I’ve always liked St Louis, there is something epic about this city. A lot of its architecture reflects the cities place in the history, as the gateway to The West. It must have been quite a high rolling town in the 19th century when the expansion into the west was in full swing and St Louis was the last stop before jumping of the edge of the civilized world. Today it’s a lot quieter and like most cities and towns in the Midwest it has its ongoing problems, but there is still something vibrating here…..and they like their hockey.
One of the most amazing buildings is the New Masonic Temple which is right around the corner from tonights venue. The building is as massive as it is imposing…Sauron would feel right at home. Just around the corner is the Third Baptist church which is equally as massive and imposing….Gandalf might feel at home in the Baptists lair. In between it all is our venue, The SheldonTheater, which is inside the old Ethical Culture Society building, designed by the same guy who designed the Ethical Culture building in NYC which is a regular haunt of ours. This is a beautiful little theater. Unfortunately we had a very small turnout for the show, fortunately those that did show up were in fine form and provided all the energy that we needed to put across a really excellent show.
Today was a very trippy day in Davenport, Iowa. About an hour after we parked behind the gig we noticed the street in front of us beginning to fill up with cop cars and fire trucks and EMT units. We followed the gaze of all the first responders and there, about 100 feet away, sitting on the ledge of a parking garage with nothing but pavement below was a young man with no shoes: just sitting there, casually, as if he was simply reveling in the beautiful spring weather, enjoying the view of the Mississippi. He sat there for a couple hours, just like that and we sat in our bus and passed the time. Every now and then someone would come back to the bus and say, “is he still there?” and someone else would twist around and look out the window and say, “yup”. But then he started to move around a little bit and get a bit agitated and the uniforms in the street started to get edgy, stretchers were prepared, gloves were put on, yellow tape was strung. He slowly squirmed his way closer to the edge and then he put his whole lower torso over the side and dangle like that for a few seconds. And then he got back on the ledge and turned around so that his back was facing the drop and he started to lean further and further back into open space. And then it all seemed so inevitable and I had to stop watching. But then, just like that, he stopped and got off the ledge and went away with the police…..leaving his shoes on the pavement below.
And then things got really weird….the gig was in The Red Stone Room, a small performance space housed in a beautifully renovated old department store that is the hub of The River Music Experience: a fantastic non-profit organization that is dedicated to bringing music and music education to this area. It’s a great idea and a beautiful building but the actual performance space (the Red Stone Room) seems almost like an afterthought. It’s an awkward space tucked away in the corner of the top floor with a tiny little dressing room located three floors down in the basement among the fruit fly infested beer bottle empties, with lots of your classic rock’n’roll dressing room graffiti on the walls (cocks, bums and boobs) and, for good measure, a little bit of sewage from the clean-out pipe, dry and splattered in the corner. Set ups like this don’t exactly scream “respect”. Which is odd considering this whole operation is all about elevating music (and one would assume musicians) to a more respected and important place in the communities consciousness. At any rate, Margo dissed the dressing rooms from stage, which pissed off the club manager, who took it out on Jared which almost lead to blows….the upshot of it all is that we have been banned from the Redstone Room forever. My advice to those in charge….clean your fucking dressing room, or even better, move it to out of the skanky basement and at least pretend that you give a shit about where the band has to change and hang out…it’s the little things that can really make a show work. We had an ok show…considering….
We had a day off yesterday here in Davenport. This town was once a major player in this region, sitting strategically on the Mississippi. It’s a classic mid-west town with enormous five lane streets running through it; some beautiful 19th century buildings; a lot of empty retail space; a scattering of local entrepreneurs trying to make something happen; but mainly lots and lots of empty sidewalks with plenty of room to stretch out and do nothing. It was a relaxing day in a beautiful downtown hotel (the Blackhawk) with not a lot of distractions except, of course, hockey. We also did a gig at the daytrotter.com studios across the river in Rock Island Ill, which was a lot of fun and will be posted on their site soon.
We didn’t come across any tornados on our drive last night, but the rain was of biblical proportions. It was an odd day today. The sky above the city swirled with clouds heading in all directions at once and the temperature plummeted. Jeff had to leave the tour for the day to attend to some matters at home and Margo’s illness got worse. The Penguins and Flyers series devolved into a WWE meets AHL event, sort of like a No-Holds-Barred cage-match on ice. There was weird juju in the air.
We had two shows tonight and the first one was as peculiar as the day. We struggled a little bit with the hole left in our sound by Jeff’s absence. Margo’s illness reared up and she had to leave the stage in the middle of Miles From Our Home, so Pete, Al and I played on (Jeff’s words of advice spurring us on, “never stop!”). A verse or two in to our instrumental version of Walking After Midnight and Margo returned and soldiered on. For the second show we reassessed and refocused and played with and around the empty space created by Jeff’s absence rather than trying to fill it and the result was a very different and magical show. We need a day off.
