Saturday afternoon (9/18) brings another reminder of the ending of the summer season with the annual Harvest/Anniversary party at the Tabor Home Vineyard in the rolling hills outside of Baldwin IA. (http://www.taborhomewinery.com/) This is the granddaddy of the winery gigs for us. We have been part of this celebration for over a decade. People of all generations, from miles around, (the vineyard is less than an hour north of the Quad Cities, less than an hour south of Dubuque, just a few minutes west of Maquoketa) gather on the Vineyard grounds and help Paul and Martha Tabor celebrate another award winning year for their wines. The band is on a covered stage and the Tabors have lots of tents in case the "spotty showers" that are predicted, roll thru (I cannot recall ever being rained out there) (on the other hand, I'm having difficulty recalling what I had for lunch this afternoon) I DO know this is always a fun time. The celebration runs 1-6pm, we play 2-5:30pm. Food and those award winning wines available on the grounds. You might have to bring your own CAKE. As always, DO wine, DON'T Whine...
Next Saturday (9/25) we play a private wedding celebration...And then...The return of the Friday Night Geeezer Gigs!! Friday Oct. 1, at The Hub, Bub! 4th & Main, Sparkle City USA, 6-9:30p (yes, an extra half hour of fun and merriment this year!) Pizza by the slice, adult beverages, dancing, people watching. What's not to like, right Avis? And if Avis is there, then her husband Bob Guthart, will surely sit in with the band on that green guitar and all of a sudden you're havin' the time of your life! And you can do it EVERY first Friday of the month for the rest of the year! (http://www.theblueband.com/cal.htm) But stop calling me Shirley. Right Sheryl?...
But wait! We're not done with the outdoor season quite yet! We're part of this year's Windsor Heights (suburban Des Moines) OctoberFest on Saturday, October 2. This is the makeup date from the rained out 4th of July celebration. Same location, Colby Park (about 69th and School St.) There are activities all day long, we play 4-7pm, followed by the fireworks that didn't go off on the 4th! This is our last scheduled outdoor show of the season (unless you want to have one more bar-b-que party on your deck some week soon) so bring the kids, bring the grandkids, and dance like no one's watching...
Another reminder of the end of the summer festival season is that it's obvious I've been spending WAY to much time enjoying the summer and WAY too little time trying to find work for the group. Like Al says, BAND LEADER SUCKS! We don't work in bars much anymore, so we're reliant on parties, corporate events, and special shows. We've got lots of open dates for holiday parties starting in mid October. Call me...
Carolyn has been able to unpack and put away THREE ROOMS FULL of stuff (one more to go) and we can finally see the end of trying to carry three properties while assimilating our households. We are SO fortunate to be out from under the weight of that overhead before the snow flies (actually, we don't like ANY kind of flies, but snow flies are the worst) (just checkin' to see if you're payin' attention) In the process of moving, I discovered Carolyn's record and cd collection. I decided to make a Backtracks radio show out those albums! So this Saturday night (9/18) 7-10pm CDT, join me for My Wife's Records on Iowa Public Radio's Studio One Network. Find the frequency in your area or listen on line, anywhere on the planet, at www.iowapublicradio.org. After 35+ years of radio programming and band leading, I have found that you can tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to and collect. I was not surprised that her collection had a lot of records by Emmylou Harris, Rickie Lee Jones, The Pretenders, and The Beatles, but I was surprised that she seems to have every album ever made by Led Zeppelin! The show would make ideal listening while driving home from The Tabor Celebration. Tune in, turn on...
Holy Schamoly, it's 4 o'clock in the morning! Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. But nobody likes snow flies. Thanks for being part of another fabulous summer. I'm hoping you'll stay with us to help celebrate our 30th anniversary year in 2011 (starting with the Cherokee Jazz & Blues Fest Jan. 7 & 8!) Because we play a private wedding event next week, I'm going to take a week off from Blue Note writing (join me and hundreds of other "Friends" on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/profile.php?id=100000167776066) You should get the next note two weeks from today. See ya on the Blue Blue Highway, get out and rub yer washboard tie one more time this outdoor season, I think it is a proven scientific fact that CAKE can bring you years of joy and happiness if you share it with aging band leaders, and always remember we love you. Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
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