The Sandwich Life

1993 Ernie and Nashville

In going through a drawer in the sideboard, trying to empty it of junk so I could fit something else in it, I found these pictures I'd been looking for. Our first trip to Nashville, 25 years ago this year. I know there are more pictures somewhere but I was delighted with these. Look at my sweet, skinny baby. It was a major birthday of sorts, and we were both listening to a lot of old school country, as well as some of the great stuff coming out at that time. It was a whole new world. I remember sitting in our apartment in Chicago, listening to Marty Stuart do an interview on WGN (my mother had alerted me). That was back in the day when we followed Marty from county fair to country fair. He was talking about the Grand Old Opry in that inimitable Marty way, and I thought, "HELL, THAT'S what I'll do for Ernie's birthday!" So I called his boss, Jim Mayhercy, at Second Hand Tunes, the used record store in Hyde Park that Ernie ran, and arranged with him for Ernie to have some time off work without him knowing about it. I ordered Grand Old Opry tickets and had them sent to my parents' house so he wouldn't see them. I planned that we would leave after he got off work and drive half way there or so. Of course, that morning, our wonderfully reliable little Honda broke down. I was hysterical, calling our cute mechanic a few blocks over on Clark Street. He couldn't get it back to us that day...don't even remember what the problem was, so I had to take our old beat up cargo van that we used for antique shows. Oh well. It worked. I picked up Ernie from work, and as I headed for the Dan Ryan, I handed him the gift wrapped Grand Ole Opry tickets. He looked confused, and said that if he'd known this he would have gone to the bathroom. That response has been brought up to him many, many times in the ensuing 25 years.

We decided to take pictures of Ernie standing in front of various spots..something we never did at the time. Of course, we hardly took pictures at the time...it was indeed a different world.

Forgive the spotty, dusty scans (if I wait until I edit them, I'll never post them)....and just look at Ernie and Nashville in 1993.

 

Suggestions Needed for This Year's Spring Break Trip-ette

It's time to start thinking about our Spring Break trip. As you recall, we like to hit small towns and back roads, or medium cities... In 2015 we did Southern Indiana with French Lick and New Harmony. In 2016 we did more Indiana with New Harmony and a bit of Bloomington. Last year it was just Ernie and me (the boys have politely said, "no thank you to any more trips." We did Bishop Hill and Davenport, then the Lincoln Highway and Cedar Rapids. Some of our other similar trips are when Owen and I went to Burlington, Iowa, and when Ernie and I went to Quincy over holiday break in 2016.

So, all this reminiscing obviously, this leads to the question of where to go this year? I'm toying with the idea of the Mississippi River from Cairo up to Quincy or  so. I do love river towns. I also thought about further north on the Mississippi such as Dubuque. I like to keep it about a four hour trip or so on the return.

Obvious highlights need to be history and/or historic buildings, neon signs, and old restaurants.

Suggestions?

My favorite house in Quincy.

Thank God for Non-Refundable Hotel Rooms

Thursday night I picked up the laptop after 9:00 pm when I'd had some wine. This is a very bad idea and I need to invest in some sort of alarm that refuses to log me in at moments like that. Somebody should really work on that. So before long I had written Denise at Hillbilly Haiku house concerts in Lebanon, TN to check if they had space for the Kieran Kane/Rayna Gellert house concert WITH Peter Cooper/Thomm Jutz opening....and I'd booked a hotel room. 

Yeah.

The next morning this of course seemed like an asinine and expensive thing to have done but guess what? Non-refundable hotel room. So, see...we had no choice in the matter! I canceled on my friends that I'd made plans with (sorry) and told Leo we were going. Owen, of course, had been egging me on the whole time. No surprise there.

We took off midmorning on Saturday and had a pretty uneventful drive down. We did one regional potato chip tasting: Tom's, from North Carolina. High marks for a classic Lay's type chip.

