Well, it may be a rainy, cloudy, grey day here in New York/New Jersey this morning but it's a sunny, warm day in the hearts of all New York Football Giants fans as we are going to the Super Bowl once again! I am sure Patriots fans have been waiting for this rematch and now they have it. Would love to go to this game but ticket prices are insane!!!
Ok, enough of that gibberish as I am sure folks outside of this area, and especially Europe, don't care about the Giants or American Football. :-)
I do want to thank everyone who took part in Light of Day 12 in Asbury Park and NYC. 16 events in 5 days and we raised over $300,000 for Parkinson's research. Really amazing. Besides having the very generous Bruce Springsteen's involvement for the 9th time in 12 years there was lots of E Street activity as Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg, Little Steven and Soozie Tyrell all attended/performed (Max & Soozie) various shows. Seeing fans from all over the world descend on Asbury Park in the middle of the winter is an amazing sight. Watching them discover new artists that we bring in each year is a real thrill that I hope I never tire of as there are so many great artists who lend their time and talent in helping LOD and I/we am so grateful to them all.
Two personal highlights for me was seeing my dear friend/music manager Bob Benjamin in great spirits and in fighting shape as he and Bruce led the crowd on "Promise Land" and "Thunder Road" at The Paramount Theater. Very inspiring. The other highlight for me was for Sam, Mr. Lou, Greg and myself to get a chance to perform "All I Needed Was You" from our "Down Here By The River" release at LOD NYC in front of Little Steven Van Zandt, who wrote that song as it was originally on Southside Johnny's 1991 release "Better Days". Great song and it was really cool that I got a chance to talk with Steven afterwards as he really liked the performance/arrangement/band. I was going to kiss his ring but I wasn't sure about the protocol there. :-)
Next up: Saturday, January 28th, myself and Stone Caravan will be performing two shows at our favorite small club, The Turning Point in Piermont, NY, at 7:30pm and 10pm. Tickets are on sale now so please reserve/purchase ASAP (contact info below). Each show will feature a short opening set by the Rockabilly trio, Slippery Chickens, and everyone attending either show will get a FREE CD of our first release "45-10 Pearson" to mark the 20th anniversary of its release. The cool thing about that, besides getting a free CD, is that it's a double CD which also includes our 2nd release, "The Snow, The Rain and Yesterday," which came out in 1992. We had E Streeter Danny Federici (RIP) with us on that whole record and Danny gave a young band a real shot in the arm! Hope to see you out this week as we celebrate both releases. :)
Check out www.jdcaravan.com tour dates page for more info on these and other shows.
All the best and lots more to come!
Joe D. |
