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R.I.P. Sydney Willis Anderson AKA “Sunny” & “Syd the Kid”

February 9, 2024 in All Things Must Pass, Gone But Not Forgotten, Local Heroes by Stan | No comments

For many of us, Sunny was the stuff of legend. Equal parts mysterious and mercurial, Sunny spun a web of stories that sometimes defied credulity. As Jim “Del Rivers” Buhlman once noted, “(Sunny) had many stories…In fact, I think he moved out of Rochester because he was an informant against the Mafia or other criminals.” However, former WITR Deejay Mick Alber, posted the following condolence: “I will never forget Sunny’s kindness and his talent for cool music. He truly was a gentle soul and will be missed.”

In reality, Sunny was equally both… sure, he cut an imposing figure and could be intimidating. You couldn’t be a bouncer at Scorgies if you didn’t convey some sort of menace. But Sunny had a very different side to him, and with his musical talent, he became a part of the local Rochester garage scene.

He recorded in a variety of styles but hewed closest to the sounds of his Sun Records heroes, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Always true to his passions, his work can be compared to today’s rockabilly and psychobilly artists.

If you were lucky you could catch Sunny opening for Personal Effects or playing in the Record Archive back room at the old Mt. Hope location. One of these days Russ Lunn will digitize that footage. When that happens I’ll make sure he shares it.

Click here to listed to Sunny performing “Do You Like It?”.

In the meantime, here’s Sunny’s obit.

ANDERSON: SYDNEY WILLIS JR. “SUNNY”

Peacefully at the Hamilton General Hospital on Sunday November 30, 2014 at the age of 57 with his fiancee Joan and his brother Wray and Kaela by his side. Son of Jessie (Maracle) Jamieson and the late Sidney Anderson Sr. Predeceased by his sisters, Amelia and Alva; brother, Victor “Yogi” Bomberry; niece, Nikki Oronya Star Kick; uncle, Wallace “Mad Bear” Anderson, Also survived by nephews, Victor and Wayne; niece, Tiffany Bomberry and their mother Diane; Sandra and her family; the families of the late Grace and Robert Whitlow, Doris and George Henhawk, Frank and Hazel Maracle, Duane (Isabelle) Anderson and Harold (Dolores) John, Sylvia Wegerski, Laura Joseph, Florence Stevens and Violet Brayley, Diane Longboat (and family). and his many friends at the Dialysis Unit at the BGH and the Penmarvian Retirement Home and from everyone at iC SuperCOMPUTERS, especially, Eric, Callum and Scott. Also Paul Williams, Dr. John Deacon, John Baucom, Jon Burrows, Ryan Johnson (& Family). Resting at Styres Funeral Home, 1798 4th Line Road, Ohsweken on Wednesday 7-9 p.m. Funeral Service will be held Styres Funeral Home, Ohsweken on Thursday December 4, 2014 at 1 p.m. and conducted by Father Sunny Sebastian of St. Michael’s Catholic Church (close friend of Sunny and Wray) followed by the burial and Luncheon at Grand River United Cemetery, 1585 Mohawk Rd. at the corner of 4th Line Rd in Ohsweken.

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TAKES A LICKING, KEEPS ON TICKING

February 1, 2024 in Local Heroes, Your Stories by Stan | No comments

The rumors about the death of the Scorgies Blog are exactly that, rumors. Waay back when, I rescued the Scorgies blog from the pits of obscurity when the Bop Shop redid their website. Luckily, I had *just* backed up the site right before Tom’s webmaster sent the old site to the cornfield. Only problem was that, at the time, I didn’t own the scorgies.com domain. I did, however, own rockinrochester.com and so I ported the site over to that domain. Flash forward *many* years later and Jimmy Filingeri had launched Rockin’ Rochester Productions and I, being a loyal supporter of all things Rockin’ in Rochester, felt that rockinrochester.com should belong to his dealio…
That said, reuniting the Scorgies Blog with the scorgies.com domain was not easy. I’ve got over a 100 articles to sift through, fixing broken links and updating context in some. We’ve lost a few soldiers along the way, and some of us are worst for wear but hey, we are all rock’n’roll survivors.
So keep on keepin’ on, folks. If you need to take a break from social media, peruse the pages. Should you have any artifacts to share, pass them on to our crack team of editors and help us continue to tell the story of the Rochester Music Scene!

All of the content in the Scorgies Blog is user-submitted. If you aren’t seeing what you want to see, that means that someone hasn’t shared it with us.

