Then we moved to Colorado Springs, which at first seemed to be a haven for metal heads and blues hounds, and not much decent live stuff. For us to make the live music scene, we had to go to Denver or Boulder. Things picked up a bit when several musical venues opened up downtown. Things slowed right back down when they went out of business. We stopped going to live shows for a while, exploring different things in our lives with our new-found time and energy. Then we got bored.

Randy started working at a different project in the north part of town, and started meeting different people. We started listening to more electronic-type music, led in part by digging the acid-jazz grooves of the Beastie Boys, and then the Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, and so on. Things were on the move.

Over Christmas, with the aid of Big Andrew, we picked up some trip-hop music in Toronto, and once back home, Randy borrowed some electronic trance music from a co-worker (who will be known from now on as Rave Girl). In the past few months, things have steamrolled to the point where much of what we listen to could be classified as techno. Even though there are lots of different genres under the big techno tent, for the purposes of this story (and the fact that we don't really know what all the differences are) we'll call everything techno.

It all started when we asked Rave Girl to recommend a few places for us to check out. We spent the weekend in Denver, staying with a friend (who will be known from now on as Friend). We picked up some flyers and advertisements for raves at a couple of stores, and in the process dropped a load of cash on music and clothes. That's an unfortunate side effect of rave culture that I should probably mention here. The cost of the tickets ($17 in advance), water, assorted beverages, CDs, and rave gear (optional) is not cheap. And on top of that, the physical toll on your body essentially adds up to a lost weekend.

But our minds were firm, our resolve determined, our jaws set. We decided to go to the Mars rave the following weekend, and prepared appropriately, by not getting enough sleep and Una getting some sort of intestinal virus during the week. On Saturday, which was appropriately Valentine's Day, we had a yummy lunch at the local bistro, then went to scout out a tattoo parlour. Finally, we went home to rest up.