Thursday, October 31, 2013

Harper and Midwest Kind October Blog, 2013

Hi Everyone,

Happy Halloween!!!   Well the new "Bare Bones" acoustic blues CD by Motor City Josh and myself was released on Tuesday October 29th  woohoo!!!.  For those who would like to purchase the CD it is available on the Harper website: www.harper.biz  Just click on the CD and away you go.  $15 and no charge for shipping within the US.  $20 for outside the US.  I'll even sign it for ya!

October was a crazy busy month with a three week tour to Florida, Upstate New York , Canada then finishing off in Michigan.  Our shows at The Celtic Ray in Punta Gorda , Florida were fabulous as always.  Also the amazing Bradfordville Blues Club in the wild woods of Tallahassee was fun and Aces Lounge, was yet another fine time had by all. Our visit to the special needs kids at The Buckingham Exceptional Student Center was, as always, the highlight of our week.  Bobbi and I also visited Lori in Punta Gorda and gave her the full didgeridoo sound therapy treatment to help her deal with her chemo.   It was such a positive experience, we hope to do more in the future.  Englewoods on Dearborn was a lot of fun- a stunning out door venue.  Then it was over to the East side of the Florida for the fabulous Daytona Blues Festival.  What an amazing festival!!  Set in a baseball park, there was a huge stage and covered seating for all. Though no one needed it because the sun was a shinning.  It was my birthday that day as well and it was super cool to hear the entire crowd sing me "Happy Birthday".    After the show we headed to the incredible Guanabanas then we drove down south to picturesque Key Largo for the Bayside Grille.   We were treated to a stunning Key Largo sunset and a large crowd of music fans.

Then it was drive, drive, drive to upstate New York. But all the miles were worth it once we arrived at The Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester and Syracuse, New York.  We chowed down!!!! In fact the whole tour was one of amazing and very filling meals.  I had several fabulous birthday homemade dinners  (Anne Marie and Mackie), and (Libby and Derek)  which culminated in a sushi feast with my wife Bobbi, Dave our drummer,  Dave's sister and Derek our bass player.   Its amazing we could all fit into the van LOL!!!!   After a visit to the Armor Inn in Hamburg, New York we visited the mighty Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  Always an incredible sight to behold, then it was the Dawg House in London, Canada then home to Michigan for a sold out acoustic concert at the Pump House Concerts in East Lansing.

We ended October with an indoor show at The Rathskeller in Indianapolis and then another sold out show at The Lone Oak Vineyard in my hometown, Grass Lake, Michigan!!!  What a great month!!!

Hope to see you out on the road this Fall and winter!!!

Thanks and Peace,

Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs and E Book
http://www.harper.biz/workshops.html    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.myspace.com/harperband

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Harper and Midwest Kind- September Blog 2014

Hi Everyone,

Autumn is here and our summer festival season has come to a close!!!!. I am very happy to announce that the Harper and Motor City Josh CD and Tour Kickstarter Project has been fully funded.  The new "Bare Bones" CD has been pressed and now we are waiting on shirts, stickers and posters to be printed  A huge thank you to our amazing backers for this project.  We couldn't have done it without you!!!!    Motor City Josh and I have a 20 Date December tour with a couple of dates in January, coming up.  We are very excited to be working together for the very first time.  The release date for the new "Bare Bones" CD is Tuesday October 29.  The CD will be available on  www.harper.biz plus other online stores.

For our Michiganda followers - our show at The Dawn Theatre in Hillsdale has been rescheduled to Friday January 24..  Our show at Arts Beats & Eats in Royal Oak, Michigan was a lot of fun.  We did a completely acoustic show which was very well received.  Thanks to all those friends who came down to the show.  In early September we headed to Canada for the Southside Shuffle in Port Credit, Ontario.   We had a great set just before the Down Child Blues Band.  Got to meet a bunch of cool folks.  Then we made the long drive  back over the border to the US  to one of our favorite stops- The Timeout Pub in Rockland,Maine.   Great to see so many Maine  folks dancing all night.  The next day we headed back to Canada- this time to Fredericton, New Brunswick for the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival.  We drove through some amazing scenery- Northern Maine and New Brunswick is one beautiful part of Northern America.  We saw many signs warning us of Moose crossing but unfortunately we didn't get to see a single moose.  The festival set was fabulous but the weather was horrible and got worse as the day progressed.  Thick lightning streaks filled the sky. Combined with torrential rain ,pretty much kept us in doors for our entire visit.  After the festival we headed through Quebec to arrive at Kitchener, Ontario.  As we were checking into the Hotel we found out to our dismay that The Victoria Boat House had closed that very day- Friday the 13th-!!!!!!.  A real bummer and such a loss to the Kitchener music community.  I certainly hope Boat House owner Kevin Doyle can open the doors again very soon.  We finished our Canadian tour with an amazing show at Canada South's Blues Museum in Windsor and the Grape Jam in Blenheim.  We love the Canada South Blues Society- Ted Boomer and Bernie Martin really put together a great show for us.  The Grape Jam was sold out and we had a blast performing to such a nice group of people.

In October we head south to Florida for the Daytona Blues Festival plus a bunch of our favorite clubs then its up to New York State, London Canada then back to Michigan and Indiana.

Hope to see you out on the road this Fall!!!

Thanks and Peace,

Harper and Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs and E Book
http://www.harper.biz/workshops.html    Australian Didge-ucation
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.myspace.com/harperband