Delmarva Bike Week – monoblogue

Weekend of local rock volume 61

Delmarva Bike Week traditions are many: lots of bikes, loud pipes, and long nights in the local haunts and watering holes. But one tradition has a charitable side: each year the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition benefits from (Save the) Breast Fest, which this year marked its sixth anniversary.

As always there were raffles, drawings, and various people selling their wares to donate to the BreastFest cause, which has raised thousands of dollars over its run.

The lovely Iris pictured above is one of several volunteers who help the organizer, local musician, DJ, and breast cancer survivor Michele Hogsett.

Giving a big assist is her husband Jim, who emcees the event and helps with the details.

These bands and the sound man donated their time to the event. So how did they sound?

Leading off the classic rock fest was Front Page News, which got an A+ for expanding the stage.

Front Page News leaned on the older classics, although they threw a couple more recent ones in there. It was a good warmup and helped attract a crowd.

It was something Fuzzbox Piranha kept around as they kept the mainstream classics coming.

Then it was time for the ladies to hit the stage. Witches Brew has the distinction of playing all six editions of BreastFest. And if you weren’t aware of their presence, there’s just something about these guitars that say things will get a little heavier.

Obviously I’ve seen Susan and the boys enough to know most of their set pretty well, but they create a strong presence nonetheless. It’s not difficult with the songs they chose.

You’ve seen them here many times as Semiblind, but the recently-rechristened Something Grey took the fourth slot on the bill. They’ve been around long enough to know their audience, so the set was red meat classic rock punctuated with Jim’s guitar work.

We went back to a little harder edge with Chainbreak, although they had a fill-in drummer who incidentally is also a cancer survivor.

I think they were having a couple sound issues – “Flirtin’ With Disaster” was a mainly three-piece and I had a hard time hearing the lead guitar. It was better by the time they got to Led Zeppelin.

Finally, we got to Native Grave, who I really liked for one reason: they weren’t afraid to play a few originals. And yes, they were heavy because the guitarist is indeed the same one who plays for Witches Brew.

The true challenge for the 1 a.m. band is to keep the dwindling crowd there and Native Grave did a fine job in that regard – the place was still fairly crowded for last call.

Not only is the event a good way to raise awareness for the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, but it seems to be holding its own as far as an attraction for the increasing number of people who like a little music with their Bike Week festivities. Considering BreastFest was up against Travis Tritt at the OC Bike Fest stage and Slaughter at the Soundwave Music Festival outside Berlin, not to mention entertainment at other area venues, they did pretty well.

Look for the seventh edition next year.

Weekend of local rock volume 41

At one time this was supposed to be two posts, but as it turned out – thanks to my faulty memory and other things which happened (or didn’t happen) over Delmarva Bike Week – this can fit comfortably into one post.

However, my camera misfortune actually opened the door for me to introduce you to a kind friend of mine who deserves a lot of credit. I’ll share that with you in a bit, but first I’d like to mention that this WLR post came from the recent (Save the) BreastFest that occurred a couple Thursdays back out at the Oasis Bar and Grill.

I was expecting an inside event, but instead the BreastFest was set up outside, amid some other Delmarva Bike Week vendors like these:

But you can tell which one was the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition tent – it was pretty in pink.

By the way, the woman seated on the hay bale with the gray shirt next to the crutches – this event is her baby. Michele Hogsett gets a lot of help but has organized this event over the last three years.

She lined up quite a few interesting items for the raffle. Believe it or not, I’ve won something two years in a row – seems like this is the only place Lady Luck smiles on me.

It’s a shame the weather wasn’t better and warmer; still I believe there were quite a few of these consumed.

This shot? Well, I added it to show that some guys have WAY too much time on their hands.

Okay, okay, now for the bands. As I said, I had camera issues and shortly after I took that last shot of the short bus, well, my batteries died and I didn’t have a spare set on me. I also had the occurrence of a longer-than-normal day of work, which meant I couldn’t get to the show until just before the third band took the stage. (My haste was probably why I forgot the batteries!)

Fortunately, there was an award-winning photographer there who I’ve come to know over the last few months through her work. She was there for the whole event and got some great band shots, so the photography credits henceforth go to Francie Davis/3roses photography.

The first band up was Fast Nixon.

By the accounts I heard these guys had a very tight sound. I had hoped to catch them live since they’re frequently played on the ‘Local Produce’ radio show but it was not to be.

Dust ‘n Bones took the stage next and I assume, based on my previous encounters with them, rocked the place with some strong cover tunes. They led into the point where I arrived, just in time for The Electric Co.

They took a folk-rock turn in their set, mixing in a few originals and showing their wide influence base of rock, folk, and even bluegrass. It may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but those who stuck around definitely enjoyed the show. Nate Clendenen of TEC was a second-time participant in the event, leading off last year with a solo gig.

The growing chill in the air reminded me of the upcoming Halloween season, and told me it was time for a dose of Witches Brew. (Clever segue, huh?)

The way Witches Brew rocked the stage, I’m sure they were quite toasty by the end. As usual, they pummeled out some hard rock covers from the catalog of groups like Judas Priest and Nirvana. They’re one of two bands which has played all three of these events, the other being the host group Semiblind.

