May 2 matinee at The Ice House was awesome!

Totally fun! Bick Bazilian & the Flap gave 115% -- Rick's voice is a cross betw' Paul
Rodgers & Eddie Vedder. I stood riveted near a p.a. spkr. stack for the 1 hr. set,
entranced. When an encore was demanded, Rick picked up a Les Paul & yelled, "a tribute to Lee Van Leer!" and proceeded to almost shred using my thumb lead technique. Huh? I didn't even know that Rick played lead! He plays acous. rhythm on
1 or 2 songs in their set. Wao! ~ Well, the gauntlet had been thrown in a friendly manner, so luckily I was able to borrow the SG/Les Paul Jr. from Shredded Flag with
which I'm so comfortable, and let loose w/ "Bruised Apple Pie" and Jeff Beck's "Free-
way Jam" at the end of my set. The audience roared -- They hadn't seen me, on gtr. or otherwise, since Summer '09. Having the b.u. vocal ladies was a huge plus, also,
on tunes like "A Love To Last A Lifetime Long." I'm still radiating enthusiasm. The
crowd was over 200, Bill said, so everyone was content. I think the next show is planned for late June. I'm stoked!