April 28th gig at The Palms

10:30 pm. No cover, no minimum. Join us.
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POST GIG REPORT

Yikes. Slammin'. The only thing you can say. We hung late at The Lounge tonight after the show (seemed like nobody wanted to leave, the after-vibe was so good), so blogging is a bit behind schedule. I will post incrementally as I review my photos.

Dr. Lenny the Lopez was back again (to the utter delight of so many of us), and Jamie is back from his recent tour (also to our collective delight). The band roared forth from the very first tune ("Love Is Gonna Find You") and never looked back. Tony Davich and Michito Sanchez both sat in and lit the joint up (Tony starts with the band next Monday, replacing Johnny Johnson). Phil Wigfall was a 14-alarm fire all by himself tonight; his alto rides were plugged into the zeitgeist without a circuit breaker, or somethin'. The crowd grew to SRO wall-to-wall, and got whipped to a frenzy. The guys trotted out a lot of the very new originals to complement the low hanging fruit legacy covers. The grooves were snappy tight and full of exuberance. We got us a major thumpin'.

Let's get to some pics.

Decent night behind the lense, I guess, 'eh? Below, Jerry and Michito, our dear loyal friends Rose and Danny Heredia

Below, you-know-who, Numbah One Fan, O Sensei from Cirque's "Ka."

Above, Jeff Mills, partner in Weston Presidio, and on the right, Jimmy John himself! Jimmy John Liautaud, CEO of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches. Uh, I think they dug it.

Yeah, they dug it.

They have five Vegas locations:

• 4800 S. Maryland, Tel: 702-740-0305
• 5463 S. Rainbow, Tel: 702-247-8813
• 2530 S. Decatur, Tel: 702-876-5469
• 2204 W. Charleston, Tel: 702-363-5469
• 7210 W. Lake Mead, Tel: 702-254-7199

Jeff and I had a pretty cool talk prior to the show, and I was frank to say I was on the lookout for potential corporate sponsors for the band. I comped him some CDs and gave him a copy of a bound presskit/pitch piece I've developed. You open it up and here's the content of the first page you see when you turn the front cover:

Every Monday night, the crème de la crème of Las Vegas show performers, A-List musicians in town from the world over, and an ecstatic throng of devoted “civilian” music fans – ranging in ages from the early 20’s to the 60’s and 70’s – cram shoulder-to-shoulder into the free shows put on by our beloved Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns (since May of 2006 in The Lounge in The Palms Casino Resort).

In a town replete with many of the toughest musical arrangement portfolios on the planet, Santa Fe fans are routinely witness to the toughest “book” in town performed with a sophisticated and searing gusto that never fails to leave those in the audiences gleefully fumbling amid futile searches for fully encompassing adjectives.

Veteran Vegas show musicians vie to be among the Santa Fe “subs,” even to the point of filling in at rehearsals to cover schedule conflicts. Such is the artistic prestige derived from successfully traversing the band’s exacting, intimidating charts. On any given Monday night, you might stroll in to witness the likes of 2-time Grammy winner Bill Champlin of “Chicago” sitting in, or Tom Schuman of “Spyro Gyra,” or legendary jazz man Tom Scott, or Ricky Peterson, keyboardist with David Sanborn – or his his amazing brother Paul, now touring with Kenny Loggins…

A third CD release looms. Amazing new original songs accrue in the book, to the howling delight of those filling the seats and lining the walls every Monday. It seems as though every time you hear them is your first time.

Inspiring, exhilarating, humbling – this dramatically against-the-grain assemblage of incredibly talented, yet uniformly modest performers who unfailingly treat every fan as a personal friend.

The time has come to share our invaluable little secret with the world. Read on.
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I have to thank all of you who showed up for backing me up tonight. The band was great, and so were all of you! Ya write all this marketing puffery stuff and worry that the reality won't match up. Well, y'all had my back big-time tonight, LOL (I was pretty confident such would be the case, but ya never know, and you truly never get the second chance to make that first impression.)

New Video: Miley Cyrus Photo Scandal



LOL!
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POST IRS TAX DEADLINE NEWS: IMPORTANT 2008 RETIREMENT PLANNING ADVICE FOR MUSICIANS

• Had you purchased $1,000.00 of Nortel stock at its peak, it would today be worth $49.00.
• With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.
• With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.
• If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $36.00 left.
• But, had you purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, You would have recouped $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg Plan.

WEDNESDAY, FROM THE "NO SHIT" DEPARTMENT

Props to Cuz Jojo for the cartoon link.