Recap: Corky Laing’s Mountain 10/14/2022 at Pauly’s Hotel -Photos By: Stephanie J Bartik -Review By: Rob Smittix

On Friday October 14th, Corky Laing brought his Mountain to Pauly’s Hotel in Albany. If you were there then you realize how cool this was to see at a venue of this size. Corky brought along with him a team of world-class musicians including  Richie “the Emperor of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Scarlet on guitar (Ace Frehley’s Comet/Mountain), Mark Clarke on Bass Guitar & Vocals (Uriah Heep/ Colosseum/Tempest/Billy Squier) and the phenomenal Ken Sidotti on Keyboards.

I can’t even describe how amazing it was to see these guys playing just a few feet in front of me, it felt as if they were playing for me alone. I imagine other folks that were there felt the same way, it was such an intimate setting with all of the charm that the historic venue has to offer. It was also a surprise that they played “Mississippi Queen” early in their set, it was like hey we know you want to hear it but lets not pretend that’s it’s all we have to offer. The show went on and Corky had the band clear off stage as he graced the audience with a drum solo and stories from his past; including the story about his 2 gold records from Woodstock and the time Keith Moon kissed him after Corky returned a jacket to Keith that his grandmother had made him. It was just awesome to be in the presence of Corky Laing’s Mountain and to be a part of his next chapter in music.

The show opened with Doubleback, a duo consisting of Peter Arthur Vroman and Bart Little. These two guys were great, Bart’s vocals and blues rhythm guitar styling somehow works perfectly with Peter’s more rock n roll and almost metal leads. I thought to myself Bart doesn’t actually look that little until he’s standing next to Peter on stage. The Ryan Matter Band was next and boy did they crush it! They just came out and owned the stage and I was telling Ryan after they played not only how enjoyable the music was but their presence and energy made it that much more fun.

Here’s an excerpt from my recent interview with Corky Laing:

“At Record Plant Jimi Hendrix was recording “Band of Gypsys” with Buddy Miles, we were right next door. Felix says to me “I know you’ve crossed paths with Jimi up in Montreal years ago, maybe go and ask if he wants to listen to Mississippi Queen.” I said “well, okay.” I knock on the door, “Mr. Hendrix could you possibly just take a minute to listen to a song that we just finished?” Jimi had already played with Leslie on stage in a club that summer, so he knew sort of who we were. So he came in the studio with me and of course all of the guys were f**king shaking. He sits down behind the desk and we put on Mississippi Queen, the final mix. He’s listening with his head over the board and there’s nothing, total silence. At the end of the song he picks his head up Rob and says “cool.”

For the full interview CLICK HERE.

Photo Credit: Stephanie J Bartik