Letha Scores New Digs In Denver ~ Friends & Family Helped Move Her In 16Nov24

My sister Letha made the decision to move to Colorado, laid a plan, sold her PHX house, boxed her stuff, moved up to CO with the remains, bought a keen townhome & closed quickly, cleaned and fixed the place, got the Pods delivered, and had friends empty the Pods into her new place over the course of just 10 weeks ~ she's a whirlwind. If you haven't seen Pods in action they are worth a look... you pack them and unpack them yourself but storage and transport is on them ~ a fraction the price of movers.

We got a bunch of friends and family for unpacking day and emptied both Pods in less than one day. Here we are celebrating Letha's new home with a nice champagne Kala brought! There's plenty of work for her to go from boxes to "in" but she is very happy.

"Winter" Fishing The PT ~ Nature Center & Valco Ponds 15Nov24

As respite before Pod emptying, I headed to the Arkansas River in Pueblo for my first shot at "winter" fishing there. It was cool but very nice sunny weather. Flows had been dropped precipitously over the prior 5 days to just 90cfs winter levels. The viz was minimal from turbidity in green. I caught tons of tiny 'bows but only a couple of 16" fish. There was a decent fall baetis hatch about 10am and the fry and 1st years loved the RS2; all the weights and midges worked too: my PopTop, a blood midge, the oil can and green Perdigons, etc. I tossed the 8.5' RF Bombadeer v2 with aplomb but as the selfie clearly shows, yet unknown to me at the time, I must've raked a fly across my nose and sliced it... sheesh. I did have more pics, including the baetis, but dumped the SD card into a heater vent on the Crusher Too. I'll be back between storms and hope the bigs will be more comfortable with the low flows.

November Music Appreciation ~ Ladies With The Blues 07Nov24

This month's MA installment will deal just with some ladies' somewhat recent offers in the blues realm. There are of course many more and this is not a "best of," only a smattering of who I listen to most often in the genre.

Christina Vane ~  Highlighted often for me playing her resonator.

Christina Vane “Old Enough” @ Contrary Western 02Aug22
Christina Vane “Wishing Bone Blues” 13Jul21
Christina Vane  “Troubled Sleep” 05Apr17

Samantha Fish ~ Just fine blues every time; cigar boxes and way beyond.

 
Samantha Fish Various @ Exponential Fest on Hudson 11Oct22
Samantha Fish Various On Audiotree Live 13Feb18
Samantha Fish “Bitch On The Run” 14Aug15

Larkin Poe ~ Atlanta; Independence, Grammies, Americana, yeah.

Larkin Poe @ ’24 Americana Awards (Accepting) Various 10Oct24
Larkin Poe @ Audio Tree Live Various 03Oct2017
Larkin Poe “Preachin’ Blues” 21Spe17

Susan Tedeschi ~ Sure Tedeschi Trucks, but riffs like hers are notable.

Bell Bottom Blues @ Boston, 29Nov22
How Blue Can You Get 01Dec21
Just As Strange on Tiny Desk/NPR 25Mar16

Hiking Moab ~ Weather Improved & We Hiked Arches NP 04Nov24

Love Muffin huevos ranchero & muffins were tasty to start the day and we hit Arches Natl Pk without a queue or time entry requirement. The rain had stopped but some wind came up and it was still brisk in the high desert. Our first hike was into Park Avenue for some keen monuments like 3 Kings & Church (other something like that) and some artsy reflection pics enabled from the water pooling from rare rains. Nice 2 miler.

We came out of Park Ave's shadows thankful for sun and moved on into the park more for our 2nd hike around the Windows area. We chose to do a loop by taking the primitive trail behind the North & South Windows. This was another 2 miler but with plenty of folks till we rambled on behind. There were serious popping junipers as well as old dead craggy ones; "live earth" so we stayed right on the meager trail; and lots of arches. Back at the car I was able to snap a shot of some more distant arches and hoodoos across the road.

Back at the TH and car we decided to add one more hike... this one took us to Sand Arch and Broken Arch. At Broken Arch I clambered through with some moves and continued around a trail behind the ridge of formations along the base of which we had just come out. I took another spur out there to another arch on that trail, Tapestry Arch. It was a very cool return to the car through a slot canyon paralleling the one taken to Sand Arch and then through a nice campground before hitting the last leg. I did ~3 miles and a little more technical and climbing stuff  ~ the rest of the team did not have arch envy.

