Blue Band Update

From Bob Dorr

Wasn't it the Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland that was always scooting by saying "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, hello, goodbye, goodbye, hello, I'm late"? Or was that me?! I could be singin' that song...

Speaking of singing that song, The Blue Band's got a very cool weekend coming up, hope to see you. In a few hours (4pm) I'll be starting my stage announcer duties at Camp Euphoria (www.campeuforia.com) in Lone Tree (outside of Iowa City) I count 17 bands, on two stages, for two days! Why do I fear that I'll feel like the the chaperon for the concert goers?! Maybe the 90 degree temperatures will bring out the no piece bathing suits! YIKES! I better watch my blood pressure! The Blue Band plays 7:30p-8:30p and will give you a sound much more reminiscent of the early days, with Blue Alums from the 80s, Ron DeWitte joining us on guitar and Bunky Marlow being the only horn player. I'll also be the go-fer for Phil Maass as he's going to try and record as many of these bands as possible for use on Iowa Public Radio. And that's just Friday!...

Saturday we travel all the way across the state to Iowa's vacation lakes, Lake Okoboji and Spirit Lake, for a ReMax Concert on The Green. This is a beautiful park, adjacent to the Lake, with a great stage. We play 7:30-10:30p. Al and Bunky will make up the horn section and our longtime friend Joe Cuttell is flying in from California to sit in with the band (boy will his arms be tired) Make a weekend of it and stop into the Iowa Rock'n'Roll Music Association Hall of Fame museum. Ask Doris where our inductee plaque is and buy a copy of last year's DVD with some of the songs that the reunion/HOF Blue Band played at our induction ceremony last September. And if you're interested in a condo or a lakeside property, The ReMax tent will be set up to help you. (then we can play deck parties at your house NEXT summer!)...

I had a ball talking to my longtime friend Mike Michalicek, a Waterloo teacher, about a new teaching philosophy called Perceptual Control Theory on last Tuesday's Exchange program on IPR. I also talked to Ohio author Shelly Pearsal about her new book All Shook Up, but that conversation slid into talking about Elvis Presley impersonators more than anything! If you missed that show you can listen right here: http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kuni/local-kuni-728298.mp3

I have been invited to be part of the search committee for Iowa Public Radio's Director of Programming and Content. (yes, I applied, no, I did not even make it to the interview stage) (it'll probably be another 35 years before I apply for another job again!) That committee meets Monday and Tuesday so my talk show hosting has been moved to Friday next week (7/18). I will be talking to a U of I neurologist about behavioral sciences. A sentence in the first paragraph of the promo for this conversation reads "here we show that six patients with focal bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, produce an abnormal 'utilitarian' pattern of judgments on moral dilemmas that pit compelling considerations of aggregate welfare against highly emotionally aversive behaviors" WHAT?? I'm not even smart enough to pronounce half of these words, so you KNOW I'm not smart enough to ask questions! Phone in your own polisyllabic word questions! YIKES! the show airs 10-11am...

I gotta go rest up for my (hopefully) naked nubile experience with the young hippies at Camp Euphoria. I hope someone brings CAKE! See ya on the Blue Highway, be careful where you're rubbin' that zydeco tie at the hippie festival, Rave on, dude (!) (and dudette) and always remember we (peace and) love you. Bob Dorr & The Blue Band