Cat and I went out last night to hear the great Steely Dan at the Fabulous Fox Theater in downtown St. Louis. It had been a couple of years since we got to see them, so we were excited for the show.

I was actually pretty excited for the opener, as well, the Sam Yahel Trio; a trio of four members, last night, at least. Sam Yahel is a great jazz organ player from the New York area to whom I was first exposed while tracking down various Joshua Redman recordings. When I found out that his group would be opening for the Dan, I was cautiously optimistic that I'd get to hear both Steely Dan and Joshua Redman in the same night, as Redman played on Yahel's most recent recording.

This year, for Mother's Day, I wrote a short song for Colby and Peyton to sing for Cat. I got Cat to leave the house for a bit, and took the girls into the basement for a recording session. The results are terribly cute, but they aren't so clear. So, here are the words to the song:

Mommy is the best!
She helps us to get dressed every day.
We love our mommy!

Mommy is so swell!
It's never hard to tell how much love
She has for us.

MOMMY!!!!!

Short and to the point. Enjoy the song.

I went to a party with a bunch of friends from church one weekend in January. We all went to one of the friend's farmhouse near Cuba, MO and played poker and ate barbecue. We all got to sleep in the next morning, because our kids were at home with our wives. In the morning, the host gave me a CD compilation of his favorite songs of 2006. Apparently, he does this every year. Given the well organized liner notes he provided with the CD, I believe that he really does.

One of the songs on the CD was "Roscoe" by Midlake, from their album "The Trials of Van Occupanther." It's a weird name, but so what?

I found out yesterday evening that Claude, the energetic singer from local St. Louis band Big Star Kadillac, passed away last month after a brief but fierce battle with liver cancer.

I didn't know Claude that well. I wouldn't even have considered him a friend, really. Palmer's Room did a handful of shows with BSK over the last couple of years, and so we were all acquainted with Claude. I always enjoyed talking with him at the shows. He was always smiling (except for the time he got arrested for trying to break up a fight at Mangia Italiano) and ready to laugh.

The newest studio effort from Umphrey's McGee, titled Safety in Numbers came out this Tuesday. I had a terrible time finding it in a store, though.

Now that I've had a couple of days to listen and soak it in, I have to say that I'm really pleased with the release. The songs on the album are varied in their styles, but the album is put together very well, so that none of the songs seems at all out of place.

The CD opens with Believe the Lie, a rocker, if ever there was one. The ironically titled Rocker follows. I knew BtL from hearing it live and from other concert recordings that I'd listened, so I knew what to expect. Rocker really surprised me. It's a beautiful and heartfelt remembrance of a friend of the band's who was killed by a drunk driver. Umphrey's used strings for the first time that I've heard, and it really works.

I took the day off from work yesterday so that I could go to the Big Summer Classic over at GMC Stadium in Sauget, IL. What a time I had! The doors opened at 13:00, and New Monsoon was slated to start at 13:30. In typical rock 'n roll fashion, they started a bit late (closer to 14:00).

Before I go any further, let me present to you the afternoon/evening lineup of bands, in jam band setlist nomenclature:

New Monsoon
Umphrey's McGee
Michael Franti and Spearhead
Keller Williams >
Younder Mountain String Band

I've been thinking for about 9 months about how I'd like to have a new hi-hat stand for my drums. You know, one that doesn't squeak in spite of liberal applications of DW-40. One that feels like it's actually strong enough to hold up my hi-hats. One that's easy to put up and tear down. One whose legs don't get stuck in whatever position they stop moving in.

I had looked at some for Christmas, and didn't get one. Thought about it for my birthday, but didn't get one then, either.

The middle bonuses of the year just got paid out from work. So I took Colby along with me to the Drum Headquarters in St. Peters, and got one. They have a good selection of hi-hat pedals. They're all lined up with cymbals on them. Colby and I tried out ALL of them. She really liked stepping on them and making the cymbals go "chick". They had Iron Cobra pedals, Gibraltar, Yamaha, DW, and Pearl.

I uploaded the handbills (small flyers for passing out to people) to the Palmer's room website here. Download, print and distribute...

If you're interested, I just posted the flyer for the upcoming Palmer's Room show here. Check it out. For those of you who are in town, I encourage you to download, print and distribute it. Thanks!

Check out this video of Colby chillin' with Palmer's Room in our basement a few weeks ago. You'll be glad you did. We recommend Quicktime for the best viewing experience.