Soul Shine: News

Well, it's official! We have secured a date with the Union Street Station in Traverse City! We're really looking forward to coming in and having a great time with our TC area friends. The date is December 7 and 8, and the info will be posted on the Schedule page as we get more of it. Do you live in the Traverse City area? Do you want to see Soul Shine on a regular basis? Well, friends and neighboors, it's up to YOU to show the Union Street that Soul Shine is a band you want to see! If we have a good showing on that weekend, we'll be asked to come back on a regular basis, so come on out and show your support!

We head for Grand Rapids and Billy's Lounge on Friday, March 30! It's been a while since Bob, Bill, and I have seen the folks at Billy's, and we're looking forward to gettin back up on that awesome stage and tearin' it up like we always do. We're also looking forward to introducing the Billy's crowd to Drew! (or is it the other way around?) Show starts at 9:30pm, and it'll cost ya 5 bucks to get past The Door God.

Saturday night, we head for West Olive and the Barn. This is a 9:00pm showtime, and a $3 cover. Both these shows are going to be great fun, since they're new stops for the band. We can't wait to get down there and see eveybody, so look out, here comes Soul Shine!

We come into Charlevoix, MI, for our first bar gig on Saturday, March 17. We will be hittin' it at the Flight Deck from 9:30pm til 1:30am. Saturday being St. Patrick's Day, we'll be looking for the traditional green beer (?) and all the fun that goes along with folks consuming large quantities of the stuff. So, get yer green on, and we'll get yer blues on for ya!

We just returned from the Charlevoix Yacht Club where we did a benefit show to help raise money for the humane society. We had a great time and a whole lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for asking us to be a part of this event and we hope to see you all again next year.

I hope you all have a love- filled Valentine's Day. Gentlemen, don't forget the card and chocolates for your special someone. If you're interested in a great valentine date night check us out February 16 & 17 at the Sassy Loon Bar in Harbor Springs. It's located inside the Northern Lights Entertainment Center on M-119. We have a bunch of new tunes to throw at you and some of the good ole' favorites as well. Come on out and bring your valentine sweetie to dance the night away. Hope to see you there.

Sorry there was no news, y'all (I should lose the accent sometime next week!), but the internet was very allusive this weekend. We couldn't get Mitch's laptop working, and the schedule got pretty hectic as the days wound down to our departutre from Memphis. So, here's how it all boiled down...

DAY 2...
We did some window shopping and a bit of sight seeing during the day. The tourist stuff was interupted a few times by business matters we had to take care of, however. I had to register the band, and also attend the orientation for the IBC.

Day 2 was our first night at Club 152. We were right smack dab in the middle of the line-up. Our set was a good one. We got a chance to blow out the cobwebs and shake any nerves, just like everybody else. We made a few new friends in the club like Tony Vega, a guitar player from Texas. We saw some of the bands at our venue, and then wandered down Beale Street to catch Chalrie's Root Fusion at Wet Willy's. After catching Charlie and the gang, we headed to a great burger joint next door. They've been making their burgers there since 1912, and have a most interesting method of cooking them. They make the patty from real ground beef, then drop the patty into a pan of hot grease, cooking it in the grease! Were they good? They were cooked in grease, man, OF COURSE they were good! After our midnight snack, it was time to say good night to Beale and head for bed.

Day 3 was started off with breakfast at The King's Palace with pretty much everybody in our group. Our waitress, Paula, was the best! Very charming and funny (like everybody else we met it seems), and just oozing that Southern Hospitality. After a wonderful breakfast, we headed out for more sight seeing. We split the group up, and Kirk and Cheri Mosher, Kiki (Drew's mom), and their friends (now our friends!) John and Margaret all headed for Clarkdale, Mississippi, while the rest of us just hung out on Beale Street. Our Beale Street adventure was a good one. We shopped in places like Tater Red's Lucky Mojo & Curio shop, A. Scwhab, and a ton of other little shops along the strip. We tried to take the Gibson guitar factory tour, but the tour and factory was closed due to "inclimate wether". Apparently in Memphis, "inclimate weather" means there MIGHT be a chance of snow (1-3"). To bolster our spirits, we visited BB King's place and had a drink and a snack. Our waiter, Bill, kept up the Memphis tradition of being a very charming and wonderful host. After a rest at BB's, we spent a bit of time at the Rock & Soul Museum, and got quite a history lesson on the musical history of Memphis. It was really cool to see some of the stage costumes worn by folks like Al Green, Ann Peebles, Rufus Thomas, and Issac Hayes. There was a sequined jump suit that didn't have a name near it, but I would guess it was Johnny Cash's. Drew says it was Elvis's, but I'm not sure! We aslo got to see the orginal mixing console from Sun Records, a bass that Donald "Duck" Dunn (of Booker T & the MG's and The Blues Brothers) played while a member of the MG's. So much history in such a small building! After our trip around Beale, we headed for 152 for our last round of Semi Finals.

Our last set was our best yet! The band was on fire! We went on last, played our butts off, and the standing room only crowd were on their feet and loving what we did! Afterward, we stayed and hosted a half-hour jam at 152, and then headed for The New Daisy Theater for the announcement of who the finalists were going to be.

The New Daisy was the sight of the finals when Mojo was at the IBC in 2003. It's a funky, cool theater that seats about 2000, and it was filled with bands and their supporters eagerly waiting the news if their band would be one of the 10 bands playing The Orpheum Theater on Saturday afternoon. 2004 finalist, Zack Harmon, was hosting the jam at the Daisy, and I did get a chance to get up and do a song with some of the best musicians in Memphis that night. After a wait of about 45 minutes, the results wre in. The winners of Club 152 were announced first, and Soul Shine (Mojo & the Boogieman) would be watching the finals from the audience, not backstage this time around.