After the jaunts we headed back on the road toward the entrance. The La Sals were well dusted with yesterday's snowfall and beginning to poke through the clouds. Back in town we decided to stop at Proper Brewing, a Utah brewer in SLC & Moab. We subjected ourselves to odd Utah liquor laws where draft beer cannot be higher than 5%, but canned beer can be normal ABVs. We tried some OK hazies on tap and in the can... hmmm.

We dined later with a split team... the 3 Thai members ate back at Thai Bella but I tried a new tasty spot called 98 Center for Vietnamese, both are worth it. After of course Scooter brought a fine Rhone '15 wine and we toasted our luck and lives... with inbound snow in the Rockies we had considered departing a day early but our choice was completely great. We departed the following morning and made it home before the significant snowfall that came heavy over the next 3 days.

Moab Folk Festival Was Awesome With Scott & Peg ~ Cold & Rain Didn't Dampen Our Vibe Sunday 02Nov24-03Nov24

Kala & I were in Moab for our 2nd Folk Festival with our buddies, Scott & Peg. It was another great music outing, our last of the festival season, and the last for the artists too. We drove straight from COS to Moab with the full team in the Crusher Too (I did remove the fridge for more spaciousness for gear). We had good pizza and salad at Antica Forma the 1st night in Moab and rested well. We were in time for an indigenous American to chant the invocation

We arrived to queue before gates at 10am and secured the front row seating on Saturday before Humbird kicked off the show at 11am. I've been following the Minneapolis trio for a while and was able to meet and chat with Siri Undin, the bandleader, for a while after her performance, and get "her" signature on their recent chunk of vinyl. She and Humbird take "folk" as far as it can go toward rock as she presented in all electric, including synth... still all awesome writing and her full voice presentation.

Second up on a nice and warming day, but still colder and more cloudy than previous, was New Orleans-based (initially Arkansas) Handmade Moments. Anna Moss played anything they had and had a great voice. Lot's of protest songs and descriptions of a meager lifestyle... they were very fun and good.

We got some beers from Bohemian, brewed in Utah... meh, and then sat back for some country from Nick Shoulders and the OK Crawdad band. NE Arkansas Nick was very alt country with voice breaks and yodels among his irreverent lyrics. His bassist and backup vocalist had parents and nieces and nephews right in front of us for their set.They were very good too, rat tail and all. The crowd was diggin' it and Nick even commented he'd never played to such a seated and attentive crowd. The dance section was happy and sang along with the tunes.

We roamed the grounds between acts and I found a cool tie dye. Soon were we back on row 1 for Sam Bush and his latest band. Sam's a longtime mandolin aficionado of world bluegrass acclaim. The band and he played lights out bluegrass, which was awesome, but Kala & I were pleased the guitarist was there to harmonize and support Sam's voice ~ he was also a killer guitarist. Too, I swore it was my Big Bro Brown on drums ~ oddly it was Chris Brown!

We escaped gates and parking snags quickly and made our way to Thai Bella for a great Thai food dinner. All slept well but knew we'd encounter cold and precip over night. That held true and the rain continued into and through the day. We prepared but it was wet and cold. We again to our spot in row 1 center but covered ourselves in rain gear, garbage bags, and the like.

First up on Sunday was Charly Lowry, a Lumbee tribe member from eastern NC. She related plenty of stories from the tribe, and of earth, and of Christianity. She played guitar and drum and had a nice voice.

We actually skipped the 2nd act as rain fell more heavily and temps cooled. We warmed up at the The Spoke in downtown Moab for lunch and a brew. Pixie & The Partygrass Boys is the 2nd act I wanted to assure we saw this WE as I've been listening to this quirky, high energy band for some time. They were dressed in funky outfits and appeared to be having a blast. Hailing from the Wasatch they love to ski & party and are the "best local band" in SLC. I bought the CD and got their autographs too. So good. I even recorded the keen ski montage "Ski & Party" and "No Friends On A Powder Day."

Closing the day and festival was the Travelin' McCourys. They didn't need legendary data Del for this event. Massive talent throughout with Rob and Ronnie dealing hot licks on banjo & mandolin. They were so skilled and the band was very tight... again the guitar was awe inspiring frankly.

GR8 music festival with GR8 friends.