We took a short trip away from Chicago a few weekends back down to Kentucky and back up through Terre Haute before returning home to be Nirvana for Halloween. It was our first time in Kentucky, we visited both in Covington and Louisville.

Wednesday night we ended up back at our sound guys house discussing records and listening to music. This was followed by a 3:30 am collaboration of cooking Pork Chops, Spanish Rice and Sautéed Vegetables.

Thursday afternoon we drove over to Louisville and did some shopping for our improvised Halloween costumes.

Terrible Cell Phone Pic of KFC's "Yum Center"

We stopped at Caulfield’s, a local costume shop and decided we needed to get to the Thrift Store to make this happen. In one fell swoop we put together our costumes that later became this glorious interpretation of “The Little Red Riding Hood”. Knowing I’d have to shave off my moustache the following day and much to the request of others around.. I left it on.

 



Ghoul in the window

 

Louisville's own Costume and Novelty Shop



 

Thursday night performed at “The Hideaway Saloon” for a decent Thursday night crowd but decided to leave our costumes for Friday. This was our first time through Louisville. In addition to being quite awesome people they were also an excellent crowd. This set was a mixture of originals and covers.. with a few new songs thrown in. Everyone was very kind and the night was highlighted when we were gifted a key to a house so we could crash and have a shower. There was also a microwave so Vinny zapped us some grilled cheese.Here is a picture of our digs here:

Accomodations at the "Band House"

After a few hours of sleep we went back to the Highlands neighborhood and shopped for vinyl, spent some time in the Guitar Emporium and stopped into Leathernecks so Vince could shop for some Snakeskin boots. I managed to get fit for a custom guitar strap and Vince and I both landed some sweet records. Kevin was sleeping in the van.

Vincent tries on some hot snakeskin boots.

On Friday we headed over to Terre Haute to meet up with our friends in Polar Island. We were connected with these guys through a mutual friend in Chicago. From the get go these guys have been super sweet to us and they know their shit too, which never hurts. We had a chance to play their first show ever with them and it was nice to see what they have been doing. I’m really looking forward to their record.



At first it seemed like we were the only ones dressed up but soon enough the crowd filled in and there were a lot of costumes. It was kind of odd performing with a hood on but I kind of liked it. However.. it did look ridiculous. The set was fun and we got to play some new songs that we have only played in "acoustic" sets. This was our first time adding these numbers to our regular set.

Our Little Red Riding Hood tribute.

Saturday we were a little late getting started but got back to Chicago in time to take a good shower and change into our costumes. The Elbo Room was packed and we had a lot of fun doing our tribute to Nirvana. We had filmed the show but the video guy lost his camera later that night in a cab. Here is a picture of me as Kurt Cobain upstairs at the Elbo Room. Also pretty ridiculous but FUN!

Stephen Francis as Kurt Cobain. Halloween 2011.

All in all it was a nice short run and a much needed fall playcation. Definitely looking forward to heading back to Kentucky in 2012.



Thanks for Reading!

Stephen Francis