Gritty Graceland

So the Blackhawks won.  Neither Tricia or myself can claim to be real fans, but the last game was certainly enjoyable to watch.  If I didn’t say this in the last post, we really enjoyed our time with Brandon – what a terrific host!

After a scenic five hour drive from St. Louis, we crossed the bridge into Memphis and immediately noticed two things.  The first was an immense pyramid off to the left of the bridge.  We were told later that it was originally designed to hold concerts and sporting events, but that it now holds much of the city’s homeless population.  The second thing we noticed was the sporadic downpour of rain that fell from a sunny sky.  I couldn’t help but sing Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis”: Touchdown in the land of the Delta blues, in the middle of the pourin’ rain…  Before we knew it, we had arrived at the P & H Café.

The P & H's breathtaking surroundings

The P & H Cafe

The P & H was a dive’s dive.  It was the kind of place that only served beer, so patrons brought their own hard liquor.  It was the kind of place that hadn’t been informed about the invention of the toilet seat, the kind of place where The Fly II was playing on a faintly-colored 28-inch television to an entranced bar audience, the kind of place where cockroaches made themselves at home.  This was Memphis at its finest.

After much coaxing over e-mail and after getting nowhere with a phone call, we hadn’t exactly figured out when the show was supposed to start, but we had been told that load-in was anytime after they opened at 4PM.  So we walked in around a quarter after 4, me with a Jack Daniels shirt and Aviators and Tricia with a summery dress and an amplifier that seemed to furnish the place well.  In fact, one roach found the amp quite accommodating; after the show, the little bugger crawled out of it and charged at me across the asphalt, leaving me with one option and one option only: to stomp on it in a zealous fury.  Before I start receiving threatening e-mails from PETA, I’d like to reiterate that I had no choice.  The thing was like Gregor Samsa on steroids.

Anyway, we entered the place and were greeted by the bartender, Josh, who tacked “brother” on the end of every one of his jovially-delivered sentences.  ”You can just put ‘em up on the stage, brother… Oh yeah, no problem, brother… Alright, catch ya later, brother!”  It was our first dose of Southern hospitality (something we’d encounter a lot more throughout the night), and I truly felt welcome.  Even though I wouldn’t venture to wash my hands in the bar’s bathroom, I secretly enjoyed being in the place.  I thought, this is where people come to surround themselves with good people and have a good time (or to continue a life of desperate alcoholism).

After dropping off our gear, we headed off to the famous Beale Street, which was lined with seemingly identical barbecue joints, each with a decent blues band and some kind of sign claiming that its BBQ was third best in the world.  After watching some kids perform acrobatics in the street, we headed into a place called The Pig on Beale and ordered some smoked chicken, baked beans, and coleslaw.  It was no Black Dog, but it was pretty good.

NOT Beale Street...

Beale Street

Piggin' out

After another downpour, we stopped by a small café called Java Cabana, which had some interesting décor, some crappy tea, and some wi-fi.  Sorry I don’t have an adjective for the wi-fi…  We were just settling in when musicians started funneling in just in time for the start of the café’s open mic.  The first act was a poet whose voice resembled David Sedaris’.  It’s too bad his wit didn’t do the same thing.  We left as soon as the first musician started playing and realized that we didn’t miss open mics very much.  They’re just plain awkward.

We returned to the P & H and discovered that there was an additional band on the bill that we hadn’t known about: The Itchy Hearts.  They were confirmed, but the venue said otherwise once they got there, even though they had the e-mail to prove it. If that wasn’t enough, the venue had a poster on the wall about the show that the band had sent in the mail.  I won’t get into how bad the communication was with this particular talent buyer, because I’m pretty sure it’s clear already.

Tricia kicked things off and informed me afterwards that she had seen cockroaches crawling around on stage while she was playing.  I decided to close my eyes for my set, and it served me well.

