1936 Sam Myers*
1937 Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr.*
1948 Mark Andes*
2014 Duffy Power+
2016 Rusty Burns+
Corey Lueck*
Happy Birthday
Mark Andes *19.02.1948
Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948) is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Canned Heat, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal.
Andes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Los Angeles, one of two sons of actor Keith Andes (1920–2005).
As a teenager, he was an early member of Canned Heat, but left before the band was signed to a recording contract. Andes was a founding member of the band Spirit. He played bass on their first four albums and on some subsequent reunion albums. During a bout with the flu, Mark co-wrote one of Spirit's first singles, "Mechanical World," with fellow Spirit member Jay Ferguson who was a friend from High School.[2]
Spirit was noted for its hybrid sound of rock and jazz styles. The group released groundbreaking works such as Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970), that were critically lauded later on, but commercial success largely eluded them at the time.[3]
When the original line-up of Spirit broke-up in 1971, Andes and Jay Ferguson formed the band Jo Jo Gunne.[4] He recruited his brother, Matt Andes, to play guitar. Andes only recorded one album with Jo Jo Gunne before semi-retiring from music around 1972. During his stay, the band had a Top 40 hit with the song "Run, Run, Run". When Jo Jo Gunne reformed for a new album and gigs in 2004, Andes was included in the line-up.
Andes moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he lived in the basement of local musician Jeff Reaves. In 1975, he was recruited by former Flying Burrito Brothers vocalist Rick Roberts and former Byrds drummer Michael Clarke to form the country-rock band Firefall. For six years, Mark would be in a band that had a string of hit singles, including the Top 10 hit, "You Are the Woman." During the early 1980s, Andes also collaborated briefly with future Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin and future Quiet Riot drummer Frank Banali.
Following a move back to California, and some session work, Andes joined Heart. He appeared on their final album for Epic Records, Passionworks (1983), and remained with the band until 1993. During this time, Heart found mainstream success, with several number one singles, and a number one album, Heart (1985). After a decade with Heart, Andes returned to session work.
In 1995, he joined up with Native American musician Robert Mirabal to collaborate on his album entitled Mirabal.
Andes currently plays with Ian McLagan and the Bump Band, Alejandro Escovedo, Jo Carol Pierce, and Three Balls of Fire. He very briefly played in a band called MPTU with drummer Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mr. Mister), singer Malford Milligan and Phil Brown (Little Feat). Andes now lives near Houston in Magnolia, Texas, with his wife Valerie. He released his first solo album, Real World Magic, in February 2009.
COUNTRY - KILLER - (Tom Snow) featuring Mark & Matt Andes - Slipstream Records
This great song was featured on the little known COUNTRY album from 1971 and features both Mark & Matt Andes on bass and electric car. COUNTRY's Michael Fondiler went to school with Mark Andes and was a member of the pre-SPIRIT bands THE RED ROOSTERS and WESTERN UNION. Matt Andes was also an early member of COUNTRY when the band were known as AMERICAN RAINBOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rMJOvxBJU
This great song was featured on the little known COUNTRY album from 1971 and features both Mark & Matt Andes on bass and electric car. COUNTRY's Michael Fondiler went to school with Mark Andes and was a member of the pre-SPIRIT bands THE RED ROOSTERS and WESTERN UNION. Matt Andes was also an early member of COUNTRY when the band were known as AMERICAN RAINBOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rMJOvxBJU
Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr. *19.02.1937
Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr. (born February 19, 1937) is a blues musician. who is known in the blues music world due to his "rock 'n' roll showmanship" and "flamboyant Chuck Berry imitations."
Walker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Walker Sr. was often referred to by his nickname, "Bilbo", which was then passed onto to Walker Jr., who was also sometimes called Little Junior Bilbo.[2] Walker began to explore music after his sister's boyfriend introduced him to Ike Turner. After spending 17 years in Chicago, Illinois with his friend David Porter, Walker moved to the area around Bakersfield, California and started a farm growing such commodities as watermelon and cotton.[2] During this time, he continued to perform at local bars in the California area, as well as in Chicago and Clarksdale when on visits. He currently still resides in California.
In 1997, Walker released his first album, Promised Land, and followed it with two more records, 1998's Rompin' & Stompin' and 2001's Rock the Night.
Robert Bilbo Walker
Sam Myers *19.02.1936
Samuel Joseph Myers (* 19. Februar 1936 in Laurel, Mississippi; † 17. Juli 2006 in Dallas, Texas) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Musiker (Gesang, Mundharmonika, Schlagzeug) und Songschreiber.
Während seiner Schulzeit in Jackson, Mississippi, lernte Myers Trompete und Schlagzeug zu spielen. Mit einem Stipendium besuchte er 1949 die "American Conservatory School of Music" in Chicago. Nachts spielte er in den Clubs der South Side, wo er mit so bekannten Bluesmusikern wie Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, Junior Lockwood und Elmore James auftrat.
