After our gig in Champaign we made a nine and half hour drive to a campsite in central Kansas. So far, Carmen is the self appointed Tetris master of car packing. Her goal is to get at least 2 inches for Andy to see out the back window.
In the car, we entertained our self with a Pat Metheny marathon through northern Missouri (in honor of his home state), a discussion about time beat division in Tool’s Lateralus, a delicious car lunch of sprouted grain tortillas filled with avacado, pepper, tomato, black bean salad, and a critique of the live recording from the previous night’s performance.
When we arrived, Kansas was beautiful and a steamy 104 degrees!
We woke up early the next morning and drove six hours to the trail head for a one and half mile (with 1,000 foot gain!) hike to an Appalachain trail style shelter west of Denver.
We just played a really cool show at the Cowboy Monkey in Champaign, Il and it turns out there really is a Cowboy Monkey! Whiplash! He was a monkey trained to ride on a Border Collie in rodeos. Check out whiplash
Thanks to Joe Grohens for setting this up!
Lots of enthusiastic dancing!
and…thanks to Jackie Wypij for the beds and a fantastic breakfast in the morning! Off to Kansas….
Well, its been 3 years since we “officially” toured for tango and we are almost off for a two week whirlwind of milonga performances across the country. This year’s adventure will take us to the southwest!
We’ll be driving a newly purchased 2004 Ford Focus Wagon that will eventually carry 5 people plus music and camping gear!
Check the map to see where we will be and don’t forget to visit again as we post entries from our travels.
The Gig Itinerary:
8/8 Fennville, MI
8/11 Champaign, IL
8/13 Denver, CO
8/14 Glenwood Spring, CO
8/15 Salt Lake City, UT
8/17 Ventura, CA
8/18 San Diego, CA
8/20 Corrales, NM
8/21 Albuquerque, NM
The Crew (Photos courtesy of David McGowan):
Carmen (flute): Tour Manager and group elected leader of the band
Andy (guitar): Tour Driver and keeper of all things in time and distance
“Jean” Luke (guitar): Tour Comedian and source of unshakable camaraderie
Dave (guitar): Tour Fisherman and keeper of superpowers in case we need them
Avik (dancer): Tour Swiss Army Knife and keeper of innumerous finely tuned skills
This past month while Andy has been teaching summer music theory courses at GRCC, I have been working on commissions for our dancer/musician friend Nick Jones and his tango group Orquesta Tipica Natural in Denver, CO. Here is my arrangement of Canaro en Paris based on a D’Arienzo orchestra version from the 1950s. Click on the link to listen along while you flip the pages! Use the icon at the bottom left navigation bar for a full page view.
Canaro en Paris
[dewplayer:http://foliasmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/04-Canaro-En-Paris.mp3]
Andy and I spent two days in a cabin we rented in central Colorado preparing for our tango gig in Glenwood Springs. After five years of playing tango together we are finally doing our first milonga entirely from memory–something we should have done sooner! If you ever visit Glenwood, don’t miss the hot springs (especially if you have been camping and need a place to clean up before a gig!)
After Glennwood, we bummed around some Colorado wine regions for two days in the Grand Junction/Palisade and Delta areas. Then, last night we stayed in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, a unique area worth the visit!
Local Colorado produce is still a month out, so here is our dinner recipe with the most local ingredients we could find:
Colorado Quesadillas
Local corn totillas
Raw goat milk ceddar made in Besalt, CO
1 jalepeno
I put the cheese and chili in between the tortillas and melted them on the fire.
We ate them with some homemade pico de gallo!