Travel Day Wednesday June 24, to Montone, Italy

Heading to Montone, Italy for the first ever Montone Blues Festival with Chris Vitarello, Dave Limina and Jacopo D’Angelo.

Chris met me in Boston and we caught an Uber to the airport around 1:30pm. Traffic wasn’t too bad until the tunnel, but we had plenty of time, so, no worries. We found Dave at the airport and had a quick snack and drink together. We all boarded our flight on time and had a pleasant flight. We found each other after passport control in Rome. Our driver, Andrei, contacted us on WhatsApp and we got in his air-conditioned van. It wasn’t terribly hot, but a little humid. We arranged to pick up Jacopo at a bus stop near his sister’s house. A few hours in the van, a quick stop for coffee and pee, where Chris was excited to find prosciutto for sale!

We arrived too early to check in, so we stayed at Hotel Fortebraccio for a light lunch: prosciutto, caprese, and pasta. We met Valeria who is helping to organize the details of the event. She’s amazing! Also met Steve Glenn, who hired us, and Mike, his partner here in Italy. 

Dave had to teach an online class for Berklee, so he went to the hotel, and JD went with him.Chris and I stayed to speak with Valeria and then walked uphill for about a half mile to Hotel Locanda del Capitano, a historic building built in the year 1100! We strolled around the very small center, the square, which consists of a few restaurants, a cafe, and a few shops. Older men sat and played cards in a quartet and other men stood watching. The afternoon pastime. This village is so picturesque and charming. Cobblestone walking paths, rock retaining walls spilling over with herbs and edible plants and flowers. The mountains in the distance with a backdrop of blue sky. So incredibly gorgeous. 

We rested a bit in the late afternoon, and then met at a restaurant in the square for dinner at 8:30pm.L’antica Osteria, also owned by Mike.  His wife, Belinda, waited on us. She’s from Australia, and her father is Italian. The meal was incredible. A delicious piece of pork slow cooked for 12 hours, a little sweet, a little spicy, served with roasted tiny chunks of potato and zucchini. Amazing. White wine, some panacotta for dessert.  A short walk up the hill, and we were back at our hotel. A comfortable bed and air conditioning helped for a great night’s sleep.

Feeling so fortunate that music has brought us here. Grateful.

 

Romania / Bulgaria 2011

23-24 Feb 2011 Boston to Romania

Lenny B. and I started out in Boston, traveled through the night and met up with our cohorts in Germany: Morali Coryell (from upstate NY) Liviu Pop and his wife Raluka (traveling from CT). After a bit of a delay in Germany due to snow, we finally hooked up with Roberto Morbioli (from Italy) at the airport in Romania. We jumped in a minibus together (Why do I always ride the short bus?) and drove for a few hours to the town of Sighisoara.

25 Feb - Sighisoara, Romania

Sighisoara is a quaint little town, near Transylvania where Vlad Dracul lived - yes, the guy that Dracula story was fabled to be about... fiction, I am told... but I have this uncontrollable thirst ... hmmm... Anyway, it is said that it is the oldest Citadel in Romania. All the streets in town are cobblestone, as well as the sidewalks. I'm really glad that I bought comfy flat shoes for this trip!

We were the main attraction in town for the weekend. The people LOVED us. Liviu and Raluka's friends are really warm and kind. Roberto and I SOLD OUT of our CDs during the intermission on Day 1. So much for selling anything in Bulgaria... Friday - Roberto Morbioli and Diane Blue were the first act, followed by Davina and the Vagabonds. She's fabulous -- from Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, Morali Coryell was the main attraction, and Roby and I sat in with him for the big finish. Liviu and Lenny were the mighty rhythm section for both of our acts. Solid.

I bought some rockin' Romanian RED shoes for the show ON SALE in Sighisoara. SCORE!! The people went nutz when I introduced our original song "My Shoes" and pointed out my Romanian Red shoes that I bought that day for them! The audience was very attentive and responsive, standing on their feet by the end of the show. I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of red tulips. How cool - matching my shoes! ;o)

After the gig, we did a jam session in the basement bar of a hotel 2 dorrs up the street. It was like an old cantina where they used to store the wine barrels. Really cool atmosphere. The area for the band was very small -- the people followed us there and jam-packed the room. I left at 5:00am, and I think it was still rockin'... The time really flew by. We made some fans and facebook friends. It was really fun.


26 Feb - Sighisoara - a day and a night off!

Slept in a bit. Roberto and I had the day off because Morali Coryell was the featured artist for Saturday night. We roamed around the town a bit, shopped for souvenirs and gifts, then went to the theatre to catch Morali's act. We joined him for the last 2 numbers; the Grand Finale as it were... again, the audience rose to their feet. Such a great vibe. So wonderful to feel the love.

