April 2012

We sent Fred packing this morning, like John Wesley Powell bidding some of his crew adieu as they left to try and scale their way out of the canyon. Minus the canyon. Plus an airplane.

 

We then courageously carried on westward, collecting various and sundry insects on the windshield and wondering how our dear friend would subsist on mere peanuts and pretzels for his long journey East.

He missed a real smorgasbord in Crete.

Yes, as we arrived at Doane College and began to set up on the stage in their Student Center, the students began to set up a table of “make your own trailmix.” They had it all… gummy bears and chocolate covered raisins, white chocolate chips and Skittles, mini marshmallows and M&M’s. Everything we had requested on our rider.

Midway through our set, their Activities Board presented us with a certificate as “honorary Members,” and before we left, we were able to buy some chicken tenders and milk on their tab.

The real treat was having a half an hour or so to relax on campus before we started playing. Doane has a great vibe, lots of big old trees, ponds, and green, green grass that is starkly different from the wild prairie you see from the interstate en route there. Great way to settle the brain after a bunch of highway miles, before picking up the guitars.

They had booked us a hotel for the night in Crete, too, but we decided to press on for the last 7 hours of the tour, driving into the sunset. And so here we are in the van, crossing Nebraska under cover of darkness, the Colorado border a few hours away. Catch y’all on the next run.

It’s a really nice feeling to play out-of-state rooms several times. It gets to feeling like home when you pull up in the alley to load in, you open the door to the back hallway by the storage rooms, and it smells the same as every other time you’ve been there… you know the room, the kind of sound to expect, the way the floors creak, some of the staff, etc. Nectar’s in Burlington, Vermont feels that way for us. So does The Frequency in Madison, Wisconsin and Peach’s in Yellow Springs, Ohio and Doane College in Nebraska, where we’ll be tomorrow night, and Boston College, and pretty much any place in Charlottesville, Virginia. Touring East from Denver, Des Moines is the first major city stop – or in this case, on the way back, the last – 10 hours from home. Thus, we’ve played here on pretty much every tour, and it feels like an extension of our living room. We pulled into the back alley by Vaudeville Mews and Java Joe’s and were greeted by the familiar and awesome graffiti birds on the back wall. Grabbed some pizza across the street as usual and played a 90-minute, laid back set. We had familiar faces in front of us, as well as new ones – and all seemed to take note of Anton’s ode to Super Mario Brothers during Turn My Egg. Win.

 

We’re at the hotel now and will be up early to say ‘Bon Voyage’ to Freddie Boy at the airport. We splurged and stayed at a Hampton Inn to get a nice big hot breakfast in the morning. The waffle maker is the cat’s meow. The fact that they have a rollaway cot for Fred makes this the first tour in SoundRabbit’s history where Fred and Russ didn’t have to share a queen bed. We’re movin’ on up. More from the road tomorrow, a short 3-hour drive to Doane College for our 4th show there in 2 years. Last time they had s’mores for us…

 

For those of you who’ve been following the band for the last 4 years, you’ll know that the highlight of any of our tours is the required stop at Iowa80 – “The World’s Largest Truckstop.” Located in Walcott, Iowa on the north side of the interstate, it’s hard to miss. We were smart enough to stop here on our first tours back in the day, and it’s become a staple of every trip down I-80 since. The pictures don’t do it justice, but we did our best in the 4 hours we allotted ourselves to stay there.

Shopaholics beware. This place has more treasures than QVC. You best leave your wallet in the truck if you hope to have any gas money to get out of Iowa.

 

There are several areas of the store with t-shirts, including two stands of trademark-testing Christian t’s, and an entire section of incredible power animals.

 

Just under 3 hours to Des Moines from here. It’s our last day of driving (and our last evening gig) with Fred. We’ll take him to the Des Moines airport in the morning to fly back to Boston, and we’ll continue on to Nebraska for the last show of the tour. It’s a bittersweet day, but at least he got to the Truckstop before his journey ended. More from Des Moines…

What a lucky break we had tonight. Per the earlier Journal post, our friends from Colorado, Oakhurst, are on tour this week and helped us fill tonight with a last-minute gig in Kenosha. We rolled up to the venue well before dinner time and had a chance to walk around the harbor. It felt like we’d been teleported to the New England coast or something. The venue is located adjacent to the harbor, and all of the locals were already warming the room up for us before we’d even loaded in. Great vibe, awesome staff, welcoming people, nice stage, and a nice hot meal. Can’t ask for more than that on the road.

 

We drove back down to North Chicago to stay with friends at their house, and the forecasted weather has set in. Crazy lightning and thunder, a deluge of rain, and a nice touch of wind to boot. With any luck it will blow over by the time we hit the road in the morning for Des Moines. Good night for now.

We had to stop at The Mars Cheese Castle as we exited for Kenosha. Loading in at the venue in a few minutes, looks like a cool spot.

Found a Guitar Center outside of Milwaukee, but more importantly we found the Brookfield Family Restaurant. A classic diner-style place with a menu as thick as a phone book, and everything on it is good. Oh, and we drove by the ballpark where the Brewers mascot slides into a pint of Zima.

 

So far no tornadoes or bowling ball hail, but the sky is cloudy… short drive left to Kenosha.

So, we ‘ve been hearing for the last two days about a nasty little weather pattern moving across the plains.

 

That doesn’t look fun. “Softball sized hail”… ummm… ya.

So we weren’t sure what today would be like, but this morning in DePere couldn’t be more beautiful. Light breeze, blue skies, 70 degrees or so… and we don’t have to be in Kenosha until 7pm for load-in… 3 hours away. Awesome way to start the day. The plan is to cruise to Milwaukee and hang out for a bit, hit Guitar Center for some stuff, grab some food, walk around, and then head to Kenosha. More later…

Had a fun show at St. Norbert College tonight. They had a couple of student artists open the show, which was awesome… super talented and super cool. The stage at SNC sits right on the banks of a river, with big windows at the back of the stage, a really nice setting. We’ve been recording the shows so far on the tour (thanks to Fred), so we’ll be releasing some songs when we can bounce them down to MP3’s… and there was a solid Sister, Brother performance tonight that may make that cut. The Nightlite Jesus singalong was awesome, too. After the show, we were chatting with some of the students, and went out for gyros and drinks in DePere afterwards. The gyros were the size of a catcher’s mitt. A student from LaCrosse who we’d met a couple of years ago when we played there made the trip over for the show, and we got to hang out with him again, which was awesome. It’s funny how we can make some great friends on the road – it’s been more than a year since we’ve all hung out, but it was like no time had passed in the conversations. At St. Norbert, they put us up in a nice hotel on campus, and that hotel provides us with cinnamon cookies. Can’t wait to come back here next year. Bed time.

Just booked a last minute gig for tomorrow night in Kenosha, thanks to our friends, Oakhurst, who are on the road this week, too. Thanks, boys! See y’all Kenoshans tomorrow… but first, St. Norbert…

Weeee.