Our Date In Denver

It’s been a while since Conner and I have had a proper date. The last hurrah was the night before we left Austin and we went to our favorite restaurant, Justine’s; reasonable prices for delicious French food and an amazing atmosphere. That was over three months ago. I love dates. I don’t care if I spend every minute of the day with Conner, I still need a date every once in a while. There’s an unspoken “date etiquette” that occurs where both parties make an effort at being charming and engaging, and to reignite the ‘come hither’ flame once again. Dates are essential.

So he and I ventured into downtown Denver for a proper date. Denver is a relatively new city and therefore, rather shiny and clean without much history. I love history so all I can say about Denver is that it’s nice; easy to drive around, easy to navigate, easy to find a cheap place for a drink. The main pedestrian area is the 16th Street Mall; several blocks long with street musicians, shops, and restaurants. A lot of it feels like a strip mall with chain after chain, but there are pianos dotted along the center of the walkway that makes it feel more charming.

As we were looking for a place to eat we ran into this guy, who’s shtick was to serenade me and if I liked it then Conner was to give him some money. He even gave Conner some tips on how to make the shtick work just in case we needed some more gas money along the way and Conner was feeling up to a cappella singing. So Darien proceeded to sing me a song about showering together, lathering up and down, etc, etc. He had a nice voice, but nonetheless it was a little embarrassing.

To top the evening off we strolled back down the road and watched some punk kids playing excellent jazz music.

And saw a spray paint art demonstration. Why is it that from Austin to Denver, spray paint art is all the same? There’s always a boom box playing electronic music and the theme is always celestial paintings.

We ended up not going, but there’s a vodka bar off of Writer’s Square called, The Red Square. They infuse their own vodka with flavors like ginger, beet, and red pepper. Apparently it’s pretty great, but to end your night there, not begin there because you’ll be on your face before you really even get started. The one Jena told us to try was the garlic infused vodka—“when you burp it tastes like a whole meal. Dude, it’s awesome.”

Candace Newlove

The morning after the Red Rocks concert, I drug Conner out of bed and hung-over, to see our friend Candace Newlove in Nederland. It’s a rare occasion to meet someone that’s so luminous, wonderful, kind, and funny like Candace. We actually met her when we went up to Carbondale to play with Tyller Gummersall; her daughter Ally was playing with Tyller and Conner. When we drove the hour and a half up to Nederland, that was only the second time we’ve seen her…but of course, I hope to count her and her family among our good friends for years to come.

And Nederland--Beautiful!

I’ve decided that northeastern Colorado has to be my favorite; it’s the area I picture when I think of the state…tall green pines, Rocky Mountains in the distance, and big ranches tucked away from the road.

I always love stories of how people got to be where they are today, specifically in terms of occupation.  I always ask in hopes that their story will help me figure out what I’m ultimately doing with my life.  Candace’s story in a nutshell: had two daughters and felt she needed to provide, worked unfulfilled in banking for years, invested and then lost it all, and 6 years ago she jumped the banking ship and started learning pottery.  Now she totally ceramics and has the sweetest set-up at her house…studio, two kilns, a barn that also acts as her showroom.  It was awesome.

Primus And Gogol Bordello At Red Rocks

The Primus/Gogol Bordello show was awesome!  The stadium benches were set at such a steep slant that we could see the Denver skyline above the stage; Denver at night with all it’s twinkly lights.  We were assigned seats but ended up camping out at one of the side areas that had been planted with trees…better to dance, you see.  I’ve loved Eugene, the lead singer for Gogol Bordello, ever since I saw him as Elijah Wood’s Ukrainian tour guide in Everything Is Illuminated; he’s hilarious and absolutely steals the show; and again in the Ukrainian gypsy music documentary, The Pied Piper of Herzovinia.  Plus, they have an awesome fiddle player…skinny guys with violins always steal my heart.

Primus used the natural rock backdrop of the stage for a neon lunar lightshow and had two large blow-up space suits on both sides of the stage.  They had various images projected onto the “glass pieces” of the helmets.  As I have been bad lately and never where my glasses, I have little idea of what the images were but Dan and I shared his glasses for a while and I did see some dancing skeletons projected up there.  I have never heard of Primus before Conner came along so I have no idea what they played or how this show measures up against other shows, but geez, they were great!  The band had arranged to have the show streamed on their website and I’m sure that you can find it still up there.  Apparently it’s de rigueur that the lead singer/bassist, Les Claypool plays a segment wearing an animal mask while playing a one-stringed bass that he made.  So he played his one stringed bass for us at Red Rocks wearing a monkey mask, and of course we all loved it.

