New Video Series To Feature Bucks Co. Musicians

LEVITTOWN, PA — A foundation dedicated to the memory of a Bucks County musician is launching a video series aimed at unearthing his local roots while promoting the local artists of today.

The Danny DeGennaro Foundation will launch the series, called "Danny's Creative House," on YouTube on Feb. 22, which would have been DeGennaro's 66th birthday.

The series will be hosted by Bucks County native and singer/songwriter Lisa Bouchelle. The roughly 20-minute episodes will feature DeGennaro's former band mates, tour managers, and fans, along with occasional live performances.

Episodes were filmed at the Victor Studios Soundplex in Pennsauken, N.J. They will be released every Sunday onthe Danny DeGennaro Foundation's YouTube channel.

Bouchelle has performed with the foundation's music scholarship award winners in recent years and has become a regular at the group's fundraising shows. The first six episodes of "Danny's Creative House" feature her chatting with DeGennaro's former bandmates, including Bucks County native Ronnie Garrison, of The Excaliburs, and Steve Shive, of the Grateful Dead spinoff band, Kingfish, in which DeGennaro performed from 1979 until his death in 2011.

"It's meant to be her talking to them in her living room," said Ed Mero, of the Danny DeGennaro Foundation.

Perkasie native Stephen Amoroso, who managed DeGennaro during his Kingfish days, will talk about working with the musician known to many as "Rio."

The series is intended to bridge into the future. Foundation partner John Austin Mulhern, president of DDF JAM Publishing and the Danny DeGennaro Foundation Record Label, collaborated with George Koch, owner of the Victor Studios Soundplex, to see how the foundation could partner withvwhat has been envisioned as an up-and-coming musical hub.

"The two philosophies are almost synergistic," Koch said. {It’s almost like a marriage made in heaven and we met at the altar."

Koch envisions the Soundplex as a private music club for musicians, providing recording studio time, rehearsal space, a live event venue and mentoring.

"A lot of these musicians try to do things on their own and they fail," Koch said. "I wanted to create anvenvironment where we can get veterans like John (Mulhern) and others to help these young musicians out."

In turn, the foundation’s scholarship award winners and musicians signed to the record label receive studio time and rehearsal and performance space.

"It[s not just a multiplex," Koch said. "It’s tied to a foundation that has its roots in mentoring and music."