Help: any sessions in southern ia

Subject: any sessions in southern ia
From: Hobie
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 09:48 PM

I was wondering if there were any regular sessions around the ottumwa area, say within sixty miles

Hobie

Subject: RE: Help: any sessions in southern ia
From: Mark Clark
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 10:36 PM

Hobie, There is a weekly session in Iowa City. Each Tuesday evening at The Mill, a great bar and restaurant. Sessions generally start around 9:00pm and close between midnight and 1:00am depending on who's there. Music ranges from Celtic to old-timey and bluegrass, again depending on who attends.

People won't say too much to you but don't let that scare you off. They're there to play music and will be glad you came.

I'd recommend getting there about 7:45 and ordering dinner. They carry a good selection of imported beers and the food is great. Here is a review of the Mill as a restaurant. The mill is also the venue that attracts most of the professional folk and bluegrass performers when they're in the area. That and the CSPS theater in Cedar Rapids.

I confess I don't get there very often but if you decide to make the trip, let me know and I'll head down as well.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Help: any sessions in southern ia
From: Hobie
Date: 09 Jan 01 - 10:13 PM

thanks for the info Mark. don't know when i'll be able to make it tho.

Michael

Subject: RE: Help: any sessions in southern ia
From: paddymac
Date: 10 Jan 01 - 10:15 AM

I've heard of a place in Cedar Rapids called the "Union Station". I've never had the pleasure of visiting the establishment, but met the owner in FL and suspect that he would be open to the idea. A fine fellow named Tim. He mixed up a concoction that they serve at the joint, consisting of a ha'pint with a shot of Irish Cream & Kalua (mixed) at the bottom. It's served as a ha'pint so you can drink it all at one go, 'cause the Guiness curdles the Irish Cream. I don't remember what it was called. Maybe I had one-too-many, but they were good tasting.

Subject: RE: Help: any sessions in southern ia
From: Mark Clark
Date: 10 Jan 01 - 01:15 PM

paddymac,

The Union Station is a sports bar on 16th Avenue. Tim Mackey is an owner along with Buzz Olson. It's a good sports bar with four 8-foot big screen TVs, eight 27-inch TVs, five pool tables, six electronic dart games, a regulation free-throw game, and video machines. They also serve food. It's a nice place to go but not, I think, for music.

Cedar Rapids does have a strong music scene though, especially in the areas of blues and jazz. Lots of clubs feature fine music on a regular basis. There are a few "folk" players but not much work. The only stable jam sessions C.R. has been able to sustain have been bluegrass or country. I think there is currently a regular open-mike event for blues players.

One outstanding venue in C.R. is CSPS, a combination art gallery and small theatre established in what was a Czech cultural center. CSPS has featured concerts by Tom Paxton, Peggy Seeger and Mike Seeger at various times and continues to be a wonderful sponsor of alternative music forms. I'd love to get Rick Fielding down here sometime, his imminent deification notwithstanding.

      - Mark