Back for the 7th time! The photo is from 2001 where they put us on a special stage in the round, right in the middle of the main stage crowd. I’m stoked to see my friends in Canada this summer. It’s a biggie. The Ottawa Blues Fest welcomes 250,000 music fans over a period of ten days in July and I have two shows there on July 14. I will also make a stop at the local homeless shelter on the 13th. This and more in June and July. Here’s the Schedule. For details and ticket links sauceboss.com/tour
6/16/2023 Leesburg, VA – Macdowell’s Beach 6/18/2023 Franklin PA – Franklin Blues and BBQ Festival 6/21/2023 Sharon PA – The Keg 6/23/2023 Pittsburgh PA – Steamworks Creative 6/25/2023 Lorain OH – Beaver House 6/28/2023 Buffalo NY – Sportsmens Tavern 6/30/2023 Syracuse NY – 443 Social Club and Listening Room 7/8/2023 Durham NH – Private Event 7/9/2023 Tamworth NH – The Barn at Farmstand 7/13/2023 Ottawa Ontario – Ottawa Mission (private show for clients) 7/14/2023 Ottawa Ontario – Ottawa Blues Festival 7/27/2023 St Augustine, FL – Plaza de la Constitucion
Live at the BBC! Check out our latest on Youtube. February 11th was our last gig at the Bradfordville Blues Club a few weeks before the iconic club closed its doors. I brought Extra Sauce, (Brett Crook and Neal Goree) and we got pretty wild, evidenced by this video shot by Ian Weir, and edited by Mary Wharton. The audio was recorded by Walter Potter and mixed by Doug Oade.
Sounds highfalutin, uptown, top shelf, out of reach, $$$$, and downright French! Au contraire, mon ami. Yes it’s French; no, it’s not unattainable. This 30 minute, easy and fun recipe is hearty and healthy…and different than the normal pescatarian bill of fare. Instead of fat from frying, or piquant from hot peppers it offers flavors from fresh herbs seeping into the fish.
Parchment paper Filet of fish Asparagus Zucchini Carrot cut into ribbons Green onions Tomato slices Lemon slices Salt Pepper Rosemary Marjoram Savory Thyme
Preheat oven to 400 degrees If you don’t have fresh herbs, you can use the dried Herbes de Provence mix . I used asparagus, purple carrot ribbons, zucchini, green onions, and yellow tomatoes in layers on a sheet of parchment.
Place the fish on top, spray with olive oil, and shake some salt and pepper. Add sprigs of the fresh herbs, pressing them into the fish.
Place lemon slices on top.
Seal the parchment paper, crimping the paper all around the salmon.
Cook for 15 minutes, or when the thermometer says it’s done. Voila!
I feel Like I’m in a wakin, bakin, ain’t no fakin, makin some shakin, and stakin all my takins till my brains are breakin kind of mood. I’ve been busy writing and arranging tunes and we have begun putting together a new album. I can’t wait to share this new music with all y’all. I will be joined on this record by the Tallahassee funk cartel, Extra Sauce, so get ready for this melange of funky, funky, blues.
Extra Sauce Three of us are alumni of the seminal Florida blues label, Kingsnake Records. Philip Gonzalez (bass) and Brett Crook (drums) were the rhythm section of Big Shirley, one of Kingsnakes’ most successful bands, touring nonstop for years. I recorded five albums with Kingsnake Records, The fourth member of the group is Neal Goree. Neal was Tallahassee’s young prodigy guitar player, who first heard Bill Wharton when he was still in the womb. He has matured into the monster that he is today. So you take my music, backed with a “seasoned” rhythm section, topped off with a stellar guitar phenom, and you have The Sauce Boss With Extra Sauce.
So here they are. People have been hounding me for a while for Sauce Boss shirts, and we finally got around to gettin em printed. NOTE. The new shirts will have this art, but the shirts will be dark chocolate brown in color. The same color as the roux that I use to make the gumbo. Preorder one today, and you’ll have it around the end of November.
Splooge yer Turkey for something quirky. Make yer stockins rockin. There’s a chill in the air. That always makes me hongry. Inject that butterball with the power and the glory of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce – The hot sauce for the new millennium. The road to culinary nirvana.
Bill Wharton, AKA Sauce Boss, has brought his swamp-funk, slide guitar, and a pot of gumbo all across the US and to Canada, Europe, and Asia. He slathers his show with his hot sauce, and splooges a big old mess of it into the gumbo. He invites the audience to participate in stirring the pot, and at the end of the show, everyone eats. He has served hundreds of thousands of bowls for free at his legendary live shows. Bill Wharton mixes media like cornbread in his performance. Hot sauce, blues, chicken, funk, onions and okra, peppers and gospel, soul and seafood and slide guitar, all go into the gumbo pot that we call community. All of this is the reason they call him The Sauce Boss. Bon Appetit!
Jimmy Buffett sings about him in “I Will Play for Gumbo”. Wharton’s anthem, “Let the Big Dog Eat” was included on Buffett’s “Late Night Menu at the Margaritaville Cafe” album. Albert Castiglia released his cover of the tune, and it hit #1 on blues charts. Let the Big Dog Eat has also appeared in the movies “Something Wild”(Jonathon Demme), and the Rock Doc, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” This tune and sixteen other works in the documentary earned Wharton “‘Best Original Score” from the Los Angeles Film Awards.
This summer I’ll be up north. Why don’t y’all come with me? Follow my Quixotic journey to feed the masses (body and soul) with uplifting blues, great gumbo, and the “Best hot sauce on the planet!” Starting July 4th, I will be posting daily on TikTok. saucebossx is my TikTok handle. In keeping with the whole TikTok melee, I will be posting music, food, wildness, wardrobe malfunctions, alternative realities, and oddities that I find along the way. Follow me! Reserve a front row seat at the debacle known as the Sauce Boss Traveling Gumbo Show.
Charleston, Pittsburgh, Sharon PA, Buffalo, Johnson City NY, Marion OH, Detroit, Lexington, Wilmington NC, Stafford VA, Fredricksburg VA, Kennebunk ME. Sometime in August, I will make a surprise appearance at a very special event in New England. I’m looking forward to gettin back to this gig. Beyond the valley of the baddest of the bad. I am soooo happy to be out and about once more. Alert the troops! See ya down the road. Here’s the skinny.
But before I head north…this Friday, June 24th, I’ll be bringing Extra Sauce to the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, Florida. We will be slathering inside for this one. That’s the only way I can describe this band. Brett Crook and Butch Gonzalez have played together, off and on for decades, and Neal Goree just lays it on top. Slathered! We will be cookin in various ways, mixin media like cornbread. Bring yer funkiest dancin shoes and yer appetite too. TICKETS.
Many thanks came from the folks at The Community for Creative Non-Violence in Washington DC. Three blocks from the Mall. They now serve 2500 clients every day.
Planet Gumbo is back on the road! Since discovering Planet Gumbo, I have played well over 100 shows at homeless shelters and soup kitchens all over the USA. (And a few in Canada). It’s my volunteer work that I do, to share my gifts with those without. I do not receive a salary for this, but I consider it some of my most important work. In this photo, we are standing in front of a pile of blankets. That day, in 2003, I served gumbo to 200 people. During the pandemic it was impossible for me to do Planet Gumbo gigs. But now, I am super psyched to play shelters this summer in Charleston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Lexington KY, NYC, Wilmington NC, and Fredericksburg VA, along with my regular paying gigs on this tour. The 501c3 Non-profit Planet Gumbo is entirely supported by individual donations. If you would like to contribute click here.
After all the quarantine. After all the hermitizing, sittin around, watching movies, reading, organizing your button collection, rethinkin, re-upin, re-doin and realizing; it’s time to MOVE! I am sooo ready to be back at it, I can taste the gumbo. Oh, to smell diesel fuel again. I am so lucky to have been so productive over the last couple years, but I have terribly missed all my friends out there. It’s time to move. So, we are all crawling out from under each of our little rocks to survey the damage and celebrate with the survivors. It’s a new world, with new challenges and new rewards. It’s time to move. So let us all get up offa that thing and GO! Here’s where I’m going.
Steve Huntington
The Sauce Boss joins Steve Huntington on Sirius XM Radio on Demand Tune in to catch Bill and Steveshoot the breeze and share lots of music that’s related to the exploits of the Guru of Gumbo. “The Steve Huntington Show” is on SiriusXM On Demand. To get it, you have to have a subscription and also download the SiriusXM App on your phone or device. On the App, you just hit search & type in “Steve Huntington” and you’ll see the four current shows come up. My show is available for three more weeks, and you can listen to it anytime, as many times as you like. Steve’s interview runs about an hour and a quarter with music from Bill Wharton, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Jimmy Reed, and Jimmy Buffett.
Word of [South], a festival of literature and music, is a unique blend of writers and musicians and an exploration of the relationship between the two disciplines. This year Jamey Johnson headlines and other musicians include Ricky Lee Jones, Rita Coolidge, and tons of others…me too. There are scads of best selling authors who will be reading and splaining their work. There is also a crossover where some of the musicians will play and talk about their books as well. I will join my daughter, Mary Wharton, and critic Steve Dollar for a “Making of” moment, in an exposé of our collaboration on her film, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” There will be music, film, stories and lots of family. Annie is even flying in from LA. And…we will be splaining.
Xtra Sauce will be slathered all over the tunes when I open for Dumpstaphunk Feb.26 at 3 PM in the Railroad Square Art District. Free and open to the public. Gonna be a throw-down.
The hot sauce for the new millennium
That’s right! Straight out of Florida, Liquid Summer Hot Sauce will CHANGE your life. It changed my life, and it will change your life too. It will open your eyes to a new cuisine, liven up yer oyster, put some zip in yer trip, and you will feel it all over your body. Order it right here, right NOW!!!
Time to move…
Here’s a panorama of the goings on at Swampside Studio. I have begun work on a new album and I can’t believe how good this room sounds. The high ceiling makes plenty of space for those long waves to stretch out. It’s nice to have all the time I need, to get it right. , it’s time to move.
Capellini Salad With Almond Dressing Here’s a twist on a classic Thai dish. I’ve substituted almond butter for the peanut butter in the sauce and capellini for the rice noodles. Quick and easy. Great leftovers.
Half a package of Capellini 6 cups of julienned cabbage, carrots, , daikon radish, and sweet peppers (I used Caribbean golden sweet peppers) 6 green onions chopped 10 green beans chopped 2 baby bok choi sliced thin 1 bunch of cilantro 2 Tablespoons Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (more please) 1 cup roasted peanuts
For the sauce… 5 thin slices of ginger cut cross grain 4 large cloves of garlic 3/4 cup of almond butter with a little of the oil 3/4 cup orange juice 3 Tablespoons lime juice 1/2 teaspoon salt (I left out the salt)
Cook the capellini. Drain the hot water and cool it off with cold water Blend all the almond sauce ingredients Toss the veggies Add the cold noodles and toss once more Pour the almond sauce over the top and toss one more time Garnish with orange wedges
Here’s a final word of thanks to all y’all who have given me the time of day, applauded my mischief, laughed at my jokes, goaded me on, and given me hope on my Quixotic journey, a mission to communicate love through music and community. You have given this fool a reason to live. Keep Cookin, BW
See y’all at the Meeting of the Minds 2021! I’m playing at the Casa Marina on Thursday, November 4, at 3 pm. This one will be rockin! I’m looking forward to hangin in key west, bumpin into old friends, and doing some free diving, and fishing, and soakin up sun before the winter comes.
Here’s my schedule Nov. 4 Key West – MOTM Casa Marina 3 pm Nov 14 Brooksville, FL – Olive Grove Nov 20 Noontime Palm Coast FL – Florida Agricultural Museum Fall Festival Fiery Chili Challenge Nov 20 7 PM Tallahassee, FL Cascades Park Ampitheatre with extra special active Ingredients, playing before showing of “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President” movie Dec 6 Daytona Beach FL – Kids Rock the Nation benefit at The Bank and Blues, with Kenny Neal
Swampside Studio
Super stoked to begin puttin some stuff down. This 16 foot peak gives me plenty of space to stretch out. Swampside Studio is officially up and running. Stay tuned…
Mary Wharton’s rockdoc premiered at #7 nationwide! ICYMI, it will begin streaming on her birthday, November 11, 2021. I actually contributed some drum tracks for the Petty film, so “actually”…I’m proud to be a monstrously tiny part of this film. Here’s a link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sU9Evua9I
Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Time to stock up for the holidaze. Liquid summer will turn any meal around. The hot sauce for the new millennium, the road to culinary Nirvana, Liquid Summer will CHANGE you life. It changed mine and it will change yours. Get yours right here!
Sashimi Avocado with Orange Miso Dressing
2 Tbsp miso 1/4 cup orange juice 1 Tbsp Liquid Summer Hot Sauce Dash of sweetener (you can use honey or ripe persimmons or a fruit preserve to taste) Mix all ingredients and spoon it over avocado slices
I’m coming to Southwest Florida next week. Although I’ve been laying low, ’cause of Covid, I’m now venturing out for a few dates. I’ve been playin the “Delta Blues” and avoiding it like the plague that it is, but with the cases and deaths receding, and since I’ve been vaccinated and boosted, I feel pretty good about getting back into it. Friday Oct. 15th, I will be at the Blue Rooster in Sarasota, and Saturday Oct. 16th, I’ll be at the Camping With the Blues Festival in Brooksville. I’ve had some time to tweak my stuff, so come get your fill of my new sonic recipes and culinary blues.
Tom Petty’s rockdoc, “Somewhere You Feel Free”will be premiering at movie theatres worldwide for a special one day screening on his birthday, October 20. I actually helped out on the film with some drum tracks, and my daughter, Mary directed the film. (Spoiler…that’s how I got the gig). It headlined at SXSW and received the Audience Award for the screening. Having seen the film myself, I believe she has a good chance for her second Grammy. They used a treasure trove of 16 mm black and white footage, and in addition to being gorgeous, it’s the most candid and poignant rock and roll portrait I’ve ever seen. If you’re a Tom Petty fan, bring yer hanky, you will need it.
Tallahassee folks, mark your calendar. November 20th I will bring some friends and family to a concert and screening of “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President”, at the Cascades Park. In addition to all y’all, my friends include Neal Goree on guitar, Butch Gonzalez on bass, and Brett Crooks on drums. The movie was awarded four “Best Of”s from the Los Angeles Film Awards; Best Documentary Feature: Mary Wharton. Best Film: Mary Wharton. Best Editing: Mari Keiko Gonzalez. And Best Original Score: Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton! This will be a great reunion. It’s free of charge. Please join us.
This is how Liquid Summer tastes. Hot and spicy, like a beautiful day on Bahia Honda. Get it Here.
WOW! What a complement. “Rabid and walloping”. Thanks Living Blues Magazine!!!!
Bill Wharton, famously known as the Sauce Boss, is more than simply an astute advocate of the blues. He’s also a unique entertainer who not only serves his audiences up a unique musical blend, but also feeds them something more, namely the New Orleans-style gumbo that he stirs onstage while playing his gigs. It’s a novel idea, and fortunately it doesn’t detract from his main preoccupation, which is all about sharing some gut-wrenching blues, as driven by sizzling slide guitar and his astute, emotive vocals. It’s a signature sound that’s served him well throughout a career lasting more than 30 years while resulting in a loyal legion of fans in the process. That said, those who are unaware of the Sauce Boss’ charms would be well advised to pick up Peanuts, a retrospective of sorts that begins with one of his earliest signature songs, the rabid and walloping Let the Big Dog Eat, and progresses through several earlier offerings. Notably too, it also includes Wharton’s recent contributions to the documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President, an award-winning film that garnered Best Original Score honors for Wharton himself at the Los Angeles Film Awards. Given that Carter himself was famously fond of music and the artists responsible for making it, Sauce Boss’ down-home delivery found a fine fit with the former president. However, unlike the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, and the other artists who found his favor, Sauce Boss’ trademark style relies solely on vocals, gut bucket guitar, slide, dulcimer, and rubboard, without sacrificing any energy or exhilaration in the process. Evidence of that can be found everywhere here, from the surging solo strum of Zipper Bird and the frenzied wail of Outlaw Blues, to the tangled acoustic ramble that defines Shiners Blues, to the slow sprawl of Smile in Basket and the emotive ballad, Song of the Irish Band. All but four tracks are performed by Wharton alone, further indicating his ability to captivate a crowd all on his own. So too, when he draws on the slow blues of an ominous offering like Chicago Combat Zone, those darker designs impart a decidedly dire impression. While other artists may draw from a similar template, few leave as much of a lingering impression as the Sauce Boss. Wharton is, after all, a determined showman, and it’s a mark of his skill and ability that he excels on those realms so assuredly. This particular serving of Peanuts definitely packs a punch.
–Lee Zimmerman (Living Blues Magazine #273 July/August 2021 p 54-55)
Time to hit it one more time! After a half dozen dates to dust off the tunes, and get the body limbered up, I’m ready to go. SUPER excited to get back to it, and this working vacation that I call Life is fixin to hit a new high. Starting with a stop this week in Ormond Beach, then trek north to Maryland, NYC, New England, Buffalo, Sharon and Pittsburgh. Please spread the word to all your peeps in these places. Here’s more info.
I am soooo looking forward to bringing my new music to all y’all up north, but it’s a gonna be a bitter sweet journey for me. When we first started booking this trip, we had planned to make stops in Virginia, Houston, Austin, Sante Fe, Las Vegas, LA, Salt Lake City, Colorado, Arkansas, and Pensacola. Many of these stops were to be at homeless shelters. Then covid gave new meaning to playin the Delta Blues. The mutated variant strain has put a hurtin on our gigs in the hot spots across the South, in California, and the Midwest. I am sorry for the cancellations, but I do not want to take my germs into a shelter, and I do not want to pick anything up either. For that reason we have had to cancel our westward leg of this little run. However, these gigs can be rescheduled, and they will be, as soon as we can find it safe to do so. Watch this space, and keep your face in the place, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you all!
Director Mary Wharton and Sauce (as she calls me) Pre-show in West Palm Beach on Father’s Day 2021
Great hang at the beach with Mary. Here we are celebrating our recent collaborations. First, the award winning, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President”. The Los Angeles Film Awards gave the movie Best Film, Best Editing, Best Documentary, and Best Original Score (by yers truly). Working on this project was the honor of a lifetime, thanks to Mary, her Squad of badass documentarians, and President Jimmy Carter. Then on “Somewhere You Feel Free”, the Tom Petty Documentary that Mary directed, I supplied some drum tracks recorded at my new Swampside Studio. After headlining SXSW and receiving their “Audience Award,” this film is destined for greatness. I can not wait for y’all to see it. That old 16 millimeter footage is gorgeous, and the story is the most personal, candid presentation I’ve ever seen.
Monkfish a la Sauceboss Y’all
Poor man’s lobster! Half the price of tuna, and so succulent. Influences from all over the world are in this recipe. I started with a Malaysian curry kind of thing, and added okra (Africa/southern USA), and peppers, (Jalapeno and Guajillo from Mexico), and Chinese string eggplant.
Saute: 1 lg onion 1 inch fresh grated ginger (or more) 6 cloves garlic mashed and minced 1 jalapeno chopped 1 Guajillo chopped
Add: 1 can coconut milk 3 Tbs curry powder Bring to a boil
Add: Eggplant and okra until they are cooked
Add: fish for a few minutes
Voila! One pot, easy peazy!
Thanks Joe Bonamassa, Keeping the Blues Alive, and so many others!
Well…crawling out from under this rock that harbored me for over a year is an exhilarating feeling. I had a chance to recharge and write, and build, and garden, and chill like never before. I am so lucky to be where I am. Still alive. Still kickin it. Still loving what I do. I actually kept busy, but at my own pace, and like so many others I got a glimpse of what it could be. Having hard work and also the time to kick back and see the fruits of my labor has been so fulfilling. I have to give some thanks to all who helped me during this time without gigs. To the folks who watched the live streams. THANK YOU!!! To those who contributed to the virtual tip jar, THANK YOU!!! To those who bought my hot sauce, records, CDs, and books, THANK YOU!!! To the folks who, out of the blue, just sent me money, THANK YOU!!! To my partner and gumbo wrangler, Ruth Wharton, THANK YOU!!! To all y’all on social media who gave me encouragement when things looked dark, THANK YOU!!! And a special shout out to Joe Bonamassa and Keeping the Blues Alive for the check, THANK YOU!!!
I am stoked about seeing all y’all down that long and winding road.
This coming Saturday, May 8th, I will be playing/cookin for a Free Cajun Fest at the James Weldon Johnson Park in Downtown Jacksonville. Other music includes Let’s Ride Brass Band and Flow Tribe. It’s time to make the GUMBO!!!! Downbeat is at 4:30. 135 W. Monroe St. Jacksonville. VIP pods also available with drink tickets.
Saturday May 22: The Sauce Boss, along with Special Guests: The Frank Jones Band, and a Mega Gumbo Jam will be donating their performances to support their favorite local juke Joint, the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, which has been closed for a year due to the pandemic. This show will be on the new outdoor stage under the oaks, so plenty of room for everybody! Bring some chairs or a blanket to sit on. Beer, wine and sodas available at the bar, and Ms. Ernestine’s fried fish next to the bonfire. Gate opens at 6:00 pm Showtime is 7 pm. Advance Tickets at www.bradfordvilleblues.com/events-tickets/
Help me spread the word, and come on down. We are now working on our schedule. Within a few months, we should be seein ya down the road. To keep up with the comings and goings sauceboss.com/tour.
And if you haven’t picked up a your copy of “Peanuts” yet, head on down to the Sauce Boss Store
Sunday, August, 16, I’m doin the tunes for the times that we live in.
Tune in @ 8 pm EDT on FACEBOOK LIVE
Cookin With the Sauce Boss is a series of tunes for the times we’re in right now. And I have something on the stove for your down home dinner plans. Join me swampside for tunes, new and used, and a belly full of…well you know.
Killer Tone
Here’s the song recorded Live at the Green Parrot in Key West with a schmokin band: John Hart, guitar, Jassen Wilber on bass, and the one and only, Justin Headley playing the drums. This tune and a whole lot more coming at cha next Sunday!
Welcome to Swampside
Swampside is really a magical place, mentioned in my memoir.
(For the whole story, get “The Life and Times of Blind Boy Billy” on Amazon HERE)
Istanbul, Turkey
Swampside is now my new record company and studio. It’s a work in progress, but it’s coming along. It’s a studio and workspace to improve my quality of life. I sold a couple of guitars and an old amplifier. Then our kids found out about it and they kicked in also. Thanks to Annie Wharton and Mary Wharton for the $$$$$, and Floyd Wharton for your time and expertise. I am truly one lucky dude to have such a generous family.
I am currently working on an album featuring the tunes which were included in Mary’s movie, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” There were 17 pieces of my music that were used in the film and this has garnered me the “Original Score” credit. The theatrical release for the film is in September, and it will also be aired in January on CNN. My new album will feature classic Sauce Boss tunes and also unreleased material that I wrote for the soundtrack of the film. I’m hoping for a January release date for this as well.
As an aside, keep yer eye on Mary Wharton. Some crazy goodstuff is happening for her in 2021. I am so excited for us all. Stay tuned.
Insanely Healthy Stewed Okra and Tomatoes
Got tomatoes? Got okra? Fresh from the garden is a completely different animal.
Sliced okra
Chopped tomatoes
4 cloves minced garlic
1 medium onion chopped
1 Banana pepper chopped
3 Tbsp Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Vegetable broth
Saute onions, garlic and pepper in vegetable broth
Add okra, tomatoes and Liquid Summer, stir, and cook until the okra works it’s magic thickening the whole mess
Let it sit for a minute to cool down and further thicken the broth
That’s what I’m talkin bout Get yours HERE!
And please subscribe to my YouTube Channel
I am truly heartbroken about what has happened due to the mishandling of the coronavirus. There are places in the world where there are zero cases because they took care of business. In New Zealand they are having soccer games now with 50,000 in attendance. They are completely covid free. And we, on the other hand…
Take a minute and check out this video that Mary and I made, and please share it with your friends.
Keep Cookin, be well, keep smiling, and bless all your hearts,
Me and Mary are smiling. (There’s a lot going on this week)
My new music, “Smile in a Basket”, is a message of compassion. We worked with Grammy Award winning producer, Mary Wharton, who was produced and directed by me and Ruthie Wharton. I contributed this tune and 16 others to Mary’s upcoming documentary, “Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President”, garnering musical score credit. The movie is about to hit the film fest circuit and has found some verrrrry prestigious places to land. It’s an amazing film, actually a rockumentary, with interviews and performances from a who’s who of the musical landscape.
I think you’ll really dig this video of “Smile in a Basket”. We will have a live premiere on my YouTube channel on Thursday, June 11, at 8 pm. Subscribe here and we’ll send out a reminder 30 minutes before it airs, so we can all watch it together. The video is dedicated to all the health care and essential workers who have shouldered the load for the rest of us. Share it with your friends.
Big thanks to all who joined me:
Produced, directed, and edited by Mary Wharton
Camera/producer: Ruthie and Bill Wharton
Words, Music, Vocal and Guitar by Bill Wharton
String arrangement by David Davidson
Violin: David Davidson
Viola: Kristin Wilkinson
Bass: Byron House Photos/movie clips: Mary Wharton, Kelly Durrant, Jennifer Garrett, Danny and Kelly Goddard, Bill Wharton, Damon Fowler, Naeam Wilkerson
The response to my Facebook Live concerts has been really great. Thanks to all who watched and contributed. This is REALLY helping me stay afloat during these _________________(you pick a word) times. Please join me on June 14 for a special edition of Sauce Boss Live on my Sauce Boss Facebook page. Come on down at 7:45 PM. Concert starts at 8:00 pm. I’ll be singing my new tune and makin gumbo.
Fasolakia(Greek Style Beans)
These are good times to concentrate on your health. I have been feeling better now that I’m cooking so much. Here’s a couple of recipes that I just made, to get my vegetables.
Made with beans and tomatoes, fresh picked. Onions, potatoes, garlic, lemon and dill. Saute onions and garlic. Add tomatoes, a little Liquid Summer hot sauce, and cook em down just a little, then add broth, potatoes, beans. Cover and cook on low. Add lemon juice and fresh dill. This is the real healthy version. I saute the onion and garlic in broth.If you want a little more grease, use olive oil for the saute, then splash a little more when you add the juice and dill.
Bim Bim Bap a la Peckerwood
So I had these leftovers. Asparagus, collards, and the beans. Scraped together a salad of lettuce, onions and cukes; grated carrots and threw some mung sprouts in there, added a quank of bread-and-butter squash pickles, put the cold veggies on hot steaming brown rice, and I had the beginnings of a great meal. You know what they say, “It’s all in the sauce.” Gochujang sauce. The red sauce in Korean food. I use the Korean pepper, but you can substitute cayenne and paprika for this recipe.
2 Tbsp light miso
1 Tbsp ground red pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
4 cloves minced garlic
Water to thin it out
Eat up with flavor, it makes the leftovers jump and shout! This sauce livens up a lot of dishes. Let some little cubes of cucumber or steamed brussel sprouts sit in some of this stuff overnight. Yummm!
Sauce Boss merch and memorabilia, (some great old festival shirts. If you’d like anything autographed, just let us know ). Also vintage personal items, clothing and whatnot for your browsing pleasure. We’ve been selling a bunch of Ruthie’s childhood board games. So if you’re “board”…just sayin, stop in and check it out.
Tips:
Who woulda thought that I would have to spend most of this year at home? I really appreciate all y’all’s generosity! I look forward to seeing y’all again on the road, and sharing my gumbo with you. Here’s a link to my “Tip Jar” page.
