On Halloween night 2019, in the early evening, The Sound Dunes Swing Ensemble (SDSE) participated in the 4th Annual Dennis Village Halloween Hootenanny & Parade organized by Dennis Village Locally Thrown Family Events. Participants in the event arrived decked out in costume on the grounds of the Cape Playhouse where the event took place. Festivities started at about 5:30pm with a Costume Parade along nearby streets and byways led by some of the more robust members of SDSE.  For their grueling effort to head up the parade (and to be ultimately out-shown by the many children marching in costume), we note the names of those “energetic” SDSE marchers….Dan Feheley, Lonny Gisetto, Mike Hays, Corey Russo, Barbara Shorts, Jim Stamboni, and Joe Wells.

After the parade the marchers returned to the Playhouse grounds where they joined the rest of the SDSE crew which treated the crowd to a concert of dance music and where the bulk of the festivities took place with the support of a great line-up of sponsors & food vendors. Everyone appeared to have a great time, full of picture taking and many more treats then tricks! Here are a few photos of the event (several courtesy of King Tide Creative) from the SDSE perspective….

Several members of The Sound Dunes donated their time as participants in Dennis Union Church’s (DUC’s) annual “Talent Show” fundraiser on Sunday, October 27th. The “Sound Dunes Combo” performed several songs including: Hello Dolly, Lazy River, Saints Go Marching In, All of Me, and Girl from Ipanema, the last two tunes featuring vocalist Carole Madru.  Members of the combo included: Carole on guitar as well as vocals, Corey Russo on keyboards, Laurie Lang on alto and soprano sax, Ed Wheldon on Clarinet, Bob Sneden on trombone, Bob Aumueller on Bass, Todd Shipman on drums, and Jim Stamboni on trumpet. the Town Hall to celebrate with food, live music by SDSE, and dancing.

The Sound Dunes Combo performed again recently for the Chatham Rotary luncheon at the Chatham Wayside Inn on Thursday, November 21st.

On Sunday, October 20th, The Sound Dunes Swing Ensemble (SDSE) performed during a fundraiser sponsored by The Alzheimer’s Family Support Center (AFSC) of Cape Cod. The band performed in the 2nd floor auditorium of the Provincetown landmark Town Hall building which also served as the focal point for the event fundraiser and Walk.

The fundraiser was well-attended by a very enthusiastic participating crowd of supporters.  After the walk, the participants gathered in the 2nd floor auditorium of the Town Hall to celebrate with food, live music by SDSE, and dancing.

On Friday, September 27th, The Sound Dunes Swing Ensemble (SDSE) performed at the Fall Frolic Dance sponsored by Harwich Council on Aging (HCoA). The dance was held in the auditorium of the Harwich Community Center.  Those who attended the FREE public event were treated to an assortment of Swing, Latin, Ballroom, and Jazz dance music, along with an occasional more recent selection.

The dance was a great success and very well attended.  The band was additionally delighted by the good number of people who danced during their performance.  The attached photos from the event give you an idea of the many dancers and toe-tappers who apparently greatly enjoyed themselves during the evening…

On Sunday, August 11th, The Sound Dunes Swing Ensemble (SDSE) performed during a Summer Strawberry Swing Dance Social. The event was billed as “an old fashioned community summer social” and was hosted by The First Congregational Church of Harwich on the grounds of the church.

The weather cooperated magnificently and the crowd not only enjoyed a beautiful summer afternoon, but also some great music by the Sound Dunes with vocals by Linda DeLorey and Tom Jahnke.

Here are a few photos that were taken during the SDSE performance from the August 11th event….

On Saturday, August 10th, the Sound Dunes Swing Ensemble (SDSE) performed at the Cape Cod Ballroom Dancers’ sponsored “Pop-up, No Frills Dance” for Betsy’s Ballroom at the Yarmouth Senior Center.  The event was by all accords an outstanding success. The dancers thoroughly enjoyed the live Big Band music, the song selection, and the quality of the performance. Many of the dancers commented on the thrill of dancing to a live big band, since they normally dance to recorded music or small combos. The organizer of the event, Leora Amir, was very happy with the great turnout and enthusiasm of both the band and the dancers.

Although we did have a camera there to record video, unfortunately it was not positioned properly in order to capture any of the CCBD dancers.  But here is a snippet of one of the songs from the evening. “Cuban Pete” (1936).  It was originally performed by Louis Armstrong in 1937, then more popularly by Desi Arnaz (1946), and more recently by Jim Carey in the film “The Mask” (1994).