Blues Society of Western PA - Newsletter

It was a hectic few weeks for the BSWPA. We had two, three-day festivals with a visit from Walter Trout sandwiched in between.

Friday, July 25th was the beginning. It was Mardi Gras night at Hartwood Acres for the 14th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Fest. The opening act was the “Sweaty Betty Blues Band” led by the always-energetic Marcy Brown. They kicked things off for the record weekend crowd and things started rolling. Our friends from Cleveland, “Blue Lunch,” followed. “L’il Brian and the Travelers’” a good Zydeco band, got us into the Mardi Gras spirit followed them. Tab Benoit who played some great blues tunes climaxed the evening. He also played the “swamp blues” style music native to Louisiana. He put on a nice show and the weekend was off to a rocking start.
Saturday was truly an all blues day of music. The day was kicked off with our IBC winner, “Nothin” but Trouble.” It was great hearing a full set from those guys. After finishing, they hung out at our booth and sold and signed CDs for fans. The rest of the day featured the “Pittsburgh All-Stars,” “Mem Shannon,” the “Joanna Connor Band,” and “Taj Mahal. However, the band that made the biggest impression was “Homemade Jamz,” a trio of siblings from Tupelo, Mississippi. Ryan, the guitarist is the old man of the group at sixteen years of age. Younger brother, Kyle (14) is the bassist and nine-year-old Taya is the drummer. Yes, they can play! This was not some cutesy act …they sounded good! They finished second in the IBCs in Memphis. The guitar and bass were made by their father out of car mufflers.??? They sounded very good and were fun to watch…especially cute little Taya pounding the drums like a seasoned pro, barely able to see over her kit.

Sunday was a mixed day. The Cause with Jill Simmons singing lead kicked off the day. Also performing were a couple of very talented local blues bands, “The Pawnbrokers” and Jill West and Blues Attack.” Now, as far as the mix, we had “Southern Culture on the Skids” who was a rockabilly band with a sense of humor. I saw several people there wearing the band’s T-shirts. “Southern Culture” was the band many people came for. “Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk” also played that day.

The highlight of the weekend was Tommy Castro whom I interviewed in the last newsletter. I had asked him to come visit us at the booth if he had time. About 7:30 p.m., I had given up and had gone for coffee. Upon returning to our booth, my wife (Sheila) pointed at me and said, “There he is!” Expecting to be frisked by the police, I raised my arms. The guy facing her turned around. It was Tommy Castro! He said, “Hi, Don. You asked me to stop and meet you guys…so, here I am.” He hung around the booth for twenty minutes, chatting, signing autographs and posing for pictures. The crowd started to converge on him from everywhere when he was spotted (like vultures to a carcass). He was very patient and considerate to everyone. Great guy! We then enjoyed a great show by the Tommy Castro Band.

The BSWPA did very well with sales that weekend. The BSWPA also acquired many new members. Many commented that the merchandise selection was impressive. I inquired from the many people that swarmed our booth what brought them to us. Most indicated it was my good looks that drew them to us and who am I to argue?

The following Sunday, we lined up for two hours prior to show time to get tables to see and hear Walter Trout. Once again, he put on a performance few can equal. He did a few tunes from his new CD, “The Outsider.” (See the review this issue.) He also played some of his better-known tunes along with a couple covers. No matter what he played, he put 100% into each song, accompanied by his signature facial contortions and screaming approval from the audience. Great Show!

Now, for me they do not get any better than Walter Trout and Tommy Castro. To see them both within a week was just awesome. Walter told me a story about Tommy Castro. I will have to censor it a bit. They were at a guitar workshop together. Walter started with a wild thirty-second guitar riff. When he finished, he looked over to Tommy Castro to take over. Tommy shook his head, picked up his guitar and started walking off stage saying, “Walter just showed you everything you need to know about blues guitar. So, I’m gonna get the @#*% outa here.”
Everyone cracked up.

The following weekend we headed to Wheeling, West Virginia for the Heritage Bluesfest, one of the top rated blues fests in the nation. We had won backstage passes that made it an even better experience. We sat and chatted with Tinsley Ellis, Debbie Davies, Watermelon Slim and many more artists. Nick Moss performed with the “The Kilborn Alley Band.” They sounded great. We got along well with the Kilborn guys and are trying to get them to Pittsburgh. Jonnye Weber was schmoozing them and we hope to find out soon if they are coming.

The artist that most came to see was Johnny Winter. I had not seen him in over twenty years and was anxious to hear and see him again. For those who have not seen him lately, Johnny is looking frail and needed help walking onto the stage. He needs to be sitting down to play but can still play slide guitar as good as anyone. Other artists like Tinsley Ellis were stage-side to get a peek at him playing.

As far as the Blues Society, our sales at the booth went well. We learned from our experience last year and took more marketable items this year. Again, I attribute it to the fact that I get better looking every day, causing people to converge on us in droves. Okay, maybe it was the fact that Jonnye Weber did a great job decorating the booth. Maybe it was all the hard work by my wife, Sheila, Jim Weber, Robb and Joyce, Maria and Jim Hamel, Cisco, Dave and Diane Devine, Dave Hasch, Barb Gangone and Tuck (and anyone that I forgot) that had something to do with it. Last year there were three of us manning the booth. This year we had at least ten per day. Great job to everyone!

I want to thank all of you old and new, who stopped by the booths to say, Hi!, buy something new, or just thank us for doing what we do. You people, the members and the blues fans, make all the work worthwhile! Thanks again!

-Don Vecchio