We are in Davenport, Iowa and we are doing a daytrotter.com live session today (Tuesday April 17th). The session is being recorded for later use, but you can listen in to rehearsal and soundcheck today at around noon (Iowa time)…. Click on the link on the right side of the daytrotter.com page. Meanwhile, if you live in the midwest make sure that you check our tour dates….
Day Two. NHL playoffs are in full swing with three or four games a day and our satellite gets them all. We even have a PVR to capture what we miss while we are on stage. Heaven. Jared convinced me and Al to experience our first Five Guys Burger. Very tasty. Another excellent show in front of an excellent audience…funny how those two things often go together. The Space in Evanston isn’t the best sounding room, but they have made a lot of upgrades since the last time we played here in 2010. It’s another very intimate performance space, great for the audience and fun for the band. The backstage area is about as comfortable as they come and the staff, owners and promoters treat us royally. We couldn’t ask for much more. A very, very fun night. Meanwhile, the Senators and Rangers are settling into what could be a really nasty series; Vancouver is heading towards a catastrophic collapse; the Penguins defence and goaltending seem to have vanished; and the other series are just warming up…..and, according to the weather channel, we are heading into a whole mess of tornados and severe thunder storms…woo-hoo, game-on!
This was a great way to start a tour: welcomed and stuffed by Skippy’s Sausage Stand Deluxe. It’s always a pleasure coming to Ann Arbor. This was one of the first towns in the US that showed a real interest in our music. We have many fond memories of playing sold out shows at The Blind Pig in the very early days when the only album that we had on our merch table was Whites Off Earth Now!! (we sold both the vinyl and cassette version!!). The Ark is our home in town these days, it’s a great room to see a band, very fun to play and they have Bells Two Hearted Ale on tap. We probably should have done two shows, but we’ll settle for a jammed packed, enthusiastic first night house. We had a great night, despite the fact that Margo isn’t feeling great…the energy and enthusiasm of the audience lifted her up….but….. back to that sausage stand….
Margo, Jeff and I did an early afternoon recording for the radio show Acoustic Cafe, which is always an enjoyable experience and by the time that we arrived at the venue, Skippy and his crew of Chef Rob and sous-chef Major Mike were already cooking up a storm. We were treated to a lunch of that Sausage Stand classic; sausage sautéed in peppers and onions (with a splash of bourbon) and a bowl of tasty, spicy gumbo. When we returned, after soundcheck, for dinner, Skippy and his crew had raised the bar to new heights. In honour of the completion of our ambitious Nomad Series, Skippy had designed a menu inspired by the four albums: glazed scallop over miso noodles; grilled salmon; strips of beef; peach cobbler; and several other tasty sides and sauces. It was pretty spectacular and darn tasty too. Skippy is pulling up stakes in these parts and heading west to settle in Des Moines to be near his daughters and grandkids. So it looks like we’ll have to start planning more regular trips through the heartland. A great beginning to the tour…let’s just hope that Margo recovers quickly.
We are very honoured to be participating in a concert at Massey Hall (Toronto) on May 14th in honour of Leonard Cohen who will be there to receive the Ninth Glenn Gould Prize. We will be performing two Leonard Cohen songs, one of which will be a duet with John Prine. Other guests include Jimmy Dale Gilmore, James McMurtry, our old friend Greg Keelor along with Travis Good and many more. Tickets are now on sale.
The second leg of The Nomad Tour begins on Friday in Ann Arbour. You can still win tickets for any of the shows of your choice, by entering the contest through our Facebook page. Speakers In Code is also giving away some tickets to the St Louis show and will also be running an interview with Margo next week.
There are good things being said across the pond as well… this is from one of England’s national papers. Check out the different packages that we have available…Also, we are on the road again in a week. Please check out the upcoming tour dates.
The Daily Telegraph – 5 out of 5 stars Each word and note of this album feels so deeply percolated and thoughtfully placed that it’s hard to believe that this is the fourth record the experienced alt-country band have released in 18 months. Songwriter Michael Timmins explores loss and loneliness with austere clarity warmed by a steady glow of humanity and tinder dry sparks of humour. Margo Timmins’s beautifully bruised vocals float through a dreamy fog of shivering cymbals and muddy guitars. A masterclass in lo-fi longing.
This review/blog reminds me of the good ole days when Cream and Circus and Crawdaddy reigned supreme, back when Rolling Stone was a music paper. Back then music reviews had some heft and lots of personality, sometimes the reviewer was as much a part of the review as the music (which could be a good or bad thing depending on the reviewer). If you have a few minutes, take a look: Doc Martian’s Lounge.
