Ramblin' Ron Boone likes to tell a good story.

"The best gig I played was the Tundra Lodge in Tok, Alaska," he says. "It was an impromptu thing, and I ended up with a beer and 8 bucks."

In the best American folk tradition, the singer-songwriter from South Strabane also likes to tell stories in his songs. In fact, he's recorded a CD that's called, appropriately enough, "Song Stories."

On the disc, Ramblin' Ron addresses sociopolitical issues in compositions like "Needle for My Child," "Placebo Poppin' Junkie" and "Toast to Life and Love," the latter dedicated to the memory of Matthew Shepard, who "was tied to a wooden fence where he was beaten and left to die, because he was gay." Another remembrance is "Mariah's Garden," which he composed for the dedication of a memorial flower garden for a girl who was killed in an auto accident on the eve of her high school graduation.

He lightens up with "Old Man's Rap," which is pretty much what the title sounds like, and it's quite a hoot to boot.

Other songs draw inspiration from his travels, such as one titled after the state where he played the Tundra Lounge. He sent a recording of "Alaska" to the Alaska Wilderness League in Washington D.C., and that organization invited him to play it at a conference in the nation's capital. They even chauffered him down there.

Since the completion of "Song Stories" last year, he's recorded a new song "Orphan Train," about child laborers sent out West in the 19th century.

Ramblin' Ron is accompanied on his recordings by the local folk-rock group The Primatives (Jesse and Joy Hanson, with Jack Houston on bass). They add harmonies to his low-key, world-weary vocals that suit his subject matter very well.

Along with writing songs, Ron also has written "Alaska Sojourn," detailing his 2002 drive to "my last frontier." He writes that he traveled 11,818 miles; made 41 gasoline stops; visited 15 states, three Canadian provinces, seven national parks and eight provincial parks; took 189 photos and 10 rolls of slide film; and filled four videocassettes.

And he earned a beer and 8 bucks somewhere along the way.

PHOTO: Ramblin' Ron performs at the Main Street Farmers Market in Downtown Washington. If you get a chance, stop by the market, which takes place every Thursday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. through October, right across the street from this newspaper's office! (Thanks to our staff photographer Greg Tarr for taking Ron's picture.)

Their credo is "roots music for the people." And what exactly does that mean?

When it comes to definitions, members of Boss Diablo let the music do the talking. From what I've heard on a six-song demo they're circulating, the band does a great job of channeling the spirits of bluesmen and rockers from Jimmy Reed to Paul Butterfield to Johnny Winter, with an energy level that sounds like it has all the makings of a potent live show. And they show their leanings toward a '60s-type sound (never a bad thing) with a fairly faithful cover of the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place."

The performances are tight, despite the band being relatively new, as Boss Diablo just started playing gigs in June. But the band must be doing something right. A look at upcoming gigs shows them booked - wow! - every weekend through mid-December, it looks like.

The four members actually got together late last year and worked together considerably before playing live.

"We just took out time, collaborated and came up with a solid set of tunes we all like and could contribute to," said drummer Tom Hohn, who also has played with the Cynics, Pittsburgh's self-professed "garage rock kingpins," since the late '80s.

Looking at a list Tom sent me, Boss Diablo's repertoire looks like it's right up the alley for fans of rock 'n' roll's formative years and the artist that paved the way for it, as they cover blues greats such as Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf, along with '60s-era acts like the Velvet Underground, the Sonics and Ten Years After. Plus, they dip into the country bag a bit, covering the likes of Hanks Sr. & Jr., Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard.

And they do Sleepy John Estes' "Leavin' Trunk," with a smokin' blues riff by way of Taj Mahal, the Keef Hartley Band and, just recently, the Black Keys.

Boss Diablo is working on a number of originals as well, with hopes of putting together a full-fledged CD by early next year.

Along with Tom, Boss Diablo is Chuck Beatty on guitar and vocals, Brian "Too Sweet" Washington on bass and vocals, and Stanley "J" Mikolajek blowing a mean harp.

If you'd like to check 'em out, "We're playing all over the area, everywhere from Butler to East Brady to Washington," Tom reports. The band is at the Baltimore House on Curry Hollow Road in Pleasant Hills on Friday night. Around Washington, they're scheduled for Auggie's Roadhouse on Sept. 9 and again Oct. 21 and Dec. 2; Otto's Pub in Canonsburg on Sept. 24; and at the Holiday Inn - Meadow Lands on Nov. 18.

