Billy Cox: 'Burgh Bridge To Hendrix

Billy Cox from Wikipedia

Ask any old stoner from the Woodstock era, and they'll tell you that Noel Redding was Jimi Hendrix's right hand bass man. Well, that's one hippy that would be wrong.

Redding may have gotten more notoriety as part of the Experience, but Pittsburgh's own Billy Cox knew and played alongside Hendrix longer, and in more bands. He was with Hendrix at both the start and finish of his career and still carries his torch today.

Billy Cox was born with music around him in Wheeling on October 18th, 1941. His dad was a Baptist minister and math teacher while his mom was a classical pianist, and at a young age he played the piano and sax.

His family moved to the Hill while Cox was in his early teens, and it was at Schenley High where he began to master the bass while playing in local bands. Cox was heavily influenced by Pittsburgh's jazz scene, soaking up the local greats performing in the Hill District clubs and the national players passing through town. Then it was off to the Army.

Hendrix and Cox met at the 101st Airborne Division base in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in 1961 where both were paratroopers. Cox and a bud were walking past Service Club #1 and popped into the hall to get out of the rain. There they heard the 19 year old Hendrix's chords blasting through the air; Cox thought it was great stuff, while his pal covered his ears.

He introduced himself to Hendrix, and soon they were jamming together, becoming great friends in the process. They left the service about the same time, moved a bit down the road to Clarksville, Tennessee, and formed a band called the King Kasuals.

They played gigs on the "chitlin circuit," joking that everyplace they performed had a hole in the wall. Finally settling on Nashville as a home base, the Kings played dates on the Jefferson Street R&B club circuit while getting regular work as the house band at Del Morocco. It wasn't Stax soul that came out of the axes, but prototype funk rock.

Hendrix left Nashville in 1964, moving to Harlem where he worked as a sideman and with his own band The Blue Flames. He was then discovered by Chas Chandler, the Animals bassist, who took him across the pond to Britain and success in 1966. Hendrix didn't forget his army bud, and called him to join him on the trip. Cox begged off, telling him that he only "had three strings on his guitar." Cox wished him well, and Hendrix said that he'd call for him again after he hit the big time.

Broke or not, Cox was working steadily. Between 1962 and 1968, he played on the TV shows “The Beat” from Dallas and Nashville’s “Night Train.” He was a band/session player for Sam Cooke, Slim Harpo, Joe Simon, Rufus and his daughter Carla Thomas, Lou Rawls, Etta James, Jackie Wilson and Little Richard.

Small change, though, compared to Hendrix and the Experience. With Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, their 1967 debut LP "Are You Experienced" took off, fueled by a riveting show put on by the trio at the Monterey Pop Festival.

But two albums later, the Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up in 1969. Hendrix was tiring of the power trio concept and its limitations (though he would quickly return to it), and put together a new group, Gypsy Suns and Rainbows.

He made good on his promise, calling Cox, who accepted this time. Who sez opportunity only knocks once? Cox joined Mitchell, rhythm guitarist Larry Lee, another Nashville bud who would become the only non-bass guitarist to play with a Hendrix band, and percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez.

After a handful of club dates, the band had a memorable outing on the last day of Woodstock in front of 200,000 fans. You can hear Cox drop a couple of bass notes in at the start of Hendrix's iconic "Star Spangled Banner" before wisely stepping back. Though Hendrix had played the jam many times before, Gypsy Suns had never rehearsed it, and Cox decided discretion was the better part of valor. He was right.

Hendrix's big band only lasted for one or two more performances, and never recorded. Band of Gypsys with Cox and Buddy Miles quickly took its place.

Cox told Ron Wynn of the Nashville Scene that the funk rock trio came to be because "Jimi had gotten himself into a financial bind with a contract he'd signed that wasn't exactly the greatest. He needed to work and do some things in a hurry that would make some money. So we got together and did the album (the live "Band of Gypsys" recorded on New Year's Eve 1969 at New York's Fillmore East, released after Hendrix's death) and toured...That's the real reason why that band was formed."

Miles left, and Hendrix formed another trio: Hendrix, Cox, and Mitchell. They began recording tracks for Hendrix's fourth studio album at the Electric Lady and toured during the summer of 1970 in America and Europe. Cox dropped out overseas after a few shows, suffering from "nervous exhaustion." The Band of Gypsys cancelled their remaining dates, and Hendrix went off to London, where he OD'ed three weeks later at the age of 27.

Cox heard the news back home in Nashville. He not only lost a guy he considered his best friend, but his career was knocked out of the fast lane, too. He released the 1971 LP "Nitro Junction," did some session work with Charlie Daniels, played club dates and sat in with other artists while operating a pawnshop. But his bass lines were kept alive thanks to the flood of posthumous Hendrix records. As of today, Cox's bass can be heard on 26 different Hendrix releases.

In 1995, Cox, with Experience members Mitchell and Redding, along with Gypsy Miles, began touring as a Hendrix tribute band. In 1999, he formed the Gypsy Sun Experience with Mitchell and guitarist Gary Serkin to keep Hendrix's legacy alive. Cox also leads the annual "Experience Hendrix Tour," which last stopped in Pittsburgh in late 2010, featuring guitarists Steve Vai and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

In 2004, Miles joined with Cox to record songs from the original Band of Gypsys' album with guitarists Eric Gales, Kenny Olsen, Sheldon Reynolds, Andy Aledort, and Gary Serkin. The tracks, titled "The Band Of Gypsys Return," were released in 2006.

With former Hendrix bandmates Redding, Mitchell and Miles now gone, Cox is the only surviving member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band Of Gypsys. And it's safe to say that he keeps the Hendrix legend alive with the tours and his role as Hendrix historian and promoter.

He co-authored the books Jimi Hendrix Sessions and Ultimate Hendrix with John McDermott and Eddie Kramer. Cox told Rege Behe of the Trib that Hendrix's body of work "compares to that of Beethoven or Brahms or Mozart, a legacy comparable to those of George Gershwin, John Coltrane and Miles Davis." He formed the "New Band of Gypsys" last year. So he does his bit to burnish that legacy, but has quite a bit more to his credit than Jimi's apron strings.

Cox owns a video production company and produces gospel and blues stage shows. He lectures at college music seminars. In 2009, Cox was inducted into Musician's Hall of Fame. In 2010, Microsoft's Paul Allen honored him with a Founders Award. His home state recognized him last year when it enshrined him in the West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame.

He's released two recent LPs of his own work, "Last Gypsy Standing" in 2009 and "Old School Blues" in 2011. Cox also plays on the 1970 Buddy Miles LP "Them Changes" and has collaborated with JJ Cale, Charlie Daniels, Bruce Cameron and Gov't Mule on other discs.

And hey - next time someone tries to pull that Noel Redding stuff on you, just slowly shake your head and ask "Who was that playing with Hendrix at Woodstock again?" Jimi's alpha and omega bass man will always be Billy Cox.

Voodoo Child from the Experience Hendrix Tour at the Benedum in 2010

Reb Beach

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, after starting out as as a singing waiter in the Bowery, he became one of the hottest session players in rock, playing mostly for Atlantic acts.

