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Current Road Trip: Mankato

Posted at 7:10 AM on November 19, 2010 by Steve Seel
Filed under: The Current Road Trip

On Thursday November 11th, it was time for another Current Road Trip - our series of periodic jaunts out of the Twin Cities to visit towns in greater Minnesota for music and community connection. This time, Jill Riley and myself had the priviledge of taking a journey to Mankato, with the wonderful Minneapolis group Roma Di Luna (actually, it's two core members, the husband and wife duo of Alexi and Channy Moon Casale).

First came a bit of bad news - The Current van, freshly re-painted with an even bigger logo on the side for greater visual effect, had suddenly taken sick and was in the garage for repairs. Fortunately, there was a backup! Our friends at Classical MPR would loan us theirs - a plain white affair, nice and low-key, just like their sound. We promised to treat it respectfully.

We'd been on the road for some time when we pulled off for our first stop in Jordan, Minnesota, one which we'd been eager to check out ever since Jill mentioned it as a possibility for exploration. Right there, like a brilliant yellow beacon on Highway 169, sat Minnesota's Largest Candy Store.

We can't vouch for the veracity of the claim contained within its name, but we can indeed attest to the fact that it's a plenty big place. Not only do they have candy - practically every kind you can imagine, including stuff you thought hadn't been made for over 30 years like wax lips and candy cigarettes (Stallion! Victory! Tons more!), but they bake a restaurant's worth of homemade pies every day, and (my personal favorite), they have a mind-boggling selection of bottled root beer. Classic stuff, weird stuff, even "micro-brew" root beers. Amazing. I bought four different kinds.

After chatting with the proprietors, who turned out to be big fans of the station and the Morning Show, we were off again. Our next stop was Le Seur, home of canned peas and Green Giant veggies, where we were looking for a particular historical landmark: the W. W. Mayo house. W. W. Mayo built the house in 1859 and set up his first medical practice in a room upstairs. In 1863, Dr. Mayo was appointed examining surgeon for the Minnesota Civil War draft board, headquartered in Rochester. Later, Dr. Mayo and his sons founded the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. More cool history: In 1903, a latter owner of the house named Carson Cosgrove served as the head of the Minnesota Valley Canning Company, which became the Green Giant Company in 1950.

Just as the sun set, we arrived in Mankato and found our venue, The Coffee Hag ... a warm and welcoming destination.

Inside, the steam from the espresso machine hissed away as the crowd was already beginning to assemble for the show that was still two hours away. If the number of folks already there was any indication, the show was a sellout for sure. We'd been given the heads up that there was a great deal of excitement about the evening among Mankato listeners to The Current, and we were certainly just as excited ourselves. As it turns out, The Coffee Hag reached capacity well before the official start time of 7pm, and some customers had to be turned away at the door. While we're sad for those folks, that's a pretty awesome reception for this event!

Audio: Roma di Luna's Performance from The Coffee Hag in Mankato

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What can I say about Roma Di Luna's performance? Quite honestly, the entire room was transfixed. The quieter numbers in particular, when Channy's voice rose over Alexi's acoustic guitar at times sounding like a wounded dove, its plaints echoing slowly off to the back of the room, were mesmerizing. The two performed songs off of their new recording, And Then The Morning Came, and a wide selection of other tunes including older songs, covers (including a lovely rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"), and even a trio of songs honoring the memory of the late Minneapolis rapper and friend of Alexi's, Michael "Eyedea" Larson (concluding with an elegiac performance of The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?").

On three occasions, Jill and I jumped up onstage between sets to ask Channy and Alexi questions about their art, life, and what it was like to be a married couple also working as a professional partnership. In hindsight, we hope it didn't become "public marriage therapy on stage" as we joked at the time; either way, the two of them were more than gracious in their answers and humor. The Casales are an elegant couple.

Graciousness, however, is one feeling that seemed universal throughout the evening. While a number of folks approached the band, and all of us from The Current as well, to say "thanks so much for doing this! Please come back!", I must say that the warm feelings were mutual. It was wonderful to hang out with such a great bunch of people, both the show's attendees and the lovely and accomodating staff of The Coffee Hag itself. We hung out until almost the last customer left.

When it was time to head back, Jill and I were running on little more than fumes, joking that the Morning Show the next day would like be hilarious in its sleep-deprived incoherence, but surely neither of us cared. We'd had a wonderful time with awesome people in more than welcoming town, all made possible because of the Minnesota Legacy Amendment Grant. Thanks to everyone who was a part of it!

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