Reconnecting ... April 2009

In my last blog I was in Keystone Colorado, snow boarding and mixing. It seems as though a lot has gone on since then however I didn’t take as many pictures and really I was chillin. I ended up visiting a lot of old friends and reconnecting with my heritage. I also made a lot of new connections. And it has been a time for family and roots.
I am now back in Orlando, Fl which is strange and cool. So how did I get here, well lets see….


Below is during the last days of my Keystone adventure. I played some open mic nights and Jammed with a band that was sort of thrown together. This is at a place called The Goat. A local bar that I would go to when I needed to socialize.



Rippen the Djembe




I ended up going to ride in Breckenridge on Fat Tuesday and there was a tiny Mardi Gras celebration going on. This is a goofy picture of me at Rasta Pasta.




I meet these two girls both named Katie, so I refer to them as ‘K2” a single entity. They were fun. We hung out that night and later on meet out in Vail to ski.




The snow started to get pretty bad around this time so I made my way to Denver to hang out with some friends. My friend Alissa was having her 40th birthday party and I wanted to attend this event. We joke because she used to baby sit me, and I stayed out her house for a couple of weeks, so it was like she was babysitting me again.

Here is a picture of Alissa and Seth her brother.




Earlier on that night at dinner with Seth , Bree (another sister) , and Jimmy her husband.




I later went and visited Bree to see her baby Ava.




As the ski season was winding down, and my sister was on her way to getting married. So I flew into Tampa/ St. Pete to be apart of this event, leaving my van in Colorado.

This is another goofy picture. This was the first night I met my Sisters husband’s family. My now In Laws. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and I ordered this crazy dish that was covered with a Pizza crust, and filled with lamb pasta peppers and other goodness. It is a spectacle when brought out.




Here is the groom Brad and his brother Brian, just before the ceremony.




Since I was in the wedding party I didn’t take any pictures of the ceremony. It was on the beach, and it was a perfect day. This is a picture of the families together just after.




My sister Alison and Brad during the first dance.




During dinner at the top of the hotel. Awesome view.




Everybody getting their groove on.




Of course something nutty has to happen or I would not feel satisfied. The open bar was nice of course and after the reception some of the guests and I went down to the tiki bar on the beach. In a drunken sense of debauchery Brian and me decided it would be good idea to take a dip in the ocean. We ended up swimming out to the buoy, and it was a blast. The next day Brian woke up with a hang over and mysterious patches of blood upon his clothing.. Inspection of a picture I snapped the night before revels he was bleeding imedialty after exiting the water, so I assume he got cut on the buoy, or a shark attack perhaps. . .




Some other friends who decided to make the trip to the buoy. These two got some of the worst sunburns I have ever seen.




While I was in St Pete I was able to meet up with my friend Jamie. We hung out for St Patty’s day.




This is a picture of a nice St Pete sunset




After the wedding I flew into Austin to be a part of the South by Southwest, or SXSW, festival before heading back to Colorado. It was a blast, saw a ton of good music, and most everything was free. Can’t complain about that. Sam and I went down to a street corner and Jammed. It was louder than hell out there so it was tough to compete. The streets were full of people and brass bands, it was cool.




Ate some pizza while listing to death metal. It was tight, and the pizza was decent. Just a cool idea, pizza and metal go well together.




Went to see Rachel Goodrich and her band, she is awesome if you ever see her coming around, she mostly comes out of Miami.




This next band rocked. They played in a fairly small place called the Drunken Monkey but it was packed. At the end of the show I was listening for them to tell me who they were but it came out something like:

“Thanks everybody, you are great, we are h mhmmhhmm , good night.”

So therefore I have no clue who they are. To bad.










This next band below had to be the highlight of SXSW for me. It was just so damn cool, and creative … I just don’t know what to say. So who are they?

