Heading to Silverthorne
Posted: 18 September 2004 at 13:15:00
Okay, now I feel much better — more coherent and alert.
We took a slightly longer route to Vail, Colorado than was recommended by MapQuest because Greg didn’t want to take US-6 for one reason or another. Instead, we took I-50 into Wyoming and then headed south through little towns like Biggs, Yampa, and Oak Creek to I-70 and then on to Vail.
We stopped for lunch in Oak Creek and ate at Taylor Made Pizzas. This restaurant’s outdoor signage includes “MEXICAN FOOD PIZZA” and it’s not quite clear if they intended that to be two separate food categories or one innovative combination that sets them apart from other pizzerias.
While in Oak Creek, Thom used my cell phone to call into the Eagle rock station to do an interview with Rocco the DJ about the Silverthorne show.
Greg played at the Sandbar when he was in a band called Smilin’ Jack so he knew where to go. The Sandbar is a nice sports bar. I think there were over 20 televisions, some 32-36-inch CRT and about six large plasma screens. They were tuned to six different sports channels.
There are also some pool tables, arcade games, foosball, an Internet-connected jukebox, and a full-service restaurant. So, yeah, nice place.
The stage is in one corner. Corner stages are a pain for several reasons but specifically for me because we can’t mount the projector screen directly behind the center of the band. We usually have to mount the screen off to one side. At Liquid Joes, for example, we end up hanging the projector clear off to one side of the stage. That sucks because I’d prefer the visual aspect of the show to be concentrated in one place: the stage.
I think the ideal screen-placement was at Darrington where we were able to hang the screen behind and above Greg’s drum kit. Of course, to do this, we need to be working with a high ceiling (or no ceiling).
We moved Sandbar’s retractable screen on stage left but because of the low ceiling and limited space on stage, it was difficult for Thom and Juli to avoid blocking some of the projected image at times.
Nonetheless, it worked well.
We’ve been trying to mount the projector closer to the screen to maximize the brightness of the projector (it only has 400 lumens available).
Because the club is also a restaurant, we had dinner provided. I had chicken fajitas. Very good.
So, anyway, last night after the show, Thom and I went to 7-Eleven and got some munchies and something to drink.
I set the alarm clark for 9:00 so we could get some breakfast provided complementary by the hotel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth it. The breakfast buffet consisted of some fruit (apples, bananas, etc.), donuts, and plain bagels w/ cream cheese. There were some chocolate donuts, but some old guy in front of us raided them and had the last three or four save one on his plate.
After each eating a plain bagel, Thom and I walked over to McDonalds next door and got some real breakfast. ;-)
The band didn’t pack up the gear last night, so after everyone got up (Greg and Tim were late getting up, for some unknown reason), we congregated at the club to pack up. (Actually, Tim and Greg just joined the rest of us who had been assembled at the club for quite a while at that point.)
So, now... we’re in Juli’s Durango again for the short hop to Silverthorne.