By Amy Modesti
The Town of Brunswick Family Community Center kicked off its 18th annual summer concert series Tuesday, June 26 to a full house of music patrons and Brunswick residents enjoying their beautiful summer evening to local favorites, The Refrigerators. All of the proceeds from the concert’s 50/50 raffle went towards the Brunswick Historical Society.
Whenever The Refrigerators perform at the Family Community Center, the band, consisting of Town of Brunswick residents, Dave Cerrone (bongos/vocals) and Tamarac Elementary School 5th grade music teacher, Kevin Barcomb (saxophone/vocals), among other members, always bring their horn-fueled cover tunes, with additional assistance from local children, to the Brunswick stage. With the school year coming to an end a week before their performance, many young children and their families were outside dancing underneath the summer sun at this fun filled family-friendly event. Performing a wide variety of top hit cover tunes ranging from Jessie’s Girl (Rick Springfield), Late in the Evening (Paul Simon), Wake Me Up (Avici Ft. Aloe Black), Honey I’m Good (Andy Grammar), Knock On Wood (Eddie Floyd), Shut Up And Dance With Me (Walk The Moon), among others, had spectators of all ages dancing along the paved dance floor.
Michael Jackson’s Shake Your Body (Down To the Ground) had lead singer, Amelia, and her entire horn and rhythm section, performing and kicking their legs in the air in sync with each other while singing the song’s chorus. Avici’s Wake Me Up had the entire horn section and vocalists come off stage onto the dance floor twice to dance and sway from side to side with the children that had joined them to line dance their way into the evening.
What makes their concert so special and unique at the Town of Brunswick Family Community Center with the Refrigerators is their interaction with their audience, particularly their involvement with the community’s children. Whatever their song choice was, the children were always involved in some way. During Jesse’s Girl, a young patron, Isabella, carrying a pretend microphone in her hand, was called on stage by Kevin Brandow to play the drums and sing along to the tune with the band’s lead vocalists. The kids were even encouraged to come close to the left side of the stage to sing along to Honey I’m Good, with assistance from Barcomb and Amelia sitting with the kids along the side of the main stage as they entertained the crowd.
Even Dave Cerrone got off the stage and made his way through the audience, seated on their lawn chairs along the community center lawn, to sing the lyrics to Pitbull’s song, I Know You Want Me, which was mixed in within his two song medley with Don’t Stop the Party. A young girl that had given Brandow a toy firemen’s hat to wear on his head to perform a dance tune earlier in the evening was joined on stage during Shut Up And Dance With Me (Walk The Moon) to sing its main chorus with Brandow.
The Refrigerators concluded the evening with the announcement of the winner of the season’s 50/50 raffle and ending the evening with covers of Zoot Suit Riot (Cherry Poppin’ Daddies) and Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars). Upcoming Shows July 17 – Big Fez and the Surfmatics