I saw the first set last night at Seattle's Jazz Alley. I was impressed with the energy displayed and Rico showed that he can handle his chair. Jeff sounded great. Karsoney and Heller each had opportunities to shine and Russ showed his brilliance on his acoustic and electric guitars. I didn't write down a set list, but I was impressed with the choice of material. There was a medley about 3 songs in that started with a rare rendition of Snowbound and continued with many classic Ripp's songs that I haven't heard in many years. A nice evening of music. I'm sure all of you will be impressed. (Tourist encore)

Ed E.

Glad to hear that they are off to a good start! They will be in my neck of the woods next month - can't wait!

To a certain lurker - check the Scullers website! Assuming that I make it to all of their upcoming concerts as planned,the Ripp's 2nd show on 11/20 will be my 50th!!!!! I'll probably never catch up to Kat, but that's ok! : )

FYI: The Ripps are also on facebook - you can check out some of their concert dates there as well.

Attended the early show @ Jazz Alley last night - was great as expected. Just wanted to make a couple comments about the show:

1.) Thanks to Russ so much for including the song "Love Story" in the play list - It's my fav tune on Modern Art.

2.) Was great that the band took the time to sign my copy of the CD - Made for an excellent experience...


I hope the Ripps continue to visit Jeff's stompin' grounds up here - It's a great venue that I'll continue to attend ! Thanks

Here's the set list from Saturday night 8pm in Seattle. I'm pretty sure this is correct, but take it with a grain of salt.

Body Art
Welcome To The St. James Club
Modern Art
Medley –
1. Vienna
2. Sweet Lullaby
3. Victoria’s Secret
Bingo Jingo
Love Story (with Jeff playing 'trumpet' on his EWI)
When It Feels Good (Jeff Kashiwa song)
Tourist In Paradise

Encore – South Beach Mambo

They sounded great. One interesting comment that Russ made - he said that Victoria's Secret was his favorite Ripps tune, but he wouldn't name it (said it was a stupid name and a bad album!)

It was a great show. Hope you can catch them if they come your way.

To our table mates on the Ripps cruise, We will be attending all 4 shows at Scullers in Nov. Hope to see you and the family there. Also, we have tickets to the upcoming shows at Rams Head in Annapolis and The Birchmere in Alexandria Va. As I mentioned during the cruise, these are our current favorite venues to see the Ripps.
Hope to see you and the family in November.

I happend to get a look at the set list beforehand:

City of Angels
St. James Club
Modern Art
Ballad Medley
Aspen
Bingo Jingo
Love Story
Feels Good
Weekend in Monaco
Body Art
South Beach Mambo

I'm so glad that they played "Weekend in Monaco". After seeing that young euro band attempt to play it on youtube, (another thread here) it just re-inforces how great of a sax player Jeff really is... Awesome performance - He's just awe -inspiring...

Can't beleive that I got the lurker to make a post! If you haven't done so already, make sure that you ask about the Jazz overnighter (and/or dinner and show) package at Scullers/Doubletree; it's usually a good deal. You will probably see our family in Boston - we will be there in various arrangements throughout the weekend - hopefully no one will be ill this time! ; )

I was on Long Island this weekend - for my son's LAX tournament. We had a six hour wait between games on Saturday so we took a walk to the clubhouse of a neighboring golf course and stayed for lunch - it was a gorgeous day and there we were on the patio, overlooking the beautiful golf course (can't even get the golfer away from the golf course on a "golf free" weekend), when "Paris Groove" began playing in the background - a lovely taste of the Ripps, to hold me over until I can see them live next month!

Today is the day - they're playing in Hartford! And they'll be back in CT again next week! I'll see you in a few hours, Kat!!!!!!

Great show in Hartford last night - even the weather was perfect - thanks guys! Safe travels until we cross paths again (in 3 days)!

Kat - hope you'll post some pictures soon!

This message was posted at 10:03 AM eastern time! : )

maybe some pics tonight. I have to look at them all, and it takes a few hours.... I have about 600. From what I could see, some are really beautiful - the lighting and the colors are extraordinary.

We are looking forward to Wednesday!

Yes, the golden dome on the hill was beautiful, as was the sunset and the night sky - and the bright blue shirt!

Did you get any photos of that lady who kept changing her dress? : )

I'm outta here - it's back to reality for me today - I'll be outside weeding all afternoon. : (

The guys sure did sound great last night. I was trying not to dance because that would shake the camera. But I'm glad I came back to dance with everyone for Tourist in Paradise and the Hendrix Medley. I think it sounds best with a lot of volume!

This is one of the largest free jazz fests in the country and we're proud of it. Across the 3 days of events, attendance has been about 40,000 - 50,000 people when the the weather cooperates.