Mark your calendar. Next Sunday I will be live once more. I had such a good time virtually hangin wid all y’all, I’m on have to do it again. This one will be a hoot. I’ll bring out my old ’33 National steel guitar, and git all gut bucket on ya. I’ll cook a little somethin up in the kitchen. Plus that bluesy version of the Beatles tune is smokin. So as Lennon said…”Spread the Word!” Please share this with your friends. “Come on in my Kitchen” and join us on Facebook LIVE at 8 pm on May 3rd.
Sauce Boss Video in the works
My daughter, Mary Wharton has just finished a movie project which I am extremely proud to be part of. I have contributed a bunch of my music for the Original Score. The name of the movie…”Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” Mary is one of the Producers and the Director. The movie has interviews with, and performances by The Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Muddy Waters, Garth Brooks, Dizzy Gillespie, Marshall Tucker, and Charlie Daniels, to name a few. After hanging in the thick of the New York rock video scene for the last few decades, Grammy winning Mary has honed her chops enough to make this flick JUMP! The movie is a rockumentary about how the above mentioned musicians rallied behind the South Georgia peanut farmer, lighting his path to the White House. The attention these musicians gave to Jimmy Carter as being “one of us”, gave the whole country another choice after the corruption of the Nixon years. The movie follows Jimmy through his presidency, and all the way to today as he builds houses for the poor, and promotes peace and equality all over the world. His unshakeable faith shines through the whole story. The movie was scheduled to premiere April 15 in New York City at the Beacon Theatre, kicking off the Tribeca Film Festival. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to attend. Willie Nelson was to play after the screening. Jimmy Buffett was planning to attend. Possibly the Obamas. Paul Shaffer was the house band. And then… well you know. Tribeca has been postponed. Here’s a link to the press release.
The good news is that an international release has been negotiated. In the meantime, I am working on a video of one of my tunes from the movie. So far I am pleased with the shoot. Mary is helping with the video production. Check out her website. (marywharton.tv). I am looking for photos of smiling faces. Would you be interested in submitting something to be part of this project? The tune is about smiling through adversity, and being kind to one another. A hi-res head shot with yer smiling mug, or even a 3 or 4 second video might work. If you are interested, upload a high res photo or video clip to: https://www.dropbox.com/request/oaxuDdrPFmyHs2f2teim
Endeavors
When this pandemic began taking over the world, I thought I’d be bored out of my mind, but nothing could be further than the truth. I’m busier than ever, doin stuff. Sure, I miss seein y’all, and bumpin up against everybody, hangin in a crowd, and being social, but the time and space to just live life and do whatever I want has been liberating. A month before all this cray-cray descended upon us, I had the uncontrollable urge to do a project I’d been thinking about for a long time. I made a cyprus and cedar base for an outdoor sink and we put in some more water access for gardens around the house. Since that time I’ve been non-stop. I’ve had the time and mindful determination to improve my quality of life. We used this cast iron antique sink for years in our little cabin. It’s my all time favorite. Probably 100 years old. Now it serves as the vegetable washer and dirty hand cleaner so we don’t have to make a mess in the house. It’s so handy with all the washing of hands we have to do these days, and just washing my hands in this sink makes me happy.
New Beds
We doubled our garden area with three new beds and mounds for a big crop of Native American pumpkin. We now have the garden space to supply us with six kinds of peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggplant, okra, leeks, broccoli, sweet potatoes, celery, parsley, three kinds of basil, oregano, chervil, rosemary, fennel, thyme, summer savory, cilantro, lemon grass, ginger, turmeric, galangal, yellow squash and a kiwi vine. New trees include grapefruit, persimmon, paw-paw, mulberry, and a couple of cold hardy avocados to add to our orchard. BURRRRP!!!
Corn and Crawfish Chowder
Having the time for planning of meals has made our dinner table amazing. This bowl of corn and crawfish chowder was off the chain good. Almost didn’t make the photo. It was gone in no time. Thanks, Ruthie!
3 big green onions chopped, greens and all
1 cup of broth
4 potatoes chopped
1 can sweet corn
1 LB crawfish tails
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Saute onions
Add potatoes and cover with broth until done
Add crawfish and corn and milk, and cook on low until well heated
Add Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, salt, and ground black pepper to taste
Garnish with chopped parsley
New Steps
The old steps were riddled with carpenter bees and the woodpeckers came and made a wreck of them, pecking out their lunch. I just haven’t had time to do anything about it. Red and white oak. There’s always so much to do.
Screenshot From My Phone
On September 2, 2016, Hurricane Hermine passed right over us. Outside the house was a maelstrom of wind and rain. Soon after midnight I heard a rumbling of wind and a crunching sound as a big red oak tree was blown over, ripping the roots out of the ground. The crunching sound went on for a very long time as the tree slowly fell into neighboring trees striping limbs or completely flattening them on its way down, finally coming to rest in the arms of a couple of other trees.
Sometimes I’m the luckiest guy I know.
Here’s the view from upstairs in my office.
It was a mess.
So I cleaned all the dirt off the roots.
That was the fun part.
I cut off the roots.
The logs took a ride to the mill
And I made a fire
After drying the boards under tin for three years, my son Floyd planed the 2×14 inch boards, and I made this coffee table from my old friend. How many times did I stand next to you in the night, gazing into the trees or up at the heavens? Thanks for the company, the relief, and now a place to put my cup.
Sauce Boss LIVE Stream! Sunday service airing on Facebook LIVE on March 29 at 7:30 pm. I will be preachin the blues, singin my songs, tellin the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I may even do a little cookin for y’all. The saga of the Sauce Boss will be laid bare for all to see. The backstory of the tunes is a bit of a roller coaster. Some might say I have a checkered past. I prefer to think of it as an adventure. Gonna be some fun and I’m looking forward to sharing a little bit of my world with all y’all.
I’ve really enjoyed hangin at the house with absolutely no schedule to get in the way of living life. I’ve been busy doing… stuff, and writing, and workin in my garden. We had three of these beds and we just added three more, and now I actually have a few months to really make it happen. It’s been forty years since I was around enough to have a serious garden.
My first selfie…forty years ago. The good ol days.
Yes, we had a beautiful garden. Being connected to cannabis was a spiritual journey, which I’m happy to say just gets better. Read the story in my Book,
I will spill some of the beans on my live video on Sunday March 29. Stories, tunes, and talkin with the Sauce Boss.
Moonpie, one badass chick
My daughter, Mary Wharton has been working on a movie project which I am extremely proud to be part of. I have contributed seventeen pieces of my music for the Original Score, recording new music as well as remixing some Sauce Boss favorites. The name of the movie…”Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President.” Mary is the Producer and Director. The movie has stellar performances from The Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Muddy Waters, Garth Brooks, Dizzy Gillespie, Marshall Tucker, and Charlie Daniels, to name a few. The interviews include Bob Dylan fawning over President Carter. (When’s the last time you saw Dylan fawning over anything?!) It includes John Wayne wishing the President well. (huh?) Times have changed. After hanging in the thick of the New York rock video scene for the last few decades, Grammy winning Mary (we call her Moonpie) has honed her chops enough to make this flick JUMP! The movie is a rockumentary about how the above mentioned musicians rallied behind the South Georgia peanut farmer, lighting his path to the White House. The attention these musicians gave to Jimmy Carter as being “one of us”, gave the whole country another choice after the corruption of the Nixon years. The movie follows Jimmy through his presidency, and all the way to today as he builds houses for the poor and promotes peace and equality all over the world. His unshakeable faith shines through the whole story.
The movie was scheduled to premiere April 15 in New York City at the Beacon Theatre, kicking off the Tribeca Film Festival, but due to the Corona Virus, the festival has been postponed.
Here’s a link to the Tribeca Film Festival’s press release:
Independent musicians have taken big hits in the last few years. First Spotify and other streaming services have taken a significant bite out of our income. Here’s the proof:
There was a time when CD sales were a significant part of my income. That income is mostly gone. Now without live performances we are further impacted. I know that everyone is having to deal with financial uncertainty, but if you have a few bucks, please take a few that you would spend on going out, and think about buying artists’ works. For me it’s CDs, my book and my hot sauce. If you are set for sauce, but you’d like to help out, you can buy a gift certificate and use it later. Thank you for your support all these years.
Liquid Summer Ginger Tea Here’s a recipe to make you feel better.
1 inch of fresh ginger peeled and grated
Lemon
Honey Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
I teabag of Chamomile
Grated Turmeric (optional)
Whiskey (optional)
Datil Peppers
Like mellower habaneros with a creeper burn coming up slow from the bottom, giving you a few seconds to taste everything in the dish before the warmth swells like a symphony in your mouth.
February 29. 2020 (Before it hit)
I was staring down into this dark and very strong cup of Turkish tea, and musing upon the events leading up to this moment. The million miles I rode to the gigs, and the countless flights, the generosity of the folks that helped out along the way, the musicians that accompanied me, the good times, the bad times, and the love we all shared through this quixotic gumbo crusade. I have been so lucky to play my music and make my way to this place. Today was a special day for me. Not because I had a killer gig. Not because I’m still able to kick some musical butt. Not because I was able to send my message of sharing to a huge audience. Not because the response of the beautiful public was humbling and overwhelming, Not because of the respect I received for my songs, my performance, and for being who I am. All these things are so gratifying and important to me, and today was one of those charmed events where everything fell right into place without pushing anything. After a picture perfect day with a serious lick hit, and a spectacular Turkish dinner and dessert from heaven, after all this I realize what was truly special about today was the hugs. Hundreds of hugs. I realized that from the first hug that this might be the last time I hug this person. All the hugs were full, and I was too as I stared down into this dark and very strong cup of Turkish tea.
Northeast Run Details. Here ya go… Dec 4 Sportsmens Tavern, Buffalo NY Dec 5 120 Pub and Grub, Clearfield PA Dec 6, Moondogs, Pittsburgh PA Dec 7 Apollo Maennerchor, Sharon PA Dec 9 Maple City Bowl, Hornell NY Dec 10 Fanatics Pub, Lima NY Dec 12 Upper Deck Sports Bar, Mt. Airy MD . . . .and then a dash back to Tallahassee, FL Dec 14 Junction at Monroe 5th Anniversary Show with Revival
Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President I’m honored to be a part of this project. And I am super proud of my daughter Mary Wharton. For close to 30 years she has been in the thick of the music video scene in New York City. First with VH-1, she started as an associate producer working on 8 Track Flashback, then she worked on the Legends series. She wrote and directed the “Legends” show on Jimi Hendrix. When David Bowie did Legends, he said that Mary’s film was the best thing he’d ever seen about himself. She made herself indispensable and rose to the highest level of hands on producing. Could have gone further but was not into the smarmy executive culture, so she became a freelance producer, doing American Masters, Joan Baez.
From her bio: “Wharton’s work also includes the 2004 Grammy winner, “Sam Cooke: Legend” (VH1, PBS, BBC); the network television specials “Elvis Lives” (NBC, RTL, Channel 4 UK, 2002) and “The Beatles Revolution” (ABC, VH1, 2001); the platinum-selling concert film “Phish: IT” (PBS, 2004); and documentaries for the VH1 “Legends” series about U2, David Bowie, The Doors, Elton John, George Clinton and Jimi Hendrix. She served as a producer on the Grammy-winning documentary “Bruce Springsteen: Wings For Wheels, The Making of Born To Run” (Sony/BMG, 2005) and as an Executive Producer of “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Profile of Maurice Sendak,” directed by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze (HBO, 2009). Wharton has become entrenched in the world of pop music, producing episodes of the VH1 documentary series, “Behind The Music.” Her profiles of Enrique Iglesias (2011), Pitbull (2012) and Train (2012) were big hits in the twitterverse and pushed an immediate surge in sales of those artists’ music – once again proving the power of a good story.”
Fast forward to the present and we have the 2020 release of “Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President.” Executive Producer and Director: Mary Wharton. It’s a documentary of how the music community rallied around Carter, as he made appearances at benefit concerts featuring America’s top shelf artists who not only played, but also made everyone aware that he was “one of us”. The benefit $$$ they made on the weekend provided an ad budget for Monday morning. It worked! The movie follows Jimmy through his time in office and his work up to today as he tirelessly works to promote peace and equality throughout the world. His indomitable faith shines through the whole thing. The concert footage is a virtual who’s who of the greats. Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, Charlie Daniels, and U2, just to name a few. And I contributed 17 pieces of my music for the movie garnering original score credit. I’m truly humbled to be in such company, and a part of a really important work. When you see it, you will understand. As always, Mary’s timing is impeccable.
The $5 BBQ
E & J 5 Buck BBQ
1622 S Monroe St Tallahassee, FL 32301 Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m
Cooked to perfection with really good sauce at a super reasonable price makes this walk-up, the place to go when I want a right-now rib. At the E & J 5 Buck BBQ, the people line up to receive the communion of Q. A family operation, it’s almost a spiritual endeavor, providing sustenance to some that can’t afford to eat at a fancy restaurant. “A five-dollar bill gets you a meal!” is the motto. And it’s a good count. Ribs, two sides, and a slice of white bread to sop up the extra sauce. (get the extra sauce. It’s sublime. Yup, it’s that good) Highly recommended. Five star award from the Sauce Boss.
The perfect pairing. Liquid Summer Hot Sauce takes a really good bbq sauce and builds it into a really great taste experience. The creeper burn allows you to taste everything else in the Q, then swells like a symphony in your mouth. Liquid Summer Will Change Your Life!!! The Hot Sauce For The New Millennium.
Something special for the holidaze. Hearty and a whole lot of fun, these cakes will stick with ya.
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. fresh ground ginger
½ tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cloves
1/8 cup flax meal (or a couple eggs)
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1 cup almond milk
2 tbsp. maple syrup
Sliced bananas
Walnuts
Sift the dry ingredients together
Mix the wet ingredients
Combine the wet and dry stuff
Pour the batter on a hot griddle and cover with bananas and walnuts
Serve with maple syrup
Oct. 19 Tallahassee FL – Bradfordville Blues Club
Oct. 24 Mobile AL – Cedar Street Social Club
Oct. 25 Pensacola Beach FL – Paradise Bar and Grill
Oct. 26 Natchez MS – Smoots
Nov. 1 Key West FL – MOTM Casa Marina Main Stage
Nov. 2 Key West FL – Key West Theatre
Nov. 3 Goodland FL – The Little Bar
Nov 4 Boca Raton FL – Funky Biscuit
Nov 10 Tallahassee FL – Fish Camp at Lake Iamonia
Nov 15 Jacksonville FL – Mudville Grill
NOV 16 Tampa FL – Skippers
Nov 17 Sarasota FL – Private Event
Coming in December: Tour of the Northeast Here’s more info.
The Meeting of the Minds is the international convention of Parrotheads at the Casa Marina in Key West, Florida for a week of tropical rock and roll, libations, seafood, and zaniness. Flip flops, boat motor margaritas, loud shirts, and hangovers in the making are the trademarks of MOTM, and little ol’ cornbread, the Sauce Boss, the red headed stepchild of trop rock is crashing this party one more time! It’s always a total blast. Thanks for having me.
Meeting of the Minds 2016
3:30 at the Casa Marina on Friday, November 1. And I will be at the Key West Theatre on Saturday, November 2, with Bill Blue and an all star Key West Blues throw down. Might wanna get yer tix for this one soon as it’s selling out.
A few new club dates on this run; I’ve been wanting to get down to the Little Bar in Goodland for a while. I’m also doing the Cedar Street Social Club in Mobile, and Smoots in Natchez for the first time. The gig at Skippers will be lots of fun with the Right Reverend Billy Wirtz, the Nighthawks, and myself, all in a great big pile, slathered in gumbo. Can’t wait for that one! But I gotta tell ya, all of these places on my schedule are great to play. I feel lucky as can be to be hanging out with the folks I meet on the road. Please share these dates with your peeps. And don’t forget to boogie! You know I will never... ever… Forget to BOOGIE~~~~. Longevity Omelette
(Sung to the tune of “Blowing in the Wind”)
How many times have you reached for the spinach in your refrigerator only to find part of the bag has gone bad? So you have to pick through it or else throw it away. Ugh… I love spinach, but it needs to be used immediately or it’s wasted.
Well, here’s the answer. Longevity greens will last all summer, they require little to no attention to grow bushy plants right outside your door. Problem solved. If you actually tried in your mind to sing that to “Blowing in the Wind”… my life is complete.
This omelette is made with longevity greens, a plant from tropical asia, rich in antioxidants-hence the name. The cool thing is they love the hot summer days which are killers to spinach. Long after other greens have wilted and died, the longevity greens will supply your table with a substitute for spinach. They may have to be covered in the winter on a cold night. Mine made it through the winter without cover in north Florida.
Jalapeño, sweet pepper, mushrooms, onion, potatoes, tomatoes, feta, and longevity greens. Stone ground white corn grits on the side and rye toast. The only thing this omelette needs is a big ol splooge of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce.
One more reason I feel like I’m one of the luckiest guys around.How would you like to have an unlimited supply of the finest tasting, most versatile hot sauce anywhere? You can get your own stash at our store.
Soul Vegetarian Restaurant
1205 S Adams St. Tallahassee, Florida
(850) 893-8208
Proud to say my Liquid Summer Habanero Sauce is the house hot sauce for Soul Veg. in Tallahassee. Y’all need to be eatin yer greens, now, and Soul Veg has the GREENS! Super cool folks making a difference in the community, one dish at a time. It’s not only good for your heart and digestion, it’s also good for your energy, your stamina, your brain, and it’s good for your soul. You douse those red beans and rice with that Liquid Summer, and it sings a high note! Oh…and the mac and cheese is to die for. Tell em the Sauce Boss sent cha. I’ll see y’all at Soul Veg.
Headed to New York: To finish work on the score of a movie. Super excited to be involved with this project with my daughter Mary Wharton. (Executive Producer and Director) I have recorded some of it in Tallahassee and Nashville. I’ve also remixed some of my Kingsnake recordings for the movie. Details on the project soon come! Can’t wait to tell all y’all about all of it, but I’m sworn to secrecy. Hope to see y’all at the gigs in Tennessee, New Hampshire, Maine and New York. Schedule.
Mark your calendar for the 2019 Florida Scallop and Music Festival in Port St. Joe. This festival is really going to help this town recover from Hurricane Michael last year. These guys have had a rough time of it. Port St Joe is 13 miles from ground zero where the eye came inland. Sauce Boss is going to hit the stage on 6:30 on Saturday August 31, followed by the Frank Jones Band. It is going to be a party!
Smoked Wild Sockeye Salmon with Spicy Caramelized Onions
Caution: This recipe is extremely healthy. Easy does it. Wild Salmon Filet Liquid summer Datil and Habanero Hot Sauce 2 large onions chopped Spicy handmade veggie broth
I keep a gallon plastic bag in the freezer, and while cooking I take the veggie scraps like onion skins, broccoli stalks, asparagus ends, carrots etc. and put em in the gallon bag, and stash it in the freezer. When the bag is full, I cover with water in a crockpot and cook it for a long time (about three hours), let it cool, and then strain and freeze the broth in jars. For this broth recipe I added jalapeño scraps and seeds. This gives the onions a kick.
Mix Liquid Summer Datil and Habanero Sauces and baste the entire filet with the mixture. Chop the onions and sauté in the spicy veggie broth. Cover the fish with the onions and smoke it for about 3 hours ( between 150 and 200 degrees). This recipe uses the flavor of the spicy broth rather than a greasy basting sauce to give flavor to the salmon. Of course the Liquid Summer helps out.
This girl does it all. Takes your order, cooks it up and serves you fresh down home Ethiopian cuisine in Nashville, of all places. Beautiful vibe and great tasting comfort food makes this place a warm and friendly destination for dinner. If you’re not familiar with the communal Ethiopian way of eating, you owe it to yourself to try it. Finger food, no forks or knives are used, the different dishes are all spooned onto the spongy flat sourdough bread called Injera. There’s also more Injera rolled up for dipping. The deal is to take a piece of bread and use it as a delivery system for the spicy pungent offerings. In the photo above are red lentils, yellow lentils, collards, potatoes, and grilled lamb. The sauces and juices from all the different dishes seep down and mingle with the bread on the plate. It’s like soppin up a tangy gravy on a sourdough pancake saturated with a wonderful juicy, spicy aromatic flavor. I want some NOW!
Georgia and the Carolinas and back to Florida (Schedule) April 27 Thomasville GA, Rose Festival
May 3 West Jefferson NC, Civic Center
May 7 High Point NC, High Point Theatre
May 8 Hickory NC, Planet Gumbo show at Hickory Soup Kitchen
May 9 Morganton NC, Morganton NC Municipal Auditorium
May 11 Morganton NC, private event
May 17 Bluffton SC, Roasting Room
May 18 Columbia SC, BBQ Beer and Bourbon Fest
June 7 Lakeland FL, Union Hall
Sauce Boss and the Planet Gumbo volunteers at Mexico Beach: Su Ecenia, Ruthie Wharton, Sally Morton, Tanya Hollady, and Jeanie Barrett
THANKS! To all who contributed to Planet Gumbo‘s fund raiser for the Ground Zero Mexico Beach White Tent. We took $1200 in the form of Lowes gift cards. Great job, Linda Blythe at Ground Zero, and to all the Planet Gumbo volunteers who drove to Mexico Beach to help us. We had a great time on the beach playing and cooking gumbo with the survivors of Hurricane Michael! In 2006, Planet Gumbo also brought music and gumbo to New Orleans and Buras, Louisiana, where Hurricane Katrina hit so hard. The damage in Buras LA was similar to Mexico Beach, leveling houses and leaving only slabs of concrete. In Buras, I saw a refrigerator lodged in a tree fifteen feet off the ground. Watch the video that Mary Wharton produced from our trip to Louisiana.
Planet Gumbo is self contained. Able to bring music and gumbo anywhere this van can go.
Central Florida folks, check out my column in Static Live Magazine and online
My Book It’s a cookbook and a songbook with a memoir sandwiched between the photos, music, and recipes. There’s an address on the Internet to listen to the audio files of two-dozen tunes in the book, while you are reading. Listen to the song as you read the story, and also make a dish as you go along from the cookbook to get the taste of the Sauce Boss. The recipes are dynamite, the story is a page turner, and the music is smokin. All the recipes and songs follow the story of my life. It all fits together like the puzzle that is Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton. Available in paperback at all the shows and on Amazon. Perfect gift for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day!
March 2 Tampa FL March 9 Thomasville GA March 16 Nocatee FL March 17 Arcadia FL March 22 Jacksonville FL March 23 Apalachicola FL March 29 Pensacola Beach FL
March 2, 2019 – Music on the Bay
“This is a one of a kind Trop-Rock festival! The event will start Thursday and the music will keep playing until the last note ending just after sunset on Sunday… We have assembled some of the best Trop Rock musicians on the planet to be a part of this PHenomenal event!”
Awwwlways a major hoot. This will be my sixth time bringing my music and gumbo to the Music on the Bay, and it just gets better and better every year. As always we are partying with a purpose! The event benefits The Shriner’s Hospitals for Children.
Vinyl is HERE! Blind Boy Billy is now available on Vinyl. The recording on this record is pristine and the string arrangements are exquisite! Think Sauce boss with a sousaphone and symphony, and you have an idea of what it sounds like. On the vinyl, it jumps into your lap like your favorite pet. Truly a collectible.
I’ve got a great fish recipe. The idea came from a little Peruvian restaurant, nestled in the little town of Aguas Caliente, right next to Machu Picchu. After a day of climbing toward the sun, using every muscle in my body negotiating the Inca Trail and navigating the “steps” carved into the mountain, (the steps were about a foot wide. On the right hand side of the steps was a shear wall going hundreds of feet straight up, and on the left side of the steps was nothing for hundreds of feet down, the steps were carved into the cliff), and after getting lost on the way to The cave of the Virgins, wandering through the terraced gardens on the cliffs of Huayna Picchu, after after reaching the top of the mountain, making my way back down to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, and soaking in the hot springs in Aguas Caliente, Sunburned and sore…after all this, I was hongry! So the “trout” with mango hit the spot. It inspired me to do something similar. Instead of the Peruvian Trucha I used a whole filet of salmon and I added red mullet roe, and I made a salsa with big chunks of mangos, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. I baked the salmon. When the fish was mostly done, I covered the whole mess with salsa and finished it off in the broiler.
Machu Picchu
Foraging on the Skyway
Usually, this little segment of my story is called “Foraging on the Highway”. This time it’s about one of those places where it was difficult to find a bad meal. A place where food quality begins with ingredients grown for the taste rather than the looks of the meats and vegetables. A place that has not totally compromised to the bottom line, almighty dollar mono-culture food production. Istanbul! Here’s a few meals we had last fall in Turkey.
To begin the day: Menemen. Eggs with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Served with yogurt and honey, cheeses and olives.
Fresh sardines and greens.
Rooftop dining with a view of the Blue Mosque. While in Istanbul…CHOPS!
The Spice Bazaar!
Grilled to perfection.
Stuffed Eggplant
A boat trip across the Bosphorus to see how the Asian lamb chops compare.
Mediterranean Crabs. Sweeeeet!
Perhaps the tastiest beef dish I ever ate. The waiter had a six word English vocabulary and was a bit miffed that I could not speak the Turkish language. This was a last minute trip with hardly any time to prepare. What an adventure. Beef hearts. YUMMM!
Dessert. The Turkish people love their “delights”!
Needless to say, I went off my diet…
Stay tuned to this years travelog. Please share the Sauce Boss Adventures the with your friends and family. Sign up to get my musical newsletter/recipe/restaurant review/blog. I am one lucky guy to have this view of the world, I am privileged to be able to share it with all y’all.
The Sauce Boss took his one-man band to Nashville to make his latest recording. On the title cut he is joined by violin, sousaphone, snare drum, and backing singers to tell the story of Blind Boy Billy, an irascible traveling fiddle player. The ragtime tune careens off the road into a down home fiddle stomp and ends up playing the blues away.
“I Will Play For Gumbo” is Jimmy Buffett’s zydeco-flavored homage to the Sauce Boss. Buffett sings:
“The Sauce Boss does his cookin’ on the stage
Singing and a-picking for his nightly wage
Sweating and a frettin’ from his head to his toe
Playin’ and swayin’ with the gumbo.”
This version, done as only the Sauce Boss can do it, ROCKS with one-man band and sousaphone.
“Lonely Girl” is a heart wrenching duet with the Boss and viola.
The one-man band rocks “Little Driver”.
A soul singer, with an acoustic guitar, and a sousaphone paint a picture of a guy sitting on the “Dock of the Bay” in this cover of Otis Redding’s classic tune. “What She Gonna Do” begs the question: how funky can a one-man blues groove get? “Pleasures of the Deep” ends the album with a soulful Sauce Boss singing with a very lush string quartet.
Produced by David Davidson, Bobby Shin: engineer at The Library Studios, Nashville TN
Bill Wharton: vocal, guitar and one-man band
David Davidson: violin, viola, and string arrangement
String quartet on “Pleasures of the Deep”: David Davidson and David Angell (violins), Monisa Angell (viola), Carol Rabinowitz (cello)
With the flu season upon us, this recipe really works. Ruthie makes this when there’s a cleansing in order. It’s delicious. I sometimes add a little fresh ground turmeric for extra fortification.
Northern run: Pittsburgh, Lima NY, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, Clearfield PA.Schedule
I have been doing this run for 27 years. Though it gets a little nippy at times, I love coming north for a few weeks to enjoy the holidays with my friends in the rust belt. Salt of the earth kind of folks who have been listening to my stuff for over a quarter of a century.
For your holiday reading/listening/cooking pleasure:
My memoir is also a songbook and a cookbook. I filet the story of my life, smoke it, and sandwich it between photographs, tunes and recipes. It’s the backstory of a life of sharing food and music. It’s also a story of an outlaw grower of fine cannabis, and his brush with the law. The soundtrack and the recipes follow the story, mixing media like it was cornbread in this one of a kind memoir. Available now, you can order it from Amazon, or you can get an autographed copy at the shows.
