Hello to all Foundation members. I hope you’re having a great music summer but there’s more coming. August 15th brings Albert Lee and Cindy Cashdollar to the Sportsmen’s Tavern and many more great artists will appear throughout the month and into September, including Peter Case, Wishbone Ash, Professor Louie, Matuto and The Dusty 45s.
However, the main topic of this month’s newsletter is our 2015 Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation’s First Annual Awards Show. Also, SAMF Board member Don Nelson presents an update on the musical education efforts of the Foundation. This month’s Kenny’s Korner is about the Buffalo connection to a legendary New York City Americana nightclub. We have information about SAMF at Larkinville on September 9th. And, once again, we have an opportunity for members to win free tickets.
Buffalo Bob Sez
SAMF First Annual Awards Show
We have an exciting line-up of artists and we’ll be presenting a variety of awards to the best Americana musicians, singers and songwriters from WNY. The event will be held at The Sportsmen’s Tavern on Monday, September 21st at 7 PM. Our headliners will be Jim Lauderdale, Bill Kirchen and Kim Lenz & The Jaguars. Tickets will be $25 for members and $35 for non-members. We’ll send you a quick email when the tickets go on sale and members will get one week advance time to get their tickets. This will be a great show and will be remembered for a long time in the annals of WNY music history. If you don’t know all the artists, look them up, they’re easy to find. Jim Lauderdale is the legendary host of the Americana Music Association’s annual awards show in Nashville and is a major star, singer and songwriter much in demand in Americana circles. Bill Kirchen is the SAMF national spokesman, has been to the Sportsmen’s Tavern many times and is nationally known as a guitarist and bandleader. Kim Lenz was voted Rockabilly Female of the Year at the Ameripolitan Awards in Austin, Texas this past February. Rolling Stone said about her, “If Elvis had been a woman, he probably would have sounded just like Kim Lenz.”
It’s been a year since our inaugural show at Riverside Park and we’re continuing to grow members and add excitement to the music scene. The Awards Show will be held every year; make sure you’re at the first one.
We have an exciting line-up of artists and we’ll be presenting a variety of awards to the best Americana musicians, singers and songwriters from WNY. The event will be held at The Sportsmen’s Tavern on Monday, September 21st at 7 PM.
Our headliners will be Jim Lauderdale, Bill Kirchen and Kim Lenz & The Jaguars. Tickets will be $25 for members and $35 for non-members. We’ll send you a quick email when the tickets go on sale and members will get one week advance time to get their tickets. This will be a great show and will be remembered for a long time in the annals of WNY music history.
Jim Lauderdale
If you don’t know all the artists, look them up, they’re easy to find. Jim Lauderdale is the legendary host of the Americana Music Association’s annual awards show in Nashville and is a major star, singer and songwriter much in demand in Americana circles.
Bill Kirchen
Bill Kirchen is the SAMF national spokesman, has been to the Sportsmen’s Tavern many times and is nationally known as a guitarist and bandleader.
Kim Lenz
Kim Lenz was voted Rockabilly Female of the Year at the Ameripolitan Awards in Austin, Texas this past February. Rolling Stone said about her, “If Elvis had been a woman, he probably would have sounded just like Kim Lenz.”
It’s been a year since our inaugural show at Riverside Park and we’re continuing to grow members and add excitement to the music scene. The Awards Show will be held every year; make sure you’re at the first one.
SAMF and the Twang Gang at Live at Larkin
Wednesday, September 9th will be Buffalo Heritage Night at Larkinville, from 5-8:30. Headlining the event will be The Twang Gang from The Sportsmen’s Tavern, led by Dwane Hall. The SAMF will have a table set up to share our information with what we expect will be a big crowd. SAMF men’s and women’s t-shirts will be available along with membership applications. Bring your friends who haven’t joined yet and they can also become a part of a great musical movement in Buffalo and Western New York.
The Dusty 45s on August 27th
Although I was not able to get to all the great shows around here last month, there were a few outstanding shows I was able to attend. Lord Huron was very good at The Town Ballroom, Outer Circle Orchestra really drove the crowd wild with a great show at Larkinville and, especially, Stan Ridgway was fantastic in Lewiston, with Buffalo’s Rob Lynch on drums, who sounded like he’s been playing “Mexican Radio” for years. I wish I would have gone to Tedeschi and Trucks at Artpark, and I really regret having to miss Chuck Mead and the Grassy Knoll Boys at 189 Public House and Old Crow Medicine Show at The Town Ballroom. You can’t make them all, but I’ll keep trying.
