I thought I'd mix it up a bit with this image from 1989, when I was in the height of my musical experience. This is the cover shot for a CD I recorded entitled "Electric Wilderness" to bring awareness of the Holy Cross Wilderness debacle to the forefront of public affairs. Radio interviews, personal appearances and extensive time on the road followed. The project kept me busy for two years, so by the end of 1990, I was pretty well burned out. But I'm glad to say the project was influential and the water diversion project it opposed did not proceed.
This is back when I was not as round and had plenty of hair!
The photo was shot in the Devil's Canyon area, just off the road going up Mount Evans in a glorious aspen grove in 1989. A popular side road with 4WD enthusiasts allows access to this magical place. That's a blue Stratocaster guitar, one of a few artifacts left over from my musical career days still in my possession.
Scan of a 35mm print shot by Amanda Burns
Comments
[ Post a Comment ]| Rick B | Nice story ... | | 
Voted 10/10 | ... but nodbody's dancing in the audience! ;-) | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 1:26 pm |
 | | Aaron Johnson | Re: Nice story ... | | 
Hasn't voted | I never played much in the way of dance music anyway. I remember playing Pink Floyd's "Echoes" at a high school dance. They loved it! Everyone was sort of "floating around the room" like they were stoned, probably because ... they were stoned! Thanks for the comment. | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 11:32 pm |
| desainme | Long Power Cord needed | | 
Voted 10/10 | Heck I made it to Colorado in the summer of my 27th year just as John Denver penned it in Rocky Mtn High. Went back the following year but not since. Looks like record cover material! | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 1:59 pm |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: Long Power Cord needed | |
Hasn't voted | We were going to bring a guitar cord and affix it to the tree to make it appear I was "plugged in to the energy of the mountain wilderness" but we forgot the cord! Thanks for the comment. | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 11:34 pm |
| DudeThatMustHurt | Dude! | | 
Voted 10/10 | That's a money shot!!! Rock On AJ!! | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 6:47 pm |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: Dude! | |
Hasn't voted | Dude! I rocked a lot back in the day. I recorded much material with the band I was in and solo (never made it big though-that was not our intent). I recorded 7 CDs worth of material. Some never got recorded (and sometimes I think about doing it). The band continues on and records stuff every couple of years (but I don't-I'm "retired"). We still hang out together, though. I got rid of most of my music equipment a couple years ago, but I still enjoy all kinds of music, particularly progressive rock (we played lots of Rush in the 80s). The "money shot" did indeed make money and continues to do so sporadically to this day. Thanks for the nice compliment. | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 11:39 pm |
| Mountain Jim | Far Out !!! | | 
Voted 10/10 | Peace, Jim | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 11:04 pm |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: Far Out !!! | |
Hasn't voted | It was far out, indeed. A wild time in my life that I'll always remember fondly. Thanks, Jim. | | Posted Feb 14, 2007 11:40 pm |
| Dragger | Love the Shot!! | | 
Voted 10/10 | AJ, you rock! Surrounded by Aspen trees... what could be better?! Big thumbs up!!! | | Posted Feb 16, 2007 12:32 am |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: Love the Shot!! | |
Hasn't voted | Thanks Carolyn. You would probably like the music. I was very influenced by ELP, Yes, Rush...you know...the best! | | Posted Feb 16, 2007 12:59 am |
| | Dragger | Re: Love the Shot!! | |
Voted 10/10 | Of course! Hope to hear it someday! :^) | | Posted Feb 16, 2007 7:50 pm |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: What a Rush! | |
Hasn't voted | Hey Husker!
During 1984-1986 I was in a spectacular band, and I was fortunate to have played with some excellent musicians. My long time friend and musical collaborator, who we'll call MK initially got together with me and our mutual drummer friend JB (who still plays with another band I played in long ago today). We got together to record a couple songs, but we jammed on Rush material. JB was so much in to Neil Peart, he had the exact red drum set Peart had (circa Hemishperes) and could play Rush material precisely. Well, I had honed my guitar skills on Rush material. MK was originally a guitarist, but took up the bass for this project and challenged himself to learn Geddy Lee's parts. We sounded so good we went out and auditioned singers. As a side project to our original project, we wanted to get out and play this Rush material, because no one else was doing it at the time.
We found this little lady who could belt out Rush tunes like nobody's business. She showed up at the audition and she knew every Rush song we played. Her named was Malou. We called ourselves Voyager.
We proceeded to play anywhere and everywhere we could and we knocked'em dead (as most folks know, Rush ain't no walk in the park to play). We played Tom Sawyer, Spirit of Radio, Free Will, the Hemispheres Overture, 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Xanadu, Red Barchetta and the material we were rehearsing for recording...and "The Mob Rules," a little bit of thundering and fast Black Sabbath for good measure.
At a battle of the bands event, the concert got shut down by bad weather (this was 1984 when we had daily thunderstorms in the afternoon in the Denver area). We had just gone on stage. We had played Spirit of Radio and were half way into Free Will when the skies opened up and we were forced to stop and take cover. Even so, WE WON THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS with 1 and a half songs.
Ahh, those were great times and I remember them fondly. We have video and audio recordings galore of this stuff, and I still am impressed with it many years later. Anyway, I looked pretty much the same back then as I do in this picture, only I had a closed cropped beard as well.
I've seen Rush 4 times. Once on the Power Windows tour with Steve Morse opening (wow, what a show!), I saw them on the Signals tour (they had synthesizer difficulties), the Grace Under Pressure Tour and their 30th Anniversary Tour at Red Rocks. All were excellent shows.
Thanks for your post and prompting me down memory lane for the afternoon! It's been a great ride. | | Posted Feb 17, 2007 11:18 pm |
| charles | like the blazer | | 
Hasn't voted | back in the days when the sun always shined! | | Posted Mar 9, 2007 2:47 pm |
| | Aaron Johnson | Re: like the blazer | |
Hasn't voted | Hi Charles-
Thanks for the comment. I'm not surprised that you like the blazer. It's actually "British" in design, and you being a European might be able to recall it. It's the same blazer style worn by Patrick MacGoohan in the 60's TV show "The Prisoner." I always thought it looked sharp and I wore it in performances quite often. | | Posted Mar 9, 2007 3:03 pm |
| | charles | Re: like the blazer | |
Hasn't voted | Of course! "I am not a number" Great series!! | | Posted Mar 9, 2007 3:54 pm |
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