Here’s a recipe for instant banana, key lime ice cream from the book.
6 frozen bananas, chopped
3 key limes
3 oz plain yogurt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Juice the limes and dump all the ingredients into a food processor. Delish
Send a little Florida heat to your family and friends, put it on yer breakfast, on yer dinner too, you can shake my sauce all over yer BBQ. Some people eat bacon, some people eat beans, I’d like to throw my hot sauce all over yer collard greens! Liquid Summer will CHANGE your life!
Manzari’s Italian Restaurant 105 E. Miller St. Elmira, New York
607-732-9359 I read in a review of Manzari’s that if you order a salad this is what they bring you. They had me at that point. I believe that spaghetti, meatball sandwich, or ham sandwich IS the menu. Since 1930 these guys have been dishing out the hand made meatballs, and to this day, Dad still comes in every day to make em. Read the Yelp or Facebook reviews.
“Spotless kitchen”.
“Best sauce and super great meatballs. They do it simple and they do it well. Great family owned place!”
Dinner is $7 or $8. It comes with garlic bread. The locals adore this place. Definitely a destination, this ain’t no chain restaurant. This is family. This is true Italian culture, transplanted in a little out of the way New York town. A “find” is what I call it.
Blind Boy Billy Single Release Date – October 19, 2018
If you are not already on the email list: go to sauceboss.com and join it to receive a free download of the song.
Produced by David Davidson
Engineered by Bobby Shin
at The Library Studios, Nashville TN
Cover art by Dick Bangham
One man Band: Bill Wharton
Fiddle: David Davidson
The single is from the upcoming album (Blind Boy Billy), which is the companion to the book, The Life and Times of Blind Boy Billy.
In addition to solo one-man band tracks on the album, the Sauce Boss has taken his one-man band and added violin, sousaphone, snare drum and backing singers to tell the ragtime story of an irascible traveling fiddler, Blind Boy Billy.
CD and Vinyl Album to be Released January 11, 2019
It’s no Moby Dick, or Ulysses, but it is unlike any book I have ever seen. From the press release:
The Life and Times of Blind Blind Boy Billy is a memoir. It’s also a songbook (with soundtrack) and a cookbook. Bill Wharton filets the story of his life, smokes it, and sandwiches it between photographs, tunes and recipes. It’s the backstory of a life of sharing food and music. It’s also a story of the outlaw grower of fine cannabis, and his brush with the law. The tunes and the recipes follow the story, with the Sauce Boss mixing media like it was cornbread.”
Kindle Pre-order for Multimedia Book which contains soundtrack of 20 mp3 songs
(Playable only on Amazon Fire devices and Kindle apps for Android phones and tablets)
Release Date October 19, 2019 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J37KRTX
Here we go again.
Saturday Nov. 3rd at the Casa Marina 5:30 on the main stage.
Sunday Nov. 4 at the Ocean Key Resort 4:30 on the Sunset Stage.
Of course I’ll be playing tunes from my new album, Including the Sauce Boss rendition of I Will Play For Gumbo. I am sooo looking phorward to this one y’all.
While in key west, I might need to have a pink er two. Here’s my cocktail sauce recipe from The Life and Times of Blind Boy Billy.
Cocktail Sauce
2 cups ketchup
Juice of a lemon
1 Tbsp horseradish (or more)
¼ cup Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (or more)
October 28 is a double. After the Jazz and Blues Fest, I will throw down at the Junction @ Monroe. with Mel Melton on harp and rubboard. Mel was Sonny Landreth’s harmonica man for years. He’s also a chef so we will be stirrin it up. Dylan “Ragpicker” Allen will open the show. On Halloween I will be cooking in Miami at a homeless shelter. And then…
THE MEETING OF THE MINDS The international convention of Parrotheads converging on key west for a week of trop rockin.
Here’s my schedule for MOTM.
Wed. November 1, at 6 pm. CW Colt Backyard Concert Charity Series. Proceeds to help the Keys recover.
Thurs. November 2, at 11:45 pm. The Casa Marina on the Beach Stage with Mel Melton.
Fri. November 3, at 5:30 pm. The Ocean Key Resort.
Then I’ll be workin my way back home.
Saturday, November 4, at the Titanic in Miami
Sunday, November 5, at Earls Hideaway in Sebastian with
J P Soars and the Red Hots
Tuesday, November 7, at Bostons on the Beach in Delray Beach
Thursday, November 9, at Rhythm and Brews in Zephyrhills
Saturday, November, 11 at the Alley in Sanford
Sunday, November 12, at the Riverhawk Music Festival in Brooksville
Friday, November 17, at the Downtown Getdown in Tallahassee
Friday, December 1, at the Monticello Opera House in…well, you know.
3 Tbs Liquid Summer Datil Sauce (or more!)
1 Tbs Horseradish
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Catsup to taste
Liquid Summer makes the best cocktail sauce. This is one of my favorite recipes. The datil peppers merging with the lemon and catsup. There’s an immediate zing from the horseradish, and then the datils come up slow from the bottom, crescendoing into a tart, heady, spicy, melange of flavor that explodes all over the fat of the shrimp…want some…
I have had a magical year. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I travel around and I play my own music . . . exclusively my own music! What did I do to deserve this artistic carte blanche? Well… workin my ass off for fifty years has helped, however, I couldn’t have done it without y’all. So here’s a HUGE thank you to everyone who came to the shows, to the venues and their staffs, to the festivals and the parties, to the promoters, agents, radio, and press, to the Parrothead clubs and the Blues societies, to the monster musicians that sat in with me, to Peach and Dale Hench, and to Ruthie Wharton. I’m talkin ’bout ALL Y’ALL!!
AND… THANK YOU,Jimmy Buffett! Your song, “I Will Play For Gumbo” has made a big difference in my schedule. All these guys in loud shirts keep showin up to the gigs. But more than that, I know now, that I can bring the good weather to the blues. It’s all about the attitude. So again, much love, keep cookin, and I’ll see ya down the road.
Niagara Falls Blues Festival With Albert Castiglia
Sauce Boss is back in town after a killer summer of travel.
Erie PA
Come on down for some rockin gumbo, and bluesy swamp-funk. After 14,000 miles of giggin, it’s good to be back in Tallahassee once again.
Utah Arts Festival Salt Lake City
Help celebrate the good times with the only guy who’s been featured in Living Blues, Gourmet Magazine, Esquire, Le Monde, New York Times, CNN, NPR, Blues Review, Relix, and a song written by Jimmy Buffett…to name a few.
Gonna be a beautiful night for rockin the juke.
9 pm downbeat SAUCEBOSS.COM
Sauce Boss Summer Tour took us from Tallahassee to San Diego and back, then up to Maine and back. 11,500 miles on those two runs. And that does not count the flight to Montana and back.
Here are some shots from a few of the the gigs, sightseeing, and some food along the way.
The Alamo
Pecos River
Judge Roy Bean’s
City of Rocks. New Mexico
City of Rocks
Sunset New Mexico
Sabino Canyon. 111 degrees
San Diego Parrothead Club with Washboard Willie.
Los Angeles Farmers Market with babes!
Zion in Utah
It gets HOT in Zion
The Utah Arts Festival
Jammin with one of the guests at the Volunteers of America Youth Resource Center in Salt Lake City. A homeless shelter for teens. These kids are as cool as it gets.
Wilsons Arch Utah
Piedra Canyon near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We spent a couple of days at the hot springs, hiking, soaking and expanding our minds.
Santa Fe Holiday. The food, the art, the music, the culture. Beautiful!
Amarillo, Texas.
The Central Oklahoma Parrothead Club in Oklahoma City really threw down on this one.
The lovely and Super talented Vanessa Collier joins me at the Greenwood Blues Cruise, bringin down the house. What a spirit this young woman has!
Caught red handed! That’s not on my diet!!!! Sittin on the curb, eatin South Carolina BBQ Hash after my set. I just could not resist. When I was a kid, my grandaddy made this stuff. Life is good!
A Taste of Summer. Billings Montana
Pictograph Caves. Billings, Montana. 2000 year old paintings.
Earth Wind and Fire in D.C.
Baby Jake and Walter Tates joining me at Big Owl Tiki Bar. Always epic at Big Al’s place.
Gorgeous day off in D.C. While trecking for museum to museum, we chanced upon this little tiny park with tis statue of Mahatma Ghandi. The man who broke the yoke of the British Empire. This man changed the world by making it clear that we can do the same. In this time of crazy world events, doing the right thing is imperative. His words: “My life is my message”
The Community for Creative Non-Violence. The largest homeless facility in the Country with 1300 clients.
For any railroad enthusiast, this is a must see, (hear, feel, experience). The screech of the brakes, the incredible mass of iron surrounding you, the power of half a dozen engines surging round the curve, kinetic, otherworldly. Unlike anything I have ever experienced.
The band apartment at Balloons in Ellicottville, New York. Talk about band friendly!
Erie, Pennsylvania.
Wild Alaskan Nova on pumpernickel. Russ & Daughters, New York City
CAUTION! Nawlins. Long Island, New York.
Black Eyed Salley’s. Hartford, Connecticut.
The crowd at the Jimmy Buffett Concert in Mansfield, Mass. Sold out in six minutes!
While in Maine…
Neddick, Maine
Turner’s Fettuccine with clams and lobster. Salem, Mass.
Memorial to those executed for witchcraft.
Gettysburg Battlefield. Very dark mojo in this place. There’s still something goin on here.
Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia with one of the greats, Walter Tates.
A VERY LARGE THANK YOU goes out to all the Gumbo Heads out there who came to the shows this Summer! Without your ears, I would be nothing. Together, we have broken down the barriers between audience and performers, transforming the nights into celebrations of community and love. Keep Cookin!
Sauce Boss to be honored. On March 5th, I’m gonna party down with my good friends Albert Castiglia, and Selwyn Birchwood, along with Les Dudek, Rick Derringer, and Mike Pinera, at the Florida Musicians Awards Hall of Fame. Burt Reynolds will receive the Humanitarian Award. and Jerry Mathers will be stirrin the gumbo. Yep, that’s the Beaver y’all. The Beave is hosting the event, and it’s gonna be one hell of a jam. Seating is ticketed, so now’s the time to reserve a good seat. Check out the video here. And more info here
One of my favorite dishes using Liquid Summer Hot Sauceis spaghetti sauce over angel hair pasta. I will use just a little bit, where it’s almost imperceptible. But it marries all the other ingredients together, giving the sauce a character, like almost an identity, a presence that says, “Hello!” without the burn.
The Awe Shack
2510 Conway Rd. Suite 101 Gambrills, Maryland 21054 410-721-5022 TheAweShack@gmail.com
When I saw the name, I was skeptical. However when I tasted the food, I was a believer in the awesomeness of this little kabob place between Baltimore and DC. (Right near the intersection of I-97 and Hwy 3. It’s a nice ride if you want to avoid the DC traffic) And when you get there, you will be rewarded. …I promise. Once in a great while, a truly great meal comes out of nowhere. A surprise, a sleeper, a complete flabbergast, that hits you up side the head like a brick… of pure flavor. I had a meal like that at this little kabob house between B’more and DC. The name is a play on “Aushak”- an Afghani handmade ravioli stuffed with scallions and leeks, topped with a traditional mint-garlic yogurt dressing, ground sirloin, and cilantro. All meats and vegetables used at the Awe Shack are organic, and the veggies are locally grown. The “Right-out-of-the-tandoor bread” is crazy good. . The quality of ingredients, the attention to detail, and obvious love of cooking makes The Awe Shack truly awesome.
Thanks for the award, But… Gotta say thanks to all who have congratulated me with the “Bout Time” comments on the social media. When I got the call about the Hall of Fame gig, I was blindsided. I must admit, it was kinda fun to puff up for a couple of days. Feel important, give the big bad world a little “I told ya so”. Then I came back to planet Earth, and the humbling began. I couldn’t have done it without folks who have supported me for all these years. Back when I began my quixotic gumbo crusade, I had no idea that traveling from A to B would involve such an effort. All along the way, some people would tell me, “I would never go up north in the blizzards of winter”. Or, “Don’t you get tired of riding in the van and waiting around in airports”? But for those smiling faces at the gigs, it’s all right here. It’s all right now. Not a rehearsal. This is it, for whatever it will be. I guess I’ve been traveling from A to BE! Yeah, the “Be” is where I ended up. Everything between the A and the B is the “Be”. All for the better. And there’s one person who I must congratulate, and thank more than any other. My friend and companion for my lifetime, Ruth Wharton. On February 25th, we will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. I am giggin in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and she will be at my side. Yup, braving the blizzard or the sunshine, we are in it for the long haul. And THAT’S… why I call it the “Haul of Fame”.
It’s gorgeous down here in Florida. Nice and warm. So I’m bringin the heat for the holidays. Scorchin Slide Guitar Boogie, Steamin Gumbo, and Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. Comein to ya. I’m takin it to New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North and South Carolina. But first. I’m playin Boston’s in Delray Beach. Here’s the info.
Albert Castiglia and Sauce Boss gettin the Big Dog
First time playin the rub board. Haven House, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Planet Gumbo celebrates 14 years of feeding the homeless. I’ve been volunteering my music and gumbo to those in need since 2002. Planet Gumbo is our charitable 501c3 foundation that supports my efforts to bring gumbo and uplifting music to homeless shelters, and soup kitchens all over the country. It’s not hard for me to take a day once and a while and share. However it was a really big deal for this little girl in Jeffersonville, Indiana. And also for the little brother stirrin the gumbo. They had a blast! If you’d like to help: Donate to Planet Gumbo.
25th Annual Meeting Of The Minds 2016 “Here We Are” IS SOLD OUT!
And there’s more options to see, hear, taste, and yes, smell the Sauce Boss while in the Keys!
Wednesday November 2nd. 8 pm to 11:30 at Island Dogs 505 Front St. key west
Thursday November 3rd . 10 pm at the Casa Marina
Friday November 4th. Boondocks 27205 Overseas Hwy Ramrod Key
Sunday, the Highlands Fine Art Festival in Sebring, Florida 1:30 pm
Can’t wait to see all my phamished, phood phondling phriends, phlirtatiously phoraging my phantastic, phamous GUMBO THROWDOWN!!!!! (You know what I mean, Vern?)
“Cool stuff happenin. Cool stuff ahead.” I told myself this lie so many times, it came true.
Benefit for Barnacle Bill’s Employees.
Saturday, August 13 The Junction @ Monroe
Tallahassee’s legendary raw bar burned down on August 1, and so their employees are out of work. I played many a night at this place back in the day, or as I call it, “The BAD ol days”! Come on down to The Junction @ Monroe, and join us for a great party and a great cause. I’m on at 9 PM! For details and complete tour schedule see sauceboss.com/tour
Whooee! What a Summer! Here’s just a few of my meanderings.
The BMW Owners of America International Rally 2016 Hamburg, New York
Smoked Mackerel with summer salads. Dressing? Liquid Summer Hot Sauce! Get your Liquid Summer Hot Sauce HERE!
Warm Springs, Virginia.
I have “taken the waters” from hot springs in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Costa Rica, Germany, France, Hungary, Peru, and now Virginia. Jefferson Pools is at the top of the heap as far as the feel good factor goes. A warm 98 degrees of heavy mineral content refreshes and invigorates when you step out of the pool into the cool mountain breeze. And your skin feels like silk. The Gentleman’s Bathhouse was constructed in 1761, making it the oldest spa structure in the US. The Pool’s namesake described the water as of the “First Merit”. Yes, Thomas Jefferson loved this place. So do I…
Big Al’s Big Owl Tiki Bar: Another Dimension!
Sauce Boss Life Hack. Hydroponic basil stays fresh in the cup holder. Smells good.
THE BACON EATING CONTEST! The Last Supper of Bacon. Epic carnivorous adventure at the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Fest
Worlds End State Park
The rock shelf makes for a nice swimming pool/mountain stream kinda feel. Take a dip in this river and your whole body tingles.
Rustic Buckwheat Cakes with walnuts, oats, bananas, and mangos, slathered with maple syrup. This will hang with ya. SLAMMIN!
Watkins Glen, New York
Tiki Tom! Nuff Said…
Third set of wheels for my baby. Keal Cases are the best! They sent me new replacement wheels both times. For free!
Taste of Buffalo. 450,000 hongry people hit the street. I love playin for foodies.
This impressionist painting is actually a photograph of pebbles on the bank with the reflection of the sky and trees, melding with the lake bottom. 8th Lake Adirondacks.
Big Dog: Albert Castiglia’s album featuring my tune “Let the Big Dog Eat” has been #1 on Roots Music Review for ten weeks! Here’s Me and Albert, and Rockin Jake jammin “Let the Big Dog Eat” at the Niagara Falls Blues Fest. Photo: Colleen Mary Johnson.
Tour Schedule: Carrabelle, Pensacola Beach, Orange Beach, Tallahassee, Chester, SC, Raleigh, Ashland, VA, Washington DC, Kent Narrows MD, Ellicottville NY, Sharon PA, Warren OH, Buffalo NY. More to come.
Intelligent, funny, kind, generous, and musically gifted are a few words that come to mind. He was a good man. I first played with Majic John in 1967. Over the next few decades, we did occasional gigs together, played in a few bands together, until 1993, when he became my full time bass player. We spent sixteen years traveling all over the states, as well as Canada and Europe. He was always ready to jump in the van, or hop a flight. He loved to travel to new places, to see the sights, taste the food, and sip the wine and whiskey. We had a real good time. So with tears of sorrow and joy, I must say, “Bon voyage, my brother”.
“Let the Big Dog Eat” rears its head once more. Albert Castiglia (That’s Ka-Steel-Ya) is about to release his latest CD featuring my tune, Let the Big Dog Eat. The song has already debuted at #1 on XM Radio. It’s done me well: It was used by Jonathan Demme in his movie, “Something Wild”. It was also covered by Alex Taylor (James Taylor’s brother). “Let the Big Dog Eat” was also featured on Jimmy Buffett’s “Late Night Menu at the Margaritaville Cafe” CD. And NOW… Albert does a smokin version of the tune. He would come to see me play at Tobacco Road when he was a boy. Now he’s a Big Dog. Congratulations Albert.
NAZDOROVYE Russian House 307 East 5th Street Austin, TX 78701 512-428-5442
Right next to Antone’s in Austin, Texas, this is a culinary oasis in a neighborhood of over priced tourist traps. It’s like visiting your Russian relatives at supper time. All things Russian decorate the place. The coat rack is full of Russian military coats. The ambience is steeped in the dark atmosphere of some really thick novel, heavy with what has happened. Like Doctor Zhivago could walk in the door and sit down to dinner. And the bar is…vodka. They gave us free shots. I had to try the Borsch. Delish! So for a couple of bowls of soup, sauerkraut, bread, and the shots, we got out of there for around $20.
The Wild… This hawk perched next to the pond behind my studio was curious. I stood within eight feet of him for fifteen minutes and we had a moment of checkin each other out. I’ve had so many close encounters with “The Wild”. When I was a kid I spent a great deal of my time exploring the swamps around my home in Longwood, Florida. There I found a deep respect for the gators, snakes, fowls, and all critters that populated the dark and murky environs. They were real. They showed me awareness of the viscerality of life in the swamp. I carry that awareness with me to this day. I am wild. Once I saw a moose in the Grand Tetons. I had been warned to not get too close, especially if it’s a cow and calf together. They can be very dangerous. I moved closer to get a better look. I got a pretty good picture of her. Just chillin, havin a drink o that pure Teton stream. She was oblivious to my presence. Then she looked up. Straight at me. Continuing to drink, she kept an eye on me. Then she turned around. That’s when I noticed the calf. Cute little Bullwinkle. Mom continued to drink. So baby moose wants something to drink also. As the calf approaches mom, she looks straight at me… Then she walks toward me. She’s checkin me out. Just then the calf runs to mother. Uh Oh… Good Stuff! So Mom takes a look around, checkin me out… then… she… CHARGES!!!!! With her eyes on me and calf in tow. She ran right past me. Her calf is on her heals. And I’m here to tell you bout it. WOW!!!!!
Summer Fruit Salad Use what you have, and what you can get. The blackberries, basil (African, Thai, and Italian), and guava flowers are from the yard. Then there’s mango, orange, lemon, grapefruit, and apple. and lemon juice squeezed over the whole thing. Y’all have a salad of a Summer. Let the Big Dog Eat!
Road Trip: New York, Hartford, DuBoise, Rochester, Syracuse, Sharon, and Pittsburgh. Yeah, it’s that time again. Every December, for a quarter of a century, I’ve made the trek to the Northeast for my annual holiday tour. I love the way the people come out of the woodwork for indoor sports. Makes me feel like the Creole Santy Claus. Ho, ho, ho, I’m rollin your way!
For those in the NYC area, I’m excited to be playing for my good friends at the Bayou in Mount Vernon for their Hot Hell Fest on Thursday December 3rd at 9:00 pm. Spicy food, plenty of sauce, and a hot chili pepper eating contest. This is not for the feint of heart. It’s gonna be HOT!
Time to re-up! Still time to order yer holiday gifts y’all. Click Here for CDs, LPs, Hot Sauce (Buy a case & share the heat), T Shirts, and Hats.
So many have asked about this guitar. What is it? OK here is the skinny on the fat sound I get with this amazing guitar. This is the Bill Wharton Special, made by my friend Mike Lewis. Mike is a Parisian luthier who makes resophonic guitars. His company moniker is Fine Resophonic. http://fineresophonic.com/ In addition to being a beautiful instrument, it’s also and incredible work horse. You can hear the National/Dobro “cone” sound clearly, even at high volume. It blows everything else I’ve heard out of the water. It stays in tune, even with the Sauce Boss heavy hand. Mike also makes resophonic ukes. Check out the Fine Resophonic website. It’s a trip. I am honored and humbled to have this great model guitar named after little ol. Thanks Mike!
Soul Vegetarian Restaurant 1205 S Adams St. Tallahassee, Florida
(850) 893-8208
Proud to say my Liquid Summer Habanero Sauce is the house hot sauce for Soul Veg. in Tallahassee. This is great, healthy eating. Y’all need to be eatin yer greens, now, and Soul Veg has the GREENS! Super cool folks making a difference in the community, one dish at a time. It’s not only good for your heart and digestion, it’s also good for your energy, your stamina, your brain, and your mind. Indeed it’s good for your soul. You douse those red beans and rice with that Liquid Summer, and it sings a high note! Oh…and the mac and cheese is to die for. Really good. Hey, do me a favor. Tell em the Sauce Boss sent cha. Make my day. I’ll see y’all at Soul Veg.
GingerGlop is a hearty snack that will get you down the road. A no brainer. Quick and easy, a little sweet, and gingery. Kinda like an energy bar all in a lump.
2 cups oatmeal
1 ½ cups flour
4 bananas
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
¼ cup maple syrup
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbs cinnamon
2 tbl fresh grated ginger
1 tbs vanilla
350 degrees for 10 ish minutes
Wishing all y’all the happiest of holidays, and the best New Year yet. 2016 is lookin mighty sweet. Keep Cookin!
I’m hangin close to the beach. Fall has fell. Swimmin’s great, no crowds, You can find a parking space, AND…the livin is still easy. This is where you can find me: Destin, Tampa, Brooksville, key west, Sugarloaf, Marathon, Key Largo, Swansboro, NC, back to key west for the Meeting of the Minds, Punta Gorda, and Tallahassee. Lovin this. Y’all come and get some!
100% Pure Sauce Boss
CD, 180 Gram LP, or gift box with CD and two bottles of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce is available @ The Sauce Boss Store.
Good count from the Decalb Farmers Market.
Your Dekalb Farmers Market 3000 East Ponce De Leon Avenue, Decatur, Georgia 30030
When I walked into Your Decalb Farmers Market, I felt like I was coming home. There’s a lot of knowledge about food in this three and a quarter acre cornucopia. The workers have come to Atlanta from over 40 countries. They bake their own organic bread in house. Live catfish, crabs, and lobsters swim in tanks. Butcher shop has it all. The beer and wine section is stocked. The buffet ranges from BBQ to tabouli, around the world and back again. Yeah, lunch has beaucoup, mucho mas, bunch o stuff.
“We declare that the world is designed to work. We are responsible for what does not work. We make the difference. No matter how technologically advanced we become, we cannot escape our fundamental relationships with food and each other. The possibility of these relationships is the world market. In this context, the world works for everyone free of scarcity and suffering. We commit ourselves to the possibility this world market is for the future generations of this planet.”
Our haul: Columbian coffee, imported Marzano tomatoes, pink and white grapefruit, plums, pluots, walnuts, peppers, fresh tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, oatmeal bread, strawberries, raspberries, pitty pat squash, eggplant, cinnamon, fig biscotti, Lingonberry sauce, maple syrup, a 12 pack of Bitburger German beer, and a Chilean cabernet. Most of it organic. All for $60.
I would like to thank the people who broke into my van.
And I would like to say I’m sorry. It’s gotta be rough. It’s gotta be dangerous, stealin on the street for a livin. Tryin to get by on fencing stolen stuff. I know y’all got away with $1000 worth of video equipment. Got away with my new black and white kicks, and my hiking shoes, a half a dozen chef coats, some pants and hats, some odds and ends. But you did not take anything that was truly dear to me. You missed the good stuff. My old Tele was in my hands. I hope the bag of potatoes, onions and garlic made a good meal, as well as the two slices of leftover pizza. Thank you so much…and I’m truly sorry for you. I mean this. I am sorry. When you were risking your life and liberty for scraps, I was having the time of my life. I wish it was not like this for you. But it is. The upside is…you gonna look really good in those black and whites. And Iam one truly lucky motor scooter. See ya!
Baltimore, Williamsport, Buffalo, Rochester, Ellicottville, Warren, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Tuckerton, Ellsworth, Mont Tremblant. From Peckerwood to Canada!
Good News! Six months after the projected delivery date, the 100% Pure LPs have finally arrived. In my opinion, the new vinyl sounds even better than the CD. It’s a completely new approach to a one man band, adding a bass rig to the mix of kick, hat, and high energy slide guitar. The sound is pretty LARGE, but the atmosphere and groove are even bigger. You can swim in the mix on this record. 180 grams of Pure Sauce Boss. Here’s the latest review:
Hangin out in the Cockpit. Love my kitchen! I’m still a foodie.
Blueberries are ripe, and sweet, and plentiful In Jefferson County. Glad I’m not missin em. Inspires me to make this. Blueberry Coffee Cake
My coffee cake with a bunch of blueberries
Oven at 350 degrees
Then sift together:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of flax meal
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup rye flour
In a separate bowl mix:
3 cups blueberries 2 cups walnuts 1 cup applesauce 1/4 cup honey (If you like it real sweet, better use a half…) Milk (cup or so)
Mix it all together and put in into a greased frying pan. Then apply a heavy dusting of cinnamon, completely covering the top.
Cook for about 40 minutes.
It’s better the next day (if it lasts that long) as the flavors of the rye and whole wheat are married in the cooling.
Here’s a treasure, I keep in my hipsack.
May 21, 2008, I went for a ride. Meandered to Memphis, where I met the band for three dates on Beale St. Left Memphis Sunday after I attended the services at the Full Gospel Tabernacle with Reverend Al Green doing the sermon. And the hippest gospel band ever, layin it down!
I’m riding out of Memphis with a huge grin on my face, fortified with the blues and with the gospel communion. I looked over to the west and the biggest, and the blackest, and the scariest cloud of dust and debris that I had ever seen was coming fast toward me. The temperature dropped ten degrees. The first gust almost blew me over. The next was stronger. I kept looking for a funnel. Interesting day…hmmm. I weathered the really wet stuff under a bridge, then continued what would become a 2000 mile commute to the blues. Stoppin in Hot Springs to soak, then on to the Leland, Mississippi Blues Festival. I hear BB’s playin at the Club Ebony. So I’m sitting ten feet from the band, eatin a BBQ pork chop sandwich, watching BB King hold court, and he’s tryin his best to get somewhere with this gorgeous young woman, with the band smokin like a rack o ribs…
Thank you Riley King.
