Serendipity, Stringdustersand 20 years of Ska
by Chris Aaland
You never know when opportunity will knock in the great outdoors. Back in the early 1980s, my stepdad, Bill Raines, and I went dove hunting northeast of Denver near the town of Bennett. We had access to a private farm with a small stock pond that the doves frequented late in the day. With a little luck, we’d have bacon-wrapped, grilled dove breasts for dinner.
Not too many doves flew by on this particular windy September afternoon. We bagged a few, but hardly enough for dinner for a family of four. We walked back toward Mr. Bill’s Jeep Cherokee, stopping by the irrigation ditch that flowed out of the small irrigation pond’s dam to clean our bounty. Trouble was, the ditch had been shut down earlier in the day. Instead of running water, we found thousands of crawdads crawling around a muddy ditch bottom. Bill sent me to the car to fetch our cooler, which we filled with hundreds of the dirty mudbugs. Later that night, I was introduced to the cultural phenomenon known as the crawdad boil.
 Infamous Stringdusters play back-to-back shows on Tuesday & Wednesday, 9 p.m. at the ACT. |
A few years earlier, on a trek to see relatives in Houston, we set out to try and catch some flounder, redfish and speckled sea trout in the brackish water on the southeast Texas coast. It was a spring break trip, and a cold front moved through, which turned off the bite. I was stumbling around in the shallows and nudged up against an abandoned car tire. My waders split open like someone sliced them with a razor. I looked down and saw several tires, all covered in oysters. Uncle Jim and Mr. Bill ordered me out of my torn up waders, which they knotted into a bag. Later that night, I was introduced to fresh oysters.
A few days ago, Otto and I trekked into the Hermosa Creek drainage for our first grouse hunt of the year. We hiked for 3 or 4 miles, seeing no grouse – an unusual occurrence. In that spot we usually bag several birds. Instead, we found glowing patches of orange … in this case, big, beautiful chanterelle mushrooms. I keep a plastic grocery bag or two in my hunting vest, not knowing when they’ll come in handy in the field. In lieu of no wicker basket, we loaded a bag with pounds of chanterelles. Monday night was spent cleaning, dry-sautéing and bagging chanterelles. No doubt this winter’s Wild Game Super Bowl will feature a pasta dish with a cream sauce made with pheasants, chanterelles, garlic and sherry.
The chanterelles were just part of Monday’s bounty. We could’ve filled a Nalgene bottle with plump, fresh-picked wild strawberries. Instead, we took breaks from hunting to graze on berries like a bear and its cub feeding for winter. A little higher in elevation, we found scree slopes littered with raspberry bushes, still bearing fruit in early September. We nearly forgot we’d been shut out on grouse.
These hills have also unleashed a bounty of bluegrass through the years. One of the prodigal sons returns Tuesday and Wednesday when the Community Concert Hall and Durango Massive present the Infamous Stringdusters in back-to-back 9 p.m. shows at the Animas City Theatre. You all know Travis Book by now, the bass-playing, sweet-singing Stringduster. He and the rest of his quintet are back with perhaps their finest studio album, last year’s “Let It Go.” Songs like “Colorado,” “Summercamp” and “Where the Rivers Run Cold” point to topics dearest to the band’s collective heart.
Ska’s 20th Anniversary Party and Brewer’s Invitational presents Reel Big Fish, Mad Caddies and Denver Vintage Reggae Society at 4 p.m. Saturday at the World Headquarters in Bodo Park, plus world class ales from 30 of their closest brewery friends. Sorry folks, this one sold out several months ago.
A hidden gem amongst Four Corners venues is the Bayfield Performing Arts Center, located at Bayfield High School. It hosted folk and classical music earlier in the summer. Come Saturday, acoustic rock will be added when Zebra frontman Randy Jackson plays there. Thanks to heavy MTV exposure and riding the strength of singles like “Tell Me What You Want” and “Who’s Behind the Door?” Zebra’s 1983 self-titled record was one of the fastest debuts in the history of their label, the venerable Atlantic Records. Forty years down the road, the group features the same original lineup. In between Zebra albums and tours, Jackson has kept busy with solo projects, including “Empathy of the Walrus,” a Beatles tribute album that features original artwork by Bayfield artist Julia Hollingsworth.
The Community Concert Hall’s annual Jazz on the Hill fundraising event featuring Joyce Lyons & Friends will be staged on the Community Concert Hall stage at 6 p.m. Saturday, although RSVPs for this event were requested by Sept. 5. Those who met the deadline will enjoy dinner on-stage, a live auction for a single gift (a behind-the-scenes view of the performing arts in New York City with CCH director Charles Leslie in January, lodging and airfare for two included), plus an intimate jazz show featuring Lyons and three world-class jazz musicians.
Finally, KSUT’s Fall Membership Drive gets rolling in full force Monday and will end when the station hits its $75,000 goal (earlybird pledges netted nearly $30k). Once they meet their goal, the fund drive will end and one lucky member will win a trip for two on Jam Cruise 14 from Miami to Belize and Cozumel while seeing Dr. John, Trombone Short, the Infamous Stringdusters and dozens of others on the high seas. Airfare and lodging in Miami are included. Call 563-0255 or visit www.ksut.org to pledge.
KSUT Tribal Radio launches its free Ignacio Blues Series with Gary Farmer & the Troublemakers from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the 49 Lounge at the Sky Ute Casino & Resort. Farmer is a renowned Native American actor, singer and harmonica player.
This week’s Top Shelf list is a menu. El Moro Spirits & Tavern will host a Great American Beer Festival send-off beer dinner that pairs five courses with beers from five of Durango’s craft brewers on Wednesday night. The actual GABF takes place Sept. 24-26 in Denver. Here’s the menu:
- Reuben eggroll with house-made pastrami and red cabbage kraut, paired with Animas Brewing’s Gose.
- Chicken coconut curry soup, with Carver Brewing’s White IPA.
- Monkfish papillote with banana ketchup and pan-fried heirloom potatoes, with Steamworks’ Dunkelweiss.
- Cassoulet with duck confit & house garlic sausage, with Ska’s Buster Nut Brown.
- Prickly pear foster, with BREW’s Prickly Pear Braggot.
Remember what the dormouse said? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net