Sunday, July 6, 2008

Dono

Written by Dono

Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc.

Wednesday, 27 June 2007

Great minds think alike. Or something like that.

Weeks ago we planned the edition you’re reading now, one that showed northern Colorado readers that they have a rare treasure in their midst — a drive-in theater.

The Holiday Twin, in west Fort Collins on Overland Road, is one of the few remaining drive-ins in the state (nine at last count). Which is a high number considering that only about 400 are left in the country — eight per state if you figure it on a straight average. Take into account Colorado’s population of 4.3 million people puts us in the middle of the pack at No. 24. California (34 million) and Texas (21 million) have so many more people, it shows that we in the Rocky Mountain region love the outdoors so much that we want indoor activities outdoors, too.

Lucky for us.

So, in an attempt to recapture some of our youth, NEXTnc staffers loaded up a few cars and headed out to the drive-in. After a little debate, we chose “Shrek the Third” and “Pirate’s of the Caribbean: At World’s End” — several of us had already seen “Ocean’s Thirteen,” playing on the other screen. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all. And both sides of the outdoor theater had good crowds, a sign that we weren’t the only ones embracing fond memories of our childhood. Several moviegoers told us such, affirming our decision to do the story.

To wake up the next day and see that the Rocky Mountain News had done it’s own story about drive-ins (“Nostalgia Trip,” Weekend Spotlight cover story, June 15) was at first disappointing — hey, we all want the “exclusive” — but also validating: This is a topic a lot of people are interested in.

That afternoon, the “Ride Home” drive-time show on 850 KOA in Denver discussed the topic at length, filling up more than an hour with calls from people across the state telling of their own experiences and what cities and towns still had drive-ins.
Like I said, great minds.

I recall my first drive-in experience, in central Kansas. The movie was, and this is going to date me, “Caveman” starring Ringo Starr. Yes, that Ringo Starr. This was an attempt to cash in on his Beatles celebrity.

I don’t know that the movie ever attained cult status, but it did spawn its own language — these were cavemen, after all, who didn’t know English yet, so they used words like “oooll,” which meant food, and “zugzug,” which meant doing the wild thing — and it had its share of future stars. Both Dennis Quaid and Shelly Long survived their “Caveman” roles to go on to successful careers.

And I survived that first experience to go on to spend many an evening at the drive-in, particularly with a carload of friends, sometimes watching the movie, sometimes not. What we did when not watching the movie, well, that’s a topic for another day.
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2. Tasty Taste

Monday, 11 June 2007

The Taste of Fort Collins offered up many great treats again this year, not the least of which was the fantastic weather.

My favorite experience was clear from the first bite — the smoked fish cakes from Fish. Great fish taste without the fishyness, and a nice, subtle smoky flavor. Paired with a skewer of shrimp, it was a great afternoon treat. I wasn't alone in my assessment. The line to the Fish booth was one of the longest on Sunday afternoon.

Fish (which, in the interest of full disclosure, is a Nextnc advertiser) is in Old Town and worth your time and money. The last time I was there, I sat at the bar and owner Mike Reeves gave me the skinny on what fish he was slicing up at the time, some of the background of the fish (where it's caught), and I think he might even have caused a flashback to freshman biology by citing species, family, genus and who knows what else. Good times.

While munching on fish and shrimp, I kicked back to fun and energy of 12 Cents for Marvin, a Fort Collins band that's tremendously entertaining live. Easily my No. 2 experience. (And, no offense 12 Cents, it's a compliment to be No. 2. Not too many things trump my stomach.)

Shortly thereafter, I wandered over to the beer tent and tried the IPA from Odell Brewing. Quite a hoppy bite. No. 3.

Thanks to all the Tasters who stopped by the Nextnc booth and challenged their taste buds in our Great American Jelly Bean Taste Test. We gave away mucho swag.

We'll see you next year.
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3. It's a small world afterall

Tuesday, 29 May 2007

It's not an uncommon experience once you pass that momentous point in your life — age 30 — that you have "small world" experiences. (It may even happen in your 20s, too, but I don't remember. That's what happens once you enter your fourth decade.)

Anyway, these small-world moments come out of the blue when you meet someone new and discover your lives' paths have crossed — either through another person, a place, an event.

My mother recently found out that a neighbor of hers in Cortez, Colo., is from the same small town she is in eastern Montana. They knew many of the same people. Heck, this woman, who is much other than my mom, even lived on the same block as my grandparents. That's cool stuff.

I recently experienced something similar.

Every week in the print version of NEXTnc, the staff answers a question of the week. In a recent issue, we asked "What is your worst concert experience?" My answer referred to a Pat Benetar concert at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. I won't tell you the year, but it was during the height of her popularity, so that should give you some idea. Some concert-goers behind us were drunk, couldn't handle their drink, and proceeded to puke all over the floor. As a middle-schooler, that was my initiation into the world of drunken idiocy.

Well, in short order, Melissa Evans, community relations manager for Mosaic of Northern Colorado in Loveland (a great organization that serves people with disabilities), e-mailed me that she, too, was at the same concert. I had met Melissa a few weeks earlier at a directors meeting of many of the nonprofits in Larimer County.

She was surprised to find someone who had even heard of Fort Hays State, her alma mater. I was shocked, of course, to run into someone who had been at the same show. It seemed hard to believe, but as we exchanged e-mails, it became clear that that was the case.

My best friend's mom chaperoned us to the concert; Melissa's parents took her. I lived in Russell, Kan., at the time, which is about a half hour drive east on Interstate 70 from Hays. You might have heard of Russell during the 1996 presidential race. The Republican nominee and eventual loser to Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, is from Russell. But this isn't the only political twist to this small-world, small-town story. Read on.

Melissa's uncle was Amos Morris, longtime basketball coach at Russell High School. His wife, Esther, was my sixth-grade English teacher. I vividly remember sitting in Mrs. Morris' class, seventh hour, and having Amos — of course we called him Mr. Morris — come into the classroom to tell us that President Reagan had been shot. (Yikes, I'm really dating myself now.)

For those of you not up on your history, Reagan was hit, but it wasn't a seriously wound. Other members of the president's detail were also wounded, including press secretary James Brady, who was shot in the head and paralyzed by John Hinckley's stray bullets. The Brady Bill (now a law), which places restrictions on the purchase of firearms, was named for Brady.

So that's my small-world experience, full of all the intrigue of a spy thriller — a presidential assassination attempt, a U.S. senator, failed political campaigns, a hottie rock star, booze, rock ’n'roll, Russian double-agents, military coups in Fiji... (Fine, I made the last two up. I just wanted to add a little spice to the story.)

Although, looking back on this, I think it's a pretty good story as it is.

And it's another reminder that those small-world experiences come at you when you least expect it.
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4. Lolly-loo who? You?

Monday, 14 May 2007

The psychological makeup of today's driver is a complex, mysterious grab bag of idiosyncracies, inconsistencies, distractions and motivations.

Some doctoral student somewhere is probably in the midst of studying the habits of the average driver and plans to put the study in a lengthy and incomprehensible dissertation.

I'll save the wannabe Ph.d some trouble and sum it up like this: Most drivers are morons.

I know it. You know it. It's a good chance we've passed each other on the road and I've thought it about you, and you've thought it about me.

As troubling and dangerous as the super aggressive drivers are, they are just a small percentage of the problem drivers out there.

The big problem in northern Colorado, especially on Interstate 25, are the lolly-loos. They are the scourge of traffic flow the world over.

They are the lollygaggers who double as looky-loos.

They are the ones who drive even sensible drivers mad.

Lolly-loos cause traffic back ups by going 64 mph in the lefthand lane and refuse to step on the gas and bump up the cruise control to get around a semitrailer. Instead, they'll take five miles to pass the semi and cause a 50-car caravan behind them. They are the same ones who slow down just because they see the traffic going the oppositie direction going slow. They are the same ones who get so distracted by a piece of plastic stuck on the roadside fence blowing in the wind that they have to hit their brakes.

They are the ones who caused my drive to Denver over the weekend to take two and half hours.

I hit stop-n-go traffic at the base of Berthoud hill and it never let up. Every time I came to the crest of a hill, I expected to see a 50-car pileup with emergency vehicles, helicopters, TV camera crews and tow trucks. But no accident ever materialized. No spaceship hovering over the interstate. No naked couple going at it in the median. Nothing.

Nothing but traffic.

It still makes no sense to me, so like all good Americans, I must find someone to blame for this major incovenience I endured.

Thus, I point the finger at you, if you, too, are a lolly-loo.
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5. What's so ugly?

Thursday, 29 March 2007

Kicked back on the couch last night, my oh-so lovely girlfriend and I were watching TV.

Whatever was on leading up to "Lost." I don't even remember what the show was. Doesn't really matter.

On comes another car commercial, and I thought to myself, "Man, that's ugly." A second or two later, my girlfriend then said what I was thinking, with emphasis, "Oh, that's just ugly!" Or something similar to that. I didn't have notepad handy to get the quote exactly right.

I turned to her and smiled, and said, "I was thinking the same thing. I mean ..."

And she finished the sentence for me. "I know, that outfit the women is wearing is hideous." (Again, I'm only confident that her quote accurately portrays her intent, not her actual words.)

I smiled and even laughed a little. Her return look asked the question, "What are laughing at?"

The commericial was for a Toyota Prius, one of those hybrid cars that is designed more to make people feel like they're helping the environment and less to look, well, like a cool car.

"The ugly, hideous thing I was talking about was the car," I replied. We both laughed simultaneously.

It was funny because it was so cliché. It could have been a sitcom moment. You know, one of those episodes that goes through all sorts of contortions to demonstrate that men and women can look at the same situation and see — whether it be clothes or an automobile — something quite different from one another.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

And not that we didn't know that already.

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