Toolshed Jack Acoustic Duo
Written by Gerry Ulicny
PA Music Scene
November 2009
The party scene at RJ and Friends in Shenandoah may look like a trendy little club, but it acts like a gathering of old friends who all like each other. That attitude shows up really well when acts like Toolshed Duo – Two parts of the band Toolshed Jack – play there.
The Duo plays WITH the audience as much as it plays FOR them. Requests are very welcome and helping out with the playing or singing is cool too. Frontman Steve-O, who says “we don’t use last names” (but we all know who he is!) and his buddy guitarist Joel-E made up the duo when I saw them mid-November and they were a riot. Steve-O decided he didn’t want to interview so I spoke with Joel-E, who talked about Steve-O anyway. ”He’s silly. Pure silly. I think that’s what I want to say,” Joel, who is usually this quiet, said. “Yeah. Nothing but silly.” He also added that between Toolshed Jack and the Duo, they are playing 45 or more nights a year in Schuylkill County alone. ”We don’t go out unless it’s to play,” he said. OK, a man of few words. But they were well chosen.
The silly ones could also have applied to “Emcee Nate Dog” who grabbed the mic and tried to rouse the crowd every time Steve-O let go of it. It worked too – there were always a dozen people at least dancing, in an area that should have held six. But that’s not the point really. It’s that the audience becomes part of the show. You don’t just go to see the Duo; you go to be with them.
And that’s why they were there: It’s all one at RJ’s; you’re all in there together. From what others told me, that’s a common thing at RJ’s. It’s part of where the “And Friends” in the name comes from. The other part of the “Friends” is that while the business is now owned by Joe and Jean Sherako, the original owner is still hanging about. Known in years past as “Boris” or “Boris’ Bar” the place was never actually named that. In fact, Boris Poppoff, who stopped by that night as he often does, says he originally named the place “The American Saloon,” but it just never took.
The bar looks somewhat the same as always, with updates, and keeps many of the same traditions as it did when it was Boris’. The addition of a large deck out back really adds to the place as well as makes a convenient smoking/gathering place in cooler weather. The menu has changed too over the years, but the tradition of letting the cook name the dish whatever he or she likes has not. “We always let the chef name the creation,” Poppoff said. That means that over the years, there have been burgers called everything from “The Shen-Penn” after a local stripping hole, to a lazy cook’s “Just a Burger” and they appear on the menu like that. Currently, creations such as “12:05 Fireballs” with “Tongue of Sriracha sauce” are on the menu. These little burgers were designed by Poppoff in honor a friend of a friend who learned the recipe in Vietnam. “We used to serve them at 12:05, and that was all you could get when the kitchen closed.” Poppoff said. “But they got so popular we had to put them on all the time.”Service is good and prices are great and even the bouncers are nice.
It’s so worth stopping by:
RJ & Friends
601 W Centre St.
Shenandoah (570) 462-9011
Information courtest TSJ:
Registration for the Santa Trot will be at 4:30pm at RJ’s on 12/12/09. The route will be as follows: 5:30-7 RJ’s; 7-8:45 the Lyric;
9-10:30 Who’s Place; 10:45-???? Thunder Road Grand Finale with ToolShed Jack. Partcipants are encouraged to wear their best
(or worst) Christmas gear and even dress up as Santas, elves, or scantily clad HOT Shendo girls who love TSJ and will dance on stage
provacatively even without encouragement or a Yuengling gift.
The cost (donation) of the Trot is $20.00. You will get an official Santa Trot Mug and a T-shirt. Word has it that to get the shirt
you may have needed to purchase your tickets by 11/28 (oops). This is for sure: the organizers make no money. ALL PROCEEDS benefit
the Shenandoah Tree Lighting Fund.
Any and all questions can be emailed to shensantatrot@live.com
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