Husky Burnette, Tales From East End Blvd: Goodbye Shore Road Tavern

Husky Burnette, Tales From East End Blvd: Goodbye Shore Road Tavern

Tales From East End Blvd:
Goodbye Shore Road Tavern

What a crazy, fun and emotional weekend Ive had with friends in Philadelphia PA. We were at a bar that all of us traveling musicians know, The Shore Road Tavern in Philly. We know it, we love it and if you're like me you can get sucked in here and never want to leave. I'm still here actually. I'm on tour right now but I keep coming back here on this run, using it as a central working point since there's an apartment above the bar that they use for the bands. Plus, it's just hard to leave this time. Last Friday night, March 27th 2015, was the bar's last public show. Very bittersweet. The line-up was Paul Waggener, Joshua Morningstar, Gallows Bound, Saint Christopher and then we did our set to close out the night. It was truly an amazing time. Wait, scratch out the word amazing...let's say "fucking magical". Even that doesn't describe it all that well. The owner, Mike Fiedler, celebrated the last show (which was also his birthday) with a smile on his face all night long. I think everyone in attendance had that smile. You could just feel the positivity in the room. Mike and his crew of misfit friends are the best of the best so you can't help but to smile and be happy while you're here. Their hospitality and loyalty make this place what it is. Couldn't ask for a better group of fans, friends and family.

Rest Easy Kathleen...

Janet, Husky Burnette and Kathy Fiedler... Rest easy Kathy

Since I began writing these blogs for Rusty Knuckles they have all been music related. It's the one topic I know the most about so it's what I write about. Though on a completely other level, this one is no different because music is how I came to know the people I'm writing about.

The Shore Road Tavern Ranks As One of Philly's Top Music Venues

Mike Fiedler of the Shore Road Tavern is always at the ready

Every now and then in life you get to meet a new life long friend that just literally walks into your life. I can certify this, as that is exactly how Mike Fiedler and I became friends. It all started at Muddy Roots a few years back when a dude on an Indian rolls up asking if we have tools he can borrow. He surely did find the right booth at Muddy Roots and next thing ya know, his pal Iggy and I were tearing into the controls on the bike and working up a fix. From that day forward, it was an instant bond. 

Mike and Cathy are the proud owners of the Shore Road Tavern and what an honor it is to see their fine establishment featured on Philly.com as a renowned local music venue. The hard work and long hours they pour into the venue is not lost on anyone. This type of dedication allows ol' Mike to know anyone and everyone, while also having the respect of every band that passes through their stone entryway. So damn proud for them to get a big feature such as this and hopefully it will further cement the Shore Road Tavern as a tour stop in North East Philly.

Tales From East End Blvd: The Dive Bars We All Love

The new defunct Doozer's Pub in Jacksonville, FL

Most people who love a good dive bar have their own personal favorite, usually in their neighborhood or close-by. The stinky walls, the sticky floors, your kind of music on the jukebox and your kind of beer on tap. The live music - it’s so up-close and personal in these tiny places. Music is a huge factor here at these bars and sometimes it’s ALL about the music. Music is universal. Everyone likes some form of it. The ones that live for it, though, can usually be found in dive bars.

I’ve been playing music to pay the bills for quite a while now. I go in, I “work”, I get paid. It’s just like any other job (I refuse to call it a job though). Nonetheless, I don’t always get paid what I should if I’m playing a dive. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played them and at the end of the night I got paid almost NOTHING after a 2-4 hour drive. Funny thing is, my band and I had the best time of our freaking lives on stage those nights and wouldn’t have had it any other way. Why is that? What is it that’s so appealing about a dive bar to patrons and musicians? Maybe it’s the fact that nobody is trying to impress anyone. Maybe it’s the companionship and the comfort. Maybe it’s the fact that, usually, everyone in a dive bar is a music lover so there’s always something to talk about (my personal favorite reason). Maybe it’s all of the above. All signs point back to music in one way or another but, whatever the reason, I love them and tons of people all over the world agree. 

JJ's Bohemia in Chattanooga, TN and its locals

Here in my hometown of Chattanooga, TN, thee rock and roll dive bar in town is JJ’s Bohemia. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve seen in that narrow, shotgun-shaped, alcoholic-hallway of a bar. Beer only at the bar, “recreations” out back on the deck, a live band playing original tunes 7 nights a week and the stench of PBR on the stage, floor and everyone’s breath. I’ve been turned on to so many new bands/artists in that bar. I’ve seen bands there that I never thought I’d see up-close and personal. A few memorable ones being a BUZZOV*EN reunion / K-Lloyd show (both now Rusty Knuckles bands!), a crazy intense Valiant Thorr show, opening for Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers / Danny Barnes show and a ton of others. 

My favorite is the first time I saw the late, great T-Model Ford. When I won the Best Blues Band award for TN / GA in 2009, the JJ’s Bohemia owner, John Shoemaker, said he had something for me and asked me to open for the T-Model Ford / Black Diamond Heavies / Mark “Porkchop” Holder bill the following month. I replied with something similar to “You damn right I will!!”. I got to jam with T-Model in the middle of the bar before they opened the doors. T was playing my guitar, I was playing his, and my drummer at the time, Burma Shave, was behind the kit. I also got to sit in on lead guitar during T’s song “Chickenhead Man” with him later that night and every other night he played JJ’s before he passed! 

Husky and T-Model Ford hanging out pre-show at JJ's Bohemia

Needless to say, it’s something that changed my life a bit and that I’ll never forget. There’s been many a night that I couldn’t help but go crazy with energy while playing on their stage cause the patrons were literally making the floor in front of the stage shake and rumble. You feel it in your bones and can’t help but turn it up and go nuts even though the stage and floor feel like they could collapse at any minute!
Another great dive that comes to mind is Doozers in Jacksonville, FL. Don’t go looking for it, it’s gone. Doozers was simply amazing. A tiny little building on the edge of town. It was a punk rock dive, nothing more. Inside it’s walls were people that loved music...period. I made good friends and no money there. Did I care about the paycheck part? Hell no!! It was the best damn show of the FL run every year! Sweaty, shirtless kids jumping around like wild, banshee monkeys. Who would’ve thought that my music would even remotely entertain them? Boy, did it ever! They were flinging themselves in circles of rage, kicking mic stands over and going crazy for 3 - 4 minutes at a time. I really miss that place. The owner, TJ Doozer, had something special there but, eventually, she had to let it go like many other dive owners have to.

It’s memories and first-times like these that you just won’t get anywhere else. Even though some of the dives that I really loved to play are gone, there are new ones that come along that somewhat replace the emptiness and bring on a new life of it’s own. One of them is Shore Road Tavern in northeast Philadelphia, PA. Wow, what a bunch of awesome, friendly folks. Mike Fiedler and his wife Kathy have really got a good thing going. Why? It’s because of those same ol’ reasons I mentioned at the beginning: everyone is a music lover, your kind of music on the jukebox, your kind of beer on tap, your kind of folks. 

Pennsylvania State Rep Michael Tomlinson hanging out at Shore Road post-show

There are no show-offs here, no uppity attitudes, just good folks who are looking to wind down and have a damn good time. One night I was playing an official state representative was even in there hanging out. Real people, real things (I may sound like Russell Hammond, guitarist for Stillwater in the film Almost Famous but, it’s the truth. It’s all about the real). Mike has become a brother of mine these days. Him and his crew of misfits are some of the most real people I’ve ever hung out with and because of that, I call Philly and Shore Road my second home now. I try to pass through every chance I get, whether I’m on tour or not. Mike and Kathy are truly down for the cause and Shore Road is making history, like every other good dive bar that does it for the right reasons. They are a rare breed for sure and we love them for it.

Husky, Loki, Bill Dorsey and Mike Fiedler outside the Shore Road Tavern

These dive owners and employees will never be forgotten. They mean so much to us traveling musicians. I can’t find the words to express how I feel about them. It’s not just us musicians that appreciate them this much. The patrons love them just as much for bringing in the music they love. A true dive bar can make you feel warm and fuzzy like that, without the beer / liquor buzz. Inside those beaten-up walls people find themselves, they get educated, they learn about music, they make friends, they get hammered in good fun and they gain a second home. Do yourself a favor and support your locals: go spend your money at your local dive instead of some franchise bar or restaurant. It’ll do your soul some good and you just might learn a thing or two.

- Husky Burnette 

The Continuing Saga Of Leroy Virgil's Guitar

Earlier this year, we posted up a batch of photos in which Leroy Virgil of Hellbound Glory, just so happened to leave his guitar behind at the Shore Road Tavern in Philadelphia. Since it stayed back in Philly, every single band rollin' through the place has had a chance to play it, while staying in the apartment upstairs. Leave it Mike Fiedler to never miss a great opportunity to make something cool happen. 

