I am not your party hat...
2 nights, 1 day, the kids all yelled, "Hooray".

04.10.05 -The Elbo, Chicago IL (show 4/9)

I am laying at home as exhausted as I've ever been.  I've been operating with a flu for the past 2 weeks, on top of which I had a stomach flu for 3 days last week.  The Rakes played Thursday, 4/7, and with one day to rest, we packed up for Chicago early a.m. Saturday.

The trip down was filled with everyone wondering if I was even going to make it to the show, and I pondered asking to be taken to a hospital several times.  With enough pain killers and Sudafed, however, I've found that a person can at least keep breathing and standing mostly upright through any flu or cold.  I cleared out a space in the back of the van to sleep for the last 3 hours of the drive.  Load in at the Elbo was a bit tricky, down a couple of flights of stairs.  

On the way in, we met The Brunettes on the way out, who had played the Elbo the night before and were on their way to Minneapolis to begin their supporting tour with the Shins.  (ed. 4/15)  --- Steve and Brian went to the Shins/Brunettes show on Monday, 4/11 and said they were great.

After getting our gear into the Elbo, we talk to the sound tech and confirm our slot at 10:30.  I take more pain pills and restring a guitar and we move upstairs.  From here the rest of the night -excepting our set- goes completely haywire.  I had left my guitar out and went back down to tune and case it until we play.  I overheard the sound tech talking with the supposed opening act and all of a sudden he's complained enough to get our set time switched to first.  Now, you know, it's pretty typical of road work that set times get switched, but this had happened to us a few times recently and so we had went out our way to confirm our time to the "T" with the booker in advance.  We have a lot of friends and fans in Chicago and didn't want to have them coming in to see that we had already played.  I hit the roof.  Ordinarily I am a real go-with-the-flow kinda guy, but on this night I'm sick, I'm excited to see some friendly faces, and I am in no mood to pander to some prima donna messing with details that had been in place for months.  I talked to everyone working in the club, including the owner - who was very friendly and did help us out.  We still had to play the early slot, but we would move that back to 10:15, which was at least only 15 minutes earlier than we were supposed to play.  I say my piece once more, thank the owner for pushing the set back to help our fans, and retire to the streets of Chicago to walk off some steam.

The Rakes took the room.  Any band out there has their favorite shows that they've done.  When I woke up, I didn't think I would actually make it through the day with the flu I had, but something about adversity has always brought out the best in this band, and especially in me.  The Elbo on 4/9 has to be in my top 5 shows ever for The Rakes.  The boys in the band surprised even me and I can't say enough about the audience, truly a great crowd and everyone we knew made it in time save for Brian's friends that showed up at 2a.m. after every band had played.

The rest of the evening was the usual hang around til the end.  My buddy Jaime and I hung down in the music room to check out all the other acts, mostly a waste of time but I enjoyed the band with the frizzy head guy and the PC - who later "accidently" collected not only their pay, but ours as well (which we did get back).  Yeah, right, "accidently".  Your sound is pretty good, but I hope your van burns down to the tires.  

All in all, The Rakes did what we do.  We did it better than your band Mr. I-Love-Me, we did it better than your friends band, and we will do it better again and again.  And believe it or not, we love y'all - whoever you are.  Just don't walk on us and expect us to smile.

There is more for us to pretend...
I said, "Iowa", she said, "What?" 2 days and 1 snow storm.

02.19.05  -The Reverb, Cedar Falls, IA

I have serious sleep problems.  It is the stuff of legend among those who know me.  Pass out dead at 9pm some nights and then wake off and on through the night.  Others I go to bed exhausted at 1 a.m. and sit upright by 1:40 a.m. with no hope of returning to slumber which results usually in a two or three week run of hazed days and chaotic sleep patterns.  Regardless, once my eyes see even the slightest hint of sunrise forget about it, I'm up.  Last night was something of an oddity, I sleep from 3a.m. through 9:30 a.m., possibly the latest I have slept in over 10 years.  We pack up the van and go visit Kate and Dan and their kid Gus.  It is curious to me that as time goes on friendships are mostly shared through catching up on times not spent together.

On the road to Cedar Falls and all I can think is Matt should have been a NASCAR driver.  Foot on the floor and bumper in the trunk of whatever poor soul has the misfortune to be in front of the F250.  I have to say it was nice to be in Cedar Falls in just about one hour, though.

"We're out of regular hot sauce.  Do you want the medium or the suicide?"  "Suicide please."  At least I solved some sinus problems on that one.  All the boys grab some eats at the little Mexicana eatery and head to the Mohair Pair for a little shopping.  For those who don't know, the Mohair Pair is run by Dave and Barb of The House Of Large Sizes, who we miss seeing up in the Twin Cities.  I'm peeking vintage iron-ons and buy a nice glitter lined "4 ON THE FLOOR" tee for Aislinn, who will be crawling any day now.  Barb has to iron it on so she is bringing it to the show.  We head to a local guitar shop and then end up spending most of the day parked in front of the Reverb waiting for someone to open the door.

