Seniors groove to Motown hits at Marble Hill center

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Motown week at the Marble Hill Senior Center had residents dancing in the aisles on March 13.

“Go dance, girl!” musician Bryan Lammers called to Marble Hill Houses resident Gloria Solis as she swung her hips to a rendition of The Drifters’ classic “Up On The Roof” in the center’s community room.

Soon, Ms. Solis’ moves had inspired her friend, Generosa Rodriguez, to join her at the front of the room. Ms. Rodriguez, wearing a pink, floral Betty Boop shirt, Betty Boop boots and a Betty Boop watch, began swinging her own body as though she were in a 1930s cartoon.

“Shake your hips!” called resident Paulette Shomo, who heads the Marble Hill Tenants’ Association.

Mr. Lammers, alternately playing an electric guitar and crooning into the microphone, took audience requests from Frank Sinatra’s “Unforgettable” to Santana’s Spanish-language hits. After the residents had danced themselves out to his version of fellow Bronxite Dion DiMucci’s “Runaround Sue,” Mr. Lammers serenaded them with Elvis.

“He’s one of the best. A real entertainer,” said Ms. Solis, who said that Mr. Lammers’ hits reminded her of earlier musical experience singing in a chorale when she was in high school.

“We love Motown,” Ms. Rodriguez added.

 

Mr. Lammers said that he grew up on the Bronx’s east side, in the Edenwald Houses. He went to Evander Childs High School and remembers leaving class to go play the coffeehouses down by 85th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan. After having “the rock and roll tour experience” with Grammy-nominated R&B act Heatwave in the late 1970s, Mr. Lammers has continued to play music professionally for most of his adult life.

“I do a lot of these,” he said, referring to the many gigs he plays at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He last performed at Marble Hill’s senior center in May 2014.

After the show, a silver puzzle piece dangled conspicuously around his neck.

“It’s an international symbol of autism awareness,” Mr. Lammers explained. His son was diagnosed with the neurodevelopment disorder at age 3.

Marble Hill Senior Center, Motown, Bryan Lammers, Paulette Shomo, autism, Nic Cavell
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