I did not blog for a long time because:
a) I got sick of the movie,
b) I went to Denver and had limited Internet times.
I was keeping a mental log of great anecdotes to share here on PerfHart, but now enough time has passed that the details of these anecdotes are fuzzy/stale. So I will just post the highlights:
* Heather hosted an awesome party at her parents house featuring a homemade photo booth. You can totally see the progression from sober pictures of smiling families to tipsy shots of shaking bootys and thrashing heads. You can check out the flickr set here. I highly recommend taking a look.
* The next night the Flobots played a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It was so neat to see this band who’ve been together in various incarnations for like, ten years play to an audience of screaming fans at one of the coolest venues in the world. After their set they were swarmed by teenage girls for about an hour. When it got dark they played “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” on a big screen and the woman who played Violet Beuregard in the original movie made a speech and shared some “behind the scenes” gossip. Did you know, for example, that Augustus was actually German?!? The only English he knew was his lines for the film!!! Electrifying, isn’t it? Anyway, it was cool to see it on the big screen. Gene Wilder is sort of my hero.
* Heather, Dave, Stephen, Galen, Kagen and I made a pilgrimage to Lakeside Amusement Park to take some photos and relive our childhoods. Only it turns out they don’t allow photos. Or sketches. (Sketches?????) Apparently these recording methods “detract from the carefree atmosphere of the Park,” or so we were told by the 60-something manager lady with the walkie-talkie. She told us they’d had “one too many student groups around here,” and that “if [we] were taking pictures of our grandchildren it would be one thing, but they had to protect their guests from exposure.” Huh? Galen had to return his portfolio (not actually a sketchpad mind you, it just looked like one) and Heather her camera to the car before we could “enjoy the carefree atmosphere.” Later another (less crazy) security person told us that there had been a lot of undercover reports done recently about safety issues at the Park, as well as an expose by Bill Moyers on “fading amusement parks,” so the owners were a little sensitive. Whatever. We recovered from our indignation and managed to have a good time.
* The last noteworthy part of my trip (aside from seeing cool friends like Travis, Sam, Simone, Marissa, Brion and John Shoe) was the late night walk Galen and I took the night before I left. I had been hanging out at his house in Capital Hill, and needed to return to my mom’s place in Washington Park (this is about a four mile distance, for you non-Denverites.) John and Aubrey offered me a ride, but then Galen offered to walk me there, and seeing as it was a pleasant evening I accepted Galen’s offer. Now before anyone starts drafting haughty emails to Mike, let me assure you that this story does not lead to kissing (Galen is like a brother to me) but rather to nice conversations about public transportation, comic strips, and growing up. Maybe it doesn’t make for good blogging, but getting back at midnight after walking through four distinct neighborhoods made me love Denver and my friends there so much, all over again.
Now I’m back and orientation has started in my district and in a week and a half I will have students. I’m feeling way more excited than nervous which is a good sign, I think.
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red rocks? lakeside? damn, i miss those places. is lakeside still as shaby as it was in 1989? that place is amazing. did you know that stan brakhage film ‘anticipation of the night’ at lakeside in the early 70s? (stan is like the ultimate god of experimental filmmakers, just incase the name isn’t familiar). i grew up just a mile or two from lakeside (80th and sheridan). oh how i miss the log ride (the splinter, right? or was that elitch’s?)
and do you remember hearing the urban legend about the satanists at red rocks? apparently there is some cave up there the all hang out in.
Whoa!
So much rad local mythology! Thank you, brother!
whoa, because I went to high school in Colorado Springs, which is next to this town called Manitou, and there were TONS of satan rumors about Manitou! There was this place called…the caverns? I think it was The Caverns, apparently all these underground tunnels where satanic rituals happened. Apparently my friend Marjorie went there one time and there was chanting and weird shit! AND, my friend’s family who lived in Manitou bought a dog one time, and they had to do a BACKGROUND CHECK because the dog in question was BLACK, and apparently black animals get purchased just to be sacrificed around there!!!!!! Although how would a background check reveal something like that?!!??
Oh but anyway, so is Manitou close to Red Rocks? I can’t remember. What is up with the Denver area and satanists??
that would probably be a place called (oddly enough) Garden of the Gods, yet another amazing (and red) giant outcropping of big jagged rocks in the foothills of Colorado. i remember going horse back riding there as a 12 year old boy scout. didn’t see any satanists on that trip however.
but we all know that satanists are attracted to dark, red, cavernous places like bees to honey…
I only went to Elitch’s as a wee one, which, just like the The Organ Grinder, is now so very gone. I moved away from Denver when I was in third grade, and while I have always spent tons of time there since my Dad lives there, I’ve never known what the people my age in Denver are like. I have some hazy memories of getting plowed at some Twice Wilted shows with some older guys eons ago, but thats it.
You Denver People My Age seem alright!
Red Rocks reminds me of HS. I used to date a guy who moved from NY to Littleton, CO and we’d always make it a point to go to Red Rocks whenever i visited.
I have to say, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. I’m going to say this out loud and people are allowed to fight back, but i hated, HATED the remake. It was missing the charm and wit of the original. No one can replace Veruca Salt and Gene Wilder.
hey! your flickr link doesn’t work – its just a link back to perfect heart. too bad so sad.
Flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heatherhey/sets/72157594243171357/
Oh man, my jealousy it just grows! I seriously cannot believe you went to Lakeside and rode the Wild Chipmunk. Did you think you were going to die? Because that’s what I thought the last time I rode that thing. I guess that’s what makes it fun ;-)
I am so in love with that flickr set. Such fabulous pics.
Oops!
Links are now fixed..
And dear God no. I did not ride the Wild Chipmunk. That is a death wish, my friend. Death! Wish! I rode the (nearly as terrifying) Cyclone.