Holy (butter) Cow! It's time for Blue Band on-a-stick! We have gotten to play many really fun festivals and celebrations over the years, but my favorite for a quarter century (give or take a year) is The Iowa State Fair. Perhaps you saw the article in this week's Des Moines Register Datebook: http://beta.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090820/ENT04/908200322/-1/Datebook I'm embarrassed to admit that none of us have kept any appearance records from the mid 80s, so we're not "exactly" sure if our first Fair show was 1984 or '85. (do you know?) Jeff and I and original drummer Bryce Loshman all think it was 1984, but all of us admit to faultering memory these days. (what were we talking about?...) So, it's "about" 25 years this weekend! Friday and Saturday, two shows nightly, 7 & 9pm on the same stage we've played all these years. Before the advent of "naming rights" it was The Fairview stage. then The Coors stage, then the Pabst stage, and now AE Dairy/TV8 stage. Speaking of TV8, they broadcast their 5 o'clock news from the stage we play, right before we set up, so they've asked Heath (playing guitar!) and me to play a short rendition of He's Back In Town sometime during that half-hour. So set your VCR (or whatever you digital geeks use to record) and tune in channel 8 in Des Moines at 5pm. Then get yer butt out to the Fairgrounds for that 7pm show...The Fair has really become kind of a 5 generation reunion for us with people from all over the state and country coming in to relive the Goodle Days and create new Goodle Days. And, as an added treat, Sam Salomone will get out that GIANT organ (you KNEW I had to make some BIG organ reference when I mentioned Sam) and play with us both nights. A SEVEN piece band!! And Bryce Loshman said he'd stop out Friday to play drums on a couple of songs that he played with us during his 15+ year tenure in the group. Ya never know who might show up (someone even posted on the chat page that they thought they saw Molly Nova at the Fair!) (Was she walking the midway with Elvis?) This is gonna be FUN!!...
Next week, Saturday (8/29) is another cool little festival that we'll be playing for our 3rd year in a row, The Brew-B-Q Fest in Independence IA. Beers from around the world, Bar-B-Que from around the nation, and the Blue Band on a bandshell (as opposed to half-shell) in a park with a view of the Wild Wapsipinicon River. What's not to like? We play 5-9pm...
I've got 18 weeks of employment at UNI before I take advantage of that "early retirement option". I'd feel a little more at ease with that decision if The Blue Band had some more work in the coming months and into early 2010. (OK, it's bleak now, but SOMETHING will turn up, won't it?) Please keep telling folks about us, we'd love to play that holiday party on that heated deck with sauna, hot tub, and heated pool on your acreage on the outskirts of town, but we'd probably play in your basement, if you didn't have the acreage...
Carolyn and I spent most of the first 3 days at The Fair hunting for all 50 food items on a stick. We still have about 5 to find. What's a Carmello? (on-a-stick) But I'm happy to report that there is cheeseCAKE, dipped in chocolate, on a stick. And, of course, funnelCAKES!...
See yas on the Blue (midway) Highway. We still have as a goal, 50 people bringing their zydeco tie to the Fair and playing with us on New Orleans (could this be a Guinness Book Of World Records opportunity?) (world's largest zydeco-washboard tie orchestra?) celebrate our 25 years (we think) of playing the Fair by bringing CAKE on a stick, and always remember we love you... Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
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