Tonight's Setlist: 7/14/12, 'Play for Trey' Benefit, Penn Hills, PA

Do I play with a Boss Distortion Pedal? No. Does it sound like it on this recording? Kind of...

Two things happened tonight. Well, three. 1) I definitely maxed out the bass limit on the Zoom H1 recorder. This recording is pretty crisp on the high end and most of the vocals... fully strummed chords and anything below the low G string? Not so much... 2) I'm pretty sure I contributed to the crappy recording by placing the Zoom too close to my amp, which in turn created a semi-audible hum through said amp. Dammit. Why didn't I pay closer attention in the ONE audio technology class I took?

Other than that, the set went well. Oh, the third thing... 3) I discovered a great singing/songwriting talent in Penn Hills senior Heather Catley. We collaborated on the final four songs of the set, and her all-original solo set was excellent. Check her out on YouTube. In fact, in a few days there will probably be videos her sister shot from this evening on there

Extensive EQing proved largely fruitless, so FYI, I do not recommend listening to this at anything approaching high volume. Click here to download/stream the set courtesy of Archive.org:

Rain Song No. 3*

Push Those Clouds Away (Trad.) > Jam >

Southwest Sky* >

Eyes of the World (Dead)

Strange Moon*

Row Jimmy (Dead)

I Ain't Superstitious (C. Burnett)

Astral Weeks (V. Morrison) >

Crazy Fingers (Dead) >

Peggy-O (Dead) >

Darkness on the Edge of Town (Springsteen) >

Jam/Dylan Medley Tease >

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

Mystery Train (J. Parker) >

Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell) >

Mystery Train

Summertime** (Gershwin)

Angel Band** (Stanley Bros.)

Brown Eyed Women** (Dead)

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right** (Dylan)

*Original

**with Heather Catley

...In Which I Lay Waste to VH1's Pathetic '100 Greatest Artists of All Time' List...

According to VH1, out of 200 modern musicians surveyed, this is not, I repeat, NOT, one of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Seriously.

I shouldn't have watched it. I knew it would only upset me. But I had to. In a supposed survey of 200 modern musicians, VH1 attempted to compile its list of "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time." Now, I'll be the first to say this is something that should be separated out by genre, especially once you starting getting into the top 15. There are too many great musicians in individual fields and too many apples-to-oranges comparisons to make it legit. (how the hell are you supposed to compare Jay-Z to the Rolling Stones?)

But VH1 tried. And failed. Miserably.

Here's a link to the list. I'll hit some of the highlights/lowlights and give my thoughts on various facets of the list.

To start, let's note right off the top that THERE ISN'T A SINGLE FUCKING JAZZ MUSICIAN ON THE ENTIRE LIST. That's right. No Miles Davis. No John Coltrane. One of the few forms of music that was truly invented in America is not represented IN ANY WAY on this list. I should also mention that there is not a single blues musician. No Robert Johnson, no Muddy Waters, no Howlin' Wolf. According to VH1, it makes no difference that if it weren't for those guys, there would be no Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, two of the top five on the list.

Christ on a cracker. On to the shame of it all...

Let's start with Category #1: Artists Who Should Absolutely Not Be On The List. That includes Depeche Mode (98), Journey (96), ABBA (81?! Are you fucking kidding me?!??), and Def Leppard (70 — we all get it, alright, it's hard to drum with one arm).

Moving on to Category #2: Artists Who Should Be Way Lower On the List. That includes U2 (19 — this is more of a personal opinion, but I think U2 might be the most overrated Bigtime Rock Band ever), AC/DC (23), Radiohead (29), The Police (40), Kiss (56 — and to be honest, Kiss is flirting with Category #1), and Pink Floyd (18 — I love me some "Dark Side of the Moon," but "The Wall" is probably the most overrated rock album of all time).

This one isn't really a category, but there's no fucking way Elvis should be higher on this list than Chuck Berry. And the only reason he is, is because record mogul Sam Phillips "wanted to bring African-American music to a wider audience," which of course means, "doing it without an actual black guy."