As we went back to our hotel, no one was angry at all. We all know that we did our best, that we totally rocked Club 152 for two nights, and that this was a great beginning for the band. We had the chance to meet and hang out with some wonderful folks from around the world. We have been offered a couple of wonderful opportunities such as a festival in France. On top of all of this, we got a chance to get to know each other so much better. Mostly, we got to jam on Beale Street for TWO WHOLE NIGHTS! Not everybody gets to do that everyday, ya know! I am so very proud of all the guys in the band. They came into Memphis, blew it out like pros, knocked the audience's socks off, and got a lot of great feedback from real professionals. Valuable feedback that we will be reviewing and using to become an even better band. This trip was invaluable for us, and we are all planning on going back next year, and the year after, and the year after. Memphis, we will return, so be prepared!

We watched the finals on Saturday, had dinner at the world-famous Rendevous rib joint, and partied with an amazing R&B band at BB King's until 3am. Sunday morning, we were on the road by 11am, and hammered down the road for Michigan.

The ride home was a bit quieter than the ride down, but we all agreed it was the best the trip ever. We were quiet because we were all tired, but Drew and I broke the quiet for a bit as we worked on some new Soul Shine material. We all took turns driving the RV, stopped a couple of times for gas, and made it into Lansing at 1am on Monday. Mitch, Kim, Miss Sophia and I made the trip from Lansing to Petoskey on our own, making good time until we hit Grayling. From there on, we got more snow, the temperature dropped, and the hour grew later and later. Miss Sophia and I got into bed around 6am this morning. Tomorrow, back to "real life".

We got an early start (5am), and made it to Memphis at about 2am Memphis-time (3am in Michigan!) Trip was a lot of fun, we all got to know each other MUCH better, but no photo yet of all of us in the RV bathroom. We can't seem to conncet to the internet on Mitch's laptop, so I am writing to you now on the kitchen manager of TGI Friday's Omar, laptop. The folks here are SO nice, and I'm so glad we got such help from these very kind folks. Thanks, again to Rudy, our waiter, and Omar for all their help trying to get us connceted to you!

We have a Plan B, though, true believers. Bill has his laptop along, and we'll give that a shot later today. We found out we're playing at Club 152 tonight and tomorrow for the Semi Finals. This is the same club Mojo played in '03, and made the finals, so let's see if the same "juju" is in effect!

I'll holler back as soon as I can!

Keep on shinin'!

the Boogieman

Last night, January 21, 2007, was the start of something incredible! Our friend, Drew Pentkowski, came in and helped us blow the doors off Castaway's! The band sounded great, and it felt like Drew has been with us for years. The Memphis Set went well, no bumps at all, I can't wait to lay it on the IBC! The energy in the room was incredible last night, too. Those of you that made it out, thanks so much for making it such a wonderful evening!

Speaking of thank-you's, we also need to thank:

Castaway's Bar for providing the venue. The staff was awesome, and the BBQ was quite tastey as well!

The Saginaw Bay Area Blues Society for helping put on the event, and bringing in the other bands, as well as sponsoring us for the IBC. Even after a member and name change, they've stayed by us, and that is very much appreciated by all of here in SOULSHINE.

Scott Baker and the Universal Expressions as well as The TNT Blues Band for providing some great music as well. A big thanks to TNT for loning us their guitar player, too!

The SOULSHINE Family; Sophia, Nicole, Dianne, Kiki, Mike, Kim, Mitch, Mr & Mrs Lopez, Ted, Faith, Jaocb, Olivia, and Emily. It's nice to have the family in your corner. Like I told everyone last night, this is going to be a FAMILY operation. We can't do what we do without the support from home.

And once again, thanks to all the folks who came out to support our trip to Memphis and the International Blues Challenge! We leave a week from Wednesday, and I can't wait to get dwon there and show 'em what we've got!

Til next time, keep on shinin!

The Boogieman

We head to Memphis in a little under 2 weeks. Kirk Mosher of the Saginaw bay Area Blues Society (our sponsoring society) has kindly offered his motor home for transportation. Talk about gettin there is half the fun! I don't know about you, but I think 12 hours in an RV is a HECK of a lot better than 12 hours in a car. Drew Pentkowski, of the Saginaw-based TNT Blues Band, has agreed to help us out and be our guitarist for the IBC. Drew is a FANTASTIC player, and a great guy to boot, and we're very thankful he's loaning his talents. Beale Street, here we come!

If you haven't already, check out the schedule page. You'll see that we have been able to keep most of the old Mojo dates, and new dates are coming in!

The feedback on the guestbook is awesome! It's really been nice to get so much love from everyone. Believe me, we can't wait to see YOU, too!

The search continues for the next two SOULSHINE members. So far, we haven't found the guys, but we have a few friends that are going to help us out til permenant players come along. If you, or someone you know, might be interested, please email us at bmfblues@yahoo.com, or call 231-622-4182.

Til next time,keep on shinin'!

The Boogieman

As it stands SOULSHINE consists of former Mojo members Bill Newland (drums), Bob Wild (bass) and myself Bryan the Boogieman. So far we have a few leads on keyboard players and guitarists, but nothing solid yet. Stay tuned as the search continues.