Another fun gig at Murf's

August 20, 2008: We played the Blues, Barbecue and Bikes Sunday afternoon at Murf's Broadway Cocktail Lounge in Redwood City on August 17, 2008, and had a good time, as usual!

Drummer Craig Batanides was with us, and what a great fit! Craig is a total professional, very talented, and a lot of fun on stage. And ... he has a wonderful voice that sounded great on backups. We really need to get the cat singing some leads!

Craig is the drum teacher of our original drummer, Robert Lacy-Thompson -- who also showed up, and sat in for the last couple of tunes. He sounded great, too!

It is a big deal to have a good rhythm section in a blues band, and Gary DesJardins, our bassist, worked really well with both of these fine drummers. It made for a good day.

We have some photos from the gig, which are up in our Just for fun section.

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Blues, Barbecue and Bikes!

August 11, 2008: Hello, everyone! Please allow me to apologize for not posting in here for a while. We've been busy with musical and non-musical issues.

But, good news! We will be playing this Sunday afternoon, at Murf's Broadway Cocktail Lounge in Redwood City, for that fine club's Blues, Barbecue and Bikes Sunday.

Murf's is a great place, very nice inside and out, with a friendly bunch of regulars, and good barbecue cooked by Murf himself, right outside the front door.

First time we did this, we were expecting, you know ... Harleys ... but it was bicycles that a few people wheeled right into the club and on to the dance floor.

We always have fun at Murf's, and hope you will join us. And ya know ... the only NFL games will be that night, not during the day, this Sunday. So, come hear some music and do some dancing and drinking, then watch the games!

Personnel changes: Karl Jesse, the fine young man who played drums with us for a while, is no longer with the band, and a friend of ours, Craig Batanides, will be thumpin' skins with us on Sunday. Bass player Gary DesJardins will be traveling in from his home in East Whatchamacallit, by camel caravan, we think, for the show.

As always, BE THERE, OR BE SQUARE!

VERY IMPORTANT: One of the issues that kept me off this site for a while was a major computer crash here at Serious Condition Central. Don't know for sure yet, but it's likely that all or most of our mailing list was lost.

So, ya know ... if you want to be on the mailing list -- which is only used to announce gigs, is never shared with anyone else, and is always sent out on blind CC so everyone's email remains private -- send a note to drgone@seriouscondition.com.

Also wanted to mention: We had a complete blast at The Grand Dell Saloon in Campbell on June 28.

The Grand Dell is so much fun, and the food is so great, and the dancers are so charming, that the place just can't be beat.

We hope to get in there again. I just spoke with owner Tony McKenna, and he's talking about maybe getting us in The Grand Dell in December.

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Going back to The Grand Dell Saloon

June 24, 2007: We play at The Grand Dell Saloon in Campbell on Saturday evening, and are very happy to be going back to one of our favorite places.

One of the entries to The Grand Dell, near to Sunnyoaks Avenue. Click on the images to see larger versions. The side door facing Dell Avenue. This is where the smokers tend to hang out. Note the beautiful mural at right. A better view of the trompe l'oeil mural on the wall of The Grand Dell. There is a rumor that the landlord might want to paint over it, which would be a shame.

The Grand Dell is a delightful place because it is very nice inside, with a really fun bunch of regulars, and there is a great barbecue buffet for only $8 a head.

The music is free!

And, ya know, there are not many places left that do a nice job with showcasing blues music. But Grand Dell owner Tony McKenna loves the blues, and hires good bands such as ours and several others to make good music for his customers, and that is a grand thing he does.

The trick about The Grand Dell is finding it. Sitting at the bar a few weeks ago, a regular told me he'd talked with people who said "I've been working in this area for seven years, and never knew The Grand Dell was here!"

So, we have some photos so you will recognize the place, and a map, below.

For me, I start out on the 101 freeway up in Santa Clara, and take the San Tomas Expressway down to Campbell. Just past Winchester Boulevard I take the Sunnyoaks Avenue exit and curve around to my right. The Grand Dell address is on Dell Avenue, but the driveway is actually on Sunnyoaks, just before Dell. On the map I have smeared some blue to show the route I take, more or less.

