New BDL Merchandise!

We are really excited about our new t-shirts, which we just got last week! Here's a sneak peek, but be sure to come check out all the new merch at any upcoming show. NC folks, you'll have TWO chances to grab one (or all!) of these tomorrow, as we play the Dixie Classic Fair at 7:30 on the Clock Tower Stage, followed by a late show at Ten O One with our good friends the Wyndy Trail Travelers.

First, we have two t-shirt options with the new BDL logo! We're really thrilled by how these turned out. We also have the design on a black tee. These are all $15 each.

Next is another design from the logo contest that we really loved, and it looks awesome on a tee. It's also $15.

Finally, by popular demand, a long-sleeve shirt! The moose design looks great on this one, too; it's $20.

Before I sign off, here's a video of the Wyndy Trail Travelers. If you've never seen them, you're in for a treat tomorrow night! See you down the road!

Brian and Big Daddy Love

9/12 - 9/18 Our trip to NY, PA, MA, and beautiful VT so far!

Howdy all you Big Love Bussin' Daddios!

Upcoming Shows:
9/19  Harrisonburg, PA,  Appalachian Brewery
9/20  Washington, DC, South on South Capital show
920   Washington, DC, Bayou on the Pen
9/21  Richmond, VA, The Camel
9/22  Hot Springs, NC, French Broad Fall Festival

We are sitting in Williamsport, PA.  If you're a baseball fan and that rings a bell, it is because this is the home of the Little League World Series, along with the Little League World Series Hall of fame (of course!).   It also has some really great hiking trails close by, we hear; we don't know for sure since yesterday was our day off and it rained almost 3 inches.  I hear that NC had a lot of rain as well.

The trip has been good so far.  It's always fun to see people experience New York City for the first time, and this trip was Scott's.

We met up with Big Something to play Sullivan Hall, which is known as one of the best small venues in the whole city.  We had a whole slew of NC boys in NYC that night.

Outside Sullivan Hall in NY.

After the show, we found out that we were on the same block as the place we visited last time we were in the city, a place called The Red Lion.  On that trip, the house band let BDL (sans banjo) get up and play a few songs.  We had a blast that night and couldn't believe we were so close to it again.

I can tell you that I absolutely loved this band.  They are called Days of Wild - be sure to check them out. The guys from Big Something met us there and we watched one of the most amazing shows we had seen in a while, and this is why I love NYC so much.  To survive in the city -where tiny one room apts are $2500/month- you have to be really good at something.  Here we have this house band that plays a couple of times a week and charges no cover, and they are better than almost any other band we see on the road.   And this goes for most of the people you'll meet in the city.  They are both very smart, and very good at what they do, which is the combination of things that make people extremely interesting.  I've loved everyone I've met in the city because of this, and I think it is why there is a palpable electric charge in the air that everyone notices when visiting. 

We see a lot of music on the road: some of it is pretty good, and some of it is just ok.  On this night we saw a band made up of people from all over the world (Japan, Britain, Brazil, and France were all represented here), and they absolutely rocked it.  We were blessed with the presence of the biggest BDL fan in CA that night, as Jenny De Guzman flew to NY with her friend Dennis, to hang out with us, and I remember standing beside her saying, "You know, this reminds me why I play music."  It doesn't matter what job you have, it can become mundane sometimes with the ins and outs of the daily grind, and this does happen to all of us, but I remember standing there feeling like I was falling in love with music all over again.  These musicians understood their craft on a very deep level, a place where the groove is a living and breathing entity that everyone plays a small role in, and no one controls.  We all agreed the trumpet player (not in this pic) was probably the best player we've ever seen, and he was there with his girlfriend who had a small board set up and literally took tap-dance solos with a super funky beat behind it.  It sounds weird, but it worked.   You can see the drummer in this picture, his name is Papa Guyo, and he was a character.  Full head of white hair and white beard, but he lived and breathed a funky groove, or a straight Latin-flavored beat, whatever they decided to play.  His drum kit consisted of a bass drum, snare, hi-hat, one cymbal, and a cow-bell (oh yeah!) and he played more on that minimalist kit than you'll see drummers play on a set of 15 drums. 

The next time you're in the city, find The Red Lion.

Our next stop took us to Wilkes-Barre, PA, to play a cool venue called the River Street Jazz Cafe with our new and fast friends, MiZ.  They first opened for us in Boone, NC, and now we get to open for them in their hometown.  We really like these guys a lot.  They are all super-nice and all great musicians, and we're proud to be sharing another show with them on October 20th at the Berkeley Cafe in Raleigh, NC. 

You can listen to our set at the River St Jazz Cafe.

Me sitting in with Miz.  Mike Mizwinski and Justin Mazer L-R

Our "anchor" for this trip, as we call it, was the Wormtown Music Festival in Massachusetts.  Here are a few pics from the festival.

You don't see this very much!  Tie-dyes beside a 19th century graveyard!

One of the stages at Wormtown

Here is the guitar player of a Grateful Dead cover band.  Yes, really!

Sometimes sleeping arrangements aren't what you would call "optimal" and we have to do the best we can.  The reason we call the van "the bus" is because it doubles as sleeping space as well.

Scott and Scotty showing how to properly sleep in the bus.

The next day we headed to the very scenic Burlington, VT, where our manager Tom Baggott lives.  He's worked with bands such as Phish and Railroad Earth when they were our size, and he seems to see the same potential in us, which is the type of person we want on our team!  He was able to get us into the legendary venue of Nectar's that is known as being Phish's home base as they were starting out. And no, we didn't play "Rift."  We talked about it and debated it but decided not to.

Tom has always told us the VT mountains will remind us of home and they really do.  I can see why people love this place so much, as it is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been.  This was definitely the farthest north I've ever been in my life.

The next day we had a very long 9.5 hour drive to get back to PA and play in Williamsport, at a great place called the Bull Frog Brewery.   We found out after our first set that quite a few people had driven over from Wilkes-Barre who had seen us 2 nights before for their first time.  We just thought that was awesome.  This was probably the best reception we've had so far, as everyone at the show really got it.  They were engaged with every song we played, and we could feel the energy and had a blast.   The owner of this brewery actually gave us the 2nd floor of his building, which is an empty banquet room, to stay in for free for the last two nights. 

Our accommodations for 2 days!  They trusted us with a stocked bar! 

That's about it for now.  Thanks for keeping up with us, and feel free to share this blog on all the inter-web tubes so we can get the word out!  We'll be back home in NC soon. 

Oh, and we've picked up some brand new shirts that we are very proud of.  Probably our favorite shirts so far.  So be on the lookout for them at our merch table.  We'll get some good pics of them to post soon.  

We'd love some street team help as well.  If you're interested please send info to:  bigdaddystreetteam@gmail.com.

Thanks so much and see ya down the road!

--Brian and BDL