Chris Pinnella: The Magic of Christmas Music

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living Presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. "I'm good to see you." 

"I'm really good." 

"I'm really good to see you." "I'm really good to see you." "I'm really good to see you." "I'm really good to see you."

Rich Bennett 0:27
really good to see you." What does it take to step in front of an orchestra and make an entire room feel connected through a song? My guest, Chris Pinnella, has been exploring that connection since beginning his professional career at just... 16. You hear me right? 16. From working alongside Julia Andrews, in musical theater, to touring with... God, I'm gonna say... My favorite band, especially during Christmas time, "Trans-Siberian Orchestra," and earning a Platinum record for his contributions to the lost Christmas Eve tour. Chris has a career filled with stories I can't wait to hear. We were just talking about something, the greeners like, "Now I gotta save them." So today he brings that experience to his own concert productions, "Bloody in Orchestra" arrangements with pop, rock, and... A timeless favorites. Included in his Christmas by Canto Lake Performances. So we're going to talk about finding his voice, lessons from life on the road and what it takes to turn a creative vision into an experience people remember. How's it going, Chris? 

Chris Pinnella 1:30
I'm good. How are you? 

Rich Bennett 1:32
I'm hanging in there. Look, okay, before we talk about having it, Grace, I have to ask this. Take us back to, before the tours, and the Orchestras... What was happening in your life when you first realized singing was something you actually wanted to pursue? 

Chris Pinnella 1:51
Oh, man. I started... So I was in... You know, when I was very little, I was in... Corus in school and all that stuff. But everyone had to be in chorus when you were 

Rich Bennett 2:02
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 2:03
little. There wasn't an option, so... So I didn't really think that... I know that sounds weird. I didn't... Not that I didn't think it was something special, but I just... We all did it. I was in it. I enjoyed it. I randomly would get like solos here and there, but didn't really 

Rich Bennett 2:15
about... 

Chris Pinnella 2:15
think anything 

Rich Bennett 2:16
But... 

Chris Pinnella 2:16
That either. And then what really tip the scale for me was when I was in 5th grade, my elementary school did a production of Oliver, like the musical, and 

Rich Bennett 2:27
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 2:28
I got cast as the Artful Dodger, and that really is what kicked me into... Oh, wow, I like this. I can do this. 

Rich Bennett 2:38
Right. 

Chris Pinnella 2:38
My voice still hadn't changed yet, so I didn't even really know what I sounded like in that respect. I still had that high, you know, voice, soprano-type voice. And then, yeah, and then really from there it just went from... I got the bug, more of the acting, acting singing bug, and started auditioning for like local musical theater stuff, and I did a lot of that... 

Rich Bennett 3:02
OK. 

Chris Pinnella 3:03
Started taking voice lessons when I was in 8th grade, and then... Yeah, and then that led me up. Learning my instrument. I also played trumpet from the time I was in 3rd grade all the way through high school, so for 14 years, 13 years. And I attribute a lot of that with inadvertently teaching me how to breathe correctly as a singer, which is really interesting. But because I never thought about it when I went when I was playing the instrument, but like years later, I realized like the way that you breathe to play... Really, any instrument that you have to push air into, it's the same exact way you would breathe to sing. It's all that deep breath from your diaphragm 

Rich Bennett 3:45
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 3:45
and that support and all that, so that really kind of lent itself to helping me, you know, kind of fast track... Being able to sing, I think, in the way that I did at the age that I was. Because my voice definitely sounded older when I was younger if that makes... I kind of grew into my... 

Rich Bennett 4:03
Oh no, it makes 

Chris Pinnella 4:04
perfect! It 

Rich Bennett 4:06
makes perfect sense, because that amazes me with some kids today you listen to them and you... you think it's an older person singing you turn around, it's like it's a little kid. 

Chris Pinnella 4:14
Yep. Yeah. And that was, that was how I got that first. The job when I was 16 was, was, was similar in that respect of like my, I had to write a paper very funny in one of my classes in high school about conducting. I was taking a conducting class. And I needed to interview, and I needed to interview a conductor. And I didn't know anyone in my grandmother said to me, she said, Oh, you know, there's this guy. His name's Father Alfon Stevenson. He's a, he's a, he has a, you know, a 48 piece orchestra, all the stuff. So she's like, I'm going to see if he'll, he'll meet with you. So he did. And we, uh, we met and talked into him and one thing, you know, led to another. And I was like, you know, I, I sing and do the stuff. And he sat right down at the piano. He's like, what do you want to sing? And I sang for him in his living room. And then he said, what are you doing, you know, in two weeks, um, I have a concert, they used to do these big concerts on the beach in a point pleasant beach. It was the full orchestra. They were these free concerts that the city put on. But um, he asked me to come sing. And, uh, I did. And that was kind of how I started. I was the first time I got paid to sing. I got a check. 

Rich Bennett 5:24
Wow. 

Chris Pinnella 5:24
And I remember being like, wow, this is cool. Um, yeah. So that was, that was really the trajectory of how everything kind of kicked into gear for me. Um, 

Rich Bennett 5:33
All right. 

Chris Pinnella 5:34
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:34
But the style you were singing plus playing trumpet, what music were you listening to growing up? 

Chris Pinnella 5:42
Oh man. Like every, 

Rich Bennett 5:43
because it, it's a 

Chris Pinnella 5:43
So 

Rich Bennett 5:44
thing. It's 

Chris Pinnella 5:44
I have a funny, yeah. My musical tastes are very funny. So I have like, so I grew up listening. So I had my dad's side of the family, which is that Italian side we were talking about. That was always, anytime we went to their house, it was like Frank Sinatra was on, Tony Bennett was on, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, all those guy, all that, that whole classic, you know, Kruner 

Rich Bennett 6:06
good stuff. 

Chris Pinnella 6:06
type thing. Um, and then yeah. And then, um, and then really, um, You know, because of the musical theater side, I really listened to a ton when I was, you know, little, probably from 12 to till now, but, you know, of Broadway stuff. And which Broadway 

Rich Bennett 6:24
okay. 