From the outside it looks a little plain, except for the trompe l'oeil mural -- but inside it is very, very nice.

And the barbecue and the music are great.

We plan to record our show at The Grand Dell, on audio and video, and hope to have some nice recordings to post on our web sites for you.

The photo at the top of the page: That poster up there is sort of new. Turns out neither Karl Jesse, our drummer, or Gary DesJardins, our bass player, liked the photos I'd used of them in the other poster. So I have changed their images, although I am very sorry to give up the image of Karl showing his mighty bicep.

By the way, Karl has informed us that he has changed his name to "Muddy T-bone Slackjaw Mississippi Sonny Blind Big Bone Handy 'Ma' Johnson." We have taken that under advisement and have pretty much settled on the "Slackjaw" part. Not sure why.

Our thanks to: Murf's Broadway Cocktail Lounge, where we played on June 8; and to JJ's Blues, where we played on June 13.

We love both of those places and hope to be back at each of them soon.

We just keep playing that blues music, ya know? The music that makes you move your feet and tap your toes!

Here's the map to The Grand Dell:

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Coming soon to a poster near you

May 24, 2008: I have some more to say, but no time to type it right at the moment, so will leave you with this thought:

Blues music is a precious gift: enjoy it and treasure it whenever you can.

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

 
Dr Gone at Grant & Green in San Francisco, May 13, 2008.

A new look at Serious Condition

May 18, 2008: We had our first date out in a long time, our first with our new rhythm section of drummer Karl Jesse and bassist Gary DesJardins, and our first as a four-piece instead of a five-piece. (And yeah, we might become a five-piece again, or even a six-piece, sometime, but at the moment we're pretty happy as a quartet.)

The gig was at Grant & Green in San Francisco, where we had never played before.

The good parts were: We sounded pretty good; and Pamela DesJardins, Gary's wife, was there to make some photos of us. So, you can click on Just for Fun in the navigation menu and see some photos from the show.

The bad parts were an unfortunate sound system and a mostly empty room. A bartender told us at one point that we were too loud and it was keeping people away ... but that's where we'd gotten while trying to make Grant & Green's sound system work. We did turn down after the bartender said something, and people did start coming in ... but we think that was probably just because it was getting late enough in the evening for people to want to stay.

The worst thing that happened was that the SFPD ticketed guitarist Tony Lacy-Thompson's car as it was parked by a curb, emergency lights flashing, so he could load gear after the show.

Please do look at the photos. For instance, at this photo of Tony playing.

The thing about Tony is ... he almost never lets anything show on his face. I mean, in the dictionary, next to the word "stoic," is Tony's face.

But the funny thing is ... listen to his music! It is fabulous, powerful, emotional stuff! I don't have to shave when we do shows, because he burns my face with his blistering solos every time!

But he does not change his expression.

And me ... you'll note I put my own photo at the top of this page. That's because I am the one who does the HTML and get to do anything I want to do. Muahahahahahaha!

But I notice something in some of the photos made of me singing: While singing -- at least to that almost empty room -- my face definitely looks a little lacking in ... intelligence. It's sad, really. But, I didn't post any of those photos, because ... I am the one who does the HTML and get to do anything I want to do. Muahahahahahaha!

Hey! We're in Redwood City on Sunday, June 8; in San Jose on Friday, June 13; and in Campbell on Saturday, June 28. Please come to at least one of those gigs!

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Making that shake-your-booty blues!

May 8, 2008: More gigs, Baby! Put on your dancing shoes!

THIS Tuesday night, May 13, 2008, Serious Condition Blues Dance Band will be at Grant & Green, 1371 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, a new venue for us, and we are really looking forward to it!

Grant & Green is a really fun place, with lots of good bands and good comedians cruising through.

On Tuesday we are playing the early show, starting at 8 p.m. -- Get there, have a few drinks, do a little dancing, then sit back to enjoy Ben Feldman's Joke Show, starting at 10 p.m. I mean, make a night of it!

Another new gig, at a favorite place: We just booked for Sunday, June 8, at The Broadway Lounge, 700 Winslow, Redwood City.

