Saturday, November 8, 2008

Truckstop Honeymoon Revisited


Truckstop Honeymoon (Mike West and Katie Euliss) has been our choice for our wedding band since Lucie and I got engaged. Despite the fact that we had our first date at one of their shows, they represent to me a loving couple who share a passion for music and each other, and they find a way to make it work through the trials of constant touring and home life. They began their love and career in New Orleans, but were forced to Kansas in the post-Katrina exodus that robbed Nola of so many of its cherished musicians (their journey has been chronicled in the film "I Won't Let the Angels Take You Away," the first seven minutes of which you can find here).

I had tried to contact them on numerous occasions, about being our wedding band, through their MySpace and their website but all to no avail. Knowing that they were playing a show in Pensacola on Halloween, my good friend Jespen took the opportunity to approach them at the show, dressed as a giant banana, and ask them if they were available. Mike graciously gave Jespen all of his contact info as though he was quite accustomed to being approached by booking agents dressed as monkey food.

At their Nola show last Thursday, Lucie and I found Mike standing outside the Circle Bar greeting all of his old friends at the door. I shook his hand and said, "Mike, I believe you were approached in Pensacola by a giant banana who was trying to book you for a wedding on our behalf." He laughed and said that they would be happy to play our wedding, but there may be one problem. They are expecting their third child at around the time of our wedding. He said that as long as the wedding isn't too soon before or after their due date then it shouldn't be an issue.

This level of work ethic is one that I find amazing. The "poor prairie farmer style" ethic that the birthin' needs to be done before the harvest, then plop the kid in a makeshift papoose and get to the gig. This is a far cry from the Madonnas and Angelina Jolies of the entertainment world who can snatch as many children as they can from as many third-world nations as they want with the understanding of "let the nanny handle it." Truckstop Honeymoon may be the last true frontiersmen we have left in this business. If they do play our wedding it would be the third time I have seen Truckstop play with a very pregnant Katie.

The show, by the way, was fantastic as always (apart from the fact that watching a show at the Circle Bar is like trying to watch your favorite band play in the living room of your friends two-bedroom apartment with 150 of his closest friends).

The real moment for me was watching Mike sing about their current plight in Kansas in the song "Wichita".

"Wichita ain't a bad place to be
but it's Wichita that's killing me"

Well, that's just enough to break your heart. You just want to bring them back to New Orleans, give them a place to live and a take care of them for the rest of their lives. As a music lover in the music business (sadly enough, this is a rarity), I personally would go to the ends of the Earth for this band to see that their future in the industry is as fruitful and prosperous as possible. I only hope that someday they will ask me to do so. It would be a true honor. (This is not a pitch)

2 comments:

Brian Rock said...

Good stuff Matt. I hope to see Truckstop Honeymoon for the first time at you all's wedding. Additionally, thank you very much for the visual image of Jespen dressed as a banana. I haven't laughed that hard since I was a little girl. Love yall!

Heather said...

Nice stuff! I had read this before but I actually stopped to listen to the song samples on your Amazon player this time. They should send a CD to KRUU, there are several DJ's who would probably play it!