Old Mon Music

Club Laga

2012-01-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

Club Laga - Image from the 412 View

Club Laga was a 800 seat club in Oakland, located at 3609 Forbes Avenue, between Atwood Street and Meyran Avenue. It operated from 1996-2004, and brought hundreds of up-and-coming bands to Pittsburgh.

It was kind of a funny set up, with three clubs in one place in 1996. Ron Levick started the ball rolling in 1992, managing The Attic, a pretty successful lounge, sharing space with a DJ lounge, the Upstage, which had been around since the early eighties (he took control of it in 2000). Levick opened Club Laga as an all-age dance club and concert venue in the same building (it has four stories, with Laga on the top floor).

Club Laga sputtered along in the beginning, booking some bands along with DJs. That changed in the following year, when Levick and Joker Productions' Jon Rinaldo hooked up. Rinaldo was looking for a new hall with the closing of the Graffiti Showcase (and to a lesser degree, the New Decade), and the spacious Laga filled the bill. The club became promoter Rinaldo's home base, and he booked a couple of hundred acts there every year.

Laga took off from that point. It soon became a destination spot for alternative bands touring the east, and was ranked among Pollstar magazine’s Top National Venues for sales from 2000 to 2004. Club Laga's playbills featured:

Vanilla Ice, P-Funk, The Dropkick Murphys, Public Enemy, Macy Gray, The Roots, Ja Rule, Ghostface Killah, Danzig, Wu Tang Clan, Insane Clown Posse, Flogging Molly, Everlast, Dashboard Confessional, Brian Setzer, John Mayer, They Might Be Giants, The Derek Trucks Band, Trik Turner, The Dead Kennedys, The Donnas, Erykah Badu, Taking Back Sunday, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Death Cab For Cutie, Maroon 5, Coheen and Cambria, Jimmy Eat World, Less Than Jake, The Dresden Dolls, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, George Clinton and Smashmouth among many others.

The locals weren't ignored, either. Anti-Flag, Brownie Mary, Don Caballero, Juliana Theory, The Clarks, The Buzz Poets, The Berlin Project, and Punchline all strutted their stuff on Laga's stage. All in all, over 1,000 bands came through Club Laga during its run.

The club was was a college hangout with a vaguely industrial look. The bar was fenced in, and you needed one of its infamous hand stamps to get a drink (and to remind you where you were when you woke up the next morning) because many of the shows were all-age. There was a stage and fair-sized dance floor, with an arcade filled with vending machines and video games for the gang without cards.

The Attic was a lounge and the classiest of the three clubs, with abstract artwork, neon lighting and a sofa/chair setup. It was connected to upper-level Laga by a spiral staircase. The Upstage, on the second floor, was a dark room generally described as a dive, but the dance crowd never seemed to have a problem with its decor, or lack thereof, and merrily boogied the night away.

Making all three of the clubs a challenge was navigating the stairway, (the first floor was occupied by retail shops), and many an Oakland pub crawler had their sobriety (and balance) tested by the steps. To offset the lack of amenities, the cover charge was usually a pretty modest $5-10.

But it all worked for awhile, with a couple of casualties. The Upstage, which had WYEP's "Harry the Wire" Wagner spinning until the early nineties, shut down in 1999. It reopened in 2001 under Levick's ownership, only to go out of business forever in 2006, when the club had insurance problems after a customer fell to her death through a broken stairway window. The Attic closed shop in 2003. Club Laga was soon to follow.

In October of 2003, the building's owners decided to renovate the upstairs into student apartments, always a lucrative business in housing-starved Oakland. Laga was on its last legs. The curtain came down on April 2, 2004, preceded by local band The Berlin Project, which had been a regular act at the club.

Levick blamed a fall off in attendance at his nightclub venues and the difficulty of turning a buck for his all-age shows. Pong will never replace beer as a revenue generator for concert venues. And the local industry was hurting overall at the time. Even mighty Metropol ended its run in the fall of 2003, with Laga hosting many of the shows it had booked.

Now Club Laga is an apartment house, with the top two floors of the building rented out to students. The second story is being run by Levick again, except now it's a IGA supermarket. The street level, as always, is a roiling storefront of retail businesses. Plastic or paper has a whole different meaning now.

Godsmack at Club Laga performing "Now Or Never"

Kaye Stevens

2012-01-21T20:02:00.002-05:00

Kaye Stevens was a throwback to the earlier days of show business. She was not only a highly sought club performer who played Vegas and the big lounges between tours with the Rat Pack and Bob Hope, but a movie, stage and TV actress and talk/game show celeb. She was all that, a veritable "It" girl, during the sixties, seventies and eighties.

Stevens, an only child, was born on July 31st, 1933 in Pittsburgh as Catherine Louise Stephens. Her mother Helen thought she had a great future as a writer because she was born on the same date as Ernest Hemingway and the same year as Germaine Greer. That's about the only part of show biz Kaye didn't master. Momma should have known her girl was destined to be an entertainer when she began singing as a five year old.

Her family eventually moved to Cleveland, where Stevens got her start as a drummer and singer, touring with her own trio as a twelve year old and sometimes drawing crowds of 1,500. (Her day job after high school was selling cemetery lots; no wonder she took to singing.) She married bandleader and trumpet player Tommy Amato, and the couple performed together throughout the east.

That’s how she was discovered by Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon, who caught her while she was playing with the band in a Cherry Hills, New Jersey club. He provided her with a foot in the door that opened to Las Vegas and The Tonight Show, her first big break.

Her second big break came at the Riviera in Vegas, where she was working the lounge. The evening's star attraction, Debbie Reynolds, became ill and Stevens filled in for her to rave reviews, launching her headliner cabaret career. She played at the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room, New York's Waldorf Astoria, and Caesars Palace, The MGM Grand, The Riviera, The Desert Inn and The Flamingo in Vegas.

She toured with Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop. Stevens released a half dozen albums, including Liberty's "Live At The Copa" and Gordy's “The Temptation Show" soundtrack along with a handful of 45s.

Stevens started out in film in 1962 in "The Interns" and its 1964 sequel, "The New Interns," which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. In 1963 she appeared in "The Man from the Diners Club" and "Jaws 3," and had roles in a total of six films during her career.

She also starred in Broadway shows like Mame, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sweet Thursday, Destry Rides Again, Annie Get Your Gun, Nunsense and Gypsy.

Her television credits included parts in CHiPS, Police Woman, Family Affair, The Adventures of Superboy and B.L. Stryker, and as a guest on the Ed Sullivan, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Johnny Carson variety shows. A TV game show regular, she appeared on Hollywood Squares, Tattle Tales, To Tell the Truth, Toast of the Town, Celebrity Sweepstakes, Match Game, $25,000 Pyramid, The Price is Right and Password.

But Steven's main claim to TV fame was made between 1974-1979, when she played Jeri Clayton on the soap opera Days Of Our Lives. She portrayed a singer at "Doug's Place" and used that role to introduce the tune "You Light Up My Life" to TV, which later became a monster number one song and Grammy winner for Debby Boone in 1977.

With all that going on, she pulled the plug on show biz after appearing in 1992's "Miss America: Behind the Crown" TV movie to concentrate on a musical ministry. She had always been a religious girl, but a USO tour knocked her off stride for decades.

Stevens went with Bob Hope to Vietnam in 1965. She and Hope, as a result, became great friends. He named her in her book "Five Women I Love" and she sang at his funeral at the bequest of Hope's wife Dolores.

Moved by the miserable conditions the boys were serving under, she passed out pairs of her signature gloves to the troops, and told them that if they ever came to one of her shows, all they had to do was show her the gloves and the night was on her to show her appreciation.

But the promise of a free night out didn't erase the impact 'Nam had on her. Stevens carried those memories with her, and like many of the troops she entertained, had trouble coming to grips with them when she returned home. Eventually she became an alcoholic and divorced Amato.

It took her twenty years, but in the mid eighties she received some counseling, overcame her demons, and dedicated herself to her new calling.

Beginning in 1994, she was a regular on Rev. Robert Schuller's Hour of Power television show aired from his Crystal Cathedral, singing and testifying in front of 30,000,000 viewers. During the last twenty years of her life, Stevens raised money to build St. Vincent's Church and was a tireless worker in the non-denominational Christian movement and for veteran's issues. She would, in fact, only sing Christian or patriotic music.

She also became quite the icon for her retirement home of Margate, Florida, and the town fathers named a park after their most famous citizen and calling card for putting them on the map.

Stevens suffered from breast cancer and clotting problems, and slipped away to meet her Maker on December 28th, 2011 at the age of 79. She left behind a legacy of song, stage, TV and movie stardom and a life lived the right way.

The Electric Banana

2012-01-16T15:15:00.000-05:00

The Electric Banana (Image from Mondesi's House)

The Electric Banana, located on 3887 Bigelow Boulevard in Oakland, began as a go-go/disco/covers club in the seventies. But it hit its stride between 1980-99, when it reigned as Pittsburgh's punk central after owners Johnny and Judy Zarra, better known as Johnny and Judy Bananas, made the switch from mainstream cover bands to the underground sound.

The club name itself is popularly associated with English folkie Donovan, who sang of an "electrical banana" - a vibrator - in his 1966 tune "Mellow Yellow." (Remember, it was a go-go joint when it opened in 1970.) Flip's Electric Banana dance club in Monroeville was popular in the late sixties, so a little copy-catting is also possible. There are other more or less plausible stories floating around; it may have simply sounded cool.

During its twenty year punk run, the club featured national hardcore acts like the Butthole Surfers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Hüsker Dü, Dead Milkmen, Descendants and They Might Be Giants, who mentioned the Banana in their song "Pittsburgh." Though mostly about Mr. Small's, TMBG sing "I still have dreams about a place, Called the Electric Banana where we're falling into space!"

Local acts found a home there too, with bands like the Cynics, Half Life, The Five, Cardboard, ATS, Little Wretches and Carsickness playing the bar often and loudly.

Why go punk? For the money, doh. The other genres were dying off or booked to the max. It didn't help that The Banana was located in an isolated part of Oakland closer to Bloomfield and the Hill, away from the campus walk-about scene that orbited around the Decade and other clubs. They needed a draw.

The story is that Karl Mullen of Carsickness (later of Ploughman's Lunch and a variety of other musical & artistic projects) came in and asked Johnny for a gig. He got it, the Zarras got their full house, and the punk boom began. (Karl, by the way, was virtually an adopted son of the Zarras and was an early habitue of The Banana.)

Nascent Pittsburgh punk was a college phenomena, and drew the artsy kids from Pitt and CMU. Within a couple of years, though, the genre became far more blue collar and rowdier. The Zarras discovered a second benefit from the transition - the club hardly required any upkeep or fancy accouterments like mirrored globes to keep the kids happy.

The Banana had a 2' drum riser that was the stage's high point, and the bands set up their own equipment in the back of the building under a string of Christmas lights. The drop ceiling was home to a family of racoons. The commode...well, don't go there (unless you really, really had to).

But it worked. Early punkers played out of apartments, basements and rented halls, so the hardcore fans weren't looking for plush surroundings for their head-banging. Nor did their behavior usually warrant the velvet glove treatment.

"The Bananas" were legendary for their "good cop, bad cop" act with the crowd and artists. Banana regulars all have their favorite story of Johnny chasing audience members and sometimes bands out of his club while waving a pistol.

But earth mama Judy, who had been a go-go dancer at the club, would take young bands under her wing and whip up a meal for them, while her hubby, tough as nails on the outside but kindly at heart, would slip struggling players a couple of bucks to get a meal when the show was done, with 24-hour eateries White Tower and Ritters in the vicinity.

And they often needed a little TLC. Johnny's policy was to set the band's pay according to the amount collected at the door, with no guarantee. While he booked acts, often from a pay phone or with a nod and handshake, he wasn't about to promote them, so the night's success was laid at the bands' feet.

Some of the groups that had a little business savvy got the word out to their followers and public, and they did OK (although often suspicious that Johnny kept the lion's share of the door receipts. Hey, caveat emptor! After all, Johnny was the lion king of his den.)

Others, happy to find a warm place to play while ignoring the equally important business end, often found out they were performing an unplanned charity gig. And it wasn't just local acts that had to toe Johnny's line; so did the national punks.

The most famous lore involved the Scottish band Exploited, who played the club in 1991. Their frontman, Wattie, was busy smashing the few pieces of equipment provided by The Banana, mics and stage lights, during the show. After the performance, a brouhaha broke out when Johnny wouldn't pay them, claiming the gate didn't cover the damage done.

It's alleged he chased them out of the building at gunpoint, and the band camped outside in protest. They never did get paid, although true to form, it's said that Johnny drove past them a couple of times during the night to make sure they were OK.

The punks had a two decade run at The Banana, but eventually all clubs come to an end. Hardcore had other venues to choose from, and the Zarra's, surrogate parents to a generation of punkers, turned the building into an Italian restaurant in 2000. It's called "Zarra's: A Taste Of Southern Italy." Good food, and slinging pasta is a heckuva lot saner way to make a buck.

But the club still lives on. First, it left a punk legacy that fueled the City's hardcore scene, and the Cynics, Anti-Flag, Kim Phuc and a number of other bands still carry that torch. And its history is retold through a couple of collector items, like the hippy-inspired op-art posters that adorned local telephone poles and the Warhol/Velvet Underground banana motif used on its signage and matchbooks.

The Electric Banana may be gone, but its scene survived and thrived. So has its no-frills reputation as the birthplace of Pittsburgh punk.

Karl Mullen's Carsickness, The Electric Banana's first punk act, with 1981's"Dull Days"

Porkology

2011-12-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

We geezers were talking about the personalities, or lack thereof, on radio today. And that led us to...

Pork the Tork, The Daddio of the Raddio, The Boss Hound of Ground Round, Your Platter Pushin’ Papa, The Pied Piper of Platter or simply The Boss Man who Porkified the Movers and Groovers, Sound Hounds and Cool Ones with his Dusty Discs that were On Fire in his Spinner Sanctum or at Porkfest.

Porky's Golden Ear, Breaking Hits From Year To Year, would Shatter This Platter or Make Your Liver Quiver. He had More Jams than Smuckers, and More Lines Than Bell Telephone. His Name Isn’t George Washington; It’s Pork Torkington. Remember, I’m Not Sergeant York, I'm Pork the Tork. The Blonde Wonder With the Record Thunder has seen More Hops Than the Easter Bunny and was a Head Snapper and Dapper Rapper. And when he says Blow Your Horn, he means the saxman, not teens behind the wheel!

His audience would lean on their car horns whenever Porky used his catchphrase, or follow his command to “stop what you’re doing and dance” (which his fans did once on the Parkway). Porky raved over the air "This record is on fire. We're burning." The Homestead VFD was notified and rushed to the studios. As he said: "The Double WAMO: This station is so hot, they gotta call the firetrucks out."

He shut down the Golden Triangle when he broadcast outside the old Stanley Theater in the summer of 1961. Some 8,000-to-10,000 fans showed up. Downtown streets turned into a parking lot until Mayor Joe Barr sent the cops to ask Porky to desist. Those were all firing offenses in today's radio.

In spite of all that, George Jacob Chedwick has been honored by Congress, the State and local governments with proclamations and plaques. He was recognized as a pioneering DJ by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Smokey Robinson and Bo Diddley credit Porky with launching their careers. The Porkfest was held to honor his legacy. And now he’s playing on web radio - quite a cry from the 78s he used to spin at WHOD - with TL.

He may be 93, but Porky's still the Boss Man.

Dee Williams - Bongo Blues

The Decade - The Corner Of Roc and Rol

2011-12-04T10:42:00.001-05:00

The latest incarnation of the Decade, the Garage Door Saloon,

(Image provided by Hobo Jones from Wikipedia)

The Decade in Oakland wasn't always a rock 'n' roll hall. It started out back in the day as the Oaklander Hotel, and was doing business as the Pizza Pub by the time Dom DiSilvio and his wife Jan Chepes bought it in late 1973.

They renamed the club The Decade. Oddly enough, the decade they honored was the fifties; the venue started out as a restaurant and local bar with oldies acts. Their first featured group was The Brotherhood from Youngstown in October, but the oldies format quickly proved, well, old. Located a hop, skip and a jump from the Cathedral of Learning on Atwood and Sennott, the pair decided to go with the youthful flow and turned to rock 'n' roll.

By the mid-seventies, local bands like Bob Corbin and Dave Hanner's Gravel, Joe Grushecky & the Brick Alley Band (later to become the Houserockers) and Norm Nardini & the Tigers were ripping the place up. Then promoter Danny Kresge talked the pair into turning the Decade into the "Whiskey A Go-Go" of the east and began bringing in up-and coming national acts, which he could book for $500 and under per appearance.

The opening show was played by David Johansen of the New York Dolls, followed by the Ramones (the only touring band to ever play consecutive nights at the venue) in March, 1979, and there was no turning back.

The acts that took the stage at the Decade included Sting and The Police, Bono and U2, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pat Benatar, Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders, Cindi Lauper, Jimmy Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Koko Taylor, The Romantics, Meat Loaf, and Joe Jackson. The club drew some unannounced guests, too.

The night before his two sold out Arena shows in September, 1984, Bruce Springsteen and his bud Joe Grushecky hooked up. The Boss felt like chowing a hot dog, so Joe took him to the Oakland O, where he was mobbed.

After escaping, they went to Grushecky’s car and Springsteen spotted the Decade. Asking Joe if that wasn’t the club he played in, the Boss decided to pay a visit. Bon Ton Roulet was performing, and Springsteen & Grushecky hopped up on the stage with the band, playing a three song set of “Lucille,” “Raise Your Hand” and “Gloria.”

Three years later, in March, 1987, Jon Bon Jovi joined his ‘Burgh running mate Norm Nardini after an Arena show and played a 50 minute set with Pittsburgh’s “Love Dog.” It was just a favor being repaid: earlier in the evening, Nardini had shared the Igloo stage with Bon Jovi for CCR’s “Travelin’ Band.”

Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played the Decade a couple of times, also dropped into the club after a Syria Mosque gig and sat in for a three-song set with Bon Ton Roulet.

There were, of course, other stories like when local punkers Carsickness got into a fistfight with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1984 over a tipsy girlfriend who fell into the RHCP’s drum kit. We wouldn’t want to forget the night in 1992 when Billy Price’s buds - Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito, in town to shoot the movie Hoffa - stopped by to catch the show and down some tequila. Houserocker roadie Bob Boyer’s ashes were buried under the Decade stage, too. His resting spot was said to have scared a Louisiana zydeco player from performing, fearful of stirring up some bad voodoo juju.

Dom and Jan didn't forget the local bands, either. Competing with DJ'ed disco joints like Zelda's Greenhouse, the Decade kept the volume pumped up by showcasing Kenny Blake's King Solomon, The Mystic Knights of the Sea, Red Hot & Blue, Bon Ton Roulet, 8th Street Rox and Billy Price & the Keystone Rhythm Band. The list goes on, with the Silencers, Donny Iris and Diamond Reo, plus the previously mentioned Gravel, Grushecky, and Nardini.

The Mystic Knights, as the story goes, came together as pick-up band in 1984 when DiSilvio approached guitarist Warren King to form an "all-star" group to pump up the club's slow Monday nights. And the Kingfish did, in spades.

The result was the Mystic Knights of the Sea, originally composed of King (Houserockers, Diamond Reo, The Silencers, Red Hot & Blue), vocalist/drummer Ron "Byrd" Foster (The Igniters, Roy Buchanan's Band, the Houserockers, the Silencers, Kingsnake Allstars), guitarist Bryan Bassett (Wild Cherry, Molly Hatchet, and Foghat) and keyboardist Gil Snyder.

While the bills may have been top flight, the club itself was a nondescript brick building, a hardy home for what DiSilvio called a "Wild West saloon." It held 400 fans if the fire marshall turned his back, and they paid a beefy doorman $2 to get in. The crowd was generally a mix of college and working kids at night, while it was popular Pitt lunch spot by day.

It had two rooms, a front bar and back stage. It was cramped with a low ceiling that sported a jury-rigged acoustic system - parachutes! The bar was topped in copper, and the tables and stools were few and far between. Some nights, the blood boiling combination of deafening music, tight quarters, the college-blue collar mix and a few beers made the club's bouncers more of a main act than the band. In other words, it was the epitome of a perfect Pittsburgh rock 'n' roll bar.

But all good things must come to an end. Faced with increased competition and tax problems, the Decade's 22 year run came to a close. Appropriately, Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers played the last show at the club on August 21st, 1995 when its final curtain fell.

But the Decade’s legend lived on, at least in memory. In 2009, the original Iron City Houserockers held a reunion gig at the Altar Bar to honor Dom DiSilvio and the Decade era. And old rockers will recall the corner of Roc 'n' Rol as fondly as sixties AM teens remember the corner of Walk and Don't Walk.

The building still exists; after a few reincarnations, it's now The Garage Door Saloon. It looks much the same; stop in and maybe you'll catch Bob Boyer roaming the back room stacking amps.

(The ultimate article on the Decade was penned by the Post-Gazette's Scott Mervis in 1993, "Two Decades of the Decade," and provided much of the color for this post.)

The Iron City Houserockers; - "Junior's Bar"

Free Marcus Meston EP!

2011-11-11T16:27:00.001-05:00

Here is the link to Upper St. Clair's Marcus Meston's EP "Fake, Fixed, Happy:"http://soundcloud.com/marcus-meston/sets/fake-fixed-happ It's available for FREE download on 11-11-11 at 11:11 PM. Guess Marcus is into numerology, hey? At least 11-11-11 is good luck for music fans.

The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You" Capitol Records Session

2011-10-30T12:02:00.000-04:00

There are quite a few sidebars to this Pittsburgh favorite. The story is that the lyrics came to manager Joe Rock in his car at a stoplight shortly after his girl had dumped him, and Jimmy Beaumont wrote the music the next night.

The group did a rough a cappello cut on a reel-to-reel as a demo, and Janet Vogel, thinking the tape was off, ad libbed her soaring high C crescendo at the end. The group wisely kept it in. But singing a song is only half the battle; getting it on wax is an entirely different animal.

Rock shopped the song around, and thirteen national labels passed on it. One said it was too negative and should be “Since I Have You” while another mocked the 13 “you” finale. So it was off to local label Calico, owned by Lenny Martin and Lou Guarino.

They were this close to blowing that audition. On the way to the studio, they had a head on collision while jammed into a ‘52 Dodge. Fortunately, cars were a lot tougher back then, and they got to Calico shaken but in one piece. They were signed on the spot.

Martin took the group to New York’s Capitol Studios for a recording session. He backed them with 18 musicians, the first time a full orchestra had been used with a “rock” group. Other performers like the Drifters and Duprees quickly picked up on the strings for their arrangements.

Also listening in on the recording session was a member of the Teddy Bears named Phil Spector, who later cited “Since I Don’t Have You” as an influence on his “wall of sound” productions during the sixties.

The record was so soulful that the Skyliners were thought by many to be black artists. They became the first white group to top the Cashbox R&B charts, played the Apollo eight times and performed on the “chitlin’ circuit.”

They also found a name after the recording session when the master came back without an artist credit. The singers were a mixture of the South Hills Crescents and El Rios groups, and Rock, with their input, christened them “The Skyliners” after the 1945 Charlie Barnet hit song (although Jackie Taylor told Ed Salamon it was for the Ford Skyliner popular during that car-crazy era. Rolls the dice and take yer chances.)

Lotta action for one studio session. It was worth it, though. Art Pallan of KDKA broke "Since I Don't Have You," followed quickly by a Dick Clark "American Bandstand" appearance. The song hovered just outside the top ten nationally while the Skyliners went on to become one of Pittsburgh's iconic vocal groups.

Name The Band...

2011-10-24T15:35:00.000-04:00

Hey, did you ever wonder how some of the local groups picked up their names? In the course of researching the blog and some other projects, Google has given us some answers:

The Del Vikings: There are several stories behind their name. One claims that the group members were fans of the tales of the old-time marauding Vikings; another says that they were fond of the paperback books published by the Viking press that so many servicemen read to pass the off-duty time, and another believes the name was taken from a Brooklyn club/basketball team called the Vikings that Clarence Quick belonged to, and that’s the more likely tale of the three.

The Mellows - Four Dots - Four Troys: The late Fletcher Williams & The Four Dots started out as the Mellows in 1950, about as generic a group name as one could imagine. They were eventually represented by Don DeCarlo, who suggested that they change their name to the Four Dots, piggybacking on the hot-selling and eminently bookable Ink Spots.The Four Dots played the area hops & club circuit while releasing a couple of singles on the Bullseye label

In 1959, just about at the end of their career, the group inked a deal with Freedom Records, who already had a California-based Four Dots as part of their roster. Because of that, the Four Dots released their last wax as the Four Troys (no one remembers how that name was chosen). Did that end the confusion? Nah. The West Coast Four Dots released “Pleading For Your Love,” a ‘Burgh favorite. The local Four Dots hit the oldies circuit, and guess what their top request was? “Pleading” became part of their play list.

The Houserockers: Many remember Joe Grushecky’s Brick Alley Band, named after a McKeesport red light district, taking off as the Iron City Houserockers, a name given to them by Pittsburgh native and Cleveland International Records head Steve Popovich. Cleveland International was of course based in Ohio and Popovich had the band tour the midwest to support their records. But the Pittsburgh-Cleveland rivalry extended beyond football. Their name caused some problems when touring outside their hometown, and when they played Cleveland their van tires were slashed. So they switched in the early eighties to the region-neutral Houserockers brand.

Lugee Becomes Lou: Born Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco, the stage name of Lou Christie wasn’t Sacco’s choice; it was more or less foisted on him. When “The Gypsy Cried” was released in 1962 on the local Co&Ce label, the record was credited to “Lou Christie” without Sacco's knowledge or permission. Sacco had been working on his own list of stage names, and said "I was pissed off about it for 20 years. I wanted to keep my name and be a one-named performer, just 'Lugee'." We’re glad he’s finally over it.

The Marcels: When the Oliver High gang first formed and was rehearsing, the group was coined "The Marcels" by Fred Johnson's little sister Priscilla. She was inspired by a popular hair style of the day, the marcel wave, sported by lead singer Cornelius Harp.

The Skyliners: They collectively came up with their name after the 1958 Capitol Studios "Since I Don't Have You" recording session when the master came back without an artist credit. The singers were a mixture of the South Hills Crescents and El Rios groups, and manager Joe Rock, with their input, christened them “The Skyliners” after the 1945 Charlie Barnet hit song according to their official history, although we're told by Ed Salamon that they were named for the car per Jackie Taylor.

The Vogues: Originally known as The Val-Aires (a combination, we’ve been told, of the names of the two high school groups the members had first sang with), the Vogues got their name from manager Elmer Willett’s nightspot and studio, East McKeesport’s Vogue Terrace. The group didn't have a vote; when "You're The One" was released, it was credited to the Vogues by the Co&Ce label. At least one member, Hugh Geyer, didn't find out about the name until he heard the song on the radio.

The Four Seasons...From Route 51

2011-10-08T21:17:00.000-04:00

The Four Seasons from Doo Wop Biography

No, Route 51 doesn't run through New Jersey. But then again, we're not talkin' about Frankie Valli, but a band of harmonizers from the South Hills.

Four grads of Baldwin High hung together in the summer of 1959. Not satisfied with loafing in the parking lot of the Big Boy and watching the waitresses skate by (one of Old Mon's fav pastimes in his Highlander days), they formed a group.

The singers were Bill Stammer (first tenor), Ched Mertz (second tenor), Dan McGinnis (lead tenor) and Don Fanzo (bass). They didn't have a name, but they did have a song they wrote - "Don't Sweat It, Baby."

Mertz had an in with local music impressario Bill Lawrence, and he agreed to let the guys audition for him at Lenny Martin's Carlton House studio in town. They sang "Don't Sweat It, Baby." Lawrence and Martin weren't keen on the arrangement, but liked the lyrics and the singing. They had the group rework the music, and they did. The second audition was a success.

Lawrence offered them a contract, and a deal was struck. In October, they traveled to New York City with Martin and Lawrence to record the song at Capitol Recording Studios. They backed it with "That's The Way The Ball Bounces." And they also picked up their name during the process.

That same week, the Four Seasons Restaurant opened in New York and Lawrence proclaimed, "That will be the name of the new group." The guys dug it too, and The Four Seasons were born, a year ahead of those falsettos from Jersey.

They did more with that slab of wax than launch a song; they launched a label. "Don't Sweat It" was the first release of Lawrence's new Alanna impress. Both got off to a flying start. The Billboard "Review of New Pop Records" of November 23rd, 1959 posted "The Four Seasons bow on the new label with a cute rhythmic reading of a rocker that moves. It has a chance." And it did take off, albeit in Pittsburgh.

It entered the KQV charts in mid-November and stuck in the Top 40 until mid-January of 1960. It reached #4 locally, and was in the Groovy QV's Top Ten for five weeks. They toured in support of the song, traveling through the midwest with Bob Kobert (aka Bobby Shawn of the Donnybrooks, who had the 1958 hit "Everytime We Kiss") taking the lead.

Alanna's second pressing of the record was retitled "I'm Still In Love With You Baby," which as we understand was "Don't Sweat It Baby" with a different name. Whatever the reason for the old switcheroo, the Four Seasons moved on and followed with "Love Knows No Season" b/w "Hot Water Bottle"," but the ballad didn't catch on.

In July of 1960, Mertz married and left the group; Chuck Isler replaced him. The Four Seasons signed with Lennie Martin's new Robbee Records label and as one of his first handful of acts recorded "Mirage" b/w "Nancy's Trampoline." The doo-wop/novelty combo didn't move, and the disc was the final platter the Four Seasons cut.

After that last record, Stammer left the group to answer Uncle Sam's call, and the rest of the gang called it a day shortly thereafter.

Baldwin's Four Seasons left behind this discography:

"Don't Sweat It Baby" b/w "That's the Way the Ball Bounces" (Alanna 555 - 1959)
"I'm Still In Love With You Baby" b/w "That's The Way The Ball Bounces" (Alanna 555 - 1959 second pressing)
"'Love Knows No Season" b/w "Hot Water Bottle" (Alanna 558 - 1960)
"'Mirage" b/w "Nancy's Trampoline" (Robbee 106 - 1960)

Old Mon shamelessly stole most of the band bio from Juan Marce Frontera of White Doo-Wop Collector and Dan McGinnis' comments to the post, along with a little legwork. Thanks, guys.

Mirage - 1960:

Tony "The Boss" Pasquarelli

2011-10-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

Tony Pasquarelli, photo from Carnegie-Mellon's Today magazine

Born in 1915 and raised in the East End, Anthony was one of four children and the only son of Guy and Maria Pasquarelli. Guy was a butcher by trade, and his boy Tony would go on to make a living off of chops - not the fried ones, but of the musical variety.

As a pre-teen, he played his horn at bar mitzvahs and private parties, getting back and forth in a cab.

By his teen years, Pasquarelli was gigging around town, another product of the City's primo music incubator, Westinghouse High. The trumpeter didn't have the means to go to college - the depression hit during his school years - but he got his education on the streets and stages of Pittsburgh. And he did eventually make it to Carnegie Tech/CMU, but as teacher rather than a student.

