Harper and Midwest Kind June Blog

Hey Everyone,

Summer is nearly here in the Northern Hemisphere- woohoo!! We had a fabulous May tour which took us to Iowa, Kansas, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maine and Michigan. Our shows at the Boogaloo Cafe in Burlington, Iowa and Uncle Bo's in Topeka, Kansas were alot of fun.  Always nice to visit our good friend Suki.  We then headed south to Florida by way of Memphis, Tennessee where we were hit with one of the worse thunder/lightning/hail and rain storms ever.   We were stuck in construction on Interstate Highway 55 driving very slowly, hazard lights on.  We were pelted with hail, huge blasts of wind with cracks of thunder and lightning all around us.  There was no where to get off the highway to take shelter- we just had to proceed and hope for the best.  Thankfully the bad weather began to subside and we were on our way.  We managed to roll into the Paradise Inn in Pensacola Beach, Florida in time for the mega Monday night jam.  We met up with my former but fabulous guitarist Tyler Mac who toured with me for five years.  Drummer Justin Headley (Sauce Boss) and guitarist John Hart (Sauce Boss) were also in the house.  We had 10 musicians up on stage, - three guitarists, two drummers, bass guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboard, harmonica/didgeridoo and saxophone. It was an amazing jam.  We all hung out after the show and played lazer frisbee in the car park woohoo!

After a great show at the Paradise Inn the next day we headed to our favorite juke joint- The Blues Tavern in Mobile, Alabama, then it was the Funky Blues Shack in Destin/ Sandestin.  We hung out with our good buddies Ken and Rachel Brown.  Then we headed north to Rochester/ Syracuse, New York for the amazing Dinosaur BBQs.  The Armor Inn in Hamburg, New York was the next stop, just out side of Buffalo.  This is an amazing new venue run by former Lafayette Tap Room owner Marc Alfieri.   Then it was home to Michigan for two shows - Guy Hollerins in Ann Arbor and Scooters in Flint.  At the Flint show our awesome former drummer of five years Marc Dixon sat in with us as well as the incredible Heather and Don Jones of"Jones n' Live". After a quick breather we headed back east to Connecticut for the Bayou n Boogie Festival.  We were mixed in with a bunch of brilliant Zydeco Bands which was kind of different, but it worked.  Bobbi and I hung out with Mitch Wood for a bit, which was cool.  Our final show was at the Timeout Pub in Rockland Maine, which is always a good time. 

We had some mega problems with credit cards during this tour. It does happen from time to time but for some reason, we had multiple problems in May.  One hotel charged us twice, then we discovered that someone had stolen our credit card number and racked up $2500 worth of on line goods.  Thankfully the credit card company was on the ball and shut the card down before any damage was done.   Then when we were at the hotel for the Bayou n Boogie Festival, we were charged for all the rooms for all the bands.  Thankfully that was sorted out too.  What a drama!!!.  To top it all off when we arrived home in Michigan, a young guy backed his car into my van.  I was in the store at the time and never saw the accident.  The lady who owned the car sort me out and told me what had happened.  That just goes to show you that there are honest people in this world for which I am very thankful.

We have bunch of festivals and concert series coming up this summer in the US. We will be performing in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Ohio and New York.   We would love to see you all out on the road.


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 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