Again, after the show, we went to the cantina to jam. Our new friends, Emil and Maria reserved their special table and fed me their "special tea" (cognac in a Nestea iced tea bottle!) I left at 3:00am. Rumour has it that Lenny B and Morali stayed there until 6:30am... never did sleep before we got on the bus to Bulgaria... Needless to say, we all slept on the short bus to Bulgaria -- Roberto has photos to prove it!


27 Feb - Ruse, Bulgaria

We were met at the hotel by the organizer's daughter, Gabriella. She was very sweet and kind to us. After a quick freshen-up, we were off to sound-check, dinner, and the show.

We had a nice traditional Bulgarian dinner with Gabriella and her father. They really love Blues and Soul music. Or, as her father said, "I don't really like Blues music, and I don't like sex, either -- I LOVE IT!!"

We played a nice theatre in the center of the town. Because it was a Sunday we didn't know what kind of crowd we would get. The place was PACKED! They also loved us. Again, Roberto and I went on first, followed by Morali Coryell, and then we did the Grand Finale together. The crowd was very responsive again. This time, I got beautiful yellow gerber daisies!


28 February - Bucharest, Romania "Passage Club"
We (Roberto and I, with Lenny B and Liviu) played a club in Bucharest that was another cantina-type of place, with the arched stone ceilings and little separate rooms for the wine barrels. It had a lot of character, and the club was only 3 days into business. Little things were missing, but the vibe was cool, and the people were mostly the same fans we had seen in Sighisoara. Some of them left their job and drove 3 hours to be with us! The only bummer is that everyone smokes EVERYWHERE, any time... It does a number on a girl's voice after 3 days and nights of it in a row, with less than 4 hours sleep each night... Janis was channeling through my groggy voice... OUCH.

We had a very special treat at the Passage Club; a man named Harvis, originally from Cuba, who sat in with the band and played his trumpeta! It was a very nice addition to the vibe.

Overall, two thumbs WAY UP for this tour. I am blessed to be surrounded by some extremely talented musicians who carry my soul to the upper echelons of musical bliss when I share the stage with them.

MERCI!!
<3

Our last hurrah in Memphis...

We had a great time on Saturday. The finals were at 2pm for the bands, and at 7:30pm for the solo/duo performers. We chose to skip going to the band finals, but we went to the solo/duo competition to support our friends in the Juke Joint Devils. They did a REALLY great performance, and in my humble opinion, they should have taken first or second prize... but the German duo won. Coincidentally there is going to be the first International Blues Challenge in Germany next year...

Completely aside from the music, in the afternoon on Saturday, we were "walking in Memphis"... on Beale Street, and decided to go to the King's Palace to see if they had replenished their stock of the fabulous chocolate layer cake with raisins (we shared a couple pieces between 7 of us the other night... it was heavenly...) We asked the hostess to see if there was any more of the cake, and she told us that the girl who makes that cake was the waitress, so she asked her directly. Nope - none of THAT cake, but they had the voodoo chocolate layer cake -- chocolate is chocolate, right? NOT. It was good, but not "heavenly" like hers... We complimented her cake and told her that she needs to go into business for herself -- she has a gift for it. Her eyes welled up; apparently we were meant to tell her that message. Apparently she has been contemplating this decision for quite some time. Her birthday is today. She was feeling sad because she's "getting old"... she turns 42 today. HA! "old.." She told us with tears in her eyes that when she is baking, creating lovin' from her oven, there is nothing like the feeling that she gets from creating her culinary sweet treats. I understand this feeling -- it's the feeling that I get from making music. When something you do makes other people happy or touches another in some way, it makes us "connected" and that good energy grows exponentially. I truly hope she follows her passion. Ask any of the cake-lovers who had even just a little bite of her cake. She has a gift!

I took a nice nap in the afternoon, so that I would be able to stay up 'till the wee hours. Gotta recharge sometimes... We went to the Rum Boogie Cafe for Bob Margolin's jam later. Many of our Boston friends were there. Rosy Rosenblatt was playing harmonica in the house band, Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers got up and did a couple songs, Cindy Daley and Satch Romano got up there...and Bob called up some really fun performers. Then, he did something sorta strange. Rather than have a list of musicians for jammin', he had interludes when he opened the stage, and the first musicians to get there became a band and went with it. I was fortunately sitting at stage left, in front, and Timo was at the front, stage right, so we were able to get on stage together at the first jammin' opportunity. Thanks to Lydia Warren for the little video clip on my facebook! Lydia got up a little later and made us proud! I'm looking forward to performing in the Ladies in the Blues concert in May at the Bull Run in Shirley.

