8/06

Dear Surfer:

What a busy month. Please take a look at our FORUM / TOUR DIARY for details on the midwestern jaunt of our 2006 living it up again tour, and also the Ohio State Fair on August 11th.

The other show we had in August was on the 31st in Point Pleasant, NJ, at the Point Pleasant Bandshell. It had been raining a lot in NJ. I didn't know this because I was on tour, but that's what the guy who booked us said. He also apologized profusely for the weather that night, to which I responded with a smile, "Yea, God, it's all your fault!" The weather was horrible - cold, windy and threatening to rain. It was so windy that the fireworks got cancelled. But we made the best of it. Few people came out, but those who did really enjoyed themselves, bought CDs and told us we were the best band they had heard there all summer. The guy who booked us was very nice and super cool. Morgan sang with us on this show. It was awesome to have her!

In sad news, on the night we got back from our midwest tour, Luca announced that October 15th will be his last gig with blue number nine. Since then, a few other shows have come up for us, so we're scrambling around trying to find players and we've put out ads and whatnot. If anyone knows of a serious, nice, friendly guitarist who wants to be in this band, let us know. He or she must be well versed in jazz, rock and funk. Songwriters and singers are especially welcome to join us. I think Luca is making a huge huge HUGE mistake for many reasons, but we all have to live and learn.

If you read our tour diary, you will learn that we lost 3 microphone stands in La Crosse, WI. I had to order 3 more while on tour because we needed them for our last few gigs. No one could quite figure out how they got lost, and it pissed me off to no end, but I dealt with it. I dealt with it, no one else did.... this also annoyed me, but that's the way things are. Anyway, it ends happily! Marco went onto MySpace and contacted everyone music related in La Crosse. A disc jockey named Todd wrote and gave us his phone number. I called him, and it turned out that his friend Steve found the stands and still had the stands. Steve even went to venue to try to find out who the stands belonged to. Well, Todd spoke to Steve and so did Marco, and Steve shipped the stands to Concussion Studios. He paid for it himself and we will pay him back. What a nice and trusting guy! Todd loved the story so much, he told it and also played our music on his radio show. Great story, right?

In other news, while on our tour, Camari, Marco, Jack and I noticed that this year, every other person we spoke to said these exact words, "Keep doing this." Other comments - "Great stage presence", "You guys should be on television" and "It won't be long now." I'm not writing this because my ego is all puffed up. I'm writing this because it is interesting to me that after 11 years, this is what people are now saying to us consistently, even on nights when I think the band wasn't playing up to par. I think part of it does have to do with me - my in ear monitors! My singing has vastly improved since I've been using them. My confidence has shot up, too, because I can hear myself. As a result, I'm seriously hamming it up on stage more than ever and improvising vocally. Camari has really busted out, too. And the rhythm section is tight. I seriously dread that we will have to go through the painstaking process of getting it tight all over again, once we find our new guitar player. Ugh.

Well, that's about it. I've got so much laundry to do! We have so many photos from the tour, and I have to get them up onto the site! I feel like I haven't been home in a million years. The tour was tiring and much more difficult than last year. We played mostly all 3 set shows, everyone got the stomach flu, back up vocals took a while to come together, we had off nights and arguments, and we drove A LOT. But I'll do it again!

Next up, Pittsburgh, Columbus OH, Columbus IN, Light The Nights and other stuff. And September 15th, we're playing a lunchtime gig at Journal Square in Jersey City outside. We're trying something different - 2 horns and no back up singers. Should be interesting. I hope the weather holds!

peace,

stefanie

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