Last week I (Luke) had the pleasure of playing guitar at the Dove Awards in Nashville, with an incredibly talented artist. J.R. He was up for 2 Dove awards, 1 as a producer and 1 as an artist. Over the past year J.R. has become a great friend to F.E. and we are sure to perform together more in the upcoming future. Until then, check out his Dove nominated song “Not A Slave”

Seven days ago we finished our trip with Dishwater Blonde back home in St. Louis at one of our favorite local venues, Cicero’s. For this show, we were joined by J.R., an incredibly talented musician from St. Louis who we were incredibly excited to get to meet.

Dishwater opened the night with 45 minutes of high energy, booty-shaking funk that showed off their incredible musical talent (as well as their dance moves). We followed up with a set which featured Cozmo rocking a huge guitar solo during ‘Brand New Guitar’ and closed (for the second straight night) with the theme song from Ghostbusters. J.R. and his band closed the night with a set that left us all hungry to book another show with them ASAP.

It’s a rare night when we get to share a stage with people we connect with both musically and spiritually, so it was a really fun night for all of us and a great close to wonderful weekend. Thanks to Dishwater, Scratch Track, and J.R. for letting us play on stages with such great musicians (an people), and thanks for all who came out to share it with us.

  
Well ladies and gents, get ready!!! After a good 3 weeks of down time for us, we’re itching to get back out there with full force. And this weekend, we are going to do JUST THAT!!! If you live anywhere within 5,000 miles of any of these 3 towns, Columbia MO, Burlington IA, or St. Louis MO, do yourself a favor and come to one of these shows. We are hitting the road with some GREAT friends of ours from Knoxville TN, a band called Dishwater Blonde. These guys are some of the best musicians/performers that we have had the pleasure to come across in our travels. We’ve been kicking around the idea of our two bands doing a string of dates together for some time and finally we’re taking action and making it happen. These guys bring a killer blend of Funk/Soul/ R&B to create some intense ‘booty shakin’ music. We’ve done several shows together over the years, mostly down south, but this time we are bringing them to YOU! Almost every show ends up with at least 10 people on stage throwing down. Last time we even had 2 basses going…yup TWO!! So PLEASE help us give these guys a warm (well kinda, seriously who turned off the heat?) midwest welcome. Keep reading for more show details……….

First up: Thursday October 30th. Mojos. Columbia Mo. 8:30pm

After at least 2 years, we are coming back to Mojo’s! Columbia is one of our favorite places in the world to play. For all of you who have been to the Artisan shows, this is your chance to see us move some serious air, through some serious speakers. Its going to be a great show. We’ve got Dishwater Blonde on the bill, as well as Graffiti Outloud. Show starts at 8:30. Bring your dancing shoes because your gonna dance until your drenched with sweat, we’re talking ‘fill the bathtub’ sweaty.

On Deck: Friday October 31st.The Washington. Burlington Iowa. ages 18+ 8:30pm. $5 with a costume, $10 without.

Most of you know, or maybe dont know, Burlington is where Luke and I (mark) grew up. Its always a fun treat for us to come home and play for familiar faces, and of course, get some down home cookin’. I didn’t get this belly by growing up with a Momma that can’t cook, ya dig? Anyway, we are playing a new venue in town called “The Washington”. We are really excited about it for more than one reason. The first being, Dishwater Blonde will again be with us and they are going to melt your face. The second being, well ITS HALLOWEEN!!! Its going to be the best halloween/costume party in town, and what kind of band would we be if we didn’t participate? If nothing else, come to laugh at how ridiculous we are going to look. See you there!

In the hole: November 1st. Cicero’s. St. Louis Mo 18+ 8:30pm $5 (with possible surcharge for minors)

If you have been a fan of FE for any length of time, you know that Cicero’s has become some what of a ‘home base’ for us. Although, not as flashy or big as somewhere like the Pageant, which we also enjoy playing, Cicero’s just gives us that good feeling you get when you come home from a long day, and plop down in your favorite chair. You can just kick back and enjoy. We’ve used this place to try out new material, new covers, and all the other fun stuff that we’re too scared to try anywhere else. We’ve played many shows there over the years and everytime we walk in those doors, it just feels good. Not too mention its one of the few places in town that lets us do 18+ shows. So for all you youngins that have waited forever to come to a show, this is the one for you! We’re excited because its been a while since we’ve been able to play here at home and we couldn’t have a better lineup to do it with. We’ll be finishing up our weekend with Dishwater Blonde and we’ve been bragging for years to them about how awesome our St. Louis crowd is, so come and show them how we get down in the “Lou”. We also have a very special guest for this show, a very talented fellow that goes by the name J.R. We’ve been wanting to grab this guy for a show for sometime now, and we finally bribed him into coming to jam with us. We are extremely excited to have him on the bill, and we promise he will not disappoint. Please check his stuff out on his Myspace by clicking here. You’ll be glad you did.

Alright guys, sorry for the wordy blog. I (we) are just really excited about this weekend and we cant wait to share all this music with you. We sincerely hope you come out and support these bands. They are some of the best musicians and more importantly, some of the best people you will ever get the chance to meet. We’re gonna be pumpin’ positive vibes from the speakers, directly to your face all weekend long, so be there!!!