Sioux Cityans among ’07 Iowa Hall of Fame class
By JESSE CLAEYS | 08.30.07
Russell Bizzett has played drums for everyone from Muddy Waters to Jose Feliciano.
So just what has been his strangest gig?
“Boy, let me see,” Bizzett said from his home in San Diego, Calif. “A polka band. There was a small resurgence of polka music in the ’80s for a very brief moment and I was asked to record with this polka band. That was strange.”
Bizzett, who was born in Sioux City and graduated from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in 1969, has spent his decades long music career as a “sideman,” someone who is called upon to join bands during tours and occasionally fill in during studio recording sessions. His skills have landed him job after job and now an induction into the 2007 class of the Iowa Rock ’N Roll Hall of Fame.
“This is the first honor like this I’ve received,” Bizzett said. “I’m really excited about it.”
Bizzett began playing the drums when he was 5 and first played professionally at the age of 12 in his grandfather’s orchestra. He came from a family of musicians, including one of his grandfathers who owned and operated a now defunct Sioux City jazz club called 711. It’s the place where Bizzett first performed in public as a paid musician.
“My grandfather, he was the one pretty much responsible for my being a musician. He didn’t discourage me and helped me to understand that if I worked hard at it I could have a career in the business.”
With that in mind, Bizzett left Sioux City at the age of 19 for the green musical pastures of New York City. Soon he landed a one-night-only gig playing with legendary guitar player Chuck Berry. Then another Sioux City native, rocker Tommy Bolin, called up his childhood pal and asked Bizzett to move to Boulder, Colo., to join his band Energy.
“I packed up my stuff and left. I ended up playing with him off and on and was featured on Tommy’s ‘Live from Ebbets Field,’” remembered Bizzett of Bolin’s 1974 recording.
While in Colorado, Bizzett made a new friend, the legendary blues player Muddy Waters. After meeting occasionally for late-night meals and drinks, Waters offered Bizzett a job touring briefly as his drummer. Bizzett eventually landed in California and found work in television, providing warm-up music to crowds at live taping of shows like “Mork & Mindy” and “Laverne & Shirley.” Then came eight years touring with Jose Feliciano.
In a strange twist, this “sideman” has now finally focused on releasing his own records.
“Most sidemen get caught up in just being a sideman. It’s always been one thing to another thing and I’ve been on road for about 20 years playing with this guy and that guy. I just never got around to doing my own stuff.”
Bizzett’s first CD release falls on the same day of his induction into the Iowa Rock ’N Roll Hall of Fame. It’s a tribute CD to Bolin, featuring Bizzett’s favorite Bolin tunes, but recorded in a jazz style. Soon after Bizzett plans to release a record of original compositions.
“I consider myself lucky,” he said of his lasting career. “I never like to be pigeonholed as one thing. The thing I have to my advantage is I’m versatile and I’ve played a variety of styles of music. I guess that’s what keeps me going.”
Sioux City’s “Poster Guy” gets hall of fame nod
Anyone familiar with the Sioux City music scene knew that if they heard the phrase “Hi Ya,” Tommy Rempp had just entered the building.
Now, although he passed away in 2002 at the age of 55, Rempp is about to enter another music-related building, the Iowa Rock ’N Roll Hall of Fame.
Many Siouxlanders have been petitioning the IRRHF induction committee for years requesting Rempp’s inclusion in the hall. The problem was Rempp, who didn’t write or perform any music, simply didn’t fit into the categories inductees were placed into.
That all changed last year when Tom Tourville, a boardmember of the IRRHOF and chair of the induction committee, proposed a new category n Support Staff.
“Each year we get 25 o 40 nominees and some just don’t fit into any of the boxes we have. So, we decided to create a new box for people like Tommy,” Tourville said.
It was in Sioux City as a teen that Rempp developed a strong passion for live music. He landed a job working the door at the defunct The Patio nightclub, assisted local music promoters Eddie Skeets, Terry Drea and David Bernstein with booking shows and became heavily involved with concerts at the Blues Cellar and the annual festival Saturday in the Park. His main task was promoting events, especially by hanging thousands of posters around town.
Rempp had often been called Sioux City’s “unofficial rock ’n’ roll historian.”
“The new category, I think it’s a sign of the hall’s growth going into our 10th anniversary,” Tourville said. “If you go through Tommy’s resume and look at all he has done with and for bands, he has some real fans out there who were passionate about seeing him inducted.”
Accepting the honor on Rempp’s behalf will be David Bernstein. |
