-It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these… Here’s the recap of CAROLINE BLUE’s show at The ONEIDA AMERICAN LEGION in Oneida, NY on September 24, 2022. I haven’t had a live line-up for CAROLINE BLUE in awhile; just doing what I can on my own and concentrating more on trying to make new recordings / new video content happen. The opportunity arose for this new line-up and it all came together between February and March earlier this year. After some rehearsal, I started looking around to see if we could open for anyone – hopefully doing all originals, since I now had a line-up that wanted that and so did I. However, it soon became apparent that, for the most part, we still have to play the cover game, at least in part, to get gigs. Kind of like back in the day, but now covers are expected more.

-This led me to a conversation with Steven Seelman in mid- June. Not only was he willing to have us play at The Oneida American Legion (provided we get approved by their panel), but it was a headlining show – 90 minutes, – with popular local 90’s cover band AZ IF opening. It was stressed to me that there was no swearing allowed – especially F-Bombs, which are sprinkled within a number of CAROLINE BLUE songs. He was pulling for us, but did mention that it’s easier to get bands that play covers in the Legion so what to do? You adapt. I told him we’d load up on some covers to help us get approved and we did. The show was set. Now we had to get ready.

-It wasn’t that easy however. For various reasons, we weren’t able to get together as much as we should have so that added some pressure. We did the best we could and, even though we had to drop a few songs from the list, we were ready to play 90 minutes – about 75% CAROLINE BLUE originals – almost all of them sans “Slave to the Hourglass,” Inside (Deeper Mix), “Inertia” and “Our Love is Wasted.”

-One challenge was that, the night before, AZ IF had to pull out of the show cause their guitarist now wasn’t available. Having said that, their bassist has a solo acoustic act called ACOUSTIMOOSE and he would take their place. He did a great job and check him out when you get the chance.

-The night came and we were told we were playing on the inside stage, which was fine. Plenty of room. Lights were a little sparse, but as long as it’s not pitch black it’s OK (per se – only cause of my contacts). We did our soundcheck and it was good. I was having problems with my pedal board and one of my guitars wasn’t 100%. In addition, I will admit to being a little nervous and I had some stage rust, but you make due you know. I’m also known to be ultra-critical on myself, but you do your best and let it go. Here’s the set list for that night. Unless followed by a band name in parentheses, all the following songs are CAROLINE BLUE originals…

-Too Late
-Hard Life
-Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC)
-Love Me or Leave Me
-Mine, Mine, Mine
-Detroit Rock City (KISS)
-I’ve Seen The Light Tonight
-My Fingers
-Summer Night City (Thereon / ABBA)
-Prey
-Christian Woman (Singles Version) (Type O Negative)
-Stay (Greenough Mix)
-Deny
-Nothing Will Satisfy You
-Dead or Alive
-Peaches (The Presidents of the U.S.A.)
-Far Away From Home
-The Queen of Pleasure
-Won’t Be Home Tonight
-Wicked Game (HIM / Chris Issak)
-Out of My Life (I Want You)
-Pain

-Even without AZ IF we had a decent crowd this night who, for the most part, stayed till the end so that was wonderful. It was a good time and a good show. Nice to be back on stage. In many ways, it felt like I never left. Having said that, age spares no one and I’m not moving like I did back in the day. Once I tame my pedal board, I’ll be chained down even more. Oy vey…

-I want to thank Rick Smith, Darrell R. White, Stephanie Woodard, Timothy Dust and Dawn Stumpff for filming some clips of us onstage, which were shared while I worked on the footage from my camera. It’s a little dark and, while what you see is better, it’s still a little dark. Also thanks to all the wonderful people who came out and stuck with us to the very end. I might of even dropped an F-Bomb towards the end, but I was told we were welcomed back so it couldn’t have been that bad 🙂 Thanks also to Steven Seelman and Jim Roberts for running sound and lights. And, of course, thanks to Jay, Juliana and Ned for helping CAROLINE BLUE be “reborn” in regards to live shows. We’ll be working to get more shows onboard and, currently, a concept music video for “My Fingers” (WWJ ENTERTAINMENT LLC) is in principle photography. Day One is in the can and Day Two is coming up. Day Three is to be announced. Keep an eye out on the our social media sites / websites for more info. Thanks again and hope to see you out at a show!

WWJ

To see Pics from the show, go to the CAROLINE BLUE FACEBOOK PAGE and click on the 9/24/22 Photo Album.