Cracker Lake, Whipsaws & Schoolhouse Rocks

by Chris Aaland

Like millions of Americans, Memorial Day Weekend signals the traditional start of summer – complete with burnt weenies, 30-packs of Natural Light and hauling the kids to the lake. Actually, that’s a bit of poetic license … mine usually features steaks, microbrew and hauling Jerry McBride to the lake.

I’m a fly-fishing junkie. But Memorial Day Weekend isn’t a good time to chase trout. Rivers are often the color of the Animas right now, which is good for hot chocolate, but not so much for matching the hatch. High country streams are usually high and roily, and it’s amateur hour at most lakes.

Still, recent years have found me making the trek west to a little slice of heaven known as Joe Moore Reservoir, a few miles northwest of Mancos. I like to bob around the little lake in my float tube and cast small streamers and jigs to crappies, bass, perch, sunfish and trout. While I’m a big proponent of catch-and-release fishing in quality waters, I have no problem sacrificing a few Joe Moore fish for the frying pan.

While hungry panfish are the main attraction, the real entertainment starts at sunset. McBride affectionately calls it “Cracker Lake,” and he isn’t referring to saltines. You see, a summer night at Joe Moore – particularly during a three-day weekend – brings out all the best (or worst, depending on your take) elements of Montezuma County. I’m talking rednecks here, and your Grade A, USDA-approved, David Allan Coe-inspired rednecks at that. More on this later …

If you make it out just one night this week, make sure it’s to see the Whipsaws tonight (Thursday) at the Summit. This four-piece band out of Alaska will appeal to twang and rock fans alike. Their debut album, “Ten Day Bender,” is chock full of lap steel and crunchy guitars. “60 Watt Avenue” does its predecessor one better, thanks in no small part to the mixing talents of John Agnello – a guy best known for his work with Sonic Youth and Son Volt. The Whipsaws snuck into town last winter for a Summit gig; the secret’s out this time around.

Get primed for the Whipsaws by attending this week’s Ska-B-Q. Assorted members of Formula 151 will perform, with food from Nini’s Taqueria. Get your drink on at 5-ish in Bodo Park.

Local hip-hop takes the stage at the Summit on Friday with an event billed as “The Takeover.” The lineup includes top MCs and DJs from across the Four Corners, including Artikle, the Understudyz, Definition Rare, Diabolical Sound Platoon and the Outhouse Bros. Break Crew. Doors open at 9 p.m., with an open break floor at 9:30.

Formula 151 will also perform a free concert at Buckley Park at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Wells Group is once again sponsoring the event in conjunction with the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. Last year’s free concert by Shawn Mullins raised $9,000 for our regional breast cancer center through donations.

Kirk James apparently didn’t get the memo that gas costs nearly $4 per gallon. The blues guitarist is all over the joint this Memorial Day weekend, with a solo gig at Blondie’s Pub and Grill in Cortez at 6 p.m. Thursday, a full-band affair at Virginia’s Steakhouse at Vallecito at 8 p.m. Friday, another solo outing at Rubio’s in Aztec at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and a full-band boogie at the Lone Wolf Bar & Grill in Arboles at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The 15th annual Animas Music Festival concludes with a free performance by Jeff Solon’s Swing’n Big Band at 1 p.m. Monday at Rotary Park. Solon’s ensemble celebrates classic American jazz in a family-friendly atmosphere.

Looking to twirl, hula-hoop and freak out to reggae, funk, blues, bluegrass, rock and hip-hop? The tribes will gather at the fourth annual Desert Rocks Music Festival on a private ranch 10 miles from Moab this weekend. Highlights of the eclectic Thursday-to-Sunday festival include the Derek Trucks Band, the Motet, Del the Funky Homosapien, Hot Buttered Rum, New Monsoon and the

The Whipsaws

Eric McFadden Trio featuring Bernie Worrell. The opportunity to get mystic with Mother Nature in the Land of Zion is always a plus.

Most of us from around these parts associate the Schoolhouse with the little place up north for pizza and beer after a day on the mountain. Dig a little deeper into the memory banks, though, and those of us older than 30 remember the old “Schoolhouse Rock!” series that aired during ABC’s Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s and ’80s. Bob Dorough, who wrote and sang such classics as “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here” and “My Hero, Zero,” will perform at the Main Book Co. in Cortez at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. While it’s easy to chuckle at some of Dorough’s children’s work (who hasn’t been able to get “Conjunction Junction” out of his head during a bleary-eyed, all-night road trip?), his resume name-checks such visionaries as Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg. The bebop and cool jazz pianist has even been cited as an influence by Mose Allison.

While Dorough’s bookstore bash proves that many Montezuma County residents have an appreciation for art, culture and humor, it doesn’t kill off stereotypes forged through years of fishing at Joe Moore. This week’s Top Shelf list compiles humorous and frightening episodes I’ve encountered at Joe Moore Reservoir over the past decade or so.

• Having junior high kids throw rocks at me in the water while fishing the northeast bay

• The constant whine of motorbikes and ATVs, mostly driven by children who are years away from taking driver’s ed

• Watching a half-dozen drunks drop a stringer full of trout into the lake and the ensuing chaos that nearly flipped their boat

• Target practice from some yokel’s personal rifle range a few hundred yards away

• The bluegrass pickers’ reunion that usually takes place each August (insert your own banjo joke here)

• Tossing fish guts off the boat ramp into the area in which little kids play and swim – most of whom are the offspring of the same geniuses cleaning the fish

• The never-ending battle between Top 40 country and Big Dog that gets played out over pickup radios

• Folks who believe fireworks and campfire bans don’t apply to them – which, at Joe Moore, is nearly everyone

• Dogfights

• Girlfights

Drink Pearl in a can and Jack Daniels black? E-mail me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net. •