Harper and Midwest Kind May Blog

Hey Everyone,

We are just about to head out on tour for the whole month of May. We will be heading to Kansas, Iowa, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Connecticut and Maine. Festival season is in full swing and we have close to 25 festivals booked so far. The new CD "Live at the Blues Museum" was released on April 16 which coincided with my wedding anniversary with my lovely wife Bobbi. We had some amazing CD release parties at The Key Palace Theatre in Redkey, Indiana and The Gem Theater in St Louis, Michigan. We had a short road trip to West Virginia for the Empty Glass, a very cool club in Charleston and Roanoke, Virginia's Blue 5. The Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in North Carolina was just amazing. After a short fierce blast of rain in the afternoon, the blue sky broke through and the rest of the day and evening was stunning. We had a large wild crowd at the Grove Stage.  Unfortunately our Sunday show on the Main Stage was a pretty soggy affair. It just rained and rained. The rain was even leaking through the roof of the stage. But the show must go on and of course it did. It was very inspiring to see so many people standing in the rain. Some with umbrellas, some bare foot in the mud, while others were wrapped in cold wet blankets. These were the die hard music fans and they were going no where!!!

We have four CD release parties coming up at Uncle Bo's, Topeka, KS (May 5), the Dinosaur BBQs in Rochester/ Syracuse New York (May 16/17) and the Ann Arbor, Michigan release party at Guy Hollerins (May 19). We will finish the month with a cool festival "Bayou n Boogie Festival" in Sterling, Connecticut and our favorite pub- Time Out Pub in Rockland, Maine. For those of you who would like to download the new live CD please go to www.cdbaby.com/cd/harperandmidwestkind or go to www.harper.biz for both downloads and physical CDs. We had some great reviews of the new Disc which is very exciting! Hope to see you out on the road this spring and summer,

 Thanks and Peace,

 Harper & Midwest Kind
 www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs and E Book
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.musicpage.com/harper
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.myspace.com/harperband

Harper and Midwest Kind April Blog

Hey Everyone,

Happy April!! Its Spring for us here in the Northern Hemisphere. April is an exciting month because the new CD "Live at the Blue Museum" will be released on April 16. This CD was recorded on a cold wintery night on December 17, 2011 before a packed house of rabid music fans at Canada's only "Blues Museum", in Place Concorde, Windsor, Canada. "Live at The Blues Museum" features 75 minutes/ 15 live tracks from my last five CDs. Please go to my website www.harper.biz if you would like to grab a copy.

March was a month of blessings combined with considerable stress. I was forced to cancel our three week tour to California, Washington, Utah, and Colorado as I had to have a surgical procedure that just couldn't wait. Im very happy to report that the surgery was a complete success and my band and I will be back on the road this month. My sincerest apologies go out to our fans and the many clubs that had booked us. A huge thank you for the words of encouragement and positive vibes from your all. It made the healing process so much easier!

Early March saw us performing at some of our favorite clubs in Michigan, Rochester Mills Brewing CO, Billys Lounge and Scooters. We had a packed house for the Friends of the Blues show at the Bradley Bourbonnais Sports Club in Illinois. Bobbi got a free lesson on hoola hooping after the show. The Kankakee Friends of the Blues are a cool bunch of people!. BBs in St Louis is always a favorite stop. Two new clubs for us - The Muddy Waters in Bettendorf, IA and The Hub in Cedar Falls. Both fabulous clubs with great crowds. We visited The Washington in Burlington for St Patrick's Day and were treated to some very tasty corned beef and cabbage. Our final stop was the legendary Byron's Bar in Pomeroy, Iowa.

We have an exciting Spring and Summer schedule full of festivals and concert series coming up which will take us all over the USA. Hope to see you out on the road :)

Peace and Thanks,


Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs & E Book
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.myspace.com/harperband

Harper and Midwest Kind March Blog

Hey Everyone,

Spring is nearly here and there is no snow in Michigan!!! We have an exciting offer for all the members of our blog and Facebook. We are offering for purchase, 50 signed CDs of the new "Live at the Blues Museum" CD prior to its official release of April 10. Just go to the Harper website: www.harper.biz and click on the merchandise button.

