Alexa's GPs & Hiking The Eagles Nest Wilderness 29Sep21-30Sep21

Kala & I were thoughtfully invited to join Bill & Carolyn Schwartz, Alexa's grandparents, with Matt & Alexa at their place in Frisco. We had a great time with these very nice people. And, as always it was good to see M&A F2F.

With a dusting overnight Kala & I waited a couple hours for partly sun and then roamed up to the Eagles Nest Wilderness for a great hike.

Today, I cannot tell a lie, we chopped down and cleared a dying & dead evergreen from in front of the Nest. The awesome battery-powered chainsaw came in handy again. Here are the before and after pics.

Jade Bird Is Very Special 28Sep21

I've done the homework now and come away in awe and a bit surprised I'm this late to the party, especially given the target genre of most of the work. Nonetheless, I'm here now and a fan for sure - even as she is evolving to a bigger band sound on studio recordings and some shows. Though I find solo acoustic offers of her new songs as well so anything can happen. After my intro at Macky and dive on the internet I was pleased to grab tix for her show on Thu Oct 7th @ The Bluebird theater. We heard a number live acoustic songs @ Macky including new works Candidate and Honeymoon, and she closed with a Johnny Cash cover of I’ve Been Everywhere. All so good.

Jade Bird is a Welsh Londoner singer/songwriter now living in Austin, TX. Her voice is awesome often spending plenty of time in full voice (wails from Wales) and her material is Americana-like with some sadness and darkness. She recently dropped her 2nd full album through Glassnote, "Different Kinds Of Light," but they were preceded by her self-published 1st EP "Something American" which was rerecorded by Glassnote, and to which she added 6 songs, to offer the eponymous "Jade Bird." All of these albums are completely excellent and show an evolution devoid of pretense but with a clear build in production scale and quality. 

Here's a pretty complete picture through YouTube-based tracks but there is plenty more there as well. I just tried to cover (always live) her available recorded history from late 2015 to yesterday. Check the new stuff at the bottom 1st if you are going to the upcoming show as well - or start at the top and work through the evolution much as I did. You will become a fan & follower.

• Run & Hide - Spiritual Sessions In Camden - Sep15
• Madeline @ TeaFilms - Oct16
• Something American (& More) @ Paste NYC - Jul17
• Something American @ Dreamland/NYC- Sep17
• If I Die (piano) @ BBC - Oct17
• Lottery @ BBC Quay Sessions - Mar18
• Current Session @ SXSW - Mar18
• Uh Huh @ VEVO DSCVR Aug18 
• Something American (& More) @ The Bridge - Oct18
• Feet Off The Ground (Brent Cobb collaboration) - Sep19
• Black Star (Radiohead cover) @ RCA Studios - Apr21
• Now Is The Time @ Vevo Studio - Jul21
• Honeymoon (orchestral) - Sep21
• Prototype @ Corden- 28Sep21

Concert Weekend With Yohanan - Grouplove @ Aggie & Molly Tuttle/Bluebird @ Macky 24Sep21-25Sep21

Right off - the concerts, venues, sound and artists were spectacular all weekend. Jim & I hatched a plan to see Grouplove & Molly Tuttle months ago and despite the Delta surge we had our vax cards ready and entered the super-spreader events "glad" to be back to live music inside. First up was Grouplove at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins. We met up with NickY before the show and dined at Jax. Good food as hoped. We then headed to the queue at the Aggie a little after doors open should've happened. No big deal as we had fun in line chatting with line-mates (who told us to come to the STRFKR show) and entered the venue early enough to grab position A on the rail above the mosh pit, just 25 ft away from the band and 10 ft from the sound mixing guys.

We first saw (unknown to us) Blackstar Kids who are an energetic rap-pop band from Kansas City. They were very good with the flopping-haired Ty Fazion doing pop melodies and lead guitar being the standout. We were all here to see & hear Grouplove, who opened their set with the keen Deleter. The club sound was thankfully and surprisingly excellent -  and we were pinching ourselves that we were among just 600 folks for a Grouplove show. The Aggie Theater in Fort Collins is a little piece of gold - they even served the excellent Juicy Bits in draft, from nearby Weld Works.

Jim and I debated prior to their taking the stage whether Hannah & Christian would have the same haircut, as they often do, or not. Yep - same - orange and yellow bowl cuts. Grouplove played a long and excellent, studded by new stuff & mega-hits, set with amazing show energy as expected. The LA band commented multiple times on Colorado and the fact the packed house was all vaxed and largely maskless... they were amazed and appreciative. Jim & I knew we were still in a petri dish as there was no positive air flow to speak of and it got warm. Here are some images during Deleter, Shark Attack, and Colors ~ really outstanding show. I had hoped to take my concert recording rig inside but there was no place to conceal it on entry - I did get some raw footage via a naked iPhone 12 Pro of Shark Attack & Colors - you can view it HERE (pw: GR8Fish).

