Holy shit. I just watched our stage narrowly miss our Saturn. But that’s not the story I’m telling just yet. You have to wait for that.]
Heather at the Stagger Inn… Again in Edwardsville, IL. A good show, though a sparse crowd. A couple of people who I wasn’t sure if I was getting along well with or if they were being sarcastic. Tim, the owner, who is known for being gruff and somewhat frightening, continues to really Love us and invited us back to play a weekend in October. Twee!
Heather and I have been out in Illinois since Thursday, playing out little hearts out and teasing parrots.
Cindy became our mailing list pimp for the Stagger Inn show, dancing her way from table to table she got a WHOLE lot of emails, hopefully from people who at least knew that some sort of music was actually going on. I think she probably could’ve gotten emails and phone numbers from just about anyone she wanted. Her and Lydia (the blonde in the background drew a LOT of attention dancing with one another and just generally being giggly. Susan had talked about how she’d made a concerted effort to get the hottest women she’d been encountering to our show Thursday night, and I think this is counted as a success. Of course, i worry about Sue’s reputation, what with her becoming known for approaching attractive women in the rest room…
Thursday night, we landed in Susan’s lap (our Belleville Benefactress) and carted ourselves up to Edwardsville , IL to play at the Stagger Inn… Again. That’s all one title. I always worry that when I mention it, people will think that that’s accompanied by a sigh – “We’re playing the Stagger Inn… AGAIN!!!” But really, it’s a great venue, and with our friend Steve (of the Duck Tape Duo Trio) running sound, it sounds awesome, and it feels awesome to sound so awesome, and we play awesome because we sound so freakin’ awesome that we feel awesome and Life’s alright.
Me and Lydia both sort of half-heartedly avoiding the camera but too out of it to do so successfully. Mostly this is here because there’s about ZERO pictures of me in the Journal (which is fine) because the camera pretty much resides in my pants and no-one goes after it there.
Add a couple of women dancing along to our songs and a couple of really enthusiastic listeners at scattered tables and a happy, happy owner, and Life’s alright at the Stagger Inn
By 2.30am (3.30 by our personal clocks with the time change et al) we stagger out and stagger back to Susan’s place, eat chocolate and collapse gratefully into our beds. I had a really awesome vocal night, a pretty decent talking-to-people night, and a really awesome French dip. Unfortunately, the latter was just a sandwich. (le sigh)
Friday morning dawns and Heather and I take the opportunity to wander downtown Belleville in the midst of Deutchfest, which is happening on top of Fusionfest, which is apparently the same weekend as the Summer Solstice Singer Songwriter Festival, which is happening the same time as this thing that the Ground Floor is putting on… a LOT of stuff is going on. We pass the apple spinny ride thing and the inflatable Titanic that you can slide down if you are Of A Certain Height or teenier and we see a stage that we wish WE were playing on and we consume green fried tomatoes, which I’ve never had before.
They were delicious. Anywho – this description is going to have to continue later. It’s time to bake cookies!
Found some Amanda for Amanda while wandering the streets of Belleville, IL. This was just outside the beautiful old theatre where we went to see “Over the Hedge”, which was disappointingly mediocre. Of course, the nice thing about matinees in the Midwest is that you don’t feel too bad spending $3.5o on a mediocre movie. Should’ve seen “Cars” instead, but there’s part of me that’s resisting seeing something with such a boring name.
Heather has discovered a kitten in Susan’s neighbour’s yard, and though she pursues, gives chase, cajoles and leaves food out in the yard, by our departure she still hadn’t gotten closer than this with a 3x optical zoom and Photoshop enhancement.
Ok, so it WASN’T time to bake cookies after all, which is just as well. In any case, Friday night we played at the Castletown Geoshghshghshgheghan. You know, the Irish bar? On Main Street in Belleville ? Load in slowly, eat dinner with Susan’s family and friends. They do this wonderful flash-fried potato thing that is delicious, as well as Irish stews and all sorts of Lovely things that make meats and potatoes almost fine with the idea of being consumed. The words “savory” and “aromatic” are used throughout the menu, almost as if to prepare you for trying to describe the experience to your friends later, when you’re left groping for a thesaurus. Savory and aromatic are great adjectives, and you make them work hard with these Irish meals.
Heather at the Castletown Geoghagen in Belleville, IL. A good show, with a nice big audience earlier in the night, a lot of return creatures that remembered us from last year, which was pretty flattering. Someone even asked why I hadn’t brought back my baritone! Good memory! The food was wonderful and again, the owner Loved us and wants us back in October. Putting the dates together slooowly. Again, someone ELSE has to grab the camera sometimes. I mean, it’s not ALWAYS in my pants… I leave it on tables, on ledges, all in all I’m pretty fucking irresponsible with it, actually. I’m a bad rob. No wonder my camera doesn’t want to look at me.
Saturday afternoon, getting ready for the Singer/Songwriter Summer Solstice Festival in Belleville, IL. It’s coinciding this year with the Deutchfest and the first Fusionfest. All sorts of music and stuff going on, and sand, for some reason.
There’s cool art scattered over the streets of Belleville, IL for the festival. They’ve really made huge strides since last year – it feels almost as if the Ground Floor’s heart (remember them from the previous two years? Unfortunately, though we dropped by a couple of times we never quite hooked up with them this time around) has spread to the rest of Main Street Belleville: a couple of cool new shops and a bunch of artists out and about on the streets – the interesting flamboyant kind, even. It seems like everyone’s efforts to bring a little bit of aesthetic revolution is coming to fruition – the Ground Floor even had some sort of crazy Freak Parade with puppets and costumes last night – we missed it while playing and eating potatos. Le sigh.
Unfortunately, the gig was not quite as savory, and the only aroma detectable by the end of the night was worn-out musician which is neither savory nor delectable. By the end of the show I had a huge ball of angst built up against one particular table of kids-who-looked-too-young-to-have-drank-as-many-beers-as-they-did who did a lot of hollering during quiet moments in our set. They requested a bit of CCR, which was fine, but if any of them hat uttered the word “Free Bird” there would have been a horrific slaughter. THE AROMA OF PAIN!! SMELL IT!!?
We stuck around at the bar talking to the owner, Tom, who tells us about where to get the best where to get the best steaks in the area “Honest to God!”, trading the information for Heather’s hints on where to get the best crabs in the Baltimore area. We come back to the house where Susan’s still up, checking emails and surfing online. It’s really nice to come back to a house where someone’s still up and doing stuff. It makes things a little less lonesome.
People running crazy like during the storm that wipes out the Summer Solstice Singersongwriter Festival in Belleville, IL.It was pretty crazy to watch the stage we’d just played on fly past and narrowly miss our Saturn. Rain came out of nowhere with crazy winds, and everyone rushed around trying to drag the sound system inside and catch art that was scything past. Paintings, sculpture, cymbals… it was a little scary there.
Our sound guy, Craig, contemplating the chaos of having broken down a full stage-worth of equipment and drumkit in under three minutes. The gig itself was almost a bust, only a couple of people came down to our stage, probably only a couple more people were even aware that that stage even existed. Of course, the excitement that went with the stage quickly NOT being there anymore made it all worth it.
Again though, it wasn’t time to bake cookies. We keep being on the verge, and never quite desiring them.
