[guitarfan01]

oooh, that sounds like a nice concert. I wish Phil would come around my area some time. Closest he ever gets is Dallas, though. Not enough phans here, I suppose.

Galen

[PKfanSteph]

It's happening again...yet another trip coming down to the wire. Hopefully not as close as the last one, though. I'm still planning on getting out to CO for Phil's shows in another 9 days. I need to call Greyhound; their schedule for my usual route isn't on their site now. I hope it's not cancelled.

A friend of mine's mother-in-law passed away today (ok, yesterday). I felt like I should email them, but I never know what to say when that stuff happens. "I understand" certainly doesn't apply! But I guess something is better than nothing.

Saturday I was finally able to get my photos from the concert. Here's a few the one or two of you reading this might enjoy. I'll post more after I've had some sleep. The first one is from the sound check and the other three are from the afternoon clinic. These are from the ones I took with my digital camera.

[guitarfan01]

Goodness, Steph, I certainly envy you your frequent Keaggy watchings.

[PKfanSteph]

Originally Posted by guitarfan01

Goodness, Steph, I certainly envy you your frequent Keaggy watchings.

Yeah, and do you know just how far I have to go to get to a concert?!?! He only comes within 70 miles of these parts once every 4+ years! Besides, when I get off the bus in Denver after 10 hours, *I* won't envy my frequent Keaggy watchings .

More pics from the digital. Phil broke a nail early in his set, so he asked if anyone had a nail file. Sure enough, somebody did--and it wasn't a woman, either! My friend Dawn doesn't hang out in guitarist circles and when Phil started talking about nails and manacures and such, she was quite amused .

More from the film camera later....

[PKfanSteph]

I'm in a picture posting mood today.

Here are some film pics of the show from my old point and shoot. Not very good. I think I'm going to have to get a new one as the pictures are all grainy even in perfect conditions and the film doesn't seem to be advancing properly. Some of my pics are half on one frame and half on the next. Strange.

This past Saturday it was absolutely beautiful here. My uncle Mert brought his two grandsons into town with him on the tractor to begin working in the garden. They love riding up high in the cab with "Papa Mert". Gramma Jo brought their toys and treats in with the car and the four of them had fun playing (and working) in the garden most of the afternoon. I decided it was a good chance to get some more practice with the digital camera.

On Sunday it was extremely windy and we had some big local news because of it. A grass fire got out of control about 30 miles from us (near the town where my stepdad grew up) and burned for 12 miles long and 8 miles wide. Not big news for places like CA and CO, but big for us! Fortunately, it was outside of town and only destroyed four houses. That sounds bad, and it is, but had it been closer to a town, there would've been some major trouble.

The winds are just as bad today. They are coming right through the window next to my desk. Brrrr....

[PKfanSteph]

Well, Phil says he's feeling much better so I'm starting to get ready to leave for Colorado. Unfortunately, I can't afford to fly this time so I'm stuck with the bus . I leave at 8:40pm tomorrow night but I need to be there at least an hour in advance to buy a ticket. I won't get into CO until 6am. Ugh. Better than nothing, I guess.

My friend Melissa and her two kids are meeting me out there for their spring break trip. Should be pretty fun! I went to Cleveland to see Glass Harp with Mel in Augest 2003 and it was a blast, but I have yet to meet her kids. She and I talked on the phone until 4am (2am her time), which was almost 4 hours!!! Yikes!

Nothing much else going on around here. That could be a good thing!

[guitarfan01]

I played "From The Beginning" as a worship song on the mission trip I just got back from. Everyone seemed to really love it. Of course, as I was playing solo acoustic guitar (without loops), I could only do so much with the basic Am D progression, so I added in some other riffs. It was quite fun.

(this is just to tell you of the Keaggy-love I've been spreading. )

[PKfanSteph]

Holy man, I can't believe it's the middle of April!!! Does anyone besides guitarfan01 and Jay42 even read this thing? Or am I just wasting bits?

Anyway, Colorado was way cool. Except for the bus rides. I like flying much better. I went out there with a few days to spare, but coming back was cutting it a little close. Greyhound wouldn't let me get tickets online! What a pain.

The morning of the Salida show, we left Denver around 1pm--we all talked for a bit at Rhonda's (and the kids had to show off the ferrets!). I wasn't feeling well and was glad to stop for lunch halfway into the 3 hour drive. I dunno where we ate, but it was the best hot dog I've ever tasted and I started to feel much better! We got there around 4:30pm. Phil was in pretty good spirits. He, Brian, Dave & Sandy Beegle, my friends Dave & Michelle Wolfe, my other friend Melissa, and I had a chance to relax before the show in Salida and it was good to see everyone again. DaveW, Michelle, Mel and I helped Brian power through setting up the merch table before Phil got there so he could hang with us before the show. The concert was great. Dave Beegle opened and had Sandy help out on palmas (hand claps) on one song. Phil's set was tremendous. He did a great version of "Salvation Army Band"--best I've ever seen! Lots of instrumentals since his voice was still not quite 100%, but that was OK. He brought Dave back up for the encore, but he couldn't hear Phil in the mix so he had to guess a lot! It was good, though. Phil was tired so nobody stayed too long afterward. We got home around 2:30am.

Concert-wise, the next night at the Gothic was even better! But there were tons of people around so we didn't get much "quality time" with Phil. There were still some fun moments, tho. The show was INCREDIBLE! On par with the Wheaton show as some of the best playing Phil's ever done. After making sure Dave could hear Phil, the two of them were HOT together at the end of the night!! Absolutely amazing--I didn't know you could do stuff like that on an acoustic guitar!! WOW! There were a lot of people in the "green room" after the show, but we stuck around anyway. It's fun to see Phil interact with his fans. He was pretty tired, tho. After he left, we ran into Brad Corrigan (Braddigan). I'd seen him earlier in the night but we didn't have a chance to chat. He asked me if I could stick around for a bit--he had some stuff for me. While he went out to his car, Dave Beegle came over with a DVD of a few roughs from his upcoming DVD. He had to get back to packing up his gear and Brad come back. Cool! He had a pile of CDs and a few DVDs for me to give out. Super-cool! We talked for a bit but we both had to get going. Hopefully we can get together next time I'm in town. I got back to Rhonda's around 11:30, but Mel and I talked until 3am while the kids and dog were sleeping in the car! Definitely fun.

The following day (Monday) I pretty much slept most of the day. Mel and the kids came over that evening and talked for quite a while with Rhonda, Gary and I, then the four of us went to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper. Tuesday we drove out to Red Rocks. What a beautiful place! I'd love to see a show there sometime.They even have a little museum type thing with the name of everyone who's played there on the wall. Just don't eat their turkey sandwiches. That took until mid-afternoon and then we drove around, all the way out to Colorado Springs, but by the time we got there, it was too late to do much.

Mel and the kids left the next day, but I had a ton of fun having them there! I can't wait to go out to San Diego to see them next month!

On Easter, my aunt and uncle took me, Rhonda & fam, and a few others out to dinner at this really expensive buffet. It was good, but not worth $22/plate!

I came home the following Thursday (the 31rst), got a few hours' sleep and headed to Iowa City Friday morning. I hung out with Amy all afternoon and she and I took a few of her friends to see the Amana colonies. It wasn't really what I expected. I was thinking it was like some historical learning experience, but it felt more like a giant tourist trap. Anyway, I was with Amy, so it was cool. We drove to Des Moines to eat at Cracker Barrel and then I had to get home. Slept all day Sunday and most of Monday.

I took a TON of digital photos and I still have a few to go through.

Today was my birthday. Nothing too exciting. Uncle Mert and aunt Jo came over for supper and cake and it was an enjoyable evening. No big gifts, just a shirt and $50.

Let me see if I can scrounge up some photos from the trip--OK, here's some from the Salida, CO show on 3/19. More later.

[Jay42]

Waaaaaaaaaaah! I have never seen Dave Beegle live. Quite possibly the world's most underrated player. At least Phil gets SOME secular recognition. Has Dave's name even gotten printed in any of the major guitar mags? It's wrong, wrong, wrong I tell ya!!!

The"Finesse & Fury" album that Dave did with Fourth Estate is one of the top three perfect albums EVER. (The other two being "Freedom" by Whiteheart and "Moving Pictures" by Rush, of course. )

Anyhoo Steph, I am so happy for you getting to see these tours, even if it is by bus instead of plane. When you get to be a homeowner like me, you'll feel like you never have time for a vacation!