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, though the era of the spandex-and-hair bands was also concluding. So 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 and continues to tour with both acts. Rob told Scott Mervis of the Post Gazette that it's easy enough to tell the difference between the bands. "In Whitesnake, we stay at the Ritz Carlton. In Winger, we're at the Motel 6. In Winger, we drive with a trailer behind the van. In Whitesnake, we fly in a Lear jet."

Beach, who still has an Oakmont home, is 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..

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

Bob McKeag...McKeg...Bubs!

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

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"

The Patti Spadaro Band

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

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.

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Aviation Blondes

Aviation Blondes photo by Steve Dwyer Enright
Steve Morrison made quite a name for himself around the region in the 1980's as the guitarist for both The Affordable Floors and Fusebox. But after a fire burned down his Bloomfield pad, he moved to New Orleans in the late '90s.

Morrison scored a gig with the guys that produce the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival while also working on a solo project. But as so often happens, you can take the kid out of Pittsburgh, but can't take the Pittsburgh out of the kid.

Hurricane Katrina, even though it caused him no personal damage, provided him with the perfect excuse to head back north in 2005 and hook up with his old buds.

His homecoming coincided nicely with a reunion gig with the Floors, playing on the bill of a show put together to honor the late New Wave station WXXP at the Rex.

Morrison got back into the swing of things quickly, and successfully entered a track to qualify for the Graffiti Rock Challenge. The problem was that he didn't have a band or any more new music.

So he called on a few musical pals whom he had run across at the XX show.

Lexi Rebert (vocals) and Jen Fisher (vocals, keyboard) performed sexy cocktail-lounge music with Salena Catalina, a jazz-influenced quartet. The two began helping Morrison with his solo CD project and some material for the Rock Challenge.

To join the singers, he added bassist Rod Schwartz (The 11th Hour), British-born guitarist/vocalist Daryl Cross (The Joyce Brothers) and drummer Troy Cramer (Ritual Space Travel Agency), who would be replaced later by Dave Klug (SPUDS, Hector in Paris, 11th Hour).

There was no trouble bonding as a group; Morrison, Schwartz, Cross and Klug had played together in the 80's for the cover band Saturday's Kids.

While Morrison's record never came to be (and he was eliminated in the first round of the Rock Challenge), the outfit did come up with a backlog of new songs, and came together in 2006 as the Aviation Blondes.

They went through a variety of styles at the start, but one thing became obvious to Morrison; he'd leave the lead singing and frontman scene to the ladies; Rebert is a show unto herself. They settled on a bright, poppy sound with plenty of harmony and hooks to go with solid guitar and rhythm work.

After a couple or three years of honing their act on stage, the AB's released their first CD (and at seven tracks and under a half-hour, probably closer to an EP) called "Edge of Forever" (GH-1155CD) in November of 2009.

The band's label was local indie Get Hip Recordings, run by Gregg Kostelich of the Cynics. Get Hip is a pretty solid outfit for an area imprest; it landed the CD on iTunes, Bomp, Amazon, CD Baby, DigStation, Rhapsody, and Napster, along with getting some college station airplay.

The band earned itself a little extra local love too, thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates, sad sacks on the field but top guns at marketing.

The team runs a promotion called the Local Music Inning, where they play a song by a Pittsburgh artist during the sixth-inning break. It's a throwback to an old 1990's idea, and was revived when a Pirate PR guy saw the AB's performing at the Three Rivers Arts Festival last year.

So PNC blasted "Catch and Release" on opening day and "Crash and Burn" later in the season, both off the CD, while the band and a vid are displayed on the Jumbotron. Hey, maybe not as good as heavy rotation on DVE, but still a nice intro to the home folks and all the young fans in the outfield.

In kind of an oddity, the Aviation Blondes didn't tour like madmen to support their release; in fact, they did the opposite, concentrating on a new set of songs for their follow-up CD.

So hey, get ready. The AB's are out of the studio and should popping up all over town this summer, and another CD is on the way. And if your iPod is on the blink, just buy a cheap seat to the ballgame - odds are you may catch their playlist there.


"Pretend" - Aviation Blondes

SpacePimps

SpacePimps from Kick Rock Music
Hey, Shady Side Academy seems like an unlikely jumping off point for a punk pop band, but it's the alma mater of the SpacePimps.

Maybe it's not surprising; every school has its normal kids, jocks, frat guys, goths, and the boys in the band roaming the halls. They just preferred to party down at places like Laga and Graffiti instead of the keggers.

Lead singer and guitarist Rishi Raj Bahl hooked up with drummer Jared Roscoe there, and after their senior year added bassist Brian Cain. They've kept the same power-trio lineup ever since, six years and counting.

Bahl is the son of an Indian doctor and his mom is from Wilkinsburg, and the ringleader of the band. He caught the fever after moshing at the Warped Tour '96 as a pre-teen.

The fever didn't quite extend into a rebellious persona; he told Manny Theiner of the Post Gazette that he and the guys are "straightedge" - no dope or booze.

And they are a kinda role model trio. The group operates its own business end, including the booking, promotion, sales, and finances (both of their CDs, 2006's "Turn It Up!" and their recently issued "Stuck Here Forever" are self-released.) They are managed by Patrick Gillespie of Restless Management, their link to the outside industry

Bahl worked on a triple major in college, and is in line to pick up a PhD in business during the fall, a pretty handy background for a developing group. His bandmates are both working their way toward a degree, too, mostly on-line. So handling the business side may be hectic, but the guys are well suited for it.

In fact, their education earned them some national love from Newsweek magazine, who featured them in a 2007 article describing the struggle between getting a sheepskin and banging out chords for a living.

But while they may be called a college punk band, the music has been the focus, not the tassels and gowns. They've moved nearly 10,000 copies of their debut EP, no small task for an indie, and parlayed it into a big following in Japan.

A Tokyo indie label, Kick Rock Music, inked the Pimps and brought them over for a 2007 tour. They headlined four sold-out shows - Pittsburgh probably has more punk bands in town than Japan does nationally - and KRM is handling the newest release for the Nippon market.

And the boys do like to spread their sound around. After starting off with "battle of the bands" gigs and graduating to the clubs, the Pimps have gone on four national tours, and shared a stage with local band Punchline and bigger acts like Fall Out Boy, Reel Big Fish, The Starting Line, New Found Glory and Bowling for Soup. They even got a shot on The Warped Tour.

The latest tour launched with a CD release show June 18th at South Side's Club Diesel (the album’s first single, “Running Away (Leave the Light On),” has been released via iTunes) and takes them into the Midwest for the short term. And they still do it the old school way, piling into a van and schlepping their amps onto whatever stage will take them.

The band's goal, of course, is to get picked up by a label (that item hasn't gotten past the talking point yet) and see how far their music can take them. And with comparisons to groups like Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, there's a good chance that opportunity will bear fruit.