Tour ScheduleClick Here to find where the downbeat resides.
Huggin the coast except for a sojourn in the mountains of North Carolina for beer and hot springs.
My song, “Alligator” will be featured on CNN April 12
This coming Sunday at 10 pm EDT on The Wonder List. The show’s about places and cultures in danger of being corrupted by “civilization”. The Florida Everglades is one of the episodes, and producer Mary Wharton thought the song was a perfect fit. Imagine that. This recording came together in the Kingsnake Studio in 1989 with me playing drums and acoustic guitar simultaneously, Lucky Peterson on bass, and Pat Ramsey on harmonica.
Headed to the Meeting of the Minds Nov. 6, 2015
It’s official. I’m coming to key west for one show only. I will be headlining the party at the the Casa Marina on Friday night. Can’t wait to see my Parrothead phriends, phrom all over the world.
Blueberry Rye Scones
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rye flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup flax meal
½ cup applesauce
Juice of a lime
½ cup honey
2 cups blueberries
A cup or so of milk
Sift dry ingredients
Mix the wet and dry together using the milk to get the right consistency
Drop em on a greased cookie sheet Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes… or so
Seoul Restaurant
1420 East Semoran Blvd. Apopka, FL 32703 (407) 886-0112
THE most authentic Korean restaurant in Florida.
Many words were spoken. Few were in English.
This little down home, hole in the wall is situated next to a Korean market in a tiny strip mall right in the middle of Central Florida. When I ordered the fermented soy bean soup, the kind lady squenched up a look of consternation and a touch of fear passed over her face. “That dish has a very… … … strong flavor.” She obviously did not know who she was talkin to. However little did I know whoIwas talkin to. I was about to experience the funkiest and most flavorful of meals I ever had. Funkier than the best/worst cheese in France. Funkier that the “wrinkle stinks” (Chitterlings). When you smell something like this, you have got to wonder. Well you know…
The flavor was incredible. “Bold” does not even begin to describe. “very… … … strong”? Forget it. This is world class funk. But the fermented soy bean dish is sooo good. And like the super over ripe cheeses, it leaves a feeling of well being. The living organisms sending happy thoughts and feelings to your brain. A serotonin rush of AHHHHHHHH YYYYEEEEAAAH! eases down your spine to the tips of your toes. This is intelligent cooking. This is cookin that heals! These folks KNOW what their doing. And they do it with grace and beauty. Not everything on the menu is so funky. The BBQ is outrageous.They bring a pitcher of cold barley tea. No need to ask for refills. I like the way they serve the banchon side dishes with the meal rather than before. The radish with cucumber kim chee is sublime. Not too sweet. Just right to make you ask for a little more. All in all, This is the next best thing to being there.
I love my life! I am one lucky guy to do my music, hang out in cool places with cool peeps, and get paid for it. Don’t get me wrong. I work hard all the time to make it happen, but having gigs like this makes it all worth while. I had a killer tour in March.
Check this out… First on this leg was the Music on the Bay Parrothead Extravaganza in Tampa. Third year running, these guys cain’t get enough Sauce in their party. We like it spicy in Tampa so all you snowbirds get ready to melt yer blues away! And the locals?!?!?!?! They don’t live in Tampa for nothin! Tampa is the Frisco of Florida. Party on Garth! Next, I played and cooked at the Stand Down House, with JP Soars joining me. A homeless shelter in Lake Worth. Stand Down House helps male veterans who are struggling due to mental / physical wounds & illness, addictions, homelessness and/or other issues regain their lives. I love sharing my music and gumbo with these gentlemen. “Uplifting” does not even come close to describing our time together. Then on to the Lyric Theatre in Stuart. This gig is always an epic adventure in total theatricality. (is that really a word? The little spell check red thing didn’t alert me, so I guess it must be) Executive Director, John Loesser, is theater royalty. His dad, Frank Loesser was the Tony, Pulitzer, and Academy Award winning songwriter/dramatist, who wrote the lyrics and music to “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. It don’t get more “theatre” then that. John knows talent. John IS talent.
Lagoon Fest in Palm Bay was another party with a purpose. The lagoon is hurtin. Proceeds went to clean up the damage done. Glad to see old friends from back in the day. I have a warm spot in my heart for this part of Florida. When I was first starting out in 1966, I was playing the Club Juana in Orlando six nights a week. (before it became a strip club. Well… I do remember a few flying brassieres.) Anyway, we would sometimes fill the Sunday with a one nighter at the Vanguard in Cocoa Beach. Those two gigs gave me my music education. And the Vanguard was bad to the bone. Murph the Surf was hangin out there. And the Space Coast was ROCKIN! Indiatlantic had a stream of hipsters, bikers, and surfers back and forth from Venice Beach. (It’s the best surf on the East Coast.) Not to mention the droves of scientists, techies, and astronauts who worked at the Cape. Many years later, Indiatlantic was the place where I hit my first major lick. That’s where the music and the sauce became a phenomenon unto itself at the the Wine Gallery. So many good memories from one of the laidest back hangs in Florida.
@ the BBC
And finally, a return to Tallahassee, to the Bradfordville Blues Club. A special homecoming for me as I made my way through my blues trek. It gave me time to reflect. Like Ulysses, I have ended up washing up on a beach somewhere. Is there a genre known as Trop-Blues? Too happy for the blues, too deep for Margaritaville. As far as genres go, I live in no mans land. A musical soul without a country. A child of the world, forever restless, forever young. See y’all down the road.
I am cookin in Florida during February. So all you natives, transplants, and all you snowbirds check my schedule for yer “Gumbo Blues”. First up is the Hot Foods and Spicy Blues Fest at the Florida Agriculture Museum in Palm Coast and Earl’s Hideaway in Sebastian. Then Key West, Marathon, Key Largo, and Tampa, Here’s where you can get 100% PURE on CD or LP. As you see from this photo, the LP is 180 grams of Pure Sauce Boss. And the test press sounds GREAT!
Here are a few quotes: As you listen to this album, you realize that it’s just one really cool blues song after another. If this guy makes gumbo as well as he plays slide guitar, then one of his shows must be as good as you’ll ever see. After all, blues and gumbo is a tough combination to beat. If you like lowdown-boogie blues, you are going to love Sauce Boss. Gary Schwind Axs.com
Really cool new record! Great job.
John Nemeth
Your new record is your best!! Congrats
Anita West
I just received the newest release, 100% Pure, from Sauce Boss and it’s a one man blast!
Bman’s Blues Report
…a true blues artist and an album with 12 great songs to rock out on the side Freddy Vandervelpen (Netherlands) Wharton is a kick-ass slide guitar player out of Florida who has a bunch of raging and rockin’ songs and while he’s performing, he cooks a pot of gumbo.
Bill Locey Rock ‘n’ Roll Call
Your new album is great!
Pierce Pettis
ABSOLUTELY amazing Sauce Boss … This double album of his own power and expressiveness has to intrigue anyone who likes to have the blues. Yes, it is a one man band but Bill does not sound so, around him all bursting with exceptional, inervirajućeg blues , which are very easy to completely surrender. Sauce Boss his music do the first small miracles. Why? He quickly reaches a temperature exceeding 100 degrees and then, believe me, all in his hands. Whether you sing, whether it plays guitar, whether prepared a new recipe, he is a master of his kitchen and he is the one who is responsible for each ingredient. And believe me, this ‘study dish’ contains twelve high-performance ingredients, spices , which in their combination, provide something that will very often ‘ boil ‘ in their devices and enjoy all the charms that it provides. RECOMMENDATION : If you want to spend some meaningful almost 42 minutes, put in your stereo devices–not in a microwave oven–a great album ” 100 % Pure “, press ‘ PLAY & REPEAT ‘ and you will not only enjoy, but you will feel a new , fresh and extremely motivating energy. Do not wait a moment… make it fully !
Soundguardian (Croatia)
100% Pure is a bona fide Sauce Boss tour-de-force. All I could do after the last song was try to catch my breath before I started the whole thing over! Want to put a smile on your face? Get a copy, crank it up and start dancin’. Brother Bill, you have thrown it down, my friend…
Terry Kori
Cool stuff, man!
Selwin Birchwood
There’s a presence there in the music like the whole thing is like a live show, sitting right on the front row. And to me, that’s one of the hardest things to do, is to get that feeling, that sound, that tone, that…ouevre, and have that be what you’re hearing coming out of the speakers. The only problem with this is, now you’ve gotta figure out how to top this.
Jeffrey Clements
Sauce Boss Sangria Blanco made with grapefruit juice, pineapple, Sauvignon Blanc, pineapple juice, cinnamon, and cloves.
I can’t come to key west without visiting Pepe’s Cafe and Steakhouse. Est. 1909. Great food, great service, great people!
AAAAWWWW RIGHT! Here I come for my annual Holiday Tour! I am holdin. Loaded with a fresh batch of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, CDs, and swag. Here’s the details of the tour schedule. I begin the tour at a Homeless Shelter near Louisville. Then I’m gigging in Lexington, Connersville IN, Wheeling WV. Sharon, Pittsburgh, and DuBois PA. Cleveland, Syracuse. I will celebrate my birthday on December 20 in Maryville Tennessee with family and friends. Don’t miss this party!
100% PURE Sauce Boss is Smokin! If you haven’t picked up the new album, here’s your chance. Available HERE on CD, or download (or pre-order a limited edition on 180 gram vinyl). This record is getting the best response I ever received from friends and critics alike.
The perfect Holiday Gift Set: Autographed copy of 100% Pure CD and 2 bottles of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce–one Datil and one Habanero.
Order— Cds, vinyl, hot sauce, gift sets, t-shirts or chef hats–from the Sauce Boss store, and receive a bonus “cracker jack prize”.
Zamorah’s 106 NE Main St Simpsonville, SC 29681
(864) 990-6167 Soul food with a big heart.
Why is it that those with little, are ready to share? Could it be that they know how it feels?
This little soul food restaurant outside of Greenville, South Carolina blew my mind. Ribs, chicken and the fixins. They bring new meaning to a “generous meal”. Thank you Zamorah! You have made my day, just knowing about what you do for people. We all can help in some way.
Bill Wharton has blended brilliance and darkness, true-life stories, and the legends surrounding his outlaw mystique. The album mixes blues songs with genre-bending selections, however, it is “100% Pure” Sauce Boss! Mostly recorded in the one-man band format, “100% Pure” grooves hard and deep, with a very large sound. Plenty of bottom, with a voice begging for mercy, and a slide guitar that crawls out of the swamp like a twelve foot gator.
It’s happening! You can order the CD now at the new Sauce Boss Store. While you are there, you might want to order a case of of Liquid Summer hot sauce for the relatives or the company holiday parties. 180 gram Vinyl version of “100% Pure” should be available in early December.
And you can listen to three of the tunes from the album on the sauceboss.com website music player at the bottom of each page
Tour Dates Here. Hangin’ down South for November. Then Up to the Northland for my annual Holiday tour.
Sauce Boss Coffee Cake OK, y’all have been pesterin’ me for my fool proof coffee cake. Here’s the deal. Ya need to have a sifter. After you memorize this little formula, you can improvise whatever kind of bread/cake you want to have. Let’s go step by step.
Oven at 350 degrees
I take a cup of whole wheat flour and put it in the sifter .
Then I take:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of flax meal
And I put all that in the sifter. Then I put another cup (or more) of flour on top of the stuff and sift it all.
In a separate bowl I mix:
Walnuts
Fruit (for this coffee cake I used a banana, black currants, and applesauce)
1 can of pumpkin
Honey
Milk
Mix it all together and put in into a greased frying pan. Then I apply a heavy dusting of cinnamon, completely covering the top.
The vinyl is 180 grams of pure Sauce Boss The “100% Pure” Kickstarter project is half way there. Recorded mostly in the one man band format, with a large rig, the sound is grand. Y’all! Come and get it! The Kickstarter project ends on Sept 16. That’s not even two weeks away. Pre-order “100% Pure” autographed vinyl or CD HERE. Also, PLEASE, share it with your friends.
Here’s a video of “Peckerwood”, shot at the Big Top Chatauqua in Bayfield, Wisconsin. That gig rocks! Always nice to get a standing ovation. The video gives you an idea of what the album sounds like. Peckerwood is a mythical land somewhere in North Florida. Mythical because when you get there, it’s mainly in your mind.
This guy is the best. From the Sound Shop in Detroit, Michigan. Easy does it, Motor City Josh. In the studio, he’s way cool, super chill, and highly efficient. Thanks for making it easy for me in so many ways. That’s what I like about Detroit. Good people doin good work. It’s a tradition.
And thanks to Eric Ilasenko for getting the shots.
This album is gonna be a great package of my best work.
And thanks to all y’all, friends and family, for hangin’ with me all this time.
100% Pure is the latest opus from the one man band. A serious traveling, gumbo slingin, slide playin, drum kickin, high hat stompin, low down, gut bucket blues singin, romp through twelve original tunes. Straight out of the true life adventures of Bill Wharton, as I manifest my way through the ether that we call “existence”. Twelve songs, mostly autobiographical glimpses into the happenings and goings on, down in the counties that count.
You can get your copy of “100% Pure” through my Kickstarter program. Click HERE to order.
The album features my one man band format. This is a radical departure from any production I have ever done, but one that feels perfectly natural to me. One thing I know, it was the easiest burst of creativity I ever had. From start to finish, the whole thing swirled and coalesced onto the disc in Detroit at the Sound Shop Studio. Recorded and mixed by Motor City Josh Ford. We had a gooood time. It will knock you out. I got a lot of noise out of this little kit. Should be out in a few months on Vinyl, CD, and Download formats. Check out the Kickstarter video. If that doesn’t make you grin, you need to see a doctor.
Upcoming Shows: Takin it easy for the next couple of months so I can do the artwork and packaging. However, I’m excited to get back to a few of my faves and turn y’all on to the new tunes. First off, Friday, August 22nd, I’m hitting the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee. Hope to see some ol time friends and neighbors this coming weekend. Saturday August 23rd, I will be at another one of my haunts. The Alley in Sanford is always a stone cold hoot! I have a lot of friends in Sanford, being part of the Kingsnake Records family for so long. Here’s the tour schedule.
Noble Fish 45 E 14 Mile Road Clawson, Michigan 48017
248-585-2314 http://noblefish.com/
Yellowtail, Umbashi Plum, Veggiemaki, and Salmon Skin Handroll
Noble Fish is a Japanese market with a little tiny sushi bar in the back. I love down home sushi. It feels more authentic, like the simple and modest food known for increasing longevity, that the fishermen have been eating for centuries. The fish is verry fresh and the casual, relaxed atmosphere is fine with me.
The Packard Factory in Detroit. A beautiful ruin from a long time ago.
Hitting the road for July’s tour which takes me from Tennessee to the Midwest. I am having the time of my life with this One Man Band thing. It’s a HIGH ENERGY GUMBO SHOW. Check out the schedule
STIR THE GUMBO!!!!!!!!!! It’s official. the Gumbo Stirring Contest is on. And the baddest gumbo stirrin performance will net cool Sauce Boss schwag! So come on down and stir the gumbo.
From the very heights of the Peckerwood Swamps comes my recipe of the year…Liquid Summer Salad Dressing!
Really easy to make ,and it’s sooo tasty. Liquid Summer Hot Sauce makes anything taste good. Here it is:
Take a bottle of ketchup and use three or four ounces (or more)
Refill the bottle with Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, and shake it up
Drizzle over the salad, and do a very fine drizzle of honey also. (not too much)
That’s it!
F.A.R.M. CAFE
617 WEST KING ST. BOONE, NC 828-386-1000 http://farmcafe.org I was walking down King Street in Boone, North Carolina, and this busker dude with a long beard and and a mellow attitude says to me, ” This restaurant has some great food!”. He just volunteered that info. So I gave it a try. It turned out being more than just lunch. It was an “experience”. The whole vibe of the place is sharing and nurturing. An incredible departure from the fast food chain gang. Everyone in the place exuded a “This is where I want to be” attitude. The sign says it all. “Feed All Regardless of Means”. The F.A.R.M Cafe strives to be an all inclusive cafe serving people from all walks of life with dignity. With a 90% volunteer staff, anyone can work an hour on exchange for a meal. In addition to the volunteers, they have ” pay-it-forward” patrons who pay more than the suggested donation for their meal, which helps cover the cost of those who can not pay at all. These guys prepare some outrageously good meals with really fresh local ingredients. Prepared with love. Real. Good. Food.
Sauce Boss One Man Band Traveling Gumbo Showis hitting the road for Summer tours. Feelin good, feelin good. I’ve had some monster gigs. You take that 53 Telecaster, pump it through that 48 Fender amp, add a bass rig, mix in some drums, all simmered down over some funky swamp blues, and smothered with gumbo, and you got a recipe for the largest one-man band on the planet. It’s HUGE! AND..it feels SO good. It’s been incredibly rewarding, going out solo, and getting the love and respect from my audience. Thanks to all the venues, friends, and fans for believing in me. Right now, I’m on top of the world. CATCH ME HERE!
AND THIS SUMMER . . . you can get a FREE bottle of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce when you buy a Sauce Boss CD at the gig AND at the Sauce Boss Online Store. That’s right, for a limited time, we are coming down, coming way down. $15 will get you a CD and a FREE bottle of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. I don’t know how I can afford to do this. Better get in on this soon before I come to my senses.
This recipe is totally yum, it’s hard to believe that it is also healthy and vegan.
Pumpkin Banana Walnut Gingerbread Pancakes
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. fresh ground ginger
½ tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cloves
1/8 cup flax meal
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1 cup almond milk
2 tbsp. maple syrup
Sliced bananas
Walnuts
Sift the dry ingredients together
Mix the wet ingredients
Combine the wet and dry stuff
Pour the batter on a hot griddle and cover with bananas and walnuts
Serve with maple syrup
Over 1000 gigs sez it all.
Here’s my latest endorsement. Keal Cases. No, these guys did not pay me to say this. I’m just passing along information. This case has saved my amp’s life many times. One time it rolled off of a six foot high stage, and landed upside down, on the concrete. Testament to the quality of both the case, and also my 48 Fender Pro, the amp still worked perfectly.
Photo Rob ONeal at The Meeting of the Minds 2013 in key west, Florida
HO, HO, HO! Gettin to be that time of year when I make my annual holiday tour. I’m ready to hang with my friends in all my favorite places. Places where I have hung for a couple of decades. This time it’s going to be very special for me as I am setting out on a new adventure. On this tour I will be playing solo… So this is the Balls-to-the-Walls Bad Santa tour.
Get this. One-man-band style: high energy slide guitar, bass drum, hi-hat, and bass rig makes this show ROCK.
Here’s the press release: Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton will be bringing his high energy, gumbo stirring, slide-guitar-playing show to the north this December. For those who don’t know about the Sauce Boss, he brings his own hot sauce to the gig, and he cooks gumbo while smoking his slide guitar. At the end of the Show, everyone gets a bowl. Now he’s adding a new flavor to the “stew”. Sauce Boss not only plays slide, sings his tamales off, and makes gumbo … he also plays a drum kit with his feet. “You take that 53 Telecaster, pump it through that 48 Fender amp, add a bass rig, mix in some drums, all simmered down under some funky swamp blues, and smothered with gumbo, and you got a recipe for the largest one-man band on the planet.”
Hold my beer…watch this.
Holiday shopping at the Sauce Boss Store CDs, Hot Sauce, LPs, T-shirts, and Chef Hats.
The hot sauce for the new millennium.
Whatever you do, don’t forget your Liquid Summer Hot Sauce for yer holiday dinner. Just a dash on lox and bagel, does the trick. Put some in the stuffing, and you can mix it with brown sugar to make a glaze for that Christmas ham… Killing me.
Sourdough Nut and Fruit Muffins with NO Sugar These are the best tasting muffins I have ever made. This recipe needs no sugar. The fruit is all you need.
2 apples peeled and chopped
1 pear peeled and chopped ½ cup raisins 5 pineapple rings chopped (with juice) ¾ cup walnuts 1 cup applesauce 1 ½ cup sourdough starter 1 cup milk (I use soy milk) 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup bran flakes 2 level tbs baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon
Mix fruit, nuts and wet ingredients
Mix dry ingredients Mix everything together 350 degrees for 45 minutes in a greased muffin pan.
Sauce Boss at Baltimore MD Homeless Shelter
Twenty four years and 195,000 bowls ago I started this crazy gumbo crusade. Never charged a penny for my gumbo. Since 2003, I have spent some of my days off playing and cookin in homeless shelters, where I’ve shared my music and a meal with some great folks who happen to be down on their luck. The energy we give and the energy we get from this is incredible for us all. The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that in 2013 there are 633,782 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the US. 142,168 (22.1%) are children, 62,619 (13%) are veterans, and 269,991 (42.6%) are disabled and unable to work. Planet Gumbo is the non-profit organization whose mission is to bring sustenance in the form of a hearty meal and some uplifting music to soup kitchens and shelters all over the country. Next week I will be playing for the Childrens’s Home Society in West Virginia. Every year we ask for people to support the grassroots efforts of Planet Gumbo. Thanks in advance for your donation.
We are on our way to the Meeting of the Minds. My yearly trek to key west for the Parrothead event has become a tradition. Friday, November 1, headlining the festivities at the Casa Marina. Saturday afternoon, I have been invited to join in with the Coral Reefers for an unplugged set. I always look forward to connecting with familiar faces. For some, it will be our only meeting for another year. Down home, good fun. Gonna be off the chain. Phlocking crazy.
Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton brings his high energy, gumbo stirring, swamp funk to Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa on Friday November 8th. Florida born bluesman/chef Wharton rolls in from a summer of touring the Midwest, Northeast, and Canada. For those who don’t know about the Sauce Boss, he brings his own hot sauce to the gig, and he cooks gumbo while smoking his slide guitar. At the end of the Show, everyone gets a bowl. Now he adds some new flavors to the “stew”. Sauce Boss not only plays slide, sings his tamales off, makes gumbo, and feeds everybody… he will also be playing a drum kit with his feet. “You take that 53 Telecaster, pump it through that 48 Fender amp, add a bass rig, mix in some drums, all simmered down over some funky swamp blues, and smothered with gumbo, and you got a recipe for the largest one-man band on the planet.”
Getting dangerously close to the holiday season. Might need to also re-up yer Liquid Summer stash for stuffing yer stockings. I know that Aunt Edna is dying to get the “Live at the Green Parrot” CD. All that and more at the Sauce Boss Store.
Mango With Basil, and Cinnamon Perfectly ripe mango, gobs of fresh picked basil, and a dusting of that Vietnamese cinnamon…incredible.
Hard to go wrong if you are a foodie in Toronto.
Walking down the street, the sights, the smells, the magical seduction of the gratification, “Come on in, I’ll show yer tummy a goood time.” The whole process is extremely accessible in this town. The prices are good, and the quality is up. If you know what you’re doin, you’ll score big time. I remember, back when I was a glutton, I got two lobsters, cooked to perfection, for $16 in Chinatown. On this trip to Canada, I was primed and ready to find some authentic ethnic cuisine. So as I sauntered past the Kim Chi Korea House, I was struck by authentic look of the food. This time I found what I was looking for. Kim Chi Korea House is not down home. An efficient staff delivers the real deal to the table. Excellent service, reasonable price, and very good quality makes this place hop. I had to have the Kim Chi Stew in a stone hot pot. I was not disappointed.
Kim Chi Korea House
149 Dundas St. West, Toronto, ON M5G 1C5 416-599-1989
April 2013 @ The Moon Tallahassee, Florida Photo Bob O’Lary
Here’s the latest scoop on the street about that night on the Moon, along with some ancient history. Tour schedule —First stop: Terra Blues in Greenwich Village, then on to Niagara Falls Blues Festival, some favorite NE haunts, and the Port Credit Jazz and Blues Fest (Toronto). Then a mad dash down to Delray, and Pensacola Beaches.
Stumbled on this place in Ellicotville, NewYork
Ten miles out o’ town, the Griffis Sculpture Park. Between the way cool sculptures, you can graze on wild raspberries.
Talk about a forage on the highway!
Sauce Boss Store: CDs, Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, T-Shirts, Hats, Click Here.
Vegetarian Low Fat Pad Thai Noodles
OK, here’s one for all y’all who think that healthy food is bland, and tasteless, and no fun. The reason that some folks think that, is that they have had “healthy” food cooked by someone who can not really cook healthy food properly. Here ‘s a recipe that’s as flavorful as all get out.
Half pound tofu
Soy Sauce
Nutritional Yeast
1/4 pound snow peas or sugar snap peas
4 green onions, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 cup vegetable broth
½ pound of linguine sized rice noodles
½ cup powdered peanut butter (to get crazy healthy, I use PB2, which is PB without the oil)
Juice of 2 limes
¼ c Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Mung bean sprouts
Fresh cilantro
1. Cut tofu into ¼ inch slices, sprinkled with soy sauce and nutritional yeast, grilled until brown and then cut into bite-sized pieces
2. Put carrots, peas, and onions into vegetable broth and blanch just about two minutes and remove from pan
3. Cook noodles until al dente (about four minutes) and drain and rinse.
4. Mix peanut butter, lime juice, Liquid Summer hot sauce and broth in pan.
5. Add vegetables and tofu into peanut mixture.
6. Add noodles and stir it up.
7. Serve dish with bean sprouts and cilantro sprinkled on top.
Someday, when y’all are a bit older, I’ll tell ya the backline about that April Night on the Moon.
All American BBQ Fest in Pittsfield, PA, Erie, PA, Ellicottville, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Sharon, PA. Talk about STOMPIN grounds! Hear is the schedule
Downloads! For all y’all who are loading up your phone with blues for the beach, I know you love you some Sauce Boss for that road trip. 99 cent gets you a song. $9.99 buys you a whole album. iTunes or CD Baby. And if you want CDs or hot sauce, you can always get them at the Sauce Boss Store.
Whole Oats I’ve been doin this whole oat thing for a while. When I discovered steel cut oats, I was blown away with how much better they were than oat meal. When I began using whole oats, I was again blown away with how much better than steel cut oats, they were. Whole oats are to steel cut, as steel cut are to oat meal. So good. I mix the oats with brown rice for a very sticky, very tasty, and much healthier sushi. Really good. Then there’s Oat Cakes. Just mix the cooked oats with a little flour, a little flax meal, walnuts, and raisins. Make em into patties. Bake em on a cookie sheet. Super good. Oh, and then there’s the traditional oats for breakfast. Oats with raisins, and blackberries picked from the garden. The best.
Sauce Boss BBQ Hash As I promised all my Facebook friends, here’s my recipe for my Grand Daddy’s South Carolina Low Country BBQ Hash. Of course, I have put my own spin on the recipe with my Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. I have many fond memories of my grandfather, William Watts Wharton Sr., AKA “Pop”, used to take out his false teeth and scare the hell out of us little ones. He told war stories from World War I, hunting tales from the turn of the century Florida, and jokes for all the grand kids. Christmas at Mimi and Pop’s was the most magical of times with all the trimmings on a gorgeous tree, surrounded by presents, and an unforgettable feast . Sometimes he would make BBQ Hash, and we would pig out, till our little bellies were tight as ticks.
First, Smoke the Meat
Here’s how I make it:
2 Lb. beef chuck roast (or goat meat. Pop would sometimes use goat)
3 Lb. pork boneless Boston butt
Two 12 oz. bottles of Heinz Chili sauce
1/2 cup vinegar (or more if you like it tangy. Pop used 12 oz.)
3 Tbs honey
1/4 cup of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Trim excess fat from meat and smoke it in a charcoal smoker for 3 hours. Cut it up in one inch cubes, and cover with water in a large cast iron pot. Boil the meat until tender. Take the meat out and shred it discarding any bones or fat.
