Jim Hubbard: News

Special thanks to Norm, Janey, Graig, Shelley Y, Grace, Pam, Shelley I, Michele & Mike, Mari and friends, Kevin Cal, Jan & George, Mayra & Curt and their gang, Jimmy C, JP, Dave S & Amber, and anyone else I forgot to mention. You all make it happen for us. We can't thank you enough for all your support.

There will be a special concert in NYC on July 26th; time will be about 3PM to 7 PM. Special guest will include the Jeff Jolly Band, and The Side Step Band. The venue will be announced shortly...........pass it on please; and e-mail Hubbardconcert@aol.com for ticket information. Tickets are limited and will sell out quickly. See you there......

..........and oh yes, THANKS; to all our friends who've supported us throughout the year. We're looking forward to the holiday season and playing all the parties that we've been booked for. We'll see you there, and at Kelley O'Neils next year when we resume in January.

Thanks to all who came in support to Kelley O'Neil s this weekend; the Hawaii Kai party was a great success as well. We'll be at Kelley's on the 6th, (this weekend.) Upcoming events include "Operation Home Front" at Windward Mall on Oct 21st, Kelley O'Neil s on the 30th; and just added......we are going to be live on KTUH for Monday Night Live on Oct 13th from 10-11 PM. Check the calender for dates. Make sure you book early for Christmas. Thanks

Last show we had The Cap'n and Bart DaSilva from KGMZ oldies radio come down and help charge up the show for us. Thanks guys for coming and listening. The JHB will be playing for a benefit that KGMZ is sponsoring which will be on September 21 at Winward mall I'll keep you all posted next month for that one.
As always, we had a great show thanks to all the great friends who come and listen and dance. See you all at Kelley's on the 16th at 5PM. Aloha

Thanks all of you for coming and supporting us as you always do. This month's dates are posted, and next week, July 5th, I'll be sitting in with "Elephant", a truly great rock band at Kelley O'Neils at 9 PM. Gonna do a set with them and then enjoy the rest of the show. Come on down, it'll be happening.

I don't know what I did to deserver such great friends. You all really make the show for all of us. Thanks again for coming down and dancing and making the whole thing worthwhile. We love you.

Love .....the band

To all who showed up once again to our Saturday evening show. And a special thanks to Porter who is an amazing guitarist.......for sitting in again and making the "acoustic" experience a bit more fun and electric! You can catch Porter with his band "Elephant" at The Irish Rose and Kelly O'Neils throughout the month. Check the Honolulu Weekly for dates and times.

OK we're down to 4 now.....but we will still bring you the same show. (We'll just be switching instruments a little bit more!!) I dunno.....maybe we'll get Shayne to sing lead......or at least bark a bit.

Anyway, thanks for all your support. You guys are the greatest. The show's no fun without you all.

Once again thanks for coming down last night: Norm, Janie, Alex, Allison, Sunny, Richard, Janelle, Brien, Alyssa, Amy, Amy's friend, Mrs McLellan and everyone else who came.
Feb 16th's gig will be the last for Andrew and the band..........at least for a while. Please come down and help us send him off real proper like.
We love you guys........thanks so much.

Thanks once again to Norm, Janey, Allison, Alex, JP, Keoni, Kekoa, Kevin and everyone else who showed up at last night's gig. Thanks Porter for sitting in, you're an amazing guitarist. See y'all on Feb 2nd. Aloha.

.....for another fun gig down at Kelley O'Neils. It wouldn't be fun without all of you who show up at every gig. We're totally looking forward to Jan 19th to see you all again. You're all awesome!!! Thanks

Thanks to all that came down to the Irish Rose for the CD Release party. We had a fantastic time. There are plenty of photos in the Gallery, and I'll update as I get more.
You're all my inspiration. Thank you. I'll keep you all posted on up coming gigs. Aloha
Click on the "My Space" link to see video from the event.

This is the fourth independent release for Jim Hubbard. Included are 8 new songs and or the first time, 2 songs written by other artists: Bob Dylan, and Lennon/McCartney.

But here is the story that needs to be told: ON “THE STORY OF LADDER 6 AND JOSEPHINE”, the song, the story itself, was told to the writer shortly after September 11, 2001. This is what happened:

On the morning of September 11, 2007 my brother Charlie and I took off from JFK at exactly 8:45 AM. I looked out the window and there on the side of the Trade Center was this puff of smoke. It actually looked like a dust cloud, or exhaust. But as we rose up in TWA Flight 2, we saw that the Trade Center was indeed on fire. Charlie, (who I had come to New York to celebrate his retirement as a Lieutenant from the NYC Fire Department 5 days earlier) was on his way back to Honolulu with me.

After about an hour in the air our plane made a rapid descent, and we received an announcement that our flight would be grounded in Dayton, OH due to a national emergency. We later learned that the rapid descent we experienced was an aversion to flight 93 on a collision path with us that day.

So, we grounded in Dayton, and after a day in a hotel, Charlie couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to know the fate of his company of men, the very men who were at his party a few days ago. Were they even all alive?

Off he went in a rented car back to NYC, ground zero as it was now referred to.

I had my guitar with me that trip, as I always did. And in the hotel in Dayton, as I waited to continue my journey home, the beginning of the song “The Story of Ladder #6 and Josephine” started to come to me. I had played a little progression those first days; I played it over and over. I had nothing else to do except watch the news footage of the buildings coming down. But a few days later Charlie called from Manhattan and told me this story, he said:

“My men and I were getting ready to leave after a day of working at the Trade Center site. The men from my Company were all mulling around with men from Ladder #6”.

Charlie said: “Come on guys…let’s go.”

And after some resistance on their part, Charlie’s men got on the truck to ride back to their firehouse. Charlie, retirement on hold, was back in charge and irritated at the delay. He asked:

“Hey, what was that all about back there?”

Their response was: “You’ve got to hear this story…”

And the story has been well documented with the media since. But the way I heard it was that Captain Jay Jonas and five fire fighters from Ladder 6 were in the North Tower rescuing a woman named Josephine. They were taking turns carrying her down the stairs. After a descent of some 20 stories, because of her injuries, Josephine could go on no more. The men of Ladder 6 stopped between the sixth and seventh floor in the stairway. They stayed together as a company, as trained firefighters will. They all gathered around as the building began to come down; and down it came……..around them! Had they been another flight above or below where they were, they would have perished.

You can do the research on the rest. It’s just a great story; one that I’m honored to write about. It’s just good to write about something good from that day as well.

The CD is available at the shows for now......only 10 bucks!! It will be available in days, maybe minutes on CD Baby.