THE SIXTIES ARE OVER..
The Paramount Theatre in Denver sits in the shadows just off the well-traveled 16th street mall in downtown Denver. Step into it and travel back a hundred years to a theatre of Eddie Foy and the seven little Foys, the theatrical team that did a song and dance routine for the Earp and Holiday in far-off Tombstone, Arizona in 1880.
In modern day Denver, it hosts lunch and a laugh mid-day entertainment of comedians from all over, and crowds from offices munching on lobby sandwiches and cokes while we giggle at the jokes.
Enter Larry Miller, much seen lately on the tube and movies, who jokes about his appearances in nearby Boulder, home of Colorado State, our resident hippie-land.
Driving down the main drag, he notes, is returning to the drug infested past of America, Needle Park of New York, long hair, drugged out kids bobbing and weaving, peace signs all along center city Boulder. Weed rises everywhere, he tells us. Long hair, pince-nez glasses flourish, bobbed hair, - on men - body odor drifts through his car window.l..he reminisces and finally screams - " THE SIXTIES ARE OVER, PEOPLE!!"
Yeah. Right. They are, aren't they? I now live in Tucson, and had before, for years, and notice stark similarities and star differences. Tucson is like Boulder with these differences. Boulder has that same " We're counter-culture, you KNOW, " only they've got money, class and one wicked attitude.
Here in Tucson, it's scrubby jeans, dirty hair, round, ill-kept women, broken down bikes and old cars parked on what seemed to be abandoned decrepit front lawns.
You can tell the drug houses by the front of the homes - if you can call it that, at least that's what the cops tell me. Two trucks parked at the front door, kid is running wild in the street in their diaper, dog is loose and the father is in jail.
The other aspect is in Tucson, more middle aged men run around in the stores with beer-guts hanging out over their belt buckles, tight t-shirts, and long, long grey hair tied off with rubber bands. These "desperadoes" have got to be re-living their teen-aged years now in the mid-fifties. WHY they still wear their long grey locks like old Indian Chiefs just grabs me.
Probably because the other inmates can snatch their hair easier.
Tattoos here in Tucson run the gamut on all kinds of women, mostly on their arms, legs, across their chests, and lately, depending on their drunken stupor, across face and neck. I wonder how they are going to feel when turning 65 and that rubber skinned starts to fall when their kids start bringing their grand kids around to visit with them? Probably will not get to see them too often in jail.
The last time I was in Boulder, homes were very upscale, no visible tattoos anywhere, even on black women, very little motorcycles and no gang activity like in Tucson. IBM had (Had?) a plant there and contributed (?) heavily to liberal causes in Boulder, but that may have changed. I just can't see the corporate IBM types jetting around the beer gardens in Boulder on bikes with INK Art flashing peace signs and on Monday showing up for work throwing themselves back into debits and credits like mad-men.
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In modern day Denver, it hosts lunch and a laugh mid-day entertainment of comedians from all over, and crowds from offices munching on lobby sandwiches and cokes while we giggle at the jokes.
Enter Larry Miller, much seen lately on the tube and movies, who jokes about his appearances in nearby Boulder, home of Colorado State, our resident hippie-land.
Driving down the main drag, he notes, is returning to the drug infested past of America, Needle Park of New York, long hair, drugged out kids bobbing and weaving, peace signs all along center city Boulder. Weed rises everywhere, he tells us. Long hair, pince-nez glasses flourish, bobbed hair, - on men - body odor drifts through his car window.l..he reminisces and finally screams - " THE SIXTIES ARE OVER, PEOPLE!!"
Yeah. Right. They are, aren't they? I now live in Tucson, and had before, for years, and notice stark similarities and star differences. Tucson is like Boulder with these differences. Boulder has that same " We're counter-culture, you KNOW, " only they've got money, class and one wicked attitude.
Here in Tucson, it's scrubby jeans, dirty hair, round, ill-kept women, broken down bikes and old cars parked on what seemed to be abandoned decrepit front lawns.
You can tell the drug houses by the front of the homes - if you can call it that, at least that's what the cops tell me. Two trucks parked at the front door, kid is running wild in the street in their diaper, dog is loose and the father is in jail.
The other aspect is in Tucson, more middle aged men run around in the stores with beer-guts hanging out over their belt buckles, tight t-shirts, and long, long grey hair tied off with rubber bands. These "desperadoes" have got to be re-living their teen-aged years now in the mid-fifties. WHY they still wear their long grey locks like old Indian Chiefs just grabs me.
Probably because the other inmates can snatch their hair easier.
Tattoos here in Tucson run the gamut on all kinds of women, mostly on their arms, legs, across their chests, and lately, depending on their drunken stupor, across face and neck. I wonder how they are going to feel when turning 65 and that rubber skinned starts to fall when their kids start bringing their grand kids around to visit with them? Probably will not get to see them too often in jail.
The last time I was in Boulder, homes were very upscale, no visible tattoos anywhere, even on black women, very little motorcycles and no gang activity like in Tucson. IBM had (Had?) a plant there and contributed (?) heavily to liberal causes in Boulder, but that may have changed. I just can't see the corporate IBM types jetting around the beer gardens in Boulder on bikes with INK Art flashing peace signs and on Monday showing up for work throwing themselves back into debits and credits like mad-men.
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