And many days pass

yep.

I'm sitting in Loaded Joe's in Avon, Colorado; the front door is open, and it is fuckin freezing in here. Loud, obnoxious, obviously Sublime-inspired reggae-type music is blaring; and the girl who is working the bar just tried to get me to order my dinner off the late-night, shady, bar menu, though the lunch menu had stopped being served just a few minutes earlier. Ah, a warm welcome.

I must confess, this area just makes me feel uneasy. I went to a movie in the nearby town of Edwards today, and just walking around in the little hoity-toity shopping area beforehand left me feeling... dirty. Insincere smiles, so patently insincere, and the air of contentment that is only truly worn by the rich and insulated. So strange. And what a contrast to the gig last night, in Gypsum (the Rittenhouse), which could not have been more down-to-earth an establishment, patronized by people of the same mien. I have yet to begin playing here, but I can say I already have a bit of a bad attitude about it, which is never a good way to start a show.

Anyway.

Yesterday I went on a local radio station to promote tonight's show; they did the old "record the show the day before, broadcast the day of" trick. At least, I assume it was broadcast, I did not tune in. The guy doing the interview was named Weez, and he gave me his email address so I could send him a photo I took out the window of the studio. It was a beautiful view, with Aspens in full color, a walkway along the river, and a gorgeous canyon wall for a backdrop. Amazing.

The gig last night was a lot of fun; really nice, intersted, engaged people, who wrote down a buncha email addresses, and bought several CDs. Had one guy wander up and begin conspicuously examining part of my PA; a bit awkward, as I ended up having a conversation with him while I was playing, trying to figure out what the fuck he wanted. Turns out he was just impressed with the sound, and wondering about how many watts the rig was, etc. I thought he was gonna start screwing with the EQ or the volume, and was kinda annoyed with the way he was invading my space. A bit of an overreaction, but you never know what someone is going to do with your gear, and it's always better to engage than not to (As soon as he walked up & stood there for a moment or two, I leaned over and asked him if he was looking for something, as he was scrutinizing everything pretty closely. Gotta maintain the perimeter). He turned out to be pretty cool, if a bit awkward. Go figure.

The last week in Boulder and Denver was really nice; lots of time to chill, haven't really had the opportunity to just relax in a while. The show at Upslope Brewery was one of the most awkward setups I've ever played in, with an easy-up set up in the parking lot across from the door, and cars passing through every couple minutes. The guys running the place were super-cool, and told me that they had more people out that week than they had ever had before. I am not inclined to take credit for it, these things move with the tides, but it does make me rather re-hireable from their viewpoint (as opposed to when you end up playing to an empty room, where you might be slightly less re-hireable).

The weather in Boulder and Denver while I was there was amazing; I got some good hikes in, including one with a bear wandering around near the trailhead. A ranger was there, trying to shoo it away. I assumed (rightly) that it would be gone when I got back, so I headed up the trail. Green Mountain, which is right near Chataqua Park; the trail goes up behind the Flatirons. Beautiful, got some great pictures (which I will, presumably, post some of up here sooner or later).

Stayed with Johnny and Holly while I was in Boulder; they were both crazy busy, as they (in the last year) started a specialty cookie baking business called Wonder Foods, manking (appropriately enough) the Wonder Cookie and the Wonder Wake-Up Cookie, among others. The Wake-Up cookie has chocolate covered espresso beans on top, powdered coffee dusting the top, and chips of espresso beans inside the cookie itself. Needless to say, I think they're fantastic, and have a good stash of them for the road. Starting your day with coffee and a Wonder Wake-Up cookie is a bit... extreme, however I have done so for the last couple days. Ridiculous.

Albuquerque and Alamosa in the rear-view before the Boulder gig; not gonna sit down and try to recreate the scene, it never works out that way. But I will try to stick to the blogging a bit better, it's much more enjoyable for me to write about these things when they're fresh.

Off to Moab for a couple days tomorrow, for camping and hiking in the pleasantly warm, 4000 foot above sea-level climate of central Utah. Should be good times, looking forward to hitting up a campground that my companions my last time through the area were too cheap to shell out $4 to stay in (it's in the bottom of a canyon on the edge of town, leading into Canyonlands National Park, ferchrissakes. I mean, really. It's beautiful).

So, time to get set up to play. Until next.