But I'll Never be Tired of You - Nicole Reynolds at CotHS

There was dinner and beer and camraderie to spare at the soft reopening of the Church of the Holy Spoke, current incarnation of Lubbock, Texas' underground music scene. Shmoo, Mark, and Michael Beardface had scrubbed the house top to bottom, while Red, our booking manager, cooked up a pot of spicy vegetable spaghetti, resurrecting our policy of providing a hot meal for traveling artists.

Sophie Butler, our opening act, got to the house about 8:00, too nervous for dinner but excited to help the Spoke (as she calls us) out in a pinch. She hid in the back for a while, rehearsing with churchmember Michael-Beardface until it was time for the show to start.

Our audience began to drift in around 8:30, mostly the old crowd who never missed our shows last year, with a few new and welcome faces. We had about 25 people all told that night, and there was no spaghetti left.

Shmoo, co-founder of CotHS, house manager, and Keeper of the Flame, welcomed our friends and family back to the Church of the Holy Spoke that night with a tremble to his voice. There was applause and whooping as we introduced Sophie and started the show. Sophie has a fun collection in her song bag, including a bitter number about a former boss that always leaves the audience rolling with laughter. We wish her luck on her return to Britain and hope she keeps writing and playing.

More and more people trickled in during Sophie's set, and the intermission was twenty minutes of laughter filling the house and spilling out onto the porch. And then the night's main act started.

Mournful and dirty, sweet and bitter, Nicole Reynolds held our crowded living room captive that Sunday night. Even the cats approved. Starla did her best to join the show, jumping up on Nicole's seat to dance back and forth along the bench. Falafal, Pope Gooseberry III, stepped out before the audience after Nicole's second song to issue a papal degree, screaming at the top of his feline lungs about just how awesome she is.

Nicole has songs about earthworm sex. Thus she shall always be a friend of the Church of the Holy Spoke. "Hermaphrodite sex is amazing..." Her lyrics are thoughtful and poetic, her voice clear and demanding of one's attention, aching over the difficulties of non-mainstream sexuality, calling up the loneliness of the road, laughing over dirty but subtle jokes.

We are very glad we were able to provide Nicole with a stage here in Lubbock, and couldn't have asked for a better show to spread the word that CotHS has risen from the grave. We hope she comes through West Texas again soon. J&B Coffee jams her CD's on the speakers anytime our people among the baristas are working.

Thanks to Nicole and Wood, Sophie, Mark, Michael-Beardface, Shmoo, Ashley for pictures, and everyone who came to the Church that night.

For more information on events at CotHS, please contact Red at:
churchoftheholyspoke@gmail.com

What you missed:

Grand Re-opening This Saturday!

The Church is really back, look out!

We've got a show on Sunday, featuring Sophie of Skooners open-mic fame.
And Nicole Reynolds, making her way on a cross country winter tour. We think she's crazy but we're gonna cook sweet potatoes for her anyways.
She has music on myspace at myspace.com/nicolereynoldsmusic