Weekly Report from Boulder

This weekend it's time for the KGNU Book and Record (and CD and poster and whatever else isn't nailed down) sale here at the station. This year's Book and Record Sale is huge, with great donations from area book and record stores. I got to plug it before I left for vacation on our local NBC affiliate. That was a strange program where half the guests pay to be on. Well it was good exposure, nonetheless! Our sale this year promises to be bigger than ever with some very generous donations of CDs, books, and records.

I spent a little time at the triple A conference before heading out of town. Mike Doughty came by and was great to meet, very professional and together and his music entertains while being different from what Soul Coughing was. We caught some of Shannon McNally and Amos Lee at the Fox on Saturday before heading up to Chautauqua for Los Lobos. Turned out a number of people did that instead of the Spin Doctors. After the show we ran into Mollie O'Brien. When she pulled her ìOh there's David Hidalgo, we should say Hiî I thought she meant she knew him. Next thing I knew I was being told to go ahead and say hi and introduce the rest of the group. Of course he is such a sweetheart it was no problem and next thing I knew he was offering us beers from the backstage fridge. Angela from Putumayo and I got signed posters from them.

The next day it was off for Aspen and for some reason I had this cloud over me when I set out on the road. Getting around in Colorado is never the easiest as I-70 is the main way to get east and west. So I was not happy to see a sign saying Road Closed ahead, but there it was, my reason for not looking forward to the trip. Thank goodness I keep a good map book in the car. Once we were stopped in traffic I jumped out, got the atlas out of the back, and figured out a new route. Some other folks sat in their cars for six hours to get through that stretch! Thankfully I got to enjoy a short new route that got me within 20 miles of the highway to Aspen.

Most of the week was spent hiking but on Wednesday we rode bikes down to the Woody Creek Tavern for lunch. When I first was in Aspen this place was more of a hangout for motorcycles. Now they keep bike racks out front and a water jug for thirsty cyclists always filled. We cut off the trail to the tavern before making it to Woody Creek Road. Shoot, if I had just gone that little bit further I wouldn't have had to drive back by to see the tower that blasted Hunter S. Thompson's ashes into the sky. Even covered up as it was during the week, it was an impressive sight. Hunter was one of the icons that appealed to me when my mom relocated to Aspen. He seemed able to dabble in the world of the glitz as well as the very real. I admire his writing, though do not join in the ranks who talk about his ìgreat influenceî on writers today. Sadly I find people that try to emulate him reek of the effort and lack the truth and grit that he brought to his work to make it truly his own.

Quick belated correction, it was Abdoul Doumbia who came in to help us speak Bambara with Issa Bagayogo.

Elaine C. Erb. KGNU Music Director. <º))))><
email: