“We Feel Your Love” Released April 1, 2011! April 3, 2011
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Our new praise record “We Feel Your Love” was released April 1, 2011! And we have a new website where you can read all about the songs, the artists, preview tracks and check out behind the scenes photos. Hop on over to www.wefeelyourlove.com!
From the very bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for listening and for all of your support along the way! I hope the record brings you much joy and love.
So Much To Tell You! September 6, 2010
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Wow! I have soooo many exciting updates to tell you about!
- NEW MUSIC!
- Our New record of Praise and Worship Music, We Feel Your Love is alllllllmost done! and we have a whole nother record planned and coming out right behind it in the Spring!
- We’re working with a transcriptionist to bring you printed Sheet Music for SATB Choral and Solo Arrangements of our original compositions!
- WEB UPDATES
- The Complete Video from our 2009 Christmas Concert is now posted on the Video Page!!
- A New LINKS page is up on my website!
- BIG plans for my website including Chrissy Internet Radio! a totally new page with streaming music
And I’m saving the Biggest News for later….I promise to update this page Very Soon!
Dave & Chrissy’s Rockin’ Christmas Concert! December, 14th 2009 December 15, 2009
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This year we rocked Community United Methodist Church more than ever, again lifting up rousing renditions of Christmas favourites, many of which were own original arrangements! Our full on rock band featured two soaring electric guitars, a chucking acoustic guitar, a heavy hitting drum set and a driving percussionist with myself on the thumping bassline and the lead vocals. If you didn’t think Rock and Roll could make you feel God’s awesome prescence, think again!
Our concert started off with our enthusiastic arrangement of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, followed by a rockin’ arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard On High” by the group, MercyMe. We slowed it down a bit for Dave’s arrangement of “What Child Is This, a pensive, 6/8 rocker where I pulled out my extra bassy 5-string guitar and Dan launched into a flying guitar solo. We let the band take a break while Dave took to the piano and I belted out the prayerful “O Holy Night.” And we capped off the set with a finger-snapping, toe-taping jazzy version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” with a groovy walking bassline.
We humbly and gratefully accepted your generous offering while Dave regaled us with a piano solo, a medley of the Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here,” followed by his own snappy version of “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” and the rest of the band came downstage and set up for our acoustic set!
Acoustic Set
Our Acoustic set gave our percussionists a chance to have fun on an array of multi-cultural instruments. During “We Three Kings,” Greg kept time on the tambourine while Marc played the cajon, a latin percussion instrument, and Dan plays a beautifully executed guitar solo.
The next song is one of my personal favourites in our show, “O Come, Emmanuel” that I arranged into a bossa style during which Dave delivered an equisite solo on the acoustic guitar and Greg played the guiro, a very cool latin percussion instrument. The Latin flair continued with “Mary, Did You Know” which again featured Marc on the cajon and a lyrical guitar solo by Dan.
This year we had the extra blessing of directing music for our annual church Christmas Pageant. The music was so good that I had to invite our ‘student orchestra’ to give an encore performance!! Shaan, Greg and Jeff joined our band for two outstanding songs, “I Wonder As I Wander” and Dave’s pulse quickening arrangement of “The Carol of the Bells!”
Part 2
The second half of our show started with our dreamy ballad version of “Joy To The World” with Dave solo on the acoustic guitar playing some very lovely chords.
The band reconvened to deliver a sock-hop style medley of Rockin’ Christmas tunes that got some adventurous audience members up on their feet, clapping and dancing in the aisles! Marc shared the lead singing with me here and we alternated vocals on “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” “Blue Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and he stepped out into an awesome wipe-out style drum solo!
We then settled down into a 4/4 pop ballad version of “Silent Night” featuring Seth on a bluesy acoustic guitar solo. Greg then brought us all together and led us in a heartfelt prayer, thanking God for our friends and family and asking for togetherness and rememberance. We followed up with our arrangement of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” as a swaying r&b ballad.
Everybody got up on their feet one last time for our lively pop rock version of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” giving Dave a chance to pull out a rockin electric guitar solo and while the audience clapped along.
We can’t thank everyone enough for having such a good time with us, supporting our church community and most importantly Praising God and giving Him Glory for giving us the gift of His Son! Our heartfelt thanks, appreciation and love go out to all. We can’t wait to do it again in 2010!
Cast
- Chrissy Almeida – Vocals and Bass Guitar
- Dave Shrewsbury – Piano, Acoustic and Electric Guitar
- Dan Milone – Electric Guitar
- Seth Kellogg – Acoustic Guitar
- Marc Sherman – Drums, Percussion and Vocals
- Greg Pehrson – Percussion
- Andrew Martin – Sound
- Showtime Sound and Lighting – Lights
- Michael and Barbara Raphael – Video
- AJ Vallario – Video
Song list:
Part 1
- O Come, All Ye Faithful
- Gloria (Angels We Have Heard On High)
- What Child Is This
- O Holy Night
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Dave’s Solo during the Offering
- We Three Kings
- O Come, Emmanuel
- Mary, Did You Know
- I Wonder As I Wander
- Carol of the Bells
- Acoutic Set -
Part 2
- Joy To The World
- Jingle Bell Rock, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, Blue Christmas, I’ll Be Home For Christmas
- Silent Night
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Hark The Herald Angels Sing
- Rock Medley -
Dave and Chrissy’s Contemporary Christmas Concert! Dec 2nd 2008 December 12, 2008
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The music staff of Community United Methodist Church and over 100 guests kicked off the Christmas Season on December 2nd, with a contemporary Christmas Concert in the sanctuary!
