Hoping that the Midwest would be considerably warmer than my last visit two months ago, I set out for a 9 day visit to see four more shows, in Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. This hit on my vacation time was lessened by the last two days of my time off work being public holidays in Britain to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

And so I set out on Friday 24 May for the long trip to Chicago. Out of my front door at 8.30 a.m, I was lucky to be in between rain showers whilst waiting for my bus into Leeds Centre, from where I got a train to Manchester Airport. My journey then took me to Frankfurt, and onto Chicago; the German airline Lufthansa offering the best fare deal this time. The transatlantic flight was long and tedious, the plane full and the food and service somewhat bland, so it was a relief to arrive in the early evening sunshine of Chicago a little after 7pm local. Good to be met by local friend and CT fan Patricia, who kindly stopped by the local Harry Caray's restaurant/bar near O'Hare Airport (so I could buy stuff!), before driving me up to Madison, Wisconsin, where we'd both spend the night at Rhiazann's before all travelling to Iowa the next day. It was good to finally arrive in Madison at 10.30pm, 20 hours after leaving home.

Sat 25 May - Cheap Trick in Clear Lake, Iowa

Up to 10 days ago, Rhia and I had this day marked down to go see some baseball at Milwaukee's Miller Park, where the early evening game would see the Brewers play my long suffering San Diego Padres. We'd even bought tickets for the game. But then at short notice, this Cheap Trick date was announced, and given the history of the venue, we changed plans and decided to go to this show instead of the baseball. We were also supposed to have seen Harmony Riley play a late show in Naperville (Chicagoland) late the night before, but dropped the idea, given the long journey today.

Rhia, Pat and I left Madison at 11am, heading west on highway 18 towards Iowa. The morning was wet and cool, and to help pass the time we soon eased into a game to see who could spot cows first. In Wisconsin, America's Dairyland, this was something that could run and run. And it did! We passed dairy farms with lush green fields, then towards Iowa we passed freshly ploughed fields, some with very odd, localised patches of rising mist, very spooky. As we crossed into Iowa, the weather became brighter and drier, and the landscape became more open. Much of this land was cornfields, but it was early in the season so all we saw were wide patches of land. Highway 18 passed through many small villages and towns, and this being the Memorial Day weekend, we saw several graveyards flying one or more large Stars and Stripes, with small flags at the graves of those who'd died in service. And to remind us that we were in corn country, along one long stretch of road, we saw a farm's letterbox by the side of the road atop a large ornamental stalk of corn. We finally reached a sunny and warm Clear Lake in northern Iowa around 3.30pm, and checked into our quaint roadside motel.

The Surf Ballroom was only a mile away, and we were there soon after 4pm, to find ourselves and the road crew the only people around. From the outside, the venue didn't seem anything special, a large, sprawling box-like building. However, to the right of the main entrance stands a memorial stone indicating the historic significance of the Ballroom. Set back amongst a small garden, the memorial reminds visitors that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper all played their last show here in February 1959, before perishing when their plane crashed nearby a few hours later.

Inside, the venue retains its 1950's feel, with the décor lovingly restored to much as it was at that historic show. The lobby was carpeted, with the walls having a tropical feel with green wallpaper patterned with yellow pineapples. Off the lobby to the right, past some Buddy Holly memorabilia, was a short passageway (Memory Lane), with the walls covered with show posters and signed photos of performers up to the late 50's who'd played here. This led into the large bar area, which featured more memorabilia from Holly, Valens and the Bopper, as well as two walls given over to signed photos of acts from the past 25 years or so who'd played here. Two spots were marked as being "Reserved for Cheap Trick". The Ballroom itself was very cool, with a large dance floor in front of the good sized stage. To the left looking at the stage was a walkway, to the right of the stage, going all the way to and across the rear wall, were banks of 50's style seating booths, in front of wall panels depicting tropical surf scenes. Palm trees on each side of the stage front added to the tropical feel, and large video screens were high up on either side of the stage. The ceiling was high and dark, with old fashioned fans.

Cheap Trick arrived for soundcheck at 4.30pm, and could be heard trying out a couple of new songs. Given Rick's recent stage announcements that the songs for the new album had been recorded, one can only guess that the songs played at soundcheck, "Pop Drone" and "If I Could" will be on the CD.

After eating at the next-door Boathouse Grill, we stood in line, and got into the venue at 8pm to get a decent front stage spot. The opening act were Harmony Riley, so that was a real bonus for me since we'd had to miss them last night. As usual they sounded great, the only drawback for me being that they wouldn't have their new, 14-song CD available to buy for another couple of weeks.

Cheap Trick came on at 10.15, in front of what I estimated to be a crowd of around 2,000 to 2,500. From what I could see, all the surrounding booths were full, and I heard that the standing crowd filled the dance floor right back to the mixing desk. It was certainly a good crowd given the short notice of this show.

Rick - Black shiny suit, black t-shirt

Robin - unshaven, white straw cowboy hat, black jacket with fine white piping, long sleeve black t-shirt, black pants with lace-ups up the side of each leg

Bun E - Black jeans, plain black t-shirt

Tom - Black pants, black shirt with small white polka dots

Hello There, Big Eyes, If You Want My Love, He's A Whore, I Know What I Want, I Want You To Want Me, High Roller, Borderline, Anytime, She's Tight, Voices, Ain't That a Shame, Surrender // The Flame, Dream Police, Goodnight Now

The show had a lot of energy from both the crowd and the band. Rick noted early in the set that it was the band’s first visit to this hallowed place, and as usual played the showman by regularly bowing and milking the applause of the warm and enthusiastic crowd. After "He’s A Whore", he carried on what has become a tradition over the past year or so, of getting young fans on stage. This time it was 3 young boys from the front row, and when asked for stuff to give them, his tech came out with just picks. Rick joked "My parents took me to a Cheap Trick show and all I got was a lousy pick!". They soon got a t-shirt each, and Rick continued to play up to them for the rest of the show. After "I Know What I Want", he noted that the band were given the choice of having their picture next to Loverboy’s or the Beach Boys… "and guess which we chose?" After "I Want You to Want Me", Rick announced that the new album was being produced by Chris Shaw, who has most recently worked with Bob Dylan and Sheryl Crow. During "Borderline", a woman fan (Juli) standing next to me threw a sheet of paper onto the stage, which Rick picked up and read out after that song. "Please can I have a photo taken with the band?" she'd asked… and she was shocked to be invited up on stage by Rick. Clutching her disposable camera she got onto the stage, and I wondered who was going to take the photo -- surely she should have left it with her husband. The problem was solved by Bun E taking the photo whilst still seated at his gold Ludwig drumkit, and Juli standing surrounded by the other 3 band members facing Bun E, their backs to the crowd. She was visibly shaking by the time she got back to her spot in the front row! As usual, it was a fun and enjoyable show.

The show ended at 11.30pm, and whilst the band headed overnight up to Green Bay for the following evenings show, Rhia, Pat and myself headed back to our rooms at the motel around 12.30 a.m, to get some sleep before another long day tomorrow.

Sunday 26 May - Cheap Trick in De Pere, Wisconsin

I had a chance meeting in the motel lobby with Trick fan Janelle from South Dakota (who'd been at last night’s show) whilst getting coffee, and ended up chatting for 45 minutes before having to go pack the car and hit the road! We left the pleasant family-run motel at 10am and headed north on I-39 and into heavy rain as we approached Minnesota, before heading east on I-90 and into drier skies as we crossed the Mississippi river back into Wisconsin. We dropped Pat off back in Madison so she could drive home to Chicago, whilst Rhia and I soon headed north towards Green Bay and the "Celebrate De Pere" festival.

We reached De Pere, a few miles south of Green Bay, at 7.15 pm. It was cloudy and damp as we got into Voyageur Park, and there had already been showers during the afternoon. This event was similar to a County Fair, though without the midway, with the $10 admission covering all events going on. The covered stage was set up at one end of a slight natural bowl in the park, with beer, food and other tents around the sides and rear. Good to see a number of familiar faces from Chicago already near the stage, Rhonda, Carolyn, Laurie and others.

It soon started raining off and on during the supporting local blues band, and about an hour before Cheap Trick were due on stage at 10pm, the showers gave way to heavier and prolonged rain. The crew were soon to be seen, worriedly wheeling boxes, desks and guitar racks onto the centre of the covered stage as the heavy rain poured down. Whilst this was going on, the crowd of soaked people, probably numbering 3,000 – 4,000 were treated to a spectacular 20 minute fireworks display, undiminished by the inclement weather. The concern on stage was shared by some of us watching, wondering if the show would go on or not. The rain finally eased about 15 minutes before showtime, and Cheap Trick took to the stage three minutes after 10 pm.

Rick – Black shiny suit, black t-shirt

Robin - White straw cowboy hat, black silky long sleeve shirt, black sleeveless fur jacket, black pants with lace-ups up the side of each leg

Bun E – Black pants, black long sleeve t-shirt with red short sleeve t-shirt over the top

Tom – Blue denim shirt, pale blue pants, tan fringed suede jacket

Hello There, Big Eyes, If You Want My Love, He's A Whore, I Know What I Want, I Want You To Want Me, High Roller, Borderline, Anytime, She's Tight, Voices, Ain't That a Shame, Surrender // The Flame, Dream Police, Goodnight Now

Considering the weather, the band played a good show and looked to be enjoying themselves, particularly Robin. The crowd too were enthusiastic, their spirits undampened by the preceding rain. Funny to see that Robin didn’t get a setlist taped down onto the stage until after "Big Eyes", probably overlooked during the concerns over equipment and rain. In a new twist, Rick introduced the instrument each band member was playing before "High Roller" That was a first to my recollection. The show continued, with some of usual stage banter between songs, but I got worried to see spots of fine rain blowing onto the stage from behind Bun E during "Ain’t That a Shame". Luckily the drizzle petered out, as I had visions of the show being cut short if it started raining heavily again. I guess it says something either to the skill of the lighting man or to my poor powers of observation, that it was only during Surrender where the band were mostly lit up by red stage lighting throughout that I noticed that no spotlights were being used. I later asked about that and was told that due to the earlier heavy rain, the spotlights weren’t used for safety reasons.

The show ended at 11.20pm, and I think that the crowd were probably lucky to get the show given the weather. The rain didn’t hold off for too long after the show ended, and it was a long, late and wet drive back to Madison.

Mon 27th - Thurs 30th

These days had looked to be "downtime" in between the two busy weekends, though they turned out to be fairly busy as usual! Monday saw me out shopping, buying a couple of DVD’s as well a copy of the newly released "Greatest Hits" remastered CD. The rest of Memorial Day was spent watching a marathon of 3 baseball games on TV, a positive feast compared to the one live televised game in Britain each week!

Tuesday morning saw us meeting some old family friends of Rhia’s for a late breakfast in Madison (remember the opening commentary for the TV series of "The Odd Couple"? That "voice" was the man we brunched with). Late morning saw us drive in hot 80 degree sunshine back into Iowa, heading through Dyersville to visit the "Field of Dreams" movie site – the baseball diamond made for the famous Kevin Costner movie. The lack of corn in the surrounding fields didn’t spoil the atmosphere too much for me… "Is this Heaven? No, this is Iowa". Some people would get nothing from it, but I loved being on that lush green grass, the white farm house a few yards away, bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds above… I certainly felt some magic at being there. Slight Cheap Trick connection, as we left Dyersville we passed by the Ertl factory, they being the people who had designed and manufactured the collectible model CT truck.

Wednesday saw me take a drive on another hot and partly sunny day over to Miller Park on the edge of Milwaukee to buy some All Star Game stuff. I was able to walk in and see the field and inside of the magnificent new stadium. The sun was shining, the grass was immaculate and the orange sand of the diamond was bright, it was certainly a wonderful sight.

Thursday morning saw a change to our plans, with Rhia and I deciding to head north to Escanaba, Michigan a day early. With it being a 5 hour drive and an early evening show, we decided that it would be less stressful to travel a day early than on the day of the first show. We first headed into Milwaukee to have lunch with good buddy Wron, compiler of the fan Tribute CD #4, who is also compiling #5 for later this year. Good to have pizza and catch up, though it looked as if our efforts to persuade him to come up to Harris had failed. So we left Milwaukee midway during a hot and sticky afternoon, headed up I-43 and within a few miles got snarled up in a traffic jam for 30 minutes. About an hour later as we approached Manitowoc, it started raining and quickly turned into a full scale torrential thunderstorm in which we couldn’t see more than a couple of yards. We had to endure for 15 minutes before it eased off enough to get back to a normal speed, and soon after we passed by the city of Green Bay which was bathed in sunshine. We reached Escanaba on the Michigan coast of Green Bay around 7.30 p.m CST Time (8.30 EST). This was the start of a couple of days of almost-confusion, as Escanaba sits within the Eastern time zone whilst Harris (about a dozen miles away) sits about 100 yards within the Central time zone… but shows at the Harris casino are timed at EST… though it doesn't say so on show tickets! Confused? Not as much as I was! Anyway, after checking in at the comfortable local Econolodge, we stopped for to eat at an Italian fast food joint on Escanaba's main strip. As we sat and ate, it started raining and within minutes a fully fledged thunderstorm had hit, with non-stop lightening dancing high above the clouds and heavy rain pouring down. We finally decided to risk running the few yards to the car and heading off to find the Island Casino. We drove onto Highway 41 and within minutes the car was being pounded by large hailstones as the lightning party in the sky continued unabated. However, it eased up some 5 miles before we reached the casino, and when we finally arrived there we could see patches of clear sky above, though the fierce storm continued just a few miles east.

Upon getting into the casino, we heard that the casino and its hotel had only an hour or two earlier been evacuated into the auditorium (where CT was to play the following nights) due to a tornado warning! Rick and Bun E, together with a couple of the crew, were sitting out the storm in another eatery in Escanaba, whilst Robin, Tom and other crew members were stuck in Chicago or Detroit and would not make it to Harris until the following day. About an hour later, the minibus with Rick and Bun E arrived, and it was a nice surprise to see Wron from Milwaukee walk in moments later, as he'd changed his mind about coming to the shows! After a couple of drinks in the noisy bar (which had its own small stage upon which a band played covers of 70's and 80's disco and other hits), we headed back to Escanaba and bed.

Friday 31 May - Cheap Trick Harris, Michigan

A warm, sunny and quiet morning after the storms of last night. After a little exploring in downtown Escanaba and the lakefront in the morning (not much to explore!), we headed down the Island Casino resort mid afternoon. It was a comparatively small resort, way out in the wilds of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, with a small (by Vegas standards) casino and a 5-6 storey hotel. I was able to take a look at the auditorium where CT would be playing, and it was certainly nice in a cabaret/Vegas sort of way, as is the case with many casino venues. It had a good sized stage, with 6 levels of seating banking upwards, each level having 3-4 rows of seating, so there wasn't really a bad seat in the house. There was a wooden rail at the front of each level. The walls were a dark claret colour, leading down to the semi circular stage, flanked on each side by steps onto the stage and a small green fern. For a cabaret type show it looked great, but for a rock show…? Hmmm.

The missing band members and crew arrived early mid afternoon, so the band were able to soundcheck and played "ELO Kiddies" and "Words Can Never Say It". The acoustics in the venue were great, and fun to see Rick wander down from the stage and amongst the rows of empty chairs during "Words", very similar to the brief shot at soundcheck at the start of the Chicagofest 1981 video.

After eating in the casino restaurant, it was time to head in for the 8pm (EST)/7pm (CST) show! The auditorium was almost full by the time the band came on stage.

Rick - Black pants, long black jacket, black Beatles t-shirt

Robin - Bearded, white straw hat, pants with side lace-ups, black long sleeve t-shirt, black jacket with fine white piping.

Bun E - Black pants, black t-shirt

Tom - Black pants, black & turquoise bowling shirt

Hello There, I Want You To Want Me, Lookout, Scent Of A Woman, Down On The Bay, House Is Rockin', Way Of The World, Hard To Tell, See My Friend, Pop Drone, Busted, Brontosaurus, Let Her Go, I'm Losing You, Invaders of The Heart, Surrender // Special One, Dream Police, Rock and Roll Tonight, Goodnight Now

What can I say about such an amazing setlist? (See ** below!!)

 Saturday 1 June - Cheap Trick in Harris, Michigan

With the time zone thing and all, it was a bit of a scramble to be up and out of the hotel by 11a.m EST (but it was only 10 a.m a few miles away!). It was mild and overcast as we headed to the Casino, but the sun broke through as we parked up. Having checked out of the Escanaba hotel, we spent the afternoon at the Casino, killing time in the bar, losing a few dollars on the slots, having lunch and so on. The band soundchecked at 4p.m, this time only playing "Pop Drone" Before the show it was good to meet up in the bar with a few other fans who'd trekked up from Chicagoland, including Deana, Gina, Patricia, Carolyn, Dawn and Tammy. Again, the show was starting at 8p.m EST, with no support act.

Rick - Black suit, black Piece t-shirt

Robin - Black pants with side lace-ups, black sparkly shirt, black jacket with fine white piping, no cowboy hat to start with, but put on mid-show

Bun E - Black t-shirt, black pants

Tom - Black suit, black t-shirt

Just Got Back, Clock Strikes Ten, If You Want My Love, Hot Love, I Know What I Want, I Want You To Want Me, I Can't Take It, Borderline, Dream Police, California Man, Voices, Tonight Its You, Southern Girls, Surrender // The Flame, Scent Of A Woman, Auf Wiedersehen

It was a buzz that the set list changed quite a lot from the previous night’s show. In other ways, it was a pretty similar evening, with the majority of the crowd sitting passively through much of the show, coming to life mainly for the greatest hits, though there were small enthusiastic pockets of people who stood and danced throughout. The crowd tonight were actually more responsive tonight than last night, which crossed over to the band, too, as they all seemed to be enjoying themselves just that little bit more, though as musicians the high quality of the shows hardly changed from night to night.

After Hot Love, Rick got a kid called Tyler up on stage, and asked if he had a girlfriend yet? "No" the boy replied… "Would you like one?" asked Rick? "You can choose from 400 right here!" Tyler got a drumstick and pick for his troubles. Again "I Want You To Want Me" got the crowd on their feet and dancing, though "Dream Police" had less effect in mid-set than during the encore, though by the end of the song and with picks raining down, the crowd were as enthusiastic as any other! After "California Man" it was the turn of young Justin from row 5 to come up and get a pick and drumstick; he'd certainly been watching the show intently, leaning on the wooden barrier in front of his row of seats. And like last night, there was little audience participation during "Voices". A buzz for Rhiazann, sitting halfway up from the stage in the centre, the flat flew through the air and she caught it pretty much unchallenged. Apparently stunned by her good luck, she immediately stripped off the picks and gave them away to nearby fans and then sat quietly for several moments before suddenly bouncing in her seat, yelling, "I got the flat! I got the flat!" That's now TWO people (as I recall) I know who have caught the flat. I've only come close once, in Yokohama last year… <sigh>! Several people held up lighters before and during "The Flame", which really went down well with the crowd. The band slipped in my favourite new song "Scent of a Woman", and apart from Rick having guitar problems and having to change guitars in mid song, it sounded great, and the crowd gave the band a good reception as it ended. The show ended with a storming "Aufie", always good to hear. The crowd gave the band a standing ovation at the end of the 1hr 25 min show, the band waved and trooped off, and that was the end of the two night stint in Michigan.

We later saw Rick and Bun E leave; Rick had a suggestion for me, and Bun E told me to mention in the next newsletter that Bun E's Basement Bootlegs #4 should be available around late June. Another two CD set, the main disk will be titled "Semi Acoustical", with the bonus disk being titled "Cheeseland 76".

After some hanging around, photos with friends and prolonged goodbyes, Rhia and I finally left the Casino at 10.30pm (CST) and made the long, 4 ˝ hr drive down to Madison, arriving there at 3 a.m.

The Journey Home

After watching delayed transmission on ESPN of England’s opening World Cup draw with Sweden, we set out 12 hours later, mid afternoon on Sun 2 June to Rockford, where I caught a late afternoon Van Galder bus down to O'Hare Airport. I had plenty of time to check in for my late Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. In fact, the flight was due to take off at 9.50 p.m. and there was still no plane at the gate with just an hour to go. But the Airbus finally arrived, the aircraft was boarded with typical German efficiency, and we took off just 18 minutes late!

The 8 hour flight was long and tedious, and I got next to no sleep with the man in front having his seat leaned back in my face for almost the whole flight (I HATE it when that happens). Frankfurt was bright and dry as we landed at lunchtime local, and I had 4 hours to kill before my connecting flight to Manchester. My Star Alliance Premier (silver) card didn't get me into any lounges here :-( so I had to sit on the concourse, waiting for my flight and dozing curled up with my hand luggage! Finally reached a damp and cool Manchester at nearly 5.30pm local, to the joy that my suitcase arrived safely. I had a 40 minute wait for the train to Leeds, then a 20 minute wait to get a bus to within half a mile of home. I finally got home at about 8.30pm, tired, a little bedraggled, but happy at having completed another fun and interesting trip with some great shows, though I'd missed the Queen's Golden Jubilee weekend here in Britain. Rick had remembered at Harris that I was missing the celebrations… though I won't repeat what he asked me about my relationship with the Royal Family! All I can say is that the answer was a resounding "NO"… probably! Certainly not with Andrew, anyway.

