Washington Tour - Pictures and Video

Performing at the Roxy Wine Bar - click for more pics

As mentioned in my last post, March 2011 marked the kickoff of my Awesome Two Show Washington Tour. The general consensus: it was awesome.Actually we got quite good reviews:"You guys played SO tight...Great stuff with a great message. From the warmup song to the finale (great pick for the final song by the way), everything was top-notch and of professional quality. Perhaps most importantly (being in a band myself) was the fact that you guys genuinely had a great time up there and it showed. Doing the thing you love to do while sharing it with others. Doesn't get any better." - Kevin Selby"Thank you for performing at our fundraiser, everyone had a great time! The Roxy show was an absolute delight!" - Terry MooreAnd, the Pillar Rock Grill show raised over $14,000 for Relay for Life to fight cancer. Rock and roll.The tour began on Wednesday when I and two other members of the Urban Blue band - Adam Coletta and Lee Hansen - flew out to Seattle, where we met up with bassist Kile Jackson. We rode to a studio that belonged to drummer Wade Reeves to practice. This was the first time the five of us had ever played together, and we had only one shot to rehearse before the shows. Well Kile and Wade are consummate professionals and a joy to play with. We'd run through quite a bit of material before calling it quits at 1 AM. This basically meant that we east coast guys didn't get to sleep until 5 AM our time... Ouch. Though, we are musicians.Thursday was a day off to explore Seattle, where we enjoyed the sights, food, spirits, friends, wind, and rain. (Elsewhere there were earthquakes and tsunamis, which we didn't discover until the next morning.)

Dancing at the Pillar Rock Grill - click for more pics

Friday, however, was showtime. After the trek across the mountains which gratefully was passable, we performed at the Pillar Rock Grill in Moses Lake for their annual Relay For Life Dinner, Dance, and Auction. The show was a lot of fun. My favorite comment was when one person said, "they really did a great job with that song - who did it originally?" The song was one of my own from my upcoming album.Saturday arrived and it was off to Kennewick to do it again. The time change and lack of sleep had started to take its toll on me as I started to get sick and lose my voice. Not what you want to happen right before a show. I started the day with tea - Earl Grey, hot - and rested my voice until showtime. The Roxy Wine Bar was a really cool place, and though my voice wasn't at 100% we kicked off the show. We played two sets, and thankfully, I still managed to belt out the high notes on the closer "Sing It Out."The whole trip was an absolute blast. It just doesn't get much better than making music and hanging out with a group of great people. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much, it was almost cathartic. To give you a little taste of what I mean, here's a video of Adam and me goofing around at the Roxy show:[embed]https://youtu.be/jkpISNpLQIU[/embed]Sesame Street and My Generation MashupMany thanks to Terry and Don Moore and Donna Anderson for treating us like rock stars and making the whole trip happen. Terry took all the pictures and video, which I shamelessly stole from her Facebook profile. Next month: Florida!