Bei Elmore James spielte Myers von 1952 bis zu dessen Tod 1963 Schlagzeug. 1956 schrieb er den Bluesklassiker Sleeping In The Ground, der später u.a. von Eric Clapton und Robert Cray neu eingespielt wurde.
Zwischen den frühen 1960ern und 1986 arbeitete Myers in der Gegend um Jackson und im Chitlin' Circuit. Mit Sylvia Embry und der Mississippi All-Stars Blues Band war er weltweit auf Tour.
Ab 1986 bis zu seinem Tod war Myers Sänger und Mundharmonikaspieler bei Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets. Sam Myers starb am 17. Juli 2006 an Kehlkopfkrebs.
Die Rockets gewannen insgesamt neun Handy Awards, darunter drei als "Band of the Year" und 2004 in der Kategorie "Best Traditional Album of the Year".
Für sein Solo-Album Coming From The Old School war Sam Myers 2005 in der Kategorie "Best Traditional Album of the Year" nominiert.
Sam Myers (February 19, 1936 – July 17, 2006)[1] was an American blues musician and songwriter. He appeared as an accompanist on dozens of recordings for blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James, but was most famous as a blues vocalist and blues harp player. For nearly two decades he was the featured vocalist for Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets.
Biography
Samuel Joseph Myers[1] was born in Laurel, Mississippi. He acquired juvenile cataracts at age 7 and was left legally blind for the rest of his life despite corrective surgery. He could make out shapes and shadows, but could not read print at all; he was taught Braille.[2] Myers acquired an interest in music while a schoolboy in Jackson, Mississippi and became skilled enough at playing the trumpet and drums that he received a non-degree scholarship from the American Conservatory of Music (formerly named the American Conservatory School of Music) in Chicago. Myers attended school by day and at night frequented the nightclubs of the South Side, Chicago. There he met and was sitting in with Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Elmore James. Myers played drums with Elmore James on a fairly steady basis from 1952 until James's death in 1963, and is credited on many of James's historic recordings for Chess Records. In 1956, Myers wrote and recorded what was to be his most famous single, "Sleeping In The Ground", a song that has been covered by Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and many other blues artists, as well as being featured on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour show on 'Sleep'.
From the early 1960s until 1986, Myers worked the clubs in and around Jackson, as well as across the South in the (formerly) racially segregated string of venues dubbed the Chitlin' Circuit. He also toured the world with Sylvia Embry and the Mississippi All-Stars Blues Band.
In 1986, Myers met Anson Funderburgh, from Plano, Texas, and joined his band, The Rockets. Myers toured all over the U.S. and the world with The Rockets, enjoying a partnership that endured until the time of his death, from complications from throat cancer surgery on July 17, 2006, in Dallas, Texas.[1]
Just before Myers died, he toured as a solo artist, in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, with the Swedish band, Bloosblasters.[3]
That same year, the University Press of Mississippi published Myers' autobiography titled Sam Myers: The Blues is My Story. Writer Jeff Horton, whose work has appeared in Blues Revue and Southwest Blues, chronicled Myers' history and delved into his memories of life on the road.
Awards
Myers and The Rockets collectively won nine W. C. Handy Awards, including three "Band of the Year" awards and the 2004 award for Best Traditional Album of the Year. In 2005, Myers' record, Coming From The Old School was nominated for Traditional Blues Album of the Year for his .[4]
In January 2000, Myers was inducted into the Farish Street Walk of Fame in Jackson, Mississippi, an honor he shares with Dorothy Moore and Sonny Boy Williamson II. In 2006, just months before Myers died, the Governor of Mississippi presented Myers with the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and was named state Blues Ambassador by the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Biography
Samuel Joseph Myers[1] was born in Laurel, Mississippi. He acquired juvenile cataracts at age 7 and was left legally blind for the rest of his life despite corrective surgery. He could make out shapes and shadows, but could not read print at all; he was taught Braille.[2] Myers acquired an interest in music while a schoolboy in Jackson, Mississippi and became skilled enough at playing the trumpet and drums that he received a non-degree scholarship from the American Conservatory of Music (formerly named the American Conservatory School of Music) in Chicago. Myers attended school by day and at night frequented the nightclubs of the South Side, Chicago. There he met and was sitting in with Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Elmore James. Myers played drums with Elmore James on a fairly steady basis from 1952 until James's death in 1963, and is credited on many of James's historic recordings for Chess Records. In 1956, Myers wrote and recorded what was to be his most famous single, "Sleeping In The Ground", a song that has been covered by Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and many other blues artists, as well as being featured on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour show on 'Sleep'.
From the early 1960s until 1986, Myers worked the clubs in and around Jackson, as well as across the South in the (formerly) racially segregated string of venues dubbed the Chitlin' Circuit. He also toured the world with Sylvia Embry and the Mississippi All-Stars Blues Band.
