"My band? They blow the roof off this place every night!"

Excellence

The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces.
-Saint Thomas Aquinas

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Aristotle

This will be a hard habit to break. This man

"My band? They blow the roof off this place every night!"

"The test of the artist does not lie within the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces."

- Saint Thomas Aquinas -

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
- Aristotle -

This man personifies the words "excellence, "elegance," and "graciousness." The Las Vegas Strip is a far better place for his having performed there the past years. A glorious venue of habitual, consistently exuberant excellence comes to a close on September 30th, 2006 at Harrah's. Mr. Clint Holmes, I know I speak for the entire Santa Fe posse in wishing you fabulous success in your next endeavors, and continued health and happiness in your life.

And, yeah, bro', we know about your band. It'd be way cool if you could come by and sit in Monday night. I'm jus' sayin'...

SATURDAY UPDATE

Cheryl and I leave momentarily for Clint's final show at Harrah's to witness this significant piece of American cultural history. And, today in my mailbox was our autographed DVD copy of Clint's PBS special. I have it on right now. The A/V production is absolutely first-rate. It is a treasure.
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BILL CHAMPLIN UPDATE

From the Bay Area, KGO-TV...

Aired on September 27th, 2006

"One of the greatest rock musicians and a Bay Area native shares what he thinks about the music industry today -- and his answer may surprise you."

The world knows him from the famous group Chicago, but the Bay Area knows him from the group The Sons of Champlin. Grammy award-winning artist and Oakland native Bill Champlin shared with Spencer and Janelle an inside look at the rock music industry..."

See the entire (Flash) video interview and live performance clip here. (May not run from a non-IE browser; it wouldn't in my Mozilla browser).
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ANOTHER UPDATE, for bro' MUNDO JUILLERAT

Howzit, Everybody! When I started this project I thought we'd be ready to gig in 2 to 3 months tops, no problem. It's a a year and a half later, and I'm extremely humbled by this challenging style of music! While my band is ready, and I'm desperately trying to catch up- we're just gonna jump in the deep end and throw it out there for public consumption; starting this Sunday at reJAVAnate coffee lounge. This is a very physical kind of music to play, and it's all acoustic. And yes there will be "nary" a distortion device in the vicinity!

While we aspire to contribute to the "healing," my Brother in-law Jerry Lopez has brought to our musical community, There will be no "healing," as we will be in pure survival mode. Yes it will be thrilling- as in a "Thrill to Survive." So come watch us live or die from song to song! Below is our flyer as it would appear in the Las Vegas Review Journal, USA Today, New York and L.A. Times, and the Enquirer.

Aloha, Mundo.

COME SEE US!

3300 E. Flamingo Road, #23 (at Pecos)
Las Vegas, NV 89121

Located in the Renaissance III Shopping Plaza between
Food 4 Less & Hollywood Video

We are Las Vegas' brand new and first all acoustic, Gypsy Djazz group!

Featuring:

Mundo Juillerat - Guitar
Kasey Carmody- Guitar
and
Chris Davis on Upright Bass
The Hot Club of Las Vegas

performs the music of Django Reinhardt, Bireli Lagrene, The Rosenberg Trio other "La Pompe!" style Gypsy Djazz music past and present. Including, Gypsy Djazz Boleros, Bossa Novas, Flamenco Rhumbas and Tangos.

For more info please visit www.hotclublasvegas.com

Off Topic: an important public service announcement

Brothers and Sisters, Hermanos y Hermanas, important news, particularly for those of you with young children:

Some of you know that in my day gig life I work in medical information technology at HealthInsight, the Medicare QIO (Quality Improvement Orgranization) for Nevada and Utah. Today during our general staff meeting, Dr. Bill Berliner, one of our Nevada Medical Directors, gave us a presentation regarding an upcoming lead poisoning surveillance project we will be involved with in conjunction with the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD). The details are a bit frightening. Apparently, lead pollution remains a huge problem in many other countries, most proximately Mexico, where leaded gasoline is still sold and used. Public health epidemiologists have found worrisome levels of lead in candies made in Mexico. These candies generally have small quantities of chili pepper added for a "kick," and the chilis -- frequently dried in large batches in the open air by the roadsides -- pick up lead from vehicle fumes. Lead is also still a huge problem in Mexican pottery. A public awareness campaign is now getting underway here via the SNHD. I quote from the flyers they are now disseminating:

TOXIC TREATS

California and U.S. health officials have detected dangerous levels of lead in 112 distinct brands of candy – most of them made in Mexico. One in four candy and wrapper samples have come up high since 1993, records show. But much of this information about tainted candy has been kept from parents and public health workers.

