Show #27: Grand Junction, CO, part II

Grand Junction High School Auditorium
February 27, 2006

● February 27

I'm on a life-long quest to get to every national park in the country. While a national monument is one step below a full-fledged national park, I couldn't pass up the opportunity since we were so close. So Ann, Josh, Patrick, Stacey and JenDeen joined me today for a glorious drive through the breathtaking Colorado National Monument.

For me, these past two days have been the highpoint of the tour!

Piano du jour: 9' Yamaha, out of tune (sigh...)

We arrived at the venue at 5:45 to find that the piano was locked, and no one seemed to know who had the key. Sheesh... We usually have our sound check at 6:00, but it was almost 6:45 (after an almost three hour search!) before someone arrived with a key. While we were waiting, I feared that if the piano was this well secured, it probably hadn't been tuned today. And I was right. It is explicitly stated in the contract with each of these venues that the piano is to be tuned the day of the concert. And again and again, this is ignored. This is so frustrating.

But despite all the pre-show angst, the show went very well. I had a great time tonight.

Miles traveled: 0
Hotel: Comfort Inn

Show #27: Grand Junction, CO, part I

● February 26

We departed this morning at 8AM. I have been known to say that I didn’t choose a career in theatre because of desire or ability; rather it was the hours that were appealing. On the road by 8:00? Do people really do this? Today was going to be very, very long – the longest driving day of the entire tour. But I was so looking forward to the being in the mountains that I didn’t care. I mean, how much Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas can one kid take?

We first glimpsed the mountains 95 miles east of Denver. My excitement built as we drew nearer. Oh, how my heart loves the mountains! It was very warm all day. It was in the 60’s in Denver, and still relatively warm up in the mountains – in the 30’s, and the roads were all clear. I’ve made this drive on I70 twice before in the summer, but doing it now in the winter is a whole new experience.

I love making this drive – past ruins of long-abandoned 19th-century gold mines, small ski towns, snowy peaks, pine-covered slopes, ski runs, frigid mountain streams running below...

We stopped at a rest stop at Vail Pass, elevation 10,666 feet.

It looked like there were about seven feet of snow on the ground, and the rest stop itself was virtually buried.

On our way down the western side of the Rockies, the terrain gradually changed from the generally rounded, elegant contours in the east, to the more rugged land of the west. Red, snow-covered mesas… huge, jutting plates of sedimentary rock rising at wild angles out of the earth... The snow gradually diminished as we descended; first melting from the southern slopes, and finally disappearing entirely.

JenDeen spent the long drive with my iPod watching thirteen – count ‘em, thirteen! – episodes of Battlestar Galatica. Oh, the girl’s got it bad!

We made surprisingly good time – it took us only a bit over 10 hours to go the 600 miles.

After checking into our hotel, Jody, Tim, JenDeen and I walked down the street to W.W. Pepper's, a great southwestern restaurant, for a wonderful, leisurely dinner – just what we needed after our long day in the van. Tim and I then returned to our room and finished the evening watching the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Miles traveled: 595
Hotel: Comfort Inn

Show #26: Johnson (City?), KS

Johnson High School Auditorium
February 25, 2006

Piano du jour: 7’ Baldwin, shallow touch and muddy sound, a bit out of tune on each end of the keyboard

Yesterday’s near-tropical temperatures were a mere memory this morning…brrr!

Being a lover of road trips, there are so many things along the way that I would love to check out, or great photo ops waiting to be captured, but we just don’t have the luxury to stop. For instance, today alone we drove past Historic Fort Dodge, the bone-dry Arkansas River, the World’s Largest Meteor, and the World’s Largest Hand Dug Well.

The big debate: Johnson or Johnson City? The Rand McNally Atlas says "Johnson". The Official Kansas State Map says "Johnson City". The town’s water tower says "Johnson". But the sign on the outskirts of town says "Welcome to Johnson City". A mystery for the ages. Whatever you call it, this town is so small that they don’t have any lodging options. So we stayed 22 miles to the east in Ulysses. The turnout for the concert was very small. Apparently there was something going on this evening in Ulysses.

In each of these towns, we are performing as part of a Community Concert Series. Most towns have four concerts scheduled through the year, and tickets are sold only on a subscription basis. Allied Concert Services, our tour organizers, have a number of different concerts that each venue can choose from. A showcase is held every year in Minneapolis, and representatives from all these local associations attend in order to see what is being offered. They return home to report on what they saw, and the local associations then choose which four concerts they want. It has been gratifying to hear so many times from audience members that ours was one of the best concerts they’d every had.

For weeks we had heard from Josh, who had toured through Johnson on a couple of occasions before, about Steve, the local association president. Steve was known to prepare a feast of gourmet pizzas for the performers after the show. We were hoping that we would be fortunate enough to partake. And did we ever!