In 1986, Myers met Anson Funderburgh, from Plano, Texas, and joined his band, The Rockets. Myers toured all over the U.S. and the world with The Rockets, enjoying a partnership that endured until the time of his death, from complications from throat cancer surgery on July 17, 2006, in Dallas, Texas.[1]
Just before Myers died, he toured as a solo artist, in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, with the Swedish band, Bloosblasters.[3]
That same year, the University Press of Mississippi published Myers' autobiography titled Sam Myers: The Blues is My Story. Writer Jeff Horton, whose work has appeared in Blues Revue and Southwest Blues, chronicled Myers' history and delved into his memories of life on the road.
Awards
Myers and The Rockets collectively won nine W. C. Handy Awards, including three "Band of the Year" awards and the 2004 award for Best Traditional Album of the Year. In 2005, Myers' record, Coming From The Old School was nominated for Traditional Blues Album of the Year for his .[4]
In January 2000, Myers was inducted into the Farish Street Walk of Fame in Jackson, Mississippi, an honor he shares with Dorothy Moore and Sonny Boy Williamson II. In 2006, just months before Myers died, the Governor of Mississippi presented Myers with the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and was named state Blues Ambassador by the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets feat. Sam Myers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxFEAtqwofs
Duffy Power +19.02.2014
1974 wurde Point Blank in Houston/Texas gegründet. Leider konnten Rusty Burns (slide, g, voc), Kim Davis (g, voc), Peter Gruen (dr, perc), John O'Daniel (voc) und Philip Petty (b) niemals aus dem Schatten ähnlicher Bands treten. Der Südstaaten-Rock der Texaner hat große Ähnlichkeit zu ZZ Top und in den Gitarrensoli auch zu frühen Outlaws. Sechs Alben veröffentlichten Point Blank von 1976 bis 1982, dann wurde die Band aufgelöst. Die letzten drei Alben waren weniger Southern, als mehr Heavy Rock der schlichten Art, das letzte stark auf Mainstream orientiert. Die talentierte Band ging den Weg alles Irdischen.
Point Blank waren in den 70ern ständig auf Tour, eröffneten für unter anderem ZZ Top und Black Sabbath.
Die beiden ersten LPs, die Evangeline jetzt auf einer CD zusammen wieder veröffentlicht, blieben seltsamer Weise Ladenhüter. Der harte Southernbluesrock hat gut komponierte und gespielte Songs, harte Gitarrensoli und den harten, leidenschaftlichen, oftmals geschrieenen Rockröhren-Gesang von John O'Daniel.
Die Songs sind nicht zu billig und straight, haben ungemein Energie und rocken vital. Einige der Stücke, wie "Wandering" oder "In This World" haben viel Rhythm'n'Blues im Blut, letzterer klingt in der Gitarrenarbeit SEHR ZZ Top verwandt. Trotzdem sind Point Blank keine Kopisten, sondern haben eigenständigen, eindrucksvollen Heavy Southern Rock gespielt. Die zweite LP ist etwas gemäßigter, jedoch immer noch kraftvoll und heavy. Country und Mainstream Ansätze wie etwa in "Beautiful Loser" sind bereits auszumachen. Der ZZ Top Vergleich ist noch deutlicher geworden. Am Ende waren die Kompositionen von ZZ Top eingängiger und trafen genau den Nerv des damaligen Publikums. Point Blank sind aus heutiger Perspektive kein Stück weniger interessant. Die krachlauten Hardrocker werden die Herzen der Southern Rock Fans erfreuen und sollten darüber hinaus bei Hardrock Maniacs für positive Erregung sorgen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxFEAtqwofs
Corey Lueck *19.02.
Featuring funky blues harmonica, whiskey stained vocals, slick guitar work and a solid rhythm section, Corey Lueck & The Smoke Wagon Blues Band has been performing in clubs and on festival stages for over a decade.
Formed in 1997, The Smoke Wagon Blues Band became crowd favorites in Hamilton, Ontario’s famous Hess Village. Four independent releases, international radio play, and a large local fan base propelled the band to national stages across the province and beyond. The band has been nominated for blues album of the year 3 times by the HMA in 2006, 2012, & 2013 and best new blues Artist by the Toronto Blues Society and Maple Blues at the Toronto Jazz festival. Last year’s blues nominated “It Ain’t Easy” Featuring appearances from a wide array of Canadian sensations: Gord Aeichele, Steve Sherman, Robin Banks, and Jesse O'Brien just to name a few reached #3 on Canadian Roots Charts (#1 for blues) and #13 on North America’s top 50 Roots and Blues charts, which is almost unheard of for an independent blues artist of this day.
