Scrapbook

Greg Burgess playing four-hand boogie woogie with Ann Rabson at Jeremiah’s, Williamsport, PA.   Greg and Ann share a love for the piano blues, people like the influential Leroy Carr, versatile Little Brother Montgomery, the stalwart Meade Lux Lewis, bawdy Georgia White, sophisticated Lloyd Glenn, and rocking Johnnie Johnson.

Greg Burgess sitting in with the “gal from Georgia” EG Kight at Jeremiah’s, Williamsport, PA.

Burgess, Mitchell & Seal burning off fettucine at the Italian Terrace, Lewisburg, PA

Chip o’block James Burgess filling in for Andy at the Town Perk.

BMS at Lewisburg Area Recreation Association gala.

Thanks to Bonnie Tallman and Bill Wilson for these photos.

Thanks to Jeff and Gary Federowicz for this photo.

Rochester Patriot 1982 news article on Joe Beard and the Blues Union playing at Ruth and Irv’s Astrological Fish and Steak House.  Pictured from left to right: chef Eddie Israel, owner Irv Miller, bassist Arthur King, guitarist Chris Hall, drummer Charlie Story (behind Hall), pianist Greg Burgess, and singer and guitarist Joe Beard.  Excerpts:  “One minute, you’re sitting there quietly, admiring Ruth and Irv’s poinsettia-patterned plastic table cloths through the bottom of a Miller bottle, and the next minute you’re...floored.  All it takes to get you there is the first notes out of Joe Beard’s guitar.  After four wailing hours, only closing time and the Blues Union’s promise to be back again next weekend can get you to leave.” — Mickey Revenaugh.  “To hear Israel describe how he prepares roast pork is to set your digestive juices flowing.” — Christopher Garlock.

Fan and artist S. Bruce’s watercolor interpretation of Greg’s “Big Brown Panther.”

“One of [Burgess’s]  most popular songs is about determination and survival; ‘Big Brown Panther’ deals with local lore about mountain lions.”

     “The state Game Commission claims they are a myth, a breed extinct in nature, yet many people across the state claim they have seen these cats in the wild.”

     “…’One morning Beverley dragged me out of bed to take a look at two big animals that were standing at the edge of a field behind our house.  They were brown, bigger than dogs, with long brown tails rather than short white tails like deer.  Beverley feels very sure that they were panthers.’ “

     “…’The song is about resilience in the face of modern civilization’s destructiveness, a fitting anthem for a musician’.”

  — Jeffrey Federowicz, Sun-Gazette

 

      So, little girl, if you’re on your own.  Don’t think that you’re all alone.  You hear a loud holler coming from the trees, you’d better run home, ‘cause it might be me.  I’m a big, brown panther, and I’m still roaming these hills.

    —Greg Burgess