BellerBytes #80 - Southern Summer, SoCal In September - And Seeking Seattle!

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A little alliteration is good for the soul, actually.

1. Kira Small/Bryan Beller "Broken Toe" Atlanta/Carolinas Tour In August
2. Nashville Area Kira/Bryan Gig - and Bass Clinic
3. Keneally/Beller "Same Band" Event - One-Night-Only In L.A.
4. Seattle, WA On Sat. 10/30 - Let's Book A House Concert Or Gig!

To new subscribers - welcome! And for those who really dig my first album View, read all the way to the end for a special announcement.


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1. Kira Small/Bryan Beller "Broken Toe" Atlanta/Carolinas Tour In August

For all of the traveling my wife Kira Small and I do together, we've compiled a pretty amazing safety record. 15 months touring without an accident, as they say. But the other day, Kira was making the bed and stubbed her toe pretty righteously. Then it turned purple and got all crooked. Broken. No fun.

But she's doing better now, and was in good enough spirits to name our upcoming southern run the "Broken Toe" tour. The show must go on. We're good on that. Now all we need is you to come out if you're in Atlanta, Columbia SC, Southport NC, Raleigh NC, Knoxville TN, or Lynchburg VA. Here's the detailed itinerary, starting this very weekend in Atlanta:


Friday, August 6
with Kira Small
at Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant
3208 Amnicola Highway
Chattanooga, TN 37406
Free admission!
Performing 7:30 - 9:30


Saturday, August 7
Beller Bass Clinic
at Atlanta Bass Gallery
814 Marietta St NW
Atlanta, GA 30318-5538
(404) 745-9924
Free admission!
Start time: 1pm
This event is sponsored by Mike Lull Custom Basses and D'addario Strings and SWR Sound


Saturday, August 7
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
at Guitar Decatur
117 N McDonough Street
Decatur, GA 30030
(404) 915-4599 / info@guitardecatur.com
Admission: $15 (includes snacks, soft drinks & wine)
Show schedule:
8:00 - Darren Michaels (much props to Darren for making this show happen!)
9:00 - Kira Small w/Bryan Beller


Monday, August 9
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
at The White Mule
1530 Main St.
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 661-8199
Price: $6 advance / $8 door
Showtime: 7pm


Tuesday, August 10
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
at Lois Jane's Riverview Inn
Corner of Howe and Bay Streets
Southport, NC 28461
$10 suggested donation
To reserve tickets, contact Ken Perrin at (910) 274-3971
or email him at keyfla AT gmail.com


Wednesday, August 11
Beller Bass Clinic
at Sam Ash Raleigh
3131 Capital Boulevard
Raleigh, NC 27604-3379
(919) 855-9581
Free admission!
Start time: 7pm
This event is sponsored by D'addario Strings and Planet Waves Accessories


Saturday, August 14
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
House Concert
Knoxville, TN
Limited seating available - click here to request details and an invitation


Friday, August 20
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
House concert
Lynchburg, VA
Limited seating available - click here to request details and an invitation


A word about the South: One of the real joys about living in Nashville has been really experiencing the people of the South, not just a caricature of the South. Touring places like Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia have introduced me to some of the coolest folks and music enthusiasts I've ever met, and it's very unlikely I would have run into them if I didn't live in Nashville. I'm even vacationing with my family in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains in the middle of this run.

I mention this because we spent a pretty good amount of time lining up the Carolinas run, and it's the first time I'm going to some of these cities on my own, let alone with Kira. We'd love to make some new friends there, if you know what I mean.

As for Atlanta, it's a double-header there, in a city that's becoming very special to Kira and me. Can't wait.


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2. Nashville Area Kira/Bryan Gig - and Bass Clinic

I travel so much that sometimes I forget there's places to play music in Nashville. Silly me. So Kira and I booked a gig at one of my favorite intimate rooms in town, The Basement. And with all of these clinics I'm doing around the country, why not one  just outside of Nashville, in a bass-only specialty store called The Low End? I mean, why not?


Tuesday, August 31
Kira Small w/Bryan Beller
at The Basement
1604 8th Ave S.
Nashville, TN 37203-5061
(615) 254-8006
Free admission!
Start time: 7pm sharp


Saturday, September 11
Beller Bass Clinic
at The Low End Bass Shop
2295 NW Broad Street
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
(615) 893-0205
Free admission!
Start time: 1pm
This event is sponsored by Mike Lull Custom Basses


For the clinic (my first real one in the Nashville area), I'll definitely be bringing the Mike Lull T-Bass for some Dethklok demos. As for the Basement gig, if you're in Nashville and wondering why I never play in town, wonder no longer. Plus, both events are free admission! (In other words, poor struggling musicians have no excuse not to come.)

