Falls Blues fest organizer, Imperial Garage owner leaves behind legacy (2024)

The City of Niagara Falls — and fans of blues music everywhere — lost a true friend and advocate last week.

Thomas Philip “Toby” Rotella, the former owner of the Imperial Garage and the driving force behind the annual Niagara Falls Blues Festival, passed away on Sunday. He was 82.

Rotella’s life partner, Sherry Kushner, recalled him as a man of many talents whose personality and passion for blues music helped him to build long-standing relationships with some of the finest blues musicians in all the world.

It was Rotella’s love of all things blues and his ability to build friendships and trust that Kushner said enabled Rotella to fulfill one of his life ambitions — establishing an annual festival featuring blues music in his hometown.

“He’s a blues guy,” Kushner said. “It was just something that he was passionate about.”

Born on April 11, 1940, in Niagara Falls, Rotella’s obituary describes him as being educated in “the school of hard knocks,” which was actually Trott Vocational High School.

Often telling others that he was “not your regular guy,” Rotella got into the auto service and repair station business in the Falls area while spending his free time as a drag racer who was especially proud of his ‘40s Willys Coupe.

Over the years, Rotella developed into a skilled mechanic and worked at a local Chrysler dealer as well as Vic’s, Chevron and Tom Gallagher’s in Key Largo, Florida.

Friends and family noted that Rotella considered himself “the best cook in the Keys” and they said anyone who tasted his recipe for catfish would agree.

But it was his love of blues music and his connections to it that helped Rotella leave a lasting legacy in the Falls.

In 1980, after about a year of working to resurrect a dilapidated building on Third Street, he opened a bar and blues venue called the Imperial Garage.

“He took a condemned building and had to rebuild the walls and the roof and everything else,” Kushner said. “He took a year of his life to open up the building.”

During its years of operation, the Imperial Garage played host to numerous blues legends, including Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Over the years, Rotella and his family developed a close relationship with Waters who was fond of Rotella’s mother’s cooking, especially her spaghetti and sweet potato pie.

After Waters’ death, Rotella invited friends and family together on April 4 of each year to celebrate Waters’ birthday by playing tunes by the blues legend while everyone enjoyed two of his favorite things — French Champagne and chicken wings.

‘That really cemented his interest in the blues and all these blues guys,” Kushner said, referring to Rotella’s friendship with Waters.

After the Imperial Garage closed, Rotella continued drawing blues acts to the Falls during what he called “Imperial Garage reunion shows.”

His first blues festival effort took place behind what was the old Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, a building that later became Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino.

In 2008, Rotella helped organize the first official Niagara Falls Blues Festival, a one-day event held on Third Street. Together with Kushner, Rotella formed a non-profit organization, Niagara Festival & Entertainment Group, to oversee operations of the festival, which expanded to multiple days and moved to Old Falls Street where it drew thousands of visitors each year, many from outside the United States.

Kushner credited Rotella, his friendly demeanor and personality and commitment to keeping his word with helping the festival become the success it has become.

“He was just the nicest guy you’d ever meet,” she said. He would do anything for you. He always kept his word. People that we worked with — national acts, their managers — always say that they never had any problem when they worked with us because whatever we would say was going to happen, that’s what happened.”

While it took a lot of hard work from a lot of dedicated volunteers and partners, Kushner said she and Rotella enjoyed putting the festivals together and were especially proud when they looked out into the audience and saw so many smiling faces and happy fellow blues fans.

“We loved it. It was a wonderful, wonderful time. It’s a lot of work, but it was well worth it for sure,” she said.

“It was amazing,” she added. “We would stand on the stage and look out there and just be amazed at it. We’d say, ‘look at that, look at all these people.’”

Former Mayor Paul Dyster said Rotella first approached him with his idea for a blues festival when Dyster was still a candidate for mayor and had not yet won election to office. In his first year as mayor, Dyster said Rotella came to see him and to encourage him to help make the festival a reality.

“Toby was a character and he was always pushing the envelope,” Dyster recalled, “and he said ‘if you get elected mayor, we’re going to have a blues festival every year’ and I thought about it and said, ‘Why not?’ “

Dyster said he thought the event made sense as a way to drive business downtown after Labor Day, the end of the traditional tourism season. He also thought, with the level of talent Rotella was able to bring into the community, the blues festival would elevate the city’s stature.

The final results — thousands of blues festival goers visiting downtown Niagara Falls each year — exceeded Dyster’s expectations.

“The blues festival grew and evolved and under Toby’s guidance and it became, I think, one of the premier if not the premier blues festivals in the Eastern United States,” Dyster said. “We had a real who’s who of people there. We had a good combination of national acts and Toby also made room for people who were just getting started. He was always on the lookout for young people who could keep the tradition of blues music going forward.”

Dyster, who presented Rotella with a key to the city in recognition for his festival efforts, said he was particularly proud of the lineup Rotella helped put together in 2017. That year, the festival featured legendary members of Muddy Waters’ band, including Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Bob Margolin, Mississippi blues pianist Pinetop Perkins and Matt “Guitar” Murphy, who was also a member of the famed Blues Brothers Band.

The performance of the so-called “Legends of Chicago Jam” made blues music history as it represented the last time all of those musicians played together on the same stage.

“He obviously had a huge number of connections in the business,” Dyster said of Rotella’s ability to book well-known musicians. “It was probably because he was such a fan. He was the guy who was in the front row at every concert. He was tremendously outgoing and he just had that kind of personality where he was a hard guy to say no to.”

The blues fest took a break amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The event returned in 2022 and included Waters’ son, musician Mud Morganfield.

Kushner said plans are already in the works for the 2023 festival. This year’s event, the 14th in the history of the blues fest, will, fittingly, be a tribute to Rotella and his love of all things blues, Kushner said.

“I see the festival continuing,” Kushner said. “I don’t see Old Falls Street letting this go out of their lineup. Niagara Festival and Entertainment Group will be involved, definitely. We certainly will continue on with the Imperial Garage legacy.”

In addition to his life partner, Kushner, Rotella is survived by his sons, Sean (Kim) Rotella, Aaron (Paula) Rotella, Marcus (Jaimie) Ganci-Rotella, and his brother, Richard (Colleen) Rotella. He was predeceased by his parents, Carmela (Julian) and Dominic Rotella, his daughter, Remy (Rotella) Orlowski, his former wife, Carole Rajczak, his brothers, Dominic Rotella and Paul Rotella, his sister Marylou Rotella Lunsford, and his nephew, David “Toby” Rotella.

A funeral service is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Dubois Funeral Home, 2436 Niagara Road, Niagara Falls. The service will be followed by a celebration of Rotella’s life from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear Bluesfest or Imperial Garage attire.

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