DULCES TÓXICOS

Funcionarios de salubridad del estado de California y de los Estados Unidos han detectado niveles peligrosos de contenido de plomo en 112 dulces de distintas marcas. La mayoría de estos dulces están hechos en México. Uno de cada cuatro dulces y envolturas analizados han tenido resultados altos de plomo desde 1993, de acuerdo a archivos. Pero mucha de ésta información le ha sido ocultada a los padres de familia y trabajadores de salud.

You can view and download the entire flyers here (PDF files): English, and Spanish (they include pictures of the various candies). Click here for the general SNHD lead poisoning information page, which has links to these posters and their lead poisoning general information brochures.

- BobbyG

Oh, yeah! September 25th

Where to start? Great first set, band was way tight and full of great energy. We were again graced by the presence of the renowned Tom Delibero (Doc Severinson Big Band) subbing for Danny on trumpet. He and Gil laid on a major dueling solos throw-down that tore the house up. I was lucky to get any shots worth a flip tonight. The lighting grid was not working. The Palms needs to bring their stage lighting (not to mention the house sound system) up to Vegas professional standards, I gotta tell ya.

The Fat City Horns are the best, man! Ya gotta love those brain-bleed charts, and the dudes that rip those notes off the paper.

Below, left to right: Jazz drummer Eugene Balog, my Main Man the stunning virtuoso jazz guitarist Robert Conti (who keeps me laughing; I love the cat), and venerable music producer/manager Joseph Donofrio.

Also joining us in the audience was Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra and JazzBridge Music LLC, and the lovely singer/songwriter/graphic artist Jessica Mangione (below, Jessica in the center, with Mom and Godmom- whew!!!).

Welcome, all of y'all.

BobbyG gotta crash. Great to see everyone. More later. Micki J, be safe on your trip back East.

OK, back up...ugh...more pics and thoughts before heading out to the day gig. Below, Nathan throws it down.

A quick "watercolor" of Rochon...

Roch and Pepe's solos during "We Are Nothing" were particularly good this night. Awesome, bros'!

Don't forget -- Bill Champlin is coming October 23rd and 30th! Also, Jerry said we may -- may -- also have the major bonus of Marco Mendoza, the TRIO along with Michael Ruff in addition to Bill on the 30th. Yikes! Unreal. My life-long bassist bud JoJo (former bandmate) is comin' over from Monterey for the 30th gig. It would be way cool for all these cats to show up (and, I'll be absolutely hangin' late that night).

Monday, September 25th at The Palms

The Healing resumes Monday night at 10 pm in The Lounge at The Palms. No cover, no minimum. The 2-disk live CD and the live DVD will be on sale. FYI, on upcoming dates for the rest of 2006:

September 25^th
October 2^nd
October 9^th
October 23^rd (Bill Champlin night!)
October 30th (2^nd Bill Champlin night!)
Every November Monday (6^th, 13^th, 20^th, 27^th)
December 4^th
December 11^th
December 18^th

We thank you all for your priceless support!

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MONDAY A.M. UPDATE

Last night at The Orleans, Kenny Loggins...

Oh, those vocals!!!!

Kenny Loggins is da MAN on vocals, and the 4 part harmonies were soaring and just beyond beautiful.

Mostly the same show I've seen a few times now, but always a thrill. Couple of different players, Chris Rodriguez on guitar - excellent.

House was full (Orleans Showroom, looks to be about 800 capacity).

