i had auditioned to join johns’ band the previous summer – we had a handful of rehearsals and actually did one show together, but i think a little too much time had gone by between the point when the prior incument left and the point at which john must’ve decided that he wasn’t really sacrificing too much by continuing on as a four piece. at one point, it was a done deal, and then all of a sudden he stopped answering my phone calls. i kept in touch with a couple of the guys in the band – pk lavengood and kenny aaronson – but i hadn’t seen any of them since the show we did at havana in new hope the summer before.
in the meantime, jd malone‘s band has grown into a bit of a freight train…and this bill seemed perfect to me.
i love playing the bigger rooms and the larger stages with this band – when we get the opportunity to push the volume a little bit, and to actually put on a show, as opposed to just playing the songs. jd is a natural showman without making any obvious effort at all, and it’s easy to play off his energy. i think jd had opened for john before, but i think that might’ve been during the malone and mcwilliams era…certainly, it was before he and i had started working together, so it was the first time he’d be playing in front of them with any of the current players in tow.
we did a pretty kickass set, if i do say so myself. 🙂
john and the band were great – the folks who follow john really follow him…his fans are very devoted, and it was good to reacquaint myself with some of them that i’d gotten to meet briefly before. and, of course, it was great to see pk and kenny.
wendy was on her way home from a weeks’ stay in maine, and she had danny in tow, so she came through sellersville to meet up with us and possibly catch some of the show. she didn’t make the gig, but she did come to dinner with us, and introduced the little guy to everyone. JE even said, “i don’t even like babies, but he’s pretty cool.”
yeah, he is. 🙂
...from the rear view mirror 