Post Game Thoughts

Well, we're finally home. 29 shows - 38 days. It's been an amazing whirlwind of travel, music and fun. I am extraordinarily happy with what we have done here.
From the time almost a year and a half ago when Steve Lippia and I first started talking about the possibility of this tour, then a contract, then booking the musicians, airline tickets, arrival day in Minneapolis, rehearsal, the first show, then 28 more great shows, then departure from Minneapolis, lost luggage, then finally home. All with smiles from both Steve Lippia and myself.
I could not asked for more from one of the finest group of musicians, both on the bandstand and off that I have ever had the pleasure of working with.
I'll start with the reeds and work my way through the band:

Dan Salmasian - Lead Alto, Flute, Clarinet
Maybe I could have done this tour without him, but I certainly would not have wanted to. In addition to being an excellent musician, Dan was my right hand on every detail relating to the tour. He came with me to every venue to the equipment load-in to help with the load-in, render me advice when I needed it about setting the stage and made sure that we were selling merchandise in the right place in the lobby. He was also the band photographer, taking more than 400 photos during the tour.

Cliff Tracy - Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Flute
I first met Cliff when we had him on a show in Easton, PA last year. As well as being impressed by him as a player, he has a wonderful sense of humor a was a pleasure to have with us.

Nancy Boone - Baritone Sax, Alto Sax, Flute and Clarinet
Nancy and I reconnected last when she was on a show with us in Rochester, NY where she lives. She has worked with Steve Lippia several times in the past as a member of the Rochester Philharmonic conducted by Jeff Tyzik.
But that is not the full story of the history of Nancy and I. I have had the pleasure of knowing Nancy since she was probably 14 years old. Nancy and I grew up in the same community in Northern California and I was acquainted with her older sister Susan who is my same age.
Nancy is a marvelous multi-instrumentalist and it was great to have her on tour.

Mike Williams - Lead Trumpet
What can I say about one of the most exciting lead trumpet players in show business? Mike and I have know each other for about 17 years and I was very excited to have this be the first time that he and I have had the opportunity to travel together. I was sorry to have to give him back to the Count Basie Orchestra.

Joe Scannella - Split-Lead Trumpet
Joe and I almost didn't meet in Atlantic City approximately two years ago. He has probably accompanied Steve Lippia for more shows than anyone in the band - including me. I was very fortunate that he subbed in on the last night of a run at the Hilton in Atlantic City with us and the first thing out of my mouth was where have you been?
I have made sure ever since that we don't do a show in that area of the North East without him. He is a rock either in the first trumpet chair or sitting next to Mike Williams as one of the strongest one-two trumpet punches in show business. He did great on his first extended road job.

Jeff Kaye - Jazz Trumpet Soloist
One my oldest musical friends, Jeff and I have been all over the world together for close to twenty years now. He is a wonderful trumpet player and was the perfect third of this trumpet section. Some days, he was the only one who really understood and he was the only one on the bus who knew the "code".

The rhythm section are my new friends. I was very happy to have them with us and they did a great job together and I hope that we will play many more shows together.

Andy Nevala - Piano, Keyboards and Arranging on the fly
I met Andy last year in South Florida when I was subbing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for a night and Andy was on tour with them. I knew immediately that Steve Lippia would like him and that he would be great for the tour. By the end of the show, I had already asked him if was available and if he would like to tour with us. I was happy that he accepted.

Matt Spencer - Bass
I had asked Andy if he could recommend to me a bass player that he thought would work well on our tour. I was very happy that he recommended Matt to me and that he agreed to come with us. Matt is a great musician and was the rock of the rhythm section.

Mark Holovnia - Drums
My search for a drummer was far and wide. At one point I put out a nationwide email to some of my most trusted musician friends all over the country and my good friend Doug Elliott in the Baltimore area recommended Mark to me. He and Mark play with the Artie Shaw Orchestra together. Doug is about as musically picky as they come so a recommendation from him I knew was going to be strong.
Mark did an amazing job with what I consider is one of the hardest chairs in the band. Steve Lippia and I are about as demanding on a drummer as you could be and Mark rose to the occasion every night.

I can not thank these musicians enough for their musicality, their dedication to making the show new and great every night and finally having a great time on and off the bandstand.

We look forward to a great continuation and finish of the mid-west tour at the end of April. Look for more blogging then.

