Gig Updates

March 31, 2009-Tuesday

The Cellar: Struthers, Ohio

Just watching Tommy Castro, Deanna Bogart, Magic Dick, and Ronnie Baker Brooks perform onstage was inspiring. The opportunity to jam on a few tunes with them was an honor that I have to thank ole friend Cornel Bogdan for. Tommy Castro’s Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue has been inviting a local or regional musician to jam at every stop on this tour. When Cornel called and asked if I’d be interested, I didn’t have to think about it for more than a second. Hell yes, was my response. Dear friend, Ron “Moondog” Esser was my dream date for the evening. After each show stopping headliner did their feature set everybody got back onstage for the all-star jam. A couple tunes into that portion of the show I was called up to play as Tommy Castro ripped up a unique version of Bob Dylan’s “Ya Gotta Serve Somebody”. Wouldn’t ya know, I popped an E string in da middle of my solo. Tommy hooked me up with his strat so I could continue on as Ronnie Baker Brooks smoked Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”. Deanna Bogart did the Ray Charles classic “Unchain My Heart” and as I was hackin away I felt da power of da horn section augmented by Magic Dick on his nasty harp, what a rush. Tommy then called out for the James Brown tour de force “Sex Machine”. This was an unforgettable evening of high level fun for a guy like me. Check out da pics at tangeledupinblues.biz

March 29, 2009-Sunday

P.D.’s Pub: Pittsburgh, Pa.

I don’t have tons of experience playing Grateful Dead music but I was invited to play a few tunes on this years D-Jam. The Cause kicked it of with a couple numbers, then called me up to sing “It’s All Over Now”, the ole Bobby Womack standard. I then stuck around to play guitar as Andrea Pearle sang “Big Boss Man”. The next tune was a Deadhead delight, “Shakedown Street”, gotta thank bass player Dave Tauberg for the chord chart on that. Cherylann Hawk and Jill Simmons Paone joined Pearle for the frontline vocal harmonies, cool. Guitarist Eric Weingrad sang a couple Chuck Berry tunes, “Round n’ Round” and “Promised Land”, as I tried to find a sweet spot in da groove to play my kinda guitar. Dave Iglar also played guitar on the Chuck Berry tunes. I got to see and hang with some friends before and after my portion of the show, Gary Beloma, Brother Ron, Rat and Betty Lou, Frankie and Bobby Joe, who’s expecting a beautiful new baby. Life goes on………

March 28, 2009-Saturday

Scottdale Fireman’s Club: Scottdale, Pa.

Me and my guys pigfaced some pizza and chicken wings before we went on, thanks Jeff. “Lazybones” came rollin off da greazzy fingers and we were in business. “Till The Cows Come Home” got me chewin and mooin. We sent “T-Bird” out to ole Uniontown buddy Dave. “High Times” felt just like it’s spossed to. Harry hit a home wit “King of the Road” and Stutso made some new friends singin a bunch of tunes from “Rock My Soul”. As the evening went on and on we seemed to get goofier and goofier. Luv dat. This evenings highlights included:”Somethin’s Cookin”, “Hoochie Mama”, “I Hate A Nickel”, and a smoking “Smoke Two Joints”. Someone yelled out for “Lovedog” so we barked it out.

March 14, 2009-Saturday

Moondogs: Blawnox, PA

The joint was packed when I got there so we hit the stage runnin’ at 10 o’clock straight up. With this Moondog’s Outlaw Allstars lineup everything is different from the usual three piece format, hopefully for the better. We kicked off with a blistering take on “Lazy Bones” then jumped right into “If I Had A Child”. It seemed like folks was pickin up what we was layin down so da pressure was off and da jam was on. Glenn Pavone was, as usual, the perfect sideman and a breath taking soloist. He proved it on “Bow Legged Woman” with his lyrical lines just making folks start shoutin right in da middle of his onslaught. We had some fun with “Minimum Wage”, which gave Gil Snyder the chance to bring some Booker T licks back so we could refry ‘em Pennsyltucky style. We did a pretty decent job of presenting the ole Van Morrison classic “Into The Mystic”. Set two started rolling with “Hoochie Mama” and picked up serious steam when “Somethin’s Cookin” came roarin off da bandstand. At this point I was starting to lose interest in playing my guitar cause the music felt so good that I wanted to move like a monkey, know what I mean? Kenny Blake made a big statement when we busted out “Mercy, Mercy”. Somewhere in there we broke down to Kenny on his horn and Mark Stutso on drums, ain’t it funky now. Blake also fired up da natives with Junior Walker’s “Shotgun”, shoot it for me right now. Stutso brought the house down with “Victoria’s Secret”. Gil Snyder sang a couple, “Key to The Highway” and “My Babe”. Stutso floored one and all with “Amazing Grace”, sung in a key that was just a little too high, or not. Mr. Harry Bottoms held the whole show down like an anchor, luv dat, need dat. Throughout the entire show, the big cheese never failed to find the sweet spot of the groove, how he do dat?  Flying by the seat of your pants can be much fun, we proved it.

March 13, 2009-Friday

Road Worthy Tavern: West Liberty, West Virginia

Most of the college kids were away on break, so we were left with a few locals and a few friends, and yet we made the most of this mountain outing. We kept the volume low, but we brought some steam. “High Times” stood out as a keeper, well I guess, it’s been “keepin” since 1979. Maybe I just noticed it tonight more than usual. I heard some ole Grant Green music being played during our breaks, and I just wanted to mention that it was way cool. We have been playing “Look What You Done” in a different key every time we’ve played it lately, this evening’s key was too low, and I gotta remember dat. We had a couple Mark Stutso fans in the house so I called up a mess of tunes for him to sing. I dug the way “Promised Land” came rolling thru. “Nightclub” had a creepy feel to it, I dug it, but it scared me. We talked about back yard brawls gone by, we talked about the Big East hoops situation, and as always we drove home with smiles on our faces as we left wild wonderful W.V. in our rear view……….  

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

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