Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • 33

January 13,2008 Standard-Speaker SUNDAY D3 A Soul-baring 'Skip James helps Dion add to legacy 1 monts (with Mastroangelo as lead singer) fared better. Their outstanding cover of Norman Fox and the Rob Roy's "Tell Me Why" made the top 20 and the Mastroangelo original "Come On Little Angel" made the top 30 in 1962. However, in the L.A. Tarone The opener is a kickin' piano-based cover of Berry's "Nadine." Also here are Dixon's "My Babe" and "Hoochie Coochie Man," Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" and "If I Had Possession (Over Judgment Day) James' "The Devil Got My Woman," Estes' "Drop Down Mama" (later done by Mississippi Fred McDowell in his last recording session), Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues," as well as Dylan's "Baby I'm in the Mood For You," and originals from Tom McClennan (I'm A Guitar and DiMucci and friends Thunderer," "Son of Skip Each gets the same treatment. There is no big band or fancy production.

It's a relaxed, three-piece combo setting perfecdy intimate. DiMucci puts a mild thump behind each and delivers each with an obvious grin on his face he just sounds as though he's loving what he's doing! Perhaps more importandy, you hear a man using, in most cases, someone else's words to bare his own soul. On his Web site, DiMucci defines blues as "the naked cry of the human heart longing to be in union with God. I know for me it was ill-consuming. To be able to expi my joys, sorrows, fears and ho, a place where you can be totally honest on the journey home." He does exactly that on "Son of Skip James." Once mistaken as a "pretty boy" ala Bobby Rydell, "Son of Skip James" has added to DiMucci's well-documented legacy as one of the truly great, giant musical figures in history.

Nine out of 10. Dion DiMucci hasn't really been around longer than dirt. It just seems that way. But he has been around practically as long as rock 'n' roll itself. Bronx-born DiMucci first recorded for the long-forgotten Mohawk label in 1957, issuing the single "The Chosen Few" bw "Out in Colorado." At the same time, three other Bronx kids Carlo Mastroangelo, Fred Milano and Angelo D'Aleo recorded the single "Teenage Clementine" bw "Santa Margarita" for the same label at the same time.

Mohawk decided to team them up. The result was Dion and the Bel-monts. They issued their first single, "We Went Away" bw "Tag Along," for the label later in 1957. It tanked. But the then-new Laurie label liked and signed them.

Their first record for the label was a sizeable hit "I Wonder Why" peaked at No. 22 in the spring of 1958. But it would also turn out to be out of character for them. While the first hit had an unforgettable vocal refrain and a thump, most of their subsequent hits were sweet (probably overly sweet) teenage love songs "No One Knows," "Don't Pity Me," "Teenager In Love," etc. But by I960, DiMucci, citing "musical differences" with the Bel-monts, went it alone.

He got off to a shaky start. His first solo single, "Lonely Teenager," got as high as No. 12. But many were asking what the differences were. It sounded like a Dion and the Belmonts record.

The next two solo records Fun" and "Kissin' didn't vary much in sound and didn't do well commercially. Meanwhile, the Dion-less Bel- that he was arguably the hottest solo act in the business, but because he was doing material that suited him and a sound he had a big hand in creating, instead of the rather formulaic pop love songs of his Belmont days. At the time, DiMucci said he sang stuff such as "Teenager in Love" because some record company executive stuck it in front of him. His real influences were Hank Williams, Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson, a point he's reiterated oft-times since. But the hits ran out after "Drip Drop" made the top 10 in the fall of 1963.

The follow-up, a neat reworking of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," could do no better than No. 71. Shortly thereafter, DiMucci took his first stab at real "blues," releasing a couple of albums and one-off singles with Johnson, Wolf and Willie Dixon songs, and originals that sounded like them. They flopped commercially.

At the same time, DiMucci's drug problem that for a while included heavy use of both heroin and cocaine got progressively worse. He started hanging around with Bob Dylan and attended several of his recording sessions and shows. At Dylan's 1964 Newport appearance, DiMucci met Skip James. The two talked about music, the blues, politics, religion and became fast friends. "We talked about the blues, guitars, Jesus and his health," DiMucci wrote on his official Web site (and said virtually word for word on NPR "Weekend Edition" last week).

