Dirty Jack's

Happy Festivus or whatever you celebrate. I hope you get the gifts you want. Santa will come late to my house, dressed as a UPS driver. I bought a new amp. Well, it's actually a very old amp, born in 1947 -- six years before I was. I'll post pix and audio samples later. Peace on Earth. Goodwill to all. -Rick UPDATE: Christmas in Denver, shoveling snow from my sidewalk. Denver Breaks Record for Snowfall on Christmas Day

In the 1976 production of Paint Your Wagon at Dirty Jack’s Theater there was one particular joke every night that I remember because it got a really big laugh. It was one of those laughs that starts small and then rolls and swells across the audience as everybody gets it. It was one of the best gags every night. Jon Stainbrook’s Ben Rumson character set up the joke, which I don’t clearly remember. But I remember his punch line: “Rosh Hashanah!” The audience was in hysterics. I didn’t get it. Nope, not a clue. I sat in the band pit watching the show up close every night and wondered what the heck that was all about. I finally asked another band member (I’m pretty sure it was Tim O’Reilly) who told me it was a Jewish thing. I was a 23-year old yokel from a tiny Wyoming farming and oil town. Not only was I unfamiliar with Jewish holidays, to my knowledge I had never met a Jewish person in my entire life. In fact, it wasn’t until after I moved away from Wyoming the next year that I realize...

Dan Fogelberg was a very influential songwriter/musician during the 1970s, at the time of my service at Dirty Jack’s Theater in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He carved out a niche in the soft-rock/guitar ballad genre with his Souvenirs album of 1974 (very popular during my first year at DJs in 1976) and his Twin Sons of Different Mothers album with jazz flautist Tim Weisberg in 1978 (ditto during my second year at DJs in 1979). His music was all over the FM radio stations and everybody was buying the records. His style was soft-focus and intimate, not really parallel to my musical interests at the time, which tended toward the loud and twangy. But I listened to his music over and over and strained to learn the hidden secrets of its appeal. I failed. I remember Fogelberg's music as lovely and gentle, for the most part. The song of his I first thought of when I heard he had passed away was The Power of Gold, a song that rocked a little more than his usual stuff. Back in the 70s I spent a l...

Hey Rick, I just wanted to send a quick note to you and I hope you receive it so you can post the info on the blog. Today, Dec. 7th, would have been Nancy's 54th birthday. I just thought that her birthday should be mentioned on the DJ's blog. If we didn't, well in Nancy's words, she'd "hang our guts on a fence post!" She is so missed by many. Thanks Tom

Hey, I left a comment on one of the early blogs regarding DJ's and have been frequenting the sight as often as I can. Anyhow, here's a picture that I found in one of my boxes I'm just now unpacking from college. I believe it's a shot of the last or second to last cast of Dirty Jacks. L to R from back row: David Joder, Scott Sieffert, Joani ?, David Turner, Davey Hough, Kathy Stainbrook, Craig Richensen, Cory Curtis Lisa dyson, Audrey Berger, Ruben Travis, Mark Nowlin, Nina trout Rocky 'Joe' Quarles, Chuck Maes, Nancy Stainbrook, Lisa Sprague, Heather Stainbrook, Kanton Budge, Amber Goe M. P. Hanford (on the ground right behind the fabulous…) Tom Dewester. Best regards, J Morgan [Note- Click on the picture for a larger image. And thank you so much Jesse! -Rick]