In the meantime, here’s video of the late “Sunny” Boy Willis (AKA Syd the Kid, real name Sydney Willis Anderson Jr.), Scorgie’s non-Samoan Indigenous American bouncer and musician, seen here opening for Personal Effects:

RIP Bobby B of the Resistors

October 20, 2017 in Local Heroes by Stan | 1 comment

Always controversial, the Resistors were a band unto themselves. With songs like “Bend Over, I Think I Know You” the Resistors certainly let you know where they were coming from. And now, it is time to say goodbye to their erstwhile bass player, Robert “Bobby” Berretone. If you hadn’t see Bobby out much since the band broke up in the early 90’s, that might be because he was confined to a wheelchair. I would often find him at soccer games, cheering his children on the playing field. Here’s the obituary, from the D&C:

Berrettone, Robert “Bobby B”

East Rochester: October 16, 2017. Survived by his children, Elisa and Abby, and nephews Michael, Collin, Devon, his niece Lily, several cousins, his longtime friend Craig Stewart and his very best friend, Sandy Stewart. A father, an uncle, a college professor, a businessman, a coach and a musician.

Graduated from East Rochester High School and the University of Rochester and then went on and did his graduate work at The William E. Simon Graduate School of Management, at the University of Rochester. In 1972 he founded Scarber Mailers with Michael Scarpino. In 1977 the firm evolved into Icon Direct, at which time it employed more than forty people. He operated the firm until 2002. He developed marketing campaigns for Xerox, Chase, City Bank, Kodak, the U of R and many other firms. He coached CYO basketball for ten years and played in a rock band form 1980-1990. He then recorded two successful CD’s. But his greatest accomplishment and joy was his two daughters-the light of his life.

He loved to see you smile….he wanted to make you laugh. Friends and family are invited to a mass at St. Jerome’s Church, 207 Garfield St, East Rochester on Saturday, October 21st at 9:30AM. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to support research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (nationalmssociety.org)

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RIP Bob Janneck

November 19, 2016 in Local Heroes by Stan | 1 comment

[Show thumbnails]

Rochester has lost another true original.. Bob Janneck passed away Nov. 17th, 2016. Bob was a key player in several bands and projects… the Insiders, Riviera Playboys, Hotheads, Luther & the B.B.B.’s, the Pawns, the Hidden Charms, The Imaginary Band, Ray Paul, Brian Lindsay & the Bootleggers to name but a few he was involved in. Bob worked for many years at Ashly Audio and then Whirlwind.

Bob Janneck was rock n'roll personified and one of the nicest guys you could ever know. RIP, Bob... Click To Tweet

 

Luke Warm…fill me in

March 31, 2009 in All Things Must Pass, Local Heroes by markyme | 3 comments

I saw the Rochester music review in a recent issue of the City newspaper. It brought back many fond and painful memories and lessons of Rochester music legacy and lore. I was looking for somebody to fill me in on Luke Warm.

I remember him as a delightful character on the scene (during my original duration in it). I was in the Commercials and we played Scorgie’s, usually as an opening act, from 1982 until about 1984 or so. Obviously, I encountered Luke on every occasion. I gotta hand it to this guy. If he was in a band or had any musical ability – HE NEVER TALKED ABOUT IT IN FRONT OF ME – he never said “come check out my band” or anything of the sort. When I read the review on his musical efforts I was really shocked! Maybe I’m stupid, but I was NOT out of the loop in the old days at Scorgie’s…I was there almost every week for about two years straight. How did I miss him? Nobody spoke up, especially not Luke.

The really sad part is, not only was I denied a chance to hear him do his musical bit, but also the other guys in the bands I opened for (especially the members of the group Passenger), just sort of wrote him off as the club’s resident idiot/lush/foolish jester behind his back. So, being very young at the time, just wrote Luke off as a “happy drunk.” I scared him once by acting like he was interfering on my date with the young lady I  was with. The girl and I were there as “friends-only” (as she was probably under-age at the time), but I did kind of a “hey man, step off” gag, and he vanished in the crowd, tail between his legs.  Now, back then,  I could probably beat my way out of a paper bag…if it was wet. Anyway, a couple of the guys from the Clichés or something got a big laugh out of it.

So, I knew that he was very ill by the late 1980’s (when all us new wavers were hard up for gigs and had to settle on playing Schatzee’s) and I learned that he passed away several years ago when it happened. Tragic thing. It made me think real hard and thank God I’m still here. Thanks for bringing the info home to me.

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