We got into town and checked into our hotel and then went and wandered a bit, exploring town. We stopped and had a drink. We walked in and you could have knocked me over. I haven't been in a bar that allowed smoking in eons. The fact that Witchy Woman was playing only added to the retro atmosphere. After a bit we drove over to Hillbilly Haiku. Before we even got in the door we got big hugs from Peter and Thomm. Nice. Denise and Rick were welcoming and kind and we got to chat with Thomm's wife, who was delightful. We found a spot on the couch and settled in.  

I think Ernie was somewhat tickled by Kieran's expression of confusion as he tried to compute Ernie=Tennesee..huh? Ernie adores Kieran. I think Kieran is the only person I've ever seen Ernie nervous about meeting. We'd seen Kieran play with Kevin a time or two at Schuba's when we lived in Chicago, and we loved his solo work, and of course the O'Kanes. When we moved down from Chicago, they founded Dead Reckoning not long after. Ernie saw a notice in Billboard and was excited so he called the number and spoke to somebody about ordering some cds. After a bit Ernie asked to whom he was speaking and when the response was "Kieran Kane,' Ernie's poor little heart sped up. He ordered the cds and when they arrived there was a little handwritten note from Kieran that said his partners had told him he'd sold them too cheap so they'd have to be more next time. We still have that little note somewhere. I'll have to dig it up. Anyway, months later we drove over to Indianapolis to see all the Dead Reckoners and I've never seen Ernie so damn nervous. Of course Kieran was charming, as they all were. Kieran introduced him to Kevin and Kevin said, "I've HEARD of you," in that Kevin voice. Ernie does a mean imitation of it. I'm rambling, sorry. Ernie came back and handed me my glass of wine and told me he'd chatted to Kieran so I bounced up and found Kieran to give him a big hug and got to meet Rayna Gellert, who was absolutely lovely. Happy, happy, happy.

Peter and Thomm played and good Lord but they are wonderful. Thomm's playing is so understated and beautiful...it's incredible what it adds. And I just happen to adore that Peter Cooper. Yup. Later Kieran and Rayna played, and although I've heard them online, and on video, in person, it of course was sublime. Rayna's voice is gorgeous...a hint of Linda Thompson in it, and their voices together are even greater than the sum of their parts. Kieran, as always, is a rhythm machine...that groove of his really sets him apart. They sounded just glorious. They will have an album out next year, which they taunted us with... Well, they didn't taunt...we just FELT taunted because it sounded so great...can't wait.

It's fun to be at other house concerts than our own. Despite differences here and there, the spirit is the same...and it just feels so good. A million thanks to Denise and Rick Williams (Hillbilly Haiku), Peter Cooper, Thomm Jutz, Rayna Gellert, and Kieran Kane. It was worth every single mile and every single dollar of that non-refundable hotel room!!

We left early this morning and drove home, in and out of rain the whole way. The fields looked beautiful. It was perfect.

Oh, and we did one more regional chip tasting: Golden Flake. Smaller, and a bit thicker, a slight off taste due to different oil perhaps? After a chip or two however, we acclimated just fine.

Onward to Monday...hopefully very slowly....

Random Pictures From the Sandwich Life

Some odds and ends from last weekend. Some Leo took, some I took.

Milwaukee Road 261 Fall Colors: The Birthday Edition

Day Three.

We all slept really hard Saturday night as we were tired. It’s the constant adrenalin every time you hear that whistle blow that wears you out I think. We got up blearily, kissed Leo good morning, told him happy birthday, and headed back to the rail yard. He wanted to get a few pictures but then take off while it was backing up to get on the other track. That way we would have time to catch it at the bridge in downtown over the Mississippi. We got there just in time---couldn’t find a parking place so Ernie just double parked while Leo and I rushed over to a good vantage point. We could hear the whistle blowing, and suddenly she just burst into sight. It was the most beautiful thing…steam rushing, whistle blowing, birds scattering above. Leo and I agreed it might be our favorite moment from the whole trip. 

As I watched the engine steaming and seemingly quivering with energy, all I could think was that it was like rock and roll. It takes you out of yourself, is exhilarating, and make you want more. No wonder it's addictive.

