Days Go By

What Fassbinder film is it?
The one-armed man
Comes into the flower shop and says:
What flower expresses
Days go by
And they just keep going by endlessly
Pulling you
Into the future.
Days go by
Endlessly,
Endlessly pulling you
Into the future.
And the florist says:
White Lily.

Laurie Anderson – White Lily

Yeah, I know. Days have gone by and I haven’t posted in forever. Originally, I had planned on doing a post/rant about the banking crisis. I had tons of references from Wall Street Watch, Rolling Stone, Keith Olberman and a whole host of others. I was going to talk about the Glass Steagall act, the Securities Act and all kinds of things. It was a good topic for a great rant. Thing is, I got so depressed every time I started to put it together thinking about how badly we’ve been raped by the Banking Industry and the politicians who shepherded the deregulation through the system that I just gave up. When you start wondering whether or not it would be worth the risk/time in prison to hunt down and shoot the asshats responsible for that mess, it’s time to give up. And then days went by.

A Snowy Trail Awaits

So leaving that topic and getting back to what this blog was originally intended to do, tell my friends and family what I’ve been up to lately; here’s the news. Back in late March, Mitch and I went hiking one weekend. What with our advanced age and all, we decided that it was probably important to actually get out and move once a week or so. In Denver, the “active” seasons are usually in Summer and Winter since the “shoulder seasons” as I’ve heard them called, are usually muddy and prone to quick weather changes. In Chicago, the best seasons seemed to me to be Spring and Fall since Summer was hot and humid and Winter was too damn cold. Our hike was nice enough, but was indeed a bit muddy and chilly at times. It did demonstrate that Mitch’s hypothesis was correct, we definitely need to get out and move *at least* once a week.

Do they make chains for bike tires?

With that in mind, I went out and purchased a bike the following week. My Fuji bike was stolen out of my garage just a few weeks before I moved out here in 2006 and I’ve been without since then. I picked it up after work one night and it immediately snowed. Of course it did. Eventually I was able to ride to work and I’ve been making the effort to do so whenever possible. It’s a nice ride at about 2 1/2 miles, and the uphill part is in the morning. That makes the ride home after a crappy day a bit easier to take .

For those about to Rock

We went out to see a Primus cover band on April 1st. Mitch had played with the guys in the band on occasion and we wanted to support them. They played the Bluebird here in Denver, nice venue. Following the Primus cover band was an AC/DC cover band called High Voltage. Here’s the thing, they range in age from 12 to 16. The girl bass player is the tallest member. There’s a few YouTube videos off that link. I tell you, you haven’t seen an AC/DC cover band until you’ve seen a 14 year old boy shirtless, wearing shorts and playing his SG while lying on the floor and spinning in circles. ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Captive viewing

Mid April brought Easter at Mitch’s house. A batch of the theatre crowd that Mitch plays with gathered up at 9000 feet for Easter dinner. We watched a few videos from previous Magic Moments shows and I think a bit of the “Concert for George“, though that might have been the DVD we watched at the Derby party. Either way, floppy ears were worn, chocolate was eaten and parachuting bunnies were thrown in the air. I think Austin pulled off the ears the best.

Insert cheers and screams here

Tom Pazen is going to have already read this, but two days later, Thievery Corporation played the Filmore here and they were *awesome*. The two guys on keyboards, conga percussion, tom percussion, bass, guitar, sitar, saxophone, trumpet and six different singers from Tehran, Buenos Aires, Brazil, Guiana, either South Africa or the Caribbean and Frank from Chicago. Great show, two encores. BTW, this should be the last crappy cell phone pic from that gawdawful Nokia. It broke a while back and I replaced it with an iPhone. Next concert I’ll be there with a better cell phone camera and my cyber zippo lighter.

Another mint julep please

Did anyone else watch the Kentucky Derby? Dude, Mine That Bird kicked some serious butt! Blazed from how far back? Last place? Not really a horse racing fan, but watching the Derby with Laura is like watching basketball with Jon Kindred, the enthusiasm is infectious. Besides, we all got to wear the big flowery hat (modeled here by the lovely Annie) and lose the imaginary bets we placed.

So purty and flowery

A few weeks back, I decided to try growing flowers on my deck to try and attract humming birds. I tried putting up humming bird feeders last year, but didn’t seem to have much luck attracting the birds. So it was off to the hardware store for some window boxes and flowers. They seem to still be growing, even though I’ve never had much luck keeping plants alive. The humming bird feeders on the other hand, are pretty much useless. I’ll need to look for something else I guess. If I continue to have luck with the flowers, I’m going to try growing the peter pepper seeds I ordered online.

Intrepid camper

That brings us up to last weekend. We went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park again this year. I missed last year since I was in Texas working on a job I believe. This year was lots of fun even if the weather wasn’t cooperating. Laura’s friend Christy joined us this time out and brought this year’s group to 7 (was that an appropriate use of apostrophes, Laura?). The last day, we were getting ready to take our picture by the Great Sand Dunes sign when an Asian family drove up wanting to do the same thing. It’s been suggested that I might have been speaking the bits and pieces of Japanese I know to a Korean family. Personally I still think they were Japanese, what with the peace signs (which Mitch called gang signs) and the fashion sense, but I could be wrong. On the way home, we played a game where we linked band names by the last letter in the name. Beatles -> Supertramp -> Pretenders -> Steely Dan, etc.. We found that there are a lot of band names that end in D, H, E, S, N, O and M. I realize it’s no “Cow Poker”, but it seemed to pass the time nicely .

Suffer my wrath!!

That pretty much brings us up to date. If you’d like to hear me bitch about all the crappy things going on, you’ll have to give me a call or drop me an e-mail. Apparently, I just get depressed and give up writing when I start to do that . Thursday is Anita the wonderful hairdresser’s birthday, so let’s all wish her well and book an appointment! If you don’t, Kahn the Terminator Cat will melt you where you stand with his deadly stare. Love you Anita, I’m a month behind you. I just have to let a few more days go by.

– G

Too Many Trips Down Memory Lane

You have gotten much thinner
You’re lookin’ like a shadow
It’s from dwelling on the might-have-beens
Living in a time-warp
To whom am I speaking? Some ghost from the past?
While you think about old glories
You’re fading real fast
You take too many trips down memory lane
You take too many trips down memory lane
You take another trip down memory lane
You go down there once too often and you’re likely to remain

You play old music
Well some of it’s a bore
To me it’s all irrelevant
Like Haight Street and love beads
Still you want to make a statement
But this nostalgia thing hangs on
Your friends all miss the point cause
They see where you’ve gone
They’ve seen that you’ve gone to…
take too many trips down memory lane
You take too many trips down memory lane
You take another trip down memory lane
You go down there once too often and you’re likely to remain

It’s another flat testimony
Inflated with emotional gas
Though the truth never changes
Shouldn’t you, couldn’t you
Shouldn’t you, couldn’t you (I’m trying)
Couldn’t you, shouldn’t you, couldn’t you, won’t you!

You make a list of all your failures
You count all your heartaches
Please sit up straight at the table
And eat your words
Much too weak
I think complaining is a crime
And like the boy who cries wolf we…
We don’t believe you anymore, we watch you
Travel back in time to…
take too many trips down memory lane
You take too many trips down memory lane
You take another trip down memory lane
You go down there once too often and you’re likely to remain

Daniel Amos – Memory Lane

Absolutely the best Christian New Wave Album of 1983! But let’s be honest, what was it’s competition? Age to Age by Amy Grant? Michael W. Smith – Project? Yeah right. (Randy – you, Mike Bovee and Bob Determan are going to be the only ones who get those references.)

So this is apparently my month to get back in touch with old friends. Chris Maddi, what up!!! Randy Garmon, holy cow, my college roommate from 1978! And both of you with married children, you’re makin’ me feel old. You realize of course that after this initial contact you won’t hear from me again for another decade, right? As long as we’re clear on that.

Welcome to the new year, such as it is. Here in Denver, we started the year off with another Burns Supper. There was much revelry, poetry reading, Scottish food and a wee dram or two. Among the many facts that were learned that night were that “Nine Inch Will Please a Lady” and that “Little Boy Blue” by Eugene Field is Mitch’s favorite poem. We watched almost all of “So I Married An Axe Murderer”, but the DVD I brought along had a grrrrreat uuuge scratch so we didn’t get to see the end. I spent all night crrryin’ on my grrrreat big pilla’. Cooper was nonplussed about the whole affair and decided that rather than trying to figure out what the heck was going on, he would spent most of the evening lying down, happy to be amongst his people.

What's a 'gyvel'?

Behold the Rustic!

Honest, sonsie faces

Wake me when there's leftovers

I spent this past weekend with the McCormac’s at the Beaver Creek ski resort. My entire body is aching as I type. They were in to visit and learn to ski. I headed up Saturday morning and we were joined by Mitch for skiing Sunday. Thanks Mitch, for providing all the pointers and help, I know Knox and company appreciated it. Monday, Knox, Fiona and I headed up to the top of the mountain for one last day. Fiona shamed Knox and I with her fearless attack on all things snow. She was in and out of the trees and constantly asking to head down the blue and black runs. I, on the other hand, was simply trying to make it down before the sun set. I think I had the McCormacs worried since it took me about a half an hour longer that it did Knox and Fi. One day I *will* triumph over the mountain, right after I learn to link turns… and not fall down… and keep my knees bent….

All in all, a pretty relaxing weekend. Oreos were eaten, gin rummy was played, beautiful weather was enjoyed and Advil was taken. I managed to capture a few moments for posterity’s sake.

Intrepid Skiers!

2 old guys about to be schooled by a 10 year old

Yeah, the scenery sucks out here

Last run of the day

Apres Ski

I hope you’re beginning to shake off the winter doldrums. Right now the economy sucks the big wiener and I know everyone’s feeling it. If you can’t write and tell me good news, write me to commiserate.

– G