Samantha Fish & J.D. Simo Bring The Blues To Asbury Hall
3/24/2024 - Buffalo, New York - I was sitting in Blue Cross Arena watching the Amerks game on a Deb freebie and decided to leave early and head to downtown Buffalo, New York's Asbury Hall to see a night of blues featuring Samantha Fish and J.D. Simo. It was 3 hours before the show and I went online to grab a ticket but the show was soldout. I called the venues box office and talked to a nice girl who said there was one ticket in VIP available but not showing on the website. She corrected the problem and I was able to snag a great seat at the very last minute for this soldout show, six rows back left center stage. The show was pretty much a sellout and J.D. Simo came out right at 7 and played a great but short set of tasty blues. He did a nice cover of John Lee Hooker's Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive. After a short intermission, Samantha Fox and her band hit the stage and played good set of blues that included originals and covers. She opened the set with Bulletproof. The set included Chills and Fever, some nice acoustic covers of Gladys Knight & The Pip's If I Were Your Woman and Charley Patton's Jim Lee Blues, Part 1. The sellout crowd appeared to enjoy the blues filled jam and Samantha came out for a two song encore that included being joined by J.D. Simo for excellent renditions of Junior Kimbrough's I'm In Love With You and a jammed filled Bitch on the Run. A great show in an excellent venue, so glad I was able to make it out for this show. I will be back for sure.Slideshow[]
Frampton Brings Never Ever Say Never To The Vine At del Lago
Sabres Gift Birthday Present Shootout Win Over Hurricanes
3/9/2024 - Waterloo, New York - Today in a last minute decision, I decided to head East down the NYS Thruway to exit 41 to The Vine Showroom at del Lago Resort and Casino to see the classic rock guitar of Peter Frampton on his Never Ever Say Never Tour 2024. The Vine Showroom is a nice venue holding about 2400 people and I picked up a ticket on the lower level in back of the theater. A decent seat but exposing the venue's main flaw of having bars within full view of the stage causing it to be a noisy venue, get some curtains for crying out loud! The show was almost a sellout and Frampton and his band hit the stage fifteen minutes after the 7PM start time to play a good ninety minute plus set. He entered the stage walking poorly with a cane and sat in a chair the whole performance. Frampton is battling degenerative Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM) that's atrophying his muscles, but as he said his fingers still work. He played many classics including Lines On My Face, Show Me The Way and Baby I Love Your Way to name a few. He stopped the show and gave a plug to himself to allow all attendees to use their phones to vote for his induction in the Rock Hall of Fame. He did a nice jam on Can't Take That Away and ended the set with Do You Feel Like We Do. His band was pretty good and Rob Arthur on keyboards and some vocals did a good job. Since he could not walk well, he told the crowd to just cheer for the encore and the band sat on stage and took it in. He did a three song encore that included Four Day Creep, a Humble Pie cover of I Don't Need No Doctor and closing with While My Guitar Gently Weeps. A good show that could have been better except for the obnoxious crowd noise, del Lago needs to fix this issue. Frampton still can get it done even sitting in a chair, I guess I will see you again next year for the Never Never Ever Ever Say Never Never Ever Ever Again Tour. I finished the night playing some roulette and making a couple bucks, del Lago is a nice little casino.Slideshow[]
2/25/2024 - Buffalo, New York - Today we headed West into downtown Buffalo, New York to watch our Buffalo Sabres take on the visiting Carolina Hurricanes at the KeyBank Center. Dom's buddy came thru with awesome freebie tickets in the Club Level. We were celebrating my birthday having a nice steak and crab leg dinner prepared by Deb and then we headed to the arena making it just in time for the anthems and puck drop. The Sabres did not disappoint on my birthday and played a great game beating the Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout victory for their third straight win. The Sabres were down by one at the end of the first period but in the second period hard working Jeff Skinner tied it at one. Carolina took the lead in the third period on a Martin Necas power play goal on a questionable roughing the goalie penalty on Rasmus Dahlin, but soon after Owen Power scored the equalizer sending the game into overtime. There were plenty of opportunities in the OT for both teams but no goals were scored so into the shootout we went. In the shootout, Sabre's goalie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkanen, was perfect stopping all four shooters and in the forth round Casey Mittlestadt scored the game winner for the Sabres. An excellent home ice win for the Sabres and great birthday present win for me, thanks Dom and Sabres !Slideshow[]