 

We raced back to the car and jumped in and headed for Hopkins. We’d gotten there just in time on Saturday, but there was a depot so we wanted to check that out. After that it becomes a bit of a blur…jumping out of the car, jumping in the car. It started raining and it was a cold, cold rain even though the temperatures weren’t too low. Who knew it could get cold in Minneapolis in October? Huh. While we were waiting at one nice crossing, our friends from Maine and England swooshed out of nowhere and stopped to say hi. We all laughed hellos and traded a few words before we all jumped back on the road. Leo was tough, standing in the rain, not missing a thing. I sometimes huddled in the car as we waited but the minute I head the whistle it was like Pavlov's dog and I would leap out of the car.

Sunday was a bit shorter than the previous day. We headed back to the rail yard to wait for her. We found a place to park and then I suggested we go over to the other side so we could watch her pull in. We drove over (it’s fun driving around rail yards) and there, sure enough, were our friends. We got a chance to stand around and talk and laugh. It’s nice to see Leo holding his own as an adult. And, as we all know, there's nothing better than talking to a friend who shares your passion.

And finally, it was over. We weren't even sad though, because it had been so wonderful. I had picked out a restaurant for Leo's birthday dinner. It has to have fries but I refused to take him to another burger joint. I googled 'best fries in Minneapolis' and found a French brasserie, Barbette so we headed over. I whimpered when we passed the Walker Art Center and Oldenberg's spoon and cherry, but this trip was only about trains. The restaurant was lovely. I had mussels and pommes frites and a salad. The mussels were good, the frites even better but the real star was the salad. It was a mix of lettuces with lots of fresh herbs, with celery and pickled red onion in a dill vermouth vinaigrette. We had a nice time and relaxed and talked, reliving the weekend, trying to think of our favorite moments. 

It was a lovely way to celebrate my Leo turning 18 and hang out with him.

Thanks Milwaukee Road 261.

 

Milwaukee Road 261 Fall Colors: Saturday

Saturday morning we were up pretty early. We wanted to get over to the railyard by 7:30 to pick up our Chaser Passes. We got directed where to park and then our English and Maine friends pulled up right next to us. Nice. We waited a bit but finally got our passes which included information on where the train would be heading and which passes would be good for catching it. We sat and studied it as people lined up to get on the train. Yes, you COULD ride the train, but tickets went anywhere from $70 or so, up to $2,000! We were happier chasing it.

We watched her back up to switch onto a different track to head west. She was running on tracks that hadn’t seen passenger service since the 60’s. We watched her take off and then headed to the next stop. She’d already been through---we could see our friends leaving so we followed them, heading to the next stop. Our friend from Maine could be a racecar driver. We hurtled through Minneapolis neighborhoods as if on a rally until we both realized we were lost. We quickly pulled out our phones to figure out directions and managed to get to the next stop before she came through. We parked the car and I heard the whistle blow and I kid you not….I RAN. Yes, me. I was shocked myself. We just barely managed to see her fly by and get some pictures. We raced back to the car and headed to the next stop, and then the next, and the next and so on. We finally got a chance to stop and get gas and go to the bathroom while the train stopped for boxed lunches and to attach the diesel that would pull it back to Minneapolis, as there was no way for it to turn around.

 

Forgive my shakiness on the video below...but I love the grain elevators.

It was a little more leisurely on the way back. She looked a bit sad being pulled by the diesel. We stopped periodically though and Leo got both video and stills of it all. We went back to the railyard and waited for her return so Leo could get some more footage.  At that point we were starving and tired. It was somewhere after 6:30 I think.

