Bottles and Bones and Eric's Dad, July 2003

A one-off show this mid-July weekend with a favorite band of this or any time, Califone. Our friend Teresa Fyffe is on the violin for this one (her first trip to Chicago), and like a pro, she comes through with the just the right amount of fiddlin this evening. Trip up from Columbus was a breeze until we hit the Mother Of All Traffic Clusterfucks on the I-90 skyway outside of Gary. An hour and four damaged bladders later, eight lanes merged down to one, and we were on a dead sprint to the Double Door.

The spots we've played over the years in Chicago seem to come in blocks: early on at the Empty Bottle, then to the Lounge Ax for a few go-rounds, then to Schuba's for some great shows and good chow. This time, because Califone has the big hometown crowd, it was in the larger Double Door. Nice people, big room, good sound, all in all a 9.2 on the fun index. Played a good portion of our new record not out until next year and everybody seemed to dig on it, or they could have just been happy we were one song closer to finished. Added bonus: many old friends from Chicago-via-Ohio came out of the woodwork, including Tony Barnett, a pal from a long time ago in Columbus who wrote a nice preview in the New City Chicago weekly. Eric Johnson from the Fruitbats didn't make it, but his dad did, crutches and all--a very nice man. He claimed to give Eric his first guitar lesson at age six. Califone was playing the last night of a five-month tour and, needless to say, made it all look effortless.

We always shack at Scotty's sister's pad in Chicago, it's big, safe, and she lets us raid her stash of Mickey's Big Mouths. Listened to the new M. Ward record before konking, and we were all in silent awe. Get thee to a record store quickly. In toto, a great summer weekend. Some time off now, then it's back out for some September shows around the midwest with the Court and Spark. Cheers.

JD 7-22-03