The following
review appeared in the May/June 2001 issue of "5678 Swing"
Magazine, a national dance magazine.
Rating: Five
Stars (out of five) (Their legend defines 5 stars as "A
definite dance hit")
[Webmaster's
Note: "Cherry Poppin' Daddies" only received 4 out
of 5...]
The review
reads:
We recently had a number of
independent CD's submitted for revue (sic) and guess what, they
are better than most of what you can buy at the music store...And
this is one! I like this sound! Writer, composer, singer, keyboard
player Jerry Becker (and attorney too I think) has put together
a great CD with the help of some great musicians...
Take a traditional swing sound,
punctuated with lyrics and attitude of today, and you have a
great dance sound. The title cut, "42 Guys In Suits"
would make a great lindy hop routine complete with breaks and
more... Another song tells the tale any night clubber has experienced
"You Don't Have to Go Home...but you can't stay here"
- a great medium tempo swing.
There are even a couple of
West Coast Swings that surprised me, both would be great for
any Swing convention... To top it off there is a cut "Santa
Said, "No Samba!", and it's a Merengue. This is a keeper...for
info go to www.luckyswings.com or call 262-628-3585...tell them
5678 sent you.
Watertown,
Main Street Program
February 17, 2002
Thanks for a great show! You
and your band brought a lot of smiles to people's faces and you
just know they were having a great time. It was heartening to
see the range of ages from teens to folks in their 80s. Everyone
I talked with had a great time. It must really give y'all a "high"
to play your music and make people smile and have such a great
time. It would be great if the Main Street Program folks made
this an annual event. Thanks again for the grand performance.
From Sherry
Avery-King
Director, Main Street Program, Watertown:
Hi Jerry, Once again &
wow. Our Saturday night dance was a smashing success! The Main
Street Program benefited in a million ways from the evening and
the key ingredient to the evening's magic was the music! Thank
you!
From Mark
& Elizabeth S., married March 16, 2001:
Mr. Lucky was by far the best
choice we made for entertainment at our wedding reception. Everyone
enjoyed the swing music; it was a different twist from the traditional
wedding reception entertainment. Everyone danced to the music,
the older crowd recognized tunes from their early years and the
younger crowd enjoyed the atmosphere of a live band. Those who
did not elect to dance said that they enjoyed watching the band
perform and people dancing in a swing style. Everyone had a great
time at our reception, and we give much of the credit to the
entertainment provided by Mr. Lucky.
From Jennifer
W., patron at Chandelier Ballroom:
We thought the show in Hartford
was great! You guys are real troopers for playing through the
blackout!
From Tom &
Stacy H., bride & groom:
We just wanted to send you
a note to thank you and the band for making our celebration so
fantastic! Everyone at the wedding commented how awesome the
band was and they had never been to such a fun wedding. You are
all wonderful, talented musicians. Thank you for your fun-loving
attitudes and fabulous music!
"They actually
SAID that?"
"Could you guys play
something a little jazzier? You know - like rock 'n' roll...."
- Man at a Christmas Party.
"Why don't you play that
Latin number?!? The name? Oh, you know - the one that makes me
want to hug myself."
- Senior Lady in a Fur Coat at the New Year's gig.
(Guest female vocalist, looking
at Jerry's electric piano/synthesizer):
"Do you have a keyboard sound on that thing?" |
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The Wisconsin Area Music
Industry Association (WAMI) named us the Swing Band of the Year in 2003 & 2005!
From Brent
& Colleen (Wedding)
Thanks so much for the beautiful
performance that you and the other members of the Mr. Lucky Swing
Syndicate gave on our wedding on August 26th. The music set just
the tone that we wanted, and we received many compl;iments on
how wonderful you sounded. Thanks too for being so incredibly
easy to work with!
From Jennifer
& Nathan (Hartland Wedding)
THANK YOU (and the other members
of Mr. Lucky) for such an absolutely fantastic job at our wedding! Your
performance truly was amazing - the quality, your flexibility
- and you are such a tight group. As you saw, I come
from a family of performers, and they were all absolutely blown
away. You truly made our reception just what we've always dreamed. And
your introduction for us was just perfect :)
All of our guests have been
raving about you guys since the wedding back in July. My
dad's siblings were all performers and they just couldn't believe
how professional you guys were - and how many of you! We
truly cannot thank you enough for making our reception so personalized
and memorable. We highly recommend Mr. Lucky for anyone
planning a wedding, or a function of any kind for that matter!
From Lora
& Andy (Wedding)
Andy and I just wanted to
say thank you one more time for a fabulous evening. Everyone
raved about your band and from the video I've seen, it appears
that the dance floor was full all evening. We have several
musicians in our families and all couldn't say enough good things.
The mix of music you played was absolutely perfect. I was
surprised and delighted to see (and participate in) the conga
line toward the end of the evening! And of course, Andy
and I had the most wonderful time. Thank you so much for
learning our first dance song - I think it was definitely one
of the highlights of the evening.
It was one of the best days
of our lives, we had so much fun, and we are so thrilled with
everything you did for us. All the best to you and
the group.