[PKfanSteph]

Originally Posted by Jay42

Waaaaaaaaaaah! I have never seen Dave Beegle live. Quite possibly the world's most underrated player. At least Phil gets SOME secular recognition. Has Dave's name even gotten printed in any of the major guitar mags? It's wrong, wrong, wrong I tell ya!!!

Well, yes, I agree. Dave is far too incredible of a player to get the meager amount of attention he does. But he is not entirely unnoticed. Check out the "Press" page on DaveBeegle.com. It's not as much as he deserves, tho. Watching he and Phil together is like watching a master musician with his most accomplished student. Amazing! I hope you get to see Dave live one of these days. At least the live DVD is still making progress.

The "Finesse & Fury" album that Dave did with Fourth Estate is one of the top three perfect albums EVER. (The other two being "Freedom" by Whiteheart and "Moving Pictures" by Rush, of course. )

What, no Phil? ? ? ? I love F&F, but Neal Morse's ONE comes very, very, very close.....

Anyhoo Steph, I am so happy for you getting to see these tours, even if it is by bus instead of plane. When you get to be a homeowner like me, you'll feel like you never have time for a vacation!

Well thanks, Jay. I've had a few people actually get jealous. I don't know if I'd go quite so far so often if I didn't actually know Phil or get all the access. Never know, tho--maybe I've just gotten spoiled . If I take the bus again, I'll just have to allow more time to rest before and after the ride.

Here's some more photos...The Gothic on March 20th this time.

[PKfanSteph]

More from the Gothic. The group shot is Phil, myself, Melissa's daughter Kelsey, Melissa, and her other daugter, Jordan. The other cute guy is Braddigan (Brad Corrigan from Dispatch). He and Phil are both such sweethearts.

[PKfanSteph]

OK, this is my last batch of photos, at least for a little bit! Sooner or later somebody's gonna tell me to get my own DADGAD host for my photos! But this is much easier....

I'm not sure why, but we found that road sign on the way back from Red Rocks Amphitheater quite comical. That's my uncle's front yard in Parker, Colorado.

Don't forget to have a piece of virtual birthday cake! It's fat free, sugar free, calorie free, lactose free, asprin free and even allergy free....

My folks and I went shopping for my birthday gift today. I bought a 28inch rolling suitcase for the flight to San Diego next month. It's very bright turnquoise so it'll be easy to describe to whoever picks me up at the airport!

We also ate at one of my favorite resturaunts, Caniglia's. Delicious spaghetti and meatballs! I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

L8tr,

[PKfanSteph]

Ten days until California!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mel sent me a list of possible stuff to do and there is just SO MUCH that I can't even decide! Definitely Disneyland, Seaworld, Universal Studios and the Taylor factory. I'm staying a week longer than planned so Mel and I can hang out after she's done teaching on the 10th. I can't believe I'm doing this!

Brian wants to launch the new PK stuff after I get back so I still have a lot to do before I leave. OSCommerce and PayPal are not playing well together but neither side can come up with the fix. I can't even find anyone else with the problem! I guess I'll just have to move on and hope there's a fix in the near future. I need to install the group discounts mod but I'm terrirified to make any changes to the database. There's a commercial program I'd like to demo when I get back called X-Cart. It's $240 *installed* and with support, plus it's a one-time fee with unlimited upgrades! It sounds like it will do what we need a heck of a lot better than OSCommerce and I'm almost willing to pop for the $$$ myself! The only downside is that I'll have to re-enter all the product information and customers will need to re-register. Bummer. But if it will save Vicki and I a lot of time and headache, it might be worth it. Oh well, what we've got will get us through, for now.

I got an email from a kid who did a high school speech on PK a few weeks ago. Now *that's* promotion!

My buddy Mark Fisher went down to Kegworth a few weeks ago and spent 6.5 hours in Phil's basement! Lucky guy!!!! The next day, Philly sent me the tracks he added to and they sound awesome! They really didn't need Phil on them--they were more than good enough to stand on their own--but Phil's additions were like icing on the cake! I can't wait for the CD to come out in a month or so. I'm gonna promote the heck out of it. There's some awesome tracks on there!

Not much else going on around here, as usual. I did buy a 512Mb memory stick for the trip, tho. Trying to juggle all those files last time onto a 256 and a 32 was just a pain in the neck. And mom wants me to take a lot of pictures.

L8tr,