He was much in demand as a trumpet player, featuring a deeper tone than the usual high pitched, shrill blasts that most brass players produced. Pasquarelli preferred to free-lance rather than join a group and played for the CLO, Ice Capades, & Ice Follies, on the staff bands for the local radio and television stations, and for the orchestras of the Nixon, Penn, and Stanley Theaters.

Tony could go from showtime and pop to classical in a heartbeat. He played before the wand of conductors William Steinberg, André Kostelanetz, Karl Fritz and Richard Karp, and performed with the PSO, Pittsburgh Grand Opera Company, and the Pittsburgh Sinfonietta. He also blew for the Pittsburgh Pops.

But as well as he could make his trumpet sing and swing, Pasquarelli was best remembered as a teacher. He ran a private studio located downtown beginning in 1948 (he wouldn't quit giving lessons until 2009, at the age of 94) and was an instructor at Carnegie Mellon before it was Carnegie Mellon, with his tenure spanning from 1957 - 2004.

His students called him "The Boss." Pasquarelli was a demanding teacher, but he took an interest in his charges not only as musicians, but as people. He was a technician, and instilled discipline in his students, but with a helping of humor. His devotion to his art was second nature. Those who visited him during his last weeks of life said that he was still asking them if they were practicing.

And those students did pretty well under Pasquarelli's tutoring. His roster included Mark Schrello, Solo Trumpet of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Dennis Ferry, Solo Trumpet with L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Klancy Martin, principal trumpet for the Caracas Symphony Orchestra and Charles Metzger, First Trumpet with the San Francisco Ballet.

He produced a number of players for the local brass ensembles. One of his charges was Paul Halliwell, who played for the Allegheny Brass Band and served on the board of the River City Brass Band.

Among his River City Brass Band mainstays were Bernard Black, soloist and principal cornetist; Drew Fennell, principal solo flugelhorn/resident composer and conductor Denis Colwell.

Needless to add, several of the brass players he tutored also went on to teach. Others went on to successful careers in other fields, and are quick to credit Pasquarelli with providing the life lessons that helped them along the road.

His students and CMU thought the world of Pasquarelli. When he retired from CMU, the institution named him its first "artist-lecturer emeritus in trumpet." His charges honored him with not one, but three specially commissioned pieces.

The first was composed by Carnegie Mellon instructor Byron McCulloh, former bass trombonist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. The second, commissioned by Pasquarelli’s students and the River City Brass Band, was written by British composer Philip Sparke. The last was performed for his retirement and written by Fennell.

The City even got into the act, posthumously dedicating June 7th as Anthony “The Boss” Pasquarelli Day as proposed by Councilman Bruce Kraus and unanimously approved by Council's members. And you all know how often it is that City Council agrees on anything.

Pasquarelli never had any desire to leave the City for greener pastures. Heck, he probably never had enough time to consider the thought. For decades, he would teach at Carnegie Mellon in the morning, then head Downtown in the afternoon to his private practice and spend his evening at a gig.

But even legends have their limit. In February, Anthony Pasquarelli died at the age of 95. His passing was marked in the spring by a special concert held at the Memorial Park Church in Allison Park by his students and the Carnegie Brass.

Anthony Pasquarelli has left behind a legacy of brass players that will last another generation or two. And you can probably bet that right now he's standing by the Golden Gates, listening to Gabriel blow his horn and telling him to keep on practicing. Once a teacher...

Fate Marable: Father Of Pittsburgh Jazz

2011-09-17T14:02:00.000-04:00

Fate Marable Band from Traditional Jazz

Fate Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1890 and learned to play piano from the lap of his mother. He was taught well, too, playing professionally by his ninth birthday.

In 1907, at the of age 17, he began entertaining on the steamboats that churned up and down the Mississippi River. Marable started out playing on the paddlewheeler "JS 1" as part of duet - he tickled the ivories alongside a violinist - but soon picked up players and became a cruise bandleader.

He worked for Captain Joe Streckfus' Line, which featured dances on their bread-and-butter day trip excursions. His cruises plied the Mississippi from New Orleans to points northeast along the Ohio. Streckfus considered his boats "floating ballrooms" and was a hands-on operator, attending every rehearsal and critiquing the performance.

Marable dug the jazz sound being played in the delta and soon incorporated it into his playlist, picking up players from NOLA and along the river towns who were familiar with the music. His musicians were more than just jazz cats, though. They had to keep the customers happy and the boat's dance floor full, so his card included jazz, ragtime, standards and current tunes.

The bandleader was a technician and perfectionist, only tolerating artists who were professional in their craft and able to play music from a sheet, but allowing those with the chops to improvise. His groups went under the banner of the Society Syncopators, Kentucky Jazz Band, Metropolitan Jaz-E-Saz Orchestra and the Jazz Maniacs.

The band served as a musical doctorate program for those who would eventually become a who's who of early jazz artists - Louis Armstrong, Baby and Johnny Dodds, Zutty Singleton, King Oliver, Johnny St. Cyr, Tommy Ladnier, Red Allen, Pops Foster, Narvin Kimball, Gene Sedric, Jimmy Blanton, Earl Bostic and Al Morgan were numbered among its members.They spread the sound of jazz from its Big Easy birthplace throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valley towns, traveling as far north as St. Paul and east to Pittsburgh.

By the early twenties, Marable's band was widely considered the best dance outfit not only on the river, but in the country.

Marable was famous for another thing, too - he played the boat's steam calliope, and the organ music could be heard echoing along the river for miles, announcing both the arrival of the steamship and his band. It was said that the keys would get so hot - we assume from the steam, though maybe his playing had something to do with it - that Marable had to wear gloves when he performed. He also sported a hooded raincoat while playing because the steam would condense from the pipes and rain down on him.

Like most riverboat musicians, he needed an off season gig, generally beginning after Labor Day, to keep the daily bread on the table. When the boats were drydocked for the winter, Marable would work out of his business base of St. Louis, his hometown of Paducah and Pittsburgh, where his family stayed while he was touring on the steamers. In fact, we believe his son, Fate Marable, is still alive and kicking in the Steel City at the age of 87.

Marable led a band and played piano at the Leader House on Wylie and Crawford Avenues (which would continue on as the Crawford Grill in 1930), the Centre Avenue Bailey Hotel, considered the elite black stopover in the City and where African-American performers playing Pittsburgh would stay, and other Hill District hot spots.

His band is thought to be one of the first pair of all-black swing orchestras performing in the city, along with Lois Deppe and the Serenaders. He also performed on the Pittsburgh steamboat circuit for their local excursions on boats like the Senator, pounding away on the calliope when he wasn't leading the band.

Not only did he expose the City to jazz, but Marable was a considered a seminal influence, sometimes called the founding father of the storied line of Pittsburgh jazz pianists like Mary Lou Williams, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Erroll Garner, Billy Strayhorn, Ahmad Jamal and Horace Parlan, along with local keyboardists like Dodo Marmarosa and Johnny Costa.

And while not credited to Marable publicly, we wouldn't be surprised if his calliope chops didn't help to jump start the emergence of Pittsburgh's famed Hill District organ houses and local Hammond players like Gene Ludwig, Bill Heid, Wendell Freeman and John Papi.

While he didn't personally shape any of their careers (although a couple may have sat in with his band), Marable was the man who introduced jazz to the City. He was the shadchan who started the torrid jazz love affair that would last for decades between the town and its players and continue on today.

Marable continued to lead paddlewheel bands until 1940, when an infected finger threatened to cut short his livelihood. He recovered, but that marked the end of his Pittsburgh era as he retired from the river and opted to finish out his career playing in St. Louis clubs. He died there at the age of 56 from pneumonia and was buried in his home town of Paducah.

There's not much left to mark Fate Marable's career. The only record he cut was the 1924 78 RPM "Frankie and Johnny" b/w "Pianoflage" on Okeh 40113 with the Society Syncopators, and he was light years removed from the archival You Tube vid era. But he is the Johnny Appleseed of jazz, sowing its seeds from The City That Care Forgot across the heartland. Those seeds took root deepest in Pittsburgh, helping spawn a vibrant jazz scene of national renown that is still going strong.

(Most of Fate Marable's career in Pittsburgh is mentioned only in passing in his bios. Several mainly local works note some of his contributions, primarily "The WPA History Of The Negro In Pittsburgh," written in 1940 by Lawrence Glasco. Old Mon would like to thank Paul Carosi of Pittsburgh Music History for pointing out that resource in his article.)

America's Small Town Music Capital: Canonsburg

2011-09-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

Canonsburg is a small borough of about 9,000 souls, located in Washington County, eighteen miles southwest of Pittsburgh. It was laid out by namesake Colonel John Canon in 1789 and incorporated in 1802. The town is famous culturally for its Oktoberfest, Fourth of July parade, and proud musical heritage.

And with a roster of music-makers from the big time to local heroes like those listed below, why wouldn't they be?

Pierino "Perry" Como: Yes, he started in a barber shop and was quite good at snipping hair, too. Fortunately for the music world, he found something that he was even better at. Como had 14 Number One hits on various lists and 48 songs that charted. He hosted the Kraft Music Hall and specials galore on TV.

Como was honored with five Emmys, a Christopher Award, and shared a Peabody Award with bud Jackie Gleason. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1990 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1987.

After he passed away in 2001, Como received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted into the Long Island Music and the Hit Parade Halls of Fame. Como has three individual stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his body of work in radio, television, and music. And as highly regarded as he was in musical circles, he was more highly thought of as a true gentleman.

Canonsburg honored him with a statue and Perry Como Avenue.

Bobby Vinton (Vintula): His dad Stan was a popular local big band leader and got his son rolling on the music track. Good move; after a sluggish start, Vinton went on to record four Number One tunes and had 28 songs that charted in the Top Forty.

He's also the Canonsburg link to The Tempos of "See You In September" fame. Vinton sang with Clairton's Mike Lazo and Gene Schacter as the Hi Lites in the mid-fifties. Lazo and Schacter went on to form the Tempos when they returned from the Army in 1957. Vinton sang briefly with them again before they went their separate ways.

The town fathers named Bobby Vinton Boulevard and Drive after the Polish Prince. He vetoed a statue, insisting that the money be spent on something the town needed. It took a while for the street names to get the OK, though. Earlier attempts to name a residential road for Vinton were scrapped because some of the homeowners were honked that Vinton called Pittsburgh rather than Canonsburg home!

The Four Coins: Jimmy Gregorakis, George Mantalis, and the brothers George and Jack Mahramas formed the smooth vocal group. They started as part of Bobby Vinton's "Band of Tomorrow" and later became the Four Keys.

As the Four Coins, the quartet charted five Top Thirty songs, led by "Shangri-la" at #11. Their other hits were "My One Sin," "The World Outside," "Memories of You" and their first breakout song "We'll Be Married." They were also well-known for performing ethnic Greek and Italian tunes.

The Four Coins caught their break when local band leader Lee Barrett took them to Cincy to audition for General Artists, which got the ball rolling for them. They left show biz in 1970 to take care of their families, though they did briefly reunite for two final shows in 2003 at the Pepsi Roadhouse and pop up on rare occasion for PBS specials and the such.

Four Coins Drive was named after the group.

Gregg Kostelich: Kostelich is the guitarist for the garage punk rockers The Cynics and famous for his fuzzy riffs. The hard-touring band has been together since 1984 and is an overseas favorite. He got his start playing for a local outfit called Cottonmouth.

Kostelich founded the local label Get Hip, which of course issues the Cynics and other edgy bands, but also has done a great job of preserving the old acts through its Archive Series. He does business in a contrarian way; no big box retailers for his releases. Get Hip wax is only sold at the indie stores as part of his passion for music and insistence that each release get individual attention.

Chuck Edwards (Edwin): The jazz/R&B player moved to Canonsburg in 1959 or so. He took a day job in the mill, with club and session gigs filling the night. He was a popular local performer with several regional favorites on wax, and hit it big with "Bullfight" in 1966. It was taped at Gateway Studios and first released on his own Rene label, to be later picked up by Roulette for national distribution. His 1968 song "Downtown Soulsville" became a huge Northern Soul record across the pond.

In 1972, he and the clan Edwards moved to the coast, where the family released some tunes as the Edwards Generation in the mid-seventies. Chuck passed away outside San Jose in 2001 in Pittsburg, California.

Phil Lipari: The Canonsburg native was the featured vocalist on Chuck Edward's first Rene release, singing "Please Come Back" b/w "Later For You Darling," issued in 1962.

Joey Powers (Ruggierio): Look up "one hit wonders" and "Midnight Mary" always pops up. It was recorded by Canonsburg's Joey Powers on Amy Records, and charted at #10 in 1963-64. While he didn't produce any more hit records, the Joey Powers Flowers were a hot and very much in-demand group in the Jersey/Philly area clubs for years.

He first recorded under the name Joey Rogers, and his initial career was given a boost by Perry Como. The last rumored 411 on Powers is that he's a missionary in Russia, operating a Christian recording studio.

Jason Walker: Known for his soulful vocals, Walker scored a #1 track on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 2004 with "Foolish Mind Games" and in 2005 with "Set It Free." Walker cracked the Top 10 three other times, with "My Life" (#3), "No More" (#5) and "Movin' On" (#7).

He's now based in Brooklyn.

Four Townsmen: The group got together as Canon-Mac high school mates in 1959, and had a pair of local hits with “Sometimes (When I’m All Alone)” and “It Wasn’t So Long Before (Graduation Is Here)” on Odell Bailey's Art-Flow Records label in 1962.

The original members were Chuck Marshall, Bobby Kraushaar, Lou Gadani and Pete Kouklakis. Marshall passed away in 1985, Kraushaar retired, and Gadini and Kouklakis, along with Eric Bruce and Pete Povich, reformed the group in 1999. They're still performing a revue with a backing band and have a trio of CDs out.

Donnybrooks: John Alterio, Ken Paige, Frank Trebel, and Bob Kobert, Third Ward School classmates, started as the Phaetons in 1954, guided by their grade school music teacher Lou Popiolkowski. The group entered a talent contest with KDKA Radio as The Four Pals (named after Art Pallan) in 1958, winning a recording contract with Calico Records.

Their first record, "Everytime We Kiss," was a big local hit under the new name of the Donnybrooks. The group traveled the East Coast and performed as part of the regional club circuit on the strength of that song. They cut three records in all for Calico, with every song written by Popiolkowski.

After their breakup in 1960, only Kobert continued in the industry, recording for Alanna and Souvenir Records as Bobby Shawn and still performing locally.

Vic DaPra: DaPra made a local name for himself as the lead singer and guitarist from 1972 to 1984 for Sugarcane, which opened for Joan Jett at the Stanley Theater. Now he's more known for his expertise with guitars. He's co-owner of Guitar Gallery and a collector of old axes.

DaPra received the ultimate honor when Gibson named a guitar for him, the Vic DaPra Bourbon Fade, a reissue of a 1959 Les Paul model. He's also written a pair of highly regarded guitar books, "Burst" and "Sunburst Alley." DaPra is a 1970 Canonsburg Hi grad and Gregg Kostelich's cousin.

Big Guns: Jay Kasper, Mike Touville, Mark Knapp and Don Pruse form Big Guns, a country rock band that's had some national exposure and radio play, opening for Hank Williams Jr., Travis Tritt, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney and a whole slew of country acts. Around since the mid-nineties, the group tours mainly in the east and south, and regularly play many of the local country festivals.

They were named as the area's "Best Country Band" from 1996-98 by various local publications, and their latest CD is called "Bang."

Antoinette (Manganas): She may not have broken out yet, but the jazz/R&B vocalist has made quite a name for herself in the regional clubs (she started out at Deja Vu). Antoinette has a CD titled "Crush" out and is working on another. She suffered an early career setback when her first album went unreleased after her indie label went belly up, so she's making up for lost time.

But hey, how can you bet against her? Antoinette was raised on Perry Como Avenue and opened for both the Four Coins and Bobby Vinton. There's a whole lotta good hometown mojo working for the lady.

The bandleaders: We've mentioned Lee Barrett, who led his own Orchestra, and Stan Vinton (who also played in the Canonsburg Italian Band with Perry Como). There was a third bandleader that was popular in the area, and that was Lee Kelton, who for a brief period had radio DJ Art Pallan as his singer.

Bluesman Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter) also spent a little time in Canonsburg as a ward of his aunt and uncle. However, all he recalls from that spell was beatings from his unc, paddlings at school and a stint in a reformatory. So hey, maybe that's where he first caught his lifelong case of the blues.

Canonsburg touts itself as "America's Small Town Music Capital" on its web site. And they sure won't get an argument from us.

(There's a lot of talent from Canonsburg, so if we missed some acts, rest assured it's just an oversight. Google and a couple of phone calls usually don't cover all the bases. Please let us know of any other town musicians we may have missed. And Old Mon gives his sincere thanks to music writer and historian Dave Sallinger for calling on his network to help whip this post into shape.)

Summer-Winter

2011-09-01T21:00:00.000-04:00

Terry O'Hara

Terry O'Hara is a wandering minstrel who found roots in Pittsburgh, joining the region's eclectic clan of singer/songwriters after drifting around the country.

The musician, who has lived in Pittsburgh for about ten years now, held a series of jobs during his journey, running the gamut from from dishwasher to street busker. He's more or less followed the Woody Guthrie tradition, hitting the road with his harmonica stuck in his back pocket, guitar strap slung tight and taking notes. And that trail less traveled defined the timbre of his musical being.

He told Scott Mervis of the Post Gazette "I've worked a variety of jobs that were somewhat marginalizing, and I think that's always benefitted my music. This might be one of the keys to making music or writing, in my opinion: to experience alienation and aloneness."

O'Hara has described himself as introspective and reflective, and those traits permeate his songs. His music, depending who you ask, has been described as mellow, downtempo or melancholy, and sometimes all three at once. It's definitively stuff perfectly tailored for drifting away in time and space.

His sound has been compared by various reviewers to Radiohead, Mojove 3, My Morning Jacket, Red House Painters and early Flaming Lips, but the two that stand out to O'Hara are Granddaddy and Sparklehorse.

"Sparklehorse and Granddaddy were bands that blew open the world for me. There was a melancholy feel to the music and lyrics that felt right," he said in the Mervis interview.

To Old Mon, the music is classical in arrangement, but crafted with the toolkit of an Americana roots artist - acoustic guitar, pedal steel, keys, kit and whatever else adds to the layers, forming a seamless matryoshka doll of sequestered sound. Like classical melodies, it's meant to make your senses fade into a reverie. So roll over, Beethoven...

His first Pittsburgh group was the short lived band Autumn Leaves, made up of O'Hara, Ian Peksa, who played drums, and multi-instrumentalist Ian Toole. (O'Hara says "I had never known an Ian in my life and found myself playing with two of them.") They'd meet in Peksa's Cheswick basement for their sessions.

The Autumn Leaves cut a demo and were featured on WPTS, Pitt's radio station, just before Peksa split to the Big Apple. That was the end of Autumn Leaves and the beginning of Summer-Winter.

O'Hara, with a stack of songs waiting for life, explained "I found a bunch of local friends and musicians to help play." The music sprang from paper to tape by their hand, and the result was the 2009 album "Alone is Yes."

Summer-Winter was more a tribal project than a band; thirteen players were listed on the album credits. O'Hara wrote all the songs and played eight instruments. Much of the recording was done at Mr. Small's, and the album is available through CD Baby.

The disc picked up some good press and a positive vibe from the cognoscenti. The cut "Tired" was featured on NPR’s "All Songs Considered" along with a strong write-up for the release. Music maven Scott Mervis gave the album some love in the Post Gazette, too.

The mood of "Alone Is Yes" was captured by Alex Cleary, the reviewer for Americana UK, who wrote Summer-Winter married "...two disparate emotional concepts: the disaffected tragedy of youth and the more perceptive melancholy of wisdom and experience. It feels like a lifetime of reflection has gone into this disc." It wasn't a dance record, but a groove for introspection.

Summer-Winter played a few shows, starting with their release party at Garfield Artworks, and O'Hara began working on his current album, "Bewildered." (available for digital download at http://summer-winter.bandcamp.com/releases) He again authored all the songs and had a lot of artists contribute. Mr. Small's was the main studio, and Larry Luther mixed and mastered the tracks, as he did for "Alone Is Yes."

"We tried to go with some different musicians this time around," O'Hara said. There were a dozen players on this effort, both local and New-York based. Like the last record, there's not a lot of early live support behind the album. According to O'Hara "We have yet to play a show and are working out the details on a release show for the late fall."

So stay tuned. When Terry gets his band together and on the circuit, stop by and catch the performance. Summer-Winter will lead you to a pensive corner of your mind that we think you'll like.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://summer-winter.bandcamp.com/track/tricks"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Tricks by Summer-Winter&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Joy Ike "Sweeter"

2011-08-31T08:28:00.000-04:00

Joy Ike released her latest single on vid today, "Sweeter." Add it to your iPod; she's made it available for download for free at her web site.

Frankie Dileo

2011-08-25T15:33:00.000-04:00

Frankie Dileo

One of the most colorful characters in the music business, Pittsburgh born and raised Frankie Dileo shuffled off to the big recording studio in the sky Wednesday, a victim of heart surgery complications. He was 63.

Dileo fit the record exec caricature to a T - short (5'2"), portly, and always with a cigar in his mouth and pinky ring on his finger, nattily dressed in Hollywood casual. Hey, he even sported a pony-tail in his hep younger days. But he did more than look the part; he was a powerful deal-maker for many years in the industry.

The East End native (his dad owned a bar in Homewood, and he hung out in Larimer with family) and St.Bede's/Central Catholic gridder was known by his buds as "Tookie." He started off humbly enough as a local rack jobber, the guy that sold and stocked wax at the record shops.

Dileo rapidly worked his way up the ladder, turning that foot-in-the-door opportunity into a gig as a Cleveland-based local promoter for Epic Records, a subsidiary of powerhouse CBS, in 1968.

He pushed tracks by Sly and the Family Stone, The Hollies and Donovan to local radio stations, and was quickly promoted to the company's regional office in Chicago. A year later, he moved on to RCA Records in New York as singles director, and then was recruited by Bell Records. In 1972, he went to Monument Records in Nashville, where he worked on vinyl by Kris Kristofferson, Billy Swan, Boots Randolph, the Gatlin Brothers and Charlie McCoy.

He moved back to Pittsburgh after that job, retired from music and looking for a more normal lifestyle. Dileo paid a fine after being busted as a sports bookie; so much for 9-to-5 work. He rejoined the music industry after a fire burned his Pittsburgh home. True to his shadowy mystique, it's said that his insurance company refused to pay for the damage.

That mystique included allegations of payola passed through indie promoters (the use of indie promoters was a common industry practice at the time, not just a Dileo ace-up-the-sleeve) and nebulous connections to the Gambino family. They were never proven, and the rumors no doubt added to his rep as a major league player in the music world.

In 1979, CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff hired his old acquaintance back to work for Epic Records in New York as Vice President of National Promotion. Overseeing a staff of 65 people, Dileo helped guide Epic Records from the number fourteen label in the U.S. to the number two spot, churning out $250,000,000 in revenues, tripling the label's take.

Epic left its big-sister Columbia Records in the dust. Artists boosted by Dileo's promo department included Quiet Riot, REO Speedwagon, Ozzy Osbourne, Molly Hatchet, Dan Fogelberg, Gloria Estefan, The Clash, Luther Vandross, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Heart, Culture Club and Michael Jackson. He was voted "Executive of the Year" at Epic Records and collected over 80 gold and platinum records credited to the imprint.

Some of it was due to "right place, right time" syndrome, but a lot of his success had to do with his innate sense of what would fly off the racks. For example, he picked a demo by then unknown Culture Club off a pile of records that had been rejected and decided to push it. The band charted in the Top Forty ten times.

He promoted Jackson's killer "Thriller" LP, and was the driving force behind releasing "Beat It" on the heels of "Billy Jean." The other Epic execs thought Dileo was crazy and the move would kill "Billy Jean" on the charts. But in fact both songs ended up Number One and appeared in the Top Ten at the same time. Album sales went through the roof. It went down just as Dileo had predicted.

In 1984, he left Epic to manage the career of Michael Jackson, at Jackson's urging. Dileo produced the movie "Moonwalker," eight music videos including the Grammy winning "Leave Me Alone" and wrote, produced and negotiated three Pepsi commercials for MJ that brought in landmark up-front endorsement dollars. More importantly, he managed two of Jackson's huge concert tours, the Victory Tour with the Jackson family and the megaton Bad World Tour, Jackson's first solo effort.

The 1984 Victory Tour introduced Jackson's single glove and black sequined jacket persona and featured his recently-minted moonwalk steps. It played at 55 venues in front of 2 million fans and grossed $75,000,000, then the largest take from a concert tour in show biz history. The tour also generated some less flattering headlines when Don King got cut in on some promotional duties and sponsor Chuck Sullivan took a bath on the returns (the tour was extended by 15 dates to allow him to recoup some of his losses).

But the Bad World tour was the piece de resistance. It stopped in Japan, Australia, the United States (the tour played at the Arena 9/26-9/28/1988) and Europe. Sponsored by Pepsi and lasting 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts performed in front of 4.4 million fans in 15 countries. When "Bad World" concluded, it had taken in a total of $125 million and became the largest grossing and most heavily attended tour in music history.

But after five years together and following the nerve-frazzling "Bad World" tour, the odd couple abruptly ended their business relationship in 1989. There was no explanation given when Jackson fired his manager through his attorney. Dileo believed that it was a result of some back-stabbing by the suits surrounding Jackson. C'est la vie, that's show biz.

One door closes, and another opens.. A couple of days later, Martin Scorsese called - he knew Dileo after directing Jackson's "Bad" video - not to offer sympathy (he didn't know he was axed), but a job. He wanted to cast Dileo in a flick called "Goodfellas." Presto, the role of Tuddy Cicero was filled, the guy who famously gunned down Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) with a gory head shot in the film. Dileo also had a recurring role as record exec Ricky "Mr. Big" Sharp in the two "Wayne's World" flicks.

Dileo moved on to manage other musicians, including Taylor Dayne, Jodeci, Laura Branigan and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora while working with Prince on several projects. He founded the Dileo Entertainment Group in Nashville on Music Row, looking for new artists and composers, and dabbled in club and restaurant ventures. He also served as co-president of Savage Records for a couple of years and was on the Val-Comm board.

In 2005, when Jackson was on trial, Dileo returned to lend his support, as he was convinced his old client's naivete was being abused. They had a tearful reunion. MJ remarked that he had nine managers since Dileo was canned, and Frankie was the only one who rallied to his side.

After Jackson's acquittal, they remained in contact, and in the summer of 2009, as Jackson readied his "This Is It" tour, the singer asked Dileo to manage him once more. They were briefly a team again before Jackson died shortly afterward. As Dileo told Gary Smith of People Magazine "Some people collect stray cats; I collect stray people."

Dileo had a laundry list of medical problems, starting with his weight; he once hit 265 pounds. He had diabetes as a result, and that almost cost him his vision. Dileo was nearly blind before a series of operations restored his sight. He was recovering from a heart attack at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles when complications following emergency surgery ended his life on August 24th, 2011.

Frankie Dileo is survived by his wife, Linda, two children, Belinda and Dominic, and a grandson, Frank. He lived not far from home in Wellsville, Ohio, where he could stay in touch with family and friends. Dileo's work may have taken him from coast-to-coast and over the world, but he was always a Pittsburgh guy at heart.

Marcus Meston

2011-08-19T10:55:00.000-04:00

Marcus Meston

Hey, it's a typical day for a 16 year old. Get up late, go downstairs, dig into a bowl of Wheaties, write a song, mix a track, post a single from your new EP "Everything is Fine" on YouTube and attend to the zillion little details that need ironed out for your debut release. That's life for Marcus Meston right now.

The teen is a multi-instrumentalist who's just finished his own project while also the singer and lead guitarist of power rockers 13AM (which just dissolved late last month). And if that wasn't keeping him busy enough, Meston is a producer and engineer for another handful of area artists, using his dad's basement recording studio to mix tracks.

He came about his chops honestly. His pap, Tom Meston, is a veteran jazz musician who's played sax, keys, guitar and drums and was part of the fusion group Stir Fry that used to rock Shadyside's Balcony in the eighties. Meston pere is a protege of Duquesne's Dave Budway, and has a couple of his own CDs out, 2003's "Upside" and 1992's "If You Only Knew." Tom is also the steady hand and unbending ear behind Marcus' travels along the music path.

Marcus is catching up quickly. 13AM released their first (and we guess only) CD in December, "Turn It Up" on the Stir Fry label. On August 27th, Meston's "Everything Will be Fine" is scheduled to be released, available from all the usual on-line download suspects. One of the tracks, "Separate Ways," is already collecting hits on YouTube, with the song "Save Me" to follow.

(You can download the LP at http://marcusmeston.bandcamp.com/ and stream the track "Everything is Fine")

Tom played most of the bass, drum and keys on the EP. Marcus did the programming, guitars, second keys, vocals, and all of the songwriting with the exception of "Separate Ways" and "Disappear," which his dad co-wrote with him. Man, that's a one stop shop!

Meston will be the guest on the Saturday Light Brigade show on the 27th, aired locally on CMU's WRCT and another half dozen college stations. It's also broadcast on the local channels of Comcast and Verizon for you cable fans.

We kinda pity the Upper St. Clair teacher who asks Marcus, who will be a junior when classes start again, to face the class and tell them what he did this summer. That tale should take care of the semester.

Marcus Meston - "Separate Ways"

Mac Miller

2011-06-12T07:55:00.001-04:00

Mac Miller from jheiv (Creative Commons)

Pittsburgh's newest addition to the hip-hop scene, 19 year old Mac Miller, comes from the gritty urban streets of...Point Breeze. And he's a white Jewish rapper, ala the Beastie Boys.

But hey, don't hold that against Miller (given name: Malcomb McCormick). Like Wiz and Slimmie, he came out of the City's top incubator of rap, Taylor Allderdice High in Squirrel Hill, and can lay down a thumpin' beat with a good time lyric; no ganstas are being bred on Tilbury Avenue.

He had his hip-hop epiphany as a 15 year old freshman. Once a neighborhood jock, Mac dedicated himself to his music full time. Before launching his solo career, he was part of the crew The Ill Spoken with rapper Beedie and is a self taught musician, playing guitar, drums and the piano.

Mac developed a local following by selling homemade mix tapes during shows and over the internet. His 2009 release, "The High Life," hit the big time with about 30,000 downloads, and that jump-started his career.

When he reached 18, Miller signed with Rostrum Records, run by Squirrel Hill's Benji Goldberg (it's also Wiz's label), and released his mixtape debut, "K.I.D.S." in 2010. The vids captured over 2.5 million YouTube hits in the first month they were posted. Miller passes a lot a credit onto his long-time producer, Rex Arrow, who makes low-budget vids look like Hollywood noir.

Miller is extraordinarily adept at using social media. His vid "Donald Trump" has more than 12 million hits and he tweets to 467,000+ Twitter followers, second among Pittsburghers. He trails just Wiz, who has a couple of million tweet-mates. And Wiz isn't just a school-mate, label-mate, and brother rapper; the pair are buds (OK, homeys) from way back.

That fall, he went on his first Rostrum tour with label mate Boaz and opened for Wiz Khalifa at the Stage AE in December. Since then, he's been busy selling out dates on the Smoker's Club Tour with Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T., with Wiz on the Campus Consciousness Tour and his own Incredibly Dope Tour.