End of Tour Thoughts

Well, after over a year of anticipation and months of preparation, the fall segment of our Midwest tour has come to an end. It's great to be home for a while; to sleep in my own bed; to spend time with my wife and my son when he comes home from college; to have all the comforts of home but after being on the road for 43 days, it seems odd not to be packing and unpacking, hopping onto a bus, checking out a new venue, doing a sound check and show.

From any standpoint, the tour was a great success: we had an excellent band, comprised of talented musicians from 9 different states, great charts, full venues, great crowds who gave us standing ovations every night, a very happy promoter and community concert associations who were thrilled they brought our show to their community.

Ross, our sound man did a great job in making sure we sounded the best we could at each venue, as challenging a task as it was with varied acoustics, equipment issues, etc. You know your sound man is doing a good job when you begin to take it for granted - when sound issues aren't in the forefront of your consciousness...because he has, in effect, removed that concern from each gig. That takes a good ear, a lot of knowledge, understanding each venue's acoustics and being sensitive to what we need to hear.

If you don't spend much time in the heartland of America, it is easy to forget that hunting is a major leisure activity for Midwestern Americans. Our tour coincided with hunting season so the hotels were filled with guys in flak jackets, camouflage clothing and hunting hats. We regularly saw them walking around with their shotguns and hunting dogs and we saw lots of trailers, muddy SUVs, etc.

In many of the hotels we saw signs that said "Do not clean your bird in your room". Is this a common problem? Apparently, it was pheasant and turkey hunting season. We even got one, ourselves....unintentionally. While our bus was cruising east on Rt. 90 at 72 mph a pheasant crashed into our bus windshield, scaring the hell out of us because it seemed to come out of nowhere. By the end of our trip, there were four new cracks/chips in the windshield from flying birds and stones flipped by passing trucks.

During our tour we racked up over 9,000 miles on the bus and we traveled through 11 different states. Probably, the best destination for many of us was Rapid City, South Dakota because we had a full day off and took advantage of our free time by visiting Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. Mount Rushmore was particularly stunning!

In very short order we all settled into a kind of "road rhythm" of packing, getting onto the bus in the mornings, stopping for lunch, continuing the drive to our destination, checking in, unpacking, walking to nearby shops to restock or find a good meal, then the load-in bus call, then the band bus call, doing the sound check, then the gig, then the load-out, heading back to the hotel, looking for a restaurant that would still serve food after 10:00 pm....then going to sleep and starting over the next day.

Everybody seemed to find some kind of diversion to make the driving time pass more gracefully: sleeping, laughing, watching DVDs on the bus' multi-screen system (mostly violent mob movies or comedies), playing cards, checking email on our laptops, calling home, watching the world go by through the large bus windows.

Man, did we see corn fields. Endless corn fields. Mind numbingly flat as far as the eye could see, corn fields. Occasionally they were punctuated by some silos, grain elevators, a big white farm house, cows grazing in the vast fenced fields.

We found the Midwestern folks to be very nice, very polite and warm. At times, the audiences were very "subdued" during the early part of the show...but they always came to life by the end of the show. At times, their reserve was a little unnerving but we grew to realize that they loved the show and became more demonstrative in the end.

I think all of us got along, extremely well - not an easy thing to do when you're living and traveling in close proximity, living the rigors of a road tour and away from your loved ones.

In fact, I think the experience brought us together and we all agreed we'd like to do more touring (although perhaps not quite so long, next time - 5 weeks is tough).

This spring we will be finishing the tour with a two-week run in the Midwest. We're hoping to assemble the same musicians for this tour...barring any booking conflicts, we should be able to put the same band together.

My office is also looking into booking some "routings" of five or more dates, in clusters, so we can basically do one-week or two-week "mini-tours" so we can hire a bus and use the same great band.

Well, today I'm going to decompress. I have to get my hair cut, catch up on office stuff, greet my son who is due back home for Thanksgiving, pet the dog, kiss my wife and go shopping for food for our big Thanksgiving dinner we are hosting.

Watertown, SD

Perhaps winter is finally here. We have just arrived from Rapid City to Watertown, SD. It is substantially colder here than it was in Rapid City.
We are now in countdown mode - six shows to go. I know that I still haven't told you much about this incredible group of musicians that I am having the great pleasure to be traveling with on this trip but I will try to do that after the show tonight.