Load in, set up, and check in to the furnished apartment which is literally in the club.  Incredible, I wish we had done that last time.  It offers a nice getaway through the night.  The set blazed.  The kids went nuts.  My friend and coworker Greg drove down from Minneapolis and surprised us about halfway through our set.  We hung out in the apartment, made pizza, and slipped in and out of the club the rest of the night.  A rocker could get used to that type of setup, I'm glad I don't live in Cedar Falls, or I would probably try to rent the place out full time.

The drive home was complete misery.  The snow storm had gone most of the night and by the time we saw Albert Lea there were cars in the ditches and it was all white knuckle driving with SUV's blazing by at 75mph - later to be seen in said ditches.  Congratulations, you are a moron.  Back to Minneapolis, unscathed, see you all in a few weeks.

02.18.05   - Gabe's Oasis, Iowa City, IA

I've got a strange feeling that something is not all right at the Motel 6 in Iowa City.  The desk clerk is unusually inquisitive about the nature of our visit.  Then again, these days, so am I.  After getting the key we do the usual routine of trying to avoid talking too much about the tedium.  I take to breaking in my strings, and soon pass the task off to Matt, who enjoys making Metal sounds through one of my favorite new toys, the Roland Microcube, a practice amp I highly recommend to any guitarist looking for portability.  It is surprisingly touch sensitive, even to a tube amp snob such as myself.  

I call my old friend Dan, who ended up in Iowa City via Kate's (his wife and another cherished friend) enrollment to a post graduate program in Anthropology at the University of Iowa.  We are trying to figure out a meet time and it is decided to just meet at Gabe's Oasis as we load in.  Matt decides at this time to go book his own room, much to our relief, as his snoring rivals the volume of even the most astoundingly obtuse and abrasive of Mahler's symphonies. 

We load in to Gabe's, and set to trying to set our bearings a little.  Dan at this point has arrived and we all decide to head to a local pub for some food.  On the way, we are greeted with the antics of drunken abandon by no more than 8:30 pm.  I am immediately at home, as this is the climate I am used to abiding by from my own college days.  This is not to be considered as a dig at Iowa City, quite the opposite, it is a perfectly acceptable reaction to the reality of being stranded by geography in a world of possibility.  After a drink and food, we head back to the club for the show.

The set was great, the kids were rocking, and the staff was kind.  After all, we ain't just whistlin' Dixie up there.

After the show, we load out the steep, steel grate stairs while saying goodbyes to all the well wishers.  We hope to see you all again soon.  The most bizarre experience of the whole night was the drive back to the motel.  Evidently, in Iowa City there are "sober cabs" that look a lot like our van (an F250 service van, of course, but ours is an old city vehicle with a yellow 'cherry' light on top).  As we wove through alleys and city streets, drunken college students were literally walking in front of us and throwing their arms up in the air.  Steve was the unlucky designated driver that night, and was bewildered and confused as I tried to lure people into the van.  While this is going on through the one-way maze of downtown Brian is calling his brothers on the cell and asking them questions, "Where are you?", to which Matt is answering quite brashly and hazed, "I'm right in front of you" and "I'm not sure if I can tomorrow.  What time are we leaving town?".  Steve nearly lost his mind, but by careful navigation we made it to the motel.  Not one wounded college student.  In retrospect, we should have given rides for fare, to make a little extra gas money.

Tear back the tarmac lust...
another 4 days and 3 nights with The Rakes

01.31.05  -- The Dukum Inn, Kirksville, MO

The road from Chicago to Kirksville, MO is textbook Midwest landscape.  I was almost happy we hit a snowstorm halfway just for something to look at.  Still, having grown up on the farm I feel a certain romantic tie to what I imagine to be forthright, honest, and hardworking people.  Unless these are mostly corporate farms now, to which I feel a deep remorse for the passing of a more beautiful time.

We arrive in Kirksville a little too late to accept the promoters generous offer of dinner at his home.  Royce if you read this we want to express our deepest gratitude for your hospitality and for such a wonderful time.  Load in at the Dukum, soundcheck and then The Assassination shows up.  We do the meet and greet, ask them about their show at The Reverb (Cedar Falls, IA) and relate our tales of the battlefield to each other.   Ike's tour bus had broken down at the U of I show in Urbana so we are sharing gear tonight since they couldn't bring everything.

Off to a local pizza joint, then back to the club.  We are settling in and the crowd is building up.  Happy Ass are playing a great post-pop set and have the crowd getting worked up.  I wish I had bothered to ask Royce what type of band Happy Ass was before the show, because I had this horrible fear that it was some time of rap-metal act in my head - or some g-awful 3 chord punk band.  Turns out they are a great rock and pop band with fun songs, and made of some mighty fine players.

