The Duke returned to Newport, RI last week. We had the honor of performing at Michael Brown and Julie Antignano's wedding.

Last time we hit Newport we were in this amazing mansion with a GOLD piano. Not real gold, as in Fort Knox Gold, but painted bright GOLD. And it was an old school looking thing. The story goes that legendary jazz great Count Basie used to hang out in this mansion a lot and would often give concerts playing this GOLD piano. Ethan took a few turns on it that night, but settled for his always tuned keyboard in the end.

Here's an onstage shot of the band at the 2009 NHLA Annual Convention last Friday, October 2nd:

This was our warmup gig before heading to Vermont the next day for our Interstate Soul kickoff gig. The Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Boston Hotel would be a simple, modern open space if not for the fancy lighting dressing up the walls and stage. It was a fun place to play with a receptive audience. The staff was super friendly and helpful and provided us with a wonderful meal in the green room.

I'm making the most of a break between Grad School classes to finally feed Mr. Danenberg some much-needed visual content for the Interstate Soul blog page. Though I'm diggin' what's been put up there in the interim, the new content includes some neon sign flourishes, the official Duke Baxter Band logo, and other goodies. I took some great shots of vintage gas pumps at a service station in Lexington, MA last year, and have been waiting for an excuse to use them somewhere.

So it looks like The Duke Baxter Band is gearing up for an October trip into piles and piles of Autumn leaves. Vermont and Massachusettes in October isn't such a bad deal and I am looking forward to it.

One downer ... we will be without our Trombonist/Vocalist Elizabeth. She is on loan to Michael Bolton for the weekend. I am currently working around the clock to find a suitable replacement for the weekend, easier said then done.

The itinerary for the weekend will look something like this:

October 2nd (morning) - Lumber Liquidators Corporate Party in Boston.