I woke up to the usual room chaos and got a shower...
When I walked out on the balcony, the view was amazing... the Flat Irons (a
rock formation on the side of a mountain overlooking Boulder's campus) were
clearly visible... and when my eyes moved down to the rooms on the other side
of the compound, so was Scott's bare ass...
...yo...
He shouted the now-familiar "YEEEeeeeaaaahhhhhHHH!" and slammed his door...
Let me explain...
I've taken to the occasional mooning late night while on the road lately, just
to break up the monotony... both John and Hazdra have gotten "the treatment"
recently... Hazdra even got the full-on, rolled down window mooning in a
rainstorm after our last show in Peoria, complete with spanking motion and
EVERYTHING... but THIS... this was a supreme piece of timing and lighting
unmatched by my buttocks... I had been bested at my own game...
My trousers are off to you, Mr. Larned...
Some of the guys decided to go hike in the hills for the day, and I walked
around with Nej and company handing out flyers for the show... what the heck,
it was a BEAUTIFUL day...
After lunch we headed back to the hotel to regroup and relax... around 5p we
headed to the Fox to load in... Ahmer and I walking to cut down on vehicular
movement.
Soundcheck went flawlessly, with a good bit of theater staff poking a head in
during "St. Stephen", just to see what this band from Chicago could do... heh
heh... JUST WAIT FOLKS I kept thinkin'...
The sound system in the Fox is the type of system I could mix on every
night... the whole thing was effortless... and afterwards we split up and got
some dinner and headed back to the hotel. As we were sitting around, some of
us getting stretched out by Mr. O'Day, Scott came in with the news that we now
had a little over 300 presold tickets... this, as they say, is a good thing...
at least we know we're not gonna be too lonely tonight...
The show Scott picked out for the Fox was perfect in just about every way...
10/22/89... the first set opens with "Foolish Heart", and as the band slowly
built the song some heads began to bob a bit... ok, so these guys can PLAY
like the Dead... and then John sang the first couple of lines...
...the place began buzzing...
"Holy SH*T! He DOES sound like Jerry!"
"Wow!"
People pointing, people buzzing... oh, and speaking of buzzing...
The entire town of Boulder, as I've said before, is a no smoking zone... this
applies to tobacco only, I guess... because by mid set the place was in a haze
of Colorado's finest... man, those folks don't mess around...
Anyway, the second song is "Minglewood" and a similar reaction follows Mike's
first few lines...
"Man! *sfffffpt* He sounds just... *koff* like Bobby!!! Here, man..."
"Thanks... yeah, he *sffffffffpt* sure does! *koff*"
And with each song the band played after those first two, the crowd got into
it more and more... culminating in a riotous "J.B. Goode" that lit every last
fuse in the place... and it's packed to the rafters... Mike announces the
"short break" and we're off to huddle in the band room...
... which, when I get there, is ALSO packed...
Well - Wishers and friends were gathered back stage in force, so I staked out
a spot on the couch and watched the festivities... the guys from Quixote's
came by and tossed us some t-shirts for selling out their place a week in
advance... they were so excited they closed their bar to drive to Boulder for
the show... pretty cool, this Colorado place...
The second set opens with "Blow Away"... time for Scott's vocal... and YEP!
Same response... "glad disbelief"... and ol' Scotty did deliver the goods,
right down to the crowd-rousing rant at the end as the song builds to an
explosion of keyboards, which I gladly lent a hand to... "Samson" previewed a
little drummer muscle and then it was the centerpiece of the night...
"Help>Slip>Franklin's"... when the tell-tale chords kicked in I got a chill
down my spine... the place went nuts!
THIS was what I had hoped and expected and needlessly worried about... the
fear was replaced by a big poop-eatin' grin... from ear to ear...
After the drummers took a few pounds of plaster off the ceiling and "Space"
had come and gone, the band got people dancing and singing with "Miracle", the
whole house shouting out the chorus... which is good 'cause Mike can never
sustain it with his voice anyway this far into a show... and I got a shiver
again during "Stella Blue"... I've said it over and over, but John gives good
Stella... and the line about "...stay(ing) in every blue-light cheap motel..."
couldn't have been MORE prophetic...
...more on this during the next installment about Quixote's...
"Throwin'>NFA" wrapped it up to wonderful effect, with people singing and
clapping until the band retook the stage for a beautiful rendition of "Black
Muddy River"...
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE... the "Shakedown" elective was huge... it went on for
approximately ten minutes and left everyone sweaty and satisfied...
After we got all packed up, Hazdra and I decided to walk back to the hotel...
we had performed to a technical sell-out crowd that night (626 people) and had
proven that there is indeed Dead (as opposed to "life") east of the
Mississippi...
We gathered in my room to have a few beers and celebrate... and it was one
night I definitely didn't mind hosting the after-show in the room I was to
sleep in.
In the words of one Mr. Larned that morning...
"YEEEEEEEeeeeaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
COMING SOON: Mountain Driving Freaks Me Out, A Chance Encounter With Susan
Tedeschy, The Smallest Stage In The Whole
Damn World, and much more!