We almost forgot to alert you! Tonight we’ll be playing the Grand America Lobby Lounge, 7-10p; Friday, December 20th; free / all ages. It’s a nice evening out and the setting is festive, AND it’s the one gig of the year when we have the full set of holiday music readied: Bluesy twist on “What Child Is This,” an upbeat version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a newly learned jazz take of “My Favorite Things.” Yes, and so much more. And other stuff, too. Call one out and we’ll play it.
And have a Merry Christmas. We’ll see you again in the new year!
We got behind in our posts and updates, but in case you’re in the Big City tonight, we’ll be playing the Grand America Lobby Lounge, 7-10p; Friday, October 25th; free / all ages. Fancier vibe with the nice furnishings and fancy small plates and drinks. Hang out while we play a set that we’re going to call from the line of scrimmage, challenging each other with songs as we go. We’re looking forward to an easy Friday night hangout. We always make new friends each time we play this lounge.
Here’s us being fancy last month on Peery’s Egyptian stage (photo courtesy of Excellence Concerts, Lex Anderson)
Doors and pre-show at 6:30, featuring Stampede playing in the lobby. We’re co-headlining with bluegrass band Basin & Grange, a different musical style but clearly a group with the same sense of playfulness in band names.
This is free and all ages. There are 800 seats; make sure you’re there to claim your favorite. A big crowd would warm our hearts, inspire the music, and demonstrate to the generous sponsors just how much benefit this brings. Bring yourself, your family, a couple of friends. And please share widely!
But first: Grand America Lobby Lounge this Friday night 9/20/2024, 7:00 – 10:00PM. If you’re in the big city, drop by and get a snack and a drink and say hello. It’s a nice place and we really love the vibe there.
Then, we have a private gig next week and then a few other things …
Including: We’re playing at the Egyptian Theater on Monday, October 7th (free, all ages) as part of the Excellence in the Community Concert Series. We co-headline and get to take the big stage in the beautiful space for a 1-hour set. We’ll remind you and blast out the promotional materials.
But the reason I’m bringing this up now is because in the previews of materials coming out we’re characterized as “jazz.” And that’s fine in most cases as we’re trying to describe how we fit in, especially since in this case we’re side-by-side with a bluegrass band (so fun!!) and it’s great to know what the range might be for your Monday evening.
And yet I start to worry. People who are really aficionados of jazz would scoff at a lot of what we do. Sure, we’ll play Gershwin regularly. But also Dua Lipa. I feel like we might be misrepresenting ourselves to the people expecting Coltrane.
That’s not the worst of it, though: What if you hear “jazz” and you think Coltrane and bebop and you’re turned away by these things and never tune in to us? What if, heaven forbid, you don’t realize that it’s not all dissonant, not all that serious, not long bass solos — Tim refuses.
In fact, I wish we were represented as “jazz-ish.” That feels better, more accurate, appropriately whimsical. Of course, those running gigs at Grand America? That’s when we have to promote ourselves as “jazz.” That gets us in the door and under the big chandelier. So far they haven’t kicked us out.
Anyway, we’ll keep playing around the fringes of jazz as well as blues and funk and soul and everything else. (Caryn just sent us an idea to try out a Taylor Swift piece. You might have heard of her? We think we can swing it.)
It’s been a minute since we wrapped up a summer lineup with our amphitheater gig for Davis Arts. It looked like this:
Standards & Substandards 