July 06, 2009 Colorado July Fourth Weekend 2009 For info booking your own writers' night performance with Shelby Merchant and friends at your venue, event or backyard...it's easy! Or if you just want to say hello... Click Here to Contact Shelby ----------------------------------- This was definitely a Fourth of July weekend to be remembered. Duane "Cowboy" Deemer, Mason Douglas, Cory Batten and myself ventured out to the wild-west for four days of rockin' the Rockies! We had great time, were well taken care of and must send a BIG thank you to Carla and Sam for their hospitality, planning, and hard work to make all this happen. On 7.2.2009 we flew out of Nashville, TN and into Denver, CO where we were greeted with a big-shiny-awesome tour bus provided by Daryl of the Crystola Road House. We headed immediately for Evergreen, CO to perform at Little Bear. After scarfing down delicious ham sandwiches, water, whiskey and beer we arrived at the venue that Willie Nelson made famous and where women apparently uncontrollably lose their clothing. Although no one de-robed while we played you should have seen all the underwear hanging from the walls. Mason's family traveled from all points of the earth to converge on the Little Bear that night and we had a great time performing for a lively crowd. After the show, we headed to Woodland Park which gave Duane the right amount of time to enjoy just enough of the elevation and a bottle of Maker's Mark to put him out of commission for the next day:-) On 7.3.2009 we woke up in Carla and Sam's beautiful mountain home to some slamming good Carla Deemer biscuits and gravy which provided good fuel for the hike behind the house to view Pike's Peak. We saw a lot of wildlife along the way and the sight was breath taking to feel, smell and see the same view that inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write "America the Beautiful" on July 4th weekend. Later that night, "Cowboy"-less we headed for Cripple Creek, CO to perform at the Wildwood Casino (where I found out taking pics in a Casino is illegal) and find out what 10,000 feet above sea level would do to us. Although Mason didn't seemed to be phased, as he performed a flawless version of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game", Cory thinks he blacked out a few times mid-song and I'm pretty sure I felt a lung collapse at some point:-) Despite all this we had a blast performing to another great audience including Cory's Dad and Step-mom. We must have done something right to get tips from the wait-staff! On 7.4.2009 with a little bit of good care from Logan and Megan (Duane's Son and Daughter in-law) Cowboy came out of his "elevation coma" and we ALL headed to downtown Woodland Park to perform a few songs at their Fourth of July festival. We did some impromptu playing as well as a scheduled performance for some dedicated patriot-patrons who braved the first hail storm I've ever seen on the Fourth. Later that night, we traveled a short distance over to Daryl's Crystola Roadhouse where we had way too much fun performing for 5-6 hours to a full house of listeners. That's right I said listeners! The crowd seemed to hang on every lyric and melody. I'll have to say that performing the song "America the Beautiful" in that setting was the highlight of the weekend for me. With that said, watching the sky open up and dump a wild rain storm when Cowboy and Mason performed their song "Mother's Tears" was amazing too. Throughout the night, I showcased my hoola-hooping skills as we auctioned off unique items like dancing monkeys, lyrics to our songs and signed memorabilia to bring the Pow-Wow back to Woodland Park. To top it all off I had a great plate of surprisingly good catfish and a good beer called Laughing Dog. On 7.5.2009 we packed up and made our trip back to Denver stopping at a few stores and sights along the way. We laughed about Cowboy's near death experiences, Cory's unforgettable "Star-Spangled Banner" performance, my constant need to recount every experience and Mason...well that's funny in-of-itself. Goodtimes! ------------------------------------------- Thanks again to Carla Deemer of Blue Rose Entertainment and Sam, Chris Orton our sound engineer, Daryl & Megan at the Crystola Road House, and everyone we met, that listened, and/or showed genuine interest in what we do. We hope to see you again very soon. 0 Comments Post a Comment