Do yourself a favor and don’t end up being sorry you miss The Dusty 45s at The Sportsmen’s Tavern on August 27th at 7 PM. My wife Rose and I have gone on a cruise in the Caribbean the past three years, the Cayamo Americana Music Cruise and last year the Dusty 45s from Seattle were voted onto the cruise by the passengers, along with Sportsmen’s alums The Black Lillies. The Black Lillies were great and so were Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Rodney Crowell, Richard Thompson, David Bromberg, Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale and many more. But when The Dusty 45s played on their three sets, the boat exploded!
This is an absolutely great live band. Seattle’s Dusty 45s have inspired and fired up crowds for almost two decades. They deliver their rockin’, high-energy music at full throttle, keeping fans on their feet and begging for more. The group melds styles ranging from country twang to jump blues and surf to R&B, all while adding Dixieland and jazz elements to their instrumentation. The finished product is a sizzling sound uniquely their own. And for all this, it’s only $12 advance or $15 at the door.
From The Phoenix New Times: “The Dusty 45s specialize in the archaic sounds of the ’50s and ’60s, with emphasis on the dance-happy backbeat that used to be the hallmark of the hit single, bouncing from rockabilly to jumpin’ jive, barrelhouse blues, hard-core honky-tonk and other roots-heavy forms. Lead vocalist Billy Joe Huels has a larger-than-life and slightly out-of-control baritone that combines the authentic drawl of Johnny Cash with the mania of The Cramps’ Lux Interior. Lead guitarist Jerry Battista supplies an encyclopedia of twangy licks that add a rush of cool electric sparks to every track, with Micah Hulscher’s piano providing the push that sends the music into overdrive. Hits include “Play the Game,” a Latin-flavored polka with a dramatic Elvis-style vocal, and a bluesy, extended take on “St. James Infirmary.” The low-key production brings to mind the Sun Records echo chamber and adds to the music’s blue-collar charm.”
Bob McLennan,
Vice President
Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation
Sportsmen’s AMF Summer session music lessons!
In early July, the Foundation kicked off a series of Americana music education lessons for young students attending the Valley Community Center’s summer youth programs. Headed by Executive Director, Peg Overdorf and her dedicated staff, The Valley Community Association at 93 Leddy St. (thevalleycenter.com) is an invaluable resource that provides programs, activities and meals for seniors, family services, daycare facilities, after school programs and recreation for students as well as the eight-week summer sessions.
Heading up the instructional program is the multi-talented, Katie Panfil. Performer, teacher and of course a member of the very musical Panfil family, Katie has put together a program for the kids who’s ages range is 9-11 that’s not only informative, and educational but highly entertaining for the students.
Katie’s goal has been to “introduce children to different branches of Americana music, with the hope that each will develop appreciation and joy in the music”. The one hour classes move very quickly and are in no a way a “lecture series”. The sessions promote total class participation, with lots of singing, clapping and foot stomping, drums beating, rhythm sticks clacking, banjo picking and rub-board “rubbin’”.
As Katie pointed out, Americana is such a broad genre, she’s has been able to pick music from a span of hundreds of years…”Katie has had the students singing folks songs such as Old Susannah, The Crawdad Song, Old Dan Tucker and Old Joe Clark and will be introducing songs from the Gold Rush like Clementine, some cowboy songs and railroad songs. They’ve listened to tunes from Johnny Cash, John Denver, Old Crow Medicine Show and American Author.
One of the key areas of interest for the students has been the musical instruments that Katie introduces in every week. From guitar, keyboard, banjo, fiddle, mandolin(in addition to the drums and rhythm stick the kids get to use in every session), they’re learning that those musical instruments serve as one of the common thread that runs through contemporary pop hits to tunes that were performed centuries ago.
Class size has varied a bit from week to week from 10 to 15 enthusiastic students. And while there is typically one student who seems to be a bit of a “tough sell”, invariably Katie has he or she, clapping or stomping their foot to the music by the end of the session. As Katie says, “this isn’t a genre of music where you have to sing gently or smoothly. We can stomp our feet and sing out loud and we’ve been doing just that!” In a recent session I visited, the students had a great time writing their own lyrics to Old Joe Clark. Pleased and proud of their work, they all wanted “their song” performed for the entire class!
The classes at the center will be concluding Tuesday, August 18th. On Thursday August 20th Katie’s class along with Katie’s Band, The rear View Ramblers, will be performing for the other students and parents at 4:30 at the Valley Center with Pizza to be served.
The Mission of the SAMF is to “Foster, promote and expand community appreciation for Americana music…”. Implicit in that goal is the desire to perpetuate the interest and passion for our musical heritage. We believe that our summer session youth program has been a solid step in the right direction.