On the way home, tipsy off of too many $7.00 beers, Jena, Dustin, Conner, Dan, and I all stopped at Wendy’s which we all downed without conversation the rest of the way home and it was the best damn Wendy’s I’ve ever eaten.  Of course.  But the next morning when the heart burn finally woke me up well, that’s when Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Sidewalk” kicks on in my head and I make vows I rarely keep, ‘Never, never again will I eat fast food at 2 in the morning…’

Off To Middle America

We're jumping on the road today to head to Omaha, Nebraska.  We have the whole state of Nebraska to fend with today so I'll be doing a bunch of photoshopping in the car and then I'll post all of our Denver pictures up soon.

Funny Signs

Vail, Colorado

Red Rocks Amphitheater

We came to Denver to visit some of Conner's old friends from Durango, Jena and Dustin.  Oh man, they're awesome.  We planned on being here for a couple days but we've been here a week...still in time to make it to Chicago by the 19th.  They took us by Red Rocks--a natural geologic amphitheater--which is totally free and really beautiful.  It should definitely be the first stop while in Denver.  They have a little museum with a wall of all the people who have performed and it's everyone you can ever think of from The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald.  It was originally used by the Native American Utes as a spiritual arena until publication editor John Walker purchased the land with money from the sale of his magazine Cosmopolitan in 1906.  
Wikipedia

Tonight we're all going to see Primus and Gogol Bordello there!  I haven't gone to see a big concert in forever and I'm excited.

Jena, Conner, Dan, and Dustin Dupont

 Jena and Dustin's daughter, Lily

Their younger daughter Vada; named after Vada Sultenfuss from the 90's movie My Girl.  I did love that movie.

Denver!

As per usual: Denver population: 610,345, 50.4% male/49.6% female, with the median age being 32.  It has been ranked the most educated city in the US, the capital of baby booming, and the "thinnest" city in the US.  It was also ranked the number one city for singles by Forbes.  Denver was founded in 1858 as a gold mining town.  Apparently the first building ever built here was a bank for all the gold mining money and now the largest industry is banking...the financial district downtown is called "Wall Street of the Rockies".
Demographic source.

 Denver at night

Get Real Denver

En Route To Denver

Our route: Taos, stop off in Durango to drop unneeded supplies off (hammock, inflatable canoe), quick visit to Grand Junction, and on to Denver.
Travel Note: highway 550 from Durango to Ouray=gorgeous. 1200 feet high mountain passes, occasional Memento Mori

 Monument to snow plow drivers who have died in avalachnes.  They go out solo...that was the sad part to me.

From Grand Junction to Denver take highway 70=stunning. Go through Vail, drive along Colorado river in tight gullies with the mountains jutting up right outside your car window.

More photos on flickr...

 Photo via Concept Trends

One last post about Taos.
A friend suggested I look out for "Intentional Communities" (after Waco communes sought a new name) as we travel for free places to camp in exchange for a music concert by the boys.  I scoped out the Taos area and the only one was the Earthship Community.  I emailed and called and called and finally got someone on the phone to arrange a small corner of land to park our trailer for a couple nights, check out the community, and play a little music.  A recap of my conversation with the Earthship representative after I made my proposal of music for a place to park:
"Um yeah, we don't really do that but you can stay in one of the Earthships for $230 a night"
"Oh well, we haven't much money to spend on housing while we make our documentary.  Is it possible to just camp for a night on a small square of land?"
"Uh yeah, well...yeah, we don't really do that either but there's a camp ground down the road for about $20 a night."
By that time I was like, "Woman!  You're entirely missing the point here!"  But I let it go.

 Photo via Treehugger

     So while we were staying with the boys' parents rented Garbage Warrior, a documentary about the Earthship Community and Micheal Reynolds, the visionary architect behind it all.  It was a really good film and the people behind the community looked awesome-my kind of people.  Plus, all the aid work they do for countries hit by natural disasters is amazing!  They're doing a bunch of work in Haiti right now.
     While in Taos, I dragged everyone up there to scope it out and at least go to the visitor center...haha, no such luck.  They charge $5 to just walk through the model home and are kind of uptight in general.  The sane people that we hung out with in Taos (aka: the potters) were all of the opinion that the Earthship people are "chappy-asses".  So it's a total shame because I really love what they're doing but geez, I wonder why they're so uptight.

