Hello everyone. We've come to the end of summer once again so thought I might throw out a few thoughts regarding our recent series of shows, gigs or whatever you want to call them. For me the first time I heard of what used to be rock concerts being called shows was from Deadheads. When I heard someone say "see you at the next show" I could pretty much know what they were talking about. However, a Dead "show" wasn't really much to look at as the band just stood there playing. The show was more about the audience and all the various subsets of folks at the venue. anyway, enough about that.
Some of the more memorable thugz "shows" this year for me were:
The May Bob Dylan Tribute show. I felt it was one of our best with a cool acoustic set and a nicely varied electric set. This was one of the first big gigs with our newest line up. On keyboards and sax we have Russ Kerger who is adding so much to the texture of our arrangements as well as playing some rippin' solos. Russ was one of the founding members of the thugz back in 2001 along with Dan Albers/bass, Theo Mills/drums and myself. That group literally played every possible venue in northern Cal as well as a three night stand for New Year's Eve at the MGM Grand in Reno.
New to the drum throne is John Shebalin an awesome musician, compose & educator with a incredible background in jazz, classical & theater music. He has demonstrated an uncanny ability to pick up on our style and propel it with steady drive and top notch musicianship. Rounding out our present line up is Stephanie Salva on vocals and uke. She first started singing with us part time back in the Blue Heron days and has now become a dominant part of our sound. she also has other very cool music projects going on so we feel really blessed that she is also with us in a big way.
Whoops, have to go. I will continue ranting in part 2 soon