Like label mate Wiz last year, Miller is part of XXL Magazine's Freshman Class for 2011, scoring a cover shot sporting his Bucco cap. He released his new mixtape, "Best Day Ever" in May. It was pre-released in March as a free download on Upstream, and crashed the site for awhile, drawing over 200,000 downloads over the first weekend.

Most of the tracks were recorded at Lawrenceville's ID Labs, and show off cuts like "Nikes On My Feet" and "Keep Floating," performed with Wiz and celebrating the high life. Miller raps behind bass lines and a synth, and his lyrics range from mind worm hooks to lighthearted lines, definitely back-to-roots old school hip-hop. Don't expect that high-energy, fun-loving mood to change.

Miller told Rolling Stone's Blaine McEvoy that "Whether I’m discussing important topics in the world or not, people tell me that my music is something they use to cheer themselves up if they’re having a bad day, and that’s something positive I can bring to the world. If I can keep helping people like that, then I’m going to continue doing that."

His plan now is to have an album ready for late summer, before he embarks on his first international tour in September. It's time to rep the town to the world, and what better ambassador than Mac Miller?

.

WDUQ-ing It Out

2011-06-10T12:06:00.001-04:00

OK, before we get into the WDUQ story, let's develop a little timeline:

1949 - The station begins as a Duquesne student-run classical music outlet.
1952 - Hourly newscasts begin.
1969 - First jazz show broadcast, a live local set.
1971 - The station becomes a charter member of NPR.
1972 - Power increases from 2,750 watts to 25,000.
1972 - WDUQ broadcasts first "All Things Considered" show.
1989 - In addition to several NPR shows, daytime jazz debuts.
1997 - JazzWorks begins.
2005 - New transmitter built on Mt. Washington; four "translator" stations added to network.
2006 - Multiple HD channels offered for jazz, news, blues.
2007 - WQED carries Planned Parenthood ads, which does not sit well with the good fathers of Duquesne, who ordered them removed. Independent station, hey?
2009 - Duquesne starts looking for a buyer for the station, citing WDUQ's independence from the university.

And that started the ball rolling. Led by WDUQ GM Scott Hanley, WDUQ employees and supporters, under the banner of Pittsburgh Public Media (PPM), threw their hat into the ownership ring. Public Radio Capital, a Colorado non-profit, came aboard as consultants to help broker the deal. PPM offered $6.5M for the station during negotiations.

Then the foundations (The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation in the lead) bought a 60-day delaying option on the sale process to evaluate what was going on with the ol' public radio station. They weren't fans of the status quo, and hired Charlie Humphrey, a local non-profit fiscal and organizational go-to guy, to explore creating a next-generation public media news service, something that Pittsburgh lacked.

It took 30 days to figure out that none of the local players were willing to take on supporting an all-news public station and an outside entity would have to be found or created. WYEP and Public Radio Capital, the former partners of PPM, joined forces. They offered $6M to make WDUQ a full-time NPR outlet; Duquesne took it, to the jeers and tears of Pittsburgh's jazz fans.

As you can see from the timeline, NPR and jazz coexisted for decades at WDUQ; that doesn't mean that the alliance was easy. The station is a nice news source locally; its website hosts one of the better daily news capsules around here, and it was a charter member of the NPR network. It's also the last holdout in a City that is synonymous with great jazz, and hosts programming that is syndicated through 60 other stations. Its jazz impresario, Tony Mowod, is also the founder of the Pittsburgh Jazz Society.

But jazz is a niche musical market. Just look at how many local clubs have folded and much infighting there is even among the fans; be-bop and fusion cats are unquestionably from different planets. People love their oldies, too, but how often do the classic rock stations change formats, and who airs doo-wop anymore except mom-and-pop shops?

The truth is that Duquesne has subsidized WDUQ throughout its existence. The amount they've pumped into the station is confidential but thought to be in the neighborhood of $200,000 -$500,000 in recent years. Both sides realized that the foundation community would be the key to WDUQ's eventual format, and rest assured that the grant-makers are pretty steely-eyed when it comes to the bottom line.

WDUQ is the fourteenth rated Arbitron station in the region, and so is a fairly valuable asset. It's also funded by underwriters and membership, and the foundations saw the NPR model as the better blueprint to cut into that revenue gap that Duquesne filled. So it's easy enough to see why they selected a NPR format; just follow the money, and a full-time NPR service is the superior cash cow.

They left six hours per week out of an original 100 for jazz. They'll also have a 24/7 dedicated HD channel and online stream of jazz programming as a sop for the fans, who are taking their chagrin to the FCC. That's just a delaying tactic; the FCC doesn't involve itself in format spats.

So here's the end result: Duquesne has rid itself of a deficit operation and will get a financial infusion sufficient to endow a couple of chairs. Pittsburgh will join the major markets with a full-time NPR news and information station, and that changeover has resulted in increased, not declining, membership in other regions. Jazz followers get the short end of the stick, and can be expected to vote with their radio dials.

Goodbye WDUQ, hello NPR.

WAMO Back on the Air

2011-06-08T06:53:00.001-04:00

Starting this week, WAMO 100 (101.1 FM and 660 AM) picked up the torch of those famous call letters, absent from the city scene for the past two years after the original WAMO was sold to St. Joseph's Missions, a Catholic talk-radio outfit.

Tim Martz of San-Franciso based Martz Communications purchased stations WPYT AM- FM in Wilkinsburg, and got control of the legacy WAMO call letters from an inactive eastern Pennsylvania station. The new WAMO started airing taped stuff in late May, and is now unrolling live.

They have some big shoes to fill. They know it, and plan on being more than Pittsburgh's urban station. WAMO had a resume of 50 years on the air in this town, and most of them were spent as audio voice and fabric of the black community.

Early WAMO DJ Mary Dee has been credited by many with coming up with the black radio formula of serving up urban music mixed with a strong component of community involvement, and WAMO became its epitome. The new ownership promises to return the station to its roots; they're already reaching out for people to join the "WAMO Street Team," which hopefully will serve as more than a PR vehicle.

We'll see how that community rep thing works out. One thing that's certain, though, is that the hip-hop, rap and urban scene needes a jolt, and WAMO can provide it. Hey, just filling the urban void in Pittsburgh will be welcome; it's hard to fathom how a region as large as ours was left without a full-time urban station.

Another aspect of city living that may have fallen below the radar is Pittsburgh's ability to draw urban acts. They were a tough enough sell when WAMO was in its heyday, but without a station to promote the show and push songs over the long haul, many national acts just bypassed the area.

Now, WAMO 100 is joining with Live Nation to bring acts such as Bootsy Collins to Stage AE on June 24th, and rapper Lil' Wayne to First Niagara Pavilion on July 23rd. With locals like Whiz and Mac blowing up and other area acts right behind them, Pittsburgh may become a destination spot for urban shows.

Hey, they're having their on-air shakedown problems. Pittsburgh is an old-school town, and they'll have to weigh that when coming up with a playlist. Even when WAMO was all that, the mix among the latest hip-hop, adult contemporary, gospel, older sounds, local flavor and talk was hotly debated. Brittany Spears and Ke$ha seem to be a stretch for an urban format, too.

But that's all stuff the station manager, Laura Varner Norman, will sort out. And she has the local cred; a Pitt grad, she was a long-time sales exec for Sheridan Broadcasting and was hired away from Philly's Radio One.

People are waiting for jocks, too. WAMO always had a stable full of personalities in the past, but haven't announced a regular schedule of hosts yet (heck, they haven't even tweeted on their Twitter account or posted anything on their Facebook page) so it would seem they're still feeling their way around in the market.

We're hoping it all works out. The market needed an urban station, and the black community was looking for a nexus to reconnect with both musically and socially. WAMO has always been that presence.

TL Back on the Air

2011-06-05T19:04:00.008-04:00

Terry Lee from WIXZ 1360 Memories (Photo provided by Jim Metzer)
George Blake Balicky, host of the Jazz Cafe and long-time music biz pro, dropped us a line about the Mon Valley's favorite son, Terry Lee. He told us:

"Terry has moved back (to the area from Ohio) and will be on the air four nights per week on WLSW, Music Power 104 (103.9 FM). He will have a show on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights from 8 PM until midnight. You can reach Terry at MAGICTLSOUND@gmail.com "

Rejoice, young lovers, especially those of you with gray hair - TL is spinning again. Think you can find your way back to China Wall?

Sied Chahrour: Strict Flow to Slimmie Hendrix

2011-05-27T17:00:00.037-04:00

Sied Chahrour - Pittsburgh Slim
He started out as Sied Chahrour, became Pittsburgh Slim, and now is Slimmie Hendrix. No matter what name you know him by, he was among the first local rappers to sign with a major label, Def Jam (late 2007), a few months after Wiz Khalifa hooked up with Warner Brothers. (Note - that's to best of Old Mon's knowledge; give us a yell if someone preceded them.)

Chahrour (he's half Algerian, half Mexican) was born and raised in the Greenfield, and starting getting into music when he entered Allderdice High in 1993 (he graduated in 1997).

Slim got his start playing guitar in rock bands (he was a fan of Nirvana, Jesus Lizard and Sonic Youth) while on the dual track of rapping. Charour struck gold when he became part of the underground rap crew Strict Flow in 1996, along Masai Turner (Formula 412), Chad Glick (former manager of Wiz Khalifa, ID Labs Management), and Eric Dan (co-owner of ID Labs).

The group signed with indie label Raw Shack in 1999, and released "People On Lock." Their debut album, "Homegrown," sold over 6,000 copies, a big number for a Pittsburgh hip hop group during the City's rap stone ages.

Strict Flow opened local stages for visiting national acts like Nelly, Jurassic 5, Usher, Nas, The Roots, Ludacris, Ja Rule and 50 Cent as they rapped their way to becoming the urban alpha dog of Pittsburgh promoters. They released a second album, "Without Further Ado," in 2003. That would be the final hurrah, though - the band broke up after the album release.

Within a couple of years, Chahrour was ready for greener pastures and he headed west - way west, to LA. He spent a couple of years with a day job of waiting on tables, while working to establish himself in the very competitive West Coast urban music scene. But it was basically good times and good vibes as he took to LA, both personally and professionally, with side trips to NYC.

Sied had a mind worm - "I like girls who kiss girls" (hey, it was LA) - and created a song around that line. He hooked up with old Jay-Z producer David "Ski Beatz" Willis, got Penthouse girl Krista Ayne to slink around an "American Pie" inspired clip, and one of 2007's hottest YouTube viral vids, "Girls Kiss Girls," was born.

DJ Bonics of KISS-FM broke the song; he knew Sied from his Strict Flow days, and gave the well-hooked tune a few spins at night. The request line backed up with calls for Slim, and "Girls Kiss Girls" hit the station's rotation. Eventually the catchy tune spread to the big national broadcasters, and Pittsburgh Slim (the name was inspired by Jay-Z songs "So Ghetto" and "Kingdom Come," where he dropped lines about Iceberg Slim) was on the map.

By his count, he had 11 different record deals offered to him, three from majors. But he wanted more than a one-shot contract, waited the process out, and finally after an interview with Jay-Z, Def Jam Records gave him that deal. He got a five-album agreement, and released his solo, seven-track debut "Tastemaker" in December 2007.

All that work about securing a long-term deal ended up for naught; Pittsburgh Slim and Def Jam parted ways in 2008 without so much as a second release after the guy who brought him aboard, Jay-Z, left the label. Chahrour left, too, of his own volition. He felt that Jay-Z's team had a plan and vision for him, but the label itself didn't. So Slim has been on the indie trail since.

Def Jam held on to him just long enough to quiet his buzz; Slim runs the very real risk that "Girls Kiss Girls" was enough of a novelty song, like "The Rapper" was to the Jaggerz, to throw up a roadblock as he heads down the road.

As an independent, he released the single/vid "My Bitch is Crazy," from "The Bleeding" movie soundtrack and sold it through iTunes. Ditto for his mixtape "Nolita Nights," which was released in August, 2009. Both featured the rock/rap, dirty synth, electro sound associated with clubby house music, a great dance format for Slim's good-time party sound but not so popular on radio stations.

Just this year, Slim joined Snowballers Entertainment, a new record label founded by noted music video director Ray Kay. The two should have a synergy; Slim's work has translated well to vid formats, and Kay knows how to build a successful vid brick by brick. They've just released his first Snowballers single, "Stuntman," and recently finished shooting the vid, which should be out soon.

To mark his new beginning, Chahrour dropped the Pittsburgh Slim nom d' art and became Slimmie Hendrix. We'll see how this marriage works.

"First Date" - Pittsburgh Slim from "Tastemaker"

Formula 412

2011-05-22T09:25:00.014-04:00

Formula 412
Pittsburgh's hip-hop scene has been largely a local phenomena until blowing up recently, and in the long run that's probably been a good if often frustrating fact of life for the region's urban music scene. It never developed into a single genre, but sent offshoots in several directions; gangsta, party, social, and fusion, a smorgasbord of sound that stimulated rather than stifled local artists.

Several Pittsburgh acts have gotten varying degrees of national love - Wiz Khalifa, Sied Chahrour, Mac Miller, Jasiri X - and another isn't far behind that pack: Formula 412.

The crew has been duly recognized in City circles; they've won five Pittsburgh Hip-Hop awards, including 2011's "Best Group" honor. Last month, they released the album "Reality Show," and it had quite a lead-in for a hip-hop release. The usually staid Pittsburgh City Council proclaimed April 12th (yah, 4-12; who sez Council doesn't bother with the details?) as "Formula 412 Day."

It fit; all the band members are Pittsburgh bred and raised. The crew consists of: Masai Turner – vocals, songwriter, MC (Strict Flow), Byron “Nasty Nash” – guitar (Sporadic), Akil Esoon – keyboards (BEAM), “Bigg Cliff” Foster – bass (Sho’Nuff), and Dennis Garner Jr. – drums (various gospel groups).

The band formed in 2006. The players had all crossed paths on stages across the local urban circuit and were looking to put together their own unique beat, having backgrounds in rap, R&B, jazz and gospel. That's part of the reason for their name - "Formula" is from the mixing of their various styles, while the 412 (area code) reps where they come from.

The band’s music is undeniably hip-hop, but instead of the usual bass & drum-heavy rhythm thump, they use guitar riffs, jazz/rock drumming and the keyboards to create a more eclectic sound, ranging from funk to rock. It's not Run DMC/Aerosmith (think Roots), but the fusion carves out a niche Formula 412 doesn't share with many urban acts.

Their songs range anywhere from autobiographic to socially conscious to life's observations as themes; they're not just instrumentally new-school, but topically, too.

If there's one thing that all Pittsburgh groups, no matter what genre, share as a storyline, it's that nothing ever comes easy. The crew isn't represented by a major label, and all the back room chores - production, marketing & sales, bookings - are handled by the band and friends.

The good thing is that artistic control of the product is guaranteed; the downside is that there are only 24 hours in a day, and expenses can eat through a day job paycheck in a New York minute.

Formula 412 knows the business drill, though. They primed the pump for "Reality Show" by releasing a pair of tracks on vid beforehand: "Step to the Rear," shot on a PAT bus rolling through the City, and "Got to Give," filmed at the old USX Carrie Furnace site.

The crew has gotten their music to the public by utilizing the 21st century template of iTunes, Amazon, and other digital outlets. Of course, they have their own web page, smart phone app and Twitter account.

They've managed to get their show on the road, too, performing recently as the opening act for groups like Method Man, 50 Cent, N.E.R.D and Busta Rhymes. The group will kick off the College Music Journal Conference in New York this fall (they're heavy into college tours). And on June 9th at 7:30, they'll play on the Dollar Bank Stage in Point State Park as part of the Three Rivers Art Festival.

Wiz is there, Slim has been there; Mac is on his way and Jasiri is kicking on the door. Now Formula 412 is on the verge of adding their name to Pittsburgh's national crews.

Formula 412 - "Step To the Rear"

BNY Jazz, Citiparks Series

2011-05-08T12:02:00.001-04:00

Jazz at Highland Park, image from Pittsburgh Citiparks
Hey, as long as we're clearing the deck of summer music fests, it's about time to post the BYN jazz series for the year. Mellon used to sponsor the events; BYN has stepped up nicely since the merger.

BYN partners with Pittsburgh Citiparks, the Cultural District and Manchester Craftsmen Guild to stage the shows, along with providing educational initiatives and scholarships.

It's a good synergy for jazz and the region, and again shows the strong link between Pittsburgh music and the corporate/non-profit world. It's one of the things that's unique to the town and helps make the 'Burgh the 'Burgh. The schedule:

May 10th:
Tony Campbell & Lee Robinson at the Backstage Bar, 5PM.
May 17th:
Dwayne Dolphin & Alton Merrell at the Backstage Bar, 5PM
May 24th:
James Moore & Clare Ascani at the Backstage Bar, 5PM
May 31st:
Carolyn Perteete & Shawnee Lake at the Backstage Bar, 5PM
June 11th:
Mark Lucas at Riverview Park, 7PM
June 18th:
Dwayne Dolphin at Riverview Park, 7PM
June 25th:
Al Dowe and Etta Cox at Riverview Park, 7PM
July 2nd:
Clare Ascani at Riverview Park, 7PM
July 9th:
Max Leake at Riverview Park, 7PM
July 16th:
Spider Rondinell at Riverview Park, 7PM
July 23rd:
Resonance Steel Drum Jazz at Riverview Park, 7PM
July 30th:
Kevin Howard and Serious Inquiry at Riverview Park, 7PM
August 6th:
Sean Jones at Riverview Park, 7PM
August 7th:
Boilermaker Jazz Band at Highland Park, 7PM
August 13th:
Mike Tomaro at Riverview Park, 7PM
August 14th:
Alton Merrell and Friends at Highlan Park, 7PM
August 20th:
Salsamba Latin Jazz Group at Riverview Park, 7PM
August 21st:
21st Century Swing Band at Highland Park, 7PM
August 27th:
Roger Humphries and RH Factor at Riverview Park, 7PM
August 28th:
The Poogie Bell Band at Highland Park, 7PM
September 10th:
Tarbaby and Oliver Lake at City of Asylum, 7:30PM
September 23/24th:
Bob Mintzer Big Band at MCG Jazz Hall, 8PM
October 1st:
Pat Metheny and Larry Grenadier at MCG Jazz Hall, 7PM
October 1st:
Tribute to Joe Negri at Carnegie Library (Carnegie), 8PM
October 15th:
Fourplay at MCG Jazz Hall, 7PM
October 29/30th:
Alon Yavnai/Israeli Jazz and World Rhythms at MCG Jazz Hall, 8PM, 2:30PM
November 11th:
Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band at MCG Jazz Hall, 7PM
November 19th:
Tribute to Grover Washington at MCG Jazz Hall, 7PM
December 3/4th:
Billy Taylor Tribute at MCG Jazz Hall, 8PM, 2:30PM
December 9th:
Take 6 Christmas at MCG Jazz Hall, 7PM

And for the other end of the spectrum, the City also sponsors the Bach, Beethoven and Brunch Classical Music Series at Mellon Park on Fifth and Shady Avenues in the East End. The shows run every Sunday from 10:30AM to noon. The schedule:

June 19th - Edgewood Symphony Orchestra
June 26th - Freya String Quartet
July 03rd - Carnegie Brass
July 10th - Cincopation
July 17th - Aeolian Winds of Pittsburgh
July 24th - River City Brass
July 31st - Eastern Watershed Klexmer Quartet
Aug. 07th - Keystone Wind Ensemble
Aug. 14th - East Winds Symphonic Band

Roger Humphries "Song For My Father"

Arts Festival Lineup

2011-05-08T10:41:00.000-04:00

Image from the Pittsburgh Arts Council
Hey, with all the rain fallin', you just know that the Three Rivers' Arts Festival is right around the corner. And locals know that means more than funnel cakes and pottery; the Festival brings in an eclectic mix of national bands to rock the Point. This year's schedule is no different. Here's the scheduled acts:

The Blind Boys of Alabama; Friday, 7:30, June 3rd.

The Tom Tom Club; Saturday, 7:30, June 4th.

Pittsburgh Symphony; Sunday, 6:00, June 5th.

James McMurtry/Jonny Burke; Monday, 7:30, June 6th.

The Baseball Project/J. Roddy Walston; Tuesday, 7:30, June 7th.

Tea Leaf Green; Wednesday, 7:30, June 8th.

Formula 412; Thursday, 7:30, June 9th.

Brandi Carlile; Friday, 7:30, June 10th.

Ricky Skaggs; Saturday, 7:30, June 11th.

Buckwheat Zydeco; Sunday, 7:30, June 12th.

All the shows are free concerts. The acts perform on the Dollar Bank Stage in Point State Park. This year's featured Pittsburgh artists are the PSO, playing on Sunday, June 6th and making their first 3RAF appearance since 1977, along with genre-bending hip-hop crew Formula 412, who will play Thursday, June 9th. And that pair just about covers the gamut of Pittsburgh music.

Old Mon has seen and heard some folk stirring a backsplash about the booked bands being dated and not particularly cutting edge. Well, get over it; it's a good mix for the Festival crowd. If you want to see Lady Gaga or the Ozfest, you have the wrong venue (although a little more local flavor wouldn't be a bad thing.)

Formula 412 - "Gotta Give"

Allegheny County Summer Concert Series

2011-05-05T15:49:00.003-04:00

South Park Amphitheater
The Allegheny County 2011 Summer Concert Series includes five-time Grammy Award winner Mary Chapin Carpenter, the critically acclaimed soul singer Martin Sexton, Country Top 40 artist Brett Eldredge, Irish folk band the High Kings, Top 40 superstars Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, as well as Donnie Iris. The schedule...

At Hartwood Acres:

June 5 - Josh Ritter with David Wax Museum (7:30 p.m.)
June 12 - Pittsburgh Opera (7:30 p.m.)
June 19 - Open Sky Microphone Night hosted by Joy Ike (7:30 p.m.)
June 26 - CCAC Alumni present Ruthie Foster (7:30 p.m.)
July 3 - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (8:15 p.m.)
July 17 - Mary Chapin Carpenter (7:30 p.m.)
July 22-24 - 17th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Festival (Fri. 4:00-10:30 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 1:30-10:30 p.m.
July 31 - The High Kings (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 7 - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 14 - BNY Mellon Jazz presents Joe Lovano (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 18 - Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 28 - Duquesne University Tamburitzans (7:30 p.m.)
Sept. 4 - 12th Annual Allegheny County Musical Festival featuring Rusted Root (5:00 p.m.)

At South Park Amphitheater:

June 3 - Joe Zelek Band (7:30 p.m.)
June 10 - The Billy Price Band with Olga Watkins (7:30 p.m.)
June 17 - Hometown Music Fest featuring Love Bettie, Lohio, Meeting of Important People, and City Dwelling Nature Seekers (6:30 p.m.)
June 24 - Jimmy Adler Band (7:30 p.m.)
July 2 - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (8:00 p.m.)
July 8 - Pittsburgh CLO presents “A Gleeful Evening” featuring the CLO Mini Stars and Gene Kelly Award winners (7:30 p.m.)
July 15 - Brett Eldredge with Sydney Hutchko (7:30 p.m.)
July 22 - Maia Sharp & Moveable Feast (7:30 p.m.)
July 29 - BNY Mellon Jazz presents The John Patitucci Trio (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 5 - Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 12 - Martin Sexton with Laura Shay (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 19 - Pure Gold (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 26 - Donnie Iris & the Cruisers (7:30 p.m.)

Jimmy Adler "Wee Wee Hours"

Jasiri X

2011-04-30T15:50:00.002-04:00

Jasiri X image from Real Talk Express
Hey, Pittsburgh has been getting some love as a rap town lately, with Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller and Slimmie Hendrix (Pittsburgh Slim) putting the 'Burgh on the urban map. It didn't hurt that Paradise Gray ("the Arkitech") decided to make the Steel City his new home, or that Rostrum Records planted roots here.

But the guy taking Pittsburgh rap to a new level is East Liberty's Jasiri X. The Chicago native moved here in the mid-eighties, went to Gateway High School (Taylor Allderdice isn't the only hip-hop incubator in town), and rapped for Concrete Elete before going solo.

Jasiri X is the X-Clan rep of Pittsburgh. He doesn't play to the gangsta or party crowd; he's the modern-day Bob Dylan of the urban scene.

He first made a name for himself nationally in 2007 with “Free the Jena Six;” the song was named 2007 Hip Hop Political Song of the Year and and “Single of the Year” at the Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Awards. In late 2009, he released "American History X," earning him six Pittsburgh Hip-Hop Awards, including Album of the Year. The LP touched on everything from Afghanistan to BET's playlist.

The East End rapper was the first hip-hop artist to receive the August Wilson Center for African-American Culture Fellowship when he was honored in 2009. He hosts the internet radio news/rap show "This Week With Jasiri X," directed by brother activist Paradise Gray and going strong after four years.

Jasiri is out touring in support of his latest vid releases and upcoming album. And just to show there were no hard feelings - it's all about the ratings, right? - he was featured on the BET show "Rap City."

His videos include songs like the role-reversing "What if the Tea Party Was Black," inspired by blogger Tim Wise's post of the same name. It was downloaded 200,000+ times and created a barrage of commentary, some thoughtful and some...well, not.

It won a Judges Prize for JX and producer Gray from the progressive 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club (although we suspect Tom Corbett and Jim Roddey weren't impressed.) The vid was also named the “Best Local YouTube Phenomenon” by The Pittsburgh City Paper.

Others are "Real Gangstas," dedicated to Wall Street robber barons, "Dr. King's Nightmare," a counterpoint to Glenn Beck's DC rally, “Enough is Enough,” about the Sean Bell shooting, and "The Only Color That Matters Is Green" which is self-explanatory, we hope.

His latest album, "Ascension" is scheduled for release soon, and will be issued through Vancouver's Wandering Worx Music label, a new hip-hop impress.

Jasiri reps his lyrics, too. His video “4Haiti“ dedicated its proceeds toward purchasing a solar generator to purify water for a family in Haiti. He can be spotted around town in the middle of activist events, the latest being last month's "Our Communities, Our Jobs" rally. He's also president of LYRICS Inc. (Leading Young Rappers in Career Success), using modern technology to mentor the up-and-comers.

It should come as no surprise that Jasiri X and Paradise Gray are collaborators in more than media productions. In 2005, he hooked up with Gray and some others to form One Hood, a group that works to make the town, in Paradise's words, "One city, one people, one 'hood." The activists are the generally the first ones on the scene to rep the community when things go south.

So hey, make some room, Wiz, Mac and Slim. There's another side of rap beside the partee, and its conscience, Jasiri X, is about to join you.

"Jasiri Xtra" from Ascension

Sean Jones

2011-04-22T19:00:00.042-04:00

Sean Jones
It's a Robert Frost kind of road, wending its way from Warren, Ohio to New York City and then to Pittsburgh, but it's the path Sean Jones chose, and the City jazz scene is richer for it.

Trumpeter Jones is a musician, composer, bandleader, and educator, and it all started in Warren, where he was born in 1978 and began whetting his musical chops by belting out gospel as a youngster. He knew music was his calling almost right from the start.

After graduating from Warren Harding High, Jones went on to Youngstown State, where he earned a degree in classical trumpet performance and then went on to win a master's degree from Rutgers University, where he studied under Professor William Fielder, who included Jones' future boss, Wynton Marsalis, among his students.

Jones started out as most do, as a session player, but in 2004, his stars aligned.

He was playing his horn at an Ohio gig, and Wes Anderson was in the audience, taking in the show. Anderson was more than a random jazz fan; he's an alto sax player for Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. After hearing a few of Jones' licks, Anderson called his boss in the wee hours after the performance and said “Brother Wynton, you got to hear this cat.”

Jones got an interview with Marsalis and a six-month internship with the orchestra. When that was up, he was offered the first chair in Marsalis’ hand-groomed ensemble. He still plays with the internationally renown band and joins them for three month-long worldwide tours each year.

He also released his first of five and counting albums ("Eternal Journey") as a band leader for the Grosse Pointe Farms-based jazz label Mack Avenue Records. Pretty heady stuff for a kid in his mid twenties.

In 2005, Pittsburgh sax man Mike Tomaro, who is also the head honcho of jazz studies at Duquesne, hired Jones as an artist-in-residence. The following year, Jones joined Duquesne as a professor.

It's a hire that's been nothing but roses for the City jazz scene. Jones settled in by moving to Robinson Township, and his local presence made an immediate impact. His life is about music, and he haunts the area jazz clubs, sitting in on jams with any player who will have him - and who wouldn't? He performs in the City. He lectures and sits in on jazz workshops.

And in Jones' most notable move, he brought back the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra in 2009, now serving as its artistic director. The ensemble is the resident 16-member big band of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, loosely based on the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He picked up the pieces from Pitt prof and brass player Dr. Nathan Davis, who originally formed the band in 1986, but saw it splinter because of financial pressures.

The trumpeter performs with his own groups both nationally and internationally, in addition to his gig with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Jones plays at music venues and jazz festivals such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Detroit International Jazz Festival and Montreal International Jazz Festival.

He teaches, performs with the Louis Armstrong Legacy University, and worked with the Chico O'Farrill Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Illinois Jacquet Band, Charles Fambrough (he's featured on the bassist's "Live At Zanzibar Blue" record), Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Tia Fuller, Brad Leali and the International Jazz Quintet.

And let's not forget his own band, the Sean Jones Sextet, that plays from Montreal to Monterey, Paris to London, and from Bonn to Istanbul. He's about due for another Mack Avenue album. In fact, his life style led to one of the cuts on his latest release, 2009's "The Search Within."

The track is called "Sunday Reflections," and was written while he was traveling from New York to Pittsburgh.

He's been recognized a few times along the road, too: in 2006 and 2007, he was selected as Downbeat Magazine's "Rising Star." In 2007, Jones was picked as JazzTimes Magazine Reader's Poll "Best New Artist," and also that year, he was featured on the Grammy Award-winning "Turned to Blue" by Nancy Wilson.

Many consider Jones to be this generation's heir-apparent to jazz trumpet players like Louis Armstrong and company. And hey, he won't be 32 until May.

Sean Jones (he's the big guy) and Marcus Printup dueling trumpets

Jeff "Tain" Watts

2011-04-16T13:48:00.012-04:00

Jeff "Tain" Watts, photo by Oliver Link
Pittsburgh has been blessed with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to drummers - Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Vinnie Colaiuta, Roger Humphries, J. C. Moses and a pack of others that are internationally known behind the kit. Let's add one more name to the list: Jeff "Tain" Watts.

Born in 1960, he was raised in the Hill District's Sugartop neighborhood, attending Madison Elementary before graduating from East Allegheny High in North Versailles after the family moved. (He's so Pittsburgh that he even slipped a Terrible Towel in on the album cover of the Branford Marsalis Quartet's 2006 "Bragg-town" CD.)

Watts got rolling at Duquesne, where he majored in classical percussion, primarily as a timpanist under the eye of Dave Stock. That's where he really got his start, playing in a band with Dwayne Dolphin, Geri Allen, Tony Campbell and Joseph Callins, performing in the City jazz houses.

The drummer transfered to the Berklee School of Music, where he pursued jazz studies. There were a pretty good bunch of classmates in Beantown to hang with, too. He honed his craft with players such as Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Greg Osby, Aimee Mann, and Steve Vai.

He joined the Wynton Marsalis Quartet in 1981, picking up three Grammy Awards with the ensemble before leaving the group in 1988. After working with George Benson, Harry Connick. Jr. and McCoy Tyner, he joined the Branford Marsalis Quartet in 1989. Hey, guess what? Two more Grammys.

For you trivia buffs, Watts is the only musician to appear on every Grammy Award winning jazz record by both Wynton and Branford Marsalis.

Watts played in Kenny Garrett's band when he returned to New York in 1995 after three years in LA. He also recorded and toured with Branford Marsalis again, as well as with Michael Brecker, Betty Carter, Kenny Kirkland, Geri Allen, Alice Coltrane, Greg Osby and Ravi Coltrane among others. Watts' has recorded over 120 albums as a sideman.

His own band keeps him busy enough. The Jeff Tain Watts Quartet (Jean Toussaint, sax, James Genus, acoustic bass, David Kikoski, piano, and Watts on the skins) plays coast-to-coast, from the Village Vanguard in NY to the Triple Door in Seattle, along with recent side trips to Russia, Scotland and the Netherlands.

Watts also has shown up to give a hand to the Dave Pellow's Carnegie Mellon Jazz Ensembles, and isn't shy about popping up on the home turf to perform or participate in a workshop every so often.

He's released six of his own LPs as a leader (he writes most of the band's songs; he's also a noted jazz composer), the last trio on his own Dark Key Music label. The latest is this year's "Family." And the label landed him another Grammy. Dark Key Music was a 2010 Grammy Award Winner for Best Instrumental Solo, by Terence Blanchard on the release "Dancin' 4 Chicken."

But don't quit counting the Grammys quite yet; he just won one more as part of the "Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard" record which recently was recognized as the "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album."

Watts has worked in film and TV, too, as both a musician on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (that was his La-La Land gig) and as an actor, playing Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee’s "Mo Better Blues," and contributing some music for the flick. He also had roles in "Throw Momma From the Train" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

And his work has been duly recognized. "Modern Drummer" magazine voted him the best drummer twice.

His nickname? He was dubbed “Tain” by Kenny Kirkland when they were on tour in Florida and drove past a Chieftain gas station; Jeff Tain somehow was born from Chief-tain. Guess you had to be there. But he must like it; the adjective "Tainish" is now an accepted part of the jazz jargon.

Hey, the Big Apple may be where Jeff Watts hangs his hat now, but Pittsburgh is his home. And with him and guys like Cecil Brooks around to pass the drum torch on, the jazz circle here should remain unbroken for quite a spell.

Jeff "Tain" Watts - "Return of the Jitney Man" from the 2009 CD "Watts"

Tony Mowod

2011-04-09T13:14:00.029-04:00

Tony Mowod from Public Broadcasting Guide
Hey, jazz in Pittsburgh has a long and storied legacy with enough greats to fill a Leo Tolstoy novel. And there's no danger of it slipping away from the City's affection, at least as long as Tony Mowod is around to carry its torch.

Born Najeba Samreny (Mowod is his pap's first name), the son of Lebanese immigrants, he grew up in the Hill and lived above "John's," his dad's restaurant, located on the corner of Bedford and Washington avenues.

Mowod went to Epiphany grade school in the Lower Hill, across from the Civic Arena, and was taught piano by the Mercy nuns. From there, he went off to Central Catholic, where he developed his taste for jazz and starting taking vibraphone lessons. After graduating, Mowod crossed the street from his old elementary school and enrolled at Duquesne.

Jazz and the stage wrestled for his attention in those days. He was a player with the university's Red Masque and spun a jazz show at WDUQ. Mowod eventually dropped out of the Bluff school to chase his acting dreams in the Big Apple. But music and scripts kept their tug-of-war tensions pulling on his soul.

Chuck Grodin was his roomie for a while, and he trod the stage in off-Broadway roles. Hey, he was even one of the finalists for the "Uncle Tanoose" role on the Danny Thomas TV show.

He had a 9-to-5 office gig to pay the rent, and played the vibraphone three nights a week with a trio. But he left New York to come home and get married, fully intending to return and make a grab for the brass ring.

We know how that works out in real life. Mowod's roots took hold, and he raised his family here. That's a familiar story for Pittsburgh musicians; the City has been blessed in that many of its artists stepped into the glare of the bright lights and decided home was where their heart was, after all.

Mowod worked in local radio, but his bread-winner was running supper clubs. He operated the Cedars Lounge, the Vogue Terrace Dinner Theater, which burned down (both were in East McKeesport), and finally Antonio's, a Downtown bistro.

It closed in 1976, and Mowod was broke. He became a Servico manager while doing a weekend jazz show on WAMO after stints at WAZZ, WTAE, WKPA and WYDD (he was named the “Radio Personality of the Year” from 1967-69).

The next decade was a struggle, but by the late eighties it all came together when his jazz show on WDUQ took off and the Pittsburgh Jazz Society, his brainchild, was born.

He's spent the past couple of decades producing and broadcasting "The Night Side" jazz show, one of WDUQ's mainstay programs. It's been syndicated since 1997 as JazzWorks and reaches some 60 markets. Mowod's Quincy Jones' theme of "The Quintessence" is followed by jazz that's in tune with the average jazz joe.

That's earned him an occasional potshot for shunning the be-bop and avant garde artists and not pushing local players more heavily. But what he spins works; mainstream jazz has always been pooh-poohed by the hardcore followers, though it's what the majority of listeners want to hear. You can't please all the people all the time...but 95% of them is a pretty good catch.

But a darker cloud looms. Whether there will be a Mowod show to tune into at all in the future is the $64,000 question. WYEP's purchase of the station has raised concerns about WDUQ's continued commitment to jazz programming, and the end result is yet to be determined, or at least announced.

While the status of Night Side may be up in the air, the PJS will be around no matter what. Its mission statement says it all "...(an) all volunteer organization, dedicated to the promotion, preservation and perpetuation of all jazz. This is accomplished through education, performance, partnering and community outreach for members and the general public."

And it does all that.

Since Mowod founded it in 1987, the organization has a web site, started a Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame and awarded over a quarter of a million dollars in scholarship money to student musicians, raised through dues and events.

They've held a Winter JazzFest, Jazz Cruises on the Gateway Clipper, Caribbean Cruises, the "Jazz Train," "Jazz Day in the Park," a smorgasbord of concerts, and been recognized by both the Allegheny County Commissioners and Pittsburgh City Council - and you know how often they agree on anything.

Mowod himself has received his share of recognition; he's earned more awards than Old Mon has gray hairs (and that's more than your fingers and toes can tote up, unless you're related to a centipede). Here's a select list:

California University of Pennsylvania awarded him the “Excellence in Jazz Promotion Award” for both 1989 and 1990. In 1992, he was presented with a plaque by the River City Brass Band for “Outstanding Contribution to the Growth and Development of Jazz.” In 1998 he was honored as the "Radio Entertainer of the Year" by Showtime. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette selected Mowod as one of the "Top 50 Cultural Power Brokers of Pittsburgh" in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

In 2000, he was chosen by Vectors/Pittsburgh as the “Man of the Year in Arts and Music” and received the Harry Schwalb "Excellence in the Arts Award for Jazz" by Pittsburgh magazine. In 2001 he was the recipient of the “Outstanding Achievement in Broadcasting Award for Radio” of the Pittsburgh Radio and Television Club. In 2003, he was again picked as one of the "Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh" by the PPG. In 2004 Mowod was inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 2007 he took home the Talk Magazine/Walt Harper "All that Jazz" award, in 2009 he was named a "Champion of Jazz" by the Washington Jazz Society, and last year he was honored as a Jefferson Awards winner for his work with the Pittsburgh Jazz Society.

As always, if you want something done, find a busy man to do it. Mowod is also an Adjunct Professor of Jazz History at Duquesne University School of Music, and serves on the boards of the American Federation of Jazz Societies and Pittsburgh First Night, along with being an advisor for Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies.

And he's never quite shaken the acting bug; he still does summer stock plays. To pass the time, he also writes liner notes for local jazz releases and is active in church projects.

Busy dude, that Tony Mowod, and that's a good thing for Pittsburgh's current jazz scene and also its legendary players of the past. As he reminds his audience, "Keep a bit of love in your heart, and a taste of jazz in your soul." He's living proof of what that can accomplish.

The Mosque Rises Again...

2011-04-01T21:05:00.016-04:00

Syria Mosque QR Barcode from Pop City Media
photo by Sam Lavery
Hey, Pittsburgh has a lot of talented people in the music biz. And they all didn't hone their chops in their parent's garage.

The City universities - Duquesne, Pitt, and Carnegie-Mellon - all have top notch music schools. And that niche allows for some interaction among the other departments. That's how Sam Lavery resurrected Oakland's Syria Mosque.

Sam's a junior at CMU who was conducting a research project delving into the digital recreation of historic places. He looked down the street, and where most guys his age would see an asphalt parking lot, he saw the Syria Mosque, one of the City's iconic rock and roll halls.

It helped that Lavery is a musician and into the history and evolution of music. It also helped that his mom worked the Mosque as an usher.

So he went googling for some images and memorabilia, toggled a few free web-based apps, plunked down the princely sum of $25 for various supplies, and viola - the Mosque is back among the living, at least for those of us that can operate a smart phone camera.

Sam digitalized the coolness of the Mosque - the lions, the building, concert clips, posters, ticket stubs, any and everything he could find, and by conjuring up some computer magic (OK, maybe it's not voodoo to CMU students, but it sure seems like a black art to graybeards like Old Mon) he linked them to some QR barcodes, white squares with black modules that can be scanned by your run-of-the-mill smart phone.

So hey, make sure the battery is charged, and take a nice spring stroll along Bigelow Boulevard and Lytton Avenue. It used to take a good imagination to recall the glory of the Mosque.

Now all it takes is a good eye to spot the barcodes (you can find the sites here; there are a couple of dozen of them in the neighborhood stuck on various poles and signs), and a quick point and click on the ol' cell to bring back the Mosque and its memories on your screen. Sure beats a stodgy ol' historic marker.

It's not rocket science; as Sam explains "QR codes are square barcodes that when read by a cell phone camera reveal a website link, audio clip, or image that the user is automatically redirected to. All you need to scan them is a phone with a camera and access to the internet."

Nothing is quite that simple; unless you have a 'Droid, you'll have to download a QR reader. Never fear - it's easy and you can't be the price; they're free apps.

Lavery's not done. He had some ideas about preserving the Civic Arena, and has his keyboard clicking at making Three Rivers Stadium his next field of dreams, or maybe the Homestead Steel Works.

And hey, wouldn't you love to relive the Porkfest at TRS or the Beatles invading the Arena one more time?

The Bangles - "Walk Like An Egyptian" Syria Mosque 1986

WZUM Gone

2011-04-01T12:01:00.051-04:00

Another of the iconic radio stations of Old Mon's youth has bit the dust; WZUM is officially dead. Actually, it's been a long time a'comin'. WZUM went off the air a year ago last week, and the FCC, after its mandated one-year wait, finally pulled the plug on the silent broadcaster.

The station had a 1000-watt daytime signal/24 watts nighttime that broadcast from Crafton, with its studios located in West Mifflin.

WZUM began in the 1962 as an R&B and top 40 station, run by Pittsburgh polka bandleader and eventual "Steeler Polka" performer Jimmy Pol, who later got control of the station (although some thought he was a National Record Mart front; stations and shops weren't supposed to mix back in the payola era).

You might remember a couple of its personalities: Mad Mike Metro, who jocked there from 1964-72, Bob Mack's "Wax Museum," aired from 1962-64, or a young Terry Lee who spun from the WZUM studios for a brief period between 1963-64.

Hey, do any of these DJs ring a bell: Terry Caywood, "Powerful" Paul Perry, Kit Baron, "Laid Back" Larry Allen, Al Gee, Michael Jon, Bobby Bennett, Jeff Troy or Mark Wallace? WZUM and its stable of jockeys was on everyone's car radio back in the day when AM mattered.

Pol or Perry would broadcast the "Polka Party" in the morning at sunrise. Great way to start the day, hey? It gets better.

Michael Jon was good enough to drop Old Mon a note, and fondly recalls brother jock Larry Allen following the polka wake-up call with a lead-in blast of Led Zeppelin (WZUM was one of the early local players of prog rock.) And you wonder why we graybeards loved AM radio?

During the early seventies, WZUM was a free-form AOR outlet from 10:00 am until sunset, but switched to religious programming under the call letters WPLW in 1974 after its purchase by Robert Hickling.

Following Hickling's death in 1998, it was sold to local broadcaster Mike Horvath and once again became WZUM. The station's airwaves flickered off and on for awhile; Horvath had to get the physical plant up to snuff.

The station returned to the air full time after a major transmitter and studio overhaul. They played eighties hits, and Mad Mike assembled a lineup of vintage DJs for a Sunday "Oldies Blast" live from Pietro's Pizza.

But after Metrovich's death, Horvath gave the blasts from the past 90 days to get out of Dodge; he had given up on local oldies music programming. That might have cost the station its niche in the Pittsburgh market; we'll never know.

He changed the on-air format to traffic reporting, smooth jazz, ethnic music, local sports and talk, but within a year, WZUM was mostly airing religious programming. Relevant Radio bought the station in 2005 and converted it to 24/7 Catholic radio, which lasted until 2009 when Sovereign City took over.

WZUM aired easy listening music in its place and was later floating trial balloons at the Delmarva Educational Association for programming or a possible sale, but it didn't pan out.

The station switched to southern Gospel by May and called itself "The Promise." Sovereign City sold the licensing rights to Virginia-based religious programmer Believe and Achieve Family and Educational Center. It only prolonged the agony by a few more months.

The station ceased operations in March of 2010 when the studio was padlocked for non-payment of rent; in another month, the broadcast towers shut down and all the equipment that could be salvaged was sold to engineer Randy Dietterich.

Its license technically remained active until now, and a couple of well-intentioned but not so well-heeled purchasers tried to revive the station. But after missing several rent payments, Crafton council directed that the three broadcast towers, which were located on leased borough land, be dismantled (they were), and that made any possible license transfer a moot point.

Now the license goes into auction, and the WZUM call letters are probably gone forever from Western Pennsylvania, along with a piece of Old Mon's youth.

Mad Mike does the "Camel Walk" with the PORCC All-Stars

Vinnie Colaiuta

2011-03-27T13:29:00.008-04:00

Vinnie Colaiuta image from Modern Drummer
Vinnie Colaiuta hails from Republic, in Fayette County south of Brownsville, and is Western Pennsylvania's busiest - and best - native born drummer.

Oh, he played a couple of other instruments - guitar and organ - as a kid, but there was never any doubt that his love was the drums. His parents got him his first real kit when he was 14. And hey, it wasn't always an easy choice.

His junior high band director told him that there were too many drummers in the band, a common enough occurrence, and he should play another instrument. Colaiuta cooled his heels tooting the flute for a year, and then he slid into a departing senior's spot. How many careers, we wonder, have been killed in junior high? Colaiuta escaped unmarred, fortunately for the music world.

Colaiuta went off to Berklee and later played in some local groups before he and The Christopher Morris Band jumped coasts to LA. That led to some opportunities not available in the coal fields, and he scored big after impressing Frank Zappa during an audition.

He went on to become Zappa's main man on the kit, recording 19 albums with him. Colaiuta's work on "Joe's Garage" was named one of the Top Twenty-Five drumming performances of all time in a 1993 Modern Drummer article.

After leaving Zappa's nest, Colaiuta sat in with a who's who of artists: Gino Vannelli ("Stay With Me" has some particularly tasty licks), Joni Mitchell (he did six LP's with her), Celine Dion, Ricky Martin, LeAnn Rhimes, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Wang Chung, Chaka Khan, Megadeth, Faith Hill, The Beach Boys, Leonard Cohen, Jeff Beck, and jazzmen Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, and the Buddy Rich Big Band.

He fit in a seven year gig with Sting ("Seven Days" was his highlight performance), recording five albums with the band until leaving because he couldn't face another world tour. Not that staying home was much more restful; Wikipedia lists a "selected" discography of his recordings, and the roster is well over 125 albums long.

Colaiuta does more than keep the beat. He's a virtuoso at the craft, having earned 18 Drummer of the Year awards from Modern Drummer magazine and being selected into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1996. The magazine considers him the most important drummer of our times.

His improvisions are legendary - we're not talking Iron Butterfly solos here - as is his work ethic and focus. How focused? A often repeated story goes like this:

Dom Famularo, a well known drum instructor and Colaiuta's bud, visited Colaiuta one day. Colaiuta opened his door while practicing on a drum pad, and after a few minutes of exchanging pleasantries on the stoop, said: "I'm such a bad host, I haven't offered you anything! Do you want a pad?"

If practice makes perfect, Vinnie Colaiuta is the ideal.

Vinnie Colaiuta with Herbie Hancock performing "Actual Proof"

Reb Beach

2011-03-18T18:23:00.005-04:00

Reb Beach
Axeman Richard Earl "Reb" Beach is a native son of Pittsburgh; he was raised in Oakmont and went to Fox Chapel HS.

His career began when his mom got him an acoustic guitar. It wasn't love at first sight; it sat under his bed for a few weeks. Then he saw a KISS concert and decided that the life of a rock 'n' roller was for him. Beach reached under the bed and began strumming his eventual ticket to fame.

He was a natural. Beach taught himself to play the guitar and piano without any formal training, jamming along at home to Aerosmith, Sammy Hagar and Ronnie Montrose. But it was Steve Morse, then with the rock/jazz group The Dixie Dregs, who influenced him the most, showing him a world apart from the blues riffs of the mainstream bands.

Beach went off to Boston and spent a couple of semesters at the prestigious Berkelee School of Music, but formal musical training didn't compute with his self-taught lessons. Instead, he put together his own music on a four-track recorder, a Morse-like mix of jazz and rock he called the "Fusion Demo." The tape featured Beach's fast-paced shredding style and powerful hooks.

After winning an annual Beantown "Best Guitarist" contest with a track off his Fusion tapes, Beach headed to the Big Apple, and he took off with a bullet. Within a year, he became one of the hottest session players in rock.

He backed Fiona ("Beyond the Pale" 1986), Howard Jones ("One on One" 1986), Chaka Kahn ("Destiny" 1986), The Bee Gees ("E.S.P." 1987) and Twisted Sister ("Love is for Suckers" 1987), and sat in with Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Roger Daltrey.

The industry mag Guitar for the Practicing Musician voted him "Best New Guitarist," and Guitar World Magazine selected him as the "Best New Talent."

While in New York, Beach hooked up with his future band mate, Alice Cooper bassist Kip Winger. In 1987, they formed the band Sahara; it quickly morphed into Winger (on Cooper's recommendation; it seems the name Sahara was already taken) and the rest is rock history.

Beach recorded and toured in support of three Winger albums, "Winger" (1988), "In the Heart of the Young" (1990) and "Pull" (1993). The band had six top-forty singles, including "Seventeen," "Madalaine," "Headed for a Heartbreak" and "Miles Away," epitomizing the era's big-hair rock scene.

The band's moment in the sun began to fade - some blame it on a "Bevis and Butthead" episode that featured a Winger t-shirt on the wimpy Stewart - and Beach returned to Pittsburgh, performing on other artists' records and starting work on his solo venture, The Reb Beach Project, in 1993.

But a call from Alice Cooper put TRBP on hold. Beach joined Cooper on tour for three years, and played on 1997's album "A Fistful of Alice."

After that gig, Beach replaced George Lynch of Dokken in late 1997, played in the band's 1999 release "Erase the Slate," and recorded a DVD, "Live From The Sun." He proved that he could master metal, too, and got to do some memorable solo jams with the group.

Winger had their reunion party in 2002. They headlined an American tour, released "The Very Best of Winger", and then went their separate ways. Beach recorded a solo album, "Masquerade," that same year.

Beach wasn't without a band for long, though. Since 2003, he's toured the world with Whitesnake. The group's 2005 sellout show at London's Hammersmith Apollo was filmed for a DVD and CD release.

A project called The Mob, with King's X frontman Doug Pinnick and Night Ranger drummer Kelly Keagy, resulted in a self-titled album that was released in 2005.

A new Winger released their first studio recording in over a decade, "IV," in 2006. In 2007, Beach toured with Winger and Whitesnake. Later that year, he replaced Jeff Watson in Night Ranger for a series of dates in Japan and the US.

He currently splits his time between Winger and Whitesnake, recording "Karma" in 2009 with the former band, and "Forevermore" with the latter in 2010. He continues to tour with both acts.

Beach, who now lives in Plymouth MA, pops in and out of Pittsburgh working on the follow up to his "Masquerade" solo album, as well as writing with Doug Pinnick of Kings X for an album of 80's metal, and stopping by for family events.

Over the years, he's sat in with local artists during his home stands. Beach backed tracks on "Bottom of the Bottle Blues" w/Angel Blue and the Prophets in 2006, John Vento's 2004 "Nied's Hotel" and Mike Stout's "Working Infinity ... Love from the Bottom" in 2001.

He's also done work on the industry side of music, too. Beach designed a line of guitars for Ibanez (RBM - Reb Beach Model) in early nineties and toured for the company, giving guitar clinics. He also produced the instructional video "Cutting Loose." Now he pushes Suhr axes.

Beach also gigged with Sega, recording the soundtracks of Daytona USA 2.

Reb Beach "Cuts It Loose" vid

Bret Michaels

2011-03-13T13:38:00.015-04:00

Bret Michaels photo by Carrie Reiser.
OK, time to get back to some current rockers. Old Mon was curled up with the Sunday paper when he noticed that Bret Michaels of Poison fame was coming to Stage AE in July with Motley Crue. Talk about a dude with some history...

Michaels was born Bret Michael Sychak (his folks considered Maverick for his middle name - Bret Maverick, like the TV show - but cooler heads prevailed) to parents Wally and Marjorie in Butler. You may have read about his health issues; well, they started early. At the age of six, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and has to take up to four shots of insulin every day.

It didn't slow him down much. He began playing the guitar as a teenager, and in 1983 formed the Harrisburg-based bar band Paris after his family had moved east to Mechanicsburg.

Michaels wasn't just the frontman, but the main songwriter for the group. After a year on the beer circuit, they pulled up roots and headed to LA to seek their fame and fortune. Oh, they changed names, too. Paris became Poison.

Word of mouth pub led to a deal with the indie Enigma Records (they were signed for $30,000), and they made the album "Look What the Cat Dragged In." It sat around until the band filmed a vid of their song, "Talk Dirty to Me." (It lives on today as part of the video game "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.") Propelled by the clip, the album went platinum, and the glam band was on its way.

In March, 1987, Michaels collapsed onstage due to a diabetic episode. Fans thought he was OD'ing, so he announced publicly that he was a diabetic. More personal turmoil led to his signature song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

It was a break-up song for his relationship with his girl and muse Tracy Lewis, and became the heartbreak anthem of the eighties.

The group kept on pumpin' out hit LPs - the multi-platinum selling albums "Open Up and Say... Ahh!" followed by "Flesh & Blood," which spawned a world tour. Michaels and guitarist C.C. DeVille began to drift apart during that tour, capped by a backstage fistfight between the pair at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, and DeVille left the band.

Poison carried on with Richie Kotzen and recorded "Native Tongue," and then with guitarist Blues Saraceno cut the album "Crack a Smile... and More!."

Michaels came close to joining the big band in the sky when he crashed his Ferrari into a telephone pole, resulting in broken ribs, nose, jaw, fingers and some lost teeth.

Poison had pretty much run into its own brick wall by then, though in 1999, Michaels reunited with old pard C.C. Deville and played a sold-out greatest hits reunion tour. In the next decade, he would split his time between Poison and a solo career as a singer, TV/movie star, and all-around celeb.

He recorded his first solo album in 1998, "A Letter from Death Row," the soundtrack to the movie he directed, wrote, and starred in, a project he undertook with Charlie "Tiger Blood" Sheen. They also produced "No Code of Conduct," which Michaels also directed and acted in, and he had a cameo in their surfer movie "In God's Hands."

And in a Sheen-like episode, he and Pamela Anderson starred on an unauthorized internet sex tape in 1998 that went viral and was released as a DVD a few years later. Ah, impetuous youth... At any rate, we won't go into where his libido has allegedly led him; suffice to say that he was selected as one of Maxim’s "Top 100 Hottest People."

In 2003, he released his first studio album, "Songs of Life."

Michaels began his celeb career in 2000, when he appeared in the CBS sitcom "Yes, Dear." He appeared in three episodes of "The Chris Isaak Show" from 2001 to 2004. In 2005, Michaels was a judge for the reality TV competition "Nashville Star." He also released a country rock album called "Freedom of Sound."

2007 saw him take a trip across the world when Michaels and his band visited the troops at Al Asad Air Base as part of a tour of US bases in Iraq sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment.

In 2008, he issued "Rock My World," an album that featured music from his "Rock of Love" reality dating show that started in 2007 on VH1 and lasted three seasons. TV is the equal of touring for publicity purposes; the disk charted at #40 on Billboard. He was also on "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" and won $250,000 for St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

He continued to release music. Michaels created a half-hour acoustic DVD for Time Life in 2008 titled "Hard & Heavy Confidential," which led to a full-length CD called "Bret Michaels Acoustic Sessions."

Last year, he was on "America's Got Talent." Michaels was the victor on NBC's Donald Trump snarkfest "Celebrity Apprentice 3," winning the reality competition and earning $640,000 for the American Diabetes Association. He hosted the Miss Universe 2010 pageant along with Natalie Morales.

In July, he released his new album "Custom Built." It's his highest rated solo effort, peaking at #14 on the Billboard charts. This May, Michaels will release a solo rock album "Get Your Rock On" and tour both with Poison and as a single act. The budding author is also adding chapters to his work-in-progress autobiography, "Roses & Thorns."

And he's back on the celebrity bandwagon; in October, his VH1 follow-up to "Rock of Love" premiered. It's a series based on his life and family dealings called "Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It." Pretty intimate stuff, too - Michaels proposed on air to Kristi Gibson, the mother of his two girls Raine and Jorja and his companion of 16 years, during the season's finale.

As busy as the year was, it was almost his last. On April 12, 2010, Michaels was rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Ten days later, he was again in the hospital, this time suffering from a massive brain hemorrhage. He was released from sick bay in May; it had been touch-and-go for awhile.

But hey, he wasn't done. A couple of weeks later, he suffered a mini-stroke, was readmitted to the hospital, and also found to have a hole in his heart. The docs patched that up, and Michaels dedicated himself to recovery and a return to the stage. And in what can only be described as a relentlessly focused, bulldog approach to rehab, he's 100% now, fully recovered from the physical slings and arrows flung at him in 2010.

So he can get back to the important things - touring, mugging on the tube, winking at the babes, and watching the Steelers. Hey, the guy is from Butler!

Michaels is a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and even has a guitar with the Steelers' logo. He's performed the national anthem at Three Rivers Stadium. Michael's favorite player, not too surprisingly, is Jack Lambert, and Michaels includes himself among the fan club roster of "Lambert's Lunatics."

He's cut several Top Fifty albums, sold 30 million LPs and had 15 Top Forty singles. Michaels has music and TV credits longer than the Steeler season-ticket waiting list. His personal life is about as spicy as a kid from Butler's can be. What does Michaels think about it all? As he told the Post-Gazette's Scott Mervis "I’m thankful to be here and to still be rockin’ and I feel pretty damn good." 'Nuff said.

"Nothin' But A Good Time" - Poison (1988)

Porky Greet and Meet on Tap

2011-03-09T08:00:00.003-05:00

Porky Chedwick will appear at the "All Oldies, Only Oldies" dance March 19th at the long-time hops floor, the Stockdale Fire Hall (it first hosted dances way back in 1957). The Daddio will be available for photos and autographs starting at 8 PM.

The dance itself is slated to run from eight-to-midnight and is a BYO affair. Jim "J.D. The D.J." Dudas will spin the disks. Admission is $10 per person and reservations can be made only by calling 724-330-5002.

BurghSTOCK hits 100

2011-03-09T07:00:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, March 12, at the Thunderbird Cafe, ekoostik hookah will take the stage for the seventh time under the BurghSTOCK banner as part of its ongoing effort to financially support local non-profits that help previously homeless veterans reclaim their lives.

It will be the 100th BurghSTOCK show. The organization primarily helps fund the Shepherd's Heart Veterans Home which takes care of the men and women that took care of us.

The program is ready to take another step in its growth; BurghSTOCK promises a major national expansion of its work in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, go listen to jam band ekoostoc hookah, who have been one of BurghSTOCK's biggest supporters. Nothing like a little music with a mission.

Chuck Brinkman

2011-03-05T13:08:00.002-05:00

Chuck Brinkman - 1971 from Jeff Roteman's KQV Pages
Hey, who grew up in the sixties without at some time or another flipping the car box to KQV's Fun Lovin' Five of Hal Murray, Steve Rizen, Dave Scott, Dexter Allen and Chuck Brinkman? Broadcasting from the corner of "Walk and Don't Walk" - their studios were in a first floor window of the Chamber of Commerce Building in town - everybody could walk by, mug, and give a wave to their favorite Groovy QV radio jock.

The undisputed king of the gang was Chuck Brinkman.

Brinkman was born a local boy in July of 1935; his family lived on McFarland Road in Dormont, between West Liberty Avenue and Banksville Road. They packed up and went to Cleveland when he was five, but he came back to attend Kiski Prep School.

After graduating, he went to Ohio University in Athens, near Columbus. Brinkman's first radio gig started while he was a student there when he worked for WAND in Canton. He dropped out of school after two and a half years to become a staff announcer on a Warren station, and weeks later he moved on to Dover.

Then his first big break came in 1956 in New Haven, Connecticut, when he joined WELI as their afternoon disc jockey. But his nomadic career continued; Brinkman switched to a station in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, hoping to attract the attention of the Detroit audience.

Well, that plan didn't work; the station was 40 miles outside Motown and couldn't dent the Motor City market. He then worked as a newsman and announcer for station WJW in downtown Cleveland before signing up to serve in the National Guard in 1958. Brinkman spent his six months of active duty at Fort Knox. After his tour, he joined WCUE in Akron for a year and then returned to WELI for a few months.

Then he hit paydirt; Brinkman came aboard KQV in 1960. He worked the graveyard shift for six months, and then filled the 1 to 3 PM and 7 to 9 PM off-prime shifts. But his KQV career ran into a nine month bump. The Russians were getting grumpy in Berlin, and he was recalled to active duty.

Brinkman was stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He kept his skills sharp by moonlighting at a Savannah TV station during his off-duty hours, bringing home the staggering sum of a dollar per hour (hey, after all, it was 1961; it took Old Mon's crew until 1967 to earn that much pumping gas!)

He was released from active duty just in time to take over KQV's evening slot in August of 1962 from Larry Aiken, who left the station. Brinkman worked the 7 PM to midnight show for the next five years. He turned his TV gig into an asset in 1966, hosting the "Come Alive" dance show on WIIC-TV for a year-and-a-half.

The DJ gave up his TV duties when he moved to the 3 to 6 PM Monday through Saturday drive-time slot, and also took on the role as music director. He played the hops circuit, too, as did all the spinners of that era.

Brinkman's biggest claim to fame was outdueling Clark Race during Pittsburgh's 1964 Beatlemania phase. In March of 1964, he flew to England for interviews with a dozen top British groups. He flew to the Bahamas with the Beatles once, and introduced them at their Civic Arena concert after bumping Race and flying in from NYC with the Fab Four. KQV had a promotional tie-in with local promoters DiCesare-Engler; the Beatles were just one of many acts Brinkman brought on stage.