The Smoke Wagon Blues Bands new "Live in Hamilton"
Recorded live at Stonewalls Music Hall on May 4th 2013 by Capacity AV, mixed by Steve Sherman productions, and mastered by the Legendary Nick Blagona, “Live in Hamilton” catches the band in their element performing in their home town for an enthusiastic club audience. Why a live album? “With the music industry drowning itself in a world of dance/pop/techno and reality TV, we feel it’s really lost its honesty and integrity projection the human condition” says Lueck and what could be more honest than a live recording! We feel this recording really captured the essence of the live Smoke Wagon Blues Band experience as well as the musicianship, soul, humor, honesty and fun interactions with each other and the crowd.” This is the way we sounded on this particular day in May; we hope you enjoy!
Corey Lueck
The founding member and work horse of the band has dedicated his life to the blues. Communicating his heart and soul through his song writing and story telling has become his life obsession. Corey cut his teeth on the local blues scene right out of high school learning and performing around Ontario until finding his nitch in Hamilton’s famous Hess Village. His wealth of blues knowledge and styles stems from his dedication to his north American grown roots.
“Rambling on my mind” like most bluesmen is not just a lyric but a institution as Corey paid his dues throughout the south playing with outfits along the Mississippi river in Greensville, Vicksburg, and Clarksdale Mississippi as well as a stint in New Orleans with famous French Quarter piano man Johnny Gordon. He’s performed his brand of blues on stages from St. Johns NFLD to Tombstone Arizona and even as far as Alaska and the Yukon territories which he dedicated much of his song writing too.
Did you know that long before the blues took a hold of Corey he was an all around athlete? Well it’s true hard as it may be to imagine Corey was a local track star in the 200m dash and Relay, played semi pro Soccer, and played Hockey in Canada and Europe. His travels with sports had already taken him across north America and Europe before the age of 19!
When Corey’s not speaking to the heart and human condition you can find him in some local pub screaming at the tv screen over his beloved Habs! Hey we all have a strange one in the family!
Formed in 1997, The Smoke Wagon Blues Band became crowd favorites in Hamilton, Ontario’s famous Hess Village. Four independent releases, international radio play, and a large local fan base propelled the band to national stages across the province and beyond. The band has been nominated for blues album of the year 3 times by the HMA in 2006, 2012, & 2013 and best new blues Artist by the Toronto Blues Society and Maple Blues at the Toronto Jazz festival. Last year’s blues nominated “It Ain’t Easy” Featuring appearances from a wide array of Canadian sensations: Gord Aeichele, Steve Sherman, Robin Banks, and Jesse O'Brien just to name a few reached #3 on Canadian Roots Charts (#1 for blues) and #13 on North America’s top 50 Roots and Blues charts, which is almost unheard of for an independent blues artist of this day.
The Smoke Wagon Blues Bands new "Live in Hamilton"
Recorded live at Stonewalls Music Hall on May 4th 2013 by Capacity AV, mixed by Steve Sherman productions, and mastered by the Legendary Nick Blagona, “Live in Hamilton” catches the band in their element performing in their home town for an enthusiastic club audience. Why a live album? “With the music industry drowning itself in a world of dance/pop/techno and reality TV, we feel it’s really lost its honesty and integrity projection the human condition” says Lueck and what could be more honest than a live recording! We feel this recording really captured the essence of the live Smoke Wagon Blues Band experience as well as the musicianship, soul, humor, honesty and fun interactions with each other and the crowd.” This is the way we sounded on this particular day in May; we hope you enjoy!
Corey Lueck
The founding member and work horse of the band has dedicated his life to the blues. Communicating his heart and soul through his song writing and story telling has become his life obsession. Corey cut his teeth on the local blues scene right out of high school learning and performing around Ontario until finding his nitch in Hamilton’s famous Hess Village. His wealth of blues knowledge and styles stems from his dedication to his north American grown roots.
“Rambling on my mind” like most bluesmen is not just a lyric but a institution as Corey paid his dues throughout the south playing with outfits along the Mississippi river in Greensville, Vicksburg, and Clarksdale Mississippi as well as a stint in New Orleans with famous French Quarter piano man Johnny Gordon. He’s performed his brand of blues on stages from St. Johns NFLD to Tombstone Arizona and even as far as Alaska and the Yukon territories which he dedicated much of his song writing too.
Did you know that long before the blues took a hold of Corey he was an all around athlete? Well it’s true hard as it may be to imagine Corey was a local track star in the 200m dash and Relay, played semi pro Soccer, and played Hockey in Canada and Europe. His travels with sports had already taken him across north America and Europe before the age of 19!
When Corey’s not speaking to the heart and human condition you can find him in some local pub screaming at the tv screen over his beloved Habs! Hey we all have a strange one in the family!
Corey Lueck and The Smoke Wagon Blues Band - Medepeda River Blues
Duffy Power +19.02.2014
Rusty Burns +19.02.2016
Rusty Burns, pictured with his band Point Blank in 2012, passed away late Friday night.
