Thursday, September 13, 2012

Harper and Midwest Kind September, 2012 Blog

Hey Everyone,

We are on the road to Deadwood, South Dakota as we speak.   My band and I will be performing at the Deadwood Jam this Saturday and we plan to do some tourist stuff along the way.  August was a fabulous month of festivals and concert series.  After the fabulous Mount Baker Blues Festival in Washington, we headed to Colorado.   We hung out in a three storey house in Dillon, Colorado for a couple of days.  Now this house was completely decked out- hot tub, pool table, big screen TVs in every room.  I wish every band house was this luxurious.  We performed at The Krystal 93 BBQ at the Summit in beautiful down town Dillon.  We had a great show despite a huge soaking down pour.  Those hearty mountain folk just laughed and kept dancing in the rain.  The next day we drove along the scenic route through the Rocky Mountains crossing the Continental Divide.  We saw some stunning views.  Unfortunately a large percentage of the pine forest has been devastated by the mountain pine beetle.  The mountains are either bald or full of mostly dead trees. Its terrible to see!  Another casualty of the planet's rising temperatures. Our next show was The South Pearl Street Festival in Denver.  South Pearl Street was literally wall to wall full of people.  We had a great show followed by a huge down pour of rain that lasted about thirty minutes during Rosie Ledet's set.  People scattered in all directions to escape the rain.  Back stage we hung out with my former Keyboard player James Pace who now plays with Tommy Castro.  It was great to see him perform with his new band.  The next day we played Lincoln's Roadhouse, then it was the long drive back to Michigan.

After a couple days of chilling in sunny Michigan, we headed to a "Hair Raising Event" for the lovely Michele Arroyo at the incredible B & O Station in Youngstown, Ohio.  It was a beautiful evening and we hope to return soon.  We performed a  private event for the International Association of Electrical Inspectors in Rochester, New York.  We had an absolute ball with these guys!!!  Then it was back to Michigan for the Birch Run Blues & Brews Fest where we saw the amazing Rusty Wright Band throw down.  We ended the weekend with a show at Scooters in Flint Town.  We ended the month of August by "Jammin in Jackson",  then heading north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the Porcupine Music Festival.  We had a great set and to my surprise, I was asked to perform with the incredible Gospel group- The Holmes Brothers.  They had me play some harp for them for 30 minutes!!!!! (WOW!!)- it was such an honor and a privilege!! We ended the weekend with an awesome set at the Tawas Blues by The Bay Festival.   What a superb weekend! 

Please note there have been some changes to our tour schedule for late September and October.  Some clubs have closed and some dates have been moved to a later date- Sorry!!!

Hope to see you out on the road this Fall.

Thanks and Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind
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