The Itchy Hearts took the stage next.  My best description of the quartet from Richmond and Brooklyn is that they’re a punk-infused, Irish-tinged folk-rock band with rotating vocalists.  While watching their set, I couldn’t help but think that if Dr. Manhattan had spent a little more time down South, they might have turned out similarly, and that’s a good thing.  But upon listening to The Itchy Hearts’ fantastic new album “Do Ya Best,” I realized that my comparison may have been a little ham-handed.  Either way, their set was a lot of fun, and they were great guys to hang out with.  So hopefully we’ll run into them again sometime.

Nashville’s Pineapple Explode followed with an introspective set of art folk, and they seemed to be off in their own world while performing it.  The song I captured below was probably my favorite of the set.  We didn’t talk much with them, but they told us they were just embarking on a five or six week North American tour.  Good luck, guys and gal.

Holly Cole was supposed to be the local act on the bill, but because of the aforementioned poor communication with the talent buyer, she wasn’t actually informed that she was on the bill…  In spite of that, she borrowed my guitar and sent her talented violinist out to the car to fetch her instrument.  The two played a captivating unplugged set for our table as Pineapple Explode tore down in the background.  It was the perfect end to a not-so-perfect (but nonetheless fun) show.

Did I mention that the people in Tennessee were extremely friendly?   We met some awesome people at the P & H who talked to us at length about Memphis, and they couldn’t have been more welcoming.  They made us sit at their table.  Try finding people like that in Chicago.

After the show, we drove to Nashville with the help of two caffeinated 69-cent 32-ounce Mega Gulps from a local gas station.  We arrived around 5:30 AM, more than ready to hit the hay.

That’s all for now.  Coverage of Nashville and Champaign will be a-comin’ soon.…

-Carl

Spinning during the drives to Memphis, Nashville, Champaign, & Grayslake:
Billy Bragg & Wilco – Mermaid Avenue
Tegan & Sara – The Con
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Dear Companion
Dylan Sneed – No Worse for the Wear EP
Sean Renner – Sekhmet
Death Cab for Cutie – Narrow Stairs
Spoon – Gimme Fiction
The National – High Violet
TV on the Radio – Dear Science
Okkervil River – Don’t Fall in Love with Everyone You See
Iron & Wine – Around the Well Disc Two
Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
Nathaniel Rateliff – In Memory of Loss
The Itchy Hearts – Do Ya Best
My Dear Alan Andrews – Ethos
Broken Social Scene – Feel Good Lost
The Snake the Cross the Crown – Cotton Teeth
A.A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose
Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer

6.16.10 – Indianapolis, IN – Melody Inn
3826 North Illinois Street, 46208
9:00 PM; $5 cover
w/ The Bonesetters; Holy Ghost Canyon; Christian Taylor & Homeschool

6.17.10 – Kalamazoo, MI – The Strutt
773 West Michigan, 49007
9:30 PM; $5 cover
w/ Taylor Clark; Benjamin Riley; Spitzer Space Telescope

Goose Island Photos

I may be posting this a bit late, but be sure to check the photos my dad took at the June 5th Goose Island show.  Click here.

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

Urbana House Show

Tricia and I arrived in Champaign Urbana around 6PM on Sunday, and it seemed that everyone at Zak Maybaum’s house was wondering whose bright idea it was to schedule a house show at the same time as the Blackhawks game.  My bad…  But to be fair to myself, our house show was planned for quite a while, so why didn’t the NHL just schedule the 5th game of the Stanley Cup at some other time?  Answer me that…

It was well after seven that people started rolling in and finding spots on the couches or carpet, so we got started a little late.  We decided to draw musicians’ names from a hat to determine the set order.

My Dear Alan Andrews was drawn first.  I first played with Colin Taylor at the Red Herring back in late 2008.  I was immediately impressed with his songwriting and musical chops, but when I saw him again at a show I set up at Cowboy Monkey in late February, he was a changed man.  Draped in an American flag and picking deftly at a weathered old twelve-string (with six strings), he wove his warm but rustic tunes into a narrative of hippie wisdom that he’d acquired while traveling down South.  In short, he blew everyone away.  It was a pleasure to play with Colin again, but I still like to think of him on stage at the Cowboy Monkey with a banjo in hand, being showered with good-natured expletives from his friends/fans that announced his return to C-U.

