Beat Farmers
Colemans, Rome, NY...... My hometown friend Dave was attending Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, while I was at Ithaca College. He told me that The Beat Farmers were going to be playing near in in Rome (where my mother's side of the family is from). I didn't have a car, so I took a Greyhound to Utica and Dave picked me up. I've never been to the bar before or since, but it was a pretty standard type of wood-panelled bar with a lot of 4'x4' tables in front of the stage and standing area around the perimeter of the room. The band was just like the title of their later live album: Loud 'n' Plowed . Jerry Rainey and Buddy Blue were somewhat memorable, but it's hard to compete for brain-space when you've got a guy in the band like the late, legendary Country Dick Montana. Montana, the big guy dressed in a duster and cowboy hat behind the drum kit, punctuated his percussion with frequent shouts of "Hah!" He came out from behind the drums to ta...