Harper and Midwest Kind July Blog

Hey Everyone,

Happy July 4 to all my American friends.  Well its hot here in Michigan- hitting the high 90's F for several weeks now.   This summer is reminding me of Perth, Western Australia where I grew up.  Lots of sunshine, lots of dust and very little rain. Don't get me wrong Im loving all  the sunshine but a couple of good downpours of rain would be nice.  The new CD "Live at the Blues Museum" has been getting a great deal of airplay all over the world.  The CD is currently number 8 on the national XM/Sirius Bluesville Charts.   This is very exciting.  A huge thank you to Bill Wax and his crew for their incredible support for my music over the years.

The month of June saw us performing at Michigan's Nor Eastr Festival in Mio.   Extremely hot weather but great music and good vibes.  If finally got to see and meet the guys from Lansing's "Steppin in it"-great band!!!   Then we headed to Bettendorf, Iowa for another show at the fabulous Muddy Waters.  Then it was on to Des Moines for our second show at The Gas Lamp (formally Blues On Grand).  We had a very good turn out -and will be returning in November.   The Hambone Music Festival in Rochester, Minnesota was alot of fun.   Smart thinking Music Director--Lynne Oldre-Mortenson moved all the bands from the out door main stage to the tent stage.  Good thing she did because we were hit with a huge blast of soaking rain.  It didn't effect the festival one bit- the bands played on and everyone huddled under the all weather tent.  We left early the next day for a concert in the park in Blues Springs, Missouri- for another scorching hot performance both musically and temperature wise!!   Oh how nice it was to hit the air conditioned hotel room later that evening.   The next show was Michigan's Huntington Rogue River Blues Series in downtown Rockford.   We had an amazing show complete with a little kid down the front doing "the worm" through out the show. 

We ended the month with our annual show at The Rathskeller Biergarten in Indianapolis. Good to see so many friends.  We were saddened to see that the Biergarten maybe ending its live music due to a power struggle with the folks who run the Athenaeum .  The crux of the matter it that they want more money!!!   Its a pity that live music and the folks who support it are the ones to suffer.    There is a "Save the Biergarten" page on Facebook if any of you would like to sign up.

July sees my band Midwest Kind and I heading all over the country- Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, North Dakota, California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado.  We have some fabulous festivals booked- Milwaukee Summerfest, The Concert of Colors,  Fargo Blues Festival, Prairie Dog Blues Festival, Mammoth Bluezaploosa, The Mount Baker Blues Festival, BBQ at The Summit and the Pearl St Festival just to name a few.  Hope to see you out on the road this 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