Chateau de Pique 9/25/10

Duke Tumatoe and The Power Trio at Chateau de Pique
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Seymour, IN had Duke, Bill, Joe & I tonight perform at their winery. It was great weather for an outdoor show, and it actually got downright chilly by the end of the night. Rusty Bladen opened up for us. The people were great, although they sat very far away. Everyone seemed to have fun, and I left pretty quickly after the show to get a couple hours of sleep before driving to Texas Sunday morning!

AJ's Bar & Grill 9/24/10

Dan Holmes at AJ's in Ft. Wayne, IN
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Tonight in Ft. Wayne, IN, Duke played for a crowd of moderately enthusiastic fans. Joe Maddox, Bill Ritter and myself found endless laughs within the structure of each song, and we made it a good night. We played 8p-midnight, which is fine, but once again, we had a three hour drive home after the show. One more show tomorrow, then I'm off to Texas for a few days. See y'all later!

Howl At The Moon 9/23/10

Dan Holmes at Howl Thursday
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

College night at Howl in Indianapolis is always surreal. People flock in (mostly due to dollar beers) and could care less what's going on on stage until all the dollar beers they drank hit them. We just play what we want for the first couple of hours, then it's nothing but heavy drums and lots of drunken dancing. Oh, yeah, and people drink. Did I mention dollar beers? I think I did, but I need to go back and reread this post to make sure I said something about dollar beers....

Howl At The Moon 9/22/10

Dan Plays Some Bass At Howl
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Jeremy and I performed for a huge private party in downtown Indy, opposite of Tod and Joanna. Big crowd ready to have a good time, and they weren't afraid to tell us what they wanted to hear. As the night went on, the crowd thinned down to just a few people who wanted to hear how many Beatles songs Jeremy and I could play back-to-back. We ended the night before we ran out of tunes.

Bob & Tom Show 9/22/10

Dan & Kristi at the Bob & Tom Show
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill Ritter and I joined Duke Tumatoe on the Bob and Tom Show this morning, right after Bob Snider finished performing. I always have more than a few smiles when I'm on! I gave Kristi a hug after the show, and it inspired Bill and Jimbo to embrace as well...

Howl At The Moon 9/21/10

Joanna & Dan at Howl
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Jay Jones and I dueled in downtown Indy, and Joanna and Tod took care of the time we weren't on stage. We definitely partied like it was 1999. Lots of dancing for a Tuesday. I had fun. You should've been there.

Hurst Bean 9/19/10

Colts Tailgate Party
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Our final show of the weekend took place in downtown Indy for a Colts Rally. Lots and lots of Manning jerseys, mostly due to the fact that the Colts were playing the Giants, both of which have Mannings as quarterbacks. I don't really follow football. I just like to play music for anyone who would like to listen. Unfortunately for me, this gig was about football and not music. Don't get me wrong, we played what I feel was a very strong show, but it wasn't enough to compete against football fanatics. We packed up after performing in 85 degree direct sunlight and went home to collapse.

Kingston Mines 9/18/10

Bill and Duke at Kingston Mines
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

It's like dejavu all over again. I almost don't even need to write this post for Chicago. I could just say, "See entry for Kingston Mines 9/17/10" and be done, but the one thing which set this show apart from last night's (besides us being extremely tired) is at the Greensburg, IN gig, we rushed so fast to get out of there to make it to the Mines on time, Duke left his guitars sitting on the stage. So he had to borrow a guitar from the band playing in the next room, but it sounded great.
And yes, the kind people of Greensburg will be returning his guitar to him at the Colts rally today!

Fall Fest 9/18/10

Joe and Bill see the tree
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill Ritter and I staggered out of our hotel room at 9:45 this morning in Chicago, IL to join Duke Tumatoe & Joe Maddox in front of the hotel by our rented mini-van to begin our day of endless travel, heat, and gigs. We drove from Chicago to Greensburg, IN (a little over 4 hours) to perform at their street fair. Originally, we were set to play two 50 minute shows, but due to some overlap in the acts before us, we ended up playing one long hour-and-forty-five minute show.
In the sun.
On the metal stage.
Did I mention we were in the sun? Yep. No sleep playing a long gig in direct sunlight. At least the crowd was appreciative.
As soon as we hit our last note, we packed up and...can you guess it? Yep. We got in the car and I'm currently writing this on our way back to Chicago, to perform at our second night at Kingston Mines. We don't start until 10:30 (11:30 Indy time), which means we won't leave until almost 5am Indy time. Uhgg.

Kingston Mines 9/17/10

Joe Maddox Solos at the Mines
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Dave Mathews Band was playing at nearby Wriggly Field, so the begining of the night was filled with people in town who wanted blues, and the end of the night was full of people who wanted to party and dance. All night we had dancers, professional and otherwise, who filled the multi-dollar concrete dance floor. The only downside to the evening was having to leave quickly so we could get in a power nap before getting in the car to drive 4+ hours to our mid-afternoon Greensburg, IN show.