Chris Pinnella 6:24
stuff, really, not the newer stuff that's on now, but like I'm talking about like the older stuff, it was a lot of standards still. It was a lot of stuff that was written by the Gershwinds and written by Roger Namstoyne and all that kind of stuff. So to really the standards, and then, as I like, I want to say a normal person, but my normal taste in music, my normal taste in music, um, I really loved, um, I still do, I love alternative rock. So like, 

Rich Bennett 6:52
okay, 

Chris Pinnella 6:53
I was, you know, especially in the 90s so all of those bands, like those, those, um, those 90s rock bands, like, like I'm trying to think of like Alice In Chains and, uh, Nirvana and 

Rich Bennett 7:05
oh yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 7:06
Sound guard, sound guard in and 

Rich Bennett 7:07
yeah, Pearl 

Chris Pinnella 7:08
all of 

Rich Bennett 7:08
Jam. 

Chris Pinnella 7:08
that, Pearl Jam. That was like my jam when I was in high school. And then, but then I also loved classic rock. So usually I'm like Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, um, 

Rich Bennett 7:18
Right. 

Chris Pinnella 7:19
Rolling Stones, and all, all of that stuff is still huge to me. And that's a lot of the things that, you know, that, uh, I have a candlelit show that's not Christmas, also that we do that has a lot of those bands that we kind of re-imagined stuff by like, you know, Neil 

Rich Bennett 7:36
Really? 

Chris Pinnella 7:37
Young and Zeppelin and, and all that stuff. Yeah, so we, we kind of, uh, but that's another, another conversation. But yeah, so, so that's, um, I'm very eclectic and then in terms of stuff. And then I've really been in recently into like, this, like, crazy, um, like Cory Wong, which is like this, like, Jazz Fusion, um, like, crossover stuff, like, uh, I don't know. It's very cool. Like, um, but it's kind of funk. Yeah, I mean, I'm all over the place. I love everything. I love R&B. I love soul. 

Rich Bennett 8:12
You're like me, 

Chris Pinnella 8:13
I love Motown. I love everything. Yeah. So I mean, even like country music, like, my dad, you know, growing up, listen to tons of country, but like the classic stuff. Not like the newer country, but like, George straight and, you know, Brooks and Dunn and even 

Rich Bennett 8:27
okay. 

Chris Pinnella 8:27
going back, you know, Glenn Campbell, like, all of those guys, uh, Clint Black, 

Rich Bennett 8:32
wrecking crew. 

Chris Pinnella 8:33
Yeah. So, so I'm very, 

Rich Bennett 8:36
Wow. 

Chris Pinnella 8:37
I'm it. I'm all, I'm all over the place. Um, 

Rich Bennett 8:40
uh, only, but the one thing that blows me away here is because all the different artists and everything that you named, you didn't name one trumpet player, but you played trumpet for all that time. So what led you to trumpet? 

Chris Pinnella 8:54
So you know, it's, this is also, okay, so trumpet. What led? waas my teacher when I was in third grade telling me so I she said she sat me down, which she did I guess with all the kids and she said she said you know what what instruments you want to play and I said I want to play the saxophone. and she said no 

Rich Bennett 9:14
Oh, 

Chris Pinnella 9:14
and then I said all right, and I go well. 

Rich Bennett 9:15
I 

Chris Pinnella 9:16
play, I 

Rich Bennett 9:17
wanna 

Chris Pinnella 9:17
want to play the I want to play the drums she goes now I have too many drummers she goes you look like you look like a trumpet player and I said really. So that's how that happened I really like didn't want to play the trumpet, but that's why I said you know but I was I am very but that was the instrument I ended up playing for the reasons 

Rich Bennett 9:39
right 

Chris Pinnella 9:39
why I said with the breath support and the control and all that but but it was funny. I said no, you look like a trumpet player and I said I don't want to play the trumpet, but I did for 

Rich Bennett 9:50
and I know I never played but I loved watching it listening to does he go up speed, 

Chris Pinnella 10:02
I 

Rich Bennett 10:03
never played the trumpet, I started with drums 

Chris Pinnella 10:06
and yeah and they're great they're great and that's funny it's funny because I think because the singing was always the I don't want to say what but it was the singing was always like here and the trumpet was like like there for me so it was never like a 

Rich Bennett 10:22
yeah 

Chris Pinnella 10:22
I never dove as deep as I probably should have played the trumpet. 

I did it because I really did love it and I love being in band and and playing an instrument and all that 

Rich Bennett 10:33
yeah 

Chris Pinnella 10:34
but yeah of course all those guys are amazing yeah like all you know Dizzy Gillespie and you know all those guys are awesome and that's another you know a whole another genre of stuff that that is you know older but so iconic you know in terms of of the influence. 

Rich Bennett 10:51
Oh god 

Chris Pinnella 10:52
yeah, now 

Rich Bennett 10:55
one of the other things and this surprised me because you worked alongside Juliangers, so what did that 

Chris Pinnella 11:02
yes 

Rich Bennett 11:02
experience teach you 

Chris Pinnella 11:05
so that was one of the coolest things ever because I was I was working I had just finished doing a show in Texas. 

