Acoustic Grill, Picton, ON

Blow that Big Smoke, we're gone! Dropped into Grossman's Tavern on Spadina last night and caught a few songs by the Wickham-Knight band. They've got a new name now, but it escaped me in all of the excitement. On the Big Road and down into beautiful Prince Edward County.

The Acoustic Grill is a really nice venue in Picton, ON. Steve is bringing in all kinds of great shows, and the walls are covered with signed pictures of everybody. Neat. The Galaxie blues in the background is great, too. It rained most of the day, but by showtime it is warm and clear, and people are coming in.

Dave and I are eating quality food here. steve makes the best salads this blues guy has ever had, anywhere. Hands down. This is not rabbit food!! The sound was great, the audience loyal and attentive. Some folks drove out from Kingston and Guelph to catch this show. Thank you so much- those are pretty long drives for a night out!

We really had fun playing this show. I think we played great, too. I look forward to coming back to this club. Picton is cool. We're going shopping at the Giant Tiger in the morning, and then we'll be on the road to Ottawa. The trees have mostly turned color- so it's going to be a beautiful drive up the backroads.

Alibi's, Windsor, ON

Out to Toronto airport this morning to pick up Dave's wife, Patti. She's joining us for a couple of days around Dave's pending induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. It was a warm day for driving, and highway 401 across the bottom end of Ontario was fast. We got in a couple of hours early and checked into our hotel for a rest and a quick shower before sound check.

Alibi's is a nice room on the side of an international truck route. Tonight was a benefit to raise money for the Downtown Mission, an event sponsored by the South Canada Blues Society. Due to some snafu "full production" was not interpreted to include mics and stands, so the sound guy had to scramble to get us set up. Nor was the venue ready for an acoustic show- a tough time was had with the monitors, eq, and over all volume. Everybody involved did their best. We jumped in and worked hard for our two sets, well appreciated by the folks who were close to the front. We were, however, glad to meet the James Anthony band as they arrived to play the late show. If folks can't hear us, it's a tough time for sure. After the great show we had last night at the Silver Dollar, this outing was a bit of a let down. James, at least, sounded great, so we enjoyed his first set before heading back to the hotel for some rest.

It was great to meet Ted Boomer, Bernie, Commander Kim Kelly, and some of the other fine folks who keep it all going down here! Nice turnout by the Blues Society, and a testament to a good deal of hard work and planning. Plenty of young players coming up in South Canada!
I've since heard that people LOVED our show at Alibi's. So I guess our extra efforts were not in vain after all!