colorado colorado...las palmas?

The drive to denver was one of my favorite drives. Everyone's morale was lifted because we were finally leaving the midwest and weren't feeling as soggy and unappreciated. Cole especially had more bounce in his step. In the non-smoking van (piloted by miss patricia and otherwise known as 'the brain' because it holds all the equipment and is countered by the smoking van named pinky) included patricia, wendy, emily, will, maurice, cole, and me. We listened to this american life, a trend in this van, and had long philosophical discussions concerning religion, media, etc.
we stopped at some tiny gas station that was closed. The bathrooms were locked so all the girls and boys that had to pee just went around back. The place was surrounded by wind turbines, which i've developed a fascination with because of their beauty and massiveness. One of the 'wings' is bigger than a semi, it takes one with a very large bed to transport it. I walked around a bit and heard a rattle from the bushes.
at a pitstop somewhere else i wandered off to some fake palm trees that were all tangled in the ropes that held them up. There were a ton of birds chirping and hopping around in them, they didn't mind the artificiality of them.


We arrived in castle rock (near denver) and drove into a gated community that houses the trueaxes (jack's family). They own a beautiful home and were extremely hospitable (once again, thank you!). They had pool, fooseball, beer, food, movies, wifi, a beautiful family, and two adorable dogs. Everyone was so, so very happy to be in colorado and out of the midwest. That night we caught wind that d-numbers was playing in town that night. They are an amazing band from santa fe. We decided to go surprise them at their show. We danced and drank and played connect four and i have to say i was extremely amazed by this band. The drummer reminds me of dylan (amc's drummer.)
the next day was breakfast, laundry, etc. jack's mom wanted everyone to sign a cd, and this was the second thing i've signed on tour- which makes me feel a little weird. Cole and mike sat down and made a really solid setlist. We had a band meeting discussing the plan for the night. We had choral practice for dark feral dogs. Which sounded amazing.
The venue is a place called eliot street collective and it is an absolutely beautiful space in denver meant for performance art, concerts, etc. we had a really effective soundcheck really early on and i started learning more about how to run sound from cole and mitch, and more about all the equipment, which are things that i'm very interested in becoming well-versed in.
tristero played a great set as always, and were followed by dovekins. They are a band including consisting of a found art drumset, upright bass, banjo, guitar, acordian, trombone, kazoos, slide whistles, etc. everyone got their dancing shoes on just for them. Apple miner played and this, along with brooklyn, were my two favorite shows of the tour. It went really, really well. It also continued the trend of boosting morale.
Laura goldhamer (of dovekins) then played a set with just her, her pianist, and a few guests near the end. To each song she made a short film, mostly stop-animation. They were so beautiful and perfect, the first song/video brought tears to my eyes not because it was a sad song necessarily, but just because i'm so glad to see people making such amazing things. Taking so much time to make five minute films to share with people wherever you can. Please please please check her out.