Chicago, IL - Reggie's

What a cool show yesterday. We we're the only out of town-ers, and the rest of the groups brought great crowds. This was a special show though; we were the oldest band there, which for us, is a rarity. The first group was a 16 year old Allman Brothers band who ripped on some bluesy jams and hinted that they had some jazz chops too. They were from a local Chicago School of Rock, which, by the way, has yet to let me down. Every band that I've heard from those types of programs has been burnin'.

We were up next and didn't bring the house down or anything, but I think the younger bands enjoyed seeing what some older kids could do. This summer I started paying more attention to people's faces and how they reacted to what I played. I've been trying to project what I play like I would if I was trying to tell somebody something from across the room without using words. That said, I think I connected better with the kids if we had a little eye contact to go with the crazy fill or whatever I did.

The band after was a cute group of 13 year old girls and their 24 year old baby-sitter/drummer. They were so good! Even for 13 year olds. Great performers too. Then the band after them was a group of high school students who had a Killers or MGMT kind of vibe. The whole night I was thinking about how great it must be playing at those levels at such young ages. They kids we played with last night could all go really far if they wanted.

New show added: House of Blues in Houston, TX! That'll be sweeeeet. Show date is August 24 (11 days from now), @ 8pm. But first off to Cleveland tonight, Indianapolis tomorrow, and Austin, TX a couple days after that. We're passing through Indiana, the "Crossroad of America". Must be depressing knowing that nobody wants to stay here, they only want to cross over it.

Peace be with you,

Jon