Friday, April 5, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.
Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] at (702) 259-4058.
Slide guitarist Roy Rogers may not have a horse, but he's got a trigger finger.
You can appreciate Rogers' digital dexterity Thursday at Boulder Station's Railhead Lounge as part of the free Boulder Blues series. Performances are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
If you can't make it to the Railhead (and you'll regret it if you don't), then listen to Rogers' CD, "Slideways." It is an awesome collection of sounds, from "Avalanche" to "Gumbo Funk" to "Razor's Edge."
The CD, released March 28, is fully instrumental.
"I'm really excited about the record," said Rogers during a recent telephone interview from his home in Northern California, near Santa Rosa. "It has a live quality to it. I'm happy with the way it sounds. I've made a lot of recordings over the years, and I found it very liberating not to have vocals."
But when you listen to his slide guitar, it's as if the instrument is singing.
"Not having to worry about any lyrics allowed me to stretch out in a way I don't think I have on other records. I'm painting pictures with music," Rogers said.
The 51-year-old Rogers is an extraordinary musician. Not only does he perform with flair, but he was a Grammy Award-winning producer for the late, legendary John Lee Hooker, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and a host of others.
Rogers toured with Hooker's Coast to Coast Blues Band for four years in the early '80s as a featured guitarist/vocalist.
"John was a special friend," Rogers said. "We always had a mutual trust."
Rogers was born in Vallejo, Calif., up the freeway 15 miles from Richmond, which is the birthplace of another blues legend, harmonica player/vocalist Norton Buffalo.
Rogers and Buffalo (who was at the Railhead in December) have been friends for years. Buffalo's harmonica can be heard as backup on several tracks of Rogers' latest CD.
The duo are about to go into the studio to tape their first album together in almost 10 years. Rogers says they are fine tuning the songs and arrangements.
"I don't like to take a long period of time to record," he said. "It's like capturing a moment in time, that kind of feeling."
Rogers began playing guitar at age 12. A year later he was performing in a rock 'n' roll band that played songs by Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
He discovered the blues when his older brother brought home an album by Robert Johnson, a popular blues guitarist in the 1930s.
"And my first guitar teacher, Joe Wagner, pushed me in the blues direction," Rogers said.
Vallejo is better known for being the home of the defunct Mare Island Naval Station than for producing musical prodigies, but Rogers says when he was growing up the entire San Francisco Bay Area (the city is 30 miles south of Vallejo) was alive with music.
"Back in those days there were bands on every street corner," Rogers said. "I was in a high school rock 'n' roll band when I was in the eighth grade."
During the '60s he frequented the San Francisco clubs where he saw many of the blues greats who inspired him.
"I used to play rhythm and blues with Sylvester Stewart (Sly and the Family Stone) and (blues guitarist) Freddy King."
Rogers said blues legend B.B. King -- with whom he has worked several times over the years -- used to perform in little clubs in Richmond, Calif., a testament to the musical roots of the area.
"He was there a lot during the years before my time, but he used to talk to me about all the great R&B places," Rogers said. "I saw B.B. there at the tail end of that era. There was a large black population (who frequented the clubs). I was one of the few white kids."
Rogers doesn't like to point at any specific things that created his musical personality.
"The whole band scene was crucial to my development," he said.
But he always gravitated toward the blues.
"Something about those guys moved me," Rogers said. "It was just a moving experience. The music that is the most important is where the musician digs deep and gets in touch with themselves, but also reaches everybody."
Lounging around
Manhattan of Las Vegas on East Flamingo Road was jumping last week. Keyboardist/vocalist Howie Gold (who performs there Thursdays through Sundays) is the new entertainment director at the club/restaurant and has instituted a monthly "Imposters Night" (the last Wednesday of the month). Among the recent imposters were Gary B and his Our Way gang doing their version of the Rat Pack; Jerry Archer doing Neil Diamond (and Waylon Jennings); Chris Nolan doing Nat "King" Cole; and Larry Jones doing everybody. If you can't afford Danny Gans, check out Jones (who performs for free nightly at Fitzgeralds).
If you are an old-time rock 'n' roll fan, go see Phil Dirt and the Dozers at the Castaways' Windjammer Lounge. They will be there tonight and Saturday, with performances at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The Columbus, Ohio, band has been a smash in the Midwest for the past 20 years and is thinking about establishing a base in Las Vegas. They've been here several times since the first of the year, but the summer is their busy season in the Heartland, so this will be your last chance to see them for a while.
A fund-raiser for a scholarship set up on behalf of Suzy Firth, who died unexpectedly in September, will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. April 27 in the new Beam Music Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Firth and her husband, Brian, were co-founders of the Dummkopfs, who perform weekends at the Mount Charleston Lodge. In addition to entertainment, there will be a silent auction. The scholarship will be for UNLV students in the music and fine arts programs. Among the performers who are scheduled to entertain at the event are comedian Bernie Allen, Brendan Bowyer (founder of the Irish Show Band), comedian Cork Proctor and singer Marlene Ricci.
The legendary Sonny King celebrated his birthday at the Bootlegger Bistro on Saturday. King is like the Energizer bunny -- he just keeps on going and enjoying life to the fullest. If he ever pens his memoirs, he should call it "Sonny's Side of the Street."
Big-band fans should drop by the Italian American Club on East Sahara Avenue from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursdays. Carl Lodico and his orchestra of all-star musicians have relocated to the venue from Peppers.
Joe Darro note: Joe (one of the busiest musicians in town) says one of his many gigs fell through. He was scheduled to begin an open-mike night at the Mayflower on South Decatur Boulevard. "It's been put on hold," Darro said.
