If Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns were the U.S. Marine Corps, there would be no more war. Everyone would simply submit, trading their weapons for More Cowbells.
LOL. A BobbyG 15 second Photoshop Moment. ___
See you tonight at The Palms in The Lounge, 10:30 pm, no cover no minimum. Dave Hart will open on guitar for Jerry, and will play harp during "What'cha Gonna Do With That Greazy Thing?" ___
So, I'm drivin' west on Sunset, heading for the Trop, coming from the nursing home after sittin' with Ma at supper. Listening to "Latina USA" on KNRP. National Weather Service breaks in with a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for northern San Bernardino County and south central Clark County, NV. Locally heavy rains, wind gusts to 60-70 pmh, and nickel sized hail. Big storm moving up from the Searchlight NV area. You can see this big churned-up blackish sky to the south.
I get to the Trop, and as I'm walking from the garage to the front entrance, I hear music outside off by the intersection of the Strip and Tropicana. I walk over that way, and sure enough, this is the venue. I see Alex and the cats milling around behind the outdoor stage as another band is finishing their set.
"Weekend Block Party." OK.
The wind is blustering up, and I feel an episodic light sprinkle of water. Crap, cover the lense. And, y'know, a sustained 60-70 mph gust coming through here just right from the south up the Strip could lift this entire tarp-covered grid structure right off its moorings, with lights and PA stuff crashing down.
This oughta be interesting.
Well, the other band finishes up, and Backbeat Vilage US hurriedly sets up. No sound check, just "go." They got through two and a half tunes. First, water had accumulated on the cover tarp above the grid, and an intense wind gust caused it to flap up and rain down a large shower of water on the cat working the sound board aside the stage. Jeeez.... Then, half of Brian's drum kit blew right off the stage as he was playing.
Time to pull the plug, man. Someone will end up getting seriously injured or killed. Below, the stage being buffeted as peeps scrambled to get stuff off and away.
Oh, well. I split and just went by the grocery store and then went home. Below, a shot from my garage. Skies cleared off to the west and northwest from my house. That was all pretty crazy.
Hated to miss what would have been a good full set, but I'm just glad no one was hurt.
UPDATE: a movie link to a clip shot by Jozef's wife (.mov file). Shows the building intensity of the storm right up to when the band had to bail and jump off the stage. It got pretty scary. ___
OFF-TOPIC, ANOTHER PROUD GWANDADDY MOMENT
Yesterday I drove down to Laughlin to watch Keenan play in a season-opening football scrimmage involving 8 area teams in rotating "round-robin" scrimmage play. Keebo scored 3 TD's and would probably have had 5 were it not for two underthrown passes. He also made some spectacular tackles on "D.
Keenan is now 15 and is starting his sophomore year at Henderson International School. He played football for the first time last year, starting on varsity as a freshman. Scored 14 TDs, and generally wreaked havoc on "D." He's put on weight across that time; he's my height now (5'-10") and 195 lbs (and brick-solid ripped). Given his Dad's size, I would guess he'll be about 6'-1" or taller and about 210-220 lbs by his senior year. He will be absolutely no fun to try and bring down. He's the fastest kid on the Henderson squad (and his conditioning owes to his nationally competitive tennis). If they can teach that quarterback to reach him over the shoulder on the dead run rather than throwing those wounded ducks behind him, it'll be Six every time.
Nice band, very nice. Lots of Earth, Wind, & Fire and other classic R&B/Soul/Funk. Not a particularly good photo environment. The grid is OK, but suboptimally deployed. Way too much red gel, and zero plain white pars.
Tyriq and the cats will be there through Sunday night, 9 pm - 2 am. No cover, no minimum. Drop by and hang if you can. ___
REMINDERS: UPCOMING DATES
First, Backbeat Village US this Sunday, 7 pm at the Trop. Let's turn out and support this fine new band.
Then, next Tuesday in Brendan's Pub at The Orleans, 8 pm, jazz virtuoso Chopshogger Robert Conti. You don't wanna miss my friend Robert on guitar.
FRIDAY ERRATA
Also, from my Excel sheet, latest unemployment data. Nevada (13.1%) has now far surpassed The Peoples' Republic.
An awesome night. Enrique Corro opened for Jerry, and the crowd loved him. He plays so fine. Larry Aberman subbed for Pepe on the kit and knocked it outa the park, man. Brian Monroney (Tom Jones show) sat in on guitar and fried it, OMG! 9:30 a.m., Cheryl just left to return to her day gig in Walnut Creek :(
So, sorry for the blogging delay. Sometimes it just gotta be that way. Let me get back on it...
First, thanks to all of you for coming out to hang. Yet another fine crowd.
Below, Larry Aberman is subbing for Pepe. Larry is in the Cirque "Zumanity" show, and is one Top Shelf cat on the kit. This was his first night with the band.
