Saturday Results

The Voodoo Blues Band unfortunately pulled in the silver medal at last Saturday's Blues Challenge in Springfield. The winning band was from Springfield, and our fellas who stayed to hear them were complimentary but thought that we compared favorably. In any event, we played pretty well and had a chance to strut our stuff, including a lot of originals by Raul, our fearless leader.

Well, maybe we'll end up at the Memphis finals one of these times!

We heard overheard Biden and Obama while in Springfield, but were not able to really attend the event--even though it was close by, there was a completely different entry (complete with top flight security) that made it near impossible to do both things. There were numerous sharpshooters on the roof--I felt equal parts chilled by their apparent necessity and good that they were there and taking it seriously.

Goings On

A big weekend coming up:

First, a show on Friday night in Chicago with the Blue State Cowboys (see sidebar link for Matty Farmer's great BSC blog). We are playing at McKellin's Tavern in Rogers Park, as a warm-up for a Cleveland wedding gig in early September (strange, but true).

Saturday, an early start to get to Springfield for the Voodoo Blues Band, who will be competing in the Illinois Central Blues Club Blues Challenge. 25 minutes to wow the judges for a shot at going to the 25th International Blues Challenge in February 2009 in Memphis! We hit the stage at 12:30, hoping for blues history (or at least a fun chapter in our personal lives) to be written. Check it out:

http://www.icbluesclub.org/

Finally, back to St. Louis for a one-song performance of a cover of Cake's cover of "I Will Survive" with my buddy Chris Lawhorn's band, Rule 3, opening for More Cowbell at a charity benefit for Annie's Hope at the Old Rock House in St. Louis (performance at around the 7:45 to 7:50 mark on Saturday night).

http://www.oldrockhousestl.com/events.aspx

Then, plain old jam session at Hammerstone's, 4-8, in Soulard, per the usual (see Voodoo Blues Band link at sidebar).

Did I mention we've started hitting Benton Park Studios for CD #2? Mostly originals. Sounding good so far....

Memphis Madness

In the fall of 2006, my friend Matt Farmer called with an improbable boondoggle: grab your horn, we're all going to hang out in Memphis in the Sam Phillips Recording Studio (Sam's next studio after Sun Records--they recorded Mr. Bojangles and Son of a Preacher Man there, among others) while a CD is being cut. Matt's good friend Mark Morse had hired a working rockabilly band (Rockin' Billy & the Wild Coyotes) and decided to cut a CD. They were the real deal (and so was the production team), complete with pompadours and multiple tattoos, and grabbed Neal and me when we came in ("The horn section's here!!"). While they didn't need us on much (maybe less than they imagined after they heard us play), we did make it on to one track (guess which one when you read the tunes). If you want a copy of the CD, Top Dead Center, go to CD Universe (online):

http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7606990/a/Top+Dead+Center.htm

It's really a fun rockabilly CD! My favorite cuts are "Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down)" and "Shake Your Hips."

P.S., Matt tells me that's a picture of Billy Favata (the slap bassist and one of the "Wild Coyotes") whose likeness appears on the CD cover.