Thurston's, Chicago, IL

with Keith Scott. Setlist: Appolonia James, It Won't Be Long, Anonymous, Eleventh Hour, Now I Disappear, Water Carrier, Freedom Sting, Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas, False Witness

Getz Theater taught us to hope for the best and expect the worst. Rockford taught us to keep all our stuff in one car at a time. Bloomington taught us to pay our dues, and Kerrigan's taught us that preaching to the converted (meaning playing for our friends) is easy and fun. So what did we learn from this show?

Well, for one, I couldn't find my way around Chicago if there was only one place to go in the whole city and one way to get there. My directions were excellent, but suffice to say I don't pay close enough attention to street signs when I'm driving. Anyway, I did get there eventually and we set up our stuff. We were supposed to go on at 9, but as is the custom for our shows the club and the band decide to wait a while until more people show up, then give up an hour later when we realize nobody else is coming. About fifteen or so of our nearest and dearest came out for this one, which is fine in a small place like Kerrigan's but is pretty depressing in a place as big as Thurston's.

Or, at least, that's my opinion of things. Amy, who gets nervous at every show, no matter the crowd, considers being able to get on a stage and play for anybody an achievement, and angrily told me so when I was grousing about it after the show. She's probably right. Who am I to blame any of you for not coming to our shows? I hate going to shows!

The sound was good according to reports from those in attendance, though I couldn't really tell since our monitor mix was messed up. I couldn't hear myself playing at all. The one highlight here was our first try at Patrick Swayze Christmas, which is taken from Mystery Science Theater 3000 if you didn't know. Keith Scott and band did play after us- they were kind of a bluesy, Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughn-influenced band. Amy stuck around for most of their set and when Keith introduced his drummer he looked at Amy and said "Hey, [drummer's name here], you had some competition tonight!"