The Broken West Tour Diary: Entry # 2

Febuary 10th Government Camp, Oregon

After the success of the last couple of shows, it's fair to say the mood was pensive in the van on the way up to Mt. Hood. It all changed when we arrived at The Ratskeller and were greeted by the owner Jamie, who kindly offered us anything on the menu and drinks free of charge. As we set up, people flooded in, some in skiing attire, some with dreadlocks and some looking like they came off a Phish tour. Wait, that was everyone.

The show went well even though all anybody wanted to hear was a 10 minute guitar solo. We decided to play "Baby on My Arm" for the first time and "Horse". After the show Jamie offered us a room in his place. After Ross jumped off Jamie's deck into 10 feet of snow, we all went upstairs to our military style quarters, with 4 sets of bunk beds, and feel asleep to Viva Voce filling our ears from the the downstairs stereo. So nice.

(CONTINUED: Click permalink below for more tour diary entries from 2/11-2/15)



Febuary 11th Salt Lake City

What can I say about Salt Lake City that hasn't been said before? With it's numbered streets and 1% percent beer, it is unlike any place we have ever been before.
The same can be said about Kilby Court.

Kilby Court is an aluminum shack located in a warehouse district in downtown Salt Lake. The crowd and "club" personnel were more than gracious and people seemed in high spirits. On the way back to the hotel we heard about the tragedy that happened within a few blocks of us that night. Poor Salt Lake.

Febuary 12th Denver

Denver was painted white when we arrived at The Hi-Dive on Tuesday night. What a great venue and great people. However, the band was unable to give them the show they deserved. Ya know what they say about high altitudes and drinking.

February 15th Phoenix

On the drive to Phoenix, snow was quickly replaced by barren deserts and sun-filled hills and I have to say the warm weather kind of made us miss LA.

Modified Arts is an art space/venue located in Downtown Phoenix. The first face we saw upon entering the venue was Pat Sanone who plays in this band..um..Wilco? I think that's right. Anyway, around the corner was John Stirrat of Wilco as well. Crazy right? John said, "I heard a couple of your songs online and really liked them".
We said, "We'll check your band Wilco out and maybe we could play together
sometime." He replied, "How about The Forum tomorrow night? I'll meet you there, you can start with out me." Nice.

We played a quieter set with Ross playing acoustic the whole show. It seemed to go well. There is something nice about the occasional sit-down show. People really
seem to listen.

On our way back to California. See you in Tucson in a week!

-dan