"He was one beautiful, shy, mysterious dude, who sang like he was from outer space." To date, James remains an influential and enigmatic figure. His songs have been both covered and stolen. Cream did his "I'm So Glad," and though thankful for it, he always thought his was superior (and he was The seminal bluesman, who recorded off and on in the '20s and '30s, led a violent, turbulent, contradictory life. Nehemiah "Skip" James was born near Yazoo City, in 1902 and raised on a nearby plantation. His father was a boodegger who ran out on him and his mother when James was apparendy fleeing the law.

James left home at 12 and held odd jobs over the years (at a sawmill, on road crews, in lumber camps) and performed in bars, gin joints and whorehouses when he felt like it. When Prohibition became law, he started making and selling moonshine. He was a boodegger and a pimp (as well as a quasi-talent scout, having discovered Johnny Temple) and, years later, admitted involvement in at least one murder. Yet, he got religion and became a full-fledged preacher. When the folkblues revival happened in the earlymid '60s, James was among those "rediscovered," which is when DiMucci met him.

DiMucci has drifted in and out of the blues ever since. His last album, "Bronx in Blue," was a blues album. So is the new one, "Son of Skip James." This is DiMucci, so expecting a full-fledged, hardcore Delta blues album will leave you disappointed. To be sure, there is a very heavy blues feel. But there are two originals and both a Dylan and a Chuck Berry cover, in addition to songs by Dixon, Johnson, James and Sleepy John Estes.

summer of 1961, DiMucci took pool hall friend Ernie Maresca's suggestion and had the group the Del Satins (who'd released a handful of singles and would eventually become Johnny Maestro's Brooklyn Bridge) sing back-up behind him. He also added a big thump. The result was an instantly recognizable sound that couldn't be mistaken for anybody or anything else. It had swagger, style, a punch, and so much attitude, that a decade and a half later, the Ramones and Lou Reed cited it as an influence. DiMucci called it "Bronx Blues." A long list of hits followed: "Runaround Sue," "The Wanderer," "Love Came to Me," "Lovers Who Wander," "Litde Diane," "Donna the Prima Donna," and two great Drifters covers, "Ruby Baby" and "Drip Drop." He was so hot that many of the B-sides Majestic," B-side of "The Wanderer," and "Born To Cry," B-side of "Lovers Who were sizeable hits in their own right.

To date, those records are cool with a capital and don't sound the least bit dated. DiMucci was thrilled not only BTE slates Theatre in the Classroom show izing their imagination by involving them, through active participation, in the theatrical arts. BTE's Theatre In the Classroom program brings innovative theatre into classrooms, combining arts and education. This commitment to arts education for young people is widely acclaimed by both students and educators. "All Aboard! The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad" tours from Feb.

25 through April 18. Booking dates for the 2008 tour are available. Teachers, administrators, and parent-teacher organizations should call BTE's school programs director, Paula Henry, at 458-4075 or e-mail phenrybte.org for moie information. The "All Aboard!" brochure is available upon request and can also be viewed and downloaded from BTE's Web site at www.bte.org. Transcontinental Railroad not only linked our nation from coast to coast, it transported our nation into the modern world.

It made possible giant leaps in business, politics, knowledge, and popular culture. Americans began imagining themselves as an important world power. will inspire students, teachers and families to once again dream the big dreams that motivated our ancestors." A comprehensive study guide written from the same material as the script, provided prior to the scheduled performance, enables educators to maximize the educational value of the theatre experience by providing discussion ideas, related classroom activities, post-performance questions and bibliography. "AllAboard!" follows in BTE's tradition of bringing quality theatre to young people and developing and vital Beginning in February, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble will perform its 30th annual Theatre In the Classroom production, "All Aboard! The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad." From late February through mid-April, thousands of school children will put down their pencils and books and spend an hour riding the rails when BTE performs "All Aboard!" in their school. With an energetic storytelling style, imaginative props, folk music, and lots of audience involvement, BTE brings the amazing saga of the building of the first transcontinental railroad to elementary and middle school cafeterias, gymnasiums, libraries and other performance spaces across the commonwealth and neighboring states.

