March 4, 2010

The Colorado Caper. Update.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 9:52 pm

Yo, Jimbo, so what’s with the cryptic reference to Colorado in the previous post?

I know you lost sleep wondering what I was referring to, so here are some of the preliminary deets.

I played drums and sang in a band in the sixties. I wrote about the band here and included links to the two sides of the record we made in 1966. [Note: I had to update the links to the songs in the referenced post, and they are type of files that may not work with certain types of players. They worked for me in iTunes. If I knew what the hell I was doing, I could probably fix it.]

Anyway, back to the story. This year, our biannual band reunion (We waited 34 years to have the first one in 2002) will be in Colorado, as was the case in 2002. Two of the guys live there. Typically, at these get-togethers, we spend a couple hours a night for two or three nights massacring playing songs and laughing our asses off. It’s just the guys, some spouses and old friends of the band from Jersey, so we can safely stink up the room.

This year, one of the Colorado guys (Hideo) surprised us by announcing that he booked the band to play at the Maya Cove Restaurant in Fort Collins. You know, like, in public. I almost shit a pickle when I heard that.

The back and forth e-mails went something like this:

Me: Yo, Hideo. Are you out of your mind? We haven’t played publicly since 1968! This could be a major train wreck.

Hideo: Don’t worry about it. I know the owner, and he knows we’re a bunch of old farts who want to have some fun. Besides, it won’t cost the owner anything, although we may get free drinks, but I’m not sure about that.

Me: [Slamming my head on the keyboard] Instruments! We’ll need a drum set. I sure as hell can’t bring mine on a plane to Colorado, and I don’t think your brother wants to schlep a keyboard all the way from Hawaii. We’ll need a sound system too. I think you’re nuts.

Hideo: No problem; we’ll rent stuff.

Me: What songs are we going to play? What about practicing? If we just walk onstage and start playing, we’ll never make it out of the place alive.

Hideo: No problem. We can circulate song lists via e-mail and we’ll get together a couple hours before the gig. Oh, and one more thing…..

Me: Oy! What!

Hideo: I gave the owner a copy of our record, and he wants us to perform the songs.

Me: [Still slamming my head on the keyboard and now wanting to strangle Hideo] Do you realize the last time we even played those songs was the day we made the record in 1966? Do the math. That was forty-four years ago.

Hideo: Stop worrying. It’ll be great.

So, there you have it. A bunch of old farts who haven’t played together publicly in more than forty years and who are spread across the U.S. from New Jersey to Colorado to Hawaii are putting together song lists and sharing them in e-mails in order to prepare to do two nights in Fort Collins, Colorado.

If you show up, you’ll be able to pick me out right away. I’ll be the guy wearing body armor and a hockey goalie mask, specially modified to protect against flying produce.

Update: Blogger pal, Jerry, converted the format on both sides of the record in the post linked above to MP3, explaining that the MP4 format is limited to Apple stuff. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but here they are in a format that should open on media players other than iTunes.

Baby Come My Way

Little Girl

I understand that the Fort Collins Police Department is already making plans to deal with the August Gridlock.

24 Comments »

  1. ….. man, I am so, so temted to come……

    Comment by Eric — March 4, 2010 @ 10:46 pm

  2. You’ll do anything to get out of getting together with me, Erica and Nancy, won’t you? (And yes, I WILL drink up all your Red Stag.)

    Comment by Omnibus Driver — March 4, 2010 @ 11:06 pm

  3. I’m LMAO! Holy crap! I want video! Your friend is a lot like Bones, I suspect.

    Comment by Bou — March 4, 2010 @ 11:10 pm

  4. I hope to hell that somebody gets video of this and posts it on their blog, YouTube, or someplace.

    [That’s one farookin’ scary thought. Jimbo]

    Comment by Dave Merriman — March 5, 2010 @ 2:12 am

  5. Man, you are in big trouble now. Once the exact dates are made public, that town is going to be under siege.

    As a former owner of said record (now resting somewhere near Jimmy Hoffa, God rest his soul), I feel its powerful draw.

    [Our performance may well raise Mr. Hoffa from the dead. Jimbo]

    Comment by Cousin Jack — March 5, 2010 @ 3:53 am

  6. If there’s any way it can happen I will be there. I missed the Beatles playing on the roof in 1969…by god I’m not missing this!

    Comment by Mr. Bingley — March 5, 2010 @ 8:31 am

  7. I’m with the Blade…I am so, so tempted to show, and if you need protection, and Ken can’t make it, we’ve got your back. Straight White Yabu security will travel.

