How do we get it right? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!! I have now celebrated my 28th birthday over 30 times. Christ, there used to be T-SHIRTS for this event! With people standing outside of Connie's Lounge in Des Moines waiting to get in. These days, the only people who stand outside in the freezing temperatures are the nicotine freaks. The Blue Band helps celebrate my 28th birthday (again) tonight, FRIDAY, Jan. 14, at the Hub, right across the street from the building that used to house notorious hippie and bohemian "after parties" (there's that practice, practice, practice thing again) at 4th & Main in beautiful Sparkle City USA (Cedar Falls) There are actually only a few people on this email list who are OLD enough to remember the notorious behavior at "4th & Main". On the other hand, it's one of those cases where if you can remember what went on in those apartments, you probably weren't really there! And it's GEEEEZER GIG hours!! We play 6-9:30p, stop in after work (TGIF) have a couple slices of pizza, some adult beverages, dance with your girl/boyfriend or your wife/husband, (probably shouldn't dance with both of them at the same time) and, if you're like me, you'll probably bitch about the weather to other people who are already tired of this winter. Misery does love company. An added treat for us is that saxman Tom Barry, on loan from Checker & The Bluetones, will join Al in the horn section. Those two guys were original, founding members of The Salsa Band for nearly 20 years. I'm really looking forward to hearing what that will sound like. Tom played quite a few gigs with us in the 80s and was the recording engineer/producer of some those live recordings on the early vinyl releases. It's going to be fun having him with us. During this 30th anniversary year, I'm hoping to have many Blue Alumni be able to do some gigs with us. And how could I forget??? There will be CAKE!! OK, this is how "fiscally responsible" I've gotten in my "old" age. There was A LOT of left over anniversary cake on New Year's Eve. We put it in the freezer. It'll be at the Hub. I think we're going to try and smear the word ANNIVERSARY into looking like it "might" be BIRTHDAY. Hey, CAKE is CAKE, wish me a happy birthday and my wife a happy anniversary and have some CAKE!...
And speaking of my birthday, the annual "It's My Party And I'll Play What I Want To" radio show happens on Backtracks this Saturday night, 7-10pm on your favorite Iowa Public Radio station (or via streamed audio at www.iowapublicradio.org) It was really fun putting the show together. It's all from the original vinyl and comes complete with stories about playing in my Jr. High School band Tortoise & The Hair and seeing The Association play the Dubuque Blues live at the RKO theatre in downtown Davenport and other personal stories, most of which are true...
And speaking of birthdays (practice, practice, practice) we have been requested by two, soon to be 50 year old, patrons of the 503 Nightclub in Iowa Falls to play at THERE birthday party at the 503, Saturday Jan. 22. We play 9-mid. It's open to the public. How can you turn down the possibility of birthday CAKE, two weeks in a row?...
Probably the best birthday present I could have gotten came in the form of an invitation to return to the Iowa State Fair in August! We play the AE/TV8 stage on the final Fri/Sat Aug. 19 and 20. We also added a return to the Park Farm Winery Grape Stomp over Labor Day weekend and the annual riverboat cruise in Dubuque is scheduled for Fri. June 3. We've still got lots of open weekend dates in the summer and would love to add your local festival, party, or nightclub to the 30th anniversary tour. Need more info? Start here: http://www.theblueband.com/contactBob.htm
This is the greatest weekend for professional football in the entire season. Four playoff games involving the best eight teams on the planet. And, now that #4 is no longer playing, I can go back to being a Packer Backer. I grew up a fan of the Pack, dating back to the days of Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Jerry Kramer, Boyd Dowler, Max McGhee, Forrest Gregg, Willie Davis, Willie Wood, Zeke Bratkowski (I had to throw that one in, just for REAL longtime Packer fans) I was pissed at The Packers for not showing more respect to OLD #4, so I've been boycotting the green and gold. It REALLY pained me to root for The Purple. The world will be right again rooting for The Packers against the Falcons on Saturday night!...
Please join with me in sending condolences and best wishes to Dennis MacRunnel (our stage/road manager) and family. Dennis' dad passed away on Thursday...
It's late, I've still got to practice blowing out all those candles that'll be on the CAKE tomorrow (somebody better stand ready with the fire extinguisher) See yas on the Blue Highway, rub yer washboard tie to the tune of the Happy Birthday Blues, wear your Bob's 28th Birthday T-shirt to The Hub (I like the one that says Help! I'm 28 and I Can't Grow Up!) and always know that we love you. Bob Dorr & The Blue Band
