David Cassidy on the Web
The Rat Pack Is Back
Thursday, October 13, 2011
By Nicole Colson
Sentinel Staff
http://sentinelsource.com
The golden age of Vegas comes to Keene's Colonial Theatre
It's been a long journey from the Keene High School band practice room to the Las Vegas Strip. But Lon Bronson will always credit his musical roots for getting him where he is today.
Bronson is musical director and band leader of The Rat Pack is Back, a show that pays tribute to some of the biggest entertainers of the early 1960s — Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. — as they appeared live at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. The show comes to Keene's Colonial Theatre Friday, Oct. 28.
It has spawned a lot of copycat Rat Pack tribute shows, but The Rat Pack is Back is the original. It debuted in Las Vegas in 1998 at the Rio Hotel and Casino, where it is still based. It is also the only Vegas-based show with national touring companies.
"I wanted to bring a taste of the Vegas strip to Main Street Keene," Bronson said in a recent interview. The show was created by actor and musician David Cassidy, of "Partridge Family" fame. Bronson used to work as Cassidy's musical director.
The list of big names in the entertainment industry who Bronson has worked with since he moved to Vegas in the mid-1980s is so long, there are too many to name. His credits include everything from serving as guest conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra to playing with his band along with members of the cast of "The Sopranos" on stage in Vegas. His band, The Lon Bronson Band, which he formed in 1990, is the longest-running band in town.
Looking at Bronson's resume, it's hard to believe how his career began. Born and raised in Keene, he wanted desperately to be a drummer when he was growing up. His parents bought a trumpet for his older brother but his brother never played it. "My parents forced it on me," he said. "They said, 'You're playing the trumpet.' "
Bronson graduated from Keene High School in 1977. His uncle, Harold "Sid" Drew, was a state legislator and namesake of the high school's library.
He would have given up playing the trumpet if it weren't for his Keene High band teacher, Robert Cummings. Cummings was a professional trumpet player, having played with bands including the Les Brown Big Band during the 1940s and '50s.
"Playing with (Les Brown) is the equivalent of playing with Lady Gaga or Justin Timberlake today," Bronson said. "Learning from someone like him brought so much more to me than learning from an average music teacher who hadn't had that kind of career."
Bronson credits Cummings for taking him from "an OK trumpet player to a ready-for-prime-time trumpet player."
Bronson attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. After graduating in 1981, he immediately began playing with "show bands" in lounges in the Boston area. "They were top-40 bands that would perform dance music and had a show element to them, from costumes to choreography," he said.
One night, Bronson was performing with a show band in Chelsea, Mass. "It was a cold, rainy, dreary November day," he said. A man who had created a 1940s nostalgia show in Hawaii walked into the club looking for a horn player. "I was on a plane three days later," he said.
Thus began his career in show business. After spending some time performing in Honolulu, he moved to Atlantic City and then New York City, where he looked for work on Broadway. He didn't have much luck on the East Coast, so when he got invited to help produce a Vegas show called "La Cage," a show that ultimately ran for two decades, he headed to Nevada.
"I fell in love," he said of Las Vegas. "I never went back to New York."
When Bronson started his band, which plays a blend of R&B, rock, soul and funk, he made several connections in the music industry. "It snowballed over the years," he said. He also finally took up the drums, although he calls them his "secondary instrument."
One of his connections was actor, comedian and television host Drew Carey. Carey, also a trumpet player, had seen Bronson's band play, and Bronson invited him on stage to perform.
Bronson lists Tower of Power as one of his favorite bands, and Carey sang background vocals on one of the band's hit songs, "What is Hip?"
"It's when his show was taking off on ABC," Bronson said. Bronson worked as Carey's musical director on many projects, including an HBO special. "(Meeting him) opened a lot of doors for me," Bronson said. "We've been lifelong pals since then."
One of the doors it opened was a visit by the members of Tower of Power to see Bronson's band play — they subsequently recorded a song with his band. "I'm the most proud of that," he said.
Even without his band, the list of artists Bronson has performed with is impressive — it includes Celine Dion, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Wayne Newton.
Bronson is completely surprised by his band's success, considering the entertainment director at The Green Valley Ranch, where the band performs in Las Vegas, told him before the first performance that it wouldn't work.
"I said, 'I'll do it for free, just give me a shot,' " he said. "From the gate, it was packed."
In recent months, the list of musicians who have sat in with The Lon Bronson Band includes The Temptations, The Barenaked Ladies and Tom Jones. Joe Walsh is a highlight for Bronson on his recent list of sit-in performers.
A crowning achievement for Bronson was receiving an Emmy nomination in 2006 for his music direction on the HBO special "Earth to America," a fundraiser for climate change.
"Not bad for a little kid from Keene," he said.
u The Rat Pack is Back, featuring a 12-piece orchestra directed by Lon Bronson backing a group of actors who recreate Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and sidekick Joey Bishop, will appear Friday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene. Tickets are $27-$41 and can be ordered by calling 352-2033 or online at www.thecolonial.org