Dr. Dirty John Valby Returns To Riviera For Annual Show
2/17/2024 - North Tonawanda, New York - In what appears to be an annual event, I headed West to downtown North Tonawanda, New York on a cold February evening to the lovely Riviera Theatre to see the comedy legend himself Dr. Dirty, John Valby. This would be my third year in a row seeing Dr Dirty perform here in February having seen him in 2022 and 2023. I managed to pick up a single ticket a day before the show in the back of the soldout Riviera Theatre. Rob Lederman opened the show and did a pretty good short set, he opened last year also. Soon after, Valby hit the stage and played a good show. The seventy-nine year old was a little off on this night but still performed his classics. He admitted he was not prepared fumbling through his material a bit but again still entertaining the sellout crowd. I was able to meet him again during intermission and we talked of the old days at After Dark. He came out for a good second set and asked the crowd to come back next year. He wants to get to 88, so I guess I will see you next year, thanks Dr. Dirty.Slideshow[]
Day Trip Taughannock Falls & Cray At State Theatre of Ithaca
10/14/2023 - Ithaca, New York - Today, I headed East down NYS Thruway to Route 96S to 89S to Ithaca, New York for a day trip to see gorgeous Taughannock Falls State Park for some fall foliage and an evening of blues with one of my favorites the Robert Cray Band performing at the lovely State Theatre of Ithaca. It was an overcast day but stayed dry for me to get to Taughannock Falls and spend some time hiking around the nice area. The falls were kind of light but it was nice viewing from the top viewing area and then hiking at the bottom of the gorge to the falls was fantastic and the trail was an easy 1.5 mile walk. I left the park and attempted to go to Robert H. Treman Park but it started pouring rain so I headed into Ithaca and grabbed a quick bite at Dibellas. I was then off to State Theatre of Ithaca to see Robert Cray Band perform. This would be the second day in a row that I would see them as I saw them perform in Buffalo at Asbury Hall the night before. I had an excellent ticket five rows back center stage and shockingly the theatre was half empty on this night ! Cray and his excellent band came out on time, with no opener again, and played an excellent ninety plus minute set. They opened with Anything You Want and the set contained excellent renditions of classic Cray songs like Phone Booth, Deep In My Soul, Sitting On Top Of The World and Poor Johnny. He played an excellent version of one of my favorite songs, I'm Done Cryin'. The band sounded great on this night, even cleaner than the night before in Buffalo. They came out for a two song encore that included The Forecast Calls For Pain and the finale of Time Makes Two. I managed to snag a couple more Cray guitar picks at the shows end. The small crowd on this evening were treated to a great show and ended an excellent day trip to the Ithaca area. I will definitely be back to this venue.Slideshow[]
Robert Cray Brings The Blues Back To Buffalo's Asbury Hall
10/13/2023 - Buffalo, New York - Today, we were back on the road again heading West down NYS Thruway to 33 into the heart of downtown Buffalo, New York to see one of our favorite blues artists on the planet, the Robert Cray Band, perform at Asbury Hall. We were back to see the bands return to Asbury Hall after seeing them perform here in 2019. We made it into town early enough to grab a decent dinner at TGIFridays on Main Street. We headed to Asbury Hall only a short walk from the restaurant and found a couple dozen people already in line for this General Admission seated show. We managed to get second row dead center stage and saved a seat for Mike who would be a late arrival. The show appeared to be pretty close to a sellout and Robert Cray would be the only band performing, no opener. The band hit the stage promptly at 8PM and played another excellent ninety minute plus blues set. They opened with Anything You Want and played some tasty tunes including I Shiver, Bad Influence and Right Next Door. The band was as tight as usual with shoeless bass man Richard Cousins leading the way, Dover Weinberg was great on the keys and Les Falconer provided the great drum beat. Young Robert was good as ever with excellent solos and fantastic vocals. The near sellout crowd was pleased with the set that ended with You Must Believe In Yourself. The band came out for a two song encore that included Phone Booth and closing with the usual Time Makes Two. We all managed to snag guitar picks and fully enjoyed the band's return to Asbury Hall. We will be back again when and if the band returns to Asbury Hall. I will see the band again tomorrow at the lovely State Theatre of Ithaca !Slideshow[]
Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Samantha Fish Rock The OLG Stage
Crossroads Guitar Festival Day Two At The Crypto.com Arena
10/7/2023 - Niagara Falls, Canada - Today, we headed north of the border to Niagara Falls, Canada to see a night of blues guitar with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Samantha Fish performing at the fairly new OLG Stage at Fallsview Casino. We headed up a little early and made it easily over the Lewiston Queenston Bridge into Canada and stopped at Deb's favorite spot, Swiss Chalet, for a preshow dinner. We arrived at Fallsview Casino early and managed to get a little gaming action in. Deb had comp tickets in the upper deck of the very nice 5000 seat OLG Stage that had opened on August of 2022. The show was pretty full but was not quite a sellout. Samantha Fish came out promptly and played a good hour long set of blues. She opened with Bulletproof and did a nice jam on Somebody's Always Trying. She finished the condensed set with Black Wind Howlin'. Again, a good set that was well received by the near sellout crowd. After a short intermission, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and his band hit the stage for a good ninety minute set of some covers and original material both old and new. They did a nice cover of Buffalo Springfield's Mr. Soul and Joe Walsh's Turn To Stone. He jammed out on his classics Deja Voodoo and Shame, Shame, Shame. Shepherd's guitar work was excellent with lots of energy and great runs, Joe Krown added alot with great keyboard work and Noah Hunt on lead vocals was also pretty good. The band came out for a three song encore that included Blue On Black, King Bee and finished the show with Hendrix's Voodoo Child, no surprise. A good show at what is an excellent venue and it was free. We will definitely be back at this venue again.Slideshow[]
9/24/2023 - Los Angeles, California - It was another gorgeous sunny warm day in Los Angeles today and we were up early, grabbing breakfast and then off to the Crypto.com Arena for a marathon Day 2 of guitars at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. We arrived around 10AM and cruised the many guitar vendors and sampled some very nice and expensive guitars and viewed the classic Clapton Blackie and Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny. We then headed to the outdoor Village Stage for the first 6 hours of today's jams. The list of artists performing outside was large and included good short sets by Daniel Santiago, Sonny Landreth, Samantha Fish & Eric Gales (Black Wind Howlin', Bulletproof), Nathan & Noah East, Jake Andrews, Hannah Wicklund & Grace Bowers and closing with Zac Schulze Gang. I entered the arena and went into the VIP section where my excellent seat was located right of the stage. Same as yesterday, Bill Murray and Eric Clapton opened the show with I'm So Glad which would begin what would be a 9 hour show! Robert Randolph started the large sets being joined by Joe Bonamassa for a nice cover of Jeff Beck's Freeway Jam. Large sets continued with Keb Mo and Taj Mahal, Marcus King, Sheryl Crow joined by John Mayer on My Favorite Mistake and H.E.R. with Mayer joining for a jam on Hold On. The jams continued with sets from Los Lobos joined by Jimmie Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr. Clapton and his band finally came out and played a star studded set literally. He opened with a tribute to Robbie Robertson with the Band's The Shape I'm In and It Makes No Difference. He played a cover of Willie Dixon's I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man and jammed I Shot The Sheriff. He went into an acoustic set with Layla and Tears In Heaven. For the next electric set he was joined by Stephen Stills for a jam on Love The One You're With and for his final song he was joined by Stevie Wonder on Cross Road Blues. An excellent set, but we still were not done as Santana came out and did a full set into the early morning. It included being joined by Clapton for several numbers including a jam on Black Magic Woman. The show concluded at just after 1AM to a exhausted crowd. Another epic Crossroads Festival in the books, will it be the last?Slideshow[]
