Friday night kicked
off swank and swingin’ (even though I was in a ratty
t-shirt) at Max of Eastman Place for the RIJF kick-off affair. Unlike a lot of
promoters who direct from the sidelines, John
Nugent is in the trenches and was on the bandstand blowing his horn all hot
and cool with a hot quartet that included guitarist Bob Sneider in his monkey suit (Sneider has an Eastman gig, you see).
After watching
motorcycles fly through the air on Scio
Street, I caught Jennifer Heieck as part of the East End
Fest. She was nothing short of amazing, with an intensity
and sexuality most performers save for long after the sun goes down. Her band
was great, her voice was fantastic, and man, those shoes…
Meanwhile, down on
the corner of East and Main, The Atomic
Swindlers played slick music on the corner of Bowie and beautiful.
Back at The
California Brew Haus, Rochester garage legends The Invictas rocked a modest crowd with
some new treats including “Skip ‘N’ Go Naked”; a tribute to Tiny’s
Bengal Inn and the elixir created therein. The drink apparently encouraged its
namesake. I dunno, chocolate
milk makes me wanna do the same thing….maybe not the
skipping part.
Of all the bachelor
musicians living in Never Never Land, who woulda thought we’d ever hear blues master Steve Grills say “I do?” Well he done
got hitched and the party that followed at Sweet Briar in Geneseo
was an all-star blues bash. Blues legends Joe
Beard and John Cole joined a
host of others including Grills’ big brother Tom (a furious guitar picker who burns it up out in the Arizona “But it’s a dry
heat” desert), and played the blues well into the night. Love was in the
air…still is as I write this.
Split from the
post-nuptial hootenanny just in time to miss Southern Culture On The Skids set at
Milestones. Their load out sounded great, though.
Sunday I watched as
artist Eric Waugh conducted a canvas
with his brush while Jeff Tyzik brandished his baton
over The RPO as they played on a
barge on the canal. It was fascinating to hear Waugh’s painting while seeing
the music.
— Frank De Blase
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2006.
