Playing Music with Dave Argentati in Tucson

Last Friday, Terry and I drove down to Tucson so he could join his friends, Dave Argentati and Mark Converti to play music at the Glass Onion Cafe.  

They played a mix of 70's covers, James Taylor, Jim Croce and others, as well as a good supply of Dave's original songs.  Terry even sang lead on a couple of old favorites.  One of these days I'll get a video tape of it.

The cafe itself is a quaint little place with about 10 tables or so.  All the seats in the house were full and there were even people standing outside to listen to the music.  The photos behind the guys are called the "Wall of Fame". The owners take pictures of their patrons and hang them up on the wall.

  Our friends, Doug and Liz Johnson (Liz is in red on the left -Doug is sitting in front of her on the other side of the table) from Santa Clarita, CA moved to Tucson a few years ago. Liz and I have connected on Facebook and they were so sweet to come and hear Terry and the guys play. They also brought their son, Zach (in brown) who is in high school now. The last time we saw him, he was about 10 years old, so he's changed A LOT and is quite a handsome, well mannered, young man. He was so polite to sit thru 2 hours of oldies and songs that he'd never heard before. Thanks Zach.

In this photo you can see a glimpse of Mark, the cellist sitting behind and between the guys. He adds such a beautiful sound to the trio. 

After the concert we had a chance to hang out with Dave, Kathrin and some of their friends.  What a great group of people they are. It was such a fun night but we didn't leave their house until midnight! We had a wedding to go to the next day (more on that later) so we decided to do the 2 hour drive home. Or should I say, Terry did the 2 hour drive home while I slept most of it. I think we're getting too old to stay out until after 2 am. The next night we ended up coming home early after the wedding and I slept like a rock trying to catch up after a short night before. It was well worth it though, and we would do it again in a second!  Maybe next time we'll stay overnight in Tucson.

If you want to see a few more pictures you can go here.

Some of my favorite people!
A week ago (Friday) we were privileged to have a few old friends over at the house to do some reminiscing and catching up. Several of them were former members of Glory Road, the band that Terry was in when he we younger. Greg Williams was in town from northern California visiting his new grandbaby, so we tried to get a few other folks together to see him. Rob & Toni Brunner, and Bernie & Kayelen Rolfe came by. And Dave & Kathrin Argentati drove up from Tucson. Sadly, another Glory Road member, John Heath wasn't able to come because he was at band practice for his current band. We missed him and others too.

We enjoyed a simple dinner, then while catching up on the latest news, we found out that Dave was chosen as a finalist for the TKMA Songwriting Contest and will be playing two original songs at the Tucson Folk Festival on May 2nd. We asked him to play the songs and thankfully he obliged. As expected, they were wonderful and Kathrin sang along with him, which was an added treat. The other nice thing about Dave playing the songs was that it got the guys started playing music.

Over the next few minutes, Terry kept going back to get more instruments and soon there was an instrument in each of their hands. For those who are observant, try to count how many different instruments they played. (They were all Terry's.) The cool thing was that they kept taking turns playing different ones.
They sang such a wide range of material, including several originals written by the guys and some old Glory Road and even Shira songs. They also played songs by James Taylor, the Eagles, the Band, and many others. It was such a blast!! Everyone was singing and jamming and having an amazing time. They kept it up until almost 2 a.m.! It made me feel young again.

I had fun singing along and taking pictures. I even dug out the video camera and taped a song or two. If anyone can tell me how to transfer an 8 mm videotape over to a computer file, I'd be happy to post the songs. I don't know if I'd need more software or anything, but let me know if you know how to do it.

What a huge blessing it was to be able to share this night with such precious friends. It was so much fun to see the joy in their eyes and hear the laughter of a lifetime of friendships.

Even though some of them are in other cities, these are the kinds of friends that just take up right where they left off the last time we were together.

What a gift that night was!!!

A new blogger joins our little community...

Hey guys, our friend and musician, Dave Argentati has started a blog! Please go there and visit, then comment so he knows he's not alone in cyberspace.

That's the worst feeling, being out there with no indication that anyone is listening or cares.

Here's the link. Be sure to bookmark it or add it to your RSS feed.

http://art-as-life.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

We have such talented friends!

Check out this beautiful, but heart-wrenching song written by our friend in Tucson, Dave Argentati. Here's a note from him.

"We are beginning to work with the Prevent Child Abuse organization and I have posted a new song on Folk Alley that we will be using to raise public awareness at our shows. If you have a chance, please listen to "Traces" at the link below. Your comments (on the site) are always appreciated! Thanks for listening!"

You can find the lyrics there too.

Hey, I just looked up the band's schedule at the Late Rain website and it looks like they're going to be in Phoenix on Saturday, September 1st at The Music Corner at 15th Avenue & Maryland at 7:30. We'll have to get of few of the old-timers together to go see them.