One last question - how did a clean-cut group of punks become the SpacePimps? As explained to Manny Theiner:

In Bahl's senior year, he suddenly needed to come up with a band name. "We were practicing in Jared's walk-in closet," he recalls, "when Jared's little nephew, who was 6 or 7 and had been watching MTV's 'Pimp My Ride,' said, 'You guys look like a bunch of pimps from outer space.' Jared submitted the name without telling me, and we showed up to the high school battle of the band. The sign said 'The SpacePimps are playing Blink-182 covers,' and I was mortified."

But it stuck.

SpacePimps - "What's My Age Again"

Flashcats and Bull Moose

Flashcats
The Flashcats got together in 1978-79 thanks to the efforts of manager/drummer Carl Grefenstette. You might recognize Grefenstette now as the owner of Pittsburgh Guitar on East Carson Street and Bogus Records, but back then, his main claim to fame was the Flashcats. In fact, he believes the band paid the bills for his business at the start.

The band mates are Grefenstette (drums), Skinny Dave Kent (guitar/vocals), Jim "Junior" Fanning (bass/vocals), Miss Cindy Sotak (guitar/lead), Phil "Harmonic" Brontz (sax), Brian "Crusher" Onater (brass), and departed original member Sweet Pete Loria (brass/vocals), who passed away in 2001.

They developed a high energy stage presence to match the intensity of their R&B-driven rock, and worked virtually non-stop; they were one of Pittsburgh's premier live acts during their heyday.

The music was excellent stuff on its own, mostly original tunes with an occasional cover thrown into the playlist. But geez, the shows...

Giant Toothbrush Night, Miss Cindy's Bug Opera, Throw-A-Pie-At-Pete Night, Mexican hat dances, members of the audience taking the stage to sing "Bonanza," Flashcat kazoos and 3-D glasses, Sweet Pete, dressed as a bee, famously tying himself to a beam one night and swinging over the crowd, blowing his trumpet to the tune of "Flight of the Bumblebee" or hanging from the balcony...

Grefenstette explained "We've done a million gigs, and the best way to keep it exciting is to throw in some surprises. Generally, only half of the band knows what's going to happen next, so it's as much fun for us as it is for the audience!"

Needless to say, they always played to a packed house. They didn't need the novelty, though. Their sound was enough to draw a crowd wherever they set up their amps.

Billboard Magazine first mentioned The Flashcats in 1981 after the release of their first 45, "Baby Baby Ooo." Music News magazine called "Twelve Arms To Hold You," the band's first LP, "the finest independently released album of 1982." Trouser Press said, "The LP is chock full of mid-60s type R&B so good you'd swear the tunes weren't originals."

In 1983, The Flashcats won a national Warner Communications award for the video of their second single, "Appetite For Love." The next album, 1984's "Show Me," was described by The Detroit Monitor as "some of the best juke-joint music in America today."

They had a huge regional following, and were working five or six shows per week. Then they revived a dormant legend and took their act to another level.

All their recorded material was original, except for one old Bull Moose Jackson song, "Nosey Joe," the B side of "Appetite For Love." They also did a cover of his "Big Ten Inch Record" during their gigs.

One night, they played "Nosey Joe" and R&B jock Howard Kozy, better known as Bumble Bee Slim (he hosts WYEP's Saturday night "Blues and Rhythm" show), was in the audience. He told Grefenstette that Bull Moose was still around and kickin' in DC.

Life hadn't been treating Benjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson so well right about then. After decades as a King Records hit maker, with a mix of risque and standard songs to his credit, the rock 'n' roll parade had passed him by.

In 1958, at the age of 39, Jackson was semi-retired and running a bar in Philadelphia. By the early 1960s, he took a job with a catering company at Howard University in Washington. When the Flashcats called, he was working in the college's cafeteria.

Grefenstette got on the horn with the all-but-forgotten rhythm and blues singer and coaxed him into appearing with the band. He said, "We thought it would be the thrill of a lifetime to play with him."

So in 1984, the sixty-something Jackson flew to the Steel City to do a show with the Flashcats. It turned into a four-year gig. The Moose was loose once again.

The Flashcats' also cut some wax with Jackson. The recordings, a single that became a Pittsburgh classic "Get Off The Table Mable (The Two Dollars Is For The Beer)" and the 1985 album "Moosemania" were his first tracks in 30 years, and restored the luster of his career and R&B legacy.

They appeared together from coast to coast, and Bull Moose won over an entire new generation of fans. He and the Flashcats appeared at New York's Carnegie Hall, in Hollywood, and toured Europe with Johnny Otis.

Jackson credited the Flashcats and the city. He became a virtual cult hero in Pittsburgh, and said, "I'm elated that I can still perform and I'm very proud that people still remember." He added "They've resurrected an old man. I had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. They dug me out and here I am."

Bull Moose continued to perform regularly until 1987 when his health began to fade. His last performance was on April 23rd, 1988. It was a birthday gig with the Flashcats in Pittsburgh.

After that concert, Bull Moose went home to Cleveland and moved in with an old flame. He died of cancer at Mt. Sinai Hospital on July 31st, 1988.

All of his studio sessions with The Flashcats are available on the CD "Bull Moose Jackson, The Final Recordings," along with "Moosemania."

After the Bull Moose era, the Flashcats continued entertaining the city. But 25 years in the business without a deep breath finally caught up to them. In the early 1990s, the Flashcats decided to take a break and pursue other projects, and that effectively put an end to the act.

They did get a nice going-away present, though. In 1994, "Appetite For Love" was selected by Pittsburgh Magazine as One Of The 10 Greatest Pittsburgh Rock & Roll Classics.

But they didn't fade entirely into the City mist. In 1981, they began to release Christmas albums as gifts to their fan club members. And ya know how it goes with home-grown holiday traditions; once ya start one...

The Flashcats gather locally in a studio every year to cut a new record. Some hold three or four songs; others are full length productions. They're recording their 29th without a miss, and in fact will get together tonight to tape it.

And while they're all in one place, they try to book a reunion show or two for their fans, an even better gift. The 'Cats don't have any holiday gigs on tap this year because of scheduling clashes, but Grefenstette wrote to say "we're going to made it up to everyone with a big show next summer."

If you'd like any of the Flashcat recordings, Christmas or otherwise, they're available at Bogus Records. Grefenstette also features the Spuds, the Frampton Brothers, and the "Made In Pittsburgh" compilations through his impress. (Some of the stuff is old-school, recorded on vinyl or cassette, so make sure you're ordering the right medium.)



Flashcats - "Best Girl"

Chuck Edwards - Bullfight

Chuck Edwards from PennSOULvania
Soul shouter and early local guitar hero Chuck Edwards was born Charles Edward Edwins in Pittsburgh (although there is some debate about whether he was born here or in Philly) on November 29, 1927.

He started playing guitar professionally in the late 40’s, eventually heading south and joining up with the popular Sonny Thompson Band. He cut his first piece of wax with them on the be-bop "Harlem Rug Cutter" around 1950.

Edwards struck out on his own, recording for Memphis' Duke Records, home of Bobby "Blue" Bland. As Charles Edwins, he released "Bong Gone" b/w "I Got Loose" (Duke 124) in 1954.

