Two local music legends are now immortalized on a new mural in downtown Silverthorne, where the inspiration goes all the way back to a ranch on Ute Pass in 2013.
Krystal 93 DJ Tom Fricke remembers that night.
It was the Roots Retreat at Aspen Canyon Ranch on the Summit-Grand County line. That’s where Tom snapped a photo of Leon Joseph Littlebird, a staple of the Summit County music scene, strumming an acoustic guitar next to another local legend, Arnie J. Green, picking the electric bass.
Both musicians are in the elements. They are vibrant and energetic. And never in a million years did Tom expect to see his friends – and his photo – covering two stories of a parking structure.
“What a fun gathering of local musicians,” Tom reminisced today on the Krystal 93 morning show. “It blew me away. I’ve never seen one of my pictures blown up that big.”
Tom’s photo was interpreted by artist Thomas Evans, aka Detour, using big, bold colors and the innate line breaks of the parking structure. The artist spent two weeks completing the mural. Find it on the new parking garage in the Fourth North development along Adams Avenue and across the street from Angry James Brewery.
It is a fitting tribute to Green, who died of cancer in 2015. He is the inspiration for Summit Musicians Relief Fund, known as SMRF, which raises money to support local musicians in medical crisis. (That image on the mural? Just so happens to be the one on the SMRF homepage.)
“I am so honored to have my image alongside my dear departed friend, Arnie J. Green, on this beautiful mural,” Littlebird said. “Thank you, town of Silverthorne, for including me in this and for supporting artists who make their living performing in Summit County.”
Preview image via Steve Plummer with the SMRF.