Virtually Home

My favorite venue on a nice day There's nothing like being in my favorite venue, in the heart of my hometown. I had fun seeing trying to see the venue through new eyes: the giant sepia portraits of country and western stars, the spring-loaded wooden dancefloor, the disco ball and neon star in the ceiling, and the faded awning above the stage make the place feel old and kind of hokey, but in the best possible way. Cain's has been my favorite thing about my hometown for about half my life at this point. So many of my favorite Tulsa memories happened there. Ian Felice during the Felice Brothers set I visited the Gypsy coffee shop on my way to the venue and waited outside on a nice, sunny day. My friends arrived from their trip from Kansas City all the way out to Memphis and back, and we had a nice time waiting for the show. I appreciated the warmer spring weather, after leaving frigid Minnesota. Conor and the Felices played wonderful sets. This was my Life in the Dark ...

Kansas City was night 2 of a 3-night trip during the March leg of the Salutations tour. I had a lovely time visiting some high school friends, Jessi and David, that I hadn't seen in a long time. Jessi and I went to the venue early and camped out in the 40-degree weather for kind of awhile. The venue owner came out after an hour or so, and she congratulated us on being the first in line and offered us drinks. We drank some water and chatted with her about what it was like to own a venue. The Felice Brothers The venue was beautiful, with curved staircases up to a pretty swanky balcony. However, the stage is ridiculously tall. So tall that, if you're standing right in front of it, you have to crane your neck to see up at it, and probably wouldn't be able to see anything over the monitors. We ended up opting to see the show from the balcony, which made our sitting in line for hours in the cold kind of a moot point. The show was excellent - the Felices were in fine form...

Ian and Christmas of the Felice Brothers opened The Waiting Room is one of my favorite venues. First of all, it's in Omaha, where opportunities and great memories of previous shows abound. But practically speaking, it's also got a low stage, no barrier, isn't too big, and boasts a really excellent collection of concert posters. I met up with show-going friends and waited in line all afternoon. The temperature was pleasant in the sun, and the glass doors mean that while waiting, you can both hear and see the sound check. We had a blast hanging around, and then ate a pretty wonderful dinner at Lot 2 shortly before doors. The crowd was amiable before the show, and I got to catch up with a bunch of acquaintances. The Felice Brothers played a great set, if a somewhat solemn one. Phil and Farley seemed to be joking around in the wing at stage right, but the others were pretty serious. Since I hadn't seen the Felice Brothers before, I didn't make much of it, but w...