Weekend summary 11-may-2025
Friday Evening - Drumming at Pat’s
Went to Pat’s monthly drumcircle in Ft Collins. I arrived late, but made a nice entry playing some of my claves as i entered the space. Nice group, included Bill Grindle who, along with Pat and I, recorded a drumming interlude set for use at DragonFest’s 2020 Zoom events. I shared this with a friend in Japan, Stevyn Ironfeather Prothero, who has a radio show in Japan. Stevyn says he’s going to use it on one of his shows, so i announced this to Pat and Bill, so we’re going to get some airplay.
I played various things, percussion, small barrel drum, no djembe as it turned out. Had a lovely time, and came home.
Saturday
Went to Laura’s to get ready for the Vamp Tour concert at the Summit theater. Met Laura’s friend Tegan for the second time, and we had a good time doing some errands and getting lunch before we headed downtown.
The show was called the Vamp Tour and featured Magnolia Park. The others were interested in the warm up bands South Arcade, savage hands and Hot Milk. It was a tiny venue and the balcony had two rows with tall bar stools. I had originally bought two tickets for me and Laura but this morning I learned we were being joined by Laura’s friend Tegan and we’d have to get another ticket.
Turned out when we got there the balcony was sold out so we got Tegan a general admission ticket , and then they had a $20 upgrade to balcony standing only so we got that. We were blessed in that the people in the seats next to us never showed so we all got to sit when we wanted to and this was actually cheaper than Laura’s and my tickets were.
We had a brief tailgate before-party of a beer and a shot with another shot to carry in my pockets. Laura had crown Royal and some other unremarkable whiskey, I had two shots of tequila.
We had a street dog on the way to the line to enter.
We were there at doors open at 6:00, of course.
I had a number of nice conversations with folks on the staff and fellow concertgoers. Laura and Tegan were happy to dance near the seats on the balcony while I prowled around on the main floor.
Highlights of the evening at Summit Theater:
- During the first band, the person manning the merch table was the
drummer from the second band, savage hands. We talked about drumming and
drumcircles. During the set he had a drum pad like the kids in band in
middle school used to practice drumming without a drum. I decided that
was a good thing, and I ended up getting something similar for me to be
able to practice at my desk at work when I have moments.
- Told a bartender about Smokey and the Bandit (it was basically a 2 hour long commercial for Pontiac Firebirds and Coors beer but that Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds was funny)
- Introduced a neighbor to Frank Zappa (ofc)
- There a couple of guys on the balcony playing Magic the Gathering in between by the light of one of their cel phones. I’m not really familiar with it but I’ve recently been invited to check it out, so I talked to these guys for a bit. They said this was the nerdiest thing they had ever done in their lives and that they had to explain to the security at the door what it was.
During the show I got the information for the SORTED party because like the old-school raves, the location wasn’t shared until the evening of the event (description continues below)
I took lots of pictures and a few videos, attached here. 
I used to work in a restaurant and we used something like this (not
quite this large). It’s the full-sized version of a Kitchen Aid mixer.
These things could take your arm off if you weren’t careful around them.
Sorted 19
the Sorted parties are thrown my my friends Wally Winfrey and his wife, Missie Rummell. They are warehouse rave parties, featuring techno on big speakers in a darkened room. I’ve been to a few of them over the last couple years and they’ve become a favorite thing for me to do. They are essentially an after-party to the usual club scene, starting at 11:00 PM and running til 5:00 AM. We arrived a few minutes before its starting time. We had a shot before the music started.
Wally was the first DJ, and the three of us got to hear the beginning but the others left early because they were tired from the concert. I stashed my bags in the VIP area (I got the wrist band to prove my status :) )
Highlights of the party:
- There was a young man I’ve seen at other parties who is a good dancer, fancy footwork. We’d not really connected before but I got to intruduce myself to him and tell him that I’m his biggest fan. Turns out he is about to finish a degree in mass communication, and might be a collaborator in my efforts to start a YouTube channel. We exchanged numbers and will be in touch
- Good conversation with a guy named Jeremiah who has a side gig selling mushroom growing kits. His site has scientific assays of the various strains of mushrooms that have proliferated since their legalization in my state. We had a conversation about George Carlin and how he kind of predicted what’s going on.
- Met (again) a jazz drummer named Brian, and we discussed the similarity betwen a drumcircle and jazz. More numbers exchanged.
- Got to connect quite a bit with Annalise, the lady running the food truck. She is
a new fan of my friend Bruce Wilcox, who makes art quilts and other
artistic endeavors. She makes some garlic parmesan wings that are the
bomb. We exchanged facebook socials and will be in touch for some
things, like getting a QR code sticker for her truck so that people can
easily find her Instagram, etc.
Sunday morning
And then I helped clean up, picking up trash and hauling recycling. Wally gave me a ride to a train station and I went on a train and bus Odyssey for the next couple hours, composing this post on my phone and computer.
I missed my connection by moments because I stood outside a little too long smoking and listening to the early morning birds.
Selfie in the surveillance camera at the bus station
Mother’s day is the biggest day of the year for many restaurants, and
suddenly deciding to go out for breakfast without reservations can be
tough. We figured out the answer, however: go to a middle eastern
restaurant. Ali Baba’s was empty at 11:30. I asked when their biggest
day was, and was told it was Eid, which is the celebration at the end of
Ramadan. 
I did finally sleep in the massage chair, with CPAP.
This is my friend Laura 