ArcAttack . Look closely as I describe this band. Imagine off to the left a full stage with a Drummer, Keyboard/sequence dude, guitar, bass, playing some electronic type stuff. And a dude in the crowd orchestrating the whole thing circus style. Now add on top two Tesla Coil sound generating spark machines emanating an array of electrifying visual excitement, as well as amplification of the music being played. To help make it more clear, see those to weird machines shooting out sparks… they are speakers. As the electricity rips through the air it generates tones. Absolutely amazing. And to add the icing, circus host dude gets in side a metal faraday cage suit and controls the electricity with his hands. Fucking insane. Watch the video to get an idea.









Driving around Austin with old time Florida buddy Mike and new school friend Caroline




After SXSW I flew back to Colorado hung out downtown with another old school Orlando buddy Randy who moved to Denver.





Had to get back to the mountains to end the season with a bang. Met up with my buddy Derek and Brent in Vail. While I was there I was introduced the two girls, Leslie and Bethany, below who where also staying at Derek’s place visiting his roommate. They snowboarded too so we got along and went riding together a few times.




Here is Brent, Derek, and this Asshole old guy we met at the bar. This dude was a dick. He was super drunk and had horrible communication skills. We half befriended him, but realized nothing you could do or say would make this guy cool. Nuff said it was funny.







I hung out in Vail for about 4 more days, and this ended my ski season. So I headed back to Denver to finish up the last bit of mixing that needed to be done. I set up my studio in the van and away I went.




During this time some old Orlando friends were stopping through Boulder so I met up with them. Below is Sara and Lindsay.




After I finished mixing everything I needed to start to head back towards Florida, cause I had another wedding to attend. On my way I stopped in Loveland where I was born to visit two of my oldest friends James and Clint. I keep in touch with James fairly frequently, but I hadn’t seen Clint in ages. We went to a bar and I tried to be the worst influence possible.




This is a picture of James little girl Ava. She was rockin out.




My guitar pic art.




I decided that I needed to check out some other stuff while I was hanging out waiting for Easter to roll around, so I went to Carter Lake and camped out. I did a little fishing and just chilled.







After Easter diner with the Rowlands I started heading back East. This is my road warrior face in the middle of Kansas.




Drove through Kansas City




Next stop St Louis Missouri , to visit friend April who is doing a nursing thing there.




I chilled in some parks while April was taking care of business. There was a fountain there that I dug, with some engravings about the creator of the universe.




Guitar art pic with fountain behind.





The Arch on the Mississippi river St Louis.




A cool old Bridge.




Some Art in Downtown.




Later on that night I hung out with April and Vic, he took me out to get a fried Twinkie . It may sound gross but it was great.




Just outside of St. Louis in a small town by the name of Defiance, meet up with my Great Uncle Donnie on my Dads side. He showed me around the old Fuhr properties, and gave me some history of my ancestry. This is where my Great Great Grandfather came to after leaving Germany in the late 1800s. They came up the Mississippi to settle.




Me and my Great Aunt




Went by the old Cemetery in town to see my Great Great Grandfather’s Grave.




And my Great Grandfathers Grave.







The Next day I left and traveled through Illinois, and stopped in Indianapolis Indiana.

I had had plans to meet up in New York, but they fell through so I started heading south east and went through Cincinnati.




Followed the Ohio River for a while then crossed into Kentucky.




Went exploring and found a place called Greensboro Lake State Park. The fishing was real good here. Unfortunately I drove my motor cycle and didn’t bring my tackle box, I was a little bummed. I meet this cool Old Timer out fishing (in the distance) and we chatted.




Found some off road trails and had some fun. Ended up a some dudes grave.










Kept heading south east and went through Charlotte, North Carolina. Meet up with my old friend Steve Rizer.




Kept heading south and met up with another old friend Tim Gilliham in Colombia South Carolina.




While I was in SC I saw a bunch of off rode trails so I went out one day and tromped around. I found this cool spot with a little jump and went and got some air. I took a little video of one of my runs. Check it out below. Be patiaent I was by my self so I had to run the camera.




Cruised to the coast to check out Myrtle Beach.





The next Day I drove to Savannah Georgia were my friend Tatiana just moved to. We chilled and then the following day I made it back to Orlando. Fewhww .