Bozeman and The Boss

Downtown Bozeman, Montana

We have not been accustomed to getting up and out early.  It is not that we are such late sleepers as we wake up early enough, and we get out of bed early enough (8am).  We just don’t get saddled up and underway in short order tending to actually get moving more around the 10am hour.  We are in Missoula, Montana at present.  We arrived here on Monday night, will play here today, then it’s on to Bozeman.  It has been snowing lightly since last night.  There has been a pickup truck in the parking lot here plowing the snow.  I don’t think it’s more than a few inches, and it is dry snow (I think).  That’s what I mean.  I haven’t actually been outdoors yet, and probably won’t be for a while.

Right now it’s time for me to try to get ready for action.   We played at a retirement home called “Grizzly Peak” that we played with Gen (Cosmo's Dream) last year.  We had gotten out of the motel room by noon so when we finished our gig we headed for the freeway (I-90) and Bozeman in a light snowstorm.  The speed limits here are high enough that you will be unlikely to get a ticket for speeding.  It’s more likely that you’ll get a ticket for not getting out of the way fast enough.  The speed limit in town on arterials was 45 mph.  The freeway is 75 mph, and 80 mph a little further down the road.  I guess there may have been a stretch that was 65.  In the snow I didn’t get much over 80.  Temperatures in Missoula, and quite a long way out were below freezing.  There was a coat of snow and ice on the road but not too slippery so I was passing everything on the highway.  I’ve always figured Kristi and I have just been lucky in all of our years on icy highways.  We hit a patch of ice and the car started to just fishtail a little bit.  You know the feeling?  I can remember a time when panic would have set in at such a prospect but there were no cars around us so I had complete use of the roadway there.  It only lasted seconds, less than a minute certainly.  The car did drift around the road a bit as I was regaining control then we were through it and off to the races again.  It wasn’t too long after that that the road became bare and dry and remained so until we pulled into Bozeman.  I was glad we got into town before the weather cooled as it does up here in the 4-5000 foot altitudes. 

The last time we were in Bozeman with Cosmo's Dream we were booked at Norris Hot Springs.  We arrived in town early enough to take a nap and then we drove out to Norris, set up, played, and came back to the house where we were staying slept, got up and left Bozeman without seeing anything in the town.   We drove to Rapid City, South Dakota the next day.  We’ll only go to Billings after we play on Friday (tomorrow) night.  We’ll at least see a little of Bozeman while we are here.  It is much warmer today than yesterday and predicted to stay like this for awhile.  It will actually be sunny on Friday, and Saturday which will make for nice driving. 

Cold Smoke Coffeehouse

We have just been out to see where we will be playing this afternoon and tomorrow.  At the coffeehouse we were billed as “Kristi Nebel”.  Now I’m sure some of you will find this either funny, or you will think that of course they billed us as Kristi Nebel because she is pretty damned good.  I understand that, however, I’m not sure how they would feel if she showed up by herself and tried to accompany herself on just her bass guitar.  She would no longer be an original act if she didn’t sing any of the songs that I’ve written.  It is such a humble booking in the first place with absolutely no publicity that I’ve found.  It is a coffeehouse that is situated in a mall that you are not going to walk to.  The young lady to whom we spoke there seemed surprised that Kristi would want to share her humble  billing with an “accompanist”.  It’s not that we haven’t  been down this road before, and I generally don’t really care if it is a private booking like a party, or a retirement home, etc.  In this case we are playing this little coffeehouse simply because that was the only booking we found and it is intended to give us an opportunity to introduce ourselves into the Bozeman marketplace.  It all seems a bit foolish, not very well done etc.  Perhaps I have never perceived reality as it is.   On the other hand, four fingers and a thumb.

Laundromat Bison Sculpture

I hate it when someone refers to this tour as a “vacation” because I can assure you that a vacation would be considerably different in form than what we are doing.  Maybe my life is a vacation.  I believe, however, that if this is a vacation I’d rather work for an honest living than take a vacation.  This is,an adventure.  My goals are quite modest.   My belief is that at this time of life they need to be.  I want us to have at least a year playing concert venues that have 100 or more seats.  This includes house concerts (which may be smaller but are a greater opportunity to actually communicate.  Of course I have to accomplish this before I die by accident, or by natural occurrence.

Bozeman shop window full of signs

 On the way here we have been listening to “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen.  He started playing the guitar while he was pre-pubescent.  I found myself comparing notes all the way through the book, and occasionally he would say something about the nuts and bolts of being a performer and Kristi would perk up suddenly with delight that there was someone else in the world who could understand the life that we have chosen for ourselves.  In many regards, it doesn’t matter if you are a rock star, or a lounge musician the life is very similar.  I can’t say that I’m entirely unhappy with the humility of our position in the world of music.  We have been in a world in which we had to make a living, as humble a living as it may have been.  It has been a world of adventure and wild creativity.  We have rolled the dice, and although we have not been big winners, we are still in the game

.We did discover when we went to the UK that we had some value to someone.  We had a couple of years where we played a significant number of festivals, and we have played some significant folk, and acoustic clubs there as well.  On one hand I like the songs I have written.  I enjoy singing them, and people respond positively to them.  On the other hand I have often felt flattered, surprised at how well we have been received.  We have made all the mistakes you can make as musicians over the years.  I think we make fewer these days but I’m sure we’ll trip a few times more before we reach the end of our journey.

Bozeman Laundromat

The Bozeman Bison sculpture was just outside this laundromat.  It was one of the best laundromats I've been in, and I've been in more than a few.  There was a full time attendant with all the coins one would need, free wi fi with fairly new machines of varying sizes to fit all circumstances.  The place was clean and the attendant swept the floor while we were there.  I think he was probably the owner and he made me feel like being the owner of a laundromat would not be such a bad deal.