February was a nice and warm month for us. My band "Midwest Kind", Bobbi and I headed south to Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. It was great to catch up with some friends at the Green Bar in Tuscaloosa, AL, where there was a devastating tornado in 2011, thankfully the Green Bar was not hit. Then it was on to Humphrey's in Huntsville for indoor show. There was some wild "dance offs" happening that night. Pretty funny to watch!. We had a fabulous Sold Out show at The Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, Florida. We love this club!- huge bonfire, juke joint atmosphere, a fish fry and some very cool people!!.

Bobbi and I were invited to present our didgeridoo workshop at The Southwestern State Hospital, just over the border in Thomasville, Georgia. We had a nice visit with the staff and patients and everyone was very happy to receive some didgeridoo therapy.

We headed further south to Punta Gorda, Florida to our favorite Irish Pub- The Celtic Ray. We had five shows at the Ray and they were all alot of fun. The new renovation is just about complete and it looks amazing. We performed at the Buckingham Bar Blues Festival. There was a huge turnout, but the weather took a turn for the worse, as dark ominous clouds rolled n. The temperature took a sudden dive and only the most ardent music fans stood their ground. We got to perform to our favorite students and the Buckngham Exceptional Student Center in Fort Myers. All the kids lined up to have some didgeridoo played on them. Its amazing the effect the didge has upon the soul. We performed at Guanabanas- a stunning club in Jupiter, our fav hang, Aces Lounge in Bradenton and the fabulous Backroom Bar in Delray Beach. Then it was north to The Beal Street Bottle Club, where you can bring your own booze. We finished off the tour with Papa Mojo's in North Carolina and Fiery Ron's Hometeam BBQ in Charleston, South Carolina. A very busy but fun tour.

A whole week off then we have three shows in Michigan. In March we will be touring to Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Washington, California, Utah and Colorado. Gee Im tired already. Hope to see you out on the road.


Peace and Thanks,


Harper & Midwest Kind

www.harper.biz (Official Harper Website) CDs & E Book
www.myspace.com/harperband
www.youtube.com/harperband (for live video clips)
www.facebook.com/harperandmidwestkind
www.facebook.com/pages/Harper-and-Midwest-Kind/163124467948
www.reverbnation.com/harperandmidwestkind

Harper and Midwest Kind February Blog

Hey Everyone,

February is here and we are heading south to Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina where it is nice and warm. I have recently finished mixing and mastering the new CD "Live at The Blues Museum" at my favorite Ann Arbor studio Big Sky Recording with sound engineer- Geoff Michael. Im happy to say we had so many great tracks that it was very difficult to decide which track to use. We narrowed it down to 15 tracks- 75 minutes of music. The CD will be released officially on Tuesday April 10. There will also be a Television presentation due to be aired later in the year. "Live at the Blues Museum" will be my first live CD in ten years- wow time flies. A huge thank you to my band "Midwest Kind"- Chris, Scott and Matt and to Johnny V who recorded the show. Incredible thanks to The Canada South Blues Society for making this show possible.

January was an easy month with a lot of shows in Michigan. We visited the Upper Peninsula - Blackstone's Pizza Company in Iron Mountain and Upfront and Company in Marquette. We had amazing weather with very little snow which is just about unheard of in this part of the world. We had a few scary moments driving back to our beautiful cabin in Cornell provided by the very generous- Steve Pence. There must have been at least 50 deer either crossing the road or about to. One particular deer just stood in the middle of the road with its back to us, totally oblivious to the large Chevy Express waiting for it to move. The GPS decided not to work so we had to work out our route in the dark. Thankfully we arrived at our destination safely.

We took a short trip to Missouri, Kansas and Illinois with shows at Mojo's, BB's, The Trouser Mouse, Uncle Bo's and the amazing Fat Fish Pub. The following week was a huge show at the Kalamazoo State Theatre with Motor City Josh. It was a fantastic double bill with a packed house full of rabid music fans. We had a fun show at Ann Arbor's Guy Hollerins. The last weekend of January saw us performing at the Hamlin Pub where we had some major sound system problems, then The Cabbage Shed in Elbert followed by the amazing Scooters in Flint. The Scooters show turned into a pro jam of sorts. Former drummer Marc Dixon played on a number of tunes, Heather and Donnie Jones, of Jones'n Live, Raphael on bass. Even Paul Wiley Smith got up and sang a few tunes. We had a lot of fun and good vibes were shared by all.

We hope to see you out on the road this Winter and Spring.


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 January 2012 Blog

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

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

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