We had a great time participating in the 2012 National Dance Week performance, "A Dance For Everyone" at the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Stuart, Florida on Sunday April 29, 2012. Our thanks again to Anna Preston for inviting us to play for the second year in a row!
In keeping with last year's plans (why mess with success?) we met on Saturday at our secret lake house lair to rehearse and acquaint ourselves with various hop-based beverages. After a quick run-through of the set list we moved over to Jaxson's where we were lucky enough to find all-you-can-eat catfish, and meet Stephanie's dad. Once we were done eating slightly more than all-we-could, we found our way back to our bunker to continue our rehearsals. The rehearsals were recorded, so stay tuned - it's entirely possible that some audio might find its way to our website soon.
After an infusion of caffeine on Sunday morning, the band made its way to Stuart, about a 90 minute drive from the lake house. Peter studied our lyrics in the back seat while Rich (with GPS guidance from Steve) "shaved the roadie," getting us to Stuart right on schedule. By the way, "shaving the roadie" is not what it sounds like, but we like the way you think. After checking in with the show's producer at the Lyric Theatre, ZFB went in search of our lodging and a local purveyor of spirits. We were treated to a lovely stay at the Old Colorado Inn (www.OldColoradoInn.com), which was just a 6 minute walk (remember that number) from the Theatre, and within stumbling distance of a few establishments we visited, including the Key Lime Cafe and Duffy's Sports Bar. We resisted the rock band urge to throw the TV out of the window after general agreement among the band that the medium-sized flat screen TV wouldn't create quite the ruckus we were hoping for. Instead, we just left the room messy when we departed.
After walking from the Inn to the theatre for the show's dress rehearsal, arriving nearly 10 minutes early, we found out that we were expected to wear whatever we were wearing for the show to the dress rehearsal, as photos would be taken. We didn't think the "dress" part applied to us. Of course, all of our clothes were back at the Inn, which was a 6 minute walk, as you'll recall. So we briskly trotted back to the Inn to change clothes. Oh yeah, it turns out that Pete forgot his shirt back at the lake house, so he had to buy one on the way back to the Inn. Somehow, we made it back to the theatre on time for the rehearsal.
Between the dress rehearsal and the show, we took in some tunes by Greg Jackson and the Mojo Band, who were playing the Rockin' Riverwalk Music Series. A funky good time was had by all, followed by a few more adult beverages.
The show was great fun! Our opening set included our original tunes, Roses Red, In the Twilight, Dreamland, and Greenhouse Blues, as well as The Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women, and our bizarre little Reggae-Bluegrass version of The Beatles' I Feel Fine. Our collaboration with the dancers (www.PCDanceTheatre.org) was particularly fun. The concept was improvisational dance, to be performed to improvised music. A brave and risky concept if ever there was one! We played our improv while the dancers did a spectacular job individually translating our sounds to their improvised choreography. We were concentrating on the music, so we didn't see as much of the dance as we'd like, so we look forward to some video footage!
After the show, Rich and Steve loaded the gear out to the street while Pete went to retrieve his car. After waiting, and waiting, Pete finally came back to report that his car wouldn't start! While he tended to that issue, Steve and Rich were busy meeting new fans on the street, and even lining up an additional gig at a Stuart art gallery next year. All in all, another successful and fun ZFB weekend!