Harper Blog

Harper and Midwest Kind January 2012 Blog

2012-01-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Its going to be great year this year!! Just found out that my band and I were listed in the "Top Concerts of 2011 for the City of Chicago" by Chicago Concert Goers Ezine. Not too shabby for an Aussie!!!

Our tour to Italy and Belgium was absolutely full on but incredible at the same time. It was my very first tour of Italy and for my band "Midwest Kind"-Chris, Matt and Scott- it was their very first tour to Europe. So we were very excited. We flew out of Chicago to Brussels, Belgium to catch another plane to Milan. Unfortunately I didn't realize that the airline that I had booked the flights to Italy were at another airport in Brussels. Now one would think OK I 'll catch a bus or a train, but with such little time available to us, I had to take us all to the airport in a taxi- VERY expensive. Thankfully we didn't have guitars and amps with us, so we all fitted in nicely. We caught our flight with time to spare. Our first show in Bergamo at Dusco Circus was excellent. With virtually no sleep we performed to a packed house of music lovers, we ate fabulous food and good times were had by all. We met up with our agent Luca and all was well. The hotel we stayed in was an absolute palace. The next day was the town of Torino for Il Magazzino Di Gilgamesh. Another great show in a beautiful town. After the show we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast which was close to the airport. We were all woken up at the crack of dawn by a very loud rooster, who just wouldn't shut up.

We caught a flight to Reggio di Calabria in Southern Italy, right on the Mediterranean Sea. It was just stunning and the weather was warm and sunny. You could see Sicily from the club. The Blue Dahlia Gallery Art Cafe was yet another excellent show. Now the funny thing about Italy is that they tell you that you have to perform at 10pm but in reality you perform at midnight because Italians don't go out until late, I mean very late. But they came out in force and we had yet another full house. Club owner Rogero treated us to aged Chianti and he even got up to play some harp with us. The next day our tour manager Enzo took us out to see the sights. He took us to a Tuscan Saracen Castle. It was an amazing day. Southern Italy is a beautiful place to see and the food is just divine!. The final show took place at La Sosta in Villa San Giovanni and again we had a great show!! After about 3 hours sleep we barely made it to our flight back to Belgium. Literally by the skin of our teeth!!! A huge thankyou to Luca and Enzo for a very successful Italian tour. We plan to revisit this year!

Next up was the Pjeire Blues Festival in Vilvoorde, Belgium. I had performed at this festival in 2008 and had an incredible time. It was so nice to meet up with dear friend Eddy Plasquy, festival director. Now Vilvoorde is known for eating horse and the word "Pjeire" is actually a nickname for "horse eater". But before all you horse lovers start yelling, there was no horse on the menu at the festival. The festival actually took place in a former aristocrat's stables. It was very grand indeedy!!! It was a fantastic event and we were all made to feel very welcome. We had an easy flight home and were very thankful to have had the opportunity to see such beautiful countries. Our families and friends were very happy to received their gifts of Belgium chocolate!!!

To end a fabulously busy year was a show at the Rochester Mills Brewing Company in Michigan, then followed by the big show at the Blues Museum in Windsor Canada. The show at the Blues Museum was just incredible. The show had been sold out six weeks in advance. There was an induction into the Hall of Fame. I received my "blue star" from Ted Boomer,from the Canada South Blues Society. The show was filmed by CFTV 34 for a TV presentation to be aired later in the year. We all had way too much fun, those Canadians know how to party!!! We also recorded a live CD, which will be released in March/April of this year.

Thank you all for your continued support through out 2011. May 2012 be the best year yet!!!

Peace and Thanks,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind December Blog

2011-12-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Ciao My friends,

I am writing to you all from Milan Italy. My band and I are enjoying an amazing week in Italy then we head to Belgium for the Pjeire Blues Festival. We only have a few more shows till the end of the year. I am going out on a huge high as I am being inducted into the Blues Museum, Hall of Fame by the Canada South Blues Society on Saturday December 17. The show has been sold out for nearly six weeks. It is going to be filmed by Rogers Television for a TV Feature to air sometime next year. We are also recording a live CD. The first one in nearly 12 years, which we plan to release in March/ April.

November was a huge tour which took us to Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa. Our show at The Alamo in Springfield, Illinois was alot of fun. The it was on to The Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska where we had the pleasure of doing a double bill with Sarah and The Tall Boys. The Boulder Outlook in Colorado was excellent- this club is looking even better than the last time we visited. We hung out with Cassie Taylor for a bit then it was on to The Crystola Roadhouse in Woodland Park. Another fabulous club!! Promoter - Amy Whitehall was kind enough to show us the sights of Colorado Springs. The weather was absolutely stunning and the Rocky Mountains looked magnificent. We had a great show at Dazzle Restaurant in Denver. But we ran into some trouble at Lincolns Roadhouse, our soundman and his pa didn't turn up. Bobbi had confirmed with the guy twice and he was a no show. All his details were in our computer back at the hotel. We were freaking out when a good Samaritan- Carol Jackick offered us to use her iphone and we were able to look up the phone number of sound company. The dude eventually arrived - one and half hours late. Thankfully the crowd at Lincoln's were patient and we ended up having one of the best shows there to date. Blues belter Erica Brown sang a few songs and our good friend Maddog played harp on a few tunes.

We gave a didgeridoo presentation to 300+ students at The West Grand Elementary School in Kremmling, Colorado. These children were so very appreciative. It was a pleasure for us to perform. We made the long drive to St Louis, Missouri in good time for our show at BBS. Then it was The Trouser Mouse for Thanksgiving Eve. We had an excellent crowd at The Gas Lamp (formally Blues On Grand) then it was Harperfest at Bryons in Pomeroy, Iowa for that weekend. What a nice way to end the tour.

My band "Midwest Kind", manager- Bobbi and I would like to thank you for all your incredible support through out the year. Your encouragement and kind words really make our hearts full.

Wishing you all peace on earth, prosperity and joy to all.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Winter/Summer Solstice, Kwanzaa to all!!

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind November Blog

2011-11-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

November is here, today we are driving north to Michigan after an amazing tour of Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida where we experienced some toasty warm weather. Prior to our Southern states tour we headed east with shows in Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. We got to experience several new clubs for us- The Armour Inn in Hamburg, NY (amazing food) and The Abilene Lounge in Rochester, New York (very cool), the stunning "Dusk" in Providence, Rhode Island and the Elks Lodge in Franklin, New Hampshire (down home and bluesy). We had fun shows at them all and plan to return soon.

On our trek south it was great to visit Brackin's Bar, The Empty Glass and Blue 5. The Columbia Blues fest in South Carolina was an incredible day. Several thousand attended the event and the sun was shining. We had sold out of CDs by the end of the set so I guess we did good!! My band and I went to the after party and hung out with all the festival staff. One of the staff kindly offered me a ride back to the hotel. Within one minute after leaving the club, we were pulled over by the police. My kind friend was arrested for DUI and I received a ticket for not wearing a seat belt in the back seat. OUCH!!! Then I had to pay for the taxi fare as the other passenger had no money. What a night!!!

On the following Monday, Bobbi and I went to one of the local elementary schools in Columbia to give a presentation on the didgeridoo and Australia. It was very cool because the school's emblem was "the kangaroo". The kids really dug learning about Australia. Then we headed to our favorite music friendly Inn- The Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach where we got to chill out for a few days. For those of you who have never been to the pure white sands of Pensacola Beach it really is worth the trip. Lots of wild life- Bobbi and I saw several stingrays plus many sea birds and fish. We performed at Alabama's best Juke Joint- The Blues Saloon then on to the incredible Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee. You just can't beat the fish fry, the huge bonfire and the cool blues at Bradfordville Blues. It certainly is a unique club. We finished the week with a show at The Backroom in its new location in Delray Beach.

We performed a Halloween show for our dear kids at The Buckingham Exceptional Student Center. I went as a pirate, Bobbi was a witch, Chris was a china man, Matt was a snooza man and Scott was a scare crow. The kids had a great time. That evening we performed to a packed house of gouls, witches, vampires plus many more at the Celtic Ray in Punta Gorda. Our show at Guanabanas, The Coconut Creek Casino, The Buckingham Bar, and Aces were alot of fun. Our final show of the tour was a double bill with Mike Zito at Earls Hideway. Despite the wind and the rain we had a packed house and the jam with Mike and myself was the highlight of the day.

Coming up in November we have a three shows in Michigan followed by a jam packed tour to Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa. Our show at Wilebeski's Blues Saloon on Saturday November 26 in St Paul Minnesota has been canceled as the club suddenly closed with out warning. We were fortunate to book a second show at Byrons in Pomeroy Iowa for a Harperfest weekend on Sat November 26 and Sunday November 27. We hope you will spread the word

We hope to see you out on the road this Fall.

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind October Blog part 2

2011-10-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Fall is upon us and we are having some amazing "Indian Summer" weather here in Michigan this week. We had a fairly easy month in September after all the major touring of the Spring and Summer. It was nice just to chill out a little bit. Ive been working on the new live CD which we hope to release in early Spring, 2012 (March/April) for my Southern Hemisphere friends. Our shows at Scooters in Michigan, Fitzgeralds in Chicago were a lot of fun. The new Bring It Festival in Flint, Michigan was amazing. The organizers had an entire wall of original graffiti styled artwork being created while the festival was running. It was incredible to see. There were arts and crafts booths full of interesting items such as jewelery, Flint Comic books, clothing and art. Very cool! Our show at The Livery in Benton Harbor, Michigan was also alot of fun. At The Player's Pub in Bloomington, Indiana we got to jam with our good friend Justin Brown who just about stole the show.

On the way to the Rootenanny Festival in Ellsworth, Michigan as we were driving up highway 131, I started to feel quite ill. Bobbi offered me a banana so I ate it thinking that it might calm my stomach. What happened next was like something out of a horror movie. With my two hands on the driving wheel, my stomach launched a huge projectile of creamy banana colored vomit all over the dashboard and the entire front section of the van. This all happened while I was driving. I managed to pull the van safely over to the side of the highway. I guess it was that jalapeno burger that I scoffed down at Wendy's about an hour earlier. That's road food for you. Oh My God, what a drama!!. Thankfully our guitarist Matt Besey had a roll of toilet paper to mop up the mess! We made our way to the fabulous Rootenanny with an incredible road story to tell.

On a sad note, our amazing drummer Marc Dixon, after five years of touring with my band "Midwest Kind", will be going off the road. His last show will be on Sunday October 9 @ Scooters in Flint, Michigan. We wish him all the very best for the future and thank him for his fine contribution to my music. We welcome Scott Key our former drummer, who Marc originally replaced in 2007. Its very cool to have Scott back in the band. In October we will be heading to Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. Included is our regular visit to our special needs kids at the Buckingham Exceptional Student Center in Fort Myers Florida for a Halloween show. Can't wait!!

We hope to see you out on the road this Fall.

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind October Blog

2011-09-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Autumn here we come! What an amazing summer we have had. Just back from Nebraska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island. Woohoo quite a drive! We performed at the legendary Zoo Bar, (despite a double booking with Levee Town), Southside Johnnies and Lincoln's Roadhouse. The highlight was the amazing Trinidaddio Blues Festival in Trinidad just south of Colorado Springs. We arrived one day early for the pre festival party which was just fabulous. Our dear friends Richard & Michelle Sukup also came along for the ride. We started the night with dinner at local Restaurant "Rino's" where were treated to live blues and opera. An interesting combination, but somehow it worked because of the incredibly talented staff/performers. We then headed down to El Rancho for a Zydeco treat with Rosie Ledet and her band. The atmosphere was electric and we all had way too much fun. The next day was the festival. We had our own limo driver called Ron who ferried us around all weekend. The lineup was stellar with Rosie Ledet, Charlie Musslewhite, Dave Specter and many more. The hospitality of Trinidaddio was about the best there is!

We drove back to Michigan for one whole day and then we were out on the road again to the East Coast where we performed at House Of Buds in Hyannis, MA. We then headed to Rhode Island for the much awaited Rhythm n Roots Festival in Charlestown's beautiful Ninigret Park. We had stunning weather and amazing music with Marcia Ball, Raul Marlo, Red Stick Ramblers, Steve Earle, Mitch Woods plus many many more. It was so nice to hear all these great performers. The sound was pristine and the vibe very friendly. A great weekend was had by all. We finished our East Coast run with shows at the picturesque "Inn on The Blues" in York Beach and our favorite Timeout Pub in Rockland, Maine- we love this place. Its always nice to meet up with old friends.

We have a last minute booking- a double bill with Mr Blotto at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn, Illinois (Sept 17)plus The Bring It Festival in Flint, Michigan (Sept 18). We will be revisiting The Livery in Benton Harbor, MI (Sept 24) followed by Michigan's Rootenanny presented by our talented friends "Rootstand" (September 25) in Ellsworth, Michigan. Great camping, music and good times at the Rocky Top Farm. We will end the month of September with a show at The Player's Pub in Bloomington, Indiana (Sept 30). We were very sad to hear that Owner Greg Hill suddenly passed last month but thankfully the Pub continues his love of music.

October will see us heading back to New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania then south to South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida and Alabama. Woohoo- Im tired already!! LOL!!!

We hope to see you out on the road this Fall.

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind September Blog

2011-08-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

We are getting ready to head West next week to Colorado for the Trinidaddio Blues Festival in Trinidad. Really looking forward to this one. July was festival month for us. After the Ottawa Bluesfest we performed at the London Blues Festival, also in Canada. This was another great event. The weather was picture perfect, the sound incredible and the artists were amazing. We caught up with Cassie Taylor, Daughter of Otis with her band "Girls with Guitars" who put on a great set. We also saw the amazing Thornetta Davis belt out a few tunes. The Michigan Beer Festival in Ypsilanti was a nice show and the beer was flowing. Thankfully this year we actually got to play. Some of you may remember that last year our show was cancelled due to the torrential down pour which engulfed the festival. The temperature was soaring in the low 90's, we were very happy to perform in the air conditioned comfort of Guy Hollerins in Ann Arbor that evening. We celebrated Bobbi's birthday (our manager) at Flint town's Scooters Bar. Bobbi was blown away by some of the music fans giving her birthday cards and a birthday balloon. It made her day! The next week we headed north to the Cheboygan Music Festival which was followed by shows at The Eagles Lodge and The Cabbage Shed in Elberta, Michigan.

