10/16/2023
OK, beware, this is going to be a long post. There truly aren't words to express the powerful emotions that we felt Saturday night. So many people pitched in and worked so hard to bring the night to a reality, and these people deserve the credit for their efforts.
Dan O'Saben's silk screened posters and Ryan from Belleville Screen Printing Company's soccer jerseys were 100% their ideas and creations. Great work and thank you both! Thank you to Dave Heil for managing the merch table and doing an incredible job keeping everything organized for both us AND S.Dane.
Thank you Stacy and Garrett Enloe from the Mississippi Nights Fan Page for bringing your sweet book to sell and for helping to spread the word. Speaking of spreading the word, thanks to 4 Hands Brewing Company for their participation and also 105.7 The Point for not only Saturday, but the decades of collaboration and support. (Which basically entails the brass looking the other way when we come to the studio and tank their ratings while we harass Donny)
Yes, our sweet Donny Fandango. We love this man. He is a genuinely stand up guy and has stayed in our corner through thick and thin. He is a huge part of our history and we will always have his back.
Intertwined in that history is another man by the name of Matt Costello. Matt was another radio personality who really went to bat for us. Big time. These days Matt is playing music instead of spinning it on radio. You saw Matt on Saturday night playing bass with 33 on the Needle, who absolutely killed it! What's also special, is that Matt partnered with a couple of members of Autumn Clock to create 33. Our friendship with those guys goes back before there was an FPM. When we were playing in Dementia 13 and Disco Zombies. Now THAT'S full circle! It was very cool to hang with them all and watch them do what they do best! Thank you so much to them for being there with us!
BIG thank you to everyone at Pop's!!! After 5 years playing shows around STL, why go to Pop's to play this one? The staff and production at this place is top notch and nobody treats us better or works harder for us to create a fun event for people. It's also big enough to keep things comfy and there's free parking for folks who are already spending their hard earned money to come see us play. That's why. Rusty Shaw and Doug Range killed it on sound and lights! Thanks Rich, Ryan, Austin, Chris C., and our favorite new addition to the Pop's staff to thank... Tony Willingham from The Best of Everything STL - Beyond FM 24-7 fame! You all worked your tails off and we love you for it!
..and now, Sinister Dane. If you would have told us 30 years ago that we would be putting this show together, and also helping SD celebrate the release of their amazing new record The Claws of Time, we would have called the idea the product of one of Scott Randall's fever dreams. We've always said that the two STL bands who gave us a break and helped us learn the ropes were The Urge and Sinister Dane. For about a 2 year span we probably played 90% of our shows opening for SD. Those shows prepared us for the future and SD set a benchmark for how good you had to be to really get out there and do it. A lot of those shows were Miss Nights shows and account for a good number of times we played there. It was pretty easy to headline Miss Nights for the first time, when you cut your teeth there for years opening for a band you were striving to be as good as. Without SD constantly forcing us to up our game, we would never have been able to survive opening for those Urge shows, and eventually headlining our own. Sinister Dane made us a better band. Period. We love the band almost as much as we love the guys as individuals. Gents, welcome back to the St. Louis music scene, and thank you for once again pushing us to try to keep up with you Saturday night. You were unbelievable!!!!
Lastly, and we know we speak for everyone involved, we want to thank the REAL stars of the show, the folks who came out to support the show. None of this could happen without people coming out, and we are always touched by people's support after all of these years. We hope everyone had a great time and we humbly thank you for spending your Saturday evening with us. We love you all! (...except the guy in the crowd throwing fists. Dude, that's not how it works and we are all in our 50's. Enough, already! OK? ok.) See ya'll next time and have a great holiday season!