The Nighthawks w/ Rev. Billy C. Wirtz at Dogtown

The Nighthawks w/ Rev Billy C Wirtz – Sat Dec 15 – 8:30 pm
The Nighthawks was an idea in Mark Wenner’s brain long before he was able to implement it. The musical product of pre-1958 radio in Washington, D.C., he did not know there were rules against mixing blues, R&B, honky-tonk country, doo-wop, gospel and rockabilly into one delicious stew. When Mark Stutso (drums, vocals), master of the deep groove, joined The Nighthawks at the beginning of 2010, the 21st-century version of the legendary American roots band was complete. With Paul Bell (guitar) and Johnny Castle (vocals, bass) in the band for nearly a decade, and founding father Mark Wenner (vocals, harmonica) the remaining original, this team outshines all previous incarnations. These boys tear it up! Catch them at their best when they add legendary boogie woogie keyboardist and generally amusing personality Reverend Billy C Wirtz to their lineup on stage. Reverend Billy C. Wirtz is a legendary comic genius, gifted pianist and American musicologist who defies easy classification. “I like to think of myself as the Victor Borge of the blues,” states the Reverend, but Billy goes way beyond Borge both in scope of subject matter (from politics to social commentary) and, of course, in taste. In fact, no theme is too extreme, taboo, or undignified for the Reverend, so long as it garners a good laugh.