We had the day off.
We had a very short drive.
It was St. Patrick's Day and none of us could claim too much in the Irish
department.
The fact that there was little Irish in us didn't mean a damned thing.
The band needed a drink.
And found one at the Oasis... but before I get to that lemme just state that
it felt awful good being back in Boulder... this is by far and away one of my
favorite places we hit on the return tour for a ton of reasons... the vibe is
wonderful, the bookstores rock (yeah, I can read)... the weather, and The
FOX...
OK... mostly it's The FOX... but the other stuff too...
We rolled in and fell apart and pretty much went our own ways... traipsing
around in the aformentioned book stores, etc. until it came around to
dinner...
I don't know who's idea it was to hit the Oasis but, maaaaaaan...
The food was amazing (even better when Scott announced the band was pickin'
up the check) and the BEER... OK, know how last time I told you most
places... even like 7-11s... have their own micro brew in Colorado? OK...
This place? NO EXCEPTION... and we sampled LARGE... I mean we should'a driven
home after all that beer 'cause walkin' was damn' near impossible!!! *HICK*
Seriously, we had a great meal... and the guy who was serving us had caught
our first time through and was psyched about the coming show, so we left him
a pretty good tip figuring we'd make it back at the merchandise table...
... I'm KIDDING of course...
... do you really believe that we would think that way? To give the guy a
bunch of cash figuring we'd fleece him the next night with the stuff we
SELL??? Well I'll just knock that crazy thought out of your melon right
now...
... Scott GAVE him a t-shirt and we KEPT our cash...
... again, I'm kidding... I'm sure we tipped the poor guy, he was serving
about fifteen people who were putting away pitchers like Mark McGwire (a
little "Gee, had to think about that one for a second" joke ala Dennis Miller
but without the obscure sixteenth century literary reference, everyone...
enjoy, OK?)...
As you might expect with all this beer flowing the group ended up splintering
and in no time I found myself alone... I walked outside and was enjoying the
air when Beau came out the front door of the Oasis, also alone...
"Where is everyone?" he asked, lighting a smoke.
"Who cares... let's go to the Boulder and see what transpires, shall we?" I
responded, and we sauntered in the general direction of the Boulder Theater...
We had gotten a tip from our waiter that there was a pretty good acid jazz
band playing that night and I for one wanted to get a better look at the
theater itself... this was our second time out in this town and we had sold
The Fox out again... this figured prominently into my evening's plan,
especially when Beau came forth with this nugget of info:
"We can go I guess, but dude... I'm not tall on cash..." which is Beau's way
of saying Scott hasn't paid him recently.
"Not to worry... do you have your DSO stage pass on you?"
"Sure..." he said, and fished it out of his pocket as we walked.
"OK... just give it to me and let me do the talking when we get there..."
From an early age I've been a bullshit artist. It grew from a love of movies
and a hatred of algebra that I'm STILL not over... and now that I'm in "show
biz" 24-7 (that's hip lingo for "all the time", mom) it has come in handy.
Observe...
We got to the theater and I walked in full of purpose and confidence... as I
figured there was a kid taking tickets at the door.
"Hey man! How are ya? My name's Cameron and this is Beau... we're with the
Dark Star Orchestra... playing across town tomorrow night at The Fox, right
Beau? Have ya heard of it?"
"Sure... heh heh..." laughing at the rube who figures the locals might not
have heard of THE FOX...
"Well, it SOLD OUT I guess..." I add, very off-the-cuff... "and we saw that
your place here was open and we were wondering if we could come in... take a
look around for our next tour..."
Within about three minutes we were getting the VIP tour of the place by one
of the owners and being set up with comp drinks... Beau being the quick study
fell in and started his own line of shmooze:
"What can you tell me about the load-in? Because I have (yadayadayada) to get
onto that stage and..."
I was so proud of him.
His bullshitting allowed me to roam freely, quizzing the house engineer, etc.
and lemme just say the place is really nice... the interior has been
refurbished and the sound system looked and sounded fantastic, and the band
Fat Mama was quite good... as I was sitting in the closed balcony with one
of the techs watching the band I saw Scott and some of the others walk in below
me...
Turns out they paid to get in as security told them there were "already
members of the DSO inside..." woops, heh heh...
Beau and I greeted them, free drinks in hand... chalk one up for the road
crew...
"You mean they didn't let you in? All we had to do was flash our laminates..."
heh heh...
After the tour of the place (including the "Record Exec Room" and the
recording studio) all the free drinks started to have their way with me and I
opted to slide out with a few well-shaken hands and properly placed "thank
yous"...
I think Beau might even have some small respect for me, pulling off this
little con job, although to be truthful it WOULD be a spectacular place for a
Dark Star Orchestra show... part of me still hopes we get to play a gig
there, even though you can't beat The FOX...
