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Sauce Boss
Gazette
Volume 9 Number 7 * August 2001
WE HAVE JUST RETURNED HOME AFTER A 6,000 MILE TOUR OF THE NORTHEAST U.S. AND CANADA. It was great to see our old friends and to meet lots of new ones. Now I know why they sing "Oh Canada". Oh Canada, what a groovy place to hang. I'm always totally blown away by the OTTAWA BLUES FEST. A righteous festival from top to bottom. Eight years ago it started as a street dance to benefit Canadian homeless. Couple a years back they bought an apartment building. It's the second largest blues fest in North America, second only to Chicago, but it has the air of a small county fair (with 140,000 people packed onto the grounds to hear James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Blues Traveler, Little Feat, Johnny Lang, George Thorogood, Ike Turner, and the Sauce Boss, along with countless other acts). Maria Mauldar was really cool, and Marcia Ball put on a fantastic show. Eight days of music for fifty bucks. Two years ago I saw Smokey Robinson with a full orchestra complete with strings and timpani. Last year the Reverend Al Green charmed thousands. By the end of the show, the huge stage was covered in roses. But this year I saw the show of a lifetime. Wilson Pickett began his set with "Midnight Hour" and went straight up from there. (If you can imagine that). WHOA! This turned out to be one of my all-time favorite shows ever! The pinnacle of R&B (indeed the pinnacle of western civilization) --this performance had everything. The hottest band I have seen anywhere, and I've seen some HOT bands, y'all. They have a long-standing rule in Ottawa--never bring an act back for two consecutive years. Well, leave it to the Sauce Boss to break the rules. We have done the Fest for three yqears straight now. Next year be there or be square. I know I will.
DINOSAUR BAR-B-QUE One of the first little blues joints we played when we started gigging up North more than a decade ago was the Dinosaur BBQ. A genuine American experience, a rib joint in Syracuse, New York-- these guys have developed a cuisine, I call it "Biker Nouvelle". It's a small place but they squeeze thirty eleven hundred people in to slurp and slather gumbo and ribs, and rave up the blues. Since that time both the Dinosaur and the Sauce Boss have come a long way. United States Presidents have enjoyed the Dinosaur's barbecue. And they have just released an uptown cookbook on Ten Speed Press (with some great pictures, including a couple of yours truly). Originally some bikers had a Harley repair shop and a little barbecue grill in downtown Syracuse. But when the yuppified, working stiffs found the place, it soon became packed for lunch and dinner. The owner, John Stage has a deep love of the blues, and since Syracuse is right on the way between NYC and Chicago, Mr. Stage has had his pick of great national touring acts over the years. Blues legends could pick up an otherwise "dark" Sunday or Wednesday night. Make some change, eat some great BBQ, and cruise on down the road. The walls of the Dinosaur are virtually covered with pictures of the blues greats--most are autographed 'cause they played there. Also on the walls are cartoons of dinosaurs devouring parts of the city, bumper stickers saying "FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS EAT TOFU", and old movie posters of prehistoric mega-lizards. The quality of the meat is always great. They also have fantastic veggie sides, not just the traditional slaw and baked beans. The waitresses are groomed for a salty attitude befitting the back of a Harley. Just the other day my waitress spotted some sauce on my cheek after a major slather down, and she spit on her finger and washed my face off like a harried mother trying to make her little boy presentable. It's like family at the Dinosaur. All in all, it's a comfy place to chow down.
ANNOUNCING THE 2001 LIQUID SUMMER ODYSSEY CONTEST! We want to know your favorite use of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. Do you put it on your breakfast? On your dinner? On your girlfriend? Polish your silver? What's the deal? How can Liquid Summer be used to benefit the world? If you have a special way of using Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, we want to know. Entries must be returned to contest@sauceboss.com by September 30th. The winner will receive a case of Liquid Summer. The top ten entries will be posted on the Sauce Boss Gazette.
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