Old friends at The Statesmen this Saturday
Back Row L – R: Paul Phillips (BBB Keys & Vocals), Tim Hayes (BBB Vocals), Mike Buchanan(SPB Keys & Vocals), Elaina
Caven (BBB Vocals), Dan Winslow (BBB Bass & Vocals), Nicky Cavallaro (SPB Guitar & Vocals), Gerry Paganin (BBB Drums &
Vocals), Kevin Morse (SPB Drums & Vocals) Front Row L- R: Alan Durfee (BBB Sound), John Barrett (BBB Guitar & Vocals),
Mike Giannone (SPB Bass & Vocals), Dave Sharman (BBB Guitar & Vocals)
Local music scene:
Old friends at The Statesmen this Saturday
Sharman and Giannone bands share bill
by Howard W. Appell
Livingston County News
On May 21 the Statesmen at 86 Court Street in Geneseo will host a concert featuring two regional musical legends and long time
friends, Dave Sharman and Mike Giannone, whose bands are playing together for only the second time, and for the very first time in
the Genesee Valley.
The show will run from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. with two pairs of sets by Bob‟s Brother‟s Band and The Same Pallet Band, then a final,
combined band set. Admission is $5 at the door.
Sharman‟s jazzy lead guitar riffs inform the breaks of Avon‟s popular Bob‟s Brother‟s Band. He will be sharing the bill with his
lifelong friend Mike Giannone, frontman, vocalist and bass player with the long enduring Sam Pallet Band out of Corning.
Dave and Mike grew up together, separated only by railroad tracks in an ethnic Corning neighborhood. Dave‟s family was one of just
two with an English surname living along the boundary of first and second generation Italian and Portuguese territories. The son of a
school teacher and lumber mill operator, Dave‟s social status was no higher than his neighbors, although, from an elevation
standpoint, he was higher.
“In the flood of „72, we had 48 inches of water in our basement; Mike‟s house had water in the second story,” Dave related.
In those days Mike was a star football player and Dave was a guitar playing progeny, a jock and a freak who probably wouldn‟t have
associated except for their previous childhood bond and shared passion for basketball and music.
“We‟d play best-of-seven basketball all night until we were ready to drop -- and then for the rest of the night we‟d go play music,”
Mike recalls.
And these days Mike has the long hair and Dave has the short, somehow reversing their „70s appearances.
The two friends‟ different personalities persist in the roles they play in their respective contemporary bands. Dave takes a background
spot in Bob‟s Brother‟s Band, albeit producing marvelous lead lines when called upon. Mike, in contrast, is a frontman‟s frontman, the
gregarious, extroverted character whom many identify as „Sam Pallet‟ in the band of that name.
But truth be known, there is no Sam Pallet. Mike tells how his band got its name:
“For 20 years I worked for Corning, Inc. at the Erwin plant. Every third pallet that came down the line had a sticker that said „Sample
Pallet.‟ They‟d check that one for defects and if it was okay, the next two were presumed good as well.
“One day I realized that I could white-out the „p-l-e‟ and the sticker would say „Sam Pallet.‟
In that Eureka moment Mike saw the light: “I could use these and have bumper stickers for my band, so long as I called it „Sam
Pallet.‟”
The band‟s first appearance as „Sam Pallet‟ was March 21, 1986 at Mike‟s wedding reception, after having been previously known as
„Eights & Aces‟ for Wild Bill Hickok‟s infamous dead man‟s hand.
“I use to tell people Sam Pallet was the guy that shot Wild Bill,” Mike chuckles.
The nucleus of Sam Pallet is Giannone on lead vocals and bass, and guitar player Nicky Cavallaro, who have played together since
1978. Keyboard player Mike Buchanan joined the following year. This long associated trio is rounded out with a fourth musician,
drummer Kevin Morse. The present Sam Pallet is downsized from an earlier version with a swinging brass section.
Music and „Sam Pallet‟ has allowed Mike to make his living at what he loves to do. He left his factory job 15 years ago and has no
regrets.
Bob‟s Bother‟s Band is a community of many of the Avon area‟s outstanding musicians. The current lineup is: Elaina Caven
(vocals), Tim Hayes (vocals), Paul Phillips (keyboards), Alan Durfee (sound engineer), Gerry Paganin (drums), Dan Winslow (bass),
John Barrett (guitar), and Dave Sharman (guitar). Steve Harrison (drums) occasionally gives Gerry a break. Alums include Beth
Ippolito (vocals), Don Loy (bass), and Bill Christiano (bass).
