the high life

as i have written before, all of the cities i have been to the last month are the "mile high city" i have been at altitude for so long, i dont even notice it any longer. however, now i am in the the largest and most well known mile high city, the capital of colorado, denver. this will probably also be the last mile high city that i am in, fitting. i have driven through the denver area once before when i was younger. i will recount the story, it isnt like i have two fun filled days of living on rooftops to catch up with or anything.

what year was it, maybe 2000, i am pretty sure i was with steve hightailing our ways back to chicago from palm desert. it was my turn to drive, and we were on highway 70 just outside the city of denver. of course, we werent stopping for much and denver called upon us without a reason to stop so i drove on. i recall it being early in the morning and there could have been morning rush hour traffic, but my road weary golden earring was cruising through traffic without much care.

quickly we came upon a wall of cars that were all doing the speed limit or just under it. i was perplexed, i could see open road in front of the wall and couldnt fathom a reason that everyone was driving at pace. i weaved my way through and was faced with an "aha" moment when i saw that everyone was pacing themselves behind a colorado state trooper.

being 19, i was stupid, so i decided to not run with the pack. the decision had set me apart growing up, not falling in line, not conforming to society, and there was no reason to start now. i applied gentle pressure to the gas pedal so my speedometer read about 5 miles over the speed limit. this minuscule amount of speed didnt move me much faster than the rest of the cars, but i did start passing them and shortly passed the pace vehicle.

i am sure in auto racing there is some penalty for passing the pace car, you lose a lap or something. apparently, for passing a police officer on the highway you get pulled over. i dont know why i didnt calculate in my head the tiny benefit i would receive for a relatively huge risk. it wasnt more that a quarter mile that i got past the cop that his lights were on and i was pulled over. the morning rush hour folks nodded their heads to the brave soldier that would test the lines in the sand and allow them a clearer passage.

i just got a ticket for it, but i remember my attitude with the police officer. i was incredulous, i explained that i was only going a small amount over the speed limit and chastised him for holding the flow of traffic back. he didnt give a shit, now i dont either. i took a two lane highway to get into denver.

a parting gift that frances gave me was some direction in a large city where no one i readily knew resided. she told me that the first friday art walk would be taking place on santa fe, and at the very least i could get some free wine and crackers so i set my coordinates for sante fe. amazingly the highway that i drove in on turned into sante fe avenue, but i got in town a bit too early for the artists so i sat in a bar and composed my farewell to colorado springs.

around 8:pm i left my bar, kazmos, and walked toward the oblivion of 10th and santa fe, the beginning of the arts district. for such a large city, i find it amazing that the art district only spans between 5th and 10th on santa fe. some auxiliary streets allow for overflow but it is a tiny parcel for such a large city. my immediate goal was to find a drink. i caught a good feeling from the two drinks i had at the bar and didnt want to come down too far before i picked myself up.

so i glanced inside the first few galleries looking for crackers and cups. no such luck. i walked on. after about five galleries i decided to start going into them and better assessing the situation. a half hour and one block later i still hadnt a sniff of wine. i quickened my pace while cursing myself for starting on this side, for the other side of the street was quite jovial and i saw many people drinking openly on the street. with haste i continued. i made it all the way down to 7th before i got fed up and crossed the street. i hadnt found a drop of wine on the side i started on.

first gallery on the far side of the street had white wine. i indulged, then walked on. second gallery had white wine, i indulged and chatted with some of the artists. i can bullshit with confidence in a room full of strangers and a drink in my hand. put one person i know in the room and, for whatever reason, my confidence is cut in half. what if my bullshit is called or i allow some side of myself out that isnt what i am most proud of. i dont know all the reasons, but i was beginning to have a great time.

and it went on. the next gallery i caught a huge break. they had a keg of beer and free mixed drinks. hello! i was in heaven. it was still lightish out, about a quarter til nine and i was, by now, loving it. i cannot stress that enough, becasue it gets better. i walked around this gallery, downed my beer and filled up again. then i walked out and into the next room, it was a blown glass studio, and off that was a rooftop patio. it seemed that the real party was out there and i love rooftops. so i walked out there and enjoyed it.

