Joe Bonamassa Denver concert

[Clipper]

I was surfing the program guide after Jeopardy tonight and found Joe Bonamassa Tales of Time concert on PBS. 1 1/2 hours of Joe and his backup band. I am not really a fan of his kind of music, but I am always fascinated by his guitar playing. I lasted about 20 minutes before I tuned to something else, but it is always good to see a Utica boy that made it big.

[BHU]

His Dad was also a player & I saw the two of them play together at a bar in East Utica when Joe was about 12 years old. True story.

[kit]

I remember Joe when he was just a kid in east Utica, then I didn't hear about him for a long time. I saw him not long ago, and like Clipper, I didn't really care for his style of music nor how he made a beautiful guitar scream like a banshee. I also didn't care for the way he bobs up and down like the old toy bird that sits on the edge of a glass of water and bobs up and down. I don't mean that as a 'put-down' to Joe. There are many people who love him and his music, and rightly so... just not me.

[Clipper]

Aug 23, 2023 16:30:39 GMT -5 kit said:

I remember Joe when he was just a kid in east Utica, then I didn't hear about him for a long time. I saw him not long ago, and like Clipper, I didn't really care for his style of music nor how he made a beautiful guitar scream like a banshee. I also didn't care for the way he bobs up and down like the old toy bird that sits on the edge of a glass of water and bobs up and down. I don't mean that as a 'put-down' to Joe. There are many people who love him and his music, and rightly so... just not me.

He played the Moose Club in Marcy a couple of times years ago. I agree about the bobbing bird thing. LOL. Thank goodness for Sirius Satellite Radio. I can still get 50's, 60's, Doo Wop, big band, country, and other genres. Yesterday on my way to Kingsport I was listening to Michael Buble'.

I have a Jimmy Sturr polka CD in the shop. Great music, but it could get dangerous if it compelled me to polka around a running table saw.

[BHU]

Some musicians have the talent to get out of CNY & hit the big time. Others? Not so much.

[Clipper]

Aug 23, 2023 18:31:10 GMT -5 BHU said:

Some musicians have the talent to get out of CNY & hit the big time. Others? Not so much.

Gee Kit. Does the steady gig as the Hotel McConville house band considered hitting the big time? You guys were great but there was not a lot of exposure playing in downtown Ogdensburg.

[kit]

Well Clipper, Ogdensburg isn't really considered the 'big time', that's true, but for Ogdensburg in the early '60s, we had a full house almost every night. There wasn't much else to do there.

[Clipper]

I remember Jim told me that. I guess there were not many places with live music and dancing. You guys were definitely good and professional. A real step up from the run of the mill garage bands that were so prevalent around the area at the time. There was a lot of good music around the area back then, but there was also some bands that should have stayed in the garage, lol. We used to drive to the beach to find good music at the Forest Hotel and Decastro's. There was also a place in Chadwicks or Willowvale where we came to listen to you guys once.

[kit]

When we first started out we were very raw... like many garage bands. We had an agent come and listen to us and he listened to a few tunes and walked out on us. That sort of gave us a clue. So, we went to Rudy's in Herkimer and bought some matching tuxedos. We were the house band at Massoud's in Washington Mills and started working to perfect our performance and expand our repertoire. After a couple of months we called the agent back to listen to us. He was impressed and pulled us out of Massoud's and started booking us at several different places... bars and colleges mostly. We made quite a bit of money for him and he was happy. In late 1963 following a summer of playing at the Forest Hotel at the beach, he booked us at the McConville Hotel in Ogdensburg with a 2-week contract.

Ogdensburg, which is the only actual city on the St. Lawrence, was a strange place. There were 2 places that had rock bands (us and one other place down the street a few blocks) and one place that had a Country & Western band. If anyone wanted live music in the evenings, they were the only choices. The agent had booked several other bands at McConville's and they didn't last more than a couple of weeks. We got there and the audience liked us right away. After getting a feel of what they liked we learned a few country tunes (but not many) and started including some slightly off-color tunes. And with our humorous attitude, they ate that up and the place was packed every night. After renewing the contract several times, the hotel manager said to forget the 2-week contract and just continue performing 6 nights a week until they tell us we were done (which they never did). The Nitecaps remained for a year and a half until urban renewal said they were going to demolish the hotel to make way for a shopping center. That's when we left. It was a very interesting time in Ogdensburg to be sure. I miss your uncle Jim. Our original guitar player Ken Aikin is now 78 years old and still plays guitar in Clearwater, FL (and he's great).

[Clipper]

I miss Jim too. He still had his drums right up until they moved in with my uncle Bob and his wife when Pat's Alzheimer's got too bad for Jim to care for her by himself. She was not fond of the noise so his drums sat in their basement for many years until he finally sold them when they sold their house. I guess I can sympathize with Aunt Pat. Drums alone, without any other musical accompaniment I imagine would become quite annoying in large doses, lol. After he moved in with Bob and his wife Kathy, he played the piano, and after he moved to the assisted living facility he said he was able to play the baby grand in the rec room.

Music was always his passion. As a teen he had an enormous record collection and continued to buy records well into adulthood.

My mom ended up with the family piano and played it only occasionally through the years. When she died and we held the estate sale before Dad moved in with Kathy and I, we ended up giving it away to the first person that would come with strong backs and a trailer. That damned thing weighed as much as a dead Clydesdale. It took 4 guys to roll it out to the driveway and lift it onto a trailer.)

[kit]

Imagine moving a piano up to the 4th floor of a NYC walk-up? They couldn't pay me enough.

I remember that Jim also loved to sing Elvis Presley's songs. He did a good job with The Nitecaps.

[chris]

Im a big fan of Joes. If you went to one of his concerts I think you would be too. And he is so kind and generous. What artist offers a free CD for download.

I edited the post to fix link in the post. Added it seperately.

[chris]

I guess I dont know how to insert links. Sorry.