He also met his wife, Carmella, thanks to his ability to spin vinyl. She was the chairlady of the Student Nurses Association of Western Pennsylvania, and sat down with Brinkman in 1966 to set up a dance the group wanted him to jock. Guess you could say they made sweet music together.

Aside from his smooth on-air persona, Brinkman introduced several of The Vogues hits as well as breaking Billy Stewart's "Sitting In The Park", Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" and Crazy Elephant's "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'." And while TL and Porky are often associated with Scott English's "High On A Hill," Brinkman was a big factor in its' rise to Pittsburgh cult status.

Of all the KQV Fun Lovers, Brinkman was there the longest (twelve years), and worked in every time slot at the station: over-nights, evenings, mid-day, and of course afternoon and morning drive time.

In 1972, the MOR jock jumped ship from KQV to WTAE for a midday slot. A decade later, Brinkman took a job with KOGO in San Diego. After a short time on the Left Coast, he returned to Pittsburgh to do a morning show and become the program director at WHYW (now WRRK), then a soft-rock station.

Following that job, Brinkman spent the next seventeen years as the program director and afternoon drive jock at oldies station KLUV-FM in Dallas. He left KLUV in 2005, and spent some time at 770 KAAM.

Brinkman, in his mid-seventies, is now part owner of Greenville, Texas, oldies station 1400 KGVL, The Big 14 GVL, and is still spinning his disks.

He hasn't completely dropped of the local airwaves, though. In 2009, his show "Chuck Brinkman Remembers 1963" was broadcast on Carnegie-Mellon University-based station WRCT, and last year they played "Chuck Brinkman Remembers 1964." We're hoping they pick up 1965.

High on a Hill - Scott English 1964

Clark Race

2011-02-26T20:23:00.020-05:00

Clark Race image from Jeff Roteman
Hey, everyone of a certain age recalls the glory years of Pittsburgh radio with the likes of Porky, TL and Mad Mike. But the guy that drew the listeners of the Steel City en masse was KDKA's Clark Race.

He started out by making rather than spinning music. Race was the youngest of eight children growing up in the Depression era, but his parents always managed to scrape together enough coin to keep him in instruments.

As a kid, he played trumpet, accordion and trombone, and led his high school band. Race and his folks attended a fundamentalist church when he was a boy where he developed a love of gospel music.

Race even tried his hand at the tunesmith's craft, writing and recording the ballad "Shy Boy" in 1959. Though it was never released, his wife still has the demo tape.

Like many radio jocks, the Hudson, N.Y., native started his radio career in 1958 as a sportscaster doing local baseball games in Albany. His career as a vinyl spinner began out of the blue when his station manager told him that he wanted him to DJ.

It was the era of jock-driven programming, so he went out to an Albany record store and bought some disks of the songs he liked. Listeners liked the tunes, too, and his show caught on.

Westinghouse heard of Race's popularity and offered him a job at KDKA-AM as part of its effort to attract a younger audience. The 26 year-old came to Pittsburgh in 1959, and hosted a drive time show that owned the City's ear and car radios until 1970.

His opener of "Hi!" - "Hello Clark Race, Hello" (sung), - "And welcome to the show" followed by his theme song, "String of Trumpets" by Billy Muir was burned into the memory of virtually every teen AM radio listener in the sixties. So was his signoff "It's so nice to know so many nice people," lifted from noted DC jock Eddie Gallaher.

At its height, Race's show captured more than 50 percent of the audience, a huge number in the competitive local market. Like the other DJ's, the Top 40 was whatever he decided it would be, and his tastes covered the board.

Following the suburban jocks, Race brought the music of black artists to his mainstream audience. His playlist mixed pop, rock, soul, country and standard hits, and featured local artists like Lou Christie, the Vogues, the Electrons, the Racket Squad and Bobby Vinton.

Race was a master of evaluating songs, breaking Lou Christie's "Lightning Strikes," Bobby Vinton’s breakout tune, "Roses Are Red" and even the novelty ditty of the Royal Guardsmen, "Snoopy and the Red Baron."

He helped create huge local hits by spotlighting "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James, "Because Of You" by Rome & Paris, "It Ain't No Big Thing" by the Electrons, "Cross My Heart" by Billy Stewart, "Hung Up" by the Racket Squad and many others.

How big was he? Beatles manager Brian Epstein invited Race to go to London and meet the Beatles along with Murray the K. That eventually led to one of the few one-upped moments of his life.

The "Fun Lovin' Five" of KQV were KD's main music radio rivals. Their station manager finagled a plane ride from New York to Pittsburgh for Chuck Brinkman and Dexter Allen with the mop-tops that had been promised to Race, who got rudely bumped off the passenger list, along with intro honors (which hadn't been promised; the promoters had a KQV tie-in) for the Beatles' 1964 Civic Arena show. He made sure his audience knew all about the slight, too.

And Race wasn't just a studio wonder. His hops drew kids from all around the region, and in 1963, KDKA-TV began airing Clark Race's "Dance Party," a knock-off of Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" every Saturday until 1966. To get some camera love on the show was a big thing to a high school pair. He drew all the top acts for his fans' dancing pleasure, like the Supremes, Buddy Holly and Chubby Checker.

His most memorable moment may have been when he had the Strangeloves of "I Want Candy" fame on the show. They had an elaborate cover story of being Australian brothers named Strange. It was concocted by their producers to create a little cachet; in reality they were just touring session players from New York. One part of the tale was that one of the members was a boomerang champ from the Land Down Under.

Live on air, Race handed the guy a boomerang for a demonstration. Never having so much as seen one before, the Strangelove promptly threw it into a camera, knocking it over. Clark asked if that was really the right way to toss the boomerang, and the quick-witted if somewhat sassy reply was "That's why I'm the champion and you're not." Now that's reality TV.

Heck, he even started one of his brother KD jocks on a second career. The late Bob "Tiger Troop" Tracey saw Race ride his Vespa, one of his passions, into the station lot one Saturday. Tracey borrowed it over the weekend, and his love for two-wheeled vehicles was born. He operated Bob Tracey's World of Cycles in Moon for twenty years after he got out the business.

But all things come to an end, and after eleven years in Pittsburgh, Race joined KMPC, owned by Gene Autry, in Los Angeles in 1971. Race was widely considered to be the heir apparent to the station's morning top dog Dick Whittinghill. He got to moonlight, too, when in 1972 Race became the host for ABC-TV's game show "The Parent Game," produced by Chuck Barris.

But working the overnight shift, he never connected with the Southern Cal listeners like he did with his Pittsburgh audience.

Race left the station in 1978 and drifted to gigs in San Francisco and San Diego, finishing his West Coast broadcasting in 1980 working mornings for contemporary Christian music station KBRT on Catalina Island. Like many radio jocks from the early years, he left the business because the power had switched from the DJs to the programming directors.

He returned to Pittsburgh in 1986, opening a bed and breakfast in Sewickley with his wife Diane, and in 1993 they bought another B&B in Amish country, New Wilmington. The Lawrence County inn became Clark & Diane's home. It was actually a dream vocation for the pair, who could often be seen tooling around the area, running errands and giving local tours to their guests.

Race had offers to return to local radio, but always with an oldies format. Race turned them down, not wanting to be caught in that niche; he was listening to Natalie Merchant, Enya and Kenny Rogers, not Bobby Vinton and Lou Christie, in the eighties and nineties.

In 1999, Clark Race died at the age of 66 after a heart attack and a lengthy battle with throat cancer. Diane Race said one of her husband's last hopes was that he could scare off others from smoking, a long-time habit of his.

He had an impressive send off. After all, as Clark Race always said, "It's so nice to know so many nice people." They knew and remembered him.

"String of Trumpets" by Billy Muir

The Best Pittsburgh Oldie...

2011-02-18T20:34:00.004-05:00

OK, we're gonna try something a little different today. Old Mon is posting five oldies - the cut off date is 1961; only fifty year-old+ songs need apply - and letting his readers select the top one. Three were chart busters; two were purely local hits. The voting box is on the right; here are the tunes:

The Chaps (Sonny DiNunzio) "They'll Never Be" 1960

The Del-Vikings (Norman Wright) "Come Go With Me" 1957

The Marcels (Cornelius Harp) "Blue Moon" 1961

The Skyliners (Jimmy Beaumont) "Since I Don't Have You" 1958

The Splendors (Herb Marshall) "The Golden Years" 1958

Vote early and often. It's the Pittsburgh way.

Rich Engler

2011-02-11T19:00:00.003-05:00

Rich Engler from Whirl Magazine
Rich Engler, a Creighton native, discovered the joys of music while a student at Deer Lakes HS. He was the drummer for the garage band Grains of Sand (Engler was also said to be the session drummer on the Vogue's "Five O'Clock World.") He started banging the kit as a junior, and hey - Engler brought home $25 a gig. Life couldn't get better.

The group eventually became a popular act - Hermie Granati of the Granati Brothers/G-Force was a member - and started getting more offers (and money, we'd hope) than they had nights to play, riding the area auditorium/college circuit. So Engler started up a sideline booking/management company and doled out dates to other bands, while getting his boys gigs as the opening act for some of the bigger area shows.

A Yes show in Erie was the tipping point. The GOS was the warm up act, and the agent for Yes was looking all over the sold-out Erie Civic Center for the promoter, no doubt to gripe about something or other. The house people told him he'd have to cool his heels a bit; the promoter, Engler, was on stage with the band. The storm blew over, but...

An agent friend from New York City called and told Engler that the two hats he was wearing was one too many, and from that day on, he was solely a promoter. Engler called his now full-time agency Go Attractions.

He brought in acts like David Bowie and Velvet Underground, but his Pittsburgh options were somewhat limited. Engler could only book his shows at the Stanley. The 800-pound gorilla in Pittsburgh bookings, Pat DiCesare, had exclusivity clauses in the other major City venues.

Go Attractions used the ol' end run, aggressively working the region's secondary markets in Johnstown, Erie, Altoona, and Hagerstown. And it paid off in spades over the long haul.

Engler had caught DiCesare's eye as an up-and-comer, and in 1973 he got a call to combine forces. Both recognized that the other was his main competition, and turned their energy into synergy. The pair decided to let Engler focus on bookings and DiCesare the other opportunities, split the profits 50-50, and then launched the rock era in Pittsburgh. In 1974, DiCesare-Engler was born, destined to become a top twenty concert promoter in terms of gross in the US.

It quickly became renown as a promoter of rock and pop concerts at the Civic Arena, Duquesne's Palumbo Center, the Amphitheater at Station Square, Star Lake Theatre, Three Rivers Stadium, the Benedum Center/Stanley, Soldiers and Sailors Hall, the Syria Mosque and Metropol. They also booked shows in the regional outliers, where Engler had hung his hat, and opened venues in Wilkes-Barre and Vegas.

DiCesare-Engler brought in acts from Judy Collins to Metallica, Aerosmith to Al Jarreau, Courtney Love to KISS, Elton John to Billy Joel, Springsteen to the Stones, Led Zeppelin to Bon Jovi...well, you get the picture.

Engler has bands he personally likes; after all, he was a rock drummer. But what he liked best was a successful show, from an artistic, financial and market standpoint. So he would book Red Skelton, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Bolshoi Ballet or a Broadway show if there was an audience. Heck, he even got acts for the Regatta.

DiCesare-Engler managed that for a couple of years after it had broken down among internal accusations and over a half mil in debt. In two years, it was back on its feet.

The acts weren't all musical. Dicesare-Engler put together ethnic festivals, seasonal happenings like the Hartwood Acres Celebration of Lights and Station Square fright nights. They were even considering getting into real show biz - the movies. It wasn't to be, though.

When the partnership of Pat DiCesare and Rich Engler marked its 20th anniversary in 1994, it was big news, rating a nice sized article in Variety. But there wouldn't be a 25th to celebrate.

SFX Entertainment bought DiCesare-Engler Productions in July of 1998. Engler stayed on to act as president and CEO, as well as executive director of the I.C. Light Amphitheatre; DiCesare, a decade older, walked away from the new agency. In 2004, Engler joined him, for undisclosed reasons.

Like his old partner Pat DiCesare, he too is out of the biz, making his living as the VP of Targe Energy and serving as a repository of Pittsburgh's rock beginnings. He and his wife Cindy still meet weekly with DiCesare, his wife Kathy, and some other industry old timers in the Strip for that great yinzer pastime, coffee and BS.

He has terrific yarns to spin, too. There's the time his better half doubled as the limo driver and KISS tried to kiss up to her, Motley Crue running blue films on the stage during their set, Madonna insisting that everyone turn their backs when she entered the arena for her sound check, Stephen Stills and David Crosby arguing on stage, Van Halen returning some of its guarantee after the "Monsters of Rock" show bombed...there was never a dull moment.

The couple even hosted an "Urban Garden Party" at the Warhol, a museum fund raising event, where the draw was the dish on the bands as only Rich and Cindy could deliver.

As DiCesare will be remembered for partnering with Tim Tormey to bring in the Beatles in 1964, Engler may end up forever linked with Bob Marley's last concert, which he booked for September 23rd, 1980 at the Stanley Theatre.

The day before the concert, Engler was told that Marley was ill and might not be able to perform in Pittsburgh. But Marley soldiered on and played the sold-out house, because, as he told Engler, his band mates needed the money.

In truth, he was so sick before the show that his wife, Rita, called his mother from the dressing room, begging her to help dissuade her son from performing. A few months later, on May 11th, 1981, Marley died from skin cancer. The Pittsburgh performance was his final set.

His estate has just released a 2-CD album titled “Bob Marley & The Wailers - Live Forever” from that show to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death. They also staged a Marley memorial concert at the Stanley last year, which was the brainchild of old DiCesare-Engler partner and current Point Park prof Ed Traversari and promoted by Engler.

His other show memory is the one that got away, and just like the old fisherman's tale, it was a big one. Engler was dotting the i's and crossing the t's to have John Lennon and Yoko Ono include Pittsburgh as a stop on their proposed 1981 "Double Fantasy" tour when the former Beatle was assassinated in NYC in 1980.

"It would have been my dream to see him...at the Syria Mosque" Engler told the Post Gazette's Scott Mervis.

But one thing Engler will never have problems with is forgetting the old days. He's amassed a huge collection of rock memorabilia from his days in the biz, transforming his modern Sewickley Heights home into Pittsburgh's version of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. One of his prized possessions is an autographed guitar from Sir Paul McCartney.

A white '57 T-Bird is parked near the entrance of the Engler's crib; Engler got the car when he swapped his '52 MG TD roadster with Sha Na Na for it. Almost every piece in the Engler home has a great story behind it. Rich and Cindy used to host after-concert parties there, and boy, if those Sewickley walls could talk...

Tommy Charles

2011-02-04T19:00:00.009-05:00

Guy Remonko, drummer for the TCQ
We've been kinda City-centric in most of our posts, but the Pittsburgh region overall has been embarrassingly rich in talent: Donny Iris, the Granati Brothers, The Four Coins, Bobby Vinton...well, there's a long, long list of guys from beyond the Allegheny County border that have set the region's feet to tappin'.

One of those groups from back in the day hailed from the Uniontown area, the Tommy (sometimes Tomme) Charles Quartet. Formed in the late fifties, the original band consisted of its leader and namesake Tommy Charles George (lead vocals/piano), Johnny Gallice (sax), Guy Remonko (drums) and Joe Sangston (lead guitar/bass).

They performed through high school, college, and beyond in several configurations, and no matter what form they took, the dance floor was jumping to their beat.

The TCQ wasn't an old doo-wop posse, but played rock 'n' roll. Heck, Gallice alone was worth the price of admission, playing two saxophones at once for some numbers.

Starting as a warm-up act for Brownsville's short-lived but popular Lochinvars, they scored a lot of headline gigs through the late WCVI (Connellsville) jock Leon Sykes, who had a rep for pushing local acts. They also performed at hops held by Jay Michael, Barry Kaye, Porky Chedwick, Rich Richards, Sheb Abi-Nader and Johnny McFadden.

But they didn't just set up speakers in gyms, fire halls, vet clubs and after proms; they had dates at places like the Plaza Theater in Brownsville, and later Morgantown's My Brother's Place. The band was also Bobby Vinton's lead act in Butler (although that was before he hit it big.)

A number of their bookings were handled through the Philadelphia-based Nino Bari Agency, and they traveled throughout the east and midwest. Early on, that was sort of a drag - their parents didn't allow them to drive very far, so their first out-of-town gig in Scranton found them stuffing their equipment and fannies in a Greyhound bus.

George, Gallice and Remonko all went on to West Virginia University, with George and Gallice ending up roomies. That's where a lot of the group's shaking and baking took place.

Sangston left the group in the summer of 1960, and was replaced by WVU's Leo Blair on the bass. In 1964, Guy Remonko left to join The Joe Belcastro Trio, and the band added drummer Russ Lewellen, who later played with Harold Betters. George, Gallice, and guitarist Arne Lindquist, another Mountie, eventually split off and former the TC Trio. A year later, they added Robbie Dosier on drums, and the TCQ was intact again.

After graduation, the gang found a second home of sorts in Wildwood, New Jersey. There they opened for Paul Anka, and the DeJohn Sisters. Other acts they played with in Jersey were the Platters, Buddy Knox, Neil Sedaka, the Crests, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the Big Bopper, the Skyliners, and Kenny Ambrose.

They were inked by Mon Valley impresario Elmer Willett and recorded "Hey There Baby" b/w "Playgirl" in 1959 on his label. The song got some local play on the radio, and the band was on the magic screen, performing on Jay Michael's Bandstand on WTAE-TV. The group also wrote and held the publishing rights to three instrumentals, "Sputnik I and II" and "The Chase," which was on their playlist but apparently never recorded.

The TCQ segued into several different directions after a seven year run. The original members now, as best we can run down:

Thomas Charles George was 63 when he died September 7th, 2004, in his native Uniontown. He was back home performing as a single act, playing piano and doing comedy routines.

The Uniontown High grad had lived and worked in the Poconos for years prior to his return, where he used his pipes regularly in theater performances.

Johnny Gallice is a Brownsville native now living in Laytonsville, Maryland, near Rockville. His first job was with group from Brownsville called the Alan Warchak Trio before joining Charles. Gallice left the quartet in 1964 to form his own Johnny Novelle Group.

Gallice played in the U.S. Army Field Band from 1966 to 1969. He also played in combos in the D.C. area and managed a music store before going into wholesale. He owns RJ Marketing, which moves audio/musical equipment and instruments.

Joe Sangston, a Smithfield native and South Union High (now Laurel Highlands) product, was a high school classmate of Guy Remonko and played with him in a band called the Meteors before joining the TCQ. They first met when they were members of an ethnic/polka band; Joe played clarinet. He was the first to leave the act in 1960, and dropped out of the music world in 1968 after working with various other groups. Sangston is now an insurance agent in Cooksburg.

Guy Remonko, like many Pittsburgh artists, ended up passing on the musical torch in an academic setting. He's a professor emeritus of music at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He also is an affiliated studio instructor of percussion at Denison University in Granville, and offers private lessons.

He's performed with a variety of well-known artists including Pearl Bailey and Diane Schuur. Remonko also has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony Orchestra and has appeared on a number of NPR and TV broadcasts.

The drummer is a two-time recipient of the Who's Who Among America's Teachers Award. And if that's not enough, he sits with the Los Viejos Blanquitos, an Afro-Cuban jazz band based in Athens, The Jazztet, the Lenox Avenue Express and is a freelance jazz percussionist and writer.

He left the TCQ in 1964, and became the percussionist with the Twin Coaches house band (1964-66) and the club's house drummer (1967-69), where Remonko backed acts like The Supremes, Jack Jones, Tony Randall, Pearl Bailey and Phyllis Diller.

Their full bios are here, in a 2006 Uniontown Herald-Standard article by Ron Paglia. His articles were the mother lode for TCQ information.

Slim and Duke Team Up

2011-02-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

Slim Forsythe
A little more news on Pittsburgh's cowboy troubadour, Slim Forsythe:

Last September, Mark and Maria Dudash, the owners of Duquesne Beer, stopped in for a night at Neid's Hotel in Lawrenceville to catch Slim Forsythe and the Beagle Brothers on stage. Forewarned, they sprung the song "Why Can't I Get Duquesne on this Sad and Lonesome Train?" on the pair. The Duke Dudashes liked it so much that they've taken it as the theme song for their beer's ad campaign.

It's a case of the circle being unbroken. Frank Forsythe, Slim's dad, was a jazz singer and big band crooner in Pittsburgh night clubs, radio and television back in the day. In fact, he often performed on KDKA TV's "Duquesne Showtime" sponsored by the brewery in the early 1950's. He was even one of the models for Duke Beer's "Prince of Pilsener." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, hey?

Speaking of Apple, iTunes offers the song for download, just in case the urge strikes to drop 99 cents on the Forsythe/Beagle Brothers song.

"Why Can't I Get Duquesne on this Sad and Lonesome Train?" snippet

Pat DiCesare

2011-01-29T20:57:00.027-05:00

Pat DiCesare
Pat DiCesare was born in Trafford on April 12th, 1938, into a family of nine siblings. His father came from Italy and settled in Trafford to work as a shipper for Westinghouse Electric and raise his family.

After he graduated from Trafford High, DiCesare, like his dad, took a job with Westinghouse in nearby East Pittsburgh after a taste of college at Youngstown State.

He left WE just months later to work for Tim Tormey as a stock boy and later record distributor for Regal Records (Dicesare would also work in sales and promotion for Decca Records). Tormey was a local concert promoter and talent agent who DiCesare would eventually partner with in the biz that attracted him from the very start.

As a teenager, DiCesare was in a doo-wop band with a group of friends called The Penn Boys. He wrote, produced, and released his first single in 1957, “Gonna Have a Party,” done by The Penn Boys.

He was a singer for the band, but even then knew what career path was best suited for him. DiCesare stepped out of the spotlight and took on the role of manager, writer and producer.

The budding songwriter penned “I'm Spinning” and “You Say You Love Me,” released by Joe Averbach's Fee Bee Records in 1957. The tunes were recorded by the Kripp Johnson version of the Dell Vikings just after the originals had released “Come Go With Me” and “Whispering Bells” on Dot Records.

He started Bobby Records in the fifties, named after his first recording artist Bobby Vinton, who did "Halellujah I Love Her So" and "Twilight Time". Ray Charles and The Platters also released the songs, leaving Vinton and Bobby Records in the dust, though it did land the Polish Prince a contract with Epic Records. DiCesare later managed The Marcels.

On May 8th, 1962, the first concert that DiCesare promoted solo hit the stage. The show starred the Four Freshmen at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, Ohio, a venue that seated about 2,500. It was a modest start to a spectacular career.

DiCesare and Tormey were partners by now, and he worked with him on a “Shower of Stars” concert series that bundled several headline acts, usually in partnership with KQV radio. In the fifties, concerts were held at the 3,700 seat Syria Mosque in Oakland or the 2,000 seat Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall across the street.

Even with those small venues, the rule of thumb was that a single act couldn't sell out a house, which is why the old days were sprinkled with so many great shows featuring a half-dozen or more performers. And the rule of thumb was no matter how many acts you brought in, they could never sell out an arena show.

But Porky Chedwick of WAMO changed that thinking. He brought in the first rock 'n' roll show at the Arena in May of 1962, starring Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, The Coasters, The Castelles, Jerry Butler, The Flamingos, The Angels, The Blue Belles, and The Skyliners. It was a roaring hit, and gave DiCesare and Tormey a blueprint to work from for future shows.

Their first "Shower of Stars" hosted by the Civic Arena was held on June 14th, 1963. It starred Dion, The Chiffons, The Shirelles, and Freddy Cannon, and did pretty well at the gate.

It also spawned an innovation - National Record Mart became the first major off-site ticket broker. Sam, Howard and Jason Shapiro, who owned the NRM, distributed ticket vouchers to all their 34 Tri-State stores, adding a quarter to the cost of each ticket. The guys all knew and trusted one another; in fact, the sales were kept in a box kept under each store's cash register.

So hey, for better or worse, Ticketmaster is the oak that grew from the acorn planted by DiCesare, Tormey and the Shapiro brothers.

Though their show was a rollicking success, there wouldn't be another rock concert at the arena until September 14th, 1964. That's when Tormey and DiCesare brought in a mop-headed Brit band called the Beatles.

There are some wild stories about the travels of the $5,000 that DiCesare had to put down as advance money, but this much is gospel: his dad borrowed the money from the Westinghouse Electric Credit Union and put up his house as collateral. No pressure, hey?

And to add to it, DiCesare was in the Army and stationed at Fort Sill while the whole thing was going down. He even missed the show.

It was a show of firsts. It was the first time an arena show would sell on the merits of just one performer instead of a posse of bands. (For the record, there were opening acts: Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Jackie DeShannon, The Exciters, and the Bill Black Combo. But they were there at Beatle manager's Brian Epstein's bequest. He feared that the Fab Four would lose their voices during the tour if they were the only band playing.)

It was also the first time an act demanded and received a percentage of the gate against a guarantee. Tormey whittled the guarantee down to $25K from the asked-for $35K; in exchange, the Beatles got a percentage of the gate if it was worth more (It was; they got $37,000.)

The show sold out in 36 hours, all 12,600 tickets going at $5.90 per pop. The Beatles made out as did Tormey and DiCesare, taking in $8,800. DiCesare's dad got to keep his house. In fact, Pat would end up eventually paying his pop double the amount out of gratitude for launching him into the big time.

And hey, another first: the tickets were all mail order, and Tormey had the sales handled by a convent. "Get thee to a nunnery" took on a whole new meaning for Beatlemania.

DiCesare used to emcee the concerts, but his gig with Uncle Sam in Oklahoma precluded introducing the Fab Four. The honor went to KQV's Fun Loving Five of Hal Murray, Steve Rizen, Dave Scott, Dex Allen and Chuck Brinkman.

The Beatles' first US Tour became the genesis for arena-rock, not just in Pittsburgh but around the country. They were the first act that could sell out an arena on their own; many others were to follow. Remember, in 1964 the Rolling Stones played West View Danceland just two weeks before The Beatles show at the Igloo. Geez, would that change by the end of the sixties!

And a new breed of promoters was emerging, too. DiCesare-Tormey, Bill Graham Productions in San Francisco, Electric Factory Concerts in Philadelphia, Belkin Productions in Cleveland and Sid Bernstein in New York were now "rock concert promoters," the new industry Goliaths.

They did several Arena shows a year, bringing in the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and other rock giants along with the occasional "Shower of Stars" olio.

DiCesare expanded his reach. In 1965, he co-founded the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic with his Trafford and Youngstown State bud Sonny Vaccaro and the help of Post-Gazette sports writer Al Abrams.

It was the first national high school All-Star game and spawned a zillion imitators. The first game of its 43 year national run was played in 1965 at the Civic Arena, its home until 1993.

Tormey left Pittsburgh in 1967 for Hollywood to work with Dick Clark Productions (he passed away in 2009), so DiCesare continued to promote concerts on his own. His first company was called “University Attractions,” later becoming “Pat DiCesare Productions.”

At the same time, DiCesare was booking and managing between 50 to 100 local bands. He was one busy dude - and one you had to know. If you wanted to stage a rock show in Pittsburgh, the odds were that you had to knock on DiCesare's door to get in. And play nice, too - DiCesare was storied to be near blows once or twice with temperamental artists. Hey, it is Pittsburgh, after all, and lawyers aren't the only option to enforce a contract.

DiCesare had exclusive leases with the Civic Arena, Syria Mosque, and eventually Three Rivers Stadium, promoting almost all of the large rock concerts that played Pittsburgh plus booking shows in regional secondary markets like Erie and Johnstown.

The way it worked was that the band's promoter had to cut DiCesare in on the show, and then he would prime the pump in the city, setting up the show and doing the PR.

Still, sometimes a guy needs a hand. In late 1973, DiCesare joined with Rich Engler, who ran an entertainment agency called Go Attractions that booked edgy acts like Lou Reed and David Bowie.

They called the new company DiCesare-Engler Productions, and it became one of the top grossing, powerhouse agencies in the nation. Engler focused on booking the acts while DiCesare focused on one-off opportunities, especially eying real estate. Later, they would add another partner, Ed Traversari, who handled mid-size venues.

Over the years, DiCesare and company brought Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad, The Who, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Paul McCartney, and Jesus Christ Superstar to the arena.

He also did many of the first shows at Three Rivers Stadium, including Led Zeppelin, Three Dog Night, and Alice Cooper. TRS also hosted his single biggest money loser, the "Monsters of Rock" concert in 1988, featuring Van Halen, the Scorpions, Metallica and many empty seats masquerading as fans.

You may have a memory long enough to remember some of the stories of those shows back in the spoiled-brat days of rock...well, OK, maybe they still are, but not quite like this:

The Led Zep manager smashed $2,500 worth of champagne because he didn't like the brand; Janis Joplin pranced on stage in a see-through mesh skirt sans panties after a backstage tryst; the Rolling Stones refused to let the KQV jocks introduce them, the hubbub that surrounded the Doors after Jim Morrison's Miami flashing, Motley Crue with their X-rated background film and the many groups that needed sweet-talking after refusing to play a sold-out show over one presumed slight or another. But hey, it's only rock 'n' roll, right?

DiCesare-Engler took over operations of the Downtown Stanley Theatre in 1977, buying the old movie palace and turning it into a rock hall. The venue became the number one grossing auditorium in the country.

They sold the Stanley to the Cultural Trust for $12M in 1983. The Trust converted it into the Benedum Center, and it still fills with music on occasion, like during the PBS doo-wop specials.

In 1980 DiCesare-Engler expanded operations to Las Vegas for a brief period. DiCesare moved there, promoting shows and operating the 7000 seat Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.

He returned to Pittsburgh in 1981 and along with Nick Censi and Rich Engler formed DECCO Records. They had signed a few local acts, notably Joe Grushecky. It was one of their few misses.

That same year, DiCesare-Engler was honored with a Variety Club award and were recognized for “Bringing Broadway Back to Pittsburgh” by Mayor Richard Caliguiri.

DiCesare-Engler signed an agreement with the Syria Mosque in Oakland in 1984, where they assumed management and continued promoting rock and Broadway shows ala the Stanley Theatre. That didn't work out quite as well; the Mosque became a parking lot in 1991.

DiCesare began looking for a summer venue at that time. The Mosque didn't have AC and they had sold the Stanley, so they needed a fan-friendly stage to take full advantage of the busy summertime touring season.

In 1986, DiCesare purchased 500 acres of land near Cranberry in Adams Township with plans to build a romper room that would include an indoor mall, waterpark, children's theme park, and a $10 million outdoor amphitheatre with 7,500 covered seats and room for 12,500 lawn spectators.

The Adams Township zoning commission didn't share his dream, and so that plan went down the drain after the lawyers and judges finished doing their sometimes baffling and always expensive thing. DiCesare eventually sold the parcel after starting a 2,100 lot housing project (the media called it "DiCesare City") that's now the Adams Ridge development.

DiCesare-Engler began booking the AJ Palumbo Center when it opened in 1988, and had built the Melody Amphitheatre (aka IC Light Amphitheatre, Chevrolet Amphitheatre, and now the Amphitheatre at Station Square) in 1989.