Rich Bennett 11:17
Okay, 

Chris Pinnella 11:17
in Dallas actually and the director came this director came to see the show who I had known for for years prior she called me I remember and she said you know I you know I she saw me in Texas called me like a couple weeks later when I was back in the city because I was living in New York at the time. And she was like listen I have this opportunity for you you don't have to audition I already showed them videos of you they want to cast you as this part she's like I can't tell you who's involved right now but this shows called simian's gift they want to cast you as simian. I already do you want to do it like she told me all the details and I said absolutely she goes okay now I can tell you who's involved and and then she said you know Julie Andrews wrote this uh she didn't write the the music but she wrote this book with her daughter Emma when she was it's I don't know if I can tell the story it's kind of long but she. So she had yeah so she had a when she was doing filming Mary Poppins uh in London 

Rich Bennett 12:28
okay 

Chris Pinnella 12:28
her her husband at the time who was a coincidentally the costume designer for the movie for Mary Poppins Blake Edwards was living in Los Angeles and they had just had their daughter Emma and so they would they would Emma would go spend time with Julie and London. And when she was there they would write a little bit of this story and then they would send Emma back to LA with Blake and Blake and her would write a little bit of this story which ended up being simian's gift. So um they decided like years later like wouldn't this be cool if we turn this into a children's book so that's what they did and it got published with Harper Collins and all the stuff then years later after that they turned into a musical so it was written by this guy Ian Fraser who's like this Oscar nominated. You know a Ranger and conductor and uh he's uh and this lyricist John Bacchino who's also like Tony Award winner so we we uh yeah we got to go out and and I got to work with her for two weeks. in uh in the Hamptons and Long Island at this theater we put the show on. Um it was over Thanksgiving so I was uh we were in um rehearsals and every day at four o'clock we would stop. And we'd go to the lobby and we would have a T break like for like actually for real 

Rich Bennett 13:45
Yeah 

Chris Pinnella 13:45
like we would and she would have set up like all the cookies and the things and we would have T and 

Rich Bennett 13:52
let's 

Chris Pinnella 13:52
um 

Rich Bennett 13:52
go. 

Chris Pinnella 13:52
we would talk, and then she, you know, she invited all the stuff, and she invited us to, um, she invited us to her house for Thanksgiving. So I spent Thanksgiving with her and her family, um, yeah, in the Hamptons at her house, which was wild. But, um, yeah, so she kind of, she wasn't the director, but she was there the entire process, um, giving notes to 

Rich Bennett 14:17
Okay. 

Chris Pinnella 14:17
us, and, you know, hanging out, and, uh, and, um, it was, it was crazy. It was very cool. Um, and at the time, like, I think I was 

Rich Bennett 14:25
I 

Chris Pinnella 14:26
like, 

Rich Bennett 14:26
know you had to learn a lot. 

Chris Pinnella 14:29
Yeah, a lot. A ton. I mean, she went into, like, you know, talking to me about, like, how to deliver the songs and lyric, lyric analysis, and like, how to, you know, like, um, how you're finishing your vowels, and really specific things that, like, would make sense for her. And she's, I always say this because it's a big question that people ask, but she's exactly like you would think she is, if that makes sense. 

Rich Bennett 14:51
Very down to earth. 

Chris Pinnella 14:53
She's exactly, yeah, she's super nice. She's super sweet. Um, you know, she had that vocal injury that happened to her, like, years and years ago. Um, so when we were in rehearsals, because she would talk so much to us, she would sit in the audience with the jar, whole jar of peanut butter, and she would dip a spoon in it, and she would eat the peanut butter, because it made her throat feel better. Like, or, I guess it, like, either like lubricated or vocal cords or something. So I just remember her with this big jar of peanut butter, and then the spoon, and she would kind of like wave the spoon while she was like giving us notes. Um, so that was a memory that I have too of her. But, but it was, it was, you know, it was very cool. It was very cool. No. 

Rich Bennett 15:34
You know, somebody just had to make a joke and say, uh, Julie, isn't that supposed to be sugar? You know, the spoonful sugar makes 

Chris Pinnella 15:43
it. 

Rich Bennett 15:45
Exactly. 

Chris Pinnella 15:48
Yeah. It's peanut butter instead. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:52
Yeah. And it helps 

Chris Pinnella 15:53
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:53
through. Yep. I've 

Chris Pinnella 15:56
I 

Rich Bennett 15:56
never, 

Chris Pinnella 15:57
guess so. That's 

Rich Bennett 15:57
the 

Chris Pinnella 15:57
what she 

Rich Bennett 15:57
only thing I've 

Chris Pinnella 15:58
said, because 

Rich Bennett 15:58
ever. 

Chris Pinnella 15:58
we all said, we were like, we want, we all said that to her. After we're like, why do you have the peanut butter? And she was like, Oh, it makes my throat, my throat feel better. And we were like, Oh, married. 

Rich Bennett 16:07
Interesting. I've always 

Chris Pinnella 16:08
Cool. 

Rich Bennett 16:08
heard of a hot toddy doing that. You know, but never wow. 

Chris Pinnella 16:14
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:15
So 

Chris Pinnella 16:15
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 16:15
I, with, with all, especially with the time spent with her and all the musical theater and everything, do you, do you think that's what really helped with TSO when you started with them? Because you're basically making that on, on stage with them. Plus, well, those that don't know Trance, I be or an orchestra. They need to see them. So you, you have that musical theater, but you also have that rock element too. 

So do you think that actually helped you a lot with that? 

Chris Pinnella 16:50
Yeah. I mean, 100%. I mean, like, I think that the biggest thing with TSO, TSO is the reason why I started doing, you know, things on my own, really. 

Rich Bennett 16:58
Okay. 

Chris Pinnella 16:59
Once I left that, that band, that gave me the confidence really to, uh, to realize that, like, you know, I could try to front my own bands and my own projects and really get into that. And also like, I think, you know, the, the TSO shows are so gigantic that it taught me, you know, too, that like, and I was always a fan. Like I remember when I got the, I got the call to audition for them. ..and I was just like, is this for real? Like, this is that band that I listened to since I was a kid at this point. You know what I mean? Um, 

Rich Bennett 17:30
And yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 17:30
so that was just very surreal. But, but I think it, you know, the biggest thing is that it taught me, I think that, you know, how, how-how-letting music can be huge. *laughing* Both, it can be gigantic, both like, in 

Rich Bennett 17:41
big 

Chris Pinnella 17:41
an 

Rich Bennett 17:41
time. 