Put the meat back into the broth. Add vinegar, chile sauce, honey, and Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. Cook it down till the juice is almost all gone. Serve on a bun with a splash of Liquid Summer and a big slice of onion.
Make more than you need, ’cause you will always want more than you have.
This is what you need for eternal culinary bliss: Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. It comes in the original Datil and Habanero (extra hot) flavors. Get yours HERE.
The hot sauce for the new millennium.
Luigi’s Italian Restaurant
105 N Main St Akron, OH 44308 (330) 253-2999
In 1949, Nick Ciriello, the son of a cheese maker, bought a small steak house on North Main Street in Akron, Ohio. As it happened, the simple pasta and pizza recipes became more popular, and so the grill was shut down in favor of the authentic Italian bill of fare. Over 60 years later they are still crankin out the real deal pizza. This ain’t no disco, this ain’t no messin around. These guys know what’s up with the pepperoni. Luigi’s hit the big time in 1972 in Tom Batiuk’s comic strip Funky Winkerbean. Montoni’s Pizza, the local pizza parlor that Funky co-owned with Tony Montoni, is modeled after Luigi’s Restaurant. Luigi’s is the embodiment of everything Italian. Warm and friendly, accommodating, and very tasty.
Ohio, Detroit, North Carolina, St. Louis, Fayetteville, Little Rock. That’ll get us down the road. Here’s where.
Tex Mex bean salad and sashimi avocado with black cherry miso dressing
These two recipes will compliment your bbq picnic just fine. Don’t forget the Liquid Summer Hot Sauce!
For the bean salad, mix all together:
One can of pintos (Drain and Rinse)
One can of chick peas (Drain and Rinse)
1/2 cup minced celery (or more)
A little mess of fresh green beans steamed
One medium onion
One head of minced, then grilled garlic
Two ears of corn (Cut the corn off the cob)
One good dash of cumin
Two chopped jalapeños
½ cup chopped sweet pepper
Juice of two lemons
Three Tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (or more)
Fresh ground black pepper
Then peel and slice an avocado. I use fruit and miso paste to make the dressing. I like to use ripe persimmons. Just mix the miso and fruit together. This time there were no ripe persimmons to be had, so I used St. Dalfour Black Cherry Preserves. ( sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar. It’s real good.) Schmeer the dressing over the avocado.
Coming Soon. Detailed instructions of how to make my Grandaddy’s South Carolina BBQ Hash
Sanford (The Alley), Tampa (Skippers), Jammin’ Jambalaya Cajun Crawfish Jamboree at the one and only Florabama, then the Northeast and Midwest.Here’s the skinny on where we gonna be at when
Green Papaya Salad
1 small green papaya
2/3 cup roasted peanuts
2 tomatoes, cut up
4 cloves of garlic mashed and minced
Fresh cilantro chopped
2 hot peppers julienne
2 Tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (or more)
DRESSING:
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
Juice of two limes
Shred the Papaya with a grater
Crush the garlic and tomatoes
Mix all ingredients
Add dressing
Let it all marry for an hour or more
Lonnie Mack called Skipper’s “The club that washed ashore”. Now celebrating 32 smokin’ years, this venerable Tampa Bay landmark has grown from a small smokehouse takeout operation with a casual Sunday jam to a full-service restaurant and much-loved purveyor of world-class music. The architecture is a smorgasbord of “cracker” and islandy-Key West styles with overturned boats, wooden walkways, large murals dot the landscape while artfully rusted walls contain the sounds of revelry. In the Oyster Bar, a vintage moonshine still hangs over the bar.
Raw oysters, smoked mullet, gator tail, fish dip, beer boiled shrimp, black beans and rice, deviled crab, conch fritters, fried okra, and key lime pie, gives this place a real Florida feel. The list of performers who have played Skipper’s is a who’s who of music. And the dance floor is always…interpretive. We will be back to Skipper’s once more on Saturday, April 4th for your dining and dancing pleasure. Y’all come on down to Tampa, ya hear?!
New Years Eve 1989, I made gumbo on stage for the first time at a little place north of Tampa. 190,000 bowls of gumbo later, here we are. WOW! What a feeling. Servin up the gumbo night after night got me thinkin that there’s got to be a way to put some of this energy back into the community. So 10 years ago, I discovered Planet Gumbo. A super cool place to dwell. Now I live on Planet Gumbo. I have always liked to share. However on Planet Gumbo, sharing is a way of life. Now when we’re out on the road with a day off, we take the gumbo show to a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. We have shared a meal and some uplifting music with good people in shelters all over the country. And the good people have shared their stories with us.
Please share this story with your friends in your social networks. And follow us on Planet Gumbo’s Facebook page.
Here’s a FREE mp3 of my version of “Goin Back To Florida” from my 2004 CD “Come and Get It”, a song originally done by Bumble Bee Slim in 1937.
Wet Willie in yer ear, and Sauce boss in yer tummy!
Hangin in FLA: Orlando, Tampa. Englewood. Bradenton, Jupiter, Brooksville, Deland, Tallahassee, Sanford, and back to Tampa.
Please “Like” me on Facebook.
Everybody wants to be liked. Me too. If you dig the Sauce Boss, go to my page and “Like” me. If you really dig the Sauce Boss, Go to my page and “Like ” me, then comment, “Like, Like, Likey, Like”. Or you can just comment using my new acronym. LLLL. If you do this, I will LMAO.
Win a Case of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce!
Enter your favorite way to use my Liquid Summer Hot Sauce on the Contest Event on Sauce Boss Facebook Page, and on March 31, 2013, I will choose the top ten. My favorite entry will get a free case of hot sauce sent anywhere in the continental US. First runner up gets two bottles of sauce and a “Recipes” multimedia CD, second runner up gets a bottle of hot sauce and a “Recipes” CD. Top entries 4-10 will each receive a free download of “Live at the Green Parrot”. Comment there as many times as you like; however, entries must appear on this event to be considered. In case of duplicate entries, first one gets it. The top ten uses will be featured in the “Sauce Boss Blog”.
Jalapeño Sourdough Cornbread Making sourdough bread is a process that takes time. Some recipes require lots of time. However there are some recipes that depend upon the sourdough more for flavor than leavening. Like the sourdough banana pancakes I like to make. Here’s a recipe that uses a sponge for flavor and a little rise. It’s easy to make. And soo tasty. I got my starter from Linda C. Wilbourne. A very cool, accessible baker, who shares her recipes. She is all things sourdough. She originally got her strain from San Francisco.
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup of milk
2 tbs flax meal
1 and 1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
5 jalapenos diced
1 small onion diced
½ cup corn
2 tbs honey
Mix the starter, flour, water, milk, and flax, and let it sit for four or five hours in in a warm place (up to 85 degrees). I sometimes leave it overnight. This will be your sponge.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Saute the peppers, onion, and corn, then mix in the honey. For this recipe, I used dark, unfiltered honey. It’s really tastes great, and it gives the bread a beautiful tawny color.
Mix 1 cup of flour with soda, and salt
Combine wet and dry ingredients
Lightly oil a frying pan and add ¼ cup cornmeal
Shake it , coating the bottom with the meal
Add the bread mixture and bake for 30 minutes or till golden brown
Parking lot in front of S & W Automotive Buffalo, NY
Poetry in the Parking Lot This may seem like a waste of time, a completely dull and dreary hassle to wade through until your life resumes. This may seem like adolescent drivel, an old man’s ramble, an inconvenience, a contrivance of little or no value, but I think not. I call it poetry in the parking lot. Like the twitch of the discount liquor salesman’s moustache, like the journey of a flea, like the boot heel print in the snow, fifty five gallon drums, silent, waiting. Like the silent howl never heard, way down in the counties that don’t count. In the backyards of the harbors, in the empty lots, in the delapidated residence across the street, a for sale sign in the window. Why bother with the winter’s cough, a nose full of snot? Because it’s poetry in the parking lot.
Mardi Gras! And we’re takin it all the way to New York City. Along with Sarver, PA, DuBois, Ellicottville, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Sharon, PA. Then we high tail it back to Fla. for our annual show at the International Fiddler Crab Festival in Steinhatchee. Tour info here. .
Wed. Feb.6 we are in Greenwich Village at Terra Blues. If you live in the city, or close by, come join us for a night of Blues and Gumbo. If you have friends or relatives in or near the city, please pass the word to them. Send them to my website sauceboss.com. That will let them know what they are in for.
The band is wickedly rockin these days. This is gonna be a good one.
Reservations: terrablues@aol.com 212-777-7776 (after 5 pm)
For your valentine: any CD and two bottles of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce.
Mardi Gras is the perfect time for gumbo. Over the last twenty two years, I have fed over 185,000 people for free. Never charged a penny for my gumbo. It’s all part of my message of sharing. We are all a great big gumbo. African slaves brought the okra (gumbo) to the new world. American natives supplied the file’ powder (sassafras). Those crazy french guys brought the roux. Spanish, Italians, and Germans, also had influences on the dish. It’s not just a recipe in a book. It’s many cultures mixing like the ingredients in the pot. Many different ingredients came together to make something nourishing and comforting. If we celebrate our differences, and concentrate on what we have in common, then, we will make this rainbow of a gumbo JUMP AND SHOUT!
Photo: Joe Sekora
This recipe feeds 8-12 people.
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oil
1 chicken, cooked and de-boned
1 gallon of chicken stock
2 large onions
2 large green peppers
1/2 cup LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE
1 pound smoked sausage
2 medium zucchini
1 pound okra
1 pound of shrimp
1 pint of oysters
1 pound of crawdads
Make a roux: mix 2 cups of flour into 1 1/2 cups hot oil. Cook on high, stirring constantly until brown. Add the chicken, chicken stock, onions, and green peppers. Bring to a boil, then simmer down. Add salt to taste and 1/2 cup of . . . (drum roll) BILL WHARTON’S LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE. Slice and add: 1 pound of smoked sausage, 2 medium zucchini, and 1 pound of okra. When the okra is done, bring the gumbo to a rolling boil and add shrimp, oysters, and crawdads. Cook for 3 minutes, or until shrimp are just barely cooked. Serve over rice and splash with more Liquid Summer Hot Sauce.
2013 IS HERE!
And the Sauce Boss is still kickin hard.
Never thought I would get this far
I’ve been takin it on the arm
Got myself a cosmic credit card
Couple of times I almost bought the farm
From “Somewhere Down the Road”
That’s where I’m goin. Where the weather suits my clothes. Starting at Sundowners for the annual Key Largo Food and Wine Festival, then to Margaritaville in key west for a week of fun. Then way up north to Sarasota and Tampa for a couple of solo gigs. I will be singing in the shade of the coconut palms. Down by the sea.
My favorite recipe from 2012
Key Lime Banana Ice Cream 6 frozen bananas chopped
3 key limes
3 oz plain yogurt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Juice the limes and dump all the ingredients into a food processor
Sauce Boss Opens for Willie Nelson 2010 at the Moon in Tallahassee
Sauce Boss Solo Couple of years ago, an old friend needed a front act for a show in Tallahassee. There was not enough time to set up a whole band, so he wanted a solo performer. The headliner was Willie Nelson. Although I had not performed solo in more than a decade, I took the gig, and I had a great time. The response was mega, as the audience was well lubricated, and I was on top of my game. I blew the roof off the place. Willie’s sister was back stage asking, “Who is that guy?” The crowd was in my hipsack. I was feeling pretty sporty. So now I have booked a few solo dates to let me stretch out a little bit. The first solo date will be Jan. 25th at the Myakka River State Park near Sarasota for their Moon over Myakka music series. The next is The following evening at The Yard in Tampa, Florida. Both dates promise to be high energy Sauce Boss Gumbo Shows. I’m fixin to make some noise.
Munchies 4:20 Cafe 6639 Superior Ave. Gulf Gate Village, FL 941-929-9893 Munchies420cafe.com
“Once upon a time, there were two guys who came home from the bar; and yes…they wanted food. There was nothing to eat around the house, and no one delivered at such late hours. They went to bed hungry, and then…”
So began the saga of Munchies 4:20 Cafe. From the portions served in this place, I thought the cook musta been high on meatballs. Monster sandwiches, fat, fat, wraps, hellaciously hot wings, foot longs, super subs, gimongous breakfasts, and obscene burgers, make this restaurant perfect for those who have imbibed whatever. And their timing is perfect. They open at 4:20 pm and close at 4:20 am…
Hmmmmmm…
It’s that time again. December is hitting me from behind. Hard to believe another year has passed. But we have one more tour before we bid 2012 adieu. We will be hitting all our old haunts on this tour. Here’s the scoop on our Baaaad Santa Tour.
Win a case of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce.
Here’s how to do it. Go to the Sauce Boss Facebook page and “Like” it. Post your guess as to what my best recipe of the year is. If you are the first to guess it correctly, you will receive a case of Liquid Summer in time to stuff yer stocking. Contest ends Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 at 11:59 pm EST.
My Grandmother used to make these sweet potatoes in oranges. She would put a marshmallow on top of each of them and bake em. This is my own version of “Mimi’s Sweet Potato Oranges”.
3 large sweet Potatoes
6 oranges
6 oz. soft tofu
Dash of each: Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves
3 tbls maple syrup
Bake or wave the potatoes. Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Drink all but 1/2 cup of the juice. Mash the juice with the rest of the ingredients, and put the mixture in the orange shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes.
Hunan Chinese Restaurant
386-328-0222 10 Eastgate Square Hwy 17 South East Palatka, FL 32131 Mon–Thurs: 11 am-9:30 pm Fri-Sat: 11am-10:30 pm Sun: 12 pm-9pm Lunch Special – 11 am-3 pm
Here’s a good one. I love it when I find a modest, out of the way place with true artisans doing what they love to do, and doing it soooo well. Our server, Linda was super attentive, and perfectly capable of making sure that our “special” dietary needs were met. Every dish from the kitchen was top notch and the portions were grand. Steamed dumplings. At most restaurants ya get six little teasers. I guess that’s why they call em appetizers. But at Hunan, there’s enough to fill up two people, never mind the entree. Every dish we had was more than enough. And the whole vibe and attitude was one of facilitating a great meal. It’s the difference between having a job, and doing your life’s work. The work that you were meant to do. The work that make’s you happy and prosperous in riches beyond money. Thank you Linda and you able partner in the kitchen for making our meal, our evening, and our lives better.
OK, I hope all you parrotheads are ready to PARTY at the Parrot. We are coming to get ya. Here’s a little laid back post for all y’all. We are gearing up for the meeting of the minds. Making our way down through Florida and ending up in key west. So why don’t y’all come on down and join us. We hit Sanford, Sebastian, and Delray Beach, with Planet Gumbo gigs in Lake Worth and Miami. Then on to the Green Parrot. Here’s the skinny on the gigs.
The perfect pick me up is the Liquid Summer Bloody Mary. No time to feel hung over when you have “minds” to meet.
LIQUID SUMMER MAKES THE BEST BLOODY MARY…EVER!
1 cup V-8
1 teaspoon LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE
1 teaspoon Horseradish
Dash of celery salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
A couple shots of vodka
Mix ingredients together and pour into a glass of ice.
Fresh stalk of celery and olives
Show your sauciness with the Sauce Boss chef hat. The perfect attire for the food filled fun to be had in key west, or how bout Saturday nite in the boudoir. Just wear the hat with nothing else. It is guaranteed. We are holding a bunch of them for key west shows. If you can’t make the show, buy em at the Sauce Boss Store.
After a night of heavy meeting of minds, the place to go is Sandy’s Cafe. Amazing cuban sandwiches, and my favorite, the media noche. Scrumpdillieshish!
1026 White Street Key West, FL 33040 (305) 295-0159
When I think of all the places we went this summer it gives me a warmth like a swig o that ol Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Now we are fixin to hit it for the Fall. We will be in: Tallahassee, Palatka, Lake Worth (Blues, Brews, and BBQs), Sanford, Sebastian, Delray Beach, Key West (Meeting of the Minds), Dunedin, Atlanta.HERE’S tour info
Liquid Summer
It’s getting on toward the holiday season. You need a case of Liquid Summer. Time to stuff your stocking. Thanksgiving with out Liquid Summer Hot Sauce? I can’t imagine how that would be. A dark and dreary stuffing.
Liquid Summer will change your life! It will make all your meals jump up and kiss you. Don’t be caught without a supply. Lively up yourself. Git down wid da hot stuff. Order yours HERE.
We will return to Darwin’s in Marietta, Georgia on Friday, November 16th, so mark yer calendar. Been too long since I’ve seen all you guys from way up north in HotLanta. Can’t wait!
Very Fresh Mushrooms
So my son, Floyd, gave me some Chanterelle mushrooms that he found, and I made a stir fry.
Saute:
Half a head of garlic with a small onion, one jalapeño, and six Aji Dulce peppers
Add:
One tbs honey, three tbs rice vinegar, a splash of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, a few broccoli buds, half a cup of zucchini, one small bok choy, pineapple, chanterelle mushrooms, and Thai basil
I served it over a combination of brown rice and whole oats, with sushi on the side.
Enchiladas with beans and rice at a very reasonable price.
El Mercadito 863-533-4600 1455 Hwy 17 South, Bartow, FL
If you find yourself in South Central Florida around lunchtime, check out El Mercadito. It’s is a huge cavern of a Latin market with a little breakfast/lunch café in one corner. The staff is very hospitable, and ready to deliver a generous count of righteously delectable Mexican cuisine at a super reasonable price. Tacos -$1.25. Tostados – $2. Burritos – $5. Platters – $6.50. Tortas – $4. The antithesis of the Taco Bell gut bomb that has given Mexican food a somewhat sullied reputation. It’s light and flavorful, and not too greasy, not too gloppy. It’s food made by the Mexican Grandmother I never had. This food is GOOD. The Sauce Boss said so.
Here”s what I grew in my yard. The biggest fig I ever saw, just hangin on the vine.I always have to put a little cream cheese and a walnut on top of these sweet things. Yummmm.
Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Sharon, Rochester, Syracuse, Hartford, Grasonville, Erie. Key Largo and Lake Worth FL, and then back to festivals in New Hampshire and New York. Here’s where we’ll be.The Sauce Boss Trio is KILLING every where we go! In this review of our last show at Skippers Smokehouse in Tampa. Florida, the writer says, “. . . I can’t imagine I will ever see another show that matches that of The Sauce Boss.” Here’s a link to the whole story. http://www.onemusicbox.com/bill-wharton-the-sauce-boss-skippers-smokehouse-tampa-fl/
John Hart, Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton, Justin Headley in Chicago
Fat Free Sketti Sauce
Makes ya feel gooood! Here’s how I do it these days:
Lots of onions, a head and a half of garlic, and some wax peppers, (grown from seeds smuggled out of Sarajevo by a friend of mine). Tomatoes from Italy. Jalapeños, mushrooms, and little rounds of asian eggplant, mucho fresh basil and plenty of oregano (whole leaves from the garden). A bay leaf for flavor, and also to determine who washes the dishes.
Oh, my gosh! I forgot to tell you. I also used my hot sauce. The one and only Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. On Sale HERE!
New Sauce Boss Swag –Create your one of a kind Sauce Boss shirt with the new Poster Art at Cafe Press. Tons of styles to choose from in sizes from infants to XXXXL. Buttons and magnets and mugs and bags too. And if you want to print a free Sauce Boss poster, just go to the Sauce Boss Website and print your own. Thanks so much to Eric Ilasenko for the use of his great photo!
Laughing Seed Café
40 Wall St. Asheville, NC 28801 828-252-3445
Open every day except Tuesday
Organic, Seasonal, Farm to Table Vegetarian Cuisine With an International Flair Locally sourced ingredients from area farms
I’ve eaten at the Laughing Seed twice, and both times I ordered the same thing. The hemp seed garden burger. Good, good, good. Nestled downtown in Ashville, NC, with a gaggle of boisterous entrepreneurial foodie types, cookin a wide variety of nouvelleish bill of fair, this one stands out for healthy lunch and dinner choices.
Hearty, healthy, and really tasty!
I’m really getting into the veggies!
Yep, it’s great.! Vegetables make me feel so much better. I made sourdough banana rasin muffins, sweet potatoes, beans with mushrooms and onions, turnip greens, and a salad made with homegrown organic tomatoes, cukes, corn, olives stuffed with garlic, and capers. I then cut flowers for the table, and proceeded to CHOW DOWN! It feels so good to create nice stuff.
Local organic produce, and fresh baked bread makes this vegetarian meal delicious.
“Live at the Green Parrot” got up to # 7on the Florida Roots Music Report charts thanks to great radio promotion by Frank Roszak. But PLEASE call up your local public radio station’s blues DJ and request “Killer Tone” by the Sauce Boss to help us keep getting more airplay. Here’s a list of some of the blues shows all over the world that are already playing cuts from “Live “: BoomBoom Roadhouse Vinkovci, Croatia; 3Way FM Jusblooz, Warnambool, Australia; All Blues 558, France; Alternate Root, ASFM, Netherlands; Bendeboue Blues 217, France; Blues Cafe, Stevens Point WI, Blues Deluxe (Syndicated on 107 Stations) US; Blues Doctor, Toronto, Canada; Blues Palace KMHD, Portland OR; Bluezy, Ridderkerk, The Netherlands; CFRO, Vancouver, Canada; Chico News, Chico, CA; CHMR, St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada; CJRD, Bellerose, Canada; CKIA, Basseville QB Canada; CKUT, Montreal, Canada; Cross’ Blues, Gap, France; Dave’s Blues Mix Star FM, Australia; Emission Pulsions, Herserange, France; Full Time Blues, Louisville KY; GTFM Blues Wales, Pontypridd, UK; Hotel Du Blues CKUT, Montreal, Canada; Jazz and Blues Tour, Alphen aan de Rijn, The Netherlands; Jazz Jazz, Germany; KAFM, Grand Junction CO; KAOS, Olympia WA; KBRZ, Houston TX; KCOR, Kansas City MO; KFAI, Minneapolis MN; KFSR, Fresno CA; KINK FM, Portland OR; KIPO, Honolulu HI; KKJZ, Long Beach, CA; KMBH, Harlingen TX; KMCE, Willits CA; KMXT, Kodiak AK; KSPQ, White Plains MO; KTEP,El Paso TX; KTUH, Honolulu HI; KWCW, Walla Walla WA; KXCI, Tucson AZ; Maxwell St (Terremarine FM), Echillais, France; Midnight Flyer, Norman Davis; Mystery Train, Italy; Nashville Blues Society, Nashville TN; Radio Blues Intense, Correze France; Radio Canut, Lyon, France; Radio Carcomo, Madrid, Spain; Radio Coteaux, Saint-Blancard, France; Radio Holstebro, Holstebro, Denmark; Radio Quartz, Mons, Belgium; Rock Times, Germany; CKRL, Quebec, Canada; Smokestack Lightning (Syndicated on 10+ stations), Orlando FL; Sweet Home Chicago Radio 666, France; The World of Blues.com (April 11, 2012), Internet; WBGU, Bowling Green KY; WFPK Louisville KY; WCMC, Raleigh NC; WCNI, New London CT; WCVF, Fredonia, NY; WDPS, Dayton OH; WDST, Woodstock NY; WDVX, Knoxville TN; WFHB, Bloomington IN; WFPK, Fort Mill SC; WGLT, Normal IL; WHUS Storrs CT; Wildman Steve, Auburn AL; WKCC, Kankakee IL; WMEB, Orono, ME; WMRW, Warren VT; WMWV, Conway NH; WQLN Erie PA; WRFG, Atlanta GA; WUMA, Amherst MA; WWCU, Cullowhee, NC; WWNT, Dothan AL; WXCI, Danbury CT, XM Radio on BB’s Bluesville station
Schedule Tampa, Orlando, Leesburg, Orange Beach, Mobile,
Ashland, VA, D.C., and North Carolina.
Album release parties as we go. Please join us.
Aw right! Live is HERE! Get it NOW! Today–April 24–is the official release date of “Live at the Green Parrot”. Now available for your listening pleasure, you can hear it and order it on CDBaby and I-Tunes. You can also buy it at the Sauce Boss Store. The early buzz have been great, beyond all expectations. It already made #8 in the Roots Music Charts in Florida. This one is over the top, out the box, down the street, and completely gonzo. I hope y’all enjoy it. Here are a few reviews:
And from the German magazine, Jazz Jazz:
“…` he plays somewhere between JB Hutto, ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin. In combination, this is completely nuts unique and wonderful. So far one of the most remarkable live albums of 2012”
After a lifetime of music, travel, and food, over a million miles on the road, over 180,000 bowls of gumbo served for free, thousands of gigs, tons of hot sauce, over a hundred original songs on thirteen albums, scores of free concerts at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, after all this . . . it’s time for a live album. Recorded in November 2011 in Key West, Florida, “Live at the Green Parrot” is definitive Sauce Boss. It’s edgy, slide guitar, rockin blues grooves, with a large serving of fun in the Sauce Boss tradition. These songs come straight out of the life of a true character, adventurer, raconteur, and poet. Come and get it.
Sauce Boss- Guitar & Vocals
John Hart – Guitar
Jassen Wilber – Bass
Justin Headley – Drums
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE: call your favorite Blues DJ and request a cut from “Live at the Green Parrot”. Time’s a wasting’! Betcha ya they have a copy already. We just sent out over 600 CDs to radio stations all over the US and in Europe and South America.
THE GOOG IS OUT TO GETCHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s right, Brother. That’s right, Sister. Google knows what yer thinkin at this very moment. Just the fact that you’re reading this message could very well lead to a monstrous inconvenience. When the “powers that be” find out that you ….well…I’m just sayin…just because I’m paranoid…What I mean is…When the Goog finds out what you are doing, yer liable to end up in hot water.
What are you doing, and why are you here?
What are you doing, and why are you here?
What are you doing, and why are you here?
What are you doing, and why are you here?
CAFÉ ACADIA 337-942-7645 732 SOUTH UNION, OPELOUSAS, LA
You ride three or four hundred miles on two wheels, ya get hongry for some real food that will hang with ya for a good long while. Lucky me, I just happened to be passin through Opelousas round about dinner time and so I stopped for fuel for me and machine. For the real deal Acadian cuisine, this is the place. I tried the Catfish Gerald – grilled catfish covered in etoufee. Lunch specials are from around six to nine dollars. There’s plenty to choose from on the menu. Steak, all manner of seafood, po-boys, burgers, salads, and the typical Cajun Creole bill of fare. Etoufee on top of a ribeye will keep you going all afternoon, and into the evening. Hey Laba’!
Machine thirsty, stomach growling. Had to take a break from the road on a 700 mile ride. Recharge with some authentic Cajun cookin. SWEEEET!
ORDER YOURS HERE. You’re gonna want one cause it’s HOT! A live show with a gumbo-slinging swagger that only the Sauce Boss can deliver. After a lifetime of music, travel, and food, over a million miles on the road, over 180,000 bowls of gumbo served for free, thousands of gigs, tons of hot sauce, over a hundred original songs on thirteen albums, scores of free concerts at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, after all this . . . it’s time for a live album. Recorded in November 2011 in Key West, Florida, “Live at the Green Parrot” is definitive Sauce Boss. It’s edgy, slide guitar, rockin blues grooves, with a large side of fun in the Sauce Boss tradition. These songs come straight out of the life of a true character, adventurer, raconteur, and poet. Come and get it.
UPCOMING SHOWSTallahassee, Pensacola Beach, Tampa (CD Release Party at Skippers), Sanford, Leesburg, Orange Beach, Mobile, Ashland, VA, and D.C.
Green Curry With Vegetables
Here’s a really healthy and hearty meal that’s also really easy to make. Coconut water
Bok choy
Green beans
Mushrooms
Grilled Tofu
Onions
1 heaping tbls green curry paste
1/4 cup of Peanut butter
2 tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
1 tbs honey
Brown rice
Cut up all the veggies and saute in 1/2 cup of coconut water in a wok. Add tofu.
