It's 11:30am. We board a flight out of St. Louis en route to Denver, Colorado, the 8th stop on REPO Road Tour 3.

January 21, 2009.: We land in Denver a little after 1:30pm, exit the plane, & pick up our luggage. The amount of luggage that we're having to check is growing exponentially as each day of the tour passes; we end up carrying the leftover merchandise from the previous night with us, so our overflow is starting to get cumbersome. We have so much crap, that we need to rent 2 of those $3 airport dollies just to haul everything across the airport.

We pick up a rental car and make our way towards downtown Denver's Ramada Inn, our hotel for the night. But first, we have a very important pit stop to make:

REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA's DVD & Blu-Ray went on sale yesterday in major retail stores throughout the country…so, director Darren Lynn Bousman, actor Bill Moseley, tour manager Spooky Dan, & I, are on a mission to find a Best Buy or Walmart in Denver where we can purchase our own copies of the movie. We come upon a shopping plaza that has both stores, plus a Chipoltle (DLB's favorite Mexican food joint), where we settle down to eat lunch following our shopping adventure.

First, we stop at Best Buy. Fans had told us that these stores had impressive REPO! DVD stands on display. No such luck in this particular Best Buy, but the REPO! DVDs are prominently displayed on the "New Releases" shelf. We each pick up a copy and walk towards the cash register with our $2-off coupons in hand. Spooky Dan readies his video camera to film the transactions.

A Best Buy employee stops us, immediately. She tells Spooky that he cannot film inside the store. We explain to her, a manager, that we're the filmmakers behind REPO!, and that this moment is sentimental to us. She gives us a "yeah, right" look. That is, until we show her Bill's mug, as Luigi Largo, gracing the back of the DVD box. A few more Best Buy people surround us now, and they all seem confused as to why we need to buy the movie if we're the ones who made the movie. I'm confused by the realization that there's no GraveRobber image on the DVD box. I sigh. Then she sighs. But she finally lets Spooky continue filming.

Even though our coupons (given to us by our distributor, Lions Gate) don't seem to work at this store, we each now own a brand new copy of the R!TGO DVD. After fighting for so long to get REPO! more exposure theatrically, it feels great to be able to walk into a random store in Denver and find our film.

We make our way to the Ramada Inn, an oddly decorated hotel (Western-themed!), and check-in. 

It's 7:30pm. We regroup in the hotel's lobby before heading out to the Mayan Theatre where REPO! will screen tonight at 9:00pm. We're all so full from our late, heavy, Mexican lunch, that we skip dinner.

Bill, Darren, & I, share a drink at a bar just across the street from the Mayan. Spooky ventures inside the theatre to set up the merchandise table. From the bar's window I can see the long line of REPO! fans forming outside. I can also see the marquee on the building, towering over the theatre: KeyBank. Considering that KeyBank is the holder of one of my student loans—a lone that I am nowhere near paying off—this looming red key in the distance could either be a presage of doom for tonight's screening, or just some much needed comedy.

It's 8:30pm. We down our drinks and step outside to greet the line. Denver welcomes us—and REPO!—with open arms. I meet a couple dressed as bloodied surgeons. I meet a man dressed as REPO Man holding a "Free Organ REPOssession" sign ("Chronophange"). I meet a chap dressed as a bloodied, retractable-knife-wielding—and smiling!—Luigi ("morningchaser"). There's also Pavi with a picture of Paris Hilton taped to the back of his hand mirror—the same way that Ogre did during his audition for the role of the vainest of the Largos.

The Mayan opens its doors and everybody floods in, including us. It's a cool, 2-story theatre. The top level is a bar/lounge area, which we later use for our signing/meet-n-greet. I go to the bar to order a beer when a fan intercepts me, insisting on paying for my drink. The transaction is completed with a REPO!'d $20 bill: a REPO Man helmet drawn over Andrew Jackson's head with the word "Testify!" written in red.

The bar has something else that I like—aside from the free drinks, that is: a Big Lebowski-themed specialty drink menu, with the title "Gimme a Caucasian!" over an illustrated picture of The Dude. Considering that I can (and have!) had entire conversations using only quotes from this film, this drink menu pretty much made my night.

My night is even more "made" as we start the screening, because Denver is a loud and excited group. They go nuts for Spooky Dan's puppet short, and even more nuts for REPO! 

At the end of the night, Darren and I are given a gift courtesy of The Colorado REPO! Army: a plastic sports bottle filled with a blue liquid and 2 floating orbs. Written on the side of the bottle are the words "EYE BALLS w/Digital Corneas in Zydrate". Airport security is going to love us. TESTIFY!

REPO! Road Tour Diary: Denver

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