We’ve been busy preparing to hit the road in late July for our 2014 Summer Tour up north. See our SHOWS page for upcoming dates & festivals in Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana. If you’d like to book us for your festival, club or house parties between Florida & the midwest this summer, please contact us right away.
We’re excited about brand new posters we just got this week- the first official new posters since 2003! Look for them at venues we’ll be playing. We’ve also been working on some new original songs for the next (7th!) album. Please visit our merch table or STORE page & buy some CD’s, etc.- gotta make room for a new one!
On January 19th, Liz & I saw LEON RUSSELL perform at Vinoy Park in St. Pete- awesome as always! We also caught Bonerama at Ringside Cafe, & Lauren Mitchell Band opened for Vanilla Fudge at Largo Cultural Center in April.
Our 5th annual BOOGIE WOOGIE/BLUES PIANO STOMP at the Palladium Theatre in St. Pete on Feb. 22 was another huge success. Featured performers this year were ROB RIO (CA), CHASE GARRETT (IA), BOB SEELEY (MI) and ourselves, and this was our second SOLDOUT Stomp in a row! Bob, Chase, and Rob all did amazing performances. Special thanks to Paul Wilborn at the Palladium Theatre for making this event possible, & all of you for being there.
On March 11, we bought a new (to us) car! It was mighty sad to trade in our beloved 2002 purple PT Cruiser, (see photo inside our Boogie Woogie Staircase CD) but if you catch a glimpse of our new car, you’ll see we got the next best thing to it. Thanks to Bruce at Bay Pines Automotive for the advice, & Rob Rio for the license plate cover!
It was an honor & pleasure to be included with several Tampa Bay blues musicians & luminaries in a photo shoot at the Don Cesar Resort on April 14th. BIG CITY RHYTHM & BLUES MAGAZINE is doing a story on the Suncoast Blues music scene, and the group photo will appear on the magazine’s COVER this fall. BIG CITY RHYTHM & BLUES is a fine bimonthly blues magazine- check them out & subscribe at www.bigcitybluesmag.com or ask for it at your local newsstand or bookstore.
Guitarist/singer Tommy McCoy gave Liz a copy of his CD “Late in the Lonely Night” on Earwig Music Company. She co-wrote & played piano on a cut. From the liner notes: “The saucy “Never Shoulda Listened” is a swaggering vocal duet with Karyn Denham powered by Liz Pennock’s muscular barrelhouse piano….”
Congrats & thanks to these FREQUENT FAN winners of 2013: #1 Winner (attended at least 50 shows!!) Diann F., #2 & #3 (40 shows each) Dan H. & Judy R. -wow! Those who attended at least 20 shows were Priscilla H., Judi L., Barry S., Linda M., Teresa W., Wayne K, & Jim I. Attending at least 10 shows were Hildegarde & Ralph N., Jean M., Barry H., Art O., John & Helen M., Sarah S., Bob & Gwyneth S., Edna P. & Terry G. These loyal fans & more of you truly make the crowd livelier & larger, & therefore help keep us working. Join them & get your free card at any show.
Speaking of fans, we had some real surprises at some gigs this year, including the Garris’ from Ohio & the Pearson’s from St. Augustine/WV. We were floored when Beth B. from Ohio walked in one night- she was one of our best Columbus fans & we hadn’t seen her in years!
Sadly, in addition to losing my mom April 9, our good friend and fellow musician CAPTAIN BOB THOMPSON passed away in St. Pete on December 25th, 2013. We attended each other’s gigs when possible & Liz & Bob often did a cool duet of “Deep River Blues”. We also lost 2 of our (above mentioned) Frequent Fans recently: Bob Starr on June 20, who always came out with his wife Gwyneth, & Jim Isaacs on May 1, who always asked for our original songs. They were all wonderful supporters of our music & are deeply missed.
We flew to Ohio May 30-June 9 for Mom’s Memorial Service & also niece Shannon’s wedding to Bharat. It was wonderful to visit with both of our families, including our 18 month old grandbabies. We even got in some really tasty barbeque at cousin John’s Canal House in Tuscarawas- we play there Aug. 15, so come hungry!
Happy 4th of July,
Dr. Blues
