Hey there, Crime Stoppers! Wonder where I've been? Weeeeellllll... lemme tell
ya... I had to go to Portland to live with my aunt for awhile *wink*wink*...
Know what I mean?
...yeah... me neither... actually you will find out the reason for my absence
as this whole story unfolds... each stop of the tour will be told as an
entry, so in the case of Breckenridge it was two days' time... other days
FELT like two days but were only one, other days started like they were gonna
go really long and then y'know, like, POOF! "Where'd it go?" type of thing...
OK? And then there were rides through mountains that stole years off my
life... it was nerve-wracking, not too much sleep, thin in the air
department, and most of all it was a great time with some great friends...
I don't know why we do some of the things we do, like leaving town around 5p
on a Saturday... but we do it time and again...
Of COURSE there was traffic... it looked like the city was being evacuated
for cryin' out loud...
Beau showed up at my place about an hour early, so then there were two of us
driving my landlord (who lives below me) crazy with our pacing around. It had
been a week off for all of us and while it's nice to be irresponsible and
jump around town like some asshole on Spring Break, I'm sure I don't need to
tell you folks how a person might miss this job... I'm a part of this circus
but in a way I'm also a fan at heart, and that fan had been jonesin' for a
show, duuuuude....
When Scott and Ahmer pulled up infront of my place Beau and I ran out the
door like two dogs who knew they were going to the park... after Beau got the
Touring Vessel repacked we hit the road!
And stopped dead in the aformentioned gridlock...
It took us from giddy to pissed in no time flat.
When we finally got out of the thick of it everyone relaxed a little... after
all, it was going to be approximately fifteen hours... at night... through
such striking countryside as Iowa and Nebraska... at night...
ffffiiifff-teeeeennn hhhhhoouuurrrrssssss... IIiiioowwaaaaaa.....
Get the picture?
At least Scott had gone out the week before we left and spent about a
semester's tuition on CDs... and we always have a nice slice of Dead history
in the tape case, our "homework" if you will...
I tried but fell short of falling asleep several times... it was difficult
considering Beau and I were solidly packed in with everything we couldn't
cram in the back... if we were to have an accident there was no chance of
injury, but the down side was that we needed the Jaws of Life to get out of
the back seat, accident or no...
I took the wheel around 1a, which was around Nebraska if I'm not mistaken...
and like I said there is nothing out there... not a damn thing... so the
speed limit is posted at 75 mph, but by the way everyone is driving you'd
think it was more a suggestion than a law. I got into the spirit of it too
and pretty soon the needle was buried past the "85" mark... I mean we must
have been haulin' ASS... the pavement sure was going by like that ship
hitting warp drive in Star Wars... I had the whole "getting pulled over"
senario in my head:
COP: "Good morning... do you have ANY idea how fast you were going sir?"
ME: "Absolutely not... but I AM curious... y'see this doo-hicky here on the
dash is
worthless past eighty-fi..."
COP: "Would you mind getting out of the vehicle?"
ME: "De-LIGHTED to, my man... but seriously, how fast? The other guys were
sleepin'..."
COP: "In a minute... just blow in this tube please..."
Due to my leadfooted driving we made Colorado just after dawn and pulled off
the road in Idaho Springs to have breakfast around 7:45a... here's what I had:
Two Eggs, Scrambled
Hash Browns
Biscuits & Gravy
Wheat Toast
... and *koff*... a bloody mary...
WHHHHAAAAAaaaaaattttttttt???? Don't gimme that look...
"Well it sure has been a long hard riiiide...."
We got to Breckenridge around 9:30a and went to our friend Ben's place of
business to say hello and breathe some wood dust... Ben and several other
talented freaks have a furniture business I've talked about before... Rockie
Mountain Rustic I believe...
Basically they operate out of a large storage building... there are a few
neighboring businesses but it's amazingly quiet... at least to a dork like me
who continues to live in an urban setting...
It was a beautiful day (the first of many) and after laying around in the sun
we all went into town for a couple beers and some lunch but having been up
all night I was kind of out of it and quietly nursed a beer, watching the
NASCAR race...
The four of us got a room in Dillon which is just over from Breck and wasted
no time getting into the hot tub. Here are my notes on the subject:
"Just had a great soak. I miss Chicago. No, really. Stop laughing..."
Rather brief but you get the idea.
Anyway, I was out of it from a lack of sleep so I crashed pretty early...
when we got up the next day everyone was pretty much back to normal but going
from Chicago to ten thousand feet still had to be reckoned with...
