phrog blog

Live music has been a large part of the Steamboat Springs experience for many that come visit. A few years ago you could ski all day, see some live music for FREE at Slopeside Bar and Grill, sit in your hot tub for a bit, head out for dinner somewhere where a musician was in the corner picking on a guitar and then off to Level’z for some serious entertainment till 2:00am.

Unfortunately I believe those days are gone. Since the Strings In The Mountain Tent was moved off the mountain and put into the parking lot it seems that the support for live acts at Slopeside is gone as well. There has not been a performance at Slopeside for at least a year, a tremendous loss for the local music lovers. And Level’z has been dead since the building was damaged during a performance when the floor gave out under the patrons feet and was evacuated before anybody was injured.

Well here in Steamboat Springs we have been fortunate enough to have a concert here for the last few years called “SkiJam“. In the last four years it has created a reason for concertgoers to come to Steamboat Springs and ski. Over the years Skijam has had some great artists perform, including Gov’t Mule, Michael Franti & Spearhead, and Steamboat’s favorite transient Keller Williams.

This year SkiJam has The String Cheese Incident.. almost.
The big ticket for the event consisted of:

Zilla with drummer and founder Michael Travis
Kyle Hollingsworth and his band
Honkytonk Homeslice featuring Bill Nershi

Okay so now we have three bands and they are all cheesy. Printed on the ticket it says “JAMATHON” like this is some kind of marathon of jamband festivals. As I walk in I hand over this ticket and they don’t rip it they just take it, no souvenir ticket stub. The ticket stated doors at 3:30pm and I got there about 4:20 and by that time the band featuring Bill Nershi was on stage playing when I walked in. The place was EMPTY! Seems many of the SkiJammer’s were here to do some SKIING! They chose to miss this opening act so they could get out of the ski pants, boots & helmets they wear while skiing, go figure. I was kinda bored so I went to the bar. I’m a beer drinker and in previous years at SkiJam I have enjoyed overpaying for the favorite beer of Colorado concert goers “Fat Tire Amber Ale“. This year I was denied. The ONLY beer they offered at all was Bud Light. What kind of jam band event has only one beer? Then its only Bud Fucking Light! I just grumbled.

Okay so I’ll try to stop bitching.

By the time Honkytonk Homeslice was wrapping it up quite a few SkiJammers piled in for Kyle Hollingsworth. I set up my taping gear and got a garbage can to block in front of the microphones and two very good wingmen Lock & Keith. The sound check seemed on the fly, it took a while to get them out and jamming but they figured it all out and we were off and rolling. Kyle got the tent jamming and everyone seemed to have a great time during his performance. My recording from this is available via torrent thanks to cotapers.org check out a sample on the podcast below.
I will be back to comment on the rest of the evening when time allows me.

more here.

You have tried to call phrog but he never answers his cell phone.
You have yours with you right now and It’s on.

Thank the manufacturer of your phone and the FBI for creating a bugged nation. The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

“Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones”

Now that we know It’s possible, a hacker will be doing this near you soon.
read more | digg story

They seem to have the traffic under control in India without traffic lights.

thanks to my old man for showing me this clip.

With the recent passing of the Godfather Of Soul, James Brown, I feel very thankful to have seen him perform. The 4th of July 2002 will be a day to remember for the rest of my life and hopefully Steamboat Springs will also. Recently in the news, the name of the bridge that the people of Steamboat Springs named themselves “The James Brown Soul Center Of The Universe Bridge” came into question. (see this from the newspaper and the feedback) I’m glad the dummies in charge of the City of Steamboat Springs didn’t screw that up. It’s the name of that bridge and concerts like the one on July 4th 2002 that I love. They are some of the reasons I am proud to call Steamboat Springs my home.

James Brown in Steamboat Springs 1993, Taking it to the bridge!

In recognition of James Brown and of this wonderful event in Steamboat Springs history I will be making my audio recording of the 4th of July 2002 James brown performance available to all via bitorrent. You can download it as flac here tracker provided by cotapers.org

Check out the sample mp3 below.