Chris Pinnella 17:41
emotional level, and, you know, and, sonically, I think that, you know, you can treat the- you can treat a Christmas song like with the intensity of a rock show. You know what I mean? Or- or a theatrical production. And it's- and it, um, it gives that, like, wild factor, and that's kind of similar to what we- this show really kind of runs the gamut of, like, there's moments that are very- T-S-O-Ish, I would say, in the show, that I think- that I, you know, arrangements that I wrote, right after I got off the road with them. Um, that are, you know, that are very geared that way. And then there's moments that are very intimate and, you know, very, you know, gonna make you feel like- I said, like, you're sitting, you know, in your house by the fire with a- a cup of hot chocolate. So where it's very- it, it- it's very, um, you know, and the candle element just brings in just a nice visual makes everything nice and cozy on stage. Um, you know, because that stage is pretty big at the Star Center. So, you know, we have the 12 piece orchestra, so we have the string- string section, we have the horn section, and then we have a rock band, essentially, as what it is. So, um, but these guys can play anything, because the genres really kind of fuse together in this show, because Christmas music is like a fusion of genres. It's the one time a year that, like, people like willingly- the population willingly listens to jazz and classical music. On a level that's not normal, you know. So, um, so a lot of it is really, um, is really fusing together those elements of, like, you know, the rock and pop energy mixed in with, like, you know, a jazz guitar solo, that makes sense, or like, you know, or you're hearing like my violinist or my cellist doing, like, a beautiful solo to, like, like the- the one thing that I think the biggest influence I have with the TSO thing musically, is we do this, um, we do this thing that I wrote- I wrote this instrumental called song for tomorrow, and, um, it's piano heavy guitar heavy, like drums, and then what we do in the Christmas show is we open the second half always with it, and it segues into, um, this really minimalistic version of just piano and cello, um, of of Okomo, you faithful, um, with, uh, with just cello and piano and then that rebuilds back into, um, uh, Okomo, coming manual, which builds into this huge, I mean rock and roll, like epic Christmas, 

Rich Bennett 20:15
yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 20:16
um, but it's, but so, and you can see that, I mean, I'll- you can, that's on a lot of our promo videos, that version, um, that we do for the- for the Christmas stuff. So, which is very cool, but, um, but yeah, 

Rich Bennett 20:30
you say you wrote- you write as well? 

Chris Pinnella 20:33
Yes, yes, so a lot of the arrangements that are in this show, um, are new versions of Christmas classics and holiday hits, so it's not- we're not just kind of like covering, I mean, we, you know, technically, I guess we are, but we're doing more than, you know, a radio copy, copy-paste type of Christmas show. You're hearing- you're gonna absolutely know the songs, 1000%, like we do a version of, um, uh, Christmas time is here, you know, the Charlie Brown one, but we do it, um, you know, we do it with the- we do it with the horn section and the- and the band, so it's this like, 

Rich Bennett 21:15
yes, 

Chris Pinnella 21:19
so 

it's this very like jazz swung version with all the horns, we do a funk version of silver bells, um, it's very different, it's not- not very different, I don't want- I don't want to like steer people away from it, it's amazing, but it's not- it's not, you know, it's- it's, uh, you know, it's all- yes, it's all original arrangements, I guess. So that- that's the best way to put it, it's all original arrangements, they're very cinematic and, um, Yeah, so even that, you know, our version of Hallelujah, which has become like a, you know, people, people at this point will, you know, boom me off the stage if I don't do it in shows, um, so I do it in every show, but that's, you know, uh, 

Rich Bennett 22:04
that's 

Chris Pinnella 22:04
and 

Rich Bennett 22:04
okay, 

Chris Pinnella 22:04
that ends up being 

Rich Bennett 22:05
you 

Chris Pinnella 22:06
that 

Rich Bennett 22:06
scared me 

Chris Pinnella 22:06
ends- 

Rich Bennett 22:06
there. 

Chris Pinnella 22:07
no, yes, so that ends up- that's like a almost eight minute long song at this point, the way that we've arranged it and, um, and we do 

Rich Bennett 22:16
Ooh, 

Chris Pinnella 22:16
it. And normally we can't, you know, we don't bring this stay. I usually have some of the Christmas shows have, uh, you know, backup singers on it, the, the star center ones we don't usually. But the first year I did the star 

Rich Bennett 22:29
right. 

Chris Pinnella 22:29
center, we had the, um, the Harvard de grace, the, the high school choir that joined us, which was very cool. So we had like a 40 piece choir, we had like a 40 piece choir on stage with us. And, um, so there's all these gospel vocals on, on hallelujah. And these, the kids sang all the gospel vocals, it was very cool. Um, but now we switched the date and we're the more unblack Friday. So the kids are all off school. So they're, it's like a holiday weekend. So we can't, we can't get them anymore. 

Rich Bennett 23:00
Actually, I don't know if there's any time, but there is a local course. I think it's Chesapeake course. 

Chris Pinnella 23:08
Oh, really? I have to look into that and I'll write that down. 

Rich Bennett 23:12
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 23:12
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 23:13
And you also have a group of, I'm going to get the name wrong suite and a line suite and suite. Adelines or whatever. The women, there's a group of them too. All right. So you have to tell me about Harvard de grace. How in the world did everything? Cause you've performed in Harvard degrees several times at the star center 

Chris Pinnella 23:33
Mm hmm. 

Rich Bennett 23:34
or at least at least a few times. But how did that come about? How'd you find out about Harvard degrees? 

Chris Pinnella 23:39
So my really good friend, um, uh, Leon Holmes, who has a, has a band called the Motor City Review, which is like a Motown group. They, they played their, I think they were there like inaugural show when they opened. Cause the star center, do you know the history of the, the building? Probably. Do you know what's, what they did? So that used to be the, so it was the old high school. And I guess, 

Rich Bennett 24:03
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 24:03
um, They were going to either, I don't know if they were going to tear it down or it was just going to be nothing. And I think the town stepped in and said, 

Rich Bennett 24:12
right. 

