Bob Dorr And The Blue Band Update

Well, no, The Blue Band did NOT find any work this weekend, but I seem to have a lot of fun writing these notes and since I was sick and in bed for nearly 3 days this week, I need a dose of Dr. Feelgood... There IS some Blue News. We have been invited to be part of the city of Lamoni's 4th of July celebration, so Independence Weekend, July 1, 2, 3, 4 is booked and that allows us to take off the following week, July 5-15 (this could be the first summer in all 30 of them that we've actually taken a summer vacation! WooHoo!) I mention that, in case you still have intentions of booking the band for a stop along the 30th Anniversary Highway. If you want your date on the once-a-year, 5000 piece, direct mail promotion that we mail out, or you want your event on the tour list on the back of the T-shirt, we need to book the date no later than 9pm this Sunday night (May 1) We're going to the postcard printer and the t-shirt printer on Monday. If you've already booked your date, take a second to check out the Calendar page (http://www.theblueband.com/cal.htm) to make sure we have it listed. If it's on the calendar page, it's on the mailer and on the shirt... The Wizard of Wires/Sultan of Solder/Knave of Knobs, Phil Maass, is just about finished doing his voodoo over mixing/editing/mastering of the recordings from New Year's Eve. This includes Iowa Blues Hall of Famer Joe Price playing The Iowa Crawl with The Blue Band and Capitol City slide master Matt Woods playing slide on Santa's Got A Lot On His Mind. It's always fun for me to see the weekly progress going from raw, soundboard, undoctored tapes to finished, 70-minute snapshot of the night. We are very fortunate to have regular access to Phil's skills! Anyway, if we release the recordings on CD, it will be less than 300 copies, much of it will find itself on the Blue Band website (I'm embarrassed to admit that I just recently visited that Listen To The Band page and found some of those recordings to be FIVE years old! YIKES! The most recent is THREE years old! DOUBLE YIKES!!...
Next week, May 6, is the Final First Friday GEEEZER Gig at the Hub (we're switching to the 2nd Friday when the series continues in October) 6-9:30pm, 4th & Main, Sparkle City USA! Pizza by the slice, adult beverages, great sound system, friendly bar staff, spacious dancefloor, and Avis' husband playing that green guitar! What's not to like, right Avis? BRING CAKE!...Sat, May 7, Jeff and I are doing a duo (it's been a few years since we did THAT act!) in an effort to raise money for The Food Chain, a feed the poor organization in Cedar Rapids. We play 6-9pm at The Sub City sandwich shop on 1st Ave in downtown CR...after that, we're lookin' for work for a couple of weeks before the wild summer schedule starts (BTW, did you get your tickets for the boat ride yet? (http://www.dubuqueriverrides.com/specialty.html)...
I have had a lifetime of very good health. I was reminded of what an incredible blessing that is this past weekend. I started to develop a sore throat a few hours before the gig in Iowa Falls Saturday night. Singing all night didn't help much! By the time we got home, my throat was raw, it was backing up into my ear, my body ached and some form of extreme fatigue had set in. I was pretty much in bed until I could see a doctor on Monday afternoon (you KNOW it's bad if I call a doctor!) Actually, you KNOW it's bad when I attended my father-in-law's 86th birthday party on Tuesday and I could only manage to have two forkfuls of CAKE (I'm sure you're beginning to see the seriousness of this illness now) The GIANT pills I was given by the doctor (I swear they're really leftover mini Easter eggs) seem to be helping with the throat (yes, radio announcers and singers DO tend to panic if something goes wrong with their throat!) but I've yet to get much of an appetite back (another blessing in disguise, as I have had as a goal for three years now to weigh less than 190 pounds and this last week helped me lose those last 8 pounds!) Truly the greatest gift is that of good health...
Because of the illness, the Saturday Backtracks radio show is a "best of" spotlight segment edition of the program. Hour #2 is all British Invasion bands and hour #3 is My Wife's Records. 7-10pm on your favorite Iowa Public Radio station. I'm taking suggestions for the Horn Band special (Blood, Sweat & Tears, Cold Blood, Tower of Power, who else?) that will air on May 21 and the Memorial Day special, remembering rock'n'rollers who have passed on, that will air on May 28. I'm also looking for advance requests for the next live show, May 14. Just respond to this email if you have any ideas for any of these 3 shows...
I had hoped to get out of Sparkle City this weekend for a little mini-vacation, but losing those 3 days of work and my still achy body ain't really gonna let that happen. Perhaps Checker and The Bluetones at the Hub on Friday. Also, if yer in Des Moines for the Relays on Saturday, check out our friends Six Ways To Sunday (the guys who opened the New Years Eve show last year and who've already signed on for this coming NYE) They're playing in Chequers Lounge on the first floor of the Hotel Fort Des Moines, 10th & Walnut, DM. I think showtime is 7pm...
OK, a little more proof that I've been laying in bed for 3 days. I know that The Royal Wedding is getting ready to start RIGHT NOW, so I gotta go (not only am I sick, but I must be completely daft if I'm going to go watch this thing!) (I love spectacle) (does the bride's dad have pay for all that stuff?!) See ya on the Blue Highway, rub yer washboard to the tune of I Have Had My Fun (If I Don't Get Well No More), take two of these, drink plenty of fluids, and call me when you have CAKE! Bob Dorr & The Blue Band