Taos Vortex

I've decided that Taos has to be on par with the Bermuda Triangle as a inescapable vortex.  We took off down the road and passed by the Earthship Community (something I'll write about shortly), when all of a sudden the gas peddle stopped working.  Trying to be a proper filmmaker I whipped out the video camera in time for Conner to flip his shit.  He shook the steering wheel and yelled, "Fuuuucckkk!"  I got it on film.  In the back, Dan and Kat fussed at me that "now probably isn't a good time to do that".  We pulled off the road and started making plans for Dan and Kat to hitchhike back into Taos to try and find a fuel pump--the thing Conner said was busted and without which we wouldn't make it back to Colorado.  He also was pissed off because he figured we would be stuck on the side of the road, 15 miles outside of Taos, for another week while the correct fuel pump for Breathless came in--it's a small town without much car part variety.  To top it off, it's New Mexico and we didn't have cell phone service.  Once they climbed into some unnamed car we wouldn't know what happened to them unless they came back.  Du-duh-duhnn...

We're going over how much food we have, how little water we have, and how long Conner and I should wait before we start to worry.  I go across the road to take a photo of this amazing light, which I couldn't seem capture on film, and I hear behind me--"Huh, huh, uh guys...nevermind.  I guess I'll check under the hood next time before I freak out.  It's cool...just the air filter fell off because these New Mexico roads are so shitty...I'll just screw it back on and we should be fine." 

We wipe our foreheads and think, sweet, calamity averted.  And yeah, the roads in New Mexico are notoriously shitty.  They're all so full of potholes or badly done patch jobs that it shakes Breathless something aweful--when they're paved.  A lot of the time it's just gravel.  In fact when we tried to find the cool free hot springs, we made it 2 miles down the road (and 20 min later), holding on to the doors for fear that she would rattle apart, before we all decided to bail and turn our backs on the hotsprings.

So we get back on the road, relieved, and singing along to Weezer.

We're in the middle of nowhere, winding our way up the mountain pass right by Tres Piedras, and we run out of gas.  The gas gauge doesn't really work at all-it shows full until the tank is empty and then it only shows half-full.  It's dusk and Dan volunteers to hitchhike into the nearest town; Chama about 1/2 hour away.  Conner starts cooking dinner over the propane stove, and I'm trying to be photo-artsy, when we hear this god-aweful sound.  Kat and I are so freaked out that we freak Conner out who tells us to get in the car-not something you want to hear when you're scared.  We're city girls and we aren't super saavy about the mountain sounds; it all just sounds scary to us.  We ate our rice and beans, played a bit of poker, and counted a total of 5 cars passing by the overlook that we had coasted into after running out of gas. 

Man, it seemed like it took forever for Dan to come back.  He caught a ride with some Texans to the gas station and a ride back with a man named Gus.  He was fine but Kat and I had made ourselves nauseous worrying that he would get eaten by bears...reports of attacks seem to be in the Colorado papers all the time...or something worse.  Since our luck had been so crappy all day long we decided to camp out at the overlook and try to make it back to Colorado again the next morning. 

That was not one of our most graceful days.
Sidenote: The cool free hot springs can be found heading north on 522.  Right before you hit the Rio Grande Gorge, hang a right on the dirt road...there's no sign, just the last dirt road on the right before the gorge.  Drive down the road till you see a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road on the right.  Park and walk down the embankment to the springs.  It's a bit of a hike down but there's a path.

Das Auto Thanks You!

Just wanted to thank everyone who helped with the car!

Left to right: Mike McDowel, Randy Fox, Bryan King, Josh Finn, Daniel Finn, Jesse Horton, Conner Finn, Rachel Fields.  Not pictured: Denny and Melody Finn, Tammy McDowel, Nick Mogden, Sandra Trujillo

Seco Pearl Piano

I just liked the piano decorations at the Seco Pearl...so I took a photo.

Seco Pearl

The other interesting people we found in Taos were at the Seco Pearl; a non-profit artist commune and coffee house that hosts underground bands.  They have a big garden out back and a hostel next door, called the Snow Mansion.  We stopped by one night while they were shutting down and they invited us back the next night to do an impromptu music show, which we totally took them up on. 

Interior shots of the Seco Pearl.

We showed up to find two Seco Pearl residents playing violin with a guest who was on his way from California to Istambul.  The guitar guy had a song book of Eastern European Gypsy music and they were rocking out.  Eventually they started jamming with the boys and it kinda made my day.  We recorded some of the music and hopefully I can put a couple clips up online....

 Jamming at the Seco Pearl

H

Hoola Hooping at the Seco Pearl...some of the residents.

