The following is an account of our 24-hour adventure to play the Snowsation event at the foot of the slopes of Copper Mountain, Colorado, on November 19th. 

 

4:15 AM. Wake up after 2 hours of sleep. Throw alarm clock across room. Wasn’t I playing a gig in Lincoln a couple of hours ago?

4:18. Slap self in face, shower, get dressed, and kiss dog goodbye.

4:45. Wheels up and headed to the airport.

5:00. Arrived at Eppy airfield and learned of the breakdown of the band’s private jet, Smooth Force One. Annoyed, we returned to purchase emergency airline tickets.

5:30. Checked bags and passed through security. How Maestro ever makes it through security, I will never know!

6:00. Coffee! 

6:15. Board the plane and try to catch a nap. I only mildly drooled on the passenger next to me as I slept.

7:45. Arrive in Denver and begin the process of tracking down luggage. Construction in the Denver airport made it very easy to find directions! That was sarcasm.

9:00. Meet shuttle driver and load up for the trip up the mountain.

10:00. Emergency stop at a local dispensary of fine herbal products. Hey, it’s Colorado.

10:30. Arrive at Copper Mountain. We’ve got a few hours to kill, so the dudes spread out and try to chill or prepare for soundcheck.

11:00. Duke attempts to order food at a local bar and gets the cold shoulder from staff. Was it something I said? Probably.

12:30 PM. Soundcheck. The Chairman runs a tight ship, and we’ve only got an hour to get the show up and running.

1:30. Return to dressing room and contemplate life choices.

2:30. Don our best 70s threads and begin vocal warm-up.

3:00. Gig time! A great crowd has assembled at the slopes and is settling in for ninety minutes of smooth rock!

3:45. Sun goes down behind mountains, and the temperature drops thirty degrees. The following half-hour is an experiment on how extreme cold affects acoustic instruments and musicians’ fingers. I wish I had worn my long underwear.

4:05. Flam drops a stick due to two of his fingers freezing and breaking off. Those can probably be reattached.

4:15. Blitz’s beard freezes to his microphone while he sings Ebony Eyes. Bob Welch either laughs or cries as he looks down from heaven. 

4:30. Gig ends with a rousing rendition of Brandy, and we run for the heat of our dressing room.

4:35. Duke gets distracted by a group of snow bunnies that want to provide body heat to the freezing bass player. Who am I to argue?

4:40. Defrost and pack up.

5:30. Shuttle picks us up and takes us to our crash crib. The airport Hilton.

7:00. Check-in to our hotel, and the boys disperse to unpack, unwind and get some grub.

8-10:00. Mindlessly surf hotel television and enjoy the last bit of colorado hospitality.

4:30 AM. Wake up. Throw alarm clock across room. Shower? Nah, 15 more minutes of sleep and hopefully, I won’t know the person seated next to me.

5:15. Board shuttle headed for Denver International Airport.

5:30. Airport security and COFFEE!

6:30. Maestro fools the security man again, and we board our flight back to our beloved Nebraska.

7:45. The big ‘ol jet airliner 

 

We’d like to thank the good folks at Peak Performance for having us, and we hope we return again!

Duke