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Saturday,
July 29-2006
Billy's Roadhouse: Wexford,
Pa.
"Lazybones",
"Boilermaker", "Looks are Deceiving" and the gig was on.
"Loverboy" sounded great in the first set. Always love
playing that 30 year old tune, it makes me think of ole
friend Frank Zuri and what a bad ass he was and still
is. We did a new song "Pennsylvania Rain" for the first
time on this beautiful summer night. Everybody seemed to
enjoy it, including Whity and Harry who had never heard
it before. "Weekend" and "High Times" were well received
in the last set. I think we should play Billys Roadhouse
more often.
Saturday,
July 22-2006
Moondogs: Blawnox, Pa.
We started off
this show knowing that asses needed to be kicked. Me,
Whitey, and Harry got the opportunity to perform to some
new faces and we wanted to make the most of it. By the
time we got to "We Come A Long Way" steam was in the
air. "Somethins Cookin" and "Burnin Up" opened set two.
The club was starting to fill with the blues festival
over flow, so I thought the time was right to let the
games begin. I sat down and got Izzy up to sing with
Jimmy Adler on guitar. Whitey and Harry did a great job
on the two jams this lineup did together. David Gogo,
award winning Canadian blues artist, dragged his rythm
section up on stage next. These guys went right to work,
I hate it when musicians sit in and proceed to take 20
minutes adjusting gear, these canuks just started rockin.
David played my tiger guiter and was up to the task, a
lesser man would have crumbled. Star time, Hubert Sumlin,
legendary Chicago blues man, took the stage with Whitey
and Harry and a young white kid on guitar. Two or three
jams in, Jimmy Adler banged out a tune with Hubert. What
a great feeling I had when I got up on stage to play a
couple tunes with the man that played with the Wolf. The
slow blues we did that night was powerful. Hey, Hubert
Sumlin, thank you for coming to the jam and lighting up
our lives. Willy "Big Eyes" Smith walked on stage and
rocked the house. This man is a living breathing blues
machine. Early in his career he was the drummer for
Muddy Waters, now a serious harp blowin blues singer. I
got the chance to do a few numbers with Willy. Hey, "Big
Eyes", thanks for letting me bang a couple with ya, and
thanks for showin up, people really enjoy the
opportunity to be close to a blues legend. If ya missed
dis nite ya missed a great one.
Friday,
July 21-2006
Moondogs: Blawnox, Pa.
"Boilermaker"
followed "Ole cow died ........... "Somethins Cookin"
.......we did a bunch of old tunes in the first set
"High Times", "Ready Freddy", "That Girl", "Burnin Up",
some ole Fat City folks wanted to hear the ole
testament. Local celeb Chuck Koehler got up and sang a
great version of "Secret Agent Man", the fans loved it.
Pittsburgh's hardest working blues woman Jill West, got
up with my crew and shouted "Let Me Love You". She then
proceeded to sing a blues song about the meat man. I'm
not sure why, but, I seem to get weird feelings every
time I've played that song with Jill. I hope we get the
chance to do it again sometime. Jill West received a
large well earned applause this evening. Gil Snyder of
the Mystic Knights got on stage to sing "Shake Rattle
And Roll". Had a good time playin with Gil, thought
about the ole days when Gil and I lived across the
street from one another on Biddle Street in Wilkinsburg.
Mister Warren King got onstage with Whitey and Harry and
did a genre bending set of punk blues that scared a few
folks and turned some others on. W.K. always on the
cutting edge, long may he live. We got up and opened set
two with "End Of The Line". Jimmy Adler did a slick
three song set with my guys. W.K. got up onstage and
scared some more folks while also delighting others. "Do
ya love da F*ckin blues? W.K. kept shouting. Indeed we
love da F*ckin blues. Harry shocked everyone including
W.K. when he sang a beautiful version of "Little Wing".
Gil Snyder got back on stage and sang "Help Me" and a
night closing performance by our gracious host Ron
"Moondog" Esser of Bob Dylans "I Shall Be Released" sent
everybody out the door with good and fuzzy feelings. I
love my job.....job?.........
Friday July
21-2006
Pittsburgh Blues Festival:
Pittsburgh Pa.
Whitey Cooper
on drums, Harry Bottoms on bass, Gil Snyder on keys,
Phil Brontz on tenor sax, Bob Addelman on trumpet &
Chuck Batey on guitar along with the handful.......We
opened with "Bulldog", everybody did a couple passes and
we was running down the road...........Chuck Batey sang
a very cool "Crackin Up" with this white boy reggae
beat, I liked it a bunch. Gil Snyder ripped the ole
Muddy Waters classic "I'm Ready" as he danced across the
stage.....folks was gittin into it. Paul Martino of KDKA
jumped on board to sing the Gene Vincent tune "Be Bop a
Lu La", Gil Snyder sang some cool b.g. vocals and I
played my best solo of the set. Gary Beloma came on
stage and lit a fire. He crushed Freddy King's "Love Her
With A Feeling" as he got the whole joint off.. Gary
then danced his tail off on Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock".
