A total blast and blessing...

So tonight we're getting down to it with the band practicing for our annual Thanksgiving Eve gig - and it was sweet and smokin! In addition to my regular three bandmates - Dianne, Brian and Sue - we've put together an "Ad Hoc Revelation Gospel Choir" of 6 additional singers: Sue, Jon, Renee, Bonnie, Dick and Carol. Add to this mix my dear friend Andy on banjo and guitar and it makes the music really cook! Over the next two weeks we'll also add Linda and Grahm along with Hal and Bert... and damn - I can't wait!

This year is so much fun: the music is so freakin' soulful and tons o fun, too. It really is a little bit Prairie Home Companion, a healthy dose of country revival/hymn sing along with a whole lotta of Springsteen in the Seeger Session band incarnation. And all for a good cause as we're raising funds for the Emergency Fuel Assistance Fund of our local interfaith group.

And what delights me beyond comprehension is getting together with some of my favorite - and best - local musicians for a chance to just have fun with some of the best American music ever written. I think of it as what might happen if The Band got together with Jesus, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, the Boss and Pete Seeger.

You see, nobody sings together any more - all to our collective loss - so, like a dinosaur, I'm fighting the trend of just playing music on an IPOD (which I love) and working to reclaim group singing to its righteous place in our crazy, weird, wounded and beautiful society. I've even got two of our little 10 year old guitar dudes playing a guitar break on JT's "Steam Roller Blues" - and let me tell you both Zak and Ethan are hot little rockers! When everyone is in the groove there will be 18 people on stage makin sweet, soul music so...

If you are in the area, I really hope you'll stop by and support the song and the cause: you will have a blast.