Update #6. We kinda hit the wall yesterday from exhaustion in Sioux City, IA. This was our second time performing at the Chesterfield. We played there on our summer 2012 tour. Really great venue. Pro sound, lights the whole shabang. The gig was sparsely attended. We gave it all we had and reminded ourselves it's one fan at a time. We had one hardcore fan who drove a couple of hours from Omaha to see us for the first time. How cool is that? 22 year old college kid: proof positive that felsen's music isn't entirely for the moms and dads of America. Don't get me wrong, I love the mom and dads, seriously I do and i'm extremely grateful, but y'all are hard to get out to a gig on a weeknight. It would make these Tues night gigs a little easier say if we had a few more friendlies in the room. One thing that I love about Felsen is that for the most part the low attendance gigs don't flap our feathers. I think we leave the stage generally feeling like we delivered. We held up our end of the bargain. And that's real satisfying. For the handful of music nerds there last night, they got a great show. Oddly we sold a gang of merch for such small numbers. (I'm a former used car salesman.) I keep pestering our audiences and reminding them that are all potential noble patrons of the arts helping us keep this thing alive a little longer. Saving rock and roll is serious business--some fool's got to try and do it and I'm your sacrificial lamb. In the immortal words of Geroge W. Bush "You're either with us or against us!" America, form a line at the merch table, Arthur is hungry for Huevos Rancheros and we've got a long way to drive.
Update #7. Last night's show in Columbia, MO was an epic showdown at the OK Computer corral. Felsen prevailed. We played at the Bridge, a really, beautiful and unique venue in the downtown area. The Bridge is a music school offering private lessons and they also have a totally pro small music venue/performance space. Wes and Kara, the proprietors, are rock and roll true believers, obviously. They're educating the kids in their community, helping keep rock and roll alive a little longer. Our backstage area was right next to a practice room where a 10 year old rocker was fine tuning the drum parts to Roxanne and Come Together. A place like this keeps a bunch of local musicians employed , allowing them in turn to hone their art and make a decent wage. Dylan, Art and I are all music instructors; we felt a personal kinship to Wes and Kara. We'd probably be employees if we lived in Columbia. We thanked them from the stage for serving their community, educating the kids, and offering employment to local musicians. Keep it weird. Keep it local. Stick it to the man.
There was a great band that went on right before us, Mathien. Also on a 17 day tour, hailing from Chicago. It was nice to cross paths with another of our ilk. They were kinda pop R&B-ish, Maroon 5/Bruno Mars meets Cameo. Really dialed in, great players and put on a real polished, tight show. Gotta admit, we were a little intimidated back stage, not sure how to follow them. Felsen has been through a lot in the past week alone, not to mention the previous 4 years. We're always up for a challenge. Right now we're playing at our peak and putting out a ton of energy with each show. The gigs are becoming like athletic events. Really physical. The tunes are becoming really powerful and deep. There was a decent small crowd there last night who obliged us and came right to the foot of the stage and stayed there til the end. They sang along with the chorus of Gunfighting, which was really powerful and cathartic.
We stayed well past last call, hanging out with the staff and the other band. The owners bought us many rounds of drinks. Shenanigans ensued. Kara told me, we're her new favorite band. HIgh praise. Swoon. We took a whole crew of people out to the van at load out time and finished off our signature low grade corn liquor in the alley behind the club. We're not good people. Felsen's gonna save you some moonshine. Time to restock.
Update #8. "I hate you, daddy hates you, and the horsies hate you." The joys of balancing home life and touring. Oh look we got a bounced check. My student loan is late and i forgot to pay my studio rent. And the horsies hate Cristian's wife. My kid got hit in the face with the soccer ball 2X yesterday. "Mommy i want sushi." That's my boy. Nothing makes a 6 year old bay area kid feel better about getting hit in the face than some really good Unagi. He's a smart little guy. He came up with a term to describe what daddy does on stage: Irritain. (one part irritate, one part entertain.) Yup, that's me in a nutshell. He knows me best and I miss him so much right now.
We played last night in St. Paul, MN. Fun gig. This was the 2nd time we've played at Wild Tymes. We were joined by a few local Twin City bands: The Jeffries, Shakin Babies and Trainwreck. Nice gig. Good crowd. Sold a goodly bit of merch. The show was presented by DEMO which is an organization started by Steve Mclellan, a local MNPLS booker/promoter type. Clearly a true believer. According to his calculations, he has presented over 9000 bands in the Twin Cities over the past 30 years. Wow. What an institution! He loves Felsen. Knowing this, we felt a special obligation to throw down. I gave a special shout out to some of the greats from MNPLS: The Replacements, Husker Du, Trip Shakespeare, Mint Condition, Prince, The Time, The Jayhawks...I guess these are all bands that we (a bunch of ancient rock and roll dinosaurs) grew up with. Not sure if the kids in the audience knew any of these bands. There were some blank stares. One Indie/Punk rock girl, flipped me off while i was giving my shout out. Indie? Do you not know the Replacements? Shame on you! They're from your home town and they CHANGED MY LIFE! According to Steve (the promoter), times are tough in the MNPLS music scene. He's having a harder and harder time getting people out to the gigs, which makes me sad. I guess I have this fantasy of what it must have been like to live in a city where there were soooo many amazing bands. In my head, it's like rock and roll mecca. Or it was. Things change. Still makes me sad though. One of my old bandmates, a native Minnesotan, was there last night. Haven't hung out with him since Copenhagen in 2005. He introduced me to Trip Shakespeare a long, long time ago. We became like the cult of Trip Shakespeare way back. I saw them a bunch of times in Chicago back in the day. Looking out at my old pal last night, thinking about Trip Shakespeare, i realized that about 75% of my playbook came from those guys--at least the onstage, crowd interaction irritainment. Do your homework kids. Gotta get in to get out. Onwards to Chicago, Muddy Waters adopted hometown.
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