Fun filled weekend held at fairgrounds
Tom Roahrig, Mickey Smith and Rick Williamson are pictured getting ready for the show with band members from Charlie Bonnett III and the Gasholes and Smilo and the Ghost. (Marianne Austin)
Rock bands, motor sports and fair food July 22-24 made for an awesome weekend at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds hosted by Twisted Image Cycles and the Coshocton County Agricultural Society.
Saturday featured an obstacle course, mud pit, and mini-bikes at the Rock Coshocton Motor Show. Bands performing were Cold Gin, credited as the hottest KISS Tribute Band today, Nite Train, a local band gave a tribute to Guns and Roses with band members Tink Wilson, Tony Wilson, Bill Moody, Rob Hudson, and Pat Luke. Other bands included Charlie Bonnett III and Smilo & The Ghost.
Charlie Bonnett III lead singer and lead guitar for Charlie Bonnett III and the Gasholes said, “I drink a mystery beverage from a gas can. I’ve been drinking from a gas can since I was about 5-years-old. My momma used to say, it’s nice outside so you need to be outside. We had canteens but they weren’t big enough so my sister and I went to the hardware store and got plastic gas jugs and drank out of them. That’s been my gimmick ever since. That was way back in the 1990s and I’m still doing it. We are a three piece band kind of in the vein of ZZ Top meets Lynyrd Skynyrd. Drummer Jim Phipps was an MTV star in the 1990s in a band called Every Mothers Nightmare. Phipps and base player Vance Wright, we all played together since we were kids and we are all from Tennessee.”
Local artist Tyler Smilo with the band Smilo and the Ghost is a four piece string band with a folk, Americana and blue grass influence. “We do more 100 shows each year, traveling, we’re definitely enjoying it,” Smilo said. He graduated from Coshocton High School and has been living in Pennsylvania for the last 10 years.
Adam McKillip from Jamestown New York plays the mandolin, Dominick DeCecco from the Erie area plays banjo. “We’ve known each other over the years and when they started Smilo and the Ghost I started practicing my banjo because I didn’t want to miss out,” Dececco said.
Jason Wilber plays base guitar with Smilo and the Ghost. “Tyler is a great song writer. I am privileged to play with him and create music behind his songs. Put it all together and we have been creating albums for about six years. No drummers, a banjo and a mandolin. It’s a lot of fun. We play good songs like James Taylor, Tom Petty, Americana, story telling.”
Rick Williamson from the Coshocton County Fairboard said, “Last year we started with a jeep and UTV rally. We put a little bit of music with it and the motor sports. This year we found out Mickey Smith with Twisted Image was planning his 15 year anniversary and it all fell on the same day. As we talked about it, we decided it would be a good thing to join forces and so we began planning this event. Mickey has been great to work with.”
Mickey Smith said, “We had a 15 year celebration concert planned at the shop on the same date so I reached out to Rick and we started talking. I had the stage and a band and Rick had a couple of bands in mind. We thought it would be great to bring everyone together so Tom, Rick and myself had some ideas about Rock Coshocton. We thought it would be a great idea for Coshocton County. Its just a good thing to be a part of. We put everything together and created Rock Coshocton. Hopefully it turns out to be a good thing that we can continue every year.”
Tom Roahrig with the fairboard said, “I’m very proud to be a part of this event. You can’t control the weather. We may stumble but we’re never going to fall down. We are going to make this happen and it will be an event. We would like to join forces with some others and make this a county-wide thing. I’m proud to be a part of this and work closely with these two guys, Mickey and Rick. The fair board comes in to help us if we need it but the three of us spearheaded it. I couldn’t be happier than to be working with these two guys. I’m very proud of them.”
Category: People & Places