Our intent is to sustain the momentum that we gained with our summer session educational program. We are working to start up a yearlong program with the Valley Center and on collaborative educational (adult as well as youth oriented) initiatives, with other like-minded foundations and organizations. If you’d like to get involved in any capacity, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the SAMF board members. We’d love to hear from you!
Thanks to all who assisted in getting Sportsmen’s AMF summer music program up and running at the Valley, especially Peg Overdorf, The Center’s Executive Director; Lori Overdorf, Director of Youth Services; Academic Director, Patrick Gormley; Katie and Mark Panfil, Mark Schroeder and Bill O’shei.
Don Nelson
SAMF Board Member
Kenny’s Korner
The Lone Star Cafe, NYC
Once upon a time, about 400 miles from Buffalo, there was an oasis of Americana (before the phrase existed) in the most unlikely of places, history was made at the Lone Star Cafe in NYC. This honky tonk, saloon or whatever you what to call it was a tribute to Texas & everything Texas.
During the fall of 80′ through the spring of 81′ I was fortunate to be able to attend shows @ The Lone Star Cafe. You see, an airline existed that offered round trip flights from Buffalo for as low as $19, yes, no misprint, $19 courtesy of People’s Express. I had a friend in Hoboken, thus a couch to sleep on, cheap airfare and armed with the village Voice to look up the Lone Star schedule, I was able to be part of music history.
Of course, Buffalo had a connection and played a part in the success of Lone Star Cafe. Moonshine Express was burning up the stages in clubs around western New York and found their way to the Lone Star. It didn’t take long for NYC to become hip to what we had been digging on our area stages for several years. Moonshine had become the official house band of the Lone Star cafe. Studio musician, Steely Dan alum & Saturday Night Live house band member Elliott Randall got wind of the ‘ band from Buffalo” that was turning heads and making waves. It only took one visit & Elliott was hooked, as time would allow, Elliott sat in with Moonshine as often as possible. Elliott also took advantage of the cheap flights from People’s Express and joined Moonshine Express at some of their Buffalo area gigs. Many times there was little or no advance notice of Elliott joining the band, he just showed up. This allowed for many very special nights when you went to see Moonshine Express and Elliott was joining them on stage.
Check out this video of Moonshine Express on stage @ The Lone Star Cafe
New York City 1981
Lone Star Cafe
Bo Diddley & Moonshine Express
Levon Helm & Cate Brothers
Johnny Paycheck
Here is Bobby Falk’s bio from the BMHOF
http://www.buffalomusic.org/bob-falk.html
Ken Biringer
SAMF Board Member
Lone Star Cafe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lone Star Cafe was a cafe and club in New York City at 61 Fifth at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, from 1976 to 1989.[1] The Texas-themed cafe opened in February 1976 and became the premier country music venue in New York and booked big names and especially acts from Texas, like Greezy Wheels, George Strait, Asleep at the Wheel and Roy Orbison.[2] Willie Nelson, Kinky Friedman, Roy Orbison, Delbert McClinton, Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm and Jerry Jeff Walker, were among Texas musicians who frequented the Lone Star Cafe.[3] Joe Ely and Billy Joe Shaver also appeared at the cafe. The words from Shaver’s 1973 song “Old Five and Dimers Like Me” were displayed on a banner in the front of the cafe: “Too Much Ain’t Enough.”[4] Other national acts played the cafe, including The Blues Brothers, Clifton Chenier, and James Brown, who recorded a live album there in 1985.[5]
In the 1970s Texas political types in New York would visit the Lone Star Cafe, including Larry King, Ann Richards, Tommy Tune, Dan Rather, John Connally, Chet Flippo, Mark White and Linda Ellerbee.[4]
The cafe sported a unique 40-foot sculpture of a giant iguana created by artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade on top of the building.[3] Neighboring businesses did not appreciate the sculpture and sought to have it removed. Although a court battle determined that it was art, eventually it was removed. In 1983 with the support of Mayor Ed Koch, the Iguana was restored to the roof at a ceremony with Koch and then-Texas governor Mark White.[4] The cafe was co-founded by Mort Cooperman and Bill McGivney, two ad executives at Wells Rich Greene Advertising.[3] Bill McGivney left shortly afterwards and was replaced by Bill Dick. Both Bill Dick and Mort Cooperman appeared in Kinky Friedman’s book A Case of the Lone Star. Bill Dick was depicted as the owner and Mort Cooperman was the nefarious Detective Sergeant Mort Cooperman.
http://forgotten-ny.com/tag/lone-star-cafe/
http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/01/lone-star-cafe-61-fifth-and-13th-street.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lone-Star-Cafe-NYC-Alumni/101543269925472
