Knockin' on Yabba's Door: Harrisburg, South Dakota

We pulled into Sioux Falls, SD at  7am yesterday morning. I didn't know that at the time because I was sleeping in the back of the van on a mattress we borrowed from a friend before we left.  Coate had taken it upon himself to drive us out of the desolate – yet insanely fun – Oakland, IA and drive straight to South Dakota overnight. When I awoke I was hot and bothered from the sun and partially confused on where I was. I must have been sleeping longer than the others because everyone else slept sound as I let myself out of the dry and hot van into the fresh air. I was greeted by a cart boy with an iPod who looked at me like I was a scumbag. I smiled at him and slowly buttoned up my shirt wondering if he had seen the others that I was sharing sleeping quarters with. As I wandered into the “SuperCenter” to use the washroom I giggled to myself on what he must think of us.

I paced the parking lot making phone calls and trying not to smoke cigarettes. My voice is feeling very strong and I have 12 nights to go so I have to behave, relatively. I visited the Barnes and Nobles to grab some Starbucks and keep myself occupied until the others woke up. Kevin and Vincent awoke first and met me in the Barnes and Nobles w/laptops and droopy eyes ready to get the day's promotions started. The next few hours were occupied doing band work and discussing our remaining show dates. We hid behind a bookshelf and plugged into the wall to charge the laptops and sit in the air conditioning, sipping on our coffees and promoting the show to people shopping for books.

When Coate awoke we met him in the parking lot and had lunch. Like the day before, lunch consisted of V8 Fusion drinks and some tasty peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made out of the side of the trailer (our kitchen). Customers from the Barnes and Nobles gazed at us while we wiped our bodies and faces down with baby wipes and did all morning duties including the brushing of our teeth out of an Aquifina bottle. An  employee of the local Jazz Festival came up and introduced herself, hip to the fact that we were touring through town, she assured us she would be at our show. Sure enough, when we took the stage later that night, she came with a friend in tow. Both fantastic people who hung out through both sets and even treated us to a round of Jameson!

After lunch we headed over to two separate music stores and put our new record “Dreams and Bones” on consignment with each. This was very pleasing and worked out exactly as we hoped. Both stores were willing to carry the record and even took promotional posters to help push the album.  The only mishap we had was Kevin and I discovering vinyl in a stored called “Ernie November” where we were putting the CD on consignment.  We ended up spending a fair amount of time thumbing through random vinyls and discussing music before heading to the venue. We both ended up spending some money on some vinyl. Mmmmm.

When we arrived at The Phoenix Lounge in Harrisburg, South Dakota - to our surprise, Turk, the owner, wasn't expecting us. After some research and phone calls we were able to get to the bottom of the confusion and verify that we were in fact on the bill for the evening. The band Harriet Tweed, local Harrisburg/Sioux City favorites, had done us a favor and with a little help of the contacts they gave us, sorted out the mess in a matter of five minutes.

As we were originally told we were slotted to play with an artist named Yabba Griffiths. To our surprise Yabba was a reggae legend and ironically from our hometown of Chicago. This happened all last minute of course. We had been slotted to play a different venue in South Dakota but we had to seek an alternative route when we discovered the venue had burnt down.  When we posted this series of unfortunate events via Twitter, Harriet Tweed reached out and gave us suggestions and contacts which led us to landing a fill-in slot with Yabba at The Phoenix. This was an amazing gesture and we are very appreciative for their assistance.

While we were at Barnes and Nobles during the day we were taking turns telling patrons and employees about the show in Harrisburg hoping to recruit some last minute show goers. This actually ended up working out with 6 additional people ended up coming out to the show, in addition to the 10+ group that Harriet Tweed brought with them! This was a “flyer free” endeavor that actually worked to our favor. It turns out that taking time to actually meet someone and informing them about your show is more beneficial than handing them a 3x5 flyer. In addition, it is better for the environment too. Leave your flyers at home and take the time to talk to someone.

The show kicked off smoother than most of the nights before. Actually performing on a stage can contribute to that. Up until tonight most of the shows we have played we have done our own sound and in comparison to the gravel pit we performed in while visiting Creston, IA, anything is an upgrade. It felt great to be back on a stage in a room where we could actually turn our amps up and be the band we are. We performed well and received a very encouraging response from the small crowd that was gathering at the front of the stage. Our set included nearly every track from the new record and a few older numbers. We were tipped off to a few of the tables being partial to Pink Floyd so we threw in a cover of “Time” in our set.

The post show conversation was amazing. Throughout the remainder of the night we were busy making new friends and engaging conversation with every patron in the bar.

Yabba Griffiths took the stage shortly after us and lived up to every ounce of promise that his name preceded.  His band was solid and Yabba himself sang with soul, passion, and enjoyed himself throughout their first set. In addition to great performances and great vibes, Yabba had many hypnotizing rants that got my wheels turning. In between sets we sat out back discussing touring and learning that we actually don't live very far from each other in Chicago. In addition we learned that both Yabba Griffiths and Model Stranger will be down the street from each other on the 22^nd in Kansas City!

At the start of the second set Yabba invited Model Stranger to jump on stage and enjoy an impromptu jam of the Bob Dylan classic “Knockin' on Heaven's Door”. We had allowed Yabba and his band to use our gear and they wanted to share some music with us. You can view that video HERE.

Although South Dakota was not necessarily a convenient stop, it turned out to be a very rewarding experience. When you are on the road and touring independently the idea is to make the most out of every day and night. You can never tell what will be rewarding and what will be worth it so wasting your energy on false anticipation just isn't worth it. It turns out that selling a dozen records and sharing the stage with some fellow musicians and performing for new friends can be just the rejuvenating shot a band that has been canceled, rerouted from a burnt down venue and redirected to a gravel pit needs to keep the morale up.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen Francis