First of all - a HUGE thank you to all our friends and fans for voting for us in the Fox-8 Hot List contest. As a result of your continued support, Average Joe was named the NUMBER ONE COVER BAND in the region! Big props go out to Bethesda, who won the overall title, but since they are an originals band - we are absolutely proud to stake our claim as NE Ohio's favorite cover band! ...and we owe it all to you guys!

With that behind us, we are lookign forward to summer 2011! It's definitely shaping up to be the Summer of AJ! We had 2 rockin' shows in May - one at our home base - the Redstone, and a return trip to our favorite spot in North Canton - Puckers.

The next 6 weeks or so will be very busy, and you'll have plenty of chances to catch us live. Check out the Upcoming Shows tab to finsd out where we'll be.

Also - we're excited to welcome The Fifth AJ member. Dan, our master bassist, has a pretty hectic schedule, so we've had to recruit a stand-in for him. Dick Bechler will be making his AJ debut at Slim & Jumbo's on June 17. Please come out and give Dick a warm welcome!

Wow - we really had a blast in April! 2 great shows at 2 new bars for us. The Bunker in Wadsworth and The Bonneville in Doylestown are both really cool bars, with great crowds! Plus, The Bonneville gig was an 80's party, so there were plenty of Madonna sightings in the crowd. We were glad to add a few 80's classics to the set list just for that show!

Both shows were especially fun because we got to have some guest stars during each one. Joezy from the Bunker joined us on guitar for a couple tunes, including a Stones tune that we got to learn on the fly. Good times!

At the Bonneville, Melissa joined us to belt out some Joan Jett, and Aubrey came up on stage to sing Hanging By A Moment in memory of a friend. We're glad we were able to share in a special moment like that. 

Also, special thanks to Jay's wife, Joie for helping out on some Journey at each show!

Last, but certainly not least...we want to give a shout out to one of biggest fans - Big Al Prince - That man has been to nearly every Ohio-based show we've had....and he already has hotel reservations for our October show over in Pennsylvania. You da man, Al!

2 more shows on tap for May (21st at the Redstone, and 28th at Puckers), so we'll have more to write baout next month.

Waddup, everybody?!?! The AJ spring/summer schedule is starting to shape up...We added a new location in March - Pucker's In North Canton. What a great place to play! Great people, awesome food, the whole nine. And we musta done something right, cuz we'll be back there on May 28. Celebrate Memorial Day wekend with us at Puckers.

We also have 2 new stops in April - April 9 at The Bunker in Wadsworth, and April 30 at the Bonneville in Doylestown...all of you on the west side of Akron---c'mon out! We'll see you there.

Spring also means....The Fox 8 Hot List contest! PLEASE vote for us - we really appreciate the love and support. Last year, we finished 4th out of 110 bands. This year, 3 weeks into the contest, we're running in 6th place out of 146 bands. There's a link at the top of the page that will take you right there to vote! Thanks, everyone!

And as always, we continue to add new songs! We know that we have some crowd favorites that will always be in the set list, but we also want to keep the overall list fresh. 2 years in, and we have yet to play the same set list twice! Any suggestions - let us know. We love feedback from our fans!

We haven't posted anything here on the blog, since we've generally been communicating via the Facebook page. We'll continue to use the FB page to keep everyone up to date on the latest AJ news and events, but we didn't want you to think that we'd forgotten about the good ol' web site.

But here are a couple tidbits to show you that while the blog posting may have been a little stagnant --AJ itself has not been...

At our most recent show on Jan 7 at the Outpost, of the 30 songs we did that night...only 9 were on the set list from the end of 2009. And going back a bit further, only 3 songs from March 2009 were on the Jan 2011 list. Just letting you guys know that AJ definitely listens to feedback from our fans!

See ya at The Redstone on Feb 12!

JJMD

Wow - the summer of 2010 is turning out to be a busy one! We had a great time at The Redstone on June 26...an awesome crowd, including plenty of out of town friends that made the trek from as far away as the Syracuse, NY area.

Right now, we're working on a few new tunes, and then we'll have shows on 3 Saturdays in a row. First, we'll be at the Outpost in Kent with our buds in Rock Bottom. Should be a great time splitting the night with those guys. Looking forward to it!

Then, we've got the passports updated, and we're ready to cross the border...all the way into PA. We'll be playing at the White Hawk Cafe in Penn Hills on July 24. Can't wait to party with some real Steeler fans!

Then, on the 31st, we'll be playing a private corporate event in Akron, that is shaping up to be quite the party, with a DJ and Average Joe playing, the music will be going all night!