Local musician featured
WAYNESBURG – Thanks to Ted Chapman of the Waynesburg Lions Club, Jay Van Scyoc, a local musician who always seems to be “playing north of here,” will return to the county to make music at the Lions Club Fourth of July celebration at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
Van Scyoc will be playing with the Kim Alexander Band on the main stage in front of the grandstand starting at 7 p.m.
The band brings its eclectic mix of jazz, oldies, country and of course rock and roll, to the concert that features Kim Alexander, lead vocals; Laura Daniels, keyboard; Curtis Swift, sax; Jeff Pogus, guitar; Jay Constable, drums; and Van Scyoc, bass.
Van Scyoc sat on the front porch steps of his home on Huffman Street in Waynesburg, fingering the new neck of his latest restored bass guitar.
“Ted’s my cousin and when he saw us play a few months ago he invited us down for the Fourth. I haven’t played Greene County since we played Albert’s (a restaurant and bar in West Waynesburg) in 1987. I was playing with Cities and we used to pack Albert’s. I hope a some of my friends are around and can make it to the fairgrounds to say hello.”
For Van Scyoc, music is a family affair.
He remembers being 5 or 6 and standing at the top of the stairs, soaking up the music as older brother Gary played his bass guitar in the family basement. It was “either 1963 or ’64” and Gary, still in high school, was a member of the Shufflers, a local band that gave the teen his first taste of the big time.
Rock and roll was bursting out all over as kids put together garage bands and brought live music to their friends at high school happenings, battles of the bands and later, clubs, roadhouses and festivals.
Gary learned his musical chops early and by 1971 he would be making a name for himself in New York City playing bass for Elephant’s Memory, later known as Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band, a group that found its place in rock and roll history by playing with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
For little brother Jay, the music and the magic began in 1970 when Gary brought home a bass guitar. “I guess I was a little spoiled – how many 12-year-olds get to fly to New York to hear their brother play?” He laughed at the inevitable next question. “I never met John and Yoko but I did miss seeing them by 10 minutes one summer!”
Two weeks after graduating from Central Greene High School in 1976 he was on the road touring with Celebration. “I remember we opened for Roberta Flack.”
Van Scyoc played in numerous bands and went on the road with Toiz from 1979 to 1985. In 1990, he began a two-year stint with the Pittsburgh Vogues “from here to LA and back. We opened for the Temptations and Marie Osmond.”
Van Scyoc’s years of applying his licks to every musical genre made him part of the Pittsburgh oldies scene, a lucrative venue for professional musicians that includes playing clubs, banquets, weddings, events and festivities of every kind.
Like many working artists, Van Scyoc had another career in the wings, first at Sherwin Williams in Waynesburg and now as a paint specialist and consultant at Home Depot in Washington. His Waynesburg home is rich with memorabilia and memories from a lifetime of music that keeps happening.
A row of guitars lined one wall in the dining room as Van Scyoc sat down with an old rock and roll buddy, drummer Bill Harding, to talk about the music they’ve made. “So many of the kids I grew up with went on to become professional musicians. A lot of good players came from Greene County but most had to leave the area to make a name for themselves. My brother is still making music. When that documentary (LENNONNYC, PBS Masters Series, 2010) about the New York years of John and Yoko’s music came out, he started getting calls. He has a whole new career now and he’s loving it,” Van Scyoc said.
“Our parents were really supportive,” Harding remembered. “My mother went on the road with us when we were still in school and got us bookings through people that she knew. It was a great time to make music.”