Skip to main content

Democratic National Convention

Greetings from the Democratic National Convention from my hometown, Denver, Colorado.

No... I don't call Denver home anymore, but I did graduate from high school and college here so I have an affinity for the place that goes beyond being just another big American city. I mean, this is where I read poetry for the first time, got my first blowjob, was thrown threw a car window, and discovered I was a good writer.

But seriously, I had absolutely no desire to deal w/ parking here, so I parked my car at 74th and Colorado and biked in. Not a bad ride had I not missed the turn and ended up nearly to Golden before turning around. I was short on water by the time I passed the Metropolitan Area Wastewater Treatment plant and begin composing some sort of rant about the relative joys of actually riding next the entire load of shit a city of 2 million plus dumps in a river while I slowly die of thirst.

I'm so dramatic at times. But I was thankful when a water fountain appeared at the National Guard armory that the bike path skirts as well. Then quickly followed by the guantlet of homeless shanties and into the downtown proper where I locked my bike up next to the Wynkoop brewery (which is where I'm heading next for sure).

As for the convention itself, the 16th street mall is positively electric. For a few brief days I feel relatively confident that the majority of people on the street see the world as I do, and hope that it is not too late (which after the latest Werner Herzog film I'm beginning to doubt).

And get this, I support capitalism but I am not paying a $100 for a T-shirt no matter how cool.

Will check in again tomorrow.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"That's Scaughtland for ya!"

The United Kingdom Up at the top of that map, basically the top half, is a tiny nation with a big footprint.  With roughly the same population as Minnesota, Scotland has a land mass the size of South Carolina, yet there are more people in the United States that have Scottish and/or Scotch-Irish ancestry than live in Scotland. My family is one of those. In the course of growing up, I was indoctrinated to celebrate my Scottish ancestry (primarily by my grandmother but we'll talk about that later).      So a year ago, my wife took a trip with her mother to Japan.  I looked at the pictures that she posted, and when I'd talk to her on the phone, I noticed something.  She was happy.  This is not to say she's always unhappy, but this was different.  She was having a good time, engaged in the world, curious, and happy-like no matter what the challenge.  And traveling to Japan with her mother posed some interesting challenge...

Keith Jarrett: The Koln Concert and What it says about Creativity

Life is about listening.   Sometimes what life is saying comes at you in in strange ways.   On Friday, I was reading this story on Salon.com and it mentioned that few jazz musicians have the same clout as they once did.  Of the few who still draw considerable audiences, it mentioned Keith Jarrett .   I don't know Keith Jarrett, but I've been trying to school myself on jazz for the better part of a year now.   Since I'm relatively new to this jazz thing, I want to make sure I'm really listening to what people think of as "great."   With that in mind, I bought a book:   The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings .   Under Keith Jarrett they mention the album,  The Koln Concert as his best album (part of any enthusiasts' "Core Collection").   So, when I saw the album while perusing Mecca Records in ABQ, I knew I had to buy it.   Life was talking. The Koln Concert  (So, go ahead and ...

The Day the War Began

Originally written shortly after the protest in 2003, an audio of this was broadcast on KUNM on the year anniversary of the war's inception. Hopefully, reasons for writing about this will become fewer and fewer. The Day the War Began.             Three deep and two dozen across, the Albuquerque police department blocked eastbound Central Avenue. They wore Army fatigues, gas masks and helmets, held black batons, yet had no badges or name tags that identified each as a person, an individual. Judging from the surrounding army of police cars and police horses, and the four cruisers that closed Central further to the east, their function was clear. Not only do the authorities want to silence dissent, but they want to keep those not politically vocal from becoming aware of dissent at all.             One of the cops held what looked like a toy water cannon and swung it back and fo...