Sergio Mendez & Simone, Eric Steckel & CTB, and a crazy weekend!

Mon, May 19, 2008

Well, I (we) just made it through a crazy weekend, only home to sleep (and not enough of that) since Thursday morning, but it's all good.

Thursday, we (Simone's band) left for St. Petersburg, arriving there around 2:00 p.m. to a beautiful day and a picutresque location on Tampa Bay. The Mahaffey Theatre is located right on the bay next to a marina. Our hotel, the Hilton, was directly across the street so we were able to walk to and from the gig. Sergio Mendes's band was tremendous! The percussion section just blew my mind. If you a re old enough to remember Brazil '66, that's what it sounded like, two female vocalists and all. But live it is really much more impressive than the stuff I used to hear on the radio. Sergio must be in his 70's but has surrounded himself with brilliant, young players, and I think that's the key to his live show. If you like Bossa Nova, Samba, etc., then don't ever pass up the opportunity to catch Sergio Mendes live.

Simone was, once again, awesome, and the band was especially 'on.' What a pleasure to work and travel with this band. This coming Saturday night we'll be at the World Live Cafe in Philly which is a great venue...one of the finest in the city. Then, in two weeks, we are off to Telluride, CO, to perform at a the Jazz & Blues Festival. I'm really looking forward to that gig as I've never really been to CO, only flew over it several times on the way to CA ...

Our buddy Eric Steckel came up for two shows with our combined Eric Steckel with the Craig Thatcher Band show at Havana in New Hope, PA. I usually takes us one show to really get things together and warmed up and then the second show is just killer, as was the case this past weekend. The Saturday show was very good but the Sunday show was amazing. The interplay that's developing between the four of us is becoming so natural. It is really coming together and we are all looking forward to the gigs in Europe this summer, where we are gonna blow some minds!  I'm having way too much fun for a 52 year-old guy but we love what we do and that, and Eric, keeps us all feeling young. I've always felt that music and performing and particularly guitar playing itself, has kept me feeling young, at least at heart, and that's what really matters. As long as I continue to feel that way, I will keep on playing hopefully to my last days. Besides, what's there to retire from anyway? I could do that for around two weeks and then I'd have to be playing again, or I'd lose it.

Well, have a great week and stay well.

Until next time,

— Craig

 



 
?>