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December 31, 2008-NEW YEARS EVE
Moondogs:
Blawnox, PA
It took me a while to get my mind
right, things been nuts lately. A couple, three, or four
tunes and I started t’ approach right mind. “Somethin’s
Cookin” set me free, how you doin, n’ it was on. Harry
was sounding good singing some of da stuff Whitey used
t’ sing. “Rock n’ Roll City” shook the house. Folks was
generally in a good state of mind, probably just glad t’
get outta da house n’ do a little socializing. We came
back on stage for round two about 15 minutes before the
special happy New Year moment. I thought Freddy Fender’s
“Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” was an appropriate song
choice. Our version of “Auld Ang Syne” came off real
well, then once again I believe I made a brilliant song
selection ………….”Ole Cow Died Wit A Rag In His A……………dat’s
da first thing ya heard after dat giant ball in NYC
fell. Stutso was in strong voice and really got folks
attention on “Three Times Your Fool”. I got to see a
buncha people I ain’t seen in a while, and I’m glad for
dat. “T-Bird” smoked the joint. We talked bout missin
ole Whitey Clyde Cooper n’ we talked bout da big cheese,
Glenn Pavone before we did “Look What You Done”. I was
happy to see Ronny “Moondog” Esser hangin round all
night wit da homies.
December 27, 2008-Saturday
Excuses:
Pittsburgh, PA
Always a great way to spend a
Saturday night, Southside, guess we been doin it 20
years or so. The first set came alive a couple times,
“Hell’s Highway” was one of them. “High Times” was
another. Also, Harry singin dat ole Marty Robbins thang
“Singing the Blues”. Set two also had some moments,
“When I Die and Go to Hell” was the best thing we played
all night and Stutso never even heard it before. “Sick
n’ Tired” was requested so we did an instant makeover on
da thang, new key, E tuning, n’ da absence of Whitey’s
powerful vocals, it came out soundin kinda sparse n’
bare, but at least,honest. Stutso smacked “Just Like a
Woman” around, and folks dug it. Kate Simone sat in with
us and sang “I’d Rather Go Blind” which gathered
applause. Don’t know why, but I broke into the Elvis
classic, “Burnin Love”, maybe cause ya get t’ sing da
lyrics….I’m Just A Hunka Hunka……………………
December 20, 2008-Saturday
Mountain
State Brewery Co: Thomas, WV
This show was a hookup with ole
buddy Mike Goss, to celebrate his 4?th birthday. Love
the rustic feel of the room, wood burnin stove, big
stone feature behind it, concrete floors and a buncha
nice small town folks wantin t’ have a good time. Me n’
Harry rode to the mountain together and got onstage
with local boy Jared on drums. I’ve played with this kid
before n’ he always did a good job. This evening, he did
a very good job. On a gig like this, there ain’t a lotta
talkin goin on, I’ll just play one ole tune after
another n’ the rhythm section just has to jump in n’
hang on. It’ll make a man outta ya. But with Jared
hangin on t’ Harry n’ Harry hangin on t’ Jared I got a
good chance to blow my face out for ‘bout 3 hours. Harry
rated the home spun beer at a very high level, said it
made him wanna bark. A young lady, 8 years old ?, wanted
to sing a song, “Saturday Night”, by the Bay City
Rollers so I axed her to sing it to me n’ Harry on the
break, n’ it seemed like maybe it could come off OK. So
we got her up onstage n’ she put her whole heart into da
thang, n’ yea, she got the most applause of the show, n’
she earned it. Her name is Victoria n’ she’s planning to
start a band named Legends of the Galaxy. Through the
course of the night, we sang every song da dork boy
knew……… “freedom’s just another word”……..
December 19, 2008-Friday
Moondogs:
Blawnox, Pa.
Knowing that Billy Price and the
Nighthawks were going on after us; I wanted our set to
be special. We kicked da door down wit “Rebel Rouser” N’
SLAPPED ‘EM BACK WIT “Somethin’s Cookin”………nice……… Now
were gonna feature Stutso, seeing that he’s an ole buddy
of the Hawks from the ole days in DC. “Million Tears”
set the pace for the soulicious onslaught. “Just Like a
Woman”, “Three Times Your Fool”, “Victoria’s Secret”,
and a simmering “You Go Your Way”. I closed our show
with “Little Things” and “Stiller Nation”. Harry told da
audience dat da reason he’s been growin his beard is dat
he wants to join a ZZ Top tribute band………….cool………talked
to the Hawks bass player Johnny Castle, and he reminded
me that we jammed together about fifteen years ago down
in the hills of West Virginia. I was bummed out cause I
couldn’t stay and see the headline show, Moon dog called
me da next da n’ said Billy n’ da Hawks threw DOWN……………
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