We love this place. Looking through the Serious Condition archives, I couldn't help but note that The Broadway Lounge was one of the first places Serious Condition played out together! That is, for the team of guitarist Tony Lacy-Thompson and front man Dr Gone, and we had a blast!

Iris the bartender was charming, fun and wonderful, and Murf the boss sat in with us on one night to sing "Brown-Eyed Girl."

The Broadway Lounge was the first place we played a boogie together, and after that we decided to add "Le Grange" to our repertoire.

We love it, and are very happy to be returning. It's been a while. The Broadway Lounge and Serious Condition kind of lost track of each other. It's good to be going back.

Good news: Gary DesJardins, Karl Jesse, Tony Lacy-Thompson and I have developed some rather significant good chemistry, and you will have a good time when you see us. Remember to keep track of our Gigs Page, darlings.

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Good luck smiling on Friday the 13th!

April 26, 2008: We just found out that the Dennis Dove Band is the 9 p.m. group on Friday, June 13, 2008, when we play at JJ's Blues in San Jose!

This is great news, because it means that y'all can come early to hear us, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. or so, then stick around to hear Dennis at 9 p.m.!

All for one low cover charge, which will probably be about $10.

Dennis has one of the best voices in San Francisco Bay Area blues, is an excellent drummer and is a really nice guy. He is one of the musicians who performed at the Vala Cupp memorial back in 2006, when Serious Condition was just starting out.

Meanwhile ... Serious Condition is sounding very good, if we may say so ourselves, and we may.

Tony Lacy-Thompson just keeps getting better with those blazing guitar solos of his, and we have great chemistry with the new guys: Gary DesJardins on bass and Karl Jesse on drums.

We are having a blast at rehearsal and are adding some new tunes to the repertoire.

The other nice thing about the show at JJ's is the presence of New York Pizza right next door. Good eats!

So, here's the plan: Get to JJ's by 7 p.m., have a drink or two and thoroughly enjoy our show ... then, while we are taking out our stuff and Dennis and his band are bringing theirs in, you go next door and order some pizza. They will deliver to your table in JJ's. Then stick around to enjoy Dennis's excellent show! You will be glad you did.

Sweet!

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

The music be movin',
the music be groovin'!

March 31, 2008: Dr Gone -- that would be me -- just cannot stop smiling, and the cats in the band are the reasons why.

We have been rehearsing in a Redwood City studio, and babies, the music is happenin'.

Lead guitarist Tony Lacy-Thompson and myself are the original, core members of Serious Condition, but we were getting a little bit lonely after the other band members kind of wandered away.

We did everything we knew how to do -- we put posters up on telephone poles and grocery-store bulletin boards, we put candles in the window, we left out little dishes of cat food. And yet the other guys didn't come back. They were lost in the country (music).

So ... Tony and I put out some feelers and found some new fellas, and man, the music is -- like I said -- happenin'.

First on board was drummer Karl Jesse, who has the rehearsal space in Redwood City. He is an all-around creative guy -- he is also a graphic artist and videographer -- but we love him for his drumming, which is creative, poppin' and in time. Fabulous stuff!

Then we found bass player Gary DesJardins -- and man, it was like the clouds opened up and the sun came shining through to the promised land! We've had some wonderful bass players, no doubt about it -- but Gary is a whole new league. This man was born to play blues music, and he has it pouring out of him like water from Yosemite Falls in a good year. Gary is an outstanding musician, and he is helping me to be a better musician and is driving the band like a freight train!

Between them, Karl and Gary add up to being a monster rhythm section, and that is what drives any good blues band. We love these guys.

After being on hiatus for a while we are starting to book gigs. Come see us, and bring your dancin' shoes! Watch this space for dates, and send a note to Dr Gone to be put on our mailing list.

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Good news, darlin's!

March 9, 2008: The fellow depicted here, in the hat and with the sticks, is Karl Jesse, an excellent drummer, artist and video dude

Karl Jesse photograph Karl Jesse

who recently agreed to become a regular part of Serious Condition. We love this cat's playing, and when we hooked him up with Gary Desjardins, who is a bass player, MAGIC HAPPENED. Karl and Gary -- who is great -- zippered up in a tight musical lock, and the tunes just flowed! It was fabulous.

