May The Fourth Be With This Update

Hi there, y'all, it's a beautiful Minneapolis-style May afternoon (no, it's not snowing, our last snowfall was three days ago so shut up), and since it's been awhile, here's an update as to what's been going on in Blue Diamond Land!

First off, we have a TON of shows just announced in the Twin Cities, and all of them are pretty ridiculously awesome. They are, in order:

1. Friday May 5th - A great little punk rock'n'roll party at the 331 Club with The Right Here (Luke's other band, absolutely great country-inflected punk rock'n'roll), Partial Traces (sort of a new-wave Minneapolis supergroup), and Cory Call (from Denver - member of Arliss Nancy, great singer-songwriter).

2. Saturday May 13th - Beer & Bacon Fest at Stanley's Bar in Northeast Minneapolis. The name sorta says it all, but check out the link to learn more, and note that we play between 4pm and 7pm. Beer and bacon - two arguments against the eradication of humanity, should aliens ever arrive and be required to make a decision...

3. Saturday May 20th - Indeed Art-a-Whirl! YES! For what I believe is the third year in a row, Nato Coles & the Blue Diamond Band grace the stage at our favorite* brewery in town for a good healthy hoppy performance. Come down anytime, the whole day is great... we play at about 6pm.

4. Sunday May 28th - Memory Lanes Block Party Afterparty, at which we will be mixing in some live band karaoke and some of our own tunes round about the time Dillinger Four (you've heard of them, yes?) finish playing outside, where they're headlining that portion of things. Email your live band karaoke requests to natopaisano@gmail.com! Please email two or three songs you might like to sing, so that we can pick the one that works for us the best. Deadline for requests is May 20th.

5. Saturday June 3rd - 7th Annual St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Fundraiser. This, if you don't know, is a fundraiser for one of the best causes around. Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Lydia Loveless are playing! That alone is worth the price of admission (we play right before Lydia, on at 3:45pm) but the fact that it's for St Jude's makes this a must. Also playing: Bill Patten Trio and Alicia Corbett

How about that, folks? Much, much rocking in the Twin Cities over the next month-plus! And as usual, keep an eye out for us on the road, as we will be showing up in random Midwestern cities all summer long!

Last... in case you were wondering... we spent five days in the studio, banging out tracks for our new album. A few more dates are scheduled, but the results are pretty damn positive so far, so continue to regard our second studio album as ON TRACK! 

Salud!

-Nato

*Well, certainly one of 'em! Hard to play favorites when there are so many good ones. Can we just say that Indeed was the first Minnesota brewery to ask your humble friends the Blue Diamond Band to play one of their events? Ok, we'll just say that. Also: Let It Ride is amazing.