With the exception of Sunday night, this turned out being a roadtrip weekend for yours truly.
THURSDAY NIGHT 4/10 – I journeyed to State College to take in Schleigho (pronounced “SHLAY-ho”) at The Brewery. I’ve seen a lot of good bands in my travels and bandwatching history; but these guys belong to that elite group of “jawdropper” bands – you watch them perform, and your jaw drops to the floor in amazement! All four members of Schleigho – guitarist/flute player Suke Cerulo, keyboard man Jesse Gibbon, bassist Paco Mahone and drummer Erik Egol – are wizards on their respective instruments who can make your jaw drop to the floor just doing their solo displays; but when they put it all together, it is INCREDIBLE! I was particularly blown away by Paco, switching between upright bass and 6-string fretless bass, and displaying total mastery on both! Schleigho performed energetic, modern instrumental jazz-rock fusion, mixing compositions from their studio albums. I recognized several titles from their “Continent” CD, including the title track, “Keep It In The Car” and “Sumo.” Their execution was tight and precise, especially impressive given the complexity of their compositions and arrangements. All four members had opportunities to show their stuff, and each amazed! I was a bit surprised by the somewhat light turnout at The Brewery, but the people who were there were every bit as amazed as I was, and the applause at the end of the show was loud and unanimous in approval. I was impressed enough with Schleigho to part with some green for their latest live CD, “Live at Ho-Down 2000” (where they were joined onstage by Derek Trucks and Kofi Burbridge of the Allman Brothers!). It’s probably likely that Schleigho will be visiting The Brewery again (this night was their second visit there); if you are a fan of instrumental fireworks, precision and improvisation; I HIGHLY recommend seeing Schleigho the next time the opportunity presents itself. You will be amazed!
Suke Cerulo of Schleigho.
Jesse Gibbon of Schleigho.
Paco Mahone of Schleigho.
Demonstrating his talents on flute, Suke Cerulo of Schleigho.
Playing upright bass, Paco Mahone of Schleigho.
Again on flute, Suke Cerulo of Schleigho.
Erik Egol of Schleigho.
FRIDAY NIGHT 4/11 – This night I took in two separate shows at the Castle Pub in Ebensburg. Upstairs was Pete Palladino and Jeff Feltenberger of The Badlees; downstairs in The Dungeon was the American Standard Band. Surprisingly, not a lot of crowd upstairs in the early going for Pete and Jeff as I arrived. The duo was in the midst of a rendition of Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Jo,” with Jeff singing lead. The pair mixed Badlees favorites with new songs, and a few select classic rock, folk and country gems. The Castle Pub onlookers responded well to Badlees standards like “Fear of Falling,” “Like A Rembrandt,” “I Liked You Better When You Hated Yourself,” “A Better Way to Save The World,” “Angeline Is Coming Home,” “Spending My Inheritance” and more. Pete introduced the new song “Bandaid on the Brotherhood of Broken Melody,” telling everyone that it hadn’t yet been decided whether the song would be an official Badlees song, or used in one of the side projects. The duo mixed frequent banter and humor in with the music, joking about everything from Jagermeister and jello shots to strobe light highjinks to performing a parody take of an Indigo Girls song. As expected, the duo sounded in good form this night, and you could tell by the laid-back, upbeat mood of the show that these two still enjoy doing what they are doing, making music and celebrating it night after night. According to Pete, the Badlees plan to tour and record this year, with a new CD expected to be completed and released by early 2004. There was a steady stream of traffic through the upstairs Castle Pub, as a number of patrons headed downstairs to The Dungeon to take in the American Standard Band. After the Badlees second set, I headed downstairs to have a look myself. The group was in the middle of a version of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” as I arrived, and they had a few fans on the dance floor and grooving along. A four-piece, American Standard performed a mix of classic and current rock favorites, from the Stones, AC/DC, Clarks, Jimmy Eats World, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Garth Brooks, Black Crowes and more. The group’s version of Garth’s “Friends in Low Places” packed the dance floor, and the group introduced an original song, too, entitled “My Last Date.” American Standard Band sounded solid and on target both instrumentally and vocally, and the crowd enjoyed them enough to demand an encore from them at night’s end. After they finished, I returned upstairs to catch the tail end of Pete & Jeff’s set, arriving in time to witness a lady named Marcie step onstage and conclude the night with a decent rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner,” with Jeff Feltenberger providing guitar accompaniment.
