Sunday, April 10, 2005
Music, Coffee, Buffalo and John Coltrane
A good time was had at the Flatiron by all last night. It had been a long time since I'd spent any time at all in Hot Springs other than driving thourgh (on the truck bypass, no less) on my way to and from California. Having not spent any time there in so long, I was absolutely amazed by the architecture of the town as a whole. They are blessed to be near a source of sandstone which is used quite liberally in the downtown area. It's certainly beautiful and if you haven't been to the southern hills in a while, it's worth the trip.
The Flatiron is right downtown, a beautiful little coffee bar with guest suites upstairs. The room where Mike and I played was small but intimate. Though I don't think we ever had more than 20 people in the room at one time, they did have to bring in some extra chairs for us. Mike played quite a bit solo, I helped him out on quite a few tunes that we'd worked on during the week and Amy from Casper, Wyoming joined us on bass for quite a few numbers. The room was small enough that Amy's voice could be heard without a microphone (at least I hope it could be heard) and the third vocal part on the songs we all did together was sure welcome. I actually got to drop into a baritone on a couple of tunes, something I've never done on stage before. Amy is a great bass player, too, able to dovetail nicely with everything Mike was doing.
There was a little gathering in the suite after the performance. Since the grill was closed by the time we finished playing, there were no eats for the hungry musicians. Gloria was our savior, running home and getting some pesto, alfredo sauce, spaghetti and salad for us to enjoy with the wine and homebrew that flowed pretty freely. Bellies full of pasta and alcohol, everything broke up at about 3am.
I was up by 9am and headed downstairs for a cup of coffee. I considered blogging on the internet terminal provided in the coffee bar, but just updated the poll instead of trying to organize my thoughts. Soon after I was on the road.
Instead of heading back up SD79, I decided to drive US385 through Wind Cave National Park, Pringle, Custer and Hill City. Again a part of the country that I haven't been to in quite a long time, and again, well worth the effort. I ran into a buffalo herd in the park, took a few photos and generally enjoyed the drive listening to John Coltrane in the tape deck. I can't really think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning. I should have grabbed a cup of coffee on my way out the door to make my experience complete, but it was pretty good as it was.
All in all, I've had worse weekends in my life.
BOJ
The Flatiron is right downtown, a beautiful little coffee bar with guest suites upstairs. The room where Mike and I played was small but intimate. Though I don't think we ever had more than 20 people in the room at one time, they did have to bring in some extra chairs for us. Mike played quite a bit solo, I helped him out on quite a few tunes that we'd worked on during the week and Amy from Casper, Wyoming joined us on bass for quite a few numbers. The room was small enough that Amy's voice could be heard without a microphone (at least I hope it could be heard) and the third vocal part on the songs we all did together was sure welcome. I actually got to drop into a baritone on a couple of tunes, something I've never done on stage before. Amy is a great bass player, too, able to dovetail nicely with everything Mike was doing.
There was a little gathering in the suite after the performance. Since the grill was closed by the time we finished playing, there were no eats for the hungry musicians. Gloria was our savior, running home and getting some pesto, alfredo sauce, spaghetti and salad for us to enjoy with the wine and homebrew that flowed pretty freely. Bellies full of pasta and alcohol, everything broke up at about 3am.
I was up by 9am and headed downstairs for a cup of coffee. I considered blogging on the internet terminal provided in the coffee bar, but just updated the poll instead of trying to organize my thoughts. Soon after I was on the road.
Instead of heading back up SD79, I decided to drive US385 through Wind Cave National Park, Pringle, Custer and Hill City. Again a part of the country that I haven't been to in quite a long time, and again, well worth the effort. I ran into a buffalo herd in the park, took a few photos and generally enjoyed the drive listening to John Coltrane in the tape deck. I can't really think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning. I should have grabbed a cup of coffee on my way out the door to make my experience complete, but it was pretty good as it was.
All in all, I've had worse weekends in my life.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 12:33 PM 
