Denver

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On our cross country drive to California we're in Denver today. We've crossed the plains of Kansas and Colorado and now the mountains are in view. Denver is famously the "Mile High City".

We spend much of the day exploring the city including, yet again, another train station! We visit a couple of art galleries, enjoy a nice lunch and explore the architecture of the city centre. It's another lovely day to enjoy the weather. Denver seems very cosmopolitan — e.g., check out the hot chick in the photo at left!

That evening we head into the mountains, where it's even higher elevation, and spend the night at Idaho Springs. It's a little backwater town, nothing like the city of Denver. There's a mining exhibit and we take in a "private" hot spring spa. In the mountains the weather is much cooler and a little grey. Tomorrow we'll be in the mountains.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Limon

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We're on a cross country trip to California for a couple of conference.

Today we were trying to get to Denver, we made our way across Kansas (nothing much to see here but Kate enjoys the big sky country which puts Reg to sleep) and as far as Limon, Colorado. Along the way it's Memorial Day and graveyards are being visited and decorated to honor those who are gone.

Kate is pushing our little Hyundai Pony pretty hard against a strong west wind and the car is getting hot. Slow down a little please! This car doesn't have air conditioning so we drive with the windows down, that creates a breeze, but may also account for the car overheating.

Limon is a drab little cow-town with a huge stockyard. Cattle are fattened up here before being sent off to slaughter. The air is ripe with the smell of manure and the cattle are bawling loudly — they're not happy and not knowing what comes next.

There's a dramatic sunset tonight. Kate is right about the beauty of the big-sky country.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Leaving St Louis

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We're on a cross country trip, driving to California for a couple of conferences. Today we're in St Louis in the morning and on the road after a bit of exploration.

Our hotel has a nice pool and we take advantage of the nice weather for a bit of dip in the morning. Kate is keen on train stations (we visit several on this trip) and we visit the old St Louis train station which has been converted into a lovely shopping mall. These old train stations are art deco extravaganzas and well worth admiring. There's even a fancy-dancy Omni Hotel that takes advantage of the beautiful old architecture.

Down at the Mississippi shore there are several paddle wheel river boats tied up. The river is very low this year and you can see lots of the muddy river bank. We understand that you can take long trips down the river to Louisiana. That would be an interesting holiday.

Leaving St Louis and heading west on the I70 we stop for a wine tasting at a local winery along the Missouri River not too far out of town. Oddly they are featuring a "Strawberry Wine". Interesting, refreshing, but not vinifera.

We stop at Katy Station in Columbia for lunch and drive through Kansas City (recalling the movie where W.C. Fields asks, "Is this Kansas City Kansas or Kansas City Missouri") towards Denver making it as far as Limon, Colorado.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Arriving St Louis

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We're on a cross country trip to California.

We left Indianapolis in the morning  and arrived in St Louis, on the Mississippi River, that afternoon. Along the way we stopped for a swim at a recreation area — it's a beautiful warm day and we can dawdle. It's not a long drive, only about 4 hours between the two cities: a bit of Indiana, then all the way across Illinois to Missouri and St Louis on the west bank.

In St Louis we had dinner in the revolving restaurant of the Clarion Hotel with great views of the St Louis Arch (Gateway to the West), the Mississippi, and the Busch Stadium. We explored the Arch (of course!), a bit of the old city and saw a young band (more R&B than anything) in the University area.

We explore more of the city the next morning.

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Indianapolis

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Kate has a KBS conference in Berkeley June 5-10 and Reg has a Usenix conference June 20-24 in San Francisco so we're taking a long working vacation and driving in our humble car across the USA. We'll take a week to get there, a week in Berkeley for the KBS, a week in Pacific Grove/Monterey, a week in San Francisco for Usenix and then a week to get home.

This documents the first day of the trip.

We have our first car ever, a 1984 Hyundai Pony, which seems able for the task, and off we go crossing the border at Detroit and making it to Indianapolis for our first night. This photo album shows some sites around downtown Indianapolis where, we discover, the Indy 500 is scheduled the next day. We wonder: "Why are all these people here? Oh furdumb!"

Photos scanned and blog created April 2022 during the BadAss.II Covid wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

63 Monroe, Key West

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May 21, 2024. Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. We arrive in Brisbane, Australia this morning to discover that Dave has been busy. He's identified a large collection of photos of 63 Monroe from a late 80's event. Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics of 63 Monroe. This time it's at Key West, London ON, which was on the west side of Talbot St, upstairs over the Tandy Leather shop. Circa 1987/88, the band as pictured, consisted of; Steven R Stunning, Pete Dekoker, Jeff Rooth, Alex Howard and it looks like Mark Anderson as well.  My fave shot is of Scott at the bar of Key West."

This version of the band doesn't have Markii Burnaway, I suspect creative differences. As Dave notes there are two guitars with Pete on bass. There are some nice photos of Rooster on drums and Scott is as wild as ever and dressed to kill.

I also suspect that some of these are from different events; e.g., the picture of Jeff hamming it up with me was from a Fryfogles event and I think the picture of Scott from behind the bar was a different event when he worked to organize events. But Dave has done an excellent job of sorting these into an event. I'm in at least one picture so either Kate or our guests that weekend were using my cameras. I recall that we and our guests had all bleached our hair that day — with various results. That there are so many pictures is an indication of our station in life; we were both employed and able to spend more on film.

I'm not sure if these photos have been shared before, I suspect they have. But, in any case, many thanks to Dave for his work organizing these old photos and figuring out the location and time for many of them. I've spent a bit of time organizing and enhancing these photos but have not rescanned any. Some should be rescanned as they were way overexposed in the original scan.

Rather than a "See also" section, I invite you to search the blog for other photos of this and other bands from that era.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event ... sometime around 1988.

What's the Poop?

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. This morning (September 8, 2024) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's the What's The Poop Awards from 1988. This was an annual event, late 80's/early 90's held in London ON. The actual awards given out, were what looked like dog poop, painted gold and mounted to a piece of wood or like a trophy as in the pics.

 
It looks like Condo Christ, 98DA and not sure of the band with Jane Colligan and Christine DeVeber in it.

David Clark, Jamie Conyers, Steven R Stunning, Brian McMillan"

I do remember this event but have forgotten most of these short lived bands. I suspect it was Scott (aka Steven R Stunning) who organized things — he was passing out the awards. I'm not sure of the location but I recall a bar on King Street between Richmond and Clarence where it might have been. I wondered in a comment if there would there have ever been a Forest City London Music Awards without What's the Poop? Would London have ever been designated a UNESCO City of Music?

Lori Hamilton Smit commented, "Loved 98DA! Still play their cassette."

And finally, again, many thanks to Dave O'Halloran for sorting through these old photos and sharing them for others to enjoy.

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.