New Year's 2011 Eve at the Rancho Cordova Elks Lodge

This show was booked way back in February.  We were playing for the Rancho Cordova Elks and when they asked if they could book us for New Year's it seemed so far away.  After all, in February it seemed like we had just had New Year's Eve!  But, they didn't want to wait until everyone was already booked, so they booked us early!  We were happy to look forward to this show all year.

When we arrived, they had tons of fun decorations filling the room.  They had a full house and we were all ready to party til midnight.  

 

They had a table set aside for the band, and we got decorations and party favors too!!  All around the room the decorations were in all sorts of colors.  For our table they were all in black.  What an honor for them to think of us and even match our band colors!  AND....they set out hats for the guys....but for me....

They gave me a tiara!  Woo Hoo.  I wore it all night.

 

We have always had so much fun playing for the Rancho Cordova Elks and this night was over the top!  We were also blessed to see some of our band friends who came from other groups to spend the evening with us.  

The only time Steve ever takes a video is when he is not playing harmonica....and that always seems to be during Sway.  So I will play it for you so you can enjoy the dancers:

We love it when people dance.  It makes it so much fun for us.

 And this crowd danced all night long!  

During our breaks, we relaxed.  Michael brought a magazine. 

And he shared it with Steve.

 

This is Yvette (hope I spelled that right).  She is a very fun person and is always game for a line dance!!  We played one during dinner and she and her friends got right up and left their dinner to dance!

  

Dancing and more dancing!!  

Here we are playing around on stage.  I will miss dancing with Michael!

 

Here we are at the stroke of midnight!  

 

Towards the end of the show I could smell BACON cooking....mmmm I LOVE bacon.  After the show, they served a yummy breakfast.  Sooooo good!  

There was a beautiful Christmas tree.  We posed for a "farewell" picture with Michael.  When we first booked this show, none of would have imagined that this would end up being our last show together.  When we decided in October to split up, we all agreed to play together through the end of the year.  It was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions (for me mostly), but when it came to the end, we were all happy and looking forward to a new year of fun and music.  John and Michael have joined with Brian to form a trio and will be playing under the name Crystal Image.   Steve and myself have joined with three great musicians to form a new band that is called "Stephanie Farrell and the Wild Katz".  We will be continuing with same music we have enjoyed performing and look forward to seeing all the great people that we have met over the past two years.

And, that was it!  Our last show together and it was fabulous!  We all had a great time and it seemed like our audience was having a blast.  We are all still very good friends and we are all rooting for each other.  I'm thankful that our parting was happy.  I think that I would have been sad if it weren't for the Wild Katz, I'm very much looking forward to the new year and the new band.  Stay tuned, I will keep you posted about all the details!!

Lodi Moose Christmas Dinner Dance

We had a blast at the Lodi Moose! It was such an honor to have so many of our band friends come just to see us! The Lodi Moose has a huge hall with a very large dance floor, so it's a great place for a dinner dance. And the place was packed!!

We started with some soft music while they ate dinner and later on we really ROCKED them!

I chose to wear this dress, because I love it and I've only worn it a couple of times.

Someone came up and told me she has the same dress! I told her that this is my MOB dress. (Mother of the Bride) and she said hers was too!!! That was funny.

A lady came up to me and said that it was nice to see me smiling and happy. What? I think I'm always happy. She told me that I didn't smile as much when we were there for Halloween. Wow. That took me right back. She was right. I wasn't happy at all. I knew that I wasn't going to be in Crystal Image anymore and I was heartbroken. It's hard to smile and act happy when you are so sad. It reminds me how far I've come since then. And, I'm truly happy right now. Yes, I'm sad to see my time with Crystal Image come to an end, but I did everything I could to fix that and it was not meant to be. I love the guys without a doubt and I will miss them so much. So, I'm not sad anymore and I apologize if it showed, I never meant for that to be the case.

Brian was so excited to try out his brand new drum set. It's beautiful and he has every reason to be proud of it!

Michael says he will miss dancing with me on stage. I will miss that too! He always makes it so much fun!

I wish I was one of those people who could remember names!! I feel so bad when I can't. I remember this guys name, Tom Jones. Unless he was kidding. I said I wouldn't forget that! They are great dancers. And, I really mean that. I have videotaped them many times so you could see for yourself.

