Here's a pic by Lily Sazz of me and the band at the CD launch at the Silver Dollar on September 30. That's Rod Phillips on organ, myself, Michelle Josef on drums, Victor Bateman on bass and out of the frame is sax player extraordinaire Pat Carey. I'd never played with Pat but I've heard him many times. I don't believe I ever heard him sound better than he did with me that night. Every solo he took brought the song to new heights. In fact, all the players were at the top of their form. Wish you were there.
I suppose we had about a hundred people but less than half paid - not surprising considering many of my friends are already on the media list at the Dollar. Northern Blues was very generous in buying a block of tickets and there were a few ticket giveaways from the local blues radio shows.
Note to self: If you're going to hire the busiest musicians in town, don't expect you'll be able to round them all up for a rehearsal at the same time and place. In fact it was very forward of me to expect these folks to rehearse but it's lucky that most of them did, because it made the whole ensemble seem pretty tight. I was complemented on my cuing of the band - not something I've ever done very well. In fact, many bandmates will attest that I've been known to give totally wrong cues - especially when I'm using a capo and shout out the chords as I'm playing them. Anyway, I'm beyond that now. I realize I just have to be very visible and articulate with my body language.
No reviews that I've seen for that show - maybe just as well considering it was the first time we played together as a unit. I have to say we rocked the house and a few people that thought of me only as a folk-blues artist got to see me kick up my heels.