"THIS IS MY STORY & I'M STICKIN' TO IT"
Hey - some of you know me, but for those who don't I'm Sal. I call myself
"Wisconsin's biggest Bolin fanatic" and no one's denied me that title yet so
it must be true! I first heard Tommy's music via "Post Toastee"...played to
me in the summer of 1977 by a slightly older friend. He wanted to convince me
that THIS is what hard electric rock guitar should sound like. I didn't take
too much convincing! Shortly thereafter I bought "Private Eyes" & have been a
collector & fan ever since. In recent years I've made a series of TB
compilation tapes that I give to friends to turn them on to all the great
jams, and I always include the Archives address on them so people will know
where to buy the stuff. I'm sort've a TB apostle, and recently made my first
pilgrimage to a Bolin Tribute concert...
The 1999 Tommy's birthday concerts in Sioux City was just too good to be
true for me. I always wanted to go out to Denver for the tribute shows, but
lacked the funds to do so. I just love the '96 tribute video & especially the
'97 tribute CD with Glenn Hughes...so, to just get to the other side of Iowa
from Wisconsin to see Glenn Hughes, Johnnie, Black Oak (who I've also liked
since the '70's), JRZ, and it's ALL FREE?!??!? I had to do it, man. I had to
fill that hole in my soul.
So, my girlfriend and I hit the road like it was a Jack Keroac adventure.
Sioux City is a good 7 1/2 to 8 hours from Madison, so I was bit jumpy from
the road trip by the time we got there, Saturday afternoon (7/31/99) yes, we
decided to pass on the Friday night show to save some $ on the hotel.
The first thing I did was to hunt down the Foundation table to say "hi" to
Jim Wilson and buy a beer or 3. JRZ System was getting set up. I hadn't seen these guys yet & was excited to, solely based on what I'd read about them. For those of you who don't know yet, JRZ System is a mostly instrumental trio from Omaha that are heavily Bolin influenced, especially from the fusion angle. They sounded GREAT...as I recall, they did "People People", "Savannah Woman", "The Red Baron", "Mind Transplant" and a batch of originals before ending with a blistering medley of TB songs that climaxed
with the balls out jam at the end of "Post Toastee". Talking to bassist Troy
after their set was a real pleasure and we joked around with Jim Dandy a bit
before Black Oak's set.
A slight sidenote: Meeting a lot of my musical role models was a big part
of the motivation for making this trip. Seeing Glenn perform, going to pay my
respects at Tommy's grave, and meeting Johnnie were my 3 major goals. So the
question remained, was it going to be a pain in the ass to do so? The answer,
hell NO dude! Everyone I met was MEGA cool and very friendly. Tommy's music
brings together a lot of special people.
Back to the tunage: Craig Erickson's set was cool, he was also performing
in a trio format, quite often instrumental and a bit more bluesy than JRZ. I
recall him also playing "People People", and Alphonse Mouzon's "Golden
Rainbows".
A brief set was provided by L.A.'s Greg Hampton who's the producer of
BOA's latest project. Johnnie was on drums and Robert Ware on bass - they
opened with "Teaser"!
Seeing Black Oak was a treat and a half. They sound great with Johnnie
Bolin and Rocky Athas in the band. Jim Dandy's voice is as good as ever and
the setlist was inspired. Note that I was having too much fun to actually
write down setlists but memory will suffice, for the most part! They opened
with "Post Toastee" and also performed "Shake The Devil". Word has it that
these TB songs and also a handful of '70's era BOA songs will be included on
the soon-to-be-released new BOA CD. Other classic Jim Dandy growlers provided
by the group include "Hot Rod", "Hot n Nasty", "Uncle Elijah", "Mutants of
the Monster", "When Electricity Came To Arkansas", and the "Heartbreaker"
song dedicated to the late great vocalist Ruby Starr. Of course they also
played "Jim Dandy"! This is the band that scared my big sister Julia away
from rock 'n roll forever (it was her one & only rock concert, back in '76)
and I'm glad to say...they haven't lost their touch!
On Sunday I started the day off with a visit up to Calvary Cemetery to
wish Tommy a happy 48th birthday. It wasn't difficult to find his gravemarker
in the Golgotha section. It was a peaceful morning, sunny & cool, overlooking
the Missouri River & Sioux City. I sat there and played some guitar for
awhile & felt very tranquil when I left. Damn...
Back at the park, there was a slew of tight local talent leading up to
Glenn's set. My favorite of these groups were Katty Wampus, who sort've had a
STP/Collective Soul type sound, and also Buckley Mills, who performed with a
group & also solo.
Some organizers of the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were on hand to
announce to the crowd that Tommy's FINALLY being inducted this year (maybe
Cleveland next/someday?) and Johnnie will accept the award for Tommy in early
September. That might have to be my next Iowa road trip!
Glenn Hughes was backed up by the same band that's on the '97 Archives
show CD, except with Craig E. replacing Ralph Patlan on guitar. The setlist
(I'm relying on Tom Cullen's board post now, but it SEEMS 100 percent
accurate) is as follows: "Homeward Strut" (minus Glenn), "Slow Driver", "Post
Toastee", "Wild Dogs", "Alexis" (announced as a Zephyr song??!?), "People
People", "Gypsy Soul", "You Are The Music", "Ode To G", "Coast To Coast",
"Getting Tighter", and "You Keep On Moving". At this point special guests
from L.A. were brought out to join the set, Stacey & Brett Ellis. The next
tune was Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" & then Glenn sat one out to let
Stacey sing "Teaser" from the woman's point of view! Glenn wound the set down
with "Your Love Is Alright" & "Dreamer". Wow! Everyone's always written "what
can you adequately say about a Glenn Hughes show" and now I know what they
mean! It's beyond words, especially with Johnnie, Rocky, Craig, Robert, and
Terry backing him up with a TB inspired set-list....I came, I saw, & Glenn
sent me home a happy camper!
After this everyone was invited to the Crosstown Bar for an open jam,
which I heard was quite fun, but I bailed on it as I was somewhat worn out
after seeing Glenn's incredible set, and I had the big drive ahead of me the
next day.
In retrospect, I'm SO-O-O glad I made this trip...I know I made some
friends, and the whole time felt that I was amongst kindred souls. The
musicians I met were the coolest ever (Johnnie, Robert Ware, and Rocky Athas
were MEGA nice) and vibe was SO right! Since returning to Madison, I'm now
hearing from closet TB fans who were envious of my trek....so next year I'm
bringing a bigger crew with me dammit!
Please continue supporting the efforts of these great musicians, the
Archives, and the Foundation, everyone! Peace & keep rockin'
Sal Serio "Wisconsin's Biggest Tommy Bolin Fanatic"
WILL THERE BE A BOLIN FEST 2000??? THE ANSWER IS "YES"!!! WATCH FOR "BF2K" at the Tommy Bolin Fan Page, and the Tommy Bolin Foundation websites! For more details, stop back in the Fall at The Bolin Fest.
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