the rooftops of denver

there was a ladder that led to a further roof and i took it. it was rickety, i was drunk, but i took it anyway. and i was delighted to see a wonderful setting sun and colorful clouds, the art lifted from the canvas and flooded the sky. a joy. i finished my beer and went down again. the artwalk officially ended at 9, so i hustled to find some more galleries. but i caught a lull.

as i have exhausted before, i am scared to talk to people i havent for a long time. and a long time is a relative number. my friend adam, who lives in boulder, and i hadnt spoken at length for about three years. it that time my life fizzled out into my little cave of a life and my general unhappiness. adam got married. we met being activists in miami and forged a strong friendship from there that persisted throughout a number of other actions and protests and kept on outside of "the movement."

at one point he was one of my better friends in the world and here i was scared to call him. but i had to let him know i was close, and luckily my friend alcohol had softened me a bit and i made the call. i got his voicemail and apologized for being so terse the last time we spoke and told him i was in denver having a great time and that i was drunk, and that i would come up to boulder in a couple of days. kind of a warning, just in case he had to ready something in the home life...i dont know.

so that done, i walked on. the next gallery was where i got to show my true colors. it was large gallery with a bunch of hidden rooms and alcoves. i hurried around until i found something interesting. a photographer had his studio and in the middle of it was a picture frame hanging from the ceiling, it was ornate, gilded, fancy. and he was taking shots of peoples faces in it. while i may not be the best looker out there, i love having my picture taken. i like making faces for the camera. maybe i shouldve been a model.

the people that were being photographed were boring. it was all couples making lovey faces and kissing each other. i found some wine and filled up a glass. it was red. i hung around and each time i was ready to jump in the fram some couple would supercede me and i would let them. eventually the photographer looked at me and acknowledged that i was trying to get in and he told me to. i complied.

what i wanted to do was just make some super sad faces. and i started doing that. he was into it and giving me some direction. i noticed that the crowd was growing, and being the entertainer at some point i decided to stop being sad and start being a bear. so i gave a really mean face and "leaped" through the frame. at this, a number of people in the crowd started giving direction and eventually i couldnt take it any longer and started laughing hysterically. i signed the guestbook and hopefully will be directed to some place where i can view these images.

i refilled, gulped, and left. once outside i saw that adam had called me back so i called him back we talked. well well well, what an idiot i am. in my mind i was ready to be in denver alone for a bit, i had already scouted a place to sleep and park and had my weekend set, but he turned my world upside down. he informed me that he never lived in boulder and always lived in denver. he asked if i wanted to come over, i said no, i was enjoying myself and was drunk by now, too drunk to find my way through a strange city to a predetermined place. so i countered his offer.

me and adam

i asked if he wanted to come to me. he asked his wife, and they said yes. i was happy, but a bit scared. i asked him to meet me back at the keg party and decided to head back there myself. reacquaint myself with the surroundings, meet some people, and be part of the event when they arrived. i got back, got a beer, and migled. i ended up talking to a midget, and two businessmen at length. no longer do i know what we were talking about. we were out on the roof and various artists fromt he space would come and talk to us, mostly because they knew the businessmen.

i went back inside for a refill and to change the scenery. i was admiring a piece of art, it was a snowboard with the city of denver in images affixed to it. but they were warped and bulging, some were burnt at the edges but the photographs fit together perfectly. i looked next to me to see who was admiring it with me and it was adam. i gave him a large hug and was introduced to his wife, love, and we hugged and immediately hit it off. we chatted, visited the keg, went outside and back up to the second roof where we talked at length. again, the subject matter excapes me presently, but i am sure it was catching up a bit and talking about their impending movement to portland, or.

funnily, adam and love are planning to move to portland in about a month and open a bookstore in conjunction with microcosm and some other folks. i dont necessarily agree with the plan, but i admit to being a bit jaded.

love and our midget friend

for some reason we were done there. i couldnt drive my truck back to their place, but we stopped by my truck for me to get some things, and then we pushed off. we went to a grateful dead bar for some reason that will forever escape me. adam and love knew folks there and love and i were quickly engaged in a foosball match agaist two other folks. i had boasted my skills, and we battled to tie the game at four apiece. game point and it was my serve, i dropped the ball in and lined up my people, got my arm in position and just before the ball made it to where i wanted i spun and knocked in the winning shot. unfortunately it went in the wrong goal and the other team won.

