I’m not fooling when I tell you that The Foolsain’t foolin’.
Sure, the name might come off as dismissive, but these fools positively rocked
my ass Thursday night at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que,
where more heat was coming off of Mickey Ames’ guitar than from the smoker out
back. This long-haired cat is in the Rochester electric church; the local
pantheon of guitarists like Dave Riccione, Steve
Grills, Greg Townson, Bill Rebis,
Todd Krasz, Gordon Munding,
Steve Green, Brian Mason, Bobby Henry, Kurt Johnson, etc., who nightly drag
Rochester rock ‘n’ roll fans across their laps and spank ’em.
The Fools rock and wail with a Bay-area boogie reminiscent
of a time when starships were still airplanes, and the
blues were something you had for real. Singer Mary Ellen Hayden sings with
serious balls through serious pipes not unlike the late Miss Joplin. The band
was funky and rocking and an overall blast. Dig it as soon as you can, fool.
This article appears in Nov 14-20, 2012.
