So, I’ve got some shows coming up in Iowa, Illinois and Ohio this month and next. I’ll give you the overview. For details, check out my website, bejaefleming.com. Jackie Blount will be with me on all of these shows, good news for you and me both. We have a couple house concerts on this tour, one in Cedar Falls, IA, one in Edwardsville, IL. We love doing house concerts, so please contact me if you think you might be interested in hosting one for us. We’re thrilled to have Dylan Boyle joining us for a couple shows and to have Nate Logsdon sharing a show with us. Life is good!
Thanks to Bonita Crowe for all her work putting this tour together. Besides being a great booker, Bonita is also a wonderful singer. I’m so eager to have a chance to hear her again. When, Bonita Crowe, when? Don’t make me nag you.
Here’s the schedule:
- Fri. 4/24/15 – Prairie Meadows, Altoona, IA (with Dylan Boyle joining us on guitar)
- Sat. 4/25/15 – Peace Tree Brewing Company, Knoxville, IA
- Sun. 4/26/15 – Byron’s, Pomeroy, IA
- Mon. 4/27/15 – Des Moines Social Club, Des Moines, IA
- Thu. 4/30/15 – DG’s Tap House, Ames, IA (with Dylan Boyle and Nate Logsdon)
- Fri. 5/1/15 – Towle house concert, Cedar Falls, IA
- Sat. 5/2/15 – Log House Concerts, Edwardsville, IL
- Fri. 5/22/15 – Bokes Creek Winery, Raymond, OH (with TJC – TJ George and Jasey Schnaars)
- Sun. 5/31/15 – Barcelona Restaurant, Columbus, OH
My friend, Bryon Dudley, challenged me to a Facebook game a while back. I didn’t take him up on it on Facebook, I was saving it for you. Bryon assigned me the letter "C" and I’m supposed to tell something I like, something I don’t like, someplace I’d like to go, someone I know and my favorite movie, and all of that has to start with the letter "C."
Okay, so, something I like that starts with "C": Cape. I never liked capes that much, not until I saw Mark Gerking’s poster for our show at Byron’s. It made me laugh and cry and cry and laugh. Thanks you so much, Mark. Nobody knows how to be visually fun and respectful at the same time quite like you do. Now I’m all about capes. Here’s that poster:
Something I don’t like that starts with "C": Conflict. I think I used to like it better, back when I was younger, back when I was more interested in drama and excitement and angst. Now I get all the drama, excitement and angst I can stand just trying to remember what day it is.
Someplace I’d like to go that starts with "C": Carolina. North Carolina. It’s where I’m from.
Someone I know that starts with "C": I used to know this guy named Charlie Dudah. I always thought that Dudah was probably a made-up name, but Bryon (I would have talked about Bryon, if he’d given me the letter B) says it isn’t. I heard Charlie play at the Jaded Angel tattoo parlor (I love that term, tattoo parlor… it seems very old fashion, kind of prim in a twisted sort of way) in Ames one time when Jackie was out of town. I went there with Bryon (who I would have talked about if he’d given me the letter "B"), who hears about things like that. So, Charlie Dudah (he moved away to Minnesota or someplace) has this chain (see that starts with "C") of effects pedals, a looper and a microphone and he starts dragging this microphone across the wooden stage and then he plays bird whistles and slide whistles and a kazoo and just makes weird noises with his mouth and it sounds like total chaos. It sounds like nothing…. Until, all of a sudden, it turns into this amazing, deep grove thing that makes perfect sense. It was a percussive miracle. And during all of this, there’s a pretty woman in one of the tattoo chairs and you can hear the buzz (I would have talked about Buzz, if he’d given me the letter "B") of the tattoo needle and the pretty young woman starts to writhe just a little in the chair and it was all so great and so weird and I went home and wrote Ink and Needles. Charlie.… I miss him. Ames is a little too normal without him.
Favorite movie that starts with a "C": I couldn’t think of any movies I particularly like that start with the letter "C", so I looked online and there are multiple websites that list movies that start with a "C." Can you believe that? There’s everything online, absolutely everything. And, whoever runs the site I looked at reviews all the movies and hates them all, as far as I can tell, all the movies that start with the letter "C." They can’t all be bad.… can they? I saw a video recently of Christopher the Conquered playing a venue in Italy as a trio. They did a Lucinda Williams song so beautifully that it made me cry. Does that count as a movie that starts with the letter "C"? I think it should.
There ya go, Bryon Dudley. You asked for it.
Thanks for listening,
B