Phil The Knight

Lead Guitarist for Tantrum
http://jazzburgher.ning.com/profile/PhilTheKnight
My wish for everyone in 2009 is good health, peace, happiness and prosperity.
I've left the old Rhythm Kings songs posted for my old friends from back in the day.
You can still here the recording of "Add Your Part" I did with the Smokin' Mojo Kings on their site at www. myspace. com/thesmokinmojokings. Check their other tunes out. They are Smokin'.
The definition of Recurring Blues---When I get the blues I'm happy. When I'm happy I'm always alone. When I'm alone I get the blues.
When I get the blues I'm happy. When I'm happy I'm always alone. When I'm alone I get the blues. When I get the blues I'm happy.
When I'm happy I'm always alone. When I'm alone I get the blues...................................
Phil
A Small Piece of the History of the Pittsburgh Blues Scene
In honor of the 30th anniversary of my short tenure that began in 1978 with the great Pittsburgh pioneering blues band, The Rhythm Kings, I thought it would be fitting to share a few samples of what the local club scene had the chance to experience first hand.
It was a great time to be a musician in the Burgh. I was a young pup back then and had turned twenty three just after joining the band. It was the City of Champions in the late 1970’s and everyone carried the city’s banner every minute of everyday, everywhere and anywhere, including in the clubs.
I’ve posted on my myspace site www.myspace.com/philtheknight three very old recordings that I had on cassettes (you remember cassettes right?). The sound is as best as I could do with what I had to work with but it’ll give you a taste of the many hot nights I experienced. Every night was a “hot” night with The Kings whether we played for ten people or two hundred people. (We never played for ten people but it sounded good, didn’t it?)
They were all recorded live at the Parkway Tavern in Monroeville. These live Rhythm Kings songs were recorded at one of the best New Year’s Eve parties ever.
On “The Big Bad Rhythm Kings”, the lead singer Monty would come out in a red and white king’s robe with a crown on his head. As far as names go, everyone I mention will be by first name only. When you speak of your brothers you only use their first names, right?
The band had some great players in it during my stay and during the years before I joined. The live recordings had Monty singing, Rob on trumpet, Speigle on drums, John aka “Dr. Bad” on baritone sax and myself “Scats” “Bo”chelli on guitar. ..s was the now famous Hollywood producer Scott. On tenor sax was Chris, who wrote the great originals we did including “Beat the Fear”. Chris also went on to play with Bon Ton Roulet and is now with Gary Belloma and the Blue Bombers. Jeff was on bass. He was also in Bon Ton Roulet and is now better known as “The Head Bone Daddy” and creator of the “Bonedog” sound.
My old friend Jeff, “The Head Bone Daddy”, has been associated with and recorded many Pittsburgh blues artists over the years. To name a few, the legendary Billy Price (the Rhythm Kings’ original lead singer), Bobby Wayne (he sang lead with the Kings when I played and also sang the lead in the studio on “Beat the Fear”). He also has recorded Jimmy Adler and Craig King. I know there’s more but that should be enough to show Jeff to be a real live Pittsburgh Blues Icon. To throw out a couple more names, Gil and Patrick were also members of Bon Ton Roulet with Jeff and Chris. Gil is with the Mystique Knights.
I had a small 30th anniversary reunion with Jeff “The Head Bone Daddy” and Kurt “Jr. Smoke” two years ago. We were all in the R & B band Bad Juju. Kurt was also a member of the Rhythm Kings (just before Bad Juju was formed) and it’s great to see him out playing again.
Bad Juju had Gary singing lead and John ..s. Gary was also in “The Igniters” that boasted an all-star lineup that included Hall of Famer “Bubs” and Fred (Fred is another former Rhythm King member). I believe Bubs and Fred have a project together and Fred is currently with No Bad Juju.
In 1977 Bad Juju shared a New Years Eve party at the Pallisades in Mckeesport with The Kings. The jam at the end of the night was unbelievable. I remember just not being able to stop playing. I was an even younger pup of twenty one then and as a sax player in high school and in Bad Juju I was totally blown away.
< Monty and John “Dr. Bad” are no longer with us. When I think of them my mind rushes with memories and stories of those crazy great days. I was so fortunate to be a part of it. I never though of it as being hard even when the Kings played thirty gigs in the twenty eight days of February 1979 (we had two Sunday afternoon parties). Life was good in the City of Champions in the late 1970’s.
I hope that I haven’t offended anyone. My intention was to show everyone in the Pittsburgh Blues scene today that you have a history that you are adding to as I write this. Some of the guys who helped write that history are still writing it today.
I have not set up the songs I’ve posted on myspace to have the capability to be downloaded. They don’t belong to me but to history. Yeah, I played on them but they belong to a small part of Pittsburgh Blues history that is just too personal to all who shared it with me.
I can and will share them with you to listen to. Listen to them from beginning to end. Hear the crowds scream. Hear the players and singers emotions. Hear and feel the energy. Bring that energy with you to your next gig or your next rehearsal. Bring it back and give it back.
If any of my brothers can fill any of the holes I’ve left or if I’ve got something wrong please help me to remember the times I never want to forget.
