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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bob Dorr And The Blue Band Update

Well here we go! The 30th summer for The Blue Band. That's a lot of beer and BBQ! So let's do it again! Saturday afternoon, 2-5pm, we are part of the Smokin' In The Junction Blues and BBQ Fest in West Des Moines' Historic Valley Junction District and Sunday we are part of the 5th Annual Liberty Centre Blues & BBQ celebration in North Liberty (our third consecutive year at this very cool, day-long, family friendly, festival) we're scheduled to play 7:45-9:45pm. It'll be quite the challenge for a singer/harmonica player of my limited skills to play right after a singer/harmonica player with the incredible skills of Kevin B.F. Burt! Get there early to catch his show, stay late to dance that mess around with The Blue Band. Maybe we can get Kevin to lead The Blue Band thru a song or two! For more info on the North Liberty Festival try: http://northlibertyiowa.org/bluesandbbq In between those two BBQ festivals, we're playing a wedding celebration at The Science Center of Des Moines! It's just like the goodle days! 3 gigs in 36 hours and travel 400 miles!...
Next Friday, June 3, is the annual Blues Cruise on the Spirit of Dubuque Riverboat in Dubuque. The Blue Band's first gig EVAH was at The Cooper Wagon Works on Rhomberg Ave. in Dubuque on June 10, 1981. Thirty years later we're at a boat dock just a couple miles from the old Wagon Works! (no snide remarks about how far our career has taken us) In addition to celebrating the Blue Band's 30th birthday, we'll be celebrating my wife's uhhh, let's just say she's MUCH younger than me, birthday. Need I say it? BRING CAKE!! About half the spaces on the boat are taken. There's a little more than 150 tickets still available for this party on The Mighty Mississippi. They're $15 advance, $20 day of show (if there are any left) This year, ticket sales are being handled directly thru the Spirit of Dubuque Riverboat, order tickets now at http://www.dubuqueriverrides.com/contact.html or (563) 583-8093. This is the only riverboat cruise currently scheduled for this year. Sunday June 5 has us back at Mt. Horeb Wisconsin's Summer Frolic. Mt. Horeb proudly proclaims to be The Troll Capitol of The World. And every one of those trolls likes to drink beer. Join us in the beer tent for a fun afternoon. More on that show next week...
Lots of cool Blue business happenin' too! Some original songs, an appearance by Iowa Blues Hall of Famer Joe Price, and a J. J. Cale song, all recorded last New Year's Eve, have been posted on the Listen To The Band Page (http://www.theblueband.com/bluemusic.htm) We are fortunate to have access to the audio skills of Phil Maass, who recorded, mixed, edited, and mastered those recordings. The 30th Anniversary Tour Shirts have arrived and will be available at all shows. Standard sizes in black, white, or light blue, buy one at the regular price, get that 58 minute DVD, produced by Cedar Falls Cablevision, absolutely FREE!! How do we do it?? VOLUME!! And speaking of Mr. Maass, he and his wife Diana, have invited The Blue Band to be part of their 5th wedding anniversary celebration on Sat. July 23 at The Hub. It's open to the public with admission being a couple cans of food or a monetary donation to the NE Iowa Food Bank. Anniversary CAKE would also be appropriate...We also added the annual Cedar Trails Festival Night Ride to the 30 Anniversary Tour in August. Seems like we're still adding a gig or two each week to the schedule, stop by http://www.theblueband.com/cal.htm as the calendar is updated every time we add a new show...
After a month of fatigue, body ache, loss of appetite, weight loss and total loss of my sense of sweet taste (a fate worse than death for CAKE lovers) I've made substantial progress toward getting back to normal this week. Chocolate is beginning to taste like it should (always a good sign) and I've gained back a couple of the 12 pounds I've lost. I have no clue why I'm getting better, but it's coming right at the busy time of year, so I'll take it!...
The radio shows this weekend (Backtracks, Sat. 7-10pm, Blue Avenue, Sun. 5-6:30pm and The Beatles Medley, Sun. 6:30-7pm) are all Memorial Day "remembrance" shows, remembering performers who have passed on. Get the frequency in your area or listen on line at www.iowapublicradio.org...
All of a sudden the fatigue is back. Or it could be that it's 3:20am and I didn't have my nap today! Either way, I gotta go. See ya on the busy Blue Highway, use yer damn turn signals, rub yer washboard to the tune of In The Summertime (when the leaves are green, I'll be blue) Remember, PIE is always a suitable summer substitute for CAKE and don't forget we love you, Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
 

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