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Brian Beer of Bud Bronson & the Good Timers: “Booking shows in the Bay Area was damn near impossible, as no one knew who we were. But our pal Arty booked some shows in a cave — literally, a cave — down by the beach. We drove all over town for five hours renting stuff — generators, lights, mics, extension cords. It prevented us from seeing San Francisco destinations but offered an excellent perspective on the city’s industrial underbelly.
“There were about a hundred people in the cave. The sound was awesome. We have the most ferocious drummer in the world, and the only place we’ve ever played that has really tamed his feral snare was this cave, which went through a cliff and opened up to waves crashing through on the other side.
“Afterward, we had to drunkenly carry all our gear up an endless flight of stairs, which was way harder than carrying it down sober in the daylight. All the bands pitched in to help except one singer. His rationale was that since he was a singer, he just needed to carry his microphone. Still, he was moping around while watching us climb the world’s tallest staircase at 1 a.m. My everlasting memory is of him standing there looking like a fire truck just ran over his puppy as we trudged our Spinal Tap stage setup all the way up the Stairway to Heaven.”
Bud Bronson & the Good Timers play the hi-dive on February 22.
Listen to Bud Bronson & the Good Timers and more favorites from Westword writers on our Westword Staff Picks playlist.
Editor's Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the stories of local bands by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz's website to see more of his work.