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December 31,
2007-New Year's Eve
Moondogs:
Blawnox, Pa.
Happy New Year
everybody, may all your hopes and dreams
come true in 2008. This was quite an
evening; we didn’t get home till four
o’clock in da morning. Whitey, Harry and
I started off with “Lazybones”,
“Boilermaker”, “Mr. Right Now”, “High
Times”, ‘Rock n’ Roll City”, “We Come A
Long Way”, “Sick n’ Tired”, and
“Graceland”. We then got Glenn Pavone on
guitar and Mark Stutso on lead vocals
for the main event. Stutso was in strong
voice on “Million Tears”, “Victoria’s
Secret”, and “If I Had A Child”, but on
”Three Times Your Fool” he brought down
da house with his soulful sound. All the
while Glenn Pavone was stoking da fire
like a true guitar monster, never comin
out of da woods until da music calls for
it and then just rippin. “Heartbreak
Shake” and “You Go Your Way” both came
off the way they was supposed to. “Work
Together” and “Its My Own Fault” both
had a freshness to them, considering
both of these songs have been beaten to
death over the years by countless
artists. We’re looking forward to
releasing a Mark Stutso CD in 2008.
Watch for it on this website. Set two
was endless to say the least, two hours
of organized mayhem. Wait, isn’t that
what they used to say on Studio
Wrestling back in da 60’s? We did the
New Years Eve song right on time, how’d
that happen? Moondog laid out some
serious lick in the back room and we all
greased. “Nightclub”, “Hell’s
Highway”, break to the Ratman in a
diaper sucking on a baby bottle, while
we banged out “Tequila”. Scary, for
real. Jill Simmons then joined us
onstage to sing her can off. By the
middle of her first song Glenn had
gotten back onstage just in time for the
guitar solo, timing is everything. Jill
then ripped “Route 66”, “I’d Rather Go
Blind”, and “Chain Of Fools”. When Jill
sat down, Harry sang the sh*t out of
“Little Wing”, as Glenn gave everybody a
guitar lesson. The Ratman returned to
the stage in a tutu to sing “Wild
Thing”. Woof! What’s up wit da Ratman,
is he for real? Chuck Kholer sang
“Secret Agent Man” and the Elvis classic
“Can’t Help Falling In Love”, which put
a dramatic romantic twist on this nutty
evening. Young Katie Ramone sang “Be My
Baby” and “Dead Flowers” before Chuck
got back onstage to once again add a
romantic twist with “For The Good
Times”. Mr. Stutso satisfied a request
when he got back onstage to sing “Bow
Legged Woman”, this also gave Glenn
Pavone a chance to augment Stutso’s
soulful vocal with the perfect vibe. Did
I mention that Glenn plays guitar on
that Stuso CD I talked about only a
moment ago? Whitey Cooper then closed
out the evening doing his kind of soul
singing on “Shama Lama Ding Dong” and
James Brown’s “Try Me” as Mark Stutso
supported him on drums. High tight n’
white, dis Whitey Cooper can saaaang.
I’m a very lucky guy, to be able to play
with such talented folks.
……………..2008 I welcome you……………
December 29,
2007- Saturday
Excuses:
Pittsburgh, Pa.
As we walked
onstage tonight, I thought about this
being the last Saturday of another year.
I guess that it’s been 41 or 42 years
playing in bands for dis ole dawg.
Woof! Most folks was out in the front
room watching the Patriots beat the
Giants to complete their perfect regular
season schedule 16-0. God bless ‘em, can
we blow some Pittsburgh rock now? “Git
By” and “Yesterday’s Gone” both simmered
early in the show. “People Takin Care”
is making a big come back, I don’t think
we’ve played this song often enough over
the years. Set two featured “Sick n’
Tired”, “Loverboy” and a great
performance by both Whitey and Harry in
the rhythm section. Ole friend Nick
mentioned to me that we hadn’t played
“That Ain’t Gonna Happen” lately, so we
banged a strong take out on that ole
tune. I must mention that Harry sang
“Pot’s n’ Pans” and “King of the Road”
in the first set, by popular demand. We
closed the show with a ten minute
version of “Stiller Nation” that
featured historic commentary, the “Just
Because Polka” and a whole lotta heart.
Ya gotta love this long time Southside
bar. What ya see is what ya get, and
what ya get is good. When you’re in
Excuses, ya know you’re in Pittsburgh.
December 28,
2007-Friday
Moondogs:
Blawnox, Pa.
