Infrequency...

So it's been nearly a year since our last blog post. We'd like to apologize to all of our regular readers who've surely been checking the blog daily for an update. We like to let the tension and anticipation build; that way when we do post something it's that much more exciting!

Well, Thanksgiving is only two weeks from today, which means the Christmas season is right around the corner, which means we'll be bugging you, our loyal readers/fans/friends, pretty incessantly for the next month or so about our christmastime shows.

We have some christmastime shows coming up! On Sunday, November 29, we'll be performing once again at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts. We played our christmastime CD release concert at the CCPA in 2013 to a wonderful audience, and we're really looking forward to taking the stage there again. We'll once again be joined by our friend Patrick McAlpine on cello, and this year we'll also be joined by Catherine Kastens on piano. We're quite excited about the full ensemble for this year's christmastime shows. Tickets are available now for the show on November 29. $10 for adults, $8 for kids. We hope you can join us to kick off the holiday season!

We're also playing in the Des Moines area on Saturday, December 12, when we'll be at New Life Lutheran Church in Norwalk, and the following week, on December 19, we're playing at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls. Three opportunities to see our christmastime show this year! Come to one or come to all three, but we hope to see many of you this holiday season.

Looking ahead, we're working on shows for spring of 2016. We'll be at Marshalltown's Orpheum Theater on April 23, and we'll be adding others. Check our calendar, Facebook page, etc., for updates.

As always, thanks for listening (and for reading). Hope to see you at a show soon!

-Charlie & Matt

CST on the airwaves

Don't be fooled by the lack of updated-ness of the KUNI web site--CST is returning to Live From Studio One on Monday, April 30th. We'll play songs from the new CD and be generally witty and cool, as we so often are.

You can catch the show at 7:00 p.m. on 90.9 FM in eastern Iowa, or listen to live streaming at http://www.kuniradio.org/kunilive.htm. Of course, if you’re in the area, we’d be very happy to have you join us in the studio on the UNI campus in Cedar Falls. Tickets are $3 for anyone over the age of 12. You can call 1-800-772-2440 for tickets, in case you’re worried about the show selling out…

Can’t get enough of CST on the radio? Well, we can help assuage your appetite at least a little. You can catch us again on Thursday, May 3, at 11:00 p.m. on Luther College Radio KWLC. Web streaming is available at http://kwlc.luther.edu.

And speaking of radio, What I Know Now is part of KUNI's music library, along with our previous releases, so please feel free to call the station and request some CST! You can request us during Karen Impola's folk music program, KUNI's evening music program, or request that they feature CST in their Down on the Corner program, which highlights local music. The new CD is or will soon be available for airplay at other public and college radio stations as well, so please, don't be shy about requesting some of our tunes.

Thanks, as always, for listening!

CD, Baby!

Big day in the CST administrative compound today. Matt and I played a "CD release show" at the Mill, which was interesting (as shows at the Mill generally are) and a lot of fun. It was our first chance to play a couple of the new tunes on the CD for our Iowa City fans and the band after us (if I may borrow a Barney-ism) suited up. Fun night.

Also, today we got notice from CD Baby that What I Know Now's online store is up and running. To wit:

CD release show this Friday!

Come on down to the Mill in Iowa City this Friday evening (April 13th) to catch some of the tunes off our new CD. Enjoy some music, good food and beverages, and help us celebrate the release of What I Know Now. Cover is $6, and CST hits the stage at 9:00 p.m. Following our set will be a performance by Patrick Bloom and the Ghosts of Radio, another of Iowa City's fine local acts.

Electro-folk

The other day we played a little show at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Iowa City. We decided to try a little something different and have a friend of ours play drums. We've played with drums another time or two, but that's it. And these drums... well, they were electronic drums.

I have to admit, they sound pretty convincing. They're nice electronic drums (or at least seem so to my untrained ear). Still, they're electronic drums! It kinda makes me laugh. I'm glad he played with us--it was a fun show, and considering the almost complete lack of practice beforehand, it went pretty well. The only thing missing was a poster featuring an inspirational and motivational photo of Mr. T.

I doubt there are many folk groups that play with an electronic drum set, though... We got some photos on Charlie's camera; maybe he can post one.

(edit: Posts R Me. Who's up enough on CST tunes to be able to name the song we're playing from just the picture? There's a key piece of data there that narrows it down to just two possible tunes. - Charlie)

Breaking news!

Just so you know, the Mud River event on February 18 has been cancelled. Or maybe postponed. Whatever the case, it's not going to happen on the 18th. I believe it will be rescheduled for sometime early this spring, and hopefully we'll still be involved. And don't you worry--we'll keep you updated!

MySpace R Us

CST has finally joined the MySpace phenomenon. We've set up a MySpace page at www.myspace.com/cstime. If you've a MySpace page, send us a friend request and please use one of our tunes on your page. If not, it's another online source of information about show times and a way to listen to music. And another blog, should we ever decide to start updating it (we're much better at find ways to disseminate information than we are at generating information to disseminate).

In other news, we have a couple of shows coming up. This Saturday we'll be playing at Christ the King Lutheran Church at part of a fundraising coffeehouse/talent show for the youth group. The show starts at 7:00, and CST will start whenever the other acts are finished (we'll probably play for about an hour). Next Sunday (the 18th) we're playing as part of another fundraiser (apparently people think attaching the CST name to an event helps make it profitable. I'd be curious to know how they defend that, but whatever) for the Mud River Music Festival. That show's at Uptown Bill's small Mall in downtown Iowa City and starts... sometime in the afternoon. Matt hasn't told me for sure yet. But check one of our three online calendars over the next week and no doubt details will be forthcoming.

Hope you're enjoying this wintery weather! We sure are!