Gone on tour

I generally hate euphemisms for death. Today I made an exception.

Cinder Bridge kicked off a memorial benefit this afternoon for Bill "Patch" Wooldridge. While I didn't know him personally, he was by all accounts a great guy. I got to hear him play with Widow's Hill a few months ago. Lots of joyous energy in the music. I'm sorry I missed my chance to meet him.

Anyway. The event was called the "Gone on Tour Benefit Concert."

Gone on tour. That doesn't sound so bad. It would be neat if the people I left behind said that about me.

Or, even better: She went where the music comes from.

That's a real place, right?

Insta-Benefit

So, we've got these fires raging in Arizona, and they're a pretty big deal. Over ten thousand people have had to evacuate their homes in Southern Arizona alone.

Last week, music scenesters Amy Mason, Carolyn Cary (who interviewed us on Saturday), and Dave Owens decided they would do something to help. They'd put together a couple of benefit concerts, complete with bands, raffles, a bake sale, and a place to drop off donation items.

The first benefit will be at the C-Note this Thursday. The Dave Owens band is headlining. Cinder Bridge is one of the other four "special guest" bands. There's no door charge, but donations are very, very much appreciated.

Color me blown away. You don't realize it when you go to one of these things, but putting a benefit together is hard. Really hard. It involves planning and hiring and making sure everything conforms to fire codes and just generally a lot of work. These guys put the Concert to Aid Victims of the Southern Arizona Fires together within days.

Ron and I have it easy. All we have to do is show up on time, play, get our stuff off the stage as quickly as possible, and hang back and listen to the other bands.

Anyway. If you live in Tucson, please come out and reward these fine people's efforts. Great cause, great party.

Date: Thursday, June 23

Time: 4-11:30 p.m.

The Bryan Dean Trio: 4–5
Cinder Bridge: 5:30–6:30
Savage Zoo: 7–8
Arizona Bay Outriders: 8:30–9:30
The Dave Owens Band: 10–11

Place: The C-Note, 1302 W. Roger Rd., Tucson AZ

Cover: Please donate!

More info at BSceneLive.

Paws at the Plaza

This afternoon (well, officially yesterday afternoon since it's after midnight now), Cinder Bridge gigged for an event called "Paws at the Plaza." We played at Casas Adobes Plaza, an upscale strip mall, as friendly Humane Society staff paraded cute adoptable dogs around.

I expected it to be purely an atmosphere gig, providing background music as dog lovers watched the doggies. As it turned out, we got some actual listeners.

• A few people came specifically to see us. That's always nice.
  
  
• More than a few passersby stopped to listen for a while instead of simply glancing over as they continued on their way. I'm not sure why this surprised me. If I didn't have faith that our music was good enough to listen to, I'd find other ways to spend my time. Still, people are busy, you know? It's neat if we can get them to stop whatever they're in the middle of just to hear us.
  
  
• One of the passersby, upon seeing that we didn't have a tip jar (forgot to put it out, darnit), pressed $5 into my hand between songs. (We later donated our tips to the Humane Society.)
  
  
• During our last few songs, we were joined by a group of kids, all boys, maybe 12 or 13 years old. They seemed to enjoy us. Again, that really surprised me. I have no idea what boys of that age usually listen to, but I didn't think it was Cinder Bridge.

Additionally, the weather was heartbreakingly beautiful and we had a great view of the Catalinas from where we were sitting. All in all, a good day.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, five of the cute dogs got adopted.