Sauce: Mix peanut butter with a little coconut water, honey, Liquid Summer, and curry paste
Add the sauce to the veggie mixture and simmer for a minute or so. Serve over brown rice.
Robert Is Here
19200 SW 34th St. Homestead, FL 33034
fresh@robertishere.com
305-246-1592
8 AM to 7 PM
Closed Sept. and Oct.
When Robert was six years old, his father set him down with some cucumbers to sell by the side of the road. Nobody bought. So the next day he put a sign on the table that said, “Robert Is Here”. Within a few hours, the cukes were gone. Fast forward to 2012 and Robert is still selling cucumbers at the road side stand in Homestead, Florida. However since that time way back when, Robert Is Here has blossomed into an incredible cornucopia of a fruit market. On yer way to key west you’d do yerself a favor by stopping and loading up on papayas, passion fruit, mangos, jack fruit, sopodilla, bananas, oranges, guavas, sapote, a plethora of tropical fruit not found in key west. They have cold coconuts that they drill a hole and stick a straw in for a refreshing healthful beverage. These guys just love sharing good food with folks. So on the way to the keys, I stop to see what’s up at Robert Is Here.
Kickstart the Sauce Boss Live Album. Right Here! Right Now!
Now’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of a great new project we are working on: Sauce Boss Live at the Green Parrot. Check out the video at Kickstarter. It’s a riot! It’s the Sauce Boss run amok. It’s a guitar that had to be bought from money that was supposed to finish the project. It’s the best of three nights of recording at the Green Parrot in key west. It’s rewards up the yin yang. Act now and be among the first to receive a copy of what we have all been waiting for: a live CD that really shows what the Sauce Boss is all about. Favorite songs, new songs, the gumbo show, and the grand finale soul-shouting picnic of rock and roll brotherhood. Rewards go from $5 to $500. Plenty to choose from–but time is of the essence. Deadline to get in on the fun is February 3.
January and February has us hanging with our homies down in sunny FLA. Largo, Bradenton, key west, Orlando, Citrus Hills, Delray Beach, Steinhatchee, Bunnell, and Cocoa. Come on down to the gig and check out the new songs and the new band.
We have done this December tour annually for the last twenty one, and we are excited to see friends in some old haunts. Every year we are thankful for all of our friends and people who appreciate what we do. We are also very grateful for the donations we receive in the gumbo pot at our performances for Planet Gumbo. The annual fund-raising campaign for Planet Gumbo (our 501c3 nonprofit foundation) which also helps to cover some of the costs of bringing Sauce Boss shows to homeless shelters and soup kitchens is just about to kickoff AARP honored us by sending NY film crews to our homeless shelter show in St Louis and airing the spot in 2011 on their national PBS TV show “My Generation”. Planet Gumbo is truly a grassroots effort. If you would like to be a Planeteer and make a tax-deductible donation to be a part of our cause, please visit http://planetgumbo.org. You can also watch the “My Generation” video clip there
Datil Peppers
For perfect stocking stuffers: Get a mixed case of Liquid Summer Datil and Habanero at the Sauce Boss Store. Time to get the presents together. T shirts, hats, CDs, hot sauce, LPs, for your one stop Sauce Boss shop. Check out these Datil Peppers. They will do you RIGHT! They’re in every bottle of Liquid Summer Datil Hot Sauce
Butternut Squash Soup with Jicama Slaw
1 medium Butternut squash, steamed whole (about 40 minutes)
1 cup soy milk
1 cup vegetable broth
I tsp agave syrup
1 four-ounce can chopped green chiles
1 tbls Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
After the squash is steamed, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds and discard. Scoop out the cooked squash and place in a blender with the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Place the soup into a saucepan and warm it up to desired temperature.
One half-pound jicama, peeled and cut into ¼ inch cubes.
2 carrots grated
¼ cup raisins
Juice of one-half of a lemon
2 very ripe persimmons, mashed into the mixture
BLUES CITY DELI 314-773-8225 http://www.bluescitycafe.com 2438 MCNAIR AVE. ST. LOUIS, MO 63104
Mon. – Sat. 11 AM – 4 PM Thurs – 11AM – 8 PM
Totally cool. A deli with the blues. Kim Wilson was playing there the week I stopped in for lunch…for free. This tiny deli is run by a player himself with a serious ear for the blues. That’s the way it goes in old St. Louie. The whole town is hip to high quality music and food. Muffulettas and po-boys share the menu with Italian subs, BBQ, pastrami, and the 1904 Worlds Fair Chili Dog. The specials are out of this world. Finest quality ingredients put together by some real nice folks in an atmosphere of serious blues memorabilia makes this place a must for lunch in St. Louie.
NOTE: Our date in Pensacola has been changed from Saturday Oct 22 to Friday Oct. 21.
New T Shirts now available. Are you tired of the same old politics? Make a difference. Wear the Sauce Boss 2012 t shirt to show your solidarity with the Gumbo Party.
You know you need one of these too.
Oyster Season is here!
In Florida, we tend to shy away from oysters harvested in months with out an “r”. Last week I went to the mountain in terms of eating oysters. (No, I wasn’t eating mountain oysters, I was eating Apalachicola oysters). Apalachicola oysters are renowned the world over for good reason. They are that good. At the Franklin County Oyster Fest they were fifty cents each. So what was I to do? HAVE SOME. What a great time jammin on the beach, eatin oysters, good company. Life is good.
Love that Florida Seafood!
Oyster Cocktail Sauce
1 cup of Ketchup
Juice of a lemon
2 tbsp horseradish
2 tbls Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (or more)…(lots more)….(Time to load up for the holidaze.)
OR…You could just use it straight out of the bottle on yer oyster. Man, that’s gooood.
Christie’s Pub 3261 S. 13th Milwaukee, WI 53215 414-672-3500
In 1954 Harry and Martha opened the doors to Christie’s. Today when you walk through the front door, it’s like stepping through a portal for time travel. The same pictures hang on the walls, the same counter, the same mirror in the men’s room, basically the same place. The kitchen has been modernized, but the pub has a serious retro vibe. Amazingly well preserved. Jason, son of Harry and Martha runs the place now. Martha’s still doing stuff around the kitchen. (Making dessert, doin the dishes, helping out.) It does a body good to see a family endeavor survive. When I went to Christie’s, the chef was ready to accommodate my crazy diet requests, and the result was mighty tasty. A little whole wheat pasta, with marinara sauce and grilled eggplant, with a delicious salad, and a glass of red wine. YUMMM!
Last week I was mowing the grass and each time I passed my fig tree, I would reach up and grab a fresh, juicy, succulent fig. It’s that time of year and it’s great to have fruit trees in your yard. It’s like free food.
FETA FIGS AND DATES Slice the figs in half
Fill with feta cheese
place a walnut on top
Slice the dates enough to remove the seed
Fill the date with feta or cream cheese
“Andouille is what you need.” Or so goes the diddy from my last CD. Here’s an mp3 of “Andouille” from Hot n Heavy. But there’s truth to the little tune about the Cajun delicacy. Sometimes, nothing else will do. Say you got your red beans cookin, and you need some flavor, just a few slices of that spicy Louisana sausage will make dem beans and rice jump up and sing, “halleluiah!”. Savoie’s has been putting out the andouille since 1949. Along with pork, or beef, or turkey sausage, they have pork and alligator sausage, as well as pork and venison sausage, all smoked to perfection. Then you got yer boudin. And yer tasso, yer sliced pickled pork, yer seafood pies, gumbo, etoufee, and don’t forget about the roux. Made in big cast iron pots, it’s all about the taste. These guys know how to get the flavor, and they do not cut corners just to make a buck. At Savoie’s they have been doing a family operation for over sixty years. Here’s what they say about their product. “We use only the finest cuts of meats, poultry, or seafood, and blend in special Cajun seasonings based on garlic, bell pepper, parsley and onion tops, which we Cajuns are noted for. Our cooks develop innovative yet traditional and affordable family foods, using the recipes of our cultural origin.”
I went there. Rode my bike to Opelousas, walked in and said, “I’ve been wanting to meet y’all.” They were as nice as they could be, and down home. Just folks making dinner. And after using their real Cajun products for more than a decade, I can say, “Yes, this is the real deal”. And the good thing is they ship all over the country. Call em up, get some andouille, and tell em that Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton sent ya.
Sauce Boss & the Ingredients on top of the dugout at Akron Aeros game
We are kicking off our summer with a trip to Key West, Destin, Wisconsin, and Delray Beach. Then we’re headed up to the North East. Here’s the schedule.
Here comes a wild and crazy Summer. We are off to new places, as well as our old haunts. chompin at the bit to see some miles. The new line up is the best yet. See ya down the road, and don’t forget…Keep COOKIN!
I thought I was cool when I grabbed a beer bottle and played slide guitar with it. This guy puts me to shame. Check out Danny Gatton with bottle and towel
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfBF4rr7FiA
“It looks like . . .Fudge!”
Roux
What’s the first thing a Cajun cook does when he goes to make coffee? Make a roux. An exaggeration, but not too far off the mark, there’s a lot of roux makin goin on in Loosiana. Transplanted from France, the roux underwent some changes. I learned to make roux (and gumbo) from Shirley Neal. She’s Kenny Neal’s mom and Raful Neal’s wife. The Neal family is from Baton Rouge. That Baton Rouge roux is much darker than its French counterpart. Roasted to a rich mahogany to give that smokey flavor. When I cooked gumbo for two weeks at Le Meridien in Paris, the chef who made the roux for me looked at me in absolute horror when I compared the color of my roux to a dark ceramic bean casserole dish. Le Meridien was a trip. There are five restaurants in that hotel. A sushi bar, their own bakery, butcher shop, and the top dog restaurant has a menu with no prices on it. So little ol Sauce Boss (you can just call me “Cornbread”) is telling this five star chef, “NO, NO, NO, it’s gotta be very dark. LOL!
So here’s how I make my roux. I use a very large cast iron frying pan. I have also used a wok. Put the oil in and turn it all the way up. Start stirring in the flour a little bit at a time. I do 3 parts flour to two parts oil. I stir constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan as I go. Twenty to thirty minutes later I have a mocha colored pan full of glop. I generally turn off the flame at this time, and let it cool a bit. It will darken to a milk chocolate color when it’s cool. Or you could keep cooking till it’s darker. I usually make a big batch of it, and use some immediately, putting some on the shelf for later use. This cuts my roux making time in half or a third, or fourth, depending on how much I make. You can also freeze it to keep it longer.
SONNY’S DELI
494 LANDING RD. ROCHESTER, NY 14625 585-288-7820
When I walked into Sonny’s Deli in Rochester, New York, Rick was makin the pizzas from scratch. I explained my crazy diet requirements, and he was all about accommodating me. What a great pizza! Sonny’s is a classic American Deli with your typical bill of fare. In addition to pizza, there’s burgers, dogs, phillies, reubens, hot and cold subs, wraps, salads, fries, seafood, and Italian dinners. AND… it’s also a grocery store. Nice guys cookin good food and dispensing the necessities of life with a laid back attitude. The way it oughta be.
St Augustine, Ohio, Detroit, Pensacola, Gulf Shores, Sanford, Gainesville, Sebastian, Palatka, Green Cove Springs. After a short run to Ohio and Michigan, we’ll simmer down south for the duration of this vacation in my mind.
The Gamble Rogers Folk Festival When I first began playing the guitar, I started with folk music. One of my first “guitar heros” was Gamble Rogers. I was in awe of his finger picking style, and his story telling, and everything else about him. A consummate musician smack dab in the middle of the folk revival of the 60s. Hot stuff. We played the same coffee house in Winter Park, The Carrerra Room. Years later I would see him at the Trade Winds. I played the Trade Winds, the Milltop, the White Lion, and I had a good ol time. It’s one of the few towns that nurtures original songwriting. So for me to once again play in St Augustine, is something of a reunion. I’ll be glad to see some old friends, and play some of my old tunes, along with the new stuff. I’m going back to the roots with the stuff I’m doing now. Here’s a folked up song from my latest CD, “Hot n Heavy”. Click here for A FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD of “Somewhere Down the Road”. Enjoy!
Sauce Boss Chef Hats Now Available. You need one of these! Find your own inner Sauce Boss: Git yer’s here
Korean BBQ
2624 W. Tennessee, St. # E Tallahassee, FL 32304 850-574-4151
When I first met Seung (Swan) Lee, I walked into his little Korean market, and started browsing around to see what’s up. After a while I realized that there was no one minding the store. Just then I heard a voice with a thick Korean accent coming from the back of the building, “I’m sorry about the smell, I’m cooking!”. I was instantly smitten. I can relate to this guy. In the back was a makeshift kitchen where he was getting down on some “Seoul Food”. Awright! That was many, many years ago. Since then, the New Seoul Oriental Market has moved to a larger location and opened up a small restaurant next door called Korean BBQ. It’s a real authentic dining experience. Very down home and comfy. How do you say “simpatico” in Korean? It’s tres cool. The menu is eight choices hand written on a board. Serve yourself barley tea, kim chee, and pasta salad to go with your entrée. I have often considered converting to the Korean Baptist Church just for the Sunday night dinners.
Tae Baek Kim Chi
Tae Baek is a radish, very similar to daikon but more crunchy and short and round rather than long.
2 large radishes cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 3-4 pounds)
1 onion cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 apples peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 ½ heads of garlic minced
½ cup of sea salt
3 tbs hot chili sauce
3 tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
4 tsp sugar
2 tbs grated fresh ginger
Put the cut up radishes in a big bowl. Sprinkle the salt over them and mix it in. Let it stand for 45 minutes. Mix the remainder of the ingredients in a separate bowl. Rinse the salt out of the radish. Repeat rinsing after a few minutes. Mix everything together and leave it in the bowl with a towel over it. After two days at room temperature, spoon it into jars and put it in the refrigerator.
PAPPY’S SMOKEHOUSE 3106 OLIVE ST, LOUIS. MO 314-535-4340
Speakin of St Louie…While I was there, all those I asked about ribs… every last one said, “Pappy’s”. So I just had to go and try em for myself. This is the place that closes when the ribs run out. And they always run out. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a huge line of hungry devotees, salivating, chompin the bit, holding their place in line with the tenacity of resolute solidarity with the carnage they were about to devour. Hoo boy, let’s do take out. And so we did. Styrofoam boxes, heavy with slaw, beans, and yes, the best St. Louis ribs in St. Louis, spirited away to BB’s club where we could eat in peace, like a bulldog in a dark closet with a large hunk of flesh. Don’t get too close. Get the picture? Fallin off the bone, succulent, perfectly cooked, spiced, and as good as any. Meats also include: pulled pork, beef brisket, pulled chicken, turkey breast, and hot links. Sides: potato salad, baked beans, slaw, sweet potato fries, baked potato, applesauce, and green beans. Sounds like a BBQ place to me.
Mon. – Sat. 11 am – 8 pm Sun. 11 am – 4 pm (or until they run out of BBQ)
Veggie Dinner With Brussels Sprouts
That’s the last ribs I had. I’m a veg-head these days. I like my vegetables. If every one in America ate one vegan meal a week, it would make a big difference in the greenhouse gas situation. Greenhouse gases have been determined to be a major cause of climate change (by REAL scientists). The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health suggests we go meatless on Mondays. Just one day a week without meat can reduce your consumption of saturated fat by 15% and reduce your chances of heart disease. Scientists estimate that if every American lowered meat consumption by just 20%, it would lower greenhouse gasses as much as if everyone in the country switched to driving Toyota Priuses (and think how much cheaper and easier eating less meat is!). Here’s a great vegetable dinner with acorn squash, salad, and brussels sprouts. Simple, easy, and very tasty. Bake the squash. And sauté the sprouts in olive oil.
Well, I took y’all around the block on this one.
Thanks for hanging with me.
CONCERT SCHEDULE
Marco Island, Tampa, Steinhatchee, Panama City, Destin, Pensacola, Naples.
Not a bad place to be in February. We will be crisscrossing back and forth around and through Florida for the next couple of months. You guys have got to check out what’s up with the Ingredients. I have stirred my band up to a frenzy, grilled em like grouper, tossed em like salad, sautéed em like peppers and onions, BBQed em like pork chops, fried em like chicken, whipped em into shape like a mile high meringue on top of a lemon pie. All for the perfect gumbo blues.
Potato Crust Quiche
1 large potato
8 eggs beaten
1 onion chopped
1/2 lb crumbled feta cheese
2 apples diced
1 quonk fresh spinach lightly steamed & drained
Cut thin rounds of potato. Line an lightly-oiled pie pan with the slices of potato, and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Saute the onions. Mix the remaining ingredients. Pour them into the pan and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Turn down to 350 for another 20 or so. Splash with Liquid Summer Hot Sauce.
APPLE VALLEY MARKET
228 Main St. Lander, WY 82520 307-332-5536
We came in for lunch at this grocery/café in Lander, Wyoming, and had a great time with the folks there. Homemade is the operative term. Nestled between the emporiums and trail shops in the charming downtown of Lander, the Apple Valley Market hits the spot. The menu proclaims, “Lunch! Fill that belly.” And that’s what they do. “$6.00 per lunch. All soups served with homemade bread. Sandwiches made on homemade bread.” So after I’m almost done with my vegetable soup, the baker of the bread comes out and says, “Y’all want some more bread?” Sure! Bring it on. Pipin hot, right out of the oven. Son! Couple o soups, couple o salads, a veggie wrap and a special is the whole menu. The grocery features healthful stuff, local homegrown produce, and some of the most gorgeous pies I have ever seen. I got some local plums. Delicious. The guys running the place are nice as they can be. You can tell that they love Lander, Wyoming. No wonder. ALL the inhabitants of Lander love the place. I got so happy that I went next door and bought me a banjo.
COME ONE AND ALL TO THE ANNUAL PLANET GUMBO BENEFIT ON SATURDAY FEB. 5.
We created the 501c3 Non-Profit Foundation, Planet Gumbo, in January 2003, in order to bring upbeat music and delicious gumbo to folks in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and disaster shelters. Sustenance for body and soul. Planet Gumbo also works to bring public awareness to homelessness in the United States. Check out the list of shelters where Sauce Boss and the Ingredients have brought their Traveling Gumbo Show.
SAUCE BOSS GUMBO SHOW
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2011
AMERICAN LEGION HALL, LAKE ELLA DRIVE, TALLAHASSEE, FL 32303
DOORS OPEN AT 8:00 PM. Cover charge is $10 per person.
The event includes a silent auction with art, gift certificates, and really cool stuff from local artists and businesses. Bowls of steaming-hot gumbo will be served to all at the end of the performance. We hope you all can come. But if you can’t make it, you can still be a part of Planet Gumbo by donating online.
Shelter in Baltimore, MD
This will be our first performance in Tallahassee since my heart attack last October, and I am looking forward to seeing all our buddies, who sent so many good vibes to speed my recovery. The good news is that I’m feeling much better now.
Shelter in Jacksonville, FL
Last summer a camera crew filmed the Sauce Boss in St. Louis MO for eight hours to produce an upcoming segment of a nationally syndicated television show, “My Generation”. The crew accompanied us to a homeless shelter and I talked to them in depth about our work with Planet Gumbo. That show will be broadcast to 60 major television markets in the US, on March 21, 2011.
Shelter in Washington D.C.
We just got back from a week at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. While in Key West, me and The Ingredients also entertained the clients of The Sunrich House transitional homeless shelter. Jimmy Buffett and his two Margaritaville co-owners underwrote the costs of that show. Thanks guys, and best wishes to Jimmy for a speedy recovery.
Shelter in Syracuse, NY
In the past 21 years, the Sauce Boss has cooked gumbo at concert halls, clubs, festivals, parties, culinary institutes, schools, homeless shelters, and disaster areas to over 175,000 folks…FOR FREE
Sauce Boss Returns To Margaritaville (Photo: Rick Zimmer)
Orlando and key west should start the new year out with a bang.
Y’all come on down south for a good time in the sun. Here’s where we’ll be.
Make plans now to attend Planet Gumbo’s Annual Benefit at the American Legion at Lake Ella in Tallahassee FL on Saturday February 5th. Sauce Boss Gumbo extravanganza with a silent auction of donated treasures.
PHOTO JIM MCKINLEY
WHAT A COOL GUITAR!
People ask me all the time about my guitar. “Who makes that silver guitar?” Here’s the story. The guitar is a “Bill Wharton Special”. It’s made by a friend of mine, an English gentleman, who lives in Paris. He hand crafts resophonic instruments. His name is Mike Lewis, and he is truly gifted. You can see all of his models at his website, http://www.fineresophonic.com. One of his clients is Eric Clapton. The “Special” has been an integral part of my sound, standing up to a rocking band, delivering a huge slathering of BBQed slide, night after night. Never complaining, always there, like a trusty hound dog, only better. Thanks, Mike. I’m spoiled rotten.
GRILLED EGGPLANT WITH HOT & HEAVY PEACH SAUCE Hot n Heavy Peach Sauce is the perfect marinade/BBQ sauce. If you haven’t tried it, you have led a sheltered and deprived childhood. So… Come on, kids! Slather up yer eggplant and get cookin! This is unbelievably good. Just slice the eggplant, dip it in the peach sauce and throw it on the grill. Whoooooee! ORDER HERE
OK. If you have read this far, you obviously are willing to take a little “Sauce Boss Diversion”. What I want to know is, while reading my last blog, did you actually try to sing my mullet gizzard rant to the tune of “My Favorite Things”? Please let me know at boss@sauceboss.com.
Pepe’s Cafe 806 Caroline St. Key West, Florida 33040 (305) 294-7192
While you’re in key west, you need to stop by Pepe’s Cafe for a great meal. These guys have got it goin on. Casual, down home, and classy at the same time is a winning combination, and that’s the modus operandi at this little cafe on Caroline St. The sign proudly proclaims, “Under Old Management”. From the bar to the entire menu, only top shelf ingredients are used. They have great seafood, an awesome veggie plate. and if you are a serious carnivore, you might try the Steak smothered in Pork Chops. Every Thursday is Thanksgiving with turkey and dressing. Every Sunday is BBQ day. Nothing tops the BBQ ribs, slathered with Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, which you can find on every table at Pepe’s. Here’s Julie Bowland, hangin at Pepe’s, augmenting her breakfast with Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. Incidentally, the breakfast at Pepe’s is da BOMB. By far the best breakfast on the island:>)
JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: YOU CAN NOW BUY AND SHIP SMALL ORDERS OF LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE TO YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. You can buy a single bottle or two and send it anywhere in the world. Also you can package bottles with CDs and t-shirts for a complete Sauce Boss experience. Visit the Sauce Boss Store.
Datil Pepper
THE DATIL PEPPER
This is the pepper I have used in my sauce for thirty years. There is nothing like it in the pepper world. A mellower habanero, with a funky sweet burn that comes on slow. The “hot” is concentrated in the low to mid range, unlike it’s high end habanero cousin. If used in moderation, Liquid Summer Datil Pepper Sauce adds a heap of spicy flavor without burning your taste buds out. If used in abundance, you’re in for a wonderful culinary sleigh ride to hell. I like it both ways.
As 2010 comes to a close, we want to thank everyone who has been to our shows this past year. We really appreciate your support. And many thanks for your generous support of the non-profit Planet Gumbo foundation by tossing money into the gumbo pot, or by donating through the PLANETGUMBO.ORG website and through causes on Facebook. We also want to thank the Amish Parrotheads who organized a benefit for Planet Gumbo and the Washington DC Area Parrotheads who organized a silent auction at one of our shows in their area and to all the groups who donate the ingredients for shelter shows.
We are about to embark on our winter fund raising campaign for Planet Gumbo and want to remind you all that Planet Gumbo is a 501c3 non-profit organization, so all donations are tax deductible. Once a year we ask for your help to continue to cover the costs of bringing the Sauce Boss gumbo shows to homeless shelters throughout the country. You can donate online or send a check to Planet Gumbo, 678 McDonnell Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32310.
MULLET..ETC.
(Sung to the tune of “My Favorite Things”)
Mullet… the lowly collard green… the totally neglected salmon skin… the under rated kim chee in the back of the fridge, the over looked miso, the corn bread, the black eyed peas, the unrecognized, the grits, and the forgotten sourdough starter. These are the things that give our meal variety… if we could only… remember.
Ya ever had mullet gizzards?
SPICY TURNIP SOUP
(With Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, of course)
And then there’s the unassuming turnip. I forget just how good a turnip can be. And then I bump into one at the market, or it hits me in the head when I’m trying to think of something different to cook. I love me some turnip greens with the root chopped into little cubes. That’s some good eatin. Some places in the world revere the turnip. It’s featured in Asian cooking, and in France the turnip is considered a delicacy. (But you know the French consider chiterlins to be pretty good also. I was shopping at a high end gourmet market in Paris one time and they had a kilo of mullet roe. They were askin $150 for it. Had I known, I woulda stopped in Steinhatchee or Panacea on the way to the airport and smuggled a trunk load of roe on the bird, making my fortune as the mullet roe king. So later, when I get back to the Gulf coast, I’m sittin in Panacea, Florida, munchin on a big yellow egg sack o’ red neck caviar, with a great big, gimongous splooge of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. That roe is goood! I like being the Boss of Sauce. But I diverge… Back to turnips.
1 lb. turnips
3 carrots
1 sweet potato
1 large onion
1cup rice
1 gal water
1cup non fat milk (or if you like the fat, use 2 cups of heavy cream)
3 tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Peel and chop the vegetables
Throw them in the water with the rice
Cook covered for 20 minutes
Take the veggies out of the water and puree them
Throw em back in the broth with the milk, Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, salt and pepper
Bring up the temperature without boiling.
ASIAN CUISINE
140 North 7th St. Lander, Wyoming 82520 307-335-7171
Someone was “Yelping” about how it’s the best Thai restaurant between San Francisco and Chicago so I gave it a try. Well, that’s a tall order to fill. But I will say that the Pan Asian place is kick ass. Total attention to detail makes it so happening. And the selection from Indian, Japanese, Indonesian, and Thai give you plenty of choices. Plus… sushi. Oh, one more thing. If you visit the Asian Cuisine Restaurant, bring a friend. The entrées are way too big to finish by your self. Yumm.
One Half Of A Papaya Salad
The folks at Living Like a Pirate are holding their own Planet Gumbo fund raising campaign by contributing $3 per shirt sold of for their Treasure the Season Shirt shown below to Planet Gumbo.
THANK ALL Y’ALL FOR THE GOOD VIBES! I have received hundreds and hundreds of well wishing phone calls, letters, cards, emails, prayers, good vibes, and posts on my guestbook and Facebook pages. I had a good run, and I was resigned to whatever would be, but I guess I have a few more strings to bend, a few more songs to sing, a few more mouths to feed, and a few more souls to fill with the spirit of brotherhood. I will see y’all somewhere down the road.
HEART ATTACK SPECIAL
The song “I Broke My Heart” written after my first heart attack in 2003 appears on my “Come and Get” It CD. You can get a copy for $5 from now until December 1st, or you can get a copy free with every case of Liquid Summer (any flavor or mixed) until then too. Bout time to think about your holiday gifts.
We recently took a trip to Yellowstone to commune with nature and do some hiking. Here’s some highlights on Facebook.
Time to harvest the herbs. Here’s my Basil.
Freeze the leaves in little bags and have basil through the cold months
Chorizo
1 Page Avenue Asheville, North Carolina 28801 (828) 350-1332
Asheville, North Carolina has been called the Paris of the South. You get the vibe hanging out at the Biltmore Mansion where Granny Clampett meets Marie Antoinette. The folks up near Mount Pisgah have perpetuated a somewhat sophisticated, albeit rough-hewn sensibility over the years that makes for some fine grazing around lunchtime. Organic veghead bill of fare is typical, and the charming little downtown is vibrant with artisan shops selling exotic chocolates, doggie treats, antiques, and hand made belt buckles. The craftsmen share the sidewalk with color seekers, banjo buskers, and hillbilly rastas. All in all, a colorful place to hang.