Kenny said he'd been in Nashville a lot recently and had started writing more "back to his roots," coming off the Loggins & Messina reunion tour. He did a new song he'd just recorded. It was, like, 'Rascal Flatts? Keith Urban? no problem, I can go there.'

I know it's a long shot, but I've emailed everywhere I know to Kenny and his band to stay over and come tonight. They have no tour dates this week. We'll see.

He's playing Harrah's Laughlin on October 7th, BTW. Worth the short ride.

Tonight: our first Latin Jazz Jam night!

(Click the pic above to enlarge) Michito and the gang will be throwin' down the fiery Salsa, no doubt. Join them for a great night, help kick off this new music venue.


QUICK VISUAL UPDATE

Tonight was great, nice turnout. I had to split early (got a way early day gig thing happenin' at a hospital starting at 7:30 am), but here are a few shots for now. More later. Spread the word. The cats are smokin'! Salsa excellente.

Micki (above, center), we're all gonna miss you, and wish you much happiness in North Carolina.

Man! Life is good...

Well, lessee. No Santa Fe gig this Monday -- major bummer -- but, as I posted on September 9th, I'm gonna do a few of my originals Monday night at "songwriter night" the E String Bar & Grill on Sunset in Henderson (just down the hill from Viva Michoacan, starts around 8:30).

I got friends comin' too -- Ron Crews is gonna sing, and Enrique Corro is gonna play some fine guitar. My bro' the fabulous Adrian Garcia is gonna play bass, and Joe Bergeron told me he was gonna show up to throw in some hand percussion. I am so blessed. I have Jerry Lopez and the band to thank for all my new good fortune and enthusiasm. A year ago I was pretty down in a lot of ways; gettin' old, chronic medical conditions, hadn't played a gig in 20 years, Medicare bureaucrats at work makin' me crazy, wife stuck in Baton Rouge doin' hurricane emergency response work all fall -- like 'is this all there is? Just plod along, get old and sick and then...'

Nope. Jerry and all of y'all (fans included) are a lifesaver.

Enrique, Ron, and I got together for a bit of rehearsal last night, and Katie Logan (host of the songwriter night gig) came over. We had the best time, man!

So, maybe we'll see some of you Monday.

UPDATE, one of Monday night's tunes. Wrote this early on about my blessed squeeze:

You’d Be My Lady

I just knew
You were The One,
Don’t ask me how,
It all sounds crazy.
I just knew
You’d be my Lady.

I fell real fast,
And I’m still fallin’,
I jumped right in,
No need for stallin’.
I just knew
You’d be my Lady.

I was livin’ inside my shell,
Wond’rin’ if you’d ever show.
Suddenly, I could tell,
But, how did we really know?

I saw your face,
I heard your voice.
My knees went weak,
And, there really was no choice.
I just knew
You’d be my Lady.

I knew for sure
You had my heart,
This had to be,
And we both felt it from the start.
I just knew
You’d be my Lady.

Lyrics and Music by Bobby Gladd,
Copyright © 1976, 2006, All Rights Reserved.
www.bgladd.com

BobbyG, circa 1976, with hair

_____

BTW- I gotta pitch Joe's new percussion service (among his other myriad activities, Joe is the ass-kicking percussionist with the awesome eclectic smooth jazz Steven Lee Group).

From an email he copied me on:

INTRODUCING MY NEW RECORDING SERVICE: CUSTOM PERCUSSION

Percussion tracks recorded specifically for your projects. Please check out the info below, listen to the “audio-mercial” (click here for mp3), and forward this to all your musical friends.

Thanks!

HOW TO DO IT

• Meet with me, or send me a disc (in .wav or .cda formats) or email me an .mp3 with a stereo mix of the song that includes a count-off click at 00.00.00 on the front end.
• I will listen to the song, then we will discuss what it is you are looking for.
• I will record percussion tracks that are time aligned to your stereo track, starting at 00.00.00 and save them to disc as sound files.
• I will send you an .mp3 rough mix of the new tracks for you to listen to with the master tracks, decide on any revisions needed, and give final approval.
• I will deliver the disc back to you with the full sound files, by mail, by hand, or via email (.mp3 only), and you simply load the sound files into your multi-track. Align the beginning of the percussion tracks to the beginning of your count off click at 00.00.00, and you’re done. Mix, pan, cut, snip, thin out, add effects, or do whatever you want to the tracks, they’re yours.
• Files will be available for download when I get my website up.

