Saturday, June 20, 2009

Catfish Festival 6/19/09

Dubuque, Iowa welcomed us to the fest by having us drive 6 hours through a couple of the worst thunderstorms I've been in. What was really cool though, is when we pulled up to the site of the event, a bright double rainbow sat on the other side of the river. We could see the full arc of the inner one.

Ballroom dancers opened for us, and we played to a great crowd. The organizers kept having Duke draw names for a give away, which I think by the third interruption of the show, started to wear thin on him. We played two shows and then headed to the best hotel ever.

I don't usually write about where we stay, but this place was awesome. The Canfield, a hotel where nothing, and I mean nothing, has been changed since 1974. Our room had shag carpet, gold leaf covered pictures of tigers, designer chairs from '68, and much, much more. On the headboard sat a two-and-a-half foot tall black ceramic panther next to a used urn. Awesome.
Bill Ritter, A.K.A. Zeus Bill Ritter and Joe Maddox