defeated we retreated to a table to talk more and interact with some more characters. to forever preserve this memory i took a video attempting to catch the hippie chicks dancing, but failed miserably. we ended our time in the bar with the three of us talking shit in the mens bathroom about emily and her pussy licking ways (i must clarify here, that this is in reference to some graffiti near a urinal. the statement is not meant to relate to any real-life scenarios).

we left then and went back to their apartment. by now it is around 1 in the morning and i was pooped. but, without deterrence we get back to talking about a multitude of things while sitting on their bed. an hour and a half rolls by and happily we all decided to call it a night. i went to the guest bedroom and promptly found my way through the maze of sleep. and in the morning i awoke with a headache and a hangover. i went back to sleep. the third time i woke up, around 11:am, my ailments had fled and i was ready for the day. my compadres sung a different tune.

they awoke shortly after me but didnt have that instant motivation. so we hung around the house for awhile, adam made a great seitan scramble for breakfast, and we formulated a plan to go sneak into a movie; afterwards we would go to adams friends house to play some cards while the rest of the country blew shit up. i was very much for this idea.

we rallied and left, first to my truck so i could do some changing, then we went to lunch. lunch occurred only a short while after breakfast, i wasnt too hungry, but it was a good menu and cheap. i got a bloody mary. i love bloody mary's, with olives and asparagus, celery and pearl onions, pepperocinis and jalapenos, etc. this one only had olives, pepperocinis and jalapenos. it was just okay. i also had some really great mac and cheese and a just okay tempeh sandwich.

then we were off to the movies. however, the chosen theater was a fortress and we couldnt even find the back let alone surmise a way to sneak in. so we huddled and decided instead to just watch a movie at home. at this point we got to retrieve my truck from in front of the bar and bring it to the apartment. i was happy for this because everything of mine is in the truck, i feel safer the closer it is. we watched the movie "death at a funeral" it was funny.

when that finished we were off for texas hold 'em poker. adam purchased a thirty pack of beer and i was surprised, he assured me that there would be about 7 times more than that at the party and it would all be consumed. i started having ideas that differed from the 10 people sitting around a smoky table playing cards and appreciating our removal from the celebration. it started sounding like this could be a party.

when we got there we just walked in and we were the only ones there. there were some dogs, but no other people. it was a nice house, a bachelor pad, but a nice house. adam called and shortly the owner and another person arrived. his name was justin, and i remember it especially becasue he made sure that everyone listened to and understood my name when i told it to them. he was fascinated by people being introduced and upon hearing "bht" they would nod and turn away. he would then ask them what my name was. semi-confrontational, but he was having fun, pointing out how no one listens anymore, instead of politely asking for a repeat of the name they nod and turn.

then some more folks came in. we had gotten up to our ten or so folks and it seemed a typical poker crowd, i was ready to play. but then something turned. a new group of folks showed up with fireworks and some fireworking happened. the initial ten dispersed a bit into the crowd. then more and stranger people showed up. a person called jaimo brought $500 worth of fireworks from wyoming, two families with about 10 little kids arrived. the house started to crowd, more people were outside and a ladder was erected giving access to the roof.

i went up there and watched some fireworks. i came down and shot some roman candles, they are my favorite, all the while consuming dutifully my share of our beer. once the party completely degraded into a fireworks show, a number of us retreated to the basement where some heavy conversation ensued, i wasnt a part of it, but i kept up simply as a reason to stay downstairs. luckily, love rescued me.

upon driving to the house, we noted another party nearby that we jokingly decided to crash. love asked me if i still wanted to crash the party, and of course i did, i wanted a reason to walk around away from all these folks and families. adam had told us it is just three lefts away. i grabbed a fresh beer and we were out the door.

we came upon where the party was but it looked long dead. luckily, there was a band nearby and another party we headed in that direction. so, before i get to us getting there, let me fill us all in on the plan. to crash a party, it helps to know someone. we decided we would know nate. if no one else knew him, then we would know katie. they seemed like good names that stick out a little bit, they are common but not common enough to need specifics. armed with our friends names, we opened the gate and walked in.

