Photo: Dave Watts’ home | By: Faith Miller, Colorado Newsline | Dec. 31, 2021, would be the first New Year’s Eve in 33 years that Dave Watts wouldn’t have a gig to play, he lamented on Facebook in late December. Watts’ funk-, soul- and jazz-influenced band, The Motet, had canceled its San Diego show due to “multiple cases of Covid” among the band and crew.
It was already shaping up to be a wildly abnormal holiday. Then, the day before New Year’s Eve, when the drummer and bandleader was in Los Angeles visiting friends — away from his home in Superior’s Sagamore neighborhood — Watts got the call that changed his life.
“Our road manager … was driving up from Colorado Springs, and he drove by my neighborhood and saw the plumes of smoke and all the chaos that was ensuing with all the fire trucks and police and people that were trying to escape,” said Watts, a mainstay in Colorado’s live music community whose band has grown a devoted following across the country.
Watts and his partner, Danielle Gregory, rushed to the airport as soon as the manager called and they realized the rapidly growing Marshall Fire could be putting their two dogs, who were at home, in danger.
By the time they got back to Colorado, it was already too late.
The home where Watts, Gregory, their roommate and Watts’ teenage son had lived was gone along with their beloved pets, Watts’ basement recording studio, and 30 years worth of gear and memorabilia from his musical career.
Now, the household is coping with a new reality — as are another 1,000-plus Superior and Louisville families who lost their homes in the devastating Marshall Fire, the most destructive that Colorado has ever experienced.
Watts estimates he lost “three or four drum sets, about 25 snare drums, probably 50 different cymbals.” But the worst tragedy, Watts said, was losing his two dogs, Tracy and Aria. The fast-moving flames left many families with just minutes to evacuate, and Watts’ neighbors weren’t able to get to his house in time to save the pets.
“It’s the dogs that’s the hardest part, is losing family like that,” he said. “And we’re not the only ones … I think a lot of folks were at work and their pets were at home and there was nothing that they could do about it.”
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Read the whole story here:
https://coloradonewsline.com/2022/01/23/marshall-fire-community-the-motet-dave-watts/
Photo: The site of Dave Watts’ former home in Superior’s Sagamore neighborhood is pictured on Jan. 3, 2022, following the Marshall Fire. (Courtesy of Dave Watts)
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