Jim got us back to downtown in great stead... and he did all the driving this weekend; that's a change for us where I usually am on the wheel but I volunteered him and he rose up. On the way home we tested our senses of smell in low lying skunk areas and we don't have Covid. We got to the condo after midnight and it was super comfy. We arose somewhat late but attempted a spa run with coffees only to find it being worked and filled with lukewarm water. Non-starter so we checked on the Ryder Cup as we dressed for brunch at Bright Marten before heading out to Boulder and the Macky Auditorium. Chimis were good and we arrived at the Macky on CU campus in plenty of time to parse the confusing public parking nearby and enter in time to take position A again ~ here dead center on the balcony rail. This theater is a spectacular performance space and the sound ultimately was again very good. Most artists commented on being in the space and the quiet and deeply interested crowd - the vibe was quite serene compared to the prior night's raucous crowd, but nonetheless fun. Here we were socially distant, requested to mask when roaming, unserved as to food & drink, and in awe of the space and artists.

The lineup was a smidge unknown to me other than Molly Tuttle, who drew me to the tickets. I'd heard the Denver artist Otis Taylor before and he opened the show with a keen and funny storytelling Chicago-styled blues. He was a surprise and excellent.

Second up was Molly Tuttle; it was our 1st time catching her live after many listens to albums, covers, originals, lessons and more. I was very excited and pleased to hear her singing full voice at this event though the fully electrified backing beat section was a bit unexpected. It was very good but very short and without any of the stories offered by others. It seemed like a spat to me. We were afforded a new debut song, "1st Time I Fell In Love (With Myself)," played in a stripped down solo style, which you can sample HERE (pw: GR8Fish). Molly Tuttle was amazing as hoped.

Jade Bird was 3rd on stage. OMG she's amazing and has given me hours of homework. She's a Welsh London kid now living in Austin who's a spectacular singer, and she writes and plays well too. Clearly a generational talent from the UK who's Americana stylings and powerful deliveries betray her youth and lineage. Just wow. Pick anything from her YouTube troves (HERE) and become a fan; I am. Yet, there is no evidence of public recordings prior to Sep15 that I can find.

Closing the afternoon show was Jonathan Russell (of The Head And The Heart, whom I've seen and heard) performing solo on grand piano, guitar and of course vocals. He was mesmerizing with a more folk style that even the Head & The Heart offers. Nice voice he shared would be solo a lot more often.

We agreed the concerts and the weekend could not have been better and are reviewing scenarios for next year's Bluebird Festival. I think we have to move to the orchestra rows.

News From Traveling CoWWs 23Sep21

I heard from Yoho after he broke his draught on landing palomino trout when he scored on this beauty as well as some rainbows at Red Feather Lakes west of Greely. So cool.

Phoning in from the San Juans, Rick Pavek & Greg Lehmann took a break from traipsing through the mountains looking for elk, to fish the Conejos. They did well but Greg's framing of the Pavek show pic is a bit suspect... folks, he does have a forehead. GR8Fish!

Two Counties ~ Had To Do It 21Sep21

Kala headed home to prep for a trip to her 50th HS reunion and a visit with her cousins, but I hung in Summit to catch some late summer fish and ready the Nest for real snowfall. I headed over Freemont Pass to the true headwaters of the Arkansas this morning. The valley was awesome with dust on Elbert and Massive still and a strange electric solar sense when I snapped the selfie in the valley.

I caught a number of small browns out of the Kobe access  but it was crowded and I chose to hike downstream till I encountered (not long after leaving) another fisherman, and fish back up. I didn't fish the best spots and didn't fish long. I scared a 16"er but caught the 10"-12"ers on tung head FBPT and RS2.

The story of the day though was that with a "fish on" I dispatched my Bodin graphite net and had to drop it, BUT IT WASN'T tethered! I set the RF Brookie down with the fish on and ran downstream after the net... after 100 yds and too many panicked breaths it caught in an eddy and I recovered it - WTF happened? After rescue I returned upstream to my rod and ultimately landed the fish still on!

The crowds and smaller fish deterred me and I jumped the pass back to Summit. I fished the too thin 10 Mile Ck with a catch and then headed to ORB for late lunch and to taste the latest offers.

Of course I had to do it when learning of the hazy DIPA collaboration with Horus of Oceanside named Trout Season. The view from ORB was awesome this day and I chose the chair of distinction to observe.

Aspen Pops, Hangin' With Voz & Cyn And 1st Snow 18Sep21 & 20Sep21

Kala & I are still in Summit observing the changing of the seasons. While it's still late summer by the calendar, the solstice is preceded by cooler days and changing aspen leaves in the mountains. We've gone on great hikes and even just the view from our deck is breathtaking.

We also were joined by our friends the Vosburghs for a fine outing to our favorite restaurant Aurum and some fun and dessert back at the Nest. They are still working hard earning our social security and Voz is about to get his pilot's license - and Cyndi is expecting it to be a twin engine kind. Their family's had a busy summer with Zach having a 2nd kid, Brock being married, and Gretchen scoring acting work back east! It was a great night but the winds were unfortunately so gusty I called off our long-awaited sailing outing on Sunday.

20Sep21 - We also observed the first real snow of the season from the comfort of the Nest. We awoke today with snow on the deck and the mountains blanketed white.