An amazing finish as we bid The Palms adieu

Time to Pack It Up!

Well, my last Palms post-gig blog report is gonna be majorly slow in coming. I shot nearly 200 photos, and had inadvertently left my camera in full-bore 14.2 megapixel mode, as I'd set it for some holiday family shots. Each pic is close to 5 mb, and as I write this at 2:04 a.m., they're still dumping out of my camera (then I gotta downsize all the keepers, for blog bandwidth consideration). I got some Kissy Simmons shots that I know are gonna be as good as I've ever taken of anyone.

The band was pure 15-alarm fire tonight, The crowd was the best we've ever had. Stay tuned...
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OK, starting to get some shots out. Kissy Simmons first.

Two words: Pure Elegance. Two more: Stunning Artist. She sang "Through The Fire" and "Ain't That Peculiar?" and blew the house down. It was indescribable -- and, you may have noticed, we have it on HD video :)

Y'all got to see that for free! There's no one else in this city that can pull off this kind of stuff. Two more words: Jerry Lopez. Wow.
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We were jammed like never before.

Seriously, without all of you, we are nothing. Thank you for showing up tonight.

Much more to come. And, this may bleed over 'til later in the day, there's just so much. So, hang with me...
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More shots, randomly, incrementally, starting with the relentless Brothers Lopez.

More, more, more to come...maybe after some Zzzzz's, it'a almost 4 a.m...OK, one more Kissy good night.

TUESDAY PM UPDATE

Still have a lot I want to get to, including more photos from the great evening, but Cheryl and I are sadly dealing with what looks like the imminent demise of our ailing 18 yr old cat Max. He started going really downhill on Christmas day, and notwithstanding a $550 trip to the Vet on Sunday, he's getting much worse. We're awaiting a call from his vet doc, and we're afraid he's not gonna make it through the night, either on his own, or via having to be put down.

Stay tuned...
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8:30 pm, Max has left The Building.

We just got back a little while ago from the vet. Had to put him down. He'd gone into seizures (and worse; I'll spare you. Suffice to say it was gut-wrenching). Two otherwise grown adults, bawling like babies.

Above pic, the caption I posted on Facebook: "R.I.P. Max. We bought him this tiny "doggie bed" a week ago. He loved it. But, the complications of his geriatric diabetes caught up with him tonight. We've had him 16 good years (he was a stray who followed Nick home from school one day). He was close to 18. We are just crushed to have to let him go."
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MORE SHOTS FROM MONDAY NIGHT

First, I should note the set list:

1. HORN THANG into SOUTH AMERICAN SOJOURN
2. FRED HAMMOND. into EARTH WIND & FIRE MEDLEY
3. EVERYBODY WANTS TO LOVE YOU
4. GREAZY THANG
5. COME WITH ME
6. THROUGH THE FIRE (KISSY)
7. AIN'T THAT PECULIAR (KISSY)
8. SI TE VAS
9. SALVATION
10. PACK IT UP
11. SOUL TRILOGY
12. LIVIN' FOR THE CITY

Yeah, man. Great mix of stuff.

Below, video was happenin' everywhere in the room. I had to take care to keep my head down. We were makin' a multi-camera HD shoot of the show for a DVD. Details ASAP.

Below, Michito in The House!!!

Below: House lights up after the final tune. An era ends. One door closes, another one opens. Again, thank you all for showing up! What a great crowd. We'll have another place for y'all shortly.

More to come. Some updates on pending events. Keep checking back.
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