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