Clapton Brings His Crossroads Guitar Festival To Downtown LA
Toronto Road Trip Includes Blue Jays & Blues With Clapton
9/23/2023 - Los Angeles, California - Today, we were in sunny Downtown Los Angeles, California for the first day of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival being held inside and outside the Crypto.com Arena. The day started early at 9AM with the Guitar Center Village Outdoor Stage providing a nice six hour warmup for the day. It included short sets from Nathan East, Del McCoury Band, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Albert Lee (I'm Ready) and a good set by The Zac Schulze Gang. The Guitar Center Village had plenty of guitars, vendors and food trucks. Some classic guitars were on display including Eric Clapton's Blackie Fender Stratocaster, Clapton's Cream Gibson ES-335 and Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny Strat to name a few. We even managed to meet Kingfish Ingram and Albert Lee for some photo ops. The doors to the Crypto.com Arena opened at 3PM and the concert started promptly at 4PM and lasted for another 8.5 hours of jams. The festivities began with host Bill Murray accompanied by an incognito Eric Clapton explaining how Glad they were for this Crossroads and joked how it is always the last one. The show opened like all the other Crossroad Festivals with Sonny Landreth playing a great set being joined by Eric for a couple numbers including A World Away. The Del McCourey Band came out and did a great bluegrass set and were also joined by Clapton for a great cover of one of Eric's obscure tunes Fall Like Rain. The evening included full sets from Albert Lee, Eric Gales accompanied by Kingfish Ingram and Samantha Fish (Going Down, Long Distance Woman), Joe Bonamassa who was joined by John McLaughlin for an amazing tribute to Jeff Beck on Cause We've Ended As Lovers, Jimmie Vaughan who was joined by Clapton and Gary Clark Jr, the Wallflowers joined by Roger McGuinn and Stephen Stills and John Mayer Trio (Gravity, Wait Until Tomorrow, They Love Each Other). The show closed with a full set by ZZ Top and a finale was supposed to take place but due to time constraints it was eliminated. A great first day of nonstop guitars and tomorrow we do it all over again !Slideshow[]
9/10/2023 - Toronto, Canada - Today, I was up early to drive north of the border heading to downtown Toronto for a Toronto Blue Jays afternoon game at Rogers Centre and some blues with Slowhand, Eric Clapton, at Scotiabank Arena in the evening. I drove into Canada via the Lewiston Queenston Bridge with no wait on the bridge, literally no one at the bridge a first. I drove to TTC Kipling Station to take the train into downtown Toronto. I exited the train and walked the Skywalk arriving just in time at Rogers Centre to watch the Blue Jays take on the Kansas City Royals. I had an excellent seat ten rows up from first base that I acquired from Stubhub the morning of the game. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the roof was open providing nice views as the Blue Jays won 5-2 helped by three consecutive wild pitches. I almost snagged a foul ball but the guy sitting next to me with the glove beat me to it. After the game, I headed to Scotiabank Arena for another night of Clapton. I purchased a shirt on the street and headed into the soldout arena to my awesome seat five rows back left center stage on the floor. The opener was Jimmie Vaughan who came out at 7:50 and did a good short set. It included D/FW, Six Strings Down and Texas Flood. A good forty minute set for Jimmie and his guitar sound was excellent on this night. After a brief intermission for setup, Clapton and his band hit the stage at nine and played a great hour and forty-five minute set. Eric opened the show with two numbers by The Band, to honor the passing of Robbie Robertson, The Shape I'm In and It Makes No Difference. Excellent covers by Eric and his band and his vocals were still very good. He then went into a typical Clapton show that included hits like Key To The Highway and the jam filled I Shot The Sheriff. He was helped by Andy Fairwether Low on guitar but Eric played almost all the lead on this night. Paul Carrack and Chris Stainton were on the keyboards, with Sonny Emory on drums and the anchor man Nathan East was on bass. He did the acoustic set that included the standards Layla, Tears In Heaven and the JJ Cale cover of Call Me The Breeze. The final electric set included Wonderful Tonight, Tearing Us Apart and closed the set with Cocaine. They came out for a single encore, joined by Jimmie Vaughan, for a cover of Joe Cocker's High Time We Went. After the show I hopped on the train back to Kipling and made it back over the border at Lewiston Queenston Bridge again with no cars. Another great day and show in lovely Toronto.Slideshow[]
