Constellation cd release show

last night these people made the Constellation cd release show
my favorite one yet
(hands down)
thank you!!

the Monco Poncho brought their own brand of spaghetti western
surf-a-billy at 9
with a ton of rabid fans shooting off pop guns
Nick and Joe have been coming to my shows for over 10 years
now
it was awesome to see my friends up there playing
in a great band - our first show together and hopefully the first of many more to come!

Vanessa Peters and her band sounded amazing
the best soundguy in texas (and possibly America - Kevin Brown)
had it cooking out front
like a loud stereo - exactly the way i love the Sons to sound
the Guomo kept the sweater vest on the whole set
while he grooved the drums (i love watching this guy play!)
Manuel Schicchi was excellent as always (on lead guitar)
they're a great bunch of players and beautiful people to boot
i was so proud of VP and I.C.O.S. as they played a super solid set of the best
songs off of the 2 records Rip and i have produced
it was magnificent!

Buttercup had come all the way from San Antonio for this
they played many of my faves
"Always Alcohol" "I Am A Tiger" (with hilarious intro by Erik)
"and now we'll perform the best song in a motion picture by Phil Collins!!!"
"Consensus Chalice" was also superb
rollicking and gentle
serious and hysterical
Erik and the B-boys put on another astounding set
to have talented and wonderful friends like this to come celebrate this release with me
well - i was truly blown away

the Constellations worked so hard to get ready for this night
and they all sounded picture perfect
performing all of these songs that were created (not necessarily to play live)
has been no small feat
but they pulled it off seamlessly
Richard's evocative piano on "Endless Dream Days"
Chris and Eric's superb vocals on "Saint Georges" "Love is all Around"
and "Pictures Collected"
TJ's disco drums re-working of "Pictures"
we played 10 in a row off of a new record few have heard
yet the audience stayed with us
we finished the Constellation set off with "Saint Georges" (for Grace, of course!)
then went into some of the "oldies"
"1978"
"montreal"
"the world is full of people"
"so down"
up front there was a full on party taking place
people jumping up and down
dancing
smiling
pumping fists up in the air arena rock style on "erased"
that inspired me to re-visit my El Paso/Journey epilogue
we finished it all off with "don't be afraid"
and more singing from the crowd than i'd ever heard on that one
then Stu Dcious and Arian (in a white jump suit) started yelling
"she'd walk a mile!!!!!!!!!!"
so we played it
then played "i'll be around" for bop-a-lena
i didn't want it to come to a close
i was having so much fun

i wanted to send a special thank you to these people:
jayson, kyle, amber and rest of the cut-off gang
michael and mary pottter
dean and carla
john d.
owen obel
cody lyson
rip and gavyn
camille
megan c. and caroline s.
MUELLAH!!!!
jeremy moore
john lefler
mark landson
miriam and kenny
paula
jacques and ginger
debbie b.
mike snider (for helping make this wonderful night happen!)
and jayme (not only for sitting at the merch table for 7 hours last night but for always being there for me with love and kindness)



i love you all!!!


salim