By CAROLYN BROWN
Staff Writer
It’s been 40 years since the band NRBQ played at Sunderland’s The Rusty Nail on New Year’s Eve, but a devoted fan and friend of the band kept the night alive with his concert footage. Later this month, the Academy of Music will screen that footage, showcasing the energy of a beloved band at a former local venue with national connections.
A press photo of NRBQ from 1986, featuring, from left, Al Anderson, Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato and Tom Ardolino, the lineup that appears in the concert movie, “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ’84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns.” The movie will screen at the Academy of Music on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. COURTESY DAVID SOKOL
The Academy of Music will host a screening of the movie “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ‘84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns” on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. The event will also feature a showing of a short film with never-before-seen footage of the band through the years, plus a short talk by local music journalists David Sokol and Johnny Memphis.
The Rusty Nail was a performance venue set amid the tobacco fields of Sunderland that drew big-time acts, despite its location. Artists who played there included James Brown, B.B. King, Tom Waits, Joan Jett, The Ramones, Billy Idol and George Carlin, among innumerable other national (and local) names.
“It brought artists into western Mass.,” said Sokol. “You could see people there that you just wouldn’t see elsewhere [in the area].”
A still from “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ’84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns,” which will screen at the Academy of Music on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. The Rusty Nail was a performance venue set amid the tobacco fields of Sunderland that drew big-time acts, despite its location. The venue burned down in July 1985. COURTESY BAYLEE BADAWY
But the Rusty Nail (known to fans as “the Nail”) no longer exists — it burned down in July 1985. In 2012, the Academy of Music hosted a concert featuring Rusty Nail regulars, “Rusty Nail Revisited,” to commemorate it. Fans today share memories of the venue in a Facebook group.
The band NRBQ (known to fans as “Q”), whose name stands for “New Rhythm and Blues Quartet,” doesn’t attach itself to one genre; a 1984 New York Times concert review said the group “romped through a dozen different musical idioms, freely crossing the lines between rock, jazz, pop and country.”
The movie comes from concert footage shot by the late Gary “Fuzzy” Robertiello, a photographer and friend of the band, who gifted them his video. Pianist and vocalist Terry Adams later oversaw the addition of audio recorded from the soundboard that night, which created the version of the movie that the Academy will screen.
Adams said that he doesn’t have specific memories of the New Year’s Eve ’84 show — he’s played so many in his decades-long career that it’d be impossible to pinpoint one in particular — but he remembers the Nail fondly: “It was a great place to play every time.”
Even so, he said in an email, “This is a special event for sure. The band is still hot.”
A still from “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ’84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns,” which will screen at the Academy of Music on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. The movie comes from concert footage shot by the late Gary “Fuzzy” Robertiello, a photographer and friend of the band, who gifted them his video. COURTESY BAYLEE BADAWY
Johnny Memphis (aka John Reily), a musician, former Gazette writer and former WRSI DJ and music director, would agree: “They’re such a wild and crazy and wonderful band. You never knew what was gonna happen next. It could be wild and raucous; it could be sweet and tender and everything in between.”
Though the band has gone through several iterations, the lineup with the longest tenure, which will be featured in the concert movie, was “a little like the Beatles,” said Memphis: Adams and guitarist “Big Al” Anderson were “big personalities in the front,” like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, while bassist Joey Spampinato and drummer Tommy Ardolino were “quieter in the back,” like Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
A still from “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ‘84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns,” which will screen at the Academy of Music on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. The Rusty Nail was a performance venue set amid the tobacco fields of Sunderland that drew big-time acts, despite its location. The venue burned down in July 1985. COURTESY BAYLEE BADAWY
“They’re all incredible on their instruments, and there’s this incredible chemistry going on also,” he said. “They kept the ‘roll’ in ‘rock ‘n’ roll.’ ”
Sokol, a former Valley Advocate music editor, said NRBQ is his favorite American band: “The music they play is so diverse. It’s all over the place, it’s always exciting, it always feels really spontaneous.”
Both Sokol and Memphis said that the movie — essentially a one-take shot of the show — captures the energy of an NRBQ concert well. Even though the band “could just blow you away on any night,” Memphis said, the fact that it was New Year’s Eve added “that extra oomph” — which is especially notable given that the show itself started after midnight, and on a weeknight, no less.
As he filmed, Robertiello had some help from a friend, Jim Crisci, who made sure that no one got in the way of his filming. That, too, was notable — NRBQ shows at the Nail were always packed full, Sokol said, but “it didn’t matter, ‘cause they were always so great.”
A still from “Rusty Nail – New Year’s Eve ‘84 with NRBQ & The Whole Wheat Horns,” which will screen at the Academy of Music on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. The movie comes from concert footage shot by the late Gary “Fuzzy” Robertiello, a photographer and friend of the band, who gifted them his video. COURTESY BAYLEE BADAWY
As it happens, neither Sokol nor Memphis was able to attend that particular show in ’84, but they both hope that audiences take away the special energy of NRBQ in its prime. As Sokol said: “I hope they get transported to the magic that existed back then.”
Not including fees, tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.