The first week of August we performed a fun show at the Crossroads Music Festival in Downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan then we headed to The Kitchener Blues Festival in Canada. Kitchener was a blast. A huge event held in downtown Kitchener. We had a minor hiccup getting to the Clock Tower Stage, the mini van which was provided for us by the festival, simply would not fit in five people, guitars and didgeridoos. So the guitars and didgeridoos got to ride and the band walked, which wasn't so bad since the stage was only a couple of blocks away. We had a fabulous show, the crowd really dug the set. Edgar Winter followed with a rockin set which had the crowd on their feet. Brother Johnny Winter also performed on another stage, close by. We managed to catch Jimmie Vaughan's set, which was very cool to see. We performed an afterfest show at McCabe's Irish Pub which really went off. Three encores and much happiness! After the show our driver Al surprised us with a huge white stretch limo which promptly took us back to the hotel. We all felt like rockstars! Kitchener we love you! The next week was an all Michigan tour with a show for the kids at The Williams Syndrome Camp in Grand Rapids. If ever you feel depressed, doing or should I say giving to these wonderful kids just makes your heart glow. It was such a wonderful experience. The next day we headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a packed house at The Blackstone Pizza Company in Iron Mountain. The next day we performed at the amazing Grand Marais Music Festival. Grand Marais is simply stunning. Situated right on the blue waters of Lake Superior. We visited water falls and sat with our toes in the fresh water of the lake. It was fantastic. The festival was alot of fun and the audience were super cool! The next day we drove south to the Cow Pie Blues Festival in Grand Rapids. The weather turned for the worse, we were pelted with heavy rain for a full six soaking hours. As we drove into the festival we visualized a calm blue sky with warm sunshine and were eventually rewarded with both. Unfortunately our good friends- the Rusty Wright Band had to cut their set short, to the disappointment of many. The good news is that we will be doing a double bill with the Rusty Wright Band on Saturday October 2 in Linden, Michigan at the Janelle's Event Center. This should be a great show. Another amazing festival we have coming up in September is Michigan's Rootenanny presented by our talented friends "Rootstand" (September 23-25) in Ellsworth, Michigan. Great camping, music and good times at the Rocky Top Farm.

September will also see us heading East to Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.

We hope to see you out on the road this Summer and Fall.

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper & Midwest Kind August Blog

2011-07-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Summer is definitely here and it is Hot Hot Hot!!!!. During our June tour we tried to dodge all the rain but weren't successful on many occasions. Our show at Mixer On the Mall in Kalamazoo went well despite the threatening rain clouds. Amazingly the rain hit hard just as we were loading out our equipment, which was great for the crowd but not so great for us, as we were all soaked. We weren't so lucky for The Rathskeller in Indianapolis. It looked like the show would be cancelled, but the storm passed and many folks came out to see us, which was very cool!. Our shows at The Empty Glass and Papa Mojos went really well. Infact quite a rowdy crowd turned up for the Papa Mojo's show in North Carolina. Our show at Blueridge Big Sky saw its biggest turnout to date. A stunning setting in the mountains of Moravian Falls, North Carolina. We planned to record a live CD, but were faced with a number of mishaps, firstly we were pounded with 15 minutes of torrential rain then my Harp mic decided to be temperamental by cutting in and out. Hopefully we will be able to work with the rest of the tracks. Our last show in June took place at Kiawah Island, Night Heron Park in South Carolina. This time we were hit with over an hour of pelting rain drops and heavy black clouds. It looked for sure that the show was going to be cancelled. But the organizers of the concert decided to move the show to a dry location. So the sound people and the band had to move everything to another venue. It seemed to be a huge effort to do a show for no one because of the bad weather. But we did what we had to do. As I looked at the two sound engineers struggling with their heavy speakers, soaked from head to foot, with not a word of complaint, I realized this is what is mean't by "the show must go on". So instead of the usual full on electric show, we stripped it back to an acoustic set up. And wow it just sounded amazing. And you know what- the people did come out as soon as the rain stopped. It was a great show. Even the clown dude on the stilts who made balloon animals for the little kids, had a a huge lineup. Some of the kids got so excited that they started to argue and jostle each other. Just like a session of Congress (LOL) Soooo funny to see!

The Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Iowa was a blast. The day started with a didgeridoo/ harmonica workshop then in the afternoon we performed a show at the tent stage. The sound was excellent and the crowd really dug the show. Then it was off to Ottawa Blues fest in Canada. We didn't have too much trouble getting through the border which was a huge relief. The Ottawa Bluesfest is a huge multi stage, multi musical genre event. My band and I performed at the Hard Rock Cafe Stage. The sound and hospitality was top notch. We had a great crowd for our show. Unfortunately the band after us "Hey Rosetta" had to cut their set short because a huge storm hit Ottawa. The wind was howling and the rain was hard hitting. All the stages were closed down. It turned into a bit of a party back stage because you really couldn't go any where. Finally the storm passed and the music flowed. We were very sorry to hear of the collapse of the main stage at the Ottawa Blues fest the other day. We send all the hard working crew all our very best. Our final show at the Ottawa Bluesfest was an acoustic show at the Barney Dansen Theatre. We had a capacity crowd and very intimate and beautiful sounding set. After our show we saw Larry McCray and his band perform on a stage near by. We all hung out with Larry and the boys for the rest of the evening before heading back to Michigan the next day. The London Blues Festival in Canada was also a great experience. Despite the scorching temperatures there was a large crowd to see us. Again the sound was excellent and absolutely not a rain drop in sight !!! We have some great Michigan festivals coming up plus another short trip to Canada and Colorado in late July and August.

We hope to see you out on the road this Summer,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for ch

Harper & Midwest Kind July Blog

2011-06-17T11:32:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Summer has arrived! We are looking forward to all the festivals that we will be performing at this summer. To finish up our tour to Massachusetts and Maine we visited our favorite Timeout Pub in Rockland, where the peeps know how to party. We also hit House of Buds in Hyannis. After the show as we were driving to York Beach Maine, we were nearly hit by a drunken driver swerving all over the highway. Bobbi was driving and she hit the horn loudly to stop the drunk from hitting the van. Now the drunk took offense to the horn blast, so then decided to pull behind us and tailgate us for a few miles with his high beams on. What a nice guy!!!! Where are the cops when you need them! Thankfully the drunk eventually turned off the highway. We arrived safely in in York Beach, Maine where we were welcomed by sunny skies and smiling faces.

After being out on tour for five weeks performing in North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Maine and gigging just about every day, we finally headed back to Michigan. We had an easy drive home, but once we arrived in Grass Lake, we were greeted by three foot high grass. OMG- we've never seen the grass so high. So for the next week or so, mowing the grass was a main priority.

While back in Michigan we performed at our favorite Flint bar- Scooters. We also had an outdoor concert at Rogue River in Rockford which had a great turn out. We had some major problems with the sound system cutting in and out, but the folks remained calm. We found to the horror of Marc our drummer, that a couple of friendly wood ticks had decided to take a ride home with us after the show. Our shows at Lakeview Lodge and Treasure Lake Ski Lodge in Pennsylvania were canceled the following week, through no fault of our own. We apologize for any inconvenience.

We visited the fabulous Fat Fish Pub in Galesburg, Illinois, which was an amazing show. BB's in St Louis was also a fun time. As we drove west from St Louis we were greeted with dark ominous clouds. The sky became so dark that it looked like it was night time not 1pm in the afternoon. There was an eerie green tinge to the sky, which really alarmed us. We hoped there would be no tornadoes in the area, especially after what had happened to Joplin, Missouri only a short while ago. Thankfully it was only heavy rain which soon turned into sunshine. We look forward to some great festivals coming up: the Parkville River Jam, Missouri, Mixer On the Mall, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Bluerige Big Sky Farm, Moravian Falls, North Carolina, The Ottawa Blues Festival, The London Blues Festival and the Kitchener Blues Festival, Canada plus many more. We plan to record a new Live CD on Sunday June 26 at Blueridge Big Sky Music Farm in Moravian Falls, North Carolina. We hope loads of NC fans will come out to the show to yell and scream on this new recording.

We hope to see you out on the road this Summer,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper and Midwest Kind June Blog

2011-05-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

We are coming to the end of a fantastic five week tour which took us to North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine and Massachusetts. At the end of April, in North Carolina we performed to 750 middle school kids at the Wilkes Central School in Moravian Falls, which was pretty cool. Then it was on to the fabulous Merlefest in Wilkesboro. What a festival! Some of the most amazing music Ive ever heard. Bluegrass, Celtic, Roots, Blues and a little Country thrown in the mix. Over the weekend 80 000 rapid music fans attended an alcohol free music feast for the ears. We had some amazing shows at Merlefest. We sold out of CDs after the very first performance, which just about took my breath away. Some of the highlights were: the Zac Brown Band, Lyle Lovett and my personal favorite- Robert Plant and his band of Joy. Plus there were a multitude of artists who were just amazing musicians- people I had never heard of before, but whose musicianship was astounding. To all those new North Carolina fans we will be heading back your way Saturday June 25, Papa Mojos, Dunham and Sunday June 26 at Blueridge Big Sky Farm in Moravian Falls for a very cool out door concert. We just can't get enough of North Carolina.

Our tour to Florida was filled with warm sunshine and gentle surf. The Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach was alot of fun, (maybe too much fun, some would say). Then it was on to our favorite Juke Joints: The Blues Tavern, Mobile, Alabama and The Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee. The Clearwater Blues Festival was another great experience, we got to hang out with Trampled Under Foot and Shemekia Copeland and heard the sweet sounds of Taj Mahal. What a day!!! We visited our favorite special needs Kids at the Buckingham Exceptional Students Center in Fort Myers. These kids and their teachers have become like old friends. After every show we feel our hearts and souls lifted to higher plain every time. Then it was on to the fabulous Bostons On The Beach in Delray Beach and Guanabanas in Jupiter. After two shows at The Coconut Creek Casino, we performed at the new and improved "Backroom" which is now located in Delray Beach. You have got to check out this new club. The decor is stunning- filled with art deco artwork and some of the most amazing lamps you will ever see, plus the sound is brilliant. Then we headed back to the cold of Sharon, Pennsylvania for a packed house at The Quaker Steak and Lube. Our shows at the Dinosaur BBQs in Rochester and Syracuse were well represented. We finished the week with a very muddy blues festival at the Spyglass Winery in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, where our new Chevy Express became bogged in a sea of soaking mud. We had to get a tractor to pull us out and Bobbi lost her shoe! Now that was a first for us. It was a great day of music and it was good to see Big Bill Morganfield doing his thing. We had a fleeting glimpse of the Skyla Burrell band who were leaving, just as we were arriving.

After an amazing show at The Timeout Pub in Rockland, Maine on Monday night, we have two more shows to go until we head back to Michigan for a little bit.

We hope to see you out on the road this Summer,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper and Midwest Kind May Blog

2011-04-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just back from the West Coast of the US, landing back in Michigan for a couple of weeks. We are asking you all for a big favor. We need you all to vote for Harper & Midwest Kind for the Mixer on the Mall concert series in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Just go to this link and tick Harper & Midwest Kind and vote at the bottom of the page . Its quick and simple and the voting ends on Saturday April 23. We really need your help!!! Here is the link: http://wvfm.fm/mixer-on-the-mall/

Well our tour to the West coast was pretty wild. After our very frightening drive through the Colorado mountains it was nice to hang out in Salt Lake City for a few days. Our shows at The Sun and Moon Cafe and The Wine Cellar in Ogden, Utah were alot of fun. We had one night in Reno, Nevada as a stop over to California. Thankfully we didn't lose too much money. We hung out with our dear friends Mary Anne and Dave from Syracuse, New York, who were newly relocated to Reno. Our show at The Torch Club in Sacramento was pretty cool as always, then it was on to San Jose for The Poor House Bistro where we got to hang out with some more dear friends Leslie Marple and her crew. Then it was back to Reno for a show at Third Street where Bobbi got to experience the best chocolate cake ever, courtesy of the friendly staff at Third Street. Then it was an amazing scenic drive along a winding Highway 50 though to Cedar City, Utah. Marc, Chris and Matt stayed at the Chicken House, hosted by Joleen and Steve Wise. We call it the chicken house because there is a flock of free range hens who the lay the most delicious eggs you will ever eat. We had a show at Mike's Tavern near by, thanks to good friend Tim from Groovacious Records. One of the cool things when we go out on tour, is that we get to do some touristy stuff along the way. On this trip we went to the phenomenal Zion National Park. Zion truly lived up to its reputation as one of the most beautiful sites here in the USA. We saw water falls cascading from sheer red stone cliffs, an amazing fast flowing river and stunning canyon and rock formations. It was a great day. That night we had a show at Jazzy's Rock n Roll Grill in St George then it was on to Southern California for The Mint and Cafe Boogaloo. Then we headed to The Rhythm Room in Phoenix, Arizona, where Marc was suprised by an unexepected visit from his Mum. Our final show of the tour was Railroad Blues in Alpine, Texas, a very out of the way place near Big Bend National Park. We almost didn't get there because we were held up by the Border Police near El Paso who threatened Bobbi with Jail and fines for not having her green card on her. Little did we know, her passport and green card were safely packed away in her brief case just below the passenger seat of the van. Well no harm was done! At Railroad Blues, we could smell thick smoke in the air. We knew there were wild fires close by, but it was only the next day that we realized just how close the fires came to the town of Alpine. Thank God for the brave fire fighters who managed to put the fire out before too much damage was done.

