Happy Spring, everyone! With the sweet scent of orange blossoms from our two backyard trees wafting through our open windows and temps in the 70’s and 80’s, it’s beautiful here in St. Pete!
We’ve had lots of northern visitors this month: Our two moms from Ohio, Doc’s sister-in-law and two nieces from Maryland, and Doc’s brother Charlie from Nebraska, and Liz’s sister Mary will be here from Ohio next week. We finally got to the beach last week!
We have fifteen gigs booked in March, so it’s definitely been hectic. We’re also booking the Summer Tour and gearing up to begin recording our new CD which we hope to release in time for the tour.
Since we last wrote, we’ve heard many fine concerts in the Tampa Bay area. For the first time, we saw two of our heroes, Little Richard & Chuck Berry, perform in October; it was Chuck Berry’s 75th Birthday Bash, and the show exceeded our expectations (Little Richard is now 69). In November, we heard our friends Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women in Tampa, where we danced to their rendition of Liz’s song “Take It Slow”. The next day, we visited with them over dinner. We also bought a copy of their new CD AIN’T GONNA HUSH- check out Saffire’s website from our LINKS page.
One of our best buddies, Roy Book Binder, played an excellent concert in Gulfport in February, featuring many songs from his new “Singer-Songwriter Bluesman” CD- you can visit Roy’s website from our LINKS page. We’ll be meeting up with Roy on the road this year at two festivals- The Florida Folk Festival in May and the Queen City Blues Festival (Cincinnati) in August!
Late in February, we heard Cincinnati guitarist Kelly Richey and, in March, caught Cleveland bluesman Mr. Downchild in St. Pete. It was great to see two Ohio friends touring down our way.
On New Year’s Eve, we picked up our shiny, brand-new purple PT CRUISER, our first new car since 1984! The PT Cruiser should make us easier to spot on the tour, so if you see it parked outside a blues club, come on in!
Tampa fans, watch for our TV commercial on Time/Warner Channel 15 (CTTV) for our concert at Lowry Park on May 24th. Thanks to everyone for your love and support!
Liz & Doc
