![NOVEMBER 18 – LION’S LAIR, DENVER, CO [SHOW #127]
Day 162. 38,738 miles. The drive through Wyoming was windy as all hell. It was hours upon hours of struggling against it just to keep the van on the highway. The views we had out the windows were beautiful, however. We were driving down the high plains along I-25 with the snow-capped mountain ranges to the west and plateaus to the east. We were racing to Denver, looking forward to our complimentary burritos from Illegal Pete’s. Made it in plenty of time, and they were excellent. After that we drove east of downtown along Colfax Ave (the former longest street in the country) to the Lion’s Lair. The place was small. The bar was an island surrounded by stools in the middle of room with a few other chairs and a booth. There was a jukebox, a pinball machine, foosball table, and a couple of arcade machines. The numerous posters on the wall informed us that we were playing that night with two other bands, one called Samvega and the other was The Pineapple Crackers. We were sitting outside the main entrance in the van when a large tour bus pulling a trailer passed by us. “Wouldn’t that be funny it that were one of the bands playing tonight?” one of us joked. Then the bus slowed, pulled up to the curb and backed up to park. “It is one the other bands!” It was The Pineapple Crackers who were from Grand Junction. We introduced ourselves inside when they asked us what our set up consists of, trying to decide whether or not they were going to bring in their own PA system or use the bar’s. We looked around the small room to the stage in the corner. “Why would you bring in a sound system into a place like this?” we wondered silently to each other. We were sitting in the bar’s sole booth about to play a game of Euchre when a familiar face approached us. It was Justin Niceswanger from Des Moines! He told us he is in Denver for a couple of weeks for his job. “Yeah, this morning I wondered where the PCC guys are so I checked online and I was like, holy shit! They’re in Denver tonight!” We chatted with Justin for a good while before we resumed our game, teaching Justin the rules as he watched. But he had one eye on the Mrs. Pac Man machine in the corner. He had been searching for a place with a machine while in Denver with no luck until now. Soon he said “alright, I gotta go play a game,” and in one play he had the high score of 175,000. I tried my hand next, but only got to 50,000.
The opening band, Samvega, from California, started playing. And we sat around the bar watching and applauding them. They had a pretty eclectic sound that was sometimes goth, sometimes raga, with haunting vocals. We played in the middle, and had a fun show. At that point the patrons in the bar were pretty loose and heckled us between songs. During one song, Patrick and Devin did simultaneous back rolls right into each other smacking their heads together hard. The Pineapple Crackers played last. Before the show we were trying to guess what the origin of the band’s name was, and the mystery was solved by the lead singer, a native Hawaiian, who pointed out his ethnicity and that of his three Caucasian band mates. Justin left after we played, but returned to the bar shortly after, saying that his car was broken down and asked Devin for a jump. He said his car had not been running properly since he drove over a median. So he ended up waiting around with us until the end of the show, even helped us load out and gave him a ride to the Best Western hotel we was staying at.
