go go go go go go go go

This weekend has been intense! I guess these summer weekends in Boulder have been pretty jam-packed with family and friends and all sorts of music.

MUSIC. I have never played and explored and listened to so much music in my life.

So what happened with Neal this weekend? We spent a bunch of time playing music together, like said. He came in on Sunday, and we spent the afternoon smoking out and getting some musical ideas together. We also spent some time jamming with Danny and our couchsurfer from Amsterdam, and overall it was intensely fun. Sunday night, Neal and I ended up going out with Herald and Danny to get some pizza at Old Chicago, and Neal and I met up with Sebass and Taylor later on at the Sundowner for some drinks and good ol' bro time together with some pool, beer, and whiskey. We walked back to Taylor's for a bit before stumbling back home.

Monday was spent with breakfast over at Walnut St. Cafe, and afterwards we spent some time over at Robb's Music to get a new guitar strap. Back home, Ben came over, and we went into another hours worth of intense jamming and song development. We played so much that we played over the sign-up of the open mic at The Cup, and unfortunately we did not get a chance to play because we came too late. However, we spent some time playing and hanging out on Pearl St. instead, and though we didn't get any money, we got some people to stop and watch us, which in some respects was just as good. The rest of the evening was spent getting dinner at Wahoo's, and later on we played some Mario Bros Wii with 4 players and ended up doing terribly together.

Yesterday was a nice day of listening to music in the morning. Neal woke me up by coming into my room with my new audio monitors, which was an incredible way to wake up! After hooking them together, we mixed some music, and once Danny woke up, we all chilled with Larry and spent a couple of hours listening to some music in a fidelity we had never heard before. I have far, far, FAR underestimated the importance of good audio monitors for just listening to music in general...we heard all sorts of elements of chords, soloists, and elemenets of so many songs that we have never heard before. It was one of the most incredible listening sessions I have ever spent with my friends. After a while, Neal and I left Boulder and got some dinner in Denver at Watercourse Foods. However, my stomach was upset all day, and it didn't handle all the food very well, as good as that restaurant is. We took a nice drive through the neighborhoods of Denver and met with his friend Casey down at a really cool cafe near DU, and after hanging out for a bit, we went to Washington Park and spent some time throwing frisbee to each other in bright sunshine and a beautiful field of grass. I dropped off Neal afterwards at Casey's apartment, and after bidding a farewell for a while, I stopped by Guitar Center to buy a drum stool and a guitar hanger and a ukelele case for my ongoing musical collection. Back in my room, after spending some time assembling the chair and getting my room further organized, I was WIPED by 9:45, so I ended up falling asleep very early (or at least lying with my eyes closed and attempting to shut my thoughts out for a while...)

So man, I told Neal yesterday that I want to a be a musician, that I want to be the best musician I can be, and no one else will tell me otherwise from being a performing musician. I think it's good to be proactive.

-c