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Gig Updates Saturday, October 28-2006 Excuses: Southside- Pittsburgh, Pa. A bit of a slow night at the bar. Thanks to our regulars for coming out and sticking around. We really appreciate your support. A gang of 20 somethins, all halloweened out their minds stumbled in so, I asked them to dance "The Monster Mash". Dance they did, beautifully. To keep them on the floor, we did "Ring Of Fire", "Folsum Prison Blues" and "Sham A Lama Ding Dong". I said dong, cool huh? These young attractive people ran outta gas and left to haunt someone else's house. We kicked a few songs a**es tonight. "Two Story House", "Sidewalk Romeo", "Son Of A Gun" and "In These Dreams". I tried to sing "Jingle Bell Rock" for the first time. If at first you don't succed................. Wednesday, October 25 -2006 Moondogs: Blanox, Pa. Bill Toms on acoustic guitar, Phil Brontz on tenor sax opened the show and did a fine job setting the table. I was lucky enough to have P.K. Lavengood play guitar with me for my short acoustic set. We opened up with "Playin In A Rockn'Roll Band" and followed it with "This Is Where You Kiss Me". The folks seemed to be enjoying our performance, which pleased me. We then did another novelty type tune "Today I Stepped In Somethin". I normally wouldn't do two goofy songs in a row, but I thought about tonight's headliner John Eddy's often comic material and figured, if not tonight, never. New song, "Hell's Highway" gave Mr. Lavengood a chance to rip some bone chilling licks off...powerful. Before we went on stage, P.K. mentioned a song he and I had written years ago "Laughin Just To Keep From Cryin", I wanted to hear it again, so we played it. I was glad we did because people responed very well to it. We closed out our set with "Sick n' Tired" and "I Was Blind". John Eddy took the stage for almost two and a half hours and did what he's been doing for years, rocking strong. New drummer Rick, is really jellin with legendary bass man Kenny AAronsen. Late in the show, myself, Phil Brontz and local Pittsfield singer Andrea Pearl got up on stage and helped John and the boys slug their way through a bunch of ole covers. "Honkeytonk Women", "Sweet Home Alabama", Cheap Trick tune, "Mommy's all right, Dadddy's all right"................Moondog's was da place to be Wednesday night. Monday, October 23-2006 Moondogs: Blanox, Pa. Most of the people in the audience had seen us play before, but not in the past 20 years. We played a very sophisticated show for this crowd. I wanted to do a few old tunes, but also show who we are today. "Old cow died with a rag in his a**" was the first thing you heard; "Dearly beloved we're gathered together here" was the next thing you heard. The pounding drums of "Rockin Roll City" put out notice that, although tonight's headliner was bringing the Liverpool beat, me and my boys was throwin and showin Pittsburgh rockin roll, man style, all over da place. You wanna git in da ring wit me? I didn't tink so. "Somethins Cookin" came rolling off the stage real manful. I was proud as a ruttin buck to bring this masculine music to these nice people. "We Come A Long Way" had extra meaning because we played to folks who hadn't seen us in ages. Old tune "Ready Freddy" felt good, we hadn't played it in months. "You Go Your Way" got a soulful vibration going. "Hell's Highway" took everybody down the road and up around the bend. Whitey Cooper was blowing minds on "Sick n Tired". All along the way here's me, talkin sh*t. Surprised? Not really. "That Ain't Gonna Happen" and "I Seen Too Much" took my own breath away. "Lovedog" reminded everybody not to take anything to seriously. WE KICKED A**. Next up "The man who put the beat in the Beatles, Pete Best and the Pete Best Band". Very cool act. Four strong singers, great material and "The man who put the beat in the Beatles........................... Saturday, October 21-2006 Molnars: Elizabeth, Pa Halloween partys like this are cool cause everybody's laughing all night. That works for me. Great food, I had some of the brains-they were delicious.We played pretty well on this fall evening. Lots of cover tunes, a few dancers. "Ring Of Fire", the Johnny Cash tune, came off real well for the first time. Whitey was playing his tail off all night. I didn't start off playing well but as the night went on, I caught fire. Harry seemed to be hitting it hard. "Into The Mystic", the Van Morrison tune, was well received. All the girls got up on the floor as we did "The Monster Mash"........and my monster from his slab began to rise............ Friday, October 20-2006 Chesapeake Steak House: Pittsburgh, Pa. All Norman songs all night. "Bulldog", "Boilermaker", "Somethins Cookin", "White Trash Tragedy"... we was just plowing thru the music that means so much to me. We was also just laughing out loud at any thing that was falling outta my face. Yea, it was one of those gigs. I don't know how to explain these informal shows that end up being so much fun. I use the term, "talkin sh*t" but I'm sure that terminolgy doesn't quite describe the miracle that occurs between us and the audience when the sh*t is flyin. I remember saying, "this music is a powerful force, in spite of the fact that at times I may behave like an idiot." This was a magic performance. Ya shoulda been der. Sunday, October 8-2006 Bedford Fall Foliage Festival: Bedford, Pa. On a beautiful autumn afternoon in the hills of Pennsyltucky we had a blast. The audience sat on bales of hay as we played, under a gazebo in a park-like setting, in the center of a very cool small town. "Lazybones", "Boilermaker", "Somethins Cookin"........I was getting a good feeling from those gathered. It's fun to play for folks that wouldn't normally see a band like ours. Sent out "We Come A Long Way" to a guy in the crowd with an old Decade T-shirt. Got some locals up on stage to dance to "Steeler Nation", they all had Steeler jerseys on. An older girl got up to dance & I joined her, just to watch peoples faces. Set two opened with "Nightclub". We then did a couple covers: "Folsum Prision Blues" and "Help Me Make It Thru The Night" followed by "Mr. Right Now" and "Who Dat Do Dat". Harry did a well received version of "Pots n' Pans" & Whitey hit a homer singing "Sick n' Tired" all high tight n' white n' nat. Closed out the show with Elmore James "Shake Your Moneymaker". Some guy had a T-shirt that said "Who are these kids? And why are they calling me daddy?" This was a fun date, new faces, the P.A. sounded great, under a blue sky.................. Friday, October 6-2006 Cafe Supreme: Irwin, Pa. Everybody in the house was there to hear Pittsburgh rock n' roll. "Rock n'Roll City" and "Nothin To Lose" really stood out. The request to do "That's Enough About Me" scared me a little cause we hadn't done that song in a couple years. I'm F'd up for not playin that song more often. Local celebrety Jimmy Sinclair sang "Long Haired Country Boy". Cousin Pete Oddo played drums on "Chain Gang" and "634-5789" while Whitey sang. We then satisfyed a request for "Up Jumps The Devil". "Smoke Two Joints" sent em' home smiling. Thursday, October 5-2006 Rex Theater: Southside-Pittsburgh, Pa. It ain't easy opening the show for a guitar legend like Robin Trower. It becomes even more difficult when Whitey and Harry are nowhere to be found, solo acoustic is rough work. I think I did fairly well, although I never did get the joint to totally quiet down while I as playing. "I'm A Man", "Look What You Done", "Playin In A Rock n' Roll Band", "Today I Stepped In Somethin", "Hells Highway", "You Go Your Way", "Steeler Nation", "Sick n' Tired", "Smoke Two Joints"... If it don't kill ya, it makes ya stronger. This show was sold out in advance. Maybe I made some new friends. Sunday, October 1-2006 The Boardwalk: Strip District-Pittsburgh, Pa. Hundreds of bikes, classic cars, and a carnival-like atmosphere brought life to the parking lot. We brought the good rocking sounds to the waterside stage. "Lazybones", "Till The Cows Come Home", "White Trash Tragedy", "Somethins Cookin"..............The DJ Chuck jumped into the water display, going above and beyond in pursuit of a party atmosphere. Nice work Chuck. Special request for "Nothin to Lose" was a good idea, cause we ripped it.
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