May 8th

Yesterday started on the bleakish side, but turned out to be one of the best yet. I woke up at Matt’s house at around 10 after sleeping through my alarm, but I made excellent time to Butte. I went outside, and it was freezing. The familiar drive passed quickly as I listened to the Neville Brothers the entire way. Their version of Fire on the Bayou is outstanding. :D
It got even colder as I arrived at Butte, and by this time it was about 30 degrees. I got to Dickie’s place and met two guys building a new greenhouse onto the side of his house by assembling a multitude of old windows and glass doors. We talked for a bit, but I was in desperate need of a shower after not having one for almost four days, so I went inside after awhile. It was pretty cold inside too, so I turned on the house heater and the hot water in preparation for my shower. While waiting for the hot water to be ready, I played sitar for about an hour, and decided that I am going to pursue that instrument once home. I love the instruments mesmerizing sound, and its slinky tone is just right for contemplation. I took my shower, and decided to go into town to update the blog and get some coffee and dinner. I parked behind a coffee shop named the Blue Luna, and went inside to meet Dean, a friend of Dickie’s. He told me that he was about to close, but that I should return later in the evening for some good live music. With that I headed a block up the road to the Venus Rising – another coffee shop with wi-fi. The waiter was a really nice kid with spiky blond hair that reminded me of Andy Warhol. I got a large mocha, and sat down to update the blog and to look for summer jobs.
As I was sitting there a short girl with dark hair and a very blue outfit came up to me and introduced herself. She said that she was from Butte and hadn’t seen me before, so she figured she would say hi. I talked with her for awhile, and ended up meeting her friends Meaghan and Katie as well. We were all sitting there when Sarah (the first one) told me that she would be playing drums at the Blue Luna at 8:30, and that I should come check it out. I said that I would, and that I was planning on hearing the live music there anyway. With that, I left and went to The Broadway to get a tasty pizza and listen to a folk rock guitarist who was playing there. The pizza was incredible (I think it was the artichoke hearts that were on it), and the guitarist was also pleasant. After sitting there for about n hour, I played and headed over to the Blue Luna again.
This time it was packed with people, and a crowd had gathered around a piano player who was playing a great assortment of tunes ranging from Bach to modern ragtime music. From what I could gather, she was a music professor at the University here in Butte. She was great, but nothing could prepare me for Sarah’s music. Shortly after the piano finished, an electric drum kit was set up and a blue guitar was plugged in to an amp. Sarah sat down at the drums, and Holt (the Warhol waiter at the Venus Rising) picked up the guitar. They played some pretty crazy garage punk music for about 45 minutes, and the whole while I talked with Meaghan. It turns out that she is from Ireland, and moved here when she was in 6th grade. She is moving to Seattle in August, but had just finished her Junior year here in Butte. Her goal is to become a wildlife photographer and move back to Ireland to pursue that. I thought that was pretty cool, and I think she enjoyed hearing about my trip. When the music was over, all of the locals came over to where I was and talked about hanging out for the night. Meaghan and Holt both invited me to go with them, so I did.
We departed from the Luna, and ended up in an old building that seemed semi-abandoned. On the second floor, through some hallways, we came to Holt’s studio which was full of guitars and paintings and other interesting odds and ends. I took one look at his artwork, and it directly reminded me of Dickie’s stuff. I told him that he would really like Dickie, and he responded whit, “You know Richard?! He has been one of my biggest influences, and I have known him since I was a child.” Talk about synchronicity. We talked for a quite awhile, and there ended up to be seven of us in total. One of the locals mentioned building climbing, and that seemed to be a popular idea, so we went to climb the Phoenix Galleries. We walked back downstairs, down the street, and across to the back of the hotel and looked up. The deserted and bark building was six or seven stories tall, and we had to shimmy up a pipe before reaching the escape ladder. The climb was pretty fun, though a bit nerve-wracking at the end when the ladder got a bit wobbly. I threw my arms over the top and finally reached the roof where the view was magical. All of Butte was before us, and the orange glow of lights dotted the streets. The moon was 100% full, and the temperature was basically perfect. We talked about music for a while and then switched to the end of the world, and finally ended up talking about economics. Eventually it started to get chilly, so we decided to descend and return to the studio. We got there and soon after we decided to go our separate ways. I drove back to Dickie’s house and went to bed shortly.

The day turned out to be a lot more interesting than I had ever imagined.


Here are the Greenhouse Pictures that Kiki has requested: