You've been waiting for a cool year since the 4th grade.

Dear 27,

On a whim my pal Jenni and I hopped in the Focus (with my first McDonald's cheeseburger in nearly 5 years) and headed east to Iowa City for a night of "divorce rock" and adventure.

The Mill is one awesome venue. Can't believe after four years of milling about (ha) Iowa City I never managed to catch a live show there. (In fact I believe the only time I was at the Mill was for a Telefund pre-bar-crawl pizza party and Kath snuck beers in her back-pack purse.) 

We arrived just in time to hear Rosi Golan finish up her set. My dear friend was right-- "she was amazing." (Thanks for letting me borrow some of your words.) Her voice was fluid...as Jenni said, every word she sang was "soul soaked." She looked so calm on stage and her voice flowed with the same grace and ease.

And then she came back out for a song with William Fitzsimmons (during his set) that is equally amazing. I caught a bit of that on film:

(If you want to listen to the whole track-- buy Rosi's album or check it out here.)

Then William Fitzsimmons came out.  Just he, a few guitars, and another guitar player (Joe. He tried to get Joe dates several times in his set. After witnessing Joe’s guitar skills I’m sure it worked.)  He has shaved off all his hair but kept his beard, so he looked like a total freak show.  

He opened his set and spoke to the crowd “How’s everyone doing tonight?” The question was met with cheers and he quipped “Well your night’s about to get a lot worse,” referencing his album “The Sparrow and The Crow.”
It was an intimate set of painful songs about Mr. Fitzsimmon's divorce and his guitar sang along with him (I was not expecting that to be so impressive.) He spoke in a low deep voice which stood in such strong contrast to his music—which sounded like he was simply breathing the lyrics. A definite highlight of the night was hearing Mr. Fitzsimmons cover Iron and Wine. (And yes. I agree with him. His beard is f-in cooler.) Just a really, really cool guy.

After the show and snacks, we explored the ped mall, ran into 2 people I knew and sat at the bar at Bo James while Jenni enjoyed a Big Beer on "Country Night" and responsible-Laura enjoyed the scenery. (Seriously. Cute boys are sprouting up like polo-shirted weeds in Iowa City. I bet Kate has about 23 boyfriends already.)

Thanks for joining me on-a-whim-Wednesday Jenni! You're the best.
And Shane-- I told you I would.
xo-LP