Sunday morning, I was up and off to band rehearsal. Sunday morning rehearsals kind of make me laugh. Most everyone works Saturday night singing and rocking and the last thing a rocker wants to do is get up on his/her day off and practice, ... but not this band; Sunday mornings seem to be the best time for us to work. Everyone seems fresher (once we start) and everyone has more energy in the morning. Sure nobody likes getting up and driving to rehearsal, but once we all get there, and we start to catch up and laugh and tune up and play, it truly is magic.

I am blessed to have some of the best, well respected, kind, talented, huge hearted musicians in this band. (www.101stRockDivision.com)

This weeks rehearsal was one of the best rehearsals we have ever had. I started seeing the band members taking pride in our sound, the feel of the music, the presentation of the songs and the over all theme and brotherhood of our group.

It started when Mike Gorman stopped the band after the girls sang "Ain't No Other Man." The girls are really doing a great job, but Mike turned to Frankie Capek, Timmy Scruggs, Chinbaa and me and asked us to play less. Playing less is a lesson I learned long ago on the road with Chuck Berry, and playing less, with 8 people on stage trying to get their best lick in, is probably the best suggestion we could have had. So, we did the song again. Mike took control because he definitely had a vision and sound in mind. We tried it, we played less and let Timmy do all the fills on the drums, ... and to be honest, Mike was perfectly correct. The tune jumped out at you and the girls could play a bit more with their vocals. We did the song over and over again for about 30 minutes.

The next song in the show is the girls version of the Pussy Cat Dolls, "Don't Cha." Again Mike had a problem with our arraignment, and at this point, nobody was going to question him. Mike looked at me as if to say, "Joe, I am so sorry, and I know this is your band, but this has to be fixed!"  ... so we fixed.

Again, ... we just let Mike go with it because he was in a groove and I was actually getting excited because there is nothing like having a fellow band member step up and take responsibility and "get involved" inside the music, to make us better. It's much better than having a "hired hand" who will kiss your ass just to collect a paycheck. I picked up a tambourine and the girls started doing dance steps, ... and it was beautiful. It was the re-creation of a production number that any audience would love. Mike and Frank then began working together on "Bohemian Rhapsody," and really made that tune pop.

We spent the rest of rehearsal doing the same to almost every song, and the band was growing tighter and tighter, and closer and closer as the day went on. At 3:00 PM we were all tired, sweating and smiling.

Afterward, as we were packing up, we all laughed and agreed, audiences, ... troops or civilians, are gonna love this band. Our new schedule will be post on the "Tour Info / Dates" link on this website, www.JoeCantafio.com.

On a completely different note;

I want to congratulate my daughter Danielle who made her Confirmation Sunday afternoon. (She chose the name Anne after St. Anne, Mary's mother and Jesus' grandmother) We enjoyed a great night of home make ravioli's, meatball, sausage, and beef. My 86-year old Mom made an awesome pork roast and my family had a great time.

And another congratulation to Boloro (Bogi) one of the great talents in the band. She turned 25-years old Saturday and we celebrated with her. I have to tell, the girls in my band can cook. I am starting to realize there isn't much they can't do.

I had a great weekend! I hope you did too!

 

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