Welcome to the Oracle News and
Information page! This page will tell you about all of the latest
happenings within the band...upcoming public performances, special offers, photos from
recent shows, tidbits on the individual members, and much more. We hope our
fans will bookmark this page and return often
to find out the latest news, information, and, well, yes, gossip, that
we've picked up.
Upcoming Performances for
February 2010
American Legion Post 40
Valentines Dance Sold Out
Tickets for the upcoming Valentine's Day performance at the American
Legion Post 40 in Glen Burnie have completely sold out. There is a
waiting list for those that would like to take a shot at tickets that are
not claimed.
Oracle will be returning to Whispers Restaurant for our first performance
there of 2010 on Friday, February 19th.
Whispers
if by far the hottest club in Anne Arundel County, with a huge dance floor,
elevated stage, great sound, lots of space, and super food. We play
all of your favorite dance songs spanning the past 50 years, so there is
definitely something for everyone.
Whispers is a great place to bring a large group out to. They are
adept at managing larger groups, so if you are celebrating a birthday,
anniversary, promotion, or bachelorette party, by all means consider joining
us at Whispers. You can give them a call at 410-768-3900 and let them
know you're coming. While you're at it, be sure to let US know as well
so we can help acknowledge the occasion appropriately.
Whispers is really easy to get to. It's located just off Route 100
at the intersection of Mountain Rd & Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. You can
be there in less than 30 minutes from Baltimore, Annapolis, Odenton, Laurel,
Bowie, Columbia, Dundalk, Essex, Severn, Burtonsville, Catonsville, Hanover,
Scaggsville, Severna Park, and Kent Island.
Cold
weather getting you down? Need to get out and forget the winter blues
for a while? We've got just the thing for you.
On Saturday, February 20th Oracle will be returning to the Columbian
Center in Severna Park Maryland for a dinner / dance sponsored by the
Knights of Columbus.
Affectionately dubbed the "Cabin Fever II" dance, the evening offers
folks an opportunity to come out for a hearty dinner with lots of friends,
and then dance the night away on the spacious dance area at the Columbian
Center.
Following up on the success of last year's inaugural event, we hope to
attract a significantly larger crowd this year to this wonderful facility.
Everyone that was there last year commented on just how much fun they had
and were somewhat shocked that they hadn't sold out. Hopefully this
year things will change.
The Columbian Center is located right on Route 2 in Severna Park, just
south of Glen Burnie. It is very easy to get to and has plenty of free
parking.
Tickets to the event are $25 per person, and include dinner, plus beer
wine & soda, plus, of course, ORACLE! We'll be playing your favorites
from 8:00 until 12:00.
Want to see the photos we took from last year's event? Head on over
to the
Cabin Fever Dance Photo Gallery and check out the fun.
Perry's Restaurant
On
Friday, February 26th, 2010 Oracle Band will be performing back at one of our
favorite places to play, Perry's Restaurant in Odenton Maryland.
It's not a coincidence that Perry's was the scene of our final public
performance of 2009 as well as of our first public performance of
2010...it's a fun place to perform.
Perry's
is easy to get to. It's located right on Route 175 in Odenton
Maryland, very close to Ft. Meade and Laurel. It is less than 30
minutes from both the Washington DC and Baltimore Beltways, and so centrally
located that the vast majority of our Maryland fan base can be there in less
than an hour, and most in less than 30 minutes.
One of the attractions to Perry's is that it is a great place to come for
an inexpensive evening out. The food there is excellent and reasonably
priced. You can come for dinner then stay for the party. Also, and
perhaps most importantly, there is NO COVER CHARGE. You can come on
out to spend even an hour with us and not have to worry about wasting your
money on a cover charge...there is none.
Fans of all ages come out to Perry's. Whether you're 21 or 71
you'll have something to dance to. We perform everything from Glenn
Miller to Lady GaGa, and everything in between, so don't worry...there's
something for YOU!
Want to see more of what an evening at Perry's is like? Head on
over to the Perry's Photo Gallery
and see for yourself just how much FUN everyone has!
Hope we see you there!
New Years 2009 / 2010 at
Four Points by Sheraton BWI
- Oh What A Night!
All
the planning, all the prep work. It's hard to believe it's over
already. We have officially welcomed 2010 in, said farewell to 2009,
and welcomed a new decade into being.
We kind of had a suspicion that this was going to be a unique performance
as we kept getting updates from the folks over at the Four Points by
Sheraton BWI hotel, where the event was being held, to the effect that
ticket sales were brisk, even in August! By October we were told the
main ballroom had already sold out, and that they were still getting calls.
