January 31, 2004 - Englewood, Co

I guess I woke up around 6:00AM. I haven't quite adjusted yet to the time change or altitude. I looked out my window and saw that it was snowing. That's Colorado for you. It goes from being 60 degrees to snowing. I decided to get dressed early and load my stuff on the bus so I wouldn't have to scramble for bus call which was at 11:30. After I loaded the bus I went to the restaurant in the hotel to eat breakfast. Before I ordered I remembered the pact that Victor and I made yesterday. We decided that we would eat light, exercise and lose some weight on this tour. I decided to order a vegetarian omelette. After I ate I went back to my room to exercise a little bit. I got on the bus about 10:45 and our bus driver,Jeff was cleaning the bus. One by one everybody in the band came on to the bus. We pulled off at about 11:30 for the hour ride to Englewood which is a suburb of Denver. We did our usual laughing and joking in the front lounge of the bus. I sat up front with Jeff to listen to more bus driver stories.

When we arrived at the Gothic Theater no one from the club was there yet. So we ended up having to wait almost an hour for someone to open up the club. Merav followed us down in her car and Michael Kott and his girlfriend met us at the venue. At one point I got in their car with them. She wanted to read some things to me about my zodiac sign. It was dead on! The description of me was perfect. I think I'll have to pick that book up. My birthday is May 10, that makes me a Taurus. Victor's dad's birthday was also May 10th. Pete Wooten and I have a lot of things in common. We got to share our last birthday together at the Bass camp. I didn't get to know him long but I'm going to miss him.

When I went to check to see if the club had been opened, I saw that all the gear was already in there. I immediately began to set up Victor's rig and tested it and tested the basses. He has 7 basses out on this tour. 6 four string Fodera's and 1 five string Fodera. I also have a 5 string Fodera and a 7 string 'M' Bass. Divinity has a 5 string Modulus out with her. Joseph and Ted found enough time to continue the current game of Duct tape basketball - they have a serious rivalry going. Ted scored 2 baskets and Joseph scored 1. The total is now Ted Atwell 4, Joseph Wooten 1. Like I mentioned before, you have to make your own fun when you're on tour. Speaking of making your own fun,...Joseph Wooten has an alter ego. His name is Jacques Danger. And whenever you say his name you have to say it with the worst French accent that you can muster. I like being around Jacques - he's kinda' funny. He's kind of a musician/secret agent/ladies man. Just imagine Austin Powers and Pepé La Pue all rolled into one. Jacques Danger always refers to himself in the 3rd person. As in "Ze womens love Jacque Danger." He even has his own theme music. So the next time any of you see Joseph Wooten, call him Jacques Danger or better yet make a little bill board that says "We love you Jacques Danger!"

The snow was picking up outside. At sound check we ran through 'People Make the World Go 'Round' a few more times and I felt like I had the hang of it. There's a fast and funky diminished lick that Victor added at the end of the tune. Joseph and I had practiced it a couple of times while we were setting up the gear. After sound check I decided to go for a walk by myself in the snow. When I walked out the front door there was a long line of people waiting to get in. I thought to myself, "Man, those guys are die-hard Victor Wooten fans!" If I wasn't traveling with him I would more than likely be in that line too. It was beautiful outside and the temperature wasn't too bad. It's more of a dry cold out here so it's not as bone chilling as it is back east. I got back from my walk just in time to test the basses before show time. The doors for the public opened at 8:00 so the theater was just about full. I pretty much got used to people calling my name out as I'm testing the basses before show time. But there was one guy who was really drunk and he wasn't really saying hello - he was just trying to be annoying. He asked a whole lot of questions and I don't really mind that - I like explaining the basses and gear to people. But he was holding up my progress. After I tested all the bus I signaled to Kurt and the front of the house board that we were ready to start the show. Our lighting director Ted brought the lights down and the crowd erupted. Victor walked out on stage by himself and he just stood there,... After the crowd settled down a little bit he did a collage of his signature licks. It was one of the coolest intro's I'd ever seen. He decided to try the new song 'People Make the World Go Round' as the second tune. I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how well I knew it. But we played it just about perfect. What was even more surprising was that Victor called for me to take a solo. Then we started trading solos with each other - it was very funky! Of course Joe, Regi & Derico's solo sections of the show were great as usual. We added a new section for Divinity that involves her free-styling with audience participation. I don't want to give away too many of the details now because I know many of you haven't seen the show yet and I don't want to spoil any surprises. That's the main reason I don't give many details about the shows in the tour diary. Michael Kott came out and played another excellent solo. Then Victor introduced me to take a solo and I used my Q-tron envelope generator again. I'm liking the sound it gives me. At the end of the show Victor took a very cool solo. It was very long - he definitely felt like playing. I think the whole band really felt like playing tonight. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage.

After the show we did our usual meet and greet with the audience. We loaded the gear out in the snow and said our goodbye's to Merav and Michael Kott. We weren't staying the night in Denver because we had a 555 mile drive to Park City, Utah. Since it was snowing here and we were heading to a ski resort we figured it would be snow all the way. We anticipated a 12 hour drive. Once we settled on the bus I called my wife. We both prefer to talk to each other after every show - even though it's usually 4:00AM her time. I didn't want to keep her on the line to do a tour diary entry or to check my email for me. I figured we'd get caught up on that the following day since it was a day off. I was extremely tired. It didn't feel like the second day to any of us. Everybody said it felt more like the 4th or 5th show. After everybody went to bed I walked back to the back lounge and crashed on the sofa.

Here's Kurt hard at work at the sound board...

peace & blessings

anthony