We will be covering Cheyenne Frontier Days once again.
Our biggest hope is to review Night Shows, and of course we’ll be covering the rodeo and some of the people that make Frontier Days the Daddy of ’em all.
best from
Karen Cotton, editor of Life is as Sweet as Cotton Candy.

Learn more about the Terry Bison Ranch: www.terrybisonranch.com

www.Facebook.com/terrybisonranch

Trail Rides 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily (winter hours)

$35 a person for adults and children over the age of eight.

Other activities Bison Tours- every day for all ages

$12 adults , children 4-12 are $6

9 a.m., noon, 3 pm. and 4: 30 p.m.

By Kelly Smith, Life Is as Sweet as Cotton Candy reporter

To catch the spirit of the Old West I recently took a trail ride at Terry Bison Ranch, which located

just north of the Colorado and Wyoming border off of Interstate-25. The ranch is a family oriented

retreat with something for everyone, including everything from horseback riding, to train rides. This is an all-encompassing, authentic western experience right down to the food.

The Wyoming cuisine offered at the Senator’s Steakhouse is not to be missed.

Delicacies not common to your average steakhouse like buffalo sirloin and buffalo short

ribs are a couple of choices on their evening menu.

While at the ranch I had the opportunity to talk to Dan Thieu, who has been the owner of the Terry Bison Ranch for the last twenty years.

When asked about the vision Dan has for the future of the ranch he talked eagerly about his

hope to add more cabins and expand the trail ride operation and wagon shuttles.

He said that years ago they shuttled guests around the ranch with teams of draft horses. Shuttle

rides were discontinued because it was very hard to find skilled drivers, due to such a talent being a lost

art. In the recent past the ranch has begun doing internal training. This is one of the primary things they

are working on right now. Every year they add a little something more to the ranch including

improvements made this year to the gazebo area, and the addition of the chicken bus; offering organic

cage free eggs for purchase.

Thiel’s  favorite part of the ranch is the area down the hill near the stables. As I sat in the shade

watching the horses and listening to the breeze  move through the trees I would have to agree with him.

Jasmine Bell is a Native American hoop dancer who is dancing at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Indian Village.

You can see her Saturday, July 28 performing at the Indian Village off and on during the day. http://www.cfdrodeo.com

Here is an interview that Annie Shay of Life is as Sweet as Cotton Candy did with Jasmine on Thursday.

Loverboy is performing at Cheyenne Frontier Days tomorrow night with Journey and Pat Benatar

Home – Ramp Up AR

A Life is as  Sweet as Cotton Candy Q and A with Paul Dean of Loverboy.

Editor Karen Cotton and reporter Kimberli “Kimba” Pierantoni asked the following questions:

Here are Paul Dean’s answers

Karen: Are there any bands that you guys admire? If so why do you admire them?

Dean: The band I admire the most is Def Leppard. All original guys after decades together, except for of course Steve, who died way too young. And the way they stood by Rick when he lost his arm, and not to mention the incredible music they make. And they’re killer live. And the coolest people.

Kimba: How did Loverboy first form?

Dean: I met Mike Reno when I was rehearsing in a band in Calgary. I was the bass player, the second gig I had in that position. Mike was the singer in a previous band with the guitar player I was working with. During a smoke break, Mike showed up to say hi to his buddy, and they started jamming in the other room. That was the second time I had heard Mike sing as it turned out. The first time was in a bar in Edmonton years earlier, but I didn’t pay any attention to him or the band, I thought they were too crude. Too rock ‘n roll for my tastes at the time. How things change over the years. I was going through some pretty rough times, my mind had been opened a lot, and by that time I had been around the block a few times, so I was ready for anything. And when I heard Mike sing this time, I said to myself, “Whoa, that is one incredible voice.” It turns out I’m not the only one who thinks that. Still do, by the way.

Kimba: Why the name Loverboy?

Dean: Mike and I were gonna call it Dean Reno, and I told my 15 year old nephew the name of our new band, to the reaction of some serious eye rolling. OK, I get it, the name sucks. So that night, I’m sitting at the kitchen table in my one bedroom apartment in Calgary, looking for inspiration wherever I can get it, trying to think up song titles, band names, something. My wife Denise had a copy of Covergirl magazine beside the toaster, and I thought, not a bad song title. Hmm, Coverboy, let’s see, pretty good name for a band. See where this is going?

Kimba: Where you ever in a town/state that was odd?

Dean: Let’s talk Canada. Moose Jaw, Sakatchewan. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Medicine Hat, Alberta. All fine little towns, places we’ve played, excellent fans, but who thought up those names? They actually voted on them, “Yeah, let’s go with that”?

Karen: Do you have any specific fun requests on your rider that you’d like to share; i.e. brown M & M’s?

Dean: Back in the day, we, well actually I, requested a pop corn popper. Still hooked on the stuff. We do like red M&M’s best though.

Karen: What do you like about being on tour with Journey & Pat Benatar?

Dean: Hits, hits and more hits. No filler, all killer. Plus I get to watch 2 of the best guitar players in the biz. And huge crowds every night never hurts.

Karen: Do you pull any pranks on each other? If so do you have one that you liked the most or were the funniest?

Dean: Back in ’85 we were in Morin Heights just outside Montreal where they had a state of the art recording studio. We started recording “Lovin Every Minute of It” there. The studio had a separate drum booth, with a glass door and a big window. I’m not sure that the telling is that funny, but the expression on Matt’s face when he realized the stench that was in the room with him and getting worse every day was coming from the cheese we had taken off the deli tray and hidden behind his stack of drum heads a week earlier – it was pretty hilarious. I think we all learned a few new French swear words that day.

Life is as Sweet as Cotton Candy would like to thank you for your time! Have a phenomenal tour.

Guest: Rod Hottle, Cheyenne Frontier Days general chairman

How Cheyenne Frontier Days chooses its Night Shows

Zac Brown Band and the Marshall Tucker Band were the headliners of the first Night Show of Cheyenne Frontier Days, which was an almost sold out show. Brad Paisley and The Band Perry followed on Saturday night, which was also almost sold out.

The following concerts and events start at 8 p.m. MDT: Merle Haggard and Chancey Williams and the Younger Brothers Band will perform today (Sunday, July 22).

Championship Bull Riders is the night entertainment for Monday, July 23 and Tuesday, July 24.

Reba McEntire, Rodney Atkins and Hunter Hayes perform on Wednesday, July 25.

Thursday, July 26 Journey, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, and Loverboy will perform.

Hank Williams Jr. and Chris Young perform on Friday, July 27.

For the final Night Show on July 29, Blake Shelton, who is also a judge on TV’s “The Voice,” and David Nail will perform.

For tickets go to: Http://www.cfdrodeo.com

Q: “How does Cheyenne Frontier Days choose the acts to bring in each year for the Frontier Nights shows.”

Hottle: “We started doing some in depth marketing research back in 2010 and we did a survey using a company called Copernicus from back East and they came out and did some surveying.

They determined some segments and some things that we could look at. Basically five segments is what we looked at with families with small kids, families with teenagers, couples, we had partiers and the older rodeo fan, which I kind of relate to.  We did that and one of the things out of that market research and the focus groups that we had. Cheyenne Frontier Days is known from bringing A acts in. Just like last year we had Zac Brown Band and some of those folks in our line up that’s become an expectation for Cheyenne Frontier Days.

(Last year’s headliners for the Night Shows were Kid Rock, Jason Aldean, Charlie Daniels, Championship Bull Riding,  Motley Crue, Darius Rucker, the Zac Brown Band and Toby Keith with Eric Church)

“We use the promoter Bob Romeo and it’s the Romeo Entertainment Group and they help us secure acts and book the acts for our shows. That’s how we came up with the lineup we’ve already started the lineup for 2013. This is my last year as the general chairman, there’s one act secured already, but we can’t say who it is yet. We’ll pass that task onto the next committee that starts in August.

This year they twisted up the lineup. On Fridays we usually have a rock band , but we brought country into that slot (Zac Brown Band and the Marshall Tucker Band), and we moved our rock act. Last year we had Motley Crue on Wednesday and this year we have Journey on Thursday.”

The Brad Paisley show was in competition with the Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw’s Brothers of the Sun tour in Denver.

We still think we’ll hit our mark on the Brad Paisley show.

Historically Sunday nights always have been light nights here. So we call it a flat night, this way we pay a flat fee for an act and bring them in. Last year was Charlie Daniels this year is Merle Haggard. We’re giving the Chancey Williams Band that has played in our Bucking A tent  for years a chance to open for Merle. That’s a flat night, so we can do promotions around that. (Tickets are $23)

You can learn more about my two reporters and a guest writer soon on Life is as Sweet as Cotton Candy.

The page is currently under construction ….. stay tuned 🙂
Karen