Moonlighting in his preferred career
Author Mitch Albom plays with his old Jersey band.
Mitch Albom does a mean Elvis.
But people attending the 14th annual Samost Jewish Family and Children's Service fund-raiser won't see the King belt out 1950s rock standards.
Instead Albom, the best-selling author, radio host, sportswriter, and New Jersey native will be fronting the Lucky Tiger Grease Stick Band at the Saturday night event "Stepping Out With JFCS," at the Weinberg Jewish Community Campus in Cherry Hill.
Author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Albom, who lives in Detroit, reunited last year in South Jersey with the eight-piece band to celebrate his 50th birthday. The group covers tunes from "Rock Around the Clock" to "The Great Pretender."
Albom, nicknamed "Tuitti Fruitti," will play piano and sing. "Many of my friends are musicians. . . . In my heart," he said from his Detroit office, "I would rather be a musician than a writer - but I like these hours better."
Lucky Tiger last performed 30 years ago, opening for Welcome Back, Kotter star Gabe Kaplan at Rutgers University.
"His dressing room, for one person, was twice the size of ours, for eight people. And he got a huge plate of cold cuts in his - which we snuck in and stole," Albom said.
Albom's later ventures into the music world include writing songs for the 1992 made-for-TV movie Christmas in Connecticut, directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and for the late Warren Zevon.
He also performs with fellow writers Amy Tan, Frank McCourt, Dave Barry, and others in the Rock Bottom Remainders band.
The JFCS is a nondenominational social services agency that provides support services in South Jersey.
"I only hope we don't sink their charity for good," Albom said.