Gig Updates

July 24, 2010-Saturday

Moondogs: Blawnox,PA

After last night’s show here at the club, and this afternoon’s show at the festival, I’m about as high as a loon! Brice, Harry n’ I kick it all off wit a new instrumental that I just wrote, and although we never played it before, it got things buzzin….it’s temporarily titled “Six Pack”. “Rock n’ Roll City” came rumbling off da stage n’ “Pittsburgh PA” settled right back and set up “America’s Son”, which by the way, seems to have a haunting effect on da peoples. At this point we all sang happy birthday to da man, da myth, da goofball, my dear friend Ron “Moondog” Esser…….n’ dat goofball mooned da peoples…….we slapped “Shithouse Rat” around and then I brought two young bucks onstage to play with Harry n’ Brice. Both Brendon and Dave played guitar and did nice work on “Before You Accuse Me” & “Texas Flood”. Bubs McKeag took center stage n’ we played his tune “Sail On”. Frank Giove took my spot on guitar n’ Bubs sang da crap outta “Why I Sing the Blues”. I took McKeag’s spot on guitar n’ Bub’s  and Mark Stutso sang Jimmy Reed’s “Hidin n’ Peepin” real greasy like. We then put Mark Stutso out front and he tore up “Three Times Your Fool”. I’m a little foggy bout what happened next…..a couple ole buddies, Brian on guitar & Poppy on bass did “Red House” & something else…..fog……Jimmy Adler & Frank Giove…not sure…backed up Katie Simone on “I’d Rather Go Blind” & something else……fog…..I got back up with Harry n’ Brice and did a couple.......fog……. my cousin, Pete Oddo got up and pounded out “Wipeout” on da tubs n’ tore da house down wit major applause….I remember doin “The Tree” and feelin real good bout da way it came off…..we called harpman, Ron Yaroz up to sing “Help Me” and had him stick around to blow on “Comin Home” & “Little Things”…….I’m just startin t’ think about closing ‘er down and I get word that Nick Curran and The Lowlifes, who’d been hangin round da joint most a’ da night, wanted to come up & blow something. Nick had a sore throat so they asked me if I would sing. I must say that it made me proud as a ruttin buck that these up n’ comer’s would give n’ ole dog like me da chance to roughride with da young dogs………the first riff of da guitar reminded me of the power of da blues mixed with da danger off punk. It made me think of the way we was ridin back in da 70’s when I was young n’ pretty. “Walkin The Dog” & “Round n’ Round” both roared thru da joint…..we took a crack at “This Ole Train” and closed out the show with, “Hound Dog”. Lowlife drummer, Scotty Tecce moved back n’ forth between the latin groove and the swang thang & snapped my girdle. This young bunch gotta be havin da kinda fun dat most folks can’t even dream of………..about an hour after the joint emptied out my ole bud Rat, sang a strip tease “Happy Birthday” for Moondog, then walked the bar in a red satin G string…….are we havin fun YET?