Chris Pinnella 24:13
can we buy this? And the state. I think sold to them for like some of the seemingly low price. Um, 

Rich Bennett 24:19
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 24:20
but it's funny because when we first, so anyway, so she, I saw she did I said, where's this theater? And she said, Oh, it's in this little town. It's great. And, um, so I reached out to them in the, in the spring, uh, I forget what year it was now. It was probably like three years ago, four, maybe four years ago. And, um, reach out to them, started talking to them. And they booked me for, they booked, uh, the big band there over 4th of July weekend. And, um, they, and it was so, it was such a fun experience because I brought, so I've, I have, you know, full family, three kids, my wife, we all, we all came. There's the summer and, you know, they, uh, we stayed over in the town for like the whole weekend. Um, because we had never been there. 

Rich Bennett 25:06
Okay. 

Chris Pinnella 25:07
And the, uh, the mayor reached out to me of the town and was like, Hey, we're having this big, uh, 4th of July parade the day after your show, you know, come and hang out with, uh, come and hang out with us in the mayor. I guess then they have bad some mayor's viewing area or something. Um, so I brought my whole family. We went the next day to the mayor's viewing area. And we, we watched this 4th of the 4th of July parade in Harvard degrees. And then we walked all the way down to the water by that big, beautiful building that like overlooks the bay. Um, it's like a, there's like a park there in a arena. And then there's like this big house. 

Rich Bennett 25:45
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 25:45
I don't know what it's called. 

Rich Bennett 25:47
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 25:47
So we sat on the lawn right there. And we watched the fireworks. And, um, it was just an amazing day like in the town. And, um, and 

Rich Bennett 25:58
yeah, oh, it's beautiful. 

Chris Pinnella 25:59
And the funniest thing was pre cursor to that the night. So I did the my show the night before, right? My kids had left on bunch of the lights in my car. Okay. So we get out at like it's like 11 o'clock at night. We go to drive back to our hotel. And my car won't start. So, 

Rich Bennett 26:18
Oh, 

Chris Pinnella 26:19
so 

Rich Bennett 26:19
God. 

Chris Pinnella 26:19
I go, I called the lady. I called her name's Bambi. Um, I think it was Bambi at the time who was working there. 

Rich Bennett 26:28
Mm-hmm. 

Chris Pinnella 26:28
And she goes. She goes, Oh, I have, um, jumper cables in my car. Let's, so we, we hook up the jumper cables. Um, we're doing the thing, right? And the jumper cables, the car starts smoking. Both are cars start smoking. 

Rich Bennett 26:42
Oh, my 

Chris Pinnella 26:42
All 

Rich Bennett 26:42
God. 

Chris Pinnella 26:42
right, so the jumper cable just start fully melting, like they're like melting, uh, it was insane. So Joe the tech guy, we, Joe comes running out barehand rips the, rips the things off our cars, saves the cars, right? And uhm, uhm, so Joe's like, did you have him crossed? And I was like, no, they were on and he looked and he goes, no, they were on, right? 

We had jumper cables, and uhm, so we almost lit both of our cars on fire and the parking lot of the star center. And then Joe had actual jumper cables and our car started right up. But, uhm, but Joe every time I come out, 

Rich Bennett 27:27
thank God, 

Chris Pinnella 27:27
Joe always says music. Remember that time we almost lit your car on fire and the, was, I was, I was like, I do, I was like, but yeah, so that was, uhm, 

Rich Bennett 27:37
well, 

Chris Pinnella 27:37
that was the story I was telling you about. That was wild. And that's how I really have to say like, all 

Rich Bennett 27:41
I 

Chris Pinnella 27:41
of these people, so Joe, who does all the sound and lighting there, and Joe just got promoted to the, he's now like the technical director of the theater, uhm, Joe, Bambi and Barbara are the three people that really run that place. And uhm, I can't say enough nice things about them. And I'm not even just like, you know saying that, If I, if I saw you on the street and we weren't doing this podcast, there's, there's some of the nicest people that I've 

Rich Bennett 28:09
tell me he 

Chris Pinnella 28:10
ever met. 

Rich Bennett 28:10
said, yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 28:12
And, and I, and I, I'm so grateful to them because they, they keep having me back. Like every, I mean, we, you know, we, we do well there. And I, but they've really allowed me to build an audience there. Because you know, when you're an artist and you're going to new places uhm, you know, it's always, it's always gets a little, you know, tricky at first, like, you know, you have the audience and then you got to try to build it, but they've really been great with that. And we've been 

Rich Bennett 28:36
like, 

Chris Pinnella 28:36
able to 

Rich Bennett 28:36
nope, 

Chris Pinnella 28:36
really build a nice, a nice audience there for ourselves. And we come, we do, I do three shows a year there now. Which is amazing. So we're there, we're there for Christmas every year. We do a show around Valentine's Day. And then we do a summer show. So 

Rich Bennett 28:52
three shows a

Chris Pinnella 28:53
year, it was really, yeah, so it's really awesome. What? Yeah, that's really great. 

Rich Bennett 29:00
I didn't realize you were there that that much. 

Chris Pinnella 29:03
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty cool. Like how much we get, we get to, like, be a part of their seasons every year. It's very cool. 

Rich Bennett 29:15
So with the, with the Christmas show and this, so this year you guys are going to be there, like you said, Black Friday. God, why Black Friday? That's a busy day. Ah, 

Chris Pinnella 29:30
Oh 

Rich Bennett 29:30
but you also say Valentine's Day, you're there as well. 

Chris Pinnella 29:33
Do you know what's weird though? 

Rich Bennett 29:35
What's that? 

Chris Pinnella 29:38
Yes, yep. No, I was going to say what's funny is we, we did the first year we had the show. We had it like in December at some point. And, and then last year we moved it to this Black Friday thing. And I said to them I was like, I don't know if this is. It's Black Friday. Like, I don't know about this. And they're like, no, no, we think it'll work. And, and we sold like, we sold like three times the amount of tickets for some reason on 

Rich Bennett 30:08
Really? 