Pete Palladino and Jeff Feltenberger of The Badlees.
With a different light cast upon them, Pete & Jeff of The Badlees.
Pete Palladino of The Badlees.
Jeff Feltenberger of The Badlees.
Once again, Pete & Jeff of The Badlees.
Special impromptu guest Marcie, ending the night with the National Anthem.
The American Standard Band, rocking the Castle Pub’s Dungeon.
Tyson Ruhlman of the American Standard Band.
Andy Heinze and Tyson Ruhlman of the American Standard Band.
Andy Heinze of the American Standard Band.
Manny Barbezzini of the American Standard Band.
Once again, the American Standard Band, rocking the Dungeon.
SATURDAY NIGHT 4/12 - No abductions by wild Tyrone women involved this night, I roadtripped solo to the Wildwood Inn in Grampian, where Chaos was happening onstage. A hard-rocking five-piece from the DuBois/Brookville/Reynoldsville area, Chaos delivered the party, rocking almost nonstop with high-energy tunage from Ozzy, AC/DC, Neil Young, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Metallica, Judas Priest, Beastie Boys and more. Chaos aren’t fancy or frilly, they just rock your ass off, keeping the tempo fast and furious and never giving you reason to want to sit down! This band fed off the crowd, ad-libbing and improvising as the dancefloor became busier and more excited. Singer Jason donned stars and stripes, and the group made Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” an occasion to both celebrate the USA and bash Saddam Hussein, to the rabid cheers of the crowd. Other highlights included the “orgasm” contest among the dancefloor ladies during the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” and bassman Chipper’s open invitation for female nudity on the back of his bass! Instrumentally Chaos is pretty solid, and they did a respectable job on most of the vocals, with the exception of KISS’ “Lick It Up,” where the attempt was noble but the voice range just wasn’t there. But bottom line, Chaos is about pounding high-octane rock tunage onstage, and giving fans ample reason to work up a rowdy sweat on the dance floor on a Saturday night! And hats off to owner Tammy and the Wildwood staff for the hospitality; it’s not often the club owner pulls me onto the dance floor to cut the rug, I had a blast!
Marc “Bones” Dinsmore of Chaos.
Jeremy Allshouse of Chaos.
Jason Shaffer of Chaos.
Chipper Frantz of Chaos.
Jason and Chipper of Chaos.
Bones and Chipper of Chaos.
Bones, Chaz and Jason of Chaos.
Chipper of Chaos, gearshifting into party animal mode.
Chipper and Chaz of Chaos.
Onstage chaos with Chaos at the Wildwood Inn.
Chaz McKay of Chaos.
A public service message to the ladies of the Wildwood Inn, brought to you by Chipper of Chaos.
SUNDAY NIGHT 4/13 – I ended my weekend by enjoying Something Fluid at Pellegrine's (it was fizzy, served in brown bottles and called Genessee, lol!). At least in the early going, I thought it was "Revenge of the Old Drunk Hippies" night at Pelly's, as one was passed out at a table towards the stagefront area; and a second one tried two times to get onstage and sing, much to the chagrin of the band, and eventually Pelly's staff. As the night progressed, the hippies departed and the dancefloor crowd took over. Something Fluid kept them busy with their freewheeling mix of current favorites, 80’s rock and cheesy classics. The group kept it interesting by constantly switching off vocal duties between frontlady Gretchen, guitarists CJ and Chris, bassist Jerry and drummer Mitch. Gretchen rallied the crowd to become part of the show, and by third set a number of fans were platooning on and off the stage to celebrate with the band, including an off-duty exotic dancing contingent, and members of Judgement in the house as well! Again, Something Fluid delivered a fun, uptempo party that brought another weekend to a festive, happy conclusion.
Entertaining an onstage guest at close range, CJ of Something Fluid.
Gretchen of Something Fluid.
Fronting an onstage cavalcade of band members and guests, Gretchen of Something Fluid.
Jerry of Something Fluid.
Busting some onstage dance moves with Something Fluid at Pellegrine’s.
Mitch of Something Fluid.
Gretchen of Something Fluid.
Gretchen of Something Fluid, enlisting some guest vocal help at Pellegrine’s.
Chris of Something Fluid.
Although she doesn’t do it often, Gretchen of Something Fluid displays her keyboard prowess as well…