Howl At The Moon 9/12/08

Bill, Brian and I rocked Howl tonight so hard that the crowd almost was interested. A couple of golf claps here, a slight chuckle there, you know, a crowd waiting for the warm up act to get off of the stage. We felt real love in the room.
Somewhere near the back.
By the bathroom cleaners.

Zydeco's 9/11/08

Zydeco's 10 Year Anniversary
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Tonight, Zydeco's celebrated their 10 year anniversary! Bill and I played for three hours for a bunch of people who were forced (by Deb) to listen to us play her new favorite song, "Pasadena King" three times. I love the fact that she loves our songs, so that is the reason I let her push me into performing the same song three times in one night when we normally don't repeat anything.

Oh, yeah, she also signs our checks. Luv ya, Deb!

Rum Runners 9/10/08

Rum Runners-1
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

This was the first Wednesday in a long time where I played with two other piano players (as opposed to a guitar and a piano). Billy and Tommy were the other two players that entertained the crowd with me this evening. As always, lots of Journey, Billy Joel and Elton John were played.

Bob & Tom 9/10/08

The Bob and Tom Show
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Lungs, Colts, hearts, Tumatoes, brains and bass talk weralon the air this morning. Right after we finished performing the two songs, "Lord, Help Our Colts" and "The NFL Song", two ladies from the traveling exibit, "Bodies Revealed" brought in parts of real human bodies as sort of a morbid show and tell. The exibit looks interesting, but it is off-puting to see a woman reach into a suitcase and pull out a smokers lung. Yuck.

Milano Inn 9/7/08

Milano Inn Colts Party
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Go Colts!

A party in the parking lot of the Milano Inn with everyone dressed in blue & white when you've had very little sleep and played a bunch of the hours which filled two days is almost like being on some weird hallucinogen in the middle of a dream involving deranged Smurfs or something.

I need sleep.

Zydeco's Brunch 9/7/08

Zydeco's Brunch
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

So we arrived at home from our gig last night at 4:45am this mornig. I was up by 8:15am to get showered and be downtown to set up P.A. for the gig this afternoon, which I'll head to straight from Zydeco's. Ugg.

If Zydeco's weren't so much fun, I'd never have made it through the day. Deb always has a way of perking you up no matter how tired you are. Plus my awesome wife kept me focused everytime I'd start to drift. Did I mention how awesome she is? Look at the photos she took.
Awesome, I tell you.

St. Jullian Wine Fest 9/6/08

St. Julian's Wine Fest
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Paw Paw, MI is about a four-and-a-half hour drive from Indy, so we arrived at almost 9p. The place was packed with people just waiting to get thier groove on with Duke's tunes. It was a cool, outdoor venue with hundreds of wine-loving fans. What more could we ask for?

The only thing that would've made this better is if we hadn't played a gig just prior to this one, and if we didn't have two more gigs in the morning. We finished at midnight, packed up and drove four-and-a-half hours home.

Penrod 9/6/08

Penrod
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

In front of the Indianapolis Museum Of Art each year, they hold a huge art fair with food, music, a kids area, and of coures, lots of booths selling artwork of every kind. We performed with Duke on the rock stage at 2p to people scattered all over the grounds of the IMA. It was a lot of fuun, but very rushed due to the switch over between acts. As soon as we finished, we jumped in our cars and with only a brief stop for lunch, headed to Paw Paw, MI for our evening performance.

Side note: The band before us ended with "Play That Funky Music White Boy" and the band after us opened with, yep, you guessed it, "Play That Funky Music White Boy".

Brooks Elementary School 9/5/08

Rob Dixon, Brian Yarde, Bill Ritter, and Dan Holmes
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Rob Dixon joined us on sax this evening at a back to school event for the kids in Noblesville, IN. We played for two-hours straight, and hit everything from "My Favorite Things" to "Great Balls Of Fire" to our biggest hit of the night, "Spongebob Squarepants". It's good to know a song like Spongebob when playing for hundreds of kids.

Zydeco's 9/4/08

From the piano...
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Well, it was a little rainy. I think Bill is getting sick. People were tired. But I did find out that the kung-fu joint next door will be moving soon, which means more parking in front of the building for Zydeco's customers.

