Friday, March 30, 2012

Bits Of Boulder

A friend of mine sent me a link that pointed me to a Facebook page that contained reminiscences about Boulder, Colorado in the seventies. It was sent to me somewhat ironically, since I continue to be one of the seventeen Americans without a Facebook page. I certainly remember Boulder in the seventies. And the sixties. And the eighties. And even a couple of years in the nineties. The memories I have are all stamped with the 80302 zip code. Could I resist a peek?
As it turns out, my wife and son are not among the small minority of humans on the planet who have avoided Facebook, so I looked at the link through their portal. What I saw brought back a flood of memories. Right up near the top was a picture of cars driving north on Broadway. It could have been taken last week, since Broadway continues to be the major north-south artery on the west side of town. The big hint that I was looking at a vintage photo was the car in the foreground: a Ford Pinto. Beneath that was a recollection about driving a Vega. Hey. I drove a Vega in Boulder in the seventies. I drove a Vega on Broadway heading north in Boulder in the seventies. What an eerie coincidence.
Below that someone had posted a picture from Firefall's biggest gig ever: Colorado Sunday Number One, opening for Fleetwood Mac. This was the show that included John Sebastian coming out early and asking the Boulder crowd, "How are ya, Denver?" Oh yes, I remembered that. It was Boulder in the seventies. So were the tasty reflections on Roman Village Pizza, King's Food Host, and Round The Corner. The five minutes I spent scrolling through the page were a flurry of nostalgia. It was a mile wide, but only an inch deep. Each of the entries was only about a sentence or two, just enough to excite the neurons in that sleepy part of my brain that is more than forty years old. It wasn't enough to push me into signing up for Mark Zuckerberg's enterprise. I like my memories a little thicker than that.
So you can look forward to finding an entry here at some point about the curiosity of ordering food by phone in Boulder, or still more hazy thoughts on going to a football stadium to listen to rock bands from a distance. That was probably going to happen anyway, but thanks for the tip.

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