Bill 'Sauce Boss' Wharton heats it up on stage. (Submitted)
This multitasking musician cooks gumbo on stage while singing.

Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton, the "inventor of gastronomical boogie-woogie," sings swampy Florida blues and plays guitar while making dinner for the audience.

He'll do it in chef dress whites Saturday night during a two-and-a-half-hour show at The Hop in Manchester Township.

His style has been described as a cross between Cajun chef Justin Wilson and Delta blues legend Robert Johnson.

Wharton, who lives in Monticello outside Tallahassee, Fla., has fed more than 150,000 people since 1990. After each show, the crowd gets a bowl of gumbo.

"There's this big line at the end of the show, and I said, 'Golly, this is like a soup kitchen or something,'" Wharton said in an interview last week.

"It developed into a soul-shouting picnic of rock 'n' roll brotherhood. We say the blessing in totally nondenominational way, then we all sit down and eat."

Dinner's free, but Wharton'll ask you to donate to his charity, Planet Gumbo, a foundation that supports him and his band playing shows for free in homeless shelters across the country.

"There's such a community involved in this that I felt (we) could take it one step further and go into homeless shelters and give these people something they don't ever get," said Wharton, who has played a Planet Gumbo gig at the Crispus Attucks shelter in Lancaster.

Wharton, 60, said his culinary influence was his mother. His gumbo recipe calls for, among other ingredients, 1 pound crawdads, 1 pound okra and a half cup of Liquid Summer Hot Sauce -- hot and peppery stuff he makes and sells himself.

Since Jimmy Buffett sang about Wharton in the song "I Will Play for Gumbo," Parrot Heads have flocked to hear (and taste) Wharton's talent. Saturday's show is organized by the Amish Parrot Heads, a collection of Buffett lovers from the York-Lancaster-Harrisburg region.

"The first time I heard about his shtick from my sister-in-law, I thought, 'I don't want to see this,'" said Dan Hall, an Amish Parrot Head who lives near Hummelstown.

"He's a killer guitar player, and the whole time he's playing he's cooking this gumbo right there on stage. ... I didn't think I'd like it, but I haven't missed a show since."

When Wharton last performed in York County, he raised about $2,600 for Planet Gumbo via donations, a silent auction and raffle, Hall said.

Those who bring a nonperishable food item Saturday will get a free raffle ticket, Hall said. The food will be donated to the local Catholic Charities food pantry.

A crowd of 230 is expected.

-- MELISSA NANN BURKE, FLIPSIDE STAFF

If you go



WHAT: The Sauce Boss is performing at a benefit for Planet Gumbo and the local Catholic Charities food bank

 
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

 
WHERE: The Hop (San Carlos), 333 Arsenal Road in Manchester Township

 
COST: $25 (Bring a nonperishable food item and receive a free raffle ticket.)

 
FOR DETAILS: 903-1050 or visit amishparrotheads.-
com/index.html or
www.sauceboss.com

Beach House on the Moon

The Sauce Boss does his cookin' on the stage,

Stirrin' and a singing for his nightly wage.

Sweating and frettin' from his head to his toe,

Playin' and swayin' with the gumbo

Prayin' and buffetin' with the gumbo

-- From "I Will Play For Gumbo" by Jimmy Buffett