melody reigns

Headed to the Hi-Dive last night to catch Adam Franklin & the Bolts of Melody. I was sort of on the fence about going it since was a tuesday night, but I scored a free pass monday, so I really could not turn that down. I'm glad I went - they played for about an hour, including some new material from their forthcoming album. Nice layered & swirly guitron, much like his former band Swervedriver, but not quite as high charged. I bumped into Adam before their set and he was a nice guy to boot.

stone's throw

My turn to drive saturday - we met up at the new parking spot. Snow has been scarce this season, even though we got a steady flurry throughout the day at Keystone. We were lucky enough to find a sweet powder cash over on Cat Dancer which was closed from the top entrance. So the only way to access it was to shoot across Geronimo through some rocks and trees. We explored the backside for a few runs before heading back to the Dancer - despite the baby treetops and occasional obstacles you had to maneuver around, it was definitely the sweet spot of the day. Headed home to get cleaned up before meeting up with everyone at Radda for happy hour. Passed out later watching an SNL rerun, and spent most of sunday playing Zelda.

take a sniff

Since the start of the season, I've had the Juicy Fruit theme song from their rockin 80's ski advert stuck in my head.



It just gets revs me up for sick daffys, and to quote that Breck Info guy - a shredfest in general. No new snow all week, so I replaced the busted strap on my Profile and we headed to Breck. We started out on peak 7 with the Ore Bucket then a few groomers, and then made our way over to the 6 chair. Although the snow was, ahem, sparse at best in that area we took the Imperial Express for a couple of runs, then kind of zig zagged over to Peak 9 for a break at the lodge. Then we meandered back to the peak 8 and called it a day.





On the way home we decide to break up the drive with a stop at Kermit's for some of their famous chili & some brews.





And before we left, we made sure to honor the almighty Juicy Fruit with our own contribution to the $1 walls.



After we got back, steph & I headed over to Gina's to watch some NFL playoffs. After the game we stopped by LauRenn's and played some wii. Sunday was another stellar Zelda day - I completed the Goron Mines. Later on we caught the 24 premieres and got started downloading the Jack Bauer 24 hour mixtape.

keystone capers

Went to Keystone saturday. The mountains have not been getting much snow, but I brought the new Prophet to try out anyway. Much of the terrain was kinda rocky in the back bowls where we started the day so I headed back to the truck to swap out for the old Profile. After we met back up, Steph hit some runs with Gretchen et al, while Greg & I hung out under the Montezuma lift. After a few more runs, we called it a day and headed back to boulder for an encore southern sun aprés ski. After which, we headed to Sniagrab where Steph got a blowout deal on some new skis/bindings. Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped off at the Nook, before heading to Milo.

Sunday morning, I was stoked to watch the Pats playoff until it started, poorly. And continued as such. Played a bunch of Zelda, then we went to see Up in the Air

nye sts9

Bolted out the door an hour early, picked up Steph, met up with Greg at milo and hit the road to denver. Nice pink clouds on a fine new year's eve:



Checked into our hotey along with the rest of colorado, then ventured off down 16th for some pizza to bring back to the room. Jacq & Andy met up with us soon thereafter with a hearty spread from the Rio. Some rounds of champagne and we were off to the Wells Fargo Theater. During the walk, we got to see the early round of denver fireworks. Got inside during the end of the opening act, and in no time Sound Tribe hit the stage with a killer 'Peoples'. First set was crazy, anchored with a welcome 'Circus' and closed out with a pounding 'Shock Doctrine'.



Set break was a hoot - the Thriller album played over the PA, and people were getting down. STS9 returned to the stage, played a tune and then counted down to the new year with plenty of confetti. Long second set, and then double encores kicked off with a very funky 'Wika Chakana'. We left the venue around 1.30~ish, and walked back to our room.



SET ONE:
(Really Wut Tease) > Peoples
Tooth
One A Day
Evasive > EB
Circus
Move My Peeps
Shock Doctrine

SET TWO:
This Us
*NYE Countdown*
ATLAS
Rent
EHM
Hidden Hand Hidden Fist
Lo Swaga
Inspire Strikes Back

ENCORE ONE:
Wika Chikana
The Unquestionable Supremacy of Nature

ENCORE TWO:
Be Nice

Friday morning we had brunch at Mona's 2, then headed home and pretty much vegged & played wii. Saturday morning we journeyed to Breck, and got snowed on all day - the best snow we've had all season even though there were still some rocks poking out here and there around the 6 chair.