I must admit I have been tardy with my blogs but I have a good excuse, my wife is with me as she is selling merchandise on the tour. My wife and I try to do as much as we can on the tour to maximize our experiences. We are in Huron, SD right now. This tour has introduced us to many great local places to eat. Sarah (my wife) and I have been avoiding fast food to search out the best in local dining. We are rarely disappointed.
I am part of the advance crew to load in and load out the venues and we have been shaving time off of our work each day. Everyone has small jobs to do and they jive always at the correct time. We have formed many lifelong friendships with our work.
Another great thing about the tour is the many venues that have so much history within their walls. In Milbank, SD the walls were filled with the pictures of past graduating classes. The earliest was 1902! There have been some schools still in use that were built in the 1920's.
A couple of days ago Sarah and I went to downtown Austin, MN and have some of the best BBQ at "Piggy Blues BBQ". If you ever get to Austin check it out along with the "Paramount" movie house built in 1929 that has been restored to the way it looked opening day. We just walked in off the street and were given a private tour.
Well, I have to leave now to set up the band for our Huron concert, more to come.

Where have we been?

Well, it's been quite a few days since I have blogged to all of you. Since I have spoken to you last, my wife Evelyn came out from Miami for a much appreciated visit. Unfortunately, because of some travel difficulties getting her to her intended destination of Butte, MT where she was originally going to join us, she ended up spending a night in Salt Lake City and we picked her up there the next day.
The weather has been wonderful throughout our tour and was that way the day that we crossed the rockies on our way into Kansas. We stopped in Denver for lunch and had a great lunch at PF Changs in downtown Denver.
Evelyn saw three shows while she and Steve Lippia's wife Lori were visiting us. They saw shows in Grand Junction, CO., Concordia, KS. and Grand Island, NE. Steve L and I were of course very happy to have them visiting and were sorry to them have to return home.

Happy Halloween!

Boo! Well, it's Halloween night and we are in Provo, Utah in route to Grand Junction, Colorado. It's pretty cool, but not as cold as I expected. Tonight is a night off. My wife, Lori, and Steve Sigmund's wife, Evelyn, have joined us on the tour and tonight we're off in search of some good Italian food. Tomorrow morning the bus pulls out at 8:30 AM! Until next time, trick or treat!

Travel and Crookston, MN

After playing the show in New Ulm, the next morning we got up to travel 345 miles to Crookston, MN which is in Northern Minnesota.
The weather has been surprisingly mild throughout our trip so far. I keep getting up and thinking that this is the morning that I will need my overcoat. Not so far.
We had the night off after arriving in Crookston at our very nice AmericInn in which we all had some nice amenities in our rooms.
Several people went across the street and did some bowling. Our resident bowler Dan did not lose a game.
I stayed in and enjoyed the room and a well deserved evening off.

New Ulm, MN

We just finished a concert at New Ulm, MN. The best audience ever. A thousand seat house full to the brim with standing room only. It was at the old New Ulm school built in 1915 but has since been closed. Only the auditorium is still in use.
The tour has been a huge success so far. Sold out houses and every audience asking for more.
Traveling has been good so far. Lots of great old barns to look at since we have been traveling on a lot of two lane highways.
Sarah. my wife and I are having a great time. We bought a lot of Xmas presents in Fond Du Lac, WI. and have been eating at a lot of Mom & Pops places in every town. Not a bad meal yet. We have a travel day tomorrow to Crookston, MN and am looking forward to seeing a high school friend in Butte next week. Will add more soon.

Sioux City, IA

Two days in the city of Sioux City, Iowa. The First day was our day of arrival and the show. We played in the theater at Morningside College. Another great show.

Day two was an actual day off. It was very nice to have a day without show or travel. There was still things to do though. Things that required Steve and I being able to get around so we decided to rent a car. Because of availability at the car rental company a car turned out to be a pickup truck. It did however, get us where we needed to go.

I found a dry cleaner that could do one day service for us so I was off early to get the car and get our clothes to the dry cleaners. I returned to the hotel and decided to catch a well deserved nap while Steve, Dan, Sarah and others went sight seeing. They returned in the afternoon and Steve and I then went to pick up the cleaning and to do our regular laundry. These are the fun parts of being out on the road - a laundromat. If you want to measure what kind of area you are in, go to a laundromat.

For dinner, Steve, Dan, Sarah and I went to a downtown restaurant named Luciano's. The walls were covered with photos of the owner of the restaurant with famous republicans including the president. We then discovered that the owner is the chairman of the republican party in Iowa. The food was good. Not great, but good. The evening finished with Steve and several of the band playing poker in the breakfast room till late in the evening.

Next stop - New Ulm, MN.