A second ballroom was opened to allow us to admit more fans. It
wasn't ideal of course, but a live video feed was put into the room and
additional entertainment was scheduled, and the event continued to grow.
The
final achievement for the evening was the addition of a silent auction,
where 100% of the proceeds were donated to the USO at BWI.
BWI Airport is a hub for many of our troops rotating in and out of the
country.
The addition of this very special portion of the evening served to remind
everyone that while we are were partying and ringing in the new year, our
service man and women are still overseas putting their lives on the line so
we have this opportunity. It was only fitting that we do something to
honor their sacrifices, and to have a great USO office at BWI is a great
gesture.
It
should be noted that the USO receives no funding from the federal
government. It is financed solely through contributions, and we are
thrilled to have played some small part.
About a half hour after midnight a presentation was made on stage of a
check for $4225.00 for the USO, We couldn't have been more pleased.
Many thanks go out to the folks that bid on the items, and a HUGE than you
goes out to the individuals and businesses that donated the items for
auction.
And then there was the party! There's not much more we can say
other than...WOW! So many friends came out it was like old home week.
Faces we see every month, and faces we haven't seen for years...they were
all there at the same time.
So
we ended up with 300 or so of our best fans out on the dance floor for the
whole evening. The dance floor was packed all evening long, and at the
stroke of midnight, as we closed out "Auld Lang Syne", the stage was rushed
with well-wishers such as we've never seen before. It was truly
heartwarming!
OK...so Steve was a little late getting into the greeting part...the
balloon drop on his side got snagged & he almost pulled down the truss
trying to get it loose, but hey...that's minor stuff that makes for a fun
story later on!
Another fun "rush" was looking to either side of the room and seeing us
bigger than life on the screens at either end of the room displaying the
video feed. OK, so it may not seem like much, but it really was fun.
Or, you can get even more interactive and go over to our
New Years Photos Facebook Page and comment on the various photos, tag
your friends that appear in the shots, and comment on the evening in
general. Tell us your stories, how your evening went. You can
also give us suggestions on how we can make next year even better. We
love to hear from you all. Our
Facebook Page is really
starting to take flight. You can even upload your own photos that
you've taken of the band or at Oracle Band performances.
To ALL of our Oracle Family members, we would like to
wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year, with all of our best
wishes for a safe and prosperous 2010.
Most Recently at Whispers
Wow, what a weekend!
We're
told that there hasn't been a Friday night at Whispers this busy in months!
We were ready for them all too. From 9:00 until the wee hours of the
morning people danced and partied like there was no tomorrow.
One of the reasons was our friend Rita & her friends. It seems that
a couple of years ago(August 31st to be exact) at
Perry's Restaurant,
Rita's boyfriend asked us if he could borrow a mic during a song, and in the
middle of the song he proposed to her in front of the whole club. Fast
forward to Friday the 13th 2009, and we had Rita's entire bridal party at
Whispers celebrating her bachelorette party with her!
This crew came to party, & when the evening was done we knew it had been
a major blast.
In addition to Rita & her friends we also had a number of birthday
celebrations going on, so basically Whispers could be considered "Party
Central" for the entire county!
We shot over 500 snapshots, and with a lot of effort we narrowed those
down to around 70 good ones. We've got them posted over on the latest
Whispers Restaurant Photo Gallery. Head on over and check them
out.
Many thanks to everyone who came out to party with us. It was sort
of the kickoff to the holiday season, & we were thrilled to have so many
good friends there with us.
Another Successful Gambrills Athletic Club Bull
Roast
On Saturday November 7th Oracle performed for a Bull & Oyster Roast at Gambrills
Athletic Club in Gambrills Maryland. The event had been sold out for
several weeks, and a packed house came out to dance and party the night away
with us.
Gambrills is always a blast to play. The huge dance floor, the
great food, and a large stage allow the band to bring in the whole show,
with all the lights and extra PA to help cover the large room.
We got so many great photos it was hard to sort through them all and
select the best ones. You can see them all over at the
Gambrills Bull
Roast Photo Gallery, or you can click below to see a slideshow of the
evening.
A Spectacular Day to Celebrate
The Fourth of July
Wow...where
to start with this one?
On Saturday, July 4th Oracle returned to Granville-Gude Park at Laurel
Lakes for a pre-fireworks concert.
We performed for this concert last year, and were thrilled when they
broke with tradition and invited us back for a second year, which had never
been done before.
The concert started at 5:00 in the afternoon, as the afternoon car show
was coming to a close and the crowds started arriving to celebrate the
nation's birthday.
No
musician could help but be moved as the crowd continued to swell, until by
the time we played the last few measures of "Proud To Be An American" there
were somewhere around 80.000 within earshot...either in front of us, behind
us, and on either side.
The weather could not have been more perfect. Low 80s and low
humidity coupled with a slight overcast sky kept the heat we have come to
expect around here in July at bay.
To be honest, a four hour concert is pretty grueling. The
performance consisted of basically two 2 hour sets with a brief
intermission. Hey...at least this year we had rest rooms near the
stage!
We had a few surprises in store for us.
First off, our former bassist Charlie Rundlett stopped by to catch the
show, and we were thrilled to get him up on stage with us for a
number. Charlie's last performance with us was the Independence Day
show a year ago, so it was kind of like Deja Vu all over again.
Charlie left to be able to spend more time at home down in southern
Maryland...the commute was just getting to be too much every weekend.
Unfortunately, we're told by his wife that he still has a very long "honey
do" list that he has yet to complete...in spite of all his newly found time.
Oh well...it's only been a year...he's got plenty of time!!!
While Charlie was up on stage with us Jim grabbed Steve's camera and was
actually able to obtain some rare shots of Steve performing on stage.
Since Steve usually TAKES all the photos you see on these gallery pages, he
is seldom actually IN any of them.
Hey...check out the video Mike put together of one of the songs from the
concert.
At the same time, it was pretty cool to have Steve's mom out to hear the
show. We haven't seen her at a show since about three years ago at a
My Way performance, and she hung out backstage with us during the concert,
getting
an opportunity to see exactly what it is that Steve does, (which is still a
mystery to many of us in the band)!
Then there were the kids. Concerts such as these are one of the few
opportunities for children to come hear live music. It is from
experiences such as these that we pique the interest of tomorrow's
musicians.
The continued cutbacks in school music programs have caused a significant
reduction in the quantity and quality of budding musicians. Musical
talent is present in a great many people, and with the proper
nurturing it can be brought out, which is why one should take every
opportunity to expose the children of today to as many forms of music as
possible. Without this nurturing these natural talents may well go
undiscovered, which is a shame.
So,
anyway, check out all the photos we took. There were so many we broke
them out into two pages to ease load times. Out of almost 1000 photos
taken we've narrowed them down to the best 80 or so. We hope you enjoy
them.
Oh yeah...if you have some photos of your own to share, feel free to
upload them to our
Facebook Page, or send them to us by some other means. We'd love
to see them!!!
Thanks again to everyone that came out.
The early word is that we
may well be back again NEXT year. We certainly hope so, because this
is definitely one of the highlights of the year for the band!
Happy Birthday America!
Oracle is On Facebook and MySpace
(...and YouTube)!
Fans of these major social networking sites may rejoice...Oracle has
caught up with the 21st century and now has a presence on MySpace and
Facebook!
Each of these sites will have our public performance schedule, photos, audio
samples, blogs, and more, as we continue to develop them.
Both sites have unique qualities to offer our fans. In some
cases this might be simply a way to distribute information on upcoming
performances.
For others, the allure of the posted blogs is a major attraction.
We would like to invite everyone that already has a Facebook or MySpace
account to head over to the respective sites and join us either as a
"Friend" (MySpace), or a "Fan", (Facebook).
Those that would like to share their photos of the band are welcome to
post them to our page...photo posting is enabled.
And then there is YouTube. While not strictly a social networking
site, it does offer the opportunity to share video clips of the band that
are rather fun to watch.
We'll be adding more of these as time goes by, but for now, here's one
from a wedding we did recently with Nikki singing the Journey classic "Don't
Stop Believin".
What's Your Favorite Place To Hear Oracle Perform?
We'd love to hear from all of our fans who
come out to hear us on a regular basis, and find out which places you all
prefer to come hear us perform. No personal information is
saved...your vote is completely anonymous.
The Oracle Band electronic
newsletter is our best means for letting our fans know when and where we'll
be performing, as well as offering them an opportunity to take advantage of
some special opportunities during the course of the year.
Short reminders are send
prior to most of our public performances, and every other month or so we
send out a more detailed newsletter letting everyone know what's been
happening with the band, including photos and lots of links to fun stuff.
If you're not already
receiving our newsletter, how about subscribing right now? It takes
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