Great Party...Oracle Band at Blob's Park - Valentines Day 2014

When's the last time that Valentine's Day fell on a Friday?  Well, it's been at least 7 years, so it's been a while.

We took advantage of this rare occurrence by having a Valentine's Day party at the soon-to-close-forever Blob's Park Bavarian Beer Garden in Jessup Md on Friday, February 14th.

Blob's recently announced that they were about to close their doors forever at the end of March, so this was originally going to be our farewell performance here.  It would seem that Mother Nature and fate had other ideas.

First off, we got anywhere from 12" to 17" of snow just two days before the big show.  Events were being cancelled all over town, flower deliveries were getting put on hold, and it seemed as if the day for lovers would be a victim of Mother Nature's stubbornness in reminding Marylanders what winter was REALLY like.

Well, folks didn't need Mother Nature sticking her nose in, and a positively huge crowd of over 400 people, singles and couples, came out to dance, sing, and party the night away, as the folks at Blob's got the parking lots cleared of snow just in time for opening.  We even had to do a little shoveling ourselves to load in...but we brought our own shovel!!!

Perhaps you've heard the performer's mantra, "the show must go on".  Well, go on it did, snow or no snow, as you can see from the photos.

 

The best news of all to come from the performance is that we are to be given one final opportunity to perform at Blob's Park before they close their doors.  On Friday, March 28th, the final weekend of existence for Blob's, Oracle will once again take the stage of this historic venue to bring the sounds and songs of the past 70 or so years to this hall that has seen bands performing since 1933.

An evening with this many people wouldn't be complete unless there were some special and magic moments, and this evening was no exception.

The first was having our friend Monique back with us on the dance floor after an absence of a very long time.  Monique has faced more challenges than anyone should ever have to face, and has taken them in stride, always remaining positive that she would eventually return to the dance floor despite the "experts" who didn't think this would ever be possible.  How could one NOT be inspired?

 Then there was the wide variety of people we had out on the dance floor, from the young to the young at heart, of every race and a couple dozen nationalities.

We'll have more on this upcoming Blob's Park performance coming in a subsequent post.  For now, we hope you'll enjoy the photos from this very special evening.

The end of an era - Blob's Park to close forever

We knew the day would come...we just didn't expect it to arrive quite this quickly.  On March 30th Blob's Park, an icon in the Washington / Baltimore area, will close it's doors forever.

On Friday, February 14th Oracle Band will perform for the last time at this historic venue, which originally opened back in 1933.  Ironically, it was almost exactly one year to the day that Oracle first performed at Blobs for their Valentine's Dance.

Here we are a year later and Blob's feels like home, with so many friends that come out to attend our performances there...it's as if we've been playing there for a decade.

As you probably know, Blob's Park was the scene of our Philippine Disaster benefit dance just a couple of short months ago, with so many people coming out to pitch in to help support the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), marking one of the largest benefits we have ever put together, and the good folks at Blobs graciously donated the facility so we could raise even more.

Just a few weeks earlier we had our most successful and well attended Halloween party at Blob's, with over 500 friends in attendance!

While this coming weekend's show is billed as a Valentine's Day dance, please don't think that this event is for couples only.  We have a number of singles organizations that are planning on attending, and everyone regardless of your relationship status is invited.  Believe us...there WILL be plenty of people to dance with!!!  There will be no wallflowers allowed at this performance!!!

We are looking for a full house as a way of saying "thank you" to Max and the folks at Blob's that have been so good to us over the course of the last year.  It would do our hearts good to see the largest crowd Blob's has ever seen in attendance, and you can help make this happen just be being there.  We'll be bringing the whole show, with every intention of making this performance one for the record books!

Best of all, the standard cover charge of $10 applies...there is no hike in admission even though this is a special performance on a special day.  All tickets are sold at the door.

Here's a little video clip from one of last year's performances at Blobs.



Blob's is a great place for groups to come.  Celebrating a birthday, anniversary, promotion, or other significant event?  Blob's has PLENTY of space, with large tables that can easily accommodate the largest groups.  Just make sure to give them a call a few days in advance so they can plan the room accordingly.  There is no additional charge for larger groups...they are more than happy to accommodate.

Reservations are accepted 24 hours in advance.  Call 410 799-7130 to make your reservation.

The band starts playing at 8:00, and we go up to around 12:00.

Blob's Park is easy to get to.  Located right off the Baltimore - Washington Parkway at Route 175 in Jessup, you can be there in under 30 minutes from either Baltimore or Washington's Beltways and virtually all of the towns in between!

Directions to Blob's Park

Please, no outside food or drinks are permitted, although birthday cakes are permitted with advance notice.