TERMS: ½ down as deposit, and balance due upon completion and delivery.

Microphones, Etc.

Sennheiser MD421 / Shure Beta 52 (Lge. Diaphragm) / AKG D110 (Lge. Diaphragm) / Shure SM81 (Overhead/Condenser) / (3) AKG 1000 (Overhead/Condenser mics) / (5) Shure SM57 / AKG C-418 (Condenser) / (4) Audio Technica ATM-350 (Small Diaphragm Condenser)

Mackie 1402 VLZ Mixer

Windows XP Professional

SAW Studio Multi-Track Recording Program

INSTRUMENTS and PRICE list available upon request. (click to email Joe)
_____

THIS JUST IN (click the image to enlarge). WAY COOL. Another throwdown hang!

Click here for Google map to The Church.
Michito's websites, here, and here.

_____

TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE

Adrian, Ron, Enrique, and Joe, thanks, my brothers. Y'all are the best! Thanks also to our gracious host Katie Logan and to all the other writer/performers to came to to share their work, and to all of you who showed up to listen. Wow, more fun than I deserve. UPDATE: pics below, Steve Tuminello took 'em.

October 23rd and 30th: Bill Champlin!!!

Save these dates! The last two Mondays in October we will be blessed with and blown away by the magnificent presence of 2-time Grammy winner Bill Champlin, on stage with Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns. Bill has long been known to most music fans as the razor-voiced lead singer for the world-renowned Chicago (below, Bill on the right).

It goes far beyond that, though. Founder of the incredible "Sons of Champlin" in the '60's, Bill has been a huge contributor to American music throughout his long career. Read more about this amazing cat on my July 28th blog post and the Wiki.

Consider the props offered by none other than megastar Michael McDonald:

Bill Champlin Fans, Over the years I've had the occasional great pleasure of working with Bill both in the studio and on stage. Not only is he one of the all time great pop/R&B vocalists, but an accomplished instrumentalist, arranger and more specifically, killer B-3 player. In the US it seems that among musicians Bill Champlin has been considered one of the greats since his days with "Sons of Champlin" band. Although mainstream audiences are mostly familiar with his work with the group "Chicago" (another great group). Some of you may or may not be aware of the fact that Bill has written with David Foster some of the biggest R&B hits of all time on the American charts, ("After The Love Is Gone" Earth wind & Fire). I know I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know but speaking as an American musician, it's great to see this guy get at least some of the recognition he deserves. If you haven't already heard his solo and "Sons Of Champlin" albums, do yourself a favor and find them.

Yeah, dude. Here's more, a cool Keyboard Magazine piece on Bill.

Save the dates. It doesn't get any better than this, folks. And, for no cover, no minimum. There's no way to overstate the coolness of what Jerry Lopez and the band can deliver to y'all. This is gonna be amazing. Bill Champlin has been my musical hero since Day One. I'm fixin' to be clinical on the 23rd and 30th.

As Jerry puts it:

Bill Champlin has been like a big brother to me from the day we met. Since then, my dream has come true in the fact that I played and sang with Bill in his band, and have been lucky enough to record several things with him. I can tell you honestly that all of the things that I have accomplished since he took me under his wing are a direct result of his influence and direction. He is the King, undisputed, and I would jump in front of a truck for him or any of his family.

UPDATE from JOE BERGERON

Below: Alex Leone is a good friend of mine who plays in Gloria Estefan's band. This is the real deal. If you like Salsa and Latin music, be there! Si tu quieres la salsa, vamo!! (Perdona mi gramatica.) - Joe

September 11th, 2006 at The Palms

Well, the politicians are predictably trippin' all over each other and feverishly throwin' elbows trying to use the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 for their own partisan purposes. Inevitable, I suppose. But, let us simply come together this Monday night at The Palms in a spirit of healing and remembrance of those who suffered so horribly five years ago.
_____

Nice night tonight. I know I was kinda down from all the 9/11 replay news the past few days (and way tired from having to get up at 2 in the morning to deal with a blown water heater that spewed all over the garage), but the band lifted everyone up pronto. The Fat City Horns had to suck it up and throw down in front the venerable Bobby Shew, one of the world's premier trumpet cats.

