Day 5: Taos Inn – Taos, NM
Our fifth show in as many days would be at one of our favorite spots to play, the Taos Inn in Taos New Mexico. It’s a weird show for us compared to some of the others we have done. It’s basically the polar opposite of the big House of Blues Show, or annual Morgan Hill show that we usually do. It is a very intimate show. We are seated through the whole thing, but we still manage to rock the house, only it’s a small house. The nice thing about playing Taos for us is that since this would be our 6th or 7th time there, we have actually amassed a local following up there. We are pretty assured that every time we play there, the Taos Inn will be packed for us. So it’s something that we look forward to on every tour.
We only had about 4 hours from Gallup to Taos so again we would have a relatively short drive today. Cam took the first shift of the day, while the rest of us settled into the back for Katherine for another poker game. I don’t remember too much about this particular game except that Cuz’n Steve is a fast learner. It didn’t take him long to pick up some of the subtleties of the game. He still lost but he was looking at this as an education into how to play the game. We assured him that no matter how poorly things might go for him, he could rest assured that it was impossible for him to beat Peter’s record for poker futility. Because of the structure of our games, the fastest anyone could reach a payout was by re-buying into five consecutive games and losing all of them. 5 games, $50, and a payout. Peter set this record a couple years ago, and it cannot be broken. But it can be tied. Steve didn’t set out to accomplish this feat, but he was well on his way after a couple of games. He really wasn’t playing bad, and actually made some pretty decent calls, but he just ran into some big hands he didn’t see coming.
Somewhere between Albuquerque and Taos we finally stopped for some food at a Sonic. Genj and Cam have this thing about not passing up a Sonic. We ate on the road and pulled into Taos at about 4pm. Showtime was 6:30 to 9:30. We typically like to have a couple hours to load in and get set up for this show. It’s nice to be set up and then be able to relax in our room for a bit before show time. Unfortunately, that was not to be. We have to battle with the fact that the Taos Inn, had people seated right where we were supposed to set up. Also, the space that we actually perform in is very small so it takes a lot of coordination and cooperation with the staff to get everything set up just right. As it turned out, we had to wait until the last minute to set up our last speakers because of a group of ladies who were in our way, had finished their meals and drinks about an hour before show time, but decided to sit there anyway.
So we were rushing around again trying to get everything set up properly so we could start on time. Taos has an elevation somewhere around the 5000 ft mark. It might even be higher. I don’t know what it might have been, but I suspect I got a little altitude sickness or something because it was so hot in that place, that I felt like I was going to pass out for about the first three songs of our first set. But, I made it through. We played a great show, like we usually have in Taos. We met a couple from Dallas Texas who after our first set bough a couple cds and gave us the name of another booking agent to use in Texas. They told me that they had to leave during our next set for dinner. About halfway through the third set I saw that they had food at their table, and they ended up staying the whole night.
After the show, Cuz’n Steve left to go stay at his friend Gordon’s place. Genj and Cam met some people at the show who were headed over to one of the local bar called The Alley. There was a group playing there that night called “Jewish Girls Gone Bad”. Apparently, there was a $15 cover over there for that show. Because of this some of the regulars at The Alley made their way over to the Taos Inn and stumbled across us instead. I was feeling like crap and was headed back to the room.
I know that Cam and Genj had some kind of adventure meeting people that night, and they may offer an additional blog on the people they met. For me, it was a successful show, but I was feeling pretty bad and was in bed around midnight. The next day, we would have a day of just travel. It was about 14 hours from Taos to Dallas Texas where we would be playing on Tuesday.