Go to THE SHOW now if you don't wanna read everything, blah, blah, blah. :)

I got up & headed for Denver at... no, never mind. You don't wanna know. Let's just say that I was driving in the dark through a good part of the Texas panhandle.

Got my day started out right by realizing 20 minutes out that I'd forgotten my Homer sign.

DOH!

I'm a superstitious person, so I had to go back for it.

As I made my way northwest, I started to feel like I had an animal magnet on my car. I swear I lost track of all the creatures that ran in front of me. Missed them all except for one poor bird. My apologies to the rest of the traumatized flock & also to all the bugs I slaughtered en route.

I got to the venue in time to yell, "FREAK!" at Stephanie as she stood out in front by herself. It was good to see my Boston buddy again. She had a present for me - some shots from the acoustic show she'd just seen in her hometown. Thanks Stephanie!

It was a hot, icky day - there was a bit of shade outside the theatre, but grueling nevertheless. Kim & Samantha showed up a little later on. While Kim had arrived Monday, Samantha had just arrived that afternoon. All of us bemoaned the fact that we weren't staying at the fabulous Royal Host Whorehouse - er Motel, across the street.

The Ogden/Colfax Ave. part of Denver is a charming one, I gotta say. I'm thinking about opening a little B&B there. :P You know it's bad when the street people are ridiculing your early arrival. :) Paul walked by & had a laugh, too.

That's OK though - all of that seemed worthwhile when Rick came out to say "hi" before sound check. :) Stephanie was peering into the window of the theatre. I watched her do that for a sec, turned around & I saw him standing there.

Hmmm... sounds like a Beatles tune...

Anyway, he asked her if she saw anything good, thanked us for coming to the show & encouraged us to stay out of the sun...

Now - here I am with an opportunity to ask Rick any number of questions & I get so tongue tied that all I can muster is, "How are you?!?!?!!?"

For the record, it was NOT a lame babbling thing - it was a song request... Yeah! That's the ticket!

Oh well. It was still really cool that he came out to say hi - so thanks Rick!

Sound check was "House Is Rockin' (With Domestic Problems)" - & imagine that - I thought it sounded great. Kim came out from sound check thrilled that they'd played that one, too. He & Sam watched our spots in line, while we went to have dinner at the Wendy's. No offense to Dave Thomas, but the meal there was neither fast, nor food.

In a strange moment (in a trip full of them), I ended up making a Walgreen's run for Sven when we got back from dinner. This just in from the "Too Much Information" Department: Sven uses Citri-Shine conditioner, Listerine & soft toothbrushes. LOL!

When I took Sven his stuff, he showed me his home backstage - computer & all, complete with a tour through some of the gazillions of photos he's taken on the tour this summer. The most charming by far were the ones from Sturgis, SD...

Stacy, who I'd met on Trick Mail, got there awhile before my buddy Dan arrived. He'd never seen CT before, so he was looking forward to the show. Stacy's the polar opposite - she's seen them 100 times!

When the doors opened around 8-ish, I scored my favorite-est spot in the front between Rick & Robin. The venue looked to be an old theatre that had been gutted at some point. The walls & ceiling looked pretty run down - there was a bar in the lobby & at the back of the theatre. The whole set up was downstage of the proscenium arch on a thrust built out from the original stage. There was no barrier, which was nice. And thanks to an electrical failure that afternoon, there was no air conditioning, which was NOT nice.

THE SHOW

Opener Nash Kato took the stage around 9 & they pretty much won me over from the start. I really loved watching King Richard on the drums. Everyone agreed that he looked & sounded like Keith Moon. Very, very fun. Due to the heat, they played a shortened set: one, maybe two Urge Overkill songs, but the rest was original stuff. My only complaint was that the mix was too bass heavy. (No offense to Mr. Bass Player – whose name I never caught – I loved his playing and when I wasn’t watching Richard, I was usually watching him) He was just so loud that I could hardly make out the vocals.

Yeah, yeah, I know rock-n-roll isn't about perfect diction, but I'm a theatre person, damnit. …

I'm listening to their CD "Debutante" as I write this. Fantastic.

CT took the stage about 10 pm. But not before Sven came out to write "Invaders of the Heart" on the set list. Kim was hopeful.

FASHION REPORT

SET LIST

MISC. NOTES

RICK BANTER

As always, these comments are in no particular order...

He told everyone he'd been to a Rockies game the night before & that they always won whenever he was there. (Note to Rick: maybe the franchise oughta pay you to be at every game.) ... He thanked the fans who'd come from particularly far away to see them - Kim from the UK & two fans from Osaka, Japan. He was quick to show his new tattoo (RN in Japanese on his left wrist) to them... Connie - a fan from Denver - told Rick that this was her 20th show, to which Rick replied, "Big fuckin' deal - I've been to them all." He was teasing her, of course.

OTHER NOTES

I was really not expecting much from this show. I couldn't imagine having to perform in that oppressive heat. Of course the lights only made it worse. Then there was the altitude issue. I've been there - performing at a higher altitude can kick your ass if you're not used to it.

Yet, despite all this, the guys put on a terrific show & didn't cut one song. Well - they did "cut" "Invaders of the Heart", but with hindsight, it seemed like that was just an elaborate plot to tease Kim.

I forget which song it was, but at one point, Rick came downstage & asked how I was doing. After making sure I was OK - he motioned at my Homer sign & told me to hold it up for everyone to see. :)

Tom was in a talkative mood all three nights. Between one of the songs, he & Kim talked a little bit about how beautiful his new blue bass is, etc. He brought out a bottle of water to Eri from Japan before the encores.

Towards the end, you could really see how hot it was for the guys on stage. Robin was sweating buckets. Rick would've dumped a bucket of water on himself if it'd been there. Instead, he made due with a cup of water. When Tom saw me make a "jesus, it's hot face" he nodded & rolled his eyes.

POST SHOW STUFF

My friend Dan had a great time at the show - he was particularly impressed with the interaction CT had with the fans. On the other hand, I was unimpressed with Dan's parking choice. He parked in a tow zone & - SHOCK! - his car got towed!!!!!

DOH!

To make matters worse, the lot was only open from 9-5. Looked like Dan would be coming back for his car in the morning!

Double DOH!

Good thing I'd bummed a place to stay from the boy - he had a built in ride to his car that way. :)

While chatting with Kim about the towing trauma outside the venue, a van pulled up with Bun E, Robin & Carla. BEC apologized to Kim for not getting "Invaders of the Heart" in - claiming they had to cut it short since it was so hot. He added that they'd try to do it the next night.

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

With that, Stephanie, Dan & I headed for his place. We managed to make it there before I completely ran out of steam. What a long day – but in a good way, of course. Thank god the ride to Colorado Springs the next day would be a little shorter! :)

Thanks for reading.

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© Copyright, Lisa Jebsen, 2000