First was the Hillbilly Gypsies at the Heidelberg (the first time I've ever set foot in this place). Technical problems early on hindered Oak & Ivy's opening set, and the acoustic duo was difficult to hear during much of their performance. What I did hear sounded good; acoustic folk melodies with nice harmonies.
The Hillbilly Gypsies smoked! As Songsmith forewarned everybody, this wasn't your grandfather's bluegrass! From Morgantown, West Virginia, the Hillbilly Gypsies performed fire-and-brimstone bluegrass, with rapidfire arrangements and hard playing and singing - several broken strings were sustained during the course of their performance. All five of these folks were mega-talented, the banjo and fiddle playing especially ripped! They were tight and in sync, moving in and out around a central condenser mic, displaying stellar skills and making it all look so easy! It was great to see a packed house for this show (including a lot of musicians, plus folks from as far away as Danville making the journey), and the crowd getting into it! Hats off to Chuck Cox for putting this shindig together; here's hoping the success of this show leads to more like it down the road.
A few pictures:
The Hillbilly Gypsies, in the heat of their performance at the Heidelberg.
Jamie Lynn Buckner of the Hillbilly Gypsies. This gal delivered some vocal firepower!
More fire and brimstone bluegrass from the Hillbilly Gypsies.
Some fun onstage during the Hillbilly Gypsies' third encore.
After the show ended, I headed to City Limits, where The Underground TV was celebrating co-host Kathy's birthday. It was also a Hawaiian theme party, with lots of people getting lei'd during the course of the night. I missed openers Grade E, but arrived in time to catch all of The Nightcrawlers' dazzling set. With longtime State College bass vet Pete Jogo now handling bottom end duties, the 'Crawlers were excellent on their set of sounds, spanning original tunes and select classics. Noah's guitar work scorched on Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On," Aeb's flute work shined on the Police's "Roxanne," and I was blown away by the group's rendition of the Beatles' "A Day In The Life!"
Birthday girl Kathy was in prime form. And then there was sumo wrestling in front of the back bar, courtesy of Ianni's Sumo Wrestling; we got to see epic sumo bouts between Todd and Buck of Silver Sunday, and The Underground's Chris and one of his staffers.
Good turnout here as well, with numerous Rockpagers in the house (Ron, Hawk, and ZappasXwife to name a few). Another excellent time!
Some pics:
The Nightcrawlers.
Noah and Aeb of The Nightcrawlers.
New bass man Pete Jogo of The Nightcrawlers.
Again Noah of the Nightcrawlers.
Birthday girl Kathy, in her Hawaiian finest.
Birthday girl Kathy, passed out on the stage? (She'll have you believe she was taking a picture, yeah right.)
Settling their musical differences on the sumo mat, Todd and Buck of Silver Sunday.
Chris from The Underground TV and one of his crew, hashing out programming decisions on the sumo mat.
Again, it was one of those excellent nights in Altoona that went above and beyond the normal routine. Hats off to everyone involved in both of these shows, and I'm looking forward to more Saturdays like this soon!
They executed so well at such fast tempos, and reminded me of oldtime country shows, complete with a "cut-up" character named Skeet. "Cut-ups" were a standard part of shows in Appalachia in the '30's to '60's, and mostly dressed like a bumpkin and told corny jokes.
