Well things have been getting pretty stressful lately with my job and rentals.   I have been thinking to myself “self, you need a break or you’ll go crazy”.  The universe responded and my friend Jimmie invited me to go to a concert with some tickets he got for free from a radio station!

It had been a while since I’ve been to Red Rocks.  It is by far one of the best places for a concert.  It’s outdoors, it’s in the foothills and the rocks and soil as the name implies is/are red!  That is where Colorado gets it’s name from “Red Colored”. 

The show was great, the energy was amazing and the light drzzle of rain was refreshing.  It really has lifted me up and given me some very postitive energy to attack some of the things I’ve been going thru.

Videos have already hit the internet!  They have signs everywhere that say “no cameras or recording devices”.   Well…Everyone has a cell phone. The sound quality sucks, but it gives and idea of what it was like.

Somewhere along the line a private company took over ownership of the fair.  Since then it’s turned into a bigger and bigger deal.  They run the parade every year, the rodeo and the island grove park carnival.   One of the benefits to this is they draw in some pretty big names in music. They’ve had Def Leopard, Kid Rock, Keith Urban and numerous other acts.

Last night we had tickets to Cheap Trick and rode our bikes to the fairgrounds.  Blue Oyster Cult opened up for them.  I think we were the only people that rode our bikes.  The people watching the gate kind of laughed as we rode past them and bypassed the $10 parking fees.

Ticket Stubs

The fair has increasingly gotten more and more expensive.  I’d imagine back in the days of the Potato Fair it was pretty cheap to walk to the park.  They’d have some games and maybe a baking contest.  Now it’s $10 to park your car and another $5 just to get into the park.  A Turkey leg will cost you $8 and a lemonade $4.  That makes the regularly priced tickets to see Cheap Trick($17) not so bad in comparison.   We got them for $5 which is usually the cost to just walk around.  Not bad!

At the show! You can see the meat packing plant in the distance

The concert was pretty good.  We recognized a few of their songs from the radio and there were a few people that seemed to know every song.  I am sure this was a pretty big deal for them.

We got an “Indian Taco” (that isn’t really a taco and isn’t Indian either) as we walked around the food court.  We ran into a few people that we know and then watched the concert.  Overall it was a fun night .

Walking around the fair grounds after dark

We eat lots of fresh food like strawberries and lettuce from the garden

We go to concerts: Britton in downtown Greeley at the Blues Jam

Cassie outside the gates to Greeley

We ride our bikes everywhere

Chickens give us lots of food: Henrietta on an egg

Hooray for summer!

Outside with the Kress Marquee

Then last night we decided to go out to see a movie. Instead of going to the big movie megaplex we went to the Indie movie theatre called the Kress Cinema and Lounge here in Greeley. We really like the Kress and it’s a nice place to take friends and family, or go out on a date like we did. They’ve remodeled the building and given it a sort of art deco feel from the 40′s.

We saw a movie called “Barney’s Version”. It was a pretty interesting take on the traditional love story starring Paul Giamatti. At the Kress you can eat and drink (including alcohol) which is very different from other theatres that only offer popcorn, pop, and candy. We shared a “Charlie and the Chocolate Brownie”, a brownie and ice cream dessert. Also something different about Kress is that they have FREE showings of old cult favorites (on Fridays) and classics (Sundays).

Afterward, we hung out and listened to a live jazz band that was playing in the lounge for a little while before taking the Corvette back home. It was a great day all in all.

Last night we went to Dicken’s Tavern/Opera House in Longmont to celebrate our friends Troy and Lori’s recent marriage. Britton has been friends with Troy for a long time. Britton and Troy’s brother, Kelly, even went to elementary school together! But they really all became good friends when they worked together at IBM and had the great idea to put a band together.

Troy, Kelly, Dave, Britton and Jimmy -and lots of pizza circa 2003/2004 at Scooters I believe

This band was known as Pan Loco for all the pizza and crazy bread they would eat when they would practice together. They were really a pretty good cover band. Britton played bass guitar, Jimmy played guitar, Troy played guitar and keyboards, Kelly played drums and Dave sang. It was fun. They got gigs on what we call the “8th Ave Circuit”. Basically they are the kind of seedy bars in Garden City like Scooters and Bears. But it was a blast. We invited all our friends out and we rocked out all together.

Pan Loco poster

The band sort of just stopped playing together. Nothing major happened, just life. Everyone was busy and it was difficult to schedule practice times around everyone’s calendars. But for that moment in time, it was great. I was dating a guy in a band! haha

Some of the band looking sharp: Kelly, Troy and Britton

The best thing though, is that we all became good friends and so it was nice to see Troy and Lori and Kelly and Jimmy all together again for the reception. We had a lovely meal at Dicken’s Tavern and then got to watch a  live band upstairs in the Opera House. It was only fitting.

Congratulations Troy and Lori!

Troy and Lori