1974 wurde Point Blank in Houston/Texas gegründet. Leider konnten Rusty Burns (slide, g, voc), Kim Davis (g, voc), Peter Gruen (dr, perc), John O'Daniel (voc) und Philip Petty (b) niemals aus dem Schatten ähnlicher Bands treten. Der Südstaaten-Rock der Texaner hat große Ähnlichkeit zu ZZ Top und in den Gitarrensoli auch zu frühen Outlaws. Sechs Alben veröffentlichten Point Blank von 1976 bis 1982, dann wurde die Band aufgelöst. Die letzten drei Alben waren weniger Southern, als mehr Heavy Rock der schlichten Art, das letzte stark auf Mainstream orientiert. Die talentierte Band ging den Weg alles Irdischen.
Point Blank waren in den 70ern ständig auf Tour, eröffneten für unter anderem ZZ Top und Black Sabbath.
Die beiden ersten LPs, die Evangeline jetzt auf einer CD zusammen wieder veröffentlicht, blieben seltsamer Weise Ladenhüter. Der harte Southernbluesrock hat gut komponierte und gespielte Songs, harte Gitarrensoli und den harten, leidenschaftlichen, oftmals geschrieenen Rockröhren-Gesang von John O'Daniel.
Die Songs sind nicht zu billig und straight, haben ungemein Energie und rocken vital. Einige der Stücke, wie "Wandering" oder "In This World" haben viel Rhythm'n'Blues im Blut, letzterer klingt in der Gitarrenarbeit SEHR ZZ Top verwandt. Trotzdem sind Point Blank keine Kopisten, sondern haben eigenständigen, eindrucksvollen Heavy Southern Rock gespielt. Die zweite LP ist etwas gemäßigter, jedoch immer noch kraftvoll und heavy. Country und Mainstream Ansätze wie etwa in "Beautiful Loser" sind bereits auszumachen. Der ZZ Top Vergleich ist noch deutlicher geworden. Am Ende waren die Kompositionen von ZZ Top eingängiger und trafen genau den Nerv des damaligen Publikums. Point Blank sind aus heutiger Perspektive kein Stück weniger interessant. Die krachlauten Hardrocker werden die Herzen der Southern Rock Fans erfreuen und sollten darüber hinaus bei Hardrock Maniacs für positive Erregung sorgen.
Ya’acov “Rusty” Burns played his guitar until the very end. Sitting up in his hospital bed at a hospice in Denver, draped in a hospital gown, the 63-year-old Texas guitar slinger caressed the neck of his Martin one final time in a photo posted on Facebook. It was a love affair that began when he was five years old and lasted more than five decades. “I plan to be buried with it,” he’d often say.
Burns considered himself a “hired gun,” musically speaking, and he was a hitman who shared the stage with legends such as Johnny Winter, the Allman Brothers Band and ZZ Top. He played lead guitar in Point Blank, a Southern rock band that reformed in 2005 after 20 years apart. But now he’s gone to join his former bandmates Kim Davis, Phillip Petty and William “Wild Bill” Randolph on stage in the afterlife.
He died just before midnight on Friday, February 19, after a long battle with lung cancer.
Burns’ wife, Gavriela “Marsha” Fletcher Burns, shared the news on her Facebook page the next day. “My heart truly goes out to those of you who dearly loved him and are having to receive this information through a Facebook post instead of a personal phone call,” she wrote. “But ‘Rusty’ has so many ‘friends’ around the world and many who considered themselves family [that] I didn’t know where to begin.”
Fans, fellow musicians, friends and loved ones took to social media not long after receiving word about Burns’ passing to share their condolences and memories, some in the form of old photos and videos.
“He was a friend, a mentor and teacher,” posted a fellow Texas guitarist. “What I admired most about Rusty is he never stopped learning and progressing on his instrument.”
“I would not be the person or musician I am today if it wasn’t for this man,” Burns’ nephew and fellow guitarist posted. “He was the sole reason that made me want to pick up a guitar and to keep pushing no matter the trials of a hard-working musician.”
Burns first learned to play the guitar in the late 1950s when he picked up his father’s old Martin D-28. “It was like the whole world stopped for a minute,” he wrote on his Facebook fanpage. He soon devoted his time to learning the instrument as he grew up in Cleburne, a small city south of Fort Worth, and Euless, a suburb in east Fort Worth.
“The musical fire burning inside me was so hot that going to school was like going to prison because I was separated from the guitar,” he wrote. “I slept with it, watched The Three Stooges with it, did my homework on the back of it and generally dreamed of the day that I could play guitar as much as I wanted.”
Burns played in bands throughout his school years, jamming three or four days a week with bands who were booking, although he attributes much of what he learned to his father, who he described as a "tasty country player." After high school, he began playing at nightclubs, park festivals and an occasional battle of the bands. Then he moved to Houston and started playing The Cellar located on Market Square in downtown Houston.
A seasoned drug user at this time, he continued to play and focus on music despite living in a “fog bank” and being truly out of control. He was continuing his music education as a guitar technician for ZZ Top when he got sick with hepatitis.