Dumping his given last name in favor of Chuck Edwards, he produced three more singles for Duke. The records were "If You Love Me (Like You Say You Do)" b/w "You Move Me" (Duke 159) in 1956, and and another pair in 1957, "Let's Rock" b/w "I'm Wondering" (Duke 163), followed by "Morning Train" b/w "Warm My Heart" (Duke 174).

Though none of them exactly flew off the shelves, they showed Edwards steady progression from a blues player to a rowdier R&B artist, where he would find his niche.

He switched labels to Apollo in late 1956, and released the doo-wop ballad "Just for a Day" b/w "She Carried Me All Over Town" (Apollo 495), and disappeared for a couple of years.

In 1959, Edwards cut the Alanna single "If I Were King " b/w "Lucy and Jimmy Got Married" (Alanna 577), backed on the latter by the Five Crowns, allegedly featuring budding soul master Ben E. King. The B side, as was commonplace back in the day, was the side the DJs decided to spill some radio love on, but it didn't chart.

Possessed of several dust-collecting disks and a better half, he moved back to the Steel City 'burb of Canonsburg, working a day job in a steel mill to pay the bills. Being a fair-sized fish in a small pond, he picked up a lot of local session work and was a regular on the hops circuit.

Edwards may not have slept much, but he saved up enough money to front his own label, Rene, named for his wife, Irene. He recorded a couple of other artists, but by and large, the Hill District label and its subsidiary, Punch, were Edwards' domain. Here's his personal discography on the Rene/Punch label:

Rene 1151 - Phil Lipari and the Chuck Edwards Band (1962)
"Please Come Back" b/w "Later for You Darling"

Rene 1152 - Chuck Edwards (?)
"Shake Baby Shake" b/w "Come On Babe"

Rene 5050- Chuck Edwards (1965)
"I Don’t Want No Company" b/w "Do Right Baby"

Rene 7001 - Chuck Edwards (1966)
"Bullfight" b/w "Chuck Roast"

Rene 20013 Chuck Edwards (1966)
"Bullfight #2" b/w "Pick It Up Baby (Your Love’s Slowing Down)"

Punch 11001 Chuck Edwards (1968)
"Downtown Soulville" b/w "I Need You"

He also had one other release during that span, for the national Kapp Records. It was 1967's "Sweet Sweet Love" b/w "You Got What I Need" (Kapp 2052). Like the rest of his major label vinyl, it went nowhere on the charts.

"Shake Baby Shake" and "I Don't Want No Company" were garage-style rockers, featuring Edwards' raucous vocals, and were popular at the dances in the region. But his claim to Tri-State fame was the instrumental "Bullfight."

"Bullfight" was a show-stopper for Edwards' live act for years, but was never etched in wax. The story goes that Travis Klein, of Itzy Record fame, prodded Edwards to record it. Klein booked some time at the old Gateway Studios for Edwards, who released the song on his own Rene label. The rest is Pittsburgh rock history.

The song became a monster regional hit, and was picked up for national distribution by Roulette (R-4705). It remains a Pittsburgh oldies radio fav to this day. In fact, George Benson was a fan, and he recorded it himself on his 2001 "It's Uptown" album.

"Bullfight No. 2," issued later in the year, added a Hammond organ to the original guitar, bass, and drum tune. Hey, gotta strike while the iron's hot, right?

While "Bullfight" cemented Edwards' name in Pittsburgh circles, his last local release, 1968's "Downtown Soulville," put him on the international map. The soul/funk title tune, backed with the ballad "I Need You," became a Northern Soul must-have across the pond.

The record never charted nationally, but UK soul impressario Dave Godin reissued it on his own Soul City label (SC 104) the following year, and included it on the compilation LP, "Soul From The City."

Edwards dropped from the radar recording-wise for a spell afterward, performing live. In 1972 he packed up his family - he had two sons, Les and Jeff - and moved to the San Francisco Bay area, living in a motel for several months. It was there that the Edwards family became the band The Edwards Generation.

They released a 45, "School Is In" b/w "Someone Like You" on Ghetto records (61?), and a LP in 1976, "The Street Thang" on Tight records. The group also appeared on television a few times, including the Mike Douglas Show.

Edwards performed locally, and released "Back Again" (Tight) in 1994, which has a mix of new and past material. His sons went on to form their own band, Movin’, and perform in the Bay Area.

Edwards and his wife retired to the San Jose suburb of Pittsburg, California, where he passed away in 2001.

Some of Edwards’ cuts are still available on compilations. "Bullfight" is on Itzy Records PGH I and Crypt Records "Pass The Soul." PGH IX features "She Carried Me All Over Town."

There is also the split-side CD "Billy Lamont Meets Chuck Edwards" (Official 5678) which features 13 of Edwards' early sides, including recordings from the Duke, Apollo and Alanna labels, some backed by Little Richard's band.

And his records go for a king's ransom overseas. Chuck Edwards may be gone, but his music rocks on across the continents.



Chuck Edwards - "Bullfight"

The Igniters Redux

The Igniters from Bestrocknrollband
Bob "Bubs" McKeag and "Little Joe" Arena (Orina) started jamming together as teens in Penn Hills. Though just 14, they recruited Bill Flowers and Joe Santivica in the summer of 1963, and the Igniters were born, named after a bra ad that Arena saw a classmate eying in a Sears Catalog (after all, they were just 14, remember?)

McKeag provided the vocals and lead guitar, Arena played rhythm guitar, Santivica was on bass, and Flowers banged the kit.

Arena was called "Little Joe", well, because he was little - about 4'11". He moved to the area from Fort Lauderdale and left a local band there called the Kingsmen. Two years later, they became the face of sixties garage rock when they released "Louie Louie." Right place, wrong time.

Still, he was a showman and would often get mobbed by the girls who couldn't get enough of him. He and McKeag played like they were joined at the hip. and had a dynamite stage presence together. Sadly, the pair eventually had a falling out, and Arena left the band in a huff in late 1964.

That opened the door for Frankie Czuri, who replaced Arena in 1965. Czuri gradually changed the playlist upon his arrival, from Beatles and Kinks stuff to Young Rascals and Byrds material. He also became the lead singer.

McKeag had great pipes, but was more of a blues guy than soul man, and Czuri had one of the top R&B voices in Pittsburgh. Czuri, in fact, received repeated offers to leave for greener pastures while with the Igniters. But he was tight with the rest of the group - he and McKeag were buds from St. Bart's grade school days - and secure where he was, so he hung on to the end.

Dan Valerio joined in 1965, as the band's switch toward an R&B playlist called for an organist, and he was a good one.

The group sounded more polished with the additions, and it showed in the bookings.

Valerio won a free ride to the Julliard School of Music after high school, but his dad steered him to a CMU scholarship in Engineering, figuring that was a better career choice for his son than rock 'n' roll. After one term, it became obvious, grade-wise, Valerio wasn't cut out to be an engineer.

He left the group to work on his GPA, and graduated from Carnegie School of Music with a music major.

Jeff Bobula took over as organist and also played rhythm guitar in 1966. The band was set, and began making decent money, but at a price. They were constantly on the road, and it was a killer, taking its toll on the teens. The group had signed on with promoter Pat DiCesare, and he booked them throughout the region.