Another chance to
play alongside Mr. Glenn Pavone,
priceless. “Bulldog”, “Hoochie Mama”,
“Till The Cows Come Home”, “Minimum
Wage”, “Send You Back”, one song after
another came rolling off the stage in a
most musical fashion. Sometimes it’s
easy. Glenn was rippin huge hunks a’
meat and slappin em’ down. Whitey and
Harry was tight as a ducks a**. Yours
truly was lickin it all up. Mr. Phil
Brontz then joined us onstage to blow
his tenor sax. “T-Bird”, “Weekend”, “If
I Had A Child”, and a swinging version
of Chuck Berry’s “Round n’ Round” gave
Phil all the room he needed to blow some
face. Powerful. The two hour second set
made me proud. “Million Tears”, “I Hate
A Nickel”, Little Things”, all had a new
feel to them with Glenn Pavone adding
his unique flavor. “Look What You Done”,
“You Go Your Way”, and “Boilermaker” all
smoked. We did a couple of older tunes
“Please Don’t Talk About Me”, “That
Girl”, and “Burnin’ Up”. Mr. Warren
King, who had been hangin all night, got
up onstage as Glenn took a short
breather and just smoked “Work Together”
and “Not Fade Away”. It was great to
play with Warren again, he sounded as
always, fluid and powerful all at the
same time. Chuck Kholer put smiles on
people’s faces with a quick paced “Teddy
Bear”. The evening wound down with Ron
“Moondog” Esser singing “I Shall Be
Released” which faded into “Smoke Two
Joints”, sounds like a good idea, huh?
December 22,
2007-Saturday
Mountain State
Brewing Co: Thomas, West
Virginia
It’s always a
pleasure being in one of my favorite
places on da planet, Thomas, W.V. This
brew pub has the rustic charm dat ya
gotta love. Harry and I drove down
together and were joined onstage with
local drummer, Jerrod. Ole friend, Mike
Goss was celebrating his birthday, so it
was a special night in that regard. Let
me say, the moonshine was spectacular.
Young Jerrod did a fine job feeling his
way thru the evening, finding the sweet
spots, while laying down some feel good
grooves. Harry played great in this
unique format; he also spoke very highly
of the fresh brewed beer. We probably
only played five or six Norman tunes all
night. But we did have a ball banging
out a whole buncha cool cover tunes. The
ole John Denver classic “Country Roads”
never sounded like it did on this
evening when three beautiful, young,
local girls belted it out. I’ll never
forget how it felt, watching a gang of
the local girls help us carry out our
equipment at the end of a wonderful
night. Once again I was reminded that
West Virginia is, almost heaven. Amen
December 7,
2007-Friday
Michal O’Mally’s:
Austintown, Ohio
This, our first
time at this party palace, was a blast.
Long time local DJ Freddy was on the
show with us, laughing all the
way…..bells on bob tails……….. It’s too
early for all dat. “Lazybones”, “Till
the Cows Come Home”, “White Trash
Tragedy”, everybody was on the same
page. Harry mentioned to Freddy that he
saw a vision of Michal Jackson on a
mirror at the bar. Freddy got on the
mike screaming about a Christmas miracle
in Austintown, Ohio. This made our first
break fly by. Our second set gave folks
a chance to get into the party spirit,
the fun starts here. Whitey sang “White
Christmas” for the first time this
Christmas season, and kicked it’s *ss.
He also changed his lead vocal interlude
on “End of the Line”. “Hoochie Mama” was
a delight. We sang “Happy Birthday” to
club owner Mike. The dance floor got
some action, which I really appreciated.
“Loverboy” was smoking, as was this
whole experience. I like rollin cross da
state line and rockin wit da
flatlanders…………….
December 1,
2007-Saturday
Road Worthy
Tavern: West Liberty, West
Virginia
This is a great
looking club, kind of like a mountain
chalet. We kicked things off real low
key, just to get a feel for the room.
“Git By”, “Till the Cows Come Home” and
“Somethin’s Cookin” I could tell at this
point that we was gonna have some fun.
“People Takin Care” felt real good. We
had a couple birthdays in the house and
an anniversary. “Help Me Make It Thru
the Night” and “Ring of Fire” were
poppin. We brought ole friend and
musical force Jason Truman up to play
some guitar. Harry sang “King Of the
Road”, Whitey did “Chain Gang”. The
first set closed with Truman spankin da
plank on “Work Together”. “Weekend”
exploded to open set two and much to my
surprise, folks was dancing to it.
Another ole buddy joined us to sing “One
Way Out” and a couple ole Johnny Cash
tunes, Everett Metz got out on da floor
and was stompin while he was singin.
Love it. “Hell’s Highway” opened the
final set, then “Ain’t It Amazin” got
folks slow dancing. Romance…………. With
Jason Truman back on guitar and Everett
jumpin back onstage, I took off my
guitar and let the monkey loose. Like a
gospel revival, we cleansed our souls,
together, as one……………… |
