Feb 25th gig at The Palms

NOTE: scroll down for Wednesday updates

I love it when Jerry pulls out the Flamenco. The packed house roared at "Canta Con Amigo."

We were SRO and howling tonight. Repeated standing-O's. The band was inspired and on fire. It was way cool that they dug some tunes outa the book that haven't been played in a while (the book is gettin' pretty fat). The thermonuclear arrangement of "I Feel Good" was particularly smokin'.

I will blog incrementally as I go through my shots. Tonight we were blessed with guest sit-ins by our homie the awesome Tony Davich of Phoenix (great band) and the esteemed musical giant Ricky Peterson.

Ricky sang on "Take My Heart Away" and played the synth ride -- blew the roof off the place. Tony fronted "Soul Trilogy" (and returned to get down on "System of Survival").

Some great news about Phoenix: they're gonna soon be doing Thursday nights in the main showroom at the Hilton, in addition to their Saturday nights South Point gig. Yes! I gotta go cover that. Below, the "Counselor" from Cirque's "Ka" (and Richter-scale effusive Santa Fe regular) Joerg lookin' mighty dapper. Below that, Joerg at his "day gig" (he's wearing the yellow top).

Below, Rochon tore it up tonight. Yikes!

BTW, Dave Surratt of Las Vegas City Life came down with one of his photographers (City Life Photo Editor Bill Hughes, actually) to cover the show and interview the band. Thanks, y'all, we really appreciate it.

I think they got an earful and eyeful.

Dang! those lenses. Me and my piddley-assed camera...

More shots randomly below:

Below, tight shots of the badass Brothers Johnson and Johnson.

Above, Jerry lays the room low with "Si Te Vas."

Among the many, many friends in the crowd tonight were Jerry Jones of Fifth Avenue and Steven Lee of the Steven Lee Group. I will be featuring these awesome groups on my upcoming podcasts providing you cuts by "Friends of Santa Fe." I am gonna have a great time putting those together. We have an incredible lineup. Stay tuned.

A NOTE FROM MY BRO' ROBERT CONTI

Yoeski, Bobby,

We are up to our eyeballs in a new shipment of DVDs! To free up space in the warehouse, we released two axes from my collection today. If you know anyone looking for a super high quality archtop, these are top of the line.

Thanks!

- Conti

Click here and/or here.

BLOG STATS UPDATE

Across the past month through yesterday, we had slightly in excess of 3,000 page views by 1,213 visitors (1,212 not counting me), nearly 700 of whom live in Vegas. This graphic above depicts the worldwide distribution of peeps hitting our blog.

FYI: SOUL MUSIC ONLINE

Among of your prominent bookmarks and regular hangs should be those of Andy Ebon's Soul Music Online and Soul Music News. Also, for the hippest in horn band funk, go to Andy and Raoul's Soul Radio Online.

WEDNESDAY UPDATES

Tony Perry and his fine band have ended their run at Paris, sadly.

These are some really nice, talented people. I would love to hear Tony sit in with Santa Fe sometime. Cat sings so fine (click his name for his website link, which contains an embedded mp3 sample). Hope they cop a new venue soon. I'll let'cha know.

Also, I saw our bro' bassist Eddie DiMarino at the Palms gig Monday night (link here to a gig he did with Kelly Clinton last year). He's available right now if you need an A-List cat on bass.

CAMPAIGN 2008 UPDATE

Wherein BobbyG monitors and provides updates regarding the ad nauseum developments to spare you the agony of keeping up.



These cats, LOL!!

AND NOW, BACK TO REALITY...



Some people simply have too much fun.

Sunday update from the First Ecumenical Church of Fat City Grease and Salsa

First, Ric and Jackie have had the awesome Patrick Lamb on today as a guest on their wonderful 97.1 FM Sunday Jazz Show. Patrick is the nicest cat, and a fine, fine talent.

He's got a very hip Tribute to Ray Charles project happenin' these days.

Link to a very cool podcast of this project here. I hope this thing is a wild success.

Back last May, while I was down in Florida doin' my ongoing Next-of-Kin schtick, Dave Siekfes copped some video of Patrick sittin' in with Santa Fe. Click here for that blog post (scroll down).

PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE PAYPAL

LOL! OK, yeah, mixing my metaphors. Hey, it's Sunday. On the upper right of the blog page you now see a "Tip Jar" exhortation and link. I put this up the other day, and would like to thank those who immediately responded so generously. Below is a graphic I culled the other day from my Google Analytics reports for the blog.


