HANK WILLIAMS IMPERSONATOR
‘Slim’ Forsythe has led a wildly eclectic life, but he believes singing country music in a Lawrenceville hotel is his true calling
He has been told it’s the “honeymoon suite.”
That said, there’s not a lot of romance to Kevin Clark “Slim” Forsythe’s roughly 12- by 20-foot room on the third floor of Nied’s Hotel in Lawrenceville. It’s accessed by a stairway featuring severely listing steps that double as the “Slim Forsythe Museum,” decorated with old posters, his law degree from Pitt, photos and other memorabilia.
Inside the room, there’s a bed, a new pair of sneakers to go with his cowboy boots, a clothes rack for his beautifully embroidered Western shirts and two acoustic guitars: a Fender named Mary for his stepmother and a solid mahogany Martin named for his mother, Betty, who died when he was 4.
And there’s nowhere he’d rather be.
“I thank the good Lord for every day of health and strength I’ve been given, for landing in such a wonderful place as Nied’s,” said Mr. Forsythe, a former lawyer and rock band manager who worked in Pittsburgh city government for nearly two decades. In 2008, he moved into Nied’s, known for its famous fish sandwich, and now, for Mr. Forsythe’s Hank Williams Sr. tribute act.
Mr. Forsythe will celebrate his 58th birthday with a performance at 7 tonight at the hotel on Butler Street, where he will be joined by the Stillhouse Pickers and the Turpentines. But the spotlight will be on Slim and his guitar-slinging alter ego that has slowly but surely taken over his life.
“When it first started out, it was kind of an act,” he said. Mr. Forsythe said he had just finished writing “The Three Boys,” a novel set in his hometown of Bradford that he considered the sequel to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov.”
The next thing to do seemed clear as day: Start an all-female Hank Williams tribute band, with himself in the starring role as the lanky, legendary country-western hell-raiser.
“I always wanted to be a singer in a band,” said Mr. Forsythe, who managed the Pittsburgh rock group A.T.S. and really began to explore Mr. Williams’ catalog with the guidance of A.T.S. guitarist Evan Knauer.
“I just wanted to do Hank Williams and be a good-time party band,” said Mr. Forsythe,
lar measure introduced in the state House throw a much wider net over endangered and threatened species listings and protections programs than warranted, according to testimony by John Arway, executive director of the Fish and Boat Commission, and Carl Roe, executive director of the Game Commission.
Mr. Arway defended the science-based criteria used by the commission to list and de-list species and its efficiency in conducting prompt and efficient reviews of gas well and pipeline development proposals.
“To pass House Bill 1576 or Senate Bill 1047,” he said in his written statement, “would be to reverse 40 years of consistent, transparent and accountable conservation.”
Seven hunting, fishing and conservation groups sent an email to all the state legislators on Thursday, endorsing the long-standing scientific expertise of the fish and game commissions, questioning the politics behind the legislative proposals and urging the lawmakers to reject the proposed endangered species law changes.
About 50 people attended the hearing on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, including 10 wearing T-shirts and holding signs with anti-Senate Bill 1047 messages.
“The politicians should not get involved,” said Marianne Atkinson of DuBois. “The state’s endangered species listing, the PNDI, is working and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Sen. Richard Alloway II, R-Chambersburg, chair of the committee, noted the turnout was the largest he’s had for a Senate Game and Fisheries Committee hearing and said he planned to hold at least one more and urged those interested to contact their Senate and House representatives to make their positions known.
Don Hopey: dhopey@postgazette.com or 412-263-1983.