I chose a spot to get a Jucy Lucy (or Juice Lucy…there seems to be a question) which seems to be a Minneapolis thing…it’s a cheese stuffed burger. I went with Tin Cup’s because the sign looked good and it was a hell of a lot closer than the two places that claim to have invented it. I read the description to the guys as we went, explaining that it said it used to be a dive bar but had been revitalized or something like that. It was attached to a liquor store and Ernie and Leo seemed a bit questioning about the crowded parking lot. We went in and Ernie leaned over to Leo and said, “Remember, it USED be a dive bar,” and smirked. I told him to be quiet. We forged ahead and I found it quite delightful. Leo liked the fries and I liked my bunless Lucy. The wine was cheap but plentiful and cold and we laughed and talked about the day. After dinner I made them drive me to Candyland as it had been recommended and had cheese popcorn and I figured we could get a treat for Owen. We couldn’t find a place to park so Ernie circled while Leo and I went in. The scent of sugary candy was somewhat overwhelming and I gotta say, the cheese popcorn was fine, but no match for Garrett’s. We got a treat to take back to Owen though and then trundled back to our room and collapsed. We were tired but incredibly happy.

THAT was a good day.

 

 

Milwaukee Road 261: Friday

We took off on Friday morning…actually leaving when we planned to for once, only a bit after 8:00. The trip was uneventful…straight interstate driving, no stopping for pictures…although if I’d seen the cranberry bogs in time to pull over I would have insisted. We got into St. Paul, where our hotel was, sometime after 4:00. We decided to head over to the railroad yard so we’d know where to go in the morning. We wound our way around the edge of it, finding a spot where we could peer in. Leo hesitated because it said ‘No Trespassing,’ but I told him he was going to be 18 that Sunday….so live a little. He rolled his eyes and popped in and took the first pictures. The 261 was running and steam coming out. They always look like they are quaveringly alive somehow.

We saw somebody standing on the other side of the tracks and thought that might be a better vantage point so we wound our way over to that side. Ernie chatted with the man standing there…he had come from England and was charming. His friend came over from where he’d been viewing the engine and it turned out he was from Belfast, Maine. Things seemed to be looking good already. They encouraged Leo to walk over…and Leo even got to go up in the cab of the 261.

I KNOW!

We took lots of pictures and Leo even let me take some of him without his hand in front of his face. He was glowingly happy. I’ve always thought a happy Leo was a wondrous thing.

We headed over to our hotel which was in an old train repair building. The building was very cool. The hotel was slightly odd but it all worked well. Leo got settled in with the laptop so he could upload his pictures and Ernie and I had a drink at the bar. As we sipped our drinks the man across the bar let out a loud and long fart. The bartender walked in from the back room laughing and said, “Was that the movie?” The man said, “No, that was me. Sorry. I thought it was going to be silent.” Then the bartender asked why we were in town. I explained and he said he liked trains and then started saying, “What’s the name of the little ones that sometimes go around the top of a room?” I think he was searching for ‘model trains’ but I didn’t think I could suggest something that obvious so I just shrugged. At that point it all seemed a tad odd so we decided to head back to our room. We agreed that we were all rather tired so we just went to a restaurant a block or two away. It was so-so but we, especially Leo, were so damn happy it didn’t matter at all. We made our plans for the next day and tumbled off to sleep. Day one was over.

 I love that boy so much.

Random Pictures from the Sandwich Life: AmericanaFest Edition

I'm starting to come down. Damn it. Not that real life is so bad but just the same. 

You mean I CAN'T spend all my time not working, listening to music, hugging people I like, and drinking wine? 

Damn it.

A few random pictures...

And when we finally arrived home, Cyril was waiting in the alley to greet us.

Day Three of Ernie and Cynthia Have Fun: The Americana Fest Edition

Saturday was a great day. We started off with Brock Zeman and Blair Hogan at 11:00 at Hatwrks and good god I just loved them. I'd listened to some of their music and really liked it, but this was the first time seeing them live, and it certainly won't be the last. I leaned over half way and whispered to Ernie, "We must have them come play" and he nodded happily. 

When we first got there and sat down on a little wooden bench I thought, "damn I don't think I can sit here for three hours," but I was completely wrong. The time flew by and I never noticed the bench. After Brock and Blair was Anne McCue, whom I love. She is just absolutely amazing. And she had my beloved David Olney come up and do a song with her. No wonder I didn't notice the wooden bench. Mary Sack did a brilliant job setting this up. I'm sure the bands that played after were great too...

