Midweek errata

April and I went to see Michael Grimm last night at Bill's Gambling Hall & Casino (the former Barbary Coast on the corner of Flamingo and the Strip, across the street north of Bally's). The place is old school. The lounge is in a corner opening out onto the gaming floor.

Crappy lighting and sound, but Michael and the cats were fine as always. A few shots:

They had a new cat in town on sax, Charles McNeal, from the Bay Area. Nice dude, very nice player. Couldn't get a shot of him, he was in the back and way poorly lit.

Check out his tracks on his MySpace page. Welcome to our tribe, bro'. We wish you well.

Michael and the cats will be at Bill's through Saturday night (start at 9:30 pm). No cover or minimum.
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Below, we walked up the Strip past the MGM City Center project after mowing some Indian cuisine (thanks, April!). Be interesting to see if it actually opens. They've had to ditch one piece of it owing to serious rebar flaws. Was in the paper yesterday (and again today, I see).

Below, took a shot of the Paris faux Eiffel Tower on our way back to the car. Below that, my shot of the real one in Paris in 2004.

BTW, feel free to check out a bunch of my 2004 Europe trip pics here at this open directory. I had just bought the Fuji camera specifically for that trip (we went, in part, to see Lance win his 6th Tour de France). I swear, man, I didn't wanna come back from Paris.
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MARCUS VANN

Marcus Vann is a bassist who moved here from the Pacific NW for the Legends in Concert show. He'd gigged with my friend Kurt Kolstad, among others up in the Seattle area. Kurt always shouted his praises effusively. Well, Marcus's Legends gig is ending, and he asked if I could help him with some promo shots. Done.

Sat him in front of my digital baby grand in the front room, bounced a couple of par cans off the ceiling, opened the curtain for some afternoon backlight, shot a couple dozen takes...

If you have need of an A-List electric or upright bass cat, give Marcus a call at 702-951-9302 [home] or 253-973-1240 [cell], email bassface34 "at" hotmail.com.
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NEW FYI: INDEPENDENT ENTERTAINER'S ASSOCIATION

From their website copy:

Independent Entertainers and Artists of all kinds now have their own association to belong to. The newly-formed Independent Entertainer's Association/IEA is now officially established as of August 27, 2008.

The Independent Entertainer's Association/IEA is a non-profit trade association of Entertainers and Artists who are not affiliated with a major distribution channel, and/or other interested parties. IEA works to enhance and improve the Independent Entertainment business climate by bringing this segment of the industry to the general public.

By protecting the rights of Independent Entertainers, IEA plans to give this Independent market a channel in which to collaborate professionally. IEA’s hope is to assist these Independents by helping them to improve their sales and profits by way of advocacy and marketing opportunities, which are not currently available to them...

They have two web URLs, www.ieassociation.biz, and www.ieday.biz, the latter of which is an artsy/glitzy (but kinda slow) flash thing. Looks like the same info content on both.