The Summer of ’19 Tour
It’s safe to say, Chautauqua Road Band had an amazing Summer of 2019! We played two new venues and returned to two of our favorites. We made a lot of new friends and will return in 2020 to at least 3 of these places and hopefully add on more...
We started off the summer back in Red Oak at ROAR, the all-class reunion at the Red Coach Inn. This was the second time we have played ROAR. We added about 10 new songs to our set list and they were all a hit. We were also able to play Roll with the Changes by REO Speedwagon as a tribute to the theme of Junction Days as well. We had a blast and we are planning to see everyone again in 2020.
Setting up in Red Oak to kick off the summer playing season. Did we mention it was hot?
Shout-outs go to Elaine Carlson and her husband Kerry. They are not only great fans, they are great friends.
Also, a big thank you to an original band-mom, Barbara Jean McAlister and Paul DelMonico who came all the way from Chicago to enjoy the show, talk to some old friends, and sell t-shirts. Brother Roger McAlister also came from Chicago to provide much appreciated roadie support. Darren Rushak was our sound engineer and we got a many compliments about our ‘house mix’. And as always, Jacque Richards was indispensable before, during, and after the gig. Everything was awesome and we can’t wait to come back.
The next stop on the tour was at Fish and Company near Camdenton, Missouri on Lake of the Ozarks. This was our first date at ‘Fish’ and it won’t be our last. We had a great time there, not only at the gig, but we were all able to stay in a beautiful apartment above the bar. This was an amazing perk for the ‘talent’, as we called ourselves (just kidding, of course). We played Friday and Saturday night and being able to stay on site was a godsend. The weather was pretty hot, with the heat index at show time being over 100˚ F both nights.
Night one at Fish & Co. in the Ozarks. Did we mention it was hot?
The start of night two at Fish & Co. in the Ozarks. Did we mention it was hot?
The end of night two at Fish & Co. in the Ozarks. Notice James’ keyboards got knocked off their stands. Fortunately, nothing was damaged.
Jodi Couchman with Chautauqua Road Band belting out Joan Jett tunes.
We had a guest singer join us for both nights, Jodi Couchman, or as we now know her, Jodi Jett. She killed it on two Joan Jett songs and the crowd loved it!
Big shout-outs go to Dale Blue and Leonard Sandholm for hosting us. Fish and Company is awesome. We should also acknowledge Sister Mary Richards from Alaska for coming the farthest to see us play and it was great to celebrate Old Roadie Jack Richards’ birthday with him. He’s always been one of our greatest fans and he’s still going strong! We had a lot of help from our families for the set up and the load out. As always, a big thank you to all of our amazing fans, both old and new. We had lots of ‘repeat customers’ on Saturday from Friday night and we loved seeing everyone enjoying themselves.
The next weekend we had a gig at a new venue for us; Good Times in Ankeny. We had a great time at this bar and saw a lot of new faces. We also had an encore performance from ‘Jodi Jett’ that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. It’s always great to have friends and family at our gigs and this was no exception. We always feel the love!
Our last gig of the summer tour was at one of our favorite places to play. The OLY in Stanton. The Old Lumber Yard has been upgraded and is an amazing event center for the entire community. We love playing there because the acoustics are wonderful, and the people are amazing. We can play kinda loud up front, and folks can still talk to each other toward the back.
This was an event for a group of friends having a collective 60th birthday party and since three of us are friends with the participants, we were able to party like it was 1977! We had a great time and we think we showed some of the younger folks in the crowd that we can still get it done.
We have been booked for Stanton ‘Homecoming’ in July of 2020 and we can’t wait! It’s going to be great!
We want to thank all of the folks involved in getting us set up at the OLY, especially Tim Johnson. We appreciate Tim’s friendship and all that he and his colleagues do for the community.
That’s it for our Summer Tour of 2019. We had an amazing time and we are already gearing up for next year. So far we are planning to be at ROAR in June; The Fish and Co. and Stanton Homecoming in July, and will be returning to Adel Sweetcorn Festival in August. We are working on more gigs and we will let everyone know about our dates on Facebook and other social media outlets. Stay tuned for more CRB Rock!