We made it home safely to Michigan. Last Friday we were inspired by 400 didgeridoo playing children from the Davisburg Elementary School, where my band and I presented a didgeridoo workshop. It was an amazing day and much fun was had by all. We performed at a new club for us in Ann Arbor at The Holiday Inn, called Guy Hollerins and on Sunday we visited our favorite Flint Club- Scooters. We are about to head out on tour again for five weeks where we will be heading to North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine and Massachusetts

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper and Midwest Kind April Blog Part 2

2011-04-15T09:41:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just a quicky! Please help us out by voting For Harper and Midwest Kind for the Mixer On the Mall Concert Series in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Here is the link.

http://wvfm.fm/mixer-on-the-mall/

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper and Midwest Kind April Blog

2011-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

We are currently on our annual tour to the West Coast of the US. We are in Salt Lake City, Utah today with a show at The Wine Cellar tonight in Ogden. March has been an eventful month. I found out that my new CD "Stand Together" was nominated for a 2011 Detroit Music Award for "Most Outstanding Recording" and to top it off I will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at The Blues Museum in Windsor, Canada by the South Canadian Blues Society on September 17- Wooooohhoo!!!

We started the month of March with a show at one of our favorite Michigan clubs- Billy's in Grand Rapids. We had an amazing show and this time we made it home without having our van flipped over :) We headlined a show at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn, Illinois which had a great turnout then we headed down to Bloomington Indiana for a show at The Players Pub. My good friend Justin Brown celebrated his birthday with a peanut butter cake and a jam with the band. Our new friend Patty also celebrated her birthday. Johnny Rawls also performed a great soulful set. We were so glad that Des Moines, Iowa has new venue for us- at The All Play Stadium Bar and Grill. BB's in St Louis was alot of fun, then we hit The Trouser Mouse in Blue Springs, Missouri, another new club for us.

Then it was onwards to Colorado where we had some perfect Spring weather. We hung out and relaxed in Evergreen for a few days. Such a stunning place to be, with an amazing mountain backdrop, a bright blue sky with just the right amount of snow on the ground. We broke our curse at the Little Bear Saloon where for the last few years, every time we performed there was a massive blizzard, but not this time. Another new club for us was Southside Johnnies in Colorado Springs. Great harp player "Maddog" got up and jammed with us at Jakes Roadhouse. After a crazy show at Lincolns Roadhouse in Denver, we did an over night drive through the mountains. Although the weather in Denver was sunny, that was not the case for the Rockies. As we headed up the mountain, 10 000 feet above sea level we experienced blizzard like conditions. We all know now what is it like to live in a snow globe. It was with great relief that we made it through the Vail Pass at a very slow 30 miles per hour. But there was more, once the snow eased, then we were hit with torrential rain and flooding on Interstate Highway 70. We could only relax for the last hour of the drive to Grand Junction. It was a hell of a night, that's for sure! We made it to Salt Lake City the next day for our show at the Sun and Moon Cafe which was a sell out. Great folks there and we hope to return soon.

My band Midwest Kind and I continue on our annual tour to the West Coast We will be performing in Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona and Texas then its back to Michigan then down to North Carolina for Merlefest.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper and Midwest Kind March Blog Part 2

2011-03-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick one! My new CD "Stand Together" (Blind Pig) has been nominated for a 2011 Detroit Music Award for "Most Outstanding World Music Recording". Not too shabby for an Aussie now living in Michigan.

My band Midwest Kind and I continue on our annual West Coast Tour. We are touring Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona and Texas.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper and Midwest Kind March Blog

2011-03-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Spring is nearly here in the USA. During the month of February we had an amazing tour to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina. It was so nice to leave the frigid temperatures of - 3 F in Michigan. We welcomed the 80 degree temperatures F in Florida with open arms and flip flops. It was nice to meet many other snow birds at The Coconut Casino, Ace's Lounge and Earl's Hideaway (which had a big, big turnout). Our Valentines Day show at The Celtic Ray was a huge success. It is wonderful to see this club back to its former glory. My favorite show of the year was our visit to the lovely special needs children at the Buckingham Center for Exceptional Students. As always it was a truly spiritual experience which filled my heart with joy, inspiration and light. Our new guitarist Matt Besey also fell in love with the Buckingham kids.

Guanabanas in Jupiter, Florida was a new club for us. Situated amongst large trees and leafy palms, this surf styled bar, complete with waterfalls, is really something to see. The world famous Buckingham Bar was another first- another capacity crowd- a superb show with great sound. We got to hang with our dear friend Ken McKenzie- former owner of the Mckenzie Inn- a great supporter of touring bands and just a great guy!. A quick stop at the Funky Buddha in Boca Raton then it was on to Pensacola Beach for the Paradise Inn. We had a huge crowd of over 300 peeps at The Paradise. It was very cool to see so many folks come out. Pensacola Beach really suffered along with Louisiana last summer because of the BP oil disaster. I can verify that Pensacola Beach is just as stunning as I remember. Our final show in Florida took place at the very new Beal St Bottle Club in Fort Walton Beach, where you can bring your own booze. Another superb listening room with amazing decor. Congratulations to Beale St for winning the Beachcomber Best Music Club award.

Then it was on to Alabama for a show at The Green Bar formally Littles Willies and the newly opened "Shed" in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Our drummer Marc Dixon had a terrible bout of food poisoning and was too sick to perform for part of the first set at Humphreys in Huntsville, Alabama. The wonderful staff really took care of him. After a swig of pickle juice, Marc suddenly felt well enough to perform. What a trouper!!!! Our final show of the tour took place at stunning Blue Ridge Big Sky Farm in North Carolina, where we recorded part of the live show. We plan to return in June to record another show and then hopefully a new live CD will be born.

Our drive back to Michigan was a trip. Torrential rain, flooded highways and fog so dense that we could not see 2 feet in front of the van. It was tough that's for sure. Thankfully we made it safely home without any further mishaps. I would also like to offer up a prayer to the families of the victims of the devastating earthquake in New Zealand which destroyed the beautiful city of Christchurch. Also the blues world lost one of its extraordinary sons- Mr Eddie Kirkland in a car accident in Florida. Our heart felt condolences go out to Eddie's family, friends and fans.

In March we head out on the road for our annual West Coast tour. We will be touring to Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona and Texas.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper & Midwest Kind February Blog

2011-02-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all survived the huge snow storm that swept across the USA this week. Here in Michigan we experienced howling winds, several feet of snow and dangerous icey roads. We really appreciated our kind neighbor Tim for plowing us out of our house. Thankfully my band and I weren't out on tour. After two major accidents in 2010 we really didn't want to tempt fate. So sorry to hear of my Australian friends experiencing a category 5 cyclone in Cairns, Queensland. After all the massive flooding - a huge cyclone was all they needed. Thankfully it seems not too much damage was done.

January was spent mainly in Michigan with some superb shows at The Livery, The Cabbage Shed and an intimate acoustic show at The Crooked Tree Arts Center. We were pretty much dumped upon snow wise but the folks managed to come out despite the bad weather. Our new van Sheila enjoyed her first tour to Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. We were blessed with some nice weather for this tour and some great crowds.

February is now upon us- so that means we will be heading South to Florida, Alabama and North Carolina to get warm. We have a very full schedule- so we hope that you will all come out and support us. We plan to record a live CD at Blue Ridge Big Sky Farm in North Carolina. March will see Midwest Kind and I heading West to Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, California and Arizona. For our Chicago fans we have just announced a headlining show at Fitzgeralds in Berwyn on Friday March 11. Good news also for Des Moines, Iowa music fans- we have a new venue - All Play Stadium Bar & Grill. The shows are promoted by the sound people from Blues On Grand and will take place on Friday nights.

See you out on the road,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper January 2011 Blog

2011-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone,

We hope you had a good one. We had a brilliant show with the fabulous Rootstand at The Loading Dock in Traverse City, Michigan. A Great crowd with relatively warm temperatures for a Michigan winter. We all danced the night away and kissed 2010 goodbye with a vengence! The new year brings us a brand new Chevy Express 3500 LT touring van who goes by the name of "Sheila". We are also excited to announce that we have a new guitarist- the amazing Matt Besey from Saginaw, Michigan. Drew Pentkowski has decided to go back to school- we wish him all the very best.

Our very first show with Matt will take place this Saturday at The Livery in Benton, Harbor, Michigan, 8pm- so please come on down. We have an exciting year planned for 2011-several national tours, loads of festivals and a possible tour to Australia & Europe if all the stars are in alignment. We also plan to record a long awaited live CD. The last live CD I recorded was in 2002- so its been a while that's for sure. In January we will be mostly in Michigan with a quick trip to Missouri, Iowa & Kansas visiting some of our favorite spots. In February we head south to be warm in Alabama, Florida and North Carolina. In March we will be heading west to Colorado, Utah and California.

May 2011 be a year full of peace, joy, prosperity and inspiration.

See you out on the road,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper & Rootstand Huge NYE Show

2010-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick reminder that we will be doing a huge New Year's Eve extravaganza with the amazing Rootstand at The Loading Dock, 205 Lake Ave, Traverse City, Michigan. 49684. Tel:231-941-4422 Website: www.myspace.com/theloadingdocktch Tickets are a lowly $10, show starts around 9pm and goes to the wee hours of the morning.

Thank you all for your continued support. Hope you all had an amazing Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, & Holidays. May 2011 be a year full of peace, joy, prosperity and inspiration.

See you out on the road,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper December Blog

2010-11-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I hope all my friends in the USA and Canada had a Happy Thanksgiving. Wow this year has really flown by with tremendous speed. It has been a turbulent year for my band and I with some huge highs and some very deep lows. The release of my new CD "Stand Together" in May was a huge high. The number of excellent reviews gave me a true sense of accomplishment. Getting to number 10 on Billboard and number 2 on XM/ Sirius Bluesville was another achievement. Another huge high was working with the amazing special needs kids at The Buckingham Center For Exceptional Students in Fort Myers, Florida, the Williams Syndrome kids at the Williams Syndrome Camp in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the inner city kids of The Detroit Merit Academy. To help others through my music is a true blessing. I feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity.

Of the lows would be the major accident we had in North Carolina in May. But this was not to be a one off event. I have to say that my wife Bobbi and I are very lucky to be alive. On early Sunday morning (November 21) after a fantastic show at Billy's Lounge in Grand Rapids, Michigan we were hit from behind with huge force by an SUV on our way home. Our Dodge Sprinter was catapulted through the air which caused the Sprinter to flip on to its passenger side. Bobbi and I were suspended in mid air, held securely by our seat belts. Thankfully no major injuries- just a little bruised and battered. The whole side of the passenger side was nothing but a twisted metal mess. The front window and all the passenger side windows were shattered. The frame was twisted and the back doors demolished. It truly is miraculous that Bobbi and I only have some bruises to show for our ordeal. Thankfully the driver of the other car and his passengers were also OK. A good Samaritan with powerful arms pulled both Bobbi and I out of the wreck. The rest of the band had driven to the gig in their own cars- which was also a true blessing. My didgeridoos didn't even get a scratch, my amp, my harps- all were OK. On a sad note- our Dodge Sprinter- named Sylvia is no more- she was totaled by our insurance company State Farm- who I would have to say were very helpful and supportive. Marc our drummer came and picked us up at the scene of the accident and even gave us a bed for the night. We were very lucky.

So as we enter this Holiday season, I would like to suggest that we all look over our lives and count our blessings. Material things can always be replaced, but a loved one can't. Think of those less fortunate than yourself and if you can, try to do something for others. It doesn't have to be big- helping someone with their groceries, or opening a door for a stranger, helping out at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Or as in our case- a perfect stranger pulling us out of our wreck of a Sprinter van. Every little bit makes this planet a much better place. Giving is the greatest gift of all. I can certainly testify to that.

Thank you all for your continued support. Have an amazing Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays to all. May 2011 be a year full of joy, prosperity and inspiration.

See you out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper November Blog

2010-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

We are having some incredible weather here in Michigan, USA this Autumn. Just lovin' the sunshine!!! We began the month with a benefit for Robin Rogers at Callahan's in Michigan. Robin is on the same record label as me- Blind Pig Records. She has inoperable cancer so many musicians around the country have been putting together benefits to help pay for her medical costs. My band and I were only to happy to help out. Laurie Wright put this event together and we thank her for her incredible effort.

The rest of the month saw us touring to Tennessee, West Virgina, some home shows in Michigan, then on to Pennsylvania and Canada. We had a very sunny afternoon show at The Chattanooga State College then it was on to Brackins Bar in Maryville, Tennessee. We then headed to The Empty Glass in Charleston, West Virgina to perform to a packed house. We were very happy to be apart of the West Michigan Blues Society twentieth year bash at Billy's Lounge. The Rusty Wright band also performed which was a treat for us to see. October also saw the closure of Blues On Grand in Des Moines, Iowa- we thank Jeff Wagner for supporting us over the years and we wish him and his staff all the very best. We will really miss this great music venue.

We were very happy to visit our favorite club in Sharon, Pennsylvania - Tullys then we headed to the Canal Bank Shuffle in Thorold Canada. We had some fun and games crossing the border. The Canadian border guard kept asking me over and over whether or not I had any guns. Of course I didn't have- but it was funny to be asked the same question over and over again. As we waited in the Border lounge for our passports to be verified, we saw a young guy being handcuffed and being led away to a private room in the back. Not Good! Thankfully we were Kosher! The Canal Bank Shuffle was a superb event- huge crowd, big stage and fantastic sound. We finished the month with a show at Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak, Michigan. It was a Pazman Super session featuring some of Michigan's finest musicians. It was a great event with some almighty jams. News just to hand - Mark Pazman has just received a "Keeping Blues Alive" award for his Sunday blues radio show on WCFX. Congratulations to Paz. Please note that we have decided to move our December tour to the West Coast to April, 2011. So never fear we will get to you, its just going to be a little longer than expected. Hope to see you all out on the road this November.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper October Blog

2010-10-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Autumn is upon us already here in Michigan and Im starting to feel the chill in the air. We managed to escape the fury of Hurricane Earl over Labor Day Weekend. The national news services had us all terrified but thankfully Earl turned out to be more of a storm than a hurricane. After our shows at the Dinosaur BBQs in upstate New York, we drove to Albany just to be careful. At that point we weren't sure if our show at Harry's Bar in Hyannis, Massachusetts would be happening. Hyannis was directly in Earl's angry path. The show went ahead & it was bitter sweet, because Harry's was due to be closed after Labor Day. Despite the weather, we had a packed house and perhaps the wildest after party at a club I have ever experienced. I guess Harry's owners Laddy & Fred decided to let their hair down after more than twenty years in the business. Its such a pity that the owners of the building got greedy and doubled Harry's Bar's rent, making it impossible to continue operations. But that's corporations for you. Very little ethics, always after the dollars no matter what the cost to people's lives!! Our shows at Inn on the Blues & The Time Out Pub were also alot of fun. We are sorry to hear of our amazing timeout friend Kathy whose partner passed away suddenly. We are sending all our love to you Kathy.

So then it was back to Michigan for Dally In the Alley in down town Detroit. At first we were a little disappointed that we had an early afternoon slot. But it turned out to be the best slot of the festival because after our set- it just poured with rain for the rest of the day. We visited a new club for us- Treasure Lake Ski Lodge in Du Bois in Pennsylvania which was fun. The next day was Camp Jam in the Pines in New Jersey which was just fabulous. Camp Jam is located at The Old Cedar Camp Ground in Monroeville, a stunning location with a bunch of very cool people. We met up with other road musicians- the Skyla Burrell Band who played a great set. Then it was back to Michigan for the Rootenanny at the Rocky Top Farm in Ellsworth. We got to hang with the Rootstand guys who are the nicest people that you could ever meet. We will be doing a double bill with Rootstand at The Loading Dock in Traverse City for New Year's Eve. It should be a great show.

We finished the month with a show in Chicago at Martyrs for the Chicago World Music Festival. My band & I opened up for an Indian Sitar group which was a very unique experience. I also received some great news. I will be writing the music for a documentary about the life of Marilyn Chambers. Some other exciting news is that drummer Marc Dixon became a proud new home owner. Hope to see you out on the road this Autumn.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper September Blog

2010-09-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Wow the summer has really flown and Labor Day Weekend here in the USA is upon us. We head to the East Coast this Labor Day weekend with shows at Harry's, Hyannis, Mass, Inn on The Blues, York Beach, Maine & The Time out Pub in Rockland, Maine. Hurricane Earl is not going to effect our shows. August saw more festival madness. After our incredible weekend at the Maximum Blues Festival in Quebec, Canada we headed to Grand Rapids, Michigan to do a free show for the kids at the Williams Syndrome Camp. Now that was a saga- do you think we could find the Indian Trails Camping Grounds?. We drove up and down, Bobbi got out of the van to ask for directions three different times. It seems our GPS couldn't get her act together, so we had to rely on old fashioned local knowledge. We arrived about one hour late which was a first for us, but it didn't seem to matter, because everyone was so happy to see us. I have to say that this part of my musical career is the most fulfilling. These kids just give you so much love. I invited one of the kids up on stage to sing a 12 bar blues. The teachers told me he had a great voice. Well that kid sang like an old Chicago blues dude- it was amazing.

The next day we headed to The Cow Pie Festival in Alaska, Michigan. The weather was stifling hot, but no one seemed to care at the Cow Pie, and you really did need to watch where you stepped. The Festival was held on a working Angus Cattle Farm- so the cow pies were a plenty!!! There was no time to stick around as we had to drive to Madison, Wisconsin that night. It was a bummer because our good friends Biscuit Miller and Larry McCray were there and we all wanted to hang out. We made it to Duluth Minnesota the next day for the brilliant Bayfront Blues Festival where we performed just before Rod Piazza and Dr John. Bobbi & I hang out with Dr John before his set and we had a very in depth conversation about New Orleans and the BP Oil disaster. It was very inspiring because a week later we saw Dr John on the HBO Katrina Documentary by Spike Lee "If God is willing and the da creek don't rise" We had a fantastic set at Bayfront and was the highest CD seller of the day. We performed at a very cool bar called the Smiling Moose in Wisconsin on the way home to Michigan.

The next week we performed at the Cross Roads Music Festival in Ypsilanti, Michigan, we had a great set but the festival was closed down because a bunch of kids were fighting at another festival close by. We drove to Chicago that night & the next day we arrived at the hotel in Wausau, Wisconsin for the Big Bull Falls Festival. As we were rolling into the car park of Country Inn & Suites, the crank shaft pulley fell off our van. Yes it fell off!! After the accident in May, the transmission in late June and then having to wait for nearly 4 weeks for the body work to be repaired, Sylvia the Silver Bullet (Dodge Sprinter) was out of action yet again. Well I have to say on the positive side, we did land in Dodge Sprinter heaven- there was a dealership just 2 miles up the road and the kind folks at the festival came and picked us up & took us to the festival. The coordination was amazing- really no stress at all. We had a great set at the festival and we were the highest CD seller that day. We experienced the amazing music of Ruthie Foster and the Tommy Castro Band, the weather was picture perfect and the location was just stunning. Having a break down on a weekend, meant that we had to wait till Monday for any work to be done. So after the wrong part arrived on Tuesday, the van wasn't ready to go till Wednesday afternoon. I think everyone was going insane because we were only supposed to be away from home for one day which turned in four and a half days. But thankfully we are back on the road. I really have to thank the folks at The Country Inn & Suites in Schofield who really helped us out with a great deal on accommodation and a very late check out.

We are now driving home from a great weekend at The Paola Roots Festival in Kansas where we hung out with Hamilton Loomis and his band and Anthony Gomes who rolled in late Friday night from Chicago. We all stood about in the lobby of the hotel swapping road stories for hours-it was great to catch up with these guys. On a sad note we performed our last show at Blues On Grand in Des Moines, Iowa, unfortunately this club will be closing down in October. We will miss Jeff Wagner and his crew at this amazing blues mecca. We are all praying for a miracle to keep this club open. On another sad note, Harry's in Hyannis, MA will be closing after this weekend. Another great club gone, such a pity! Hope to see you out on the road this summer and fall.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper August Blog

2010-08-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Some amazing news just in- the new CD "Stand Together" is currently number 2 on the XM/Sirius Bluesville charts- woohooo!. It looks like the songs "Love=Peace=Freedom" & "Not My Brother" are the favorite tunes. And the CD has also entered the top 20 for the second time at number 17 on the national blues charts (Roots Music Report)

The month of July was festival madness. Our van was still stuck in Peoria Illinois so we had to make do. Our road angel friend Matt Eimer lent us his mini van for two weeks. It was just driving madness- in one week in particular we drove to Traverse City Michigan from Grass Lake, Michigan and back in one day for the Cherry Festival where we opened for the very talented Tommy Castro Band. And Whoah it was HOT!!! but the cool thing was that I got to hang out with Kenny Olson (Ex Kid Rock) and Larry Mccray. Then we drove to Nescopeck, Pennsylvania for the amazing Briggs Farm Festival where I opened the festival with an Acapella version of "The Star Spangled Banner". Pretty nerve racking for an Australian- but it all worked out fine. And yes we plan to post some footage up on facebook soon. Then we drove to Rochester, New York for a quick set at the Big Rib Festival. Managed to hang out for a little bit with Chef Jimi & Leslie and a few other cool folks such as Ken McKenzie from Florida. Then we had to head back to Michigan for another festival- Blissfest up in Northern Michigan- the very next day. So after driving to Blissfest, doing two festival performances and a workshop- Bobbi & I had to drive home that night - so that we could drive to Peoria, Illinois the next day to pick up our van.

As you all may remember the Dodge Sprinter's transmission died a horrible death in June. It cost $5300 (triple ouch) to repair. I tell you that van (aka The Silver Bullet) was a sight for soar eyes when we finally picked her up. Then we had to drive the van and the mini van to Burlington, Iowa to pick up our bass rig and drumkit from The Washington Club and to give Matt back his van. Bobbi and I decided to put four new tyres on the mini van as a present to Matt for his incredible generosity. He made a joke about wanted to let us borrow his truck as well- so I guess he was pretty happy.

The following week we performed on Fox TV's Morning show and also the Mitch Albom's radio show. The TV performance is up on the Harper website if you would like to take a peek. The International Blues Fest, Windsor, Canada was amazing. There had to be 10 000 folks in attendance. The whole performance was aired on Roger's TV in Canada and it was such a great show. We opened for Foghat who performed a great set. We were rained out at the Michigan Brewer's Guild Summer Festival. It just amazes me how many people were perfectly willing to stand in ankle-to knee deep water just to drink some great beer. Serious beer drinkers in Michigan, that's for sure!!!!. The Taste of Lincoln Festival in Chicago was also a great day with picture perfect weather.

We headlined the Maximum Blues Festival de Carleton sur Mer in Quebec, Canada on August 7. The Silver Bullet was still in the body shop- getting the body work done from our accident in May. (Yes its been quite the saga). So we had to squash five people into a Hyundai Sonata rental car for the trip- What fun! I would have to say the Maximum Blues Fest was just brilliant. Stunning location, amazing sound and lights and fabulous hospitality. It was worth the forty hour round trip. As of today FINALLY we now have the Dodge Sprinter back on the road

We have some amazing festivals coming up- The Cowpie Festival, Michigan, Bayfront Blues Festival, Minnesota, The Crossroads Music Festival, Ypsilanti, Michigan, The Big Bull Falls Festival, Wisconsin and the Paola Roots Festival, Kansas.

Hope to see you out on the road

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper July Blog Fox TV appearance

2010-07-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

For those of you who missed my performance with Midwest Kind on The Morning Show on Fox Television Detroit check out this link:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/entertainment/the_vault/harper-performs-on-fox-2

The new CD "Stand Together" hit number 10 on the national blues charts (Roots Music Report) and number 13 and climbing on the Bluesville sirius/ xm radio chart. So please keep requesting tunes- it really helps.

The Silver Bullet (Dodge Sprinter van) is back on the road after being stranded in Peoria, Illinois for two long weeks getting her transmission replaced. Wooohoooo! Got an incredible show on Friday July 16 at The Windsor Blues Fest, Canada opening for Foghat & then Saturday July 17 at The Cabbage Shed in Elberta, MI.

Hope to see you all out on the road this summer.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper July Blog "Stand Together" CD hits number 10

2010-06-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

The month of June brought us some exciting news. The new CD "Stand Together" (Blind Pig Records) is now number 10 on the national US blues charts (Roots Music Report) & climbing. Thanks to you all for getting us to such a great position. Its an amazing achievement considering that I am a harmonica/ didgeridoo playing dude from Australia.

Our show at The Flint Art Fair, home of our drummer Marc Dixon, was sweltering hot. Our performance at The Ann Arbor Summer Festival in Michigan was cut short by tornado warning sirens. Thankfully no tornadoes hit the area but the storm was very fierce and we were lucky to arrive home in one piece.

We didn't do too many shows this month as I needed to get my Dodge Sprinter Van repaired due to the accident we had in May. We were worried about the transmission, as the engine was making some strange noises, but we were assured by the Dodge mechanic that the transmission was in good shape. Famous last words, so as to speak!!!!. On our way to Burlington, Iowa for a show at The Washington with the band Indigenous, my van just died on a little back road just north of Carthage, Illinois. With very little phone service and not knowing what to do, we were blessed by the arrival of a complete stranger who hooked us up with a tow and a mechanic. Bobbi then called our good friend Matt Eimer who was the music director for the Simply the Blues Festival in Fort Madison. Matt came to the rescue with only one hour's sleep. He turned up with his truck and horse trailer and his son followed with a mini van. Matt's incredible generosity enabled us to make it to our shows in Burlington, Iowa and the Bear Creek Blues Festival in Slater, Missouri. Matt even let us drive his mini van back to Michigan, where we now await the verdict of our sick Sprinter, which had to be towed to Peoria, Illinois. We hope our insurance company will cover the repairs. I still can't believe that these kind people came to our rescue without a moment's notice. A huge thank you to Matt and his son Josh and that kind lady who to stopped to help us and even let us use her phone. Many thanks also to the Riverbend band who let us use their drum kit and bass rig at the Bear Creek Blues Fest.

We have a summer packed with many great festivals which will take us to New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Quebec, Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Massachusetts and Maine. For those in the New England area we have an open date on Saturday September 4 (Labor Day Weekend), so if anyone would like my band and I to play at their summer party, please let me know. Hope to see you all out on the road this summer.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper June Blog

2010-06-17T09:42:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Well May was a month of trials, tribulations and triumphs. The month began with a great show with Rootstand at The Savoy in Michigan. We then drove to North Carolina and had a fabulous four days at The LEAF Festival in Black Mountain. We saw some amazing performers: The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Ozomatli, Big Sam's Funky Nation and many more. The festival hospitality was unbelievable - the food was just incredible- organic and tasty yum yum good. We also made didgeridoos out of PVC pipes with the Kids of the Montessori School who then performed with us at the festival, which was alot of fun. The next week was spent in PA, upstate New York, York Beach, Maine and Hartford, Connecticut. We then made the big drive south to Florida. On May 16 we celebrated the 200, 000 mile mark on our faithful 2005 dodge sprinter (nick named-the silver bullet). The next day, whilst driving through North Carolina in torrential rain, an out of control speeding driver aquaplaned across highway 85 south. All we saw was a glimpse of a Ford Taurus doing 360 degree spins towards our van. With a loud bang, we came to a sudden halt on the side of the highway. The Ford Taurus then bounced back across the highway. We were all shaken but not hurt and amazingly the female driver of the Ford was OK too, but her car was totaled. The passenger side of our Dodge Sprinter sustained damage on every panel and the middle door was almost impossible to open. We were very lucky and thankfully we were able to close that middle door, so we were able to continue our tour.

