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BARBARA L. FREDRICKSENYou may know Rick Derringer's songs better than his name. He'll be on stage for tonight's "Rhythm and Bluesmasters" concert.
Quick! What song knocked The Beatles' Yesterday from the top spot on the charts in the summer of 1965?
It was the McCoys' novelty song Hang On Sloopy. ("Oh, Sloopy, I don't care what your daddy do, 'cause you know, Sloopy girl, I'm in love with you ... ')
The founder and lead singer of that group, Rick Derringer, will headline tonight's "Rhythm and Bluesmasters" concert ($5 admission), as Chasco Fiesta continues in Sims Park.
Others on the bill are blues singers the Damon Fowler Group and Willie Lomax and soulman Shawn Brown. The music starts at 6 p.m. and goes to 11 p.m. Chasco itself continues daily through Sunday.
Derringer (born Rick Zehringer in Union City, Ind.), formed the McCoys at the age of 13 with his brother Randy, a drummer, and a neighbor kid who played bass. They recorded Hang On Sloopy the year Rick turned 18 and, shortly thereafter, scored another hit, Fever ("You give me fever in the morning and fever all through the night"), which went to No. 7 on the charts.
He later joined Johnny Winter, and when Winter stopped touring, went on the road with the younger Winter brother, Edgar. Derringer - he'd changed his name by then - then became a highly successful record producer, musician, songwriter and soloist, climbing to No. 15 with his own composition, Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo. He played guitar with Steely Dan, Alice Cooper, Bette Midler, Todd Rundgren and many others.
In the 1990s, Derringer toured Japan with Edgar Winter and recorded a string of solo albums, the latest, Jackhammer Blues, in 2000. He teamed with Vanilla Fudge's Carmine Appice and Tim Bogert for D-B-A (their initials) in 2001; their next collaboration was D-N-A.
In between those two albums, Derringer did a contemporary Christian album with his wife, Brenda, Aiming 4 Heaven. The couple will release another, Still Alive and Well, in May.
In addition to the concert, the carnival and Native American Festival will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. The Cotee River Lions Club will serve a corned beef and cabbage dinner from 4 to 8 p.m. Thirteen other food vendors will be open, selling jerk chicken, ice cream, kettle corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, Philly steak sandwiches, real (not powdered or granulated) lemonade, funnel cakes and, in the Native American circle, frybread and other Indian foods.
Friday's entertainment is "Contemporary Christian Family Night" ($5) with Andrew Peterson and others on stage from 7 to 11 p.m.
Saturday is the Rally to Remember bicycle and foot races, kayak races at 9 a.m., the Chasco Arts Fiesta 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Fiesta Boat Parade at 1 p.m., and Chasco Country Concert ($22 and $12) at 7 p.m. with Joe Nichols, Craig Morgan, Jenna Thomas and Wiley Fox.
Sunday's show is by the concert bands from Gulf, Ridgewood and Mitchell high schools from 2 to 4 p.m. The Pasco-Hernando Community College Foundation's "Suncoast Sampler" tasting feast is 7 to 9 p.m. at Gulf View Square mall ($25 in advance, $30 at the door).