By now we’re back at Susan’s in Belleville, IL and we have crept in like mice, silent and padded of foot. Jeff is here too but everyone’s asleep and so we find our spaces and retreat into them trying to be quiet, quiet, quiet. We are home invaders and will be called out as such if we wake the parrots, but perhaps this night we’ve been sneaky enough… I hear the gentle rustle of feathers, the soft whistle of bird dreams, but I think we’ve gotten away with it.
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Heather admires herself in the cooking mirror at KOMU studios in Columbia, MO. Uhm… though I’m pretty sure not EVERY band takes down the spatula from the wall of the set of Pepper and Friends and slaps their band mate’s ass with it. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Should I make a Family Guy joke here? It was simply too cool an opportunity to pass up, even though I just KNOW every OTHER band that’s done an appearance on Pepper and Friends on KOMU has probably done the same damned thing Pepper and Friends is the Columbia, MO morning variety show. I don’t know that we have anything really comparable. It’s funny, it’s bizarre. It’s very professionally done in some ways and sort of slap-dash in others and all in all a LOT of fun to be a part of. Travis and the beautiful blonde who I can’t remember the name of right now were guest-hosts (Travis normally runs sound and she is behind a camera) and they seemed kind of nervous – probably our obvious professionalism *snert* – but the show went off well as they bantered with champion turkey gobblers, masseuses, cut to the weather, cut back, interviewed us, and dealt with very cute but very wriggly dogs. Definitely worth getting up at 7am.
I often marvel at the people we’ve met. At home I’d fancied myself a collector of wonderful people, but my collection at home has been spectacularly augmeneted by the people we’ve encountered on the road. A lot of them weren’t actually MUSIC people and have become good friends but others are Lovers of music, collectors of musicians in their own right and they’ve become not only great friends, but powerful lobbyists on our behalf – opening new markets, opening our eyes to new places, new people, new music. Getting other people’s attention and making us pay attention to almost missed possibilities.
Belleville, IL and the surrounding area is certainly hugely a product of this. Susan took us in after a chance encounter at a first-year singer/songwriter festival… (I point to this as a reason to not get TOO down on first-year festivals like the Gateway Debacle) and the friendship has encouraged us to come out more and more often. Certainly, there’s a fair amount of bribery involved – she found us a couple of gigs at the Stagger Inn which is an excellent paycheck for us… she opened our eyes to St Louis and the opportunities there… all of Missouri would be a closed book to us minus her.
I don’t remember precisely when she met Jeff Wheeler, but he’s also been a godsend, amplifying the Susan Effect exponentially, his connections with other musicians and his radio shows and now television… well… Columbia, MO has exploded for us too and the last couple of weeks have been good for us in a LOT of ways: professionally, musically, good for the soul. After the beating that was Dayton and the rape that was Indianapolis, Missouri is like a steam bath that is suddenly and beautifully co-ed. Jeff’s radio show “Uncommon Light” on KOPN is a lot of fun – and the Pepper and Friends show he hooked us up with was corny and silly – and well watched and a LOT of fun. Chaotic and absurd (we went on the air with a champion turkey gobbler!!!) but it drew a LOT of attention and I frankly enjoyed the Hell out of it.
The last week or so has been joyous and I’m looking forward to the next couple of shows – I’m selfishly annoyed at the timing of the funeral. It may involve having to cancel one of my favourite gigs and cutting my time short here in Belleville. After this is Nashville, where there are no Susans and no Jeffs to lead the way and push others and push us. We need to soak this in here, because it’s places and people like this that give us the strength and the fortitude to get through the places that are so inhospitable….
Well, better not to think about it – far better to stop typing and go brush my teeth – and to stop making this tapping noise lest I finally wake up a parrot. Yup… that’d pretty much mean I go to Hell.
Oh shit… I just sneezed.
1 thought on “October 14th, 2007.”
These early ilyDAYS are held so very fondly in my mind and in my heart…..the experiences that can allow me to say “I can die happy”…..