|
They're Just Grateful Dudes by Lisa Wahla of Our Times, March 9, 2000 |
|
|
|
On Saturday Nights, Vincenzo's Pizzeria is home to the Grateful Dudes, a down-home bluegrass band that has been playing at the venue for years. Here, Dennis Fetchet, left, and Scott Micale, two of the four-member band, play a tune. |
|
* Bluegrass band has held stage at local haunt for over a decade.* Vincenzo's on Lyon's Avenue looks like many other large pizza parlors, with wooden tables and benches, peanut shells on the floor and beer advertisements on the walls. But on Saturday nights, the corner stage is home to the Grateful Dudes, a down-home bluegrass band with a group of devoted fans who show up week after week. The dudes, comprised of a fiddler, banjo player, guitarist and bass player, take you back to a time when Santa Clarita was more ranch land than golf course, more tractor trailer than sport utility vehicle. "It's the last of the homespun, casual enjoyments, " said Ron Martinez, a San Fernando resident who has been coming for the last six months. "I really like the music and the atmosphere. It's a come-as-you-are kind of place, where people are just glad you're here and not impressed by your clothes or work status." The crowd is a blend of families, softball playing dads and longtime bluegrass fans. For regulars, it's the music, the band and the atmosphere that brings them back. "It's the music and the guys on stage," said Ed "Hardway" Morrill, a bluegrass devotee who looks the part with his grey beard, cowboy hat and plaid shirt. He and his wife, Judy, have been coming every Saturday for the past seven years. The band showed up to play at Hardway's 60th birthday party, and Judy said they planned their 1994 wedding for a weekday so they wouldn't miss a show. "It's one of the few places around here with live music and a family atmosphere," said Dennis Fetchet, explaining the appeal. Mom's bounce their babies to the beat and kids of all ages are everywhere. In between video games, they take turns twirling to the fast paced music from the front of the stage. One little girl, pretends to play her own fiddle, using a paper towel roll. Guitarist and lead vocalist, Scott Micale said he played in rock and roll bands before, but he thinks bluegrass is the most fun. Banjo player, Rodger Phillips is a Santa Clarita based chiropractor by trade; playing banjo helps keep his fingers and forearms in shape for deep-muscle therapy. Phillips and Micale have been playing together for 20 years. They took the name Grateful Dudes and began jamming at Vincenzo's close to a decade ago. "We basically have no social lives," said Micale. "It's either come here on a Saturday night or watch another rerun of 'Gilligan's Island'." Fetchet, who plays fiddle five days a week at Disneyland joined them six years ago. Bass player, Bill Bryson is the most recent addition. They plan to keep playing "until we're in walkers," Micale said. The Dudes play from 7:30 to 10:30 pm, and the large crowd is boisterous for the first hour, an occasional "yeehaw" piercing the din of family chatter. During the last hour a smaller, more appreciative crowd of 40 or so listeners claps and taps its feet in tune to the music. "The band is really great," said Aram Pembley, one of those who stayed from beginning to end on a recent Saturday. Pembley, 28, has been coming off and on since he "happened to come by and they were playing" in 1992. He says he's not usually a bluegrass-type person - more a Grateful Dead than Grateful Dude- but he likes listening to the band. Fellow fan Martinez agrees. "If you summed it up in one word, it's the atmosphere." he said, making a sweeping gesture with his arm. "The band, music, the crowd, all of it." |
|
|
Fiddler Dennis Fetchet |
Scott Micale, Bill Bryson and Rodger Phillips |