I had fun, even if it was a little bit weird tonight.

Bob & Tom 9/3/08

Dan Holmes on the Bob & Tom Show
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We're back on the air with Bob & Tom every Wednesday until the end of football season. Even though Mark Rohrman is no longer on the road with Duke, he will be joining us on the air. Tom remembered my name, Mark plugged his new group, "the Flying Toasters", and Duke had some good lines in the new songs. Thanks for listening!

Labor Dayz 9/1/08

Duke Tumatoe in Michigan City
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Michigan City, IN has had Duke close out their Labor Day Festival for years. We had a great crowd and the band was slamming. After our first set, I had a very nice woman approached me to let me know that we were not Duke's usual band. I told her that, in fact, we were Duke's new band, and we would be with him from now on. She told me I was wrong because in the past twenty-five years she had seen Duke, he always had the same people in his band. I decided that I would let her think what she wanted, and I went and ate an elephant ear.

JCC Pool Party 8/31/08

Dan Holmes Group at the JCC
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

The last pool party of the year, and the weather was perfect! Warm enough to make the pool feel great, but not too hot to sit and listen to us play some tunes. Brian was rockin' on my new little drum kit. It has an 18" kick, and 8' 10" & 12" toms. That guy can make anything sound good.

Linton Music Fest 8/30/08

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

Linton Music Fest 8/30/08

Duke Tumatoe had a bunch of fans out to support us in Linton, Indiana for a very cool music fest the town has put together. We played well and had a great time. After the show, a guy from the crowd came up to me and said, "Me and my buddy were trying to figure out if you were stoned. It turns out, you're just really happy." Weird.

Oh yeah, this was also the place where Duke left his guitar cable.
And his pants.
And his shoes.

Thanks goes out to my awesome wife for the great shots of the band.

Howl At The Moon 8/29/08

Howl At The Moon
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Before I even put a foot on the stage a girl in a wheelchair made her way over to me and pushed a request for a Metallica song into my hand. She pointed to the bottom of the note, which read, "from the girl in the wheelchair" and said, "That's me!" I asked her how I would know if it was her if another girl in a whellchair came in, and she said, "I'm the cute one." Cool.

Static Shack 8/29/08

Recording At The Static Shack
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

We recorded for a few hours for some upcoming Bob & Tom stuff at the Static Shack this afternoon. I love their piano...it's the one I used on my song, "Superstore".

Rum Runners 08/28/08

Rum Runners
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Tonight at Rum Runners in South Bend, Indiana, Brendon, John and I played for a room full of freshly-back-to-college kids, who took some time to win over. The macho guys were wooing the cute girls, old friends were catching up on what they did over the summer, and new classmates were discussing how "This course is gonna suck". After they had a few drinks, then they realized, "Hey, look! A dueling piano show!" It was fun.

Zydeco's 8/28/08

Zydeco's
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Bill and I performed in Moorseville, Indiana tonight for the fun-loving crowd at my favorite resturant! The food was as good as always, and Bill rocked the bass like never before.

Sorry, it was a little slow, so I don't have any news to report, so I figured, hey, pump up Bill's skillz.

Art Street 08/24/08

Art Street In Green Bay, WI
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

Green Bay, WI is about six-and-a-half hours away from Indianapolis. We didn't get home from the gig in Modoc until about 2:30am, and we were back on the road, on our way to Green Bay by 7:00am. We set up and played for a very appreciative crowd. By the time we finished, the sun was almost gone. We got back in the car and drove straight home, with a forty-five minute delay in Chicago due to traffic. I finally fell back into bed at about 3:30am

Thanks goes out to Lloyde for taking some pics of the band!

Wilson Winery 08/23/08

Duke Tumatoe
Originally uploaded by Dan Holmes Group

A crowd of people gathered in Modoc, Indiana tonight to watch us perform with Duke Tumatoe while they drank their wine. And they drank their wine. And they drank their wine.

The corn was 10' tall all around us, which, when the sun went down, felt like a horror movie. The guys were sounding great, and Duke was rocking. The crowd was insane, dancing and flashing us and having parts of them fall off...I'll tell you about it sometime if you ask me.