Tricia and I performed second and third, enjoying the quiet room after a somewhat noisy Chicago venue.  After my set, I picked Jonathon Childers from the hat.  Let me tell you about Jon.  Simply put, he is one cool dude.  I bump into him at just about every C-U show I attend, and he’s usually wearing sunglasses.  He has the kind of voice that’s ripe for blues singing, the kind you can only get from a few years of unadulterated smoking.  During his set at the house show, he played a tune about a dog party that had everyone howling.  Literally.  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get away with that.  I didn’t capture that one on video, but you can check out another song from the set below.  I hope you enjoy my camerawork.  It’s like a poor man’s La Blogotheque.

Zak Maybaum invited me to play a house show around this time last year, and I was a little wary, because there are two types of house shows: good ones and bad ones.  Luckily, Zak has put on great ones the two times that I’ve played at his house.  This song by From the Tops of Trees (Zak’s acoustic project with his friend Justin) happens to be a condemnation of poorly-run house shows where the audience seems to care more about drinking than about the music.  Not wanting to offend anyone, he put out the disclaimer that the song was not about the audience there that night, because they were awesome.  Again, props to Zak for being a great host.

World’s First Flying Machine frontman Ben Campbell closed the show with an intimate set of songs that spoke of rivers and fathers with a much-appreciated dose of sincerity.  I like to think of Ben as a Will Sheff or Jeff Mangum in development, but that’s not a particularly original thought amongst C-U music writers.  I caught his last song on video, which was actually written earlier that day and practiced in Zak’s laundry room.

Marty Kouba recorded the whole show with an overhead mic, and he said he’d be sending it to the musicians at some point.  I’ll keep you updated if he does.  Thanks, Marty!

We’re a little behind on our blogging, mostly because of slow or non-existent internet connections, but I hope to catch up in the next few days and post about WEFT Sessions as well as our house show tonight in St. Louis.  I’m off to bed for now, though.  Tomorrow we’re hitting up the City Museum!

-Carl

Spinning during the Drive to St. Louis:
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Volcano Choir – Unmap

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

Crash Landing in Chicago

After arriving in Grayslake around noon (stuffed with Heather’s scrumptious banana bread), we hung out with my family, including my Pennsylvanian sister and the cutest niece a man could ask for.  After a late lunch, good ol’ Bryan Kveton rang the doorbell.  On several occasions I’ve asked Bryan to play with me the day of a show, and he has always come through.  After a bit of practice, we made some space in the backseat of the car and the three of us embarked on one of our shortest drives thus far.  Bryan humorously exclaimed, “We’re on tour!”

Personally, I felt like a tourist upon entering Wrigleyville, which appeared to be under the influence of an average Saturday night.  I avoided a parking ticket later that night, but only because the coppers probably had other things to worry about – gridlocked intersections, countless accidents waiting to happen, belligerents trying to pick fights with cabbies, etc.  I would venture to guess that if Wrigley Field ever cut off its expensive beer supply, most Cubs fans would awake from their stupor and wonder why they ever wasted their time going there in the first place.

As for the show, we unfortunately had two bands back out beforehand.  The Lesser Birds of Paradise had to drop out a while ago due to Mark breaking his arm, but he still showed up to see us play, which was awesome.  Venna dropped out the day of the show due to babysitter issues, but Dustin Currier (of Venna and The Felix Culpa) filled in with a solo set.  I didn’t manage to get a video of Dustin because of the camera’s testy battery supply, but he played a nice set.

On top of the dropouts, we encountered some major sound issues and couldn’t hear much on stage. Were we singing a half step down?  I’m still not sure.  Bryan told the soundman (named Crash) that he appreciated him rolling with the punches, and that he knows it can be difficult working with new gear.  Crash replied, “It doesn’t have to be.”  Ouch.  Thanks for the feedback, Crash (both the biting verbal remarks and the stuff coming out of the speakers all too often).

Despite the problems, though, we had a good time.  We are truly blessed to have such wonderful and supportive family members, friends, co-workers, and fans.  Thanks to all who came out.

Here’s a video of Tricia playing “The Hall Monitors” with yours truly filling in hesitantly on guitar.

And here’s a video of Tricia, Bryan, and Brian Trahan joining me on stage for a cover of Delta Spirit’s “Bleeding Bells.”  Maybe I play this too often, but I love the song, so I don’t care.

Zach Pietrini and the Broken Bones closed the show with a smaller lineup than the last time we’d seen them, but they still folk-rocked the place.  Phil is always impressive to watch as he moves from lap steel to electric guitar to floor tom to backing vocals to shaker before picking up the lap steel again.  Plus, they’re super-nice guys.  Here’s a waltz they performed mid-set.

Last night we played a house show in Urbana, but we’ll post more about that once we have the videos uploaded.

Tonight we have a live radio performance on Champaign’s WEFT 90.1 FM.  It’s an hour long and it starts at 10:00 PM.  The good news is that you can listen in even if you’re not in Central Illinois.  Go to http://www.weft.org to stream the show online.

St. Louis, you’re next!

Spinning during the Drives to Chicago & Champaign:
Dawes – North Hills
Melody Gardot – My One and Only Thrill
Cass McCombs – Catacombs
Sparklehorse – Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

6.07.10 – Champaign, IL – WEFT Session
113 N. Market Street, 61820
10:00 PM; Free
Come to the studio, tune in to 90.1 FM, or stream at weft.org

6.08.10 – St. Louis, MO – The Bird’s Nest
3113 Shenandoah Avenue, 63104
7:00 PM; cover TBA
w/ Dylan Sneed; Beth Bombara

Back in Illinois!

Home sweet home!  We’re back in the Chicago area at the moment, preparing for our Goose Island show this evening. [Note: both The Lesser Birds of Paradise and Venna have dropped out of the show]

We’ve had a wonderful past few days in Wisconsin.  We stayed with Carl’s brother Craig and his wife Heather in their adorable condo, and they over fed us with banana bread and Special K bars

The tea house in Eau Claire was pretty cute – unfortunately, it was the first night of a weekly Thursday music event.  Apparently everyone in town heads goes to it, so the tea house was pretty empty.  We enjoyed our teas, though, and had a nice time talking to Paul.

The show in Neenah was a little more lively – Heather and Craig brought some friends, and Carl’s neighbor from Grayslake stopped in with a few people as well.  The barista Ashley was extremely complimentary and very accommodating, and Zach McCluskey of A Familiar Voice played a nice set.   His claim to fame is that he played the very first Bon Iver show.  We’re uber jealous.

Check out part of Zach’s set:

After Chicago, we’re headed down to Champaign-Urbana for a couple days.  Woot!

-Tricia

Spinning during the drives to Osh Kosh & Grayslake:
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Decibully – World Travels Fast
Phosphorescent – Here’s to Taking it Easy
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
Tom Waits – Blue Valentine
The Lesser Birds of Paradise – Space Between

6.05.10 – Chicago, IL – Goose Island Wrigleyville
3535 North Clark Street, 60657
9:00 PM; $7 cover
w/ Dustin Currier; Zach Pietrini & the Broken Bones

6.06.10 – Urbana, IL – House Show
604 South Busey Apt #1, 61801
7:00 PM
w/ My Dear Alan Andrews; From the Tops of Trees; Ben Campbell; Jon Childers

Mini-Apple

On the night that we drove up to Minneapolis after our Ames Progressive show, we stayed with Lana, an old friend of Tricia’s.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that Lana had a wonderful sense of humor and that I’d be laughing a lot the next day.  We passed out immediately once we hit the sheets and woke up late the next morning.  After breakfast and showers, the three of us walked over to a local food co-op to buy the Wisconsin honey covered in our last post, and then we stopped by Caffetto Cafe for some tea.  With its mismatched furniture, chipped paint, and art-adorned walls, Caffetto reminded me of Caffe Paradiso in Urbana, and the tea was fantastic, even if I did drown it in honey (and sip it through a straw).  Lana and I played a game of ping-pong down in the cafe’s basement (yes, they have a ping-pong table downstairs as well as balls and paddles at the register), but her skills were too much for me.  She won 22-20.  My brother Drew would be disappointed…

After emerging from the musty cafe basement, we took a lengthy stroll around the beautiful Lake of Isles, gazing at kayakers, caterpillars, and the surrounding mansions as we chatted.  We also heard/saw a car accident on the walk back to Lana’s.  Thankfully, everyone was okay.

