Big news for Ice House Road

Hey there Ice House Road fans.

It's been a while since we blogged, so let me tell you what we've been up to, and what we've got planned for the rest of the summer.

Firs of all, we found out what it's like to play music without Bobby. Bouncin' Bobby Sims has hit the big time in the world of Bull Fighting. He's been awarded the MVP at the Professional Bull Fighters Academy in Oklahoma. Here's what one person had to say about Bobby on Facebook: "Achievement award, MVP, and only student to ace the written test! Can you say "hat trick"?" See more about that here: http://www.facebook.com/pbftour

All this Bull Fighting has meant that we had to play a couple gigs without Bobby. Basically, we found out we can, but we'd prefer not to if we don't have to. But since we kinda had to, we did. We played for a bunch of bikers at The Minutemen Motorcycle Club's memorial party for "Hammer," a fallen club member. We had a great time playing, and we look forward to the next biker party!

We also played a benefit in Timberville Virginia called Jake A Palooza. The gig was basically a private party with T-shirts. People had to pay to get it, and get their shirt, and the money went to benefit the DAV, Disabled American Veterans. It was a nice party for a fairly small, very appreciative crowd. Unfortunately Gary's voice didn't quite hold up for the evening, and the shots of everclear hurt more than they helped. Just ask anybody that was still there, Gary's rendition of Folsom Prison Blues was legendary.

And lastly we played, again without Bobby, at the Court Cafe and Pub in Louisa. Gary's voice held up this time and the show was fantastic. We had a heckler giving us a hard time during our sound check, but by the end of the night he was showing off his dance moves to all the ladies!

So, that's what we've been doing, playing with and without Bobby about 2-3 times a month. This week we'll be out in Gordonsville again for the second BLM Bull Ride of the summer at Oakland Heights Farm. Everybody pray for the rain to go around Gordonsville this weekend. We'll be off for the rest of June while Gary is out of town, but we are coming back with a vengeance in July.

July 1 we will make our debut at Friday's after Five in Charlottesville, opening for Down Till Now. I had thought that my email to the Friday's After Five people had gone unnoticed until Monday when they called and asked us to play. Friday July 1 will be a busy night for us as we'll also be playing upstairs at Wild Wing Cafe in Charlottesville after Friday's After Five. Going to be a crazy day, and we look forward to sharing it with you, come out and see us play, it's free at both Friday's After Five and Wild Wing Cafe.

We've also got more dates at the Court Cafe and Pub in Louisa (one of our favorite places to play, great people there) as well as The Dogwood in Palmyra, and some private parties.

Check us out at http://www.icehouseroad.net/ for more info, or find us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/icehouseroad

See y'all Later