I know, long time no blog posts. Excuses? None worth mentioning. So, apologies, let's get on to biz. 2027 is anticipated to be a big year and that's because it's the 50 year anniversary of Aja's release. The actual birthday is 9/23/27, but the Dudes will celebrate all year long by playing the entire album at every gig we play. And since we had the good sense to learn all of Aja's great songs, accomplished about 4 years ago when we finally nailed the title track, in anticipation of it's fiftieth we'll get an early jump on the festivities by performing all 7 tunes at our Ground Control at Major Tomato performance on October 24th.

And while I have your attention, let me tell you a bit more about the Ground Control Room. As a historical note, and some of you have been with us since the band's humble beginnings in 2015, most of our performances in our first couple of years occurred at Major Tomato, the Allen Park, MI pizza restaurant that I own with my two sons. When Major Dudes became a six piece band in 2018 with the addition of Carl, our second sax player, we pretty much outgrew that venue. Well, cut to 2026, and Major Tomato has essentially doubled in size and is utilizing a big chunk of the added space for a cozy listening room called Ground Control that can hold just north of 70 folks if we squeeze a bit. We're trying to get live music events along with other forms of entertainment - movies, comedy, karaoke…whatever - happening on a regular basis. At this point, I'll just say stay tuned, not only to your favorite Steely Dan tribute, us of course, but also Ground Control at Major Tomato, where among other things, the Dudes are kinda sorta, the house band. Hope to see you soon!