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
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Harper November Blog
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)
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)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Harper October Blog
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)
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)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Harper September Blog
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
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
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Harper August Blog
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)
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)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Harper July Blog Part 2
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)
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)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Harper July Blog
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)
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)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
