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!!