Elk Meadow Winter Sunset

 

Acrylic on canvas, 8x10

Behind the T-shirt - Amigos Say Olé Elway!

 

When I saw this t-shirt graphic, I thought Amigos was a Mexican restaurant/bar in Denver celebrating some big wins by Elway in 1980, 1982, and 1984 with endless nachos.

 

I was way off. 

The 3 Amigos were Elway's wide receivers, and those were their jersey numbers.

 

According to the Mile High Report: "For about two years starting in 1987, there was John Elway and then there were the Three Amigos - Vance Johnson (82), Mark Jackson (80), and Ricky Nattiel (84). They were larger than life for that short period of time and it was a fun ride." 

No confirmation on whether they all fit under the same sombrero.  

Check out the Amigos Say Olé Elway! t-shirt on SHV Etsy.

Tea and Toast Video with Dogs

New video from Tea Leaf Green!🌿

Full of fan submission photos, check out some studly dogs at the 1:50 mark.

Their new album is wonderful, start to finish, definitely worth checking it out!

Evergreen BLM Rally

 

Evergreen, CO, population 9000, 97% white, had a Black Lives Matter protest today. Over 300 people showed up, babies to seniors, wearing masks and carrying signs, to show solidarity and listen to two black speakers - 12 year old Felix, Ethiopian, and the only black kid in his Evergreen Middle School class - spoke with courage and humor and honesty. Very inspiring.

 

Then Chris Burroughs the biracial drag queen genius organizer actor, read out the names of black Americans killed by the police for 8:46 for George Floyd. He spoke truth to power about the discrimination he faced growing up here and advocated for real change aka #defundthepolice and finally put it back on us - it's up to we white people to do the work. One day he will be more famous than Trey Parker.

 

There's a community he(art) installation at the Center for the Arts where people can write names to honor and other messages of solidarity on hearts and stick them to the wall. 

 

Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart, you just gotta poke around ❤️🖤🌲

Too Much??

 I just searched my name on Twitter and found this from the local CBS on Sept 10. Too much??😂🔥✊❤

https://twitter.com/CBSDenver/status/1171423091572051968

 

 

Bernie Sanders Hugged Me

 

We went to a rally for Jared Polis and Joe Neguse in Boulder today and Bernie hugged me!

 

We got there early and made it to the front row. I was wearing my Bernie onesie jumpsuit and he laughed and said "I guess we gotta hug" and then BERNIE HUGGED ME.

WTF Wednesday: Blackwood Brothers Octet, Clouds

Yola Wednesday! Yola WTF!

Yola two new entries in the "Christians Can't Count" flickr group: 

Blackwood Brothers Quartet (octet): 

And the Blackwood Brothers Quartet (still octet): 

Last but not least, here's a Rorschach test, what do you see?

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
 
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week: 

• Vintage 80s Dog's Life Trucker Hat
• Vintage 90s Boli Bash Vermont T-shirt

WTF Wednesday: Attempted Assassin's House

Good day, Wednesday! Good day, WTF!

I've seen the neighbors across the street, Fanny and Bill (names not changed because they're too funny), one and only one time since we moved in last December - the first week we were here they were outside and I went to say hi and Fanny pointed at our house and said "Do you know the history of that house?" I started to say I knew it had been renovated...and she said "Oh no, it's the H___ house" and went on about how news reporters were camped out for weeks after the son of the people living here tried to kill the president in the early 80's. 

I'm not going to say the name because he is still alive and it's just too weird, but I think you all can figure it out. 

So we wikipedia'ed the story and burned sage throughout the house and chuckled about it and didn't really consider it again until last week when I saw this carved into the driveway.

So that's slightly WTF. 

Coincidentally, when Kevin's parents moved into their Colorado house, they found one and only one thing left behind in the attic -

Last but not least, there was a ping pong challenge tournament here at the ol H____ house this weekend that achieved muchos WTF levels!

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.
 
For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• Vintage 70s Air Force Academy Last Class with Balls T-shirt
• Vintage 80s I Ain't Average A.L. Williams T-shirt
• Vintage Daily Fantasy BSUSY t-shirt

Behind the T-shirt: First of Denver Cup Jacket Skiing Sheik Hoax

Check out this "First of Denver Cup" ski jacket I found last week. 

 Little did I know it is connected with some "Fake News" from 1977. 

The First of Denver Cup was a Pro-Am ski race held at Winter Park Colorado from 1977 to 1982 to benefit the Winter Park Handicapped Program. 

