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Monday, July 2, 2012

Bob Dorr And The Blue Band Update

Holy Firecracker, Batman, this is gonna be a hot one! So, do you think the Sex-A-Genarians can play 5 one-nighters in 6 days, 4 of those dates outside in 90 degree heat, and we're our own sound company for all but one of those gigs? Uh, yeah, we can do that. It's the return of The Tough, But Dumb Tour!! Help us celebrate by bringing CAKE to...
Cadillac Jack's Steakhouse in Baxter (a little NW of Newton) is celebrating Baxter Fun Days this Saturday (6/30) and have invited us to play their street dance from 9-mid. Get there early for the good food, dance in the street til midnight...
Monday July 2 has us helping kick off the first day of a three day festival in Shellrock (a little west of Waverly). The stage is located in downtown Shellrock. The municipal band (who knew Shellrock HAD a municipal band??) plays before us, we play 8ish til 11ish. BTW, Shellrock's 3-day celebration ends on the 4th with The Kentucky Head Hunters!!...
Tuesday July 3, we're playing a private/invitation only reunion party. Remember those out of control parties in the Parnell Town Hall in the early 80s? No, I don't either. But that doesn't mean I wasn't there. Anyway, it's THOSE kids who are reuniting 30 years later...
And speaking of reuniting, we're part of the Dan's Place reunion in Iowa Falls on the 4th of July. Dan's Place was another notorious bar/nightclub that I remember nothing about . But I've heard stories about me. The Little Red Rooster Band played there many times (a couple of archive pictures of The Roosters at Dan's Place: http://www.theblueband.com/archives1.html) Jeff played there with The Headstone Band so we both have a long, sometimes foggy history in the place! Dan's place burned to the ground many years ago, but Rodney (the owner) and Jackie (the bar manager) have started to build a tradition of reuniting with Dan's patrons (old and new) during the 4th of July week, at The 503 in Iowa Falls (503 Estes St.) I love playing in this place. I have known many of the folks for the entire 35 years I've played in that town. (no snide remarks about how my music career has Sky Rocketed in those 3+ decades) This event is open to the public and inside with great air conditioning! Our part of the festivities is 9-mid. See ya in Eye Waffles...
But wait there's MORE!! We've been invited to be part of a week-long 4th of July celebration in Osceola (south of Des Moines) on Thursday July 5!! The show takes place on the Osceola Courthouse Lawn, 7-11pm. Singer/songwriter Rick Burke is scheduled to play for the two hours prior to our start, so get there early, bring strawberry shortCAKE for the lawn party!...
AND, in the midst of getting ready for this long hot run of dates, Carolyn took a tumble on our walk tonight and severely sprained the same ankle she broke a few years ago and in the process of trying to brace herself from the fall, broke her little finger. Ouch! Fortunately, we held on to the walking boot and crutches from the ankle break and, trooper that she is, she insists she's going to work in the morning. Might not see her jumpin' up and down on the stage any night soon, tho...
Some people have inquired about Sam & Al (not to be confused with Sam & Dave, but they ARE soul men in their own right) Maybe you saw Al play with us at last Sunday's Sturgis Falls show. He's lookin' good, he seems to be reenergized and is getting ready to lead his jazz group this weekend at the Iowa City Jazz Fest. He's promised to play some more shows with us, so LOOK OUT Blue People, the trumpet man is still blowin' that horn! BTW, Cedar Falls Cablevision started playing their Sturgis Falls Highlights on CF cable channel 15 tonight and will continue through the weekend. I was told that it would also be available thru the CF Cablevision website, but my feeble web skills have not accessed it yet. Sam is home again from the hospital (again) and beginning to make slow but sure progress in recovering from his surgeries. He's got a ways to go before he's strong enough to join us at The Fair, but that's my dream: Sam Salomone on the Hammond B3 with The Blue Band at The Fair two months from now. Oh yeah, baby! Keep the good vibes aimed at the organ player, k?...
AND, the radio shows are all brand new again this week, with the reunion of guest DJs Joel & Ed spinning an hour of British Pub Rock with all the songs having a connection to Nick Lowe from 8-9p followed by an interview I did with Country Joe McDonald (yeah, that Country Joe & The Fish guy) He's coming to Cedar Rapids on July 14 for WOODY Fest (July 14 is Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday) Q & A with Joe + music from his career 9-9:30p, all part of the rock'n'roll history show Backtracks Sat. night 7-10pm (http://iowapublicradio.org/studio-one/backtracks/) AND, you have heard Phil Maass' audio wizardry with Blue Band live and recorded performances for years. His "real job" is recording live performances all around the state for Iowa Public Radio. His exclusive recordings make up ALL of the Sunday blues show Blue Avenue and includes live recordings of Chubby Carrier, Trampled Under Foot, Patrick Hazell, and Bryce Janey. Sunday, 5-6:30pm (http://iowapublicradio.org/studio-one/blue-avenue/) The Beatles Medley 6:30-7pm is comprised of hit singles that were on the charts during the summer months...
After that string of dates, we're taking next weekend off and will start again on Friday the 13th at the Live @ 5 event in Cedar Falls (Sparkle City USA) Jeff and I will be doing our duo at Tabor Winery on Sun. July 15. Our trumpet playing friend from Nashville, Steve Smartt has promised to stop in on that duo gig and blow his horn, as he makes his way out to the start of his annual RAGBRAI ride. I'll have more on that in the next Blue Note (which probably will be 2 weeks from today)...
We still have Sat. July 14 and 21 open, as well as Sat. Sept. 8 in case you need music for that bar-b-que/deck party at your shack on the outskirts of town...
See yas on the (Red, White &) Blue Highway. Hope you can spend a few days with us during the holiday week, remember, Independence Day is a celebration of the self reliant and the defiant. Celebrate responsibly. Celebrate with CAKE! We love you, Bob Dorr & The Blue Band

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