Apr 20, 2019 – The Abilene, Rochester New York

Due to an amazing article in the newspaper by Frank De Blase on the hard work of Danny Deutsch .. it was wall-to-wall people fitting into Vibey/cool bar venue.
This was one of the most unique and beautiful shows I ever remember playing.
The master John Platania and I took the stage at approximately 8:45 and played for almost 2 hours.. many unexpected things jumped into the spotlight and I will tell you about them.. but you start with let me say that John Platania was amazing from start to finish tonight!
We started out with a great version of my sort of theme song from last chance, “ The Real Thing”
Then we started playing songs from my soon to be released album, “Whiskey Salesman”.. with its alternate title, “love songs for Joan“.. we let the audience know that the video of the title song, had recently been accepted to the New Media Film Festival as a film, not a video and it was placed in their SRC section which means “socially responsible content”… so the song that I was about to play them …about whiskey and horses and my local bar and Joan and my friends … was considered socially responsible content .. nice!
I explained to the audience that the one thing that separates this album from others, was that there were little videos attached to each song.
As we played each song I found myself describing little parts of the video and it seem like a charming way to get the audience closer to the song.
After the title song we played “Hold Her”, then “I Love You Today”.. which this audience absolutely was in total communion with… what a beautiful response!
Then we played “A Sip or Two of Good Scotch“ which talks about the perils of drinking too much (suggested by my wife Joan) and brings in hints of my friend John Prine‘s new album.. where he talks about being in heaven and having such a great time with the new band and drinking vodka and ginger and smoking long cigarettes. The audience clapped along with this one and cheered at the end.
Then it was a tribute to my hometown of New York City and the lovely human kindness showed in its streets by so many, represented here by the song “Some Hearts“.. folks seem to be very touched by this one as well.
Then came the story of Joan and I visiting Naples two years in a row to watch the women’s golf tournament and part of the journey in the airplanes and terminals kind of resulting and being the inspiration for our new single, “I Like Ridin’” which, by songs end, the audience was singing along with us.
Then came further introduction to the golfers we went to see there in Naples… Brooke and Brittany Henderson.. and Brooke’s courageous entree into the LPGA and her meteoric rise to be one of the best of the best.
At that point I asked the audience if they would like to know how she was doing at this very minute…. as she was playing in Hawaii and she was approximately on the 10th hole in the final round of the prestigious Lotte championship.
The audience was having fun with this and cheered to know where she stood… In the audience was a very good friend of Joan’s and mine ..Mike from Rochester who is a friend of Brooke and Brittany and the family …so he was cheering louder than anybody else.
So I reached over and picked up my iPhone that was already tuned in to the live leaderboard of the tournament.
I came back to the microphone and said there’s good news here …Brooke is leading the tournament by three shots on the 11th hole!!
The place erupted in applause and Mike screamed louder than anybody else!
So then we played Naples .. The song that finds Joan and I sort of “vacationing“ for the first time in many years in Naples and eating at an outdoor patio and walking on the beach surrounded by a beautiful sandcastle and some sand birds…
The audience fell in love with this song and the whole story attached to it… This was certainly one of their favorites of the night… And now they had the Brooke Henderson story running right in tandem with it.
All along, every five or 10 minutes we checked the golf score and at each checkpoint Brooke was leading by at least two …most the times three … and the audience kept cheering!!
Then I sang about a bad night at my local bar Parnell’s.. with the song, “It’s midnight… Turn the Clock Back Again“ and the audience got into the chorus by the end, singing along with us .. and it sounded serious but very emotionally connected.
We ended the Whiskey Salesman section, with the final song on the album, “In the Stillness of the Night“.. and throughout the last courses the audience sang along with us it was a magical replay of the album and this audience was the perfect one to play it for.
By the way, when I played Whiskey Salesman to start the show, I spoke about being in my writing space at 1650 Broadway where, aside from writing songs, I was making bets with my bookie Meyer Lansky… Meyer’s runner George would collect and pay every Monday (mostly pay)… The audience loved this part of the story then and love the continuation of it .. when at this point I said
“We are now going to the “Meyer Lansky” section of the show… here come some hits”
We started this section with a great version of a song my friend Al Gorgoni and I wrote for the Hollies and Linda Ronstadt called “I Can’t Let Go” , along with the charming story of how that song that written.
Folks clapped along with the beat of the song and cheered at the end.
then I went back to check to see how Brooke was doing… Now she was on the 14th hole and two up
So at that point I broke away from the Meyer Lansky section and sang the song I wrote for Brooke and Britney Henderson, “I’ll Carry For You”.
The audience absolutely loved this!
Then it was back to the Meyer Lansky section and we played a beautiful version of “Angel of the Morning “ where the audience joined in for about three straight choruses with us at the end… then it was a totally rockin “Wild Thing” with the audience clapping and joining in and having as much loose fun as you can have.
Next came my current hit on the streaming sites, that I wrote for the prisoners, “Fuck all the Perfect People“ .. and this was magic, total magic with everybody dead serious singing along with it with their fists in the air.
We ended the show with another song that talks about the prisoners, “I’ll only be me Once“… Again with the entire audience singing with us in the choruses… What a chill feeling this was.
Before getting off the stage I went back to the iPhone again and quickly told the audience that Brooke was now up three with two holes to play!!! They erupted in cheers… lots of new Brooke and Brittney fans out there tonight including owner Danny who was so into it and sat with us at a small table watching on my iPhone as Brooke raised the trophy!!
So… This will go down in memory is one of my favorite shows..thanks Danny for having us ,,,thanks to all that packed the place and made it such a special night!
Said hi to a few including:
Frank De Blase (Who wrote the amazing article in the paper) and his lovely wife Debra… wish we could’ve spent more time talking thanks so so much for coming.
Oh by the way thanks so much to Greg for the great sound tonight !
.. much appreciated Greg hope to see you soon.
Special hello to my friend Mike from Rochester who is the huge Brooke and Brittney fan who met Joan and me in Naples two years running and hopefully many times to come… It was so special to be here and see the show unfold as it did with Mike in the audience and very warm hello to Mike’s friend Dana… Dana please send big love to your daughter Bridgette.. hope to see her next time
Hi Eric and Bob… The “Last Chance” fan.. so good to see you… and hi Don and Donna.., and a big hello to Gerard, Who got turned onto my latest recordings by listening to Sirius radio and hearing the outlaw channel playing “Ukrainian Girls”
Nice stuff Gerard ..I appreciate it.. and hi to your friend Jim… Look forward to seeing you guys next time
And a very very big hello to Joe… Who is celebrating his birthday tonight… I didn’t quite get it this year 69th or 70th?… But whatever it was it was a good one and I am so glad you were here! See you next time
And at the bar good to see my old friend, Tracy and lovely Kelly… thanks so much you guys
Thanks so much Danny… I hope things go well… Count me in  – I love it here.