Kingston Mines 12/26/08 & 12/27/08

Kingston Mines 12_27_08
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill, Brian and I backed up Duke this weekend in Chicago. I was fairly busy Friday. I didn't know what to expect since it was the day after Christmas. My wife came with us and took about 300 pictures of the band! About 20 of those were pre-beers, but since she's a pro, almost all of them were great.

I met a couple of Duke's long-time fans, Suzie and Ci Ci, and filled them in on the status of James and Nancy (of which I knew nothing). Why do I suddenly feel like this has turned into a gossip column? Saturday was super-packed, and I had a chance to meet the owner of Kingson Mines, Doc. What a great guy. I picked up one of his son Frank's CDs, and we listened to it on the way home. Good stuff, Frank!

Bob & Tom 12/24/08

Bob, Tom, Chick and Kristi were on vacation this week, so Duke, Mark and I performed "Lord Help Our Colts" on the air with Gunner. I spaced bringing my camera, but next week will be Gunner, too. I'll post a pic then...

Merry Christmas!!!

Speedway Daycare Staff Party 12/22/08

Dan Holmes and Bill Ritter play a staff party
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill Ritter and I performed for the staff of Speedway daycare for their holiday party. We played a bunch of Christmas songs and then ate fondue. Most gigs could be vastly improved if only there were fondue involved.

7th & 8th Church Service 12/21/08

Dan Holmes and Bill Ritter go to church
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

The church service began and ended with Bill Ritter and I performing Christmas songs for the congregation.

We set up at the front of the church, and performed for about a total of half an hour. The people at 7th & 8th are always so nice to us. Thanks to all for having us in again this Christmas!

Zydeco's 12/20/08

Dan Holmes sings at Zydeco's
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

The Christmas show at Zydeco's was great! Mojo Gumbo was performing downstairs tonight, while Brian Yarde (on drums) and Jack Joseph (on bass) and I performed upstairs.

Jack sang his best on "Moondance" and the crowd went wild. Jack was so good on vocals, Brian had to stop drumming for a second to gather himself. Mike Brown from Mojo Gumbo came up and played three tunes on piano, while I played drums and Brian played bass.

We sold a bunch of CD for stocking stuffers, and had a great time!

Howl At The Moon 12/19/08

Dan Holmes-3
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

It was packed tonight! Bill and Brian were rocking, and we met a bunch of new fans. We played Short People and I think some people in the front row stood up, maybe...

Zydeco's 12/18/08

Dan Holmes-2
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

My wife and I celebrated our 5th anniversary tonight at Zydeco's (while I played a gig). I'm such a bad husband. I should've taken her out without me performing in the middle of dinner. We had fun, although there was no crowd, due to poor weather.

Deb sang Santa Baby with us, and this time had the words taped to the back of her hand. Awesome.

Thanks, Christine, for being the coolest wife ever. You rock way harder than I ever could!

Static Shack 12/17/08

Tom's Lit-Up Head
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

I went in to the studio after Bob & Tom with Duke to record a quick piano thing for one of the football songs he writes. They have the best display of Tom's head ever! Check out the picture...

Bob & Tom 12/17/08

Dan Holmes and Mark Rohrman
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Duke had Mark and I come in early to perform his holiday classic, "It's Christmas (Let's Have Sex)". Kristi Lee prvided backing vocals and limited sleigh bells. The song will be on the TV broadcast on Thursday.

Mark gave another true life story from the world of bass players in this week's edition of Bass Talk:

"A bass player goes to his doctor because he wasn't feeling good. His doctor examins him and says he thinks the bass player may have had a curse placed on him, and advised him to seek out a witch doctor. In the bass player's travels, he finds a witch doctor and asks for his help. The witch doctor says he can only help if he hears the exact wording of the original curse. The bass player thinks for a minute and says, "I don't know how it began, but I'm pretty sure it ended with 'I now pronouce you man and wife."

Speedway United Methodist Church 12/16/08

Dan Holmes & Bill Ritter Perform For A Daycare
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill and I performed while the parents were being seated before the kids took the stage at the Christmas Show at Speedway United Methodis Church Childcare. We ran through about a half-hour worth of Christmas music, and then the kids did their show.

Zydeco's 12/13/08

Duke Tumatoe and DHG at Zydeco's
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Duke Tumatoe and Brian Yarde joined Bill Ritter and I at Zydeco's for a special show tonight. People were loving it! Duke and Deb faced off and had several discussions, Deb got Brian drunk, and I played Santa Baby for Deb to sing. I have no idea what Deb and Bill did, but I'm sure she didn't ignore Bill.