Category #3: Artists Who Should Be Way Higher On the List. This includes the Beastie Boys (89 — they should be at least as high as Run DMC at 76 or Jay-Z at 47), Curtis Mayfield (84), Otis Redding (68), Parliament-Funkadelic (49), Johnny Cash (35), The Band (85) and Aretha Franklin (27)

Category #4: Artists Inexplicably and Inexcusably Left Off the List. The following artists amazingly do not appear on the list at all: The Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead, Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Stanley Brothers, Fela Kuti, Booker T & the MGs, the Funk Brothers (okay, they were a backup band, but they backed up EVERY SINGLE MOTOWN ARTIST), MF Doom, Peter Tosh, Snoop Dogg, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Eric Clapton (although Cream made it at 61, so technically he's in... I've never been a huge Clapton fan, but he damn sure should be on here over AC/DC, the Velvet Underground, and Guns'n'Roses), Robert Johnson, and Dr. Dre.

Category #5: The Top Ten. Let's go through them one-by-one with commentary, shall we:

• #10 — Stevie Wonder — You get no argument from me there.

• #9 — James Brown — Ditto.

• #8 — Elvis — I reiterate, if you're going to put Elvis here, you have to put the man he stole rock'n'roll from at least one step above, cultural significance or not.

• #7 — Prince — Never been a huge Prince fan, but he did turn R&B and funk on its head in his own, very unique way.

• #6 — Jimi Hendrix — No problem with that. Hendrix did things with a guitar that no mortal man should be able to do.

• #5 — Bob Dylan — Probably should be #2 at the worst. Definitely should be above...

• #4 — Rolling Stones — Again, if you're not going to put blues masters like Johnson and Waters on this list, how are you going to include the group that owes its entire career to them? I love the Rolling Stones, but that just straight-up doesn't make sense.

• #3 — Led Zeppelin — Works for me.

• #2 — Michael Jackson — OK.

• #1 — The Beatles — Correct.

Taking into account that this is complete personal preference, my separated lists would probably go thusly, at least the first few entries:

• Rock: Beatles at the top, then Dylan, followed by, in no particular order, the Grateful Dead, the Allmans, Hendrix, Chuck Berry, a begrudging nod to Elvis, Zeppelin, Springsteen, Stones

• R&B/Soul/Funk: Michael Jackson, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Prince, the Funk Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Parliament-Funkadelic, Fela Kuti

• Hip-Hop: Run DMC, Beastie Boys, MF Doom, Snoop Dogg/Dr. Dre (they should probably be packaged up, since together they basically ushered in the gangsta-rap era), Nas, Jay-Z, Biggie, Tupac

COMING UP! — 8/2/12, Club Café, Pittsburgh with THE GRIFTERS

It's gonna be a goooood time.

The Grifters are one of the first members of the local Pittsburgh music scene I connected with after moving back home. We jammed at my buddy's birthday party and have played together a few times since then. Their home base is American roots music and the blues, which meshes perfectly with my mix of the same stuff along with Dead, originals and random singer-songwriters.

Club Cafe is a great venue, a nice intimate place for a show, and you can't beat the price for two acts and several hours of acoustic music.

The plan is to play one set each, and a short third set together to round out the evening. Click here to purchase tickets through Club Cafe's website.

See you there!

Click here for a little taste of what the evening may have in store, from the Riverside Music Festival in April up in Cambridge Springs, Pa.

Tonight's Setlist: 5/23/12, Club Café, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"Many is the night we spent pickin' and singin'..."

Tonight I had the privilege of opening for Rachael Sage at her CD release show at Club Café on Pittsburgh's South Side. It was a good time and a very cool venue. The set was short but sweet. Click here to download/stream the set, courtesy of Archive.org:

The Captain* > Jam >

Southwest Sky*

Strange Moon*

Dauphine*

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) > 

Lady with a Fan (Dead) >

New Speedway Boogie (Dead)

*Original

'Riding to Finish'

Seeing as how my newspaper's regular website archives are currently unavailable because of the transition to a new format, I wanted to post the article, "Riding to Finish," here. I was honored with a Press Club of Western Pa. Golden Quill Award for the story, about a local man living in Italy who battles his multiple sclerosis by competing in insanely-long ultramarathon bike races:

Italian film director Lucia Marani was immediately captivated when her father began telling her about a man he met the day after Christmas in 2007. The man was riding his bike in the pouring rain along the Tyrrhenian coastline. 