Karen and Deiter (I'm sorry if I spelled that wrong!). They are so sweet! And, they gave us each a Christmas Card. Karen said she would have baked us cookies if she hadn't broken her wrist. I'm sorry for her pain, but my waistline is grateful....I happen to know her cookies are very yummy!

John has caught a cold and was having a hard time singing. For the last set, he lost his voice completely and we scrambled to fill in. So, there was more Rock N Roll than usual....and they LOVED it!

Another fun couple who LOVES to dance!

Girlfriends! Barbara and Laura.

It was a sweet and special night, playing music for wonderful people, a Christmas blessing and memories that I will cherish.

The people here are so appreciate and complimentary. It makes all of us feel so special.

Well, what is a Moose Lodge without a Moose? You gotta love this pic!

And, the countdown continues. Only 3 more gigs to the final one.

Stephanie Farrell and the Wild Katz

We have a logo for our new band!  

What do you think?  We are practicing and getting ready to start booking shows.  All of us are really excited about our new adventure.  I hope to have a website with pictures for you to see soon.  I can't wait to introduce you to the band.

We have only 4 more shows with Crystal Image.  It's sad to see it end.  I am grateful to have something new to look forward to.

After the New Year's Eve show, John, Michael and Brian will continue on as Crystal Image and you can see their schedule on their new website: www.crystalimageband.weebly.com

I admit it....

I know that I have gotten way behind in my blog.  To be honest with you, the last month was a hard one and I didn't feel like posting.  Time has a way of fixing things and I'm anxious to go back and fill you in on the gigs over the last few weeks because we had some really great ones.  I'll post them by the date of the gig, so if you do come back, scroll down to see what has been added.

It's funny.  As we come to the end of our time together, our shows just keep getting better and better.  We are having a lot of fun and are meeting terrific people.  And, while it's sad that it's ending, it's also exciting that new things are coming.  Our new band has had two practices and it already sounds great!  I'll introduce you to the guys soon, you will love them!

I feel like I'm 2 different people

When it comes to music, sometimes I am completely confident.  I feel like I know how things need to be and what needs to be done to make them happen.  Then in a flash, I feel completely insecure and ask myself "what the heck am I doing??".  Have you ever felt that way before? 

And, then there is the fact that I am literally in two different bands right now.  Crystal Image, the band that I have been in for the past 2 years and my new band that is my future (we haven't settled on a name yet...any ideas?).  In Crystal Image, I know what is expected of me and I'm comfortable. 

The new band has members that are incredible!  These guys are PROS and it shows.  We had one practice and as I listened back to the recordings, I was amazed at how quickly they were able to make things work.  This is all very exciting.  I realized yesterday that I need to be careful what I say to people.  If I don't sound confident, I wouldn't want my new band to think that I don't have faith in them, it's myself that I have doubts about....as I heard myself talking to someone yesterday and I realized that from this moment forward I have to have complete confidence because these guys deserve that.  It's not fair to them for me to be the least bit wimpy.  So there.   Enough of that!!

And then there is Crystal Image.  I am very glad that we had this amount of time to play together before it was over.  It's been a roller coaster for sure.  Jerry had to leave and a new drummer, Brian (who is very nice and an excellent drummer) took his place.  I had to accept that they had replaced me with another girl and I found that pretty tough.  And after all of that emotion, the replacement girl is now out of the picture.  If she had quit sooner, things may have turned out differently....but God knows best and I think that things are happening the way that they were meant to.  We (Crystal Image) are having some of our best shows EVER.  And we are having fun.  At this moment we have 9 gigs left.  

And while we are playing these 9 gigs, my new band is practicing to be ready to play asap.  So, it can be confusing.   I'm looking forward to keeping the songs that I have enjoyed performing for the past 2 years and adding a whole lot of new ones too!  Steve will be singing more (I think he's really good!) and our new guitarist is an excellent performer/singer/guitarist.  We hope to be ready to play mid January. We have another practice soon and I hope to have pictures and songs to put on a new website soon.  I can't wait to introduce my new band members to everyone!

If you are reading this...I thank you!!  I have made some really good friends over the past 2 years with Crystal Image and I look forward to keeping those friendships and starting new ones too!  

Stephanie