We make it to Boulder just in time for soundcheck after a long, overnight drive, passing through three states that I had never been to before. Colorado is a first for the band, as well, and we have no idea what to expect from our show except the lowest paycheck of the tour at $200 (I know that I said that about Phoenix, but I stand corrected). What is immediately striking as we approach the Denver/Boulder metro area is how dramatic and surreal the shift is from prairie to the Rocky Mountains.
The club, at least, follows one section of our humble rider, which calls for a meal or a buyout and we get the cash to eat where we like. I saved my little blue notebook with various phone numbers and random info so I know that we got $8 each. I take a walk around the area after dinner, feeling, for the first time, that shortness of breath that comes from this altitude.
It’s in the college area, but I can’t remember the name of the club (feel free to chime in if you were there or are familiar with Boulder rock clubs of the early ’90s, or much about the gig, to be perfectly honest). I’ll admit to checking out mentally a little from here on out, except for certain shows, and any help from you Dipper fans over the next couple of weeks to fill in the gaps is much appreciated.
Another factor is my lack of total recall of these shows is something that I haven’t mentioned much before but, starting during the time of the Slam recording sessions, the band got fairly heavily into smoking the marijuana cigarettes as a way to wind down at the end of the evenings. Having the RV made it much easier to partake and, while we smoked during the recording to fuel creativity, I think now we were using it to dull the disappointment of the tour. Prior to this, we were mostly beer drinkers, so I’m not sure what started us down the road to the evil weed. I do remember that once Bill started smoking, I figured that all bets were off and I just lit up. Of course, we never partook before the show as we were not the Meat Puppets or experienced enough to play well while stoned.
Stoned or straight, the Boulder show was underattended and we limped back to the hotel early for a night of makeup sleep. Tomorrow: another day off and another long drive, this one to Kansas City.
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