A fun little getaway

Russ was kind and purchased tickets for a show I wanted to see. We left Sunday afternoon for southern Illinois, so here are some postcards from the journey.

I have a writer I enjoy following named Sean Dietrich. He goes by “Sean of South”. He is not only a writer and story teller, but a gifted musician as well. I saw where he was having a show in a town only a couple of hours from us, thus I pitched the idea to Russ.

I am notorious for picking a bad movie or concert, so I urged Russ to check out some clips on YouTube from other shows and read a few of his posts to make sure he was on board with it.

He did and was. So off we went.

The show was in a small venue in Belleville. We have a similar theater that is being restored in our community, but this one was in such good condition. The seats were the old padded kind but were surprisingly comfortable.

But I am jumping ahead.

We had time to grab an early dinner before the show and decided to eat at the Copper Fire which was just down a block from the theater. It was filled with interesting art (perfect example is the rendition of Pee Wee Herman peering over our shoulders above.)

We ate inside as it was quite warm out still.

The service was good and the food was delicious…

As you can see I dove in without considering how nice a photo would be.

However, I will say they had live music that may have left us with hearing damage. The band was great, but sooooo loud. I would check and make sure they don’t have a band going if you want to carry on a conversation or hear yourself think.

After dinner we headed to the theater and found our seats. But first of course, we had to stop at the book table where I was delighted to recognize Sean’s lovely wife.

Jamie accompanies him on many of his travels and if you are like me and follow him, she is just a sweet as you might imagine.

Sean played six instruments – violin, guitar, banjo, piano, accordion and harp, sang, told stories and jokes, made us laugh and think and it was fun. He is actually amazing on each of the instruments he plays and has a nice voice. I could have listened to an entire concert on any one of them.

It is quiet entertainment and definitely geared to our age group. At one point he switched from a sing along of the song “I’ll Fly Away” in such a clever way that we realized he was segueing into the theme song from “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

And yes, we all knew all the words.

It was hilarious to hear the whole audience doing the speaking and singing parts. We were among our people.

After the show he does a meet and greet for anyone who was willing to stand in line. He speaks with each person and allows all the photos needed. We did not take the opportunity and I read later this went on for close to two hours so that’s pretty neat.

If you are looking for some kind words and someone to make you chuckle, I recommend looking him up. I felt refreshed from the show and time away with Russ. I will add the link for him below. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram as well.

https://seandietrich.com