Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sept 27th gig at The Palms?

Sorry to be MIA, my friends. No gig report this time. I spent all day and night in the hospital. I'm back home, got here late this afternoon. Scary false alarm regarding something I'd just as soon not go into.

I'm OK.

A look-back. What were we doing a year ago? Click the pic.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Saturday, Sept 25th, Brad Cordle's final gig in Vegas (for now)

I forget where I shot that pic. Mighta been at The Orleans in Brendan's Pub. I forget.

Sept 25th, 10 p.m. at King Tut's, Charleston and Jones. I will be there to bid farewell to my dear friend Brad Cordle, our "Pavarotti of Blues." Please join me/us. And, Michael Grimm
, l'il bro', you may already be gone back to start your AGT tour rehearsals, but if you're still in town, you and Lucie come hang if y'all can -- and maybe sit in -- so we can do this properly.

A great lineup of A-List players will be on hand. I hear John Wedemeyer is comin', too. Majorly scary guitarist. He and the equally frightening Dean Reichert will constitute Critical Mass on guitar. Those two! Make me wanna burn my axe.

Yeah, I shot both of those photos too, LOL.

Below, the first pic I ever shot of Brad. We were at The Sand Dollar one night for his gig. Place was a blues dive just off Spring Mountain Rd and I-15, joint with shitty backwoods roadhouse lighting (how many of us been there, LOL?)-- low ceiling, walls and ceiling all painted black (and enough P.A. to do Sam Boyd Stadium). I jerked him up -- "yo, Brad, bro', come stand over here by the cigarette machine..."

Cha-ching! Done.

See y'all tomorrow night. Let's party.
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POST GIG UPDATE

Amazing turnout. Wow. Both in the audience and on stage. More after some Zzzz's. They played 'til 3 a.m. My eyes are burnin'. I feel like I inhaled enough cigarette smoke to cough up a lesion. It was a true blues gig and jam.

Sunday, mo' pics...

Cris Claremont was among the critical mass of A-List guitar cats, which included -- in addition to the searingly fine Dean Reichert -- Drew Zingg, Jeff Ray, John Wedemeyer, and a couple other cats whose names I didn't get.

Above, Screamin' Joe Escriba was all over it, as was Serena Henry (below).

While the house gets an "E" for effort for at least putting up a rack of 8 small par-cans, there were no white spots, and the lights were all aimed at the front bottom of the stage and the dance floor. Consequently, I couldn't get viable shots of a lot of peeps, including Ric Ulsky, Ronnie Foster, Ronnie Rose, and a number of other players.

Bradley, we gonna miss you, bro'.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Sept 20th gig at The Palms: li'l bro' Michael Grimm, America's Got Talent winner sitting in

OK, well that was totally fine. I shot more than 300 pics. Got a lot to review and triage. Gonna post some before I crash. Some of you know the drill by now. Because of DayGigIstan, I can no longer stay up way late doing my blog updates after the shows. So, the bulk of this will have to wait 'til after I get off work and then go hang with my Ma for a while at the nursing home.

"America's Got Talent" 2010 winner, our friend and Santa Fe alum Michael Grimm.


Michael, we all love you and are all so thrilled for your success. Keep your True North, l'il bro'. And, remember, we are always here for you.

Of course, there's always something else goin' down. Below, Brian Monroney (Tom Jones show) sat in and ripped up a ride on "System of Survival."
Wow, man...

In a word: slammin'...

Stay tuned for more. All I got time for at the moment.
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TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE

I have so many shots, my head is spinning. Let the random photo essay begin...

Above, the "Hat City Horns," LOL. Backstory: Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns have a long-time hardcore fan, Fred, whom I first met 5 years ago at the Palace Station gigs. Great cat. We used to share a table (he once, as he was leaving early, said "I have a rule. I have to be in bed by 11 -- or I have to go home.")

He moved to central America several years ago. So, last night he shows up with a huge stash of Panama hats and hands them out to everyone in the band.


Yeah, man, ya just had to be there...

Also, backstage prior to the show, the baddest sound cat in the world (former keyboardist and Santa Fe alum), Sonny Maupin. He gets it right EVERY night.

Props also once again to Greg Sinclair for his tireless pro bono light board work. I coudn't get any shots worth a flip without you, Greg.
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