|
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……………… |