It was such a relief to arrive at the Paradise Inn, Pensacola Beach, Florida that evening. We had a few days to chill out and to gather our thoughts. On May 18 the new CD "Stand Together" was released through Blind Pig Records and we celebrated with a show at The Paradise Inn. The next day we were invited for a sail by our new friend Frank Toney around the inlet in Pensacola, we were joined by our Texan friend Michelle Sukup. Thankfully the huge BP oil slick near Louisiana hadn't reached Pensacola Beach- so it was a beautiful day. We had some more great shows at The Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, Ms Newbies in Panama City Beach, The Celtic Ray in Punta Gorda and the Riverfront Music Festival in Sebastian. Florida was hot and humid and the shows were alot of fun. We even caught up with former drummer Scott Key at the festival and made many new friends. Our final show took place at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center for the special needs kids in Fort Myers. For me this was the highlight of our tour. When you see these exceptional students in action, you realize it is they who are the mountain climbers.

Just yesterday on our way to Maryville, Tennessee, we saw a huge lightning bolt hit a tree on the side of highway 75 just north of Atlanta during a powerful storm. Its loud boom sounded like an explosion and it scared the hell out of us. Man this tour has been quite the trip!

On a positive note. The new CD "Stand Together" is getting rave reviews far and wide and is already getting airplay on Sirius/ XM Bluesville and is due to become a pick to click very soon. So please request a track at your local radio stations to help us chart on the national radio charts. UK's Blues Matters Magazine has added the new CD to its top ten discs for 2010. There will also be a feature article in the Alternative Root this month- So life is good! Hope to see you out on the road this summer.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper Blog "Stand Together" is Released today!!!!!

2010-05-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Tuesday May 18 marks the release of my new CD "Stand Together" through Blind Pig Records. It features Marc Dixon (drums/ percussion) and Chris Wiley Smith (Bass) from my touring band "Midwest Kind" with specials guests: Gregg Leonard on electric guitar and Chris Du Nord on acoustic guitar and Kurt Wolak on piano, hammond organ and wurlitzer. We are all really excited about this new release. I feel its the best work I've done to date.

On a dramatic note my band and I were involved in an accident yesterday, Monday May 17, as we drove down Highway 86 south in North Carolina heading to Florida. Another vehicle spinning out of control in torrential rain hit us hard on the passenger side of our van. Everyone is OK- just a little shaken. The female driver of the other car is also OK. Our van sustained damage to all panels on the passenger side, but is still drivable. The middle door barely opens but we are still able to continue with our tour. We have arrived in Gulf Breeze, Florida and will be able to finish our May / June dates. Once we get back to Michigan, the van will be taken in for extensive repairs.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring and summer,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper May Blog/ CD & Book release

2010-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Well April just flew by and here we are in May. Finally after much anticipation my new CD "Stand Together" (Blind Pig Records) and Bobbi Llewellyn's E book "Nasty Motels, A Wombat And a Big Red Van" are now available on our website: www.harper.biz We will be doing a special pre CD release offer for all the members of our blog for a limited number of CDs prior to the CD Release date of May 18. I'll even sign the new CD for all pre orders. All pre CD orders help us chart on the national radio charts through out the USA. So we would love to hear from you all. 'Stand Together" features my fabulous dummer Marc Dixon and my amazing bass player Chris Wiley Smith. Guest guitarists are Gregg Leonard, who was heavily featured on "Day By Day" and Chris Du Nord on acoustic. The very talented Kurt Wolak plays grand piano, wurlitzer and hammond organ. The new CD was recorded at our favorite recording studio" Big Sky Recordings" in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We are very happy with the way it turned out. There is alot of harp and didgeridoo. Fans of my plastic slide didgeridoo nick named "scum bag" will be happy to know that he makes his debut performance on "Stand Together"

For those who are curious about what life is like out on the road, check out Bobbi's E Book "Nasty Motels, a Wombat and a Big Red Van" on our website. Its a hilarious and insightful commentary about our life on the road from the early days in Australia to the US and beyond. These real life situations are hilarious, terrifying, inspiring and at times bizarre. It's a wild ride and not for the faint of heart. For fans of our blogs- the E book will take you to a whole other dimension. We also have a new Harper shirt available to coincide with the release of the new CD and book.

During April we had a pretty relaxing month after a full on March tour. No major dramas to report this time, which is unusual for us. Our shows at the Livery in Benton Harbor and Rubes Bar & Grill in Flint, Michigan were a lot of fun. Bobbi and I donated a didgeridoo presentation to the kids at the Detroit Merit Academy in down town Detroit. It was pretty scary driving through all the burnt out, barely standing buildings of inner city Detroit. You actually forget just how impoverished this area is. Its very sad to see. And then we came upon the Detroit Merit Academy- a small oasis in the midst of all this devastation. The teachers at this Charter school were absolutely superb and the children were an inspiration. Everyone really appreciated our presentation on the didgeridoo and Australian indigenous culture.

We ended the month with a wild weekend at the Pee Dee Blues Bash & International Festival in Florence, South Carolina. We had alot of fun and met many great new friends. Those folks in Florence are a crazy bunch. We hope to head back in November for the Pecan Festival. We were happy to miss all the tornadoes that rolled in to town just a few hours after we left for our long ass drive back to Michigan. For all you Michigandas, we have a last minute booking at a great new music room called The Savoy in downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan. We will be performing a double bill with the very popular Rootstand.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring and summer,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs, E Book & T Shirt orders
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind (just for chatting)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper Late April Blog

2010-04-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just a quicky!!!!. We have a last minute show added for Saturday May 1 at a great new music room called "The Savoy" in Ypsilanti, Michigan, 8pm- a double bill with the happening "Rootstand". So please come on down. Also we have a new Release date for new CD "Stand Together" for Tuesday May 18. We will be offering pre orders for the new CD at the end of next week on our website: www.harper.biz There will be a limited number of preorder CDs and they will be signed. So stay tuned for our blog which will come out next week.

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) (CD orders, new book & T shirts)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper April Blog

2010-04-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day Everyone,

The big news is that my new CD "Stand Together" (Blind Pig) and Bobbi's book "Nasty Motels, A Wombat And a Big Red Van" are due to be released on May 11. Not too long to go now!!!

My band "Midwest Kind" and I have just returned from a month long tour to Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, California, Washington and Vancouver, Canada and what a wild ride it was. I performed two didgeridoo presentations with the band to well over 1000 kids in Fort Dodge, Iowa preceded by a fabulous show at Byrons in Pomeroy, Iowa complete with Jerry Garcia paraphernalia. Much to our Drummer Marc's delight.

Mostly we had great weather except for the blizzard like conditions on the way to The Stage Door in Mount Shasta, California. The highway was actually closed down, just after we made it through. Our shows at The Torch Club and Half Moon Bay Brewing Company were well attended and alot of fun. As was, The Yale Hotel in Vancouver, Canada- with no problems crossing the border. Our Washington shows at The Upstage, Highway 99, The Spar and Anacortes Rockfish were all alot of fun.

We had two shows scheduled for the legendary Little Bear Saloon in Evergreen. I drove our Sprinter van from Groovacious in Cedar City, Utah to Evergreen, Colorado. It was a brilliant drive, the amazing rock formations of Utah are really something to see. When we set off from Cedar City, we had just over half a tank of gas. Both Bobbi and I thought it would be enough to get us to the next gas station once we had driven through the mountains. Wrong! When we rolled into Gas station in Green River, we had one eighth of tank of fuel left- woah- that was close! We arrived at The Little Bear around 9pm the day before our shows. Our band was staying in The Little Bear’s band house, while Bobbi and I booked a room at The Brook Forest Inn about five miles away. We were both famished once we arrived at the Inn and checked into our rather pokey but comfortable room, after puffing our way up three flights of stairs. We headed down stairs to the bar and asked the barman Rod if we could order some food. He told us that the kitchen had closed for the evening, but he would try to get us some bread to eat. Within minutes a huge platter of ham and cheese sandwiches were brought to us and we weren’t even charged for them. We were so appreciative. The next day, one of the cleaners suggested that we change rooms, so that we could use the wireless internet on the second floor. I was told I could pick whichever room I liked. So I choose a beautiful room called “The Chateau” with a huge wooden king bed, with a purple lace canopy, antique lamps and a large hot tub. I couldn’t believe our good fortune. That night we arrived at The Little Bear for our Friday night show. Drew our guitarist, told us that Chris, our bass player had a dizzy spell on the outside wooden veranda of The Little Bear, the night before. Chris had passed out and badly cut his ear. When I saw Chris I could see that his left ear was very swollen and a deep shade of purple. He told me that his fall had caused him to lose his short term memory for a while, but gradually the memories began to come back to him. Drew had wanted to take him to the hospital, but Chris had begged him to wait. Thankfully he recovered.

On Saturday morning, at the Brook Forest Inn, Bobbi and I were treated to breakfast in bed. I just could not believe the hospitality of the folk at the Brook Forest. We never asked for a thing and yet they kept doing nice things for us. That evening Harper and the guys had a lively show at The Bear. After the show, we hung out with some of the Bear staff for a few drinks and a chat. I guess the guys in the band were all a little toasted, but nothing over the top. The problem with drinking alcohol in high altitudes is that you become drunker a lot quicker, so you really need to pace yourself and drink lots of water. Bobbi and I left the club early to drive back to the Inn. Apparently The Forest Brook Inn, which was built in 1913, is considered to be haunted. When I opened the front door of the Inn around about 2.30am, we startled an unusual group of five very well dressed people in the lounge room, who didn’t say a word when I greeted them. They just stared at us. It was weird! At first I thought they maybe ghosts, until Bobbi pointed out that the attractive black woman with long dreads had a laptop computer in her hands. Bobbi thought that they were paranormal investigators. When I made some inquiries the next morning, Bobbi was proved correct.

The next day when we met up with the band, only Chris our bass player was at the band house. Chris explained what had befallen Drew our guitarist and Marc our drummer. Drew had walked into the kitchen of the band house to make some popcorn shortly after leaving the Little Bear the night before. Marc heard an almighty crash, and ran into the kitchen to find Drew unconscious on the floor with a thin stream of bile seeping out of his mouth. He tried desperately to revive him, he even splashed some water on Drew’s face, but nothing seemed to work. Drew was breathing but was out for the count. We had no cell phone service at the Brook Forest Inn. So Marc did the only thing he could do and dialled 911 for an ambulance. Marc placed Drew on his side and waited for the ambulance to arrive. The paramedics told Marc he did the right thing once they had examined Drew. After working on Drew for a few minutes, the two paramedics were able to revive him. Drew was held for observation at the St Anthony Central Hospital in Denver until Sunday morning. It was a combination of high altitude and booze which caused him to pass out. I honestly believe that Marc saved Drew’s life that night. Like a trooper Drew insisted on performing at our Sunday show at Jake's Roadhouse in Arvada. Sitting on a stool, because it was too difficult for him to stand, Drew shakily played his guitar. What a way to end the last day of our tour!

Hope to see you out on the road this Spring,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper March Blog

2010-03-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Spring is on its way finally. After digging my van out of a three foot snow drift that blew across my driveway this week- Im so ready for some warmth. Today we begin our annual trek across the USA hitting Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Utah, Northern California, Vancouver, Canada, Washington State, Colorado then home to Michigan. This is one of my favorite tours of the year, the scenery is just stunning. We plan to visit the Redwood Forest again in Northern California on the amazing highway 101 and we are certain to be stopping many times to take in the view amidst the mountains of Utah and Colorado. We will be also be visiting a few schools this week where my band and I will be demonstrating the deeply spiritual didgeridoo (yidaki).

We have some exciting news just to hand, Bobbi- my wife and manager will be releasing her new book "Nasty Motels, a Wombat and a Big Red Van" sometime in April. The book is about our life on the road and all the crazy, inspirational, bizarre and life threatening situations (LOL) that we have faced over the years. It will include many pictures and paraphernalia from our various tours, including the early days in Australia when we first started all this madness, plus tours of the US, Europe and the UK. So stay tuned for more details next month.

The new CD "Stand Together" through Blind Pig Records is set for a May 11 release. Can't wait!!! I really think that this CD is the best one Ive written and it features my fabulous band "Midwest Kind" plus some special guests. Im sure you are all going to dig it. Listen out for some of the new tunes during our upcoming tours.

Sad to hear about the passing of blues guitarist Li'l Dave Thompson in a car accident on his way home to Mississippi from the Low Country Blues Bash in South Carolina. We were on the same festival as Dave. It just goes to show how dangerous it can be out on those roads. So please buckle up! Our heart felt sympathy goes out to Dave's wife and family.

Hope to see you all this spring.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper February Blog

2010-02-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to snowy February here in the USA. January saw us in the freezing cold in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Michigan then we headed south to Alabama and Florida for some much appreciated warmth. Our Florida shows at the fabulous Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahasse, Ms Newbies in Panama City Beach, Aces in Bradenton, Celtic Rays in Punta Gorda, The Backroom in Boca Raton were alot of fun. As was Little Willies in Alabama. We performed yet another show for the special needs kids at the Buckingham Center for Exceptional Students where as per usual we had a blast. It seems with each visit we stay longer and longer. The wonderful kids and their teachers are such a blessing to experience. This time we all had to be finger printed which is now required by law for all Floridian schools. Our new guitarist Drew thought it would be funny to put down as an alias "Shifty Joe" on his application, not realizing the seriousness of the situation. Thankfully he crossed it out. So I guess Drew now has a new nick name. After a two year absence we performed at Key West's fabulous Green Parrot Bar. The afternoon session was huge with at least 200 in attendance. There were quite alot of familiar faces plus several people just off the boat from the Legendary blues cruise.