Bands with big hearts
Although they have appeared on stage together just once, Sharman‟s and Giannone‟s bands have much in common, musically and
philosophically.
Sam Pallet plays classic barroom rock with a good mix of Skynard and soul. Bob‟s Brother‟s Band plays a similar mixture of classic
soul, pop and rock covers.
And both bands have big hearts.
Sam Pallet does an average of 10-to-12 benefits per year, about ten percent of its shows, for worthy causes and needy families. Bob‟s
Brother‟s Band, which usually plays two-to-three shows a month, has a specified target of doing 25 percent of their shows as benefits
for worthy organizations and needy persons.
Dave is deeply influenced by the late Harry Chapin, who espoused doing one show for one‟s own benefit and the next show for the
benefit of the needy.
“If you‟re fortunate enough to be able to go out and entertain people and have a good time, then you really need to give back,” Dave
believes.
“There‟s always someone that needs something,” Mike said. “It doesn‟t matter what -- so long as we‟re available we‟ll do it. I have a
wonderful, healthy family myself and I try to do as much as I can for anyone who is less fortunate.”
“I don‟t think people realize the expenses a family has to pay, even when they have insurance, when they face a medical catastrophe.
They need all the help they can get,” Dave said. “And you feel real good after you‟ve played a show to help out.”
Corning in the ‘70s
Dave and Mike count themselves fortunate to have grown up in a rich musical environment among generous musicians who were
willing to show interested youngsters some of the tricks and discipline of their trade.
Corning of the early 1970s was a fervor of musical talent, providing great inspiration to impressionable youngsters. Among the guitar
heroes, Dave recalls Jim Barbaro, Pat Lando, Bob and Gerry Bush, Jim and Bob Kosty, Steve Peao, and Willie Hayes, not to mention
a bevy of great drummers, bassists and keyboardists: Rick DiGiacomo, John Wisor, Ray Schmarder, Lex O‟Brien, Ed Brown, Jim
Luke, Sherman Curry, Dave Capus, Dick Puccio -- and an assortment of bands whose levels of musicianship and precision appeared
all but unattainable: Five by Night; Coal; Dakota; Xyphus; Red, White, and Blue; Ma‟s Apple Pie, and General Store.
“All you had to do was walk down the street and there‟d be somebody who was a better player than you, who was willing to jam with
you,” Dave recalls.
Mike would sometimes skip church to hear the band „Coal‟ practice.
“That was like going to church for us,” Dave suggests.
Furthermore, Mike was schooled in big band, MOR style vocalizing by his father, who as a young man had done some singing in that
milieu.
“Today, when we do weddings, I‟m glad I learned that stuff,” Mike reflects.
Mike brags that he learned guitar without ever having taken a lesson.
“You mean without ever paying for a lesson,” Dave corrected. “We‟d sit in or jam with those great players and they‟d show us lots of
things: Like the minor pentatonic box, which can keep you busy for 20 years.”
At his 8th grade graduation from St. Vincent‟s School in 1969, Mike performed as lead vocalist in his band, „Ultra Violet Rainbow‟ -and got reprimanded for the lyrical content of Steppenwolf‟s „The Pusher.‟
Dave, meanwhile, inspired by his teacher Mr. Kelly, had been a devoted student of guitar since age eight, and by age 13 was being
invited to sit in with some of the best local bands. Mike remembers Dave playing Jimi Hendrix riffs with his teeth in eighth grade.
Dave would go on to four years of study at Berklee College of Music.
Corroboration
Dave on occasion will drop by a Sam Pallet gig and jam -- and on February 17 the entire Bob Brother‟s Band played at the VFW hall
in Corning, joining with Sam Pallet in a prelude to Saturday‟s Statesmen show. Nevertheless, collaborations between the two Corning
boys are rather infrequent, making this Saturday a special opportunity for fans of both Sharman and Giannone.
“I think this area is going to love Mike‟s band,” Dave predicts.
“People down here loved you guys,” said Mike, referring to the February VFW gig in Corning.
Mike was impressed with Bob‟s Brother‟s lead singer Tim Hayes‟ showmanship: “My dad always said that entertaining is 90 percent
of the job. You can be a great musician but if you can‟t entertain the crowd, you don‟t have a show!”
Anticipating the upcoming Saturday gig at the Statesmen, Mike said, “It‟s great when you play for people who haven‟t head you
before. The songs will be fresh and they haven‟t heard my jokes!”
Mike concluded the interview by volunteering Dave to pay this reporter‟s admission to the show.