Despite the fact that it’s a rainy and cold Tuesday, September 26, 2023 afternoon at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center, several thousand devoted music lovers have turned out for a Garden State Arts Foundation concert starring Elvis tribute artist Richie Santa. Rounding out the bill for today’s show is singer Frankie Pizarro, along with rock and rollers Bill Haley, Jr. and the Comets.

Vice President of GSAF’s Board of Trustees Ron Gravino welcomes concertgoers to today’s free event produced by Al Simone. Gravino thanks Live Nation Entertainment and other sponsors of the program along with GSAF executive director Cookie Santiago, Bob O’Brien, and the many GSAF volunteers for their help with this afternoon’s show.

Gravino also welcomes emcee Rhett Jahn who introduces today’s first act, Bill Haley Jr. and the Comets. “Are you ready for some rock and roll?” asks Haley, Jr. as he and his bandmates — bassist Christopher Davis-Shannon, guitarist Michael Denaro, drummer Rich Flamini, and saxophonist Kat Hansen — take the stage and open their set with “Razzle Dazzle,” a rockabilly tune made famous by Haley, Jr.’s dad, Bill Haley, Sr., with his band, The Comets, in 1955.

Following 1957’s swingin’ “Rock the Joint,” bassist Christopher Davis-Shannon is featured playing his stand-up bass like a guitar on a spirited rendition of Haley, Sr.’s “Real Rock Drive.”

Haley, Jr. explains to the crowd that after his dad played a show at a Philly area high school in 1952, one student referred to his music as “Crazy man, crazy!” Soon after, in 1953, Haley, Sr. wrote a song based on the phrase which went on to become what Haley, Jr. calls “the first rock and roll record to become a national hit.” Here, Haley, Jr. and the Comets perform the bouncy “Crazy Man, Crazy,” where the crowd joins in on the “Go, go, go everybody” refrain and Michael Denaro and Kat Hansen duel on guitar and sax.

Music lovers bop in their seats to Haley, Sr.’s “first mega-hit” — his cover version of Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll” — which Haley, Jr. sings while accompanying himself on the guitar.

The musicians follow up with “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie” where Haley, Jr. sings, “You gotta jump!/You gotta jive/You gotta dance!/To be alive!” and on “Rudy’s Rock,” both Haley, Jr. and guitarist Michael Denaro encourage saxophonist Kat Hansen to play “higher and higher” on his tenor.

On this high-energy number, Hansen continues to play his sax sitting atop Christopher Davis-Shannon who plunks his bass lying down.

The crowd cheers, and Haley, Jr. and Co. perform the swingin’ “Rip it Up” — also recorded by Little Richard — and follow up with a song Haley, Jr. calls “a big hit for The Comets,” 1956’s “See You Later, Alligator,” where music lovers join in on the “See you later alligator/After ‘while crocodile” refrain.

The crowd reacts with hoots and hollers, and Haley, Jr. says, “We’re gonna wrap this up with a song that almost wasn’t a hit. It was buried on the ‘B-side’ of a single, but after appearing in the movie, The Blackboard Jungle, it became the first #1 rock and roll record.” Here, he and the band perform 1954’s “Rock Around the Clock” where the crowd joyfully sings along on the number’s well-known “One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock” lyric.

The crowd gives Haley, Jr. and the Comets a standing ovation, and as he and his colleagues take a bow, Haley, Jr. responds, “Thank you so much!”

Rhett Jahn introduces Frankie Pizarro, former lead singer of The Platters. Accompanied by The Coda Band — Mary Beth Ryan-Mastropaolo on saxophone, Dennis DiBrizzi on keyboards, Joe DeAngelis on guitar, Paul Page on bass, and Pete Mastropaulo on drums — along with background singers Baby Ray Moyer, Valerie Pizarro, and Orville Bryant, Pizarro takes the stage wearing an embroidered jacket and feathered hat.

With his smooth voice, Pizarro sings “Heavenly shades of night are falling” on The Platters’ tuneful 1958 hit, “Twilight Time.” He follows up by explaining, “This next song made The Platters,” as he launches into 1956’s “Only You,” where audience members sing along with his falsetto vocal on the well-known “Only you/Can make all this world seem right” lyric.