Hector Diaz is from the Dominican Republic. He came to the US as a young boy, and worked in restaurants from a very early age. He worked his way up from the bottom, and became a chef. All of his clients said, “You need to open your own place.” So Hector made them an offer they could not refuse. He asked for $100 from all his friends. He started a restaurant, and every one who gave him money was reimbursed in food. Hector Diaz is not just a regular chef. He’s a creative and innovative artist who has perfected a Pan Latin cuisine all his own. Local, natural chicken and pork, natural Angus beef, and organic eggs, assures that all ingredients are top notch. He makes his own bacon, sausage, and chorizo by hand. He cures and smokes the salmon. He makes his own habanero pepper sauce. I like dis guy. The ever changing menu is breakfast and lunch with Senor Diaz’s fresh, savory, style. Killer salsa, great hot sauce, and wood fired organic tortillas are three things rarely available in restaurants, but all three in one place? I’m ready to order.
This tour takes us all around the East in a few days. Sometimes, that’s the way she goes. Here’s where we are going.
SAUCE BOSS LYRICS AVAILABLE
I’ve had some inquires about the lyrics of my songs. Over the years, a lot of singers/bands have covered the Sauce Boss. I’m always glad to hear a different version of my tunes. So now you can access the lyrics from four of my albums. Here’s the link.
SAUCE BOSS TO BE ON NATIONAL PUBLIC TELEVISION
The nationally syndicated show, “My Generation” will feature the Sauce Boss. The program sent a crew to St. Louis to film eight hours of performance and interviews with Bill Wharton and his band. Stay tuned for air times.
I have eaten a lot of Thai food. I’m a spicy guy. And there’s none spicier than your Great, Great Grandma from Thailand. Whooooeee! Deeze guys will light you up!
So when I found Soong Thai, right off the Sunshine State Parkway, right on the way to south Florida, right at supper time, with a frightful hunger for a HOT meal, I was in heaven. Truly a great restaurant. Not too pricey, but with an attention to detail which guarantees every dish is it’s own dining experience. Here’s their description of their restaurant: “At Soong Thai, we take great care in preparing cuisine handed down for centuries, adjusted to today’s tastes and served in an authentic manner.”
I believe em. I had to try the frog legs. My friend Jeffrey Clements said, “If I had to choose my last meal, the Soong Thai frog legs would be it”. And, believe me, my friend Jeffrey knows his food. Pad Thai as light and flavorful as I have ever had. Tom Kai Gai Soup. Yumm. I also tried the “Amazing Eggplant”. Made me stupid. I kept saying, “Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!” Hence the name.
Fried eggplant, over a bed of steamed broccoli, in a big puddle of spicy peanut sauce. Garnished with green onions and red peppers. And more glistening peanut sauce dribbled over the top. “Over the top” is the operative term here. The dumplings are sublime. I’m looking forward to my next trip south.
Lunch: Monday – Friday – 11:30 AM to 3:00
Dinner: Monday – Saturday – 4 to 10, Sunday – 4 to 9
WOW! What a tour. Here I am in Ottawa, jamming with the Voices of the Wetlands. From the left to right, Cyril Neville, Sauce Boss, Tab Benoit, Johnny Sansone, Marsha Ball, and Anders Osborne. Lighting it up! Thanks to all on this tour, Scott Sterling at the Dinosaur BBQ, Mark Monahan and everyone at the Ottawa Bluesfest, the great folks from the Cape Fear Blues Cruise, Daughter Mary who put us up at her country estate, the Washington DC Parrot Heads, for their generous benefit for Planet Gumbo, And the Big Owl Tiki Bar on the Maryland Shore for an unforgettable afternoon adventure.
HOT N HEAVY AIRPLAY
Sirius Radio’s Bluesville channel has been playing “Marquis de Swamp” a whole lot. Justin’s mom said she heard it four times one day. Keep it rolling. Here’s the link to request yer fave Sauce Boss tunes.
A real find, a people’s restaurant, none of that Miami glitz. Just great fresh seafood, superior service, fabulous prices, and unpretentious friendly vibe. This is what I’ve been looking for. These folks are really proud of what they do, and there is an esprit that’s evident the moment you walk in the door. It’s the Old World reverence for sustinance. The rice is light and fluffy, the whole grilled snapper is two pounds of marinated bliss. Five kinds of Paella share the menu with varied preparations of seafood and home made pasta. A surprising $12 bottle of Napa Valley cab blew my mind. Ten minutes after opening, it mellowed down into a smooth finish. Breakfast with dynamite café con leche included starts at $2.99, and it’s served all day long. Try that at Starbuck’s.
A Refreshing Liquid Summer Bloody Mary
LIQUID SUMMER MAKES THE BEST BLOODY MARY…EVER!
1 cup V-8
1 teaspoon LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE
1 teaspoon Horseradish
Dash of celery salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons lemon juice
A couple shots of vodka
Mix ingredients together and pour into a glass of ice.
Fresh stalk of celery and olives
PLANET GUMBO RECEIVES GRANT FROM THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION This is Planet Gumbo’s first foundation grant and will be going to help cover the costs of one of our Planet Gumbo Shelter shows. Many thanks to the Puffin Foundation. If you are interested in sponsoring one of our shelter shows, please email to info@planetgumbo.org for more information. You can also make a tax deductible donation to 501 c3 Planet Gumbo at the Planet Gumbo Website or through Causes on Facebook.
HOT N HEAVY PEACH BBQ
“Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street.” This recipe will have your taste buds dancing like Martha and the Vandellas. Based on my granddaddy’s recipe for Carolina BBQ Hash.
AND SPEAKING OF HOT AND HEAVY . . . we have a special at our Sauce Boss Store. A 12 ounce bottle of Hot n Heavy Peach Sauce, along with a “Hot n Heavy” CD for only $19 plus shipping. Get yours today. Limited time only.
1 Lb. beef chuck roast
2 Lb. goat shoulder steak
3 Lb. pork boneless Boston butt
¼ cup vinegar
3 Tbs. honey
1 bottle of Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce
Trim excess fat from meat and smoke it in a charcoal smoker for 3 hours. Cut it up in one inch cubes, and cover with water in a large cast iron pot. Boil the meat until tender. Take the meat out and shred it discarding any bones or fat.
Put the meat back into the water. Add vinegar and honey. Cook it down till the juice is almost all gone. Add the Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce. Serve on a bun with a big slice of onion.
VALENTINA’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
956 ST. AVE. RAHWAY, NJ 07065 732-381-4477
Here’s a restaurant for a casual, laid back dinner. Located about a half hour south of the City, just off the NJ Turnpike. We were hongry, hongry after an afternoon show, so we took a detour off the pike to find some authentic Italian cuisine. Boy, did we find it! Classic family owned and operated, they make the food like in the Old Country.
One of the specialties from an ample menu is organic penne pasta. Seafood galore, (raw or cooked), steak, veal, ribs, lamb chops, chicken, and traditional Italian specialties all give you plenty of choices for your evening of dining. Fast food it’s not. Good food it is. I had the Pork Osso Bucco, a small ham with a mushroom brown sauce over pasta. Falling off the bone. The ricotta cheesecake is the best I ever had.
Pork Osso Bucco
It’s so very satisfying to spend a couple of hours with a family of cooks who are truly proud of what they do and who don’t mind taking the time to make it all top notch. Congratulations to the Valentinas for doing it right.
Mon. to Thur. 11 am to 10 pm
Fri. and Sat. 11 am to 11 pm
Sun. 12 to 9 pm
DANNY GATTON AND BUDDY EMMONDS
Once in a while you see someone playing the guitar and you say to yourself. “I’ve never seen any one do that on a guitar. These “gifts” from the masters are few and far between these days. However, this video of Danny Gatton and Buddy Emmons jamming was one of those times for me.
After a smokin’ tour of the North East, we’re back home in Fla. It’s time to chill in the cool waters of a grotto spring. Have a sip of a refreshing beverage and get together with friends
Need the new “Hot N Heavy” CD? Hot Sauce? T Shirt? How bout vintage Sauce Boss LP still in the wrapper? GET IT HERE!
Potato Onion Soup With Smoked Chicken
4 medium potatoes peeled and diced
3 onions, peeled and diced
1 smoked chicken breast diced
1 quart water
1 cup almond milk
2 Tbs butter
½ cup parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Put potatoes, onion and chicken in a pot and boil for 30 minutes
Mash the potatoes in the soup pot and add milk, salt and pepper
Add butter and parsley just before serving
AUNT BEA’S CAFÉ AND OTIS CAMPBELL’S BAR AND GRILL
111-113 BROADWAY STREET WEST BURLINGTON, IOWA 52655 319-752-2696
In a word – Americana. In the 60s, it was high tech, state of the art, Americana. From 1960 to 1968, every week, America tuned in to see what Sheriff Andy Taylor was up to. 248 episodes indelibly etched upon the psyche of millions of people, smack dab in the middle of television’s heyday. The Andy Griffith Show was hokiest, yet possibly the coolest ensemble of TV characters, ever assembled. Plus, when you have the Dillards for the house band and Clarence White dropping in for a tune, you’re doing something right.
So it’s no wonder you can find homage to Andy, and Opie, Barney, and Aunt Bea scattered all over the place. But to find Aunt Bea’s Café in West Burlington, Iowa was a surprise to me. And if that ain’t enough, and it sure ought to be, Otis Campbell’s Bar and Grill is right next door! Don’t adjust your set. Whoa! Somebody’s messin with the horizontal around here.
When you walk into Aunt Bea’s, you almost expect to see Floyd or Howard munching on a fried chicken leg. Classic home cooking made with fresh ingredients, augmented with a healthy salad attitude makes Aunt Bea’s a welcome change of pace, from the “Truck Stop Glop” that you find on the road. I had the spinach salad. Highly recommended.
Yep, you pick from “Gomer’s Starters”, “Howard’s Hoagies”, “Sara’s Salads”, or “Aunt Bea’s Finest Dinners” for your dining pleasure. Breakfast is served all day, and if it’s five o’clock somewhere, step next door for a drink and an “Otis Overnighter”. A pizza with Pepperoni, hamburger, sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, and, “Plenty of Cheese”. Those farmers out in the mid-west love their cheese. I never heard of putting sauerkraut on pizza, however, you can have it at Otis’. The good news is, they deliver. From 10:30 am – 2 pm, 4:30 – 10 pm seven days a week.
Vintage Sauce Boss LP still in the plastic now available. This is the album released on Kingsnake records in 1989 featuring Lucky Peterson, Pat Ramsey, Drew Lumbar (Grinder Switch), and the Kingsnake Studio Band. Recorded at 15 ips, this is no pro tools session. The tape was SATURATED to the MAX. It’s warm and lively. The insert contains recipes from all the participants, as well as Raful Neal’s fried turkey recipe. Highly collectible, we just found a couple of boxes in the vault. If you dig the Sauce Boss and have a turntable, this is a must-have item.
COUNTRY CORNER CAFÉ
8950 STATE HWY 59 SOUTH, FOLEY AL 36535 251-943-4409
They musta changed the management. There’s no more Country Corner Café private label jelly everywhere, not as homespun, not as countrified. Unless, of course, you are talking about a different country. There’s a whole lot more of a Latino feel to the place. The salsa verde is monster tasty fresh. The gravy/sauce laden Honduran style liver, with onions and peppers is sublime. Huevos rancheros with very fresh home made flour tortillas. I’d say that beef tongue, or tripe soup is pretty ethnic. “Tipical” as they say. Seafood, chicken, pork and beef, all prepared by one hustling Mamacita tearing it up in the kitchen. Great food. This one is a find.
HOT N HEAVY PEACH STIR FRY
3 tbs olive oil
1 bell or ancho pepper
1 head of broccoli
1 medium onion
1 squash
1 baby bok choi
1 head of garlic minced
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 splooge of Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce
In a wok, stir fry the veggies. Add the sesame oil, fish sauce, and Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce. Serve over rice or pasta.
The Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce is a hit. We are shipping this stuff all over the place. Truly versatile, from stir fry to slathering BBQ, from dippin to baking on fish or meatloaf. It makes a great salad dressing, and it goes on anything. Put it on yer girl friend. Here’s where you can find the Peach Sauce, as well as the Hot N Heavy CD.
key west, Spartanburg, Knoxville, Palatka, New Jersey, Rochester, Pittsburgh. We are cookin the shrimp all over the place. TOUR DATES HERE.
GREEN PARROT LIVE WEBCAM HERE
If you can not make it to key west, you can dig the Sauce Boss via the Parrot’s live webcam.
Show times are:
5:30 on Friday afternoon, 10:30 Friday nite, 10:30 Saturday nite, and 5:30 on Sunday afternoon.
THE SAUCE BOSS STORE IS KICKING.
It’s not like the old site with a couple of choices for sauce and some CDs. Now there’s mix and match specials, single bottles, cases, package deals, t-shirts…all kinds of stuff. And stay tuned for limited run sauce and music items. Coming soon is Sauce Boss vinyl. Check out the store here.
PINKS!
THE SHRIMP SHACK GRILL AND AUTHENTIC FISH MARKET
6840 FRONT ST. KEY WEST (STOCK ISLAND) 305-294-33040
Y’all ready for the freshest seafood in key west? The last best kept secret in the keys? The newest hush-hush, only known to locals, off the beaten track, completely chill, right next to the boats, bringing home the catch to the few, the chosen, the truly hip, the lucky dogs who are in the “know”?
Try the Shrimp Shack. My good friend Ray runs the place. Ray and the Sauce Boss go back 20 years. After retiring from being GM at Margaritaville, he took over the chores of a little restaurant on the docks of Stock Island. The Shrimp Shack gets the seafood from the fish market which is in the same location. It has huge piles of right off the boat key west pinks, lobsters, snappers, mahi, tuna, oysters, clams, conch, mussels, squid, smoked fish, and fresh catch. (whatever’s coming off the boats at that moment)
This place is right on the docks. Right next to the shrimp boats tied up to their moorings, with the charm and surly character of the wild and fiercely independent professional fishermen. This is a part of key west which has sadly disappeared as condos, upscale eateries, and t-shirt shops have replaced the true character with sanitized imitations of the old key west, suitable for a cruise ship crowd. I don”t know about you, but I would rather eat with the fleet.
Dining On The Docks
Shrimp Cocktail With Liquid Summer Datil Sauce
Boil or steam some of those key west pinks just long enough to be considered done. Do not over cook the shrimp. Mix a half a cup of ketchup with the juice of a lemon, 2 tbs of Liquid Summer Datil Pepper Hot Sauce, 1 tbs horseradish, and proceed to chow down.
The Torta is an egg and potato breakfast/lunch dish. You find it in train stations and walkups all over Spain. It’s a hearty, on the go, kind of fast food. Quiche Lorraine is the French version. I have combined the two with a potato crust making it gluten free.
4 strips of bacon
1 medium onion chopped
¼ pound cheese grated
2 raw potatoes
Left over baked or mashed potatoes
8 eggs
3 to 4 Tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Oven at 400 degrees
Cut the raw potatoes in very thin rounds
Grease a pie pan and line it with the potato thins
Put the potato crust in the hot oven for 10 minutes
Fry the bacon, and chop it up
Use a little bit of the grease to sauté the onion
Beat the eggs and Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Pour half of the eggs over the potato crust
Put down a layer of the mashed potatoes
Add layers of onion, cheese, and bacon
Pour remainder of the eggs over the top.
Bake until the eggs are done.
PIRAMIDA PIEROGI GRILL
1535 GULF TO BAY BLVD. CLEARWATER, FL 727-216-3055
Stuffed Cabbage and Potatoes - Ultimate Comfort Food
Piramida is pyramid in the Polish language. The name in this instance is a vestige from when they first opened. Originally, the owner, Marek Pietryniak, featured Polish and Middle Eastern food. The décor is heavily influenced by ancient Egyptian art. Marek had eighteen months to wait for county and city permits to be approved, so he spent that time dabbling – carving hieroglyphics, a beautiful chestnut bar, salt and pepper shakers, lamps, napkin holders, single handedly customizing the restaurant, lending his personal touch to everything. He commissioned a life-sized statue of a pharaoh bearing his own likeness. After all this, he decided to pare down the menu, so all that’s left of the Mid East cuisine is the Greek salad. However, The salad is scrumptious, and the Polish stuff is great. I recommend a very garlicky chicken soup. And of course the homemade Perogi are fabulous. I tried the stuffed cabbage rolls – nice and light with rice, beef, and pork, stuffed in a cabbage leaf and covered with tomato sauce. YUMM! Full bar includes Polish beer. The Eastern European chefs have got it goin on for comfort food. Come on with the Goulash, y’all.
Hot N Heavy is the eleventh CD from the Sauce Boss, featuring his own swampy slide guitar blues. Drummer Justin Headley, and tag team bass players, Robert “Freightrain” Parker, and David “Biscuit” Miller provide a slammin’ bottom, making this album, by far, the heaviest yet. Biscuit Miller has played with Lonnie Brooks for decades. Freightrain did a long stint with Florida Harp icon, Rock Bottom.
The “Marquis de Swamp” says “Welcome to my habitat” over a sonaral bed of frogs, bugs, and who knows what crawled out of the swamp for this noir party. Wharton threw caution out the window with this album, as “Get Naked and Surf” suggests. Is “Lonesome Rider” a mid life crisis, or just a fond remembrance of one of his long motorcycle odysseys?
“That’s How It Feels” walks homeless streets, with the singer walking down the dark alleys of existence. Then “Gonna Be All Right” throws it right in the face of despair and shines a light over it all. “Don’t Know How To Tell You” mellows down into a smooth groove like coming home to Mama.
The title cut is a salacious double entendre with a raucous back beat suitable for lap dancing. Peppered in amongst the songs are grooves of the gumbo. “Okra”, “Andoulle”, “Hot Sauce”, “Chicken In The Gumbo” give the whole proceedings spice and contrast.
After serving free gumbo to over 165,000 hungry fans, after playing and cooking in homeless shelters all over the country, after twenty years on the road, the Sauce Boss is going for it. Blues/ rock/ gospel/ surf / zydeco/ swamp/ funk in a blender. It’s a mess o’ fun.
And if you are a radio DJ that has not yet received your copy of “Hot n Heavy” send an email to info@sauceboss.com and we will send one right to you. Please send playlists there too. We are happy to be getting great response for the CD from radio stations from Italy to France to Belgium and all over the US.
For those of you listeners who listen to one of the 103 radio stations airing nationally syndicated “Blues Deluxe”: one of “Hot n Heavy’s” song’s “Gonna Be All Right” will be on this week’s (March 21-27) show. And help us get more airplay by calling your local blues and roots music radio show and request songs from “Hot n Heavy”.
HOT N HEAVY PEACH SAUCE
A few years ago we market-tested a sauce we called “Hot Q”. We have just recently tweaked the recipe and the packaging, and we are now releasing a fresh, new improved batch for all y’all. Everyone who had tried it is going crazy over it. Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce is the latest creation from the kitchen of Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton. Although it is a great sauce for BBQ, its other applications are many. It can be used in soups, it can be a topping for seafood, pork, chicken, beef or beans and rice. It’s a refreshing salad dressing – sweet and tangy for stir-fry, and for dipping, it rivals Ketchup. Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce should not be over cooked because the peaches are so delicate, however it works great in a crock pot with chicken, or pork. For BBQ, wait until the meat is almost done to glaze it. Try chicken and ribs for an incredible edible, or even tofu. YUMMM!!!
Here’s a couple of recipes for Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce.
Jeanie Thompson’s recipe is simple.
Throw 4 chicken breasts in a crock pot.
Cover em up with Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce.
Turn it on and go to work.
When you get home, it’s ready.
Hot N Heavy Broiled Mullet
Ah yes, the much maligned mullet. The Florida Seafood Assoc. tried to change the name to “Lisa” a few years ago to improve its image. “Trash fish” it’s called, but to its critics, I say this. There’s nothing better than fresh caught mullet. Here’s an easy, delicious, and so much fun, Sauce Boss recipe for fresh mullet with Hot N Heavy Peach Sauce slurped all over it.
Jus take yer mullet, son, and grease it up good with olive oil, , and throw it in the broiler. When it feels so good , it might explode, when the fish is almost ready to pop, when yer done doin what yer doin, slosh the Hot N Heavy all over it and stick it in one more time. I bet bet it only takes a minute to finish the job. Feels so good. Rompin time guaranteed!
AND WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE OUR NEW SAUCE BOSS STORE !! GET ALL YOUR SAUCE BOSS PRODUCTS HERE At our new store, you now buy one bottle of sauce or a bunch. We also have several new package deals, with CDs and sauce, including a special deal on the new CD and one bottle of peach sauce. Be sure to check out all the specials we have. And if you have been wanting a Sauce Boss t-shirt, we have those too.
That’s right! Hot N Heavy is coming soon. If you want to be one of the first to get yours, you can pre-order it at our new SAUCE BOSS STORE. You can also pre-order our newest sauce: Hot and Heavy Peach Sauce. We have the recipe for a good time DOWN. Yer not gonna believe how gooood this stuff is. Our official release is March 23rd, but for our special friends, we’re sneaking a few discs and bottles for early release parties. Here’s where we will be in the next few weeks. Tallahassee, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Pelham GA, Coral Gables, and Melbourne.If you can’t make any of our Florida and Georgia shows, you can listen to a live Sauce Boss show this Saturday night (3/6/10) at the BBC (that’s the Bradfordville Blues Club). Hank 99 FM is going to be broadcasting it live over the air and on the internet from 10:00pm to 11:30 pm.
Grouper Amandine a la Sauce Boss
1 pound grouper filet
4 Tbs olive oil
1/2 pound almonds chopped
2 Tbs mustard
2 Tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
1 Tbs honey
Grease a cast iron frying pan with half of the olive oil
Slop the fish around on both sides coating it with the oil
Bake at 350 degrees
Mix remaining ingredients
When the fish is almost done, put the almond mixture on top of the fish and finish it off in the oven.
Serve with lemon
LAFAYETTE CONEY ISLAND
118 W Lafayette Blvd Detroit, MI 48226 (313) 964-8198
“Coney Island hot dog (also Coney Dog or Coney) refers to a hot dog made of beef with casing, topped with an all meat chili, diced onion and yellow mustard. The variety is a fixture in Detroit Michigan, served there and in the “heartland” states of the American Midwest. Despite the name, the preparation style has little direct association with Coney Island itself beyond recognition of the birthplace of the original hot dog… Coney Islands generally offer a choice of either Flint or Detroit style coney dogs. Flint style is characterized by a dry chili more similar to ground beef than chili, while Detroit style is more soupy, heavy with chili and cumin powders.” So says the oracle, Wikipedia.
Late Nite Coney Customers
There is a debate raging as to which style and indeed, which Coney Island restaurant is the best. In 1917, Gust Keros and his brother established the American Coney Island in Detroit. Soon after they opened, an argument ensued, and they split the restaurant, starting a culinary feud which has lasted the better part of a century. To this day, the Lafayette Coney Island and The American Coney Island stand in resolute defiance of one another, right next door, dishing out what each considers the best chili dog in the world.
I have eaten the Flint and Detroit varieties, and I must say the slop, goop, mish mash, hot dawg soup of Detroit has my vote. It’s like playin slide guitar. You don’t want it to be too clean, to clear, too pristine. You need the proper amount of extortion in the amp. You want slop. You want the notes to blend together, like cane syrup and butter on a big stack of hoe cakes. It’s this blending that galvanizes the rich overtones. Pure sound. So it is with coney dogs. I mean it’s three in the morning after a balls to the walls jamming set at the Greektown Casino. Any body want a salad? I don’t think so.
LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULEZ!
Join us for Mardi Gras in Orlando, Steinhatchee, Sharon, PA, Buffalo, NY, and Upper Michigan. Here’s the schedule.
THE FISH MARKET
3150 E. EL CAMINO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 650-493-8862
The Fish Market is a chain of seven restaurants in California and Arizona. They are actually markets where you can buy fresh seafood to cook at home, or you can sit and dine in the restaurant. This is a Cali style restaurant, with sushi, oysters, smoked and mesquite grilled fish, salads, and a selection of California wines. It’s not your down home, funky, best kept secret kind of place, however it is fresh, good quality seafood. Stop in the market after you chow down on Dungeness Crabs, and take home some Smoked Wild Alaskan King Salmon.
APALACHICOLA OYSTERS, A REAL BARGAIN IN THE FL PANHANDLE
For a more down home approach to the fish market/restaurant approach, try The Oyster Bar Seafood Shack in Blountstown, Florida. A welcome change from most fish houses, there’s no fried food. Everything is grilled, smoked, steamed, or raw. And the price difference is great. Instead of around $12 for six raw oysters in California, try $9 for a dozen in Florida. The Seafood Shack is truly a family operation. The mother in law of the owner makes the homemade desserts.
20003 Central Ave. West. Blountstown, FL 32424 850-647-1250
OR…for the best kept secret in the Florida Keys, try the Shrimp Shack on Stock Island. The review of my friend, Ray’s place soon come.
VEGGIE PLATE WITH SQUASH CASSEROLE
Don’t you think it’s time to just cook up a bunch of veggies for dinner. Man, that makes me feel all right! Here’s my veggie plate with chard, potatoes, squash casserole, fresh sliced tomatoes, and green beans. Yummm!
CAESAR SALAD WITH SHRIMP AND ASPARAGUS
1 head of romaine cut up
1 bunch of lightly steamed asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
1 small onion, sliced thin
Fresh milled pepper
1 pound of very fresh deveined boiled large shrimp (do not over cook)
Parmesan cheese grated
Dressing
Juice of a lemon
Juice of an orange
2 eggs
2 oz. of anchovies chopped
Olive oil
Croutons
1 head of garlic minced and 2 or 3 slices of bread cut into one inch pieces, then sautéed in olive oil
The trick with a Caesar salad is to get the croutons and coddled eggs to the table when they are still warm. So I get every thing ready except for the eggs and croutons. While the eggs are boiling, I throw the bread and garlic into hot olive oil. After one minute, mix the eggs with the rest of the dressing, then mix with the rest of the salad. The last thing is the croutons. That way, the dressing is warm, smooth and comforting, and the garlic croutons are nice and crunchy on top.
MYKONOS
628 Dodecanese Blvd. Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 727-934-4306
Ready for a Mediterranean scene? Complete with lively, slightly tipsy, giggling, revelers, having some fun after dinner. Complete with the flamboyant Old Man holding court with the locals and tourists. Complete with the jostling flow of patrons hungry for an authentic Greek salad and atmosphere to go with it. Complete with a menu that might be offered on the island of Mykonos. Then, Mykonos is it! The Old Man knows what he’s doin. The grilled octopus is fabulous. Oven baked potatoes. YUMMMM. They bring a complimentary apple drizzled with honey and powdered with cinnamon with your meal for dessert. Every thing I ever ordered was good. It’s like my Mama’s old southern cookin with olive oil instead of bacon grease. (Don’t get me wrong. What she did with it was sooooo tasty. My Mama could COOK. DON’T SAY NOTHIN BOUT MY MAMA! She could make a feast out of a can o salmon and a loaf o bread. How did she do it? I think it was love… I digress.) Any way these guys have that same attitude about food and service. When my Mama made dinner, she served you in the classic sense of “serve”. As Bob Dylan said, “It might be the devil or it might be the Lord, but you got to serve somebody”. And some people know how to “serve”. I digress again… But I’m talking about these Greek guys at Mykonos. What is it about a satisfying meal that’s so hard to come by in this day of ApplebyMackyDeeKFCWendyArby, you know what I mean.
