Before I get started, a quick apology to you, if you, like my Aunt Dolores, did not care for the use of a few words in last week's note. Those words included the one that started with P and rhymes with kissed and the first 5 letters of the word Christmas. Dolores is my mom's last living sister. I am fortunate to have her occasionally remind me that "your mother raised you better than that!" And altho' I may, sometimes, continue to use "inappropriate words" (the four letter word I despise most recently is SNOW) I appreciate that there is still someone out there who is willing to hold me to the high standards of my parents. So be advised that at any time, terms like YIKES! and JIMMINEY CHRISTMAS might be substituted for what I really want to say...
Like now. JIMMINEY CHRISTMAS is it cold! 8 below zero right now. But it's early. It might get down to 15 below zero. YIKES! (yes, it's sad to realize that I've had the weather channel on for five cycles of "weather on the 8s" just to watch the temperature dropping like the ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve) DOUBLE YIKES!! (or is that DOUBLE DIGIT below zero?) At least we're not playing in Minneapolis this week, where it's currently 26 below zero. We played in Minneapolis the last week of January a few years ago and it was so cold THEY CANCELLED THE ICE CARNIVAL! (too cold for ice?)...
Fortunately it's predicted to warm up all the way to 18 degrees ABOVE zero on Saturday when Birthday Celebration Month continues with The Blue Band playing a 50th Birthday celebration for two longtime friends in their favorite hometown watering hole, The 503 in Iowa Falls. (503 Estes St.) This dance is open to the public. We play 9-midnight. Mark's wife has again kidnapped him and is holding him hostage in a double wide trailer in Florida until March 1 (why she wants to miss out on all this glorious record setting weather we're having, I'll never know) (YIKES!) So our longtime friend Muddy Watson, from Des Moines, will be playing bass with us for the next few weeks and former Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials sax player Eddie McKinley (on loan from Iowa City's Diplomats of Solid Sound) will join Al in the horn section. It's a birthday party. You know what to do. BRING CAKE!...
The Blue Band does not have a gig next weekend (we could still do that houseWARMING party in your living room) We're looking forward to our First Friday of the month gig at The Hub on Feb. 4 and being part of a fundraising effort for The Waterloo Center For The Arts on Feb. 11....
I am convinced that human beings are more susceptible to sickness when they are emotionally in the doldrums. The combination of the post holiday/birthday blues, shoveling 4 more inches of snow last weekend, and the dastardly temperatures (the Weather on the 8s now says it's 14 below) wore my attitude down enough so that I got a cold on Tuesday. It's been about three years since I've had a cold. I don't do sick very well. I generally think that if you become an angry bully, screaming at your sickness in between sneezes and coughs and blowing your nose every 45 seconds, that you'll scare the sickness away. I usually only succeed in scaring my wife and friends away. Fortunately three gig offers of significant importance came in during the last two days and all of a sudden, my attitude and cold have significantly improved. There are two summer events that mean the world to me. One is The Iowa State Fair. I told you we got our dates for that last week. The other is the hometown festival Sturgis Falls Days, right here in Sparkle City. Yesterday we were offered our traditional spot on Sunday, early evening (5-7) June 26. I think it's because The Blue Band was born in Cedar Falls and has gone through our 30 year Iowa Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame legacy of experiences while being based in Cedar Falls, that being part of this hometown festival is so important to me. Thank you Marcus, Jay, and Sturgis Falls Entertainment Committee for making the opportunity available to us again for this 30th Anniversary year. Then, on Thursday afternoon, I got a call from a long lost friend in Peoria IL saying that he was back helping book the annual Illinois Blues Festival and did we want to come back to Peoria and be part of it! This is HUGE. A high profile festival in an area that we used to play very often. So we'll kick off Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2) with our friends in Peoria. And then, to put me well on the way to full sickness recovery, our annual invitation to the Urbandale (suburban Des Moines) FridayFest concert series came in! AND we got a pretty nice review of the Blue Moon Honeymoon cd in the brand new Blues Blast on-line Blues Magazine early Thursday evening! Call me honey butter cuz I am on a roll! We've still got some prime weekend dates open for the summertime (still looking for the proper party on Friday June 10th, our actual 30th Birthday) Please continue to tell your local town festival entertainment committees, business party planners, and local nightspots about us. It's beginning to shape up to be a really nice 30th Anniversary summer...
It's dropped another two degrees (-16) if we don't find work for next week, I think I'll take the week off from writing the Blue Notes (maybe I'll try to rescue Mark down there in Florida) See ya on the Blue Highway to Eye Waffles (Iowa Falls) rub yer washboard tie cuz the friction might generate some heat, CAKE will help improve your attitude (to help ward off colds) and don't forget we love you. Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
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