The crowd responds with a standing ovation, and Pizarro croons, “Oh-oh, yes, I’m the great pretender,” on The Platters’ 1955 chart-topper, “The Great Pretender,” on an arrangement which features top-notch accompaniment by The Coda Band and Pizarro’s vocal trio.

As a tribute to the late Charlie Thomas of the Drifters, Pizarro performs a bouncy rendition of “Fools Fall in Love” which has the audience clapping along, prior to switching gears and offering up a soulful rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” which elicits hoots and hollers from the crowd.

Pizarro’s clear true voice floats out over the audience on the ballad, “Red Sails in the Sunset,”which features tight three-part background harmonies. Moving onto a number which Pizarro says “has been around since the early ‘30s,” he and the band perform the ethereal “My Prayer” which inspires a standing ovation.

“Thank you, thank you!” responds Pizarro, adding, “We appreciate the legends who originally created this music.” Here, he pays tribute to the late Sonny Turner of The Platters with a performance of “With This Ring,” an up-tempo tune which has Pizarro and his backup vocalists stepping to the rhythm as The Coda Band’s Dennis DiBrizzi is featured on a piano solo.

A highlight of Pizarro’s set is “Harbor Lights” on which he and his background vocalists sing together in close harmony.

Announcing, “This is my last tune — my ultimate favorite,” Pizarro concludes his performance with his rendition of The Platters’ 1958 hit, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Crooning, “They asked me how I knew my true love was true,” his strong voice rings out before he is rewarded with yet another audience standing ovation.

Following a short intermission, Rhett Jahn introduces Elvis tribute artist Richie Santa who takes the stage accompanied by Mike Louis on guitar, Joel Caplin on bass, Greg Ricca on keyboards, Kevin Werbel on drums, Rick Savage on trumpet, Jaime Ramos on trombone, Sanford Marten on saxophone, and Deanna Carroll, Cassie Hawkins, and Kubbi Miller Boone on background vocals. Opening with “C. C. Rider,” Santa clearly impresses the crowd with his Elvis look, sound, and moves.

Welcoming the audience by exclaiming, “The sun is out!” Santa amuses concertgoers when he performs a sing-along version of Chuck Berry’s chart-topper, “My Ding-a-Ling,” which, as he explains, “kept Elvis out of the #1 spot” in 1972. Here, he performs a dynamic rendition of Elvis’ #2 hit, “Burning Love,” where the audience happily joins in singing on the catchy “Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love” coda.

Santa’s deep baritone voice carries Elvis Presley’s version of The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” in which he adds a snippet of “Summer Lovin’” from Grease to the arrangement.

The crowd cheers, and Santa confesses, “When I first came out, I was a little cold,” to which an audience member shouts out, “Now, you’re hot!” and Santa quips, “I’m hot? I told you, mom, I’m you’re son!”

Relating a story about how he visited the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville where Elvis recorded many of his songs, Santa performs one of those numbers — 1960’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight” — and follows up with a powerful version of Presley’s “You Gave Me a Mountain.”

Asking, “Do you like this suit?” Santa jokes, “If you like it, can you can give me $5 so I can pay it off?”

Walking from one side of the stage to the other, Santa performs “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” as he hands out scarves to audience members seated in the front of the PNC amphitheater.

Walking out into the audience, Santa performs “Angel,” from the film, Follow that Dream, and continues to distribute scarves as he poses for selfies with fans. He follows up by performing a lively rendition of Presley’s 1962 hit, “Return to Sender,” which has audience members energetically singing along.

After his version of “The Wonder of You,” Santa announces, “Elvis was a very patriotic man so I’d like to do his version of ‘America the Beautiful’ for you.” Here, the audience stands as they listen to his compelling performance of this patriotic song.

To conclude today’s program, Santa and Co. perform an uptempo interpretation of Elvis’ 1961 hit, “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” after which the crowd rewards him with a standing ovation and Santa takes a well-earned bow.

To learn more about Richie Santa, please go to richiesanta.com. For info on Frankie Pizarro, navigate to frankiepizarro.com. To find out more about Bill Haley, Jr. and the Comets, please go to billhaleyjrandthecomets.com. For information on future free Garden State Arts Foundation concerts, please click on gsafoundation.org.

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