Santavica joined the navy in '67, and Mike Connell took his spot for the rest of the year. Flowers left the act in fall of 1967, and Jackie Kier replaced him on the drums.

Their play set was almost entirely covers, first featuring the Brit Invasion songs of the Beatles, Stones, Who, and Kinks, later switching to blue-eyed soul and folk rockers.

Czuri told Ed Masley of the Post-Gazette that "We went through a lot of phases. Bob and I loved the R&B stuff when we were kids. Then we went through this British phase - 'You Really Got Me' by the Kinks, the Who - just because it was cool. I was the first kid thrown out of Penn Hills High School for long hair."

Actually, he graduated from PHHS in 1966, but we catch his drift.

Though they were a mainly a cover band, the Igniters would twist a song around and make it uniquely their own. They'd play fast songs with a down beat, slow songs uptempo, and would throw a rock riff behind a soul tune.

The Igniters quickly made a name for themselves at the local clubs, no matter if they were playing soul or Brit rock. They became regulars at the Varsity House in Oakmont, and the place was SRO when they were on the stage, often turning fans away at the door.

The band scored a local hit with 1963's "High Flyin' Wine," written and pushed by DJ Charlie Apple and credited to "Inflammable Dan and the Igniters." It was released on the Teen Label, b/w "Angel," performed by a Motown group, the Satintones. It wouldn't be their last slab of wax, although it was their only record cut as the Igniters.

Atlantic Records signed the band to a record contract in 1968 but with a proviso - they had to lose the Igniter name, for some reason known only to the label's suits. The band became "Jimmy Mack and the Music Factory," compliments of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, we assume.

Maybe the name change was for commercial reasons; then again, maybe it sounded too rock 'n' roll for the label; the Igniters were only the second white band inked by Atlantic, a huge soul label during the sixties. The first group was the Rascals.

They released their only Jimmy Mack Atlantic single, "Baby, I Love You" b/w "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game," (Atlantic #45-2552) which became a regional hit. Later that year they joined the hippie revolution and became "Friends," settling into a folkie/psychedelic groove.

They recorded another Atco single under that name, with, for a change, a pair of original songs. Frank Czuri reports that "The sides were 'Gonna Try,' inspired by Gentile's then-recent leaving the group as well as McKeag's 'So Long Mama.' The group consisted of Bob McKeag on guitar, vocals and over-dubbed bass, Ron 'Byrd' Foster on drums and vocals, Fred Delu on Hammond organ, and Frank Czuri on vocals and electric piano. It did not receive as much airplay as "Baby I Love You" but was a good representation of what the Psychedilly-years Igniters were about!"

They played the Psychedilly club regularly for awhile, plus their road gigs, and in early 1970, they called it a day.

Not that they had much choice. DiCesare dropped them when they missed a show. The story, as related to Flowers by Bobula, was that the group was playing in West Virginia and had to get to a gig in New York that was scheduled three days later.

Their 1956 Caddy hearst (didn't every band in the 60's drive one?) broke down en route, and they failed to notify DiCesare that they were out of commission.

He, in turn, was sued by the venue when the group didn't show up, lost his cool, and axed the band, making each of them buy their contracts back. The military took care of the rest. McKeag joined the Navy, and Bobula was drafted.

They got together for a reunion concert in 2003 at the Harmar House, featuring "Little Joe" Arena, Bob Briede, Stu Heirs, Bubs McKeag, Joe Santavica, Ronnie "Byrd" Foster, Gary Gentile, Fred DeLu, Frank Czuri and Jackie Keir (who combined are more or less the last version of the Igniters et al), and sounded just as good as ever.

The band's cast over the years: Ron Abberzizzi, Joe Arena, Jeff Bobula, Bob Briede, Mike Connell, Frankie Czuri, Fred Delu, Ray Falcsik, Bill Flowers, Ronnie "Byrd" Foster, Gary Gentile, Stu Heirs, Jackie Kier, Paul Martello, Bob McKeag, Richie Rubin, Joe Santavica, and Dan Valerio.

As for the early members:

Frank Czuri is still making a living with his golden pipes. He's been with the Jaggerz, Diamond Reo, The Silencers, and now sings with Pure Gold. (EDIT - Czuri left Pure Gold and is back with his first love, the reformed Igniters.)

Bob McKeag joined Czuri with Diamond Reo, did some solo work, then moved on to the McKeag/Lawson Blues Band, and has gigged under his own name since that band broke up in 1999 after Lawson's passing. He still plays some shows with old bandmate Norm Nardini and plays with bands like the Rhythm Aces and Lou Ross. Bubs represented the local Blues Society in their national competition in 2008-09, and recently released a solo album, "Around the Bend."

Joe Arena, except for the reunion show, has dropped under Old Mon's radar.

Bill Flowers lost interest in R&B after he left the band, and is currently into Beethoven, Mozart & Vivaldi. He worked at the Weirton Steel's Tech Center as an automation control supervisor, and is now an adjunct professor of Statistics & Quantitative Analysis at Franciscan University in Steubenville.

Dan Valerio graduated from CMU's School of Music, and we haven't been able to track his whereabouts since.

Jeff Bobula, like too many guys from the sixties, died in Vietnam as a Marine. Before that, he was a session player for Capitol Records in Greenwich Village.

Joe Santavicca is still playing bass. The last band we found him hooked up with was Detroit's "Some Assembly Required," a REM-like group that released the CD "Stray Cliches" in 2007.

Jackie Kier stayed behind the kit, playing for a number of bands. The last we heard, he was pounding the skins for local classic rockers "The Poor Souls."

And hey, they're not quite done. They held three reunion shows, the last a December holiday bash. And that gig may have been more a revival than reunion. Frank Czuri left Pure Gold in 2010 to focus on putting The Igniters back together. Now they consist of Czuri, McKeg, Delu, Breide, Paul Martello and Ray Falsic. May the circle be unbroken.

(We reposted this after Ron Flowers hooked us up with his brother Bill, and we got a couple of more names and a bit more history to pass on, for which we are most appreciative. If any of you have any Igniter tales or know where the members ended up, give us a yell.)


Igniter medley

Kill The Drama

Kill The Drama on MySpace
Guitarist Steve Stiller and longtime mate, drummer Jason Godek, formed Kill the Drama in January 2006. They recruited Benjamin "Skinny" Solnik (Skinny) on bass and Bryan Laskey for vocals; later, Mars Papacristo replaced Solnik.

Hey, they even got the band name and Laskey for the same reason - the original vocalist was a full-fledged drama queen; she left after a few months, replaced by Laskey, but her memory remained forever through the phrase "Kill The Drama."

Stiller and Godek were together for years as members of Pagewater, while Solnik played for Inventory and Laskey with the metal band Break The Sun.

And they started off on the right foot when they won the 2006 Graffiti Rock Challenge, the 'Burgh's top Battle-Of-The-Band throwdown.

They put the studio time and CD production they won as Graffiti champs at McKeesport's Soundscape Studios to good use when they recorded the band's debut album "Close Friends with Sharp Knives." They released the 11 track set in 2007.