Pittsburgh Get Away For Slowhand At The PPG Paints Arena
Duran Duran At CMAC Ends Free Canandaigua Get Away Weekend
9/8/2023 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - We were up early this morning for another quick get away, the destination today was Pittsburgh, PA to see the master Mr Slowhand, Eric Clapton perform at the PPG Paints Arena. We arrived early afternoon and were able to checkin early to our nice room at the Hampton Inn & Suites Pittsburgh-Downtown. We took a ride on the Duquesne Incline up Mt Washington to the observation decks for the gorgeous panoramic views of Three Rivers and beautiful city of Pittsburgh. We walked from the hotel to the concert stopping at Pizza Bosa for a quick bite to eat. We entered PPG Paints Arena and made it to our seats on the opposite blue line from the stage, decent tickets but not great. Jimmie Vaughan was the opener and he hit the stage at 7:50 and did a very short set. He played classics like D/FW, Texas Flood and closed the set with The Crawl. He and his band were just okay on this night and seemed a little off but still entertained. After a brief intermission, Eric Clapton and his band hit the stage and did a great hour and forty minute set. This show was the first of Clapton's short North America Tour gearing up for Crossroads in LA end of September, WE WILL BE THERE ! He opened the show with a tribute to his friend who just recently passed, Robbie Robertson, by doing two excellent covers of The Band's The Shape I'm In and It Makes No Difference. Again well done by Clapton and his band with great vocals and guitar work from Clapton. He then went into a typical Clapton show set playing I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man and I Shot The Sheriff. He then jammed an acoustic set that included JJ Cale's Call Me The Breeze, Layla and Tears In Heaven. He opened the second electric set playing not a Fender Strat but a Gibson 335 that at first struggled with a bit but then did a nice jam on Tearing Us Apart and Cross Road Blues. The surprise of the show was no Doyle Bramhall II but instead Andy Fairwether Low on backup guitar. The band was on point as usual and finished the set with Cocaine. They came out for one encore of Joe Cocker's High Time We Went with Jimmie Vaughan joining the extended jam. A good show that was definitely worth the trip. After the show, we finished our excellent day by heading down to Rivers Casino for a little gaming action. A great getaway in city of Pittsburgh, we will be back soon.Slideshow[]
9/3/2023 - Canandaigua, New York - Today, we headed to lovely Canandaigua Lake to enjoy an awesome freebie from Deb the contest queen. Deb won a nights stay at the gorgeous lake side resort The Lakehouse on Canandaigua Lake and front row tickets to see Duran Duran perform at CMAC during their Future Past 40th Anniversary Tour. We arrived early in the afternoon and walked in Kershaw Park enjoying the nice views of the literally hundreds of boaters enjoying a fabulous Labor Day Weekend day on Canandaigua Lake. After, we headed to our hotel and checked in to our nice suite at the Lake House. It had a decent view of the lake from the lanai. We chilled by the nice lake front pool for a bit. We then grabbed a nice early dinner at New York Kitchen and then headed over to CMAC. It was a perfect night and the venue was packed including the lawn. We had front row tickets on the far right of the stage. The opener for tonight was supposed to be a band called Bastille but they had to cancel delaying the start of the show to 7:40 when Niles Rodgers & Chic hit the stage and played a great set. They opened with the classic Le Freak and played a medley of hits from Diana Ross and Sister Sledge. They sounded excellent both Nile Rodgers and the duo of female singers, Norma Jean Wright and Luci Martin, who were beyond good. They closed the set with Good Times. After a short intermission, Duran Duran made an epic outerspace entrance to the delight of the sold out CMAC crowd. They played an excellent almost two hour set. They played many classics including Hungry Like A Wolf, the James Bond song A View To A Kill and Ordinary World to name a few. They sounded excellent and Simon Le Bon's vocals were right on. They closed the set with The Reflex and Girls on Film and the sellout crowd was definitely entertained. They came out for a two song encore of Save A Prayer and Rio. Another excellent freebie getaway courtesy of the Contest Queen Deb, keep them coming.Slideshow[]
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