We chatted with folks in between and then David played. Damn. I just love that man so much. And he was wearing an orange shirt which oddly worked with the orange details near the ceiling. Few people look good in orange. Owen and David. Anyway, he was amazing of course. He completely made Ernie cry when he sang Vincent's Blues. Ernie said he thought it was one of the best shows he'd ever seen David do. Hmm. I couldn't agree with that...it's kinda like saying you love one of your children more than the other.... Oh, and he did Red Guitar. EEK!!! So happy! I got a chance to give him a hug and say hello and to wave at his wife Gine but as much as I hated to, we had to run because I really wanted to catch Aaron Lee Tasjan at Little Harpeth at the Cafe Rooster show. I'd wanted to catch Brian Wright too, but well, Olney you know... We got there just in time for Brian Wright to say thank you. Oh well. Then Aaron Lee came out and blew the place up. It was perfect because it was the exact opposite of the Brown's Diner show, but equally intensely wonderful. Totally rock and roll, banging and loud and perfect. We hung out there for awhile, listened to Hunter Begley of Yellow Feather. He had a Kevn Kinneyish voice...I liked him. Also heard Darrin Bradbury and then Jon Latham with a full band. Lots of records to buy

At that point it was after 5 pm and I needed a goddamned glass of wine. We went over to my beloved 5 Spot to catch the end of the Aussie BBQ show. Mostly I just wanted a glass of wine. It was packed and hot in there. We ended up wedged in the corner by the door to the patio which wasn't bad--at least we had a place to lean. Kasey Chambers did a set and was pretty incredible. It was so crowded I could barely see her but damn she was great. The Captain. But Ain't No Little Girl was a fucking knockout. At some point Tom Mason had walked by and I'd grabbed him for a hug. As we were standing there he asked about my leg, as we'd texted the night before and I'd told him I'd fallen and bashed it up a bit. I told him it was fine...stiff and sore, but fine. He told me I should sit down but I said we'd looked, there was no place to sit. So then somehow he escorted me to a table and got me a seat next to Phil Kaufman. Tom Mason, my guardian angel. Good God I love that man. He truly is one of my favorite people on earth. So I chatted for a minute or two with Phil, Ernie got me another glass of wine, and all was right with the world. After Kasey played she had her back up band, Grizzlee Train, do a short set. OMFG. They were incredible. Two babyfaced boys, an acoustic guitar and drums and they blew the place up. Damn, I already used that phrase---think of something similar, will you? They kinda reminded me of a harder Lonely Trailer. I loved them. Phil left to hunt down Kasey Chambers and Tom left to go home to his wife. I finished my wine and we headed out to the next venue, Bobby's Idle Hour.

We walked up to the place and there was a group of people standing in front of the door. Ernie asked them if they were waiting to get in and they said, "No, they're still playing music." Cracked me up. I guess it was a deterrent for them...not us. We walked in and ran smack into the wonderful Amelia White, Rodney Metoyer and then the Wild Ponies, Doug and Telisha. Lots of hugs all around. In the corner stage was Kevin Gordon playing not just with Ron Eoff and Joe McMahon, but also our beloved Paul Griffith. Damn, damn, damn that felt good.

After they finished the Wild Ponies, Rod Picott, Will Kimbrough and Phil Madeira all did a song or two. It was called songs of love and protest and they were just that. Will Kimbrough has to get top pick for turning the President's grab them by the pussy rant into a musical composition. Heartbreakingly, sickeningly, brilliant funny. I love those people. They ended and people started to tumble out. We said goodbye to a few folks, gave Jon Byrd a kiss, and headed home. There was lots more music but we'd been listening for 9 plus hours and I'd sweated through every stitch I was wearing and would have sold my soul for a hair tie...so we headed back to our little home and tried to stop vibrating. I took a long shower while Ernie picked up junk food and lord, I just felt so good. Damned good.

I needed that.

Thank you all.