“My father told me about this ex-Olympian baseballer for Italy, Italian-American, struck with (multiple sclerosis), preparing for a legendary bike race in France… I was already captured by his story,” she said. 

Marani’s father had met Penn Hills native Tony Lonero, who has dual citizenship and has lived in Italy since the late 1980s. Marani is hoping that both Italian and American film audiences will be equally captivated by her documentary “Ride to Finish,” about Lonero’s extraordinary life. 

Lonero’s was already quite a story, even before the events that inspired the documentary. He was the youngest boy ever to play American Legion baseball in Penn Hills. Between 1978 and 1981, Lonero led the Chipola Junior College Indians to two state final appearances, and was awarded a full scholarship to Louisiana State University. In 1982, Lonero played professional baseball in Italy with the Nettuno Indians, who are essentially the Yankees of Italian baseball, having won 18 championships since 1948. Lonero was also a player on Italy’s 1984 Olympic baseball team, which finished fifth. Since retiring from baseball in 2000, Lonero has started an Internet design and hosting company.  

The story could stop there, but it doesn’t. 

Lonero was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago. “In 2001, I had come home from walking and was doing some stretching, and I fell over,” Lonero said. “I couldn’t get up and my leg wasn’t working. That was the first symptom.” 

Because of the lesions on his spine, Lonero said he was unable to run or walk for exercise, but one day he discovered that, for some reason, riding a bike did not cause any inflammation or pain. “My doctor said, ‘Do what makes you feel good, but you gotta move,” he said. 

That was 2002. 

By 2003, Lonero was participating in the 776-mile Paris-Brest-Paris cycling ultramarathon, one of the world’s oldest cycling events. In 2003 alone, he biked more than 1,580 miles. 

“Tony’s story is so incredible not because he has MS, but because he has a different approach to the illness,” Marani said. “He lives so intensely; every moment is precious. He never stops, he never resigns, he never regrets. 

“Filming Tony was great fun, although it was a very demanding project. Following a cyclist day and night, rain or sun, for days, no stop, is really hard, but it makes you understand how deep the motivation is that moves people like Tony.” 

Some of that motivation has also come from Lonero’s mother, Plum resident JoAnn Bary. In fact, when it comes to the number of miles traveled, Bary may give her son a run for his money. 

“I used to be a marathon runner,” Bary said. “But I ended up with some stress fractures, so cycling was easier on my joints.” Bary started cycling at the age of 50. At age 69, she completed a 3,000-mile bike trek the entire width of the United States, from California to Florida. And though they’re separated by thousands of miles of ocean, Bary and her son even got a chance to pedal side-by-side. 

“For Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary (in 2008), there was a cycle relay from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh, to carry historical documents to the Point for the big celebration,” Bary said. “I was talking to one of the PNC (Bank) representatives who was organizing the relay, and I told her my biggest dream was to do a race with my son. Before I knew it, she told me, ‘We’ll bring him home.’” 

Bary said PNC paid to fly Lonero home, and he was able to bike from Cumberland to Frostburg, Md., with his mother.  

“We did the leg together at two in the morning,” she said, “I just said, ‘Well, you can shoot me now, I can die happy.’” 

“He never gives up,” said Walter De Luca, southern Europe sales manager for Gore Bike Wear and Running Wear. Gore is helping to sponsor “Ride to Finish.” 

“He’s the most persistent person I ever met in my life,” De Luca said. “I think not just cyclists, but all of us, can learn from him. With the disease he has, most people would not even think of doing an extreme-distance bike ride, but he does, and he does so with such a passion and dedication that it sets new standards in expectation for everyone, healthy or not.” 

