Forty years ago, the Poorhouse North rocked like there was no tomorrow.
For more than 200 Saturday nights in a row, the band Wilkesbury Brigade played to packed houses at the Old Liverpool Road nightspot located a stone’s throw from the corner of Galeville’s Beechwood Avenue.
Week after week, the band drew record crowds with the all-time record attendance of 756 on one warm early summer night.
Pizza and pilsners
Like thousands of other kids who turned 20 in the 1970s, I spent many late nights and early mornings at the Poor House dancing to the music of Wilkesbury Brigade, then fronted by charismatic lead singer Tommy Forest.
As the quintet cooked up Beatles medleys and an amazingly varied array of pop tunes, the audience sustained itself on sudsy pilseners and cheesy pizza. “Joy to the World” indeed! Wilkesbury played plenty of Three Dog Night.
The band will “Celebrate” again on the 40th anniversary of its dissolution, at a Dinosaur Radio History of Syracuse Rock’n’Roll Then-and-Now reunion show headlined by Dave Novak and the PartyNuts, at 5 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 25, at Pensabene’s Casa Grande, 135 State Fair Blvd., on Syracuse’s West End.
Produced by former WOLF radio personality Ron Wray (a.k.a. Ron Gersbacher, who lives in Liverpool), Sunday’s concert starts with a 90-minute set by Wilkesbury at 5 p.m., followed by Novak’s band. The first 100 ladies through the door will receive roses. Admission costs $5; wilkesburybrigade.com/.
Reunion set for Sunday
Liverpool electric guitarist Warren Paschetto will crank out fiery instrumental leads, while keyboardist Joe Rao lays down a Hammond B-3 foundation, Tim Cleary plunks out the bottom and drummer Mike Campbell keeps the beat. And of course, Tommy Woody Forest will sing the lyrics.
Joe Rao is the only original member of the Brigade, which began circa 1969 with vocalist Paul Bradbury, guitarist Tom Nelson, bassist Gary Goal, drummer Joe Maggio and Rao on the keys.
I vaguely recall taking guitar lessons from Tom Nelson at a little music store in what was then called Carl’s Plaza at the corner of Old Liverpool Road and Electronics Parkway. I still remember the way he’d roll his eyes when I clumsily tried to pick out a scale.
Anyhow, members of the band changed frequently during the first two years. My future brother-in-law, Brian Meegan, played drums for a while, and at one point Wilkesbury simultaneously showcased two of the finest singers in CNY — Dan Elliott and Ronnie Leigh.
Forest a fine frontman
In 1972, Tommy Forest replaced Elliott and Leigh up front. A former drummer, Forest had honed his vocal chops with Saints and Sinners, The Monterays and The Seven, but he really came into his own with Wilkesbury.
The band’s song list ranged from J.J. Jackson to Jerry Lee Lewis, from Neil Young to Neil Diamond, from Seals & Croft to Sly & The Family Stone. Sly’s “Dance to the Music” showed off the band’s funkier side, and its sensitive side came across whenever Forest delivered a haunting “Yesterday.”
In a devil-may-care mood, the band covered Dr. Hook’s “Cover of the Rolling Stone,” and Wilkesbury routinely dug roots-rock tunes such as the Doobie Brothers’ “Jesus Is Just Alright with Me” and “Long Train Runnin’.”
Along the way, the band released a couple of singles — “Movin’ On” boasting a sophisticated vocal harmony and a scorching guitar lead by Paschetto, and a wildly rockin’ “All Night Woman.”
Joe Rao hopes to see many familiar faces on Sunday at Pensabene’s. “We’d like to see all of our Poorhouse North alumni at this great event,” he said. “We’ll rock you just like we did 40 years ago.”
Moose remembered
According the Poor House North Fan Page on Facebook, Liverpool’s legendary nightclub was owned by Poorhouse Inc. with offices at 770 James St., in the Regency Towers in Syracuse. The corporation owned several restaurants and the Poorhouse North in Liverpool, Poorhouse West in Western Lights, Poorhouse East on Teall Avenue and the Poorhouse South in Nedrow.
The Poorhouse North, commonly referred to as “The North,” by patrons in the know, was one of the area’s top venues on the local live music circuit into the mid-1980s.
Bands booked there included 805, Cock Robin, The Flashcubes, New York Flyers, Mr. Edd, Mayhem, Kid Slick, Freeze, Stroke, Vision, Alecstar, Holly & The NYers, All of the Above, The Mossback Mule Band and dozens of others.
Bassist Steve Petrus, an alumnus of Liverpool High School, remembers The North’s big bouncer, Bill Tedd, better known as Moose.
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