Another band I’d looked forward to seeing was Deep Sea Research, which played next.

They may have been one of the most unique cover bands I’ve ever encountered (although they played one original tune too.) In a 45-minute set, they played only 3 or 4 full songs – the first 25 or 30 minutes was one continuous jam of various song snippets from the classic rock era. Just when you thought they may settle into a groove, they up and changed the thing around – I frankly enjoyed it.

Their last song was a Pink Floyd cover with a special guest.

Since Semiblind was next on the bill anyway, they asked guitarist Jim Hogsett to jam with them on their last song. And it made the transition between bands easier, too.

Even though Michele Hogsett was hobbling around on crutches helping to direct the BreastFest proceedings, Semiblind did their set with her gamely standing throughout. You can get a little more of the backstory behind the (Save the) Breastfest here and here. It’s definitely been a star-crossed event, having survived three venue changes including a last-minute cancellation.

With two new players on stage, they stuck to their bread-and-butter of classic rock covers – but Jim promised that exciting stuff is in the works with the new members. Stay tuned.

A band with a definite affinity for Van Halen is Fuzzbox Piranha. The music of those classic rockers was a staple of FP’s set, with a definite lean toward the days of David Lee Roth. But anyone who starts ‘Panama’ with the opening riff to ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ will get your attention.

Last but not least was Vivid Season.

A lot of what they played was those songs you’d find on a modern rock radio station, but they took a country detour for a couple tunes just for fun. Heck, those still out there were freezing by then so whatever worked to get up and dance, right? Some of the ladies were getting into it, that’s for sure.

I’m not sure just how much the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition raised from the event, although it figures that the first fall-like day with threatening weather happened to occur for this event. Sunny and 80 degrees would have likely doubled or tripled the turnout. But I’m sure Michele is undaunted and probably working out ways to make edition number four next year bigger and better.

I also want to point out that Francie Davis was most helpful and thank her for permission to use her work. She has a full album of the event, which includes many more band shots that I didn’t include here. Francie is probably best known, though, for her award-winning nature photos, with prints available for sale. Check her site out!

Weekend of local rock volume 34

I’m sure some people will hate me because I’m not talking politics and others will be unhappy that I slapped 19 pictures up onto a slow-loading post. Well, sometimes you have to be a little different and for the most part this was for a good cause. If I didn’t have the pictures I couldn’t do it justice.

Indeed, I kicked off Bike Week by checking out this second annual gathering of bands for a good cause. These young ladies were some of those representing the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, which benefitted from the event.

Also helping with the task of selling raffle tickets and drumming up business outside along Philadelphia Avenue were these women on roller skates, the Salisbury Roller Girls.

This nice young lady was the one who sold my raffle ticket. She wasn’t on skates, though.

Nor was Michele Hogsett, who put together this event as someone personally affected by the cause. Michele can feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I was told over $700 was raised that night. It definitely had a better crowd than last year’s inaugural event, which was forced to be rescheduled due to the untimely closing of Cowboyz in Ocean City the very day it was originally slated.

By the way, her shirt says ‘Survivor’ and that best explains Michele’s vested interest. She did get the perk of drawing winning raffle tickets.

And yes, there were bands. Now we can get to those who played the tunes in the order shown below (it also has the handy effect of showing the nice prizes they had.)

Nate Clendenen began the show with his solo act. I was a little late so I only caught the last song or so – just long enough to get his picture.

The first female-fronted band of many came up next. Petting Hendrix did a set rich with covers, including a pair from Journey.

Needless to say, things perked up when one of the best blues acts around took the stage – lower case blues nearly set the place on fire.

The smoke had barely cleared when a band with a pair of sassy females in front rocked more classic rock covers – Marla, Kathy, and company from Agent 99 put up a set that got people on the floor.

The boy-girl rotation continued apace because next up was a band with ‘more rock than a crack house’, Fuzzbox Piranha. I enjoyed their song selection in particular.

And what benefit would be complete without my friends from Semiblind? They had a couple new cover songs they were polishing in this set, including the oldie ‘Mustang Sally’.

Yet there were two bands to go. Freshly Squeezed had more of a pop feel to them, perhaps because of the vocals. It made songs a little different but still done well.

But instead of slowing down, the crowd was amped-up by the high-energy heavy metal that Witches Brew put out. No, I don’t see Stevie Nicks covers in their future.

I thought they were a good choice to wrap up the show, although some of the faithful had departed.

But Bike Week wasn’t done. Kim and I happened to check out the proceedings at Perdue Stadium and WinterPlace Park last Saturday; not because we’re avid bikers but because we know people who are and it was an interesting diversion on a Saturday afternoon. We were also treated to a good Alabama-based band called Thunderfoot.

The last five shots are from that show, which featured a number of their original tracks along with covers of bands like Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and Molly Hatchet. Hey, anyone who starts the show with a few bars of ‘War Pigs’ has my attention and is placed on my ‘like’ list.

I suspect they will return for next year’s Delmarva Bike Week and hopefully add another show or two.