Blues on Pittsburgh,
Phil The Knight With The Blues
The Smokin' Mojo Kings from Fort Madison, Iowa recorded a music track and asked if anyone wanted to "add your part". I did and it came out pretty good for a Saturday afternoon of recording fun. The music track was well done so it was easy to "Add My Part". Thanks Mojo Kings. You guys are Smokin! Check it out. It's on the Smokin' Mojo Kings site. www.myspace.com/thesmokinmojokings Smokin'!!!!
Christmas time is over and it's time to move into the new year with a new set of songs. With my own midi creations and the help of other revamped, enhanced and improved midi files, I recorded these songs over the past few years which are for demo use only to show the diversity of my playing styles. They are also for all my friends and family to enjoy. I use them as an aid in my search for the right group of players to join up with. Have a grand 2009 and I hope to have new Chrismas tunes for next Christmas.
Although I am an experienced guitarist in almost all of the current marketable styles of club music, my forte has been and always will be classic rock/blues/jazz rock fusion. I've been in show bands, R & B, blues, rock, classic rock, dance, disco, bluegrass, country, new country, rockabilly, swing and jazz bands. Some of my notable bands are the Rhythm Kings, Bad Juju, Rage, Double Dealin', Brok-n-Pic, Indecision, and most recently Angel Blue and the Prophets. I've had the fortunate opportunity to open for Blood Sweat and Tears and Marshal Tucker. I have recorded a blues CD, a jazz rock CD and a Xmas CD, and I am currently working on an all original CD. All of my CD's are all guitar all jamming all the time. I am currently unsigned and in the process of finding the right group of players to perform with in the "Burgh". In the Rhythm Kings I was part of a pioneering blues scene in Pittsburgh and would love to be a part of it again. I create my own midi files and use some other midi files that I have revamped and enhanced as my backup music and record my guitar performances over them. The six songs I have posted were created in that manner and are solely for the demonstration of my playing styles. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family and friends do. I do have one musicman manlaw you must adhere to. When you listen to my songs, you have to listen to them all the way to the tag. Think about it. You don't read a book and stop with ten pages left. A song's not a song without taking it from the "top" and going all the way to the "out".
Phil The Knight With The Blues
This thing called life.
At the end of June I started having the kind of health problems that men my age have. It was serious enough to consult my doctor about. We had some tests done and the number that tells us how our kidneys are working was bad, too high. We retested my blood and I had an ultrasound done after which my doctor said I had prostate blockage causing my kidney readings to be bad and I was quickly directed me to a urologist. You’ll find in my story that it does pay to see your doctor. I see mine at least four times a year and have my blood tested as normal at least twice a year due to high cholesterol.
As you can tell I try to be a little proactive with my health but sometimes that’s just not enough. I was more ill than I thought. The urologist immediately inserted a catheter and drained almost three quarts from my bladder. I went to work shamelessly and courageously with a bag on my leg. Thirteen days later the doctor removed that catheter and scoped my prostate and bladder. That same day I wasn’t able to “void” (doctor talk) my bladder and had to go to the emergency room to have another catheter put in. After being probed and prodded that morning and after painfully trying to go all day I was worn down. I don’t have high blood pressure but it was up that night along with my heart rate. They took care of me and I slept all night because of the shot they gave me before I left. It was the kind of buzz that made me wish I had a gig that I could have jammed all night on. It’s a 70’s thing.
Both my doctor and the urologist told that my prostate wasn’t bigger than normal for a guy my age. I had and have had good PSA tests for cancer for several years now and the ultrasound found no masses or stones. What the doctor found was a small flap of enlarged prostate on the inside that he thought may have been acting like a valve. The bottom line was that my bladder was not emptying completely and it was affecting my kidneys to the point of possible kidney failure. The answer was that I was a candidate for a TURP (transurethral resection of the prostate).
Now I could say to look it up on the web as I did but simply put, this 50 year old operation removes the interior of the prostate making the opening from the bladder to the urethra larger.
I was operated on the 9th of October and so far so good. The pathology reports on my prostate and bladder came back negative. Things are going so well that it has brought back the phrase “like a Russian race horse” into my vocabulary. I still have to watch myself for now but I should be back to work the beginning of November. To put some sugar in my coffee, an old friend offered me a spot with his new band and that they can and will work with my schedule. I’m hoping for the best. Gotta play.
It does pay to see your doctor. Everyone, don’t wait when you have a problem. Talk to your doctor like I did. He’ll listen and the news is not always bad. Sometimes you’ll get good news as I did earlier in the year when I found after a battery of tests that what I thought was a fluttering heart problem turned out to be a muscular problem. I still don’t have the problem that I didn’t have before and haven’t felt any fluttering since my doctor told me that there was no problem. My mind won that one.
But, as you get older things just don’t go away as they did when you’re young. So stay young at heart. Even when you think your body’s warranty time wants to run out.
For me this is the first time any illness has put me down so it obviously was difficult. Friends and family make a difference. Who you are and how you think makes a difference. I’ll never be the same. But I know because I’m better now, I feel that I haven’t changed either. I’m living a paradox inside me. But the truth of the matter is that I’m still me with just a little bit more of me to be.
My happy jumpin’ blues are happier and jumpier, and my sad and lonely blues are sadder and lonelier but my playing hasn’t changed. See what I mean.
Just glad to be alive, Phil<mspmb src="http://static.ning.com/