They heard about the question: What's the deal with a swing band playing in the Graffiti Rock Challenge?

But members of the Neon Swing X-perience rose to the challenge, so to speak, by advancing to the finals of the multi-week extravaganza.

"We basically showed everyone who was like, 'I don't really know about this,'" says founding member Mike Urick. "We were hearing, 'Hey, man, that was cool. That was awesome!'"

As its name implies, the Neon Swing X-perience has a decided slant toward the Big Band sound of yesteryear, one that had a renaissance recently with the likes of the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies.

Did I say recently? That actually was all the way back in '98, when Mike was a student at Greensburg Central Catholic High School and was talking with a classmate about putting together an act for a talent show.

"I said, 'You play trombone and I play trumpet. What can we do?'"

The answer was a Blues Brothers-style R&B revue, complete with the black suits. But rather than a one-shot deal, the musicians decided to keep playing together, and with swing music back in vogue for the time being, they figured they'd use a horn section to go that route.

Seven years later, Mike is the only one of that crew to have stuck with it the whole time. These days, he has a large contingent playing with him: Carly Litvik and Steve Tomkowitz on saxes, Carmen Marotta on piano, Wally Hunter on various horns, Joe "Wacky" Palaki on drums, Chris Stape on bunches of instruments, Ryan Kuntz on guitar.

NSX has a steady stream of gigs since the rock challenge, Mike reports.
"Graffiti kind of opened up a whole new crowd to us," he says. "We fit in well playing at rock shows. We also fit in well playing jazz shows."

The band varies its repertoire a bit according to the audience and venue, with more rock-oriented tunes for one and leaning toward the traditional route for the other. But one song everyone recognizes and responds to is the Glenn Miller standard "In the Mood."

"No matter where we're playing, we have to play that song," Mike says.

Along with gigging (and school for Mike, who's a full-time MBA student at Duquesne), NSX is working on recording its fifth CD, due for release in November. Mike is enthusiastic about how things are going, to say the least:

"It's going to be our best yet, no doubt about it."

A highlight is Carly's lead vocal debut on the standard "It Had to Be You." Other covers to be included are jazzy versions of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and Setzer's "Stray Cat Strut."

Among the originals is one called "Late for the Party," inspired by some suggestions around the rock challenge that the band missed the neo-swing thing by several years. Another is an updated version of Mike's "Big Bad Wolf."

"People just love that song, so we're redoing it for this CD," he says.
In the meantime, if you're interested in hearing NSX, its CD "No Turning Back" is available through the band's Web site.

(The photo is at the Hard Rock Cafe. I buried Mike's face behind a microphone, but that's him, along with Carly and Steve.)

This month marks both Jerry Garcia's birthday and the 10th anniversary of his death, so if you miss him, you might want to check out Fungus, which does a great job of summoning up the sounds of the Grateful Dead.

Fungus will be playing Saturday, Aug. 12, at Thirsty's in Oakland, a venue that has been a favorite of Deadheads dating back to the '80s, as far as I can remember.

Here's another shot of the band performing at the recent LumberJam (I took a ton of photos and may as well do something with them).

Friday night was a good time at the Hard Rock Cafe at Station Square. For $5 each, a nearly packed house saw a quality triple-header of bands who fared well in the Graffiti Rock Challenge.

Leading off was aBetter Yesterday, with singer Greg Meyer (photo #1) leading the band through an energetic mix of originals and covers, some of which date back to long before these guys were born. The band has a strong following, with numerous young ladies crowding the dance floor to rock along (#2).

The Inconsiderate Few (#3) followed for the band's first gig in a few months. The guys combined quality originals like "Carolina Motor Speedway" with some old favorites, with the highlight a cover of the relatively obscure Beatles tune "Hey Bulldog." (Matter of fact, I had just told a friend how much I enjoyed guitarist Don Mancuso's reading of the song when the Inconsiderate Few hit the first few chords. They must've read my mind.) Solid drumming as usual from Shane McGraw (#4), switching gears a bit from playing the previous weekend with his other band, Doodis.

Closing the evening was the headlining act, the Neon Swing X-perience, with a spirited horn section proving that swing will never die. Sax players Carly Litvik and Steve Tomkowitz (#5) help drive the sound that has helped keep the Pittsburgh area jivin' since 1998.