Lana headed off to work a little before five, and Tricia and I dined at Pizza Luce per Lana’s recommendation.  All of the waiters and waitresses were covered in tattoos and piercings, which was cool.  I wondered if it was a prerequisite at the job, kind of like most other places require that you don’t have tattoos and piercings.  We considered several traditional pizza options, but we were swayed by the menu’s description of the baked potato pizza:

We smother our pizza crust in buttery-garlic baby red mashed potatoes and top it with broccoli, fresh-diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese and a sprinkle of smoked apple hickory bacon –served with a side of sour cream.

Mmmmm… We weren’t disappointed, but we were a bit upset with ourselves for ordering the medium rather than the small.  By the fourth ingredient-loaded piece, each of us were struggling a bit, but I reminded Tricia that Man v. Food‘s Adam Richman regularly tackles things like 6-pound burritos with no problem.  Newly inspired, we finished with gusto.

We had some time to kill before heading over to 331 Club, so we stopped by an awesome little record store called Treehouse Records, where I couldn’t help but pick up a few albums.  Afterward, we popped into Once Upon a Crime, a small bookstore that only carries crime mystery books.  The older couple that runs the store was just about to close, but they kindly allowed us to browse for a few minutes.  Tricia mentioned that she had just finished a humorous Czechoslovakian mystery novel and was searching for something like it, and the woman began talking to us in a hushed, but excited tone, almost as if she were solving a mystery of her own.  Tricia left with a book in hand and a fervent admiration for the couple running the shop.

We arrived at the 331 Club on the corner of University and 13th, and the first thing I noticed was the unforgiving color of its exterior.  But inside the yellow casing was an intimate and fairly well-lit (for a bar) array of booths, tables, and stools in front of a carpeted corner stage.  A blues band called Liquor Pigs were playing an early show to a middle-aged audience, one that would be replaced by a much younger crowd once 10:00 rolled around.

Tricia opened the show, and the bar was chatty but attentive.  It was nice for both of us to see some familiar faces, so we each spent much of the night catching up with people.

After my set, Bella Ruse took the stage.  Although the act started out as a duo (Kay and Joseph), they had a full band tonight.  I originally contacted them about playing the show after hearing their fantastic song “Push On” on OurStage.  Like “Push On,” many of the other tunes in their set were folk-pop gems with jazz undertones, and the bass and drums added some nice texture.  I’m excited to play with them again when they come through Chicago in July.

Closing the show was quirky folk duo Talking Tree.  I had the pleasure of playing with Nate and Molly at Acadia Cafe the first time I played in Minneapolis a year and a half ago, and their set was just as enjoyable last night.  Just as you’re on the brink of getting tired of their self-professed “silliness,” they rope you back in with their charm and their perfectly delivered harmonies.  Fun stuff.

Talking Tree from afar

Jay Gabler of the Twin Cities Daily Planet provided some press coverage of the show today with some great photos.  Check it out here.  He called it “a showcase of whimsical but heartfelt contemporary folk music.”  Thanks for covering it, Jay!

We had a short drive to Hugo, MN after the show to stay with my brother’s close friends Ben and Jessie, whom we met (and truly enjoyed being around) at his wedding.  They were fantastic hosts; they left Texas Toast for us in the morning (which made for some delectable French toast once we dipped it in egg) and they even made a jarful of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (some of which Ben shoved in a plastic bag for us to take on the road).  Dangerous but delicious.

Now I’m sitting in Infinitea Teahouse in Eau Claire, WI as Tricia is setting up.  It’s pretty empty in here due to the first night of a summer concert series here in town, so I suppose we’ll just content ourselves with being background music for a night.  Looks like it could be our first dud, but one dud in a week isn’t bad.  Later tonight we’ll head to Osh Kosh to stay with my brother.  Looking forward to it, Graig!

