Category > Tour Diaries
So I finally had a chance to eat at Black Dog BBQ (after getting a heavy dose of live Jazz from Ray Sazaki and others at the Iron Post). This place is good! Lives up to the hype. I wish they were in San Francisco. Like Ferris said: "If you have the means, I highly recommend it."
This is the introductory blog post for what we are calling "DJ Bozak's Running Tour Diary of the *Midwest". I'm happy to be back in Champaign, and am excited to be involved in playing a bunch of gigs in both Champaign and Chicago that cover a diverse array of genres and themes (thankfully). I've got a serious rider and the venues are separating the green M&M's from the rest as we speak. [* - I reserve the right to use …
Ed note: We often publish C-U band's tour diaries when they head out on the road to represent us in the great wide open. The content here is just as it appeared when they send it to us. So, grammatical errors and offensive language may abound, but that's part of the fun. Day 1: Thursday, May 14 We decided kick off our ‘tour' by throwing a house show at our house in Urbana. Carl Hauck, Jonathon Childers, and Stan McConnell …
Sunday, April 5, 2009 Well, Morgan and I have been back in C-U for almost a week now, but I think it's important to finish painting the tour picture for anyone who's been reading. However, since it is no longer spring break, this will have to be brief. So, I'm going to recap the final days of the tour in list form, with some photos inserted as necessary.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Yesterday was a long day. We slept Sunday night in a loft at the house of Kids Are Goats, and had brunch with him at a Mexican place in Murfreesboro called Carmen's. The food was surprisingly good. Morgan found it particularly delicious. We got breakfast plates, involving eggs, avocadoes, beans, and the like. I believe Morgan's dish (below) was called Huevos a la Mexicana.
Sunday, March 22, 2009 Today, I attempted to play a singing saw. It was quite my luck that there was one lying around the house; I've wanted to learn to play saw for a while now. Steven showed me the basic idea ("curve it into an S-shape"), and I gave it the old college try. I managed to get a few good sounds out of it.
Saturday, March 21, 2009 Last night, after completing an exam concerning the writings of George Berkeley and David Hume at the very last minute, I got in my car, and left Champaign to the tunes of "If I Were a Carpenter." Thus began my tour journey with Morgan Orion. I was to meet him in St. Louis. He had been touring for a week already, throughout the Midwest-St. Louis was something of a transition stop, between the Midwest tour and …
This is the first we have heard from So Long Forgotten, a Champaign-Urbana based rockers on a massive two-and-a-half month bad boy of a tour. _“Trips like ours are greener grass left unknown for fear of believing trite sayings; sayings that are sometimes true. But our friends back home live an existence under the weight and awareness of time; a place we are slowly escaping; a world growing fainter by the hour and the mile.”_ – Donald Miller July 17, …
July 12th – Day off in Portland, OR: We woke up in Portland at our friends Joni & Mary’s house after a late-night drive from Boise. We spent the day seeing why Portland is a haven of music, culture, progressive thinking, and, overall, good things. We went to The Doug Fir for a show, but only saw a SOLD OUT sign on the ticket window. Some friends of ours were going to be there; one, in fact, playing in the …
Saturday, July 5th: The Blue Fugue – Columbia, Mo: Day 1 of our 35 days out on the road. This tour will be 4 times longer than anything we’ve ever done. We’ll put 7,000 miles on the van, spend $2,000 on gas, and inflate our air mattresses just about every night. So, you start somewhere familiar, and Columbia is our 2nd home. We’ve played the Fugue 4 times before, so it’s a nice shoving off point. Columbia is what Champaign-Urbana …
Most Recent Music Comments
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
That article almost looks like something out of The Onion
Thanks! I’m looking forward to writing even more….
Yay! Love this! Welcome to the family!
that last photo’s a doozie, Chris. good work.
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Most Recent Comments
Did the Crave Truck get a permit to park in city metered spots and city right of way? Or did they just get a permit? The city clerk’s office seems to be a suspect here, but it’s not clear they did anything wrong. Did the Crave Truck…
High-profile whining. AKA Lobbying.
it’s quite choice. looking forward to seeing how it and its patronage grow and develop over the course of the year. could be a neat little ecosystem.
“It was at this point, before he started his business, that working with city employees should’ve raised red flags…” But they didn’t because: 1) The City Clerk’s office originally mis-interpreted the rules, or are indeed re-interpreting them. 2) Champaign’s brick-n-mortar merchants hadn’t yet started whining about The Crave Truck.
Super cool! Excellent track, Excellent band.
Looking forward to trying this place!
I’m in the middle (or the beginning or end, depending on how you look at it) of re-reading Slaughterhouse Five. What a great companion column.
Get yours early. The Rave’s CD will be available at Exile and at The C-U Flea on Saturday. C-U Flea details here: http://www.smilepolitely.com/news/sp_radio_podcast_c-u_flea_arrives/
I don’t know about Gerard and a random police sargeant. My (mild) outrage is based on this: “...he worked closely with Champaign City Clerk Marilyn Banks to make sure he was licensed properly as a transient food peddler, filling out the necessary paperwork and paying a $225…
Local Yocal pretty much nails it here. I suspect there will be merchants who oppose food trucks because they arguably don’t pay their fair share to locate their trucks in high traffic (high rent) areas. The food trucks take away business from rent payers, park in city…
Oh nice! I’d totally vote for Matt Campbell!
“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
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Get yours early. The Rave’s CD will be available at Exile and at The C-U Flea on Saturday. C-U Flea details here: http://www.smilepolitely.com/news/sp_radio_podcast_c-u_flea_arrives/