2005-04-23 - 10:47 p.m.
I took the late night driving shift across Kansas. We’ve been across this stretch of highway so many times it seems I know every bump and turn, though it being Kansas there aren’t many of the latter. I live just off Interstate 80, many hundreds of miles east along this giant vein that runs through the heart of our country. There lies my wife sleeping, our fat cat Ruby curled up, half on and half off. Just about now I imagine our other cat Jet, who we saved from the wild woods of the Poconos, is pestering to be let out; the habit of the evening hunt still ruling him. I’m missing them already.
The wind picked up straight away and soon came the rain. Conditions rapidly worsened and I found myself driving through sideways rain. The real fun began when I passed trucks. There was quickly a fair amount of water on the highway and the trucks were sending up rooster tail size plumes of water that were immediately blown sideways at 30 mph. As soon as you gained passage around one, whiteout conditions ensued. This went on throughout the hair raising journey along the length of the truck. Just barely aware of the yellow line on the road to my left and the shadow of the truck to my right, I made my way around the truck, holding tight to the wheel and reminding myself not to make any sudden moves. Just as I was making my way around the first of half a dozen of these behemoths of the road, Grubb woke up from his doze in the passenger seat.
“Holy shit, what the fucks going on?”
“Just passing this truck here. No worries.”
It was some of the worst conditions I’ve ever driven in.
OUr first show of the tour was at the River Saloon, which used to be 21 Blue in Colorado Springs. This place is a lesson on taking a really good club and making it a barely mediocre one. The PA was a shell of it’s former self, half of it packed up and sitting on the side of the stage waiting to be returned to the rental company from whence it came. The crowd was decent for a Wednesday but smaller than I remember us having in the past. Anne and my fishing buddy Dave were there. Dave had a dickens of a time making it through the snow on the way from Vail. We all hoped it would be through by morning for Vail was tomorrows destination.
We hit some slushy snow on the way to Vail but nothing too bad. We were playing at 8150. The club’s name is the altitude of the town of Vail. I don’t need a sign to tell me how high up I am. The shortness of breath, low-grade headache and general malaise I’m experiencing tells the tale. The club is a garden variety, feet sticking to the floor, rock and roll black hole of a place. Before the show I saw a group of about 6 young people walking through town. They were speaking Italian or Portuguese. What I found funny was that 2 of them had casts on their legs, making their way through the streets on crutches, while another of them was being pushed in a wheel chair. Must have been a rough week on the slopes!
The Aggie Theater in Ft. Collins was up next. I like Ft. Collins. It’s a cool little college town with neat little shops and restaurants. The show was good and I was feeling better 3000 feet closer to sea level.
Cervantes in Denver! We always have a great time here. Before the show a bunch of us join Anne and her friend Leigh for diner at this great soul food restaurant a couple of blocks from the club called the Welton St. Cafe. Catfish, jerked chicken and delicious pates (meat and vegetable stuffed breads) along with the best greens and black eyed peas. The show was great; lot’s of fun!
We decided to try and make it to Park City to see our friends The String Cheese Incident. They were doing a benefit at a club called Suede. We were put on the guest list and if we could get there in time, some of us would do some pickin’ with them. By the time we get there, they’re already playing. They have Andy and I slotted to sit in on song #6. We just get through the crowd with our instruments and get them set up in time for them to call us up. They’re all really great guys and it was a lot of fun. I felt like I made more of a connection with Michael Kang this time around which was cool. As it turned out moe was in town too so a couple of those guys sat in as well. We ended with “Magic Carpet Ride”; a first for me.
It was our first time in the Velvet Room in Salt Lake City. It was a nice room with really nice people running it. They seem committed to bringing high quality music to a town that could use more of it. We used to play the Zephyr Room, which was fantastic except for the fact we couldn’t seem to draw flies there. It finally went under and The Velvet Room is filling that void.
Long drive day across Idaho, Oregon and Washington. We reach Yakima, WA which will put us in position to make the ferry to Vashon Island.
more later......