“During those months of recovery, I was bedridden and very close to death,” he recalled. “But my mind was working overtime. Lying flat on my back, I wrote a number of songs and, for a change, surprisingly meant what I was saying. I had a lot of time to reflect and plan on what I was really going to do with the rest of my life ... if I lived.”
Burns nearly died but was saved by an experimental drug. He strapped on his guitar and took the next step: forming the band Southpaw with John O’Daniel (vocals) and Phillip Petty (bass). They picked up drummer Buzzy Gruen and exploded on the Dallas-Fort Worth music scene.
Playing in clubs across Dallas and Fort Worth, Burns ran into Kim Davis, a guitarist whom he’d known since he was 14 years old. By this point in time, he’d already been jamming with Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan. He even went to Austin to jam with Stevie and his band the Nightcrawlers, whose lineup also included Doyle Bramhall on drums and vocals, bassist Keith Ferguson and organist Billy Ethridge.
“The only drawback was that all they wanted to play was the blues, and I wanted to rock,” he said. “When we came into contact with Kim Davis, we knew he was ready to rock too, so he was definitely the man for us.”
The band changed its name to Point Blank in 1974 and eventually released six albums, including Point Blank in 1976, The Hard Way in 1980 and their final album On a Roll in 1982, before calling it quits in 1984. They would reunite 20 years later at a benefit show in 2005 and release two more albums: 2006’s Reloaded, a live album, and 2009’s Fight On!, their first studio album in 27 years.
In the summer of 2015, Burns was diagnosed with inoperable squamous cell carcinoma with two small tumors in his right and left lung and on his trachea. According to his wife Marsha's Facebook post, the doctors gave him a possible survival time of six to 12 months if left untreated.
On January 11, they decided to leave their home in Fort Worth and move to Denver where he could receive medical treatment that was currently not legal in Texas. “We were climbing the cancer mountain,” Marsha wrote.
He was doing much better a couple of weeks prior to their move. It was New Year’s Day, and his wife posted that Burns had been in his home recording studio on and off all day creating what she called “beautiful new worship music to our Lord God Most High.”
A GoFundMe account soon appeared online with the goal of raising $20,000 to help with medical expenses: "As most of you know, Rusty Burns has played numerous benefits for all of his music brothers and sisters in need. He has a heart of gold, and you can always count on his help. This time he needs yours."
Like many self-employed musicians, Burns did not have health insurance and fighting cancer is a costly battle. To fight lung cancer costs anywhere between $60,000 to $92,000, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. It’s a price that most people can’t afford even with health insurance.
Sadly, it was a battle that he couldn’t win. He died nearly seven months after his initial diagnosis.
"For a guy that played everything upside down and backwards, he did pretty good for himself," says Burns' friend and fellow musician Buddy Whittington. "Rusty had the gift of music — not just the guitar, but he had an innate understanding of music itself. "
In a 2009 interview, Burns was asked about the sorry state of the blues in Texas since most blues artists struggle to find the limelight and are regulated to playing small bars.
“There’s an old saying about record labels in America,” Burns said. “Labels are looking for 23-year-olds with a 28-inch waist. I’m 57 with a 30-inch waist so it doesn’t seem that I fit that criteria. So what do you do? You continue to play wherever you can for people who appreciate your music because it touches them."
“Point Blank was never fashionable but is definitely appreciated,” he added, “and I can live with that.”
Burns considered himself a “hired gun,” musically speaking, and he was a hitman who shared the stage with legends such as Johnny Winter, the Allman Brothers Band and ZZ Top. He played lead guitar in Point Blank, a Southern rock band that reformed in 2005 after 20 years apart. But now he’s gone to join his former bandmates Kim Davis, Phillip Petty and William “Wild Bill” Randolph on stage in the afterlife.
He died just before midnight on Friday, February 19, after a long battle with lung cancer.
Burns’ wife, Gavriela “Marsha” Fletcher Burns, shared the news on her Facebook page the next day. “My heart truly goes out to those of you who dearly loved him and are having to receive this information through a Facebook post instead of a personal phone call,” she wrote. “But ‘Rusty’ has so many ‘friends’ around the world and many who considered themselves family [that] I didn’t know where to begin.”
Fans, fellow musicians, friends and loved ones took to social media not long after receiving word about Burns’ passing to share their condolences and memories, some in the form of old photos and videos.
“He was a friend, a mentor and teacher,” posted a fellow Texas guitarist. “What I admired most about Rusty is he never stopped learning and progressing on his instrument.”
“I would not be the person or musician I am today if it wasn’t for this man,” Burns’ nephew and fellow guitarist posted. “He was the sole reason that made me want to pick up a guitar and to keep pushing no matter the trials of a hard-working musician.”