Chris Pinnella 30:08
Black Friday. I think it's because people, they're home, like their kids are home from school, like it's like a, because the show is very family friendly. Like it's, it's, you could bring your little, literally you could bring your four year old and you could bring your 96 

Rich Bennett 30:23
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 30:23
year old, you know, grandmother. And, and there's something in that show for everyone. So it's, I think it's like, it's a time when everybody's already together. So it's a great, it's, it honestly ends up being a great 

Rich Bennett 30:35
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 30:35
day. And it kind of is like the unofficial official kickoff to the holidays that day. So, um, so we kind of like are kicking Christmas off and, um, Harvard 

Rich Bennett 30:44
I 

Chris Pinnella 30:44
degree. 

Rich Bennett 30:44
love that 

Chris Pinnella 30:45
that day. So it's, it's a lot of fun. 

Rich Bennett 30:47
I love that. It's something, and something about half of the race in the Christmas time too. It's just, I don't know if you've been down there. Doring Christmas or, I mean, not actual Christmas day, but like throughout December and just look at the way everything is decorated down there. 

Chris Pinnella 31:05
And they, 

Rich Bennett 31:06
they've redone to historic art. It's, oh yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 31:10
it's a beautiful town. It's great. 

Rich Bennett 31:12
I love going down there. My brother lives there, but I love. 

Chris Pinnella 31:14
Oh, it's awesome. It's great. We love it. I mean, it's 

Rich Bennett 31:17
Yeah, yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 31:17
the times when anytime. I mean, I have to go, I go back and forth sometimes to, um, to bring, you know, we'll sometimes they'll let me Joel, let me borrow, like certain certain things from the theater. And, um, so I have to drive back down and it's always a good excuse and I'll like sometimes bring my son. And we'll just, we'll go drop the stuff off and then we'll go around the whole town for like a couple hours before we drive home. Um, but it's, it's great. It really is. And like I said, I can't. I can't say enough nice things about everybody that works there. It really is like one of my favorite places to to perform. Like I honestly wish it was closer because I would do so much more like it would be more involved in other ways is what I'm saying not just doing shows there. Um, 

Rich Bennett 32:02
yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 32:02
It really is great. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 32:15
You know, it's not too big and it's not too small. And 

Chris Pinnella 32:19
It 

Rich Bennett 32:19
it's 

Chris Pinnella 32:20
is. 

Rich Bennett 32:20
a good size stage. And I even think they redid the seeding if I'm not mistaken. 

Chris Pinnella 32:25
So they redid the whole, Most of the whole thing so they redid all the seeding is new. They added aisles, which is nice because it used to be just that the seeding used to just go 

Rich Bennett 32:35
yes. 

Chris Pinnella 32:35
straight across. Um, so now there's two aisles that go down, um, you know, in the center which is really nice. They painted the ceiling black which just made everything look really sharp and, um, they added, you know, they, they, um, oh, and then the newest thing, I don't know how recently you've been there with the newest thing is that, um, they installed a hung, uh, like a line array sound system in there now. So he used to kind of these to Joe used to have to bring in his own speakers every time and set him up on stage. Um, so he 

Rich Bennett 33:05
had to be a pain, 

Chris Pinnella 33:07
yeah. So they just now they have, they have they hung a, a full line array sound system in there and it sounds great. Um, 

Rich Bennett 33:14
wow, 

Chris Pinnella 33:14
so they're really they just keep kind of like slowly, you know, upgrading and 

Rich Bennett 33:18
proven 

Chris Pinnella 33:18
updating everything. Yep. Little by little. 

Rich Bennett 33:22
Yeah, we went. So I took my daughter there to see Mr. Speed, 

Chris Pinnella 33:26
Mm 

Rich Bennett 33:27
which 

Chris Pinnella 33:27
hmm. 

Rich Bennett 33:27
is a kiss cover band 

Chris Pinnella 33:29
that's awesome. 

Rich Bennett 33:30
which 

Chris Pinnella 33:30
That's awesome. 

Rich Bennett 33:30
Phenomenal and then my wife and I went there to see, uh, the Sicilian tenors, who I was. Tell you, 

Chris Pinnella 33:37
um, 

Rich Bennett 33:38
with Larry Noto, open up for him and oh yeah, the place is just, t was somebody else we saw there, too. And I can't remember who it was. Uh, anyway, but yeah, in all the acts. I mean, they're bringing in top acts like yourself. Uh, who was. They had Nelson there. Remember Ricky Nelson's. 

Chris Pinnella 33:57
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, they're starting to bring in bigger Pete. Yup. They had the, um, who's just there. The Bacon Brothers. Kevin Bacon was. 

Rich Bennett 34:08
Yes, cut the big, yeah. Yep. Which and I didn't realize this because I think when they were performing there, key for Sutherland was performing it tonight. 

Chris Pinnella 34:20
Oh, that's 

Rich Bennett 34:21
I never 

Chris Pinnella 34:22
he's. 

Rich Bennett 34:22
realized 

Chris Pinnella 34:22
That's crazy. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, key for Sutherland has a band. 

Rich Bennett 34:28
All of these and he sound good too. 

Chris Pinnella 34:31
he is good. That's 

Rich Bennett 34:33
Yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 34:33
like, 

Rich Bennett 34:33
you can 

Chris Pinnella 34:34
uh, 

Rich Bennett 34:34
get Billy Bob Thornton. 

Chris Pinnella 34:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 34:37
Yep. 

Chris Pinnella 34:39
Yeah, he, um, who else 

Rich Bennett 34:41
Damn. 

Chris Pinnella 34:41
has Bernie Williams, Yankees, the Yankees player, he plays jazz guitar and tours, which is hilarious. 

Rich Bennett 34:48
What? 

Chris Pinnella 34:49
Yeah, Bernie Williams from the Yankees. 

Rich Bennett 34:52
I had no idea. 

