Pink Martini Concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado

Great news! My new book will be out within the next week on Amazon! A Travel for Taste: AppSnax contains 20 delicious recipes for appetizers, snacks and small plates. I tested and photographed each one then arranged them into a beautiful, handy cookbook. The price: print version: $14.99 and Kindle version: $4.99.

 

Some of the recipes have appeared here on the blog, but most are new releases. Most of them are quick, and they are all easy and delicious!

 

More details about the book:

  • 58 pages
  • 10 no-cook/no-bake recipes
  • 10 cooked/baked recipes
  • Full-color photos of each finished dish
  • Appendix with extra complementary recipes
  • Alphabetical Index with cross-references
  • “Make-ahead” tags for easy planning
  • Notes section for each recipe with variations and tips to make things easy
  • Metric conversions of ingredient amounts and cooking temperatures

This book makes a great gift for the cook on your gift list – or for YOU! Blog subscribers will get first crack at ordering the book when it’s ready, and THERE WILL BE A GIVEAWAY to a lucky subscriber or two – so subscribe today and watch your email inbox for the announcement! 

Last summer on the most beautiful night imaginable, my husband and I went to the Red Rocks natural amphitheater for a concert under a full moon. The band was Pink Martini, one of my favorites. If you don’t know them yet, go directly to your favorite music outlet and check them out immediately. Seriously.

Red Rocks is a natural amphitheater that has been used for concerts and performances since the early 1900s. It’s actually part of a park that covers 738 acres at an elevation of 6450 feet. The park is part of Denver’s Mountain Park system. Their website claims that Red Rocks is the only natural, acoustically perfect amphitheater in the world. It was definitely on my bucket list!

Even the parking lot is impressive:

That large outcropping is stage right and encloses one side of the amphitheater. Just beyond it are the wooden bleachers. The stage is at the bottom of the incline inside. Here’s the other side of it, with a projection booth in front:

Walking into the venue, we could see the Denver skyline in the distance to the east:

In this photo you can see the giant stage-left rock that borders the other side of the amphitheater.

Above, you can see the other projection booth and the sound engineer’s equipment in the foreground. Although there is a huge amount of personal space in the bleachers, seats are very, very hard: wood and concrete. Next time I’ll bring a cushion!

At the bottom of the bleachers is the natural-rock stage, but they’ve enhanced it greatly with high-tech equipment. Every musician aspires to perform at Red Rocks! Here’s the Colorado Symphony and Rufus Wainwright warming us up:

The amphitheater complex also has a restaurant and a gift shop, which I didn’t see that day. I’m definitely going back for both of those. The venue is also a popular exercise spot, and there is daily morning yoga, as well as hiking and biking in the park outside the amphitheater. Many folks go there to work out in small groups or individually. I’ve also heard the Easter sunrise service is not to be missed. It’s definitely on my list, too.

As it does every day, darkness gradually fell. Once Thomas Lauderdale, China Forbes and co. took the stage, Pink Martini did it’s astounding, musical thing. I love them so much! I could write ten blog posts about them alone! But it was a true thrill to see them in person in this beautiful place. Check it out:

The musicians in the band and the Colorado Symphony were amazing, as well as the other singers in the group, especially Timothy Nishimoto.

I didn’t want the show to end! But, of course, it did. On the way out, we saw a couple of the band members standing around the door to the famous autograph tunnel leading backstage. It has autographs from nearly everyone who’s ever played Red Rocks. Wow. Apparently, those with VIP tickets get to go in the tunnel and meet the band.

And, even though these pictures aren’t the best quality because I only had my phone that night, I have to show you how wonderful the night was. Here’s that full moon:

And Denver’s city lights:

Traffic wasn’t so bad for the drive home, though it did take a while to get out of the parking lot. I was in no hurry to leave anyway.

Red Rocks is a definite must-see on a trip out West. Now you know why!

Photo for No Apparent Reason: