We met up with Larry in town and wandered up to Scoot and Blues, and went over the itenerary for the week.
Wednesday Drew flew in and we all got together at the house of Steve, a guy who works at Scoot (and a great singer in his own right - he came up and did "Mustang Sally" with us on Thursday!) for a long rehearsal. We needed it! Larry and I had a heated debate about the arrangement of Heart Full of Soul (he was right) and there were other things that needed ironing out.
After we were done, Drew, Eric and I went out and wound up listening to a band based in the Tahoe area called Blue Turtle Seduction. They get to San Francisco from time to time - CHECK THEM OUT! They're goooooood! On the down side, I was out late and had perhaps one drink more than was good for me so I didn't get out to see much of Durango.
Thursday 8:00 was showtime.
How would I describe our music... um... uh... how about LOUD!!! We apparently set the S&B record for decibels at 108. We were expecting to be told to turn down, but a curious thing happened - the sizeable gathering was dancing and staying and (most important) buying drinks all the way to midnight when we finished.
We played again on Friday, the early (5:00 to 7:00) set. It was more of the same. Many of the same people were there. In addition, Rob and Julie, the bass player and singer from one of the top bands in the southwest, the Motor Kings, flew in from Santa Fe to see us (Larry has become pretty prominent in the Durango music community!) They came up and did a song with us, "I'd Rather Go Blind". I switched to guitar on that one.
After the Friday show, a bunch of us went out for dinner. There was all of Void, Rob, Julie and a friend of theirs whose name escapes me, Nina Sasaki (a local singer - guitarist) and a friend of hers. Great fun. Larry's view is that Durango's music community is very open and friendly. I couldn't agree more.
The response was really good for both shows, and we really had fun. Most gratifying, the club owner asked us back.
Life is good.
A little background. A number of years ago when company internet bulletin boards were allowed, a friend of mine saw an ad posted by a band that needed a bass player to play one gig. That was in November 1999. I auditioned and stayed with the band until last year when Larry Carver, the lead guitarist retired and moved to Durango, Colorado. (Actually, I'm still with the band and moved over to play lead.)
The last gig we played was Larry's retirement party. We decided then and there that we'd all go out to visit him as soon as he got his house built. It wasn't one of those "yeah yeah, sure sure" things, we knew we'd actually do it.
In the meantime, Larry had gotten involved with the Durango music community and by the time we were finalizing the dates we'd go there, he was getting us booked it Scoot and Blues, one of the bigger clubs in the town.
Drummer Drew Gordon had left the band due to increased family duties (I guess twins do that to you!) and a new job. Since he hadn't played with Eric Montizambert (rhythm guitarist) and I for some time, the 3 of us got together for a number of rehearsals before heading out to meet up with Larry. It was odd doing songs with one of the guitars missing, but it all seemed to work out.
I flew out on Tuesday, August 8. Eric drove there and took my bass
