Tonight's Setlist: 11/8/13, Club Café, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"Look on the corner, see Mary Jane,

She's gone on out there shakin' that thang..."

We spent all October woodshedding some new tunes, and tonight we got to play them for the folks at Club Café. It took me a little while to settle into the groove, but we had a chance to stretch out on a nice lengthy second-set jam that weaved in and out of a little Dr. John, Beatles, Dead and more.

Click here to stream/download the set, courtesy of Archive.org:

Early set:

Lou-Easy-Ann (J.J. Cale) >

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

Me and My Uncle (Dead) >

Smokestack Lightning (C. Burnett) >

Graveyard Train (Fogerty) >

Shake That Thing (L. Hopkins) 

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

Evil Mind*

The Cars Hiss By My Window (J. Morrison)

Slow Train (T. Bruno)

Late set:

Meet Me in the Morning (Dylan)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Jam >

I Like It*

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Dylan)

Penthouse Pauper (Fogerty) >

Jam > Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood) >

Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (M. Rebennack) >

Berta Berta (Trad., Varine arr.) >

Jam >

Rain (Lennon-McCartney) >

Viola Lee Blues (Trad., Dead arr.) >

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

*Original

Last Night's Setlist (Solo): 11/6/13, Penn Hills Coffeehouse, Penn Hills, Pa.

"When you go down to Deep Elem,

keep your money in your shoes..."

The Penn Hills Coffeehouse is always a good time, a chance to try out original tunes we haven't learned for Charlie Hustle and, of course, do some publicity-whoring for the upcoming show...

GET YOUR HUSTLE ON!! TOMORROW NIGHT! FRIDAY, NOV. 8, 10:30 P.M., CLUB CAFE, 56 S. 12TH ST., PITTSBURGH, PA! TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CLUB CAFE'S WEBSITE! $7/21+

...okay, now we got that out of the way... Archive link will be up soon.

One set:

Cyprus Avenue (V. Morrison)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (M. Rebennack)

Penthouse Pauper (CCR)

Factory*

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.) >

Berta Berta (Trad., Varine arr.) >

Stone Soup*

*Original

Charlie Hustle Live! 11/8/13 Club Café, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Come check us out Nov. 8 at a 21+ show at Club Cafe, 56 S. 12th St. in Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood. Good food, great beer and better tunes! Tickets are $7 at the door or online at Club Cafe's website. Grab yer dancin' shoes and come get your Hustle on!

VIDEO: "Rain > Friend of the Devil > Whiskey River"

Check out the suite that closed the first set at Charlie Hustle & the Grifters' 8/31/13 show at Rosedale Beach Club, "Rain > Friend of the Devil > Whiskey River."

And be sure to check us out Nov. 8, 10 p.m. at Club Cafe, 56 S. 12th St., on Pittsburgh's South Side! Click here for tickets!

Tonight's (Solo) Setlist: 9/20/13 Twisted Thistle, Leechburg, Pa.

Tonight's set had a bit of a Southern gothic feel to it...

Lots of voodoo, alligator swamps and strange moons...

After nearly a year of pretty much just playing full-band gigs with Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, it was fun and maybe just a little nerve-wracking to jump back in the solo seat for a night at the Twisted Thistle. It's always a blast to dig back into the songbook, but I also end up picking stuff I haven't practiced for months.

On top of that, my regular acoustic guitar is in the shop — apparently it needs a replacement jack that can only be procured from a rare metal found in the center of the earth, or some other ridiculous sh*t that's causing a simple one-day repair to enter its third week. So I borrowed a beautiful old Gibson from one of my fellow Hustlers. Rarely-practiced tunes. Unfamiliar guitar. All things considered, it was a pretty good night.

Click here to download/stream the set courtesy of Archive.org:

Early set:

Lou-Easy-Ann (J.J. Cale)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

Garbage Man (M. McKinley)

Dauphine* >

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Midnight Special (Leadbelly)

Dark as a Dungeon (M. Travis)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Rain Song No. 3*

Lodi (CCR)

Mystery Train (J. Parker) >

Statesboro Blues v1 > Mystery Train

Late set:

Me and My Uncle (Dead) >

Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (M. Rebennack)

She Wore a Wreath of Roses (T. Bayly)

Third Street Woman (J. Willie Reynolds)

Strange Moon*

It Hurts Me Too (E. James)

I Like It*

Factory*

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Alligator (Dead) > Jam >

Berta Berta (Trad.) >

Slow Train (T. Bruno) > Jam >

Dark Star (Dead) >

Slow Train >

Junco Partner (H. Byrd, var.) >

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

*Original

Tonight's Setlist: 9/13/13, Pittsburgh Abides (Lebowski-Fest), Artist Image Resources, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"I'm the penthouse pauper, baby, I got nothin' to my name..."

What a fantastic night. Scores of folks dressed up as 'Big Lebowski' characters including a very convincing Viking Maude Lebowski, Yinz'N'Out Burgers from the Lomito food truck, maybe the best print I ever bought for $10 of the event logo, and us laying down an all-Creedence set in honor of their prominent place in the film of the evening.