-Carl

Spinning during the drives to Hugo & Eau Claire:
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Dear Companion
Dosh – Tommy
Bella Ruse – Bella Ruse EP
The Daredevil Christopher Wright – In Deference to a Broken Back

6.04.10 – Neenah, WI – Rock Island Café
303 N Commercial Street, 54956
7:00 PM; $5 cover
w/ a familiar voice

6.05.10 – Chicago, IL – Goose Island Wrigleyville
3535 North Clark Street, 60657
9:00 PM; $8 cover
w/ Venna; Zach Pietrini & the Broken Bones

I owe ahhhh…

We’re currently sitting in a lovely residence in Minneapolis with my new best friend, Hauke Honey.  According to Tricia’s mental folk remedy index, consuming local honey acts as a vaccine to the pollen in the area.  Carl’s tempted to guzzle down the bottle, but a heavily concentrated cup of tea will suffice for now. Because we’re both contributing to this post, we’re writing in third person.

Hauke is made for Hauck

Yesterday we had a lovely day in Iowa.  After an extended visit at a coffee shop with little fuzzy bears as ottomans, we headed over to an historic house (we had to say “an” to sound sophisticated) in Des Moines for a onesongs.com video shoot.  OneSongs is the brainchild of Scott Gratton, and he had his friend Ben Whitmer over to do the camerawork.  Up until this point, Scott used a webcam to do all the footage, but this time Ben brought over his fancy-pants profession camera, so the final product should be great.  We each did one original song, then a cover together (the cover may or may not be posted on onesongs.com).  We had a blast, and we were really happy to be a part of the re-birth of the website.

We set out for Ames around 5:30.  Arriving with stomachs grumbling, we parked quickly and hit up a Subway.  Munching on our subs while people watching from those oh-too-familiar Subway windows, we realized that the majority of the residents in that particular area of Ames had a striking resemblance to Fred Durst… white t-shirt, red backwards baseball cap, and jeans/basketball shorts (or maybe basketball shorts under jeans?).  It was an interesting little nook of Ames that we fell upon, but we grew to love it as the night wore on.

We found Ames Progressive, the venue for the evening, in an inside storefront next to a hair salon and a Korean restaurant.  It was one open room with a few couches, a few rugs, and a whole lot of musical equipment.  Kate and Holly of Pennyhawk greeted us with smiling faces, and it felt like home.

The musicians arrived, the audience arrived (even through the tornado warning and raging storm), and the show began.

Jacob Tyler Wolfgang started the evening out with his band.  We had heard one of Jacob’s songs on onesongs.com and were really excited to play with him.  He played with the band he formed to track his yet-to-be-released album, but we only captured a song with Jacob and his drummer playing.  To finish the set, Jacob played two fantastic solo songs with his acoustic guitar running through a reverbed-out amp, which sounded gorgeous.

Jacob Tyler Wolfgang

I was after Jacob Tyler Wolfgang.  The audience was so attentive and wonderful! – Tricia

Tricia Scully

Carl was next – he blew the crowd away, of course    (“Not really” – Carl)

Carl Hauck

Pennyhawk, fronted by Kate Kennedy, closed out the evening.  Their sound had hints of ragtime and jazz with haunting harmonies, and was topped off with sometimes hilarious, sometimes chilling narrative.  ‘Twas a very enjoyable set.  The video is an adaptation of a song from Kate’s solo album, which Nate said was the CD that caused him to fall in love with her.  When we listened to it on the drive to Minneapolis afterward, we didn’t fall in love with her, because we had already done so during Pennyhawk’s set.  Too late…

Pennyhawk

Oh, and sorry, Elliott.  We didn’t end up seeking out the world’s largest concrete gnome in Ames.

Off to get pizza before the show!