To date we have had well in excess of 10,000 individual visitors, peeps from all around the planet. My goal is to ramp that up by a factor of 10 this year, and to provide the best in comprehensive blog coverage -- all the way to live blogging with video webcasting (how cool would that be, 'eh?). With your help, we can get there. Just a little from everyone would go a long way. Please contribute.

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE

Guitar player critical mass at the Palazzo. Dave Hart just sent me this pic (caption by Dave).

"Left to right: Incredible Drew Zingg (Steely Dan, etc), David Hart (yo, that's me), Allen Hinds (in town with Gino Vanelli), Nicky Moroch (in town with Ricky Peterson), and the amazing John Weidemeyer."

Bill Champlin interview

This is fabulous! Great website!

InsideMusiCast.com

From their Champlin podcast interview page:

Bill Champlin
Taking The Off Ramp To Success

Bill Champlin is a man who has experienced musical success on his own terms. Over the years you’ve known him as a solo artist, session musician, vocalist, and longtime member of the band Chicago...That's why we're eagerly awaiting his new album which will be released later this year. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Bill Champlin.

Bill gives huge props to Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns during the interview. Great, great (and by turns hilarious) interview with His Eminence Mr. Champlin.

Click the bar below to start the podcast.

Yikes. I have much improvement work to do on my own podcasts, LOL!

Mid-week updates

Check out the radio spot. Cool.

Ronnie also continues at the Palazzo in the Salute Lounge with John Wedemeyer. And, this week, Boy Katindig is there doing the early sets (3 - 8pm), with Bonny B. on drums (Major Bad Boy on tubs, lately of Spyro Gyra!).

MICHAEL GRIMM UPDATE

Michael got some great ink in today's Las Vegas Sun (by the ever-gracious Jerry Fink). See "A Soul of the South." Very, very nice.

DONT FORGET MICHITO'S SALSERO!

South Point every Thursday evening. And, while mentioning South Point, I gotta give a recurrent shout out to my friends Phoenix! These cats are so fine. Every Saturday.

Finally, one more time: Gino Vannelli is here this weekend.

Santa Fe podcast #3 - Here Come The Fat City Horns!

UPDATE: Bette Midler quote of the day-

"And the best part is, not one of them is a French Canadian circus performer."

Podcast number 3 now up for your listening pleasure.

Again, we gotta say an effusive thanks to Jerry Fink of the Las Vegas Sun for that killer full-page write-up today on the FCH.

Below, I'll re-post the YouTube clip from Bette Midler and our guys on Oprah a couple of weeks ago. We all hope the show is a totally wild success.



Also, let me re-post a quick iMovie clip I did a while back concerning our Nathan Tanouye. As I wrote on the YouTube copy:

Nathan Tanouye is the trombonist and an arranger (along with the equally fabulous Dave Richardson) with Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns of Las Vegas. This is the first 75 seconds of his tune "Crossings" from his Russ Freeman project CD. When I first heard it, I could not help but recall imagery from "Saving Private Ryan," so I put this together quickly in iMovie to make my point. This cat should be scoring films.

I simply grabbed some WWII jpegs off the 'net, and added a few from my 2004 UK/France trip (where we went to the D-Day stuff out in Normandy) and a few of my parents.

You can buy the "Crossings" CD here. It is off-the-scale fine.

Dave Richardson and Nathan Tanouye. Man, we have it all!

'NUTHER REMINDER

Gino Vannelli is comin'.

UPDATE, OUR HOMIES, MOSAIC




They will be a glorious part of my upcoming blog podcast "Friends of Santa Fe."

WEDNESDAY UPDATE

FYI, the guitarist in Bette's show is 2004 Grammy winner Wayne Johnson. Yikes! A bit of his stellar rap sheet:

Since the late '70s, Wayne Johnson has been touring and recording with the acclaimed jazz-pop-cabaret vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, all while engaging in an eclectic mix of side projects. Wayne has led his own envelope-pushing fusion-power-pop trio; worked with John Tesh, Rickie Lee Jones, and singer/harmonica player Lee Oskar (War); and recorded and performed as a solo acoustic artist. In that latter role, Johnson earned a 2004 Grammy Award for his contribution to the Solid Air Records release, Henry Mancini - Pink Guitar... (from his bio page on the Taylor Guitar site)

Awesome.

