I’ve been very bad at reporting from the road these days… Without a doubt,
these trips lately have been busier than ever– which is definitely a good
thing, except for scheduling sleep and down time!

With a quick recap– I had a nice little solo concert at Barbes on the 7th.
As always, that venue attracts a unique audience of music lovers and is a
fun stretch out for me. The Musikfest jazz brunch was a nice standards gig
that was well attended…. Fort even got to play the last 20 minutes after
his car was towed to get a new alternator! (We got him back on the road to
Williamsport in time to play an 8pm show with his other band too!) The solo
show at Musikfest Volksplatz on Monday the 9th included some duets with my good friend/ great accordionist and composer- Dallas Vietty…. very nice!
Despite some issues with El Chavalon’s luggage from Delta (Boo Hiss!), we
made it Manistee, MI for a fun Tues afternoon polka party at the Little
River Casino and Resort… thanks to Virgil for lining us up… we look
forward to returning sometime in 2011…

2 days of recording in Detroit with the beginnings of the next album, were
followed by a great weekend back east. The Evergreen club in Fleetwood was packed for our Friday the 13th gig. A great dancing audience and good time was had by all… We then headed up to Hunter, NY for our first appearance at the German Alps Festival. It was a fun time sharing the stage with the great entertainers and jamming with my friend, Die Schlauberger. Of course, the great weather didn’t hurt the attendance either! Unfortunately, our good weather didn’t follow to Bethlehem Musikfest for closing day/night. Luckily, we still had a wonderfully, receptive crowd and enjoyed the best sound crews the festival has ever had at both Volksplatz (thanks Dave, as always!) and Festplatz.

Now, I’m in California! A fun reunion job with my dear friends- The Balich
Family on Thursday at Little Switzerland, had a full house… Last night was
a blast at Teske’s Germania for the band in San Jose and Saturday/ Sunday
we’re playing at the Cotati Accordion Festival…. if you’re around come
check out the fun…

Hope to see ya down the road…alex