It's been a real pleasure playing the Pittsburgh Blues
Festival the past few years, thanks to the Food Bank for
having us.
Saturday,
July15-2006
Excuses:
Southside-Pittsburgh, PA
The first set
was a little slow. We tried to get it going, but it took
us a while to really start throwin and showin. Set two
saw a bunch of folks show up with a whole lotta rockin
on their minds. Just what the doctor ordered. "Sidewalk
Romeo" has been gitting a lot of response and I guess
it's because it's such a cool tune and nobody has played
it since The Silencers broke up back in the 80's. "Son
Of A Gun" was very well received and is turning into one
of our favorite tunes to play. We closed out the good
rockin second set with "That Ain't Gonna happen", "I
Seen Too Much", then featured Whitey Cooper on the old
Gladys and the Pips clsssic-"Use My Imagination".
Friday,
July14-2006
P.D.'s Pub:
Squirrel Hill-Pittsburgh, PA
Lottsa young
folks at the show tonight. The first set was all Norman
songs, just to let da virgins in da house know what they
were dealin wit. I told em that what they were hearing
was the real Pittsburgh rock. Then a young buck yelled
out for a Clarks tune. At that point I had to straighten
him out by telling him that before radio decided to
appoint those guys safe for the airwaves, someboby had
to blaze the trail with music so powerful that it
changed everything, and that music was called Pittsburgh
rockn' roll. We did a mess of tunes that we haven't done
in a while, "Loverboy" seemed to impress the young
rockers. I think I scared them when I told them it was
written in 1976.
Thursday,
July13-2006
South
Park Pool: Pittsburgh, PA
One set only,
but we gave it all we had. I called a young buck up to
the stage for a pose-down. I had never been to a wave
pool before, so when I asked everbody to wave to each
other it was an innocent request on my part. I then
heard a bell ring and saw all of the waves ripple, it
was almost like a miracle. Here's s me, Whitey and Harry
without our speedos...
Saturday,
July 8-2006
Pittsburgh's Grand Hall:
Northside-Pgh., PA
Really cool
event. The joint was crawling with beer snobs. We did
two sets and had a few laughs along the way. What's a
beer fest if nobody plays a polka, huh? Whitey and Harry
were pleased with the large flakens of mead being
brought to the stage on a regular basis. Pittsburgh song
writer Mike Sweeney was sighted dancing to a Freddy
Fender song. A possible first, go ahead sween.
Friday,
July 7-2006
Moondogs: Blanox, PA
Hockey Hall of
Famer Mike Lange in da house, we feel your pain. Didn't
anyone learn anything from the Bob Prince
fiasco........some guys are bigger than the game. Izzy
went on stage armed with an acoustic guitar and did a
quality opening set. W.K. on guitar, Jay on bass, Bruce
on guitar, Whitey on drums kicked shortly before eleven.
Gil joined the jam early on. How about W.K. doing lead
vocals? After a short break Johnny Marbles chirped a
couple with Harry on bass. I played a couple to end set
two. I got to sing "Burnin Up" and "Like A Rollin Stone"
before the nite closed out. Izzy got back on stage to
jam on electric guitar, people dig Izzy. This nite
belonged to Warren King.
Saturday,
July1-2006
The Times Riverfront Stage:
Rochester, PA
Got a chance
to hang with my brother Art backstage before the show.
Beautiful setting alongside the Ohio river. These folks
wanted to hear the real Pittsburgh rock. We kicked it
off with "Boilermaker", then fired up "Somethin's
Cookin". I could tell by the looks on peoples faces
that we were coming across strong. "Rock n' Roll City"
poured off the stage. We sent "We Come A Long Way" to
the long time rockers in the crowd. We still had a long
way to go as we talked about that night in Memphis when
3 kings were all in town.............enter "Graceland".
Everybody was glad to hear "Burnin Up". Slide guitar
time; "End Of The Line", "You Go Your Way", I love the
feel of glass on steel. "Mr. Right Now" kept folks
dancing. "That Girl" closed out a show that really hit
it's mark. My complements to Whitey and Harry. These
good rockin folks were kind enough to bring us back for
an encore so we took em to church with"Sick n' Tired".
As we were pulling out of the lot we looked back to the
Houserockers on stage covered with a million flying
insects.........guess we got off stage while da gettin
was good............
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