Once we’d settled in and gotten a bunch of “fun” out of the way, we decided to have more fun! Actually, we looked up a couple of open mics in the area for Tuesday and Wednesday nights and then made some plans around those. Our first order of business was to look up Jared’s high school buddy, Ethan Elliot.
(Jared here: As we were hanging out, Ethan reminded me that he was the person that encouraged me to do my first open mic. It was at a dingy bar in State College, PA, called Phyrst. Until that point, I was singing on street corners.)
Ethan and his wife, Jen, have two spunky daughters, Athena (9), and Yelena (7). Every year since the kids were all little, we have been trying to get together for them to meet. This time everything fell into place perfectly and we finally got the kids together!
We started our morning at a Denver local favorite breakfast place called Breakfast Queen. Rudy was in absolute heaven to see banana / Nutella pancakes on the menu. He scarfed them down. Between mouthfuls of cakes and waffles, the kids navigated the ever-awkward situational friendship starter of “Hey, you’re all about the same age. Sit here and get along.” Or, coming in a close second, “Your parents are friends, so you should be too.” But at last, they discovered some shared interest, and they were off and running into at least semi-familiar territory. Plus, Rudy has several friends who are girls, so he did ok. But only so much talk of make up and anime could be entertaining for him…
Rudy, reppin’ that punk spirit with the “Reverse Wave”.
When the girls suggested a retro arcade space to spend some time in the afternoon, called The 1 Up Arcade Bar, Rudy’s whole demeanor changed. FINALLY… some common ground.
When I was little, I’m pretty sure Bob, from the classic So Cal burger joint, “Bob’s Big Boy” was my first crush… forever solidifying my love of red and white checkered Vans, cheeseburgers, and a man with a swirly hairdo. If you ever see Jared in a pair of red and white checkered overalls, you KNOW things are getting freaky later. Since I can no longer fit in the crook of Bob’s cheeseburger arm, I had to settle for a pic of us as equals… Sorry, Bob, my heart belongs to someone else now. Besides, we all saw the way you looked at Betty Boop.
These monkeys clearly don’t respect the “Big Boy” like I do…
A little something for mom…
A little something for dad (well, 1980’s dad*)…
(Jared here: I grew up in the 80’s loving what was then WWF (now WWE) wrestling. I recognized all but one of these guys, but couldn’t place the last one. Left to right, top to bottom, we have Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, *Some Guy*, “Mean Gene” Okerlund, The Iron Sheik, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, George “The Animal” Steel with the Lovely Elizabeth, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and Sgt. Slaughter. Can anybody help me out with the *Some Guy* guy?)
Rudy even got me to play a competitive driving game with him…I came in 2nd, and he was so proud of me. “Look how GOOD you did, mom!” I’m not sure if he was being patronizing or sincere, but I took the compliment!
Since we worked up quite an appetite going back in time to the 80’s, Ethan suggested we dine at their favorite pizza place, Blue Pan, boasting Detroit-style, deep dish ‘za. Holy cow, was it delicious! Here’s Rudy impressing Yelena with his cheese stretching skills.
Once dinner was through, Ethan took Rudy and the girls back to their place, and Jared and I went back to Marianne’s place to shower, change, and grab our guitars for the first open mic we found. Located in the back of Woods Boss Brewery, The Lodge is a smaller (but still substantial) bar set up with a stage, tables, and another bar so they can do shows and karaoke and host an open mic. The host was a fellow #marriedmusician named Luke from a band with his wife, Niki, called, Dollhouse Thieves. Even with a smaller attendance, Luke kept an enthusiastic attitude and moved the night along. We were last on the list, and had a fun evening seeing some of the local talent. Our favorite (even Rudy loved her) was a spoken word poet named Irina, from Reroute Poetry. She was strong, poignant, and funny.
Our sweet Rudyard took about a thousand shots of us on stage that night. They all kind of looked like this. We sang “Naked”, “Don’t Wait”, and “7 Days”, and absolutely destroyed the three people left there. Hahahaha! But seriously, the real Medal of Honor goes out to The Elliot family, who sat patiently and respectfully listened and cheered on the eleven or so artists that occupied the two-and-a-half hours before we went on. The kids were unfazed because we had the WiFi available and hired Minecraft to babysit for the duration.
