BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:665@townecrier.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260717T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260717T203000 DTSTAMP:20260327T225145Z URL:https://townecrier.com/events/simons-dream-music-members-of-penguin-ca fe-orchestra/ SUMMARY:Simon’s Dream: Music & Members of Penguin Café Orchestra DESCRIPTION:Simon’s Dream was the original inspiration for the Penguin Ca fé Orchestra (PCO)\, a band led by English guitarist and composer Simon J effes. The group performed and recorded for 24 years until Jeffes died of an inoperable brain tumour in 1997. Since then several original members of the band have continued to play the music under the banner of ‘The Orch estra That Fell To Earth’ in Europe\, and ‘Simon’s Dream’ in the U nited States.\n\nJennifer Maidman is a singer\, writer\, and musician born in England. Her solo album\, “Dreamland\,” features her life partner\ , renowned trombonist Annie Whitehead\, ECM artist David Torn and Woodstoc k-based drummer Jerry Marotta.\n\nJennifer was a key member of the origina l Penguin Café Orchestra\, joining in 1984 and touring and recording with the band until the untimely death of Simon Jeffes. Since then\, with part ner and fellow Penguin Annie Whitehead\, she has led two ensembles which c ontinue to perform the Penguin’s repertoire.\n\nJennifer has played and recorded with a vast range of artists including Boy George\, Joan Armatrad ing\, Bonnie Raitt\, Gerry Rafferty\, David Sylvian\, Van Morrison\, Shake spears Sister\, Paul Brady\, Chris De Burgh and Mark Knopfler.\n\nAnnie Wh itehead was born in Oldham\, Lancashire\, the heart of brass band country. She learned trombone at school and by the age of 14 was already busy play ing with brass bands\, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Or chestra. At 16\, she started her professional career with Ivy Benson All G irl Orchestra. Since then she has brought her distinctive sound to a wide range of projects\, exploring many different musical styles.\n\nJazz-wise\ , she was a member of Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath\, and was a lso in various groups run by John Stevens playing alongside Courtney Pine\ , Evan Parker and Bobby Bradford. Annie has also toured and recorded with the Paul Dunmall Octet (featuring Keith Tippett and Tony Levin)\, Elton De an Newsense (alongside legendary trombonists Roswell Rudd and Paul Rutherf ord). She has also worked with McCoy Tyner\, Carla Bley\, Abdullah Ibrahim \, Louis Moholo and James Blood Ulmer and more recently Gary Crosby’s Ja zz Jamaica All Stars with Andy Shepherd and Eddie ‘Tan-Tan’ Thornton.\ n\nIn 1988\, Annie joined the Penguin Cafe Orchestra with which she toured worldwide and appeared on three albums: It was here that she met her part ner and frequent musical collaborator Jennifer Maidman. She collaborated w ith Robert Wyatt to create the band\, Soupsongs\, which featured Julie Tip petts and Jennifer Maidman on vocals\, and also included Didier Malherbe\, Harry Beckett and Phil Manzanera. They went on to play at the Royal Festi val Hall in London\, and throughout Europe\, and released a live double al bum.\n\nScott Petito is a bassist\, composer and producer from the Hudson Valley. Scott has recorded\, produced and performed on more than 1\,000 re cordings. He has worked with a diverse roster of clients\, collaborators a nd artists which include\, the Band\, James Taylor\, Chick Corea\, Dave Br ubeck and Keith Richards to name only a few.\n\nScott attended the Berklee College of Music as a jazz composition major\, and has lent his skills to countless major artists in multiple genres: Jazz (Jack DeJohnette\, John Scofield\, Dave Holland)\; Folk (Pete Seeger\, Tom Paxton\, James Taylor)\ ; Blues (Lucky Peterson\, Rory Block)\; and Rock (The Band\, Mercury Rev\, The Fugs\, Sting\, Jon Anderson). He has also worked on music for film an d television.\n\nScott is a long-time member of the legendary poet/punk ba nd\, The Fugs. Over the years\, he has had many other roles as sideman and band leader\, including live performances and recordings with Leslie Ritt er\, Livingston and James Taylor\, Garth Hudson\, Levon Helm\, Allen Ginsb erg and more. He is currently recording a new trio project with drummer Pe ter Erskine (Weather Report) and vibraphonist Joe Locke.\n\nJerry Marotta was born in Cleveland\, Ohio. At the age of 5 his family moved to Harrison \, NY\, in\n\nWestchester County. In the 4th grade he started taking clari net lessons. In the very first report card that year\, his music teacher w rote Jerry shows absolutely no interest in the clarinet! He switched over to saxophone with only a little more success. Ironically\, it was that sam e year that Jerry’s brother Rick Marotta brought home the drum kit that would change both their lives for good.\n\nCut to Jerry graduating from Ha rrison High in the summer of 1973 (a year early) and taking his final exam s on the road with him. Jerry’s brother Rick recorded an album with Arth ur\, Hurley and Gotlieb for Columbia Records and their single broke the To p 40. They were in need of a drummer\, and Jerry got the call.\n\nIn 1975 Jerry auditioned for a Woodstock-based group called Orleans and got the jo b. Soon afterward\, he found himself in L.A. recording the “Waking and D reaming” record\, played on his first hit\, “Still The One\,” and on the road\, with Orleans\, supporting Jackson Browne.\n\nIn the summer of 1977 Orleans took a break following the exit of Orleans founding member\, John Hall\, Jerry flew to London and started working with ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel. For the next two decades\, Jerry divided his time be tween recording and touring with Peter Gabriel\, Daryl Hall and John Oates \, Tears for Fears\, Joan Armatrading\, Paul McCartney\, Sarah McLachlan\, John Mayer and countless others.\n\nLiam Singer is a multi-instrumentalis t whose body of work reflects a lifetime of musical obsessions\, ranging f rom minimalism and chance composition to ’80s pop and confessional songw riting. He has studied the piano and harpsichord\, and is a self-taught ac cordionist and Thereminist.\n\nBeyond his solo work\, Liam has played keyb oards live or in the studio with Slow Six\, The Balustrade Ensemble\, Alex ander Turnquist\, Sontag Shogun\, and most recently\, “Simon’s Dream ”\, performing the music of The Penguin Cafe Orchestra.\n\nLiam lives in Catskill\, NY where he and his wife\, Laura\, run the music venue/Korean restaurant\, “The Avalon Lounge.” “The Ocean”\, released in 2021\, is his sixth studio recording.\n\nOriginally from Banks\, Oregon\, Jonath an Talbott is a composer\, violinist\, violinmaker\, tracker and naturalis t. In addition to his violin making and repair\, he plays in a number of e nsembles in upstate New York\, including the Jazz string band\, “Lucky F ive\,” and “Simon’s Dream\,” performing the music of The Penguin C afe Orchestra.\n\nTickets $30 advance\, $35 door\n\nALL SALES ARE FINAL\n\ nDINNER RESERVATIONS REQUIRE 1 ENTREE PER PERSON\n\nSHOW ONLY TICKETS ADMI TTED 15 MINUTES BEFORE SHOWTIME\n\nADVANCE SALE PRICE ENDS 1 HOUR BEFORE D OORS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://townecrier.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/0 3/Simons-Dream-cropped-web.jpg CATEGORIES:Main Stage END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR