gnarly trip to MT

Everything started with the snow flakes in the morning. That was Keeth's surprise to me. I needed to wake up because i had student concert at 10 am. It worked. I was on my feet and trying to energize junior hi schoolers.

It was very hard today. Soon they were mine ; )

I was happy when it was over and was ready to move on to the next state. I had to pack quick because ... guess who was in charge

The trip started with the mysterious road that K just loved. 

We met this cow on the highway

Who was acting weird.

She had very dark thoughts. That wasn't a good sign. 

Soon our road turned into this. Keeth didn't like that because he was driving. 

There was ice on the road, no cellphone connection and no signs of life around. 

Our 6 hours long trip was getting longer.

All of the sudden appeared these cowboys. It was the most amazing view. I didn't believe that real cowboys still exist. Wow!

For a while it seemed that we were saved (by the road conditions) but it was only an illusion. Keeth kept repeating how much he hates me and wants to take an executive decision and to cancel the concert in Glendive MT. I secretly was loving everything. I am an adrenaline junky. There was no way back. While we were almost sliding down the mountain, i was measuring how high would be the fall and who would die first. That cow knew everything. 

It was not enough for poor K to deal with ice also the fog started to roll in ( all my "friends" came at once). ha ha ha. 

Keeth was an amazing driver. Very safe even in uncontrollable situations. I learned more about him and his vocabulary. When we reached the stable land we were so hungry and the "Purple Cow" restaurant (cow again?) had a lot for us to offer (look at K's pancakes and sausages). Breakfast @ 4 pm. True rock'n'roll!

K generously thanked hostess. He's been away from his home for too long ; ) 

 

Finally we reached Glendive MT and battled more wars but different type.

Worland WY

Worland. Sunday. Bad hair day. Breakfast. Ready for nap. 

We didn't get the room service this morning but Keeth for sure took advantage of the situation and got us the fresh towels. I still don't know where he got them. He is the best. Just look at his sweet face 

Post breakfast nap till 1 pm and time for the show! The concert today was at 3 pm. Not awake yet.

Slowly got into the groove

Had a great rehearsal!

Coffee takes me where i need to be. In the fast lane, babe! 

Today it was raining all day. We didn't see any people in streets. We were wondering who will come to the concert but we had a good crowd.  

The hall was new and modern

Acoustics were great. I could take it easy and enjoy without forcing the piano. 

After the show went back to work to the hotel: to get ready for tomorrow's morning show, 6 hour drive and other million errands. All we dreamed about was cold beer. When we got to the bar ... it was closed. Everything in this town was closed at 8 pm. I panicked but Keeth solved the situation. He found us the most shady bar in the dark alley that we hesitated to enter. We were brave. That was a very anthropological experience. We rewarded ourselves with canned tuna and Fat Tire dinner. Fan-cy!!!!!! 

on the way to Wyoming

The manager of the hotel in Idaho Falls which we were leaving asked who we are. We told that we are on tour and that our next hotel is quite horrible in Worland WY. He called his friend hotel manager in Worland and got us a good price in much better hotel. That was so cool! Go Dan! We dreaded our trip of 7 hours drive from Idaho Falls ID to Worland WY. The beginning of the trip was strange because the GPS "chic" was pushing us to take very small highways to Wyoming. We had to listen to her. We always do. It started scary and then we were just blown away with the beauty of the nature. I was so excited 

if i was going to visit Gods to Valhala.

I knew that Valkyries were somewhere around because of their horses. They look hungry. 

The road continued to go up.

but there were no Starbucks.  

Plenty of cold and darkness. Yeahhh!!! Valhala rocks, dude!

Catch!

Tour manager is acting if he is not cold. Why does he have to be always so Macho? 

 I guess he didn't want his ... (beep) ... to be kicked. Neither did I. 

Time to go down on this exciting highway. Guess the speed limit.

I wanted to take taxi but nobody was there.

It was time to eat 

and "climb eeeeeevery mountain" da da daaaaa da da 

Good bye Valhala! We'll miss you!

Back to the World of mortals

Idaho Falls ID

Today was one of the most difficult days on the tour: check out, 2 hours drive from Burley to Idaho Falls, master class and the concert at night. From early morning i felt horrible: tired, weak, nauseous, dehydrated, cranky (poor K).  Sounds like post party syndromes. Unfortunately NO! I got scared because if i get sick then ... i don't even know what would happen. So, new hotel check in and ran to the master class where everybody were already waiting for us. There were really good teenage piano players. They inspired me to dive into music.

Here adrenaline starts kicking in.

A little more.

Here i am more like myself

I also played and had ... very tough critics. No reading between the lines here.  

After the master class there was lunch and getting ready for the evening concert. The concert hall was really nice. It will be very difficult to match  new Steinway D quality like in Burley ID. I played on a good Kawai. It was perfect for the 1000 seat theater. The sound and light guys did really good and fast job. 

"Ms. Stage Helper"  looked very collected and silent.  However her very loud walks during performance in the backstage (right behind my back) and rudeness before the show added some character to her unpredictable personality. I also had an EMERGENCY. 15 min before my performance i realized that i left my tux shirt at the hotel. My blood went to my head. Thanx to the bestest/fastest/smartest tour manager K and small town distances my shirt was there 1 min before i had to be on the stage. Imagine if it was big city and ... if i left my tux pants. Ooooohhhhh ... exciting!!! I was happy that i was dressed on stage and had a lot of adrenaline during performance

At the CD signing i found out that there were many musicians from my master class. I was very delighted to see them again and chat a little bit. After the show the concert association members took us for a dinner. We all had drinks and good conversation but i was running on the last reserves of my energy. When we got back to the hotel there was a big karaoke party going at the bar. Our instincts told us: LETS GO!!! but Keeth and i we just looked at each other waiting for the answers. Our eyes were sad. The long day did its damage to us. We went up and collapsed.   

Burley ID

Burley ID is just a small town with not much expectations from outside. Lots of hay stacks and corn fields. Oh yes, its also huge for potatoes! It seemed that Marriott was the best thing for us to happen in Burley. We were wrong. This morning i had a master class at the private house for 40 people. It was fantastic! We had a glimpse into the small town's elite. The house was on the Snake river with great views. It had a mini concert hall! I had a master class there. The family was very elegant which you could see already from the interior decorations. During the master class we all had a good time. Some students played,

Then i played.

We talked, discussed

and did a shy dance in chorus (conga) line.

That was one of the warmest experiences on the tour. Downtown Burley was ready for Rudolf.

Even tire store had running marquees with my name on it. It was funny to see. But were the people ready? Town has only 10000 people and the venue holds 1200. What to expect? At the rehearsal was another surprise. The new concert Steinway D that blew me away. That was the best piano on this tour FOR SURE. I know that i always say that but the quality keeps climbing higher and higher. How high can it go? I didn't want to end my rehearsal because i was in love with the instrument.

I was sad to hear that the door is opening and my private time with Steinway D is over. As usual the ritual of putting my tuxedo on pumped me up for the show. There was around 900 people waiting for me.

Afterwards:

- the routine of the signing CDs

- chatting

- looking directly into the audiences eyes

- pictures (here is the half of the family at whose house we had master class at).

- pack up

- Bloody Mary (1). Not as good as in Elko