Galesburg, Illinois

So...LacubriousToo and I headed to Galesburg (brrr-ass-cold), Illinois for a Javi show and a chance to get outta dodge!

The drive was only 4 hours, which is just about my limit these days for travel by car.

We "blew" into town around 3pm, checked into Comfort Inn where we found our room to be a sweltering 98 degrees! The 120 degree temp difference between the minus 30 wind chill and that was a bit much.

We chilled for an hour or so, then headed our to find some dinner. We went to the Packinghouse, but ended up with appetizers and salad bar because we were pressed for time to get to the venue.

The Orpheum Theatre

We got to the venue at 6:30 (Thanks TomTom!) amid a brisk winter wind that practically blew us across the street. (Did I mention it was COLD!)

Javi had arranged for tickets so we hit the box office and were efficiently escorted to the correct seats...which happened to be in the middle of the theatre. We were lucky enough to get seated behind Jaime and Sue. Darrin overhead them discussing Javi and the band so he interupted to ask them if they would mind if he shot photos of the show between them and that if he got too annoying them should just let him know.

As fate would have it, Jaime worked at the Orpheum Theatre and he offered to go ask the manager is we could move down front for a better vantage point. While he was gone Sue mentioned that Jaime was her theatre student (she teaches at Carl Sandburg College) and had gotten to go backstage and meet the band.

Theatre Manager, Kate Francis, came by and said it would be no problem to move up to the handicapped seating area.

Check out that architecture!

The show started out with Kate introducing Javier and the band. This time the "band" was Carl Glad, Dave Aholt, Joe Pastor, and Eric Grossman.

The set was:

1. Blood in the Water


2. Part of History


3. Acorralado


4. Once in a Lifetime


5. Letter to You


6. Dime Luna


7. When You're Not Around


8. Waiting


9. Night in Cusco


10. Julianne


11. Rococo


12. Cordoba


13. Always There


14. Look Around


15. La Professional (encore)


16. We Wasted Our Time (encore)

You can read a bit more about the show highlights on my post to JavierTrueFans.com.

It was a fantastic show, check out more of L-Too's photos below...

After the show, we hit a local bar. (Did I mention the smoking ban in Illinois?) Can you say "breathing easy"? I can!

Anyhow, it turns out the theatre manager, Kate was once (20 years ago) a member of Mr.Wizard, a cover band from St. Louis! We also learned a bit more about the history of the Orpheum Theater, built in 1916.

We finally wrapped it up and headed out into the bitter cold, and agreed to meet Javi and the gang for breakfast at the Cafe & Creperie. Yum!

L-Too and I drove around Galesburg a bit the next day to check out the college, and some of the older buildings...then we headed back home.

Thanks again to my Bro' on Pup Patrol!