Check out the first batch of photos

Here is round two of the photos.

Awesome Bill Dorsey striking a chord

Billy Don Burns and Leroy Virgil's guitar

Brad Carr of Cutthroat Shamrock and Leroy Virgil's guitar

Brook Blanche of the Calamity Cubes

Brownbird Rudy Relic

Dave Dufrane of the Spastiks, NYC

Derek McRotten of Cutthroat Shamrock and Leroy Virgil's guitar

Dusty Rust of Johnny Outlaw and the Johnson Creek Stranglers

Henry Berger of S.S. Web

Jesse Roderick of Filthy Still

Kody Oh of the Calamity Cubes

Luca Fiorini of the The Spastiks, NYC

Marcus Bunch of Cutthroat Shamrock

Matt Olson of Filthy Still

Mighty Junior of Yankee Cockfight

Olds Sleeper

Orb Mellon strumming Leroy Virgil's guitar

Scrimmy Boucher of Yankee Cockfight

Sean Secor of Tex Railer's Boomtown

Saint Christopher

Tim Gagne of the Spastiks, NYC

Tim V. of Tex Railers Doomtown

Billy Don Burns Performing Dead Or Alive

"Dead or Alive" performed by Billy Don Burns
The Shore Road Tavern
Robbins and Jackson Philadelphia, PA Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Leave Behind A Guitar And Start A Community Music Project At the Shore Road Tavern

There is quite the interesting story that is brewing out of Philly. Our good buddy up at the Shore Road Tavern, Mike Fiedler was bequeathed a guitar from Leroy of Hellbound Glory. Never one to miss an opportunity, Mike made the guitar part of hanging out and playing at the tavern and now everyone is signing the case and getting a photo, once they roll through town. As this story progresses and the legacy of this particular guitar lives in, we will keep the photos flowing and get more video footage to showcase how one instrument lives on. 

Leroy Virgil's guitar of Hellbound Glory

"Back in October of 2012, Leroy Virgil and the boys from Hellbound Glory flew into New York City for a handful of East Coast shows including one at The Shore Road Tavern in Philadelphia, a small bar that my wife Kathleen and I run in the Wissinoming section of the city.  We run the place like a true roadhouse by maintaining a third floor apartment above the bar, which is reserved strictly for the touring musicians that play our venue. It has become a welcome stop on the road as it allows musicians a chance to relax after their set, hang out with the crowd, or chill in the apartment, and to not have to worry about loading out until the next day. This was to be our third time hosting the ‘scumbags’ and, needless to say, we were really looking forward to their company as always. But this trip held a special purpose for Leroy.

Jimmy Lloyd, host of NBC's The Jimmy Lloyd Songwriter Showcase, had chosen Leroy Virgil, along with singer songwriter Sean Walsh, to participate in the inaugural episode of his “Live Songwriter-in-the-Round Series” at Hill Country BBQ, located near 26th and Broadway in New York City. The event was being taped by NBC Digital Networks for a future broadcast, and immediately after the hour long taping, Hellbound Glory was to play a full-band set.

Leroy invited us to come up for the Thursday night show. Since it was going to be such a big night for the band, and we live a very convenient 90 miles from Manhattan, we didn’t hesitate to say yes. Plus we had a large case of Hellbound Glory shirts that were shipped to the bar, in advance of their upcoming Philly show that Saturday, so I figured they’d come in handy.

The “Songwriter Showcase” followed a format that saw each songwriter perform one of their songs, one after another, followed by a discussion about the meaning of the song and how it evolved. Throughout the evening, Leroy was the clear standout.

After Hellbound Glory finished playing at Hill Country, the guys opted to ride back to Philly with us that night instead of taking a train the next day, but they had a 1am show to do somewhere in the East Village first. We started to load their gear into our SUV, and as Leroy was putting his guitar case in the back, he muttered “I’m tired of dragging this thing around” “I’m gonna’ leave it in Philly”. “Yeah, yeah, right Leroy”, I said.  With a camera crew in tow, that had apparently been following Leroy around New York City all day, we squeezed in to a few vehicles and set out for the East Village.

