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May
15th, 2004 - Cow
Bop finds the 'Stonehenge of New Mexico'...
We got out fairly early (at least for us) and went over the Quarter
Horse Museum. Since I am a card-carrying member it was practically
free, and being there made us miss our horses something fierce.
Maybe next time we'll try the trip on horseback, although the SPCA
would probably have a problem with us subjecting our mounts to the
'challenge', can't say I blame em. (Sidenote: I'll bet many of you
have noticed a definite twang to my writing, well, it is merely
a product of the places I've been and am going through. I'll probably
say 'babe', 'like', and 'let's do lunch' a lot once we get to Southern
California) Back to the museum, it is a great collection of equine
heritage and we really enjoyed the exhibits. Being from Cow-lifornia,
we get a lot of: "you ain't REAL cowboys," especially
from Texans. We even heard it from an Okie in Tulsa, (and she was
wearing Birkenstocks! Some cowgirl she was!), but hey, we can deal
with it. However, she did feel bad about what we were subjecting
Pammy to, and toked us out pretty well. So, all is forgiven on that
front. Back to "real cowboys", as I learned from the scholar
Jo Mora, the first American cowboys were the Spanish Vaqueros of
CA, that's right, Cow-lifornia. It was even noted on the wall of
the museum, (which I didn't expect to see). Now, the culture and
heritage has developed since and a person would have to be a fool
not to note the contribution of Texans to the mix, so much so that
the HQ of the AQHA is in Texas, enough said there, "can't we
all just get along?"
Next stop, Cadillac ranch. At first I couldn't tell whether it
was a monument to bad drivers, or a Detroit Stonehenge sorta thing,
and it looked like they could have used a better GPS system (Ellen
would have definitely said "recalculating route". (For
you newcomers, check some of our archived journal pages, Ellen
is our GPS voice) The ranch is a herd of finned Caddys set in
the ground at the exact angle of the pyramids. It is a work in
progress, as they leave spray paint there for people to tag it
as they visit. It is not marked and you have do some sleuthing
to find it (or ask for directions, you know how hard that is for
us guys). Actually, if you look to the south, on I-40, just west
of Amarillo, you'll see it, but after that, 'you cain't get thar
from here'. Cozy Dog left our brand on one of em and we headed
out towards the half-way point between Chicago and LA. It was
high noon, a wind was whipping tumbleweeds through the streets
of Vega, a nearly deserted Panhandle town, as we wound our way
on the oldest alignment of Route 66 to find the center spot. No
turning back now, California here we come (we have actually been
playing the tune, and it makes us all a bit homesick), Santa Monica
or Bust.
The road seems to open up from here on. The terrain has changed
and towns seem further and further apart, with fewer playing opportunities
and our cash reserves steadily diminishing. It is going to take
some clever and shrewd thinking to make this leg as fun and successful
as the first. One big problem was that the original road is basically
a frontage road to the interstate and dead ends with great frequency.
Now the interstate has what one would think of as souvenir and
curio shops (like those on 66), and on the surface they would
be perfect playing and hanging opportunities. Not so fast, I say.
It turns out all of those shops are owned by the same corporation,
and they have a rule about people playing music. Get me back to
old 66, and step on it.
We found it (Historic 66) around Moriarty, and it was a nice
and welcome change. We fell into Rich Ford outside of Albuquerque
(man that's hard to spell this late at night) and we were sent
to their store in town. Seems as though they were having a big
celebration and we didn't want us to to miss it. We found it not
far from old 66 , which is Central Ave. in Albu...(you know what
I mean, henceforth called AB). There was a big party going on,
they had a a sound system and MC, lots of staff and of course,
customers. The General Sales Manager Darin Wade was the nicest
guy and really took care of us. With all of the activity, we both
realized that an acoustic western swing/jazz band would probably
be a fart in a blizzard there, so he bought a couple of CDs, and
they helped us out, and sent us on our way. But not before John
Williams gave us a lot of good leads on where to go to find some
potential hits. It was a great thought, but heck, it was already
Saturday night, and anybody that wanted live music already had
it. However, AB is a great town, and we decided to stay another
day for two reasons. Firstly, Route 66 splits back east of here,
one leg goes up through Santa Fe, the other went straight to AB
along what is now the I-40 corridor. Well, if this is the Route
66 Challenge we can't very well neglect an important part of the
early history of the road. And second, since this might be the
last town for many many of miles, we need to play and build up
a stash for that long stretch across the desert. Anti-Buzzard
therapy is what I would I call it.
We went by an old and deserted hotel and Mikey yelled out: "that's
it!" Now, I thought he'd seen the perfect cardboard box for
his new drum concept, but no, it was a hotel he'd spent a week
in thirty or so years ago whilst here on the road. Well Mikey,
I'd say you're doing a heck of a lot better than the motel...good
going, it just goes to show you the power of swingin, don't it?
We did finally find a cool place to eat, and we made some contacts
with the manager, (thanks to a cool waiter named Mark) and we
are trying to work it out so we can play there tomorrow night.
It has been really surprising how cool everyone has been in regards
to the spur of the moment mode of biz we conduct. It of course
makes it more impactful that people are pledging per mile, and
that money will ensure that kids get access to mentoring from
world-class musicians on a consistent basis through JazzMasters
Workshop. We'll loop back around through Santa Fe tomorrow, then
hunt up what we can back here in AB, including contacts on the
westward trail. So, tighten your cinches folks and water your
horses, the road might get a bit rougher from here on out.
Quote of the day: " You guys are CRAZY!" Darin Wade
said, before cracking a car salesman's million-dollar smile, "...
sounds like fun."
Click here
to check out pictures from May 15th
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