The Latest - August 2003

Today is the big day... the day respectperfection.com goes live and online for the first time (even though it's nowhere near complete). That being the case, everything is new. The site is also very much a work in progress. I do plan to keep adding content, and this will be the page to visit to read about those updates. I've also got my fingers crossed that fans who visit the site will participate by sending in pictures, reviews, and other content for me to publish (with proper credit, of course). Oh, and while we're on the subject, if you find any outdated or incorrect information, missing images, broken links, flaky code, or other mistakes that need correcting, please email me, so I can take care of it. I want to do this site right.

Aside from the site itself, what else is new?

Eric returns tonight to Southern California to play a two-night stand at Cozy's in Sherman Oaks. It's been a while (translation: too frickin' long) since my last live show, so I am wicked jazzed about going. I'm also excited about the prospect of hearing some new music from the upcoming album Black Pearls" which I pre-ordered on July 12th, and should be getting in the mail around August 26th. I also plan to take pictures with the nifty digital camera Santa brought me, and share them here.

And if you're wondering whether or not I'll mention the site to the guys, the answer is, I doubt it. First, this is a fan site, and I'm not sure if the band would have any interest in seeing it or not. Second, I'm just about the most extroverted person you've ever seen in your life, but when I'm in the presence of greatness, I get scrambled and act totally magoo. It's pitiful. Really. So, I'm learning to keep my big mouth shut, on the theory that this will make it more difficult to put my foot in it.

Anyway, I'll let you know what happens...

If you live in California, don't miss the exclusive listening party for Eric Sardinas and his new album Black Pearls. The listening party will take place Thursday, August 14th at 8:00 p.m. at the House of Blues in Anaheim on their terrace. Eric will then perform at 10:00 p.m. on their main stage. Admission is $10 and tickets go on sale Friday, July 25th. Visit www.hob.com to purchase tickets. Don't miss your chance to hear the new album and see Eric play at the House of Blues in Anaheim! The show is all ages, but those under 16 years must be accompanied by a guardian 18 years or older. To pre-order your copy of Black Pearls visit www.ericsardinas.com Eric will be on tour in the US in September and October. Check the website often for new tour dates.

The show last night at Cozy's kicked all kinds of ass. The band did play several new songs from Black Pearls, including the title track, "Ain't No Crime," and "Same Ol' Way." Portions of last night's show were being recorded on audio and video, presumably for posting on the Official Site as bonus content for the new CD. The pictures I took last night can be seen here. There are no bottleneck slide pictures, because the Corona was MIA. Tonight, I plan to be more on the ball, and have a bottle on standby... just in case. I also plan to exercise a little self-discipline, and write down the set list, so I can post it along with the pictures.

Paul Loranger reports that they enjoyed their time touring abroad, especially the 3-hour lunches in places like Italy and Spain. By the way, I didn't mention the site to anyone in the band... but then again, I wasn't planning to. ;)

Generally, I don't write show reviews, because:

a. "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" (attribution), and

b. My reviews inevitably wind up reading like letters to Penthouse Forum.

However, Saturday night's show was even more amazing than Friday's, so I'm going to give it a shot.

READ THE REVIEW | SEE THE PICTURES (61 Pictures, 3 Pages)

The Band page is finally online.

My gratitude to Steve Stoddard of Stoddard's Hale for the sa-weet picture of the current lineup. Mahalo nui loa, Steve. You're good people in my book.

Big-ups to the people at Favored Nations for granting me press access, and allowing me to republish the official 2003 band press bio and promo shot. They seem like nice f'n folks.

I'm still working on individual band member pages. I have lots of information on Mike Dupke (which needs to be organized into a coherent presentation), but hardly anything on Paul Loranger or (believe it or not) Eric Sardinas -- two men who remain stubbornly shrouded in mystery.

The Sights page is now online. Make sure to check out the marvelously huge image files available for download from Skye Media. These promo shots are to die for. I kid you not. I'm using a trimmed-down version of the first one as wallpaper for my PC. Speaking of wallpaper, if anyone has any creative strategies for obtaining extreme close-ups of Mike Dupke and/or Paul Loranger, clue me in.

The Fans page is now online with three new sections... and there's more where those came from. Thank you to the generous Eric Sardinas fans who granted me permission to thumbnail link or publish their pictures. And to all of you fans who haven't ponied up the goods yet: Pony up the goods, please and thank you.

The Live Show page has been updated to include a tour date archive, as well as several new concert gallery/show review links, including:

Dragon Blues 2003

Riverbend Festival 2003

Sound Advice Blues Festival 2002

Eric's show with Steve Vai at La Riviera in Madrid in November of 2001

Three undated concert photos by Bernd Alfanz taken at an undisclosed location

I'm sure there is more new content to report that I am overlooking, but that will have to wait for another update. Right now, I have a date with a duck. Until next time, Sardinas fans...

AUGUST 4, 2003 - Saturday Night's Show

Holy moly, have I been busy. Truckloads of new content have been added to the site since Monday's update. I am pleased to report that things are really starting to come together (pun intended), and the site is starting to flesh out (also pun intended... I'm feelin' evil tonight, baby).

Chris Puyear of moblues.org has granted me permission to republish his advance review of Black Pearls. A big thank you to Chris for the appetite-whetting review, and for letting me share it here on the site.

SITE UPDATE

Basically, everything has been updated, so there are far too many changes to list them all individually. However, here are a few that merit special mention:

The Live Show

New tour dates have been added, and Blues guitarist and vocalist Robbie King has contributed two internal galleries of his live pictures from the Tulsa Oklahoma 7th & 8th Annual Blues Festivals: May 3, 2002 | May 3, 2003

The Sounds

A new compilation (Summertime Blues) has been added to the band discography, as well as the lyrics to "Black Pearls" and "Flames of Love" from the upcoming album Black Pearls. (Listen.)

[SIDEBAR: I don't get out much. What does the term 'black pearls' mean, in the context it is used in this song? Is this about the whole Tahitian mammary thing? A musical ode to big knockers? Who can enlighten me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?]

The Band

A page of magazine covers and sample scans from "Young Guitar" (Japan) has been added, as well as an overview of the band's Gear and Endorsements.

The Fans

I'm with the Band, the section devoted to pictures of fans with the band (no false advertising, there) is now on its third page, and I've started adding links to other fan sites and personal pages about Eric Sardinas to the fan section "Love Online."

NEW! Site Map & Site FAQ

Favored Nations eListening Party for Black Pearls Album Goes Live

Aug. 19 - Sept. 2, Favored Nations will be streaming Black Pearls live on their website here. The required media player is QuickTime, the file type is .mov.

Personally, I can't get it to play the audio... but it's not for a lack of trying. I've updated my Windows ActiveX controls, updated/uninstalled and reinstalled QuickTime, shut down my firewall, set my IE security options to the lowest level (since the page includes unsigned ActiveX scripts), and rebooted my PC about a half-dozen times. I've tried everything short of lighting black candles and waving a chicken foot over my head... to no avail. I give up, but I wish you luck. Maybe it works if you have a Mac. UPDATE: I'm at the Party! Woo-Hoo! You didn't really think I'd give up, didja?

HELPFUL HINT: Preorder Black Pearls for delivery on August 26th