The End Of An Era: Playing The Final July Fourth Show In My Hometown
In the traveling musician world, you should never say never, but I feel strongly that THIS gig will be the final one of its kind: performing for my adopted hometown of Roseville, CA on The Fourth of July. This yearly performance tradition began July 4th, 2016, with my “Vino Banditos” bandmates (and long-time neighbors) John Taylor, Randy Walker and Steve Cain. John was able to cajole a friend of his into borrowing the friends’ flatbed trailer, which we converted into a rolling stage that we performed on as it was pulled through the streets of downtown Roseville during the Roseville Independence Day Parade. Although this probably looked cool from the street, balancing on the moving stage while trying to rock out always created a bit of a sea-sick feeling as we tried to look like a group of menacing hooligans. This year, The City of Roseville suggested we skip being IN the parade and just perform a two-hour concert AFTER the parade, in historic Royer Park; my bandmates and I agreed that this seemed like a fitting way to end this fun, sweaty, patriotic musical get-together after what will be eight years of performances. Whatever your plans are to celebrate our Nation’s Independence, make them safe, sane, inclusive…and never say never 🙂