Summer Tour 2010: Hotter than ever!

Had you told me that when we headlined Everett, Washington's 4th of July festival, i would have smacked you.....prebably not, that's just not me....i would have smirked, then turned away so you couldn't see how I really felt, and continued to drink the sweet, sweet local brews that Washington has to offer.  Let's just say it was cold; and an equally if not greater than cold wind was blowing off the puget sound onto the stage.  Acouple beers and a spring coat later, The Lucas Cates Band was off and running(it was still really cold).  Accually the Summer 2010 tour began six days and six shows earlier in Madison, WI.  We drove about 10 hours each day to our show; unloaded, set up, played, broke down, slept(most of the time), and drove.  Our week in Washington began as a cloudy windy holiday, but ended a cloudless beautiful northwestern adventure as we had 7 days of total sunshine beginning July 5th. 
The tours have been great as the crowds are multiplying and merchandise is flying off the shelves.  The Pacific Northwest as been offically labeled (by me, so really not that official) a "hot spot"(but official enough for quotations) for the band.  There is a lot of excitement for the music and amazing response from concert goers which is why we will return to Washington and Oregon in 10 days to wrap up the summer tour. 
One cool band thing of note happened about a month ago.  We will soon(which means hopefully soon) be in "E-Cast" jukeboxes around the country as an unsigned band.  Both All the Pieces and Live at Sullivan Hall will be in the data base for all ecast boxes....pretty cool.  We are working with Touch Tunes currently to secure the same type of deal.  So say you are on vacation and you want a drink.....no brainer....go to the bar, BUT let's say you are on vacation....at that very same bar and you say "I'd like to make everyone in this bar listen to what I want to listen to," so you go over to the sweet juke box, AND you've already decided that like an unhealthy addiction you NEED to listen to The Lucas Cates Band.......NOW........well damnit you are in luck, cause we'll be there for you.  Now if it just so happens that you are staring a Touch Tunes Jukebox in the face, make sure you write them or your local congressman(or woman) and tell them we should be in Touch Tunes as well......simple, delicious, fish.

Suggested Music Listening:  Caravan (Single) - This is some serious new stuff from Rush.  You won't believe what you are hearing.

washington is accually pretty rainy, but awesome

Who the hell is fred meyer? Apparently I'm walking around in his store in Bellingham, Washington as I type. Ken is trying to purchase "a lot of socks," and can't find anything. Like shoes, size 13 socks are hard to find. Of course he is trying to get the best deal possible, which prolongs the process. No nikes; tiger wears them and now they are expensive-what a pussy. Looks like he settled with flipping a coin and got the goldtoe premium full cushion cotton quarters....nice choice.
Playing in washington has been a good choice for the lucas cates band as well. We have met many amazing people. Karen and Kevin put us up in Mt. Vernon after a 24 hour drive from paxton, ne(see an earlier blog about paxton, nebraska. The place is amazing). Trinka was gracious enough to let us crash at her lake house in glen haven, wa. I have pics on facebook, but the place was so beautiful...it had the fire pit, hot tub, lake, rehearsal space(her husband is a pro trumpeter, you heard him on like every aerosmith album amongst other things). We spent two days on the lake, surrounded by the clouds and trees. I felt like gorillas in the mist, except with bigfoot.
The 4th of july show went off well. We played on a cliff overlooking the ocean, or the "sound" as its called, for a park full of people. The show moved a bunch of cds and got us two more gigs for this week! The first was last night in everett at PC's and was a tuesday surprise ragger! Amazing crowd of people listening, responding, and gettin down. A local painter painted a "tour poster for us, and did a live painting on the reverse side while we played. It is safely wrapped in lucas's sleeping bag(also posted on facebook). It reminded me of san fran or ashland, oregon, which is a very good thing.
Tonight we play at the wild buffalo in bellingham. Word is there's going to be a good crowd. The press we picked up has generated a solid buzz in the pacific northwest. Beautiful country and beautiful souls have made this little run well worth the drive. The only disappointment is the fact that I have yet to see bigfoot....kind of like narr.