After Florida we headed north to Virgina where we hung out with Mike and Jane Aronson. Copious amounts of red wine, fine cheese and large steaks were consumed. The next day we presented a didgeridoo workshop at the Jefferson Center Music Lab in Roanoke, Virginia followed by an evening show at Blue 5. We were surprised to see our former keyboard player James and drummer Scott at the show. it was great to catch up. We were urged by the locals to leave town that night to avoid the huge winter storm that was coming through the next day. So after the show we drove through the night to Camden, South Carolina narrowly missing the snowmaggedon and arriving at about 5.30am. We checked into the first hotel that had an open sign on. Later we discovered that we had checked in the crack hotel central. Its hard to see at night- especially when you're tired, but no harm was done. We had a great show at The Venue on Broad then we headed south to Charleston for the Low Country Blues Fesitval. We got to hang out with the Kyla Burrell Band for a bit at the first show, then later Steve Simon, Keith & T at The Mill Lounge.

Some bad news just to hand. We have decided to cancel our upcoming UK tour, due to the down turn in the world economy. This has forced us to cut back on our international touring schedule for this year. But the good news is that we picked up some other US festivals during the same time frame. The new CD through Blind Pig is due to be released on May 11- can't wait ! Hope to see you all out on the road.

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper January Blog "Happy New Year"

2010-01-05T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year. I hope you are all having a great start to the new year. The month of December was spent in the recording studio- "Big Sky Recording" in Ann Arbor, Michigan working on the new CD. It was pretty intense with many long hours. I am happy to say that the new CD is finished and now awaits mastering. Our record company Blind Pig Records plans to release it in early May of this year. I know its a long way off but these CD releases always take more time than we would like. The recording process was fabulous, Marc Dixon on Drums, Chris Smith on Bass, Gregg Leonard on Guitar and Kurt Wolak on Keyboard. It is a 12 song, 48 minute plus CD which Im sure many of you will dig once it has been released.

With a new year, comes a new guitarist- Drew Pentkowski, a great Michigan guitarist who is sure to win some fans. His slide guitar is unbelievable! We are all happy that he has joined Midwest Kind.

This week we tour Michigan and Indiana with tours next week to Illinois, Missouri then down to Alabama and Florida at the end of the month. Our Florida tour will include a visit to our pals at Buckingham Exceptional Student Center and a long awaited visit to Key West. In February we hit South Carolina, Virginia, Upstate New York, Massachusetts, Maine and ending up in Michigan. In March we have a month long tour to the West Coast and in between which will take us all the way to Vancouver, Canada. Then its off to the United Kingdom in April. We had a fantastic year in 2009 and things are looking great for 2010. Thank you all for sharing the journey.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper December Blog

2009-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hi there everyone,

Its cccccold here in Michigan, USA. Wow another year has just sped by so quickly. But I have to say its been a great year for my band "Midwest Kind" and myself. We have alot to be thankful for. And a huge thank you to all those folks who came out to our shows and festival performances this year. We had an amazing 30 festival bookings this year!!! Its truly a blessing to have your support.

I am writing this blog on my laptop at Big Sky Recording Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. we are into day three of recording my third Blind Pig Record release. The band is sounding great and the songs are starting to take shape. We plan to have the CD out late April, early May, 2010 to combine with our upcoming United Kingdom tour.

In November we headed to the Midwest and Colorado. Our shows at Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City, Uncle Bos, Topeka and the Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska were a blast. So many friends turned up- it made us all feel good. Then on to Colorado where we were bombarded by heavy snow. We still managed to perform our shows at The Little Bear and Lincolns Roadhouse.

We had three shows in Michigan in mid November, The Livery, Lake Superior Arts Center and Billys. The show at Billys was HUGE!!! we hope to be back in May to do a CD Release Party. Then it was south to Fort Myers, Florida to perform for the special needs kids at the Buckingham Exceptional Student Center. And what a truly inspirational show it was!!!. These kids were so appreciative that the band and I had come to visit their school. One little wheel chair bound boy was so excited he was emitting screams, or should I say shrill squeaks of excitement. He just couldn’t contain himself. It was a wonderful thing to experience. There was another little girl sitting on the stage who was just moshing to the music. Her entire head was braided and her braids flicked wildly about as she head banged to the music. Those children that could dance did and those in wheel chairs were assisted by teachers and fellow students. We added another special needs school to the tour- Westgate School in Pensacola, Florida. We were blown away by the dancing of these children. These kids had amazing rhythm and coordination. They collectively clapped their hands in complex poly rhythms complete with syncopation. Many musicians couldn't do this, let alone the average person. Bobbi later inquired about the music program at the school and learned that Westgate School has an extensive music program complete with drumming circles. Just amazing!!!. It just goes to show that music has a profound soulful effect physically as well as mentally.

Our shows at Celtic Rays, The Funky Blues Shack were fun. At the Paradise Inn in Gulf Breeze, we experienced a huge flood and one of our shows was canceled. Blues Tavern, Little Willies, Brackins were all well attended. We had a last minute show come up at The Bushman Brewhouse in Indiana which was alot of fun.

Our last show for the year will take place at the 411 Club in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This will be Mike Howe's last show, so please come down to send him off with a bang. There's also a whisper that the Chicago Rhythm n Blues Kings will be down later to jam!!

Have an amazing Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Happy Holidays to all. May 2010 be full of joy and inspiration.

See you out on the road,

Harper And Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper November Blog

2009-11-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Winter is nearly upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere. We have one more month of shows then we go into the studio at Big Sky Recordings in Ann Arbor, Michigan to record the new CD for my third Blind Pig Record release. Woohooo! Its been an exciting two months with John Mayall releasing my song "Just What Youre Looking For" as track two on his new CD "Tough" (Eagle Records) and my friend "Dog The Bounty Hunter" using "Do What Is Right" on one of his bounty hunting episodes on the A & E TV network.

We had a nice warm tour to Tennessee and Virginia with shows at the Chattanooga State Community College, Blue 5 and Attucks Theater for the 'Discovery Music Series". Attucks Theater is a fabulous venue with a spacious stage and superb sound. We certainly hope to do a show there again soon. We noticed an immediate drop in temperature when we headed to upstate New York, Connecticut and Maine. We did a festival in Maine called the Harmony Harvest Festival. Man it was ccccold. The audience basically huddled round several log fires for the entire event. The festival took place on a stunning property just out of the tiny town of Harmony. We hope to visit this festival again when its warmer. On our way out of the festival, we were pulled over by the police, but we were totally "Kosher", so no problems there.

We performed a didgeridoo presentation at The Naples Elementary School in New York, followed by a very cool show at Black Eyed Sallys. We had a last minute booking (three weeks notice) at a Canadian Festival called the "Canal Bank Shuffle"in Thorold, Ontario. We were booked to perform at The Holy Rosary Hall- quite a large theater at 1.30pm. It was quite early in the day for us, so we weren't sure if there would be a crowd. Well we were mistaken, quite a decent crowd turned up for the show and the sound was brilliant. My band "Midwest Kind" & I had a great show!!! The only mishap was an elderly gentleman who walked up to the front of the stage and started yelling at Marc our drummer, saying that the band was too loud. I guess he picked the wrong person to yell at because this made Marc hit his timbales even louder in defiance. Seeing that he was getting no where with Marc, the man then walked over to the sound man to yell at him instead. I was told later that this particular guy does this sort of thing every year.

We finished off the month of October with a huge Halloween Party at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park where we opened for Ohio legends Ekoostik Hookah. Our band all dressed up with Mike dressed as a cow, Marc- a fluffy bunny and Chris came as a bumble bee. They looked hilarious. I dressed up as Mel Gibson from "Brave Heart". All the pics are up on our myspace page. www.myspace.com/harperband The guys from Ekoostik Hookah got me up to jam with them during their set. A great way to finish the month. We head out on the road this week to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, then Michigan and Florida

Hope to see you out on the road,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper October Blog

2009-10-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

September saw us leaving the UK, doing a show in Michigan the next day, then driving to Canada for the second annual Portstock Festival in stunning Port Dalhousie. We were all exhausted but we had a great show in Canada and helped to raise money for the purchase of equipment for The St Catherines General Hospital Foundation. $15000 was raised, which is amazing. The next week we had a show in Kalamazoo at The Evergreen Hall which benefited The National Kidney Foundation followed by our favorite Flint Michigan club- Rubes. Some exciting news just to hand, is that British Blues Legend "John Mayall" has just released my song "Just What You're Looking for" on his new CD "Tough" (Eagle Records). I also got my third song- "Do What is right" on "Dog The Bounty Hunter"- on the A&E TV network.

The last week of September we had several school shows in Burlington, Iowa and Springfield ,Missouri which were alot of fun. The kids really dig the didgeridoo!!. The band and I also performed at a beautiful winery called the Sugar Clay Winery just outside the town of Thurman in Iowa. It was an early finishing show and we were dreading going back to our hotel. When we had arrived earlier in the day in the tiny town of Tabor, we felt a little intimidated by the old turn of the century Inn that would be our home for the night. It was a double storey classic styled building with grey paint peeling on every panel and a "For Sale" sign out the front. We finally met up with the owner "Jean" and checked in. We nick named the house “The Amityville Horror House” because it looked so spooky. The inside of the Inn was quite beautiful- dark polished cedar wooden panels and floor boards with colourful Indian rugs. It was quite a surprise, considering the ominous exterior. We were the only people staying at the Inn, even the owner "Jean" didn’t stay there, which we thought was a little odd. I was looking at one of the round wooden breakfast tables in the down stairs lounge room and to my astonishment saw a magazine move all by its self. It was as if someone had picked it up and threw it across the room. The house was definitely haunted!.

After the show at the Winery, we decided to hit a local bar in town which was with in walking distance from our haunted Inn. The neighborhood bar was called “Glory Day’s” and we had a wild night of pool playing. We planned to drive back to Michigan early the next morning, so Bobbi and I decided to leave Glory Days round mid night. The streets were deserted in Tabor’s Main Street as we walked along the cracked pavement back to the Inn. I open the back door of the Inn and walked into the lounge room, I was startled by a man standing in front of the fire place. In a blink of an eye, he vanished. I asked Bobbi if she had seen the man too, and she said she had.

Having survived the haunted house, we have a busy touring schedule coming up with shows in Tennessee, Virginia, Upstate New York, Connecticut, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio and back to Canada.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper September Blog

2009-09-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just back from an amazing UK tour- 13 shows in 13 days!!! Thankfully we have a few days to recover before it all starts again. August was a great month for festivals. We visited the White Mountain Blues n Boogies Festival in New Hampshire here in the US. It was VERY hot and we performed in the baking Sunday afternoon sun facing the stunning white mountains. The sound was superb and the crowd really dug the show despite the heat. We performed also at our favorite clubs- Harrys & Inn On The Blues. After a show at Kclingers Tavern we headed to New York for the Chenango Blues Festival. We did several workshops at a Youth Camp, the public Library and a Veteran's Home. So we basically covered every age imaginable in one day!!!. The next day we performed two shows at The Festival and brought the house down. Chenango was alot of fun, really well organized and probably the best hospitality ever. After the festival we all got to hang out in the town of Norwich where there was plenty of live music to be heard. We caught up with amazing musicians: Mitch Woods and Chris Cain. Bobbi and I also hung out with our good buddys Chef Jimi and his lovely wife plus several other folks drinking red wine, eating gorgeous cheese in the foyer of our hotel until we were asked to leave!

The next day we headed to the first Annual Lakeview Lodge Festival. Apart from a very short huge heavy down pour of splattering rain, this was a great day. We caught up with Tyler Mac and Biscuit Miller. We finally got to meet Motor City Josh, after many conversations on the phone and got to hang out with Chris Cain for the second day in a row. After the show there was an almighty jam in the lodge that went to the wee hours of the morning.

A couple of days later we flew out to London for our 13 day UK tour. The flight was OK and we picked up our van and equipment at Heathrow Airport. The next stop was our hotel- The Metro Inn in Stockton on Tees. We booked this hotel on line and it looked pretty good in the photograph, but reality was a whole lot different. The hotel turned out to be an old Formula 1 which had changed its name. We had stayed at a Formula 1 in Australia several years ago and vowed never to return. This hotel was just as bad. Shared bathrooms- self cleaning toilets and showers- very nasty indeed. Bobbi had asked the receptionist if we could have a late checkout for 12 noon the next day and was told we could. At 10.15 am the next morning we were awoken by loud knocking at our door by the heavily tatoed, shaven headed manager with his Rottweiler dog in tow. We were told we had to leave! We hastily packed up and got the hell out!

Our shows at The Studio in Hartlepool and The Musician in Leicester went well. The Great British RnB Festival in Colne was a blast. We performed in a huge theater packed with people, just before Mick Taylor (Ex Rolling Stones). We had such great reaction that we were called back for an encore and an elaborate bow to the audience. Our shows at The Cellars and the Maltshovel Tavern were alot of fun. On our one day off we visited the town of York and climbed the 375 steps of the ancient York Minster - the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. We stayed the next two days at a 300 year old farm house in Laycock Village. We did two didgeridoo presentations at two local primary schools in Bradford and in the evening performed to a sell out crowd at the Laycock Village Hall. The next evening we performed at a fabulous club called the Boardwalk in Sheffield.

Our flight to Ireland for the Harvest Blues Festival was very short in comparison to our journey through security at Birmingham Airport. Our Bass player Chris Smith had to go through three different times. Flying is such fun these days!!! Ireland is the greenest of green countries. We stayed at a beautiful hotel and were treated to an amazing ala carte meal in the hotel's restaurant where we all had a very first authentic Guinness. The band performed at 1am in the morning to a packed house and we didn't get off stage until 3am.

