L.I. SOUNDS: NOVEMBER 21, 2006
The Blue Parrot - Massapequa
With the way that the smooth drum beats underlined the bass licks, and the manner in which the sharply tuned bass lines carried the talkative guitars, it was highly apparent that Red, White, And Blues is a band that has played together for a long time. The blues cover quartet lit up the night at the Blue Parrot in Massapequa on Friday, November 10, making patrons at the small venue wag along to the groove.
The Friday evening crowd consisted mostly of forty and fifty-somethings that looked right at home with a beer in their hands and a few dollar bills on the bar. Much to the crowd’s pleasure, Red, White, And Blues delivered the goods in two sets. The band started things off with an energetic rendition of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Statesboro Blues,” and kept their musical flags whipping with hits by Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, and B.B. King. The group also displayed a softer side with T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday.”
The Long Island foursome provides a very polished sound, with white-haired, backwards-capped vocalist Lennie Campanelli leading the way. Eddie Wenzel plucks away on the bass while brothers Greg and Frank Delape jam on the guitar and drums, respectively. The band is driven by a tight, bluesy sound, with Campanelli and Greg Delape sharing in lead guitar duties.
“We do this for our love of the music and the buzz of the camaraderie that we feel when we’re playing together. We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Wenzel said. On playing at The Blue Parrot, he added, “We like the intimacy of this place. There’s a good vibe here.” Red, White, And Blues first got together in 2005, molding together decades of musical experience. Though the band is relatively new, its members are very familiar with one another. Wenzel and the Delape brothers were members of Doc West, a cover band that featured Cyndi Lauper as a vocalist in the mid 1970s. Doc West covered such bands as Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, and Bad Company, though Lauper dropped out of the band in 1977 due to vocal chord damage. Wenzel said he and the others still keep in touch with the now established female pop singer.
Nevertheless, Red, White, And Blues is rolling along steadily, and will continue playing throughout Long Island. For more information, visit rwbband.net
– Text by Jeff Feinman, Photos by Louis Abbatepaolo |