He purchased 250 acres in Jackson Township after the Adams turn-down as an amphitheatre site, but while in the process of rezoning the property, Pace Concerts of Houston broke ground in Burgettstown for Star Lake.

In March 1990, DiCesare-Engler joined with the PACE Entertainment Group to co-promote the Star Lake Amphitheater (now the Post Gazette Pavilion at Star Lake) which later opened in June of 1990. If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.

DiCesare-Engler was a big thing in the concert industry. They were in the top 20 in gross sales amongst US concert promoters thanks to the success of their smaller venues such as the AJ Palumbo Center, Syria Mosque, IC Light Amphitheatre, and their 1992 venture with Factory Concerts to build the 4000 seat Bud Light Amphitheatre at Harvey's Lake, 5 miles outside of Wilkes-Barre.

The dynamic duo also continued to fill the Civic Arena and Three Rivers Stadium with warm fannies, along with packing the Star Lake Amphitheatre. In 1997, when the Post Gazette first released their list of the "Top 50 Culture Brokers," Pat DiCesare and Rich Engler ranked third. Hey, who even knew rock was culture?

DiCesare began to branch out, creating and booking festivals and entertainment happenings while Engler continued booking their bread-and-butter concerts.

He created the "Fright Fest," held at the Ampitheatre at Station Square every Halloween season, the "Celebration of Lights," a charity event celebrated at Hartwood Acres every Yuletide, and various ethnic festivals in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even Irvine, California.

DiCesare even took on the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta in 1998. It was $750,000 in debt and floundering at the time. He added sponsors and cut the event from six days to four, while DiCesare-Engler was able to book performers at better prices. The Regatta got back on its feet in a hurry. It took DiCesare just two years to right the ship once again.

That year would be the last hurrah for DiCesare-Engler Productions. It was sold to SFX Entertainment as local promoters found it harder and harder to compete against the national big boys. The music industry was losing its local roots to industry-wide consolidation; as we can see today, there are no small ponds left.

Engler stayed aboard with the new company and became the CEO of DiCesare-Engler/SFX. DiCesare, 60 years old, opted out, ending a nearly 25 year partnership between he and Engler. SFX would later be sold to Clear Channel, and then fall into the clutches of Live Nation; Rich Engler got off the merry-go-round in 2004 and Traversari in 2007.

DiCesare has been out of the entertainment business since the SFX sale, and now invests in and manages real estate, operating the highly successful DiCesare Investment Group Inc.

He lives in Greensburg with Kathy, his bride of over four decades, and has three children and two grandchildren. Pat DiCesare is enjoying his golden years, serving as a professor emeritus of local rock history.

And hey...for Old Mon's money, you can keep the new music industry. This City made the rock 'n' roll map in 1964, when Pat DiCesare's dad literally bet the house on his kid and a bunch of nuns who stacked dollar bills and stuffed envelopes with Beatle tickets. Let Live Nation and Lady Gaga top that.

2011-01-26T18:26:00.015-05:00

Walt Harper

2011-01-22T15:59:00.022-05:00

Walt Harper
Hey, Pittsburgh has been home to some of the world's greatest jazz players. And a lot of them have stayed home to play their music, too many to mention. But the guy that's arguably the most synonymous with jazz in the City may be none other than Walt Harper.

Harper was a jazz pianist, club owner, recording artist and producer while living in his hometown of Pittsburgh throughout virtually all of his sixty year musical journey.

He was born on July 3rd, 1926, the sixth of eight children. His dad Charles owned a home contracting and building business while his mom Lucinda was a homemaker with her own home-based beauty shop located on Clarissa Street in Schenley Heights, a middle-class neighborhood in the Upper Hill.

Harper didn't take to hammers and saws (or curlers, for that matter), but he did show an early interest in music. His parents were supportive as they were with all the kids, and his brothers Ernie and Nate ended up pretty fair musicians, too.

Ernie was a pianist and Nate a tenor saxophonist who would one day join his brother Walt's quartet. Walt credited older bro Ernie, who became a jazz fixture in Chicago, with being his earliest musical influence on the piano. Ernie was already playing piano around Pittsburgh with young drummer Art Blakey, a fair jazz player himself.

Harper went to Oakland's Schenley High School as did two of his best friends, bassist Ray Brown and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, the Sugar Man. Harper played valve trombone in the all-city band, but switched to piano. He was also a member of the Swinging Five, a jazz group he founded with Brown.

As teenagers, Harper and Brown would shoot hooky and go across town to Homewood and Errol Garner's house to listen to him play the piano. Garner would have music scores piled on the keyboards; the school-skipping pair never realized that he couldn't read music and was playing by ear.

After graduating from high school in 1947, he studied at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute and the University of Pittsburgh for a couple of years. Harper then led a 10-piece band on the road from 1949 to 1954. The group appeared all over the East and Midwest with artists like Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan and George Shearing. But Harper never took to the road and came back home to stay.

Harper built a following by playing fraternity gigs and the tri-state area college circuit. Early on in his local career, he picked up the nickname "The Prom King" because his band played so many high school and college dates.

He was equally popular at the Mt. Lebanon High School as he was at the House, and throughout his playing days would entertain a racially mixed audience. In fact, the Courier's Teenie Harris photo collection shows white teens dancing to Harper's tune in the fifties.

In 1958, Harper's band started a gig at the popular Crawford Grill in the Hill District as the club's house band. It would run for over a decade during the fifties and sixties. The same fraternity guys and high school kids that he played for earlier followed him in droves to the Crawford.

At the same time, he began producing jazz festivals at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom in the early 1960s, selling out concerts by Carmen McRae, Chico Hamilton and the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

Later in the decade, he joined forces with the Catholic Youth Organization in producing larger festivals at the Civic Arena, featuring the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Thelonius Monk, Cannonball Adderley, the John Coltrane Quartet, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra with Joe Williams among other acts.

Harper remained at the Crawford until 1969 when he opened his own club, Walt Harper's Attic, downtown in Market Square up a flight of stairs above a State store. Don't laugh; it ended up the perfect spot for a club.

He did a lot of his own work. First, there was no problem with generating goodwill with the City's jazz fans. He had a photographic memory, remembered names, even if he hadn't seen someone for years, and had a big smile for one and all. Plus he started with that built-in cadre of followers from the Crawford.

And he wasn't afraid to do a little personal tub-thumping. Harper made his rounds in those early days, personally delivering his publicity blurbs and photos to the newspaper desks each week.

Harper brought in the biggest names of jazz. Stan Getz, Ramsey Lewis, Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Joe Williams and Cannonball Adderley, along with local stars Billy Eckstine, Maxine Sullivan, Roy Eldridge, Ahmad Jamal, and his high school buds Turrentine and Brown graced the Attic.

He would pay those cats to improvise, while Harper, from his piano stool, led his band and played mainstream, get-down-and-boogie jazz jams between sets. A couple of his more popular tunes were "I'll Drink to That" and "It's My Pleasure," but there's no question that his signature song was "Satin Doll," a tune he played so often that many Pittsburghers thought he, not Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn, wrote the tune.

During the first year of operation, Harper had the doormen keep a count of the Attic customers coming up the stairs. They totaled more than 250,000, many of them repeat visits, and it was nothing to see a line snaking around the block to get into the club. And many were well known folk like Terry Bradshaw, L.C. Greenwood and Connie Hawkins, adding some cachet to the joint.

Things went swimmingly until 1976, when after seven years, Harper noisily bumped heads with his partners and sold the Attic. He took the time to perform and do his own projects, but he was back in business soon enough when he opened Harper's Jazz Club downstairs of the Grant Street Oxford Center in 1982.

The Club drew corporate and politco clientele in keeping with Harper's desire to move jazz from the back rooms to the mainstream.

Among the musicians featured at both of Harper's clubs were: Cannonball Adderley, Max Roach, Nancy Wilson, Mel Tormé, Wynton Marsalis, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Joe Williams, George Shearing, Carmen McCrae and Lionel Hampton; there were many others.

Harper found that the days of the downtown clubs were ending. It was just too hard to put together a business model to cover building and appearance expenses, and he pulled the plug on the Jazz Club in 1988.

And hey, it's not like he couldn't use the time off from the club hamster wheel. He honed his tennis game, and became one of the top celebrity players in the area, achy knees and all. Try doing that while you're running a club by day and a band by night.

Professionally, Harper performed up and down the East Coast, led jazz workshops and cultural programs, recorded, appeared numerous times on national and local TV, received awards, wrote and composed music (he scored a ballet for Dance Alloy)...oh, and he had that Steeler gig, too.

In the seventies, Harper and his group "All That Jazz" were hired by the Rooneys to play as the house band for the Steeler home games, a job they held until 2002. Ya think Three Rivers Stadium was a big enough room for the showman?

"Walt Harper at Fallingwater," filmed at the Kaufmann Home which was designed by Frank Lloyd-Wright, was aired nationally on WQED/PBS in 1975, and Harper was nominated for a local Emmy award for his performance.

Harper recorded four CD’s on his own Birmingham label with his lifelong friend Ray Brown. They were "West Coast On Line," produced by Ray Brown with arrangements by John Clayton; "Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You," co-produced with Ray Brown and John Clayton; "In Very Good Company" with Ray Brown, Stanley Turrentine and Cecil Brooks III, and "Be My Guest" with Ray Brown and Stanley Turrentine.

Earlier in his career Harper recorded several other albums, "Eddie Jefferson With the Walt Harper Quintet," "Night Thoughts," "Walt Harper at Fallingwater," "Live at the Attic," "On the Road," "The College Jazz Beat," and "Harper's Ferry."

Heck, while we were searching we also found a bit of LP vinyl called "Open Pantry Presents Christmas Eve With Walt Harper" from 1974, which brings us up to an even dozen records for the jazzman.

He was recognized for his work with a variety of awards and honors. Harper was named as the 2006 Musician’s Union Man of the Year Award; was a recipient of the 2004 Harry Schwab Excellence in the Arts Award, and in 2001, he received the Mellon Jazz Community Award for his contributions to the jazz community. Harper was also posthumously recognized by Pittsburgh City Council, and The Legacy apartments across from the Crawford Grill building feature his mural inside along with the other jazz greats from the City.

Harper, who resided in Point Breeze, went to his reward suddenly on October 25th, 2006. He suffered a reported heart attack and died en route to UPMC Shadyside. He was 80 years old at the time (and he probably hated that his true age finally came out; he was famous for knocking five years or a decade off the years he spent on this mortal coil).

Active until the end, Harper was fully booked for the following year at jazz halls in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. Harper is survived by his wife, Maggie Harper, and his only daughter from his first marriage, Sharynn Harper, a New York based writer/independent producer.

The Walt Harper Jazz Music Education Fund was established in Harper's memory to recognize youth (particularly in the Pittsburgh area) who show outstanding talent and promise in the jazz field.

Walt Harper and Kenny Blake - "The Real Thing"

Big Weekend...

2011-01-20T19:41:00.001-05:00

It starts rollin' on Friday at Altar Bar on Penn in the Strip when Brian Drusky holds his Drusky Entertainment Five Year Anniversary Show, with ticket proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The bands playing will be: The Buzz Poets, 28 North, Gene the Werewolf and The Composure, Lovebettie, Good Brother Earl, Triggers, Bishop Clay, The Delaneys, Mercury, Crossing Boundaries, Voodoo Babies and Burning Earth.

It's a 21+ show. The tickets are $5, available through Ticketmaster.

And if you like a little hip-hop & country with your football, Wiz Khalifa will rap his monster "Black and Yellow" before Steeler kickoff at 6:30 Sunday, and Martina McBride will sing the National Anthem. At halftime, Mr. MNF himself, Hank Williams Jr., will perform on the South Plaza.

The Steeler Polka

2011-01-16T10:21:00.003-05:00

Hey, Old Mon is a believer. So is Gene the Werewolf. The band has updated the ol' seventies Black & Gold anthem, "The Steeler Polka." Here it be...and let's hope it works just as well as the original.

Lenny Litman

2011-01-16T01:06:00.017-05:00

A 1950 Copa Club ad featuring, of all people, Bela Lugosi
When Old Mon was growing up in the fifties and sixties, Lenny Litman was the alpha dog in the back rooms of Pittsburgh's music business.

Litman was a promoter, club owner, show biz reporter, and sports entrepreneur. If it involved entertainment in the 'Burgh, Litman had his hand in it.

He entered the world as Norman Leonard Litman on May 15, 1914, in North Braddock, and became known far and wide as Lenny. Litman was the son of immigrants who dabbled in a bit of Prohibition-era bootlegging and eventually ended up with a beer distributorship. (In fact, Lenny's attorney brother S. David Litman represented his sibling in some liquor license transfer cases, and was thought to operate the first local firm with its own liquor law section).

His working career began in 1931 as a stringer covering high school sports for his school paper, the Braddock Daily News Herald, The Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph. One thing he did learn early on was that life was easier using your smarts rather than your back; Litman lasted all of thirteen days working in the mill.

After graduating from Braddock High School in 1932, he went on to Shenandoah College and the University of Richmond, where he got his first tub-thumping job as the Spiders' sports publicity director. He finally got his sheepskin from the University of Pittsburgh in 1937.

Litman then became a flack for Pitt's 150th Anniversary celebration, setting up shows for the year-long event. Never shy about his talents, he went on a road trip to California with high school buds, aiming to become movie stars. Lenny never did get to perform on the golden screen, but he did make some Hollywood contacts from the production/publicity spectrum.

He returned to Pittsburgh in 1938 at his dad's urging to go to law school. That lasted a year, when he dropped out to produce the Hoot Gibson Rodeo and Thrill Circus, which folded after playing Homestead and North Braddock. Litman's brother Archie paid off the cowboys, Indians, and the hotel bill at Oakland's Webster Hall.

But he kept on keepin' on. He was a press agent for Gibson, the Wallace Brothers Circus and later the Russell Brothers Circus; he also promoted boxing cards and a donkeyball group (no, we're not going there, hey, we're not even asking, lol.)

Then came 1941 and the war. Litman enlisted in the Navy and was a swabbie for the duration, getting his discharge in 1945.

He returned to Pittsburgh, and with a hand from brothers Archie and Gene bought Mercur's Music Bar. From 1945 to 1948, The Music Bar was the downtown jazz joint. Its stage held Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Ethel Waters, George Shearing, Mary Lou Williams and Walt Harper.

Litman and his brothers bought the Villa Madrid at 818 Liberty Avenue, a block from the old Nixon Theater (now the site of the August Wilson African-American Cultural Center) in 1948 and turned it into the Copa, the last grand dame of the club era in Pittsburgh.

And that block rocked. Beside the Nixon shows, the Copa was right across the street from Litman's main competition, the Carousel Lounge. The action never stopped.

Lenny came from a jazz background, and also knew the nightclub circuit of Vegas-act singers and comedians. But he opened the Copa with a pop singer, Frankie Laine, and sold out the house.

Don't ask how many warm fannies that would entail; the Copa held 287...but only when the fire marshall was in the house, and that wasn't often. There were three shows a night, Monday through Saturday.

We suspect more than 861 fans jammed in there over the course of an evening. Even with a cover, if you look at the ad above the post, you'll see dinner started at the princely sum of $1.50. Hey, a guy gotta pay the bills...

Liking Laine's gate, Litman rolled the dice, booking Vic Damone and Ella Fitzgerald. Their success convinced him to follow the pop charts, a new twist to night club scheduling. Pittsburgh at the time was all jazz, interspersed with visits from the Vegas circuit. So Litman, in his way, helped open the gates for pop musicians to tour.

The Copa's national headliners were many and varied: Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Cab Callaway, Mel Torme, Conway Twitty, Patti Page, Andy Williams, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Henny Youngman, Pearl Bailey, Johnnie Ray, Rudy Vallee, Artie Shaw, Bela Lugosi, Marty Allen, Lili St. Cyr, Jackie Kahane, Buck & Bubbles, Billie Holliday, Bill Haley and the Comets, Al Hibbler and Miles Davis.

He missed a couple of acts, though. Litman passed on Elvis Presley and Lenny Bruce (although he helped book him into other venues), both being a little rowdy for his taste. It was a life-long thing; Pat DiCesare said in the Post-Gazette's 2001 "Hittsburgh" series that Litman left him a niche in the promotion biz because of his preference for MOR-type musicians and shows, leaving DiCesare the hard rockers.

Litman knew all the tricks. Beside squeezing in an extra table or two, he had a knack for picking out up-and-comers. It made great business sense. He signed them to contract options to play at the club, locking them into a low rate for future appearances if they ever hit it big, and providing affordable off-night acts if they didn't.

He also figured out how to skirt the state blue laws that outlawed Sunday entertainment. For New Year's Eve in 1950, which fell on a Sunday, he closed the Copa, rented the upstairs room, and moved the tables there to host a "private" party.

The Copa boomed for awhile, but the club business was being eroded by newer, larger suburban venues and escalating pay scales for the acts. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, 1959, the Copa closed. Funny what a difference the opening and closing of a decade can make.

Over the years, he also shared ownership of a half-dozen clubs and lounges, like the Encore, Midway, Carnival, and Rock and Roll. But that era was done, and without missing a beat, Litman pulled on his promoter cap full-time.

He had been promoting shows through the fifties. After the Copa closed, he booked every act he could find in just about every local venue:

The Civic Arena (Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr., Bolshoi Ballet); The Syria Mosque (Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, The Band, The Kingston Trio, Mort Sahl); Loews Penn Theater/Heinz Hall (Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, Ann Corio in "This Is Burlesque"); The Stanley (Carol Channing in "Hello, Dolly!"); Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall (Newport Jazz Festival) and the Carnegie Music Hall (Brenda Lee).

He even booked West View Park, when he partnered with KQV in 1964 to bring in the the Rolling Stones at Danceland, who as the story goes were outdrawn by DJ Mad Mike.

Litman wasn't limited to working just the Tri-State region. Joining with other partners, he produced concerts virtually across the country, from Cleveland to to St. Louis to Albuquerque. Litman promoted concerts through the seventies.

The Impresario was also the main man when it came to covering the City scene. He was the Pittsburgh correspondent for Billboard Magazine from 1948 until 1960. Then he succeeded Harold V. Cohen as the correspondent for Variety (Cohen actually anointed him as his successor), and he covered the local show biz news for the magazine for the next three decades. From 1970 to 1985, Litman also penned the "Nightlife" column for the Pittsburgh Press.

It was a point of personal pride for Litman that he never wrote a discouraging word about anyone in his column. He was proud of Pittsburgh's entertainment scene (heck, he was usually right in the middle of it) and pushed it and its performers every chance he got.

He could sniff out coming trends as well as anyone in the City. Shows Inc., which he started with Hy Kotofsky in 1958, built Valley Cable TV in Turtle Creek, the first cable company in Allegheny County.

Litman sold his share of the firm in 1978 when he couldn't position the company into the Pittsburgh market. If he'd had only known how cable and sports would become the new peanut butter and jelly, he might have hung on to it and the synergy it would have offered him.

You may remember that Litman started way back in the thirties as a sportswriter, college sports publicity guy and promoted boxing and donkeyball. Well, he also pushed the highly profitable roller derby after his Copa days were done, and had a small piece of the Pirates with his brother Gene.

His best known sports venture was forming the Pittsburgh Rens (for Renaissance) with his brothers and Gabe Rubin, placing the team in Abe Saperstein's American Basketball league after the NBA turned down their application for a franchise.

That gave Pittsburgh fans a chance to catch the great Connie Hawkins, blackballed from the NBA, hoop it up in the Arena. That started him on the road to redemption and eventually the NBA Hall of Fame.

And it was thanks to Litman, who the Hawk called "dad" and was quoted by Post Gazette writer Christopher Rawson as saying of the Litmans "I've gone to all their funerals and bar mitzvahs. I'm family."

Despite Hawkins' warm and fuzzy tale, Litman considered the Rens his greatest bomb, along with booking Charles Laughton, who cost the promoter more in pre-show advertising alone than he got back at the gate.

But even the non-stop Litman couldn't go on forever, although he gave it a pretty good run. He passed away on July 30th, 2002, from Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 88 and was buried at Ahavath Achim Cemetery in Forest Hills.

Left behind were his wife of 55 years, Roz, and his daughter Rebecca. He left behind a legacy, too, the Lenny Litman Performing Arts Fund, which helps support deserving programs with an emphasis on youngsters.

(Old Mon tips his hat to Christopher Rawson, Post-Gazette critic, whose obit of Litman provided much of the information in the post.)

Slim Adds Another Notch

2011-01-11T22:05:00.000-05:00

Got a note from my favorite cowboy, Slim Forsythe:

That's right, Pilgrim!

Old Slim hits the "Double Nickel" this week. 55 years walkin' the face of God's Green Earth. And I'm throwin' a birthday party Saturday, January 15th, at Nied's Hotel with my pals, The Stillhouse Pickers. We'll serve up a hearty helpin' of old time/country/bluegrass music for starters and then we're thinkin' the whole thing could devolve into an open acoustic jam with lots of other players.

Have you got an instrument that doesn't need an amp? (banjo, fiddle, dobro, mandolin, guitar, accordion...). Bring it along and join the fun. We'll have one or two room mics available for solos and general traffic control.

Come early and watch the Steeler Game. They got four wide screen TVs!

Then, after the game, we'll play that hillbilly music all night long!

Saturday, January 15th@
Nied's Hotel
5438 Butler Street in Lawrenceville
412 781-9853

Slim Forsythe with The Stillhouse Pickers!
Music starts @ 7:30 PM No Cover
Live Concert followed by Open Acoustic Jam

Keith Dix Oldies Concert

2011-01-10T07:00:00.004-05:00

Be there; we can't think of a better way to kick off the New Year than a charity jam than with Pittsburgh's best oldie groups. For tickets, call the Attic (412-821-2424), Wayne Zollinger (724-822-4123) or Sam Ferrella (412-400-3629)

Harold Betters

2011-01-07T19:00:00.005-05:00

Harold Betters
Harold Betters was born on March 21, 1928 in Connellsville, the son of Robert and Lela who ran one of the area's hottest jazz spots, Betters' Grill and Hotel.

One of seven children, (brothers George, Jimmy, and Jerome ended up performing professionally; all the Betters kids played instruments), Betters took to music - specifically, the trombone - at a young age, emulating JJ Johnson and Tommy Dorsey.

He led his own local quartet which included pianist John Thomas and brother Jerome (aka "Jerry" or "Romy") Betters on drums. Betters then studied music education at Ithaca College for two years after high school, and then served a year's residency at Brooklyn's Conservatory of Music.

Betters was drafted in 1950, and played in the 308th Army Band for two years. He claims that service tour is when he really learned how to play music. Betters lived briefly in New York City after his discharge before returning to Western Pennsylvania. In fact, he still lives in Connellsville today.

It was a welcome return. Along with Walt Harper, Harold Betters was the face of local jazz in the sixties and seventies and one of the City's must-see acts.

And it's not just a case of big fish/small pond syndrome; Betters can blow his horn. He's performed with Satchmo, Al Hirt, Slide Hampton, Ramsey Lewis, and Urbie Green. The Harold Betters Quartet toured with Ray Charles and appeared with Dick Gregory at New York's Apollo Theater.

Beside the local jazzfests, Betters has also played on the big stages, like the Kool Jazz Festival. He's also given command performances for the late Happy Warrior, Hubert Humphrey, and Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes.

He's been on "The Tonight Show," "The Merv Griffin Show," and "The Mike Douglas Show," as well as on local TV programs in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and San Francisco.

Betters has released over a dozen albums, and has to be considered one of the more commercially successful jazzmen based in Pittsburgh. His 1964 single "Do Anything You Wanna," released on Gateway, cracked the Top 100 and peaked at #74.

The first LP he did was fittingly enough "At The Encore" from 1962, reissued on CD as "Harold Betters Remembers the Encore." It led off the Gateway label Jazz Series; Betters would cut nine LPs for them.

He added three more discs for Reprise, a couple more from his own HB label, and a greatest hits collection on Spotlite to go with a handful of singles. All-in-all, Betters did pretty dang well as a recording artist.

But ask anyone who knew the club scene during that time, and they'll connect Betters with Wil Shiner's Shadyside Encore in a heartbeat. He played there so often that it became known as "The House that Betters Built." In fact, Betters has performed more recently at Cozumel in a homecoming of sorts; the space below the restaurant once was the Encore.

He was also a regular at the Holiday House and his late brother Jerry's club, the Crescendo in Oakland. And if you missed him there, well...

For a couple of decades, Betters led a jazz band which provided game day entertainment, mainly at Three Rivers Stadium, for the Pittsburgh Steelers, joining the team for a Superbowl trip or two. His players provided the musical accompaniment to the crowd's roar of "Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go..." and "Defense, Defense..."

Betters has entertained at Pirate and Pen games, too. He's the answer to this local sports trivia question: "Who played for the Pirates, Penguins and Steelers in the same year?"

But if you're not a sports fan, no worries: Betters can be heard on jazz radio stations and in many area clubs and venues; he's 82 and still gigging, even overcoming a bout of Bell's Palsy in 2008. And teaching, too. He's held shows and working seminars at Pitt, IUP, Penn State and West Virginia.

He's collected his fair share of accolades over the years. Betters was selected in the Playboy Jazz Poll as one of the best trombonists in the country, and as "Mr. Versatility" by Downbeat Magazine. He's also been named "Man of the Year in Music" by the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and was inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame.

His success in this City is because he fused together its two most endearing and enduring musical forms, jazz and R&B with a blazing trombone and minimal vocals. Betters plays jazz standards, show tunes, and current hits arranged for a quartet and delivered in a soulful "hard bop" style, closer to Motown than Monterey. It's just the way Pittsburgh likes its music served.

LP Discography:

At The Encore (1962) Gateway
Takes Off (1963) Gateway
Even Better (1964) Gateway
Meets Slide Hampton (1964) Gateway
Yesterday, Today, And All Of My Tomorrows ???? Gateway
The Big Horn ???? H.B. Records
Swingin' On The Railroad (1965) Gateway
Ram-Bunk-Shush (1965) Reprise
Do Anything You Want To (1966) Gateway
Out Of Sight And Sound (1966) Reprise
Funk City Express (1966) Reprise
Christmas Album (1967) Gateway
Jazz Showcase (1977) Gateway
Best Of Betters (2000) Spotlite
With Friends, Live In New York (2001) H.B. Records

Selected Single Discography:

Do Anything You Wanna/All Alone (Gateway) 1964 (also released on Sue - 1965)
Stand By Me (Gateway) ????
Railroad/Dirty Red (Gateway) 1965
Moving Out (Gateway) 1966
Tall Girl (Gateway) 1966
All Alone (Gateway) 1966
Ram-Bunk-Shush (Reprise) 1966 (also released on Gateway)
Hot Tamale Man (Reprise) 1967
Papa-Ooh-MauMau (Warner Music UK) 2003

Harold Betters - "Tall Girl" (1966)

2010-12-31T18:54:00.002-05:00

Johnny Costa

2010-12-31T07:00:00.004-05:00

Johnny Costa
Johnny Costa is another in a long string of Pittsburgh musicians who decided that the road wasn't the life and came home to play. It may have put his light under a basket nationally, but make no mistake - Costa was one of the top jazz pianists of this era, even though he eschewed modern fusion-style jazz forms and stuck to the standards, playing the music of Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, mercer, Porter, and Rogers & Hart.

Born in 1922 in Arnold, an Allegheny River town 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Costa never roamed far from his birthplace.

Costa's dad was an immigrant coal miner, and he wanted his kids to lead a life that kept their hands clean and back straight. At age five, Costa began playing the violin. When he was ten, his neighbor Fred Petri taught Costa to play the accordion.

Costa's father actually sold his house so he could buy his son a $500 accordion. Costa credited that early training with developing his skills with the right hand.

But when he reached high school, his music teacher, Frank Oliver, suggested that Costa dump the squeeze box and switch to the piano. The idea made sense to Costa, and after he heard some Art Tatum recordings, he was sold.

He taught himself to play Tatum's songs (in fact, Tatum himself would one day dub Costa "The White Tatum"), and his first teacher, Martin Meissler, came to Arnold a couple of times a week to coach him. And Meissler knew his stuff; he was Oscar Levant's piano teacher, too. Costa's left hand soon caught up to his right.

Costa joined the New York City-based clarinetist and bandleader Tommy Reynolds and his orchestra after graduating from high school. He returned to Pittsburgh soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor to marry his sweetheart Helen before leaving for the Army.

He was a corpsman in the "Tough Hombre" 90th Division, and took part in the brutal Utah Beach assault on D-Day. Within a few months, rheumatic fever sent him to a series of military hospitals for a year.

Discharged from the army, Costa auditioned for admission to the music department at Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie-Mellon University. He played Antonín Dvořák's "Humoresque" ala Tatum before a school panel. A music committee member reportedly said afterward "That was not 'Humoresque,' Mr. Costa, but what you played was wonderful. Of course, we'll accept you."

At Carnegie Tech, he studied music composition under Nicolai Lopatnicoff, a composer of the central European avant-garde style. Costa's personal influences were classical composers, particularly Bach, Beethoven and Chopin, and straight-ahead jazzmen Tatum and Fats Waller. The mash-up created Costa's great and unique style.

He earned two bachelor's degrees at CMU, in music composition and music education. Costa's been quoted as saying he needed the sheepskins "in case I was a flop as a professional musician." Fat chance of that happening, but better safe than sorry.

On the day he graduated in 1951, Costa began a sixteen year stint as musical director of KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. He played the organ for "Meet Your Neighbor." On Josey Carey's "Funsville," he created the memorable character of Indian Mary, who wore a straw hat with two braids hanging out and a huge feather in back, chewed on a cigar, played the piano, and never said a word. Costa also starred on his own show, "The Wonderful World of Johnny Costa," where he spotlighted a composer and played his songs.

During the fifties, in addition to his TV duties, the Johnny Costa Trio with Jim DeJulio (bass) and Chuck Spatafore (drums), rode the MCA circuit, playing in Chicago, Detroit, Miami and New York several times a year. Costa was on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show."

The busy pianist also recorded for NYC labels Coral and Savoy. "Johnny Costa Plays Piano Solos" (1955), "Johnny Costa Plays for the Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (1955), "Costa Living" (1955), "A Gallery of Gershwin" (1958) and "In My Own Quiet Way" (1959) were released by Coral; "Introducing Johnny Costa" (1955) and "The Amazing Johnny Costa" (1955) (reissued on CD as "Neighborhood" in 1989) were on Savoy. Sadly, they're all out of print.

But recording and touring weren't Costa's bag. Before the decade of the fifties closed, he quit a brief stint in Philadelphia as the musical director of Mike Douglas' weekday show and returned to Pittsburgh for keeps. Costa was tired of living out of a suitcase, and he and Helen had two kids, Debbie and John Junior, to raise. He gave up chasing the brass ring to sink his roots deep into home turf.

He gigged regularly at Mercur’s, a downtown club which had featured jazz players like Erroll Garner, at the William Penn hotel, and he still had his KDKA duties. But his KD days were soon to end when he found a new TV challenge in 1967.

That's when "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" first aired. Costa became the show's musical director. His music opened and closed the program, he arranged the music, accompanied guests, and added background melodies during the show's segments.

Costa met Fred Rogers five years before the show was a thought through Josey Carey. When Rogers began planning "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," he offered Costa $5,000 to arrange, conduct, and play the music for 100 episodes. Costa accepted the job in a heartbeat. At the time, he needed exactly that amount to pay his son's college tuition. God works in mysterious ways.