The state police estimated last night's crowd at about 25,000 - 30,000 people on the lawn for Saturday's lineup. Of course, that's across an 8 hour span - but there were easily 10,000 people there for the Ripps. I took a peek out at the crowd, and it was amazing to watch that sea of people.... lots of dancing - this was not a "sit back and relax" crowd - the people in the front had been there since 10 AM for the 9 PM Ripps set.

The entire front of stage right was filled with an extended family of about 75 people - I have never seen a buffet like theirs at the festival. It was actually yummier than what the fest catered for the artists - that's how much food was there.

I'm hoping that one of my shots looks like this one from about 6 years ago.

Yup, there was a sea of people, and plenty of dancing...and don't forget the deep fried Milkyway bars!

Ripps on the Hudson River tonight! See you there Kat (for #45 and #78? 88?)!!!!! Wish we could stay for the second show but my enabler has to work tomorrow....you'll have to enjoy it twice as much for the both of us!

The early show on the Spirit Cruise was terriffic! Kat will have to report in on the second one (I know that you took some more great photos).

Looking forward to a trip to Infinity Hall tonight - then I go into withdrawl! : (

Two great nights of music at Rams Head and the Birchmere. The band was very tight and fans were enthusiastic, especially the folks at the Birchmere. The set list for all 3 shows were the same except the encores. The first encore at Rams Head was Black Diamond and Morocco was the second - Black Diamond, Morocco and Hendrix at the Birchmere.

Set List

faith
st james
modern art
ballad medley
aspe
spirits
love story
santa fe
age of reason
Jeff song
body art
Deep Powder (the Birchmere)

Carol, Rico said your brownies are very yummy.

The lurker posts again?!?!?

Rico is the man!

OMG! The show at the Infinity was totally awesome! Russ played exceptionally well, as did Jeff. Rico was cool and grooving, Dave was totally on and Billy was amazing (for an old man)!!! The guys were terriffic in Hartford and NYC, but tonight was really special.

We heard Black Diamond and Deep Powder, Aspen and Bingo Jingo....Hendrix and Tourist...they gave it their all!

Infinity is a really cool place - a great venue to see/hear the Ripps.

It's getting late but I'm still so wound up (even after an hour+ drive home) that I can't sleep!

THANKS GUYS!!

I was on the 6:30 cruise Wednesday night. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and had a great time.

Bingo Jingo appeared in the 2nd set... and something new.

It was Rico-Town! The extended Jam between Dave and Rico was fantastic. The audience went wild as Rico started doing the dance... Billy put the head-set on again and we heard his electronic "vocoder" voice.... "Can you take me to Rico-Town?"

Russ polled us... as to whether we wanted Black Diamond or Tourist in Paradise for the encore. It was a tie (in my opinion) but they launched into Black Diamond. By the time "Purple Haze-Fire" rolled around, the audience was in a frenzy. I was sitting in my chair, smiling and cheering (and trying not to get stepped on while clutching my cameras) - but I heard something that made me stand up and start screaming.

Russ and Rico took off on a jam that was very much NOT HENDRIX. I thought I was listening to SevenDust (a metal band from Atlanta, here's the link - listen to Prodigal Son http://sevendust.com/).

It was my 79th show, and it just proves that I haven't heard it all....

Pictures in a little while, I just finished peeking at them.

I'm still trying to decide... many pics to choose from.

I thought some folks might like this one:


and one to hold you over...

I edited my pics for a few hours late yesterday morning through mid-afternoon. That included cropping the best pics to put in my blog recap and Facebook photo album recap. As with my Smooth Jazz for Scholars recap, I led off with pics on the way to Chelsea Piers: from Exit 39 on the L.I.E. (I-495) through Manhattan to the Piers entrance on 12th Ave.
Here's the blog recap. Again, I was only on the 6:30 cruise. So, I missed out on the really, really, really good stuff, and only saw the really, really good stuff. Enjoy.

Glad you got your photo of Lady Liberty! It is nice to cruise around Manhattan - but my heart still aches each time I see the "hole" where the Twin Towers used to be. : (

Can't wait to see more photos! : )

Yes... we drove by the spot on the way to the pier. I remember when the Towers weren't there, and then one day it seemed as if they were always there.

In the mid-90's, I worked on Liberty St, and often walked over to the World Trade Center.

I don't think we're ever going to forget that day.

I put photos from the cruise in the photo forum.

Please take a peek at Mike's blog recap, he has a lot of detail about the songs....

Any word if Ripps are scheduled to hit South Florida? It is one of their usual stomping grounds. I could not get up to Melbourne or over to Clearwater. Very depressed if they will not be playing here. Thanks for any info you can provide.