Chris Pinnella 34:53
Yeah. I actually think he's going to be on Broadway. I think he's starting in, uh, like he's going to be in the band for some Broadway show now. Like, but that's like, I guess the bands on stage are like part of the show. Um, yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, it's funny. Like all the people you don't 

Rich Bennett 35:08
wow, 

Chris Pinnella 35:08
realize. It's just like, 

Rich Bennett 35:09
it's, it's, 

Chris Pinnella 35:10
no, and 98 degrees was there, too. 

Rich Bennett 35:14
Yeah, who was, 

Chris Pinnella 35:16
um, 

Rich Bennett 35:16
that's right. They were, that was the other one. And I think the first year, Melissa Fridge. 

Chris Pinnella 35:20
Yep. That was she. I think she actually was the one that opened, like opened, opened it. The venue, the venue. She was like the first 

Rich Bennett 35:26
Okay. 

Chris Pinnella 35:26
show that they had there. 

Rich Bennett 35:30
Yeah, it, it's amazing. Peop, um, and not just people here in Hartford, can you, but people all around, have been there to come. 

Chris Pinnella 35:40
Oh, yeah. I had a, I had a couple from, uh, from Boston that came To see us in Harvard, to grace. 

Rich Bennett 35:49
Wow. 

Chris Pinnella 35:50
They were, I, I was like, I said, because I always do this, I try to do it as much as I can remember, but I would love to always ask the audience. Like, you know, I was 

Rich Bennett 35:58
Right. 

Chris Pinnella 35:58
like, do we have anybody, I guess I go like this and I start to pull out. I go, do we have anybody from, you know, Hartford County, and you know, obviously, everybody cheers. And then I go, do we have anybody from, you know, from, from Pennsylvania. And then, and I was, do we have anybody further away from like, you know, PA New Jersey, and, and then they raised their hand like we're from Boston. And I was like, oh my God. And then I saw them after and they go, yeah, we came to see you. We got hotels or stay in there the whole weekend. I was like, that's amazing. Um, so it's very cool. It's very like, it's cool, too, because they, you know, it's the same reason they like, they wanted to see the town. I mean, and I guess they wanted to see me, but they wanted to see the town. 

Rich Bennett 36:36
Actually, something, cuz I ask authors this a lot, uhm, you know, for authors the first time somebody asks them to sign their book, just how it feels to them. But with you being onstage and especially doing the Christmas songs and everything, how's it feel to you when the audience is singing back with you as well? 

Chris Pinnella 37:00
Um, it's, it's awesome. It's like that's one of the coolest things. I mean, that's like one of the main 

Rich Bennett 37:06
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 37:06
reasons why I think it never will get old, if that makes sense. Like in, there's things that, you know, like it's like with any business that, you know, you're just sometimes feel like you're hitting your head against the wall a million times. But that's usually all to like, you know, the business side of it. But the, but that side of it, you know, when you have the audience singing and you have everybody really into it and, and all of that, that's, you know, that's the best part. It really is. There's nothing better than that. And I think the reason, you know, for us, like, I always say that to like, you know, people that ask about like that different thing of like we really are just bringing, trying to at least bring, you know, joy and a little bit of nostalgia and like kind of like a nice little reset for people's brains because the holidays are stressful and it can be like a stressful time of year for people. And you know, I think for us, it's like giving people like, you know, two hours of like permission to like 

Rich Bennett 38:07
of, 

Chris Pinnella 38:07
just kind 

Rich Bennett 38:08
yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 38:09
relax. Forget, leave your worries at the door kind of thing and just have, you know, have a great time. And that's, that's what we try to do every time we go out there. You know, because I think that, you know, I can feel it, the difference, I can feel people's energy, you know, when we come out. And then it's like, 

Rich Bennett 38:27
you know, yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 38:28
it's a reciprocal thing that goes back between the band and the audience the whole night. And I think that's why I don't, I'm hoping, you know, with all the, you know, with all the AI stuff that's starting to come out that live music is something that just sticks around forever because people are going to hopefully just crave that human connection, always, you know, and want to have. 

Rich Bennett 38:51
You said it there 

Chris Pinnella 38:52
with people with with with with with their artists and with themselves and with the audience and, you know, it's, it's a, it's just a big, you know, it's just being able to be in a room with that many people. You know, it's just can't really duplicate it in a, in a 

Rich Bennett 39:10
of. 

Chris Pinnella 39:10
sterile type 

Rich Bennett 39:10
Well, 

Chris Pinnella 39:11
so 

Rich Bennett 39:13
Chris, the good thing is when it comes to AI, and you're already seeing this with podcast because there are some AI podcast out there, but the hosting companies are weeding them out. 

Chris Pinnella 39:25
Oh 

Rich Bennett 39:25
Okay. 

Chris Pinnella 39:26
nice. 

Rich Bennett 39:26
The other thing you're, yeah, the, and especially with the AI music, because you were finding a lot of it on Spotify.But  I think they started weeding that out too. But the other thing is too, well, I'm seeing a lot and actually one of my co-whose we were talking about this, you, and you see it all the time on social media, how they do the AI graphics, the posters of an event. Well, a lot of people are starting to just scroll right past them because it doesn't have that personal touch. And that's the thing that AI can never offer is a human connection, that personal touch. And it's, that's important. So yeah, I don't think you need to worry about that. I don't think you need to worry about AI. 

Chris Pinnella 40:09
I do agree with that. Like I do think that it's, it's definitely people are, I think people are getting even more onto being able to even recognize it. Like it's, it's horrible now like my own kids, they'll see, they'll see a poster like in someone's window in my daughter, I'll be like, oh, that's AI. And I'm like, good, it is. 

Rich Bennett 40:31
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 40:32
So like people are starting to be able to recognize it, which is in a way, I think is good because it's going to start to hopefully weed it out a little bit more, but I don't know. It's, it's a crazy thing. The whole, that whole thing. 

Rich Bennett 40:44
And I've said, I've said this several times. So the people that it's going to hurt is the people that are letting to do the work for them. The ones that it's going to help are the ones that use it as a tool. 

Chris Pinnella 40:58
Yes. 100% 

Rich Bennett 41:00
and not to do the work. 