Sane People In Taos

The coolest and most sane people we found in Taos had to be the potters. Since Kat is at Alfred University in upstate New York studying ceramics, she's been hitting up every decent potter she can find.  So the day before we left Taos we ended up hanging out with Scott Carlson in Arroyo Secco ( a couple minutes drive from downtown Taos).  Apparently one day local resident Julia Roberts was trying to avoid some paparazzi and Scott hid her in his studio (next door to this photo) as the photographers lost interest and couldn't find her.  Now she's a huge fan of Scott and buys tons of his work.  So Kat and I hung out and got some Carlson business lessons one afternoon.

Carlson Business Lesson
1.  Create a persona--Scott lives in a tourist heavy area.  He assumes that people come to Taos expecting a laid-back and slightly naughty time.  Scott inebriates people to the point they relax, feel part of the in-crowd, and have faulty judgment regarding matters of taste and money.
2.  Act like you don't give a shit--act like you don't care if they buy your products or not and people won't feel pressured to buy and it'll be beneficial for you in the long.
3.  Whip out "regret"--when you see someone returning to scope out one of your pieces, and you've done the "I don't give a shit" spiel, then hover in on you-don't-wanna-regret-not-buying-that.  This works best on tourists who will leave town and won't be able to swing back by later.  Regret is powerful--harness it.
4.  Act like their friend--when they feel like your friend then they'll want to take something back to their friends to show off with, "Yeah, we hung out with the guy who made this, got drunk, and had a ball."  They'll want to buy it just to show off to their friends.

Works every time.

How We Spent Our Days In Taos

Get up at noon.  Kat reads in the car.

Conner tries to learn a new song. 

Dan cooks breakfast.

And I try to act as musician.

Conner's in the process of teaching me bass.  So far I've got "Hit The Road Jack" by Stevie Wonder under my belt.

How To Make A Broom

The trailer is a total mess.  As much as classic car guys are in to outward style, inward style is a whole different matter.  The rig and the outside of the trailer look awesome.  The inside needs some interior decoration.  Stat.  I've allotted myself $20 total to decorate the inside but really I'm hoping to find everything on the side of the road for free.

The trailer also gets really dirty and we were in dire need of a broom.  Trying to be resourceful, Conner and I made our own.  This is how we did it.  Get a stick, smooth it down with a knife, collect some bushy weeds, and wrap it all together with rope.  It helps if you soak the rope first so that when it dries it will constrict and become tighter.  Counterclockwise from left: a stick, some sagebrush and various weeds, a fabulous boyfriend, and the final kick-ass broom.  The broom has dried out now and it still totally works.

Vacation in Taos

You know what, to be frank, Taos was not awesome.  We went down with grand ideas of how this project was finally going to be.  Dan's girlfriend Kat met us there and we thought that with two happy couples in tow it would be like a ski weekend in Vail--pure heaven.  But it wasn't.

It was monsoon season and it rained every afternoon.  We stayed in this paid campground area in the Kit Carson National Forrest which was $5 per night but no one ever checked.  We stayed there a week and only paid $10.  Shady business I know but hey, we cleaned up the campsite that was originally a total mess.

The boys played several open mic nights and yeah, there were some good musicians, but I couldn't find any Native American musicians who wanted to talk to us-period.  So that part was a total bust.

Open mic at Cafe Tazza

For the most part, it seemed like people checked out of the real world, moved to Taos, and now indulge in their eccentricities to the fullest.  For example it was raining-again-and we had gone to Sabroso to have a drink.  I started talking to this older man at the bar and he ended up being Laird Grant, road manager to the Grateful Dead.  I googled him and yeah, he was their road manager.  It seems like a good rule of thumb that whomever you talk to in Taos, be nice to them no matter how weird they are because they're probably going to been someone back in the day and have made quite a bit of money.  And they would've had to make some money to live in Taos because it's ridiculously expensive...drinks, grocery store, restaurants.  Julia Roberts lives there.  Dennis Hopper lived there before he died.  Checking out of reality to be weird in northern New Mexico.

Laird Grant

Like I said, it's monsoon season and it rained every single afternoon.  Thankfully we did have the trailer and could pile in there reading or playing poker.  

I started hanging out at the coolest coffee shop I could find in town called Wired?  One day I was camping out to do a little Photoshopping and I spilled water all over my computer.  Consequently I was sitting next to the owner and he offered me a job.  I was supposed to start the next day but we decided to skip town and head back to Colorado; we were on weird overload.  Whoops, extra gas money missed.  But if you're ever in Taos and need a good coffee shop, head to Wired?

Wired?

We made it a week and then hightailed it back to Colorado--which is another funny story.  This post seems full so I'll put that story into the next post...something I'll call the Attack Of The Bobcat.