No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks

No.4: Performance at Red Rocks

Imagine. In spite of the pandemic, I managed to make it to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a performance.

For those not in Colorado, maybe Red Rocks needs an introduction. It is a natural open air amphitheater outside of Denver. An amazing setting tucked amongst some enormous red rocks (hence the name)  with naturally occurring perfect acoustics. Many artists consider it their favorite place to perform.  If you want to know more, click here. The theater seats almost 10,000 people.

The view from the top entrance to the theater.

The Colorado Symphony has been experimenting with small sections of the symphony playing to a limited number of performers. Tickets were procured for the weekday performance of the brass and percussion sections. Maximum number of tickets sold: 175.  Which means we pretty much had the place to ourselves. I counted. Somewhere between 150 and 170 people were there the same night we were. 

From the top, looking down on the seating and stage. 

Pretty amazing set up.

Of course, we needed refreshments and I had my first White Claw which I suspect pretty much makes me a 20something, doesn't it?  Only one concession stand was open and our choices were limited- beer, wine, coolers, soft drinks, pretzels and chips. So much for dinner.

My first foray into the land of hard seltzers. 

Turns out it was pretty yummy.

Here was the set up for the symphony sections:

17 performers more or less and one conductor

The music obviously could not be full on classical with such a limited orchestra so there was an assortment. Some classical, some Star Wars, a march, it was a nice combination. And the best part? It was all acoustic, NO amplifiers. (Well, the conductor had his amp so we could hear his voice. The instruments needed no amplification.) 

The conductor, Christopher Dragon (what a GREAT name) made the evening. There is a reason he is so thin. He never stopped moving, dancing, jumping the entire performance.  He even played the drums at one point. 

 Goodness, he was having fun.

While I don't feel I got the full experience...parking was convenient and just a few steps from the entrance, no crowds hence no combined anticipation of a large group waiting for something to begin...it was very special. And now, I've been.

Me and Friend, appropriately masked, at the end of the night. 

And just in case the musical aspect of a Red Rocks performance did not qualify, a second trip to Red Rocks that same week cemented my completion of No.4.

We went to the Drive-In! Film on the Rocks, presented by the Denver Film group, has movies in the parking lot of the amphitheater.  Admission is one set price per car and includes two Coke products, popcorn, and two boxes of candy. (Twizzlers and M&Ms!) Every show day except Sunday they also offer the pre-purchase of a ChickFilA sandwich and waffle chips. We saw Clueless. It was perfect except we needed to do a little better planning. Cars are too smart these days. The sound comes through your radio but few cars allow you to turn the car off and leave the radio on. At least not long enough for a two hour movie. Once the radio cut off, the car had to be restarted which meant the lights came on and then the parking lot attendants came over to tell us to turn the lights off. And so went the night. A portable FM radio solved that problem when we went again last night to see Field of Dreams.

While waiting for the movie to start they have entertainment.

So, No. 4 is done. I followed up with adding to No. 65: Travel to new states and repeating No.77: Continuing Education: Take a class.  Technically I completed No. 77 last year with my silver working class but more education is ALWAYS a good thing.

Stay tuned.

Also, wash your hands, wear your mask and VOTE. (Register, request your mail in ballot, whatever you need to do.)

Not Quite Red Rocks....

Not Quite Red Rocks....
But Outdoor Entertainment Nevertheless
(Number 96: Houston Miller Outdoor Theater- see a show. )
(Bonus: No.71: Plan and execute a picnic)


Happy weekend!!

Number Four on my Sixty by Sixty list was/is go to Red Rocks in Denver for a performance.  For those that aren't familiar, Red Rocks is a an outdoor amphitheater with perfect acoustics in the mountains.  Stone steps make up the seats, the "walls" are the natural red (duh) rocks of the area.   I have been there early in the day when there wasn't a performance, but it is on my list to actually see a performance there, preferably musical, at some point in the future.

 Rock walls

Stone seats

And look! 

Diane, Diana and Lucy.

Can't believe this was so long ago. 

2012.

Until then, while I am back in the Houston area and doing Houston things, I hit up the next best thing. Or at least the next best thing locally.  Houston Miller Outdoor Theater, which I made No. 96 on the list. Miller Theater has FREE performances throughout the spring/summer/fall (i.e. most of the year in this part of Texas!) and they can vary from musicals, symphony, ballet, children's performances and more.  While it is outdoors, they do have some covered seating. The remaining seating is on a manmade hill overlooking the stage.

One of the benefits of outdoor venues? 

Beautiful sunsets while you wait for the show to start.

