KENOSHA — Frank Falduto and his Patio Daddi-o’s are performing 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2, at Union Park Tavern.
The group will perform in the venue’s outdoor beer garden at 4520 Eighth Ave.
The group will feature Merle Perkins, who “has been a stalwart member of the band for 20 years,” Falduto said, “but that doesn’t come close to describing his long affiliation with both percussion and blues music. Although he was born in Kansas City, it was when he moved to Chicago in the mid-1960 that the world of drumming really opened up to him.”
Perkins “had been working hard learning his chops in high school by joining a drum and bugle corps, but the move to Chicago really put Merle in a position to be noticed and heard,” Falduto added. “He ended up drumming for the legendary Freddie King, opening for guys like Leon Russell in 1971.”
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After playing and recording with Buddy Guy, Albert King and Junior Wells, fans started referring to him as “The Legendary Merle Perkins,” Falduto said. “The list of who Merle has worked with is endless and includes the late great Eddie Clearwater.”
Perkins, also known as “The Perkolator,” is playing with Falduto and Falduto’s wife, Heather, who plays bass.
“That makes our group a real family blues band,” Frank Falduto said.
Falduto, a Kenosha native now residing in Chicago, is a former local educator and music journalist who continues to teach music and perform in Kenosha.
“This is a rare opportunity to hear the real Chicago blues by one of the living masters in Wisconsin, at a great blues-friendly venue, for no cover,” Falduto said.
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