A Magical Night at Boeger Winery

This was a brand new venue for our band called "Sunset Sippin" at Boeger Winery in Placerville.  When we got there I was amazed at how pretty the setting was.  I just can't imagine a better way to spend a summer evening than sitting in a beautiful winery garden with a lovely dinner, wine and live music.
This is a picture I took with my Iphone when we first got there.  Perfect weather!   Beautiful "park like" setting. 

There was a main wine tasting building at the top.  Right beside the patio where we were playing was a very old building that was the original winery.  It featured the original stone walls and was artfully decorated and staffed by these two lovely ladies:

People began arriving around 5pm with chairs and blankets.  It was a mixed age group and we love that! And....our favorite thing....there was dancing!

And, more dancing!

It's always a treat when the children dance, these kids were having a blast!

Earlier in the evening, I was telling Jerry that because Steve is always taking pictures, he is never IN the pictures.  Sometimes it looks like our band has only 4 members.  Imagine my surprise when a lady who was dancing, reached over and took my camera and snapped these two pictures of us:

Isn't that crazy?  I love it when something like that happens.  Special thanks to our guest photographer!  We appreciate it very much.

We had an awesome time and could have played all night.  As we walked through the crowd during the break and after the show, we received so many compliments.  We were all touched and honored.  And, then, I received an email from the owner:  "Heard you rocked the house last Friday night!  Thanks!!  We would definitely like to have you back."   What a fun night.

I'm working on a video of this night...so check back to see it!

Music in the Park, Tommy's Backyard and a Concert in a Church!

Whew!  It was a 3 gig kind of weekend!  We had a BLAST!  It started on Friday night with Music in the Park "TGIF", hosted by Amador Arts.  This was held in the Pine Grove Park, which is also home to the Farmer's Market that we have played many times for.  They have a new stage area and it's just perfect!!  John lives right down the road, so this gig was right close to home!

 We were soooo happy to see so many of our friends there!  I just can't tell you how much it means to us when we see folks that we know.  Wow.  And, YES!  there was DANCING!!

 After the gig, there was a lot of visiting with friends and making new ones.  This brother and sister were particularly interested in the drums.  Jerry was only too happy to share.  In fact, he invited them to give it a try.  This kid is a natural!!  He went to town on the drums and held nothing back!  Jerry gave them both a set of drumsticks to take home and they were just in awe.

And, then..... John gave them a quick lesson to get them started.   How cool was that?  They were both so excited. 

And, on Saturday, we played for Tommy's Backyard.  This is a very cool place behind the Camp McConnell Store just above Arnold.  It has a creek running through it, with a huge lawn area.  They served a dinner and the weather was perfect!!  Steve is always taking pictures.  Sometimes he just points the camera and shoots.  This picture captures the moment, don't you think?

We started out the evening playing for the folks, and it wasn't long before they started filling up the dance area.

Yeah, there was dancing!

During one of our breaks, these people let us know that John's band played for their wedding over 30 years ago.  John started his band, Crystal Image in 1968!  He has had many different band members since then.  Our current band is relatively new, Michael has played with John for over 7 years.  Steve and I joined them almost two years ago and Jerry joined us in January.

This guy (below), came over to talk to John, he played with Crystal Image many years ago. 

This young fellow LOVES to dance.  I have video of him dancing up a storm.  And, he had some great moves!!   Follow us on Facebook and I will let you know when I have posted the video.  www.facebook.com/crystalimagemusic plus we have more pictures! 

We had the priveledge of entertaining Crystal's Bachelorette party!!  I can't remember all the names, but I'm pretty sure that Crystal is the 3rd from the right (correct me if I'm wrong, please!)  They were a lot of fun.

 The darker it got, the busier the dance floor!   

There was even a campfire.

We were so lucky to have marshmellows, roasted to perfection!

Here is the band with Tommy and the sweet girls who fed us yummy marshmellows and smores.

Tommy told us that he would love for us to come back and we can't wait!! I'll let you know when that is so you can join us, it's worth the drive!!

On Sunday, we returned to the Parkside Community Church in Sacramento for their summer concert series.  These are such nice people, we were really looking forward to it!

We had a great time!!  Special thanks to Anne!!

4 Shows for 4th of July

We had a busy weekend for the Fourth.  Because we had so much going on for the holiday, I wanted us to have the patriotic theme.  Jerry and Steve got ties and John tied a bandana to his hat.  Michael wore a CRAZY stars and stripes hat.  I couldn't decide if I should still wear my "black" and just add something patriotic or should I wear "red white and blue"?  I decided to go all out and wear USA colors.  I also bought some garland to hang on our sign and some necklaces to give out.  We were READY! 