Luckily for all of us, Gary has also agreed to join the band, and so we have a fabulous new rhythm section in place!

We are very, very happy about this.

Gary and Karl are both excellent musicians who've made a lot of music in a lot of places. You can find out more about Karl at his MySpace page, where a recent blog says, in part, "I heard Ralph Nader himself on Forum this morning. Bottom line... The man is suffering from full blown manic paranoid schizophrenic megalomania displaying rampant delusional dissociative disorder coupled with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a side of Tourette's Syndrome, and I think I even caught a hint of seasonal affective disorder. He seems to present with that last one every four years. Not Pretty!"

I liked it.

Here's what I know about Gary so far: He lives a tad to the north, and he was created by God to play the blues.

The man has the blues down to his marrow and listening to him play is a lesson in the music.

We'll post more about both fellas soon. In the meantime, we will be working on booking new shows. So far we have one show booked, for June 28 at the always delightful Grand Dell Saloon in Campbell, and will be booking more soon -- maybe even for some dates this month.

We'll let you know.

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Ch-ch-ch changes

February 19, 2008: Oh, life is throwing many changes at Serious Condition, so we are in the process of regrouping and working toward a new band. Joe Hartnett wants to keep doing gigs with us, but can't do rehearsals anymore because of his committment to Christine Vanhoy, whose band also took our bass player, Ken Mensing. And now drummer Greg Simons is also leaving the fold because he just doesn't have the time to help us break in a new bass player.

All these cats might play some gigs with us in the future, but for the moment, brilliant lead guitarist Tony Lacy-Thompson and I are in effect rebuilding our band from the core outward.

It will take a while, so we aren't booking new gigs for the time being.

But it will happen eventually!

-- drgone@seriouscondition.com   Send comments

Turn and face the strange changes!

January 20, 2008: One of the ways in which Serious Condition has been Blessed or at least very lucky is that we've been able to keep a good group together for a longer time than a lot of blues bands.

We began as a working group, really, when guitarist Tony Lacy-Thompson and his son, drummer Robert Lacy-Thompson, hooked up in 2005 with Dr Gone, who had a loud mouth and a P.A. system.

Bassist Ken Mensing joined in early 2006, and he brought the brilliant mouth-harp player, Joe Hartnett to us ... and over the years we've been able to really help each other be better musicians and develop a sound we like and an entertaining way with a crowd.

But some change happens. Robert left the band on a fulltime basis in the fall of 2007 to go to school ... and Greg Simons, the human metronome, joined to hit the drums, and he's been an excellent addition.

Robert still does occasional gigs with us, especially during ski season, when Greg spends a lot of time in the snow!

And now Ken has left fulltime status with Serious Condition to take a great job working with Christine Vanhoy, who was named best new country artist of 2007 by New Music Weekly.

"I get paid for (recording) session work!" said Ken, who has been our recording engineer, using his own gear.

"They feed us at rehearsal sessions!" said Ken, which made Dr Gone reply, "Hey! I offered you some string cheese! You wouldn't take it!"

Well, we're happy for Ken, though sorry to lose him. He's going to make more money, and that is a good thing. But we're sorry to lose someone who has been so much a part of making our sound.

Ken has been endlessly helpful in helping us figure out the songs and getting the chords right and otherwise improving our performances. And, it is a big deal that he has helped us so often in recording us, getting our sound on MP3s so y'all can hear us.

Ken will probably sit in as a sub every once in a while, but in the meantime we are looking for another bass player to become our regular band member for rehearsals and gigs.

We had two candidates in yesterday and expect to meet with another one or two sometime in early February. We will concentrate on getting that new player hip to our music, probably, before we hit the clubs again. We have nothing new booked till March 14, although that could change at any time if a gig comes our way.

Anyway, congratulations to Ken, and best wishes to the Christine Vanhoy band.

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See stuff that appeared in this space:

In 2007
Before 2007.