RON SWARNER: MUSIC & ART IN WRIGHT PARK PRIMER >>>

This Aug. 15, Music & Art in Wright Park 2009, which began in 1993 as Music in the Park, returns to Tacoma â€" showcasing some of the best bands in the area, including Guns & Rossetti, Girl Trouble, Post Stardom Depression, Broken Oars, The Plastards, James Hilbourne and the Pain Killers, Zeke, C.F.A., Zook, Stone Axe, Starstruck, Tarek Wegner, Tallest Tree, The Coloffs, NeutralBoy, and Mico De Noche. The Saturday outdoor concert at Wright Park will be free.

As a sponsor of Music & Art in Wright Park, the Weekly Volcano will highlight a band or two every day until the Aug. 15 show, which runs noon to 8 p.m.

Today’s Music & Art in Wright Park band I'm pushing on you is Guns & Rossetti.

According to the band's Web site, “Guns & Rossetti is not a cover band. G&R is made up of Chuck Wood as the drummer, Marsh Gooch as bassist, "Regis" Phil Bentz on guitar, and Mr. Rossetti as songwriter/singer. … The band's sound is an 'honest, bitter but catchy medium energy exercise in soft hard rock.'”

“Guns & Rossetti is basically the same lineup as the short lived Root Barrels, an experiment that broke up due to some of the Ten Commandments being broken,” Rossetti explained to Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll last year. Read the full interview here.

Most are familiar with Dick Rossetti from his days as a smart-ass DJ on 107.7 the End. But for longer than Rossetti was a Seattle radio personality he’s been a rocker. He’s fronted a string of beautifully gritty local rock outfits, including Twink the Wonder Kid and the aforementioned Root Barrel. He also fronted the local band Comb Over with Pat Bostwick.

I remember Rossetti best from his early '90s band, Squirt. My former weekly newspaper, Choices, sponsored the July 1994 Jolly Third outdoor rock concert in Wright Park featuring Squirt, Running With Scissors, Delilah, Uranus, Jerry Miller, Laughter Train and others. I remember Rossetti busting out the big rock moves that afternoon as he bantered with the crowd and stroked some big ol’ nasty tones on his bass.

Here is a taste of the musical stylings of Guns & Rossetti:

LINK: To read a little history on Music in the Park, jump to here.