 

Day Two of Ernie and Cynthia Have Fun: Americana Fest Version

I couldn't sleep Thursday night. It's kind of like after a house concert...the adrenalin is still going even though I am physically tired. Eventually toward morning I finally slept hard, and waking up felt like the first time I'd truly been relaxed in too long. We had plans to meet our beloved Mark Rubel for lunch so we had a lazy morning; we stopped at a coffee shop for some iced tea and coffee, and relaxed.

We headed over to Blackbird Studios to meet Mark, where he teaches at Blackbird Academy. Lord I love him. He showed us around...his amazing classroom, and then the even more incredible complex of studios. Really mindblowing. I kept thinking that we MUST get Owen down here to see it all!

This was the studio that fascinated me the most.... I almost told Mark that it reminded me a of a herring smokehouse museum in Lubec, Maine but then I thought perhaps I was crazy. I went back and looked through my pictures however...and sure enough---in Lubec, Maine: the sticks for smoking the herring. I remember how beautiful they looked...and of course even though the smokehouse had closed in the 90's....still thick with the smell of the smoke.

 

We had a delightful lunch at a Vietnamese place near the studio. After eating not great food for a day or so it tasted fresh and perfect, and I adore my Rubels so I was incredibly happy. Trust Mark. We walked back to the academy and I struggled to keep up with the two long legged men...I felt like Judi's dog Wally when Ernie would try to take him running....his poor little legs going triple time. Heh.

We toyed around with a few things but ended up going back to the house to hang out for a bit. There's so much music that it's hard not to get caught up in the "but we're MISSING something" mode but I also wanted to just relax and enjoy myself. There were WAY too many things to do that evening but I finally decided that since I had NEVER seen Tim Carroll, AND he was playing at my beloved 5 Spot...we did that. Nice crunchy guitars---I loved it. I've loved him since the mmmm early/mid 90's days of the Blue Chieftains on some Diesel Only compilations I believe...took me awhile to make the connection but finally a song or two did it for me. He was great. I went through a phase of listening to the Tim Carroll and the Orange (is that it?) ep when I was trying to fall asleep. I know it's an odd choice...it's not exactly lullabies, but damn it worked for me...and it sounded so good to hear those songs.

After that we headed over to the American Legion for a thing Rodney Metoyer had put together. We walked up to Anne McCue playing outside. Lord she is incredible. We headed in after a bit (oh, and I got to meet Rodney in real life for the first time!) and found Amy Speace playing, then Gaelyn Lea (2016 Tiny Desk winner), then, awwww, our beloved Rod Picott. We got a chance to chat with Rod for a bit and we swapped picture taking with Wanda and Bryan Smith. These pictures express exactly how I felt.

Amy Speace

Gaelyn Lea


Our boy.



We headed out, we were tossing plans between Kevin Gordon and Walter Salas-Humara. We decided it was important to have sustenance so we headed over to Mas Tacos Por Favor...where I had never been (Ernie was leading the way the whole weekend, the jerk). We got  a parking place close by and I innocently got out of the car and attempted to walk across the street. 

Sigh.

Evidently there was a little ridge in the road which was NOT apparent in the dark. Before I could sense a thing I was flat down on the ground between two parked cars. Ernie tried to help me up and I graciously said, "LEAVE ME ALONE FOR A MINUTE." Poor man. He did eventually help me up and I hobbled numbly into the place. I ordered quickly without much thought (in hindsight I would have gone for a fish and a fried avocado). I hissed at Ernie to get me a glass of wine and found a seat. He let me hold his beer to cool off my scraped palms. Man....those things just shake you up. Despite that my tacos were fantastic (not incredibly crazy about the quinoa but two was plenty anyway). They were closing up so I hobbled out. We got in the car and I just kinda wanted to cry. Such a stupid thing. We had wanted to go out but I hurt like hell and I was bleeding a bit so headed home (so to speak). I was sorry to miss so much but it felt right and it had been a great day already.

Our love and thanks to all we saw.

More to follow.