The next day I woke up with a bastard of a headache... I have no idea why...
I was in Boulder, after all...
Ahmer had lost his key and I had lost mine, but we were in good shape, on the
whole...
After admonishing everyone to be on time I set out for a falafel sandwich and
some books I had only seen at this one store in Boulder... being so early in
the tour I denied my book-lust, didn't purchase anything, and went back to my
room to do a bit of writing... and I quickly determined where my key had
gone... see, I had Ahmer's so logic dictates he had mine... sure enough, and
I have NO idea how the exchange took place...
... damn micro-brews...
We congregated at the Fox Theater for sound check which went smooth as silk
and included a reunion with Dave Tash, monitor engineer...
Dave is the guy who saved my ass last tour when we did Quixote's... he
brought out monitors and power and tons of other stuff that would be of very
little interest to you the reader but BELIEVE me, without him Quixote's would
have been a train wreck.
The Fox is one of the easiest places to mix I have ever had the pleasure to
work, from the house techs to the gear to the stagehands to the painting on
the wall... it smokes. We went back to the hotel to kick back after the check
and when we came back the place had a mess of folks outside with there
fingers in the air looking for "The Extra"... it was a sight that freaked me
out a bit... Sold-Out Show number three, folks... and an ass-kicker it was,
too...
The show Scott selected was 4/30/88 from the Frost Ampitheater in Palo Alto
CA. and I will say that this was one show I could have let go on forever...
it opens with "Let The Good Times Roll" which is one of my favorites because
it showcases three out of four of our vocalists and allows me to get
everyone's voices taken care of right off... this led right into "Stranger"
and as Scott's keys blared out the horn arrangements people got lifted, after
which John stepped up for a "Row Jimmy" during which, I swear, you could hear
a pin drop everyone was so glued to what the band was doing... a great change
from the last two gigs where people talked loudly during the quiet songs...
Scott got another "Pocky Way" in there, everyone dancing a storm and shaking
their hands in the air... and I thought John was going to blow a gasket when
he sang the "Goodbye Momma & Pappa" bit of "Ramble On Rose" after which the
band drove the dancers into the floor with the end-jam of "Let It Grow"...
The set was over before I knew it, which is how I know the band is really
on... I get lifted and I become a fan again.
After a quick break the band returned to hoots and hollers and got the crowd
right back into the Sweat-Zone with a bubbling "Shakedown" into an insistent
"Women Smarter", slowing things down just right with "Ship Of Fools" before
removing the house's collective grey matter with a blistering "Playin'"...
the "Drumz>Space" segment gave way to a bouncing "Goin' Down The Rd.",
filling my head with visions of, well... Boulder for one... before Mike rended
the tranquil nature of the room assunder with a great "Watchtower", his
guitar cranking and buzzing, not to be denied or drowned out... "Black Peter"
brought more whoops and cheers from the audience and I couldn't help but
giggle a bit, rubbing the goosebumps on my arms... "Sugar Mag" closed the
second set...
After the band left the stage I was tapped on the shoulder... I turned and a
middle-aged guy (yeah, I know... "look who's talkin'..." right?) motioned me
close and asked if this was 4/30/88 from the Frost, "because if it is, it's
the show where I met my wife (pointing to the woman standing next to him)
..." I told him I couldn't give that information out and he smiled
good-naturedly at me and said he understood, "... but if it's a 'China>Rider'
encore I'll have my answer..."
When John kicked into the China Cat riff, I snuck a peak at the couple, who
were deliriously hugging eachother and rocking to the beat.
This is the stuff for which I live... when I see that we've touched someone
that much. That's when I feel like we're doing our job, and like the rest of
the night I wished I could extend that moment forever...
The encore ended with "Saturday Night", Mike Maraat gamely trying to sing it
but slipping vocally at points due to the long evening...
And just to prove we DO take requests, the boys apeased the freak in the
audience who started the "Phil!" chant more than a dozen times over the
course of the night by letting Mike Hazdra close the night with a rousing
"Tom Thumb Blues", getting a huge cheer for his uncanny Lesh-ness...
Breaking down our stuff felt wrong... I wanted to stay and do another night
at the Fox. But alas, Vail awaits us with bouncing floors and melting
slopes...
We arranged for Dave Tash to hook up with us at several other stops of the
tour because i like him and I thought it would be benneficial for the band to
have a guy who knew the routine after a show or two... then it was back to
the hotel for a few hours' sleep before moving into the mountains again...
COMING SOON: My Fear Of Mountain Driving Explained, Blown 18's or "The Bottom
Drops Out Of Garton's", Strapped-Ford-On-Avon, and Beaver Liquors - What's In
A Name?