Below, the eminent Pappa Lopez (right) and cousin Kelly Lopez (left, the original Santa Fe horn section and bodyguard, as Lenny describes him).

Michito Sanchez sat in and tore up (crappy pic, my Bad; Michito moves too fast).

Below, Gabriel also moves fast!

Our fearless leader, Jerry Lopez, below, followed by a pretty cool closeup of Gil Kaupp.

One last shot posted for now before I crash (I've got more good ones), the front line, below:

More later. Thanks to everyone who came out tonight. We love ya!

7 A.M. UPDATE

No hot water (plumber will be here at 9). But, nuthin' like a cold shower to wake your nightcrawlin' butt straight up outa 5 hours' sleep. Below, there's a beautiful place in the Geist/Phenomenology of Spirit, a place we now call "LennyWorld!"

The rainbow trout, however, have decidely mixed feelings regarding the putative rhapsodic nature of this ethereal milieu. Below, it bears repeating; without you, we are nothing.

I never played Vegas

So, I'm about a year behind schedule (on a bunch of stuff). Last year I'd thought about getting back to playing a bit (mainly for mental health reasons), after hanging it up in 1986 to go white collar. Then Paul Purtle hipped me to Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns last September. OhMyGod! The rest is blog history (and my great good fortune and pleasure) thus far.

I was lookin' at a U.S. map the other day. Gotta laugh; when I was a road musician I traipsed all over this nation (and Canada), from Boston to L.A., Vancouver, BC to Miami, and most everywhere in between beginning in 1964. The only states I never hit (besides NV) were Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. I played gigs in every western state surrounding Nevada, but never gigged here. Now I live here and don't play. Duh.

But, that's fixin' to change. On Monday night Sept 18th, Santa Fe will not be at the Palms, so I'm gonna make a mini Las Vegas debut -- "just fer grins" -- at the very nice E-String Grill and Poker Bar in Henderson on Sunset (I think it used to be a Bennigan's, it's right down the hill from Viva Michoacan).

They got this singer/songwriter open mic night goin' down on Mondays starting around 8:30 pm, so I'm gonna get my neo-geriatric bootie back up on stage and do a few of my homemade tunes. The host is the gracious and cool Katie Logan, (below) who has encouraged me to come out.

I've started writing again, and am having great fun (I owe all of this new inspired enthusiasm to Jerry and the guys). Bought the first 12-string I've ever owned (above) and I am lovin' it. That's a lot of metal to push around. Man, the chops are comin' back up, arthritic, hoops-mangled fingers notwithstanding. I called Enrique (mp3) and asked him to come sit in with me. We're gonna run over few tunes this week. Anybody else wanna play, I would love it.

Gonna do my 25th anniversary song for my Sweetie, "Silver" (along with an old one and one of my newest).

I blink my eyes,
It’s been twenty five years;
Barrels of laughs
And a bucket of tears.
We’ve blowed a few tires,
Stripped a few gears,
But, baby, just gimme
Twenty five more years.

Now, we both know
There’s no guarantee,
’Cept the one at the End,
Good Lordy, me.
But, under the table
And under the sheets,
The world’s OK
When I can feel them feets.

We’ve got the silver,
Goin’ for gold.
Never been boring,
Never gets old.
Since the first day I met ’cha
I been totally sold.
Now, the silver’s in the pocket
And we’re goin’ for Gold.

Ninety one hundred
And thirty one nights.
A mess of good lovin’
And eight or nine fights.
There’s a big fire burnin’ up
All my fears,
Pretty baby, just gimme
Twenty five more years.

We’ve got the silver,
Goin’ for gold.
Never gets boring,
Never grows cold.
Just a couple of kiddies
With a few gray hairs,
I’ll be chasin’ ya
Long as I can climb them stairs.

