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)