Monday, June 27, 2011

Baker's St. Pub 6/26/11

I joined the Excellorators in Austin, TX today to perform some old-school blues. For some reason, there were almost as many dogs in the crowd as there were people. I think the weather was nice enough that everyone just decided at the same time that their Fido should come hear some blues, too. Ted Roddy had another commitment, so he showed up second set to blow some harp, so the first set was left to Steve, Mike and I to sing. Good times!


Friday, June 24, 2011

Taxi's 6/23/11

Drumming at Taxi's by Dan Holmes Group
Drumming at Taxi's, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.
Taxi Haskell's wife went into labor tonight, so I rushed to his club in San Marcos to fill in for him on drums until his sub could get there. I played from about 11:15p-12:45a, then I turned the sticks over to a drummer who knew his stuff! Danny was on piano the whole night, and he sounded great, doing all of the requests from the crowd.

A big congratulations to Taxi and his wife & new baby!!!


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Central Market 6/22/11

I had fun performing with Rob Roy Parnell and the fellas tonight at Central Market in Austin, TX. Because the room is mostly glass and metal, we were able to play very quietly and really lock in to each other tonight. The gig went off without a hitch, and I look forward to the next show at Central Market. As an added bonus, Stefano Intelisano (Jason Mraz' piano player) came in and sat in with the band for a couple of songs, and of course sounded great. I would like to thank my wife for taking some pictures while we played!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Taxi's 6/20/11

A Monday last minute fill-in at Taxi's
Taxi Haskell and I played for a bit this evening because his Monday night entertainment fell ill. Always a good time at Taxi's! I found out tonight that I've been telling people the wrong name for his newly re-named bar. It used to be "J's Bistro" and I thought he changed it to "Taxi's Bistro", but really it's just "Taxi's". Oops. Anyway, tonight we decided to run through songs alphabetically until we decided to stop.

We made it through the letter "i".

Gruene Hall 6/20/11

Gruene Hall with Rob Roy Parnell
Rob Roy rocked Gruene, TX tonight! We had a great crowd, and the ones who weren't dancing on the big old dance floor were dancing in their seats. Pat couldn't make it, so Dave Wesselowski filled in on bass. I really dig his bass playing! Coffeeboy was on fire on guitar, and Chris made sure the beat stayed solid. Fun show! Thanks to all the new fans who introduced themselves to me tonight...I appreciate you!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Baker's St. Pub & Grill 6/19/11

My first show with The Excellorators
Happy Father's Day! I spent the afternoon filling in with the always fun blues band, The Excellorators, who have the best tip jar in town (see the pic, lower left corner). Mike, Steve, Ted, Pat, and Chris led me through their sets of great old blues tunes on the deck at Baker's St. in Austin in the 100 degree weather. I like just hanging back and listening to these guys as much as the crowd did, and I'll be back to join them throughout the month of July!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Taxi's Bistro 6/16/11

Crazy Crowd at Taxi's by Dan Holmes Group
Crazy Crowd at Taxi's, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

The crowd was out to have fun at Taxi's in San Marcos tonight! I once again, had a great time playing piano while Taxi Haskell showed the drums who's boss. Most of the evening was a backwards request night (meaning people would shout out a song title, then bring up a note after we played it saying "thank you for playing _____" with a tip). All-in-all, another fun night at the most popular sing-along piano bar in San Marcos!!!



Saturday, June 11, 2011

Taxi's Bistro 6/10/11

Taxi's on a Friday by Dan Holmes Group
Taxi's on a Friday, a photo by Dan Holmes Group on Flickr.

Cee Lo Green, Journey, John Mellencamp, B-52's, Little Richard, George Straight, Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR, Nirvana, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Seger, Tom Petty, Prince, Al Green, Phil Collins and Garth Brooks were all personally absent from the show tonight, but Taxi Haskell and I performed all of their songs anyway. Lots of birthdays and anniversaries made the night fly by, too!



Coffee Pot Bistro 6/10/11

I played a bunch of tunes for the people hanging out at the cool coffee shop in San Marcos tonight for my first show of the evening. While I performed my tunes, a few local artists set up an installation for an opening tomorrow night. Good coffee and playing some of my originals for an appreciative audience makes me happy.



Friday, June 10, 2011

Taxi's Bistro 6/9/10

Booyah! The crowd took their time arriving tonight, so by the time we started, we were already in the middle of our show. "Don't Stop Believing" was played...twice. A 21st birthday in the house had his friends sing to him. "Devil Went Down To Georgia" impressed the crowd with my patented mouth fiddle. Taxi ended most songs with "Sports Center". I had a great time just playing a bunch of random tunes with Taxi. Songs are always more fun to play with a great drummer!



Kerrville Folk Festival 6/9/11

Long day! I was on the road to Kerrville, TX by 1:15pm today to do a special performance with Rob Roy Parnell at the 40th annual Kerrville Folk Festival. Rob and a couple of other instructors held harmonica workshops for the past few days, and it ended with all of their students taking turns soloing with a live band (us)! We played a few different styles of music for them to solo over during the course of about an hour-and-fifteen-minute gig. 190 miles round trip; two hours to get there, three hours there (to set up, perform, then tear down) then another two hour drive home, only to be faced with the fact that this was only gig #1 of 2 for tonight!



Friday, June 3, 2011

Taxi's Bistro 6/2/11

Dan & Taxi at Taxi's Summer & Mikey at Taxi's
Taxi and I helped the madness along to its final conclusion of body shots off of the piano last night. People were going crazy requesting everything from Dave Matthews to Garth Brooks. As we played, another drummer and piano player came in to watch us and have a few drinks, so Taxi had them come up and play a few tunes. Summer (on piano) and Mikey (on drums) sounded great on the few tunes they did! It's always a treat when I get a chance to hear other performers, especially when they are good performers. Another fun night completed at Taxi's!

Wake The Dead 6/2/11

Wake The Dead in San Marcos, TX
A great coffee shop in in San Marcos, TX is a cool place to perform, even on a slow night. When I first arrived, they were having their espresso machine worked on, so no drinks were being served. After they got it back up and running, people slowly came in for the show to have a good time. I played about four hours, then it was off to gig #2 of the evening!