With Public TV fundraising in March and Public Radio fundraising in April, I'm just about all begged out! Still, if it takes begging for you to stop out to the horse track tonight (Friday 4/18) then I'm beggin' ya baby...Prairie Meadows Casino, Altoona IA (suburban Des Moines) The Finish Line Lounge, right after the horse races (about 10pm) until 1am. Get there early for the great buffet, place a wager on the ponies, (always bet on horses with a jocky named Sally, so you can scream RIDE SALLY, RIDE during the stretch run for the finish) and stay around for dancing. It's been two weeks since we've played, I'm REALLY looking forward to it...
Some other stuff that's goin' on: I am indeed on the cover of the statewide arts and music magazine Art Scene for the month of April. You can check out the story at www.artsceneiowa.com or get one at your local magazine rack...
Nathan called saying that he's planning a summertime visit to Ioway and was hoping to play some dates with us, so expect the New Years Eve horns for all the dates June 27- July 5! (Saturday July 5 is still open, in case you'd like to have us out at your lakeside property for that BBQ you're planning for 4th of July weekend)...
Speaking of New Year's Eve, we have not made much progress on preparing those recordings from last year, but should have a few songs posted on our website and on the My Space page sometime in the next few weeks...
Speaking of website updates, the Meet The Band page on the website has needed revision for at least 6 months. The changes have finally happened! Check out Who's Who in Blue at www.theblueband.com/band.htm
I also wanted to let you know that tickets for the KUNI Blues Cruise, June 6 in Dubuque, are now on sale at www.kuniradio.org. This is always one of the most fun events of the year. The boat only holds 300 people. Get your tickets soon. This is currently the only riverboat cruise scheduled for this season...
We have no bookings again next week, (May and June are starting to fill up nicely, tho) so there probably won't be a Blue Note either. The next time we play will be the monthly TGIF party at The Hub, 4th and Main, here in Sparkle City, Friday May 2, 5:30-9:00pm. This will be the final TGIF party until the Fall (which means that it will be the last time that you can smoke cigarettes at that gathering, as Iowa has enacted an indoor smoking ban starting July 1) (I have never been a smoker and generally no longer visit places with clouds of smoke, but the Libertarian in me strongly objects to the government mandating that business owners can't make their own decision as to whether smoking is allowed or not) (ooops, sorry, I know, you don't want me to get started on some Libertarian rant)...
I'm hoping all these April showers DO bring May flowers (how's yer clematis?) and we all have a FABULOUS summer outdoor season (after this past winter we deserve it, don't we?!) See ya on the Blue Highway in our 10 MPG band truck (ouch), keep rubbin' yer washboard, good luck playin' the ponies, and don't forget to celebrate your winnings by bringing CAKE! We love you, Bob Dorr & The Blue Band