Minneapolis.
After waking up to snow In Des Moines and leaving asap, we got out of the storm within an hour or so. Q drove like a badass and though there were a couple of hairy moments, we made it. It was a pretty damn long drive. Got the hotel and dropped bags off then went to the club. My ol' pal Rich Mattson and his lady stopped by The Triple Rock Social Club on the off chance I'd be there and I was! They were in town from Iron Range to play an Ol' Yeller gig in St. Paul which I, regretfully, had to miss. Ol' Yeller is one of my favorite bands that Grand Champeen ever played with. Rich is a stellar songwriter and guitarist, and all-around rad dude. Glad I got catch up for a quick sec.
Load-in, soundcheck, blah blah. Feedback session at the Triple Rock. The menu was covered with this meat alternative called Mock Duck. What the hell is that? I had the Minneapolis Po' Boy with Mock Duck and I still don't know what it is. That was a rad plate of food, though. Also, the Summit Seasonal beer was delicious. It was a bock of some sort, I believe. Back to hotel for a slight chill.
The show at the Triple Rock was sold out weeks in advance and the crowd was awesome. It was our fifth show of the week and we were really settling in to the set. The crowd really dug the tunes and the band, despite a few blockheads requesting Hold Steady and Lifter Puller songs. We met Dustin Miller, Hold Steady crew member and nice guy, who expanded on many of Q and Craig's tour stories. Good hang after the show with Some Guns, Tim, Weez, Baby Grant, Tony, and a bunch of other nice MPLS folks. Love that place.
The next morning, Craig and Ricky did an early-as-hell in-store at Treehouse Records. They returned to the hotel and picked us up so we could make a four song audio/video recording at the local NPR affiliate, The Current. The host of the show was Paul Westerberg's sister. Neat. Her name is Mary Lucia and though she had interviewed Craig many times before, she still made it interesting and funny. Watch our version of Apollo Bay here:
I was really hungover and the pressure of it being recorded just amplified my pain. Can't tell though, right? When it was finally over, we parked the van and bellied up to Grumpy's bar to watch the Super Bowl XL7IIV4. Mark, our bartender took real good care of us. Great hang with the band, Dustin, Q, and Baby Grant. Short walk back to hotel. Crash. Next stop Iowa City.
1 comment:
Glad to hear it's going well. Apollo Bay sounds great. In some ways makes me think of On The Beach, which is an awesome thing. Stoked to check it out in person and hang in Berlin. Nice close-up btw.
and Mock Duck is a wheat-based Asian TVP generally packed in soy sauce or something like it. the chinese equivalent of tofurky (but from wheat, not soy)
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