Saturday, April 28-2007

Excuses Southside: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Loads of laughs.The two hour first set was the fastest two hours I ever spent. I couldn’t imagine having a better time. “Bulldog”, “Good Rockin Man”, “Till The Cows Come Home”, “Loverboy”, “Ain’t It Amazin”, at this point I took a shot and called a tune we normally do later in the show “Rock You”. I was trying to get folks dancing  early. This   approach did not work. “People Takin Care”, “Please Don’t Talk About Me”, “High Times”. We called Jill Simmons to the stage and she ripped a couple tunes up “Million Tears” and “Route 66”, loads of applause for this lady. We closed out the set with “Smoke Two Joints” and “Ole Number 21”. Set two opened with a shout out and special request for Terrible Tom, the ole Silencers classic “Sidewalk Romeo” it made me think, Pittsburgh radio really messed up when they didn’t make this great tune a standard of Pittsburgh rock radio. Ron, the gay wrestler informed me that Bobby “Boris” Pickett had passed away this week so we did our make shift version of “Monster Mash” in tribute. Joffo Simmons, long time Houserocker time keeper jumped on the drums while Whitey Cooper got out front to take control o’ d’ house. I was watching people’s faces as Whitey shouted out James Brown’s “Try Me”, powerful. Ain’t nothing like a great voice teamed up with a great piece o’ material. Speakin o’ great voices, Jill Simmons got up with me and the boys to help with “Let It Bleed” pass the dust, I think I’m Mick.

Tuesday, April 24-2007

Moondogs: Blanox, Pa.

Sunday, April 22nd Moondog called and asked if I would like to do a short solo acoustic set to open the show for legendary guitar player, David Lindley. I said yes, and then asked when the show was booked. Less than 48 hours was his reply, but I’m not sure if he wants an opening act, I’ll call you back when I find out. Tuesday morning Moondog called back and said the show is a go. Tuesday afternoon Harry called the house to bullsh*t and when I told him about the gig tonight he said he wanted to hang. I told him to bring a bass. Turns out, David Lindley was not opposed to me adding Harry to my performance. So I told Harry, “da show is a go”. Backstage, Harry took a picture of Mr. Lindley’s shoes while I got the chance to hear some stories about one of my favorite guitar players of all time, Jessie Edwin Davis of Taj Mahal’s original band. As we took the stage, I looked around and saw some of the burg’s finest, James Docherty, Donnie Hollowood, Warren King, Bob McKeag, it made me feel good to see so many ole buddies in da house. “I’m A Man”, “Playin In A Rock n’Roll Band”, “You Go Your Way”, “Hell’s Highway”, I bet I scared a few folks with my bullcrap. I sensed a bit of stuffy attitude coming from some folks. Ha, wa’ ya’ goin do?  “Graceland”, “Sick n’ Tired”, “I Was Blind” it’s always a blast playing acoustic, this show was nothing but a party. David Lindley is still a strong player. Great sense of rhythm. The first half of his show was all about music. The second half was all about humor. I hope HE didn’t get under da skin of any snooty music snobs. Long live da simple folk dat come to rock wit us on a regular basis, ya’ll make me proud of everything I’m not.

Saturday, April 18-2007

Moondogs: Blanox, Pa.

Generations. Three generations of Pittsburgh rockers, showing hard. Great show tonight. Three different kinds of rock n’ roll, but it’s only rock n roll to me. The Cosmosonics went on after us and banged out some tunes from their new cd. Drummer, Angelo, was slammin. They finished up their set with a ballzy cover of de ole Aerosmith tune “Mama Kin”. This pleased the natives. New blood, The Takeover UK closed the show and brought da show wit dem. Very nice performance from these young bucks. Good song writing n’ sweet harmony’s n’ strong rhythm. Know what I like about dat? Everything. Me n’ my boys Whitey, Harry, and Vinny opened this evening festivities rocking right. “Nightclub”, “Reddy Freddy”, “Rock n’ Roll City”, “Son Of A Gun” I was having a blast, enjoying the opportunity of watching the faces of the young people in the audience watching the show. “Nothin To Lose”, “That Girl”, “Rich Kid”, Vinny sang “You Better Move On” and yea, he’s been playing great the last few shows we’ve done together. Let me say that Whitey Cooper and Harry Bottoms played their tails off on this historic evening. We closed out our set with a song about the people we used to listen to on the radio when we was kids, “Who Dat Do Dat”. It sure would be cool if someday, people could hear The Cosmosonics or The Takeover UK or NN, god forbid, on the radio.

Saturday, April 7-2007

P.D.’s Pub: Pittsburgh, Pa.

“Bulldog”, “Till The Cows Come Home”, nice crowd, but the joint wasn’t packed. What we did, was make the most of what we had. Everybody had a ball. Pittsburgh blues legend, Chizmo Charles was in the house. Me and my big mouth, I tell the story about the night Chiz called Harry a “Tangle eyed b*tch” and we was all laughin so hard I had to pull the van over to the side of the road. We got the blues Gods satisfied when Chiz got up to sing “Rock Me Baby” and “Mojo”. Then it all came tumbling down when Mr. Charles sang “Green Green Grass of Home”. What an honor it is to play with this true Pittsburgh treasure. Whitey and Harry really came alive when Chiz came on so the stakes went up. This contributed to serious takes on two ole standards, “Rich Kid” and “Smoke Two Joints”. Dear friend Chuck, of “Moondog” fame was out on the town, stopped in to holla at da boys, so we got his a** up on stage to sing some Elvis and a very cool version of “Secret Agent Man”. Pass the dust, I think I’m Bond, James Bond. “The Sky Is Crying” kept being requested so we had to get Chiz back on to sing it. Whitey brought down the house singing “Sick n’ Tired”. During Whitey’s soulful ending licks a Travis Tritt looking guy screamed out “sing it, you tangle eyed B*tch”. That’s rock n’ roll. “Easy Money” was righteous. “When I Die and Go to Hell” made me proud to ride with my guys. The answer to the question is, “YOU DO”.