Burns first learned to play the guitar in the late 1950s when he picked up his father’s old Martin D-28. “It was like the whole world stopped for a minute,” he wrote on his Facebook fanpage. He soon devoted his time to learning the instrument as he grew up in Cleburne, a small city south of Fort Worth, and Euless, a suburb in east Fort Worth.
“The musical fire burning inside me was so hot that going to school was like going to prison because I was separated from the guitar,” he wrote. “I slept with it, watched The Three Stooges with it, did my homework on the back of it and generally dreamed of the day that I could play guitar as much as I wanted.”
Burns played in bands throughout his school years, jamming three or four days a week with bands who were booking, although he attributes much of what he learned to his father, who he described as a "tasty country player." After high school, he began playing at nightclubs, park festivals and an occasional battle of the bands. Then he moved to Houston and started playing The Cellar located on Market Square in downtown Houston.
A seasoned drug user at this time, he continued to play and focus on music despite living in a “fog bank” and being truly out of control. He was continuing his music education as a guitar technician for ZZ Top when he got sick with hepatitis.
“During those months of recovery, I was bedridden and very close to death,” he recalled. “But my mind was working overtime. Lying flat on my back, I wrote a number of songs and, for a change, surprisingly meant what I was saying. I had a lot of time to reflect and plan on what I was really going to do with the rest of my life ... if I lived.”
Burns nearly died but was saved by an experimental drug. He strapped on his guitar and took the next step: forming the band Southpaw with John O’Daniel (vocals) and Phillip Petty (bass). They picked up drummer Buzzy Gruen and exploded on the Dallas-Fort Worth music scene.
Playing in clubs across Dallas and Fort Worth, Burns ran into Kim Davis, a guitarist whom he’d known since he was 14 years old. By this point in time, he’d already been jamming with Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan. He even went to Austin to jam with Stevie and his band the Nightcrawlers, whose lineup also included Doyle Bramhall on drums and vocals, bassist Keith Ferguson and organist Billy Ethridge.
“The only drawback was that all they wanted to play was the blues, and I wanted to rock,” he said. “When we came into contact with Kim Davis, we knew he was ready to rock too, so he was definitely the man for us.”
The band changed its name to Point Blank in 1974 and eventually released six albums, including Point Blank in 1976, The Hard Way in 1980 and their final album On a Roll in 1982, before calling it quits in 1984. They would reunite 20 years later at a benefit show in 2005 and release two more albums: 2006’s Reloaded, a live album, and 2009’s Fight On!, their first studio album in 27 years.
In the summer of 2015, Burns was diagnosed with inoperable squamous cell carcinoma with two small tumors in his right and left lung and on his trachea. According to his wife Marsha's Facebook post, the doctors gave him a possible survival time of six to 12 months if left untreated.
On January 11, they decided to leave their home in Fort Worth and move to Denver where he could receive medical treatment that was currently not legal in Texas. “We were climbing the cancer mountain,” Marsha wrote.
He was doing much better a couple of weeks prior to their move. It was New Year’s Day, and his wife posted that Burns had been in his home recording studio on and off all day creating what she called “beautiful new worship music to our Lord God Most High.”
A GoFundMe account soon appeared online with the goal of raising $20,000 to help with medical expenses: "As most of you know, Rusty Burns has played numerous benefits for all of his music brothers and sisters in need. He has a heart of gold, and you can always count on his help. This time he needs yours."
Like many self-employed musicians, Burns did not have health insurance and fighting cancer is a costly battle. To fight lung cancer costs anywhere between $60,000 to $92,000, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. It’s a price that most people can’t afford even with health insurance.
Sadly, it was a battle that he couldn’t win. He died nearly seven months after his initial diagnosis.
"For a guy that played everything upside down and backwards, he did pretty good for himself," says Burns' friend and fellow musician Buddy Whittington. "Rusty had the gift of music — not just the guitar, but he had an innate understanding of music itself. "
In a 2009 interview, Burns was asked about the sorry state of the blues in Texas since most blues artists struggle to find the limelight and are regulated to playing small bars.
“There’s an old saying about record labels in America,” Burns said. “Labels are looking for 23-year-olds with a 28-inch waist. I’m 57 with a 30-inch waist so it doesn’t seem that I fit that criteria. So what do you do? You continue to play wherever you can for people who appreciate your music because it touches them."
“Point Blank was never fashionable but is definitely appreciated,” he added, “and I can live with that.”
Point Blank is an American rock and roll band hailing from Texas. The band formed in 1974 and recorded six albums between 1976 and 1982. Garnering occasional airplay on AOR radio stations, the band is best known for their 1981 hit single, "Nicole".
History
The band was discovered and managed by Bill Ham's Lone Wolf Productions (ZZ Top, Jay Boy Adams, and Eric Johnson). The original six albums were recorded in Memphis with Engineer/Producer Terry Manning. Point Blank's sound is rooted in southern rock and boogie, but drifted towards hard rock and mainstream AOR by the early 1980s. In 1981 they released their fifth album, American Exce$$ which included the hit single "Nicole". With strong air-play on AOR radio stations the track reached #20 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart. Subsequently, "Nicole" was also released as a 45 RPM single and peaked inside the Top 40, at #39 on Billboard's Hot 100. In their heyday they were known for their relentless touring, sometimes playing more than 200 shows per year.
