Tonight was the kick-off for the festival, which runs a few weeks…it’s become such a huge festival over the years…We’re honored to kick it all off! Tonight is also the kick off of my tour this year with Peter White. We had a blast. We played almost 2 hours and just wanted to play all night. Thank you for being such an inspiring audience to play for year after year! This was the perfect kick-off night for us!

I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia filming a pilot for a new TV show called “Music In America”. My good friend Keb’ Mo’ and I are co-hosting the show, and basically meeting each other in cities all across America to learn a little bit about each city’s musical history, it’s hot spots, and of course the current music scene. We get in some sight seeing as well! What an adventure to take together. We had a blast. I interviewed Bobby Eli, the guitarist for most every funky song you heard in the 1970’s that wasn’t out of MoTown. He was the guitar behind the “Sound of Philadelphia”. He was amazing. When I asked him what the “Sound of Philadelphia” was to him, he said “Chitlins and Champagne”. I love that! Keb’ Mo’ and I got to play a little intimate set together at the World Café Live, and even sat in with a local band Zoe tonight at a club called WarmDaddy’s.

I’m so happy to be home. I have about 12 people coming that are family here! It’s warm and beautiful, and the city of Punta Gorda has been so incredible to us since we’ve arrived. Bin 8, a hip hangout downtown stayed open late for us and served us an incredible dinner! And after the concert, John – the prez of the Chamber of Commerce – presented me with flowers and a huge canvas painting of me with the signatures of so many who attended and helped make our concert happen. It is beautiful! Thanks for a great day! I’ll be back next year with Peter White! Be ready for another big party! This photo was taken at the concert by my cousin, Charlie Courie of Apple Photography.

This is our 3rd year in a row keeping a 4 day residency at Jazz Alley for Valentine’s Day weekend. I love it here! My husband Jason flew up to be with us, as did most of the wives and significant others of my band! We all soaked in the coolness of Seattle during the day and played at night! My producer for my radio show “Chill With Mindi Abair” even flew up for our Friday night perfomance. And we did a live webcast of Sunday night’s show for TourTVOnline.com. It was a great weekend!

Today I hung out with my roommate from college, Karen Guthery. She was overseeing the proofreading and all the charts for the orchestra recording the score to the new “Fast and Furious” movie. Wow, what a cool day. She’s ultra talented, and it’s always nice to be there when your best friends are doing something cool. I’m her biggest fan, and it was incredible to be in there…how inspiring! It’s nice to have friends in high places! A little side note…on my way back to my car from the session, I stopped at the Fox Studios Commissary, which is of course dedicated to the Simpson’s…they call it Moe’s! I took a photo of the sign as I bought my donut with sprinkles and an iced tea. This is a good day!

Norman Brown and I rock out



Greg Adams and I have some fun



Pam McGregor, my Mindiworld fan club prez and all around amazing woman turns 60!



Thanks to Cary Gillaspie for this funny photo of me choosing which song to play ;)

We left Miami January 31st and cruised up until tonight, February 5th. We have to go home tomorrow, and I just want to keep sailing! So many great artists are here to hang with...Larry Carlton, Boney James, Norman Brown, Greg Adams, Heather Headley...so many more too...I've had a blast. Here are some great pics from our week at sea! My fan club prez Pam celebrated her 60th birthday with about 30 Mindiworld members aboard! I played Happy Birthday as well to Greg Adams of Tower of Power fame ...and then sat in for a song in his set! I also played with Norman Brown - the host of the cruise, who I can proudly say is going to hit the road with me for this year's Christmas tour. We'll be posting dates soon! What a phenomenal musician ...as well as a nice guy! Thanks for a great cruise!

Happy Inauguration Day to everyone! I felt so patriotic that I had to record my own version of "America the Beautiful". You can download the mp3 for free on my home page! This photo was taken by Matthew Hager in the studio as Rodney Lee and I were working out the arrangement.

What an incredible place to bring in the new year! Thanks to everyone at B93.3 for hosting a “Comealong Concert” with me to Jamaica. I needed the tan, and I know some of you did too! I brought along my very good friend and co-writer/producer Matthew Hager to give you a special “Unplugged” night under the stars. What an adventure…we went ziplining through the rain forest, bobsledded at Mystic Mountain, and even got in a few windsurfing lessons! The Sunset Jamaican Grande Resort rolled out the red carpet and really gave us a week to remember. I’ll be showing off my new tan for the Smooth Music Cruise in a few weeks. Congrats to my good friend Stan Atkinson, program director of B93.3 for winning the award at the hotel for "Mr. Tropical". He deserved it, as he owns 200+ tropical Hawaiian print shirts...and good ones....and he rocks them every day!! They even gave him one of the staff shirts from the hotel...love that! Happy New Year to all!!

Happy Holidays!

Love, Mindi

Our last show…how sad! Thank you to everyone who came out. I hope we come back soon…it was a very cool place to play. 20 servicemen were there, and I took photos with them at the end of the show. What a great thing that they could come home and come to a Christmas show. I was honored to have them there. We are always thinking about them and wishing them safety and a quick trip home.

This felt like our last show, as it has been our last in past tours! Everyone came…the place was packed to the rafters! My parents were there with my husband. My best friend Chrissy and her husband John were there. Her parents were there. Also, our friends Robin and Ruben came down to sit in the box seats we had. I had quite a posse! The show was great…we played with a sort of abandon knowing it was nearing the end and we were in front of our friends! Merry Christmas to all…thank you for coming down year after year for us. We love to see you! Thanks to KIFM for hosting the evening. I can’t thank KIFM enough for being absolutely the coolest station …choosing great music, presenting it with great hosts…creating a sense of community here in San Diego with jazz fans…you’re the cat’s ass. I’m honored to be on every night to “Chill” with all of you! We had a great time – we even stayed an extra day to go to tour the Navy ship docked right off the Fish Market downtown. It was an incredible tour…saw so many cool airplanes up and down the ship. Great day! Thanks to Mark Roberts for capturing my "sparkle" for the evening with this photo!

We walked down to a tea room a few blocks away…unbelievable tea. Wow….I’m such a tea snob now! This place was great! And Julie brought us burritos and tamales with salsa for everyone. We each had our own bag of fun! She’s amazing!

Thanks to everyone from the station KSSJ coming down to the show. You cheered us up after we got in….we were pretty tired from flying all day! You guys are the best! The show was fun…we had so many great home baked goodies there…it was overwhelming! Yum! Thanks to my friends Joe Fong and Mindy and Mark for coming down to say “hi”. Thanks to Brian and Kaye Runner for this cool pic.

Today’s been a crazy and incredible day. I woke up and went over to the Bubba the Love Sponge show with my keyboard player Ron Reinhardt from Clearwater. We had a blast there and stayed for about an hour on air talking, playing, laughing hysterically…it was great. As I drove to Ruth Eckerd Hall for soundcheck, I was struck by hunger. I needed my favorite food from home! And I didn’t have time to go there and get it as usual. We are in and out within the day here unfortunately! So I called my good friend Steve Newberne who owns Gigi’s Italian Pizza and he brought us 6 pizzas backstage. He already had tickets to the show for himself, his sister’s family, and a few friends..Susan and John. I ate an entire pizza that evening. It made my day! And I think it gave me a little spring in my step for my hometown show! This evening I had so many friends in the audience, from the principal of my alma mater Northside, to my old history teacher, the Headmaster, and the band director and his wife. I also had a few middle/high school friends there, and even a few distant cousins, the Koloseys. My parents sent down some people I’d lost touch with. I had grown up with my friend Denise when we were kids on the road with my father’s and her father’s band “The Entertainers”. Well, now we’re all grown up and we were joking about the fact that all our baby pics are with each other and running around hotels and hotel pools and band trucks. Pretty crazy, eh?! It was a great
night. Thanks to everyone who came out to hang with me…it was overwhelming joy…I guess that’s what the holidays are!

What can I say about coming in to do the Bubba the Love Sponge show? I was a little nervous, but excited! I’ve toured with and lived on tour buses with guys as far back as I can remember. If anyone can hold their own with these guys…it’s me I though! Now that we’ve done our thing…I have to say I was laughing my ass off the whole time. You guys are so funny…so truly funny! It was an honor to be in here and play….and get to play carols with the homeless guys you brought in. I’m not going to lie, I don’t think they have a future in the music business. But maybe they had a roof over their head after today…or at least a Publix gift card! I took back tons of Bubba swag…very sexy, very cool. Thanks! I’ll be your jazz poster girl for Bubba’s army! Thanks for hanging with me, guys. I had a blast. Here are a few pics for you from the show…yes, Bubba’s kissing me. Gotta love the pda.

Tonight, the company my father in law works for called Marco held it’s annual Christmas party upstairs at the Florida Theater. I went up and met everyone. Everyone was so nice and having a blast! The head of the company purchased tickets for his whole company to come to our show. I love that! So I had an immense cheering section! Thanks!

John Loesser is such an incredible host and owner of this charming theater. We packed it out for a few shows this year, and it was incredible. As Peter White played “Silent Night”, snow fell on the stage thanks to John and the Lyric Theater. Stunning! Thanks for a great night!! Thanks also to Cindy for bringing us the bottle of Belvedere vodka for the bus….party tonight!

Ahhhh…we just crossed over into my home state, and went from temperatures in the 30’s to 75 degrees out. I walked out of the bus and stood in awe as I started peeling off coat and sweater layers. It’s good to be home! Thanks to all my Chill fans who came to the show. Thanks for always Chilling with me here in Niceville!

We rode on the bus all night to make it from New York to Atlanta. And it’s been a special day for me….my husband Jason met us in Atlanta and came to the show with a bunch of his friends that live in town! It’s like family night!! Earl Klugh came to the show tonight…what an honor for us to have him there. He’s a friend and an inspiration to me.

Michael and Kathie who own the place are the best….I always feel like we’re coming home when we’re here! Peter White lost a shoe in the last town…and realized it 15 minutes before we walked on stage. He ran out and bought shoes and made it back to start the show 5 minutes late! Rockstar!