An evening of Flagstaff blues
Back in Flagstaff in 1969 musicians worked in just a few places: fraternity parties, high school dances and the Oddfellows Underground on Arrowhead, a teen dance hall in the basement. We all played there. (There were country bands at the Museum Club, but no love for teenage rockers)
My band was the Vanilla Doorknob, a psychedelic name for a pretty conservative small town dance band. The other band was the Sympler Form, with Donny Roberts on guitar and Isidro Padilla on vocals. They were the bad boys, south side characters who played a lot of underground material. They were covering the Velvet Underground’s Heroin for heaven’s sake!
Isidro moved on, lineups changed, but Donny and I were pals and 17 years old then. Word got out that there was a new singer in town, an older guy from New York City who had been in the Army in Germany. That was Frank Manhardt and I remember watching him at the Underground.
He stuck around, bands changed, and he and Donny became locally famous as Freaky Frank and the Pistons. Big crowds for them down at Shaky Jake’s, the Zanzucchi family’s bar on South San Francisco. Then they moved to Tucson and did really well there as Straight Shot and the Frank and Woody Show.
Donny moved to Nashville and became a top studio musician, working with Webb Wilder and, famously, playing guitar on Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road.
I’ve been trying to think of something different to try at Coconino Center for the Arts. November’s “An Evening of Flagstaff Blues” with Tommy Dukes, Bob Blasi, Dale Caddell, Roger Smith, Chuck Curry and Greg Varlotta was quite successful, selling out for standing room only. Plans are being made for a Fall repeat, but on May 9 Roger Smith and I will be hosting a smaller gathering with Frank Manhardt (Freaky Frank) and Donny Roberts. Other guests to be announced.
This show will be more eclectic, not so Blues focused, with more Americana and even Country elements. We’re having a party 60 years in the making! I know most folks in Northern Arizona weren’t around in 1969 or even ’76, but I’m inviting you to come out and see what a lifetime of experience playing American music can achieve! Let’s have some fun!
