Bruce Hornsby at Botanic Gardens

Scored some tix to the Bruce Hornsby show at the Botanic Gardens last night. It sits right on the edge of Cheesman Park and I walked over to meet Cathy who saved our place in line all afternoon. It was a mad dash to grab a prime spot when the gates opened but I grabbed a prime spot and all 6 of us enjoyed a wonderful show. I saw Bruce when he played with the Grateful Dead years ago at Buckeye Lake and boy, can he tickle the ivories.
Working a show tonite and tomorrow then off on a 5 day backpacking trip to Durango. I hear it's beautiful - will keep you posted.

Jack Johnson at Red Rocks

Did I mention that it rained on the Slightly Stoopid show Friday night and got down to the 40's? Punk ass kids were wearing shorts and T's all night.

Thankfully the weather was decent for Jack Johnson. Doors opened at 5 and the first act started at 7 so we had some time to kill. Or so I thought. Jack is a big time environmentalist and they had booths set up at the top near the visitor's center so he decided to play an unplugged set at 6 pm before the first act. I was selected to escort (along with a few others) him from the top parking lot (where my car was hit earlier this year ;) to the stage. He was a cool dude - jeans, flops and a T - walking with his two bandmates and they were talking about what songs to play. It was so low key hardly anyone recognized him. Stood guard at the front of the stage then we escorted him through the visitor's center and back to the van. pretty cool gig. I noticed a sign at one of the booths advertising a contest where winners would get to watch the show from on the stage so when I got back to my post I told my Supervisor what I saw. He took off then came back a few minutes later and said he wanted me and one other person to be on the stage with the winners to keep an eye on them. Next thing you know we are on the stage, behind the performers, jamming away. No worries and just hanging out. It was a cool view and we had the best seats in the house. Great show too. First set was fantastic then for his encore he did a solo acoustic set. Wish I could get a copy of the audio for the show. At least I got a free T for helping out backstage.

Made up for Friday, that's for sure.

Slightly Stoopid & Pepper at Red Rocks

Has anyone heard of these bands? I didn't before working the show. Sold out show with thousands of punk ass kind stoned out of their minds and fighting authority. I wouldn't have minded so much had I not been the authority they were fighting. Punk ass kids. My buddies Bill and Xavier got into an altercation with an unruly patron who body slammed Bill into the ground dislocating his shoulder. Kid was 17 and ready to start college on a full scholorship. Wonder if an assault conviction will impact his collegiate career. Probably not. Rowdy crowd for sure.

Busy busy busy

Whew - where do I start? Drove to Silverthorne last Friday and stayed at a friend's condo (nice indoor hot tub)as Ambereen had a wedding to attend. We got up on Saturday and wandered around town and found the location for the wedding. After getting ready we hit the Tiki Bar at Dillon Lake for a pre-wedding beverage. The ceremony was short and sweet (I had haircuts that took less time) then we enjoyed drinks and dinner. Drove back to Denver to attend a pool party at Dennis and Kenny's homes in Wash Park. Ended up in the hot tub until 3 am. I'm getting way too old for that! Slept in til nearly 11 am on Sunday! Enjoyed big paper day as much as I could then we had a progressive dinner cruise around City Park that evening. Four houses surrounding City Park so we rode our bikes.
Didn't do too much on Monday but rest.
Worked the Jethro Tull show at Red Rocks last night. What a prima donna Ian Anderson turned out to be. Worst one yet. Signs posted from the entrance to the park to the venue itself requesting that everyone sit down during the performance, no whistling, shouting or other loud noises. Oh, we were told the audience could stand for the encore. Also, patrons were not allowed to move to their seats during a song. I was seated at the front of the stage and after the opening act a roadie came out and barked "who was the security guard sitting in this chair?" I said it was me, to which he replied "you're sitting right in front of Ian's speaker and he won't be able to hear properly. That is not good. You need to move your chair further in that direction." Whatever. WTF was this, a concert performance?
Lot's coming up over the next two weeks and I'll do my best to keep you updated.

Cruiser

Finally picked up a cruiser bike today. A buddy of mine has something like 16 bikes and came to the realization he could unload a few. I gave away my Specialized Rockhopper before leaving Ohio - but I wouldn't have it now anyway. It's going to give me some freedom to tool around town and check things out.
I applied for two tickets to see Obama at Invesco field as they gave away 50,000 tickets to Colorado residents but I haven't heard anything yet. Should be quite a party.

James Taylor at Red Rocks

Ray's wife Kerry asked me if I would attend the JT show as Ray was on a business trip. What a performance! A little info though - her tickets were at row 69. There are only 70 rows at Red Rocks.....so I thought I should go for an upgrade. One of the perks of my part time gig is that I can usually get a pretty decent seat. What would you say to that Kerry?

They played a great set, took an intermission then before the second set JT signed autographs at the front of the stage. Haven't seen a performer do that yet. Then for the encore apparently someone yelled out to the front row to come up to the barricade - haven't seen that before either. Up close and personal for sure. So Kerry got to sit in the front row, got JT's autograph and got to stand at the front of the stage for the encore. SCORE!!!!

Rafting on the Southe Platte

Ray and I made plans to soak in the cool waters of the South Platte on Saturday -
(The metro area is headed for not only the hottest year in the record book but also the driest. The temperature at Denver International Airport on Saturday afternoon climbed to 103, the hottest Aug. 2 since 1878, when the National Weather Service started keeping records. And Friday’s 104 degrees was the hottest day of any August since 1878, when the all-time high of 105 was recorded. We’re also on track for the driest year in recorded history (since 1878) and by a substantial amount.
The driest year on record was 2002, when 5.34 inches of precipitation fell at DIA between Jan. 1 and July 31. This year, only 3.28 inches have fallen at DIA, just 60 percent of 2002’s precipitation.
“I don’t think we’re going to get out of this for a while,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Benton. “We’re more than 2 inches behind the driest year ever. This will be hard to make up.”
As if to throw dust on our wounds, Benton said the last month with above-average precipitation was October 2007.
Denver has now withered through 21 consecutive days of 90-degree weather or hotter, breaking the record of 18 consecutive days set in 1878 and tied in 1901. The forecast calls for at least two more days of 90 degrees today and Monday. Tuesday’s high is forecast in the mid-80s, with a 20 percent chance of rain.
So far this year, we’ve sweltered through 38 days of 90-degree-or-hotter weather.) - so we drove to the park, inflated his tubes and set off for a 4 mile run down the lazy river. We did hit several rapids which were fun to float through and nothing to worry about. Nice way to kill an afternoon! We're trying to figure out if we could take the river all the way downtown (about a 15 mile trip). I'll let you know how that works out!