The next day we flew back to England for a show at The Famous Monday Blues Club in Oxford, followed by a show at The Robin 2 the next day. Our final show took place at The Blue Funk Blues Club in Poynton then we drove through the night to get back to Heathrow for our flight back to the US the next day. We had a fantastic tour, ate way too much food and drank way too much fine beer. We plan to head back to the UK in April.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads

Harper August Blog

2009-08-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

July was an awesome touring month. My band and I performed at 11 festivals here in the USA- from Michigan to Maine to Illinois to Minnesota then back to Michigan. "Blue On The Mall" in Grand Rapids, Michigan was alot of fun but very, very wet. The rain just pounded down towards the end of the set, but many die hards stayed to the bitter end. We met up with local favorite musician Ralston Bowles who helped out Bobbi with merchandise sales. Ralston is fighting cancer at the moment, so please send him your positive vibes. Marc our drummer had a little too much fun that night and badly sprained his ankle after attempting to jump a trash can. He is off the crutches now and walking. We had beautiful weather for The Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan. We opened for Bettye Lavette and Los Lonely Boys. We had a great show with a standing ovation at the end of the show. We heard a bit of Bettye but had to drive to upstate New York after the show to get to the Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse. The next festival was the amazing North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland, Maine. Another stunning day in a picture perfect location right on the Atlantic ocean. We performed to a huge crowd and receive yet another standing ovation. We saw Homemade Jamz, Super Chiken, Zac Harmon and Bobby Rush perform. What a fabulous lineup!. We were even treated to a lobster dinner back stage. That evening the Main street was closed to traffic and many different bands performed on the street or in various clubs. We all had way too much fun. We visited our favorite seaside town in York Beach, Maine for Inn on the blues then it was back to Michigan via a peaceful drive through Canada.

Mixer on the Mall in Kalamazoo was alot of fun. The Nothin But The Blues Festival in Bloomington, Illinois was another great event. Huge dark clouds rolled in during our set and it looked certain that heavy rain would follow. I told the crowd that I was going to play the didgeridoo to chase away the rain. Literally the clouds broke apart and revealed a clear night's sky. Everyone was absolutely blown away. We received yet another standing ovation and had a huge lineup for CDs. The Rogue River series in Rockford, Michigan was an unexpected pleasure. The place was packed with people and we had a fantastic show. Then we drove to Chicago that night on our way to the 10 000 Lakes Festival in Minnesota. We played two shows at 10 000 lakes and had a fantastic reaction. We then did the long drive back to Michigan through the upper peninsula through the night. Whilst driving on highway 2, just on dusk an on coming vehicle flashed their lights to warn us that there was something on the road. We slowed right down to see a grey dog like creature walking casually across the road. It was a wolf, who took a good look at us once he got to the other side. What an amazing creature! The wolf was just as curious about us as we were about him. Later that evening Bobbi saw another wolf that looked almost white in the evening darkness. The next day we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge which was enveloped in a heavy mist. We eventually arrived at the first annual Suttons Bay Blues Festival and again had great weather, which was surprising since it poured the previous day and again the day after the festival. We had a great set and saw Sonny Landreth do his thing on the slide guitar. The end of the month saw two local Michigan Festivals- Eats To the Beats and The Cross Roads Music Festival.

August sees us heading to the east coast of the US again and at the end of the month a fabulous tour of England and Ireland.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper July Blog Part 2

2009-07-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Some of you may have noticed that our drummer Marc Dixon is on crutches. He badly sprained his ankle and had deep contusions of the muscles, after at a fall at our show at Blues On The Mall on July 1. The good news is that after a week of painful crutching around, he is started to be able to put some pressure on his foot. We expect a full recovery by the middle of July. Marc has still been able to drum at our shows, crutches and all. Infact, we received standing ovations at The Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan and at The North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland, Maine, here in the USA.

Still out on the road,

Peace,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads) Posted by Harper at 11:04 AM

Harper July Blog

2009-07-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

July is upon us and we are gearing up for a great festival season here in the USA. The last two weeks of June saw my band "Midwest Kind" and I heading to Missouri for the Parkville Riverjam right on the Missouri River which was moving with great speed. Apparently last year, the whole park was flooded and the festival took place high up on the hill. We had a great show and the weather was absolutely stunning. Unfortunately Marc our drummer left behind his timbales in the darkness at the back of the stage. Thankfully they were found, so hopefully the drums will be shipped back to us very soon. We also had some great shows at Skips Lounge in Indiana and the fabulous BB's in St Louis, Missouri.

Then we headed out to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Celebrate Lincoln Festival. The weather was not the best, but thankfully we had no rain during our set. Chubby Carrier performed after us and put on an amazing show. Marc Dixon our drummer jammed with the band doing his zydeco thing!. The rain pelted down, but many die hards stayed to the bitter end! Later that night we were woken at 4am by a huge raucous party next door. At first we blamed Chubby who was also staying at the hotel. But later we found out it was the Roller Derby Girls who had literally taken over the hotel. There were two parties going, one on the first floor and one on the second floor. After many complaints, the party was moved out into the car park and went all night. The poor nerdy guy on the front desk, didn't know what to do. The Roller Derby Girls just laughed at him and offered him a beer , when he asked them to quieten down. It was a wild night thats for sure.

On our way to Springfield Illinois, we were driving west on State Highway 36 when a large semi trailer truck, which was driving on the wrong side of the road, forced us off the highway. Thankfully I had a gut feeling something like this was going to happen, so I was ready to get out of the way. Still we all had a quite a scare!

Our show at The Alamo in Springfield, Illinois went really well, then we headed home to Michigan the next day. We performed at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Top of the Parks Stage, outside in the 94 degree heat. It was HOT!!!! We were very inspired by our friend Diane, who was hit by a bus earlier this year, dancing throughout the entire set. Good for you Diane!
We headed south to The Rathskeller in Indianapolis for another outdoor show. We got to jam and hang out with Biscuit Miller and our former guitarist Tyler Mac . I would have to say the temperature would have got to 100 degrees, because it was 93 degrees at 11pm at night. It was a hot one thats for sure. After a private party in Leland, Michigan we headed west to The Alpena Music Festival. Thankfully the weather was alot cooler, but with the coolness came the rain. It pretty much rained lightly throughout our show, but the folks there didn't seem to mind.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace, Harper & Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper June Blog

2009-06-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just when we thought that the madness was over, then came along our May USA tour to Alabama and sunny Florida. Our show at 1048 in Montgomery Alabama was a lot of fun- its been along time since we played this club. Then it was the long drive to Boca Raton, Florida to The Backroom. We had torrential rain on our drive and our Dodge sprinter van started to act peculiarly just as we got close to our destination. All the lights on the dashboard were blinking on and off and the power seemed to be draining. As we rolled into our hotel, the van just stopped dead. A quick call to AAA and an hour or so later, we had help. The battery was charged up and all seemed to be well. We suspected it might be the alternator. And of course all this was happening on Memorial Day Weekend. We had a nice show at the stunningly decorated "Backroom". What a cool place - amazing sound and the room itself is a feast for the eyes with its red hues and art deco styled lamps and artwork. The next day - we faced the awful truth that our vehicle needed a new alternator. By divine guidance, it seemed, I was able to find a Dodge Sprinter dealership and mechanic who was able to replace the alternator on a Saturday afternoon while the rest of America was on vacation. The band camped out side their hotel rooms during a huge down pour which lasted for hours. But we were back on the road by 3pm , some $1200 poorer . Thankfully we were able to make our next show at Aces Lounge in Bradenton.

Bobbi rented a condo in Rotonda near Fort Myers and we looked forward to a couple of days of going to the beach. Our mini vacation was cut short by our bass player Chris cutting his foot on the jagged edge of a glass coffee table. At first we thought that he wouldn't need to go to the hospital, but when we arrived at Celtic Rays for our show, Chris's foot erupted with blood which spurted all over the floor of the bar. Bobbi drove Chris straight to the emergency room where he was scolded by the nurse for not coming in earlier. His deep gash received 16 double stitches and Chris himself received a pair of crutches and a nice bill. Like a trooper, he hobbled into Celtic Rays and played his bass as if nothing had happened. The next day we had the pleasure of performing to the special needs kids of the Buckingham Exceptional Student Center. It was such a privilege to perform to these exceptional students, many danced either on foot or in wheel chairs. Everyone there felt uplifted and inspired.

Our next stop was the incredibly unique Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee. Then it was Ms Newbies in Panama City Beach, where we pretty much rocked the place. On the way back to our stunning condo, generously provided by our good friends Ken & Rachel Brown, we came across several extremely drunk drivers. We were pretty much freaked out by a drunken woman and her drunk boyfriend on a motor scooter. The pair were snaking along the road infront of us. The female rider nearly passed out at the traffic lights. Then we saw a car driving down the wrong side of the highway, avoiding the oncoming traffic. It was all too much for Bobbi, so she called 911.

We were glad to make it to the Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach. We had some really nice shows and just loved the gleaming white sands of Pensacola. While walking barefoot along this amazing beach, Bobbi nearly stepped on a used hypodermic needle. It reminded us of St Kilda Beach in Melbourne, Australia, where you would never dare to walk bare foot for the very same reason. We had some great shows at The Funky Blues Shack in Sandestin and got an invite by Chuck and Ken Brown for a boat ride to Crab Island. Our last show took place at The Blues Tavern in Mobile, Alabama for the owner Randy's birthday. Unfortunately Randy decided to start his celebrating one day early, so we didn't see him too much at the show. We have a great festival season this summer and a tour to the UK.

Hope to see you out on the road this summer,

Peace, Harper & Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband
www.blindpigrecords.com (CD orders/ downloads)

Harper May Blog

2009-05-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

We are starting to get into the festival season, which is always the best time of year. Im happy to say that this year we have over thirty festivals booked in five different countries. This is the biggest year for us ever. We will also tour the United Kingdom again in late August and even get to do a festival in beautiful Ireland which is sponsored by "Guiness". We could be in trouble there!!!! April was a pretty relaxing month with very little touring involved. It was great to catch up on doing the ordinary things such as cooking your own meals, making the bed, chain sawing the many trees that had decided to fall down while we were out on the road. Even getting bitten by a wood tick kind of brings you down to earth from the craziness of the road. Oh- & getting to sleep in without someone yelling "House Cleaning" Ive been working hard on getting some new songs together as well. So far so good. We plan to start performing some of the new tracks in the next couple of weeks. I hope to release a new CD early in 2010. During April we added a new bass player Chris Smith, to my band "Midwest Kind"-- yet another talented Michiganda!

Some of you may have noticed that we have a new look Harper website www.harper.biz with an interactive blog. Try to check it out when you can. This week we head out on a short tour to Iowa, we will be visiting our favorite lady, Betsy in Fort Dodge at Betsy's Blue Note, this will be a show and a Jam after- which will be a lot of fun. Then to Des Moines for Blues On Grand - yet another great club & then we headline the Simply The Blues Festival in Fort Madison, Iowa. So Please come on down because this is a fantastic festival full of amazing music and good vibes.

On Friday May 15 we will be doing a stunning new theater in Bowling Green, Ohio called The Clazel with opening Toledo band- "Frostbite" and we have another show at our favorite Flint , Michigan club- Rubes on Sat May 16. Then we head south to Alabama and Florida, where we are sure to get a sun tan.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace, Harper & Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband (for CD down loads)
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper Blog April 2009

2009-04-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just back from a six week west coast US tour. Its good to be home.!!!! After our wild weekend in Hico , Texas , we headed to an "out of the way" town in Alpine, Texas which is the home of an awesome club called "Railroad Blues". Alpine is just north of the Big Bend National Park and we do this club from time to time, if we happen to roll by that way. We had a packed house on a Tuesday night, which was pretty cool!

Our shows in Colorado went well. On the way home from our show at The Toad Tavern in Littleton, Colorado, we were driving down the highway to Boulder, Colorado, round 3am. Seemingly out of the darkness, a man appeared right in the middle lane of the highway. Bobbi let go a blood curdling scream and threw her arms in front of her face, in an attempt to protect herself from the impending disaster. It was only my quick reflexive reaction that saved us and saved the life of the young drunken man who was so hell bent on loosing his life. Our bass player was following in a car behind and the driver barely missed the man as well. We were all shaking from head to foot. I asked Marc our drummer to call the police to let them know that there was a drunk on the highway. One can only imagine the ripple effect that would have occurred, if we had crashed into that young stranger. It would have left a terrible scar on our souls because there is no way that he would have survived the impact , let alone the anguish caused to the man’s family. I thanked God for guiding us through this situation. That defensive driving course I completed in Australia so many years before served me well that night.

The drive through the Colorado rocky mountain range through to Utah was absolutely breath taking in the early spring. The sun was shining in a deep blue sky and the mountains had just the right amount of gleaming white snow. We stopped the van many times to take photos and to take in the view. We did a great show in Cedar City in Utah at The Grind Coffee House. It was an alcohol free show which took place on St Patrick's Day. One would think this wouldn’t work but we had a packed house of coffee drinking music lovers. The next day we did a show at The Wine Cellar in Ogden . Utah. Its always nice to hang with Mitch and all the folks in Ogden. We had some really nice shows in Northern California at The Torch Club (hello to Crystal & Jason), The Stage Door and Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. We then did the magnificent drive up highway 101 North along the brilliant Oregon coast line to Washington. We drove through the Avenue of the Giants. We saw many huge Redwood Trees, it was amazing.. Our shows in Washington were a lot of fun and we looked forward to our show at The Yale Hotel in Vancouver, Canada. We have done many border crossings before and had actually done the Vancouver run last year. After hitting the border, we were told to go into the border office to get our work permits. We were told to wait until called. It seemed to be taking quite some time- longer that usual. Then GT our bass player was called up to booth and was there quite a while. He came back and told us that he wasn’t allowed through and that we would all have to return to the US. So our next step was to take GT back to the US, put him in a hotel close to the border and then head back to Canada. We were stuck in line for at least two hours. When we got to the US side, we were asked to go into the office. Then our van was searched, which took more time. But we got through. We easily found GT a hotel and were on our way. We had to go back into the Canadian border office to get our work permits. The Canadian border guard after taking our passports and the performance contract said that he could not let us in without a 7 digit labor number, which the Yale Hotel’s booker had failed to give Bobbi. Bobbi couldn’t believe that the paper work hadn’t been put through because she had sent through all the information required at least two months prior. The problem was that Joe Luciak the booker had gone on vacation to Jamaica and hadn’t left any instructions for his staff.

