Rock Candy Funk Party CD release gig at the Baked Potato

Well, Rocket requested a blow-by-blow so I'll give it a shot since I was there from the beginning of Joe's foray into Funky Jazz at the Spud.
This will be long so here's part 1.
Day one, Wednesday
My gigging partner and son in law Dean had the driving duty for the first day so he picked me up about 1130 am for the 125 mile drive up and hopeful first in line honors. Traffic was light and we pulled up in front of the Baked Potato at about 230 pm. No one there yet so we set up our chairs by the door, got some killer Mexican lunch from the next door restaurant, beer from the adjacent liquor store and settled in for the 5 hour wait to door opening. A foursome walked by headed for the restaurant and gave us a look, asked if we were waiting in line for the show and when confirmed, gave a yell and fist pump, "Yeah, Joe Bonamassa!", a good sign of his fame and a definite grin producer for us.

Within an hour the hard core faithful started arriving. Front Row Fred, Lindy Lu with St. Bob. Julie and Lary (in from Colorado) drove by headed for the hotel, yelled at us as they passed, and soon were queued up. I set up my mobile hotspot, gave out the login and quickly we all had our laptops and pads online and started blogging to the BonaNation and BonaSpud fangroups on facebook with live reports and pictures to the fans around the world who had been aching for news of the event. This is the way to share a gig! Can mobile live streaming be far away? Very quickly there was a running chat session going on with 40 or 50 watching and posting and the buzz commenced.   Rocket walked up, then nmagcorn (Natasha) and Phil just in from Maryland, and by 5 a line had formed stretching down the street. All were chatting, socializing, meeting other fans they only knew from online and anticipating what was to come. As you've probably gathered by now, the Baked Potato gigs with RCFP are a Bonaholic social event with music. Started by a handful of SoCal fans at the first gig who attend other events in the area together, it has now grown to include drive and  fly-ins from far and wide. We're the BonaSpuds!

About 6 or so the band had all arrived. They had to wait for Mike Merritt to finish the taping session for Conan O'Brian's show. Gear was set up and soon the music started leaking through the wall as sound check commenced. The vibe was now at a peak on the street. I shot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-o-suf-Yl0 through the mail slot since that is the secret view of half the stage for Spud veterans. The vid also captures a bit of the street scene.

Time for the door opening drew near so the chairs were stowed and a proper line formed. We all knew the order of arrival so no problemo. At 730, the door opened and the doorman let us in one ticket purchaser at a time. There are no tickets, just a list at the door of the purchaser and how many tickets each had bought. Once checked in you could enter and select your seat (except for the other stage front table for two which is always reserved for Rocket and Libby-I'd like to know how that works! ) First come first served and of course my party of 4 took the ground-zero-position-alpha 4 person table right in front of the stage. To the winners of the queue race go the spoils. Natasha and Phil had some huge grins when they saw where we were. Two hours to showtime so food and drink commenced. The menu is one thing. Enormous (biggest you ever saw) variations of stuffed Idaho spuds. About 15 different styles from just cheese to steak and mushroom in sauce. Prices are reasonable. Two drink minimum per set is enforced. If you don't drink, you get two bottles of water at the end of the set and pay anyway (great souvenirs with Baked Potato logo labels). Everyone mingled and chatted as the house filled and we waited for showtime.