Community Leader

“You will be recognized and honored as a community leader.” That was the message on the fortune cookie I received after dinner at Little Ollie’s Chinese Cafe in Denver. Well, the complete message was “You will be recognized and honored as a community leader 16 17 40 42 46 51.”

Earlier in the day my parents, Doug, and I had breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Littleton, Colorado. We then went to Colorado Shaver to have my Braun electric shaver serviced – – the man said it was the worst wear he had ever seen on a shaver. It had been taking me longer and longer to shave over the past several months.

We then drove a few blocks further north on Broadway to take picture of us at the Gothic Theater. My family had seen “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” on a Christmas day there just a few years back. Since that time the theater went through various incarnations in which during different periods it showed first run movies, hosted rock concerts, showed movies that attracted coarser crowds, or acted as a discount or dollar movie house. It was, of course, the last incarnation that attracted the Jones family.

We went to the Gothic on numerous occasions to see movies. During that time period there were quite a few people in the theater wearing their old army fatigues, and I’m sure many of them were Vietnam vets. I never recall having sat in the balcony as a family, but some of my high school friends had, and some claimed that on Friday and Saturday nights those who sat in balcony might get a buzz from second hand smoke. The popcorn was made in a big old popcorn popper, was cheap, and had tons of butter (and unpopped kernels). If you showed up for the 5:30 pm show or earlier, your tickets were discounted even further. Yes, we knew that from firsthand experience. When you went to the early show the theater had just been cleaned, as evidenced by the still-damp theater floors, and the pungent odor comprised of the aromas of ammonia and stale popcorn.

On one weekend my brother Doug went to the Gothic with his friend Danny. Danny was a wiry little guy, and a little adventurous. Doug and Danny were viewing one of the Vietnam war dramas of the era, and a particularly intense scene was interrupted when a Vietnam vet in the audience jumped out of his seat and exclaimed something along the lines of “If you think that’s the way things really were, you’re crazy!” At that point Danny, who was no more than 17 years- old (and probably looked 15 or younger), jumped up, pumped his fist in the air, and said “Yeah!” I would have not felt safe to be in Danny’s company that evening.

Now, we saw another movie there that many of you may have never seen. It is called “Simon,” and Alan Arkin played the title role. Here is a plot summary: “A group of scientist[s] take Simon, a psychology professor, as a test person for a brainwash experiment. After that they try to convince him that he was a living-being from another planet.” (See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081518/plotsummary) In a scene after Simon has been brainwashed, and believes he is a being from another planet, Simon steps onto an elevator with the attending scientists. He hears some elevator music. The dialogue went something like this:

Simon: What is that?

Scientist: It’s called Muzak.

Simon: Tell them to stop that.

Needless to day, I recommend this movie to all of you.