Boulder is a sweet town.

We arrived at The B-Side Lounge with plenty of time to load-in, set-up, walk around town for a bit (and get lost), and still make it back to the club for sound check.

The staff at the B-Side are some of the nicest, coolest people we’ve met on the road. In addition to hooking us up with more grease, Matt (the head chef) made us some killer tacos and rice. Morgan, the house sound engineer, did an awesome job mixing us and made the vibe totally relaxed. And to top it all off, Andy (the bartender) was what I like to call a “Cool Ade” guy. In other words, this dude was so awesome, I would drink the cool ade if he told me to…you know what I mean?

The show was a blast, and after we finished playing, we all jammed-out to the DJ for the rest of the night. Luckily for us, our good friend (and an Ann Arbor legend) Justine Anthony just moved out to Boulder, so we crashed at her place for the night.  Dane (her house mate) and I stayed up late rocking some acoustic jams, and the rest of the guys in the band built a sweet sleeping fort. Dane also cooked some delicious redskin potatoes with mushrooms, spinach, and onions, smothered in Cholula hot sauce. PERFECT midnight snack!

We awoke the next morning to an absolutely gorgeous day: 60 degrees with the sun shining bright. After a couple hours of relaxing outside, we walked into town and got some coffee at The Laughing Goat. I had a goat’s milk cappuccino, which was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

What’s with all this great coffee and beautiful weather? Colorado really has it figured out…

–The [rewind] button

 

WYOMING!!! Just minutes out of Nebraska, the temperature is up (40 degrees), the sun is shining, we found the cheapest diesel price so far ($2.14/gallon), and we also snagged some veggie oil for the bus. Halelujah! I also just had the best Subway sandwich of my life (12 inch veggie sub on toasted “Italian herbs and cheese” bread, with banana peppers, green peppers, olives, spinach, lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard sauce). I’ve had this combination of ingredients before, but this time the lady wrapping the sandwich was so nice. She really hooked-it-up. 

 

Check out this video of the Wyoming grease run: 

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiXq0ruHEw

 

Thank you Wyoming!

 

Band morale is high as we cruise the last 90 miles to Fort Collins. 

 

***

 

 

We arrived at the club with plenty of time to get some KILLER GREASE (the cleanest we’ve ever seen) from Taipan Restaurant (thank you). After filling the tank with vegetable oil and eating way too much food at Rasta Pasta, we got on stage and rocked a 60 minute set. There weren’t many people in the club, but by the last song (“White Lies”) people were starting to fill the dance floor, and seemed to be having a great time. 

Now for my favorite part of the night: ROCKING OUT to Bustle In Your Hedgerow, an absolutely all-star lineup of ridiculous musicians playing instrumental versions of Led Zeppelin tunes. In case you haven’t heard of these guys, you should know that the band is comprised of Marco Benevento and Joe Russo (from The Benevento/Russo Duo), Dave Driewitz (from Ween) and Scott Metzger (from Rana, and formely of Particle). I know I’ve written quite a bit in CAPS so far, but I’ll take it all back to emphasize that Joe Russo is an ABSOLUTE MONSTER ON THE DRUMS!!! I’ve seldom heard anybody rock with the true spirit of John Bonham…it was beautiful to watch. To top it all of, these guys were really great people—totally down-to-earth—the nicest rock stars I’ve ever met. We had a blast hanging with them. 

 

During the show, we met a crazy character named Jacob—a total B.A. (bad ass), who invited us to crash at his place (Thank you Jacob, you are the man!). We stayed-up pretty late listening to Herbie Hancock’s “Feets Don’t Fail Me Now,” and some Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and when we woke up the next morning it was 55 degrees outside and sunny. What a relief from the Michigan cold! After a quick stop at the local food co-op, as well as a great coffee shop called The Bean Cycle, we hopped on the veggie bus and started cruising to Boulder. 

 

This tour is turning out to be a pretty amazing experience. 

 

More to come…

 

–The [rewind] button

 

DAY 2:

 

9am—I wake up to Tyler screaming. Nothing’s wrong…that’s just how he likes to wake up. 

 

 

Last night, at around 12:30AM, we were driving 30 mph through a complete white-out, so we decided to find a motel and sleep. 

 

This morning, I-80 is speckled with cars and trucks that skidded off the road, so I’m glad we stopped and got a hotel when we did. 

Bus update: Things are running pretty smoothly. We’ve only had three mini scares with the “Service Engine Soon” light, a terrible burning smell, and one of those “uh…I can’t accelerate right now, the pedal’s not responding” moments. SO, everything is COOL!

 

Thanks to our faithful bus manager (and bass player) Christian Carpenter, who got a hitch installed on the back of the bus before we left Ann Arbor, we’re pulling a U-Haul trailer filled with our equipment. Now that the bus is so spacious, Mike (the drummer) decided to rig a fancy little personal theater system for the passengers. How creative!

 

 

Here’s a little vid showcasing the fabulous continental breakfast we had at one of the fanciest Super 8 Motel’s we’ve ever seen (seriously)…httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7OUwkc3jW0

 

More antics and adventures to come–

 

–The [rewind] button