Two years ago, Jared and I joined a network of people who put on and book living room shows, and the artists who need work. It is aptly called The Listeningroom Network. Overall, the service didn’t pan out extremely well for us, as many of the people involved are pretty East coast based. So, until we find ourselves in that part of the country more often, it just doesn’t seem like a smart yearly investment. Anyway, while we WERE part of TLN, in 2022 we got booked a gig in Aurora, Nebraska for Summer of 2024. Knowing we had a solid fanbase in Yankton, SD and could book stuff around an Aurora gig, which is only about three hours away, we said “Sure”! And then kind of forgot about it…since it was two years away. Well, here we are in 2024 and the time had come to make good on that Aurora gig. After the intensely cool gig the night before in Yankton, we were fired up and ready to make the trek into Nebraska to play a show and make a bunch more fans!
This was just weird enough to grab a photo of as we were passing. Not quite sure what they were up to, but it looked either foolish or fun. Either way, here’s a pic.
Arriving in Aurora, we found we’d made great time and had awhile to spare. The people who booked us at The Leadership Center, Maile and John, also own a coffee shop down town called, “Espressions” and after we checked into our room and met with our hosts, we decided to check it out.
As John and Maile have dedicated their entire existence to serving their community, it came as no surprise to see the coffee shop as a direct reflection of that. Local art adorned the walls, “Mug Club” mugs lovingly used, hung up, awaiting their owners, plants (very well attended to) thrived in the corners, homemade treats filled the bakery cases, and an eclectic array of jewelry, “book nooks”, candles, journals, tiny ceramic toilets, coffee fixings, and board games all suggested a feeling of showcasing the talents of the locals and creating a whimsical environment for gathering. The cork boards absolutely covered with invitations to join various craft and game nights, as well as learning opportunities for all ages and interests implicated the true desire to offer much “more than coffee”, just as their slogan boasted.
While we enjoyed our beverages and paninis, there was a ceramics class happening in the back room, that also doubled as an art studio and a murder mystery solving locale.
Maile and John are no strangers to utilizing every inch of a space to get the most out of it. The Learning center, which Maile runs, offers an event space complete with a pool, sauna, several activity rooms, an outdoor pond with row boats, two floors of hotel rooms, and a full kitchen that John and his high school interns use to cook meals for their guests. Guests range from family reunions, weddings, sequestered juries, church groups, the occasional wayward musical act, and quite a bit more… There is really so much that these two, and their only son, Chaz, do for their community, that it was no surprise that they also hosted free concerts for their guests and members of their town. Genuinely good people.
So it turns out I had forgotten my show clothes for the night, but had been gifted this red dress from a Yankton fan named Veronica. Not typically something I would wear, and certainly not with tennis shoes, but it pulled together kind of sweetly, and I had an instant outfit for the show. Thanks, Veronica!
An intimate, warm set up for an evening with Champagne Sunday.
The gig was very lightly attended due to a whole bunch of unforeseen happenings in the community, which was really a shame, because Jared and I had a hell of a show. For the handful of guests who spent the evening with us, it was beautiful and something we were proud of. Maile captured this photo of us looking at each other, and I am also really proud of that. Even here, in Aurora, Nebraska, with only a few people to witness, we still TRULY love what we do and, more so, LOVE doing it with EACH OTHER. I believe that even on a stage with the whole world watching, you would still see us looking at each other like that was the only thing taking place in the entire universe.