July 24, 2010-Saturday

Pittsburgh Blues Festival: Hartwood Acres

Shawn McDowell, all around great guy & well loved hometown DJ, introduced the show and did me da honor of shoutin out all my names n’ most of my titles. This seemed to fire up da natives…..luv dat……We fired up with a tribute to the late great Warren “Kingfish” King …..”Peter Gunn” with Brice Foster on the tubs n’ Harry Bottoms on the bass. I did my best to create da feelin of da Fish. As things simmered down for the solo section of the tune you could feel the power and the glory of da Big Cheese, Glenn Pavone, creepin into da mix…..da Cheese took things to this place where I want to be, the musical promised land……I knew right then that this was gonna be a religious experience. “Boilermaker” came up next; I wanted the chance to play it with Glenn, to thank him for including it on one of his early Cyclone records. At that point, back in the early 90’s, it went a long way to help me establish credibility. We then brought Gary Beloma onstage and he rocked a couple of classics. Gary n’ I did some old age dance moves that got da crowd laughing…..luv dat…..folks was clapping loud as Gary stepped off stage and Mark Stutso n’ Whitey Clyde Cooper got all up on it. Stutso ripped “If I had A Child” while Whitey held down the new, more elaborate BG vocals. Whitey sang a tune that we wrote together back in the 90’s, “Just Kike A Woman”. Stutso chirped da hi harmonies in Keith Richard’s tradition. All the while da Big Cheese is weaving in n’ out of da solo’s like he’s da guy that invented the guitar in the first place. “You Go Your Way” gave way to romance so deep you could cut it with a shiv, as Stutso n’ Cooper went back n’ forth wit soulful shouts. “I Hate a Nickel” put Stutso back out front…..”Shama Lama Ding Dong” put Cooper in his comfort zone, somewhere between Sam Cooke n’ Little Willy John. STARTIME…..on “Bow Legged Woman” Glenn Pavone called out the devil n’ kicked his ass……..a lesson was given to every man and woman whoever strapped it on. As a true guitar hero, Glenn Pavone, touched anyone who has a heart with bone chillin licks dat brought real tears to my eyes. I sang “The Blues Come Blowin In” as Whitey n’ Mark did some manful BG’s. The show closed with “Work Togather”, which was kind of righteous cause, on this show we all really did work together. Don Hollowood grabbed a plank n’ started spankin, Mark Cholewski  got up n’ worked some dance moves with me. And the rhythm section of Harry n’ Brice did some jellin. Stutso & Whitey complimented each other vocally and da Big Cheese, Glenn Pavone, was the perfect sideman and a breath takin soloist. I know that everyman onstage was humbled to get the chance just to stand onstage beside him. 

July 23, 2010-Friday

Moondogs: Blawnox,PA

Every year I look forward to Blues Festival weekend, da dog house rocks so strong, cause there’s magic in da air, …..ya know?....... like, if only for a moment, there’s more respect n’ interest in this real kind of music. I ‘m very thankful to be this old & still get to have this much fun…….YEA BABY……”Lazy Bones”, “Peter Gunn”, “Rock n’ Roll City”, “Somethin’s Cookin” …….we was flyin free man……..makin it look easy…. “The Blues Come Blowin In”, this tune is smoking….”Shit House Rat”, “Little Things”, “America’s Son”, “Comin’ Home”… Mark Stutso took da stage n’ dripped some serious deep fried soul food to da hungry peoples. ”You Go Your Way” stopped folks from chattin just so they could feel da healin music in dere bones. “Three Times Your Fool” lights the dump up…..know what I’m sayin’….Next on was three cats from Chubby Carrier’s band, Randy Ellis on da plank, Randy ? on bass, I can’t remember the drummers name, but I remember his playin, cause he was a swinger…and I mean that in a rhythmic way…..that kid had some pop…these three Lafayette, LA boys entertained the house like the pros that they are. Pittsfield’s own guitar ace, Jimmy Adler got onstage with Harry Bottoms on bass, n’ Mark Stutso on drums n’ really sounded great together…….when Jimmy stepped down, I got back up with Brice n’ Harry and did a couple before I turned the stage over to Pittsfield girl, Miss Fredy, and she did a slick set with Brice, Harry, Jimmy Adler, Randy Ellis n’ a harp player named Chris…….folks was havin a ball…ya’ll…..