Chris Pinnella 41:01
Yep. For sure. 

Rich Bennett 41:02
But yeah, if you get too lazy and literally do all the work for 

Chris Pinnella 41:05
you, I mean, I'll be, I'll become completely honest with you. That's how I found you. 

Rich Bennett 41:12
Or through AI. Well, think about it. Your, you know, Google's now using Gemini. 

Chris Pinnella 41:17
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 41:18
Bing is now using co-pilot. It's, it's AI. Well, technically, in a way, the search engines were always AI. But now it's, yeah, it's pulling everything together a lot 

Chris Pinnella 41:28
for 

Rich Bennett 41:29
quicker 

Chris Pinnella 41:29
us. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 41:30
Yeah. And pinpointing it. Yeah. It's very important. All right, so Chris, before I get to my last questions, there are anything you would like to add. 

Chris Pinnella 41:38
Um, trying to think. I think the, I don't know. I mean, I think the biggest thing with that, that, you know, I was obviously love to, you know, I think the biggest thing to is, is that it's so, my, this show in particular is so intentionally, and I just mentioned it before, but it's so intentionally like multi generational. So it's meant for grandparents to come with their parents and come with the kids and, and all be in the same row and have that, oh, we were talking about that music connection. But for completely different reasons, that's what I think is cool. You know what I mean? Like you have the, your, your grandmother there who's listening to us do like, you know, a song, you know, doing, what is it? The Christmas song, you know, chestnuts roasting over an open fire. 

Rich Bennett 42:21
Yeah. 

Chris Pinnella 42:23
And the little, the little, you know, eight year old might be hearing that song for the first time, or hearing it in a completely different way than the parents hearing it because it's nostalgic to them because it reminds them of their mom who's sitting next to them. So there's all these big, exciting moments and quiet emotional moments also that I feel like, you know, there's so much variety in this show that it really works well as like a family night or a date night or just a big. What it's become in a lot of ways for for people is like a yearly tradition, which is kind of what we're trying to do, you know, going on year three with this is turned it into a, um, turn it into a big family, a big family tradition for people to keep coming back

Rich Bennett 43:04
Chris pick a number between one and 100. 

Chris Pinnella 43:06
Oh, 54, 

Rich Bennett 43:10
50, why number 54. 

Chris Pinnella 43:11
I had always been my lucky number. That was my number when I played soccer. 

Rich Bennett 43:18
Yeah. You know what? This is funny. So you listen to the two episodes, I got 100 different questions that the guests picks the number and most of the time it aligns with what we've been 

Chris Pinnella 43:29
And 

Rich Bennett 43:29
talking. this is no lie. This is the number you pick pick number 54. Here's the question. What is a creative outlet you enjoy, even if you don't consider yourself artistic 

Chris Pinnella 43:45
a creative outlet I enjoy, even if I don't consider myself artistic. Oh, that's funny. 

I guess it's what I do. It's music. It's actually you know what my favorite thing that's really funny, but no, it's it's it's I think out of everything now at least if I had to pick something new aside from singing and putting all that it is really the arrangements is a ranging, because that's a newer 

Rich Bennett 44:09
Yeah, 

Chris Pinnella 44:10
thing that didn't really come into my life until I would say the last maybe 10 years. That I realize that I could do that, and that's from being able to you know having worked with all these amazing musicians over the last 15 20 years. 

They have the they're the ones that taught me that because I didn't go to school for music or for arranging and any of that stuff. So I just I've been picking that up for years and learning how to do notation software and and write charts and do all that. So, so yeah. So it's definitely arranging. That I don't consider to be like my thing that I could really like I wouldn't feel comfortable like doing that like someone paying me to do that if that makes sense for someone else. Because I still need my friends to come in and kind of clean up what I do if that but but yeah. 

Rich Bennett 44:58
No, it makes perfect. 

Chris Pinnella 44:59
So that's funny. That's a funny question though. I mean that that's what I picked 

Rich Bennett 45:03
been amazed. Always been amazed by arrangements. How how people can you know just like what you're doing and bringing it. I guess you could say to this generation to each generation and you see it throughout the 

Chris Pinnella 45:21
you know 

Rich Bennett 45:22
all these different arrangements are being I mean think about it. If you were doing the Christmas songs like the old traditional's like they used to be. They they year old may not like it 

Chris Pinnella 45:34
do. 

Rich Bennett 45:34
like they 

Chris Pinnella 45:35
Yeah, and 

Rich Bennett 45:36
the same with the 90's. 

Chris Pinnella 45:38
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 45:38
yeah, it makes a big difference. Wow. … What a pleasure it was talking with Chris. From a school production of Oliver, to working alongside Julie Andrews, and touring with Trainsiberian Orchestra, his story shows how one opportunity can open a door you never expected. A school assignment to interview a conductor led to his first paid single performance at just 16. Man, that's amazing. But what really stayed with me though was how Chris described the connection between the musicians and the audience. Hearing people sing along, giving them a chance to leave their worries at the door, and bringing different generations together through familiar song. That's a powerful thing. And I loved hearing how he continues to learn from the musicians around him, finding new ways to arrange songs while keeping the heart of the music intact. Of course, we also discovered that a memorable moment at the Star Center in Haven, Grace Marilyn, can include a fantastic performance and a parking lot adventure with melting jumper cables. Chris, thank you for the stories, the laughs, and for sharing your love of music, and of course, having degrees, you can explore Chris's music to find his performances at ChrisPanela.com and I'll have the link in the share notes. And wherever you're listening, consider making time for live music. Bring someone along, discover an artist, and give yourself a chance to enjoy that connection Chris talked about. What's a concert experience that has stayed with you? I love to hear your story. Until next time, I'm Rich Bennett. Thanks listening and remember, every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen and someone willing to share. Now it's your turn. Join the conversation by sharing this episode. Leave in a comment or reaching out to me directly. Take care. Be kind to one another, and I'll talk with you again soon.