I really dig Larry. I watched and listened closely to him in particular all night. He was mostly not lookin' at the charts; he'd totally 'shedded the stuff. He was right in the center of the hump all night. The tempos were right on the money, and he played with great energy and confidence. You gotta understand, he'd had no rehearsals, just had to learn the tunes off the CDs and the sheets, yet he sounded like he'd been in the band for months. Five stars, bro'. One A-List professional.
LOL! I also dig Larry 'cause he reads my other blog and talks to me all the time about all this other stuff that interests us both.
More shots from a great show...first, Santa Fe alum Enrique Corro opening for Jerry. I simply love the response he gets from the crowd.
Dr. Lenny, Board Certified Surgeon of Nastiology...
Gotta love the new 'do, too.
Above, Abe LaMarca filled in all night for Tyriq. Tyriq is over at Excalibur with his group "Jamestown" this week. If I can stay awake, I'll be over to see them tonight.
Below, Gil and his light-evading black trumpet.
Below, our friend Brian Monroney (Tom Jones, Herman Matthews & Friends) sittin' in to set the room on fire during "Wishing Well."
After the show, Brian gave me the nicest compliment. In addition to my stuff for the band, he apparently reads and digs my other blog stuff (and the episodic drive-by rants I now put up on Facebook), like Larry does. That means a lot, man. I told him "Go figure; all I ever wanted was to be a rock & roll guitar player."
Again, thanks to everyone for comin' out. Don't forget to go see Tyriq this week at Excalibur (and Backbeat Village US this Sunday at the Trop), and check the links column for schedules of our many friends (and click the new Champlin link on the upper right to buy Bill's new solo CD).
PHOENIX will be returning to their old stomping ground when they perform at ROK VEGAS THE NIGHTCLUB AT NEW YORK-NEW YORK HOTEL & CASINO LAS VEGAS.
Thursday, August 27th 2 SHOWS Doors open at 10:30PM Come on out and help us rock the house!
And, as Jerry Lopez announced from the stage last night, he'll be appearing with Clint Holmes for "An Evening of Romance" at the Suncoast on Aug 28th, 29th, and 30th, 8 pm each night. Tix are $29.95, call 636-7111. ___
The band has played many large outdoor festivals, including several appearances at The Chicago Jazz Festival and Summerfest. The core of the band has stayed together for over 25 years, giving the band an almost telepathic ability to interact spontaneously onstage. The band has an impressive array of virtuosic melodic soloists, and the percussion section, deeply rooted in traditional folklore and religious music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Brazil, is heavily featured on almost every tune.
Bad Boys. Listen to the cuts on their website. ___
If Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns were the U.S. Marine Corps, there would be no more war. Everyone would simply submit, trading their weapons for More Cowbells.
"Weekend Block Party." OK.
They got through two and a half tunes. First, water had accumulated on the cover tarp above the grid, and an intense wind gust caused it to flap up and rain down a large shower of water on the cat working the sound board aside the stage. Jeeez.... Then, half of Brian's drum kit blew right off the stage as he was playing.
Oh, well. I split and just went by the grocery store and then went home. Below, a shot from my garage. Skies cleared off to the west and northwest from my house. That was all pretty crazy.
Hated to miss what would have been a good full set, but I'm just glad no one was hurt.
Tyriq and the cats will be there through Sunday night, 9 pm - 2 am. No cover, no minimum. Drop by and hang if you can.
Then, next Tuesday in Brendan's Pub at The Orleans, 8 pm, jazz virtuoso Chopshogger Robert Conti. You don't wanna miss my friend Robert on guitar.
FRIDAY ERRATA
Ugh.
First, thanks to all of you for coming out to hang. Yet another fine crowd.
I really dig Larry. I watched and listened closely to him in particular all night. He was mostly not lookin' at the charts; he'd totally 'shedded the stuff. He was right in the center of the hump all night. The tempos were right on the money, and he played with great energy and confidence. You gotta understand, he'd had no rehearsals, just had to learn the tunes off the CDs and the sheets, yet he sounded like he'd been in the band for months. Five stars, bro'. One A-List professional.
LOL! I also dig Larry 'cause he reads my other blog and talks to me all the time about all this other stuff that interests us both.
Dr. Lenny, Board Certified Surgeon of Nastiology...
Gotta love the new 'do, too.
Above, Abe LaMarca filled in all night for Tyriq. Tyriq is over at Excalibur with his group "Jamestown" this week. If I can stay awake, I'll be over to see them tonight.
Below, our friend Brian Monroney (Tom Jones, Herman Matthews & Friends) sittin' in to set the room on fire during "Wishing Well."
After the show, Brian gave me the nicest compliment. In addition to my stuff for the band, he apparently reads and digs my other blog stuff (and the episodic drive-by rants I now put up on Facebook), like Larry does. That means a lot, man. I told him "Go figure; all I ever wanted was to be a rock & roll guitar player."
