At The Old Princeton Landing, Princton by the Sea, an 8 hour event (3-11 pm). The first and a portent of more to come. Guests Chris Cobb, Daniel Castro, and Mike Schermer more than entertained a capacity crowd. Friends from around the bay area arrived to join in. Don Bassey and Andy Doerschuk backed Daniel for his set. Amy Lou rAwK'd the dancers before we wound up the evening with Mike Schermer and Chris Cobb dueling it out. Other highlights included Chris' son Jesse trading licks with Daniel, multiple birthday cakes, and great food provided by Bob & Gale. The marathon house band finished in good shape: Leroy (uh, Stan), Artie Chavez, Pat Tinling, John Lull, and David Stier.

We kick off The San Carlos Farmers' Market Hot Harvest Nights series!

The Old Princeton Landing was jumpin'! People on the coast know how to ring out the old. And Jim Lemons and Pat Tinling were nailing feet to the floor. Photos by Neil Hooper.

JJ's Blues Friday Night Late Show. Lots of dancin' & fun & a new picture wall. Band members L-R are Jim Peterson, Stan Erhart, Artie Chavez & Michael Warren. Photos by Danielle.

The Red Hat ladies were at the Byington and they looked great! Nice people and a fun afternoon.

The first annual Redwood City Blues Festival with Kenny Neal, Carol Fran, Kenny Blue Ray, The Madison Blues Band, Bluestate, The South City Blues Band, Us & a host of others went smoothly even with the warm weather. It's rumored to happen again next year.

Lots of stuff going on this summer. Sundays at the Byington are going full swing, The Old Princeton Landing jam is pumping away on Sunday evenings. Gigs at JJ's, Biscuits & Blues, and the Pleasanton Hotel are peppered throughout. Larry Bell and I will be doing Apple Jack's gigs and the new Redwood City Blues Festival will be raising funds for the RWC Police Activities League programs (P.A.L.).

We opened for Sugar Pie DeSanto. What an entertainer! I had to get a snap with her.

The five year anniversary party at the Old Princeton Landing was a huge success. The house band consisted of myself with Norm DeCarlo on drums and Neil Hooper on bass. Special guests on guitar included Jeff Kamil, Vince Caminiti and Eric Ryan followed by a stirring appearance later in the evening by Gary Cambra of the Tubes (who brought the house down, as always, damn!). Guest bass players: Will Kessler, one of the original jam bass players from the early days with J.D. Smith and newcomer and quick study, Pat Tinling, who has recently started working with us at the jam. Thank you drummers, Tom DeFiglio, Andrea Drane, and Artie Chavez, all great drummers who kept things moving on the stage and on the floor. And last, first and in between, John Lull and Greg Heumann, John playing great sax and leading an impromptu horn section, Greg doing his 3 ring magic on vocals, harp & sax. Very good stuff and a great crowd. Thank you Linda & Vicki for helping out. We owe you a few.

We brought in the New Year at Towles Restaurant in Burlingame. They had a very fun crowd and great food as always. There wasn't a better place to be last evening.

A live CD from a recent performance at Biscuits & Blues is available (it didn't take as long this time!).

August 4 and 5 (2005) subbed for Pierre LeCorre in the Dave Matthews Blues Band at Konocti Harbor. We opened for Tower of Power to a 700+ crowd the first night, then played in the resort bar later that evening and the next. Pierre returned from vacation for the Saturday night gig so I headed for home after an obligatory jet ski run and sun burn.

The drum photo below represents the view from David Garibaldi's drum set about 30 minutes before our set started (click on the picture to get a better perspective). The right hand cymbal appears to be one of David's "Jam Master" signature ride cymbals by Sabian. Tia Carroll, Marla & Dave used the vocal mics you see in front of the drums. Tia's battery operated shoes were an extra big hit.

It's been a really fun summer with the band back at Biscuits & Blues in San Francisco and the Byington Winery in Los Gatos.

A last minute call to fill in at Biscuits & Blues last Monday was a pleasant surprise. Jeremy was already lined up on drums and Tom Bowers was on bass. Most of the evening was conducted by the three of us and the patrons responded enthusiastically (we were inclined to wonder what they put in the food). Highlights of the evening included Ed Ivey belting a stirring rendition of "Play With My Poodle", Bryon sitting in on guitar for a few tunes, and then meeting a crazy harp player from Colorado (called Mad Dog, no less) who added some extra blues and later emailed us these mysterious photos.

Spring and summer are shaping up. February 15th saw JJ's 21st Birthday Bash and I had the good fortune to play a few tunes with Gary Smith and Rene Solis. February 28 we'll be opening at JJ's for slide guitar hero Roy Rogers. Starting in May we'll be back at the Byington Winery, including the June weekends of the Santa Cruz Mountains Vintner’s Festival. And my occasional sit-ins with Johnny Nitro and The Doorslammers are big fun at its best.

Opening for Elvin Bishop was a blast. Elvin delivered a down home foot stompin' party. If you haven't seen Mr. Bishop, you need to make it a priority. An excellent band with standout performances by Ed Earley on trombone and Ian Lamson on guitar. Here are a few shots from 12/13/03 at JJ's Blues, Santa Clara.

The Harvest Party Grape Stomp is coming up at Byington and The Pumpkin Festival will be in Half Moon Bay. Here are some recent snaps.

A very fun summer is winding down. We opened for Andy Just & John Wedemeyer last Friday to a great crowd at JJ's. Another show at the winery is coming up this Sunday and KQED is hosting one of my tunes in their Local Life gallery.

This month has been busy. In addition to club gigs, we've played three Sundays afternoons at the beautiful Byington Winery in the Santa Cruz mountains. Situations like this are perfect for quiet, jazzy/bluesy, improvisational tunes and it's been a real treat playing with Michael Warren and Dan Ross on these occasions. Everyone gets to stretch out. The sax and flute even made a few appearances. The response has been very positive from visitors and staff members alike, but things got slightly out of hand yesterday when we were coerced into playing some foot stomping music ("Play Freebird!"). OK, we knew shouldn't. But they were dancing and we felt it was our duty to do something. Although Freebird was not the song we chose to play, we did play a southern tune. Then, being the sensible souls we are, we immediately brought it back to a sane and polite level. No recriminations ensued and Byington is having us back for the Clam Bake on July 27. You need to join the wine club if you want an invitation, so it's time to make the call or visit.