After a late show, and an uneventful ride back to Philly, we pulled up to the bar and started to unload the truck. As Leroy pulled his guitar case out of the back, he reiterated, “I am, I’m leaving this thing here, I’m tired of dragging this thing around”. “Yeah, yeah, right Leroy”, I said. We dropped them off at the apartment and went home to crash. We returned to the bar later that afternoon because, as willing as they were to rely on Amtrak for this handful of shows, they were equally willing to accept the offer of my truck to run down to DC for a show that night. As they loaded up the truck, Leroy again repeated how he was leaving his guitar “here at the apartment in Philly”. By now, knowing how mischievous Leroy can be, and how much he loves fucking with people, I am pretty much dismissing him outright as ‘Leroy just being Leroy’.

They came back from DC Saturday afternoon and pretty much laid low in the apartment until showtime. The boys once again played to a packed house, throwing down another raucous three hour show that we’ve become accustomed to whenever they play Philadelphia. We hung out until well after closing and, since they really had no place to be until they flew back to Reno on Monday, they decided to stick around for another night. We surely didn’t care as long as they didn’t mind sharing the apartment with the acts scheduled to play that Sunday night, James Hunnicutt and Filthy Still (which, at the time, featured Jared McGovern and Liz Sloan as touring members). Of course they didn’t mind.

With a lighter turnout on Sunday night, and so many musicians milling about, the night broke out into some spontaneous music, both in the bar after Filthy Still’s set, and well into the night as James Hunnicutt, Jared McGovern, and Liz Sloan continued to work on some things in the empty floor above the bar. At one point, I walked in to see Leroy sitting in the corner, leaning back in a chair, watching them play with that shit eatin’ grin of his. I pulled up the chair next to him, sat down, and said “yo, that’s Django Reinhardt they’re doing”. He just grinned even wider as he slowly nodded his head. We just sat there for the next 5-10 minutes or so, watching these three virtuosos without saying a word.

The night wound down shortly after that and, as we were socially preparing for the inevitable parting of our separate ways, Leroy once again reinforced his desire to leave his guitar at the apartment as the “house guitar” and to “let everybody play it”. By this point, I was a bit worn down by his dogged persistence and single-mindedness, and for the twelfth time that weekend I said, “yeah, yeah, right Leroy, OK”. We hugged, offered our salutations and well wishes, and went our separate ways until our paths would, inevitably, cross again. Everybody had left the apartment by Monday afternoon and I didn’t have a chance to get down there and clean until Tuesday morning. As I walked up to the third floor apartment, sure as shit, there it was just like he said. Sitting at the top of the staircase, leaning against the wall with the case open was Leroy Virgil’s beat up old Esteban guitar. I shook my head and thought to myself ‘that’s Leroy being Leroy’ and, with a slight smirk on my face, I picked her up and then just let out a sigh as I placed it into one of the closets. As I was cleaning up the apartment, processing all the events of the last couple days, I kept thinking about one thing in particular that Leroy had said, “let everybody play it”. I then thought about how he had left me in stewardship of his old guitar, an instrument that, from my perspective, already has provenance and should rightly wind up in a museum one day. I decided that, to honor that trust he had in me, I would continue to add to the instrument’s already storied life by doing a running portrait series of every musician that plays his old guitar. This is volume one of that series and, coincidently enough, two of the musicians in this group, Josh Patch of Dead Amble and David Pattillo of The Dead Exs, were at the Hill Country BBQ show that Thursday night."

Mike Fiedler

The Shore Road Tavern

Robbins and Jackson

Philadelphia, PA 19135


Leroy Virgil's guitar that is now the center of free time at the Shore Road Tavern

J.B. Beverley

Jeff Bryson - Vinegar Creek Constituency

Bruno Esposito - Lone Wolf One Man Band

Jim Chilson, Ten Foot Polecats

James Hunnicutt

Husky Burnette

Dave Lefever - The Curious Kin

Jared McGovern - Jayke Orvis & The Broken Band

Randee McKnight - The Living Deads

Jayke Orvis

Josh Patch - Dead Amble

David Patillo - The Dead Exs

Phillip Roebuck

Jay Scheffler - Ten Foot Polecats

Liz Sloan - Jayke Orvis & The Broken Band

Brian "Smitty" Smith

Symphony Tidwell - The Living Deads

Elvis Suissa - Three Bad Jacks

Stevie Tombstone

Andrew Ungaro - Shiggy & The Doll Rods

Shane Vain

 

 Check out the post from Mike Fiedler