-- to be disappointed or embarassed (as someone posted above) is nothing but a selfish response.
It was great exposure for Joe. Joe looked and sounded great. George said "Joe Bonamassa" many times and he did play. If Joe had attempted to buy a 30 sec national advertisement for himself and Black Rock during Lopez Tonight it would have been cost prohibitive (tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars). It also wouldnt' have featured the star of the show saying "Joe Bonamassa" and things like "the world's top blues/rock player." This is a huge win for Joe -- one in a long line of thousands of wins for Joe.
Would we all have liked to see Joe be able to play a song off the new CD? And have the whole band back him? And also sit with George after and tell the story? Of course we would, but if you feel disapppointed or embarassed its because you fell victim to your own expectations.
I fell victim to my expectations as well -- I expected Joe's fans to be excited and happy about the appearance -- nothing less.
In reality this kind of exposure is not for the people that come to this site and post on these forums hundreds of times -- its for the people that have never heard Joe or seen Joe.
I spend a lot of time in my car everyday. As I drive around I sometimes listen to a national sports radio show. It's on for 4 hours and it repeats many of the topics, recorded bites, interviews, etc about every 40 mins on some days. Not long ago a mad listener called in to complain about the repeating content. The host of the show very candidly pointed out that he does the show for the 90% of listeners that listen for 20 mins or less at a time. The power user that listens to the whole thing represents only a small percentage of his total audience. The show is for the remainder of the universe -- the power user is already listening as much as they can. This analogy applies here. The "power users" already know and appreciate Joe and his music -- most of you posting here are in that category. New markets and fans are reached with stuff like this.
Personally, I'd like to congratulate JB on his appearance. I'd also like to thank the staff at J&R Adventures as well as Joe's PR people for getting Joe the opportunity to be on Lopez Tonite. Great job -- keep it up!
For those wondering if Joe had fun -- here is his most recent twitter post:
@JBONAMASSA: Long day again.. Had a blast with George L. super cool guy and his staff was the same. free bottle of tequila to boot.. eish.. hello 2006.
“A friend is someone that will help you move............a TRUE friend will help you move the bodies." -- anon