King Cool

Donnie Iris has been one of Western Pennsylvania's favorite musical sons for nearly four decades. (I'm sure he doesn't want to be reminded of that, but his first national hit, the Jaggerz' "The Rapper," hit the charts in 1970.)

King Cool (hey, that's the title of his second solo album) sang a couple of his favorites last week as part of the benefit for Washington musician Tony Janflone Jr. His performances were definitely highlights for the capacity crowd at the Rhythm House in South Fayette.

So without further ado, here are "Love Is Like a Rock" and "Ah! Leah!""

I recorded the show with my video camera perched on top of a video game machine, with me staring straight up at the viewer to see what I was capturing. It wasn't the most comfortable of arrangements, but it was effective.

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At the Observer-Reporter, we've been experimenting with a video/print series called "What's Up With That?" and we're already up to five episodes. (The work on those helps explain why I haven't been posting on this blog as much as I should.)

This week's installment is titled "Size does matter," which should pique your curiosity right there. Seriously, I'm just starting to learn the art of making videos, but I think this episode turned out well, thanks to the ladies who participated.

So do yourself a favor ... watch "Size does matter."

A night for Tony

Washington, Pa., musician Tony Janflone Jr. has been playing professionally since he was a teenager, and he's played countless benefit shows over the past three decades.

Last fall, Tony and his wife were involved in an accident, and the medical costs continue to rise as they recover.


Knowing all that Tony has done on behalf of others, fellow musician Curtis Swift, the sax player in Tony's band, organized a benefit to help defray the costs. Signing on were such well-known Pittsburgh-area musicians as Donnie Iris, Billy Price, B.E. Taylor, Robert James of the Clarks and Rick Witkowski, whom you might remember from his work with the '70s band Crack the Sky. And of course, Tony Janflone Sr., the dean of Western Pennsylvania guitarists.

I had the pleasure of filming the proceedings at the Rhythm House in South Fayette Township on Thursday, March 13. Owner Darryl Price and others working at the venue were very friendly and helpful, suggesting that my best vantage point would be from atop a poker machine near the soundboard! I patched one audio channel from the soundboard, used an ambient mike for the other, and came up with a pretty good mix for the parts of the show I've played back so far.

Tony Jr. told me beforehand he wouldn't be playing at the benefit, but the guys called him up to the stage, where he played a smoking "Green Onions."

Since it was Tony's night, I started editing three-plus hours worth of video there. Unfortunately, he was behind a speaker from my vantage point for the first three or so minutes, so I made do with a series of stills until he finally stepped to center stage.

Click here to watch the result.