The desert has always held a mystery for me because of its varied and mythological history. From giving birth to green, hulking behemoths, to giant ants wreaking havoc upon the unsuspecting population, to the irradiated halcyon-hazed oasis that sprouted in the desert and draws in those seeking a quick fix to their shattered dreams on the roll of a die or a pull of the lever on the hypnotically decorated to the hilt with garish lights to answer that fix, to innumerable Christ-like deaths and resurrections of a generically titled coyote who patronized eternally defective manufactured by a similarly generic manufacturing company and continuously foiled by a critter with a brain much smaller than his.
And so it should only have been fate that my journey to this magically mysterious place should have extraordinary beginnings. As I was waiting in the snaking, long queue to check in for my flight on US Airways departing out of Reagan National Airport (I still hate the sound of that even though it was named as such long before his death) on Thursday, March 10, 2005, I began to chat with the lady behind me who was having a heck of time planning her business to Miami. She had booked her reservation on United Airlines but through some code-sharing thing, part of her flight was on US Airways. On top of that, they issued her paper tickets which have pretty much gone the way of 8-track tapes. In fact, as she pulled the tickets out to show to me, a reporter from the New York Times happened to be walking by and introduced himself to her and asked her where she had gotten her paper tickets. Then he revealed he was doing a story for The New York Times to appear on Thursday, March 17, 2005 on the subject of paper tickets. They had been canvassing passengers at several airports around the country in preparation for the story and had only found one other person besides this lady who had been issued paper tickets up to that point. So, I had an entertaining time watching this interview take place right before my eyes and it made the long wait in line pass relatively quickly and I'll be curious to read the final article.
Little did I know how perfectly this unusual beginning to my trip would set the tone for the rest of the trip. After arriving in Phoenix and picking up my rental car from Avis and fighting my way through the heavy Phoenix traffic which would should have been about a 90-minute drive seemed more like two hours before I arrived at the historic Hotel Congress. The lobby and downstairs area in general is pretty neatly decorated and offers a bohemian type of atmosphere. The crowd was mostly the hip, trendy college student types mixed in with lots of black t-shirts, eye-liner and tattooed individuals.
After I checked in and introduced myself to Gina Rossi, I met up with the Dares, Jim Peterson, Ian and Barbara Copeland, Don the photographer and Joules from the Backstage Cafe. Everyone immediately welcomed me with open arms and made feel like a member of the posse. I knew then that it would be a fabulous weekend trip from there. Ryanhood were scheduled to go on stage not long after I arrived so we didn't have a heck of a lot of time to chat before that, but there was plenty of time for that later at the excellent India Oven restaurant after the show.
Right before the Ryanhood show, I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Green's mom Lori. Needless to say, Lori Green was a delightful person with whom to chat and I can bet I know from which side of the family Ryan genetically received his good looks. And she was practically beaming with pride during the show which also gave me warm fuzzies.
The set began with the almost traditional (as I've been lead to believe) breaking of Ryan's guitar string during the first song, and Cameron filling while Ryan did the repair job. Later in the set, they did things to have fun and liven it up with like mixing in the classic Mrs. Robinson and combining it with one of their own (which I'm sad to say I have forgotten which one) as well as taking requests from the audience. And if you are a true fan of Ryanhood, you have to see them live in person to really experience, especially after the results of their experiment the following night, but more on that later. The set this night was a relatively short one since they were the opening act, but it was enough to wet my appetite for me. It was a good thing we were going over to the Indian.
After the Ryanhood show, the Dares and the Backstage crew and even Ryan Green's mom traveled to the India Oven Restaurant that Gina had mentioned on the AUI forum and everyone agreed it was one of the best Indian meals they'd ever experienced. And I believe it may have been the first time Martin, the bassist from the Dares, had ever eaten Indian food and now he's hooked. The papadum was by far the best I'd ever tasted. I'd never had it with the glazed look like it had that night (or maybe it was the beer I'd been drinking
Then came Friday, the big event. The Dares and Ryanhood. The Dares exploded onto the stage and rocked the house with their already classic tunes familiar to most of their fans, including the "Would You, Could You” and two new ones that I think really show how far the Dares have really evolved under Ian's tutelage. They already have the rock star look, with Matt pounding the heck out of his drums; Ben with the curious, soon to be worldly, look about his eyes as he played and sang; and Martin who I think has rock star swagger about him the most.
The kinetic energy from the Dare's appropriately fueled the growing excitement for Ryanhood's daring experiment with a full band. However, Ryanhood opened with the traditional opening of "Oh No" and teased the audience with few other duo-only tracks before bringing on the full band (I was expecting the full band to come in and play the last verse of "Oh No" and immediately segueing into the second song for dramatic effect). Then they did a few rotating sets of music with the band and then the duo again which I think worked really well and I call the experiment a success. Unfortunately, I didn't see but could only hear the last set from within the bar located next to the club as it was about this time that sadly Barbara and Joules had to start their arduous journey back to the City of Angels, but the music provided an excellent backdrop to the hugging and well wishes that were exchanged.
During this time, Gina introduced us to the station manager of the local station manager. It turned out that he is from Virginia like me and used to work at a major radio station in the DC market. I'm a bit of a radiophile on top of everything else, so we discussed some major happenings going on at his former station in DC until Ian whisked him away to perform his magic and I never saw him again!
Anyway, I hope Ryanhood continues to shake things up a bit as they continue to mature and develop. I like the intimateness of the two guitars but I also like how the full band helped tighten things up. I would like to see them add things like the acoustic bass, mandolins, violins and dulcimer guitars to their live performance and future recordings. It was really cool to see them take the risk of using the full band and have it work so well. I can't wait to see what the future brings to Ryanhood and hope I get to see them again here in the east.
Saturday began with breakfast with the Dares. I barely had enough time to go see the Mission before we headed off for the Phoenix show which, despite being booked at the last minute, still managed to bring out a receptive audience. Then there were more hugs and good-byes and back to my hotel.
On Sunday, I left myself some time to decompress by going to the Heard Museum and taking in the guided which I highly recommend. It was my tour guide's last day in that position at the museum, so it seemed extra special. I also took in a guided tour of the Mystery Castle, which was built by Boyce Luther Gulley after he abandoned his family after learning he had tuberculosis and moved to Phoenix to build a castle for the daughter he'd left behind. In fact, Gulley's daughter Mary Lou still lives there and was briefly there on the tour I took, but she had been suffering from pneumonia so climbed up into the attic where she lives in the house. After that I went to South Mountain located right behind the castle and climbed up some rocks to watch the sun setting over Phoenix before returning to my hotel to pack and rest up for the trip back home on Monday morning.
It was a great vacation and a really magical weekend. I really enjoyed meeting everyone who was involved with the Dares and Ryanhood shows. I hope to get to meet everyone again someday!