Catching up.....The "Corn Palace"

Well, it's been a few days since I've posted and it's about time to catch up.

Since I've posted last, I think the most interesting highlight has to have been the "Corn Palace" of Mitchell, SD. Mitchell reputes itself as the "Corn"capital of the country.

The "Corn Palace" is in the center of town and serves as the venue for concerts and sporting events. What makes the "Corn Palace" unusual is that every year, the outside of the building is decorated with art fashioned by various colors of corn. It is quite impressive.

The other highlight of the evening was our special guest, retired senator George McGovern. Though I don't necessarily share his politics, the senator is a true American patriot and a man of great integrity. He was very kind to spend a few minutes both at intermission and after the show with us, taking photos and chatting with Steve, myself and the rest of the band.

The next day we were off to Sioux City.

After the Watertown show

I've just returned to our hotel after the Watertown show. It was, as all of the shows have been so far, excellent. I must write more about this incredible group of musicians that are traveling with us later.

We played again at another very nice, well equipped high school theater. Smaller than last night, but a very enthusiastic audience.

We were then invited by the concert association board to a private reception at the home of one of the board members. We took the bus to somebody's house. I can only imagine what the neighbors in this small town must have thought.

It must be time to catch some sleep before a 9am departure to Iowa tomorrow.

Watertown, WI

Hi everyone!

Well, here I am. I have finally arrived at the Fall Tour blog. We have been out on the road for enough days now that I have lost track of time and don't even know what day it is except for looking at our daily travel sheet to see where we are going and what we are doing.

It is a constant blur of activity out here. I spend my time on the bus calling ahead to the next few gigs making sure that we have everything that we need in place, making time decisions about what time we need to go to the venue to set up, what time the band needs to come over to sound check, what time we'll need to leave in the morning based on how long the drive to the next town is, calling the hotels to make sure that our rooms are ready and that check-in and check-out is smooth and making sure that our driver Gary knows where he is going. Then, when I have time, I even manage to play the trombone a little.

Today we are in Watertown, WI. Seems like a nice little town. About 23,000 population. We are playing at the auditorium of the local high school. Last night, we also played at a very nice high school theater in Fond du Lac, WI.

Time for some more phone calls, that's all for now. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

Steve

The Tour Has Begun!

Well, the long-awaited Midwest Tour has finally begun and all is going well. So much work has been done, in advance, by the tour promoter, the venues and us to make sure this is a musically excellent tour. There are so many logistics: air transportation, bus transportation, technical requirements, lodging, making sure we can maintain a modicum of comfort as we bus across 11 states and 9,000 miles during the 29-city portion of our Midwest Tour.

Our bus company, Stagecoach West, has provided us with a new coach bus with a few excellent upgrades (a nice leather couch that converts to a bed, a refrigerator, a small "lounge" with a table, some AC electricity to power our laptops, phone chargers, PDAs, Blackberries, and an open area in the back, where we have literally created an entire office with a desk, laptops, printer, files, cell phones...we even have internet access while we're "rolling"). Our driver, Gary, has been great.

We have a technical/stage manager, Ross, who is traveling with us - with our own sound equipment to make sure we have the best possible sound at each gig.

Our musicians, who literally come from all over the country, all converged on the city of Minneapolis on October 14th, where we rehearsed nearby, hung out at the "Mall of America" and, eventually, boarded the bus for our first tour date, which was in Fairmont, Minnesota on October 16th.

Steve Sigmund is my very capable music director, who is the backbone of the tour, acting as conductor, trombonist, road manager, venue liason, bus "mom", T-shirt design consultant.

We're excited about our new T-shirts that we're selling on the tour. The design was a real collaborative effort and they look really cool! They have a casual photo of me on the front that has been digitally modified with an Andy Warhol-ish effect. On the back, it says: "Steve Lippia & His Orchestra" "'Simply Sinatra' Tour 2007 - 2008" By the way, we're going to make them available for sale, shortly, on my website.

Wednesday is Wednesday

We are now on our way to Sheboygan. The bus is great and so is the driver. We are now leaving the lunch stop and had some great area frozen custard from Culver's. At least it's not raining. Actually, it's just like another day at the office.

Welcome to our Tour Blog!

Well, here we are joining the world of technological advances and taking a stab at blogging. We thought it would be interesting to share the daily fun, craziness and trials of being on a 35-day (30 city) bus tour of the Midwest, that started today by the way. First stop . . . Fairmont, Minnesota!

So, check back from time to time and see how we're doing!