Day 18: June 8, 2008

I woke up late. The afternoon was quiet and I was feeling like laying down all day. We're finally at the last date of the tour and I'm tired. I wanna chill, but hey I'm in another town that I've never been to before so I can't stay in all day. Mama D our gracious host cooked us lunch and suggested we head to Boulder. Apparenlty Denver isn't too cool. We jumped in the van and headed toward Boulder. It's about 30 min away. The last thing we want to do is drive, but it was cool. We hit an outdoor mall/park area and chilled all afternoon.

After the R&R we headed to venue only to discover that the promoter didn't even know we were supposed to be playing that night. We got confirmations from the owner, booking info, and it's on our tour shirt officially. Chris the promoter told us that we could go on at midnight and that we couldn't load in till 11pm cause they had a battle of the bands going. I felt an argument brewing but we decided to go eat instead. Emilio has a friend that told him about a great vegetarian place so we went for it. Like I said, I love meat, but I heard this was phenomenal so I was on board. The place is called the Watercourse and it was great. I actually had a seitan steak. Not satan, but "Say-tahn" it's fake meat but it was great. We stuffed ourselves and headed back to the venue.

There was a battle of the bands going on. Chris"the promoter" was cool though, he convinced me to still play the show and assured me that he'd get folks to stick around. Mama D was there and so was my boy Wes from Dallas. He just moved there and begged us to not bail on the set. We decided to play the show despite the initial confusion. We could have not unpacked and headed for Dallas at that moment, but that's not Jointmethod's style. We wanted to rock and let Denver know what's up.

I'm glad we decided to stay and play. After the battle of the bands was done Chris gave us a proper introduction and we rocked 6 songs for the kids that were there and they were blown away. Every one of them bought a CD. EVERY ONE! Jointmethod is officially out of CD's. We have to get more pressed asap. We may be adding another track that the latest edition of JM created so be looking for it. We made good money and packed it in. The plan was to leave the venue, drop off Mama D and head for Dallas, but those plans changed.

Chris the promoter convinced us that we needed to see Red Rocks. I'd never been and he promised it wasn't far and that at night it's a great experience so we said fuck it and rolled with it. The trip was about 30 min, so it was kind of far but we pulled in at Red Rocks and it was all that I expected and all it was talked up to be. This venue is what is called the total music experience. We walked around the entire complex at night under the Colorado stars and walked on the stage that so many artists have graced. I want to play there. I'm going to make it happen. If you don't know this venue, look it up online. It's called Red Rocks in Denver. This is a natural amphitheater among the rocks on the outskirts of town.

As I stood there with old friends and new ones, I realized how great this moment was. The stars were bright in the sky and so were my thoughts. I took it in and reflected on the entire tour. There were many highs and some lows. We gained so much and yet we were humbled by lack of audiences in certain places. Emsy may no longer be with us after this and I am a little scared of diving into the music like I want to. I'm deep now and I realize that everything that has happened is all about learning. Words came to me on the mountain:

"I realize, this life is all about learning. The world is a book and everday a page turning.
School is in session till the final bell. We learn from the tests that we pass or fail.
As a student do your work or find yourself expelled. As a teacher you inspire, those you touch excel."

Maybe I can turn that into something. We'll see. There are no words to explain this experience. I've had the time of my life. I've felt extreme yearning for home and have missed my loved ones greatly. But I've enjoyed the trill of the road too. I'm actually a little sad it's ending.

Emilio of course found something to climb while Chris, Stitch and I explored the higher parts of the venue. We walked back down in time to witness some deer in the parking lot looking for food. Milo and crew made it back to the van and we headed back to Mama D's to drop her off. We did that, got some coffee and headed out for Dallas. Stitch was taking first shift and the world went to sleep. Our goal was to get a jump on the day, but now we're late. We'll see what the last day on the road has in store for us.