Colorado!

I completely forgot to write about something in the last blog.  Our crew!  It’s a bit different this tour, but there are still some familiar faces.  I’m obviously here again.  If you make it to a show you’ll have the pleasure of seeing our drum tech extraordinaire, and amazing violinist, Vaughn!  Unfortunately long time roadie, Mike, wasn’t able to make it :(  He’s back in Austin with his band Nick’s House Band, so I understand, but it’s still sad to not have him here.  Originally Paulo was going to be our driver again, but something came up, so I don’t get to hang out with him either :(  But, we have Jason’s awesome friend Damian along this tour! He’s super cool, and if you happen to figure out who his is, you should say hi.  Sometimes the guys behind the scenes get forgotten about.

Sunday night’s show was in Grand Junction, CO.  When I first walked in the place it looked like a cool venue.  There was an area in front of the stage for the crowd to stand, then different levels going back with tables and chairs for people who needed to sit and take a break.  But once the opening band went on, I realized how bad the set up was. I know certain things are legal in Colorado now, but you guys shouldn’t be so laid back at a rock show!  Everyone just sat in back at the tables.  At one point Jason went up by the stage to watch the show and a few people followed him up.  And when I say a few, it was only 2 or 3.  Then as soon as he left to take care of other things, those 2-3 people dispersed.

Luckily there was a small crowd when One-Eyed Doll went on, but there were still people sitting in the front few rows.  The fans up front were SO into the show though, it was great.  Since the crowd was so small, I hung out in it and watched the show.  At one point Kim even got off the stage and managed to reach the front row.  She laid down on the table and played for the fans sitting there.

Bob White, artist behind the “Plumes of Death” shirt was at this show too!  Some fans who were lucky enough to be there got his autograph too!

We had some awesome VIPs that night, one of them was a new fan.  It's always awesome meeting people who are seeing them for the first time.  Honestly, it's great meeting all fans in general.  I'm really loving this tour so far.

Bob White (in the bandana) and our amazing VIPs in Grand Junction

Next we headed to Colorado Springs, CO.  This is where Mike was poisoned with a Cherry Lassi last tour.  We opted for sushi for breakfast/lunch/brunch/whatever instead.  I had some awesome spicy Edamame there. I think the places was called “Sushi King” but I have no idea what town we were in.  On the way, we passed a sign for Lookout Mountain, and I really wanted to add some exclamation points to it.  “Look out!  Mountain!”

Monday night’s show was at the Black Sheep, the same venue we played at with Mushroomhead.  This time I wasn’t shoved all the way in the back, and the place wasn’t full of creepers.  I don’t want to necessarily say this crowd was better than Grand Junction, because the fans that were there were really into the show, but there were more fans here, and everyone was down in front.  (There wasn’t much of a back area to be standing in though)  This show was awesome all around.  The opening bands were such amazing people.  I really want to give a shout out to Determyned, Robot Peanut Butter and the Shooting Stars and Dying Blynd The lights at this show were also fantastic!  Damian and the light guy were just doing it on the fly, but everyone thought it was planned.  Kim did this whole police man bit, and the lights flashed red and blue.  It looked like the place was full of police cars.  There were a few points the fog was so thick that the only way I could tell Jr was there was because he left a drummer shaped dark spot in the light up back drop :)

During one of the songs, Kim did her playing in the crowd thing she does.  She came way to the back near the mercy table.  She pointed at me a few times while playing and blew me a kiss.  *blushes*  Kim needs to remember that even though I'm their merch girl, I'm still a fan and when she does things like that I get all fan girl.

Another great part of the show that night was seeing all of you Colorado regulars!  Brandon, Andrew Sean and Nash were all there again, and I'm hoping to see them all tonight!  One of our other VIPs (whose name I can't remember and I feel really bad about.  If you read this leave me a comment with your name) I'm pretty sure was a VIP before too.  I feel bad because I remember him because he reminds me of my friend Ian, so I can never remember his name.  Sorry :(  He's super cool and he's made a fan of his cousin, who he brought to the VIP Acoustic Show after party!  Which reminds me, our new roadie Damian is also a violinist, so between him, Vaughn, Kim and Jr, the VIP acoustic show is EPIC! If you didn't pre-order a VIP package, you should really pick one up at the table. Bring a group of friends and we'll try to work out a deal for you.

After the show and the VIP party we headed towards Denver.  On the way we stopped at an Ihop for some food because nothing else was open.  But it was a good stop because our waitress, named Kimberly!, was super awesome.  She put up with our half asleep ridiculousness and hooked us up.  I wish I had taken a picture of my epic hot chocolate covered in whipped cream!

That night I'm pretty sure we parked in the same Walmart parking lot we parked in last time we played in Denver.  We were parked at a different angle, and Damian has the couch bed this time, so the mountains weren't right out my window when I woke up like last time. But it was still cool waking up to them being right there.

The view last time I woke up in Denver.

This is originally where the blog was going to end, but I got distracted by pancakes and wasn't able to get it proof read and photos uploaded before we needed to leave Barnes & Noble, who we were using for their coffee and wifi.  But, it works out because I can round out this blog with the last Colorado show.

Kim and Jr's friends, Arcanium we're supposed to play this show.  As we were driving to the venue Kim got a message saying they broke down on the way.  We were originally going to go pick them up, but they found a friend closer who got them and towed their trailer to the show.  So they were a bit late, but they made it :)  Luckily they're from Denver, so now that they made it to Denver, they're fine.

The other opening bands at this show were great too.  Dr. Death and Mr. Vile (DD+MV) were super stoked to be played with One-Eyed Doll.  They made Kim some fan art and gave her all sorts of gifts.  They were so much fun to hang out with at the merch table, a fun band to listen to, and great audience members. I really should start using a thesaurus because I feel like I keep using the words "awesome" "amazing" and "great" a lot because everyone so far this tour has been so wonderful.  Well, that is, except the Denver police.  Nothing like our incident in Wisconsin, but we did end up getting 6 tickets despite moving the RV 3 times.  One of the tickets was because the current registration sticker suddenly disappeared.  Seems a bit shady that the guy gave us a few tickets with up to date registration, then it's magically not there anymore so they can give us a $200 ticket for that. But whatever...  Someone said now that certain things are legal in CO, the police need something to do with their time.  But back to the show.

Merch at this venue is back in the entry way so I can't see the stage from where I am.  The crowd was really loud and sounded really into the show, so I'm assuming it was good :)  This venue is also a pizza place too!  Something I haven't mentioned yet, since OED is currently headlining these shows before we meet up with Psychostick, we have been getting a catering budget/food at each show!  This night I was given a voucher for up to $15 worth of food, which at their prices was too much!  I ended up with a bunch of salad to eat later in the fridge.  The pizza I got was pretty delicious too!

Sean, Brandon, and Andrew were back at this show, and Andrew brought Alicia, who I met on the Otep tour.  There were also a handful of other fans from the night before.  Thank you guys for all coming out again to support the band!

Kimberly harassing one of the guys from DD + MV

I also got to talk with one of the venue workers, Josh, for a bit.  He's a really nice guy.  He said Kim and Jr are the only band that comes through that remembers him by name, and they're the only band who he can put a name with a face.  Kim and Jr go that extra mile to be nice to everyone and get to know people, and that really sticks.  That's why so many of their fans are their fans. They put that extra personal touch in everything they do and are genuinely nice people.  I think I've said it before, but I have the best employers ever.

And lastly, I leave you with this amazing review of the Denver show from The Examiner