Radio & St. Louis

For the two nights we were in Champaign-Urbana, we stayed at Tricia’s old apartment, where one of Tricia’s old co-workers named Bobby Fisher (not a chess megastar) was subletting. Bobby not only let us stay there, but he also came to see us at the Urbana house show (see last post). The apartment was in the middle of a heavy renovation, so one of the bedrooms and half of the kitchen were inaccessible, but we made do in a living room nook.

Before playing our live radio show on WEFT 90.1 FM, we headed over to Sean’s and Scott’s apartment for dinner. Sean is vegan and Scott is vegetarian, which forces them to cook just about all of their food (not to mention they’re budding farmers). As a result, they’re stellar cooks. I still remember the ethnic dinner they put together for Tricia before she went to Africa, and I’m pretty sure I’ll remember this meal for a while too.

Sean cooked the pasta and baked some crispy potato cubes while Tricia and I cut up vegetables for the salad and tried our hand at making a spinach pesto (with basil and avocado added for good measure). Even though Scott was a bit under the weather and wouldn’t be eating that night, he made a zesty honey mustard dressing for the salad. All the greens were grown by Sean and Scott in their garden, and everything was done from scratch without recipes or measuring cups. The bread we ate with the meal was baked by Sean, and the ice cream we had after the meal was by Baskin-Robins. Just kidding. That was made by Sean too (using coconut milk). Needless to say, I was impressed. It could go down as the best meal we have all tour, but my stomach’s always open to other food!

We had each played WEFT Sessions a couple times before, so we knew what to expect upon entering the “Great Hall” and its seemingly endless CD collection. We knew that Mike Feldman would do a superb job engineering the audio, and we also knew that a great deal of host Todd Hunter’s allusions and witty comments would probably right sail over our heads.  We were right on both counts, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Tricia Scully’s set-list:
1. Curse Me! – Download
2. Troubled (Land of Talk cover) – Download
3. All My Energy – Download
4. The Hall Monitors (w/ Carl Hauck) – Download
5. Holding Out on You – Download

Carl Hauck’s set-list:
1. To Coast – Download
2. Northern Lights (Bowerbirds cover w/ Tricia Scully) – Download
3. Wrong About Distance – Download
4. Taxi (Harry Chapin cover) – Download

On Tuesday afternoon, we drove to St. Louis and viewed landmarks both en route to and while entering the city.  Sorry, Arch, but the giant cross off I-57 has you trumped.

We pulled up to the address about a half hour before the start time (which was later pushed back an hour), and Abi Robins greeted us on the street before showing us inside.  Abi and her boyfriend Sean Renner were kind enough to add us to the night’s bill.  They’ll be on a six-week tour of their own come July, and they’ll actually be playing in Chicago at Lilly’s on August 11th.  After the tour, they’ll be leaving their beautiful St. Louis apartment behind and moving out to Denver.  Godspeed, you two.

Tricia and I played first to a small, but attentive audience.  Abi’s and Sean’s apartment’s wood flooring and high ceilings made for a great acoustic space, and the cozy furniture and incandescent lighting enhanced the intimacy of the music.

Next up was Dylan Sneed, a Texas native about a week into a six-week tour, and he was a phenomenal songwriter and a mesmerizing performer.  I wish I had caught one of his original tunes, but at least this proves that he could turn just about any song into something poignant and heartfelt, even Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”:

St. Louis singer-songwriter Beth Bombara went last and performed some acoustic songs before picking up her gorgeous orange Epiphone for the slow-burning number in the video below and some twangy, tambourine-stomping  tunes in open-G.

Last night we stayed at my friend Brandon Sierra’s place, where he lives with his girlfriend Kirsten and his dog Ringo.  After making us bagels and wraps this morning, he accompanied us to the City Museum downtown, which was pitched to us as a Discovery Zone for adults.  With a ten-story slide that used to be part of a shoe factory, I guess I could see that, but what I couldn’t see around were the swarms of kids.  One little kid asked me if I was too chicken to climb something, and I laughed but felt compelled to try it.  Caving to the “peer” pressure of a seven year-old, I though I had sunk to a new level.  He then proceeded to ask Tricia if she was “too Pretty Pretty Princess” to try the same thing.  Apparently, she was not.

Tonight we’re watching the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup with Brandon and Kirsten before heading off to Memphis tomorrow.

-Carl

6.10.10 – Memphis, TN – The P & H Café
1532 Madison Avenue, 38104
Time TBA; Free
w/ Pineapple Explode; Holly Cole

6.11.10 – Greenbrier, TN – Loudhouse Coffee
2427 Highway 41 South, 37073
7:00 PM; cover TBA
w/ Dark Harp; Heed the Hue; Affliction Asylum

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Tags: 90.1 FM, Abi Robins, Arch, Beth Bombara, Bowerbirds, Champaign, City Museum, Dylan Sneed, giant cross, Harry Chapin, house show, Illinois, Land of Talk, Missouri, Sean Renner, spinach pesto, St. Louis, Todd Hunter, Urbana, WEFT

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