Who knew that it would end up the most successful children's show ever broadcast, and that Costa would be introducing generations of kids to jazz improvisations? There were no kiddie ditties played on MRN; neither Rogers nor Costa would condescend to their audience, young as it may have been, that much.

None of the music was canned, Rogers allowed him complete freedom, and Costa, along with "Handyman" Joe Negri, created a playlist that led Branford Marsalis to say "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is the best jazz show on the air anywhere."

Costa and Rogers collaborated frequently on the show's music, with Costa harmonizing and arranging Rogers’ melodies. It's well known that Fred Rogers had degrees in psychology and theology, but maybe not so well known that he also had a degree in music composition.

In the seventies, Costa recorded on a string of LPs released by Rogers featuring Pittsburgh jazzmen like Negri, Bobby Boswell and other contributors.

The first, in fact, was released in 1967, when The Johnny Costa Trio (now with Carl McVicker on bass and Bob Rawsthorne doing percussion, both who performed with him on MRN) on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Records with tunes like “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Like his other LPs, it's no longer available.

It was a match made in heaven. Rogers got first class musicians, while Costa (and Negri) got steady work, a regular paycheck, and some notoriety to allow them to maintain a club and concert schedule of their chosing.

He was appreciated by his hometown boys for his outside work, too. The City Theater honored Costa as the first recipient of its Performance Award, presented to an outstanding performing artist from western Pennsylvania. The presentation featured performances by Dick Hyman and Peter Nero. Costa was also elected to the Hall of Fame of the Pittsburgh Jazz Society.

Oh, about his discography. Dick Hyman, jazz pianist, keyboardist, composer and Costa admirer, contacted Hank O'Neal, president of Chiaroscuro Records (which had recorded Mary Lou Williams and Earl Hines), and sent him an unlabeled cassette of Costa recordings in 1990.

O'Neal signed Costa after a brief listen, and released four recordings: "Classic Costa" (1992 - American songbook tunes), "Flying Fingers" (1992 - jazz standards), "A Portrait of George Gershwin" (1994 - Gershwin), and "Dream" (1996 - Johnny Mercer).

Heck, even his liner notes are classics. They were written by folk like Elsie and Henry Hillman and Henry Mancini. Along with L&M Records 1997 release of "Christmas Reflections," these LPs are all that's left of Costa's musical legacy.

Johnny Costa died of anemia at the age of 74 on October 11th, 1996.

His personal legacy is that of a regular joe. Costa lived within a few miles of his family home, and used to meet his high school music teacher for breakfast. He never had an agent; Costa just gave out his phone number - unchanged for 30 years - and booked his own gigs. His kids lived nearby. A beautiful musician and beautiful person is how his friends and family describe him. And they're right.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

image from The Society

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - Giorgio Tozzi

"The Christmas Song" - Mel Torme

"The First Noel" - Natalie Cole

"White Christmas" - Bing Crosby

"Adestes Fidelis" - Andrea Bocelli

"Deck the Halls" - Smithfield Fair

"Joy to the World" - Anne Murray

"Jingle Bells" - animation, artist unknown

"Silent Night" - Libera

Bob McKeag...McKeg...Bubs!

2010-12-17T21:00:00.024-05:00

Bubs McKeag
Bob "Bubs" McKeag started out like many Pittsburgh music legends - he and a bud, Little Joe Arena, put together a garage band in high school. They formed the Igniters, and the Penn Hills musicians became local club heroes in the sixties.

The Igniters were the house band at The Varsity House in Oakmont, and their early Brit/R&B rockin' style regularly filled the club. McKeag was the lead singer (although Frank Czuri, an old St. Bart's pal, would eventually fill that role in what would become a recurring theme) and lead guitarist.

Atlantic Records signed The Igniters to a record contract in 1968. They were the second white band signed to the label, following the Rascals; they had the soul sound, even if blue-eyed, that Atco pushed. That made the way Atlantic handled the act a bit of a mystery.

The label changed their name to Jimmy Mack and the Music Factory for reasons unknown. They released the poppish "Baby, I Love You" b/w "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" in 1968, and it got a little love, but not much outside the region; maybe the label thought the B Side Marvelette's cover would qualify as R&B. It did get a lot of play in the region.

So they changed names again, now performing as the more psychedelic "Friends." They cut another single that went nowhere, effectively ending the Atlantic connection. After a couple of years of touring and playing The Psychedilly club as their local home base, they disbanded in 1970. McKeag joined the Navy.

After seeing the world on Uncle Sam's dime, he played with various bar bands in the area. Then, in 1974, McKeag hooked up with Norm Nardini and Robbie Johns to record Marvin Gaye's "Ain’t That Peculiar" at East Liberty's Red Fox Studio. A Pittsburgh rock legend was born that day: Diamond Reo.

Diamond Reo signed a contract with Big Tree Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic, added Czuri as a vocalist and Warren King on ax, and became the next big thing. Oddly, for all the smoke their only top 40 hit was their first tune, "Aint That Peculiar," with McKeag working the "talkbox" guitar and singing lead.

The band schmoozed with Dick Clark on American Bandstand and opened shows for Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Kiss, Rush, Canned Heat, Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, and other seventies' rockers as they toured non-stop and lived large on the road.

Life on the bus brought changes to the group. McKeag was the first to leave Reo as the band moved from Top 40 rock to punk/metal. He recorded another top 40 hit, "Gimme Some," for Buddah in 1977 as Bob McKeag and later recorded for Phantom Records under the easier to spell (and pronounce) name of McKeg.

He then hooked up with James Lawson to form the McKeg/Lawson Blues Band, and the group became a popular local blues mainstay. In 1994, Lawson lost a battle with cancer; McKeag kept the MLBB going for five more years before they broke up.

For the past decade or so, he's been mostly gigging solo. His EP "McKeg on Tap" is a Pittsburgh hit (of course, one of the tracks is the Heinz Field tailgate favorite "Go Steelers." Guy knows the market, hey?)

And he's a full-time bluesman now; he even has a trademark porkpie hat, though it's overshadowed by his ax. McKeag is a two-time winner of the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania’s International Blues Challenge for solo/duo artist, taking the 2009 title with Dr. Blue as a duo and as a solo act in 2008.

McKeag has taken a couple of side trips to Finland, too. He performed during the 30th Annual Helsinki Blues Heritage Festival. In 2007, he went to Finland for an international songwriting competition in the blues category, and placed fourth.

Bubs is a teacher, too. Beside performing in the Pittsburgh Blues Festival, he worked the Blue's Society "Blues In the Tent" project. McKeag presented “Story Telling in the Blues," where kids focus on their life stories of heartbreak, loss, or just the day-to-day grind. Then they write them down, and have the framework for some blues lyrics.

But ya know what? Sometimes the old days are the best days. McKeag just joined with his old Igniter bandmates at the Palisades last week for a holiday reunion gig. People came to town from all over the US to catch the act again, only the third time that the band has gotten back together since they went their separate ways in 1970.

And hey, after four or five decades of making that ax sing, it's sweet to know that Bubs McKeag's first chord was just as popular as the next one will be.

Bubs McKeg with The Sweaty Betty Band - "No Baggage"

Bill Toms

2010-12-10T22:10:00.001-05:00

Bill Toms from Music Club
Bill Toms is a full fledged member of the Bruce Springsteen and Joe Grushecky singer/songwriter school of narrative Americana rock, and small wonder - his influences are Leadbelly, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, and he was the lead guitarist for Grushecky's Houserockers for nineteen years, beginning in 1987.

While the band may not have rocked the national airwaves, it ruled in the Steel City. During his two decades of playing guitar and singing back-up harmonies, Toms recorded seven albums with Grushecky and the Houserockers.

They opened for groups like The Band, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat and Stevie Ray Vaughn and toured the United States and Europe.

Toms eventually started up his own band, Hard Rain, named after the old Bob Dylan song, made up of Houserockers. And guess what - he's still a local phenomena with an international following, just like during the Houserocker days.

They've played local venues like Moondogs, the Altar Bar, Frankie & Georgie's, Cefalos, Club Cafe and festivals such as "Guitars Over Cancer," the Flood City Music Festival and the Carnegie Arts & Heritage Festival.

Toms and the band have performed in West Virginia, New Jersey, Michigan, New York and Virginia with a couple of road trips to Italy and Spain with Marc Reisman, his old Houserocker bud harp man, and sax blower Phil Brontz. His European exploits have made him a movie star of sorts.

Tomorrow night (Saturday December 11th), he's having a film release party at Frankie & Georgie's 4 Wood Grill (formerly PD's Pub) on Forward Avenue in Squirrel Hill, where he'll debut "A Troubadour's Journey."

The documentary film was shot during Toms' 2008 Italian tour, capturing band footage, the road diary, and a side bar story of how the band helped inspire a filmmaker. The party starts at 10 PM, with Toms and Hard Rain performing as the flick rolls, we assume.

Hard Rain is a pretty sweet collection of local players, all former members of the Houserockers. It consists of Toms (vocals, guitar), Tom Breiding (guitar, vocals), Phil Brontz (sax), Scott "Scooter" Tamulinas (bass), Bernie Herr (drums) and "Sudden" Steve Binsberger (keyboards).

Breiding, a Wheeling native who lives in McMurray, has several albums to his credit: Railroad Town (1992), The Next Heartache (1997), Guitar and Pen (1998), Happy Hour in the Round Hotel (2000), American Son (2001), Two Tone Chevrolet (2004), Guitar and Pen Volume II (2005), Time to Roll (2006), and The Unbroken Circle (2007).

His style has been compared to John Mellencamp's. He also operates the AmeriSon Studios and label that Toms uses to record.

Brontz has tooted on more than a dozen albums himself, playing since 1983 with artists like Jill West, Norm Nardini, Glenn Pavone, Erin Burkett and Gary Belloma beside Toms and Grushecky. He also performs with 8th Street Rox.

Scott "Scooter" Tamulinas has played with Bill Deasy and Patti Spadaro. Bernie Herr has spent most of his career as the Houserocker percussionist, and recorded eight albums with that band. Philly's Sudden Steve also plays with Jill West & the Blues Attack, and was a member of Billy Price's band and 8th Street Rox.

And then there's the 49 year old Bill Toms. Beside his band, he can be found on stage with "Friends" or sponsoring community events with his wife, Joyce. The Scott resident also teaches guitar as his day job, both to individuals and in workshops.

His discography is pretty lengthy, as this list will bear out:

With Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers:
“Rock and Real” - Rounder Records, 1989
“Swimming with the Sharks” - Rounder Records, 1991
“End of the Century” - Razor and Tie, 1992
“American Babylon”- Razor and Tie, 1995
“Coming Home” - Big Star, 1997
“Down the Road Apiece, Live” - Schoolhouse Records, 1999
“True Companion” – Schoolhouse Records, 2003

Bill Toms & Hard Rain:
“Paradise Avenue” - Schoolhouse Records, 1997
“My Own Eyes” - Moondog Records, 1999
“This Old World” - Moondog/Schoolhouse Records, 2001
“The West End Kid” – Moondog Records, 2005
“Spirits, Chaos, and a Troubadour Soul’ – AmeriSon Records, 2008
“Live at Moondogs: Another Moonlight Mystery” – AmeriSon Records, 2010

Bill Toms Solo:
“One Lonesome Moment” - Out of the Rain Records, 2002

Bill Toms & Hard Rain Documentary:
"A Troubadour's Journey" - 2010

At the end of January, Bill Toms and Hard Rain will start recording their new and as of yet unnamed studio CD. They may not have the national rep of Springsteen or the local cachet of Grushecky, but Hard Rain is on the same short list.

Bill Toms & Hard Rain - "Move It On Down The Road"

Anne Feeney Benefit Boogie

2010-12-08T20:18:00.003-05:00

Wanta get into the Holiday Spirit? Kick off Christmas with a star-studded show of local acts getting together to party - and help Anne Feeney with her medical bills.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12 @ 7 PM
A BENEFIT FOR ANNE FEENEY!

--- RUSTED ROOT
--- JOE GRUSCHECKY AND THE HOUSEROCKERS
--- MIKE STOUT AND THE HUMAN UNION
--- JUSTIN SANE OF ANTI-FLAG
--- BILLY PRICE
--- THE GRANATI BROTHERS
--- JACK ERDIE
--- BRAD YODER
--- ROBBIE KLEIN
--- THE NEWLANDERS
--- DEVILISH MARY
--- HENRY DOKTORSKI
--- MARK DIGHAM
--- THE ARMADILLOS
--- SUE POWERS
--- JEFF BERMAN
--- TRES LADS
--- NELSON HARRISON
--- JOE MUNROE

MR. SMALLS THEATRE
400 LINCOLN AVENUE
MILLVALE, PA 15209
PHONE; 412-821-4447

TICKETS:
ONLINE: WWW.TICKETWEB.COM/MRSMALLS
CHARGE BY PHONE: 866-468-3401
$20.00 PER TICKET PLUS TAXES

TICKETS CAN ALSO BE PURCHASED BY CONTACTING SENATOR JIM FERLO/MIKHAIL
PAPPAS AT 412-621-3006 OR senatorferlo@gmail.com

A Pittsburgh Christmas

2010-12-01T17:00:00.006-05:00

Hey, wanna get in the holiday mood? Try spinning one of these CD's performed by local artists while sipping your eggnog:

-- BE Taylor "Christmas" & "Christmas 2" The first album consists of a dozen traditional songs; the second has a trio of Taylor tunes among its eleven songs.

-- Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, "Ah Leilulah!" Rock in the holidays with "Hallelujah Chorus," "Blue Christmas," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Emmanuel" and original song "This Child."

-- Joe Negri "Guitars For Christmas" Twenty songs by the jazzman, a mix of traditional and pop.

-- Jackie Evancho "O Holy Night" Four-song, fully orchestrated EP featuring "Silent Night," "Panis Angelicus," "O Holy Night" and "Pie Jesu"

-- Pittsburgh Symphony Brass "Spirit of Christmas" Twenty-one traditional holiday airs.

-- Rosa Colucci "The Gift" Thirteen tracks, a mix of traditional and lesser known carols, delivered with blues/jazz/folk arrangements.

2010-11-25T07:55:00.002-05:00

Anne Feeney

2010-11-19T20:00:00.004-05:00

Anne Feeney photo by Fred Walser
Over the past decades, local folkie Anne Feeney has headlined union and community organizing drives, strummed and sung for human rights, peace and the environment, and attacked the issues of poverty, racism, sexism and war both verbally and in song.

If she sounds like a child of the sixties cut out of the Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary mold, well, it's because she is.

Feeney was born in the Mon Valley town of Charleroi in Washington County in 1951, the first child of Annabelle Runner and Ed Feeney. The family moved to Pittsburgh's Brookline neighborhood in 1954, and Feeney was given a Catholic education, beginning with Resurrection Elementary School and then graduating from the now closed Fontbonne Academy in 1968.

After saving for a year, she bought a Martin D-28 guitar (maybe the most famous acoustic ever made; Hank Williams and Elvis Presley used the D-28) in 1967; she would play it for the next 40 years. She was, like many youth of the era, politically and philosophically shaped by the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement.

Feeney was also influenced by her grandpap, William Patrick Feeney, who was an long-time mineworkers' organizer and fiddler who played his music to promote political and labor causes.

As she says, her music is meant to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

She gave her first public performance in 1969 at an anti-war rally, covering Phil Ochs songs. While a Pitt student in 1972, she was arrested in Miami at the Republican National Convention while protesting Richard Nixon's re-nomination; the charges were dismissed.

Politics wasn't all that she was involved in. The same year, she helped co-found Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, along with Annie Pride and NOW. Almost forty tears later, it's still the only organization in Allegheny County solely devoted to issues of sexual violence.

She earned her sheepskin from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 with a Liberal Studies (what else?) degree.

In 1976 Feeney started down her musical road when she joined a bluegrass band called Cucumber Rapids; they disbanded the next year.

She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1978 and spent the next dozen years as a trial attorney; in fact, she was a charter member of the Women’s Bar Association of Allegheny County.

As she worked cases and raised two children with her lawyer husband Ron Berlin, Feeney also performed in local clubs and at rallies, such as the Great Peace March at the Lincoln memorial in 1986, or at the Washington Monument for the 1989 March for Women’s Lives. Deciding that her guitar was a more effective tool than a legal brief, she took full-time to the road in 1991 and hasn't looked back.

Since then, Feeney has toured the US, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark, playing at folk festivals, labor conventions, churches, and political/labor demonstrations and rallies. She often tours 200+ days during the year.

Feeney has performed during events on Solidarity Day in DC, the WTO demonstrations in Seattle, the EU protests in Copenhagen, the LO Kongress in Stockholm and the March for Women’s Lives in Washington. Of course, she took part in several G20 related events when that show came to Pittsburgh.

She received the Joe Hill award from the Labor Heritage Foundation in 2005; a couple of other past winners were Pete Seeger and Cesar Chavez. The late activist Utah Phillips called Feeney "the best labor singer in North America."

Her music has been played and recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary - "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" - and that tune has been featured in the documentaries "This is What Democracy Looks Like," "Isn't This a Time: A Tribute to Harold Leventhal" and PBS show "Get Up/Stand Up: The History of Pop and Protest." Political cartoonist Mike Konopacki used Feeney's song "Union Maid" in a flash animation in 2003.

Not that she really needs anyone's help. She's part of a dozen CD releases, with eight solo efforts:

Anne Feeney:

* Look to the Left, 1992
* Heartland (Live), 1994
* Have You Been to Jail for Justice?, 2001
* Union Maid, 2003
* Original Recordings, 2004
* If I Can't Dance, 2006
* Dump the Bosses Off Your Back, 2008
* Enchanted Way, 2010

With Chris Chandler:

* Flying Poetry Circus, 2001
* Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire, 2003

Compilations:

* Wild Wimmin for Peace: The Great Peace March, 1986
* Vote in November - Election 2004 by: Anti-Theft Device, 2004

(The disks are available through CD Baby or her website.)

Her music isn't all original, but follows an Americana template: bluegrass, traditional, labor, pop, folk, contemporary and her own material make up her playlist.

As expected, Feeney has her union bona fides. She served as president of the Pittsburgh Musicians' Union, the only woman ever elected to the position, from 1997-1998. Feeney is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (the "Wobblies").

She also helped, with other folkie troubadours, to establish Local #1000 of the American Federation of Musicians, the "Traveling Musicians’ Union," in 1993. It represents acoustic players who perform most of their gigs away from their local AFM jurisdiction.

Feeney has paid her social dues as well, as she was president of a local NOW chapter, served on the board of the Thomas Merton Center and helped found PAAR.

She married labor attorney Ron Berlin in 1977, had two kids, Dan and Amy, and ended that union in 1995. In 2002, Feeney married Swedish political artist Julie Leonardsson, and they crash in Swissvale.

Feeney is fighting a new foe now; she was diagnosed with cancer this summer. She's battling on two fronts, trying to whip the tumor and raise money to pay the bills (you'd be surprised at how many working musicians there are who don't bring home enough bacon to pay for health insurance). She probably never realized how her quest for National Health Insurance would end up on her doorstep.

She's got a lot of friends; benefits have been held for her in Chicago, Eugene, Lexington and Cleveland among other spots. There was a local show for her just last week, and Mr. Small's in Millvale is hosting a super pre-Christmas event on December 12th.

Performing will be Joe Munroe, Mike Stout and the Human Union, Justin Sane of Anti-Flag, Hermie Granati, Liz Berlin of Rusted Root, Joe Grushecky and others.

If you'd like to donate to the cause, you can use PayPal on her webpage or just send a check; her address is also on the web site.

"Have You Been To Jail For Justice?" - Anne Feeney

The Patti Spadaro Band

2010-11-14T14:08:00.003-05:00

Patti Spadaro
Patti Spadaro took a round-about route to the Steel City: the Philly native went to the opposite coast, lived and worked in LA for 10 years, and then moseyed back across the country to Amwell Township in Washington County.

No, she didn't have kin around, but in a reversal from the norm, she relocated here after her hubby John found a job in the area. Spadaro settled in nicely, and started a family. Her daughters Alison, and Kaylee are now in school, freeing up the time for mama Spadaro to get back into the swing of the local music scene.

Spadaro started playing at age 11 and has been performing since age 13. She left Philly armed with a physics degree from Drexel University, but she wasn't going to LA to expand on Newton and Einstein's brainchildren; she was more interested in Jerry Garcia's work.

She played with a couple of local indie rock bands, did session work, and taught guitar.

Starting out with the Mystrals, Spadaro recorded on their CD "A Step Down From Luxury" and toured the southwest with the group.

Then she spent the next several years as the lead guitarist for the Zookeepers, a highly regarded West Coast band. They cut two CDs while she was with them, "The Zookeepers", and "Set Me Free," both big regional sellers. They gigged from San Diego to Seattle, and performed on area TV.

Spadaro also recorded and performed in Los Angeles with singer/songwriter and producer Sherby, along with singer/songwriter Roger Len Smith. She's a graduate of the Musician's Institue in Hollywood, where she studied with jazz/fusion guitarist Scott Henderson and blues/roots-rock guitarist Keith Wyatt.

She organized a benefit concert for Free Arts for Abused Children at the El Rey Theatre in LA with Little Feat as the headliners and the Smith/Spadaro Band opening the show.

In 2001, just before her baby boom and move to Western PA, Spadaro released the CD "Short Stay," recorded and mixed in Laguna Hills. It holds a six-song set of bluesy and jammin' Spadaro-written tunes. She played the lead guitar for all the tracks, and was the featured vocalist for two cuts (the others were sung by Stefana Dadas).

Then it was off to Amwell and the family life. Spadaro didn't entirely stay on the straight and narrow mommy track. She strayed enough to sit in with other bands every so often, hit some jam/open mike nights, and did some writing. In 2007, she did some solo acoustic sets and sat in with theCAUSE, and in 2008, the Patti Spadara Band joined the area's music scene.

The band introduced itself around town in a hurry. Spadara has performed with locals like theCAUSE, Jill West, the Mystic Knights, Tom Breiding, Bill Toms, The Sweaty Betty Blues Band, Women On Top and Craig King. She and the band have played at Moondogs, The Thunderbird Café, P.D.’s Pub (now Frankie and George's), Cefalo’s, Club Cafe, the Pittsburgh Blues Festival, JamBaloosa Music & Arts Festival, Jamband Festival, Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Fest, pUNKapalooza, Carnegie Music Hall, Southside Works, and Blues Go Pink.

The Patti Spadaro Band features bluesy jam-rock originals and cover songs ranging from soulful to Americana. The players are kinda like a Chinese menu; you have several columns to pick from. The main players around Spadaro, vocalist and lead guitarist, are:

Eric Kurtzrock on drums: He's worked in NY, LA and San Fransisco as a session drummer and has gigged with Eddie Henderson (of The Headhunters), Chipito Ayeres (Santana), Michelle Shocked, David Byrne, Boz Scaggs and many others. You could see Kurt Steinle (from Billy Price & the Rhythm Kings) behind the kit. Or for that matter, Davis Raborn, an acoustic drummer who's played for theimprovproject, Sonic Pulsar and Project Creation, could be poundin' out the beat.

Janelle Burdell was the original drummer; she's worked with Mickey Hart of the Dead and done programming for Planet Drum and The Other Ones and still sits in every so often. Former long-time Rusted Roots drummer Jim Donovan laid down four tracks on the CD, and as a friend of Spadaro's helped her get the band members in place.

Jeff Rosenthal on keyboards: He plays with Erin Burkett and was a member of The Usual Suspects; Denny Karl from the Mandrake Project also sits in on keys. Skip Sanders of The Clarks, Bill Deasy and Good Brother Earl recorded on the CD.

Ken Lamison on bass: He teaches and also plays with Bahama Breeze and Jumboband. Scooter Tamulinas of Bill Deasy and Bill Toms fame played on the CD.

The CD those guys played on is "Bringing Me Back," just released yesterday with a party at Frankie and George's (the old PD's Pub) on Forward Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

It was mastered at Swissvale's Sofa King Studios by Sean McDonald, who has worked with The Clarks, Aretha Franklin, Wynton Marsalis, Sinead O'Connor, and Soul Asylum. Some of the album was recorded at the McMurray studio of local musician Tom Breiding, and Jill Simmons and Cherylann Hawk lent the voices to the project.

The music is cataloged as jam-band American rock, ala Dave Matthews and the Grateful Dead. Songs from the CD, particularly "Live Out Loud," have gotten some airplay on WYEP-FM and local college stations. Spadaro is hoping the CD will help her and the band break out, at least regionally.

Until then, look for the Patti Spadaro Band dates in the paper, or for a stage with Patti doing an acoustic set. You'll get a bluesy jam-rock set with a solid groove and dancin' vibe; they love to get a room - and you - rockin'.

Patti Spadora Band - "Turn On Your Love Light"

28 North

2010-11-05T19:00:00.001-04:00

28 North
28 North may be the biggest current thing in the Pittsburgh rock scene. They have their own playlist of original songs, now at 150+ and growing, and work a classic rock, southern jam vibe that's proven popular over the decades, not only in the Tri-State area but across the land.

Their sound has won enough local fans that the group was selected as 2010's Best Band in the annual WQED Readers Poll taken by Pittsburgh Magazine. It's solid rock, with hooks, harmony and radio-friendly riffs galore.

Followers of The Grateful Dead, Lynnard Skynyrd, Government Mule, Phish, the Allman Brothers and Blackfoot should groove to their music; the band itself says its muse is The Band, chief among others ranging from the Beatles to the Black Crowes.

The members of 28 North are frontman Mike Lindner (guitar/vocals), Alex Stanton (guitar/harp/vocals), Jonathan Colman (bass/vocals) and Tyler Bond (drum/vocals). They originally started out as a trio before adding Colman, a Philly native, to round out the sound.

They have three CDs out; "Gone Too Far" (2007), "Mystery" (2008), and "28 North" (2010), the last mastered by George Marino, who has worked with the Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi. All are available through iTunes and Amazon; the group is unsigned and doesn't have a label to push them, yet, and so depends mightily on the digital record shops.

28 North is putting together a fourth album in Brooklyn, working with Felix McTeigue, a well-respected country writer and producer, while playing a November residency at Arlene's Grocery, a bar known for showcasing up-and-coming acts.

And 28 North isn't sitting on its laurels or looking to become home-town heroes. They tour nationwide to support their work, having done by their count some 400 shows in the past three years.

They've shared a stage with the Dave Matthews Band, My Morning Jacket, Crash Kings, Motley Crue, Dickie Betts, Ace Frehley, Billy Squire, Steven Adler, Pat McGee Band, Pat Travers, Ekoostik Hookah, and the Blues Travelers along with locals like Joe Grushecky and Rusted Root.

The venues are just as strong as the acts 28 North supports: they've played at LA's Whiskey A Go Go and Chicago's House of Blues, along with New York's CMJ, Austin's South by Southwest, and Park City's Sundance Film Festivals. They finished a busy summer tour at the end of July and are fitting together dates around Arlene's and studio time for the winter.

They work the home front pretty well, too. 28 North is regularly part of the rotation of WDVE and have appeared on the Morning Show, Coffee House and the station's on-air Christmas Party, while WYEP spins their music, too. They've also been getting some airplay nationally since the release of "28 North."

They play the big local fests like Ribs on the River 2010, the Pittsburgh Marathon and the Rivers Casino amphitheater concert, along with area venues such as the Altar Bar, Thunderbird Cafe, Club Cafe, and Mr. Smalls.

They've got all the licks needed to break out. Now it's just a matter of getting the breaks to launch that break out.

28 North | The Shine from T. Larkin Productions on Vimeo.

____________________________________________________________________________________

2010-11-01T07:00:00.010-04:00

Jack Stanizzo and Paul Lowe will be playing at Sieb's Pub, 3382 Babcock Boulevard, on November 6, 2010 at 9:30 pm. Give them a listen; Jack's released a jazz influenced, singer/songwriter CD with Paul called "Heart of the City."

Bobby Porter

2010-10-30T22:00:00.003-04:00

Bobby Porter
Rupert Cleo "Bobby" Porter, 59, died of stomach cancer at the age of 59 in the VA hospital. The mighty mite of a singer fronted garage punkers Young Lust, Thin White Line, and his current band Short Dark Strangers.

A memorial for Porter will be held Sunday, November 21st at 9 PM at Kopecs in Lawrenceville. Friends are invited to speak, and are asked to keep their comments to three minutes.

Born in the Hill in 1951, he learned his craft in a church choir. After high school, Porter joined the Marines and went to Vietnam as a tunnel rat, scurrying through dark warrens under the jungle floor chasing after Charlie. The punk scene was a holiday after that tour of duty.

He got his discharge in the early '70s, and Porter led a southwest band called Otis and the Red Z (southwest as in New Mexico, not Pennsylvania) that played rock & soul. Porter returned to Pittsburgh a few years later to get in on the emerging Three Rivers punk scene and formed Young Lust.

They played clubs like the Electric Banana (Porter lived in Oakland then, and held court at Chief's Cafe when he wasn't singing or clubbing), the Lion's Walk, Cedar Lounge and Phase III. Like most punk bands, they didn't get much mainstream love, but their tapes were played on the college stations.

His shows were legendary. The music may have been from the garage, but Porter's vocals were straight from Memphis. And though slight of stature, he was a physical dynamo.

He would go through a variety of stage antics and back-flipping acrobatics, jump on tables, walk on the bar...it was always a good idea to hang on to your drink when Porter took the stage. And when the band took a break, Porter would do a powerful acapella "Dock of the Bay" to remind the punk crowd of his R&B roots.

In fact, his second band, Thin White Line, made up their own version of the tune, “Dock of the Bus Stop.” TWL was a fixture on the Youngstown and Pittsburgh punk scenes starting in 1983 through the mid-90′s.

That's when Thin White Line became Short Dark Strangers, which described their sound as "Otis Redding or Wilson Picket (with) a punk band backing them."

The band did two tours of Europe and had a healthy performance schedule, hitting towns like Buffalo, Erie, Baltimore and Cleveland. Their home base in Pittsburgh was Howler's, though they performed in several area bars and clubs.

Music was a way of life for Porter, but not a way to earn a living. He took whatever day jobs fit his schedule, from bouncing to pushing a broom. Porter was single, and the life suited him.

Now he and Otis can join in a duet - and hang on to those glasses!

(Bobby's friends have set up a Facebook remembrance page; some great tales, pix and vids on the site.)

Bobby Porter and Thin White Line - Strange Glances

Dethlehem

2010-10-28T19:00:00.099-04:00

Dethlehem
As Halloween, the autumnal time of dark fantasy, approached, Old Mon heard some music that would make the dead dance, being played by men in outfits that Prince Valiant would kill for. OM had just wandered into a Dethlehem set.

The group calls itself an "Epic Melodic Death Metal" band. Yah, "melodic" and "death metal" aren't phrases you often use in the same sentence; we kinda like the term "adventure metal" for their genre.

They're similar to the bands Swashbuckle and 3 Inches of Blood, with thrashing guitars and alternately growled/yelped vocals. (For those who can't quite translate Bonecrush's words, the lyrics are posted on MySpace).

The fantasy metal musical sphere is a subset, but one that's growing. Not only are American performers thrashing medieval metal licks, but the form is pretty big across the pond, in Russia, and Australia where the bands and their fans take the gamer-based music scene to a quite serious level of role-playing metal.