Spinning during the drives to Ames & Minneapolis:
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot it in People
Kate Kennedy – Circle. Spiral. Line
Jacob Tyler Wolfgang – Bless Our Burning Heart EP
St. Vincent – Marry Me
Arcade Fire – Funeral

6.02.10 – Minneapolis, MN – 331 Club
331 13th Avenue NE, 55413
9:30 PM; Free!
w/ Bella Ruse; Talking Tree

6.03.10 – Eau Claire, WI – Infinitea Teahouse
112 East Grand Avenue, 54701
8:00 PM; Free

Land of Lincoln

As I may or may not have mentioned in the last post, we arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska very early (a little before 8AM).  The first thing that we noticed about the city was that they roads were incredibly wide and that there was plenty of parking to be found.  All the streets in downtown were organized alphabetically (O Street, P Street, Q Street, etc.) and numerically (16th, 17th, 18th, etc.), so it was extremely easy to navigate.  I still can’t find my way around Chicago without a map, but figuring out Lincoln in a couple hours was a breeze.  After that, we killed time.  Lots of time…

The straw in this logo appears to be poking into the side of the guy's face.

Cool flyer, but Tricia's name is missing

We loaded into Duffy’s fairly early, and Dub (the talent buyer) greeted us.  We were surprised to learn that Dub not only books the bands, but he watches the bands (all of them), creates flyers for Duffy’s shows, and tends the bar.  And he treated us well.  We’re used to talent buyers surfacing with twenty minutes left in the show with small wads of cash to give each musician in shady fashion (i.e. a handshake), so needless to say, Dub was a real pleasure to work with.  The other musicians arrived around 9 and found Tricia and me in a booth like the pseudo-nerds we are, reading novels with tallboys in hand.

Mark, a.k.a. Greener, Texas Ranger, opened the show, but we didn’t get a video of him, as I accidentally left the camera on the stage before his set.  Tricia went second and played a solid set; the crowd built up as some curious show-goers from the competing concert across the street peered in only to stay for the remainder of her time on stage.  I was amused when an older bearded man whose muscles were bulging out of his dark clothes pulled the sound man over and asked who the girl playing the guitar was.  After he was filled in about the identity of the deft-fingered ginger, he quietly observed, “this $h!t is f@#king awesome!”

Elliott, a.k.a. Manny Coon, followed with an excellent set of weathered folk that included a Townes Van Zandt cover and a finale that found him serenading the crowd from the middle of the bar, sans the PA.  I took a video of that song, but with the tavern’s dim lighting, the most you can see is a dark silhouette.  Aside from that number, the highlight of his set was the duet he did with his friend Katie.  I’m still kicking myself for not recording that one.

I played fourth to a few stragglers who hung around near the stage after Elliott’s set, but the majority of the tavern’s patrons swarmed noisily around the bar from that point on, and not even a raucous set of blunt sociopolitical commentary from Orion Walsh could draw them back again.

All in all, though, it was a great show in a cool little city, and Tricia and I were stunned by the other musicians’ generosity (thanks again, Mark and Elliott).  Before leaving, Dub wished us good luck with the rest of our tour and told us to keep Duffy’s in mind in the future.  And just as we were getting ready to seek out another parking lot, Elliott kindly offered us a place to stay.  We took him up on it, and hoped we weren’t overstaying our welcome as we chatted with him over Lightnin’ Hopkins tunes late into the morning when he could’ve been fishing instead.

The rest of the post is made up of photos from our drive to Des Moines this afternoon, which included a stop at the Danish Windmill somewhere in rural Iowa.  It was something else.  (Take that as you will).

The question mark seems to substantiate the first thought that comes to most people's minds when they see the Danish Windmill: WTF?

America.

Des Moines

-Carl

P.S. – Midwest allergens are killing me.

