October 29th--Home--Time to catch up as the month has flown by in spite of me.  BBBBQ ended up being a great success for the community and for Oreo Blue.  We have garnered tons of great, positive feedback.  I think I am still trying to get over the exhaustion of that week of performing.  It's all worth it, though.  We finally received photos from Cheryl Dennis and Martin Herlocker.  You can find samples of their work over on our MySpace presence (http://www.myspace.com/oreobluemusic).  I might grab some and put them here if I can get a moment.  This webmaster stuff is hard work with one site...and now there are two!  Worth it... to keep you informed.  And to keep all those holes in my schedule filled up.  We entertained a few private parties this month.  Wedding receptions and a fundraiser for the Habitat for Humanity of NWA.  Great causes.  Entertaining the family and friends of those starting their lives together and then helping entertain folks that will help NWA folks get into affordable housing.  On the 24th, we rocked Landry's in Fort Smith and partook in that aforementioned fabulous cuisine.  We will be back there on November 30th, so plan now!!!  The show on the 26th at George's Majestic Lounge was another opportunity for us to showcase the Oreo Blue "full band" feature with Chris Payton, Brian Crowne, and Bryan Martin.  Look for more shows featuring this lineup in the near future.  On the 27th, I got to perform again with my alma mater marching band at the University of Arkansas homecoming at Razorback Stadium.  The Hogs whipped FIU 58-10...  Here I am:

Coming up in November are some sensational shows.  Be sure to check out the tourdates for shows near you.  A huge tailgate party in Conway, AR, for the UCA vs SDSU game on Nov 3rd and our first show at Max's Garage in Muskogee, OK, on Nov 10th.  I am so ready...

 

 

photo by lunchbox72703

October 6th--BBBBQ--Fayetteville, AR--So, here I sit in the green room waiting to go on stage in the 5th day of our BBBBQ tour. We will go on at 3pmCST at George's Majestic Lounge garden stage and play until 7pmCST. Tonight, we invade Billy's Blues Club down by the Tyson Track Center off Razorback Road from 9pmCST to appx 1:30amCST. It should be a great time at both shows... Gary has been playing the acoustic set with John inside since noon, so that means he will go about 10 hours today and the band will get in a good 8 hours or so just today alone. It is taking a physical toll...my calluses have blisters underneath them and my hands feel like I have been through a prize fight. Can't pace myself though...just can't.
The BBBBQ is a great event and there are so many people here from everywhere. Word is that there will be some 75,000 motorcyles and some 300,000 people here. In my silly mind, that made me visualize 225,000 people without a ride...just walking around. But it is a good time and we have met some great people. "Bikers" aren't what they used to be as you may know. The garb is all the same...black, leather, the helmets, chick on the back of your bike, etc. But the biker could be a doctor or a lawyer or your neighbor the accountant. In 1984 and 1985, I played in a rock band for the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota. There were moments I genuinely feared for my life then. Here in Fayetteville, it is very comfortable and friendly.   Just a great time with some great music. The Nace Brothers (my favorite band), Chubby Carrier (who can back a trailer up better than anyone I have ever seen), The Eoff Brothers, Joe Giles Band, Big Bad Bubba, TJ Scarlett Band (with whom I performed on Thursday), and so much more. There is more to come today. There is the bikini contest (which we will unfortunately miss) and motorcycles every freakin' where...

The Oreo Blue Reunion Concert was awesome...Chris Payton sang her lungs out, Brian Martin played some great guitar, and, of course, Brian Crowne proves he is still the best tenor sax player in this state despite his "retirement." I wish someone had recorded the show. The band really sounded great as a six-piece...totally full. And the old Oreo Blue original songs stand strong still after all these years. Great songs...that you can download via iTunes now. Just search Oreo Blue and you will find our back-catalog there.

Photos from Martin Herlocker and Cheryl Dennis should be coming in soon!!!
 

