The guy on trumpet was Efrem "ET" Towns of Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Definitely a pleasant surprise to see him last night.

A good show last night with plenty of great moments, but a little subdued by ARU standards. I hope tonight is more of the wild-eyed adrenaline frenzy I've come to expect.

If not, maybe this is just a kinder, gentler ARU, which would not necessarily be a bad thing. The same playful spirit and adventurous sense of spontaneity was there, but the insane tempos and crazed energy of Aquarium Rescue Unit shows of lore was missed at times.

Still, any chance to see these guys play music is an absolute gift. They have a tightness and interplay that is something to behold, and a whole musical vocabulary that is unique to them alone. No other band in the world sounds anything like them and the new songs they are playing hint at a whole new chapter for ARU.

Does anyone happen know what the cut out they had stage means? Who is that? Don't know how to post pics otherwise I would.

That was a picture of the late-great Ricky Keller, also known as Lincoln Metcalf in Bruce's mythical Zambi fiction world. Ricky could out-Bruce Bruce on playing weird and out. He was also an incredible musician, and Bruce (and ARU) owes a lot of his career success to Ricky.

He played bass for Project Z with Jimmy and Sipe in the very early 2000s:
http://terminusrecords.com/projectz.html
Interestingly, the venue they played at on Friday (formerly The Roxy) I think was the last place I saw Ricky perform when they did the last Project Z tour.

Together with Sipe, Ricky more or less put together the Zambiland Orchestras in the late 1990s/early 2000s and I'm sure that foam-board picture cut-out of him that they had on stage was from one of the Zambiland Orchestra shows. Ricky "conducted" with the plunger that he was holding in the picture.

He was a genius musician with a crazy list of credits.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ricky-keller-mn0000360894

Had a blast at the show but couldn't stand the portion of the crowd who just would not stop talking. I can't fathom people who pay good money for shows and then spend it talking about the band in the same room they are missing. I moved several times and finally found respite behind the last row in the balcony.

Got stricken with something I assume was food-oriented and didn't make the Athens show. The glowing reviews make me jealous, but it wasn't happening.

So happy at all the smiles on stage. Look forward to hearing the them back (a huge thank you to all tapers). Got to chat with Kofi, Jimmy, and Souvik, and Jimmy confirmed they are taping all the shows with a hope of a release.

Blooby

Hey Blooby, sorry to hear you were ill and missed Athens. I posted a link to a recording in another thread, check it out.

I see what you mean about the crowd at the Buckhead Theatre show. Sorry if that impacted your enjoyment. It was kind of a weird show. I can't put my finger on it, but my wife was saying there was just something missing at that show and I'm inclined to agree with her.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the Georgia Theater show was that the crowd seemed much more engaged and focused on the music, and the band responded in kind. People were partying and having a good time, but they were paying attention to the music. I enjoyed getting to hang out with Zambi from this site and some other old-school ARU fans who were totally into the show.

Definitely glad that this tour is being recorded for an official release. One thing I talked to several people about last night is that the new material and talk of a new album gives some hope that this incarnation of ARU could stick around for a little while and play more than 3 shows a year.

As a guy next to me said after the show "That is too good to not keep doing it. They need to do this more often!"