Getting thru it

Managed to send off two versions of my Boulder Magazine piece on Face late this afternoon. Neither is terrific, but both are competent and reasonably well-written. Hopefully Mary takes one or the other and doesn't try to crank it into something it's not. Fan mail never had much appeal for me, and less as time goes on. She could completely ruin my friggin' week if she asks for a rewrite - unlikely, but entirely possible.

My interview yesterday with Otis was predictably nothing much to write home about. He was groggy and still recuperating from a recent hospital stay, so it was a struggle to get him going, more than usual. I think I can stretch to 1000 words on this, but a stretch it will be.

Then...done. Till after SJ.

On a better note

Managed to string together a couple of permits for San Juan. Launch 5/9 (yes, early) for a SI-MH run, then 5/10 for a MH-CH run. Six days total.

Little worried about the weather, since the cool-spring to hot-spring divide seems to typically hit the area about a week later. Question will be if it comes early this season (hello, global warming?), or if not, how cool the cool part will be.

Right now, it's snowing here in the People's Republic, so yeah, a little worried.

Here's some stoke.

Oh sure

Now it....
's

The 70's go on forever

Just purchased two tickets to see....Rush...at Red Rocks, in Aug.

Never a huge fan myself, but neither a certified hater (and I definitely knew some), they've always occupied kind of a sidebar presence in my experience. Likable, not compelling, prog-lite without the cape and candelabra arch...

The one thing I can seem to recall from BITD was that most of the kids I knew who liked Rush were better at math.

I suppose this dates myself...but tough shit. At some point, you stop apologizing for violating some vague crit-hipster code of conduct, and just like what you like, listen to what you listen to, and just live.

I'm still learning this.

Day 11, and that's all, folks

Had it not been for the couple of frsh inches they got the night before, and the inch or so that fell during periods of amazing whiteout, the last day at Loveland would have really sucked. Not quite corn, not quite packed powder, conditions were generally abyssmal - we did manage to find some pockets of untracked and we got in 19 decent runs, but forgettable. But we did get a nice end of day pic, looking up the creek toward an empty mountain.




And as it's been 70-ish down here since then, I'm fine with calling it a mediocre season and turn my attention to the streamflow.

Now if only the BLM would serve me up a cancel on SJ, we're good.

Phew

Spent a beautiful spring day inside, cranking on The Project , and carving up blurbs for the BW Best of Boulder edition.

Off to the gym. Last Loveland post of the season later. Bye!

Well...

...turned a day older yesterday. Damn you kids, get off my lawn. Nice to get so many hb's from Facebookers, and odd the omissions...

Robben phoner went okay last week, Larry phoner today...hopefully short and useful. Questions off to the Metheny people, let's see how that experiment works.

The Fray may have resolved itself. Nope, guys, I didn't find you.

Lots of writing coming up, debating on a corn day at Loveland on Saturday - debating time and weather.

BLM isn't opening up...yet. Hope springs eternal. Not really, but it sounds good.

Jammed up

A string of two or three setbacks in quick succession have led me to a place where I'm seriously considering either calling the newspaper gig quits, or at least taking an extended break.

The Spankers thing still stings, getting completely stiffed on Phoenix, a so-so chat with a surprisingly standoff-ish Robben Ford yesterday, a quickly arranged chat for tomorrow with Otis, with whom I have a decent relationship but will be probably unprepared for (and I know how he hates that), being relegated to an email interview with Metheny for 'Orchestrion', and probably in the process of getting stiffed for a piece on the Fray...one after another, I'm feeling like I'm swinging at air here. Part of this is my fault, part of it is a series of events or screwups outside of my control, but combined they suggest that I'm just not packing the kind of punch I used to.

As recently as a couple of months ago, I felt like I had this thing really under control. Will see how the next week plays out - I can't walk away from the obligations I've already committed to - but I have to take a breath and re-evaluate.

Ah, to be the toast of the ...universe

Unsurprisingly, scheduled phoner today with Thomas Mars of Phoenix got cut, amidst hurriedly blurted publicist promises of a reschedule for tomorrow or Friday.

This is what happens when you are the the most (indisputably) blogged about band in the world right now. Which may last until...what, the end of this post?

A Little snark, but hey, if I had a dime for phoner that got rescheduled...so no biggie, and I do like their record, and it gives me another day to practice saying "comment ca va?", which I am regrettably out of practice doing.

Surviving springtime...

...in the Rockies.



Holy smoke, Day 10 at Loveland was epic - high winds, blowing snow, zero visibility. Only saving grace was that it was April, with moderate (20ish) temperatures. Snow was very nice, but the winds were gruesome. Last endurance day of the year (we presume), spingtime beckons.

The Project is improving day by day.

Crummy

Still feel crappy about my gaffe, even if they've already forgiven me themselves. It is, as I've come to realize, far more a sign of my own ignorance and hackwriterness than it was an insult to them.

Anyway....

Seeking an audience with The Fray is not looking particularly easy, which also helps remind me that I've been swimming amongst the guppies for lo these many years.

Dare I make my approach on Pat Metheny and Larry Carlton?

Ski tomorrow, even though it'll be blustery, cold, little new snow and probably hard as concrete.