Silo Halo at their final gig (of this tour) at the Happy Dog
Local guitar-and-bass trio Silo Halo was just on an eight-day tour of the Midwest. We asked the band to send us thoughts and photos from the road. This installment from Cleveland is the their final tour diary post. Thank you, Silo Halo, and welcome home!
Christin Durham writes:
In addition to being a tour of seeing old friends, this has been a tour of gorgeous Midwestern homes. Leaving Jordan and Liz’s place (somewhere off East Michigan Street in Indianapolis), I pondered (not for the first time) why I never ended up living in the Midwest for more than a few months. The people are more my speed than in D.C. There is a plethora of amazing music and art being created with a fraction of the ego and competition I’ve witnessed elsewhere. The general sense of community is strong. And the houses! The houses are massive! There are lots of folks like me living in historic homes that have bathtubs with feet, generous guest rooms, nice yards for dogs, cats and kids to play in and long porches for taking the time to enjoy the day. When did I turn down the path toward high rent and hefty student loan payments? It is what it is, I suppose.
We hit a nasty spell of traffic on Interstate 70, which thwarted our plans to go to Chris’ in-laws’ place to do laundry before the show. I had the biggest suitcase of anyone, yet I still somehow ran out of clean clothes. Perhaps it is time to accept the fact that there is no room for an extra pair of shoes on tour if those shoes are cowboy boots. Instead, we made arrangements to stop off at Heather and Sam’s place so I could change out of my sweatpants and cut up the shirt I’d been wearing to bed (on the nights when I actually managed to change out of my clothes). The ladies were gracious enough to have us, even though we interrupted taco night with Sam’s mom and sister. I’d met Sam’s mom a couple of years back in Toledo, Ohio, but I didn’t meet her sister until our Ottawa Tavern show on this tour. I saw this stunning young woman holding what looked like a cat turd, showing it to the bartender, and then holding it above her upper lip like it was a mustache. It turned out to be a piece of scrap vinyl from the Gotta Groove pressing plant where Heather works. So yeah, Sam’s family is awesome, and she and Heather have quite an impressive collection of musical instruments as well as critters. They have a bird, two cats and a skunk named Cedar, who they rescued off the side of the road. We drank some margaritas and beers and then made our way to the gig.
The sign at the Happy Dog
Happy Dog is awesome. It sells vegan and meaty dogs as well as fries and tots, and there are 50 toppings to choose from. Also, one never has to wait long for a drink, as the large, circular bar is always adequately populated with friendly, speedy bar staff. Heather played in both of the opening acts. First was Gypsy Spit with Heather on vocals and guitar and Lisa on drums. They only had a few songs but they blew us away. Keep your eyes and ears open for more from that duo. Next was Hard Drip, with Heather on bass and our friend Roseanna on drums. They covered “Helter Skelter” and introduced it by saying, “This is a Mötley Crüe cover.” The singer also said at one point, “We’re emotional ’90s indie rockers.” Needless to say, I enjoyed their set thoroughly. We went on third and played a solid final set of the tour to a receptive, boisterous crowd. Field Trip closed the night out with a lovely series of fuzzy, melodic noise-pop songs.
I failed to search for the white pants I lost on Edie Sedgwick’s tour, but I did get to hang out with my buddy Kelly at the show, which was a sweet surprise, as I didn’t even know she had moved from Richmond, Va. to Cleveland. I told her that Kevin and John (The Dimmer Twins) have a new late-night hangout at Sheetz, and we joked about the deli workers knowing their names and orders (“I’ll have the Kevin Wade on wheat, please.”). Also present at the gig were Steve and Ellen, Chris’s in-laws. They are wonderful people. We stayed the night in their exquisite abode in Shaker Heights just east of the city. It was an immensely comfortable, restful and relaxing end to the tour. They have these really interesting bathrooms with variations of white, pink and purple vintage tiles, tubs, toilets and fixtures, of which Greg took lots of photos. We had a leisurely and tasty breakfast, discussing everything from cultural anthropology to the trials of group housing. The only thing that was missing was Chris’s wife, Julie, who is very dear to all of us. I hope to be able to sit in that kitchen with the whole family next time.
It is good to be home, but other than long rides in the van and missing my cats, I think I would have liked to stay in the Midwest for a few more weeks… or possibly forever, who knows? I’m very glad to have Rachel with me for a while longer to ease the pain of the transition.
Gypsy Spit at the Happy Dog