The sound is prog ("alt/Eurosex") rock, or as Stiller explained to Aaron Jentzen of the City Paper "As opposed to having a ridiculously poppy song and a ridiculously heavy song," he said, "if you can mold those two together...that's really what Kill the Drama is."

They've been compared to acts such as Muse, Placebo, Smashing Pumpkins, Coheed and Cambria, and the Deftones.

Though not currently signed to any record label, Kill the Drama is keeping busy. They have a new album in the works, two music videos to their credit, and their live schedule. They played with Joe Grushecky at the Three Rivers Arts Festival main stage last month, and had shows at Altar, Diesel, and Mr. Smalls. KTD also has a big web presence; they were heard over 1,000,000 times over MySpace music.

They're looking to tour and release a second CD, and see if they can leverage some of their overseas popularity into a break-out.

They have a small and loyal fanbase here, but Eurosex is still a tough sell in the Steel City. Stiller e-mailed Mishmash Magazine during a January Q&A, in response to the question "What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever done:"

"At a local show in Pittsburgh somebody clapped once:) In a city still stuck on Creed and Staind wannabees who only want to hear cover songs, we don't go over well in our hometown."

And the truth is that Pittsburgh has been a graveyard for its indy bands, no matter how much local love is thrown about. KTD has a unique sound, but history tells us if they're gonna sell, it probably won't be here. But that's a story often told by city acts.

Penn Hill's Thrills was a great Euro rock band, but they had to go to New York to get some airplay. Donnie Iris was the last New Wave rocker to make it from the area, as Old Mon's notoriously feeble memory recalls. Kill The Drama has a strong sound and are web savvy, but they they may have to hit the road to hit it big.

That's the Pittsburgh way.


Kill The Drama - Close Friends with Sharp Knives live at Diesel

Still A Thrill...

Thrills from Strutter Magazine
Thrills began in 1974, made up of players Tony Monaco (keyboards, vocals), Rob Owens (drums, vocals), Dave Fullerton (guitars, vocals) and Bill Gilbert (bass, vocals).

The core members of the band were Monaco and Fullerton of Penn Hills, who had started out playing in a seven-piece group called Menagerie that was horn-driven, doing some Chicago and BS&T stuff, along with a few Fullerton compositions.

They decided to put out a leaner and meaner sound, and formed Bad Company (no, not that one), with bass player Al Opsitnick after adding Owens to the roster, who had a lights out audition. They put together a playlist of some 20 cover songs, and were good to go.

Bad Company began playing high school dances, and became a mainstay of the frat party circuit, a pretty steady source of gigs back in the day. When they were all of age, they rocked the regional club and bar venues.

They dropped the Bad Company name - it seems some Brits were playing under that banner, too - in mid-1974 when Gilbert signed on, and became Thrills.

Gilbert replaced Opsitnick, who split because of the dreaded artistic differences. He was a pal of Fullerton's - they both belonged to the chess club, apparently a primo rock 'n' roll hangout in Penn Hills. Thrills continued on as popular act in the Tri-State area.

They picked up a manager, Tom Ingegno, originally from Long Island (he and Mike Frenchik served as writers, producers, and agents for the band). He was looking ahead towards the group's future, and was afraid that like so many area bands before them, Thrills would never become more than a big fish in a small pond if they got into a Pittsburgh comfort zone and didn't grow their fan base.

So using his homeboy connections, he booked some NY dates for the band. The rock music scene there during the late 70’s was thriving and Thrills were a good fit. After a few months of travelling back and forth, they made NY their home base in 1977. Playing the club circuit in New York City, Jersey, and Long Island, their career took off.

In virtually no time, Thrills were voted the #1 band on Long Island by Good Times Magazine in 1978. They started to put together more original material, and released a single "Not Gonna Run" on their own label, First Step Records. Then they inked a deal with indie G&P Records.

They spent the next year playing and recording in New York and Los Angeles, where the band laid down their initial album, "First Thrills," in 1979. It was original stuff, with a couple of cuts from an earlier 10-song demo they had made, but decided not to release. The vinyl hit the racks in February of 1980.

And hey, it did pretty good. Thrills expected some New York area love, but the LP nudged into Billboard's Top 200, featuring the single "Breaking My Heart." They toured heavily in support of it, backing bands like John Kay & Steppenwolf, Foreigner, Quarterflash, Nick Lowe, and Donnie Iris.

Thrills took some time of from the road and went back to L.A. in September of 1981 to record "Front Page News," their second G&P release.

Monaco said "I think it was our best album. It was by far our biggest commercial success, especially in the tri-state area near Pittsburgh. There was a radio station in Pittsburgh known as 96KX. They got behind one of the songs that Dave had written called 'Tonight' and placed it into heavy rotation. It held a top 10 status for over 10 weeks! We really felt that we on the brink of making it."

Yah, the band can leave Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh never leaves the band. 96 Kicks and DVE pushed the singles "Tonight" and to a lesser degree, "High Side of 55." The group returned to the road, hoping to hit the rock 'n' roll jackpot of fame and fortune.

Owens left the band after that, and Pittsburgh drummer Linda Mackley (she played for local acts Harombee & Axys) took his place.

In 1983, they went back to the studio to cut "Thrills 3." The ten tracks showcased power keyboards with slick harmonies and choruses. Though tilted a bit towards ballads, Thrills rocked hard with cuts like "The Feeling’s Gone" and "Too Many First Times."

It was supposed to be the band's breakout disk. But G&P ran out of money and steam, and folded after the taping. The label's demise left Thrills without a record company, and their latest master collected dust in the vaults.

That bad hand led to the end of Thrills. As Monaco said of the album that wasn't: "I really believe that it could have broken the band on a national level. That was what upset us so much. We were so close! The stress of over ten years of hard work ending so abruptly is really what broke the band up."

Fate, though, is a funny beast. G&P and Thrills (to be replaced in name by another Thrills band in 2001, an Irish indy group. Must be karma left over from the Bad Company days) may have faded from existence, but that tape was still sitting on its shelf, waiting for an ear. And it finally found a friendly one.

A Thrills' fan, Steve Allen, knew about the unissued album, and he introduced the bands' suits to Dane Spencer of Rewind Records (and Sojourn), a division of Song Haus music and classic rock reissuer. He liked what he heard on the buried T3 tape, and Rewind remastered and released "Thrills 3" in 2000, almost two decades after it was cut.

It was well received by the public, and the reviewers dug it, too. Rewind followed by issuing "Live from My Fathers Place" in 2002, which was recorded at the Roslyn NY club My Fathers Place and broadcast live over Hempstead's WLIR Radio, on March 17, 1981.

"Front Page News" was reissued last year by AOR-fm, and is being distributed through CD Baby. The band hopes that a double CD of "First Thrills" and "From Kingdom Come" (taped in 1979 at Kingdom Sound Studios in Syosset, NY. It was going to be their first album, but didn't quite make the cut) will join the list. Not a bad discography for a group that disbanded in 1983, hey?