Ahmer went for a jog but came back to the room quickly, out of breath... and
I had a nasty dizzy spell in a Wal-Mart...
... however, upon reflection this might have been triggered from simply being
in a Wal-Mart...
The four of us had come straight to Breck but the rest of the band stayed in
Denver overnight, the plan being that we would all meet at Josha's by 4p for
load-in and sound check...
And for once it pretty much happened! This was AMAZING!!!
Everyone showed up and we started setting up... everyone was even in a good
mood... Mike set up his bass rig, the drummers even dealt with their limited
space and having to pare down their kits in good cheer... !
... but then...
"Uh, Beau..."
"Yeah Scott?"
"Where's the power cord for my piano?"
(*insert sound of needle being dragged across the record here*)
After a short deliberation the jury came back with "Peoria, IL" as the answer
to that question, Alex... and here we go with the Beau-nus Round... our topic
tonight is "New To This Part Of The Gig"... remember you can risk all or none
of your winnings but you must enter that amount now...
Beau had just started helping Scott with his breakdown and packing as far as
the minutia was concerned: cables, pedals, stands, POWER CORDS, etc., so to
be fair he didn't know any better... but he does now, you best believe...
Beau is a hawk for gear now and nothing escapes him at the end of the night,
sometimes to the point of innocently pilfering stuff believing it to be
ours...
... we're sending all that stuff back, and you know who you are that're
missin' stuff... a direct box and a speaker cable come to mind immediately...
We called around to the two music stores within a half-day's drive of Breck
and no one had the cord we needed... a simple two-pronged cord... we even
called a computer store, but the thing is there's just not much call for a
Korg piano power cord in a ski town...
... go figger...
Scott being the consumate professional kept his cool and only lightly cursed
Beau's bloodline, then worked out some sounds on his other keyboard to take
the place of the downed piano...
We got a quick check in after getting rid of some buzzes in the PA which...
and I'm serious when I say that I believe Howard completely when he said
this... "weren't there yesterday"... this poor guy having to make me happy
with a limp PA... heh... and it was up the hill to our digs for the next few
days, a club-rented condo...
A condo that's walking distance to Josha's.
A condo with a ski hill going past the living room window.
A condo with a guest book signed by Lyle Lovitt & Julia Roberts.
(although I subscribe to Ahmer's assertion that it was more likely a drunk
frat boy from UNLV.)
A condo which was NOT supposed to be rented to bands.
(Ahmer signed us in... "Thanks! Dark Star Orchestra!" ... oops.)
A condo which is mostly sleeping space with a kitchenette and a fireplace...
It was like being on the set of "Annie"... 'It's a hard-knock life... for
us...'
"Welcome to 'Youth Hostlries Of The Rich And Famous', I'm Robyn Leech..."
This was the conditon we found in every place we were furnished on this tour,
I called it a "Thin Venere of Quality"... I often thought of Kathy Lee
Gifford and her sweatshops while sleeping in some of these places, lemme tell
ya... these places converted to hold as many bodies at rest as space would
allow but really no better than a Motel 6...
... oh.... wait 'til I get to THAT story... a little inside joke there, but
soon you will be invited in...
The show that night was 3/27/83 from Irvine Meadows, and a pretty good choice
for our return to Colorado... not to mention it's the next night from the
show that we played here at Josha's to end our last tour of the Rockies...
Scott's a clever lad, isn't he?
But seriously, it was a good choice. The show opened with "Shakedown", which
is always a crowd pleaser, "Minglewood" allowed me some time to work on
Maraat a bit although with his improved attention to his mic technique it
gets easier and easier... "TLEO" was a fun shuffle, but the real highlight of
the first set was the closer "Deal"... the gloves were off...
Second set opened with "China>Rider" which was to become a theme out here
this time... the "Truckin'" that night was rather good too... but this was
the first of many "Throwin' Stones" for the tour and the band had been
playing it to death already and this was one song I did not enjoy... imagine
how I felt after three weeks of it?
No, wait... I'll TELL you just how sick I got of it as I write all this
down... all in good time... it'll be another interesting thread of griping I
can use... yeah, that's the ticket...
The elective that night was "Box of Rain" in honor of Phil's birthday, and
'twas good, too... sold out show number one!
By the end of the night no one had lost an eye, so it was all still funny
according to my mom... but John had been unhappy with his monitor all night
so I arranged to come in early with Howard the next day and work out the bugs.