John Mooney (center, above) used to be pretty big around here. He left home at 15 and began playing with Joe Beard (right, above). Joe introduced John to Son House, who lived in Rochester for many years, and John still shows that influence. He moved to New Orleans in 1976 and played regularly with Earl King, The Meters and Professor Longhair.
The John Mooney Trio from the Rochester days reunited over the weekend for a City gig and a warmup backyard barbecue gig at a home in Brighton. Brian Williams (on the left, above) played bass in that trio along with Bob Cooper on keyboards. Peggi bought her red Farfisa organ from Bob Cooper back in the late seventies. Brian invited us to the party. The Blues book was written a long time ago but it always sounds great when in good hands.
We took a walk up to the lake today and watched the sail surfers darting back and forth. We cut back through the park and visually eavesdropped on the various subcultures of picnickers. We watched a City cop tell an ice cream vendor he couldn’t sell in the park. We came across a park patrol woman and told her we had seen a guy on one of the trails digging up plants and putting them in a five gallon bucket. She told us, “There’s a lot of people doin’ what they shouldn’t be doin’ today”.
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