And the music still holds up. It's great AOR work from the early eighties, in the pomprock vein of Asia, Styx, Yes, Kansas, and REO Speedwagon. Their stuff was that good and well-produced.

Who knows where Thrills would be now if they signed with a national label that had the muscle to place them on some more radio playlists, or if G&P could have hung on financially until the MTV era and its monster PR potential? It's an old story for Pittsburgh bands, even those that head to the bright lights.

What's the band up to now? Monaco says "We all went our separate ways although we remained close friends. Dave, Linda, and I went to work with various local bands. Bill wasn’t interested in doing a local circuit. We all got day jobs and went about our lives."

"Linda Mackley still lives in New York and she is always doing something new musically. Rob Owens, our original drummer, lives in Pittsburgh. Bill lives here in Florida near Dave and I. We are just normal guys with normal jobs, families, and nice homes."

"As far as a formal re-grouping, we are all in different places in our lives so while it is unlikely, it is not impossible. Hopefully, we will get second chance to make our mark, leave a legacy, if even a small one. Like my hero Billy Joel once said, 'Don’t forget your second wind.'”

Fullerton explains Thrills more simply. "We were all Pittsburgh boys living a dream and trying to achieve it," he says. And hey, 25 years later, the dream lives on.


Thrills - "Tonight"

(To keep up with the band, visit the Thrills My Space page. And Old Mon would like to thank Tony Monaco - who is quoted from a Strutter magazine interview - Dave Fullerton, Sonny Derdock and Audrey Monaco Danovich for their generous and invaluable help.)

Norm Nardini

Norman Nardini
Homewood native Norman Nardini sang "I've Been Doin It For Years Before Ya' All Was Here” in 1979. And he's still doing it, three decades later.

Nardini started playing covers with long-time collaborator Robbie Johns in 1966, when Johns was the guitarist and Nardini tickled the keyboards for a band called the Yardleys. (Johns eventually switched to drums and Nardini became an ax man).

In 1971, living in Boston and attending the Berklee School of Music, Nardini spent a week playing guitar for Big Mama Thornton and George "Harmonica' Smith at The Jazz Workshop. Then, in 1974, Nardini, Johns, and Bob "Bubs" McKeag recorded the Marvin Gaye hit "Ain’t That Peculiar" at East Liberty's Red Fox Studios, and a Pittsburgh rock legend was born: Diamond Reo.

"Ain't It Peculiar" became a top 40 hit and the band soon had a national deal with an Atlantic Record's subsidiary, Big Tree Records. They added Frank Czuri of the Igniters & Jaggerz on lead vocals, Warren King on guitar, and cut "Diamond Reo" (BT8950).

Diamond Reo 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 relentlessly toured and lived the high life.

Life on the road brought pressures and changes to the group. First, McKeag left to form the McKeag/Lawson Blues Band. Their format progressed, too. Diamond Reo became less top 40 and moved towards the metal/punk music emerging from the era.

Nardini thought they were introducing their fans to the future of rock, but many of their followers couldn't figure out what band they were listening to from album to album.

Their second album, 1976's "Dirty Diamonds" (Kama Sutra #B0016PC7EA), was heavy rockin' and featured King wailing on his ax. As they moved towards the 80’s, they became a punk/new wave band, capped by the 1978 "Ruff Cuts" for Piccadilly (PIC3311).

But living large was taking its toll on the group, and dabbling with drugs wasn't helping the cause. In 1979, Nardini left the band to start Norman Nardini & The East Side Tigers. He thought the time was ripe to step out and become a frontman and writer for his own group. (Czuri and King went on to form the Silencers.)

The 1981 release "Eat'n Alive" (Sutra #SUS 1012) was recorded live at Cleveland’s Agora Club and earned a 4 Star Review from Rolling Stone. In 1983, the band released "Norman Nardini and The Tigers" (CBS #BFZ35497), which featured Jon Bon Jovi on background vocals. In 1987, CBS released "Love Dog" (#BFZ40435), which had Rick Derringer, Dr. John and Paul Schaeffer scattered among its grooves. Warren King even added a few chops to the tracks.

But Nardini and the Tigers were given no radio love at home, in spite of the CBS record deal, Rolling Stone's rave, and playing to packed houses. Hey, Pittsburgh doesn't eat its young; it just ignores them. The Tigers did their last tour in 1986.

But Nardini soldiered on and released 3 CDs on the New York City's indie Circumstantial label. 1991’s "This Ole Train" (#28121-1001-2), with an appearance by his old buds Bon Jovi, led to a German tour with the Blues Brothers. Circumstantial also issued the 1994 "Breakdown In Paradise" (#28121-1004-2) and 1996’s "It's Alive" (#28121-1008-2).

In 1998, Moondog Records released "There Was A Time," followed by "Redemption" in 2004. Subtitled "Best of 1977 – 1988" Nardini went back to the studio and recut the tunes from his heyday when he ruled the town from Swissvale's Fat City stage.

There was a time when Norm Nardini and and the Tigers, along with Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, were the heart and soul of rock in Pittsburgh. Grushecky and Nardini had a reunion gig at Altar in the Strip in early 2009; it was a real trip for Old Mon to see the bands together once again just like back in the day.

But Nardini is hardly retired. He's still a hard-working regular on the club circuit, performing from his home base of Moondogs in Blawnox and gigging in the Southside, Uniontown, Mon Valley, Wexford, Corapolis, eastern Ohio, and anywhere and everywhere in between. He never held a day job; his music is his life.

And he still puts on a great show. Nardini became a prolific writer, and his stage personna has evolved from an acrobatic wired guitarist thrashing his tiger-striped ax to a comfortable frontman that connects with his fans. The music still pulsates, too - no musings from a guy that's seen it all, but straight ahead rock.

To demonstrate the point, he just opened for Jon Bon Jovi when the band stopped at the Consol Center in early 2011 in front of 17,000 fans. They're long time friends, dating back to an Asbury Park meeting in 1980. In 1987, Nardini played on stage with Bon Jovi doing CCR's "Travelin' Band" at the Civic Arena. That same night, they hooked up again at the Decade, where Bon Jovi joined Norm Nardini and the Tigers for an impromptu set.

He also came out with a new LP, "Bone A Fide," in 2011, his first album of original material since 1998 (he has dozens of unrecorded songs he's written in the past decade).

Hey, the days of Fat City and the Decade are behind us. But at least Norm Nardini is still around to remind us of the home-grown rock glory that was once Pittsburgh's.

Walk With Sonny DiNunzio

The Fenways
Hey, Sebastian "Sonny" DiNunzio always knew he was cut out for stardom, even way back in the late 50's when he was a high school running back for Apollo in Armstrong County. But he'd make his name on the stage, not the gridiron.

He joined his first band in 1959, while still in high school. DiNunzio threw in with the acappelo Three Chaps (Joe Cesario, George Esposito, and Bob Savastano, all from Vandergrift), who became the Chaps thereafter. They played the Kiski Valley hop circuit, until Sonny's sister gave them their big break.

She worked for Nick Cenci, half of Co and Ce Records, the local launching pad for the Vogues and Lou Christie. Cenci liked a couple of the demos, and they cut "One Lovely Yesterday" b/w "Perfect Night For Love," released on NY's Brent label (#7016) in 1960.