Howl At The Moon 9/16/10

Howl At The Moon on a Wednesday
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Lots of odd dancing was going on tonight in Indianapolis. Crazy business people getting their freak on after work. I dueled with Jay Jones, and we had some good requests tonight. Ray Charles and Beatles requests make these kind of nights fun for me. I'll be back next Thursday to duel some more!

Bob & Tom Show 9/16/10

Dan & Bill at the Napa Studios
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill Ritter and I joined Duke Tumatoe on the air with Bob, Tom, Chick and Kristi this morning to perform the NFL song. The other song we used to do, "Lord Help Our Colts" was cancelled after a 25 year run. We also found out that last week was the end of Bob & Tom's TV show on WGN. So, without the camera crew, and missing some staff members, it was quiet as we did our part on the show today. I'll definitely miss doing the show after my big move to Texas in January.

Taltree Arboretum & Gardens 9/12/10

Taltree Arboretum & Gardens in Valpo, IN
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill Ritter played through his new bass rig in Valpo, IN tonight. It sounded great, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the player...
We set up inside a huge shelter to play for the crowd out on the lawn. This was a very scenic venue, and it was more of a "wine and cheese" crowd. We had nice weather and it made a good end to a crazy weekend. Duke and I both sold some CDs, and everybody is signing up for his email-mailing list. Maybe I should sign up, too, just to see what it's all about..

Kelly's Pub Too 9/11/10

Dan Holmes at Kelly's Pub Too
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Well, they can't all be great shows.
Indy's west side I guess welcomed us to the smokey sports bar known as Kelly's Pub, Too (or as Duke kept calling it, Kelly's Pub Also). The people were very nice, but very quiet and way off in the distance. We've been spoiled the past couple of days by having huge shows with tons of people really hanging on our every note, so to go back to a bar which I first played in 1995 and realize that it was going to be a smokey night was frustrating. I had people tell me mid-show that they like what we were playing, but they wanted to dance, so they were leaving to go find a cover band. I think this is the first show I've played with Duke where people weren't dancing.

Penrod Art Fair 9/11/10

Performing at Penrod Art Fair
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

I love playing at Penrod, even when it's raining. The Indianapolis Museum Of Art has held this event for as long as I can remember, and it's always full of activity. Just before we took the stage, I received a call from the promoter of the second show (of three) we were supposed to play today, asking if due to the weather and poor ticket sales, would we want to cancel. So gig two of three wasn't looking good when Matt Socey, host of everything on WFYI according to him, introduced us to the crowd. Once again, great energy from the guys and a great crowd made it a fun show!
When we were finished, I confirmed the cancellation of gig #2, so I went home and took a nap...

St. Julian Wine Fest 9/10/10

Dan Holmes & Duke Tumatoe at St. Julian Wine Fest
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Paw Paw, MI was about fifty-five degrees by the time we began to play. Huge crowds filled the whole town, and after the fireworks went off downtown somewhere, the winery was packed to what looked to be capacity. I had a bunch of fun at this show. Joe Maddox, on drums, was killing it tonight. When his energy is up, that guy can't be stopped. Bill Ritter demonstrated the dance moves he learned from a drunken cheerleader in Michigan City, and it gave us a good laugh though the rest of the night. Duke was totally in his element, and he put on a great show. As soon as we finished, we headed back to Indy for our crazy Saturday schedule.

Labor Dayz 9/6/10

Dan Holmes at Labor Dayz
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Not too hot and breezy, sitting in the shade, playing piano with a few hundred of the most bizarre dancers in the midwest is the only way to spend Labor Day. Before I drove to Michigan City, IN, I got about 12 hours of sleep, so I was ready to play all day, but we only did a 3 hour show. Our show went fine, and the only unexplainable thing I witnessed was while we were on break. I walked across the parking lot to see a 10 year old kid standing in a amateur wrestling ring with an acoustic guitar, and proceed to ply Johnny Cash's version of Trent Resnor's song, "Hurt", all about drug addiction and redemption. Wow.

Linton Music Fest 9/5/10

Duke Tumatoe at the Linton Music Fest
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

The second gig of the day found us in Linton, IN, performing with Duke Tumatoe. This was a great show! Tons of bands from all over were there for a few days of music. When we arrived, I saw one of my old friends, Doug Henthorn, on stage with his band, Healing Sixes. They tore it up and ended their set with "I Am The Walrus". Very cool. As soon as they finished, Dane Clark and Johnny G. were taking the adjacent stage to perform while we set up. I was pretty sleepy by the time we went on, but the crowd energized me enough to make it through our set. We played "Kid Stuff", "The Hunter", "Get Loose", "Only Love You", "What I'd Like To Do", "Love To Play The Blues", and "Standing On Shaky Ground". After the show, we packed up and drove an hour-and-forty-five back home, arriving at 9:45 to get some sleep!