Our pals guitarist Kevin Leary, drummer Pete Adams, and percussionists Alfonso Guarino and Greg Pehrson joined Dave and I to deliver jubilant and rousing renditions of popular Christmas hymns. Our arrangements drew on all of our individual strengths and talents, tapping into pop, rock, jazz, latin and world music styles for inspiration!
The church is used to seeing Dave behind the organ and piano, and myself either leading the choir or singing. We took this opportunity to step out and perform on our second instruments! Dave performed mostly on guitar, and I handled the bass guitar and the vocals. Dave and I both come from a background of pop and jazz styles. Kevin, Pete and Alfonso have all enjoyed success in hard rock bands, and Greg is well versed in latin music. It was so much fun for us to bring these exciting styles to our church to praise God and commemorate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ this Christmas season!
The concert was a tremendous success and we are so pleased that everyone had such a great time! The audience was clapping and singing along, and a few inspired folks even got up to dance in the back of the church! We’d like to especially thank our friends Andrew Martin who manned the soundboard, and Art Strafuss for videotaping. Special thanks are owed to the ushers, and everyone involved who volunteered their time to help with printing flyers and programs, and decorating the sanctuary. And we wish to express our sincerest gratitude to everyone who participated in the offering to support our church!
Happy Holidays and Big Hugs!
Chrissy
Check Out Video Clips Online!
Go To: www.cumcwayland.org and click on “Video” on the left sidebar
See The Full Concert On TV!
The concert is currently running on public access television in the towns of Wayland and Billerica!!
Check back soon, we’ll post the programming schedule 
Meet The Musicians!
Chrissy Almeida Vocals & Bass Guitar
Dave Shrewsbury Guitar & Keyboards
Kevin Leary Guitar
Pete Adams Drums
Alfonso Guarino Percussion
Greg Pehrson Percussion
Andrew Martin Sound
DAVE SHREWSBURY, the organist of Community U.M.C. since 2001, is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Having played piano since the age of 5, Dave currently produces music for radio and television ads that are heard throughout New England. Dave released a CD of spiritual piano music in 2007, and often performs with the country group, Taylor Made in his hometown of Beckley, West Virginia.
Since 2006, CHRISSY ALMEIDA has served as the Director of the Community U.M.C. Chancel Choir and has over 12 years professional experience in liturgical and worship music. A classically trained pianist and vocalist from Waterbury, Connecticut, Chrissy graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2001. She frequently collaborates with Dave Shrewsbury and is currently recording a solo album of Christian praise and worship music.
Guitarist KEVIN LEARY is originally from Oxford, Connecticut where he professionally built and tuned NHRA Pro Import race cars. A musician for over 20 years, Kevin now combines his passion for music and his technical expertise by building custom guitar effects pedals in his spare time.
PETE ADAMS has been a professional drummer for over 20 years and has performed with numerous bands including the New Hampshire rock group, Mongrel. Pete is a veteran of the Gulf War, having served in the United States Army Infantry. He has self published a science fiction novel and is currently writing children’s stories.
ALFONSO GUARINO, a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter has toured the East Coast as the frontman and founding member of the hard rock group, Humans Being, a Pressure Point Records recording artist. An avid soccer enthusiast, Alfonso can also be found serving as goalie or referee in local soccer leagues.
GREG PEHRSON is the founder and executive director of Fuerza Laboral, a community service organization that provides assistance to immigrants. A graduate of Brown University, Greg is a talented multi-instrumentalist and also plays the flute and trumpet.
Catching Up! July 11, 2008
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Seriously, I blink, and three months have gone by! poof! In between cookouts, baseball and weddings we’re engulfed in a few major projects.
- I’m STILL working on recording my Mistrence originals. Can’t give any reasonable excuses for the delay, but we are still working on them, one little piece at a time
- Also working on another album of hymns. In June Dave and I recorded a special EP to benefit Community UMC at their annual Strawberry Fair. 10 signed and numbered (and in some cases, doodled on) CDs brought in a significant sum at their silent auction. We are so pleased at the very positive feedback we’ve rec’d. Some of the songs we’ve recorded are “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “In the Garden.” You can listen to “Be Thou My Vision” on my Audio page. We’ll be adding more songs and instruments to the arrangements and anticipate an early Fall release.
- All other free time is being spent renovating our choir room. Our very loved room hasn’t been updated in decades. Fresh paint, a new layout and a brand new media center are all in the plans!
And that’s why I’ve been so busy! Hope everyone is having a fantastic, fun-filled summer!!
