One of the most popular bands in the Quad Cities will help say goodbye to one of the most popular places to hear live music.
Einstein’s Sister will perform Saturday, Dec. 16, at RIBCO (Rock Island Brewing Company), 1815 2nd Ave., on the next to last day the bar and restaurant will be open. The show will start at 8 p.m. and performing guests (so far) include Sean Ryan from The Dawn, John Hunter from the Jungle Dogs, Josie Abigail, Chuck Murphy, Chris Beiderbecke, Chris Bernat from Tripmaster Monkey and probably more to come.
Mark Burrage and Lonnie Benge are also returning to run sound for the evening, Einstein’s Sister bandleader and co-founder Kery Tucker said this week.
The idea for this show started with Tom Maicke from KFMH, who is good friends with RIBCO owner Terry Tilka and Einstein’s Sister. He noticed that there were no bands booked for December 16th and thought that Tilka (who’s retiring and planning to sell the business) “really deserved some sort of a send off / thank you party,” Tucker said by e-mail.
“He asked us if we’d play the gig, if Terry agreed to the idea. All of us said yes immediately,” he said.
Tucker was in The Vouchers, the first band that played the night Tilka took over RIBCO. Tucker and Bill Douglas “played our very first acoustic set that very night on that stage as well. It was also the first time Bill and I played an original song in public,” Tucker recalled.
“Terry really liked our set. Because the two of us only needed a few mics and a guitar input, we became the ideal act to open for big touring artists that needed the entire stage, and got to open for Leon Russell, Freedy Johnston, Jude Cole, NRBQ and a ton of other great acts (even The Electric Hellfire Club! Great audience and fun gig!),” he said.
A few years later, when they formed Einstein’s Sister, they needed a gig for a showcase performance, and Tilka booked their first show in 1997. The band started opening for some great acts (Matthew Sweet, Universal Honey, Sister Hazel), Tucker recalled.
“We then started playing tribute sets every year on New Years Eve (The Police, R.E.M., U2, Tom Petty, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Beatles). We also had every CD release party there as well,” he said.
“As I’ve stated before, there would be no Einstein’s Sister (or Douglas and Tucker) without Terry Tilka and RIBCO! We will always be grateful to him,” Tucker said.
On Monday, Tilka posted on Facebook: “Thank you so much and please, keep supporting LIVE MUSIC in the QCs. Without music and especially LIVE MUSIC, this world would really suck! To my STAFF from the late ’70s till today, Thank you all so much. To all the customers who like great beer, music, or needed a cheeseburger, Cheers to you all.”
For more information, visit RIBCO’s Facebook page HERE.
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