The Pittsburgh group was formed in 2008, and its founding cast went by the names of Lord Bonecrush (Vocals/War Cry), Gallagore (Bass/Bass Staff), Overlord Brom (Drums/War Drums), Hildor Anduv (Guitar/Axe) and Bovice (Guitar/Axe).

Dethlehem is a RPG music machine. They stay in character, and perform wearing tunics, robes, chain mail, helmets, and war paint like medieval warriors, while blasting out metal in a sort of LARP (live action role playing) synthesis. And we mean they stay in character.

Forsooth, when bassist Gallagore decided to move on to more twenty-first century pastures, the group announced his departure by folding the event into its own self-mythos with this announcement:

"After having helped defeat Yagolith in the kingdom of Dethlehem, Gallagore has decided to retire back to the Elven forests of Unnastyruh." As far as the search for his replacement was concerned...

"We stopped in the field where the War of Wizards had taken place. We were shocked to find a lone survivor, a powerful wizard, Davidicus the Black. Davidicus convinced us of his usefulness by commanding thunderous tones with his Bass Staff. We decided a 5th member suited the band of warriors well."

The mythology of the Dethlehem fantasy is set up in the CD "Ghorusalem Codex, Vol I, Enthroned Upon A Spire," released in August of 2009. It's about a quest to destroy an evil goblin king named Yagolith who can handily morph into a dragon.

The saga begins in the village of Dethlehem, the happening place in the land of Ghorusalem, modeled on the centuries old story of the Three-Wise-Demons.

It’s a self-produced album, natch. There is some label love for fantasy bands, but Dethlehem is an unsigned act. It's clear, too, that the guys in Dethlehem made the album in the spirit of fun as well as fantasy. All you have to do is listen to the last cut, "Bonus Track of Absurdity," to figure that out.

Overlord Brom told interviewer Dan Rodriguez of Metal Insider that "we stand out a little bit because we have a somewhat original concept with the whole 'medieval/fantasy/goofy' theme. Yes, we aren’t the first band to dress up in goofy costumes, but instead of taking it really seriously, I think we are trying to laugh together..."

But because they don't take the band to the extremes of, oh, the furries, for example, don't think they're without a dedicated, loyal cadre of Deth metal followers. Their stages are a bit limited because so many Pittsburgh venues are 21+ rather than all-age, but they've still played the Hard Rock Cafe, the Altar Bar, Club Diesel, the Roundhouse, The Rex, Mr. Small's and the Smiling Moose.

Which brings us back to Halloween. On Friday night at 8:30, Dethlehem will appear at Mr. Small's for a special Halloween performance ("Hallo-Wizard"). Joining the thrasher warriors will be SIKES, Tobacco Road, Verbs, and the Motorpsychos, along with assorted trolls and critters.

Dethlehem's resume reads "Basically, we slay dragons, drink lots of ale, and turn maidens into wenches. Oh... and shred some epic metal." We say good work if you can get it.

(Thanks to shop bud Mike Hyjurick for pointing Old Mon in Dethlehem's direction.)

Dethlehem - "War of Wizards" from The Ghorusalem Codex Vol I (2009)

Kathy & Jimmy Zee

2010-10-22T19:00:00.007-04:00

Kathy & Jim Zee from the Rockabilly Hall of Fame
Kathy Zee was born Kathleen Ann Zaleski in Lawrenceville on June 12, 1946. By the age of four, she was already playing the mandolin (it was probably the only instrument that she could wrap her little hands around) and was primed to hit the stage like her big brother Jimmy.

He was all of twelve and singing at various shows. Jimmy was performing at a benefit concert for the Leukemia Foundation at a local high school gym, and let his lil' sis join him. She sang the Sophie Tucker chestnut "Some Of These Days," and as a result the "Harmony Wildcats," consisting of Kathy and Jimmy, were born.

The act played record hops, shows, and talent contests. Kathy sang and Jimmy played guitar and did back-up vocals; he was a veteran trouper who had won several talent shows, including the Wilkens Amateur Hour.

They regularly appeared on Pittsburgh-area radio and television broadcasts like the Eva Jackson and Virginia O'Donnell shows before graduating to the national Ted Mack Amateur Hour.

In 1958, manager Elmer Willett signed Kathy to a solo contract, and sent her to a voice coach. That must have turned the trick; he wrangled a deal with New York's Laurie records, a Dot subsidiary, which released her first record "Buzzin" in the US.

Although Jimmy wasn't on the record credits (He did have his own record in 1957, under the credit of Mike and Jim called "Dungaree Cutie" b/w "Baby Don't Knock", released on Josie #825 as both a 45 and 78), he played guitar and sang the backing vocals for "Buzzin'" (Laurie 3020), which cracked the U.S. Top 40 and was a huge local hit.

A few months before the USA release of "Buzzin'," it was issued in Germany on the Polydor label (66901), and was #1 in Hamburg (OK, Nummer Eins for Teutonic sticklers) for three straight weeks, and Kathy Zee is still popular overseas.

"I know my records are being played in the Netherlands and in Germany," she wrote. "There is a DJ over there named Giel Aarts who I do some liners for every now and then. And I have a fan club over in the Netherlands headed by Nol Voorst."

The wax was backed with an up tempo B side called "Crackerjack," which got some play, too. It was pretty heady stuff for a thirteen year old from Lawrenceville.

Kathy and Jimmy toured all over the east coast, and locally they did the hop circuit (they were particular favorites of those hosted by DJ Stan Wall). Willett decided to release the next song on his own label.

"Santa Claus Rock and Roll" b/w the ballad "Your Name, Your Name" (Willett 45-121) was credited to Kathy and Jimmy Zee, with Dick Glaser and the Glaser Brothers doing the back up vocals.

But the disk didn't have the legs of its predecessor. It again did well regionally, but the strictly local Willett label couldn't promote the vinyl outside the area. Their brief fling with rock fame came crashing to a halt.

The duo continued performing in the Pittsburgh area and remained a part of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour tour. But when Kathy graduated from Divine Providence Academy in 1964 at the age of 17, she and Jimmy were ready for greener pastures. They took Horace Greeley's old advice to heart and went west.

Kathy and Jimmy headed to Hollywood and were signed by the Johnny Robinson agency, big time talent reps, and started working right away.

The pair were booked at places like the Sands Hotel in San Diego, and spent several years performing in the southwest. They later become part of a club act in Reno named the Al Bello Revue. The show played at the Primadonna Club for over a year then moved to the Mapes Hotel, where the revue performed for another year.

Kathy was getting offers to join other groups, and when the Bello gig came to an end, the siblings split. Jimmy remained part of the Reno lounge scene while Kathy joined Abby Neal and the Ranch Girls as a rhythm guitar player and singer. They toured across the country until Neal had a heart attack and the group broke up.

She worked for a short time with a local group, the Tony Austin Trio that gigged in the Reno/Tahoe area and then moved on to a group called the Diplomats.

Zee became the featured singer and played bass. The Diplomats were actually the Sunshine Boys, a noted gospel group made up of Ace Richman, Jerry Wallace, Eddie Wallace and Woody Woodruff.

When they came to California, they changed their name to the Diplomats to play the clubs in Vegas, Reno and Tahoe. They also toured heavily, and after a couple of years, Kathy finally had her fill of buses and suitcases. She retired at age 27 to raise her family.

Now Kathy (Zaleski) Davis lives in Amador county, on seven acres about an hour from Sacramento, and sings in the choir at her local church. She has two children, five grandchildren, and makes and sells her hand crafted jewelry under the Kathy Davis line. She plans to start a Kathy Zee line in 2011. She also plans to offer autographed pictures, with the proceeds going to local charities like the womens' shelter and animal rescue society.

Jimmy, married with one son, is retired and has a home in Carson City.

They do periodically get together for a living room reunion gig, as Kathy wrote "When I do see him, which is about once a year, we get our guitars out and have a little jam session, and it sure does bring back the good ole times. We can still harmonize."

And no doubt reminiscence about the long strange trip from Lawrenceville to the left coast.

Kathy Zee - "Buzzin'" 1958

David Parr

2010-10-20T23:22:00.000-04:00

David L. Parr
Old Mon is sad to announce that another of Pittsburgh's music men, David Parr of the LaRells, died this week at the age of 68.

Parr was more than a musician and promoter/historian for the Homewood group, which did "Everybody Knew" in 1960. He was also a recording engineer, and a good one, who helped other singers on the way up with his expertise both as a performer and with the mixing board.

David was a relentless campaigner for the rights of the old bands that birthed R&B, pushing for legal protection of group names, a contentious issue on the oldies circuit. He also fought for the recovery of rights and royalties for their music, which was often covered or reissued without the artist's knowledge and almost always without any financial remuneration.

Our condolences and sympathies to his wife, Charlesetta (Charlie), daughter Monique and his family. Part of an era has died with David.

"Tomorrow Will Only Bring Sorrow" - La Rells

2010-10-16T23:21:00.000-04:00

The Tammys

2010-10-16T02:39:00.009-04:00

The Tammys
The Tammys were an early sixties Oil City group (one reviewer said "Think Shangri-Las, but even more twisted and way sillier") consisting of sisters Gretchen and Cathy Owens and their friend Linda Jones.

They're best known for their song "Egyptian Shumba" with its vaguely Mid-Eastern instrumentals and girl group vocals that quickly change to primal yelps. To this day, it's still considered a cult classic because of its energy.

In high school, the Owens girls first sang in a group called The Impressions. As The Charnelles, the trio first publicly performed on 1962 at a school talent show, losing to the Gyantwachia Indian Dance team.

The girls were later thrown out of Famores' Restaurant in Oil City for singing along with the jukebox. They told the owners that "We’ll be on that jukebox someday." The vow came true with 1963's "Take Back Your Ring."

The girls first met Lou Christie in 1961 at a Marcy Jo/Lugee And The Lions show on a Saturday night at the Moose Lodge in Franklin, PA.

He later took them for a ride in his black Cadillac, with, of course, their mom's permission. Christie sang while they did back-up back-seat harmony and he told them "If I ever get discovered, I'll call you," and they promised the same to him.

A year later, he hit it big with "The Gypsy Cried" and took them to New York City, where they sang backup for him on several record tracks. Christie's older sister, Amy Sacco, managed and chaperoned the group.

They got their own contract with United Artists Records through Jack Gold, who nurtured quite a few local careers (including Christie's), and The Tammys recorded four songs. He signed them as The Twy-Lous though they never recorded under that nom d' music.

Despite fairly strong local airplay, ballads "Take Back Your Ring" and "Gypsy," along with the wild "Egyptian Shumba," all failed to chart nationally, although "Ring" sold moderately well in the region and "Egyptian Shumba" was a Top 15 hit in Pittsburgh and a Top 30 tune in Cleveland.

KDKA jock Clark Race hosted The Tammys several times on his weekly TV "Dance Party" show, and they performed with Christie at Pittsburgh clubs. They also made regular appearances in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York, often backed by the Johnny Jack Quintet.

By 1965, after returning from the Army, Christie found another girl group to back him, The Angels of "My Boyfriend's Back" fame. The Tammys continued to play local gigs and sing background tracks, but by 1966, they joined the real world. Though their work wasn't particularly Billboard chart material, it wouldn't fade away, either.

As the Northern Soul craze engulfed Britain in the early 1970s, collectors began looking for songs with a funky dance groove. "Egyptian Shumba," written by Christie and Twyla Herbert, was rediscovered and became a Euro hit.

In 2002 all of The Tammys' singles plus two previously unreleased tracks were released on a CD called "Egyptian Shumba - The Singles and Rare Recordings: 1962-1964," (RPM - 330) including several Christie songs backed by The Tammys.

"Egyptian Shumba" is part of the Grammy-nominated box set "One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds, Lost and Found" after some lobbying by Christie for his old running mates. The wacky...um, make that catchy, dance tune is also included in a handful of compilation albums.

In 2006, Pitchfork Media included "Egyptian Shumba" in their list of top 200 songs of the 1960s at #177. Nitsuh Abebe wrote "It's not just that this girl group's gone wilder than any garage band on the list; it's that they're possessed. The Tammys bop hard and bratty, but by the chorus they're literally growling, barking, and squealing like sexed-up hyenas..."

The "sexed-up hyenas" are all domesticated tabbies now. Cathy (Owens) Friederich put down roots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and has 10 grandkids. Gretchen (Owens) Wagner lives in the Erie area and is the music and liturgy coordinator for the Notre Dame Catholic Church of Hermitage. Linda (Jones) Honey makes her home in Texas.

Discography as the Tammys:

-- "Take Back Your Ring' b/w "Part Of Growing Up" (1963 - United Artists 632)
-- "Egyptian Shumba' b/w "What's So Sweet About Sweet Sixteen?" (1963 - United Artists 678)
-- "Gypsy" b/w "Hold Back The Light Of Dawn" (1965 - Veep 1210)
-- "Blue Sixteen" b/w "His Actions Speak Louder Than Words" (1965 - Veep 1220; unreleased until 2002)

As Ritchie & The Runarounds (Kripp Johnson of The Del Vikings, Lou Christie and The Tammys):
-- "Lost In the Crowd" b/w "Don'tcha Backtrack" (1963 - Ascot 2136)

"Egyptian Shumba" - Tammys 1963

Some Special Shows On Tap...

2010-10-13T22:34:00.007-04:00

-- E Street Band legend Max Weinberg will join the roster of touring acts to play a BurghSTOCK gig when he performs with his Big Band this Sunday, 7 PM at Altar.

The BurghSTOCK gang will be raffling off a cymbal signed by Max, with the proceeds benefiting the Shepherd's Heart Veterans Home.

-- The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, will join Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers for two concerts at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in Oakland on November 4th and 5th. The opening act on the fourth will be Jill West & Blues Attack, and the I Drive will open the second show. Tickets are $45-$75, with a limited number of Gold Circle seats at $100, and will go on sale Wednesday through Ticketmaster.

-- Stage AE, the new North Shore venue, will host Girl Talk (Greg Gillis) on December 3rd & 4th; George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic on December 10th; and Wiz Khalifa on December 16th. Tickets for the three shows go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday: Girl Talk ($22 advance; $25 day of show; $40 for both); George Clinton ($28; $30 day of show); Wiz Khalifa ($23; $25). Log onto or call (1-800-745-3000) Ticketmaster.

-- U2 will play Heinz Field on July 26th with Interpol as the last stop on the U2 360° tour. Tickets ($30, $55, $95 & $250) go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, October 18th via Livenation, Ticketmaster or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

See You In September

2010-10-10T19:00:00.001-04:00

The Tempos - Jim Drake top right, and clockwise are Tom Miniti, Mike Lazo, and Gene Schachter. (photo from Ann Lazo Shapiro)

The Tempos were the epitome of a one-hit wonder. But boy, what a hit it was: "See You In September."

They started in 1954 as a quartet called The Hi-Lites, consisting of Clairton's Mike Lazo, Gene Schachter, and a pair of Canonsburg guys: Jim Drake, who arranged their songs (he also wrote for the CLO) and Bobby Vinton.

They never recorded, content to play the hop and club circuit. Lazo and Schachter had served together in the Army, stationed in Korea, where they sang in U.S.O. shows together. The pair started the group after their 1953 discharge.

In 1957, they became The Tempos. The band featured Four Freshman style harmonies, the hot genre of the era. And they sang those harmonies pretty well.

Beside playing local club gigs, they attracted the ear of David Kapp of New York City's Kapp Records. The connection was likely through the good graces of record producer Jack Gold, who gave the group their name. (Jack Gold Records had another local artist under personal contract by the name of Lou Christie). At the time, Kapp was a MOR operation, with artists like Jane Morgan and Roger Miller, and were looking for a more youthful sound.

The label released three singles from the Tempos: "Kingdom Of Love" b/w "That's What You Do To Me" (1957 - Kapp 178), "Prettiest Girl In School" b/w "Never You Mind" (1957- Kapp 199) and "Strollin' With My Baby" b/w "I Got A Job" (1958 - Kapp 213), a response record to 1957's "Get A Job" by the Silhouettes.

The band made one change after the Kapp sessions, bringing in saxman Tom Minito to replace Bobby Vinton, who was now in the service. Minito was a buddy of Drake's from their college days at Duquesne.

The Kapp records never took off, but it did get the band's foot in the Big Apple door. That connection would come in handy after a session between Brill Building writers Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards. On a June Friday in 1959, Wayne and Edwards hooked up. Wayne had a working title of "See You In September," and before the end of the work day, the tune was a finished product.

They made the rounds to pitch the song that same afternoon. After one rejection, the tune was snapped up by the Tempos' angel, Jack Gold. Things happened that quickly back in the day, before lawyers and label suits held sway.

Gold called the Tempos that night, and the next day they were in NYC. By Monday, the record was cut, backed by the Billy Mure orchestra. It was released by Climax Records (which issued a grand total of ten records between 1959-60 before closing), and on the following Friday, the song was on the turntables of WNEW.

Wayne and Edwards were happy; they got $500 to split for their day's work. Gold got credit for producing the song and held its rights. And the Tempos were back on wax.

Surprisingly, the Tempos "See You In September" failed to become a hit in the New York City area. But it grew on the public. The record broke big in San Francisco, and the single reached the national charts in July, peaking at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of August.

One reason the record took awhile to make its mark was that "See You In September" was originally the flip of the uptempo "Bless You My Love" (Climax 102). It took the DJs a few spins to correct that little marketing error, not a particularly big deal back in an era when B Sides commonly became the hits.

They followed it with "The Crossroads of Love" b/w "Whatever Happens" (1959 - Climax 105). Billboard's October Spotlight column said it could have "hit sequels with either side." They were wrong; both songs flopped. Many thought that the flip was the side that should have been pushed by the label, much like "September."

And with that, the Tempos had their 15 minutes. The group appeared on American Bandstand on October 12, 1959, and made local TV and club appearances afterward.

They released the much covered "Look Homeward Angel" b/w "Under 10 Flags" (1959 - Paris 550) without Lazo. The originals reunited to record "My Barbara Ann" b/w "When You Loved Me" (1965 - Ascot 2167) and "My Barbara Ann (re-release) b/w "I Wish It Were Summer" (1965 - Ascot 2173).

"My Barbara Ann" was not the Regent/Beach Boys "Barbara Ann," but a song Lazo wrote for his wife, Barbara. Ann Lazo Shapiro, their daughter, wrote in and added that "my mother's maiden name (she passed away in 1990) was Rechichar. Her cousin was Belle Vernon's Bert Rechichar, the famous All-Pro Colts player of the fifties who held the NFL field goal record many moons ago." Music and football - how more Steel City can a family get?

After that, the Tempos faded away. Mike Lazo, Jim Drake and Tom Minito are still alive and kicking, while Gene Schachter just passed away. Gene co-wrote Bobby Vinton's "Mr Lonely" under his professional name of Gene Allan: Allan was his middle name.

But their song, "See You In September," may outlast them all.

It was covered by the Quotations and Shelley Fabares in 1962, The Chiffons and Frankie Valli in 1966, and Debby Boone in 1979, among many others over the decades. You might remember a 1966 upbeat version by New Jersey's Happenings that reached #3 on the charts.

It made a revival in 1973, when the Tempos version was featured in the movie and soundtrack of "American Graffiti." It revived their legacy, but didn't fatten their pocketbooks. The "Godfather of Music," Morris Levy of Roulette Records, ended up with the rights, and that pretty much took care of the royalties. The song still gets dusted off to this day and spun to greet the fall.

So for the Tempos, it was a one-hit career. But for their song, it was pop immortality.

(The picture above is an original promo shot by Climax Records, from Ann Lazo. Watch carefully for any look-alike shots - there's a widespread photoshop fraud of the original. The man at the top of the fake is NOT Jim Drake, but features an impostor who replaced Drake's image with another.

"See You In September" - The Tempos

Bon Ton Roulet

2010-10-07T21:09:00.009-04:00

Hey, the hard-working Tim Roolf of Bonedog Records was digging through the archives, and came up with an old MTV "Basement Tapes" segment, hosted by MJ Martha Quinn and Frank Zappa back on December 7th, 1985.

The band was Pittsburgh's own Bon Ton Roulet, put together by McKeesport's Bone Daddy Jeff Ingersol in the early eighties. It was a brass-driven ensemble that played Funk, R&B, Soul, and 30’s and 40’s music. In fact, some of their playlist was lifted from Ingersol's collection of old 78 records.

The BTR roster was Sharon Garland - Vocals, Gil Snyder - Keyboards, Don Hollowood - Guitar, Ken Crisafalo - Drums, Stefan Lovasik - Drums (studio), Xayne Berlinski - Bass, Chris Patarini - Sax, and Mark McCollum - Sax.

The group played regularly at Dom DiSilvio's club, The Decade on Atwood Street in Oakland. One memorable night, an up-and-coming rocker named Bruce Springsteen jumped on stage and joined them for a set.Three years later, Jon Bon Jovi did the same.

They performed "Love and War" for MTV, showcased in an artsy little B&W vid. (The bombed out areas were actually from a North Side redevelopment project; the tank is parked in McKeesport's Renzie Park.) Here's how they sounded 25 years ago:

The Donnybrooks

2010-10-01T19:00:00.033-04:00

The Donnybrooks in 1958 and 2010
Hey, everyone knows Washington County's Canonsburg produced Perry Como, Bobby Vinton, and the Four Coins. But there was another pretty strong quartet that came from that town in the late fifties, the Donnybrooks.

Classmates, The Donnybrooks began their career when they performed at an 8th grade graduation ceremony at the old Third Ward School, and continued on during their high school years.

Originally known as The Phaetons and later The Four Pals, they sang at dance halls and clubs around the Tri-State, from Pittsburgh to Wheeling, and from Steubenville to New Ken.

After some initial personnel shuffling, the core members consisted of John Alterio (bass), Ken Paige (tenor), Bob Kobert (stage name Bobby Shawn, lead vocals) and Frank Trebel (baritone). Their style took after other fifties groups like The Four Lads, The Four Aces, and The Mills Brothers.

They appeared a couple of times on the Wilkins Amateur Hour and Art Pallan's Talent Search, popular talent contests with call-in voting that were shown on KDKA TV. They never won a show (the band lost twice to tap dancers!), but the experience paid off; in early 1958 The Four Pals won a talent search contest that was sponsored by KDKA Radio and Westinghouse Broadcasting.

The station flew the group to New York for the final competition, and on the return flight, they got a glimpse of fame up close and personal when they met Cab Calloway and Roger Miller on the plane, introduced to them by KD jock Art Pallan.

More importantly for their future, the KDKA award led to a recording contract with the Pittsburgh's Calico Records. Bill Lawrence, a Calico owner and record distributor, became their manager and gave them a new name: The Donnybrooks. He thought it was catchy and would help them stand out from the pack.

They cut their first release, the ballad "Everytime We Kiss" b/w "Break The Glass," a hand-clappin' Calypso-type tune (Calico 108) in the spring of 1958. The songs were crafted by Canonsburg song writer and school music teacher, Lou Popiolkowski. The tune took off, and it nudged into Billboard Magazine's Top 100 in the summer.

Calico Records then launched the group on a promotional tour of the East Coast, where they appeared on TV dance programs in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC.

The Donnybrooks appeared locally on KDKA's Dance Party with Clark Race, WIIC's competing Dance Party with Bill Cardille, and Del Taylor's Bandstand on WTAE. They also performed for the first of the Dick Clark Cavalcade of Stars tours, and were booked in the night clubs along the Route 51 corridor as well as appearing at West View Park's Danceland and Kennywood Park's amphitheater.

The second 45, "Coming Home From School" (Calico 112), also written by Popiolkowski, was released later in 1958. The flip side, "Mandolins of Love," was inked by another Canonsburg song writer, Tony Ambrose. They kept their homeys in royalties.

As the doowop era wound down, Calico Records went through a reorganization and the band lost their label. They continued their live act until in 1960, when the group broke up to pursue college and other careers.

Bobby Shawn stuck with music, though, and started a solo career a few years later. His repertoire covered big band and jazz standards to pop and rock classics, with a healthy dose of some Italian melodies tossed in.

He appeared at Seven Springs Ski Resort regularly, the Meadows, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, along with gigs for the Hilton and Holiday House chains. Shawn has performed at the Miss USA Pageant, Miss Teen USA Pageant, and hosted and sang at the Great American Modeling Search.

He also has four CD's out - "Bobby Shawn Through The Years," "Bobby Shawn Sings," "Playing the Jukebox" and "Christmas With Bobby Shawn." Now he performs locally in various venues, and his current act, The Senior Show, is popular around the Tri-State region; he even has a long-time fan club called "The Shawnettes." Oh, he also takes the lead again for the Donnybrooks every so often, too.

They have reunited for occasional shows over the past decade or so, performing at reunions, special events, private gigs and clubs, and they've made several appearances at the Canonsburg 4th of July celebration. In fact, they're playing at St. Thomas More tonight. You can take the boy out of Canonsburg, but...

And they did C-Burg proud. In 2007 the group became part of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, recognized with the other prominent local acts honored by the Hall.

The Donnybrooks - "Everytime We Kiss" (1959)

Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze

2010-09-26T19:59:00.005-04:00

Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze
Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze, formed in 2002, is a blues band that also pumps out soul and R&B; they like to get the crowd away from shoe gazin' and onto the dance floor.

The group is a popular draw for venues on the Tri-State circuit and local clubs such as Moondog's, Cefalo's, and the Valley Hotel. They've opened for acts like Kelly Richie and Greg “Fingers” Taylor. They play all the blues jams: Pittsburgh Blues Festival, Wheeling Heritage Blues Festival, Elkin's Riverside Blues Festival, Charleston's Blues Brews and Barb-Q Festival and Sharon's Music Festival.

The Blue Faze represents the genre well. The band won the 2008 Appalachian Blues Competition in West Virginia, which earned them a spot in Memphis for the 2009 International Blues Competition. They've also played The Blues Divas Show for the Western PA Blues Society, the Blues Society Picnic, and Stand Down 2009 for vets.

Blue Faze is made up of Miss Freddye (vocals), Chris Nacy (harmonica), John Erskine (drums) and Matt McClintock (electric and upright bass). Greg Casile often plays the ax for them, but that's a rotating position since Jason Caliguri, one of the founding members, went off to join Jimbo and the Soupbones, along with other acts.

Fredericka "Miss Freddye" Stover: Originally from the North Side, the Natrona Heights resident started out singing in church when she was 15. She has been singing professionally for eleven years and carries the torch of Etta James, Koko Taylor, Susan Tedeshi and Tracy Chapman. For a blues singer, she has a lot of local jazz musicians she follows: Harold Betters, Rodney McCoy, Roger Humphries and Southside Jerry Mellix among them.

She's the face of the band, and as the lead vocalist, she can belt the blues or go slow with a ballad.

She's just released a CD for Bonedog Records in the Mon Valley, "These Are My Blues," a collection of mostly original Mike Sweeney tunes (and not to be mistaken for the Big Joe Williams LP of the same name). Miss Freddye is backed by Boneyard's session players, a strong group of blues/soul musicians. The title track, though, was recorded with Blue Faze, and written by Stover and Bubs McKeg.

Chris "Kit" Nacy: Nacy provides the finishing touch for any true blues band: the harp line. His influences are Smokin’ Joe Bisceglia, Greg "Fingers" Taylor and Matt Nacy. From Cheswick, he's also half of Izzy & Chris, an acoustic roots blues act formed in 2006 that won the West Virginia Blues Society IBC "blues duo" title in 2008 (Izzy Stetar is from Weirton).

Izzy and Chris have also released a CD, 2008's "Preachin' The Blues...Vol 1."

John Erskine: Erskine is another Valley suburbs guy, hailing from Indiana Township. He's a veteran behind the kit, having play with the bands like The Vogues and Jimmy Adler.

Matt McClintock: He's the bassman for several bands around the area, laying the beat from jazz to blues. When not playing with the Blue Faze, he can be found sitting with Erin Burkett and the Mean Reds or teaching music. McClintock has also played with the Drew Bentley Band, The Minda Brothers and Kenny Blake.

He's the newest group member, replacing original bassist Keith Gamble from Freeport, who now plays for the Bobby Hawkins & The Blues Train Band, and also The RumpShakers.

If you're looking for a band that features one of the top blues/soul voices in the district and whose musicians can get you out of your seat with their blues beat, look no further than Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze.

"That Kinda Woman" - Miss Freddye and the Blue Faze

Rock 'N' Roll

2010-09-24T11:59:00.019-04:00

Image from Rock 'n' Roll Skirts
Hey, did you ever wonder where the phrase "rock 'n' roll" came from? Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope gives its history in his "Who Invented The Term Rock 'N' Roll?"

We all know it was popularized by Cleveland DJ Alan Freed during his popular music show on radio station WJW, "Moon Dog's House Party," and began playing R&B tunes in 1951-52, which he described as rock and roll. According to another source, Freed didn't use the term until 1954 at NYC's WIN with his "Rock And Roll Party" show. Either way, Freed's phrase stuck.

But musically, it dates back to the Roaring Twenties. The origin of the term “rock ‘n’ roll,” is pretty straightforward.

It originally meant the movement of the boat on the ocean. In the late 1800s to early 1900s, gospel music used the term to describe being rocked and rolled in the arms of the Lord.

From there, it wasn't a far step to have the phrase turn from religious to secular lingo. Black artists used it to generally describe partying, carrying on, and/or having sex (ie, a roll in the hay, dating back centuries in time).

Rock historian Nick Tosches traces the first recorded "rock and roll" line to blues singer Trixie Smith, who recorded "My Daddy Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)" for Black Swan Records in 1922. The song inspired spin-offs like "Rock That Thing" by Lil Johnson and "Rock Me Mama" by Ikey Robinson. Another expert, Southeastern U communications professor Joe Burns, dates it to the gospel tune "Camp Meeting Jubilee" performed in 1916.

Per Wikipedia, the term was first used in its entirety in 1937, when Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald recorded "Rock It for Me", which included the lyric, "...So won't you satisfy my soul with the rock and roll..."

Who knew rock 'n' roll was a double-entendre flapper-era phenomena?

Naming the first rock artist is a crap shoot; Big Joe Turner and Sister Rosetta Tharpe had several songs that could pass as rock records as early as the thirties.

Other candidates considered for the honor include “How High the Moon” by Les Paul and Mary Ford; “The Honey Dripper” by Joe Liggens; “Boogie Chillen’” by John Lee Hooker; “Saturday Night Fish Fry” by Louis Jordan; “The Fat Man” by Fats Domino; “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets and “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats.

“An argument can be made for and against every song mentioned, but there’s one that fits better than all of those noted: ‘That’s All Right Mama,’ by Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup,” said Burns, who hosts the weekly program “Rock School” on Southeastern’s KSLU 90.9 FM radio station.

Wikipedia adds that "A leading contender as the first fully formed rock and roll recording is 'Rocket 88' by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (actually Ike Turner and The Kings of Rhythm under a different name), recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records in 1951.

Three years later the first rock and roll song to enter Billboard magazine's main sales and airplay charts was Bill Haley's 'Crazy Man, Crazy' and the first to top the charts was his 'Rock Around the Clock' in 1955."

But hey, no matter where it started, it's here to stay.

"Rock 'N' Roll Is Here To Stay" - Danny And The Juniors, 1958