Ensemble member and director of the production, James Goode, says, "The (I ii Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Locomotives program to be held Jan. 25 BU to host Big Bad Voodoo Daddy The National Canal Museum will hold its annual Railroad Film Night on Jaa 25 at the auditorium of Two Rivers Landing, 30 Centre Square, Easton. The operation and maintenance of steam, electric and diesel locomotives is the theme of this year's program. Among the locomotives to be profiled will be GGl's, Bigboys, J's, and Pacifies. As in previous years, Mitchell Dakelman, film curator of the National Railroad Historical Society is the host He has selected films from his personal collection, the society's collection and the museum's collection.

Admission is $4 for museum members and $6 for the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the film showing commences at 7:30. Seating is limited to 125 people on a first-come first-served basis. Two Rivers Landing is located one-half mile south of U.S.

Route 22 or one and a half miles north of 1-78 in downtown Easton. Enter the building at the Pine Street (rear) entrance. Parking is available on the street or in the parking garage (fee $5) across from the building. For further information, call the museum at (610) 559-6613. played at the Super Bowl, Orange Bowl, the White House, Billboard Music Awards and on TV shows, including "The Tonight Show" with Jay Lena Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for BU students and children ages 12 and younger.

For information, call the Haas Center box office at describes their music as "high-octane nitro jive loud, wild, total edge." Performing original creations that combine the influence of early swing, jazz, Latin and other American music, the band draws inspiration from performers such as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will be in concert Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. at Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall, on the campus of Bloomsburg University. Formed in Southern California in 1989, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy kicked off the swing revival in the mid-1990s with their appearance in the film Swingers.

BBVD's founder and bandleader Scotty Morris Watch on Service Electric Cablevision Channel 13! Big band group to hold first dinner dance of 2008 SSPTV made payable to the Big Band Society and mailed to the society at P.O. Box 3072, West Pittston, PA 18643; attention Glen Smith. sunqm scouU 4.00 PM Feettng Good 7:00 AM MantarknpintJon Lefi Eat Lett Eat 5 00 PM The Sem Leeante Show 1:00 AM Rotary 5 30 PM The Sam Leeante Show 30 AM Special 130 PM Man tor tatpkiUon 100 AM Man tor knptotion 7:00 PM Feeling Good 1 30 AM Tha Sam Leeante Show 7:30 PM Al Around Via Town 12:00 PM All Around Town oOPM Tha Sam Laaanta Show 12 30 PM Your Health 130 PM Special EyecereTodey t-QOPM Tha Sam Laaanat Show 1:30 PM Lara Eat 30PM SpedoJ 2-00 PM LawTeft Tha Sam Laaanla Show Inaide MadUna Al Around tieTbwn 1-00 PM A Mora BaeuHMVoa 11:00 PM Al Around Town Raal OR 1130PM Pa Uj the OR entertainment Members must make reservations one week prior to the dance; the cost is $28 per person. They can be made with Catherine Rostock at 654-1027. New members are welcome to join the big band society.

Dues are $15 per person per year. Membership checks can be SlW.rroad torium of the McGowan Building, starting at 7 p.m. The program will include Sinatra's music from his days with the Tony Dorsey Orchestra and continue through his peak years as America's top vocalist of big band music. King's will sponsor the program as a community service. There will be no charge.

Parking will be free at the rear of the McGowan Building at the Union Street entrance, just before River Street The band's first regular dinner-dance of 2008 will be held Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Genetti's inWilkes-Barre. King Henry will provide the VITO RiriALDI CHEVROLET The Big Band Society of Northeast Pennsylvania meets for a dinner-dance on the first Friday of each month. Attendance is usually about 200 with live dance music of the big band era.

Twice each year dances are open to the public with quite large attendance. Because of the renewed interest in big band music, the society has decided to offer a night of big band music on the third Friday of each month. The first program, "An Evening with Frank Sinatra and His Music," will be presented Jan. 18. Co-sponsored by King's College, it will be presented at the.

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Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at the door. For more information, call 276-6603 or 339-4336. The Anthracite Citizens' Theatre will present "Night of Broadway rv" at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at Mount Carmel Area JuniorSenior.