Remember The Blackwells

Above: Flyer from our appearance on the WYEP Lunchtime Concert Series.

Between February 1995 and June 1996 The Blackwells played 50 shows in Western, PA at some of the most historic clubs in the Pittsburgh: The Decade, Graffiti, The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, Moondogs, and Goosky’s with some of the top artists in the city: D.O.S.E, Carol Lee Espy, Barefoot Serpents, and Lucy Van Sickle. We had gotten air play on WYEP. It is a solid resume for a local band. 

We wanted to be as big as Son Volt, Wilco, The Jayhawks, and Whiskeytown, though. In Pittsburgh, we wanted to play for the enthusiastic audiences that packed Nick’s Fat City. None of those things seemed attainable. Schlepping gear at 2:00 a.m. every weekend, playing for less than 10 people, and making no money was exhausting. Steve had a young family and Marc and Drew had serious girlfriends that lived out of state. There comes a point when you have to put everything in perspective. 

For 25 years, I've followed the careers of the bands mentioned above. Initially, there has been a lot of, "What did I do wrong? Why couldn't we be like that?" But it has also been rare that I've listened to one of their releases more than once. Jeff Tweedy works his tail off - releasing albums, writing books, 200 shows a year with Wilco, producing other artists, etc... But what I thought "big" was in 1996 doesn't look as big in retrospect. life hasn't been easy for any of those guys. Being a local guy with a day job has its advantages.

Still, I always had a chip on my shoulder that we were shut out of the profitable clubs in Pittsburgh. There are certain rooms that drew crowds and you had to “know” people to play there. None of us grew up in Pittsburgh so we didn’t have the connections. 

In reality, people go to clubs on the South Side to hang out with friends and drink. The Nick’s Fat City bands knew how to keep people dancing and buying drinks. They knew how to work the crowd. They sustained the festive atmosphere, and they were pros at it. It was good business, and they deserved the attention, even if I found them cheesy or bland. I'm mellowing in my old age.

I, on the other hand, have never played a single note of a single song that I didn’t want to play. I’ve never given much thought to who I’m playing for and what they might want to hear. I’m rock and roll professor Mark Sullivan who has come down from the mountain to play good music for you. Every time I plug in my Strat I expect the band to be great. I expect my playing to be great. If I hit a bad note, that is good too because it shows this ain’t no karaoke. Nothing else has ever crossed my mind. And yeah, that sounds egotistical to me also. I’ve earned every last drop of my obscurity, but Moby Dick was an obscure novel during Herman Melville’s lifetime. It actually took about 75 years for people to recognize Melville’s genius. 

I only have 50 more to go.

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