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Climes at Fitger's Barrel House.

It’s Friday evening at Fitgers. Every Friday, between 7 and 10 pm, you’ll find me sitting at a small table in the Barrel Room at Fitgers listening to Climes. 

Climes is a musical project led by Minnesota artist Drew Anderson. As a musician and songwriter, Drew wanted this project to offer a collaborative space for musicians and artists. Many of his own original songs serve as a voice for the inhumanity in society and to contemplate love and the deep sense of loss. At Fitgers, he is often accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Steve Dalager.

Music has had a big influence on my life. Before I came along, my dad was a saxophone player in the big bands in New York City and the Army. Also, one of his uncles was the musical director for Danny Kaye and there was a nephew who traveled with the Buddy Rich band as the keyboard player. 

By the time I reached my teens, I was taking piano lessons and composing music. And at 17, I would spend part of my summer at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, learning how to compose and arrange for 18-piece bands. 

In high school and college, I listened to everything from jazz pianists Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea to rock groups like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Toto and the Doobie Brothers. My dream was to become the keyboard player for the Doobie Brothers. Sadly, Michael Mcdonald beat me to the punch. 

Whether it was trying to figure out and process all the different emotions with falling in love or making sense of the bigger issues in our country and around the world like the Vietnam War and getting drafted, assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., racial tensions in our country or Watergate, I would often turn to music for solace and possibly gain a better understanding of what was happening within and around me. Those days, I was listening to a lot of James Taylor and Billy Joel.

Since arriving in Duluth to volunteer at the hospitality houses with Loaves and Fishes to help the homeless, and then writing about climate change and organizing local projects, I have often turned to music to help me process everything from stress and anxiety to anger and frustration. And sometimes, it was simply to take a break from the world and the numerous demands in my daily life.

Whether it’s listening to “Taking It To The Streets” by the Doobie Brothers, “Barren Ground” by Bruce Hornsby, “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals or “Times Like These” by the Foo Fighters, music has become a powerful outlet and refuge for me. These songs and their lyrics have often given me some sense of clarity about my own personal questions and concerns, as well as deciphering how to respond to the bigger issues and challenges. 

When I come to Fitgers on Friday evenings, I will listen to Drew sing about parenthood, love, refugees, gun violence and hospitality to the homeless. In the song “Lost at Sea,” about 800 refugees, I am captivated by the lyric “I think of you Brother, think of me. Remember my lovely dreams.”

One of my favorite songs, “When I Find The Time,” is about never finding the time to be with someone you care about and love. And every time Drew sings that song I choke up.

These days, with the growing uncertainty and concerns about a new president, along with climate change, racism, gun violence, pandemics and international conflicts, there is always music. Music can soothe our pain, give us some insight, provide inspiration and sometimes help us figure out how to move forward. 

For myself, going to Fitgers every Friday evening to hear Climes perform is my medicine. After spending the week hearing about the rise in global temperatures, another school shooting, the continuing Gaza atrocities, the growing number of homeless in our country, return of covid and the Ukraine-Russia war, I simply need a break. A chance to catch my breath and collect myself. That’s why you’ll find me at the Barrel Room in Fitgers every Friday evening.

You can check out Climes at climesmusic.com and youtube.com/@climesmusic.