Monday June 11th gig - Wow!

Awesome, just awesome. The band roared to life tonight, opening with the venerable "Just Kidding." Shortly thereafter they threw down "Brother to Brother," with Jamie doing the lead vocal, and he stepped up and hit it outa the time zone. His lead vocal was just stunning.

Michael Grimm is settling in nicely. Dave Richardson wrote an arrangement this week for "You Don't Know Me" (see above), and they did it for the first time tonight (unrehearsed), to give Michael a comfortable foundation from which to shine. And shine he did. Man!

That was so cool. Below, Tyriq was subbing for brother Johnny Johnson tonight. BTW, the Brothers Johnson will be back at Sonny's (Flamingo west of the 215) this Wednesday night starting at 8 pm with their new band "Jamestown." I heard 'em last week, and they are really fine.

OK, this is cool. Below: A couple from El Paso had gotten a bootleg copy of the band's CD, and felt compelled to come to Vegas to hear the band. They also bought a CD tonight. Sweet.

Our percussion homies were again out in force. Michito and Alex both sat in, and we were also blessed to have former Santa Fe percussionist/vocalist Carlos Perez in the house. He came up to sing "Oh, Nena," which he had sung on the band's CD. (While I'm grateful that we again have stage lights, I wish the percussion area was lit. I simply cannot get pics of Pepe and Gabriel et al in the dimness.)

Some additional shots below, including Dave Hart (now in Clint's "J.A.M." musical) mugging for the camera while sitting in on guitar.

Yeah, I'm on a tear lately, workin' on my close-ups. You get more light in through the lense, but the trade-off is that the slightest unsteadiness hand-held gets magnified and will blur the take.

The "ever-so-funky" Phil Wigfall was consistently on fire this night.

Totally kick-ass night tonight. Thanks to everyone for coming out. Great energy onstage and off.

I'll post more after some Zzzzz's. It's 4 a.m.

TUESDAY UPDATE

First, an email from Michito:

Hi everybody, just a friendly reminder, that we (Jimmy Macintosh, Danny Miranda, Pepe Jimenez) and myself, along with a slew of "cats" sitting in. Will be playing tonight at the Dive Bar. The set starts around 10:45. I also have some friends that are in town from L.A. that said they would come by. It should be a good one, I'll see all of you tonight.

Dive Bar
3035 E Tropicana Ave #E
Las Vegas, NV 89121
(702) 435-7526

That oughta be great. Check it out.

Second, I am pained to have to report that our good bro' drummer/vocalist Ron Crews was assaulted by some drugged-out asshole last night out in front of The Palms. Security collared the perp after he tried to run away and got knocked to the curb by a cab on Flamingo, but he'd first knocked Ron down with several sucker punches, and Ron suffered a severely broken ankle while he fell. He's over in Spring Valley Hospital today. I'll be going by to see him.

Wednesday update: I saw Ron today. He's doing OK. I know he'd dig a call or visit. 853-3000, ask for room 321. Spring Valley Hospital, S. Rainbow at the corner of Hacienda.
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LATEST MUSIC VIDEO, LOL!

Below: "RICH AND FAMOUS" - Jamie Hosmer's new gig at "Ovation" in Green Valley Ranch, Thu-Fri-Sat.