Just Friends July

It's been an eventful week for the Just Friends Band. We played for the Fourth of July party on the veranda of the Hotel Hershey, thanks to whoever put St. Joseph in the window. We waited out the hurricane warning and then played to a spectacular fireworks display. Unfortunately, I have no photos, so just use your imagination. Thanks once again to Mr. Ron Suski and the staff of the Hotel Hershey for their accommodation and assistance. We look forward to this event every year, and hope to see you all there next year.



Friday evening, we played the wedding of Susan Sunchych and Dage Gardner at the Carlisle War College, and a good time was had by all. We were warmly received by the guests and the staff as well.


Noteworthy: This was the premiere of Parker's new gear configuration, playing rhythm guitar in addition to horns and percussion. Two necks are better than one.


For those of you who could not attend the Knoebel's show on 07/07/07, you missed all the excitement. The weather was glorious and the crowds were responsive and mostly under control -- until Gio pulled out The Trombone.


Pandemonium ensued. As you can see, the capacity crowd nearly emptied the bleachers as they rushed the stage.

Fortunately, the new Just Friends security detail was on hand to keep Gio from being ripped to shreds by the adoring fans.

Brian just sat there and ran sound, like he always does -- impeccably.

Actually, we did put on an amazing show, and we are grateful to the Knoebel family for inviting us. We hope to return again next year, when we'll probably share the billing with Pat Davison, the World's Greatest Juggler, and his long-suffering wife and kid. (They're really sweet people, and he's actually very good.) I have more photos from this day, and when I get the chance I'll post them to Flickr and put the link here.

Finally, we played the Lykens concert series Wednesday, the 11th, which was held indoors to keep us from getting soaked like we usually do in the gazebo. We always enjoy playing for Kevin and the great citizens of Lykens. Sorry, no pics, but imagine a really big, cool stage with a large crowd enjoying our performance.

Just Friends is now on vacation until August 11th, when we return to the Lawnton Legion with all our gear properly tweezed and the band all tanned and rested. Hope you're having a great summer, just like this guy: