So many cities are hard to get shows in.  A look at our current "TBA" status on our tour schedule will illustrate that.  Why are these cities so hard to get shows in?  Because the market is so flooded with amazing bands?  Amazing bands who want to play shows every night? 

No.

Cities are hard to get shows in because stuck-up, pretentious booking agents think they have something to gain by putting made-up obstacles between bands and shows.  Even when their roster for the night is completely empty.  These booking agents don't actually take the time to listen to bands that they book, but look for the "tell-tale" signs of a "professional" group that exist within an email or two.  That, or they're just wussies, afraid of giving a band a chance.  As though a band would put together a musical show and a tour package just to rob that promoter of 10-30 dollars!!!

But every once in a while, even in the biggest of cities (as I just learned...thanks Andy Bodor and the Cake Shop!) there is an honest individual who just wants to book a decent show.  They're not shooting the moon, and they're not attempting to outrank themselves or every other club in the history of hipsterdom.  They're just doing honest work. 

This is the caliber of person that exemplifies to me the spirit of Carbondale, Illinois.  To the naked eye, not very many opportunities exist in Carbondale for any kind of artistic expression.  But the experience of Kentucky Nightmare--and many other bands, for that matter--proves otherwise.  The citizens of Carbondale that I've met are either enthusiastic hard-working musicians, or enthusiastic hard-working music lovers.  People there get SO excited about music, and actually allow it to penetrate their bones.  You know that "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots (due credit to the World Famous Scraps)" mentality that exists at most "hip" venues, where the crowd refuses to show any sign of being emotionally affected by the music or even the musical performance?  Not the case in Carbondale.  The bands, the audience, the sound guy--they all really get into what is going on, and move with it, and lend their beings to the musical experience, as if they understood that, after all, the COMMUNICATION is what makes the musical experience even noteworthy.  Otherwise, it's just a bunch of math.

Math and flat-dick, tight-jean-wearin' mathematicians.

And there really are people there in Carbondale who believe in the possibilities of the people and the culture residing in the city.  And they act on that belief.  They don't deny people what is actually available out of cowardice or a pompous presumption of protocol ("Please send an actual CD 6-8 weeks prior to the date you are looking for.  NO BOOKING DONE VIA INTERNET.")  They put "it" together in the moment that "it" needs put together.  Despite whether the timing is good or bad, but because it needs done.  With elbow grease and energy and enthusiasm. 

Much due respect to Carbondale, Illinois, and to all the cities like it, and people that far and wide embody that spirit of celebration of music, life, and possibility!  That's why we're so excited to kick-off and end our February 2009 tour in Carbondale.

That, and it's just northwest of the beautiful Shawnee National Forest.  By the way, southern Illinois is second only to south-central Indiana in beautiful landscapes east of the Mississippi River, in my book.

But south-central Indiana still takes the cake.