Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Another year is coming to a close, but this Autumn has been an exciting one for us. Liz & I flew to Ohio the week of Halloween to play for her niece’s wedding in Lebanon, Ohio. So good to see all the relatives, and Alicia’s & Elijah’s wedding was great; our good friend and blues photographer, LES GRUSECK, took the photos, and we had a chance to visit Les, his wife Lilia, and their daughter Maya in Florence, Kentucky for a few days. On Monday, November 1st, Liz & I performed for Blues In The Schools in Cincinnati; thanks to TODD HEPBURN and The Cincy Blues Society for putting this together. We then split a gig with Cincy piano master RICKY NYE at Chez Nora in Covington, Kentucky on November 3rd before returning home to Florida.
Thanksgiving found us flying to Belgium where we performed at the BRUSSELS BOOGIE WOOGIE PIANO SUMMIT on November 27th. Liz & I shared the bill with RENAUD PATIGNY (Belgium’s “King of Boogie Woogie”), CHRISTOPH ROIS (Vienna, Austria), and CAROLINE DAHL (San Francisco) at Theatre St. Michel, a gorgeous old theatre with two Yamaha grand pianos onstage. The enthusiastic audience of 1,300+ received us well, and we also did a couple songs with Brussels blues harpist GENEVIEVE DARTEVELLE. You can view photos from the festival on our PHOTOS page. Many thanks to Renaud Patigny for having us perform!
Liz and I had a chance to sightsee in downtown Brussels (at the Grand Place) on Sunday and sample the fine waffles, chocolate, beer, and other Belgian cuisine before leaving on Monday. Brussels is an absolutely beautiful city, and we truly hated to leave.
Our sympathies go to fellow musician TOMMY McCOY on the sudden loss of his girlfriend, BRENDA. We also mourn the loss of 2 dear fan/friends: MORGAN CUMMINGS of Crystal River and just got word that singer/songwriter MIKE LOREN passed last night. It’s hard to lose friends our age & we’ll miss seeing them in the audience. Life is short and as Morgan said, “Keep the faith and seek the light.” We so appreciate every one of you & hope to see you often in 2005. Happy New Year!