I blink my eyes,
Twenty five short years;
A flood of good giggles
And a trickle of tears.
We throwed a few breakers
On the long ride here,
But, baby, just gimme
Twenty five more --
You’re the one I live and die for,
Pretty Momma, just
Gimme twenty five more years.

words and music Copyright 2006
Bobby Gladd, All Rights Reserved

Me and Johnny Walker Black wrote that one night eight years ago while I was cleaning out Sissy's apartment in Hollywood a month after she died. It was weird; lyrics for a hip-hop tune I titled "Suite Sissy Sue" and this one just jumped up and fell outa my head, in about a total of 30 minutes. Then, I never could find the groove for "Silver," so I just parked the idea, until about 2 months ago it just began to jell. The groove I found is sorta "John Prine meets Rascal Flatts meets Keith Urban meets Little Feat meets Kenny Loggins meets Bo Diddley." (Just added a last verse about two weeks ago.)

Go figure; Irish kid from Long Island who grew up diggin' jazz and urban black music, writin' all this eclectic country-fried stuff. Spent too many years in the Bible Belt, I reckon (some of my old demos from the early '80's are posted here).

I would love it if y'all would come out and make BobbyG nervous, LOL!

UPDATE, from the R-J

SWAN SONG

The Ronnie Foster Band made an unscheduled but dignified early departure from The Artisan on Thursday.

The jazz group, which has been Clint Holmes' band for years, was in the middle of its first song when owner Doug DaSilva rushed up and demanded the band stop playing.

If they continued to play too loud, they would be gone, he said in a voice loud enough for the crowd to hear.

Foster, who said on Friday that the music "wasn't even close to being in the vicinity of being loud," lowered the volume, and the group continued to the end of the 70-minute set.

Then, Foster announced to the crowd that the band was done for good at The Artisan, after four months of a Thursday and Saturday gig.

Apologies followed, but the damage was done, Foster said.

"It was very disrespectful," he added. "Unbelievable."

David Poire, the hotel's director of operations, said volume had become an issue with hotel guests "on numerous occasions."

Poire said The Artisan wishes the group "the best in all future endeavors."

_____

Diff'rent day, same [bleep]. Don't ever invest the first dime in acoustics, sound equipment, or lighting for a professional performance environment (or adequate valet parking). Just blame the musicians.

Yikes!!! September 4th blowout performance

I'm sending a card and a CD to Andre Agassi from the band. Everyone in the band and crew signed the card, and many of the fans signed the sheet to go along with it. Thanks. Andre is the best, and we all wish him complete healing from his serious back injuries, and life-long joy in his retirement from the tennis tour. He has been an inspiration to millions of people, and we are proud to know he's a fellow Las Vegan. Cheryl and I watched every minute of his matches in the U.S. Open this time, and we cried on Sunday along with him and a bazillion other people when it was finally over. He gave it his all and more. We salute you, bro'!

Tonight was off-the-scale fine. The band was again on fire (led off with "Intermission" into "South American Sojourn," totally badass way to open up), and the unreal Mosiac in fact showed up and sat in, to a wild standing-O. We love you dudes!

Buy their CD, it is awesome (I have 2 copies), and go see 'em at the Flamingo while they're here. Below, a pic from Mosaic's MySpace site (has 4 music clips there, check it out).

Below, our fearless leader Jerry Lopez lays into "Take My Heart Away."

'eh? Sometimes I get lucky and nail some good shots. Below, the brass half of our beloved Fat City Horns, Gil, Nathan, and Danny.

Below: we had a photographer in from 944 Magazine to do shots for a feature on the band.

Below: Fat City Horns choreographer Rob Mader is also one fine sax and flute player! Johnnie Johnson throws down the Nast' on guitar, and Jamie Hosmer takes us again to "The Higher Ground."

Thanks for coming out, everyone. Don't forget Tuesday and Thursday nights at The Artisan, and the Sunday night jazz jam at The Hurricane. And then next Monday we'll do it again at The Palms.