First up was Stockton Singles on Friday night.  I had no doubt that they would be sporting the "red, white and blue" and I was right!  I was amazed by all the pretty RED dancing shoes.  I was tempted to go around and take pictures to show you, but I didn't.  Use your imagination (and make sure to add sparkle and glitter to your vision).  This group always dresses up for the dances and I just love that!  For me, I have a blue dress and I wore it.  I simply could not find anything patriotic in the stores, so I made a red vest and sewed some patches on it.  I finished it just in time and was sewing the patches on in the car on the way to the show!

We always have so much fun with this crowd and this night was no exception. 

On Saturday, we played at the Cannon Ball Run in Volcano.  The weather prediction was for triple digits and we were so happy to find that they had put up a tent for us...yay!!  The guys talked about possibly wearing shorts (Steve's idea), but that was quickly shot down as they all opted to stick with our uniform of black pants.  Except for me.  I was still going with the red, white and blue theme.  I wore a white denim skirt with my new vest and whew!  I was the lucky one for sure! 

I suggested to Michael that he not wear his jacket, but he wouldn't even consider it.  Michael will do anything to put on a great show.  I just LOVE that about him.  He probably sweated buckets under the black jacket and big hat, but he never showed a moment of discomfort.  A while back, Steve and I found the funniest glasses that reminded us of Michael.  He wore them all day!!  And, he looked GREAT!!

We were joined by Jack Mc Gee, a guest singer.  He did a great job!  He also had a car in the show and opened the paraded with a terrific rendition of the National Anthem.  Thanks Jack!

And, Santa Todd came too! He is a good friend of the band and is also a musician.  He has helped us so much by listening to our sound system and giving us suggestions! We so appreciate his help.

We only had a couple of fans blowing and it was indeed hot.  But, we were fine under our tent.  The day was wonderful, fabulous cars, friendly people and we got to play our music for the folks.  Perfect.

Right after our show at Volcano, we packed up and took a small break to eat and then it was off to the Amador Fairgrounds in Plymouth.  We were booked to play for the Amador Fair Aid a "Battle of the Bands" to raise funds for the Fair which has lost it's state funding and has put the entire fair in jeopardy. 

We were set to play at 6pm.  It was pretty hot at the Fairgrounds too!  By this time I felt like I was covered with a layer of dirt and grime.  My white skirt wasn't so white anymore.  We were all sweaty and maybe a little tired.  And, we were also excited to have the opportunity to play for this venue.  We will be playing for the Amador County Fair for the 2nd time this year (Friday night July 29th) and we wanted to support it in any way that we could.  When I talked to the guys about playing for this, they were adamant that they didn't want to compete in the "Battle of the Bands" part.  We all just wanted to play.  We are already booked to play the fair, which was the first prize.  I was so happy to see that they honored our request and we were not on the voting ballot.  Our congratulations to the Winners, Freeze Out, a favorite band of Steve and myself.  They are also personal favorites of John's, because he mentored them when they were just starting out.  As a music teacher, John has mentored many of the musicians in our area.

We loved listening to Unkle Bean, who played on stage right before us.  I had heard of Unkle Bean on Facebook, but I didn't know that it was our friends from the old Schoolhouse jams from a couple of years ago.  They were GREAT!!  (wish I had taken a picture of them for you)

We set up and did our 45 minute set.  The people were dancing and we were playing and it was a magic moment.  What a fun time! 

Sunday, we all rested.  Whew!

Monday, for the actual 4th, we were going to play for the Carmichael Elks Lodge.  They have a big event every 4th of July, this was the 54th annual.  We knew that we would be playing INSIDE for this event and we couldn't be happier about it.  The weather was really HOT.  I chose to wear white pants instead of the skirt.  (I will tell you that I am so happy to be back in my black)  White is too hard to keep clean.  As I was setting up the cords that had been in dirt at the previous gig, it was making it hard to stay white.  Argh. 

 This is me with Diane, who booked us for this event.  Thanks Diane!!

As we we driving to the gig, Steve was commenting on all the people lining up and down the street.  He said that there must be something going on.  I told him, Yes there is something going on!  It's the parade that culminates at the Elk Lodge where we are playing!  Ha ha.

We got there and they had a big stage and a huge dance floor.  John immediately determined that our chosen song list for the day would not work for this crowd.  Luckily we play a variety of music and were able to switch to a more appropriate type of music for this crowd.  Instead of our Rock N Roll plan, we switched to a softer music choice and added in lots of ballroom dancing music for the folks.  John, with his years of experience was able to create the song list in the moment and we all followed.  It was a challenge, but our band worked as a team and made it all seamless. 

The folks danced and danced and this made us all happy!!  We were bombarded with requests for our band to play for future events...wow, that's exciting.  In fact, as I write this we already have one new booking from this event! 

We had a wonderful 4th of July.  

Jerry kept saying "Happy Birthday America!", I just loved it every time he said it.  Hope you had a wonderful 4th too!

P.S.  We have more pictures on our Facebook page....come take a look http://facebook.com/crystalimagemusic