Bill Caperton is in Big Trouble and so am I and I am 42 soon

On the last Saturday of most months Big Trouble plays over at White Squirrel on W 7th in St. Paul. It’s proven to be a really exciting thing. Why is it exciting? Because playing music with friends is exciting. Because I think we are taking it the right amount of serious. What amount is that? It means that we are trying to add new songs, to face new challenges, but we aren’t biting off more than we can chew. And we can’t chew all that much, we are all busy people, and we have to find the venn diagram of music that excites us all some amount. As we keep this monthly residency we will definitely be sliding in some vocalists (and maybe instrumentalists some day?) to “be in Big Trouble”. We’ve had a lot of great singers and rappers from the Twin Cities be in Big Trouble and I’m really excited that Bill Caperton will be the first singer stepping in to the fold to sing with us since the Big Trouble renaissance of late 2022. Do you know Bill Caperton? He’s an amazing singer and songwriter. The song he wrote “I Don’t Know If It’s Helping” is the best song I’ve ever been a part of bringing to life.

So there’s that. At the time Ela was Bill Caperton, Peter Leggett and myself. It’s easily the best rock band I’ve ever been in. And I think it’s partially cause I’m probably a better Bill Caperton bassist than I am a rock bassist. I connect with rock music as a listener, connect with it as a writer, but I don’t always know where I fit in if I’m playing bass. But Bill and Peter were so good about letting each of us fit in in different spaces. To me Ela was our little version of The Police. We didn’t have the same reggae overtones, but there was something singular and imaginative about each song. I don’t think The Police had a blueprint and likewise, I don’t think Ela had a blueprint. What a beautiful thing.

So Bill’s picked out a couple cover tunes and he’s going to sing them on Saturday April 29 between 6-8p. I was already excited to play with Bill but I got to see him sing recently on a solo afternoon gig at the White Squirrel alongside Martin Devaney. It was so rewarding. Bill Caperton has incredible taste in music (it’s between him and my brother for first place in giving me the best music recommendations in my life). Getting to spend an afternoon away from my kids watching Bill deliver these tunes that he was so clearly stretching to play. He wasn’t playing it safe. He had all sorts of lyric sheets, was taking his time to flip the sheets and get the music right. But his people were there. I was there. Rob Skoro was there, Knol Tate was there. We are dads, we don’t come out for much. But if Bill Caperton and Martin Devaney are going to bring some solo energy, we shall be there. It was a reminder that if you’re really about this music thing, you’re going to keep on exploring, keep on challenging, keep on pushing. Bill’s a dad, Bill’s a licensed therapist, Bill’s got a lot going on, but he’s a student of this music thing, he’s a student of it, and I’m really excited to explore these songs with him. The joy of these Big Trouble gigs is that it’s a time for exploration, it’s a laboratory gig, try some things, play some things safe, go get chicken wings afterwards.

And I’m turning 42 on that Friday night (April 28). In many ways it feels like yesterday that I was turning 25 and chatting on stage at The Whole with JG Everest. (this is kind of an arbitrary moment, but I remember thinking “my god I’m old I’m twenty-five). I’ve had so much consistency in life. I met a woman years ago when Heiruspecs played at Grinnell. She was in college. I was in Heiruspecs. Then she was a photographer, and I was in Heiruspecs. Then she was in law school, and I played with Dessa. Then she was some kind of fancy lawyer, and I worked at a radio station. I haven’t spun my gears, I’ve advanced, I’ve adjusted, I’ve pivoted, but I’ve been a music guy for my whole life. Snap shot from twenty-five to now? Seventeen years? I think I have the same tuner. I think I’m the same and I know I’m different. I have children? A wife? I work at a radio station? I’m the music director there? I started a trivia company that is now the biggest in the Midwest and growing? I am still incredibly great friends with Martin Devaney and Kevin Hunt? You and your brother play music together? Your mom passed away? You owned a tricycle? You struggle with shame both giving and receiving? You live in St. Paul? You don’t tour anymore? Your family is Jewish? You cook all the time? Plenty has changed, but there’s some kind of continuum for me. I’ve had pain, I’ve had trying years. But I’ve been on a mission, not a single focus mission, but a mission to make awesome things, to be a part of awesome things. I don’t have the lost years. I haven’t been off that mission for any significant amount of time. That mission to make music that satisfies me, that brings joy to others. To help start event companies like Trivia Mafia to bring people special things to do that improve their life. To be amazing company for people who love amazing music on the radio. To be a loving husband, a caring father, a good neighbor, to have enjoyable hours of time with my family, uninterrupted by work, by music, by stress. To make fat people feel more comfortable, to make me comfortable, to help me love myself. To enjoy my time here. I’m trying to sort and filter out the activities that don’t check any of those boxes. I have a path, I have a code, I know what I like, I am learning what I don’t like. As I round towards 42 I’m largely happy, I love my family, family life is hard, we have a six year old and a three year old, but it’s our family and we’ll get through it. I love my career, I love my job. It’s not perfect, never will be, but I feel like I use the grand majority of the skills I have to do what I do at work. It’s not everyone who can say that. I’m addressing the things I struggle with, I’m not resigning myself to anything terrible, I’m trying to find my way to the great things. Our couples therapist one time critiqued me but I thought she was complimenting me. . .she said “you seem to curate your life to avoid any conflict”. At the time I didn’t see the downside of this. Now I do; if you avoid any conflict you are bound to also avoid tons of joy, tons of connection, tons of intimacy. Conflict is a condition of so many wonderful things. But, for many activities I try to point myself towards the things I love and try to do them well. And I love playing with Bill Caperton.