Sean Morse, one of our Colorado comrades assisting us in breaking into the poetry open mic at Folsom Street Coffee in Boulder, Colorado. It was good to see Sean again – it’s not really possible for me to forget how good he is, but sometimes I apparently need the rather visceral reminder of his presence. Thankfully, this time around he didn’t have any great need to throw me down in the snow and rattle my skull aboot.
We’ve fallen on our feet in a good place again. If you’re ever in St Louis and you have a craving for some late night Magic, or beer… or coffee, or pool… or us – check out Coffee on Grand where they have all of the above. I’m hanging out with the owner and a guy who can go round per round in Transformers trivia, and I’m hoping to trade a CD for a deck of cards… there’s just something really, really cool about a coffeeshop that’s open till 3am and sells Magic cards.
But Friday evening, somewhere, a messiah was evidently being spawned.Friday, driving to Folsom Coffee, the clouds have finally lifted enough that we get to see the Rockies. Sunshine up till this point had been an absent commodity in Colorado.
We’ve spent the last couple of nights in Columbia, Missouri and I think I’m finally coming to relax after so many rough days in a row. Columba was surprisingly comfortable, but I’ve got to admit that’s mostly thanks to ilyARCHangel Susan and her support and the support of her friends.
Beth Preston performing with us at Folsom Street Coffee in Boulder, Colorado. I was something I rarely am: impressed.Scott Wiecksel at Folsom Street Coffee in Boulder, CO. He was happy, happy performer and a pretty awesome piano player. But dangerously perky. He was perhaps even… peppy.back at Sean’s apartment in Denver, Colorado, Heather gets to play electric guitar! I think she was somewhat alarmed. I on the otherhand, greatly enjoyed the chance to do some rocking out. Even if it had to be at very, very low volumes since it was something like 2 in the morning.
Columbia is a Lovely left-wing arts town in the middle of midwest America, filled to the brim with recycling bins and hippie chicks. We got in late on Saturday after a drive that went from 9am in Boulder, CO to almost 11pm in Missouri. Exhausted and feeling sort of like we’d been beaten with sticks, we were introduced to our host for the night and collapsed gratefully into bed.
This cat was actually quite nice… I just managed to get a really, really frightening photograph of Ziggy here.
Our stay in Columbia had originally been promising but dissolved into an exercise in miscommunication and frustration as venue after promised venue evaporated. We’d finally rolled in with lowered hopes and lower spirits and had expected it to be little more than a way-station. Sunday morning we got up early to do a radio show which and then made our way over to Cooper’s Landing to play a slightly low-energy show.
It’s interesting – these iron, rusting, everworking grasshoppers are scattered everywhere across America. At a gas station in Kansas I had my first opportunity to step close to it. Built from Bethlehem steel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I wonder if it’s ever seen a day’s rest. The smell was terrible as I approached it – a mix of oil and hot metal, and it sounded like something angry with metal boots.Heather and I with Steve Jerrett on his Sundy Morning Coffeehouse on KOPN radio in Columbia, Missouri. We had a great time playing for him and even debuted a recording or two off of Between Lover and Twilight for him.
And we had the best time ever. We were just in time for the launching of the Plan B and got a ride up the Big Muddy on her illustrated back. A very distracting beast – Sunday was her first day of the year in the water and halfway through our gig she was slowly ratcheted into the Missouri River and I suddenly found myself looking into the right earhole of every audience member – it was impossible not to stare – Sparky’s Plan B is a beautiful house boat, painted and massive, with all the personality of the tattooed lady at the circus. After our show we were approached slowly, cautiously, and then offered a ride – there was no way we could say no.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASusan and Jeff watching and occassionally making faces at us through the booth window at KOPN 89.5FM in Columbia, MO.
Into the glowing sunset with us. Sparky is reknown on the river, it’s fabled that he can navigate the river in the darkness by sense of feel, and I’m grateful for this reputation as we push into the centre of this swollen, rushing monster. We catch resting pelicans in mid-migration and it’s warm enough that it’s comfortable and cold enough that there are no mosquitoes and the dying sun is beautiful….
I’ve got to admit, when we first arrived at Cooper’s Landing, I was a bit dismayed. It looked like we’d be playing to no-one except MAYBE the owner and there’s a certain stigma to my city-boy mind to playing on a boat dock at what is effectively a bait shop. However, once things got rolling, we collected a little crowd of people that came slowly out of thir boats and their RVs. We held them rapt and had a great time… it was a good thing I’d managed to catch a nap before the show!
The latter is really a rarity. We went over really, really well and landed ourselves some word-contract bookings, but when I saw some of the locals I was really blown away. A couple of acts after us was a four-piece old-timey sort of act with an upright bass player who sang and played with a violent passion that made me fear for his fingers and made me understand the duct tape on his instrument. They even attacked a swing version of “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASusan and Jeff bein’ all Lovey dovey, which is usually unacceptable at an ilyAIMY show, but we allowed since she was sporting our pin. If they’d gotten naked and were no longer representing the Spine we’d have had to step in…
Enter Hooten Hollar. I have never seen anything like this unnatural howlng force. Everything that in my heart i’m against – drugs and feverish self-destruction and the wrecklessness of the Lifestyle that as a traveling musician I’m SUPPOSED to be embracing… Johnny made this brand of indendiary nihilism sound attractive…. With the hungry growl of George Thorogood crossed with the Love child of Brian Setzer (if he was a hairy MAN and not just a little swing kid) and Kurt Kobain’s guitars and a drummer of the “fuck you I don’t need a mic” school – this punk rockabilly was like nothing I’d ever heard before.
I just Love any picture which makes me look like a badass. I spend so much time being a dork, and occassional moments being a geek, that it’s a refreshing image.It was actually a pretty low-energy show, enjoying the glare of the early-spring Missouri sunshine and the rapid push of the Missouri River.Heather and I rocking out at Cooper’s Landing outside of Columbia, Missouri.A beautiful shot of Sparky’s Plan B being lowered into the Missouri River out back of Cooper’s Landing in Columbia, Missouri.Heather gets HER nap after the gig down on the dock.Just as we were getting ready to make a run for it, we were approached about a ride upon our nemesis… the DISTRACTION – or Sparky’s Plan B.Sparky, the captain and owner of the Plan B, regaling us with tales of sailing the Big Muddy… and then acknowledging that whoever’s at the wheel really needs to turn right.Like, she REALLY needs to turn right. I believe the pictures to the right can be captioned: “RIGHT!!! TURN RIGHT!!!!” (above) and (below) “RIGHT WOMAN!!! RIGHT!!!!” It was an interesting ride.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
