RoadHogg and the Rippers: Press

Some of the venues where we have performed:

Cabo Wabo Cantina (Sammy Hagar’s club in Cabo San Lucas)
107.7 The Bone Live on the air with Lamont & Tonelli
90.3 Kmud Garberville
96.7 BOB Radio & Epic Speed Works 1st Car Show
96.7 The Tool radio station
Mancuso’s (Novato)
Russian River Brewing Co
505 mendocino club (Santa Rosa)
El Verano Inn (Sonoma)
North Bay Motorcycle Association's 1st and 2nd annual poker runs
Penngrove Motorcycle Co.’s 1st , 2nd , 3rd and 4th Annual Benefit Runs
BlueMoon Saloon (Sonoma)
Twin Oaks Tavern (Penngrove)
Jasper O Farrell’s (Sebastapol)
Forestville Club (Forestville)
DeSilva’s Bar & Grill (Novato)
Ponderosa (Santa Rosa)
Richmond Park ( Konocti)
Spancky’s (Cotati)
Tradewinds (Cotati)
Quincy’s pub (Cotati)
Lakeport Sport’s Bowl
JP’s (Willits)
New George’s (San Rafael)
Flamingo Hotel (Santa Rosa)
Ferrari-Carano Winery -Christmas party (Healdsburg)
Healdsburg High’s 25th Class Reunion and many private parties

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Danny Sorentino chases the vibe on an all-night tour of his favorite local spots .
"The good thing," he says, "is that with fewer spots for bands to play, and a higher grade of local talent than you'd get in a lot of other places, you can almost always open up the paper and be able to find a good show somewhere close by."

With that, Sorentino suggests the Twin Oaks, on Redwood Highway near Petaluma, for our next stop.

"Who's playing tonight?" I ask.

"I have no idea," he laughs.

The parking lot of the Twin Oaks is jammed with semis, dozens of pickups and countless motorcycles. Led Zeppelin music oozes from the building's walls. The police sobriety checkpoint just up the road (thanks to which I am now the proud owner of a pamphlet entitled, "We Thank the Sober Driver--We Arrest the Rest") has apparently done little to discourage tonight's attendance.

"Now, if you've never been here before," Sorentino says, "you should know that the Twin Oaks is not a place you go for meaningful conversation. This is a bit of old Sonoma County, a place for country and rhythm and blues music, hard-drinking, have-some-fun music. A'Roma's, now that's a place where you might listen to the lyrics and actually entertain some intellectual notion about them. Here at the Twin Oaks, there's no such thing. People who come in here want to drink hard and they want to have some fun--fast. They want music that fits that vibe. I guarantee that whatever this band turns out to be, they're going to be very, uh, primal."

Clearly enjoying his tour-guide role, he holds the door open. "Welcome to the classic American blue-collar bar! Notice that the pool table is the primary decorative centerpiece, and that there is not one but several television sets, all tuned to sports stations. That one has rodeo!" he marvels. Our fellow patrons are a blend of bikers and dairy farmers, muscle-shirted youths and white-haired old-timers, livestock wranglers and beefy truck drivers. Not a Mohawk in the bunch.

The bartender informs us that tonight's band, currently on break after their first set, are a local group known as Road Hog and the Rippers. Sounds pretty primal to me.

Fifteen minutes later, the band are back from their break.

"Oh God, look at this!" Sorentino says in a low voice. "These guys are perfect!" Road Hogg and the Rippers look exactly like a motorcycle gang. Maybe they are a motorcycle gang, who knows--they're certainly jolly.

"Glad you all made it through the checkpoint," grins lead singer Bob Cuozzo, adding, "Hey! Can someone cut the jukebox, please?"

The Rippers' first tune is a cover of an old Rolling Stones song, and Sorentino hollers, "These guys are great!" After playing an original tune with the refrain "Let's burn it down! Let's burn it down!" they slide into an excellent cover of George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone." A couple of songs later, Sorentino gives me the thumbs up; it's time to move on.

Once outside, he says, "Man! These guys were good. But hey, look at 'em. If they're not good, who's gonna tell them? Not me!"