July 10, 2010-Saturday

Moondogs: Blawnox,PA

Not a huge crowd tonight, but we give what we had. “Lazy Bones” is startin to feel more comfortable with Brice Foster behind the tubs. “The Blues Come Blowin In” came off well, but I should have played it later in the show. “Somethin’s Cookin” brought some heat. We then played a song I finished writin last week, “America’s Son”. Considering that this was the first time we played it, it came off well, & I learned a lot about it, ya know……just feelin da words come outta my face…….We did “Rich Kid” for the first time with Brice, & it came off clean….Brice sang “If I Had A Child”. Then in walks Kenny Blake……somebody calls out for “Boilermaker”………so I figures that we should do “Boilermaker” with da sax…….and so it came to pass……Kenny listened to what we was playin and did his thang wit it…….cool…. I’m nuts so I figures we should play “The Creator Has A Master Plan”……and so it came to pass…..cool…the over two hour first set ended with me calling drummer, Sal Rechetti up to the stage to do “Walkin To My Baby”. The latin blues rhythm of this number felt good wit Harry Bottoms  on bass, doin his thang while Sal was doin his thang….this all led to a shuffle from hell……looked like we was gonna shut it down after the first set but as we was sittin & talkin a whole new buncha folks came in the door. We got back onstage & smoked “Nightclub” and  “Little Things”…….simmered it down with “Sick n’ Tired”…..threw the new white trash sensation, “Shithouse Rat”, into da mix…….then we had an ole buddy of mine come up and sing “Moondance”. Tony Iriti & I played in a lounge band together back in da early 70’s, n’ I was glad to have him get up n’ croon dat ole Van Morrison classic. I was also glad that Harry played it so well cause I wasn’t sure how it went…….we shut it down with “Burnin’ Up”

Stay tuned for the latest updates! Better yet, come to one of the shows and experience "The Manful Handful" himself, first hand!

[ Norman Nardini Friends Links ] [ Nov-2010.htm ] [ Oct-2010.htm ] [ Sept-2010.htm ] [ August-2010.htm ] [ July-2010.htm ] [ June 2010.htm ] [ May-2010.htm ] [ April-2010.htm ] [ Feb-2010.htm ] [ Jan-2010.htm ] [ December-2009.htm ] [ November-2009.htm ] [ October-2009.htm ] [ September-2009.htm ] [ August-2009.htm ] [ July-2009.htm ] [ June-2009.htm ] [ May-2009.htm ] [ April-2009.htm ] [ Mar-2009.htm ] [ Feb-2009.htm ] [ Jan-2009.htm ] [ December-2008.htm ] [ November-2008.htm ] [ October-2008.htm ] [ September-2008.htm ] [ August-2008.htm ] [ July-2008.htm ] [ June-2008.htm ] [ May-2008.htm ] [ April-2008.htm ] [ March-2008.htm ] [ February-2008 ] [ Jan-2008.htm ] [ December-2007.htm ] [ Nov-2007.htm ] [ Oct-2007.htm ] [ September-2007.htm ] [ Aug-2007 ] [ July-2007.htm ] [ Jun-2007.htm ] [ May-2007.htm ] [ Apr-2007.htm ] [ Mar-2007.htm ] [ Feb-2007.htm ] [ Jan-2007.htm ] [ Dec-2006.htm ] [ Nov-2006.htm ] [ Oct-2006.htm ] [ Sept-2006.htm ] [ Aug-2006.htm ] [ July-2006.htm ] [ June-2006.htm ] [ May-2006.htm ] [ Apr-2006.htm ] [ March-2006.htm ] [ Feb-2006.htm ] [ Jan-2006.htm ] [ December-2005.htm ] [ April-2005.htm ] [ Mar-2005.htm ] [ Feb-2005.htm ] [ Jan-2005.htm ] [ Dec-2004.htm ] [ Nov-2004.htm ] [ Oct-2004.htm ] [ Sept-2004.htm ] [ August-2004.htm ] [ July-2004.htm ] [ June-2004.htm ] [ may-2004.htm ] [ april-2004.htm ] [ march-2004.htm ] [ feb-2004.htm ] [ jan-2004.htm ] [ dec-2003.htm ] [ nov-2003.htm ] [ oct-2003.htm ] [ sept-2003.htm ] [ aug-2003.htm ] [ july-2003.htm ] [ june-2003.htm ] [ may-2003.htm ] [ april-2003.htm ]