GE Smith, Bill Perry at Bodles

| 29 Sep 2011 | 09:30

    Chester — Fans of “Saturday Night Live” from 1985 to 1995 will remember the blond ponytailed guitarist who led the house band. That was blues-rocker G.E. Smith, who was also the lead guitarist for Hall and Oates during the duo’s most popular period in the early 1980s. He will perform at Bodles Opera House in Chester on Friday, Sept. 22. Smith started supporting himself early as a musician, playing in the Poconos near Stroudsburg, Pa., where he was born, playing at teen dances and bars until he left for New Haven, Conn., and then New York City. There, he met comic Gilda Radner and became the guitarist for her Broadway show “Gilda Live” in 1979. He and Radner were later married briefly. Daryl Hall and John Oates asked Smith to play lead guitar for them in 1979. In 1985, when Hall and Oates were the house band for the Live Aid concert, Smith became the music director for Mick Jagger and Tina Turner. When Hall and Oates decided to break for a while, Smith became Saturday Night Live’s musical director, for which he won an Emmy. Smith’s wife, Taylor Barton, a singer-songwriter, writer, poet, dancer, will open for him at Bodles. They set up at 8:30 p.m. and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. Bill Perry, a Chester native, will play Bodles at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23. He has a distinctive raspy voice and plays a high-energy, gritty guitar. Perry has toured with Richie Havens and collaborated with blues master Popa Chubby. Perry’s latest album, “Don’t Know Nothin’ About Love,” was released earlier this year. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call 469-4595 or visit bodles.com.