Now, I have some exciting news to report. Holding Out is on a HOT STREAK!!! You may have noticed us pleading with you, our fans, to come out and make a showing at our gigs to support us. Well I'm proud to report that a lot of you have been listening! So exciting!!! Let me tell you a story. We have played at this sweet little place in SW Portland called the Dublin Pub about 4 or 5 times now and there are always 2 bands rockin' it down there each night. We've always been the early band at 7:30pm with a band following us at 10:00pm. The way it works is the first band gets the cover taken at the door between 6:30 and 9:30pm and the second band gets the cover charge taken after that.

Every time we've played there, the band after us has made bank because tons of people would always start streaming in the doors right at 9:30! How frustrating! We kept begging the bar manager to let us play in the late slot because we knew the reason so many people came at that time was because that's just the time people usually start to head out to bars, right? RIGHT? Well, she refused, saying that we could not play the late slot until we showed we could get people to come to the early time slot.

So, we made it our mission to try and impress the bar manager with our people gathering powers so she would let us play the later slot. We pushed our limits and bugged our friends. We flagged our families and coerced our co-workers. And finally, our night of glory came. As we finished up our soundcheck there was an electricity in the air. We had a good feeling about the night and knew deep in our hearts that something special was about to happen.

We began the show by announcing that anyone who came in before they started taking the $5 cover charge needed to march their behinds over to the door and pay the door charge and support the band. Scott?s own family looked up in surprise as Scott announced, "Yes, that means you too. Tonight, even Grandma pays."

As we began to weave our web of rockin' riffs and hecka-hip harmonies more and more fans just kept coming and coming and coming! Before we knew it, the bar was packed full of Holding Out junkies screaming for more after every song! The energy in the room was out of this world! If you were there, you know what I mean. Also, if you were there you should definitely pay a visit to our bulletin board and post your thoughts on the show. Just follow this link: click here!

Now, to finish off this yarn... The craziest thing of the whole night was that after we finished our set we were totally expecting the crowds to come rolling in for the next band. However, quite the opposite happened. As most of our fans filed out of the bar basking in the memories that had made their night, they were not replaced with anyone at all. The bar emptied out and suddenly, we realized something. It wasn't the time that was important. It was the fans. Our fans made an effort to come out and see us regardless of the time and that was even more valuable to us than the loads of cash we made that night.

Finally, another March Twain quote: "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."

Let's make children together,

Kelly

Holding Out