April 20, 2006
The Headlight's Erin Fein's Guide to Champaign-Urbana
SFist loyalists may notice that it’s only Thursday and we’re posting an interview. What gives? Well, occasionally we get our sticky little fingers on an interview and the timing doesn’t fit with our Friday/Monday interview schedules. This week, we had such an opportunity with Headlights. They’ll be playing Bottom of the Hill tonight, so we thought we’d give you some added inducement to start the weekend early.
Erin Fein, keyboardist and singer of Headlights, submitted to the interview process mid tour. If you haven’t heard of Headlights yet, don’t sweat it. They just have one EP out right now—the Enemies EP. A copy of this came across our desk last week, and we’ve had it on constant rotation ever since. We particularly like the song, “It Isn’t Easy to Live that Well” which you can check out here. Headlights are definitely and indie-popish band, but their sound is a surprising departure from a lot of recent releases. Pop Matters has a good review of them which you can read here.
Normally, SFist interview subjects give you a glimpse into our beloved city. Since we’re already breaking the rules today, we decided to mix that up as well, although it turns out that some SF questions don’t work quite as well in the Midwest. Erin’s guide is to Champaign-Urbana Illinois, a lovely town (we’re sure), and one that is harder to find guidebooks for than our fair city. If you’ve been there before, let us know in the comments if Erin’s version of the town will do our readers right.
True or False: Headlight shows are dangerous?
False...headlights shows are not exactly dangerous... except that we might rock your face off. It happens.
Dream concert line up/ venue/bands/ fans from city of your choice.
New Pornographers and Belle and Sebastian in any city would be awesome. One of the best shows we missed this year.
What city has the best fans?
Any city where kids like original music and will come to shows even if they've never heard of your band.
What's the best show you've ever played?
The Polyvinyl/ Kork showcase at Emos for SXSW this year with the M's, Of Montreal, Aloha, Saturday Looks Good to Me, Owen, Octopus Project, Voxtrot...so many good bands.
The Enemies EP is great, but short. When can we hear more?
Thanks! We just finished our first full length. It will be out on august 22nd of this year.
Once sentence: Why San Francisco should see you play tonight?
Because we love tequila and that makes us fun.
Name
Erin Fein
Introduce yourself in one sentence
Hi I'm Erin Fein and I don't pay much attention to the time.
Age and Occupation
23, musician
Home Town
Champaign-Urbana, IL
How long have you lived in Champaign?
I was born in Champaign...it's a nice midwestern town...and I love corn.
Favorite place to spend time online
Pitchfork...Yahoo...Myspace
Favorite local business
Cafe Paradiso
What I'm currently Reading
Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman
Best Deal in Champaign
Dollar pints of beer
Favorite mode of transportation
My feet
Best Band or Musician to come out of Champaign-Urbana
There are many great bands coming out of CU right now. Some of my favorites are The Living Blue and The Beauty Shop.
Favorite Champaign Stereotype, and whether or not you buy into it
An overabundance of lively frat boys crawling all over the town....yes it's true, and no I'm not proud.
Favorite local hangout
The Iron Post
Champaign has the BEST
College music scene in Illinois
You've never lived in Champaign until
You've eaten at Lil' Porgies
Favorite Champaign politician of past or present
Laurel Prussing
You can tell someone is a local here IF
They know the best drink special on every night of the week
Champaign would be soooo much better if only:
There was a body of water near it!
Best Burrito
LaBamba
Best Restaurant
Radio Maria
Best movie scene filmed in or about Champaign
There haven't been any, but HAL2000 was built in Urbana apparently.
Favorite artist to come out of Champaign
David Bushman
Favorite author to come out of the Champaign
Chuck Koplinski (YO!)
Place you always tell visitors to check out
Krannert Center for Performing Arts
Favorite Bridge in the area
We're talking about Champaign here, people.
You have two hours and $15 bucks to kill in CU, what are you going to do?
Can you kill 15 pints in 2 hours? We can!
I want all the SFists out there to know
Champaign is a great place as long as it's not winter or summer or the weeks leading up to or after them.
Tell us a CU Story
REO Speedwagon is from Chambana. We take long drives down "REO SPEEDWAGON WAY" Yes. We're serious.
Question you'd ask if you were doing this interview
What kind of drink can I buy you when I come to the show?
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Champaign & Urbana are twin cities, not one. The metropolitan area has roughly 100,000 people, and is surrounded by microscopic towns with populations like 25 people. So C-U is really gigantic for where it is. Triangulate from Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis and you'll just about find C-U on a map.
It's a beautiful area (see Flickr for photos) with lots of open land, great parks, interesting architecture, inexpensive real estate, some dynamite cafes and a handful of really good restaurants. What I miss most from the food there is a frozen custard place (think ice cream, but 100 times better) called Jarling's Custard Cup, and a deep-dish pizza place called Papa Del's.
I can't believe Papa Del's wasn't mentioned. I've run into people from coast to coast who rave about it.
And duh -- of course a movie has been filmed here! "With Honors" -- with Brendan Fraser and Moira Kelly and .. McDreamy! They filmed a Harvard graduation on the U of I quad.