This was a rare opportunity – my friend Pete’s band plays the Buckhorn bar in Laramie during Jubilee Days (Laramie’s yearly rodeo and street carnival), just a few weeks before he leaves for Chicago. It was most satisfying. The uncatagorizable crowd in the Buckhorn during Jubilee Days meets the uncatagorizable band from Pete’s garage studio. Everyone was appropriately bewildered and bemused. There were Gilligan hats, cowboy hats, gold chains, basketball jerseys, and everything in between. The crowd would be rowdy and roaring one minute, then repulsed, the room would clear out, and it would start over again. Everyone had something to do in front of the stage – tapping the microphone, schmoozing the band, chest-beating, or finger-wagging. A fight seemed to be brewing once or twice, but didn’t break out while I was there.

Most of all, my appreciation for this unique combination of musicians bloomed, and I regret that it was probably the last time they will come together to play for us.