It’s a gorgeous Spring night on this Saturday, April 21, 2018 evening at the Jersey Shore.
Concert patrons enjoy the fresh air as, one at a time, they make their way inside Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center of the Arts to see a rare Jersey Shore appearance by Tom Chapin and Friends and The Chapin Sisters.
The lobby is bustling with folk music aficionados purchasing last-minute concessions and checking out the “Chapin Boutique” — a table with CDs, books, LPs, and T-shirts from singer/songwriter Tom Chapin and his daughters, The Chapin Sisters.
Once inside the Grunin Center auditorium, we see the stage is set with a multitude of musical instruments including a grand piano, assorted acoustic guitars, a banjo, and an electric bass — not to mention an autoharp, an accordion, and an even smaller squeezebox instrument known as a concertina.
The lights dim, and Tom Chapin enters with his bandmates — Jon Cobert, who takes a seat at the piano, and Michael Mark, who picks up his electric bass.
After greeting the audience of all ages and chatting about the lovely Spring-like weather going on outside, Tom and the trio begin tonight’s program with Chapin’s own “Pass the Music On.”
Sounding clear and strong with guitar, piano, and bass — along with male vocal harmonies — accompanying his iconic folk voice, Chapin sings about the songs of generations which he “learned heart to heart instead of note by note.” Before the end of the number, the men are joined by Tom’s daughters, Abigail and Lily, and they all sing “We are here tonight to pass the music on” together before declaring at the end of the number, “Yes, we are!”
After revealing that his trio — Tom Chapin and Friends — has been together for 30 years, Tom takes a moment to introduce his fellow musicians, pianist Jon Cobert — who played in John Lennon’s last band, and who also wrote the theme song for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight — and bassist Michael Mark — well-known for writing the famous theme song for TV’s Entertainment Tonight. Tom also introduces the audience to his two daughters, Abigail and Lily — The Chapin Sisters.
The quintet launches into a number written by Tom’s brother and Lily and Abigail’s uncle — Harry Chapin — “Remember When the Music,” a song which features five-part vocal harmonies and heartfelt lyrics. Singing, “Remember when the music/Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire/And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire/For we believed in things, and so we’d sing,” the group’s touching performance brings many in this audience back to the simpler times of yesteryear.
Following enthusiastic applause, Tom tells the audience a story about how, in 1974, he was on the Island of Rhodes in Greece filming his children’s television show, Make a Wish.
It was then that Turkey invaded Cypress, prompting Tom to write his song “Ladies of the Line.” Singing, “Think of a sunlit harbor/At the end of a burn-out day/On a broken wharf an old man sits/And watches the ships come in/They are ladies of the line,” his guitar leads the way as his friends’ and daughters’ voices support his sturdy vocal with poignant harmonies.
The crowd claps as the “boys” take leave of the stage so as to feature the Chapin Sisters. First, Lily plays banjo on a lovely rendition of the lilting country waltz, “Dreaming of You.”
Then, she switches over to the guitar for “Palm Tree,” a country blues number written about the duo’s move to L.A. On both songs, the sisters’ unique vocal blend is one that only musical siblings can create.
Next, Abigail is featured on “Ferry Boat” — her smooth, full voice singing the lead as Lily accompanies with a droning vocal harmony part which sounds reminiscent of a musical instrument.
Beautiful sister harmony is again featured on “Sweet Light.” Like a two-part madrigal, the women sing a capella, their pitch and interplay clearly impressing the Grunin Center crowd.
The men return to the stage for a quintet rendition of The Chapin Sisters’ “Angelino,” a folk-rocker about leaving California. Lily handles the lead vocal while Abigail and the others join in on harmony vocals and Tom takes an acoustic guitar solo which is followed by a Jon Cobert grand piano solo.
One of many standout performances of the evening’s program is “Ellis Island,” a number written by Tom and Michael Mark after visiting New York’s Ellis Island — the nation’s busiest immigration inspection station for sixty years. While poignantly describing an immigrant’s processing at Ellis Island, Tom sings, “Ellis Island/I haven’t come here looking for your Promised Land/I don’t believe your streets are paved with gold/But I know there’s work/I know there’s land/I know you need an able-bodied man,” riveting the audience with his captivating song and story.
Changing the mood, appealing fruit and veggie metaphors and a calypso beat characterize “My Town is a Salad Bowl.” After teaching the audience the catchy “My town is a salad/Town is a salad/Town is a salad bowl” chorus, the audience happily sings along with Chapin and his musical colleagues.
Reminding the crowd that “tomorrow is Earth Day,” the group performs another highlight number, “Walk the World Now, Children,” a piece the group refers to as “a zipper song” — a tune with a verse that remains the same each time it is sung except for just a few words.
Opening with “Walk the world now, children/Walk it now with me/Walk the world now, children/Walk it now with me,” as the song progresses, each singer handles his or her own verse — every one slightly different due to a minor variant of the lyrics; for example, “Drink the water children” and “Breathe the air now children” — and each with the unique inflection of the individual performer. Before long, the entire audience is singing and clapping along to this uplifting anthem which reminds us that it is not only on Earth Day that we have a duty to protect our world.
Tom Chapin and Friends and the Chapin Sisters conclude Act I of the evening’s program with a lovely rendition of “This Pretty Planet II,” a new arrangement of the Tom Chapin children’s classic, “This Pretty Planet.” Opening with a bluesy piano introduction by Jon Cobert along with updated lyrics, Chapin sings the number as though it’s a spiritual, stopping the playing of his guitar to conduct the number’s three-part canon as the audience sings along.
Following a short intermission, Act II commences with Tom hugging his autoharp to his chest as he expressively performs “Common Ground.”
Singing, “Come in the door is open/You are welcome here/Come in the door is open/Leave out all doubt and fear,” Tom is joined by Cobert and Mark, the trio’s music ringing true as these seasoned performers sing and play directly from their hearts.
After telling a story about hearing a Steve Goodman song played in a club before it became a huge hit for Arlo Guthrie, Tom performs “City of New Orleans.” While Tom fingerpicks on the banjo, Jon Cobert plays a masterful piano solo, and the entire house joins in on the famous “Good morning, America/How are you?” chorus while Michael Mark ably takes up the bottom with his electric bass.
Moving on to a sweet song, beautifully presented, Tom performs “That’s What Grandpas Do,” a number he wrote for two of his grandchildren in anticipation of the days of their births.
Following heartfelt applause, the Chapin Sisters return to the stage to announce, “Eight years ago, our sister, Jessica, decided to leave our trio to raise her daughter.” Explaining, “Since we were missing the middle vocal part, we started listening to The Everly Brothers to learn how to sing two-part harmony,” acknowledging, “We liked their music so much we recorded an entire album of their music, A Date with the Everly Brothers, and we’d like to do a song from that album right now.”
Here, the duo launches into “I’ll Do My Crying in the Rain,” proving their vocal harmony acumen with only two Chapin Sister voices.
From there, they segue into the catchy folk-rocker, “Let Me Go,” a number which features the infectious “doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo” interlude which ends with tapping on the guitar to punctuate the exquisite vocals.
The audience claps as the men rejoin the women and Tom begins to play a guitar introduction so famous that the crowd immediately breaks out into applause.
As the quintet performs “Cat’s in the Cradle,” the audience sings along with all three Chapins and friends, keeping the flame alive for the music of Harry Chapin, and taking in new meaning for those in the audience who have aged along with the song over the past four decades.
Another highlight of the program is the quintet’s rendition of The Chapin Sisters’ “We Will Not Stop,” announced as another “zipper song for Earth Day.” With each singer taking a verse and followed by all of the musicians joining in on the refrain, the audience eagerly sings along on this anthem which proclaims, “We will not stop singing/We will not stop singing/We will not stop singing/‘Til the world can sing along/’Til the world can sing the song,” making it an instant classic in the American folk songbook.
Michael Mark is featured on concertino on the introduction of Tom Chapin’s “If Only,” a number which spotlights the voices of all three Chapins on the stage: father Tom and daughters Lily and Abigail.
The quintet concludes tonight’s program with Harry Chapin’s “Circle,” a number which boasts a spectacular piano solo by Jon Cobert and a clever original verse about Earth Day by Michael Mark on which he manages to reference the Grunin Center’s Garden State Parkway “Exit 89” number in a rhyme for laughs. After the audience joins in on the well-known chorus, “All my life’s a circle/Sunrise and sundown,” they all clap along as Tom, Jon, Michael, Lily, and Abigail perform the last verse together. The audience shows its appreciation for this talented band of musicians with a lively standing ovation!
After Tom asks, “Do you want to sing again?” the audience responds in the affirmative and the ensemble performs an encore number consisting of The Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do is Dream,” after which the group members rhetorically ask, “Every voice dreaming as one? If that’s not folk music, what is?”
For a final encore, Tom picks up his autoharp, Jon switches over to accordian, and Michael alternates between playing the pennywhistle and the concertina on Tom Chapin’s well-known children’s classic, “Together Tomorrow.” After crooning, “I don’t like to say goodbye/I don’t want today to end/But we will be happy together tomorrow/Together tomorrow again,” the group takes a bow for yet another standing ovation!
As the audience makes its way out of theater and into the Grunin Center lobby, we get an opportunity to chat with one of tonight’s performers — Abigail Chapin.
When asked how she enjoys performing here in the Garden State, Abigail replies, “As a family, we grew up just three miles from New Jersey so it feels like home when we play here!”
In talking about her life as a member of the musical Chapin family, Abigail reveals, “Lily and I have played for 14 years as The Chapin Sisters. We were in California, but now that we both have two-year-old children, we’re happy to be back on the East Coast where we see Dad a lot. Having kids is an amazing way of seeing your parents; it’s great — very special,” before concluding, “Our kids are completely in love with Dad and his music — they call him ‘Papa Tom!’”
We also get a chance to chat with Bonnie Chapin — Tom’s wife, and Lily and Abigail’s mother — here at the Grunin Center to experience tonight’s Chapin family show.
When asked how she enjoyed seeing her family members up on stage, Bonnie replies, “I’ve been listening a long time, but it’s still pretty thrilling!”
Responding to a question about her daughters’ musical efforts, Bonnie says, “The first time I heard the Chapin Sisters, I was so thrilled I couldn’t believe it — they sing beautifully,” before concluding, “I am so proud!”
In the Grunin Center lobby, we also chat with several members of the crowd who share their opinions of tonight’s concert with us.
First, we chat with a reunion of three friends — Lynn, Judy, and Karen — who were all Harry Chapin fans during their college years, but also followed Tom Chapin’s music, as well.
Explains Lynn from Syracuse, NY, “I listened to Tom in college and I still follow him on Facebook, today. He’s phenomenal, and I love that he passed on the Chapin music tradition to his children!”
Judy from Montclair, agrees adding, “I love the two generations of Chapins performing together. This is real talent which demonstrates a lifetime of experience.”
Lastly, Karen from Howell concurs before adding, “Tonight’s show was excellent,” exclaiming, “The musicians’ harmonizing was just amazing!”
Next, we chat with Bill from Freehold who is here with his son, Billy, who is holding a 45 rpm recording of “Cat’s in the Cradle” to be autographed by Tom.
States Bill, “I was a Harry Chapin fan back in my hippie days, and I love that Tom is here to sing his music with his daughters — they have great harmonies,” before adding, “And I also love that Tom is still performing with his long-time bandmates, Jon Cobert and Michael Mark.”
We also converse with Nancy from Toms River who reveals that her favorite part of the show was “when the girls sang harmony,” explaining, “I have not been that relaxed in years — it was so calming. There was a vibration to their voices that was not just relaxing, but was therapeutic — the whole time, I could feel my blood pressure going down!”
Lastly, we chat with Dottie from Toms River who acknowledges, “I’m third cousins with Tom and I couldn’t be any prouder than I am tonight. It was such a wonderful experience to get to see him perform! And after hearing him play with Lily and Abigail, I know that the music is going to continue with the next generation keeping the Chapin legacy and music alive.”
Then, after taking a moment, Dottie — who had never before met her cousin, Tom, until tonight — gathers her thoughts and sums up her feelings about the evening, stating, “This night just couldn’t have been any better — beautiful night, beautiful people, beautiful music!”
To learn more about Tom Chapin and his music, please go to tomchapin.com. For further information about The Chapin Sisters, please click on thechapinsisters.com. To find out more about future programs at Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center of the Arts — including Peter, Paul and Mary’s Peter Yarrow on May 11, Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles on May 18, and The Great Rock ’n Roll Time Machine on July 28 — please go to grunincenter.org.
Spotlight Central. Your source for Jersey entertainment news and reviews
Love Imagery Fine Art Photography. all you need. peace/love/flower/power
