Most thugz shows occur in what could be called humble or funky environments but once in while we get to do our thing in a more deluxe environment. Such was the case when we ventured east to Napa and the Blue Note. We were there to do our Bob Dylan tribute show which somehow got the attention of the Blue Note.
We have done the Dylan thing for 9 years now at the the Rio Nido Roadhouse around Bob's birthday (May 24) every year. It came about because one day we noticed how many Dylan tunes we had in our repertoire and saw that it was enough for a whole evening. Since then we have added others in an effort to make each show different with tunes from various periods of the Bard's career.
Well, the Napa gig got off to a rocky start as the whole band was delayed by a fire at a pallet factory on the route there. Huge traffic and rerouting got us there late and somewhat frazzled. Fortunately Drew our sound master got things together for us without much of a sound check and everything went well. Hey, this club was nice! Really great sound system and some nice back line equipment to use. It was nice to use their Fender Twin amp instead of me bringing mine (hey they are at least 80 pounds).
We started the show as Dylan did during the 80's into the 90's with Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" played by the London Symphony. Then Melanie made the intro announcement. This was a what Dy,an's manager would read before each show. A corny and yet bizarre newspaper description of Bob's career with a bit of updating from us. After that Rainy Day Women (everybody must get stoned).
We did two sets or shows as they call them there, each one different. The band did well. Unfortunately we didn't have Chris on bass as he had a previously planned trip to Oregon. We were lucky to get John Norris to fill in so well as he has done on other occasions. John is a masterful musician and played both stand up acoustic and electric bass (hey a Tomales H.S. grad). Adam Walsh also joined us on vocals and guitar. His participation really added much to the whole show - what a fine singer and player. And thanks to all the other thugz for fine performances - Andre, Steph, Russ & John John.
Nice dressing rooms there and a huge St. Bernard dog wandering about the joint.