They followed with "Heaven Must Have Run Out Of Angels" b/w "They'll Never Be," (the B Side became a favorite Pittsburgh grinder) released by Matador Records. Despite the fact that Lou Christie sang back-up for the record, it never went anywhere except locally, and the Chaps folded.

The original Three Chaps moved to the west coast, and they eventually called for DiNunzio. They became, of course, the Four Chaps. The group got its 15 minutes of fame when they appeared on Shindig. But family matters beckoned DiNunzio home, and that was the end of the Chaps era, except for one tune he brought back with him.

He wrote a song called "True Lovers," (Co & Ce #231), a great mid-tempo soul song that was later covered by the Vogues.

DiNunzio's 1965 Four Chaps version still lives on, enjoyed by Northern soul fans through the decades, particularly the Brits. It was the flip of a Merseybeat tinged tune called "Will Ya Or Won't Ya".

Firmly rooted now, Sonny got back in the business, forming the Townsmen. They eventually became the Fenways, consisting of DiNunzio, Ron George (bass, backup vocals), Bob "Hop" Ainsworth (lead guitar, backup vocals), and three drummers: Alan "Dale" Bills, Joey Covington, and Gene Molenaro. The Fenways were a typical Steel City garage-rock act, but separated from the pack because of the great R&B pipes of DiNunzio.

They got their start in 1964 on Ricky C, a Cenci label, with "Nothing to Offer You," and quickly became the hottest local act of the mid-sixties in Pittsburgh.

They made so many appearances on Terry Lee's local TV dance show "Come Alive" that they could be mistaken for the house band. The Fenways featured hot guitars (Di Nunzio, who played several instruments, shredded with a Rickenbacker) and cool clothes (guitarist Ainsworth was always wrapped up in a serape while the rest of the band was Barnaby Street).

In the summer of 1964, the Fenways opened for the Rolling Stones and Dave Clark Five. Other acts they shared a bill with were the Shangri-La's, Lee Dorsey, Lou Christie, Chad and Jeremy, and the Skyliners. They worked the clubs, too, sometimes playing seven nights a week. It's great to be young.

They became recording workhorses for Cenci. They cut "Be Careful Little Girl," "The Number One Song In The Country" b/w "Nothing To Offer You," and "Humpty Dumpty" b/w "Nothing To Offer You" (hey, it must have been a great B side) for Co and Ce subsidiary Bev Mar in 1964.

They had their day in the sun when they recorded "Walk" b/w "Whip and Jerk" (IR-66082), released on Imperial in 1965.

"Walk" topped the charts on both of Pittsburgh's major pop radio outlets, KQV and KDKA, along with WMCK. It helped that MCK's primo jock, Terry Lee, was also DiNunzio's cousin. "Walk" flirted with breaking out nationally, edging barely into the Top 50, but never really became anything more than a 'Burgh monster. It did kept the Fenways working.

They also issued a song they cut for Blue Cat, a Red Bird subsidiary operated by George Goldner, "The Fight" b/w "Hard Road Ahead" (BC #116). Throw in "True Lovers", and it was a very good year for DiNunzio.

The Fenways did well enough that Cenci put them on his primary Co and Ce Label, along with the Vogues. The C&C discography is "Satisfied" b/w "I'm a Mover" (#233), "Love Me For Myself" b/w "Satisfied" (#237), and "A-Go-Go" b/w "I Move Around" (#241), in 1966, with "Theme For Pammy" b/w "I'm Your Toy" (#243) the following year.

There's one famous tale of the Co and Ce era. The Fenways were working with Cenci, and taped a Tony Hatch/Petula Clark song called "You're The One." Legend has it that Cenci thought the tune fit one of his other acts better than it did the Fenways, and he gave it to them.

So Sonny DiNunzio's vocals were zapped, and replaced by the harmonies of the Vogues from Turtle Creek. The band's instrumental backing made it on one version, but later, it was overdubbed with strings.

The Vogues were off and running after the huge hit. But some folk say that DiNunzio felt he was robbed of his shot at national fame and fortune by Cenci's switcheroo.

Would a guitar driven, R&B version of "You're the One" had nearly the success of the lush Vogue production? We'll never know, but it's not hard to figure out what the Fenways thought.

By 1968, the group evolved into The Racket Squad, a hard rockin', psychedelic act going with the flow of the times. They released two LP's on the Jubilee label. The first LP was self-titled, and the second was called "Corners of Your Mind."

1968's "Racket Squad" was laced with covers. It's best tune was "The Loser," a spacy remake of a Skyliners song, with "Romeo and Juliet," "We've Got A Groovy Thing Going," and "No Fair At All" being pretty fair remakes. The "Corners of Your Mind," released the following year, was a mixed bag of tunes, most of which tried a little too hard to be cool. "Suburban Life" and "Sweet Little Smoke" stand out.

Jubilee issued "Hung Up" b/w "Higher Than High" (Jubilee 45-5591), "Just Like Romeo and Juliet" b/w "Little Red Wagon" (Jubilee 45-5601) and "Suburban Life" b/w "The Loser" (Jubilee 45-5638) as singles from the LPs.

After that, the Racket Squad toured and released four more 45's, 1969's popular "That's How Much I Love My Baby" (written for his wife LaVerne) b/w "Moving In" (Jubilee 45-5628), "I'll Never Forget Your Love" b/w "Maybe Tomorrow" (Jubilee 45-5657), "In Your Arms" b/w "Cool Town" (Jubilee 45-5682), and their final release, 1970's "Coal Town" b/w "Roller Coaster Ride" (Jubilee 45-5694).

Frustrated by the failure to chart records, the Racket Squad unplugged their amps in 1970.

Drummer Joey Covington, from East Conemaugh near Johnstown, carved out a nice career with the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and Jefferson Starship.

DiNunzio put together a lounge act called Sebastian, and continued to play the Pittsburgh area, going solo after awhile. He released an album under his own name. But the singer had run his race; Sonny DiNunzio died in a car wreck in 1978.

His memorial concert at the old Stanley Theater was a fitting affair. Anyone who had a link to Pittsburgh music performed: on stage were the Skyliners, Vogues, Marcels and his final band, Sebastian. TL released a memorial tribute LP called "Sonny," a mix of original tunes and covers.

If you want to hear Sonny DiNunzio again, Collectibles Records has a Racket Squad CD, which includes both Jubilee LP's and some singles, including "That's How Much I Love My Baby," a Sonny R&B special, and one of Old Mon's favorites, "I'll Never Forget Your Love." As for the earlier stuff, well, it's tough to come by.

And that's a pity. Sonny DiNunzio was at his best as a frontman for a R&B garage band, not as a member of the Woodstock generation. That was the Pittsburgh sound of the times, blue-eyed soul backed with a rock beat, not heavy metal and electronics.

Maybe now that TL is culling his record collection in Arizona, he can find enough material laying around to put together a CD of Sonny DiNunzio at his soulful best. Now that would be a fitting memorial.


"The Loser" by the Racket Squad