We closed the month of October with a few days in Illinois...
We had an official showcase at the MidAmerica NACA Conference on Friday October 31st, so we decided to head west a little early and spend some time with family in nearby Lincoln. (Yes, Lincoln, IL.) (Where apparently one is not terribly surprised to see the resident Lincoln impersonator in the waiting room of a doctors office.)
We had a brilliant time with family -- It's the thick of Autumn but Illinois was warm and sunny and begging for deep breaths outdoors. An amazing time to be with people you love.
Early Friday morning we grabbed our coffee and took off for the Peoria Civic Center, where the conference was being held...
As musicians, we're not exactly accustomed to being out and about downtown at 8am. But come on, it was a little alarming that no businesses were even open yet.
At a nearby hotel we met our very-cool college booking agent, took some candy from the receptionist's trick or treat bowl (kitkats at 8am; I'm pretty sure that's wrong), and headed for our soundcheck in the Civic Center theater.
We knew that the venue was beautiful, but we weren't expecting THIS (see photo above; it's the view from the stage)... And thus we were granted unbelievable sound, lighting, and the opportunity to share the stage with unbelievable talent. (Magicians, mentalists, fellow musicians, comedians... These are crazy events!)
Our early-morning soundcheck was for a 3:30pm show, which was truly fantastic. What an awesome crowd of college students, what a beautiful room -- It was a fabulous 15 minutes. (Each artist showcases for 15 minutes; it's actually really cool -- Quick and punchy.)
Afterward we spent some time with other music artists in a hotel room...
You should have seen the lot of us, boring as ever, huddled around the coffee table with our computers and knocking out a bunch of work, feeling quite like a studious office, no one talking, the sun setting out the windows, no one getting up to turn the lights on. I guess when you're on the road you take the moments you can get; it was just unnerving (and kind of hilarious) to see us all resorting the same thing.
But then we were introduced to the Flat Top Grille for dinner... Illinois-ians: Where did this fabulous place come from?
And much later in the evening, we joined our agency's booth in the exhibition center. (This is where musicians, speakers, balloon artists, retailers, those people who make mugs with your school's logo on them, etc... They all come with impressive booths to convince college students of their many merits.) :)
And it WAS Halloween, so at some point in the afternoon it had apparently become the appropriate time to change into costumes. So this hour or so was -- So entertaining. There was a costume contest for students (did the ScoobyDoo team win? We were impressed) -- Some serious creativity going on there. And this was in addition to the number of amazing people we got to meet - (Thanks to all the naca participants for making us feel so welcome!)
On another topic, I didn't say hello to Mr. Belding this time (though we passed in the hotel lobby), but I did touch a boa (snake, live one), and I think this counts.
When all the festivities had ended for the night, and after spending some seriously fine time with new friends, we took off for the quiet of Lincoln IL, to our dark & peaceful temporary home there...
A beautiful way to say hello to November.
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