One of the largest motorcycle rallies - not only in the Midwest, but in the nation - is held each Father's Day weekend here in Davenport. "Sturgis on the River" celebrated its 12th year this past weekend with bands, beer, bikes and babes.
Sturgis on the River was started in 1994 by local businessman Roger Peet who first held the event in the Village of East Davenport. It was estimated that 1,000 bikes attended the two day event that year. By 1997, Peet was out of the picture and Sturgis on the River was taken over by Glen Rohm, a local small promoter who moved it to LeClaire Park next to the river.
As it grew steadily over the years, it became a three-day event (Thursday - Saturday), more bands were added (there were 60 bands this year on four different stages), more vendors showed up and more people came. They've been estimating that upwards of 50,000 bikers come to Sturgis on the River each year. (Although, they've got to be counting a lot of the same ones three times. Even though there are a lot who show up, there's no way there's 50,000 different bikers in town for this thing).
I've been asked to work the event in the stage area for the past three years, but the promoter is always claiming "poverty" and doesn't want to pay me much of anything for three days of schlepping equipment around and making sure the bands get on and off in their allotted times. So, I don't work the event.
But Cindy and I did go down on Friday night to check out a couple bands and to see the bikes. A lot of them are just lined up along Biederbecke Drive just west of John O'Donnell Stadium in downtown Davenport (see map). There's a number of colorful and exquisite motorcycles and the owners are always more than eager to show 'em off.
When we got down there, it was such a zoo for parking. My buddy, Randy Adams, told us to go to this area for VIP parking. I drove to the area and it turned out that the guy running the traffic control was the son of a Davenport police officer that I work with at a number of events. I asked him where VIP parking was and he pointed the way. We parked and got in for free. Another example of "It's not what you know, but who you know."
Randy's wife, Kristy, was in charge of one of the beer tents so we went there and had a couple beers. Boy, for saying he doesn't have much money to work with, Glen Rohm must be rolling in the dough after this year's event. It was $5.00 per person to get in (if you weren't on a motorcycle), it was $3.00 for a 12 oz. can of beer; $3.50 for a 16 oz aluminum bottle of beer, and $3.50 for a Corona. They couldn't keep up with the beer demands at Kristy's tent.
After walking around looking at the bikes, we stopped to hear some bands. We first saw Sugar Nipples, a surprisingly good band that I just found out about earlier this year. What was more surprising is that a guy I've known for about 18 years, Jim Stichnoth, is the bass player for the band. I didn't know he played an instrument, let alone playing bass in a good band when I first saw them on St. Patrick's Day.
Matt Truitt is a good singer and a good showman as the lead singer for Sugar Nipples. They have a good guitar player and a drummer who also does some background singing for the band. Their renditions of some popular songs are very surprising and entertaining.
We caught some music by my friends from Spike. Spike is a band that has been around the Quad Cities for a number of years and I've worked with them at a number of events over the years. They completely changed from a classic rock band to a blues/rock band about three years ago and I think their popularity went way up. Chris Ryan is the lead singer and harmonica player. Jeff Sime is the lead guitarist and the leader of the group. Richie Reeves on drums has played with Jeff for over 30 years since their days in high school. Bruce Hunt on guitar and George Reidesel on bass round out the band. It's always good to work with these guys. 
Here's a picture of Spike from the Rib Fest a couple years ago.
We also caught the debut of Shane Johnson and John Resch, two guys who used to play together in a number of bands including Shane Johnson's Blue Train. Shane is probably - no, not probably - he IS the best guitarist in the Quad Cities today. He's about as perfect in technique as you can get with a guitar player. He's played on tour with E.C. Scott and her band, Smoke, and is back with John Resch playing in a "super blues group" out of the Quad Cities called the Juke Joint Sinners. They recently won the All-Iowa Blues Challenge held last month in Des Moines and will be playing at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next February.
Shane and John played with a drummer who I couldn't identify. I'd never seen him before and I didn't go talk to them after their gig (which was dominated by a number of Cream and Jimi Hendrix tunes) to find out what this guy's story was. But the way John made it sound as he gave his thanks after their show was over, it sounded like they would be playing again.
Here's a montage of Shane and John playing from a few years ago.
We also stuck around for the Gibbs Brothers band out of Fort Madison. This three piece band has been around for a number of years, with the twin brothers - Brandon on guitar and Brent on drums - playing with their dad, Brian, since they were pre-teens. They first played the Rib Fest in 2000 when the twins were about 16 years old. Prodded on by an aggressive stage mother (who is actually a very nice lady), these guys are the quintessential showman rockers.
They had a new bass player playing with them, some guy named Phil, but their father Brian got up to play a couple tunes with them during the show, as well. I joked to him before the gig, "I see they haven't fired you yet."
He said, "Well, they've semi-retired me."
Cindy remarked during the show, "Man, those two kids have really grown up!" Yep, it wasn't long ago that they were two blond haired kids playing rock and roll music with their dad. Now they're these scary looking 22 year olds rocking out with their dad.
Sturgis on the River is a nice event, a little scattered with their displays and with the entertainment, but a good event. I'm just glad I don't work the thing. I've got enough on my plate each summer.
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