Friend Martha, along with another friend Betsy, headed to see the HITS musical production of Footloose. Side note: I have never seen the entire movie of Footloose. I HAVE seen Kevin Bacon in the dance scene at the end. Not sure where I was or what I was doing in the early 80s but I missed a few of the most popular movies around then.  (Flashdance? Never seen it either. )

Here we go....

HITS is a youth group so the presentation was entirely made up of students. Students who aspire to be real live paid actors. Not exactly Broadway caliber but there were some high points. The lead actor could really dance...very Fred Astaire-like with long legs and long arms and great moves. His singing? Eh. Hit or miss.  The preacher, on the other hand, had a great voice.

Preaching to the choir.

But overall the show was great and I guess I have an idea of how the movie played out now. Still need to watch it.

To make the most of our night, we brought a picnic and were even able to bring our own adult beverages...as long as they weren't in glass containers. (Even though I have already crossed off No. 71 on the list which was to have a picnic, I'm going to count this in the picnic list. No harm doing the fun things more than once!)  I'm sure decanting wine into plastic is the stuff of oenophiles' nightmares but it worked for Martha and Betsy. I stuck with beer in a can. We had a charcuterie platter for our dinner and snacked our way through the entire show. There were some envious glares from the surrounding seats who didn't come as prepared. (Or maybe that was anger and annoyance- we were blocking the aisle a bit.)

Look at that feast! 

So...not Red Rocks but a pretty fun substitute. Although, seriously, anywhere with friends, food and drink? Always fun.

Probably no post next week as I am headed to San Antonio on Thursday. It is Fiesta time in San Antonio and I get to help judge a parade! Talk about a new and different experience. I am super super excited and 200% looking forward to a little break. Can't wait to tell you all about it.

A Perfectly Acceptable ....

A Perfectly Acceptable Substitute for No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks


While I am not taking No. 4: Performance at Red Rocks completely off the table, I am willing to acknowledge at this point that some of the things on my list just may not happen in the next -EEK!- 4 months.  So Saturday night I did something totally in the spirit of the list and of going to an outdoor concert and of No. 25: See a concert- live music.

Possibly No. 4 will end up being put on the 90 by 90 list.   Yes, that's probably going to be a thing.

But.

Last weekend the tiny little town of Salida (population about 6000 really cool people) hosted the Gentlemen of the Road Stopover.  I've been hearing about this since last January. At the time I thought "Cool. I want to go. But. I will be back in Texas."

Fast forward and my days of not knowing where I will be next continue. Turns out I will be in Colorado. And the preparations for the Stopover are coming together and tickets go on sale. Urk! Tickets are $200 each for the whole weekend, including camping. No one day tickets are being sold. Hard to justify that.
But...but... Mumford and Sons are headlining. I love them. I want to see them. But... but... $200.00.  Just for one ticket.

The last few weeks before the show and instead of the 30,000 tickets that the promoters thought would sell,  only 20,000 have been purchased.  So one day tickets go on sale.  Saturday night will be $125.00.  Still quite a bit but maybe.  But who will go with me? I don't want to go by myself. (Whine.)  I've pretty much burned Bunny out on Mumford just by constantly playing their Babel CD.

Last Friday no tickets have been purchased, no plans have been made. Bunny and I head into town for dinner and to just see how crowded and entertaining it is. The stores are all decked out with signs and British flags are everywhere and there is a party atmosphere. Bunny says "We should go tomorrow night. I have a couple of friends going."

Home again, we go onto Salida Swap, our local buy/sell/trade/find a lost dog FB spot.  "ISO two one day tickets for Saturday night".

By Saturday morning I have two discounted tickets, just have to go pick them up. I feel like I'm doing a drug deal. First stop is a house in town. I hand over $70 cash and get a sole red wrist band. Assured that is all I need, I go on to my second stop: a Shell station in the next town over. There I get an info packet and a black wrist band in exchange for 3 twenties.Wait! What's the difference? Why is one red and one black.  No one seems to be able to tell me. Did I just buy a ticket for Friday? The wrist bands need to be registered online and I get "Success!" after entering each one so ...fingers crossed...they both must be good.

Hmmm. One of these is not like the other.

Turns out one was a weekend wristband, the other was a day wristband.

Bunny and I head into town about 5:30. Mumford and Sons plays at 8:15.  Parking is easy although we have about a mile to walk to get to the stage area. Tents are everywhere. It's all so...organized. Clean.  There's a tiny security check with no wait. And ... no one ever looks at our wristbands. The instructions said they would be scanned but no.

Within ten minutes Bunny has abandoned me. O wait! She let me buy her (and me) a T-shirt first. Then she scampered off to meet up with friends.

No worries. I realized I had a choice.

I could do something I really, really wanted to do and enjoy the entire experience or I could sit at home  and whine about missing something I really wanted to do but didn't because I didn't have anyone to go with.

