Sarasota Slim 
Gene Hardage got a guitar at 13 and was self-taught
with the help of friends and the typical teenage obsession
with music. In his early 20's he started playing in bands
occasionally doing gigs with Rock Bottom and eventually
becoming the guitar player in his band the Jungle Bushmasters.
Rock Bottom gave everyone nicknames and Gene Hardage
became Sarasota Slim.
In 1987 when the Chernobyl disaster was spewing radio active
fallout all over Scandinavia, a "skeerd” Slim made a last minute
decision not to go on the 2nd Rock Bottom tour of Scandinavia.
As fate would have it, both parties benefited from the split -
Rock Bottom used several local Norwegian guitar players,
one being a very young Vidar Busk - and no longer a sideman
guitar player - Sarasota Slim started fronting his own bands
singing and writing his own songs.
In 1988, Sarasota Slim teamed up with Lucky Peterson
for a wild couple of years of playing and touring the South.
When the original Green Iguana on Westshore opened,
Jessie and Kimbo (Harpo), representatives from the
Gulf Coast Blues Society convinced them to have a Monday
night blues jam hosted by Sarasota Slim. Slim collected
tip jar money at the blues jam and used it to fund a few events
for the Gulf Coast Blues Society. That blues society folded
when the "new" Sun Coast Blues Society was born.
The Monday night blues jam at the Green Iguana Westshore
continues today with 2 original Slim band mates - Dean Germain
and Benny Sudano on B3 and bass. There are also several live
"Boot Leg Blues" CDs featuring various bay area musicians and
singers recorded mostly at the Green Iguana.
In the early 90's Sarasota Slim released 4 CDs on the Italian label
Appaloosa complete with tours of Europe to promote them.
In 1999 and 2001, Sarasota Slim released 2 CDs on his own
Possum Phono-Graphics label.
In 2005 a quick trip to Poland produced a live CD by the
bass player and organizer Mark Olbrich.
A new long overdue Sarasota Slim CD should be out before
the end of 2010 and it will most likely be on his own
Possum Phono-Graphics label.
CONTACT INFO:
Gene SARASOTA SLIM Hardage
Website: SarasotaSlim.com
Phone: 727-822-6615
Cell: 727-421-9045
Email: Slim@SarasotaSlim.com