One other event I'd like to mention, though it's not public - I'm doing a clinic at the Armed Forces School Of Music in Norfolk, VA in the end of August. It'll be my third time there. I can't tell you how proud I am to be able to share what I know with the men and women of the military, who are serving by providing entertainment for their fellow troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and God knows where else. It's truly a privilege and an honor. Plus, I have to admit that doing a clinic for men and women in full fatigues is quite a thing to behold.


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3. Keneally/Beller "Same Band" Event - One-Night-Only In L.A.

I don't know if you've heard, but Mike Keneally is going to be touring this fall and winter with Joe Satriani as his keyboard player (and, I think, occasional second guitarist). That's awesome! But it does mean we've got only one shot at getting him, me, and the always-busy Joe Travers in the same place at the same time for a "They're Both The Same Band" show in Los Angeles this year. We originally scheduled it for Saturday, September 18, but had to move it to Wednesday, September 15 or it would have fallen apart. I know that's not ideal for some day-jobbers out there, but I'm just grateful that we're going to be doing it at all!

Here's the confirmed final details on this gig:


Wednesday, September 15 (was Saturday, September 18)
Special One-Night-Only West Coast Appearance:
Mike Keneally Band
with the Bryan Beller Band
"They're Both The Same Band" Los Angeles Show
at The Baked Potato
3787 Cahuenga Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604-3504
(818) 980-1615
Early showtime: 9pm Sharp

Band lineup:
Mike Keneally - guitar/keys/vocals
Rick Musallam - guitar
Griff Peters - guitar
Bryan Beller - bass
Joe Travers - drums

It will be quite a while before we play Southern California again, so don't miss it.

Plus, right after it's over I'm going to Siberia to play a show with Marco Minnemann and Greg Howe. Really. Kinda pointless to promote, but fun to list on the calendar anyway: Vladivostok, Russian Federation. Oooooo.


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4. Seattle, WA On Sat. 10/30 - Let's Book A House Concert Or Gig!

It has been one hell of a ride booking the as-yet-to-be-named (any suggestions?) Kira Small/Bryan Beller cross-country house concert/small venue tour in October/November. We're happy to report that most of the key dates have been booked, with one glaring exception:

Seattle, WA - Saturday, 10/30

We've currently got feelers out to several venues and potential house concert hosts in the Emerald City, but I haven't yet made an official BellerBytes call to action, like I'm doing right now. If you're interested in hosting a house concert in Seattle, now's the time - this date is now locked in. And it's a Saturday night, prime time.

Just for grins, here's the tour as it stands right now:

FRI Oct 15     House Concert - Plano, TX
SAT Oct 16     House Concert - Austin, TX
MON Oct 18     Private House Concert - Casa Grande, AZ
WED Oct 20     Lestat's - San Diego, CA
THU Oct 21     The Baked Potato - Studio City, CA
FRI Oct 22     House Concert - Chatsworth, CA
SAT Oct 23     Private House Concert - Irvine, CA
MON Oct 25     House Concert - Redwood City/San Francisco Area, CA
TUE Oct 26     Mosgo's - Arcata, CA
THU Oct 28    The Camellia Lounge at The TeaZone, Portland, OR
FRI Oct 29     Private Concert - Aberdeen, WA
SAT Oct 30    TBA - SEATTLE, WA
MON Nov 1    Music Villa (Bass Clinic) - Bozeman, MT
THU Nov 4     Private House Concert - Minneapolis, MN
FRI Nov 5     Wildwood Park Pavillion, Marshfield, WI
SAT Nov 6      House Concert - Madison, WI
SUN Nov 7      Tiki Terrace - Des Plaines (North Chicago), IL
TUE Nov 9     Private House Concert - Omaha, NE
WED Nov 10     House Concert - Kansas City, MO

It's pretty mighty. It would be even mightier with a gig booked in Seattle. Will we survive? We're gonna find out.

And hey, as long as I'm asking - Thursday 10/14 in Houston, TX is a wide-open date as well.

As always, check my website calendar for complete details, and feel free to e-mail me with any questions you might have about attending a house concert.


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And that's all for now...

...oh, wait! I said there would be a special thing at the end. For those who dig my first album View, I've just completed remixing and remastering "Seven Percent Grade" and "Get Things Done" with Thanks In Advance chief engineer Mark Niemiec. I think the new versions totally blow the originals away, myself.

I'm going to post them on Bandcamp, a download service where you, the music consumer, gets to pay anything you want (starting from zero!) for the music you're downloading. Depending on the response, I may do some more tunes from View as well. I'll send a separate e-mail when that goes live, but I wanted to tell you about it now, because I'm so damned excited about it.

OK, that's really it. Thanks for reading another marathon BellerBytes, and please send blessings to our touring minivan, which just crossed the 200,000-mile threshold and hopefully isn't anywhere close to done yet...

Best wishes to all,
Bryan Beller