Sept. 19, 1970: Stillwater

 

Toward the end of this piece, Stillwater plays “No Good to Cry,” the 1967 hit by a one-hit wonder called the Wildweeds that featured  guitarist and singer Al Anderson. We got to know Al much better during his many years with NRBQ.

All of which makes me wonder what happened to the guys in Stillwater. Is Bob Dominiak that computer engineer with a degree from UB in classical guitar performance who I just spotted on LinkedIn? And could that be the same Joe Frontera doing a drum solo on YouTube with the Black and Blues Band in 2015 at the Pizza Plant?

 

Sept. 19, 1970

 They Play ‘em Straight

Stillwater Entertains, Doesn’t Preach

 Now that’s a familiar riff, you think as Bob Saba, the organist, starts Stillwater’s second set at The Gallery in Niagara Falls.

        And just about the time you figure out what it is, the rest of the band comes in DWAH … DWAH. And the sound builds and then it settles back and kinda rocks back and forth as singer Ed Konklewski seems to let the spirit of Joe Cocker flow into him:

         What would you do if I sang out of tune,

        Would you stand up and walk out on me?

         Close your eyes and you’d swear that was either Joe Cocker or somebody’s doing a fine imitation. Ed’s got it right down.

* * *

AND WHEN you stop noticing that, the song and that in-CRED-ible Leon Russell arrangement sweep you up. Rising, falling, bragging, pleading. It’s more than music. It’s theater. Drama that gets right through to your bone marrow.

        Guitarist Bob Dominiak and bass guitarist Jim (Dirty) Niederpruem (“Don’t call me ‘Dirty,’ he says, my mother will kill me.”) aren’t exactly The Grease Band when it comes to falsetto harmonies, but that’s all right.

        Ed doesn’t fight invisible devils or play imaginary guitars either, but that’s all right, too.

        When he DOES do is get into this speech at the end – with the music growing and wailing – about how you need your friends and how you gotta love one another and have respect for your neighbors.

        “I didn’t get that from the record. That’s all my rap,” Ed says later. “But sometimes I wonder if I don’t sound too much like a preacher, you know?”

* * *

THE GALLERY isn’t empty, but there’s not much of a crowd. But there’s applause tonight, so everything’s all right.

        Ed announces that this is The Gallery “in case you hadn’t noticed” and the group confers for a minute and then it’s into “Green River,” that aging Creedence Clearwater Revival goodie.

        Another close copy, with that nice tumbling beat Creedence had in it. A dozen of so Niagara University kids get up from their pushed-together tables and take the dance floor.

* * *

“IF YOU’RE going to do a Top 40,” Ed says, “you may as well do it straight. You can try to change it, but not everybody can get away with it. We usually make it longer. For the dancers.”

        Ed must have gotten the words from the record because the record is hard to figure out and he’s singing things that aren’t in the written-down version. He sings all three verses twice.

        You see a hierarchy in the way the band projects itself, at least in this set. Ed is a strong focal point. And then Bob Dominiak and Dirty Drummer Joe Frontera you notice next and then Bob Saba.

        The ending, well, it just ends. The group isn’t satisfied with most of its endings, but it makes up for that in “A Little Help From My Friends” and a song Ed wrote called “I Need Your Help.”

        Ed’s song is a hard, minor-key, pleading thing. The ending is really precise. It riffs and crashes and breaks until you swear it won’t go on any more, then it picks up and riffs again.

        Still, the group isn’t into really heavy stuff like Mountain or Led Zeppelin. They prefer bands like Creedence, Chicago, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the former Buffalo Springfield and Lovin’ Spoonful.

        “You notice all music has been getting ‘American’ lately,” Ed says. “Like The Band, James Taylor. They’re all playing basically acoustical songs.”

* * *

STILLWATER does two other original numbers, both written by Bob Dominiak. Booking agent Rob Dadammio thinks they may record some originals for demonstration tapes within six months or so.

        Meanwhile, they’re playing The Redwood Lounge in Tonawanda next Wednesday and Thursday and they expect to be back at The Gallery next month. Everything else is tentative.

* * *

THERE’S NOT much talk between numbers. A few tentative comments from Ed. A few puns from Bob Dominiak or Dirty.

        “We tried to clue people in once before we played ‘Ohio,’” Bob Saba says. “We quoted President Nixon on ‘When dissent turns to violence, it invites tragedy’ and told everybody: ‘Think about it.’ But I don’t think it did much good.”

        “I don’t know if the stage is the place for political raps,” Ed puts in. “As David Crosby said, politics is … Most of it’s just rhetoric. We’re up there to entertain. If we say any message, it’s in our songs.”

* * *

AFTER two more pieces, the band does “No Good to Cry” by The Wildweeds, a number which would be obscure if other Buffalo bands weren’t keeping it alive.

        “That’s a Buffalo song,” Ed says later. “I don’t know why, but Buffalo bands do it and Buffalo kids like it.”

        Stillwater closes the set with an instrumental blues. Ed brings out a harmonica and winds up wandering over to one of the Voice of the Theater PA speakers so he can hear himself.

        The group finds some friends in the booths and gets something to drink. Big Pete LaSalle, one of the owners, comes over and asks Ed if they would mind playing until 2 if there’s people around.

        The music was supposed to start at 9, but waited until 10 for a crowd, so nobody minds. A few Niagara County Community College kids come in later and it’s a better night than the owners expected. Nobody wanted to leave early. 

And here’s the box/sidebar: 

Stillwater – It’s Unclassified 

Pertinent and impertinent information about Stillwater:

        Ed Konklewski, 22, vocals, Hutchinson Tech, attended UB, single.

        Bob Dominiak, 21, guitar, Seneca Vocational, Erie Community College graduate, married last month.

        Jim Niederpruem, 19, bass player, Bishop Fallon High, attended Bryant & Stratton, single.

        Bob Saba, 20, organ, sax and clarinet, West Seneca High School, attended Programming & Systems Institute, single.

        Joe Frontera, 18, drums, West Seneca High, attending Hilbert College, single.

* * *

STILLWATER was formed in April. Joe and Jim had played together in Evolution and both had played with Bob Saba in The Nickel Bush. Bob Dominiak and Ed were together in Uncle Paul’s Band.

        Things began with two weeks of chilly practices in the Big Ten Club in Angola, where they hoped for a gig once it opened. License problems delayed the opening and the group moved to Joe’s garage in the only house on Frontera Court in West Seneca, which is “free and nobody bothers us.”

        From there, it was a month and a half before they made a debut at The Gallery in Niagara Falls.

* * *

THE NAME came one night when the group was sitting around a snack stand in Angola trying to think what to call themselves.

        “The big trend was the Something Something Blues Band,” Ed says, “and we wanted one name that didn’t say anything that would classify our music. Something like Traffic or Cream. And Stillwater just came out of the air.”