Just three days before he died, Bruce "Utah" Phillips called The Union to talk about the Rose Tattoo, a loose-knit group of musicians he played with over the years.

The group - a near-mythological fraternity of tramps, nomads, hoboes and ne'er-do-wells celebrating the music of the busker - will play in "Trains, Tramps and Traditions '08," a tribute concert Saturday to Phillips, who died Friday.

Phillips had recently turned 73, and congestive heart failure was taking its toll. He said he wanted to make it to Saturday's concert, but wasn't sure he'd be able to attend, and he was not planning to take to the stage.

"I'm going to miss that terribly," Phillips said on May 20. He added that he expected the selection to include some of his own compositions.

Phillips, known as "Bow Tie," was Rose Tattoo No. 1, told the story of Rose Tattoo.

In 1971, Phillips had been in San Diego and got a rose tattooed on his left forearm by the great artist Tiger Bob. As he traveled around the country, he found the tattoo showing up on other musical drifters, and slowly, the Rose Tattoo grew.

At it's height, the Rose Tattoo had 21 members from Victoria, British Columbia, to upstate Vermont.

It had three rules:

1. Members must spend a good deal of one's life around the railroad - tramping or working or traveling.

2. Members must sing old songs.

3. Members must have a rose tattoo on their bodies somewhere.

"There are only about eight or 10 now," Phillips said. "Some have passed or just drifted away."

Six Rose Tattoo members hoped to be on-stage Saturday.

Phillips' oldest son, Duncan Phillips of Salt Lake City, joined the group - making his father "very happy."

Duncan Phillips fulfilled the group's rules, h is father said. He got a rose tattoo a year ago; he's been practicing his dad's songs on guitar; and although not around trains much in his life, he "scored" when he arranged to ride a train from Reno to Winnemucca - in the engine, something, said Utah, "that none of us have been able to do."

Phillips' younger son, Brendan Phillips, performs his father's old songs with the band, Fast Rattler on a guitar that used to belong to Rose Tattoo No. 3, the late "Silkie" Miller.

The purpose of the show, Phillips said, is to get the money together to bring the indigent members of the Rose Tattoo to the group's rendezvouz, a tradition where members sit around a campfire, sing, play and trade stories.

The concert offers a window on a vanishing way of life where a busker - or, a tramp entertainer - could sing his way from coast to coast with only a guitar, a bundle and an overpowering desire to be somewhere else. It's highly recommended for families, especially young adults who think they know everything.

The concert is being produced by Mikail Graham.

Several members of The Rose Tattoo have recordings which will be available during the intermission and after the show. Biographies of the members are at http://www.theunion.com.



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City Editor Trina Kleist contributed to this report. To contact Prospector Editor Pam Jung, e-mail pjung@theunion.com or call 477-4232.



KNOW & GO



WHAT: The Rose Tattoo in a tribute concert to band member the late Bruce "Utah" Phillips

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday (doors open at 7 p.m.)

WHERE: Odd Fellows Hall, 212 Spring St., Nevada City

ADMISSION: $15 in advance at Gold Rush Records, BriarPatch, Record Connection and in Auburn at Cherry Records. $20 at the door.

INFORMATION: info.ncme@gmail.com or 470-9615; online at http://www.NevadaCityMusicEvents.com.