Old friends, great music and cheese curds

As I type this I'm sitting in the first backseat of Andy Stahl's van with the rest of the Chris O'Leary Band - we're blasting down I-81 just south of Syracuse as we wrap up a two week run through the Midwest - I had the pleasure of getting the call to be the sub guitar player for this tour, and let me tell you, it was a hoot - as many of you probably know, Chris and I go back to about '93 - our friendship was founded in two things - one, our love for real Chicago Blues and two, we both sucked - we played in a band together throughout the '90's and well into the '00's - we came up together, learned together, hung out and played together almost everyday for years - we built a band together - a band that had grown from a local bar band to a regional touring band playing festivals and venues throughout the Northeast - we played with Levon together and shared many successes (and failures) - I can't begin to tell you how much fun the past two weeks have been - we played a few festivals - the standout was the Billtown Blues Fest in Williamsport, PA - not only did we have a killer show, but we also got to see friends Mike Zito (check him out!)as well as our dear old friend and blues legend Bob Margolin (NOBODY plays traditional Chicago Blues like Margolin...except Lurrie Bell) - it was certainly great to be back at this festival (played it last in '02) - the tour also brought us to the world famous Slippery Noodle Inn in Indianapolis - that's one super cool joint and so much fun to play!...lotsa blues lovers there - we finished up in the great state of Wisconsin - ate more cheese