Louisville is a big city with a lot of what looked to us like unused space in the downtown area. John back in Chicago described it as a city whose greatness is behind it; we're not sure. We pass Louisville Slugger Field on the way in, where the Little League World Series happens. We pulled up to Derby City Espresso, and found a lovely space to play: a medium-sized cafe/bar with lots of great art, coffee, a patio,parrots and books, and a man named Matthew. He owns and lives right there at DCE, and greeted us upon arrival.
We found Matthew to be, at first, a little bit prickly. He briskly informed us where to set up, how the night would progress, his policy about bands ("if I like you, you're welcome to return anytime. If I don't, you will never be back..." makes sense), and some rather vague ideas for food. Later, after he warmed up to us, he described himself as a curmudgeon, which is part of his charm; we wholeheartedly agree.
In his bathroom he had a picture of Bush which had been treated so you write on it with a dry-erase marker. Meghan immediately went to work:
Here's Matthew's on-display NRA card.
Okay so we headed out for a walk since we were early for once, and all the band members were already gushing about how much they liked Matthew's no-nonsense attitude, Louisville's authenticity, warm weather, honest realness, etc. We found our way to some kind of a large, long public fountain that literally dozens of people were wading in. Children and parents were running in every direction, and we were sorely tempted to hop in. Instead we agreed to return later that night.
We stopped for sammiches, where Meghan was stoked to discover red cream soda for sale, and we headed back to start the show. The opening act was Brian Probus (*Ghost Cloud?*), a local musician who plays simple, folky tunes. He's also quite friendly and cool! MT Asiago played next, a 2-piece of bearded duders who used electric guitar and drums. It was droney and squalling, a kind of post-folk noisefest; I learned that the lead singer purposely updated his set from a quiet, acoustic approach to this, in order to help CT4 seem less out-of-place on the bill.
CT4 started off in what had become a melty, wet heat. They had a lot of fun, and played well. Here's where I was going to post a video of them playing, but videos take a LOOOONG time to load on Blogger apparently. So, I'm sorry. I'll post it when it get home, maybe?
It was after midnight when they wrapped up, and we headed back to the aforementioned fountain to cool down and fulfill one of our persistent tour fantasies: go swimming! Matthew and his friend Rich accompanied us, and we waded in with glee. Well, Valerie was gleeful, Meghan was stoked, Cristina was pleased, and I was feeling a little trepidatious. I can't speak for Matthew or Rich.
Here's Matthew, of Derby City Espresso in Louisville, KY with CT4.
Here's our attempt to recreate this legendary, influential Louisville band's album cover.
It was around this time that we discovered the sign you see in the picture.
It is warning off the public from swimming (remember: we literally saw dozens of people in this fountain earlier in the day). We kept swimming, but it continues to make us wonder what the hell "extra hydrogen" in water means. Is it heavy water? Feel free to explain in the comments if you know.
We returned to the cafe, settled down on the patio, and drifted off into the open air of Kentucky.
