We have been cruising the downtown streets, looking at the finest dog collection on the planet, and taking in the rest of the scenery as we get ready for tonight's Telluride Americana Weekend Concert with Sam Baker and Joe Ely.
HaaganWe were out strolling earlier (the altitude here is somewhere upwards of 8,700 feet, and so is best done slowly with lots of pit stops) when we saw an intrepid pizza salesman on a pedi-bike with a hot-box storage bin. "Pizza Makes You Stronger" was his slogan. It is obviously working for him. Don't think it is just us that are wusses in the thin air, the artists all talk about having to pace themselves when they sing, and that if there are a lot of words it could be hard to deliver the song without being out of breath, or turning purple while trying to power through it!
There are a lot of words in this one, but Amanda Shires and Rod Picott seem to do just fine with it. From the stage of the Old Sheridan Opera House comes the incandescent pairing; she from the sun-driven plains of West Texas, and he from the northern mill towns of New England. There are more tour dates on tap, so catch them if they are coming your way.
This is one cool town! Lots of handmade, homemade, and arty things in the shops. There are a surprising lack of the chain stores that populate every town in America. I am hunting a CVS but have yet to see one. Telluride has a strange undercurrent, that is, we think the DOGS are really running this town. They are everywhere, small and large, and they all carry an air of entitlement. They let you check out free pink bicycles at the library. Then there are these weird cans of oxygen, which I was happy to pass around with Amanda Shires and Stacey Earle. It was almost as if we were passing a joint.
We see five year olds on the loose with hundred dollar bills buying Rocky Road, cause life is rough, and ice cream ALWAYS makes it better. There is a "FREE STUFF" cubby hole on the street corner, akin to what you would have found in a kindergarten classroom, and people were rummaging in it. What? - you come here on vacation and scuttle your stuff, so you can buy more? WTF????
We are not here on vacation. Beans and I are here to bring you coverage from the Americana Music Weekend, and SHEILA has joined us! Yay! Beans gave her a quick lesson on Camera 2 yesterday, and she performed brilliantly. Last night at the Sheridan Opera House, which is 100 years old, and like being inside a Whitman's Sampler Box, was Jason Eady and then Band Of Heathens. Tonight is Sam Baker and Joe Ely. A couple of nights ago there was a song swap from Amanda Shires & Rod Picott and Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart. They were magical together. Lots of fun and welcoming on stage with one another and the audience. We have a Mark Stuart blues tune for you now, "Gonna Love Me Someday." Life is TOUGH!
Traveling at night through the mountains does present its driving challenges. Our “soccer mom” mini van rental seemed to drift the Colorado mountain roads, thankfully without hitting deer or elk up to Telluride. We were given “shortcut directions” from Albuquerque. The directions were good. They landed us in Dolores just in time for a late bite before the town rolled up the carpet. Funny thing about Dolores, CO, the town smells like cinnamon.
On the left was The Ponderosa Restaurant. The name just seemed to scream ‘steak dinner’…or maybe ‘meatloaf.’ Inside were three individuals who looked surprised and just a tad irritated that we had arrived 20 minutes before closing. I can only imagine what must have been going through their minds – Jessie with her red hair, rose colored glasses, flowing bandanna & big city attitude. Me, with my big voice, tattered personality and five-day beard stubble. It must have looked like we were traveling with a monkey that was about to be set loose in the restaurant to trash the place.
Krystal - Kayla - HeavenOur waitress was Krystal. She piled on the attitude in an interest of hoping to save the restaurant from imagined primate mayhem. The hostess was Kayla. She looked scared but decided to tough it out with Krystal. They double-teamed us, obviously willing to wrestle us to the ground if trouble broke out. We both ordered the 8oz. sirloin and salad bar. Then started to roam the empty restaurant to see the pictures on the wall. Lots of train photos from a railroad long gone in Dolores, CO. Heaven, the third Ponderosa girl followed us around to make sure we didn’t steal anything. It was Heaven who reconnoitered to find where we parked, and discovered we didn’t have a surprise monkey to let loose. The steak came to the table, along with biscuits nestled next to baked beans. Jessie joined the clean plate club. I couldn’t finish mine and was berated by Krystal. She also insisted that I eat the homemade cake that came as part of the deal. All three of these young ladies gathered at the table to watch me eat. It was like something out of a Stephen King novel. Did the cake contain some sort of drug cooked in a trailer house lab? Or were they just proud of it? Either way, the joke was going to be on me and I had to man up. I’m OK today. And I’m prepared to give the Ponderosa a Zagat rating of 4 stars. If you go there, tell them Jessie & Beans sent you.
HaaganWe were out strolling earlier (the altitude here is somewhere upwards of 8,700 feet, and so is best done slowly with lots of pit stops) when we saw an intrepid pizza salesman on a pedi-bike with a hot-box storage bin. "Pizza Makes You Stronger" was his slogan. It is obviously working for him. Don't think it is just us that are wusses in the thin air, the artists all talk about having to pace themselves when they sing, and that if there are a lot of words it could be hard to deliver the song without being out of breath, or turning purple while trying to power through it!
