Emily and I spent the weekend in the Mound City with crafts and minstrels.
Saturday we cruised to Kimmswick, a small village south of the city along the Mississippi River. Many early homes and buildings have been preserved, and the historic town serves a mini craft and antique mall. Mother and I had not been together for many a year, so we took my wife to revel in the treasures. She walked away with a bracelet made of soda bottle caps (Northern Illinois Translation Don’t Say a Word the movie
: “pop bottle caps”) that is quite fetching, particularly due to the presence of a Ski cap.
The main reason behind our trip downstate was a Christmas present from my mother: tickets to the Beatles tribute band “Rain” at the Fox
on Sunday. Previously we saw American English in Hillsboro (pictures @ Facebook The Bucket List download ) and Downers Grove, and Emily caught both British Export and the Classical Mystery Tour without her boy, but this was a chance to see yet another group – and one that boasted to have some of the best production values of all the various troupes.
While it was an excellent show, the group couldn’t touch the quality of American English. The production values were top notch as advertised, with video boards showing clips and classic commercials to fill the gaps during the four quick costume changes, and the giant screen behind the band added visuals that supported the music quite well (along with showing mocked versions of album covers featuring the members of the modern cover band.) Playing mostly mainstream hits, though, the band’s voices couldn’t match the authenticity found with American English (especially with Paul) even if the instrumentation was quite accurate. A very good show, just not what AE can provide, and the playlist was far too limited
Lots and lots of pictures from the show: Facebook
| Flickr