From Jennifer
Hansen (Milwaukee wedding)
Just going through my emails
after our long honeymoon, and wanted to thank you so much for
your band's unbelievable performance at our wedding. Jerry and
I were so happy, and many, many of our guests complimented your
band. Thanks again for being part of our day.
From Jason
& Kerry (Madison wedding)
We could not have been happier
with your performance at our wedding. People had an absolutely
wonderful time, and we heard so much positive feedback about
you guys and how fun the dancing was- I wish you could have heard
all of it. Thanks for being flexible to the demands of
the crowd (get a bunch of Minikani people in one place and there
will always be chanting), and thanks for all the energy.
Cheers!
An e-mail
to ACA Entertainment from Tina (Event Planner for an annual national
retail conference & exposition, held in Milwaukee)
Hi ...I just had to drop you
a line about how fantastic the Mr. Lucky Syndicate was at our
party last Sunday night at MAM [Milwaukee Art Museum]. Jerry
and the group rocked the house. They were everything you said
about them and more! Thank you for steering us in their direction.
I will not hesitate to come to you again for entertainment needs
in the area...
From Corey
Miller, reporter (WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee and formerly "News
3 at 10" Sunday anchor for WISC-TV, Madison and News 3's
Cyberlink reporter)
Hi Jerry! It's Corey Miller.
You guys played our wedding on September 2, 2001. It seems like
eons ago, I know. Anyway, my wife and I are moving soon and wanted
to make sure we wrote a note that we've been meaning to write
for roughly 16 months!
Our wedding day, as is the
case with most wedding days, was full of unexpected surprises.
The cake wasn't even close to the design the baker and my wife
worked out. The pictures ran hours late. The corsages arrived
wilted. Our dining coordinator went home sick. Our event coordinator
didn't show up for the reception. The list goes on and on.
Still, the "unexpected
surprise" that my wife and I -- not to mention our guests
-- speak of most often... was you guys.
The music-- everything from
our ceremony accompaniment to the jazz combo over drinks to the
dinner to the dance-- was outstanding. My wife's father-- who
sang a tribute to my wife-- still can't believe it. He still
talks about how consistently good the music was... and how the
band was able to "jump right in" and give an orchestral
background to his lonely acoustic guitar. In all honesty, Jerry,
we have many guests that still talk about the band. Nobody mentions
or recounts our wedding without it. You are all outstanding musicians
and, clearly, love what you do. Because of the numerous "gigs"
you had with us that night-- you were basically playing from
4:30 pm to 12:30 am with minimal breathing time. After 7 HOURS
of work-- you guys still had all the energy you started with.
It was amazing.
My wife and I have repeatedly
and unwaveringly called the Syndicate "the highlight of
our wedding day". It couldn't be more true. Please pass
this sentiment on to the entire band.
Should you ever need a reminder
that you guys are fantastic-- re-read this note! Should you ever
need a reference-- contact this couple! Should WE ever need a
smile and a fond memory-- we'll think of "Mr. Lucky".
All the best, Corey and Rebekah
Miller
Madison, WI
From Julie
L., the Bride-to-Be
My fiancé, Chad, and
I saw you perform at Summerfest and immediately knew that we
would like you to be our entertainment at our reception.....
After considering some other
options such as a DJ and two other bands, our choice is still
you! ...
I hope you are still swingin'
away, and having your band at our reception would really make
our wedding day complete. We fell in love all over again when
we first saw you perform....
From Amanda
& Doug G., the Happy Newlyweds:
I wanted to take a moment
to thank you for the package [of Mr. Lucky CDs]. It was a most
pleasant surprise. Thank you also for putting on such a spectacular
show for our wedding. We have heard nothing but rave reviews
from our family and guests that took part in our special day.
You can really tell that you
and the group really enjoy what you do. It really comes through
in your music. |
From Dan W.,
the Chairman of the Board: Need a respite from sound-alike
bands doing predictable covers? Yearn for the simpler retro-years
when dance was an art form, melodies were melodic, and lyrics
were understandable? Then you've come to the right place. The
Mr. Lucky Swing Syndicate did our company party like it's never
been done before, got folks dancing and interacting ... heck,
they even let me sit in and croon tunes by Darin and Sinatra...
Jerry is an accommodating professional, and you will enjoy working
with him ... the words "smooth" and "seamless"
come to mind. Very few bands around have brass as prominent yet
composed as this one, and if you want tasteful music, enjoyable
vocals, and a dash of "edge" to keep everybody smiling,
this is the group for you!
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From Phil
G. & Rita, the Avid Dancers:
... We sure wish you
were here in Madison! You play the most inspiring music
of any of the bands we've danced to! And the music
affects our dancing a great deal!
...I might comment also that
we've attended several other fund raiser dances in the last few
months and the Watertown (Feb. 16th, 2002) dance was the
most successful, and the most fun! ...
From the North/Eastside
Senior Coalition in Madison:
What a wonderful evening!!!
... The music was exceptional! We thank you all for such a truly
great concert. The music selection, professionalism and the energy
of the Mr. Lucky Swing Syndicate had everyone tapping and clapping
during and after the performance. All the attendees had a great
evening and appreciated the great swing music.
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