Our turn.  1-2-3-4, the crowd goes wild.  We are immediately swept with the vibe.  We had a couple of equipment setbacks (my amp died halfway through the set, but came back) and then the 2nd to last song of the night became the last song when Brian put his kick pedal completely through the front of the kick drum.  Still, we made some new friends and sold some cd's.  We'd go back anytime.  Then Ike's Assassination got up and kicked our sorry arses again.

After the set, Matt warped into Hunter S. Thompson via Johnny Depp.  I had to get away.  Back to Royce's place (who also let us stay at his home) and nightcap(s).  A very good evening.  I met their wonderful son, Henry, in the morning.  Henry is 15 months old.  Cool kid, he has more class than the lot of us.

Back on the road to Em-pee-ell-ess.  Goodbye asphalt, see you in a couple of weeks.

01.29.05  --The Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL

Arrived Chicago around 3a.m. after driving up after the Champaign/Urbana gig.  Colleen's apt (thank you so much for the place to stay) has 8 flights of stairs and we lug all the gear up the icy way to find the key she left for us.  Load in, nightcap and off to bed.  The next day is filled with the food chores and some sightseeing around downtown.

The real fun begins when we load up for the show and I go upstairs to grab "one last thing" and can't get the door open.  After struggling with the lock for awhile the key breaks off inside the lock.  Panic and anxiety set in as I make the lonely decline down the stairs to inform the rest of the band.  We have to call a locksmith and I opt for honoring our load in time with the club and then sending 2 people back to deal with the lock.  At the club I talk to the sound engineer and stage manager and tell him we'll waive our check time and let him know we're relatively easy going and can mix on the fly.  Steve and I head back to the apt. and wait for an hour for the locksmith.  When he shows up there is a lot of talk and searching for answers and it is decided the lock must be drilled out.  Wonderful.  I go to the van and let Steve deal with the locksmith so as not to lose my mind.  Steve comes down and says he has a variety of bad news.  The lock can't be drilled in less than an hour, the cost is about 4 times what we expect, and the club called the cell and notified us our set had been moved and we need to be onstage in 15 minutes.  After some talk on the phone between the apartment and the club, Brian informs us that the set will be moved back but we still need to be there within 30 minutes.  That's still not enough time to drill the lock according to the locksmith so we tell him to stop and we'll call them again after the show (thankfully they are a 24 hour service).  

To the Beat Kitchen, we walk in 10 minutes before the (now pushed back) set time, I slam a shot and scribble out a set list while trying to catch up with my longtime friend and his wife about their soon to arrive child.  We take the stage, and then we took the room.  I don't know what it is about severe anxiety but it always bring out the best in this band.  We played well, had a good time, and made some new friends and fans as well as selling many cd's.  

Being true to my self-destructive nature, I still slipped offstage after and proceeded to embark on a schedule of consumption that would have appalled Churchill.  Luckily my server was a kindly person who asked me to take it easy, we need you to stick around.  Off to the van, I passed out and woke up with Matt pounding on the van windows.  Load out, back to the apt, called the locksmith.  They send a different person and he has the lock out in 15 minutes.  Load in, nightcap, crash.  The next moring we awoke early and bought a new lock and installed it in Colleen's apt (we're really very sorry this happenned, Colleen) and into the van to drive to Kirksville, MO to rejoin The Ike Reilly Assassination at the Dukum Inn.

01.27.05  --University of Illinois, Champaign, IL

Across the St. Croix and into frozen WI on our way to the University of IL in Urbana.  We are still picking up The Current (89.3 fm Twin Cities) and like the majority of our friends, fans, and fellow musicians we agree it is a welcome addition to the air.  I think this week I have listened to more music on the radio than the total time between now and when Rev. 105 was sold. I was especially excited to see Mark Wheat and Mary Lucia on during the major prime time hours.  You can read tons of reviews of the station all over the Twin Cities media so I'll let them debate the impact on the current state of pop culture.  As for me, I'm just glad that I can listen to a music station without throwing a tantrem (exceptions of course for the MPR Classical station).  And it starts to fade as Thorn reminds us to stick around for Mary Lucia.  94 east, Mile 35 - - - -

Gas stop it's another exit we are familiar with - next to the Super 8 and A & W we stayed at last time we played in Madison.  I'm sure there is a complicated mathematical formula that would explain why we always end up at the same exit as some trip from the past.  - - - 3 hours later and we stop at an exit south of Rockford, IL with another Super 8 that I stayed at on a trip back to the homeland (South Carolina) in '98.

Loaded in at the U of I.  To the bar, $1 High Life, yeehaw.  One hour later back to the campus and play the show.  The Assassination gets up and the kids get down. 

01.09.05

Add more bite.