Guess what? I'm pretty good company for myself.

I grabbed a taco and as it got closer to 8:00 I edged my way up to the stage, picking a spot near the sound booth/VIP area because there was a low fence to lean on which also gave me a pretty good view. Somewhere along the way I realized how short I am. And how many 6 feet tall guys there are out there. With their 5'8" girlfriends.

Jenny Lewis was playing. Never  heard of her but totally enjoyed her music.  A group of exuberant twenty somethings was gathering next to me. A cute thirty something (maybe 40?) couple leaned on the fence next to me. One of the 20s asked me "You here by yourself? That's cool. How in the world did you do concerts when you were a kid without cell phones?"  Half of the couple asked if I was alone and did I want to meet them in Moab to go mountain biking next month.   Um. No. I don't even know your name but thanks for the offer.

And then.... the main course.

Mumford and Sons.  They were great. Awesome. Did I notice one bit that I was alone? No.
Would it have been nice to have someone there to ooh and aaahh over the band with?
Sure.
But better to be alone than to have someone with me that didn't care about the music or the experience.

The best part of the night? The four band members singing together around one microphone with just one guitar. Marcus Mumford asked everyone to be quiet and you know what? Everyone was. Twenty thousand people quit talking/singing/yelling and just listened. I videoed a bit of it but of course, not a very good video. I was too busy listening myself.


                    

(If you can't see this, go here.)

And when it was over I walked alone to my car with 20,000 of my new bestest friends that I had never met before.   And here's the amazing part. Not a care in the world. Not one second thought about walking alone to my car a mile away surrounded by strangers at 11pm on a dark night. Once in my car it took me exactly 4 minutes to get out of the parking lot and on my way. Like I said, everything was very well organized.

So while it wasn't Red Rocks,
which is its own experience, this huge outdoor concert was definitely an acceptable substitute for now. Red Rocks may still get done before December but it may not.
No worries.

And...

And....

You know how last week I mentioned "I've hated to say it before now, but I think Spring is really here."

I should have known better..

Here is our week's forecast:

Yep. That would be snow forecast for Friday morning.  Saturday night is prom for Bunny. That beautiful gown will be a little bare for 34º temps.  Not that the temperature will stop her from wearing it. Anyway, Friday is a long ways away and forecasts are frequently wrong.


Today I panicked a bit about the rest of my list.  Because, as I have mentioned, I'm at a standstill. 
So I scrolled through and found the time specific ones and put those dates on my calendar. 

I've missed polo season (#55) but it starts again mid-September. There are polo clubs in Houston and also near Belle in Florida. I should be able to fit that in somehow. 

Thanksgiving at the beach. (#13)  Belle has informed me that she loves Florida and is planning on staying there even though she does not love school so much. I am thinking we will just go see Belle for Thanksgiving next year: turkey at the beach.  (And nope, I haven't broken this news to her or anyone else in the family yet, so "shhhhhhh". )

Ice hockey season is also over but I will have a chance next fall. Looks like games start in October.  (#57)

That colonoscopy. (#43) I am so overdue for that. This summer. Waiting until I am in Texas because that is not something I want to do in my little town...and I sure don't want to have to drive two or three hours away for it, either.  

In June I'm meeting up with my friends to plan our 60th trip. (#1) Two of us turn 60 this year, the rest do it in 2016.  The trip most likely will not happen before I turn 60 but if we have it planned, I'm counting it!

Bunny's friend took her out and taught her how to shoot a pistol. I thought she was pretty good until she told me she was only about 20 feet away from the target. 

Anyway, I discussed with her that possibly he could also teach me. (#28) This kid is methodical and safety conscious and has been around guns his whole life. We can go to the shooting range on the other side of town.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre has their summer schedule out. (#4)   Just need to schedule a trip to Denver and con someone into going with me.  Easy.  

And as soon as the vegetable starts come out, I'm grabbing a few. (#39) Last year I was not successful because it is so dry here. Miss one day of watering and Poof! those plants are dead.   
So I'm thinking a potted veggie garden on the patio will work best. Close by, I can see them and, more importantly, water them every morning easily. No shoes required to walk out into the big gardens. (This ground is pretty rocky. Even though I am a total barefoot kid, I need shoes to walk in the yard.) Crossing my fingers for success this year. 

Cozumel, well, that may not happen. (#15) Not many people want to go to Mexico with me. I think I would be totally safe but.....   I can come up with something else.  I've been a million times and it is just one of my favorite places. Not saying it won't happen eventually, just maybe not in the next year.  But maybe I can go to Cuba instead. That has been a lifelong dream and it looks closer and closer to becoming a reality. Cross your fingers. 

Soooo...... there's hope.  And putting things on the calendar makes them more likely to happen.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.