Matt and I hung around Denver for a couple days practicing, meeting up with old friends and collecting all the things we needed for the next few shows. I had to buy an amp at guitar center (that I will be returning this weekend..) and camping gear from Walmart (which we will also be returning at the end of this trip) and Matt stocked us up on snack for the road. We also picked up our Turo rental car (which is like the air bnb for car rentals but actually still much cheeper and not so corporate - yet).
We happily left Denver for Boulder on Tuesday afternoon and were overjoyed to get out of the city and head into the glorious mountains !! The wildflowers are in full bloom and there are still patches of snow on the high, jagged peaks. We waltzed around Boulder and soon headed even further into the mountains to Claire's house, where we were putting on a show for her and her friends that evening. We drove along a beautiful creek and zig zagged up dirt roads until we finally reached her cute home. We were greeted by her and Lotus, this kind furry friend.
Claire and Benja kindly fed us thai food, and we caught up and set up for the show. Lots of people showed up, some who had seen Matt and I perform together in the past, but most who were newish friends & neighbors of Claire & Benja. There was some confusion as to whether it was a Dyado show or a Louisa Stancioff show, and I simply said it was both. Everyone was so beautiful and nice and the clouds turned a crazy pink and the wind was blowing and the wine was drank. We waited until our friend Isabel showed up because she was coming all the way from Denver, and then everyone squeezed into the livingroom - even the kitty who added some nicely timed meows throughout the set. Matt and I dusted off our cobwebs and played all the songs we had learned and re-learned in the past couple days, and the group was very supportive and laughed along whenever we messed up and joined in whenever they knew the words. I think "Figured You Out" was a particular favorite, which is originally a Dyado song, but I still sing with my band sometimes. Merch was bought, kind words were said, more wine was drunk and then we were off to bed.
In the morning we had a quick breakfast with Claire, as Benja had headed out very early morning to do outdoorsy bouldery things, and then drove all the way to Crested Butte, about a 5 hour drive. I was nervous my google maps was going to lead us over some gnarly dirt road mountain pass, but I was also looking forward to something like that happening, so we didn't check out the route too hard, just let it take us along. And it was a glorious route! Quite distracting really, but lovely. We stopped to have lunch next to a raging frigid creek, got out a couple times to view the epic views, and got to Crested Butte an hour early.
We played a small show in Crested Butte many years ago in a tea house, but it was very much the off season then. It sorta seems like a place that was once a seasonal town only, but slowly grew to be a year round community that is now quite thriving. The downtown is a couple of paved roads, surrounded by dusty dirt roads with log cabin style houses mixed in with newer modern homes. It was slammed busy with tourists because of the 4th of July. So many friendly dogs off leash just walking around too. I immediately went in search of a smoothie and happened into a nice spot and the kind lady gave me one for free because she said she liked me and because I was a traveling musician. I might need to go back there today because it was the best smoothie I've ever had. Her name is Gretchen! So that was a nice first interaction in Crested Butte.
The Center for the Arts in Crested Butte is a beautiful modern looking building in which we proceeded to have the worst sound check of our lives!. I was so confused and stressed at one point I almost started crying and asked if we should just play our set acoustic. Obviously not, because the building was quite large and cavernous, but I truly did not see an end to it. It was a very bizarre experience in which we stood on this enormous stage with our monitors going back and forth from silent to feedback noise unexpectedly for over an hour. Matt and I have quite a simple set up with two vocals, an acoustic guitar and electric guitar, so this was particularly confusing. Eventually we got a very mediocre mix and decided to stick with it because if we asked for anything less or more it would either disappear completely or feed back. We met the Blitzen Trapper guys back stage though, along with their touring sound guy, and they expressed their deepest regrets about the fact we had to work with this guy (who was very kind and quirky and great, just so clueless about all his equipment). They had been trying to work with him all day to figure out how he had routed all the sound equipment and apparently it had also been a nightmarish experience. But Matt, their sound guy, eventually figured it all out and was able to make some good sounds occur.
Matt and I met up with our friend Jim who happened to be in Crested Butte and had some tacos and beers down the road at a really cute Mexican spot. Jim was happy as ever, and had his cutie dog Yoshi with him!
Our set ended up going ok! The sound was still wacky - I couldn't hear the acoustic guitar, and I later heard a recording and noticed Matt's vocals were much louder than mine for the first few songs, but we had so much fun and the crowd seemed to appreciate our casual silliness and slightly off kilter stage banter. At one point we asked if anyone owned any hotels we could sleep in, or knew of a spot to camp. Didn't think much more of it but a kind older couple approached me after the show and said they had a whole apartment that their tenant had just moved out of that we could stay in! It was so so kind of them and we immediately took them up on their offer, not feeling the need to prove our dirtbag ways by stealth camping somewhere in a parking lot. It is very hard to find a spot in Crested Butte to camp, so we were particularly thankful!
Merch was bought, people were happy to chat after, and then we enjoyed a pleasant set from Blitzen Trapper. It was particularly cool to hear some of their older songs that I used to listen to in High School , and after, Eric, the lead singer, asked if I'd want to sing a couple songs on stage with them for the remaining shows, so that is pretty exciting. I also met this kid at the merch table after who asked where in Maine I was from. I said I lived on the coast but was raised inland (because I assumed he was just making conversation) and he goes "Oh nice, I grew up in Farmington". I was like, oh I grew up in Farmington too.. Turns out he was raised on a commune in Industry, and he is quite a bit younger than me, but we had some mutual friends and of course mutual places. He said he was actually picturing the trestle when I was singing my song "Red Neck Yaught Club", which is exactly where that song is about. Him and his friend were such sweeties, and so was everyone else we have met in Crested Butte. There must be something in the water here.. We headed to our sweet host's home "up on the mountain" and woke up with the most epic view of snow capped mountains and wildflowers. It feels like a crisp spring morning - 58 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I almost can't stand it. Our hosts used to own a fishing boat out of Homer, Alaska, and have since retired. They are the coolest people!!
Today we adventure around in the mountains and find a spot to dip into!
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