July shows July 11, 2008
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JUL 5 w/ CHRIS EVES AND FRIENDS
Last weekend we played two sets w/ Chris Eves in his hometown Hamilton, NY. We had too much fun rocking out some good old 80′s anthems. We had a great crowd considering it was a holiday weekend, cheering, singing along and even some dancing. I’ve uploaded a few pictures and video. It was wicked late and we were tired but we still had a great time! Dave was hiding in the dark behind his keyboards, but you can clearly hear him on the video – especially in Jump!
Chris is a friend from Berklee and recently released a new album “…Somewhere In Between” in which he not only wrote and sang all of the songs, he also played every instrument on the record, including the guitars, drums, Hammond organ, and Rhodes keyboard. The catchy songs have the body of solid pop rock w/ a heart of folk sincerity and poetic lyrics. It’s been playing in my car non-stop for days now! Can’t wait to play w/ Chris again!
JUL 19 DAVE w/ TAYLOR MADE Opening for RANDY TRAVIS
Beckley, WV native Dave is still pals w/ his first guitar teacher Dan Bailey. Dan has called on Dave recently to record keyboard tracks, and also invited Dave to join his band Taylor Made for a gig in Beckley this July. Dave of course jumped at the chance to play in his old stomping ground.
Sat Jul 19 at 7p Taylor Made w/ Dave Shrewsbury will be opening for Randy Travis at the Friends of Coal Auto Fair, a 3 day long car show in Beckley WV. Dan reported that over 25,000 tickets have already been sold for their show!! Many congratulations to Dave! To all of our friends in the Beckley area, we’ll see you there. I’ll be playing “photographer”
Taylor Made is the REAL thing, pure, powerful Country music, and they rock! Their songs make me want to go out and buy a pickup truck. Check ‘em out
Spring Choir Concert July 11, 2008
Posted by chrissyalmeida in Updates!.Tags: Add new tag, choir, community umc, concert
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An enormous belated Thank You to everyone who participated in, supported and attended the Community UMC’s Spring Concert May 3rd. I am so grateful for everyone’s involvement and I am overjoyed that sharing our musical gifts created a positive experience for so many people. The sanctuary was full of our friends, family and guests from as far as CT and NJ. We were blessed to have such an wonderful afternoon that opened our hearts to the Spirit that is w/ us. This was our first endeavor w/ our current group, and I am very much looking forward to presenting another program next spring!
Concert Announcement! April 25, 2008
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On Saturday May 3rd, the Community United Methodist Church Chancel Choir is giving a free concert focusing on prayer and spirituality.
We’ll be performing an uplifting set of classical and contemporary works including two choral pieces composed by Dave Shrewsbury and myself. I’ll be soloing on a few pieces, and we’ll be featuring friends Erin Vulgamore and Andrew Martin from Brookridge Church in Andover! Come down for a visit and join us in the Spirit!
5 Damon Street (Corner of Damon and Main) Wayland, Mass.
Happy New Year! January 9, 2008
Posted by chrissyalmeida in Updates!.Tags: christmas, community umc, concert
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I hope that everybody had a wonderful holiday season! I thought I would take some time today to catch up and post some updates!
Christmas at Community United Methodist Church
Over 2 feet of snow fell in our Boston area during December, forcing us at Community United Methodist Church to cancel several rehearsals and reschedule our Christmas Pageant. By His grace and through the efforts of our entire community, our 25 choir members and a cast of over 20 actors of all ages offered a re-telling of the First Christmas on Sun, Dec 24th through Scripture readings, congregational hymns, choir anthems and solos. I chose six contemporary and upbeat anthems for our choir including the arrangement of “Joyful, Joyful” that was performed in Sister Act II. Our group got quite a kick out of our first foray into the contemporary gospel style! Featured soloists included mezzo Brittany Wells on “The Christmas Star,” a pop ballad recorded by CeCe Winans. Tenor Justin Chase offered a pop rendition of “Mary, Did You Know?” and also performed a duet w/ soprano Deb Strafuss on a Joseph M. Martin arrangement of “Still, Still, Still.” Tenor Anold Baker offered a beautiful solo as the angel Gabriel, and baritone Arnold Goldenbaum performed a moving solo as Joseph. I sang our arrangement of “Breath of Heaven” which I had also recorded w/ Dave Shrewsbury for his 2004 Christmas CD.
On Christmas Eve, we opened the worship service w/ a 30 minute acoustic concert of Christmas hymns w/ Dave Shrewsbury, Bryce Rabideau and Justin Chase on acoustic guitars, I played my newly restored double bass, and Greg Perhson joined us on percussion. During the candlelit service, I sang our arrangement of “O Holy Night” beginning acapella. The services at our church this Christmas season were full of a deep sense of praise, gratitude and joyous celebration. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
Newspaper feature on Dave Shrewsbury! December 14, 2007
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The Register Herald in Beckley, WV, Dave’s hometown, published a terrific article about Dave written by Senior Editor, Bev Davis.
Click the pic to read the full article!
