chameleon

'Real' Seasons Greetings

Past and Current Four Seasons have sent their 'Holiday' messages to fans everywhere.

Just 'click' the Christmas Card above to read them

Special 'Digital' Newsletter 2009

It has been a great year for Four Seasons fans and for our research to inform and entertain readers. And it is not over yet.

Click the image  to go to our ‘Special ‘Digital’ Newsletter 2009’ which gathers all the great download articles since our last newsletter together with our best blogs and You Tube videos.

And very soon we’ll have our annual ‘Seasons Greetings’ ….the real ones!!!!

Casey Chameleon

Four Seasons 'Rock Family Tree'

At the recent Four Seasons Convention in Las Vegas former ‘Four Season’ Bill De Loach commented that he had been told that “it was intended to list the names of all the members of the Four Seasons, past and present, somewhere on the jacket of the CD ‘Romancing The 60’s’. Although that never happened we do know that most members, past and present, were listed on the ‘Jersey Beat’ Box Set”

The list of 38 Seasons plus backing singers does make a fair attempt at the list.

If you have visited our ‘4 Seasons Roll of Honour’ web page you’ll know our featured line-ups but if you want to know the chronological history where do you go?

Searching back through our archive of Newsletters we found that someone in Japan had constructed a ‘Rock Family Tree’ of the ‘Four Seasons’ during the 1990s. It runs from 1946 and moves on to the first incarnation and the start of the Variatones to 1994, and recognizes the support of lesser known people like Richard Natoli. It is a more detailed and focused view of the line-ups over the years.

We’ve been unable to find the original to use for a HQ scan but have decided to add the newsletter published copy to our ‘Four Seasons Roll Of Honour’ page on our web site.

It really needs someone with the appropriate software and time to construct a comprehensive one and maybe by us publishing this version it will prompt either the Partnership or a fan to re-compile this.

Of course you’ll spot errors in this Japanese Family Tree….like the fact that Charles Calello’s spell of 100 plus performances in 1965 is not included and as we know Gerry Polci was never a member of the Happenings (although he did spot John Paiva with them). But we’ve got to be grateful for what we have and we’ve included a list of corrections on the web page below the chart for the sake of accuracy.

So send us corrections that you spot ....

( [email protected]) and we’ll keep the web page as the best record we have of the Four Seasons Rock Family Tree.

Click on the image for the 'Rock Family Tree' or on the image above for the full ‘Four Seasons Roll Of Honour” web page.

Valli Fans Convention

Back from our autumn break we are planning lots of blog posts for the future and we start with the news of the latest International Four Seasons Convention in Las Vegas.

Lynn Boleyn represented the The Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society and here is her report on the event with 3 former Four Seasons in attendance.

"Lynn’s Page.link here or below on the picture of me with 'sweet talkin' Joe Long"

Has Jersey Boys peaked?

When I was in London recently I called at the West End box office and found it very easy to get tickets for any performance and it seemed audiences are dropping. Then I read about JB Chicago closing in January and the takings for NYC slipping. Still 101% occupancy I thought but with the cast album also slipping off the top spot I asked myself…”Has Jersey Boys peaked?”

Of course nothing lasts forever and so sometime it must. Then with rumours and stories about the possibility of an imminent announcement of the movie version of  Jersey Boys suddenly surfacing, I was (perhaps cynically) thinking that someone might be creating a ‘hype’ to hurry the film negotiations along. Most certainly there will be only one thing in the Four Seasons Partnership’s Business Plan for 2010 and that is ‘Sign up for the film for megabucks!’  Movie hype is sure to pick up the bookings. It’s all about timing…to maximize ‘cashflow’. But then along came the Jersey Boys blog showing a record breaking week in Washington DC

If the several venues are earning $1m dollars plus a week like Washington then in a year the show is grossing over $250m which is near unbelievable. It must be strange for Bob and Frankie to see all this money flowing in: more than in their original career years, by a mile. And to keep that going will obviously be a priority for the marketing budget. Here's an example!

The London Cast has been cleverly marketed on every TV show in the UK to maintain our interest and these have been big ‘promos’ for the show. But 2010 needs a big push to maintain the audiences. Then we saw the latest UK promo

 

IF YOU LOVED JERSEY BOYS - WHY NOT COME BACK AND VISIT US AGAIN!

We are offering you £20 off a pair of top price seats to Jersey Boys.
Valid for midweek performances, excluding 21 December 2009 - 5 January 2010.
Book by 31 January 2010, for performances valid until the 30 June 2010.
And as Lynn Boleyn found out "Andrex toilet rolls I have just bought say you can claim 2 for 1 Theatre & Panto tickets including Jersey Boys!  You just need to collect 10 reward points and exchange them for 2 for 1 theatre tickets.  Full details at :www.andrexpuppypoints.com

But what about the film?

Lots of people are writing about a ‘deal’ being done….but most are saying a deal ‘should be done’!! Check Out this link.

Business is business for Valli and Gaudio. Our interest as fans of the group and the show is re the cast and interpretation of the stage show. Casting for the movie shouldn’t be too difficult….we all know the London cast are a perfect fit….and the interpretation shouldn’t be hard. The four monologues can be synced into interviews with the individual Seasons as they arrive at the R&R Hall of Fame…and then told in flashback. The numbers can be staged with audiences in the main and the other songs just fit the action fairly naturally.

All we need is for Bob Gaudio to say…’Show me the money!’ and get a big name director/producer signed. We know the names and any of them will do it well. It’ll be a breeze.

A sensational one.

As for the West End Show....don't worry guys.."We'll Be Back!"

Chameleon

PS Get your free JB London sampler mp3 download here

Four Seasons Students and Teachers get your guides here