Rocky Mountain High

Colorado: Day 1
We flew in from SF in the evening and Matt & I, having decided to skip the 900 mile drive to Dallas and spend a couple nights in Boulder instead, picked up a rental car and drove to the hotel in Denver. After resting up a bit we went with Albert to dinner at one of the best Japanese restaurants I've ever been to. It was easily one of the best meals I've had and we left stuffed and sleepy. Not a bad way to land.


Colorado: Day 2
Yesterday was the first day that I was hit with a bout of tour depression. We started the day with a drive to Boulder to do a radio session in the afternoon. It went smooth but the weather was getting pretty ominous by the time we headed back to Denver for the show. By the time we got there it was pissing down rain and cold. After a frustrating sound check spent trying to make the best of a shit venue I set out to eat my first meal of the day (at 7pm). The only thing around the venue was an Irish pub and I had a rental car so I set off to find food. After driving around the most bleak industrial areas of Denver for 20 minutes, I gave up and went back to the bus where I made a sandwich of muenster cheese and potato chips. I think this is pretty much when I felt a million miles from anywhere I actually wanted to be. The fact that I'm still having serious pain in my neck and back is starting to wear on my spirits a bit too. Anyway, the gig went ok but I was glad it was done with. Matt & I had to drive to Boulder to check into our hotel there but Matt was wanting to hang out in Denver for a while to have some drinks. A friend was in town for a DJ party but that ended before we could get there so we ended up meeting them at some after hours party. We found the place in one of the previously mentioned bleak industrial areas and was in some dilapadated garage type space. When we tried to get in there was a bit of a weird vibe with the door guys and we started to get a sense that this wasn't someplace we were exactly comfortable. The friend who brought us here is Danny Masterson who, as one of these guys deftly pointed out, is "that smart-ass mutha fucka from That 70s Show". This combined with Albert being "that dude from the Strokes" managed to secure us entry without paying the cover so, in we went. It immediately became one of those "what the fuck are we doing here?" kind of things. The place looked like some sort of hip-hop squat house. The first room had a makeshift kitchen and a bunch of weird people hanging around. We were told there was a keg in the back so we went thru the next room which was a big open room with a small stage where there was some local hip hop crew spouting a bunch of bullshit to a lackluster crowd of 20 or so people. Thru there was a weird garage type place with the keg. We stood around taking in this bizarre glimpse of the Denver underground, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and drinking nasty keg beer. After a half-hour or so I managed to initiate our departure and Matt & I were off to Boulder.


Colorado: Day 3
It's been a long time since I spent any time in the mountains. I spent a couple winters living in the Rockies in Colorado, working shit jobs and snowboarding most every day. It was probably the healthiest I've ever been in my life and I loved living amidst such grandiose scenery, but work called me back east to Vermont and I haven't spent much time in the Rockies since. Today we drove up thru Estes Park and into the Rocky Mountain National Park. We stopped for breakfast along the way at some little 'family restaurant' where I had the worst restaurant experience ever. It was similar in some ways to the squat house party. A bizarre scene which I wanted out of as soon as I walked in. Some moronic teen ager was our waiter and literally got everything wrong. When I sent my breakfast burrito back because it was wrong, they gave me another one that had nothing but potatoes in a tortilla. We left an $0.11 tip.
A lot of the park was closed but we still got to do a good bit of driving on some amazing scenic roads. Saw some elk and some mountains then headed back to Boulder for another great dinner. Tomorrow we fly to Dallas for a night off there before the gig on Tuesday. We're looking at a week straight of madness, mostly in Texas. I don't want to sound negative or anything, but I fucking hate Texas. Yes, even Austin. Austin only seems cool relative to the rest of Texas, but that's not saying much.