And I haven’t talked enough about the food other than a cursory glance at the octopus and potatoes. So…Actually… if you really want to know the truth… I’ve eaten there many times but I don’t remember ordering anything other than…OCTOPUS! And octopus, grilled to perfection, is very hard to come by. Every time I walk in the door, the waitress is carrying some scrumptious, absolutely gorgeous dinner to someone – smelts, pastistio, moussaka, grilled shrimp, lamb chops. What do I get? Octopus. All I ever get. That’s all.
Liquid Summer Hot Sauce, Sauce Boss CDs, and “Recipes” CD rom Gift Box. You can find the perfect winter time presents guaranteed to heat up the coldest of nights.
SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE
Couple o very large sweet potatoes baked and scooped from the skins
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup cane syrup
12 oz. evaporated milk
1/2 of a nutmeg ground
½ tsp cinnamon
3 cups pecans
Beat the eggs and mix in all of the ingredients
Pour into two pies shells
Bake at 325 for 45 minutes
Turn the oven up to 400 for 15 minutes
Pull em out, cut em up, and stuff em in yer pie hole
TACOS ACAPULCO LUNCH TRUCK 678-891-7020 843-227-0001
It’s the American way. Eating dinner standing up, or in your car, or in the middle of a parking lot. . As you drive east through Blufton, South Carolina, there’s a lunch truck parked on the south side of the road with a large “Tacos Acapulco” painted on the side, and some serious tacos inside. The beef taco is not ground beef. No, it’s little pieces of marinated steak on a real tortilla. The menu is small. Some of the items are unavailable. But for excellent tacos, you’d be hard pressed to beat em. Self serve drinks iced down in the cooler include coconut juice. A little piece of the real deal makes a welcome down home stop after the izod, buttoned-down, golf culture of Hilton Head Island.
CLICK ON THIS PHOTO AND CHECK OUT THE LIQUID SUMMER ON THEM COLLARDS
Number one daughter, Annie was just on Project Runway modeling her redesigned wedding dress which won the design challenge of the week. She was baaaad. Last blog I mentioned number two daughter, Mary, kickin ass at the Toronto film fest with her Joan Baez biopic. Those Wharton girls are sooo…TV.
Mary and Joan Baez
NEW ALBUM SOON COME
The recording is almost done. Now to mix and master for a 2010 release. The album is funky, gospel, blues, with some zydeco, and a heapin helpin of Slide guitar. Featured on the CD will be Justin Headley, drums, Robert “Freightrain” Parker, bass, and also Biscuit Miller on bass. This is the funkiest and groovinest yet. Stay tuned for the good tunes.
BOSSA GANOUJ
Here’s my own slant to Baba Ganouj. Instead of tahini, I use home made almond butter and also a little bit of my Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
2 Cups almonds
3 or four Tbs olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Two Tbs Liquid Summer Hot Sauce (With the holidaze upon us, do NOT forget to order yours HERE)
2 one Lb. eggplants
4 Cloves garlic finely minced
Pita bread for dipping
Cut eggplants in half and place on a greased cookie sheet (cut side down) for 45 min at 375 degrees. Grind almonds with blender. Put powdered almonds into a food processor and add olive oil until the mixture is the consistency of humus. In a bowl, mix almond butter, lemon juice, garlic, and Liquid Summer. Scoop out the eggplant and add it to the mixture. Mix well
Bossa Ganouj
MARINA OYSTER BARN
505 BAYOU BLVD. PENSACOLA, FL 850-433-0511
The little disclaimer on the take out menu gives you an idea of what goes on at the oyster barn. “When we are filled to capacity, we regret that we will not be able to fill take out orders.” Situated on Bayou Texar since 1969, the Rooks Family Seafood Restaurant has been filled to capacity a lot of the time, dishing out real fresh seafood. The service is great, the food cooked to perfection, the ambience, casual as a marina setting can be. $6.50 gets you a mullet sandwich with fries or slaw. And Dale’s Special is cole slaw, cheese, and grilled onions on any sandwich for half a buck. In addition to the regular seafood dishes, the lunch specials (from five to eight dollars) include chicken and dumplins. And the hush puppies are fabulous. I can’t stand it. Once in a while, I must have a hush puppy. Of course…don’t forget about the fresh shucked oysters!
Tuesday – Thursday 11 am – 8:30 pm
Friday & Saturday 11 am – 9 pm
Sunday – 11 am – 2 pm
AS THE SUMMER FADES INTO FALL, WE’RE COMING HOME TO TALLAHASSEE.
HERE’S OUR SCHEDULE
Check out the highlights of our Canadian odyssey. We had a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD time.
London, Ontario was a blast!
Sunset in Windsor, Ontario
The crowd in Windsor was hot to go!
Me and the Devil in Toronto
Then we all got religion
If any one who saw the show in Windsor got a movie or photos of the gumbo taking a tumble, please let us know. We’d love to see em.
DAUGHTER MARY RECEIVED A STANDING OVATION AT THE TORONTO FILM FEST
Yep, at home in my spare time. The Grammy winner (“Sam Cooke: Legend”) strikes again. Here’s a link to the film “How Sweet the Sound” she directed and produced about Joan Baez that airs October 14th on PBS as an American Masters specials.
VEGETABLE SOUP
Sometimes I just put a bunch of fresh vegetables in a pot, with a big splooge of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce and make some soup.
AL – AJAMI RESTAURANT 14633 W. WARREN AVE.
DEARBORN, MI 48126 313-846-9343
Totally authentic Arabic Cuisine says it all. Classic lamb dishes, baba ghanooj, hommous, grilled quail, fresh juices, beef tongue, grape leaves, seafood and steak, veal brains…BRAINS? Sounds yucky, doesn’t it? Well, actually it is. This is once…maybe a first where I just couldn’t get it. I am ready and willing to go native, to leave the beaten path, to venture where no man has gone, to eat about anything. I have finally been stumped. Veal brains did it. Stopped me in my tracks. Whoa, that’s weird. I kept thinking about Hannibal the Canibal, sawing Ray Liotta’s skull and sauteing his brains. Making a little to-go package for the plane. Some stuff from Dean and Deluccas’s along with left over brains….yum, yum. However, the lamb chops were great. The baba ghanooj, smooth and silky, the hommous also, the falafel sublime, and the portions are huge. Too big to leave room for dessert. Shame. They look great. And if yer into brains…
PEPPERS! PEPPERS! AND PEPPERS!
MAKE YOUR OWN PEPPER SAUCE
You can make sauce at home. Take those used Liquid Summer Pepper Sauce bottles, cut up some hot peppers and put em in the bottles. Pour boiling vinegar over the peppers. Let it sit for a week or two, and then slosh it all over yer collards.
Whirlwind! Just call me Hurricane Bill. I’m comin’ to get ya. Here’s where.
Whoa! I gotta slow down a little bit. “I been hittin the road way too hard. Gotta get back to my back yard” So the the song goes.
Coming up on the new CD. Right smack dab in the middle of all this gallavanting around the place, we have begun work on our 10th… 11th …12th (who’s counting) album. This one promises to be super funky, with a hint of zydeco, and slathered with Sauce Boss originality Soon come.
We miss you, Betty Teague. Betty was one of our favorite gumbo heads and a big supporter of Planet Gumbo. In fact she designated Planet Gumbo as a charity for her friends and family to acknowledge her recent passing. She and her daughter Elizabeth came to more Sauce Boss shows than I can count and they were always a big part of the party. Betty had a great life and we were proud to be a part of it. Party on Betty.
Planet Gumbo is now a cause on Facebook. Join the crowd and spread the word to all of your friends. To go to Planet Gumbo cause page on Facebook click here. And if you haven’t found the Sauce Boss page itself on Facebook yet, it’s at http://facebook.com/BillSauceBossWharton
Not Exactly Brunch at Brennan's, But Tasty All the Same
HOMETOWN BP & DELI HWY 98 CARRABELLE, FL 850-697-5111
Breakfast till close (2 pm) for $2.99. If you’re coming through Carrabelle after a late night on the island, the BP station is a good bet for breakfast. They also serve fried chicken, shrimp, grouper, wings, sandwiches, and daily specials. The specials are written on the little board next to the fishing poles and crab nets. The day I stopped in, the special was country fried steak, with mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and roll for $7.25. There’s a few down home flourishes like homemade pepper sauce on the tables and real butter with breakfast. Add gravy to any meal for fifty cents. And… you can take home a full pint for a buck seventy-five. Boggles the mind.
Bluesfest International, Windsor, Ontario, July 18, 2009
Man, what a time we had up North. The weather was nice and cool, the gigs were happening, the crowds came out, and we cooked a lot of gumbo. In Windsor, Ontario, We were playing to a crowd of 9,000, and we had em going from the git go. We were smokin! I had just put about 10 gallons of ingredients in this HUGE BIG OL pot, and the crowd was eating out of my hand. At that moment I did the unspeakable. I was stirring the pot a little too enthusiastically, and the whole thing went over on the stage spilling the contents of the pot in a huge gumbo tsunami. I looked over at Ted Boomer. the promoter, and he was grinning like a Cheshire cat. So what did we do? We did what every Canadian does when trouble rears its head. We got out the SNOW SHOVELS! We sloshed it into the garbage, and we threw a bunch of fresh stuff in the pot , and kept on playing the gumbo. Luckily, the chicken, shrimp and lobsters, were not in the pot when it went over. We still managed to feed 300 people. Here’s the gig in London, Ontario. What a shew! Many thanks to Robert “Freightrain” Parker for helping us out on bass on our last tour.
FETA FIGS
I planted this weird fig tree and it got HUGE. However, it never produced many figs. And the figs were pithy and had no flavor. So last year I was about to chop it way back to nothing to contain it, because the tree was so HUGE. I got busy on the road and forgot about it. Then one day I came home and this fig tree was covered with juicy, succulent, figs. The tree had come into its own, producing 2-to-3 inch diameter figs that were delicious! So I cut em in half and stuffed a little feta cheese and a walnut into each half. Man, they’re good. I can’t wait for em to ripen up this year. Try it Sam I Am.
LIL’ RAYS
500A COURTHOUSE ROAD
GULFPORT, MS 228-896-9601
Their positioning statement: “Poboys, Boiled Seafood”, says it all. Coastal Mississippi is almost Louisiana. Lil’ Ray can MAKE a poboy. In addition to the typical fried stuff, there’s all kinds of grilled items on the menu. Grilled fish tacos, ahi, shrimp, mahi, catfish. Or how bout a smoked yellow fin tuna sandwich? Their seafood gumbo is good also. (I know gumbo) And of course, boiled shrimp or crawfish, oysters on the half shell, and steamed royal reds. All affordable, all cooked right. Lil’ Rays
OK, HERE WE GO…
Columbia, MD for the Festival of the Arts, Bethlehem, PA for a great little blues club, 2nd Story Blues, the classic Lyric Theater in Stewart, FL, AJ’s in Destin for Fathers’ Day, and don’t forget every Monday at Harry A’s on beautiful St. George Island, way down in Fla.
Here’s the famous Datil Peppers that I use in my Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. The flavor of the Datil is unparalleled. That creeper burn takes 10 to 15 seconds for the heat to “arrive” and it comes up from the bottom with a hot, sweet, funky rush of flavor that cries out for more. Buy some of my Lquid Summer hot sauce here.
R & D SAUSAGE COMPANY
HOMADE SMOKED AND FRESH SAUSAGE
15714 Waterloo Road Cleveland, OH 44110 216-692-1832
Joe Zuzak makes the sausage and wife, Carol makes the cinnamon bread. Daughter Nancy helps out running the store. Those guys from eastern Europe can make some great sausage. While in Cleveland, you might want to check this place out. The garlic sausage is the garliciest I ever had. It’s super bad!
PEANUT BUTTER AND PICKLE SANDWICH
Here’s Sam, my grandson. He makes peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. Cut the little gherkins up and … well, you know.
SUMMER IS COMING. TIME FOR ADVENTURE! WE ARE DOING SOME GREAT VENUES.
First, the Greenfield Vineyard in Chandler, OK. Then the Paradise in Pensacola Beach, Then the Smokey Mountains, Up to Columbia, MD, and Bethlehem, PA. And finally down to Florida to the Lyric Theatre in Stuart, and AJ’s in Destin for Father’s Day. AND do not miss our Mondays at the Beach. Starting in June, we will be at Harry A’s on St. George Island every Monday from 6 to 10 all summer long. (except July 13 and 20 when we will be in Canada) Here’s the entire schedule
CONCH CEVICHE
Check out this picture of pure bliss. Conch ceviche with smoked fish and star fruit.
Marinade the following in lime juice and Liquid Summer Hot Sauce overnite
One pound of conch cut up
One small onion, chopped
One quarter of a bell pepper diced
One jalapeno diced
Put the mixture on a bed of lettuce with
Half pound smoked fish cut up
Sliced star fruit
NATURE BOYZ 305-338-2155 MM 88 natureboyz2007@gmail.com
87951 US HWY 1 ISLAMORADA FL
Clive Chung is a cool guy. Born in Jamaica with Chinese-African heritage, he knows the value of fresh fruits and vegetables. He’s got a little juice stand inside of the Farmers Market at mile marker 88 on US hwy 1 in the Florida Keys. He will lop the top off of a chilled cocoanut and put a straw in it or squeeze fresh sugar cane juice into your carrot/ginger energizer drink, all the while grooving to Bob Marley and putting out the super hip vibes of peace and love. On my way down the keys, Nature Boyz will be a must stop for me.
SO COME ON DOWN TO THE WINERY, OR I’LL SEE YA AT THE BEACH, OR MAYBE HANGIN IN THE SMOKYS OR EVEN UP NORTH. WHO KNOWS, I MIGHT JUST KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR.
Check out this video taken on New Years Day in St. Augustine, Florida. The Sauce boss is in trouble…AGAIN!
GROUPER ALMONDINE A LA SAUCEBOSS
1 cup raw almonds
1/8 cup brown mustard
1/8 cup honey
1/8 cup Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
1 to 2 lb. grouper filet
Process the almonds
Mix all the ingredients and coat the grouper
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
KIMCHI AND MORE KIMCHI
PERSIMMON KIMCHI HOUSE
277 E. 10TH ST. NY, NY 10009 212-260-9080
In New York City every few years there rages a culinary fad, a hot, haute if you will, where a certain type of restaurant becomes so very vogue. So a bunch of new places are added to the cornucopia of choices available. A few years ago it was Tapas Bars. Lately it’s been Korean. Being a Korean cuisine freak for a long time, I was ready to try out some real deal kimchi. So try I did. The Persimmon Kimchi House did not disappoint. A long table seats everyone family style. A prix fixed menu with 6 courses for one price. Serious kimchi, shares the menu with eggplant with tofu dressing, sliced beef with melon sauce, spicy sautéed rice cake, and my favorite – the sliced braised pork belly, which is totally obscene. Silky fat, rolling down your gullet like…well,
It defies description. Very cool place.
And if you are in Augusta, Georgia, check out the Korean Restaurant of Ahrirahng. This place is really down home. The little dishes of kimchi include anchovies, squash, cucumber, mushrooms, broccoli, mung beans, radish, and cabbage. They bring it all with your entrée. I had to get the spicy squid. A tangy sweet peppery sauce simmers in your mouth with onions, green pepper, and cephalopods. Yeah. The TV was on with a Korean show of prodigy kids playing music and an audience going bonkers with adulation for the little tykes. The cooks in the kitchen were wrestling after a few drinks, and Mama (I guess that’s her Lincoln out front) pretending to keep order in the place. Great scene, and really good food.
AHRIRAHNG RESTAURANT OF KOREA
3008 DEANS BRIDGE ROAD, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA 30906
706-793-6800
Boy, what a good time I had in 2008. Played my heart out, rode my bike, went fishin, and hung out with some righteous folks. Here’s Saucey and Bossy in Sharon, PA in December. Thanks, girls!
It’s the trek to key west during the Meeting of the Minds. Of course we’ll need to stop in Ft. Myers Beach for the MOTM Warm Up Party to fine tune our fine tuning. So Fine! Come on all you Parrotheads. Come on down to the Green Parrot for Halloween! Then to Foley, Alabama. We stayin way down South of the Blues. Here’s the particulars.
Here is what INK 19 said about the latest Sauce Boss CD– “Raw”– in their October 2008 issue which includes: “The Sauce Boss is the real deal — self-taught, authentic-sounding, and just weird enough to stand out in a crowd. This is a GREAT blues disc.” Check it out
HUNGRY ON YOUR WAY DOWN TO KEY WEST?
Check put these cool places to eat:
In Miami:
Tobacco Road. 626 S. Miami Ave. 305-395-1198
Since 1912 Miami’s oldest bar has sought to overcome prohibition. They have a late nite menu and daily specials. 11 am to 5am
Versailles 3555 SW 8th St. 305-444-0240
Classic Cuban cuisine, they make all their bread and pastries in their own bakery. Also they have walkup service. Sun. – Thurs. 8 am to 2 am. Sat. 8 am to 4:30 am
In Key Largo:
Sushi Nami MM 99.5 Overseas Hwy. Bayside 305-453-4502
In Cudjoe Key:
Square Grouper MM 22.5 Cudjoe Key 305-745-8880
Slightly upscale but casual Fla. Keys cusine.
Tampa, Sebring, Starke, St George Island, Atlanta, Hilton Head, Panama City, Ft, Myers Beach, AND THEN…KEY WEST FOR HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!
Boogie Woogie Washer Woman – Rubbin and scrubbin, Scrublee ub dub! Workin for a livin, the maintenance alone is KILLING me. Oh well, I gotta keep it movin, keep it grooving, keep it rollin down the road. Yes we can can, somehow we will make it. We’ll come out on the other end of this one someday. The blues will lift us up. That’s right, Brother. You KNOW that’s right. Like the Boogie Woogie Washer Woman, just keep on keeping on. Here’s the link to a FREE mp3 of the song that got me in the rubboard groove. This song was my first serious foray into the the realm of “rubboardification”. For the 1989 Kingsnake session, I used an old washboard, a kick drum, a cowbell, a hubcap and an ashtray for my funky little drum kit. Orginally released on 1989 LP “Sauce Boss” on Kingsnake Records. Re-released 2000 on “Best of the Sauce Boss”. There are a very few “Best Of” CDs available. Get it here.
Since then the rubboard has traveled with us everywhere. All over the country, up into Canada, it’s even flown to Europe many times. It keeps on chuggin away. Something about that rhythm makes you want to get up on your feet and dance.
Photo by John Kelly
Fall is in the air.
Oyster season.
Time to make Gumbo
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oil
1 chicken (no bones)
1 gallon of chicken stock
2 large onions
2 large green peppers
1/2 cup LIQUID SUMMER
1 pound smoked sausage
2 medium zucchini
1 pound okra
1 pound of shrimp
1 pint of oysters
1 pound of crawdads
Make a roux: mix 2 cups of flour into 1 1/2 cups hot oil. Cook on high, stirring constantly until brown. Add the chicken, chicken stock, onions, and green peppers. Bring to a boil, then simmer down. Add salt to taste and 1/2 cup of . . . (drum roll) BILL WHARTON’S LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE. Slice and add: 1 pound of smoked sausage, 2 medium zucchini, and 1 pound of okra. When the okra is done, bring the gumbo to a rolling boil and add shrimp, oysters, and crawdads. Cook for 3 minutes, or until shrimp are just barely cooked. Serve over rice and splash with more Liquid Summer Hot Sauce. This recipe feeds 8-12 people.
We are the Traveling Gumbo Show and we are coming to your town! This fall we are bookin down the road. Labor Day is a sold out show in Oklahoma, then Pittsburgh, Fredonia, NY, Charlotte, NC, Tampa and Sebring, Fla. And some where in there, we will be doing the coolest of the cool.
Pete Seeger
On Saturday, September 27, we are playing the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Chile Fest along side of an American treasure. Pete Seeger will headline the date and we will be playing right before him. This is a dream come true for me. A champion for individual rights, Pete Seeger stood up to the McCarthy witch hunt of the 1950s and survived to become a voice for the laborers of America. His songs, “We Shall Overcome”, and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” were anthems for the civil rights and peace movements of the 60s. He is credited with single handedly starting a movement to clean up the polluted Hudson River. AND…if that ain’t enough, he’s a heck of a banjo picker, and in my book, he was one of the most incredible singers I’ve heard. When I saw him twenty years ago, he blew me away with just his voice. It was one of the best concerts I ever witnessed. Out of all the shows I have seen in the last fifty years, three of them stand out as the absolute best. Jimi Hendrix, Charles Mingus, and Pete Seeger. This will be a show to remember.
GINGER/BASIL/VEGGIE/LIQUID SUMMER HOT SAUCE SOUP
I had a few leftover steamed potatoes and about half a winter squash, so I mashed em up for thickening the broth. Here’s how I did it.
Sauté in olive oil in a large pot:
4 oz. chopped shallots
1 stalk of celery minced
1 chopped green pepper
Peel and mince 4 oz. ginger and put it into a tea ball
and throw it in the pot along with:
1 qt. chicken or veggie broth
1 bunch of basil leaves
1 hand full of chopped carrots
2 yellow squash chopped
A few leaves of greens (kale, mustards, or Collards)
2 potatoes and half a winter squash, roasted and mashed
2 tbs. Liquid Summer Hot Sauce
Bring to a boil
A few minutes before serving, add 2 chopped fresh tomatoes
Miko spreads the love
HEALTH GARDEN VEGAN AND WEST INDIAN CUISINE
350 State St. Rochester, NY 14608 585-262-2880
Monday – Friday 8am – 6 pm
So it’s the middle of the winter, and Rochester is covered with snow and slush, and it’s cold and wet, and you haven’t gotten enough sunshine, and your endocrine system is wacked out, and your blood sugar is out of control, and you’ve had about enough of this crazyness, and..and…and. Wait a minute. Take a deep breath. Relax, Mon. Get healthy. Get right with a laid back head space. Right across from the Kodak offices is a funky little breakfast/lunch restaurant and health food store with three or four tables an a very large smile. Take a load off and chill out with a Caribbean attitude at the Health Garden where vegan and Ital meet oxtails, jerk chicken, and beef patties. Vegan curries and BBQ share the menu with real chicken, fish and beef entrees. When you walk in the door, it’s obvious that the owner, Miko, cooks with love of food and people. When I arrived at four pm after a slammed lunch time rush, the veggies were still succulent and fresh to the taste. She has a great feel for herbs and spices, making everything savory as well as comforting. With a juice bar, healthy shakes, bulk herbs, catering, and healthy beauty products, in addition to the restaurant, this café is jammed full of goodness. In a word, sustenance. When’s the last time YOU had callaloo?
Hooo Boy, I had a good time. As the song goes, “I have had my fun, if I don’t get well no more.” Check this out. We were goin to do four days on Beale Street, so I decided to ride my bike from Tallahassee to Memphis and back home – a journey of 2000 miles. What an adventure.
As I was finishing up at the Blues City Cafe, I heard that the very next day, The Honorable Reverend Al Green was going to be preaching at his church, The Full Gospel Tabernacle. What a poor sinner to do when he can get the Word from the real deal source of spiritualistic funk? And so I putted down to the church bright and early Sunday morning, ready to get some religion, and Son, did I ever! Before the Rev. even showed up, I was feeling the Spirit. What a beautiful scene this church is. The opening music was truly inspirational. However, when Al began his sermon, all heaven broke loose. There was singing and praising, rejoicing, and thanking, crying and hollering, and feeling the Spirit like nobody’s business. I was just about to throw all my credit cards in the plate when the good reverend said, ”I know that times have been rough for you folks, so today, don’t bother putting any money in the basket. I have taken care of it for you”. I ask you, Brothers and Sisters, when was the last time you heard a preacher say that?
I left Memphis with a good feeling way down in my soul. I needed it for I was about to ride straight into a hailstorm. First I hit the heavy winds. Then I rode through a dust devil – a mile high cloud of dust and debris. Visibility was about fifty feet, sometimes less. I was looking for a funnel but none appeared. And then the rain and hail came down clackity clack on my helmet. By the time I reached the next overpass, I was drenched. “This is the life”, I said to myself, almost believing it. However I met some nice people under the bridge and I had time for a little nap before continuing to Hot Springs, Arkansas. A couple of days soaking in the hot springs had me ready for my next adventure.
Honey Boy Edwards June 08
I headed south to Greenville, Mississippi for the Leland Blues Fest. I was able to catch heard Honey Boy Edwards doin the real blues in Leland down by the railroad tracks. It don’t get no bluesier than that. Deep in the delta I hit the blues mother load. While embedding myself in the local scene I heard that B.B. King was in town.
BB King at Club Ebony June 2008
So on Saturday night I was sitting with my boots up on the stage at the Club Ebony, eating a bbq pork chop samich. And incidentally, the food at Club Ebony is very good at a very reasonable price. I hear the catfish is to die for. So anyway, I’m chowin down on my BBQ pork chop samich, watching B.B. King hold court at his hometown juke. He finished the show and walked right by me. He took my hand and I helped him with the steps. All I could say was, “Thank you. Thank you.” The photo here is B.B. as he leaves the stage. Truly a magnificent personality, he has done so much for so many. Thank you Mr. King.
So after all this blues and gospel, it was time for me to head for the house. My trusty steed was waiting patiently as I mounted up for the 10 hour ride back to Florida. But do not fret. I’ll be sliding back to Mississippi to soak up some more of the real deal another time.
THE OTTAWA BLUESFEST WAS JAMMIN AS ALWAYS.
Who’s that guy in the Gumbo pot?
PAPPY’S GERMAN RESTAURANT 850-785-6611
St Andrews Marina 1000 Bayview Avenue Panama City, FL 32401
Serving authentic German food since 1982. When’s the last time ya had some real Bratwurst? Or real Wiener Schnitzel? Roladen? How bout Spazel with Gravy? Schweinebraten? Sauerkraut? Once in a while I get a hankering and Pappy’s is the place to fill the need without killing you with grease. Munich born Christine Jamieson opened the restaurant when her husband retired from the military. She loved to entertain at home, and so restaurateuring was a natural step. Twenty-five years later she still holds court at this charming little restaurant/bar right across from the marina in the St. Andrews neighborhood. Take a walk through the park and check out the world’s only cultivar of a four headed Butia Capitata – commonly called the Pindo Palm. Or take the boardwalk through the trees to the shore of St. Andrews Bay. Saunter down to the marina and check out the yachts and fishing vessels. Pick out some fresh shrimp, right off the boat. Work up an appetite.
Pappy's Dinner Plate
Then it’s time to relax with a chilled German Beer (Pappy’s has a great selection), let the sun go down, and sample the homemade soups, the authentic German dishes, or the traditional Panama City shrimp. (they gotta be fresh). The gumbo gets the Sauce Boss seal of Approval. It’s a Gulf Coast seafood, tomato and okra based gumbo, spiced just right. And… if yer real lucky, you may catch Kieth, the seventy-five year old drummer. Sometimes, on Friday and Saturdays, Keith Unger kicks out the oom-pas with pre-recorded tracks for your dining and dancing pleasure. Just a guy with his drum set jamming with the stereo, doing Frank Sinatra, John Phillip Sousa, and Einzug der Musikanten. A bowl of Bavarian cabbage soup, Polish sausage, a couple o Warsteiner pilsners, some polkas, and some good company makes for a cozy, albeit pungent evening. Don’t get no better. Carry outs available. That’s a good thing
SUMMER SQUASH / PAPAYA BISQUE
This is sooo yummy and so easy to make
1 Lb. of summer squash steamed
½ Lb. fresh papaya
1 Pint fresh organic almond milk
Dusting of ground nutmeg
Put every thing in a blender and that’s it!
Incidentally, I found the best almond connection. They are organic unpasteurized almonds which are so creamy, the milk is like half and half. Here’s the link.
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