Hello CDG fans out there! I’m sitting in the Detroit Airport waiting for my flight to Japan or Nihon, and I wanted to take some time out here to mark this occasion for two events this trip is bringing on. First up is a mention and wrap-up of our previous tour we just completed with Dustin Sargent on bass and Dave Anthony on drums. Dustin will continue to be seen holding the bass chair for CDG but Dave is moving on to other musical horizons and adventures. It’s Dave that I want to praise here; Dave has the distinct honor of being the drummer of longest tenure in the 24 year history of the CDG. Yep that’s right, he’s the King. Dave is such a strong player and what he brought to the music every night was powerful and evocative drumming. Dave also had a light touch when the song called for it. He was loyal, hardworking, dependable, easy going, innovative and a damn good packer. Not shy to hard work and hard traveling, Dave was as good a soldier and friend as one could ever ask or want for. He’s going to be missed out there in CDG Fan-land cuz’ Dave’s own brand of strong playing garnished him fans everywhere we went in the North American continent. Dave still has other music projects in the works and so he won’t be hard to find out there. Anybody that gets Dave in their band is going to get a top-shelf drummer. The CDG list of drummers is long, but the list of great CDG drummers is really short and Dave is without a doubt on that list of Greats. I’m hoping this isn’t the last I’ll play with him and I’ve been known to enlist former drummers of one-off’s here and there so I’ll be holding out for hope we can play again in the not-too-distant future. Second; I have the honor to announce that the new drummer in the CDG chair is John McKnight. I’ve been watching John for a while here in Atlanta since I’ve first moved here. We actually played a gig together before I moved here. A festival where Delta Moon was on the bill, but I was unaware of the personnel. Anyway, John and I have played in various functions and jam situations but it wasn’t until I took John out this past summer for a short 10 day jaunt that opened my eyes as to the possibilities for CDG. With John’s strong vocals, that could easily be the lead vocalist in any band, I was eager to enlist his pipes to sing the background for us. I look forward to using his talents in CDG. It’s going to be a learning curve for me too, on how to best utilize harmony vocals, but it’s something I’ve been wanting for the CDG a very long time. To me, the big bands and successful bands always had good vocals. Let this be the start of something good for CDG. So off to Japan we go and playing with Yoshi and seeing all of my friends over there is the best part about playing there. I am truly the luckiest person on the planet sometimes; and this is one of those times. - chris duarte
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:31:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015