Music: Mindy Smith
Book: The Face - Koontz
Where to begin? Should I break the trip up by state? Or possibly by show? Order of fun? Levels of disaster? Glad to be back, glad to have gone. I had a lovely, but definitely exhausting time of it.
I traveled to Aberdeen, South Dakota (only to discover cities called Aberdeen in both Montana AND Wyoming. Weird) School had been out for about a week, therefore attendance at the Red Rooster was less than the normal college crowd. People still drifted in ¡V prompted by a charming article in the paper and flyers peppering the entire venue. Since Mr. Manager and I go to a lot of hard work and effort creating, printing and mailing posters, it is always nice when the establishment takes the time to distribute them. Self explanatory to some, but you¡¦d be surprised how many posters sit behind the counter untouched until I ask about them. Grrr.
I almost drove off the road when I reached the Badlands of North Dakota. Gorgeous! Montana just got prettier! Actually until I reached Kansas I couldn't have been more in awe of the landscape. Bozeman proved to be a daunting city, but only because I tried hiking a mountain twice the size of Olympia. Recovery was slow and luckily I didn¡¦t start hurting until the morning after my show at Leaf and Bean. Due to the distance separating Minneapolis from Montana, I think it¡¦ll be a while before I can return but I hope to do so as soon as possible. The town was inviting and gave me quite the welcome.
Wyoming made me fall in love with cowboys and convicts¡Kin that order. I was invited out for a drink or two with several groups of show attendees from Zen¡¦s. We had a hysterical conversation about prison and politics while enjoying a beverage at the Hitching post. Fun town and I hear there¡¦s a big party in May every year during Frontier Days. Giddy-up¡Knext year maybe *sigh *
Colorado promised me sun and beauty but delivered rain and fog so I was unable to enjoy the mountains as much as I¡¦d hoped. Tuesday was a benefit show for a guy named Jules who is getting kicked by cancer at an alarmingly young age. It was a raging party of a fundraiser but a depressing night. My fingers are crossed that we raised a good chunk of change to help out with his bills and expenses. I went home sad and thoughtful. Next I hit Englewood for more rain and fog (thankfully I missed the tornadoes that struck southern Colorado) and took myself off to a movie theatre to escape the rotten weather. Show was a good time and I ran into some folks from high school that had relocated to Denver. Amazing how many long lost faces my career is able to track down.
Hastings Nebraska was an amazing show. Small town, huge crowd filled with listeners. I was invited back for their Memorial Day music festival next year. Here¡¦s hoping it works out with my schedule. The only hitch of the evening was the 4-year-old kleptomaniac who tried stealing my money jar, CDs and finally the TAYLOR guitar before his mother and I yanked it away from his greedy little hand. Never had that happen before and maybe I¡¦ll laugh about it in a few years but my heart just started beating normally again from when I tore my guitar back from his thieving little hands. Ugh.
Kansas isn't much to look at and when I arrived 4 hours before the show I had high hopes of locating a book store to pass the time but after asking no fewer than 4 PEOPLE where I could find one ¡V and receiving a vehement ¡§no idea¡¨ accompanied by a blank stare, well, I gave up. The ¡¥Choke was cool, kind people who bought a ton of CDs and dropped more than the suggested amount into the money donation jar and a lively crowd, but I was tired and missing my pets and Mr. Manager so I hightailed it out of the city as fast as I could.
More stuff happened but as I said before. Still tired. I need a break and have to take care of touring junk for the next round of shows. Happy to be home¡KI¡¦d be happier in bed though ƒº
