Even the most casual reader of this site might have picked up over the years that, well, we love Jerry Blavat aka The Geator With The Heater, The Boss With The Sauce, My Man Pots And Pans. We love him like he was our own blood. We love the way he talks all over the records he plays. We love that he gets grandmoms and kids alike dancing. (Confession: Our monthly Foggy Notion parties at the Barbary are more than a little inspired by Jerry’s playlists.) And we love the way he has become perhaps the country’s leading living ambassador for early rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. Part of that work, of course, comes in the form of his concert events a few times a year at the Kimmel Center, where he brings doo-wop and R&B acts from the 50s and 60s before a 22-piece orchestra, and the next one is this Sunday night. Another part of that ambassadorship, of course, is his weekly show on WXPN, which we cannot recommend strongly enough. So you can imagine what a thrill it was to finally talk with The Geator. After the jump, Jerry dishes on the show, the music of today and why it really is pretty important to wash your hands.

Hi, Jerry! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat today. First question: Do you still buy records?

My library here [at Geator Gold Radio] contains all of the vinyl records I’ve purchased over 45 years, and it’s a lot. I have all the records I first played — the library here is amazing. Most of it is now kept on CDs as well. I don’t buy many records these days, but if i do need something, I’ll talk to Val Shively.

How long have you been doing these shows at the Kimmel?

This is my 18th show there — I was the first one to do any type of major pop concert in the Kimmel Center. A few years ago, I was having dinner with Sidney Kimmel, and he said to me, “I am building this venue, and it shouldn’t only be for classical music and such. Why don’t you put together a concert for us?” Now, at that point, I’d done all kinds of concerts, whether it was with Electric Factory Concerts, or Walter Annenberg, and so on. I’d done Little Richard, Screaming Jay Hawkins, you name it. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, but I said, “OK, I’ll do it for Sidney. It’s a good thing for the venue, it’s a good thing for the city.” We wound up doing the show, and it was a complete sellout. The first year, we did three shows, and they all sold out, too.

What gets you most excited about putting these shows together? How are they different from any other oldies-type revue?

In selecting the artists, I have a musical director named Mike McCourt, whom I’ve worked with for years. He’s fantastic. He’s worked with Ronnie Spector, Chuck Berry, The Dovells… the list goes on and on. So when I book the acts, I book them with 22 piece orchestra in mind, with Mike creating charts for 22 other musicians. The acts that I use are acts like The Duprees, Jay Black & The Americans, Darlene Love… artists whose records have always had big orchestration. Darlene Love was amazing to work with. This week, we’ve got The Duprees, The Cadillacs, Baby Washington, The Chantels — we’re talking about songs like “My Foolish Heart,” “Over The Rainbow,” “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart.” Perfect for this kind of orchestration.

You know, with so many new acts that are influenced by the type of classic R&B that you play — people like Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Mark Ronson — I can’t help but wonder if you’re into all this new stuff. Is this a sound that you dig these days?

The music that I love and you love is really what the music industry is all about. Nothing today is as exciting as this music was. These artists today are realizing that this R&B is really the roots of everything we all listen to. Every country has its own music, and this rock ‘n’ roll, this R&B, is American music that belongs in and is made in this country. It’s our music. So I think it’s a tribute that all these acts are going back to this sound. And it’s fine what they do, but for me, it’s not the real thing.

Last question: I know that in the last year or so, you’ve been a spokesperson for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s “Word Out” Awareness Foundation campaign, which really, really, really wants people to wash their hands. With the Swine Flu outbreak going on and this same message being blasted out from every news broadcast now, did you ever think it’d be such a topical message?

Well, let me tell you: I donated dollars to that campaign, it’s a very important message for me. At 69, by the grace of God, I do alright: I ride a bike, I go to the gym. Being healthy is all about taking care of yourself, eating right and so on. Washing your hands is important — otherwise, you’re transmitting germs all over the place.
After you go, after you shake hands with a lotta people, go into a washroom and wash your hands! You know, Howard Hughes wasn’t too far off — he might have known something we don’t! And you see what Michael Jackson does with that face mask, right? He might have the right idea. But between you and me, I think for him, it might have to do with it hiding the distortion of what he did to his face.

Jerry Blavat’s Street Corner Harmony is this Sunday, May 3, 7:30pm at Verizon Hall. Read more Philebrity interviews here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 4:27 pm.