Hi Friends,
Wow! What an incredible week. Both shows were the tops.

The Thursday night show was solo acoustic at the Sidewalk Cafe. This was part of the Feast of Friends concert sponsored by my good friend Chris Laubis who runs Poptown Records. I thought I'd never been to this club before, but when I got there on Thursday night, I recalled that a few years back my daughter Shannon lived just up the street, and we went there several times for martinis or a Guinness. It was a cool club back then and it's still a cool club today. It's actually there are three sections to the club, a separate restaurant, a bar, and a candle lit backroom which accommodates the concerts.

First, Jynx played. She is a singer/songwriter/keyboardist who has a very cool attitude reminiscent of the moody side of Patti Smith. She had a Theremin player who joined in for several songs. I liked the songs and the vibe.

Next up was me. I played my new 12 string guitar and played two new original songs, Wolves and Runnin' Out of Time. Next came a dark and moody version of Paint It Black followed by my version of a BOC song Death Valley Nights. Death Valley is a song that really has fallen through the cracks of the BOC catalog. It deserves to be reinterpreted, and this one connected with the crowd.

A few more songs followed including Carnival Toy from the Back From Hell CD,Astronomy, Blood and Roses (a Smithereens cover). My version of the always topical Eve of Destruction followed by One More Song (another new song) and Reaper. For Reaper brother Albert came up and played a drum kit sans cymbals, and Jimmy Cacala, my drummer from X Brothers, played the cowbell. The effect was great and the crowd really felt part of a special event.


Friday night I played with the X Brothers at the Cutting Room. The show was super. We had a full crowd and played a set filled with new songs from the CD including Beyond the Valley of the X, BOC chestnut Dr. Music and Money Machine. Burnin for You was next , followed by Astronomy followed by Andy song's Downtown. Albert made another appearance and sang Cities on Flame with us and we ended the set with Godzilla. I have played with my "adopted" brothers for nearly two decades, and Jimmy and Andy never fail to put on a great show. Dennis Dunaway's band played after us and I came back out at the end for the "super" encore. What a great night!

We will do it again!
Joe