About half way through the last decade, “Slutty” Pete Zona became the host, soundman, and sometimes harp player for the Wan-Tu Blues Jams, arguably northern New England’s best known blues jams. With two blues jams a week, Wan-Tu has become a brand and a franchise and has become well known far outside of New Hampshire. Zona, who calls himself “the zookeeper” hosts the jam, organizes the players, and he mans the soundboard.
Zona’s favorite thing about the Wan-Tu Blues Jam gig is the people he comes into contact with. The players, the audiences, the bartenders, the patrons and, of course, the proprietors that he says “are kind enough to let us set up and make noise.”
“I am honored to emcee and play,” Zona continued, “with a most excellent collection of musicians, for an audience that appreciates the effort, in venues that make it all as fun as possible.”
These days, Wan-Tu Blues Jams are held every Sunday afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Village Trestle in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight every Thursday evening at Johnny Bad’s in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Wantu Blues Jams have been around for about five years. Zona’s girlfriend, Brenda Cadieux, handles all of the marketing and promotional efforts that keep those jams ever visible. “Without her ever present promotional effort,” Zona said, “the Wan-Tu gig would be a mere shadow of what it is. Brenda Cadieux is much the de facto manager of the operation.”
Necessity was the mother of invention that spawned these jams The Wan-Tu operation formed simply because the local music scene lacked a well promoted, semi-coordinated jam that tried as best as possible to provide a friendly atmosphere for players and audiences to get together and have some fun. So, Zona and Cadieux persuaded several blues musicians from their local area to participate, including quite a few who already had years of experience with blues jams.
“The reason I became the set up man and ‘zookeeper’ is that a harp player can come and go in a song which gives me time to work the sound and coordinate the other players. It would be very difficult for the drummer or the bass player to do the same, since they are involved in every song.”
Technical issues do crop up for Zona as he tries to maintain a proper balance between all of the musicians who share the stage in different groupings and different group sizes.
“The main technical issues are getting the mix right for both the audience and the players,” Zona said. “Feedback is the worst. Nothing pisses off an audience or musicians more than that high whine, dentist drill of feedback. It is a show killer. With different people on stage every 20 minutes, and amps and microphones getting moved around, it is always a possibility. The other issue is volume. I try not to be a volume Nazi, but sometimes it can get out of hand. Depending on how many musicians we have, the juggling act can get somewhat stressful. The other issue is trying to get the right combination of players on the stage without making players wait around all day or night for me to find a good fit for
them.”
Despite what many people might assume about musicians’ egos, Zona’s guests and jammers are usually patient waiting their turn to play.
“For the most, all the players are very reasonable,” he said. “Sometime I will get someone who has a limited window to play, so I will do my best to fit their schedule. For better or worse, I do not use a sign up sheet, but I think for the most part we work everyone in a pretty good schedule, and very rarely have I missed a player. From a players point of view, jams are always a crap shoot, but after 5 years I have a good idea of which players go well with each other, and that makes them comfortable knowing they are going to work with someone with whom they are familiar.”
Zona has been a professional musician for almost ten years. His influences on harmonica range from his local scene around Manchester to national greats.
“Locally, the harp players that I have been listening to and try to follow since the beginning are Little Harpo, Dave Glannon, and Gary Calderone,” Zona said. “On a more national level I really enjoy Little Walter, Kim Wilson, James Cotton and Mark Hummell. Really there are so many different styles and players it is tough to narrow it down.”
Locally, Zona has been known by his nickname, “Slutty” Pete Zona, for going on seven years. The sobriquet comes from being teased that he’ll play with anyone. A musician named Tom Ballerini gave Zona that name back in 2004.
“At the time, I was hitting every jam and pestering every band I knew to let me sit in for a few songs,” Zona recounted. “(Ballerini) called me a musical slut, which somehow turned into ‘Slutty’ Pete. Previous jam host, Jerry Paquette, from the Kan-Tu Blues band, thought the nickname was worth repeating at his microphone whenever Zona played or set up for him.
“And the next thing I knew – that was my name,” Zona explained.
When asked how he felt about his nickname, Zona was quite philosophical about the whole thing: “You have to admit,” he said, “it is pretty unique. It does raise some eyebrows and people remember it. What else would you want from a nickname?”
Blues fans who have seen Zona sing and play probably have seen him perform “Wang Dang Doodle.” Aside from being a classic blues number, it has been covered many times over by one of Zona’s personal favorites.
“Most of my musical past is centered around the Grateful Dead, who did a fair number of blues tunes back in the day and this is one of them,” Zona said. “The song was written by Willie Dixon for Howlin’ Wolf, and the Grateful Dead covered it starting in the late 70’s. I have what can be termed a fairly limited voice and this one seems to work for me.”
Zona has a knack for finding great songs that fit his range.
“I seem to have an ability to remember the long winded lyrics of Dylan,” he said, “so once in a while I will do ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ or ‘Stuck Inside Of Mobile.’ But I really do not do that much singing. Mostly because my voice can more often than not sound like I have been gargling with rusty razorblades. I have been trying to incorporate more Commander Cody songs lately, mostly because he has a pretty rough voice too, and it seems to work for me. ‘The Next Time You See’ and ‘Turn on Your Lovelight’ are probably the two songs I have done the most over the years.”
Fans of Zona and the Wan-Tu Blues Jams have also come to associate Zona with a slogan he invented and says into his microphone throughout each jam. When he asks the crowd to be kind to the bartenders and wait staff, he credits them, in an almost a circus barker fashion, for “serving up that fine New Hampshire state liquor product.”
Although it’s become a trademark of his over the years, and often imitated by others at the mic, Zona cannot quite recall how he came up with it.
“I would have to say I have no idea,” he admitted. “Ninety-nine percent of anything that has ever come out of my mouth has been lifted from somewhere else, The Three Stooges, Warner Brother cartoons, HST books, and I will readily admit it. But that line just appeared one Sunday, and to be honest I don’t even remember when it was or how I thought of it, and it just stuck. People seem to get off on it and I am more than happy to keep repeating it.”
Zona can be seen and heard hosting the Wan-Tu Blues Jams each Sunday afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Village Trestle at 25 Main Street in Goffstown, New Hampshire(93 North to 293 North to Route 114 North).
Zona can also be seen and heard hosting the Wan-Tu Blues Jams each Thursday evening from 9:00 p.m to 12:00 p.m. at Johnny Bad’s on Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire(Route 93 North to 293 North to Granite Street Exit, right onto Granite Street, left onto Elm Street. Drive down Elm Street until you see a large building called the Verizon Wireless Arena on your right. Johnny Bad’s will be on your left.
Bill, Dave the bassist for Wan-Tu here. Very nice article on Slutty, nice side notes and a personal touch on the subject musician. Lord knows, he can be tough to work with ! Just kidding, see you soon. Dave G.