So Bobbi started calling the Yale Hotel and managed to speak to one of the bar attendants who was able to locate Joe, who had just returned, next door. A tense 15 minutes went by, with much praying and then Bobbi called again. An Australian voice answered the phone this time and he was aware of our predicament . The staff had to break into Joe’s office to get the labor number and thankfully found it. It was such a relief to hear an Australian voice and it was so easy to hear the number correctly. Bobbi gave the number to the border guard and even he seemed to be happy for us. I guess the hard ass act was just part of the job. We received our permits and raced to the Yale Hotel. We arrived at 8.15pm for a 9pm show. We had been stuck at the border since 2pm. What a day! The show went well as the three piece. Infact everyone seemed to be blown away that we had no bass player.

We stopped by Ed Mahoney’s house on our way through Seattle. Ed is one of the owners of Highway 99- an awesome club we had performed at on the Saturday before the Canadian border crossing. He cooked us up a fine feed of large shrimp and chicken. A few brews were also consumed and the conversation was excellent. So we began the long drive though Washington State, Idaho and landing in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was Marc's birthday and we went to see a burlesque show called "La Femme' courtesy of our old guitarist from 10 years ago- Elvis Lederer, who now works for Cirque Du Soliel. We had an awesome night & it was great to catch up with Elvis. So then we headed to Tucson , Arizona for a show at Club Congress, where we were surprised by our Texas friends from Hico. The final show took place at the Glendale Jazz & Bues Festival. We had stunning weather and the park was packed with people. We had a brilliant show and an excellent finale to our six week tour.

Hope to see you out on the road,

Peace, Harper & Midwest Kind
www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband (for CD down loads)
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

Harper,s Blog, March 2009

2009-03-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Spring is definitely on the way. We had a pretty rough winter in Michigan, so its nice to get some warmer temperatures. February was a month of several new clubs. Midwest Kind & I had the pleasure of performing at the Jammin Java in Vienna, Virginia. This is a great listening room with a great concert vibe. We did a fundraiser for the Virginia Music Adventures which is a musical organization that tours young musicians all around the world. Jeff Cummins does an amazing job of providing this unique opportunity to so many young up & coming musicians. JM Randalls & Blue 5 also in Virginia were also great shows. We also did a show at the Lakeview Lodge in Lawrenceville , Pennsylvania. I suggested to Dexter the owner of the Lakeview to put on a festival in August. The views from the lodge over looking a large lake are spectacular and would be the perfect spot for a summer festival. Bobbi gave Dexter a few phone numbers of some of our good musician friends and within half an hour , Dexter had the whole lineup booked for Sunday August 23. So make sure you mark your calendars, because this will be a great day.

Our shows at Tullys, The Dinosaur BBQs & the Lafayette Tap Room were a lot of fun as per usual. We performed at The Thunderbird Café in Pittsburgh, another new club for us. The Thunderbird Café is a really nice club with great sound and a relaxed atmosphere- we definitely plan to hit this club again before the end of the year. A new Michigan club for us was the The Livery in Benton Harbor. This is an excellent micro brewery. The beer is just superb!!!!! Plus a great listening room- another good find for us. The last week of February was spent at the Carter Middle School in Clio, Michigan. Bobbi, Marc & I taught classroom didgeridoo, and didgeridoo painting to the band students of the school. We also did two shows in the gymnasium for the whole school the next day with the whole band. It was a trip. I ended up on two Television stations plus several stories in the local papers. I think we were a hit!!!

Our show at the Kalamazoo State Theatre in Michigan was incredible. Such a beautiful building with ornate furnishings, large balcony and seating for about 500 plus. It was part of the Budwieser Blues series and it was very cool to be invited to perform. Rubes in Flint, Michigan was also a packed house. The first week of March we began our annual tour to the West Coast. We hit BBs, in St Louis & Cartoons in Springfield , Missouri along the way. That weekend we did a house warming party for our dear friends Richard & Michelle Sukup in Hico , Texas. They have a stunning hacienda style house on 75 acres. We had a wild weekend of horse riding & shooting. Richard had two large horse trailers of 8 horses brought in for the Saturday and on Sunday we had an incredible day of shooting targets and clay pigeons. Don’t worry no critters were hurt. It was the complete western experience. We wore cowboy hats & boots and roasted steaks out on the open fire while listening to the coyotes howl. What a weekend!

March will see us heading to Colorado, Utah, Washington, California, Vancouver, Canada and Arizona. We hope to see all our West Coast fans in the next few weeks.

Peace & Safe Journey,

Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband
www.blindpigrecords.com

Harper Blog, February 2009

2009-02-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

February has been a tough month emotionally for me. The devastating fires in my home state of Victoria in Australia tore away a piece of my heart. The searing temperatures and gail force winds created Australia's worst disaster of the century with nearly 200 people killed and a horrendous loss of native animals, live stock and property. The saddest aspect of this disaster is that many of the fires were deliberately lit. I find it hard to fathom that any human being would want to wreak such havoc on so many innocent families. Forever scarring our souls and minds and the beautiful Australian landscape, that we all love so much. My heart felt sympathy goes out to all those effected. The worst is now over and now is the time to rebuild and move on with our lives the very best that we can. Thankfully my family is safe, but the fires did get very close. I am also very thankful that my favorite pub- The St Andrews Hotel in St Andrews, an area hit very hard, is still standing. So please say a prayer for our Australian brothers and sisters.

On a more positive note, our January tour here in the US went really well. It was a relief to escape the freezing temperatures of Michigan that caused the cancellation of our show at the Fire Fly Club in Ann Arbor. We enjoyed the music of "Diddley Squat" who opened for us at Knuckleheads in Kansas City. We said a little prayer for this band as they headed out in the dead of winter, for an over night drive to Denver for a show the next day. Such is the life of the touring musician. Our shows at Blues On Grand in Des Moines and Uncle Bo's in Topeka were a lot of fun. We then headed South to Tennessee for a show at Bourbon St Blues & Boogie in Nashville which was closely followed by a very cool lunchtime show at the Chattanooga State Community College. We enjoyed the warmth of Alabama with shows at Little Willies in Tuscaloosa and two shows at Brownstones in Hattiesburg. We were blown away by the number of people who had driven up from New Orleans to see us at Brownstones. I guess we need to organize some shows in that fine city very soon!!!

The last surviving juke joint in Alabama, Blues Tavern in Mobile- was a packed house. We plan to return for the tavern's owner- Randy's birthday in June.

Our drive north was a real eye opener. A powerful ice storm had hit Arkansas and Missouri. Miles upon miles of power lines were down, many power poles were snapped in two. There were also a large number of fallen trees- laden down with heavy ice, that had crushed several homes. But we made it to St Louis after a slow and arduous drive. I am happy to say that we have a new home in St Louis- BBs Jazz , Blues & Soups. If you have never been to this club, you must go. The history on the walls is a who's who's of the jazz & blues scene. It is a beautifully decorated club with great food and sound. Owner John May has been running his club for 30 years. He really made us feel welcome!

We also got to visit our good friend Betsy at Betsy's Blue Note in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Betsy's Mum - Janice passed away recently. She was a fine lady! We definitely felt her presence at our show. The Zoo Bar in Lincoln, Nebraska was a lot of fun- we will be back for the Celebrate Lincoln Festival in June. Our final show for our January tour took place at one of our favorite stops- Kirksville, Missouri - for the Journal Building. We had a packed house and the vibe was incredible.

We have a west coast tour coming up in March and a few Michigan shows coming up for the last two weeks of February.

Peace & safe journeys,

Harper & The Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband
www.blindpigrecords.com

Harper's Blog January 2009

2009-01-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year !!!

I hope you all had a great holiday season. My band & I are just back from an amazing tour of Belgium, England and Wales. We almost didn't fly out of Detroit because our flight to New Jersey was cancelled. Bobbi managed to get us all on an earlier flight, so it was a mad rush to the airport. We had a great flight to London but unfortunately my didgeridoos and harps didn't make it. Our good friend Howard Graves was also with us & his bag went missing as well. It was a bit disconcerting as we had to catch the Eurostar fast train to Belgium with out our bags. We were assured that the bags were on the next flight. Actually it was a blessing in disguise as we really had too much luggage to carry and there were no trolleys. Two elderly ladies literally fell over on the escalator to the Euro star because they couldnt carry their bags. We helped them to get to the train amongst a stampede of people pushing to get to the entrance. Flying is definitely alot more civilized. Once we got to Brussels we were met by the festival director Eddy Plasquay. Eddy had hired "a large American van" to transport us to Vilvoorde - the city where the festival was to take place. Well this large American van was just a large sedan and we had six people, guitars and luggage. We literally squished into the car. It reminded me of the car crushes we used to have at school. We managed to get in 27 thirteen year olds into one car. Eddy was so frightened of getting pulled over by the cops that he took all the back roads to Vilvoorde - so we had to endure about an hour of been squashed.

We had a great time in Belgium & thankfully the didgeridoos turned up on the day of the festival. The Pjeire Blues Festival was held in the grandiose stables of a bankrupt aristocrat. It was a great night to experience. We had an amazing show and I was invited to jam with Javier Vargas and the Vargas Blues Band from Spain. Later we found out exactly what the word "Pjeire"mean't. It is a slang word for 'horse eaters". So we performed at a horse eaters blues festival!!!! Apparently horse meat is considered quite a delicacy in Vivoorde and Eddy wanted to take us to a horse meat restaurant. Everyone was hyped up to eat horse, except Bobbi who is a big horse lover. We arrived too late at the restaurant after our show at Crossroads Cafe. Everyone except Bobbi, was disappointed. On one of our off days Bobbi, Mike, Howard and I visited Paris, while Marc & Ralph went to Amsterdam. Paris was freezing, but we managed to see quite alot in one day. Our friend Howard was on a spiritual pilgrimage for his wife Holly who passed suddenly in September. He poured her ashes into the river Seine just across from the Eiffel Tower. It was a very poignant moment- one I will never forget.

After another ride on the Eurostar to London, we arrived in England for a week of shows. The UK was very warm compared to Belgium. Our shows at The Cellars in Southsea, The Musician in Leicester and The Green Room in Macclesfield went really well. Worthenbury Hall in Wales was amazing. It is such a beautiful country that has retained its cultural identity. It was so nice to catch up with the many friends we had made in 2007 on our first trip. In Liverpool we did the Beatles tour at The Kasbah- the very first place the Beatles performed. Rory Best (brother of Pete Best) was our tour guide and his early stories of the Beatles just about blew us away. That evening we played to a packed house at Foghertys. It was a fun week and we plan to tour the UK again in late August and September.

We flew back to Chicago on December 22 then took the short flight to Detroit. Well this time we all lost our bags thanks to Northwest Airlines. Detroit airport was in disarray , there had to be at least 1000 delayed bags just sitting at baggage claim. After 2 hours we got out of the airport then drove back to Grass Lake to find our house snowed in. We stumbled through two feet of snow to get to the front door. Then we spent the next hour and a half digging Marc & Mike's car out of the snow. What a night.!!!

After nine anxious days I received my four foot long bag containing the didgeridoos & harps. Wooohoooo!! With a new year we have a new beginning. We welcome GT from Flint, Michigan as our new bass player. We wish Ralph all the best best for the upcoming birth of his new son.

We wish you all the very best for 2009. May it be a year of peace, prosperity, joy and inspiration for us all.

Peace, Harper, Bobbi, Marc, Mike & Ralph & new bass player GT

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband (for CD down loads)
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)

December Newsblog

2009-01-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

November saw the election of Barrack Obama here in the US. It was truly a historical and inspirational day. Congratulations to all those voters, regardless of political persuasion, who got out to vote.

We had alot of festivals to do in October. The Roots n Blues n BBQ festival in Columbia, Missouri was beyond huge- there had to be over 100 000 people attending. Incredible weather and a multi stage, multi artist festival- it was very cool to be apart of. We saw Bettye Lavette, Buddy Guy, Tab Benoit and many many more. Columbia is a very unique college town full of art and music, I really hope I get to visit it again soon.

The Pleasure Island Seafood Jazz & Blues Fest in North Carolina was one WET festival. We were really surprised that we got to play. The festival director had told us that we probably wouldnt perform but we went to the festival grounds anyway. Low & behold, the music was jammin, a fairly decent crowd in wet weather gear & umbrellas fronted the stage and all was a go. Johnny & Edgar Winter were the head liners that night & I guess people really wanted to see this legendary act. The wind was howling and the rain was pelting down, but the folks of North Carolina hang in there and they got to see the Winter brothers perform.

The following week the band & I took part in the outreach program of the LEAF festival. We did a didgeridoo workshop / presentation to the Black Mountain Elementary School, North Carolina. We followed up the next day with Aboriginal art, dance and the making of didgeridoos. It was a lot of fun. We also performed at the LEAF festival that weekend. And what a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains and a good sized lake. The weather was warm but absolutely freezing at night and when youre on an out door stage, you really feel it. This was a really cool festival with amazing diversity of music. Then we headed to PA, NY , MA & Maine for shows at Tully's, The Dinosaur BBQs, Harry's, Inn on the Blues and our favorite Halloween party- The Time Out Pub in Rockland. We also did a Halloween party on the Oct 31 at Rubes in Michigan & got to see some amazing costumes. We also visited our favorite home gig at The Fire Fly in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In November we headed south to Florida, Alabama and Mississippi for the incredible River Hawk Music Festival. River Hawk was alot of fun. Some really great music was heard and the vibe was friendly and relaxed. We hung out after our show by a warm fire and listened to some acoustic bluegrass jammers.

In December we have our first tour of Belgium coming up with an addtional tour to England and Wales. The session we recorded at the BBC Radio 2, London - "The Paul Jones Show" in May will be aired on Monday December 8

We hope to see you out on the road this Winter

Peace,
Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website)
www.myspace.com/harperband (for CD down loads)
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.blindpigrecords.com (for CD orders & downloads)