Thanks

As always, thanks are due to people who helped me along the way during the trip. As ever, big thanks to Rhiazann for her hospitality in Madison; thanks to Patricia for the drive up to Madison on my arrival; thanks to the various new and old friends I met at various shows - meeting people like you is a large part of WHY I do these trips; and last but by no means least, thanks to Carla, Cheap Trick and their crew - as always, you rock!

** What can I say about such an amazing setlist?

Not much, because it didn’t really happen that way! That was an April Fool’s joke personally played on my readers by a certain composer/guitarist – trust the Master of the Unexpected to play April Fools in June! He suggested I insert a "fake-out" setlist as he was getting on the van to leave Harris. Apologies if I caused any hearts to stand still! Anyway, the actual setlist played on night #1 in Harris (31 May) was as follows:

Hello There, Big Eyes, If You Want My Love, He's A Whore, I Know What I Want, I Want You To Want Me, High Roller, Borderline, Anytime, She's Tight, Voices, Ain't That a Shame, Surrender // The Flame, Dream Police, Goodnight Now

It was a nice show, but I found it somewhat weird to see so many people sitting during most of the songs, and only sporadically was the majority of the crowd up on their feet. The seating certainly didn't encourage people to jump up and dance around. Rick got a youngster up on stage after "He's a Whore", Tom presenting the kid with one of Bun E's drumsticks, and Rick and Tom quickly posed with the boy for his Mom to take a quick picture. Then Rick commented, "This is how we keep going year after year -- you breed 'em and we entertain 'em!" "I Want You To Want Me" got the crowd on its feet of course, 1200 people visibly having a good time at the same time! After "High Roller", Rick informed the crowd that they should look out for Bun E in the new issue of "Modern Drummer"… "He used to be in Not-so-modern Drummer but he's now all up to date" he quipped. After "Borderline", Rick spotted me in the crowd and got me to go up on stage and hold up the Silver and Music for Hangovers DVD's… Boy, I was no Rick with the silver tongue, and as I left the stage I heard him assure the crowd that my accent was in fact real! I guess they don't hear many English West Country accents in Michigan's UP! And then another odd occurrence, at least I thought so. The band played "Voices", but when it got to the audience participation lines of "Your voices, cool voices, warm voices…", no one sang along. Having been used to rowdy crowd singing at so many shows, it was a surprise to hear just the band, and I think Rick was somewhat perplexed at having no crowd singing to orchestrate! But being a trooper he continued, and at the end presented his yellow plexi guitar to one of the security guards at the stage front. Set closers "Ain't That A Shame" and "Surrender" both got most of the crowd on their feet again, and during the latter Rick noticed someone holding up a cellphone in the front row, so he quickly grabbed the phone, said a few words and dropped it back with its owner, all in mid song! "The Flame" went down well, this was a crowd who wanted the "Greatest Hits" set, and they pretty much lapped up the whole encore, giving the band a good reception at the end. It was a good show, well performed by all, but for me, not quite the ideal setting to experience a CT show.

And finally…

So there you have it, 10 days, 4 shows, a couple of thousand road miles, about 10,000 air miles, sunshine, torrential rain, hail, a rumoured tornado, lots of good friends, meatloaf, the Field of Dreams, and more televised baseball than you can swing a bat at! As I finish writing this 2 days after getting home, I'm in the grip of screwed-up sleep due to jetlag. But would I change a thing? Of course not… well, perhaps I'd fly a different airline! Each time gets harder, but it's still so much fun to live trips to the full! Roll on the next set of Cheap Trick shows… ooops, better start packing already!

To end up following on from the title of this piece (inspired by the book "Shoeless Joe" by W.P Kinsella, upon which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based)… I wonder if I too once heard the whisper to "Go the distance" and inspired me to travel to shows? Or maybe I just "didn't know what I was looking for, 'til I heard the voices in my ear"…!

Kim