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12/13/03
April comes early to Ship of Fools
By Rick Carroll/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer


CARBONDALE - A lot of people felt like fools Friday night. At least they got
a refund.

Nope, Widespread Panic did not play at the Ship of Fools bar Friday, and the
smart money says the Georgia jam band didn't play last night either.

"I had a feeling they weren't going to be there," said an Aspen resident
known as "Dude."

But that didn't deter Dude and a flock of fellow "Spread Heads" both near
and afar from making the pilgrimage to the downvalley dive and rolling the
dice on a rumor. Some fans had camped in front of the Main Street bar since
3:30 a.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the skeptics stayed put, sipped on a tall-boy
and laughed out loud about the scenario: Widespread Panic, one of the most
popular touring acts in the country, rocking 100 lucky fans in a tiny tavern
called the Ship of Fools.

Hollywood couldn't have contrived a better script that to some was a
downright knee-slapper, to others a plot laced with cruelty.

One person who isn't laughing is Ship of Fools owner Tom Flynn, who said he
had his doubts ever since self-described promoter and customer "David Mark
Trujillo" entertained him about bringing the Athens, Ga., band to Carbondale
about a month ago.

"He said he knows a lot of people in the music business and he said
Widespread Panic were friends of his," Flynn said. "I'd never heard of them,
and I looked them up and saw they've played in the (Madison Square) Garden.
I told him there's no way they were going to play here and he said they were
his friends and they were coming. But I was skeptical all along."

Flynn said he instructed Trujillo not to sell the tickets until the "band
walked into our doors."

But when Flynn went to Glenwood Springs, the future Bill Graham sold all 100
tickets -- they were yellow and unnumbered - for the purported Friday and
Saturday shows within minutes on Friday at about noon.

"He left after that and I haven't seen him since," Flynn said.

Trujillo's name isn't listed locally and he couldn't be reached for comment.
The phone at the company he runs, Carbondale Stone, which also was listed on
the tickets as a concert promoter, was disconnected.

Flynn said he's "embarrassed" but added nobody lost money because the bar
collected the ticket money and all ticket holders received refunds at about
8:30 p.m. That's when the opening act-turned-headliner 7G, which had the
crowd moving with a range of covers from Lou Reed to the Headhunters - said
Widespread Panic wasn't coming.

Before that announcement, rumors about the band's arrival or no-show
continued to swirl like a Texas tornado. Here's a sampling:

- 7:17 a.m., Two touring vans with Georgia license plates seen in the
Eisenhower Tunnel

- 10:04 a.m., Widespread Panic posts message on Web site, insisting there is
no show

- 12:15 p.m., Bass player David Schools pulls back muscle while skiing Sheer
Bliss at Snowmass

- 2:33 p.m., singer-guitarist John Bell seen eating veggie slice at New York
Pizza

- 3:15 p.m., drummer Todd Nance said to be sitting on his couch at his home
in Georgia

- 5:11 p.m., "Dude" talks to management at the Ship of Fools for 20 minutes.
The show is still a go, they tell him. Dude doesn't buy it, but hits the
tavern nonetheless.

- 8:30 p.m., It's official: Widespread is not coming.

"I feel bamboozled," said Aspen resident Mandy Chandler, who drove down to
Carbondale after work.

Other fans were just flat unlucky. One man who had waited in line since 4
a.m. would discover that his sleeping bag was urinated on by a Jack Russell
terrier named Henry.

But that seemed trivial compared to the mess Flynn was dealing with, from
fans to the band's publicists to the media to that dreaded "L" word -
lawyers.

"The band's lawyer called us up and said this is not happening," Flynn said.

But that didn't stop Carbondale from looking like Party Town, U.S.A.

"Most action I've seen in a while," said a waitress at Red Rock Diner as she
poured coffee the morning after.

The Black Nugget bar was one of the beneficiaries of the Widespread rumor.
That's where Dude wound up spending the evening, where a band aptly named
the Bottom Feeders, comprised of a liquor-store clerk, newspaper reporter
and ski-shop manager, had a full spread on its plate.

"I've never seen the Nugget so packed," said bass player Fritz Mawicke. "We
were widespread bottom feeding."

Guitarist Greg Masse, who writes for the Glenwood Post-Independent, was
inspired by the rumor, and Friday penned a song titled "Why Spread Panic?"

Even Two Rivers Café in Basalt seized the opportunity. A sign posted
Saturday outside the eatery read: "Two Rivers presents Widespread Panic
tonight only. Get your tickets here. Ask the bartender. Only $100 each. What
a sweet deal."

"I'm only going to leave it out there for a few hours," bartender Jon
Gardner said.

Flynn said he's glad the issue is behind him, at least for now.

"I am so bewildered by this," Flynn said. "I didn't realize these guys were
so popular. I'm going to get my chops busted for this one."

Asked if there's any chance Widespread would play Saturday night, Flynn
responded, "I would not be surprised. The way this whole thing has gone,
anything can happen."

We won't touch that.