The jam in the van: Ennio Morricone A Fistful of Film Music (disc 1) / Lone Pigeon Concubine Rice / Lonesome Organist Forms and Follies / Sonic Youth Daydream Nation / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Playback (disc 1: The Big Jungle) / Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers Rockin & Romance
The word we heard: “If God were a racecar driver he’d be Dale Earnhardt Jr. So be it.” -Shorts McGraw
The pets we met: Puck & Mendoza
The pad was rad: Nick & Annabel
Dinner was a winner: Illegal Pete’s
Our friend the Bartend: Jen
Sound Tech we respect: Jonathan
The fill of the bill: Samvega / The Pineapple Crackers
Devin: you’ll have drink tickets to share at the Lion’s Lair
Some Ordinary Vision / Pacific Sunrise / Monument / Friends In The Band / By The Wave / Thousand Colors / Cemetery Glow / Give It A Try / When The World Sleeps](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lc7fwcc6Ai1qahyhxo1_500.jpg)
NOVEMBER 18 – LION’S LAIR, DENVER, CO [SHOW #127]
Day 162. 38,738 miles. The drive through Wyoming was windy as all hell. It was hours upon hours of struggling against it just to keep the van on the highway. The views we had out the windows were beautiful, however. We were driving down the high plains along I-25 with the snow-capped mountain ranges to the west and plateaus to the east. We were racing to Denver, looking forward to our complimentary burritos from Illegal Pete’s. Made it in plenty of time, and they were excellent. After that we drove east of downtown along Colfax Ave (the former longest street in the country) to the Lion’s Lair. The place was small. The bar was an island surrounded by stools in the middle of room with a few other chairs and a booth. There was a jukebox, a pinball machine, foosball table, and a couple of arcade machines. The numerous posters on the wall informed us that we were playing that night with two other bands, one called Samvega and the other was The Pineapple Crackers. We were sitting outside the main entrance in the van when a large tour bus pulling a trailer passed by us. “Wouldn’t that be funny it that were one of the bands playing tonight?” one of us joked. Then the bus slowed, pulled up to the curb and backed up to park. “It is one the other bands!” It was The Pineapple Crackers who were from Grand Junction. We introduced ourselves inside when they asked us what our set up consists of, trying to decide whether or not they were going to bring in their own PA system or use the bar’s. We looked around the small room to the stage in the corner. “Why would you bring in a sound system into a place like this?” we wondered silently to each other. We were sitting in the bar’s sole booth about to play a game of Euchre when a familiar face approached us. It was Justin Niceswanger from Des Moines! He told us he is in Denver for a couple of weeks for his job. “Yeah, this morning I wondered where the PCC guys are so I checked online and I was like, holy shit! They’re in Denver tonight!” We chatted with Justin for a good while before we resumed our game, teaching Justin the rules as he watched. But he had one eye on the Mrs. Pac Man machine in the corner. He had been searching for a place with a machine while in Denver with no luck until now. Soon he said “alright, I gotta go play a game,” and in one play he had the high score of 175,000. I tried my hand next, but only got to 50,000.
The opening band, Samvega, from California, started playing. And we sat around the bar watching and applauding them. They had a pretty eclectic sound that was sometimes goth, sometimes raga, with haunting vocals. We played in the middle, and had a fun show. At that point the patrons in the bar were pretty loose and heckled us between songs. During one song, Patrick and Devin did simultaneous back rolls right into each other smacking their heads together hard. The Pineapple Crackers played last. Before the show we were trying to guess what the origin of the band’s name was, and the mystery was solved by the lead singer, a native Hawaiian, who pointed out his ethnicity and that of his three Caucasian band mates. Justin left after we played, but returned to the bar shortly after, saying that his car was broken down and asked Devin for a jump. He said his car had not been running properly since he drove over a median. So he ended up waiting around with us until the end of the show, even helped us load out and gave him a ride to the Best Western hotel we was staying at.
The jam in the van: Ennio Morricone A Fistful of Film Music (disc 1) / Lone Pigeon Concubine Rice / Lonesome Organist Forms and Follies / Sonic Youth Daydream Nation / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Playback (disc 1: The Big Jungle) / Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers Rockin & Romance
The word we heard: “If God were a racecar driver he’d be Dale Earnhardt Jr. So be it.” -Shorts McGraw
The pets we met: Puck & Mendoza
The pad was rad: Nick & Annabel
Dinner was a winner: Illegal Pete’s
Our friend the Bartend: Jen
Sound Tech we respect: Jonathan
The fill of the bill: Samvega / The Pineapple Crackers
Devin: you’ll have drink tickets to share at the Lion’s Lair
Some Ordinary Vision / Pacific Sunrise / Monument / Friends In The Band / By The Wave / Thousand Colors / Cemetery Glow / Give It A Try / When The World Sleeps-
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