Thanks goes out to Duke and Brian for making this such a fun sho

Howl At The Moon 12/12/08

Dan Holmes And A Packed House
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Brian, Bill and I had a good time at Howl in downtown Indy tonight. People, as always at Howl, were slow to get into the show, but soon became very involved. Example: right after we played a Christmas tune, someone in the back stood up and yelled "BIRTHDAY!!!", so we natually sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

I also figured out what the band slogan will be. How about this:
"Dan Holmes Group; playing songs you don't like so often, you will like them."

I like it.

Zydeco's 12/11/08

Looking Up On A Thursday Night Gig
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill and I played to a bunch of corpses tonight at Zydeco's. There was a brief moment where I thought we were bringing them back to life, but as it turned out, they don't come back to life quite right. It's like a zombie movie where all they want is to eat your brains. Or maybe it's more like Flatliners, where they come back only to have their worst nightmares (us, apparently) haunt them. Better yet, like Frankenstien's monster, where we jolt them back from the dead only to have them turn on us and throw a small girl down a well.

Okay, so maybe no small kids were harmed, but boy, were they lifeless tonight. I think I made my point.

Bob & Tom 12/10/08

Dan Holmes watching Dan Holmes on the Bob and Tom Show
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We had a great time on Bob & Tom today. I brought in a keyboard with some better sounds than my other one, and Tom had me perform some Fender Rhodes sounds while they did a Rodney Barrett spoof. I thought Duke was going to pass out from laughing so hard.

The NFL song made it to the TV show, so Mark, Duke and I were seen in Hi-Def Thursday night. I watched it in my studio and it made me realize that I wore the same shirt yesterday and today. It's okay, thought. It was mostly clean.

Zydeco's 12/7/08

Brunch At Zydeco's
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Brunch once again found Bill and I at Zydeco's in Mooresville, IN. 11a came earlier than usual due to the fact we didn't get home and unloaded until 4:30a. Still, we made it and played to all the brunchers this morning with no problems.

We had a chance to perform some of our Christmas music, and people were happy. Deb did not sing Santa Baby, though. Alas...

Indiana Live Casino 12/6/08

Bill Ritter and Brian Yarde
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

My wife showed up to suprise me tonight! She usually dosen't get to make it out to shows because of her job, so it was a treat to have her out. Brian sounded his best yet on the electric drums. I'm sure it was a pain for him to do three nights on them, but he pulled it off.

We did the same schedule as last night with us opening for ourselves. Another 8p-2a gig, but this time, we had to load out after the show in 18 degree Indiana winter. Brrrrrr...

Indiana Live Casino 12/5/08

Duke Tumatoe And The Power Trio
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We pulled a double tonight at the casino. Originally, DHG was to perform at Howl At The Moon, but things worked out to be DHG opening for Duke Tumatoe (backed by DHG). We performed two hours before Duke took the stage, and then performed four more hours with Duke. Marathon gig!

The folks at the casino were great and took care of us all night. Brian was able to use a couple of his own cymbals with the electric drums, so they sounded much better tonight. Gary Brewer showed up and took this picture for us. Thanks Gary!

Indiana Live Casino 12/4/08

Slots
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We made our way to Shelbyville, IN to perform with Duke at the casino tonight. We were a little nervous about the setup before we got there, but the gig went very smooth. The unusual thing about it is that Brian has to play the electric drums supplied by the house. He was uncomfortable at first, but he made it through.

We were under the blue thing hanging from the ceiling in the above picture. The only thing that got old after a while was the constant hum of all the machines ringing at the same time. It was like being in Phillip Glass' nightmares. We figured out that it plays a C Major chord.
All.
Night.
Long.

Bob & Tom 12/3/08

He's Been A Staple For 25 Years
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

For some reason, my keyboard wasn't coming through the air today. I had to use the speakers on my keyboard to be heard. Tom had me play some light jazz while he spoke like a DJ he'd heard years ago.

Mark had this Bass Talk joke:

A bass player was sitting on the couch with his wife and son. His son looks up at the woman and asks, "Mom, who did I get my intellegence from?"
The woman quickly replied, "You got it from your father."
The boy asked, "How do you know?"

The woman said without pausing, "Because I still have mine."

Geist Church 11/30/08

Dan Holmes at Geist Christian Church
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Everything went so much smoother today. I was able to perform on the baby grand, and it helped a bunch. I was comfortable and I could hear things much better today. Kudos to Greg McGuirk for keeping everything together. I left feeling like yesterday was a bad dream, but today was fine.