In 1984 the band broke up.
The band's core members reunited for a benefit concert in 2005. The benefit concert, held on September 17, 2005 was recorded and became a new "Live Album" for the band titled Reloaded. After its initial release they continued touring and in late 2009, Point Blank released their seventh album titled "Fight on", their first studio album in 27 years. Both the Reloaded and Fight On! albums were released on the Dixiefrog label. Bassist Phillip Petty died from cancer on June 7, 2010. Guitarist Kim Davis died on October 18, 2010 (born October 6, 1952). Dallas, Texas, studio musician Michael Hamilton, who played keyboards for the group, died, also from cancer, on May 13, 2011.
In January 2014, the band completed Volume 9, a Kickstarter-funded project originally titled Locked, Stocked and Two Smoking Barrels.
Replacing bassist Philip Petty after his death is Kirk Powers (ex-American Tears - born November 24, 1957) and in 2012, after receiving a phone call from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons recommending him, the band hired drummer Greg Hokanson (ex Houston, Texas based bands "Pitbull[1]" and "Two Ton Jack").
Ya'acov (James) Russell Burns better known as Rusty Burns, guitarist, passed away from cancer on February 19, 2016. Posted on his Facebook page. He inspired many. He joins his friends Kim Davis and Phillip Petty. Rusty Burns is from Fort Worth, Texas. He leaves behind a devoted wife Gavriela Marsha Burns who posted a picture of her and Rusty. She also posted this loving thought on her personal Facebook page "My heart Truly goes out to those of you who dearly loved him and are having to receive this information through a Facebook post, instead of a personal phone call, but "Rusty'" has so many 'friends' around the world and many who considered themselves family, I didn't know where to begin.[2]" Rusty Burns passed away in a hospice center in Denver Colorado, with his wife by his side. Texas, where he is from, does not offer the cancer treatment he needed.
History
The band was discovered and managed by Bill Ham's Lone Wolf Productions (ZZ Top, Jay Boy Adams, and Eric Johnson). The original six albums were recorded in Memphis with Engineer/Producer Terry Manning. Point Blank's sound is rooted in southern rock and boogie, but drifted towards hard rock and mainstream AOR by the early 1980s. In 1981 they released their fifth album, American Exce$$ which included the hit single "Nicole". With strong air-play on AOR radio stations the track reached #20 on Billboard Magazine's Rock Tracks chart. Subsequently, "Nicole" was also released as a 45 RPM single and peaked inside the Top 40, at #39 on Billboard's Hot 100. In their heyday they were known for their relentless touring, sometimes playing more than 200 shows per year.
In 1984 the band broke up.
The band's core members reunited for a benefit concert in 2005. The benefit concert, held on September 17, 2005 was recorded and became a new "Live Album" for the band titled Reloaded. After its initial release they continued touring and in late 2009, Point Blank released their seventh album titled "Fight on", their first studio album in 27 years. Both the Reloaded and Fight On! albums were released on the Dixiefrog label. Bassist Phillip Petty died from cancer on June 7, 2010. Guitarist Kim Davis died on October 18, 2010 (born October 6, 1952). Dallas, Texas, studio musician Michael Hamilton, who played keyboards for the group, died, also from cancer, on May 13, 2011.
In January 2014, the band completed Volume 9, a Kickstarter-funded project originally titled Locked, Stocked and Two Smoking Barrels.
Replacing bassist Philip Petty after his death is Kirk Powers (ex-American Tears - born November 24, 1957) and in 2012, after receiving a phone call from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons recommending him, the band hired drummer Greg Hokanson (ex Houston, Texas based bands "Pitbull[1]" and "Two Ton Jack").
Ya'acov (James) Russell Burns better known as Rusty Burns, guitarist, passed away from cancer on February 19, 2016. Posted on his Facebook page. He inspired many. He joins his friends Kim Davis and Phillip Petty. Rusty Burns is from Fort Worth, Texas. He leaves behind a devoted wife Gavriela Marsha Burns who posted a picture of her and Rusty. She also posted this loving thought on her personal Facebook page "My heart Truly goes out to those of you who dearly loved him and are having to receive this information through a Facebook post, instead of a personal phone call, but "Rusty'" has so many 'friends' around the world and many who considered themselves family, I didn't know where to begin.[2]" Rusty Burns passed away in a hospice center in Denver Colorado, with his wife by his side. Texas, where he is from, does not offer the cancer treatment he needed.
POINT BLANK - My Soul Cries Out - Paris,France 2010 [HD]
Point Blank - Thank You Mama (Live in Washington, DC - June 24th, 1980)
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen