The Blue Gator Restaurant and Nightclub, located at 63 N. Court Street in Athens, announced today the upcoming performance of Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, the West Coast's hottest blues band and winner of the coveted W.C. Handy Award for "Best Band of the Year".

Rod's acclaimed five piece band includes Honey Piazza, Rod's wife and lyricist on keyboards, as well as the full compliment of driving drums, rhythmic bass, and smoking guitar licks.

Rod and Honey Piazza.

Rod himself, a virtuoso harmonica player, was mentored by the great Muddy Water's harmonica player George "Harmonica" Smith, and has since shared stages with Waters himself, as well as other blues legends such as T-Bone Walker and Howlin' Wolf.

The Mighty Flyers mix earthy originals, rousing jump tunes, earnest boogie and slow blues ballads, even an occasional animated instrumental, and remain among the most consistently appealing, enjoyable contemporary units. "We didn't always really know what we wanted to do in the studio," reflects Piazza. "Some of the records that we made had some good songs, but they've never completely been a good indicator of how the group sounded in concert, or even how well we might have been playing when we were doing the gig."

The Blue Gator is proud to present this incredible talent, and has included the show in its esteemed "Platinum Series", which features the finest in blues entertainment.

The show is slated for Thursday, July 11, and will start at 9 p.m. sharp. There will be an admission charge. Call 740-592-7271, or visit the Blue Gator's website at www.thebluegator.com for more information.