Later in the evening, another call for a free-for-all. The only rule was, you couldn't go up again if you had just gone up the prior song. I watched and waited... drummer, bass, guitar, harmonica... didn't seem to be a singer up there, so I politely asked if I could sing. The response was, "You're up here, sure you can." So - another song with strangers makin' music together. And, I was offered a gig in Minneapolis! (we'll figure that out later...)

We're on our way back home soon... We might have to wait a while to see what good ultimately comes of this trip, but I know something good is on the horizon. We don't need anyone to tell us that we're better than another band. We know that what we do comes from the depths of our soul, and we know that it touches people, and THAT's why we do it.

Thank you for your support!!!

The results are in...

We were second-to-last to play tonight, so we got to hear all the other bands, except one, before we played. There was a tremendous amount of talent in BB King's bar tonight. We did not advance to the semi-finals, but I am REALLY proud of our performance. We did 5 original tunes, and we had a really good audience response... but the judges had their biases in another direction...

In my view, we have already won... we got some great exposure, and we played in a really good club -- BB King's on Beale Street!! I was asked to do an interview tomorrow, and it will be distributed through an e-zine (an online magazine) -- based in Chicago. Lots of people were impressed by what we did... so hopefully we'll hear more from them, and it will turn into gig opportunities down the line.

We'll make the best of the rest of the week, hoping for more exposure and to make some connections along the way. It's disappointing that we didn't advance, because we deserved to go ahead... many people told us they thought we were the best... I know -- my band is the BEST. Just because the judges didn't think so doesn't change a thing. My band ROCKS. And I'm blessed to have them backing me.

Keep checking the website for upcoming dates... I'll continue to blog the rest of this week... THANK YOU for reading ... for following us, and for supporting us.

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Music
DB

Day 1 - Quarterfinals

We were the second band to play at BB King's Club on the corner of Beale and Second Streets. The sound guy, Lewis, was top notch. He gave me a teeny-tiny little amp for my harmonica, but that amp sounded HUGE. The stage sound was good, and we did a really good energy set. We played all original songs - for 25 minutes.

We were very surprised to see our friend Jimi with a few more friends from Boston!! It did our hearts good to see our local fans smiling and cheering us on!

For those of you who saw us at the Mass. Blues Challenge, we did the three songs that we did at our local challenge; Don't Stop, I Will Fly, and Wonderful Addiction, plus Restless (from my first CD) and a brandy new song called "Look Before you Leap". We had a really good reaction from the audience, but it's the judges' opinions that really count.

We were looking good, all the guys dressed in matching black shirts with a wide blue stripe down the sides of the button-down part. And, me, in my matching blue striped sparkley top. We felt good about our set -- did our best, now we just hope for the best!

We will perform at BB Kings again on Thursday, for a different judge panel. All the same bands will be performing with us in the same club. We'll find out late on Thursday night about advancing to the Semi-Finals. Four bands from each club will advance. We're confident that we are one of them!

We had a fun night of band bonding, trolling around the other nightclubs, watching other bands. There's a LOT of talent concentrated in this little part of town. Beale Street is hopping and crawling with musicians. Just about everyone is carrying a guitar case or musical gear of some sort. It's fun to witness, and really fun to be a part of it all!!

Until tomorrow, y'all....

The Gang's All Here!

All the band members (and our fans and friends) made it to Memphis safely!!

We will register our band in the morning, bring some CDs over to the Handy Bar where CDMojo will be peddling them for us this week, and then discuss our song arrangements.

We found out that we are scheduled to perform at BB King's Blues Bar on Beale Street, one of the nicest venues!! We're really excited -- we perform at about 6pm on Wednesday, and then at about 10pm on Thursday.

The weather turned REALLY cold tonight... but we're happy there's no snow here!

More tomorrow...

Peace,
DB

Waiting & Wondering...

It's Tuesday morning, 1 Feb. Monday night was pretty tame on Beale Street. There was music in most of the clubs, but not many people out and about. We caught a good band at BB King's -- the BB King Allstars. Funky, bluesy, horny (sax and trumpet!).

The rest of the band is traveling to Memphis today; hopefully will arrive safely this afternoon.
Tonight is the International Showcase; different acts from around the world performing. The International Blues Challenge competition starts on Wednesday. We'll learn of our venue assignment on Wednesday when we register. The entire band must be present for registration, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they all arrive safely.

The weather is messing up a lot of people's travels... and if the bands are not present before 2:30pm on Wednesday for registration, then I think they cannot compete. From what I understand, the show goes on with the bands who can get here, no exceptions. Heartbreaking for the folks who won at their local level, and now Mother Nature is not being very good to them.

The routing for our band members seems to be avoiding the worst of the weather -- so hopefully we'll get all checked in and do our thing tomorrow!

Check back for more news later!!!

Peace,
DB