Garry Lee & Friends: The Fallser Club 2nd Anniversary Celebration

This show is FREE as our gift to you!! 

RSVP’s are appreciated for capacity.

Doors open at 7pm 

Donations to The Fallser Club are graciously accepted!!

Presenting Garry Lee & Friends at The Fallser Club for our 2nd Year Anniversary Celebration!! Garry Lee & Friends was our inaugural live music event at The Fallser so they are the perfect anniversary show. Get ready for an evening of blues, soul & rock. It is about time we get Garry Lee, our music director, back on our stage!! Come join your neighbor friends to enjoy these talented musicians!  Let’s celebrate together!  And guess what? We have a new dance floor waiting for you!! Bring your dancing shoes, your sweetie, and all your besties!!! 

Featuring special guests:  Deb Callahan,  Mikey Junior,  Georgie Bonds, and  Allen James. More info to come! 

Garry Lee

Over the past 30 years, bassist Garry Lee has been a vital part of the Philadelphia music scene. He has performed with some of the most notable bands in the Philadelphia area. He was nominated by the WMMR-sponsored Street Beat Music Awards as Player of the Year for his work with The Daves. He also has a long history of playing with Deb Callahan Band guitarist Allen James; they were bandmates in the Rhythm Cats Revue and later June Rich, both of which Garry was instrumental in forming. June Rich became the hottest band in Philly in the mid-‘90s and a staple on the national music festival circuit. Garry has also been a much sought-after sideman and has performed with Richard Bush and the Lion Choir, Joseph Parsons, Ben Arnold, Parrish Blue, jazz harpist Gloria Galante, and many other Philly area notables. His discography includes the 2006 release of Six Degrees of Garry Lee, a compilation of songs that he’s played on over the years, which includes studio and previously unreleased live tracks from Avila, The Daves, June Rich, the Deb Callahan Band, and others. He has also contributed to the albums of the Deb Callahan Band, The Charlie Crystle Band, Ben Arnold, Joseph Parsons, and more, as well as albums by his own bands June Rich and Avila. One of Garry’s goals is to record a solo bass album.   

Deb Callahan 

Philly’s own blues and soul drenched singer and songwriter Deb Callahan has been performing, touring, recording and entertaining music fans both regionally and around the United States since the late 1990s.   She has graced the stages of many festivals nationwide from The Monterey Bay Blues Festival in Monterey, CA, The Springing the Blues Fest in Jacksonville, FL, The Bayfront Blues Fest in Duluth, MN to WXPN’s XPonential Music Festival right here in Philly. She celebrated the release of her 6th studio album “Backbone” in March 2023 for which she received rave reviews and charted for over 6 months on The Roots Music Report Top 50 Blues albums peaking at #2 in the blues category. Often compared to Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Etta James, Callahan has developed a unique sound all her own. The latest album was produced by Philadelphia producer, songwriter, and guitarist Chris Arms and recorded live at Morningstar Studios in Glenside, PA.  Deb’s previous CD “Sweet Soul” was produced by Tony Braunagel (Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray) and recorded in Los Angeles with some incredible studio musicians in addition to her longtime guitarist Allen James. Deb’s road tested, all-star band for this show includes Allen James on guitar, Garry Lee on bass and Gordon Grotenthaler on drums. 

www.debcallahanband.com 

Mikey Junior

Georgie Bonds

The average person would be content with fulfilling just one dream, but not Georgie Bonds. He has managed two. Having once been a prominent figure in Philadelphia’s storied Black Cowboys organization, hard work and a twist of fate has brought Georgie to the heart of the blues scene nationally and internationally.

Born and raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Georgie got his first taste of delta blues when a friend loaned him a Robert Johnson tape. Blues legend Sonny Rhodes, took a liking to Georgie and became his mentor. Sonny introduced Georgie to more musicians, and taught him how to be a performer, not just a singer. Georgie’s blues career was then well on its way.

At Warmdaddy’s, the preeminent Blues club in Philadelphia, Georgie hosted the monthly, open mic blues jam. As the house band, Georgie Bonds shared the stage and played with Hubert Sumlin, Koko Taylor, Bernard Allison, Melvin Taylor, Kenny Neal, Mark Hummel, Slam Allen, Larry Garner, Bill Perry, Michael Hill’s Blues Mob, Jimmy Vaughn, Carl Weathersby, Bill Branch and The Kinsey Report and the list goes on. 

The unusual and unlikely story of Georgie Bonds’ life has led to some wonderful music. In 2001, Georgie independently released his debut CD, “Sometimes I Wonder” to significant critical acclaim. In 2013 Georgie released his second CD, “Stepping Into Time.” Additionally, he was chosen for an acting/singing role in the Broadway hit, It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues, nominated for four Tony Awards and Best Musical and praised by the New York Times. 

https://georgiebonds.com/

Allen James

Allen James was born in WhitePlains, NY but grew up in nearby Tarrytown. He was inspired to start playing guitar after seeing The Beatles play on the Ed Sullivan Show and listening to the Led Zeppelin I album. He began teaching himself to play and has never looked back. He played in his first band as a teen in his hometown but moved to Philadelphia shortly after and quickly established himself on the Philly music scene. Allen has played with many bands in the Philadelphia area including Robert Hazard, Kenn Kweeder, Essra Mohawk, Bo Didley, June Rich, Len Barry, The Flamingos. In 1990, he won Philadelphia’s Street Beat WMMR award for best guitarist while playing with the band Junior League. Though Allen is a versatile player and can emulate many styles effectively, he has been most influenced by rock music from the late 60’s and the early 70’s British rock/blues players. Some of his biggest influences as a guitar player include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Peter Green, Peter Frampton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mick Taylor, Jon Scofield, Wes Montgomery, Kim Simmonds, and Jon Mclauglin. Allen currently plays a Stratocaster guitar and spends much of his free time pursuing the “perfect tone”.

Gordon Grottenthaler

Gordon Grottenthaler has been a professional drummer since 1985. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in 1986, he has performed internationally with major Blues artists including Bluestime with Jay Geils & Magic Dick, Duke Robillard, Robert Lockwood Jr,  Randy Bachman, David Maxwell, and Paul Richelle & Annie Raines. Gordon has also performed with major Jazz artists Herb Pomeroy, James Williams, Art Matthews, and Geoffrey Keezer. He currently resides in the New York City area and has  performed throughout the eastern United States in recent years with The Felix Cabrera/Arthur Neilson Band, Slim & The Perkolators, Deb Callahan, TJ Wheeler, Felix Slim, and Vanessa Collier.