"Christmas in the Park" Denver helps homeless

DENVER - Feeling the holiday spirit? Many had it this Christmas Day in Downtown Denver as volunteers brought tables to Civic Center Park and laid out items to hand out free to the homeless.

Coats, hats, gloves, socks, blankets, sleeping bags, backpacks, unmentionables, toiletries and food were among the unexpected gifts given to about 650 grateful people who lined up smiling with glee whilst carrying blue bags filled with the much-needed loot.

I hope these Denver grassroots events will grow in popularity in the future. Volunteering is amazing, no matter what your faith. All was good. Merry Christmas.

1980s Aurora, Colorado

I grew up in Aurora, Colorado in the early 1980s. Near my house at Iliff Ave and Buckley Rd there was a "Movies on Call" video store.

LeMans, a coin-op arcade by Albertson's grocer, was where I classically became one with the Force and mastered the original Atari "Star Wars" wireframe arcade game as well as the game "Tron." Peter Piper Pizza. Their zucchini sticks were the best I ever had.

Aurora ... Buckingham Square Mall... The memories. Those memories float up to me.

The hydrotubes. Yes! Many fond youth memories do I have at Buckingham Square Mall, one of them being the 2 green tube waterslides placed upon the roof of the old Safeway store. They were the HydroTubes!

I spent countless hours climbing up the yellow metal stairs listening to “Drive” by The Cars before sliding in a loop-de-loop whilst banging my head on the sides of the tubes and plummeting semi-conscious into the filthy brown-green pool below. It is a fond childhood concussive adventure in which I really traveled in tubes. The waterslide stayed open for less than a year.

There was Mile High Comics at that mall also. Sweet Mile High Comics… And God Fathers Pizza if I recall. And wonderful Christmas decorations.

The mall demolition ceremony was Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 1306 South Havana Aurora, Colorado 80012. The mayor of Aurora, Ed Tauer, was there. So was I.

Lamb

Cooking

The Blues

I have been listening to a lot of blues music lately. 

Good Blues. Old school Blues. Blues the likes of:

Mississippi John Hurt, RL Burnside, Little Willie John, Big Walter Horton, Etta James, Charlie Musselwhite, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, BB King, Blind Willie McTell, Leadbelly, Taj Mahal, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Paul Butterfield, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Skip James, Lonnie Johnson, Little Walter, Son House, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Rev. Gary Davis, James Cotton, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Albert King.

That's some Blues. Heck yeah! 

Handsome hobo living in the past

Are there hobos anymore?

Sometimes I crave the romantic wayward hobo life and would cheerfully be one who, in order to find work, clumsily flip on freight trains to travel the nation whilst shabbily dressed in my best glad rags. That’s right I know the hobo lingo. I will use hobo jargon judiciously in this piece as I am filled with a hodgepodge of hobo history. I shall let my hobo spirit soar.

My hobo name is Sir Railcar McRussdum. Don’t confuse me as a tramp. I am a hobo.

I scoff at using shopping carts to carry my belongings as they are impractical when leaping aboard moving trains. My bindle is proudly slung over my shoulder, made from the finest gaudy patchwork blanket and tied around the end of a lavish mahogany stick etched with symbols of my creation and unknown origin. In it I carry the essentials:  MP3 player, extra changes of underclothes, peppermint patchouli soaps, biscuits, a smallish cask of bathtub gin and a picture of my family. My beard grows wild. My road stake is 75 US dollars, for emergencies. I hide that cash in a special place. 

In Britain I would be called a “rough sleeper.” I prefer “hobo” thank you.   

I am the best mulligan mixer ever because I have the finest recipe for Mulligan Stew consisting of beef broth, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, mystery meat, spices and herbs.  Hobos abound chuck a dummy at my stew. I only share my stew with acronym B.O.T.H., the “Brotherhood of the Hobo,” and none other. So don’t even ask for a bit of my stew unless you know the secret hobo handshake and can interpret the cryptic wall signals scrawled in crayon or charcoal.

I spread misinformation of the hobo code, for security purposes, so that nobody can horde my safe zones around the country. I’m a sinister hobo, an infamous hobo and a hobo who doesn’t play by those wacky hobo rules. I create my own hobo code! Many long to know my enigmatic hobo code. 

I like the word hobo. Maybe I will name my firstborn Howard Hobo Dale if it’s a boy and Glenda Hobo Dale if it’s a girl. The possibilities are endless. I could name them Hobo only, just like celebrities Bono, Madonna and Cher.

Sir Railcar McRussdum, me, will be the most famous hobo of all time. It could happen. I would be the keynote speaker of “Hobo Days” at the National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa. Perhaps I could star in a hobo reality show like “Dancing with the Hobos,” “Survivor: HoboTown,” “CSI: Special Hobo Unit,” or science fiction classics the likes of “The Bionic Hobo,” “Flash Hobo” or “This Island Hobo.”

Yelp's Silent Disco Skate Party

Traveling the Silk Road at Denver Museum until May 3

DENVER -- Traveling the Silk Road, the new exhibition about the ancient pathway to the modern world, opened at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Friday, November 21, 2014.

"When you come up into the exhibition you will be transported back in time to the 8th century," said Museum educator Jennifer Moss Logan, "And you will have an opportunity to journey along the main ancient trade routes of the Silk Road from China through the Middle East into the Roman Empire."

The exhibit follows the Silk Road's golden age, from AD 600 to 1200, when it connected humanity with everything from material goods to scientific knowledge and channeled technological advances, folklore, art and religious beliefs across 5,700 miles east to west through five cities that were flourishing at the the time.

Exhibition curator and chair of the DMNS Archaeology Department Stephen Nash said, "The multimedia Traveling the Silk Road exhibition allows Denver Museum of Nature and Science guests to enjoy the splendor, glory and intrigue of The Silk Road in comfort, style and safety."

The exhibit runs from November 21, 2014 to May 3, 2015 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

http://www.dmns.org

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photo: Jose Zuniga as Faruq and Isaiah Kelley as Ma Amri at @DenverMuseumNS Traveling the Silk Road exhibit #Denver