the scene was odd to just walk in on. there was a trampoline with a child on it directly in front of us, to our right was a fire with a few folks around it,to the left was a house with the door open, twenty paces and a right turn lead to a pool, a left turn would lead you to the garage door where the music was coming from, we headed in that direction.

we walked in and the band was winding down. i guess i cant call it a band, some people were simply jamming. we met phyllis first. we exchanged names, she and love hugged, she pointed us toward the kegarator but she didnt know nate. she was older, and later we found out she was sammi's mom...sammi was chris' wife and the two of the owned the house. phyllis moved on and we met some kids that were leaving. we used the kegarator.

then we headed back toward the yard, but first we met andres. probably the best person we met all night, he was from colombia had very long hair and was ecstatic to meet us. he beleived that i looked like the guy from grizzly man, but later recanted and just said i looked like a bear, he was very pleased with this. he hugged love and i a number of times and eventually introduced us to his lady friend, i forget her name. after talking to us for awhile she told us to go inside to meet sammi and get a tour of the house.

we obliged, after filling up again, we entered the house. we made a bee line for the stairs going down and that is where we went wrong. it was my idea, a dumb one. phyllis said, who are those people going downstairs and we came back up. stupidly again i told her that phyllis told us to go inside and get a tour of the house. she reminded me that she was phyllis, everything was falling apart. sammi came and left quickly then we were spinning our story when chris came up.

i told him that we knew nate and a lady behind us overheard and was shocked, they all were. "nate invited people here but doesnt even show up himself." love exchanged words with the lady, she asked when that "nate hill" would get here, love replied "knowing nate, who knows" the lady responded "2:am" and love countered "totally." we were in. we knew the owners, the owners knew our person and there was no more tension.

i chatted with chris for awhile about his house. he bought it cheap and fixed it up himself, he offered to sell it to us for 215,000 but we had to decline. he was a graffiti artist, he showed me some of his work, then showed me his tattoos, then some more folks joined in with us. one of them was andres and he immediately told chris how much he loved me, and wanted some back up for me looking like a bear. he and andres got into talking and i excused myself. i went to fill up and then found love chatting with the drummer from earlier. when i ppopped up, he deflated and went back to the drums.

then love and i went to sit by the fire. she chatted with sue, chris' mom, and i chatted with sky. sky was dating chirs' sister. he was dressed up in full cowboy regalia and i had to know. i was drunk enough to be stupid and stupid enough to ask, so i asked if he just dressed that way for fashion or if he was a cowboy. he told me that he was part of the rodeo circuit and did some amateur calf-tying and horse bucking. we talked for awhile, i told him i was just down in taos where they were having their rodeo and he knew some of those folks, and on and on. what a weave it was! eventually i had to know how old he was.

he looked young, but i was unprepared for his answer. 17. crazy! he could tell i was shocked and after a few more awkward minutes i went for more beer, and filled up love as well. when i came back sky was gone, so i sidled up on the other side of sue and joined in that conversation. apparently love had blown our cover and sue was fine with it. a person played guitar and sung some songs we could all sing along too, it was really fun. then adam called. that isnt meant to sound as sad as it does.

but he was having a headache from the celebrations and wondered if we were planning on coming back. love and i conferenced and then asked him to come to us. he declined saying he wanted to leave and we started making our rounds to leave. we filled up again, and were off. our logic, however flawed, seemed good enough at the time. if we took three lefts to get here we take three rights to get back. three rights later we were completely lost.

we rolled up on another party that we stumbled toward and chatted with them. none of these people knew nate. they were friendly enough though, we each received a beer from their stash, and after getting them learned that they were their last. some of the people werent happy about that i called adam and explained that we were lost and he told us how to get back. said we had to go left and that didnt fit with our logic.

the miniature museum

but we found him and the house we had originally left by turning left. we boasted of our adventures and went back inside. it was clear that there wouldnt be any texas hold 'em tonight and after some long goodbyes we were headed back home. i was pretty trashed. i could barely keep my head up and eyes open in the car and when we got back to the house i at some of the leftover breakfast and fell into the bed.

after another lazy morning, i didnt get up until 11:am, i finally got the will to leave. i went alone to the denver miniature museum. adam and love wanted to stay home and relax, they had to go to dinner with his parents tonight. the minature museum was just okay. more pictures!