EUREKA!!!

Yup. Eureka College is where we played tonight in Illinois - where EVERYTHING has Ronald Reagan's name worked into the title - streets, rooms, museums, trails, gardens... They have over 10,000 personal and public items donated by President Reagan to the College - his own alma mater.

We are staying at the President's Alumni and Guest House on campus. It is so cool!!! It smells just like Grandma and Grandpa's farmhouse in Iowa - it's very similar in feel. We each have a bedroom, and the student's brought some amazing food from a local Italian place. Oh Lord... I am STUFFED!!! We have all had so much to eat and there is still plenty left over. And I think we all ate both before and after the show. :)

No fiddle woes occurred today!! Yay!!! After breaking a bridge on one yesterday and the bridge collapsing on another the day before... I am starting to get nervous when I pick up my fiddles... But today things seemed to be back to normal. I gave them all a little TLC today, too, with a little cleaning and tweaking. Whew.

The students were really helpful and sweet today, and that always makes the experience so much more pleasant!!! Thank you to everyone here at Eureka for making it such a great show!


Let's hear it for the boys!


The other fiddle player in the audience :) Check out her awesome tee.






Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

University of Illinois, Springfield

We only had to drive 3 1/2 hours today - plus we GAINED an hour back into Illinois. SOO awesome!!! It helps so much when it is a short drive... all the way around. Just enough time to get some phone calls, emails, a short nap and some 30 Rock into the drive!

We played at University of Illinois, Springfield tonight. They have a great room where they set up a whole lighting rig and stage with couches and nice chairs... all in a dorm building!!! You definitely didn't feel like you were in a dorm when the show was going on. The Student Activities was offering hot chocolate and coffee for students... and... well... US!

David opened the show and even played a beautiful new song I hadn't heard, yet. And then we had an awesome set. My fiddle bridge collapsed on my new fiddle, though. That wasn't so awesome... I thought the E string broke again - which I have had some issues with... and it's been in the shop for. But tonight, the bridge just collapsed! SO STRANGE!!! That has NEVER happened before. Thank goodness I always have a spare now. I play 3 different fiddles in the show these days. :) It happened during the solo in "You Know Nothing" and so I had to finish out the song and then just switch to another fiddle.

Thank you to Ricky, a soldier who saw us at Ft. Gordon last May, for coming out tonight! Sorry I didn't have my camera yet to get a pic of us. :(

Here's everyone that helped put the show together!!! They had posters up all over campus, facebook events, and a clip of us playing on their college tv station. :)


My new friend Kristin! She liked my "big country girl hair" :) And we sang "This One's For the Girls" together after the show because it's one of her favorite songs.


This guy was part of the committee that brought us to Western Illinois (where we opened for Gloriana), but he couldn't be at the show... He had to fly to Oklahoma for an interview that day. So he drove down to UIS tonight (where his girlfriend goes) to see the show!







Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

We're on the news!! Sort of... ; )

Tonight was another wonderful night at The Rathskeller... Cool venue, great food, a club owner that has one of Steven Tyler's microphone stand scarfs... What more could a country girl ask for? ; )

In other exciting news today... I logged onto my facebook page today and saw that someone had uploaded a video from the Gloriana show the other night. (While we were playing I saw a guy down in front of the stage with a fairly industrial looking video camera, and now I know why) :)

Robert, I found out after some Facebook investigating, is a recent Army vet who is enrolled at WIU for Broadcast. He put together a news story about the show on campus (Maybe for class, maybe for campus news... That I don't know) But what I do know is that he did an awesome job and that it was really fun to watch, so I decided to share with all of you. :)

Now, it's a Facebook video so I can't just include it in the blog like I can with videos on YouTube, but if you click on this link you should be able to see it. (with any luck...)

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=378309560698&ref=mf

Isn't that cool?!? Good luck Robert! I hope you're able to make many more!

Anyway, as always thank you Dan and the rest of Indianapolis for showing us such a great night!

Until next time...

Peace. Love. Fiddle. And delicious tuna sandwiches at nice German restaurants...

~natalie

LOVE YOU Karen and Pat for always bringing a crowd!!!

We Opened For Gloriana Tonight

And it was AWESOME!!!! They put on a GREAT show. And we had a blast warming up the crowd for them! The stage and lights were really impressive, and it is always fun to be a part of such a big show.

I have to give a shout out to Big Country 103.1 out of Burlington Iowa for having us on today!!! We did an acoustic version of "Standing My Ground" and talked for a bit. And then I got ready for the show! The last two nights I have been using my wireless in ear monitors... WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT'S MAKING! I still don't have them perfect... but oh wow. I can hear my voice! IT'S AWESOME.

The show was so much fun. Huge stage. Electric crowd - they were loud, rowdy, and giving us soooo much love! Exactly what you want from a crowd! So of course, we made lots of new friends! Here's just a few...





A little arm signage :)






Cell phone Signage!!!
















Plus, Ari, may agent, came!!! He flew in for the show and is already heading back to New Jersey. It's fun when he shows up :) I think this may actually be the first FULL set of ours he's ever seen!



Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Aurora University. Game On!

We played in a BEAUTIFUL room tonight. It was the school's theater and it sounded SOOO good. Not to mention our awesome sound guys, which you know, helped tremendously with the whole "sounding good" thing. :)

I love when we play in Aurora, Illinois. I overuse Wayne's World quotes the whole week. :)

The show was great, and the night even ended with fan mail left on the windshield of the Van! Danny and Briana left us the sweetest note about how much they enjoyed the show and how hot James is :) LOVE IT! It was a great way to end the night!

Look at all of our new friends:












Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Shepards Pie. Get in My Belly.

My belly is so full of Shepards Pie and Bread Pudding. MMMMmmmm Mmm. Ballydoyle has an INCREDIBLE Irish menu. I wanted everything on it!

We played an early show tonight -from 7-9 because they were having the finals of their Battle of the Bands. The first set was mostly a dinner crowd... more low key. The second set? Musician after musician after groupie-of-musician walked in.. mostly high school age. I felt like I was back at Berklee!! It was really fun. They were way into it and a great audience.

One of the great things about playing early is that the young 'uns get to come!

This is Aaron and his boys Jacob and Lucas. We've played for Aaron in Peoria at a BASF convention earlier this year. His boys don't normally get to come to shows! But tonight was an exception. And Jacob is about to start playing guitar. He's off to a good start with Miguel-mojo. Miguel gave him a guitar pic from tonight.


Tamara surprised us!!!!!!! Tamara is James' mom and my mother-in-law, and we had no idea she was coming. I mean... there were clues, but I really didn't put it together!!! It's so much fun when she comes to shows. Plus, she's caravanning with us tomorrow and coming to the Rathskeller! :) So excited.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Rock Valley College And On To North Carolina!

Can You say LONG drive?

We're driving from Northern Illinois to North Carolina right now. It wouldn't be so bad... but we've been creeping along in traffic since we left Rockford... over 3 hours now. Oh well.

We played at Rock Valley College this afternoon. The football team and lots of students and teachers came out for the free food, music, and the beginning of their homecoming festivities. The girls that were helping us out with the event were so sweet.

Cara was taking care of us all morning. :)


Some of the awesome peeps that I talked with after the show!



Thanks y'all! You're crisp weather up in Northern Illinois is PERFECT football weather. Have a good game this weekend!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie