A summer ends

Hope all is well out there in your blue world....
I've tried to keep this blog going every week but time has gotten the best of me and it's dropped off a little.
I am in Minneapolis enroute to Duluth to perform with RSB at the Bayfront Blues Fest tonight.
We had a fantastic trip to Europe last month. Austria, Switzerland and mostly Italy. Growing up in an Italian household and finally getting to see the "old country", as my father called it, was sensational. It was kind of like being at a huge Zito family reunion.
The crowds were intense and really got into the music. This band just has a way of getting into your heart and soul and making you feel the music.
It has been a long, long summer. The tour has been going strong for months and it's just now beginning to die down for a few weeks. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. I always enjoy playing with my band and touring, but this is just different. It's like being on tour with the Boys Club....
You got a different mix of people who have come together in the name of music and soul. We have found a common ground in the music.
I'm proud to be in this band.
Even though the summer is wrapping up, our tour will continue in Sept and into the fall months with another big Europe tour in October.
I'm very excited to play the Big Muddy Blues Fest in Saint Louis over Labor Day weekend. I have never played the Big Muddy in my life, but attended many,many times. I was not always accepted in the STL blues world.
Early on I was told I was too rock n roll and too wild to play in the blues clubs and at the festivals in Saint Louis.
In about 1998,I put out my first cd "Blue Room". I was so excited to turn it in to the Big Muddy Fest for consideration.
They turned me down immediately.
I was performing regularly at a club on the landing called Boomers. We had a great weekend gig there in the back of the club and we were doing very well.
The owner of the club, John Clark, got very upset that we were not allowed to perform at the festival. He decided to set up his own stage in the alley in front of his club and have us play on both Saturday and Sunday of the festival which surrounded this alley.
We set up, turned up and played our hearts out. People poured in from both sides of the alley and we sold all of our CDs that day. It was a huge uplifting experience. The owner of that club got a visit later that day from the festival commissioner and was told that we could not perform again on Sunday.
We took too many paying customers away from the festival stages. It turned into a huge fight between the two.
John Clark stood by our side but we were not allowed to perform again on Sunday. Either way it was a great experience and a memory I'll never forget. I understand the point of the festival folks back then and know it wasn't personal. I was definitely young, wild, loud and rocking!
After all these years to return to Saint Louis and play this festival means the world to me.
Especially with this band,
Royal Southern Brotherhood.
Thank you to all our friends out there who have spread the word and been to many shows already. We look forward to seeing you more this fall and to continuing the RSB tour.
Peace, love, Zito