When we last left our heroes, they had endured a 8 hour rehearsal in a hotbox, stopped for beer, sandwiches and pickles, had a sleep and then prepared to head for Indiana.
DAY 4- JOLIET TO TERRE HAUTE
Thanks to Fabien, we had, what is technically known, as a Big A-- Van. yes, this thing was big. And thank heavens, because we had a big A-- amount of stuff to haul.
.jpg)
Coordinates plugged into my nifty GPS, we stopped by Mo's place. The Joliet burbs are looling pretty green, it's coming in to Fall (shame we had to go, nice time of year..)
Nwxt, we picked up our signage and tour t-shirts (they're awesome and by now probably all gone), repacked (yes! Jedi Skills)
And followed the GPS.
In a fascinating piece of coincidence, our rhythm section, from two sides of the planet, both distrust the GPS.
Maybe it's my underdeveloped Hippocampus but I like the GPS.
I like it's little voice-in-your-head driving approach. I like setting it to soothing foreign accents.
Theo and Paul did not.
-SEGUE - MULTI PAULS
Did I mention that in keeping with Stormcellars desire to reduce the effort needed to remember more than a few names, we had 2 pauls, 2 michaels and 1 theo - no waiting. I will have to use nicknames again to keep it clear..
So the upshot was that there was some mutiny amongst the navigation committee and I finally opted to follow the GPS and cut loose from the highway and across the wide open flatlands leading to Indiana.
.jpg)
I can't vouch for that routes efficiency but it sure was pretty.
We stopped for gas in the teeny leetle town of Casey, complete with Norman Rockwell's America :-)
And then back onto the country roads
Saw this , had to take a pick but wasn't game to try it..
.jpg)
We arrived in Terre Haute and were joined by Roscoe, who it turned out, we hadnt seen face to face in five years. In a moment straight out of Flame Trees, you boys all look just the same.
Thus was the fellowsip of the Van completed and didst the wise cracking and bad puns commence anew.
Now local football/sporting team icons are important in the Midwest so ya gotta know your local mascots. Go Hoosiers!
After our navigational mutiny, we had to get into our first gig pronto, so we ditched our bags and headed to..
GIG 1 - The Cabin, Terre Haute
This place is like a Tardis, it has hidden internal dimensions.
We met our host Mark N masquerading as Will C, because he has a sense of humour. either way, he was getting a hug (we're demonstrative people, just letting you know)
Will and Tommy Lee had kindly volunteered to come along and do sound for the night . Gracias amigos
As this was our first post flight gig, with new gear, jet lag etc, the Cabin was a perfect venue. Low key, filled with locals and local muso's who'd come to check us out, including local legend Dicky James.
The boys settled in, we played, relaxed, had a beer, talked about stuff and had a whale of a time. Cheers to Ken, Bridget, Dan, Dj, WC and the folks who hung out with us for the evening.
And what better way to end an evening than with a late night trip to Denny's.
.jpg)
DAY 5 - BLOOMINGTON, with a stop off at Giant 96 FM
Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky, Stormcellar weather....
Ok boys, Penny Lane has asked us to come in and do an Interview but it's a two hour haul there and then we have to scoot for the gig in another direction...yikes... ready? set? Pack!
Oh. We did that last night. Right. Program coords!
Check.
With Roscoe on point, I was hard pressed to keep up in the van, but with these super wide highways...
stretching between corn fields...or...soy fields..or..err..I dunno..
Canola??
We made our way to the studio, despite a few wrong turns (my bad) we found the studio.
I guess the antenna was a dead give away huh?
Penny runs one of the most vibrant Blues related shows on Air and has interviewed all sorts of Well Known Sorts, and, now, some lesser known ones too :-)
Nice photo bomb Mr Wanders...
Art in the studio
After doing an acoustic gig we....err...um.
We repacked,. All right already enough with the OCD packing reports. Sheesh.
Back on the road and heading for Bloomington.
We arrived at Players Pub at Happy Hour, to set up for a double header with Dicky James and the Blue Flames
Who is that masked man?
Dicky has the coolest shoes I have seen since the swing dancers up at Gosford.
And as Happy Hour Jazz played and the boys unloaded and ate dinner (catfish?) the weather was nice
Still nice
Some anonymous fellows hanging out out our merch desk. I think the one on the right might be wolverine. Not sure.
So as the night wore on and the jazz ended, the clouds rolled in. Somehow, Bloomington knew we were there.
to start the night, Dicky James and the Blue Flames showed us why they're one of the workingest bands around.
Toms Harp tone was incredible. Remember those Uber Amplifiers in the previous blog, well now I know what they sound like.
Doc Malone got up to join in the fun.
The Blue Flames are an old school Rhythm & Blues in the best traditions of the craft.
Cheers to Dicky, Will, Frank, Doc, Tammy Rose and Cooper for a great night.
As we parted, our host and amigo Mark N, suggested we could either end the evening or...GO TO A DENNYS
Are you starting to see a pattern here?
The last duty of the evening remained, a trip to a late night chain restaurant.
Mr Wizard discovered Americana Deserts and lost his tiny little mind.
Seriously .
Theo leaning in over the ruins of the meal, what a look.
We are indebted to the good people of the Indiana Blues Society, to Mark Novak, Doc Malone, Dicky James, Will Cox and all the Blue flames for hosting us.
Once again, replete with fried sugars, we returned to our rooms to sleep, before the long 8 hour ride to Kansas City, Kansas city here we come.