Chaos in Colorado (pt.I)
I wake up in Chicago at 5 AM to do laundry -- must have clean clothes for the trip. Pack everything while it's still warm, double-check my guitar and gear, and I'm off for yet another plane flight. Destination: Mountain View High School in Loveland, Colorado. They're going to be performing Chaos Theory next Tuesday.
The trip is uneventful -- which is everything you could ever hope for on a plane flight. I'm met at the Denver Airport by Peter Toews (rhymes with "waves") -- the director at MVHS. We drive back to Greeley, spend some time getting to know each other. We arrive at his house and I meet his wife Shanna -- both of them are extremely nice people, and throughout my visit they bend over backwards to make me comfortable in their home.
Pete's student-teacher assistant, Corey, stops by for dinner. He also brings over the amp I'm going to use for the concert -- "if it's OK with you," they remind me.
"What kind of amp is it?"
"It's a full Marshall stack."
It takes a moment for the words to sink in... A FULL MARSHALL STACK... the holy grail of heavy metal amplifiers... a pure, tube-driven tsunami of love and rage, as tall and tough as a bar-room bouncer and ready to blow your face off with the gale-force of a sonic hurricane... they must be putting me on. We go out to the garage and look in the back of Pete's car. Sure enough, 2 cabinets and a head, emblazoned with the logo that has defined British rock since the 1960's. I am filled with the irresistible urge to pull it out of the car, stack it up, plug it in, and spend the rest of the night worshipping this Electric Temple of the Almighty Decibel, with offerings of thundrous power chords, shrieking blues/rock licks, and ear-bleeding feedback... but I know that'd be rude, anti-social, and would probably get me arrested for "disturbing the peace" in this quiet suburban neighborhood...
so instead we all jump into the car and head for Home Depot, where we yank stuff off the shelves and have Corey beat on it with drumsticks. We didn't buy anything (and we hadn't planned to either) but we learned alot:
- 5 gallon plastic buckets sound better than 2 gallon plastic buckets...
- Cement spreaders sound way cool if you smack 'em together...
- The bigger the base of the clay flower pot, the better it sounds...
- water under pressure runs uphill, water with no pressure runs downhill.
Shoppers and clerks were alternately confused and amused by our clanging and banging. They must've thought we were the new Blue Man Group -- two local band directors, a hippie with jetlag, and a woman pregnant with twins.
The trip is uneventful -- which is everything you could ever hope for on a plane flight. I'm met at the Denver Airport by Peter Toews (rhymes with "waves") -- the director at MVHS. We drive back to Greeley, spend some time getting to know each other. We arrive at his house and I meet his wife Shanna -- both of them are extremely nice people, and throughout my visit they bend over backwards to make me comfortable in their home.
Pete's student-teacher assistant, Corey, stops by for dinner. He also brings over the amp I'm going to use for the concert -- "if it's OK with you," they remind me.
"What kind of amp is it?"
"It's a full Marshall stack."
It takes a moment for the words to sink in... A FULL MARSHALL STACK... the holy grail of heavy metal amplifiers... a pure, tube-driven tsunami of love and rage, as tall and tough as a bar-room bouncer and ready to blow your face off with the gale-force of a sonic hurricane... they must be putting me on. We go out to the garage and look in the back of Pete's car. Sure enough, 2 cabinets and a head, emblazoned with the logo that has defined British rock since the 1960's. I am filled with the irresistible urge to pull it out of the car, stack it up, plug it in, and spend the rest of the night worshipping this Electric Temple of the Almighty Decibel, with offerings of thundrous power chords, shrieking blues/rock licks, and ear-bleeding feedback... but I know that'd be rude, anti-social, and would probably get me arrested for "disturbing the peace" in this quiet suburban neighborhood...
so instead we all jump into the car and head for Home Depot, where we yank stuff off the shelves and have Corey beat on it with drumsticks. We didn't buy anything (and we hadn't planned to either) but we learned alot:
- 5 gallon plastic buckets sound better than 2 gallon plastic buckets...
- Cement spreaders sound way cool if you smack 'em together...
- The bigger the base of the clay flower pot, the better it sounds...
- water under pressure runs uphill, water with no pressure runs downhill.
Shoppers and clerks were alternately confused and amused by our clanging and banging. They must've thought we were the new Blue Man Group -- two local band directors, a hippie with jetlag, and a woman pregnant with twins.
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