording. We have recorded the basic tracks, the old school way live, with no tricky stuff. We will be adding the finishing touches and mixing in the next few weeks. We found a great studio http://www.suffolkrecordingstudios.com/ and had excellent experience with Allen and Dan there. They understood what we were going for and helped us get the authentic vibe we were looking for.

A few weeks ago I was in Minneapolis for a professional conference and happened to eat dinner at a Jazz club called Rossi's. To my surprise Leon Redbone was appearing there that night. Needless to say I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see him. So as my colleagues left for the evening (they had no idea who he was) I headed toward the performance area to take my seat. I made a quick stop in the men's room and while washing my hands I turned my head to see standing there, freaking Brian Setzer!

Now I don't have to explain as a guitar player in a rockabilly band how important this guy is to me. When I was in the 8th grade the Stray Cats played in my middle school gym on Long Island. This was right before they went to England. It was a pretty influential moment in my life, it is one of the reasons I picked up the guitar in the first place.

It can be sort of terrifying when you get to meet your heros, there are many ways they might not live up to your expectations, not the least of which is they may turn out to be jerks. That happened to me once. It was a real disappointment. I knew I had to chance it though and say something (even though I was kind of star struck) so I eked out something along the lines of "I love your work". There were about a million things I wanted to say but I didn't want to seem like a freak. I have to say Brian was very friendly and gracious. He took some time to talk with me and even stayed to see Leon Redbone on my suggestion. We had another brief exchange on the way out. It was a very cool experience.

Last Show of our Valentine's Day Tour!

2008-02-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

We had a great turn out for last Friday's show and we want to thank everyone who came down to hear us. There was a big contingent from The Westhampton Free Library:Matt, Jen, Barbara, Leslie, Laureen, and probably some others I'm forgetting. It was also our biggest turn out at the Westhampton Bowl to date, so thank you! As I predicted, the potential for room is great and our audience got larger with each appearance.

In the house was Dave K. of Blush and my former band mate in The Next. Another former band mate "Dangerous Dave" Stadnicki from the Hackensack Men, sat in with us on two tunes, "Marie Marie"from The Blasters, and Wilson Pickett's "634-5789". He sounded great!

We are not scheduled to appear at the Westhampton Bowl again until the summer, but check this website for our public dates. We will be coming to play Rockabilly to your town soon. Hell, we'll play in your freakin' house! Remember that the difference between a party and a really good party is The Vendettas.

Jaybone

Return of "The Dish"!

2008-02-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

After "being away" for almost two months Jerry "The Dish" Silverstein will make his triumphant return to the stage at our last schedualed appearance at Westhampton Bowl, this Friday February 15th at 9:00 PM. Our attorneys have advised us to say as little as possible regarding the Dish's whereabouts for the last two months so let's just call it a "vacation" and leave it at that.

Our last show at "the Bowl" as we like to call it was a great success and we would like to thank all who came down including two members of the great band "Collarbone": singer Alex Mckenna and drummer Dave Elliot. If Lorin were there we could have had a full reunion. Also in attendence were staff members of the Westhampton Free Library and some people who were bowling and just wandered in to see what all the noise was about. We thank all who came.

I recently saw a group called the Church Boys at the Vail Levitt Music Hall in Riverhead New York. Chris the bass player in an original memeber of The Vendettas and has joined us on stage several times in the last year. His new band is a lot of fun, playing mostly originals plus some great garage rock classics. Check them out if you can and check out the music hall which will be showcasing bands every third Thursday. We need places like this that are opened to bands and support original music. Try to support it by visiting when you get the opportunity.

Please join us Friday for an evening of rockabilly and rock and roll. We try to make the shows different so we will be adding in some songs we have never played and the bowling alley before.

Happy New Year, From The Vendettas

2008-01-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

The start of the new year marks the third anniversary for The Vendettas. Our first show with Lenny, Chin and Jaybone and Jerry "the Dish" in lineup was a Christmas party at a friend's house. We played every song we knew plus some rock and roll Christmas classics. We were nervous, but we had fun. So much so that we kept on going.

Last month we revisited the holiday rock, busted out the Santa hats and turned up the Fender amps. We even got our newest member to don the headgear and add his voice the "harmonies" Elvis's "Santa Claus is Back in Town". Of course we want to thank the people who came down to see our Christmas Extravaganza and the Westhampton Beach Library, and the library for taking a chance on having a Rock and Roll band, which I think was a first for them.

We also want to thank all the folks who have supported us this last year including Lindsey from East Ender's Coffee house, the first place to actually hire us, The Birchwood in Southampton and Westhampton Bowling, who have invited us back for two more dates.

In 2008 we will explore new venues, meet more people who dig rockabilly and rock and roll, and maybe we will all chip in and get a body for Chin's upright bass.

Jaybone

Vendettas Rock Westhampton Library !

2007-12-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday Dec. 8th The Vendettas will appear at The Westhampton Free Library for a free Holiday Rock and Roll Show at 7:00pm. The Library is on Library Avenue in Westhampton Beach, the phone number is 288-3335. We are led to believe there will be snacks, and we don't have to play quietly.

The band has also secured two more dates at the Westhampton Lanes bowling alley. Our last show there was a success and our stay has been extended. Thanks to Matt for posting on that show and to Andrew from The De'villes for coming down to hear us. Check out The De'villes, if you get a chance they're a great band.

See You Tonight!
Jaybone

Our Next Show

2007-11-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

Our next live appearance will be at Westhampton Bowl on Nov. 23, the Friday after Thanksgiving. We will hit at 8:00 pm.

We are all pretty psyched to play there, it is a new venue for us and the management seem open to trying something new for them. I think the bowling alley suits us, it has a cool retro vibe (it has been there a long time) it's got a bar and a dance floor, food, and of course bowling. We are trying to cultivate a venue, albeit a non traditional one, and Westhampton Bowling could be ideal. If we can get in on a regular basis and grow a little following in town, it would be good for all involved. It could be good for other bands too.

Our set will include rockabilly and rock and roll songs that we always play, some new stuff and we will be breaking out some Rock and Roll Christmas favorites.

Westhampton Lanes are located at 87 Sunset Ave.

We Are the Vendattas, a Brief History

2007-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

The Vendettas at the Stephan Talkhouse

I played in the Hackensack Men most of my adult life. When I finally left the band in 1999, I had in my head what kind of band I wanted my next project to be. Something smaller, lighter on its' collective feet, and quicker to respond to direction. If playing in a 10 piece R&B band was like driving a tractor trailer, I wanted a sports car, or at least a Dodge Dart.

I wanted to be in a band like The Blasters, or Reverend Horton Heat, and The Stray Cats or all of them rolled up into one. I wanted to play basic rock and roll, bunch of rockabilly and a little bit of blues thrown into the mix.

I reached out to people I had played with in the past to get started (a musical family tree would be good here) and after several false starts and five bass players later, The Vendettas were born. Our first show was a house party at Christmas time two years ago.

We are having a great time playing. We want to meet more people who want to hear and play this kind of music. If you have suggestions for songs we could do, venues we should play at or other bands we should know, please let us know.

Jaybone