Chappaqua has some rocking’ moms too

Chappaqua has some Rocking Moms too: We recently ran a post about Pam Condron, the rockin’ mom from Armonk, who has helped rejuvenate Mt. Kisco’s MTK Tavern. Chappaqua has a pair of rockin’ moms who also turned their passion for music into second careers as rock impressarios. Eight years ago, after taking some time off to raise their kids, Jocelyn Lyss and Vicki Birdoff wanted to re-enter the work force. At the suggestion of a friend, who knew of their love for music, they began to explore the idea of promoting concerts locally. “We had been to many shows at The Ridgefield Playhouse and wanted to bring that quality of music to Westchester County,” Vicki told us.

Taking a leap of faith …

With Todd Rundgren at the Paramount

Knowing nothing about the music business, they approached Allison Stockel at The Ridgefield Playhouse with a long list of questions. “Allison was very generous with her time and was very helpful to us when we were getting started,” said Jocelyn. Taking a “leap of faith,” they started their music promotion company Lofpro (Leap of Faith Productions) by booking Roseanne Cash into a 400-seat theatre. They learned the hard way that if you want to work with big name talent you couldn’t make money with an inventory of 400 tickets. So they started looking for bigger venues, jumping up to 800 and then 1200 seat theatres.

Now they are independent promoters who book about eight shows a year in a variety of venues from White Plains, Peekskill and Tarrytown to Orlando, Florida. This winter they have four shows coming up at the Tarrytown Music Hall including The Fifth Dimension on January 22, Darlene Love on February 12 and Tanya Tucker on February 19.

Over the years they have promoted concerts for a long list of renowned artists including Dave Mason, Southside Johnny, Ed Kowalczyk, Ashford and Simpson, Brett Michaels, Foghat, The Outlaws, Los Lonely Boys, The Marshall Tucker Band, and the Oak Ridge Boys. They have even ventured out of music from time to time, booking the clairvoyant and spiritual medium James Van Praagh, the comedienne Sandra Bernhard and Bob Saget.

As independent producers, they have to rent the theatre, work with agents to line up the talent, negotiate contracts and drive ticket sales through the theatre and online ticket exchanges. “We really do soup to nuts and on the day of the show we’re there from load in to load out. These artists are on the road 300 days a year, and we want them to want to come back, so we do everything we can to make things easy for them.”

We don’t do laundry

When they first started out they slavishly followed the riders in the band’s contracts. “We can remember counting slices of cheese for a two-man acoustic act to make sure we were honoring the contract. As it turned out this was the rider for the full band. Another time, we went crazy tracking down non-alcoholic beer for a band member who was no longer with the band. So we learned that the riders are just wish lists and often out of date. That’s when we started to edit them and since then no problems,” Jocelyn and Vicki told us. “Although one band asked us to get them socks and underwear. We politely declined.” Lessons learned, as they say.

Living the dream with the Marshall Tucker Band in Orlando

Another early lesson was to follow bands’ routing sheets. “If they’re already in the area you can get better rates.” Over time they developed relationships with booking agents and a good reputation for handling bands and that has helped them land top acts. Jocelyn and Vicki are not your average promoters and they have raised a few eyebrows over the years. “Bands and tour managers are always surprised to see a couple of moms show up. They expect us to be some star-struck 20 something’s but usually find us refreshing. And we’ve been amazed at how nice everyone has been. And we’ve seen some great show.”

“Oh, she’s the one …”

So what are the musical tastes that drove Jocelyn and Vicki to take their leap of faith? Vicki’s first concert was America at the Nassau Coliseum, a night when Fleetwood Mac opened for them. Jocelyn’s first concert was Sonny and Cher. They did the whole Grateful Dead thing but now they have to be dragged along to see Phil Lesh and Friends at the Capitol. Their great love? Bruce Springsteen. Jocelyn’s favorite Bruce song is “Thunder Road”. Vicki’s fave is “She’s The One.” “We’re fans of the whole Jersey Shore music scene.”

How many Bruce shows have they been to? “Too many to count.” They’ve followed him around the country, “but not around the world.” And their favorite concert of all time was “any one of the Bruce shows I’ve seen over the past 35 years,” said Jocelyn.

With Dave Mason at the Tarrytown Music Hall

They love the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester and go to the Beacon and City Winery. They’ll be seeing Bruce in Albany and St. Paul. But they’re not a couple of tired old classic rockers. “We like younger indie music too. Cake and Cage the Elephant. And we’re big U2 fans.”

Together they have five kids who graduated from Greeley High School who do not always share their mother’s musical tastes. Although Jocelyn took her kids to see Bruce, Neil Young, Phil and Friends and Bear Hands they prefer hip-hop and electronic music. Vicki took her kids to see Bruce, Florida Georgia Line, OAR and Jingle Ball. Their musical tastes range from Taylor Swift, electronic music and country music to some of their mom’s classic rock. Which one is the better mom? I think we know!

When you sit down for an interview with What To Do, you always get a test at the end. Here are the results of our lightning round with Vicki and Jocelyn.

Beatles or Rolling Stones? Rolling Stones!

Jack Johnson or Ray LaMontagne” Ray!

Eagles or Elton John? Elton John.

Crosby Stills & Nash or Crosby Still Nash & Young? CSN&Y!

Keep on trucking’ mama(s) …

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