Lonero is setting new standards for himself as well. He is already gearing up for the 2011 Paris-Brest-Paris event, but depending on how he feels, Lonero plans to partner with one of his closest friends in Italy, Paolo Bronzetti, and attempt the annual Race Across America, held in June and billed as “the world’s toughest bicycle race.” Lonero said he plans to enter the 3,000-mile, 12-state marathon and raise money for multiple sclerosis research along the way. If he is successful, he would be the first person with MS to complete the race. 

Perhaps the most amazing thing about Lonero? He would give it all up at the drop of a hat. 

“The movie’s great, the bikes and the sponsorship and the support I’ve gotten is great, but I’d give it all back to wake up without MS someday,” he said. 

Marani said a firm release date for “Ride to Finish” has not been set yet — Lonero attended a showing on Jan. 22 in Marani’s hometown of Rome — but she is hoping the documentary will have a spring 2011 premiere in Italy, and an English version is in the works for release in the U.S. 

“‘Ride to Finish’ is not just a motto (with Tony), but a sincere philosophy of life,” Marani said.

Tonight's Setlist: 4/21/12, Riverside Inn Music Festival, Cambridge Springs, Pa.

I'm normally sweating profusely... but not because of illness.

I had to battle through the beginning of a nasty little fever and chest congestion — that I'm only now reaching the tail end of — but it was a blast playing the Riverside Inn Music Festival in Cambridge Springs, Pa. The Riverside is a great old hotel built in the late 1800s, perfect for hosting a weekend of eclectic, mostly acoustic, music.

Plus I had another chance to jam with my pals The Grifters, which is always a good time. Click here to download/stream the set, courtesy of Archive.org:

Rain Song No. 3*

Dauphine*

Strange Moon*

Torn and Frayed (Stones)

Boys in the Barroom (R. Hunter)

Jam > Southwest Sky*

Magnolia (JJ Cale) >

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood) >

Alligator (Dead) >

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

The Other One (Dead) >

Breathe (Pink Floyd) >

The Other One > 

Breathe Reprise >

New Speedway Boogie (Dead)

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

Floating Bridge# (J. Estes)

Pig in a Pen# (B. Monroe)

Tonight's Setlist: 4/7/12, Table 22, Murrysville, Pa.

"No, dumb drunk girl, I'm not going to play you some Kenny Rogers. Matter of fact, just to spite you, I'm going to take this other guy's request and open the late set with 'Run for the Roses.'"

Aside from that little bit of unspoken-but-executed business above, tonight went pretty well. Tried out the Stones' "Torn and Frayed" for the first time. Also covered an old Irish tune I rediscovered recently, the Clancy Bros. "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?"

The latest original, "Dauphine," is taking better shape. It's still a little too plain-old-G-F-C, but if we end up trying it out in Charlie Hustle, we can gild it up a bit:

Early set:

The Captain* > Jam >

Southwest Sky* >

Eyes of the World (Dead)

Rain Song No. 3*

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

Black Peter (Dead)

Big River (J. Cash)

Went to See the Gypsy (Dylan) >

Garden of Eden (New Riders of the Purple Sage)

Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go? (Clancy Bros.) >

Galway Bay (F. Fahy)

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood)

Strange Moon*

Torn and Frayed (Stones)

Late set:

Run for the Roses (J. Garcia)#

Magnolia (J.J. Cale) >

Alligator (Dead) >

Smokestack Lightning (C. Burnett) >

Me & My Uncle (Dead)

Floating Bridge (J. Estes)

New Mexican Shuffle*

Fast Train (S. Burke)

Jimmy Olsen's Blues (Spin Doctors)

I Like It*

April Come She Will (P. Simon) >

Peggy-O (Dead) >

Friend of the Devil (Dead) >

Atlantic City (Springsteen) >

Standing on the Moon (Dead) > Jam >

Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Williamson) >

The Other One (Dead) >

New Speedway Boogie (Dead) >

Breathe (Pink Floyd) >

Mystery Train (J. Parker)

I Ain't Superstitious (C. Burnett)

*Original

#By request