So You Want To Play In a Band Part 18

Let’s catch up. In December BlueShadow played at the Elk Rapids Town Hall, again playing the Patsy Cline tribute. This time was a little different- the band paid for the Hall up front, counting on the door receipts to cover our expenses. The weeks leading up to that night we were sure we were going to take a bath on this one. Joanie appeared on 2 local radio programs and Todd added a short blurb on the end of one of his radio adds. We printed more fliers hoping that we could get a better turn out. The night came, along with the threat of rain/snow. The Band went into set up mode and people started to arrive… turns out we had a great night (SRO). In order to shoot video that included Motown, we changed clothes and played a short Motown set as an added bonus.

First week of January there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and 10 degrees outside, so of course Jerry wants to talk about Jimmy Buffett tunes to help sell the BlueShadow Band this summer. You got to have a hook of some kind; “Sounds of Summer” is the name of that hook. Jerry assured me that he will come up with the charts. A week later he had “Volcano”, “Come Monday”, and “Its Five O’clock Somewhere”.

Going Forward

With a new promo pack and DVDs, Jerry and I met with HERTHA (Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall Association). They liked the “Sounds of Summer” idea. We were booked for 3 weekends. Encouraged, I visited The Patio (Holiday Inn). We talked about the theme and I set the “Sounds of Summer “ hook and reeled in 3 Saturday Gigs for the summer. I believe I may have left her with the idea that we have a steel drum. I’m sure Al can pull it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played lead steel drum in a past band. That’s just the way Al rolls.

I am still holding jam sessions now and again at Espresso Bay.

Well that’s all for now, with the Band is learning Jimmy Buffett tunes. I am being told that I will have to learn to play the Guiro. What’s a Guiro?!