Pizza #1: cilantro pesto, onions and thinly sliced sweet potatoes
Pizza #2: garlic, pine nuts, artichokes and feta cheese
Pizza #3: deep dish spinach
Desert pizza: apple tart

Wow! Thanks, Steve!

Miles traveled: 207
Hotel: Single Tree Inn

Show #25: Pratt, KS

Carpenter Auditorium
February 24, 2006

Piano du jour: 7’ Yamaha

Oh, what a windy drive we had. Jody and Tim, driving the van and truck, had quite a challenge keeping us all on the road. On the way, we passed Sedan, Kansas – home of the World’s Longest Yellow Brick Road, or so the signs said.

Our musical family has increased by two in the past few days. Travis just took delivery of a shiny six-string bass he bought on eBay.


And Patrick, while visiting a small music store in Bartlesville, bought a half banjo/half mandolin creation he’s calling a banjolin. Between this and his accordion, he says that all he needs now is to learn to play the tuba and he will have mastered the three most annoying instruments known to humanity.


It was 70° when we arrived in Pratt! Glorious!! We were nervous about what the Leisure Hotel would be, but it was very nice. All Spanish hacienda looking with a red tile roof. After checking in, I went out and laid out on the dry, horribly prickly grass, just so I could soak up some of that warm sun.

The highlight of our Joydit Line this evening was a woman, old enough to be his grandmother, kept hitting on Patrick. “You are just so sexy! I just couldn’t keep my eyes off of you!” Gulp… thanks.

Miles traveled: 230
Hotel: The Leisure Hotel

Show #24: Bartlesville, OK

Bartlesville Community Center
February 23, 2006

● February 22

A day off! Man, did I ever need this one. Thankfully, as our exhaustion builds, the tour schedule gets easier. This was our last stretch of six shows in a row. We have no more than three in a row from here on out… whew. We got to sleep in this morning, and then departed at noon for our grueling 45-mile drive to Bartlesville. I was a slug for the rest of the day, and was asleep before 10PM (unheard of for me, really.)

Miles traveled: 45
Hotel: Best Western

● February 23

Piano du jour: 9’ Steinway – score!

Four weeks down, two to go.

I woke up this morning very rested and ready to explore the environs. Stacey, (our birthday girl!) and JenDeen joined me for a day of adventure. Our first stop was to see the 19-story Price Tower, the tallest of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs ever to be built.

Just across the street was our venue for the evening – the Bartlesville Community Center – designed by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s protégés. My goodness, I certainly wasn’t expecting architecture like this here in Bartlesville.

It’s very reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, AZ, where I did Phantom for several weeks in 1995.


Next on our tour of Bartlesville was the Frank Phillips House, a gorgeous old mansion built in 1908 by the founder of Phillips Petroleum.

We then drove twelve miles out of town to Woolaroc, the Phillips’ little country getaway, where they would entertain the hoi polloi of the day, including the likes of their dear friend, Will Rogers. It’s now a game preserve…

…and a museum, displaying much of the Phillips’ extensive collection of Native American and Western-themed art.


That evening, we arrived at the theatre to find that they almost got our name right on the marquee. The 1700-seat theatre is very beautiful inside.

Lobby chandeliers

The Green Room walls are covered with head shots of famous, and the not-so, who have played here over the years, including the legendary Carol Channing.

Here’s Ann doing her best impression…

Susan’s family and her in-laws all live in Oklahoma, and they were here tonight to see the show.

After the show, we had a surprise birthday party for Stacey, who turned 28 today!

Miles traveled: 0
Hotel: Best Western

Show #23: Coffeyville, KS

Roosevelt Middle School Auditorium
February 21, 2006

Piano du jour: 7’ Baldwin – another old piano

Today was probably the roughest day on the tour. We had 360 miles to cover followed by a show in the evening. We departed the Capri Motel at 7AM this morning. On the way, we drove past Minneapolis, Kansas – population 2,044.

It’s so easy to feel out of touch when you’re on the road like this. But every now and then, there are reminders that there are still horrible things going on in the world.

It finally seems that we are leaving the Great Plains. After so many days spent driving across state after perfectly flat state, it is a welcomed change. We’re starting to get hints of being in the West, with more hilly and rugged terrain, oil drilling, cattle herds… We’ve even gotten a few glimpses of green fields. Spring is coming! However, it’s gotten cold again – it was down to 30° when we arrived in Coffeyville. The long drive actually went surprisingly quickly.

Coffeyville’s claim to fame is that this is where members of the dreaded Dalton gang were finally killed in a failed bank robbery in 1892.

Our venue this evening was a beautiful, small auditorium.

Miles traveled: 360
Hotel:
Best Western