Spinning during the drive to Des Moines:
Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Common Loon – The Long Dream of Birds
Various Artists – Dark Was the Night Disc One
The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium

6.01.10 – Ames, IA – Ames Progressive
118 Hayward Avenue Suite #3, 50014
8:00 PM; $5 cover
w/ Jacob Tyler Wolfgang; Pennyhawk

6.02.10 – Minneapolis, MN – 331 Club
331 13th Avenue NE, 55413
9:30 PM; Free!
w/ Bella Ruse; Talking Tree

We’re not in Kansas anymore…

Hello again, folks.  This time we’re writing from Lincoln, Nebraska after a good night’s sleep in a Pizza Hut parking lot.  But where did we leave off?  Ah yes, Greenville…

Shortly after I posted the last blog, Steph Plant treated Tricia and me to a nice meal at a new diner near the Greenville courthouse.  The first item on the menu that caught our collective eye was a sandwich called the Big Ol’ Fish, but we each played it safe one of the restaurant’s many forms of chicken.  With the courthouse in view, the scene reminded me a bit of Maycomb, an idea that was enhanced by Steph’s boyfriend’s resemblance to Atticus Finch.  He’s not only a lawyer, but he’s also a tall, dark-haired, spectacled man with a gentle air of wisdom about him.

Back at Adam Bros. Music & Coffee House, we each took turns playing in a nook next to the front entrance.  Steph Plant’s set included some old favorites (“Shook Me as a Child” and “Personal Hygiene”) as well as two new songs and an improvised tune dedicated to one of her close friends.  Her performance was captivating as always.  [By the way, you might think that Steph's head is an orb by viewing the videos below, but that's absurd.  It's just the lighting, silly.]

We hit the hay pretty soon after we got back to Steph’s, and upon waking up we ate breakfast (choices included oatmeal with muddy buddies, cereal with muddy buddies, and straight muddy buddies) while watching a couple episodes from Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords.  We then said bye to Steph and her mischievous cat New-New (or is it Nou-Nou?)  before heading out the door.  Here are some stunning photos from our drive to Topeka:

We arrived in Topeka, KS around six hours later and pulled into Lazio’s, the night’s venue.  I had only met Thad once before while on tour with Todd Reese, but he came out of the coffee shop beaming and cracking jokes like we’d both known him for years.  By the end of the night, it sort of felt like that.  Thad puts on shows for traveling bands/musicians in his spare time, and it’s a good thing, because he is genuinely outgoing, hospitable, and kind.  Plus, he has a wealth of knowledge about Topeka, as well as some inside dirt on perhaps the most unfortunate thing that the city is known for: the Phelps family.

After Thad took us to dinner at a Mexican joint, we took a spin around the Phelps’ “compound” (which was somewhat disturbing) and stopped by Thad’s house to meet his dog before heading back to Lazio’s.  Like the show two nights before, this one had a couple acts drop out before someone filled in last-minute.  Hopefully that won’t become a regular thing in the coming weeks.  I secretly also hope Tricia and I aren’t so ugly that we’re driving the acts away…  This time, Sarah Mammoliti was kind enough to fill in with a day’s notice, and surprisingly enough, it was her first time performing solo:

After the show, Thad took us to Quentin’s, where the food seemed to come in mountainous heap after mountainous heap.  After informing us that Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper had passed away, he mentioned that our trip should either be called the Celebrity Death Tour or Tourbidity (which he immediately realized was a clumsy play on the word “morbidity”).  He also told us specifically not to make any cliche Wizard of Oz references when leaving Kansas.  As you may notice, it was difficult to resist…  Thad sent us on our way with too much food in our stomachs, and we found our way to the aforementioned parking lot a little after midnight.

We’re quite excited for our show tonight at Duffy’s Tavern, but we’re currently wondering where we’re going to stay tonight and what we’re going to do on our day off tomorrow.  Any ideas?

-Carl

Spinning during the drives to Topeka & Lincoln:
Maria Taylor – Lynn Teeter Flower
Blind Pilot – 3 Rounds and a Sound
Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous
Bowerbirds – Upper Air
Elbow – Asleep in the Back
The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
KaiserCartel – March Forth
Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Wilco – Being There Disc One
Iron & Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
Frightened Rabbit – Winter of Mixed Drinks

5.30.10 – Lincoln, NE – Duffy’s Tavern
1412 O Street, 68508
9:00 pm
w/ Manny Coon; Greener, Texas Ranger; Orion Walsh

6.01.10 – Ames, IA – Ames Progressive
118 Hayward Avenue Suite #3, 50014
8:00 PM; $5 cover
w/ Jacob Tyler Wolfgang; Pennyhawk