B&O Station:Youngstown, Ohio

After 8 hours of Youngstown’s finest blues bands it was time for da folks from Pennsyltucky to take da stage. Considering that this was a “blues” show, I thought it would be a good idea to bring a couple guests, Glenn Pavone and Jill Simmons. We opened up with “Boilermaker”. This gave us the opportunity to feature Mr. Pavone right up front, just to let these flatlanders know exactly what was up. A smoking “Rock n’ Roll City” upped the stakes. “Minimum Wage” was a great vehicle for Glenn’s sexy guitar style. “We Come a Long Way” came off very well. By the time we finished up “Bow Legged Woman”, everyone knew that they were right where they wanted to be, in da belly of da blues. I pulled out my G-tuned slide guitar for a rave-up version of “Little Things”. After it was over Glenn looked at me and said “that’s a good song”. Just then, I heard my girdle snap. At this point, it was time to bring out showstopper singer Jill Simmons. Three Norman tunes “Million Tears”, “If I Had a Child”, “Look What You Done” found new meaning as Jill’s voice rapped around the lyrics as if she’d written them herself. I think some of my ole songs have made a new friend. The ole gospel classic “Saved” really got the audience going. A soulful take on “You Go Your Way” led to “Route 66”. Jill then poured her heart out on “I’d Rather Be a Blind Girl”, and yes, it was powerful. We closed out the show with “Work Together”. And tonight, we did work together. Whitey Cooper laid out a road map, Harry Bottoms was driving da bus, Glenn Pavone was lickin’ it up, Jill Simmons was cookin in da soul kitchen and yours truly was just living large.

Friday-August 24, 2007

Old Large Hotel: Large, Pa.

This is a great looking older room that reminds me of the 1960’s or 50’s. Not that I was playing in bar’s in the 50’s, in the 60’s yea, but not the 50’s. Most of the folks that come out to this club have not seen us before so they don’t know our music. Its fun turning them on to music we’ve been doing for years and years. It’s also fun to play songs they’ve heard before. That’s right, cover tunes, we know a ton of old tunes and tonight we played a bunch. “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Slow Down”, both were a blast to get behind. My cousin John and his lovely wife Lori showed up, all the way from that dusty desert town, Las Vegas. We fired out “Burn’in Up” for these beautiful people. I think of Elda….. Somewhere in the madness of da eve, I thought I saw Harry and club owner “Flathead” wrestling over in da corner, am I nuts? We did “Honkytonk Woman” and Kate sang a very cool high part. Whitey ripped up “Try Me”. The night wound down with a rough version of “The Weight”, as requested by a younger bar patron. Kate helped Whitey and Harry with the B.G. vocal and if I woulda’ knowed what I was doin……………….

Saturday-August 18, 2007

Excuses: Southside, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Harry had a new speaker cabinet for his bass rig and it sounded great. “Bulldog”, “Lazybones”, “Till the Cows Come Home”, I could tell right away that we were going to have a strong performance. “Shack’in Up” was smoking. “Loverboy” was also a standout. Ole buddy Lenny Ferrari played drums on the last two songs of set one as Whitey got out front and sang “Great Balls Of Fire” and “Shama Lama Ding Dong”. The set two standouts were “If I Had A Child” and “Rock You”. Kate sang “Me And Bobby McGee” and did a good job. This show was nothing but a party. STRONG.

Friday-August 10, 2007

On the Erie Shore: Erie, Pa.

Down on the water on a beautiful summer eve under a very cool band shell with a great P.A. and monitors, we had everything we needed for a wang dang doodle of a time. “Nightclub”, “Reddy Freddy”, “Rock n’ Roll City”, “Heat Of The Night”, “High Times”, at this point in the evening Peter Fonda, that’s right Peter Fonda, came riding up to the front of the stage on a replica of the bike he rode in “Easy Rider”. We instantly broke into “Born to Be Wild” with Harry doing the lead vocal. Peter Fonda looked at Whitey and gave him a thumbs up. Cool, huh? “T- Bird” and a killer version of “I Seen Too Much” led to a short break so our new friend, Peter could talk to the thousand or so bikers that followed him into the event. After all the talking was done we banged out “Born to Be Wild” again, this time Harry even sang all the right words. We called ole friend and local legend, Jake Banta up to jam. A spankin “Shake Your Moneymaker”, then Jake crooning “Fever”. I saw Glenn Pavone backstage right after we started “Work Together” so I handed him my guitar so I could do my monkey dances. Da joint was rockin. We all got our rocks off. At this point Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones took over the stage and did a solid hour of bone crunchin blues rock. I heard The Cyclones doing “Boilermaker” so I watched it all go down from the side off the stage, it was powerful. Cyclone bassist Val, called me and Jake back up on stage to close out the show. I sang “Look What You Done” and “Lovedog”, Glenn was doing some nice barking. Both Glenn and Jake did soulful solos on “Bow Legged Woman”. On the last song of the night, Cyclones drummer Frank, handed his drum sticks to Whitey………..da Pennsylvania Plowboys ?

Friday, August 3-2007

Moondogs: Blanox, Pa.

We started the show, and for one reason or another we could do no wrong. Daddy clean was rolling steady, Whitey was on, and Harry was on, all was right. “Boilermaker” was presented in a proper, manful way. “Somethin’s Cookin”, “Rock n’ Roll City”, “High Times”,  “Graceland”, “Burnin’ Up”, “That Girl”, “Sick n’ Tired”, “Hell’s Highway”, “We Come A Long Way”…after a short break, we came back on stage with ole buddy Bob McKeag, who sang and played guitar with us. “Work Together” was a work out. “Bow Legged Woman” came across strong. Whitey sang “Try Me” as McKeag joined in on B.G. vocals. We had a blast doing “Love Dog” with McKeag on slide guitar. Whitey sang “Testify” and is starting to really sound good on the ole “Parliament” classic. The last thing I remember is me shouting out “Shake Your Moneymaker” then stickin da mic in McKeag’s face and seeing his face get a frightened look. Just doin my job.

Thursday- August 2, 2007

St. Patrick’s Festival: Hubbard, Ohio

The smell of sausage and onions was in da air. Lots a’ beautiful young folks and their family’s wandering around a quaint carnival like setting. Me and mine were set up under a tent beside the only place that alcohol was being served. Good planning. We did three short sets that were peppered wit a bunch of ole cover tunes, and it was a blast. Two teenage girls got on stage to dance in the first set. And in set three we had three little girls, sisters, dancing to “Lovedog”. After the song, I thanked the young ladies for helping us out, their mother yelled out that she had seven more children. That’s breedin. Gigs like this give us a chance to play for folks that wouldn’t normally go out and see a band. I’m thankful for these opportunities. Saw Cornel, that big ole Ohio buck. Great job done by the P.A. company, Hubbard Music, I think.