Break a leg tonight, y'all.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: BETTE MIDLER QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Thirty years ago my fans were all on drugs. Today they're all on medication."

Gustavo!

OMG! Last night on the CBS "60 Minutes" show they ran a segment on the young Venezuelan musician and conductor Gustavo Dudamel.



This kid is incredible. He's only 27. Gonna soon be M.D./Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Read his rap sheet here. Another clip below, Gustavo Dudamel at the Proms - Arturo Márquez - Danzón Nº 2:



How's that for Salsa?

Kid is renowned for his work with El Sistema, the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.

Every minute a child (or adult, for that matter) spends holding and learning a musical instrument is one spent not holding a weapon. That alone justifies the effort to promote the art.

UPDATE:
JERRY FINK ARTICLE ON THE FAT CITY HORNS

Brassy, just like Bette
Fat City Horns hand-picked for top gig, Midler’s show on Strip

By Jerry Fink Mon, Feb 18, 2008 (2 a.m.)
Bette Midler has a good ear. She revealed just how good when she plucked the Fat City Horns out of a lounge at the Palms and plunked them down in her extravagant show at Caesars Palace.

When “The Showgirl Must Go On” debuts Wednesday in the Colosseum, the 4,000-seat theater where Celine Dion held court for more than four years, Midler will shine an international spotlight on what had been one of those hidden Vegas treasures.

She’ll be backed by a 14-piece band, including the six Fat City Horns — saxophonists Rob Mader, Phil Wigfall and Jerry Merra; trumpeters Gil Kaupp and Danny Falcone; and trombonist Nathan Tanouye...
_______

Thank you, Jerry Fink!

Mid-week updates

First, an FYI reminder that Santa Fe will not be playing Monday night the 18th at The Palms.

Also, Ronnie Foster and his band Funk's Way will not be at the Ice House tonight. Our bro' Michael Grimm, on the other hand, is appearing at The Orleans this week. And, John Wedemeyer (along with Ronnie Foster, Tim Scott, and Jimmy Keegan) continue to throw down in the Salute Lounge at Palazzo on the Strip.

Also FYI, blog podcast #3 is underway. I thought I'd focus on our Fat City Horns as they get ready to launch on Feb 20th with Bette Midler at Caesar's.

FRIENDS OF SANTA FE

Podcast #4 will be a show featuring a number of the many "friends of Santa Fe" for whom I have available CD cuts and the artists' assent to use them. I will likely end up having to do more than one -- I have so much material with which to work. Currently on board:

• Tommy Alvarado
• Bill Champlin
• Tom Schuman (Spyro Gyra)
• Michael Grimm
• MOSAIC
• Fifth Avenue
• Robert Conti
• St. Paul Peterson
• Michael Ruff
• Steven Lee Group
• Ronnie and Mike Gutierrez
  

I have emails out to others asking permission, and I've asked our bro' John Wedemeyer to get me something to use. Stay tuned. Gonna be great fun.

Click here for Podcasts Number One or Number Two if you're not yet hip to them.

ROCHON

As I promised him, I have begun work on Rochon's website. The above is a quick draft homepage pic I did from a shot I took Monday night. I yanked the chroma and "vasoline'd" the edges (back before digital, film photographers would sometimes smear petroleum jelly around the perimeter of their UV lense filters to obtain that gauzy effect).

I hope to have content pages up in a week or so.

NEW MYSPACE PAGE, Jazzandsoul.eu

When discovering that there are just thousands of artists that are making the most incredible music on earth but with one problem -- their music is never promoted to a big audience because of the lack of a multimillion dollar advertising campaign to back them up, we thought it was time to do something about this. That's how Jazzandsoul.eu was born. We want to become a music portal for artists, record companies, promotors and fans. As an artist you can promote your work through reviews, artist features, etc. As a fan you will have a new way to discover great music and win goodies from time to time. That's what Jazzandsoul.eu is all about. Momentarily our website introduction page is online untill the 29th of february. If you're into good music, feel free to sign up for our NEWSLETTER. In this way you'll be the first to know about great deals, new artists, contests etc. this is all about the passion for good music.

Check it out.

BTW- these cats are affiliated with Antwerp Harbour Jazz and Soul Festival. Very cool. I will be following up on all of this. Would love to take the band over there. Antwerp would never be the same.

I've also now registered with their affiliated web radio station Crooze.fm, have it streaming right now as I write this.

Nice.