    Hahahaha…ya think I can check a shovel?

    Comment by Yabu — March 5, 2010 @ 9:28 am

  8. Jimbo, come on, man….have the musician spirit. I have played gigs with even less time on setlists with equally (relatively) unfamiliar material.
    Look at it as a win-win or a can’t lose situation. If you suck, you were expected to suck and everyone will applaud your efforts and buy you drinks all night for the fun you provided. BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, if you rock the place, you are Rock Gods who need to be kneeled before and worshipped for your mastery of rock n roll.
    Take the trip, take the free drinks and do the gig. There’s a reason why Springsteen made the now famous quote “there’s a reason they call it playin’ and not workin'”.
    Have fun and make sure you have the show taped for ridicule…I mean posterity 🙂

    Peace,
    Robbie

    Comment by RobbieRob — March 5, 2010 @ 10:08 am

  9. Wait…are we all crashing your band reunion? Is that what I’m picking up on here? Because I would totally clear my schedule for that crazy shit.

    Comment by Erica — March 5, 2010 @ 12:47 pm

  10. Looks like flights to Denver are only $250 or so at this point…

    Comment by Mr. Bingley — March 5, 2010 @ 2:24 pm

  11. Just sent you an e-mail.

    Comment by Jerry in Indiana — March 5, 2010 @ 5:27 pm

  12. Two nights on stage? TWO?

    I’ve always wanted to go to Colorado.

    Comment by Jean — March 5, 2010 @ 6:25 pm

  13. Sounds like a blog meet cooking, are high altitude hangovers worse than regular hangovers?

    Comment by James Old Guy — March 5, 2010 @ 7:01 pm

  14. $2.50 REDSTRIPE BOTTLES? oh hell yeah,, Hmm lets me think, if I am not mistaken there is some sort of a vodka place here in Charleston. I hear there is also, rumor of course of a wine that will put you under the table made in the neighborhood.

    Comment by James Old Guy — March 5, 2010 @ 8:22 pm

  15. Hey Jim,
    I have a good friend who lives in Ft. Collins who knows of the Maya Cove. I might have to contact him so that he can experience it as well. He also runs a hotel in the event that you need a place to hide!!

    Comment by mark c — March 5, 2010 @ 9:13 pm

  16. James Old Guy,
    If you are coming up from sea level (and we consider anything lower than Chicago to be sea level) YES high altitude hangovers are worse than regular hangovers. If you haven’t spent a week or more acclimatizing to the altitude you should drink a libation then drink a full glass of water. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you drink like you are at home, you will pay a horrible price in brain cells.

    Comment by Mark Reardon — March 5, 2010 @ 10:40 pm

  17. i really like those tunes, jim, especially ‘baby come my way’.

    Comment by Mr. Bingley — March 5, 2010 @ 11:37 pm

  18. HAHAHAHA.

    I have a vision of one of those performances…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5N35kQAPv0

    [Damn, that’s funny. Memo to Self: Throw in a few country tunes. Jimbo]

    Comment by Mike R. — March 5, 2010 @ 11:44 pm

  19. About 4 decades ago, I lived in Fort Collins. Nice town, probably nicer when the Brannens moved away.

    Comment by Carl Brannen — March 5, 2010 @ 11:51 pm

  20. Tempting, indeed…

    Comment by zonker — March 6, 2010 @ 12:34 pm

  21. […] good buddy and fellow musician Jimbo, just posted his fears and worries about an upcoming gig with his old band mates. Granted that the band hasn’t played some of their old tunes since 1966, […]

    Pingback by Music From Inside Yourself | The Dax Files — March 6, 2010 @ 2:06 pm

  22. Go there. Get up on stage and play.

    If I can get there, I’ll applaud. Even if you stink, I’ll applaud.

    I won’t even bring my small 4-footed reptilian pet with me, ’cause I’m such a nice guy….

    Comment by Old Wierd Ward — March 7, 2010 @ 11:15 pm

  23. @ Old Wierd Ward…

    Bring your gator, cause I guarantee you there will be a EWE on stage. Maybe launch some rockets after the second encore. I’m thinking…

    Comment by Yabu — March 8, 2010 @ 9:21 am

  24. I have heard the term “Yo, Jimbo” used before. What does it mean? Could not find any references/meanings in the internet either.

    Comment by Gator — March 16, 2010 @ 1:05 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Powered by WordPress