therealmattjones

"I've always wanted to boldly go where no man has gone before...but I'll probably stay in Aurora," I quote Garth as Landon and I whisk by the infamous surburb where Wayne's World was set.  It's been an unbelieveable 4 days in Illinois, but now we're trading the city streets of Chicago for the wide-open, snow-covered landscape of Iowa...at least for a day.

Dusk is coming, and with it a sunset to make any photoshop pallete jealous. In fact, it won't do it justice, but here:

A thought occurs - Landon and I have not only never played in Iowa before, we've never been.  The air of excitement and some anxiety fill our conversations on the way there, and of course, they're always interrupted by tangents.

"Does he say 'finger-licking' something in that song?"

"No, it's 'When you look in the mirror.'"

 "Wow. Good job Def Leopard."

Before we know it, Iowa City appears over the horizon, and we search out the venue.  It can't be right - we just saw the school of psychology building, and the bar where we're playing is a block away...so it's on campus of the University of Iowa. Wow.

The lay of the Blue Moose is totally set up to be a concert venue, with performance spaces upstairs and downstairs, and the bar up front to wet your whistle before you mosey in for a listen.  Realizing early on that the university is on winter break, Landon and I decide that we're just going to set up downstairs in the bar tonight...meet the people...and hopefully entertain the people. 

Right on, it worked. Landon and I meet a ton of new people and have one of the best shows of the tour thus far.  The hardest thing about leaving the venue is trying to finish up conversations with people who are offering to help and spread the word about the music in any way they can.  Man. Iowa, I owe ya one...back to Illinois to play one more time before we head to Cleveland...better start learning the Drew Carey show theme song

-TRMJ