Howdy Friends and Neighbors, It's been a great little tour. Well I should say big tour. We have tons of equipment that we are leasing. We have two buses and two semi-trucks. A big crew (I'll introduce them later). What does this all mean? We give up a lot of money. Ha Ha. Really, it means that we are trying to deliver a better show all the time. But, none of our old fans should worry too much because we will be back doing a scaled down tour hopefully this fall. But, you never know. I try to just go where they tell me!  Once again, thanks to Big Sandy and the Fly-Right Boys, The Pie Tasters, Face to Face, The Mighty Blue Kings, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls for doing this tour with us. We also had some standout shows with Madness in Vegas and the Vandals at the Hollywood Palladium. The Hollywood Paladium show had over 3500 in attendence. Also, thanks to all of the great opening bands who may have done only one show or two.  What comes to mind now is how in Raliegh, NC, the openers cancelled or something and their replacement band that came in at the last minute was The Flat Duo-Jets! I say that with an exclamation because they are not only a great band but great pals who we have done many shows and tours with. They are truly a unique two-piece 'duo'. It was really great to see them. Dexter is one of my favorite singers. He probably knows how to play and sing more standards than anyone I know and he's a great writer too. When he sings a little standard like "You Belong To Me", he takes it to a whole new place. Check 'em out.  This brings me to what seems to be, for me, a tour where some of my favorite musicians and bands from the past have shown up and flat out made my heart glow. After our show in Vegas, The Palladins played inside the bar at a casino. This band has had a big influence on me. I first saw them in about '83 or '84 I think. They played at this place in Dallas called Poor David's Pub.  Well, the only David that mattered that night was Dave Gonzales, the lead singer/lead guitarist for The Palladins. What a sound. What a guy! One of the nicest people in the world is also one of the most talented. This guy burns so hard it is amazing how he can do it! Seeing this band that night in Vegas almost brought a tear to my eye! It was great to see Dave doing some of the best Rock-a-billy, swing, blues that the world ever heard. A night I won't forget. Thanks Dave.  We had a good show in Philly. One of the opening bands was The Cherry Poppin' Daddies. They're real great and this whole swing resurgence is a wonderful thing. I just hope that those new swing fans check out The Palladins among others. The Naughty   Ones. Their lead singers' name is Ted Roddy. I got to see Ted at his birthday party thrown by The Continental Club after our show in Austin. Talk about heart warming. The first time I saw Ted was at my ninth grade prom. He was the lead singer/harmonica for the band and I thought they were great because they were doing a lot of blues mixed in with some rock standards. Since then, I played with Ted in a band called Teddy and the Talltops. It was a great experience for which I will always be grateful to Ted. He had a pretty extensive rock-a-billy collection back in the early eighties and he would make me tapes that really helped me decide that the rock-a-billy sound would be something that would be a cornerstone of my sound. Ted is a great great singer as well as a song stylist. His choice of material is brilliant. Lets just put it this way - if you don't own a Naughty Ones C.D., you 'aint swing. Also check out Teddy and the Talltops. Thanks Ted. On our first trip to L.A. in the early ninties, we went to the King King in Hollywood to see a guy we had met and his band called "Big Sandy and the Fly-Right Trio". We thought we knew rock-a-billy! These guys were great! Awsome! Scary! Completely authentic! It scared us. Well, not for long because they are such great guys that we made great friends. Since then, they just kept getting better and better. And more refined too. About the time we moved away from the traditional rock-a-billy sound for a harder thing, they moved away for a even more tradional type of rocking western swing that has featured some of the best musicianship I have ever seen in my life. Their leader, Robert Williams (not to be confused with the great hot-rod artist Robert Williams) is a wonderful singer and again, a real nice guy. Well, all those guys are so accomplished that, when they open for us it makes us feel real lucky about the position we've got ourselves into. It is also good at forcing us to play our best. Thanks to Robert, Wally, Booger, Lee, Ashley and Carl 'Sonny' Leland for being such a hoot. This band is the best in the world at mixing themselves. All of their instruments play off of each other in a way that makes them ultra-listenable and God, do they swing!  It was also really good to see Southern Culture on the Skids when we were in Raleigh.. This is a great band. More on them later. Check 'em out! O.K. - Here is the list of our fine crew on this tour. Thanks to these guys, it all comes together. Ken "Pooch" Van Druten Kevin Lamoine Eric Grzybowsky Steve Agnew David "Dude" Adriance Mike Scerra Doug Deems Jason Cain Josh Henderson Rick Foote Dave Sutherland Butch Poulteny Cody Chase I hope to have a new list of bands that we have opened up for soon. It's pretty hilarious.  One summer, we were on tour with Soundgarden, we played a festival in Toronto.  And believe it or not, the band that played right before us that day was Marilyn Manson! The band right after us was Nine Inch Nails. One week later we played a show opening for Johnny Cash at the Fillmore in S.F.! So the list is going to vary wildly from one extreme to the other.  Well thanks to all of our wonderful fans we have met so far on this tour.  We've got the best fans in all of music. Sincerely, Da Rev. P.S. Rev Fans Alert - The place to be July 4 & 5 is the Hootenanny outside of Los Angeles, CA. Hot Rods, Hot Bands. X, Cramps, Social D, Da Rev., suprise guests.Too many cool bands to list. Beer. Hot looking Rock-a-billy girls. Greasy Ducktails. Hot Rods. Records. Vintage Clothing. Pretzels. Beer. Hot Dogs... So gas up your T-Bucket and head out to California cats and kittens. I hope I'm right about all of the bands I just listed. But, I'm pretty sure. See you there!