Sometimes they get rained out, which is what happened last Thursday. So, our Music in the Park performance has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 14, which also happens to be the final MITP of the season. We’ll be playing with BF Burt and the Instigators. Well, before them. With them would be interesting…

The show at EWALU took place indoors, and it’s a good thing, since it stormed during the concert. Sure was a fun show, as usual! Thanks to all of you who listened. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

If you still need to get your CST fix, your next chance is on July 29 at 6:30 p.m. at FW Kent Park, just west of Iowa City on Hwy. 6. It’s a short drive, and Kent Park is easily the nicest county park I’ve ever seen, on par with many state parks. It’ll make a lovely setting for a show, so bring the lawn chairs out to the Youth Group Camp next Tuesday evening. Hope to see you there!

We have a couple shows coming up this week. The first is tomorrow, July 17, at Coralville’s Music in the Park concert series. We’re playing in S.T. Morrison Park, 1513 7th St. in Coralville. We go on at 6:00. After our set, stick around for Gayla Drake Paul, a renowned fingerstyle guitarist from Cedar Rapids. She’ll knock yer socks off (if you’re wearing them, which seems unlikely considering the weather).

On Saturday we make our now-annual trek back to EWALU Bible Camp (and yes, it is a Bible camp!) to play for the summer staff and anyone else who cares to show up. That show starts at 7:00. We’re not sure yet, but this show might be held outdoors as well.

So there you have it–two fantastic opportunities to catch CST in action in the next few days. Slap on some sunscreen, grab a lawn chair, and come on out for some dandy music.

As I’ve watched our state, our hometowns, our adopted hometowns, our friends be overwhelmed by floodwaters, I have been overwhelmed by the goodness of Iowans. Most people from other places around the country probably don’t realize it, but Iowa is truly a remarkable place, populated by remarkable people.

Even as we sank into despair amid the rising floodwaters, I was impressed and inspired by Iowans. People here have shown the world what it means to be a part of a community, how to help others even if you’re in desparate need of help yourself. This is a great place to live. I’m proud of Iowans, and proud to be an Iowan.

Over the last couple of weeks, thousands and thousands of people answered calls for help with sandbagging efforts, and subsequently with gifts to recovery efforts. It has been amazing to see so many people come out to give their time and energy to help in the efforts to keep the flood at bay. While there were many disappointments where dikes and levees failed, there were also many victories. And even if the sandbagging didn’t always work, it still brought out the best in people.

Again, I’m proud of Iowans for answering the call to help each other and to help ourselves. I’m proud of our resilience. I’m proud of the fact that no one appeared on national television pleading for help and asking why no one was coming to save us. Instead, when we needed help, we found it from our neighbors, our friends, our fellow victims–we found help from each other and in ourselves.

So thanks, Iowa. You’ve shown the world how great our state is and how great our people are. I’m anxious to see how we continue to rally around each other and emerge from this devastation an even stronger, better community than before.

Don’t forget, we’ll be playing at Java Creek Cafe in Cedar Rapids at 7:00 tomorrow night. It’s a really nice place with good coffee and good food, not to mention some pretty good acoustic music… Hope to see you there!

Java Creek Cafe
588 Boyson Road NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402

We don’t have a substantial video presence out on the interwebs, by any means, but for those of you who haven’t been able to see any live CST for a while here are a few videos to tide you over until we can be together again.

First up is a clip from the Dirty Feet Retreat we led at EWALU Bible Camp a few weeks back. Singing (with band!) a song Matt wrote specifically for the weekend.

Here we are at Luther College last spring promoting our (at the time) brand new disc. This video’s been on YouTube for a while now, but as Matt likes to say it’s always better to post links to videos than to leave yourself wondering in the dark.

Both of those videos were shot by our friend Jesse on his digital camera. Finally, here’s an older one - this is us at the Freudian Sip Koffee Kiosk (back when it was still in business) in Waverly showing off our mad stagemanship skills. As you can see, this video predates colors other than greenish-gray.

This morning my daughter and I went for a nice, long walk out by the lake. We saw trillium blooming and just a hint of green through the woods as the trees are just starting to bud.

According to the calendar, spring arrived a few weeks ago, but until now it really hasn’t felt like it. Last Friday, for instance, it was cold and rainy and even snowed and sleeted a little bit, which is what led us to cancel the outdoor show we had scheduled that day. You see, when I originally scheduled that show, I assumed it would be nice and warm by then, with that fresh smell of spring in the air… Well… so much for that first outdoor show of the year.

If you take a look at our shows page, you’ll notice that we have several outdoor shows scheduled this year. In fact, five of the six shows currently on the calendar (we’re working on more) are outdoor performances. I, for one, always enjoy outdoor concerts, especially during the summer.

So now that the weather feels somewhat more like outdoor concert-type weather, we hope you’ll be sure to join us for one or some or all of our shows (even the indoor ones). Enjoy the warm temperatures!

Our show today at MC Ginsberg jewelers in Iowa City has been canceled. It’s not actually raining or snowing yet, but the weather is still all kinds of yucky for an outdoor show. Sorry for the short notice. Check our shows page for other chances to see us play, including June 6 back in front of MC Ginsberg and later that same day at Java Creek Cafe in Cedar Rapids.

We’re scheduled to play this Friday, April 11, at noon in front of MC Ginsberg Jewelers in downtown Iowa City. When we booked the show, we anticipated somewhat more springlike weather… Well, based on the last weather forecast I saw, it seems likely this show will be called off. If the weather cooperates, though, we’ll be downtown, sharing our music with the masses on their lunch breaks! Hopefully you’ll be among the crowd.

Right now (well, not at this very moment) we’re preparing for the upcoming Dirty Feet Retreat (weekend retreat for jr. high youth) at EWALU Bible Camp. As you likely already know if you’re reading this (assuming that most of the people who read this are people who already know us (if that’s not the case, post a comment to let us know, ’cause I think we’d find that interesting)), Charlie and I met at EWALU in the summer of 1993. I don’t think either of us would have guessed then that 15 years later we’d still be singing and playing guitar together. Of course, at the time I didn’t play guitar at all, so it would have been a little weird to guess that anyway.

Charlie loaned me a guitar and taught me a few chords in the summer of 1994. That fall I transferred to Wartburg College, where Charlie was already a student, and we started playing guitar together regularly as I continued to learn (I think he kinda humored me for quite a while at first). Somehow our playing together for fun turned into us playing a few songs together on stage at campus coffeehouses and open mikes, which we discovered was also quite fun. Then we started writing our own songs and playing those together, and… well, here we are in 2008, still playing together, still having fun, and getting ready to go back to camp, back to where it all began.

We’ve done several of these retreats before, and it always feels like sort of a homecoming. In the past we’ve played some of them with Jesse on keyboard or bass, but this time around we’re playing with Greg on the drums and Kristen on bass. Man, it’s been fun so far! We’re all really looking forward to getting up to camp again and sharing our music.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on with us right now. We have quite a few shows on the schedule in the coming months, if you hadn’t already noticed, so please try to come out and see us! Hope you’re all enjoying our pre-Easter thaw. Blessed Holy Week and a happy Easter to you all.

Matt (& Charlie)

Hello again. We hope you all join us this Friday night at the Java House in downtown Iowa City (on Washington St., right by the Englert Theater). From 8-10 p.m. we’ll play our own special blend of acoustic music for your enjoyment. The coffee here is delicious, the atmosphere is very relaxed, and the music… Well, you already know about the music! It’s a free show, though tips for the musicians (and the waitstaff) will be graciously accepted and appreciated. See you there!