Pig-A-Palooza 2009

August 4, 2009 at 11:53 pm | Posted in Music in the Ville | 2 Comments
Tags: Musician for a Musician, New American Groove, Page One Studios, The Toys

Great food, awesome live music, and over two hundred of their closest friends and neighbors came together this past weekend to celebrate Pig-A-Palooza 2009 in Valley Grove, West Virginia, hosted by Carla and Jeff Hayes and Chuck Rahi. 

Jeff & Carla Hayes

For the past five years, I have attended this neighborhood block party and enjoyed music by bands from all over the Ohio Valley.

It all began in 2004 when Jeff, who is a musician, organized a block party to meet his new neighbors.  He said he wanted to have fun and listen to live music with some of his musician friends.  He never intended it to continue, but neighbor Chuck Rahi offered to help him and the next year Pig-A-Palooza began.

Neighbors Nora and Ron Black also help Jeff and his incredibly organized wife Carla make the large event come off without a hitch.  Well, there was one slight hitch Saturday morning when Ron was roasting 30 chickens and a 125-pound pig over an open fire. 

Nora & Ron Black

 

He was basting the pig with a sauce Jeff had made with just a little too much butter. Flames shot up and singed his hair and his arm but Ron just poured a little beer over it and kept on cooking.

Chuck Rahi & Mr. Pig

 

Everyone has a good time and friends and neighbors bring food to share. 

 

friends having fun

New American Groove - top L-R Justin Rector, & John Whorton, bottom L-R Jonathan Banco, & Mark Gray

 

Some of the musicians who perform donate their time to give back to their fans.

“New American Groove,”  “Mark and Curt,” and “The Jimmy Lay Band,” are returning bands.  New to Pig-A-Palooza this year were “Page One Project,” “Mongo and Buck,” and the ever popular and my favorite, “The Toys” who closed the show. 

 

The Toys - top L-R Carlo Vohl, Jeff Hayes, & Dino Giovannone, bottom L-R Johnny DiCarlo, Bruce, Virtue, & Josh Cochran

 

Jeff was a member of the original “Toys” in 1981 and a former member of  “The Jimmy Lay Band.”  After “The Toys” reunited in 2005 to raise money for musician Rick Treglia, and again in 2007 for drummer John Peck, they decided to continue playing together. 

Page One Project - top L-R Curt Lehman, & Jeff Hayes, bottom L-R Tim Malone, & Danny Page

Jeff is also a member of “Musicians for a Musician,” a group of four musicians who devote their time and energy to raise money for local musician’s medical expenses.

Pig-A-Palooza 2009 was a great success and if people keep asking for it, there just might be a Pig-A-Palooza 2010.