The folks in Aspen must have read the "Hospitality" article on our web site because they were ready for us! Our friends out West showed us Southern folk that they can extend their own brand of warm hospitality. Our trip to Aspen would not have been possible without all of the folks who leant a helping hand.

The event that allowed us to fly out to Colorado was Marshall and Elizabeth "Reed" Thompson's wedding on Saturday. Our friend Keele Lloyd - who lives in Aspen - encouraged Marshall and Reed to hire us to play for their reception. Without the three of them, the trip would not have been possible.

Our lodging was care of our friends Scott and Ali Engelman, whose wedding reception we played for in Athens back in October of 2001. We (all five of us!) stayed with them the entire weekend. For those of you who know about Aspen, you know how much Scott and Ali's generosity saved us in lodging expenses alone.

When we arrived, Cam was anxious to grab the Time Out section of the Aspen Daily News (one of his many previous employers in Aspen). He got his hands on one and lo and behold we were on the cover! Our great friend from Florida and current Aspen resident Erin Pigman wrote a cover article on our band. It's funny that we have to travel all the way to Colorado to get a cover article! It was the best article and best press we've ever gotten as a band. Kudos to Erin for hooking us up!

Before the birth of Tishamingo, Cameron lived in Aspen for a little over two years. While he was out there, Cam and Aspen long-timer Randolph "bring your own meat" Turner formed Jes Grew, a band that is still kickin' it under Randolph's leadership.
Since Tishamingo was scheduled to be in Aspen on a Saturday, Cam and Randolph booked a double-bill show for the two bands at the legendary Double Diamond in Aspen for the preceding Friday night. This is where Jes Grew's hospitality rears its impressive head. We traveled with hardly any of our musical equipment, because Jes Grew allowed us to share their equipment with them on Friday night, and use their equipment for the wedding reception on Saturday. They loaned us their P.A. system, drums, bass, bass rig, guitars, guitar amps, keyboard, and here's the life-saver - Larry loaned us his mini van, which we used to cart all of the equipment to the reception. The key word here is loaned - they loaned us all of this expensive equipment for absolutely nothing. We couldn't have made the trip to Colorado if we had had to rent all of that equipment. So many thanks to Randolph, Randy, Viddy, Paul, and Larry from Jes Grew.

Randolph is from the South (North Carolina), so he knows how much we like cookouts. So before the Double Diamond show, he and his beautiful wife Julia had us and some friends over for a pre-show barbie. I must admit that it was truly a cultural experience for us 'Mango fellas. We got to experience firsthand one of Randolph's "bring your own meat" cookouts. A wise man like Randolph helped us young bucks realize that less is more. Julia's apple pie a la mode was off-the-chain delicious - just ask Spivey.

The show that night at The Double Diamond was awesome - great stage, great sound system, great place for live music. Jes Grew sounded sharp as a tack, and Randolph and Paul joined us on stage for a little Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley jam later in our set. It was nice for Cam to see a lot of his old Aspen buddies at the show, and we even got a visit from Jess' ol' partner in crime Chris Motes, who now lives in Denver.

The wedding reception was on Saturday and was at Redstone Castle, in Redstone, Colorado. That event calls it's own separate article, so look for it later!

We capped off our trip on Sunday with an amazing dinner at Conundrum, a fine dining restaurant in Aspen that Scott manages. We ate and drank like we were Kings, yet we are thankful that Scott realized that we are far from royalty come squarin' up time. After the feast, we headed over to The Grottos, where Cam, Jess, and Randolph treated the crowd to some acoustic tunes.

All in all, the trip was a whirlwind of fine hospitality, fine dining, fine scenery, and an overall affirmation of how important friends are and how blessed we are to have them strewn about this entire country! So to Keele, Marshall, Reed, Scott, Ali, Erin, Randolph, Julia, Randy, Viddy, Paul, Larry, and everybody else in Aspen, we in Tishamingo extend our most heartfelt thanks for making our trip as wonderful as it was! Peace.
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