On a side note, that John Fogerty is one high-tenor-yellin'-sumummabitch. There are a couple points where my voice just won't do it anymore, on "Graveyard Train" and "Born on the Bayou." He gets waaaaaaaaay up there.

Best sights of the night:

• The guy who took second place in the costume contest dressed as Jackie Treehorn's notepad with the giant dick drawing.

• Me finding two bottles of Sioux City Sasparilla at, of all places, Stanford Home Center.

• White Russian popsicles!

• The best lightshow we'll ever get as a band, a running loop of naked-women-on-trampolines at Jackie Treehorn's house.

Click here to stream/download the set courtesy of Archive.org.

One set:

Run Through the Jungle

Lodi

Bad Moon Rising

Cotton Fields

Fortunate Son

Penthouse Pauper

Feelin' Blue

Graveyard Train

Travelin' Band

Born on the Bayou

Lookin' Out My Backdoor

Saturday's Setlist: Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, 8/31/13, Rosedale Beach Club, Penn Hills, Pa.

We jam. People dance.

Tonight's set continued our burgeoning tradition of taking slight steps outside our comfort zone. We jammed our way through a couple of unrehearsed segues, skipped a mid-suite song on the fly and had to cut our second set short because of lightning in the area. But all in all, it was great fun and an excellent way to celebrate two band members' birthdays.

Click here to stream/download the set courtesy of Archive.org.

Early set:

Jam > Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning (D. Van Ronk) >

Me and My Uncle (Dead)

Jam > Stealin' (Trad.)

Soul Serenade (C. Ousley) >

Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Lee Williamson)

Come On In My Kitchen (R. Johnson)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney) > Jam >

Friend of the Devil (Dead) >

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Late set:

Garbage Man (M. McKinley)

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Jam >

Don't Let Go (J. Stone)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Big Bad Blues (Furthur) >

Jam > Stone Soup* > Jam >

Dock of the Bay (O. Redding) >

Jam//**

*Original

**Set cut short by lightning strikes in the area

'PITTSBURGH ABIDES,' Sept. 13 feat. CHARLIE HUSTLE & THE GRIFTERS

Get our of your element and come enjoy an evening that will really tie the room together...

Charlie Hustle & the Grifters is honored to play "Pittsburgh Abides: 'That's Not Her Toe, Dude," An Evening of Lebowski-Related Activities," Sept. 13 at the Bayardstown Social Club in the Strip District. We're playing a special set under the pseudonym "The Tape Deck... and The Creedence," doing all CCR in honor of The Dude's favorite travel music.

There will be White Russians. There will be the Harlan Twins doing other songs from the soundtrack. There will be a costume contest. It will be the double-shiznitty-flim-flam-snip-snap-bric-a-brac! Hope to see you there, or else in the immortal words of Walter Sobchak, "You are entering a world of pain."

Click here for the Facebook event listing.

Sunday's Setlist: Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, 8/25/13, Railroad Park, Verona, Pa.

'Like a tiger in a trance...'

I could get used to this all-electric thang.

At Hula Bar, I was forced to use my electric on songs I'd previously done acoustic. It worked out alright. This time, we planned on an all-electric night, and it worked out great. My electric had a nice sharp bite to it, reminded me a little bit of Jefferson Airplane/Moby Grape, tone-wise.

We've also been experimenting a little more with effects. Pete is working with a tremolo pedal to get the right sound for our super-extra-special all-Creedence set at "Pittsburgh Abides," the local Lebowski-fest on Sept. 13 (see details in the post above), and I've been trying out different vibrato settings during the "Stone Soup" jams. Last time I used the heavy end for a watery tone; this time I tried the opposite end, a very long vibrato that lends a spacey tone to things that I really dug. Hope you will too!

Click here to stream/download the set courtesy of Archive.org:

Early set:

Big Bad Blues (Furthur) >

Smokestack Lightning (C. Burnett)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Me and My Uncle (Dead)

Floating Bridge (J. Estes)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

I Like It*

Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning (D. Van Ronk) >

Althea (Dead)

Late set:

Jam > Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Mystery Train (J. Parker)

Come On In My Kitchen (R. Johnson)

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Let It Rock (C. Berry)

Dock of the Bay (O. Redding) > 

Jam > 'Kids in the Hall' Tease >

Rain (Lennon-McCartney)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Jam > Soul Serenade (C. Ousley) >

Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Lee Williamson) >

Jam > Stone Soup* >

Jam > Cumberland Blues (Dead)

*Original

Tonight's Setlist: 8/9/13, Hula Bar, Verona, Pa.

Tonight's secret word is, "SONOFABITCH!"

Tonight's Charlie Hustle show was starting to look like a real shipwreck in the early going. In the first tune, my acoustic-electric guitar lost power, resulting in our first all-electric show, Pete had broken two strings by the middle of the first set... but on the anniversary of the untimely passing of Captain Trips, we poor Lost Sailors managed to right our Ship of Fools.

Click here to stream/download the set courtesy of Archive.org.

Early set:

Floating Bridge (J. Estes) >

Kiss and Tell (G. Love)

Jam > Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Lee Williamson)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Mother's Meth-Head Blues*

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Jam > Garbage Man (M. McKinley)

Big River (J. Cash)

Althea (Dead) >

Don't Let Go (J. Stone)

Late set:

Meet Me in the Morning (Dylan)

Dock of the Bay (O. Redding) >

Jam > Friend of the Devil (Dead) >

Rain (Lennon/McCartney) >

Stealin' (Trad.)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Jam > Stone Soup* >

Big Bad Blues (Furthur)

*Original

Last Night's Setlist: 7/19/13, Rosedale Beach Club, Penn Hills, Pa.

We're now 3-for-3 in chasing away the rain at our shows. 

That's Yasiel Puig sh*t right there. That's All-Star-snub material...

Thanks to the folks at the Rosedale Beach Club for not only having us, but for sticking out the spitty-sh*tty rain that ultimately only delayed us for about half an hour. Great high-energy opening set by Katie Hate and despite the United-Arab-Emirates-style heat during the day, the rain got us down to about 79 degrees by the time we took the stage. The pool was open and we had another great night of tunes. Thanks to everyone who came out.

Click here to stream/download the show courtesy of Archive.org.

One set:

Whiskey River (W. Nelson)

Floating Bridge (J. Estes)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Kiss and Tell (G. Love)

Me and My Uncle (Dead)

Stealin' (Trad.)

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Jam >

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Dylan)

Let It Rock (C. Berry)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Big Bad Blues (Furthur) >

Jam >

Stone Soup* >

Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning (D. Van Ronk) >

Don't Let Go (J. Stone) >

Cold Rain and Snow (Trad., Dead arr.)

*Original

Today's Setlist: 2013/06/02 Verona Park, Verona, Pa.

'When it rains and shines/It's just a state of mind..."

We have some sort of mystical effect on the weather forecast. Twice we've played Verona Park, and it was supposed to rain both times. Does it have anything to do with the fact that we played the Beatles' "Rain" both times? I'd like to think so. 

Click here to stream/download the set, courtesy of Archive.org.

Early set:

Lil' Red Rooster (C. Burnett)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Althea (Dead)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Floating Bridge (J. Estes)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney) >

Stealin' (Trad.)

Dock of the Bay (O. Redding)

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Dylan)

Late set:

Soul Serenade (C. Ousley)

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Dylan)

Kiss and Tell (G. Love)

Big River (J. Cash)

China Cat Sunflower (Dead) >

I Know You Rider (Dead)

*Original

FREE SHOW! — Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, June 2, Verona Park!

We're heading back to the park! We had such a blast last time — and so did the organizers — that we're goin' back down to Verona to boogie in the sunshine at the Verona Creative Arts Marketplace, an afternoon of art, food and live music. It's an all-ages show, so bring the kids and make they sure have their dancin' shoes on!

Tonight's Setlist: 5/17/13, Penn Hebron Garden Club, Penn Hills, Pa.

"You keep foolin' around on me,

You're gonna walk on down that gravel road..." — Magic Slim

It was a bumpy evening, what with us having to go head-to-head against Pens-Sens Game 2 in the NHL's best media market (thanks, Gary Bettman and the GD-mother-f'n NHL Scheduling Committee). But the folks who turned out got a real treat. We were in high form tonight, kicking things off with a tune we'd never even rehearsed (G. Love's "Kiss and Tell"), adding a brand new improvised verse to the ever-evolving "Stone Soup," and generally speaking, shaking the walls at the 180-year old National Historic Landmark that is the Morrow Barn, home of the Penn Hebron Garden Club. Hopefully we gave Miss Emma Morrow a good night of music.

Click here to stream/download the set, courtesy of Archive.org.

Early set:

Kiss and Tell (G. Love)

Not Fade Away (B. Holly)

Meet Me in the Morning (Dylan)

Gravel Road (Magic Slim)

Dock of the Bay (O. Redding)

Big River (J. Cash)

Stealin' (Trad.)

Third Street Woman (J. Reynolds, Varine arr.)

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

All Along the Watchtower (Dylan)

Late set:

Cumberland Blues (Dead)

Mystery Train (J. Parker)

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney)

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Mother's Meth Head Blues*

I Like It* >

Soul Serenade (King Curtis) >

Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Williamson) >

Jam >

Stone Soup* > Jam >

Cold Rain and Snow (Trad., Dead arr.)

*Original

Tonight's Setlist: Charlie Hustle & the Grifters, 5/9/13, Verona Park, Verona, Pa.

Photo by Patch.com

Our third guitarist got sucked into the madness of municipal politics, so we were man down on short notice, but it worked out alright. 

Click here to stream/download the set courtesy of Archive.org.

One set:

Gentleman of Leisure (J. Winchester)

Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning (D. Van Ronk)

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney)

Big River (J. Cash) >

New Mexican Shuffle*

Lil' Red Rooster (C. Burnett)

Gravel Road (Magic Slim)

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry (Dylan)

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Jam >

Stone Soup* >

Not Fade Away (B. Holly)

*Original