Tady: Jaggerz to play Hopewell Amphitheater grand opening

Beaver County chart-toppers The Jaggerz will headline the July 23 grand opening celebration of the Hopewell Park Amphitheater.

With a roofed, wooden stage, the venue looks great. It was used for a handful of shows last year, but will be getting lights and other improvements as a full summer schedule of concerts and children's movies soon will be announced.

I bring up The Jaggerz, because they have a big summer ahead.

"We'll be playing in Beaver County three times this year," Jaggerz frontman Jimmie Ross said.

Along with the Hopewell Park show, you can catch Ross, Benny Faiella, Hermie Granati and the rest of the Jaggerz playing the second weekend of August at the 97th San Rocco Festival in Center Township, and Sept. 3 at the Good Samaritan Festival in Ambridge.

The R&B/rock group that gave the world the 1970 hit "The Rapper" also returns July 3 to The Cove at Geneva-on-The-Lake, Ohio.

"I'm really excited about going back to The Cove," Ross said. "When we first started, we played the Cove the whole summer of '68, seven nights a week. Geneva was packed with kids all summer! It was like Spring Break in Miami. The only thing missing was Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. There were so many college kids there, you could hardly drive a car down the middle of the strip."

A one-hour-50-minute car trip from Beaver County gets you to the Lake Erie town to see The Jaggerz' 5 p.m. "Return to The Cove" concert, postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic. Tickets cost $20 in advance at thecoveniteclub.com or $25 at the door if any remain.

From their earliest days in New Brighton-Beaver Falls, when Donnie Iris was still in the lineup, the Jaggerz have amassed a loyal following. Jaggerz fans first flocked to Geneva in 1967, when the group became a house band at another nightclub, The Sunkin' Bar.

"We got the job and played there for the next three summer months, seven nights a week plus a jam session on Saturday and Sunday afternoons," Ross said.

'Funny Girl' has Beaver County talent

Amber Ardolino, of North Sewickley Township, plays Vera and is also part of the ensemble for the much-buzzed-about Broadway revival of "Funny Girl."

As Vera, Ardolino fills a role originated on Broadway by Lainie Kazan (the mom in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding.")

Playing at the August Wilson Theatre on 52nd Street, "Funny Girl" stars Beanie Feldstein ("Lady Bird") and features "Glee"/"The Weakest Link" star Jane Lynch.

For Ardolino, an alum of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, it's another impressive career step, following her Broadway work in "Hamilton," "Moulin Rouge" and as an Instagram influencer.

Brooke is back

Moon High grad Brooke Annibale signed a recording deal with the Nettwerk record label, which released her catchy, pretty new single "What If You."

The indie-folk song's music video is a hoot, showing Annibale dreamily floating in the clouds above the Pittsburgh skyline.

A touch of homesickness, perhaps, for the now Rhode Island-based artist, who has been featured on NPR's "World Cafe" and SiriusXM radio's "Acoustic Coffeehouse," praised by American Songwriter and Stereogum, and opened shows for Rufus Wainwright, Mt. Joy, Iron & Wine and most recently Caroline Spence on an Eastern Seaboard run.

Annibale found the inspiration for "What If You" while balancing her mixed emotions of maintaining her music career while acknowledging the complicated nature of a new love.

“I was wondering whether or not I could carry on making music the way I had in the past," she said. "I thought, 'is diving back into my music career gonna knock out any mental health progress I've made? CanI put out a record, be vulnerable, and do the whole cycle again?' And then I realized: It's a double-meaning metaphor. What if everything that I loved loved me back? What if I just did this? And it worked."

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Water Trash rising

Pittsburgh-Beaver County rock band Water Trash releases its new album, "Trash is Always Greener" this weekend, centered on an April 30 headlining gig at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale.

As a guest deejay in the spring of 2021, I featured a psychedelic-pop song by Water Trash on "The Grass Roots Homegrown Rock" show on Butler's 93.7-The Rock Station.

Pittsburgh's 91.3-WYEP needs to get hip to Water Trash.

Someone posted on YouTube an impressive 12-minute video of Water Trash delighting the crowd last weekend at the inaugural Oakland Pop Festival at Schenley Plaza. I'd have been there, if not committed to another show (more on that below.)

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Deasy does it

Pittsburgh singer-songwriter Bill Deasy took to Facebook to publicly thank everyone for two successful shows last weekend celebrating his new album, "If The Creek Don't Rise."

Deasy played the Oaks Theater in his hometown of Oakmont, then a night later headlined a private Fox Chapel barn concert.

With its impeccable sound, professional lights, large sliding doors and four restrooms worthy of a Mount Washington restaurant, this barn looked like it hadn't housed a horse since the Eisenhower administration. But it was a lovely venue for a show set up like one of those legendary Midnight Rambles by The Band's Levon Helm.

Joined by longtime drummer David Throckmorton and the musicians from Brooklyn and Philly who played on "If The Creek Don't Rise," Deasy seemed at ease in front of his intimate audience, sailing through the new material, including radio single ""Halfway to Believing," highlighted by his buttery voice and sharply detailed lyrics. Deasy added a few treats from his should've-been-famous rock band The Gathering Field, plus covers of Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

The encore started with Deasy inviting on stage Beaver teenager Maddie Hertweck to sing harmonies and a lead verse of The Gathering Field's "Lost in America."

An overall marvelous performance where one of my biggest takeaways was this: We need more barn concerts.

Beaver County Tourism & Recreation has hosted a few barn bashes at Old Economy Park, where an old barn was the backdrop for spectators gathered outside. But getting to actually stand inside a barn to watch a show is just the coolest experience.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times, and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Tady: Jaggerz to play Hopewell Amphitheatre grand opening