October 3rd--Jose's--Fayetteville, AR--I love Jose's food... just so that you all know. The salsa is addictive and the queso rules at least parts of my life. We were scheduled to perform from 7pm to 10pm. We kicked things off outside on the patio and just kept on going until about 9:30 before realizing that we had not taken a break. We figured that we would just play right through... Then the rains came. The stuff of legend, this rain. For those of you that have been to Jose's patio on Dickson Street, you might have noticed that the aqua blue decor of the concrete floor and raised sides resembles that of a city pool. After a good few minutes of this monsoon, the water was ankle deep over on the "deep end." We stood under the leantoo for nearly an hour before deciding it would never let up and packed things up into the trailer in the rain. Gees. That's a lot of water.
Not all was lost. We did have a good show and met some new fans. AND we got to eat my favorite Mexican fare... I am still full. One of our "unofficial-official" photographers, Martin Herlocker, joined us and I hope he has some fun snaps of the band. He always comes up with some interesting takes...
 

September 14th--Home--Updates:  Not tons to report here, but just wanted to get something into the blog.  I noticed that we had over 1200 readers on our blog on MySpace and thought that those folks deserved our attention.  Sorry I have not been posting much again since the middle of August.  I have been quite busy.  Gary and John have been troopers with their acoustic duo show performing all over Northwest Arkansas to help fill in the gaps.  You can catch them at Buffalo Wild Wings in Springdale, Foghorns in Fayetteville, Landry's in Fort Smith, and elsewhere.  Keep tabs on the tourdates page to check them out.  And speaking of Landry's...back on August 25th, we held our official Fort Smith CD Release Party at the home of the best Cajun food this side of Louisiana.  Sometimes, I think that if they had a 1000-seat venue, it would be packed every weekend just for the food.  However, they are featuring some great live music week in and week out.  Check out their Landry's MySpace page for more details, but definitely check them out.

Our show at Jose' Streetside was cancelled on the 4th of September due to a nasty rain storm, but no worries...we will be back there for the first day of our 2007 Bikes Blues BBQ tour on October 2nd.   And speaking of BBBQ07... we have a busy lineup for the event this year.  The tourdates page outlines things in detail. 

For the balance of this month (September), we have a killer show coming to Fort Smith at Ava's Village Pub tonight (Friday, Sept 14th).  A late night frenzy to send you to the wee morning hours.  It has a while (April) since we have played Ava's, so we will be ready to rock.  Next weekend (21-22nd), we will be having our second Hot Springs release party at Hawg's Pizza down on Airport Road since the last foray was lightly attended.  Here's hoping the Spa City folks roll out to the best pizza joint in town for that weekend.  Should be awesome... 

On the 25th, I will be drumming for the Amanda Scarlett Band and with Kellie Pickler of American Idol fame at the Rock the Runway event at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.  It is going to be a great show despite my nervousness getting my homework done on the tracks.  Ten million country songs*...harder than they sound.

Kellie Pickler

*And speaking of the new album...things are going well with it.  Sales are a little slower than we had hoped, but it is partly due to a light September schedule.  We expect things to pick up during the BBBQ week for sure.  Online sales are strong and the folks in foreign countries are loving it.  What we have discovered is that folks in our own hometown are less apt to support our original music than folks from out of our area.  Strange, but true.  Not to fret...we appreciate all of our fans everywhere.

If anyone is reading this that already has a copy of the new CD or is ready to buy, then I will send him or her a free Oreo Blue T-Shirt in exchange for a review of the CD.  We have some great feedback, but most of it is "you guys are great!" and "Love the new CD!" kind of feedback.  I am sending copies to local, regional, and national publications for review, but I would like to know what YOU think...

So have at it and get one of these shirts for free!  (don't forget to send me your mailing address along with your review)

 

To get your copy of the new Oreo Blue-The Trio CD, go here:  http://cdbaby.com/cd/oreoblue7