It was also the site of controversy when Sheik Abdul Haddad raced the slalom wearing flowing Arabic robes in the wake of the OPEC oil crisis in 1977.  

Turns out, however, the Sheik was a shoe salesman named George from Minnesota, and all the major international newspapers had been snookered. According to Skiing History Magazine,

Sheik Abdul showed up unannounced to compete in the Pro-Am charity race held during the First of Denver Pro Race weekend. The fundraiser supported Hal O’Leary’s innovative Winter Park Handicapped Program. The sheik was placed on the team captained by pro racer Jake Hoeschler (who was also director of skiing at Winter Park), with Heisman Trophy-winning football player Doak Walker and Andy Love, son of former Colorado Governor John Arthur Love. As the sheik flapped and fluttered across the finish line, the press corps clustered around him.

The sheik was a sensation: in the aftermath of the OPEC crisis, the very idea of an oil sheik carried the aura of vast wealth and veiled threat. The press wanted pictures, and quotes. All the VIPs wanted to meet him. The sheik’s bodyguard and translator intervened, explaining that Haddad spoke no English.

It turned out he spoke no Arabic, either. When photos and stories about the skiing sheik went out over the AP and UPI wires people in Duluth, Minn., chuckled. Color photos of Sheik Abdul made the papers in Paris, Moscow and Tokyo. But the Duluth papers quickly identified him as George S. Haddad, 56, owner of the Haddad Family Shoe Store and of Lebanese descent. The shoe store was located a few doors up from the Continental Ski Shop, where George was a frequent customer. He was also a well-known figure at Lutsen and other local ski areas, where he often skied in his “Arab” robes, no doubt avoiding entanglement in rope tows. The robes had been sewn by his wife, Dorothy Marie Haddad. Haddad even owned a U.S. patent on a bit of ski equipment he had designed: a retractable crampon to help a skier climb.

When the Duluth papers had their say, the story unwound. Hoeschler had arranged for Gerald Ford, Ethel Kennedy and Clint Eastwood to ski in the Pro-Am, but when Winter Park shifted the dates, Ford and Kennedy cancelled in favor of previous obligations.

A few days of panic ensued, and then Hoeschler, passing through Continental Ski Shop, spotted a poster of Haddad skiing in Aspen, robes and all. If he couldn’t get an ex-president onto Eastwood’s team, Hoeschler figured he could get a sheik.
And so, with the complicity of Winter Park President Gerry Groswold, Sheik Haddad arrived at Winter Park in a limousine. He came with a bodyguard in the person of Jim Bach of the Continental Ski Shop, and with translator George Abdullah, who taught at Drake University in Iowa. Haddad later claimed he was scared to run the course: With oil prices so high, he was afraid “some fanatic” might take a shot at him.

When the Duluth papers broke the story of the hoax, officials at AP and UPI were furious. UPI, in particular, had been burned in 1976 when Vail sent them a photo of a blizzard that had been taken two years earlier. They felt that the reputation of the press was at stake. But no one from any of the papers or wire services had bothered to fact-check any of the “oil sheik” stories.

The fallout for Hal O’Leary’s program was spectacular. People around the world saw the story and felt inspired to send checks to the handicapped ski team. “We raised 20 times as much over the course of the year as we had ever done before,” O’Leary told Hoeschler.

Haddad went back to his shoe store, and to Lutsen, where he was now a local hero. Hoeschler ran out his contract with Winter Park and returned to his law practice in Minneapolis.

All's well that ends well. Now you can own a very special piece of ski history and fake news history: First of Denver Cup Pro-Am Obermeyer 70s Ski Jacket

WTF Wednesday: Moving to Colorado

Hello Wednesday! Hello WTF!

There will be no creepy dolls today, I'm sorry - but I have some WTF news to share - Skippy Haha Vintage is officially moving to Colorado. 

Though a tragic change in family circumstances is driving this decision, it's definitely a positive move on the whole - there are a few really awesome people in Denver that we're lucky to spend a lot more time around in the coming years.

I am extremely sad to be leaving the river that flows through our backyard.

I am a little worried that the thrift stores of Colorado will not measure up to the wondrous bounty of Western NC's goodwills, but hoping to find lots of old rodeo duds. 

I am sad to be leaving some excellent friends, and Asheville's progressive creative hippie community where I immediately felt welcome when I first came to visit 10 years ago (this week!)

I am sad to be leaving Marco's pizza.

I am excited to be in an awesome (warm! thick-walled!) house in Evergreen.

I am excited for all the spectacular hiking opportunities in Colorado.

I am excited to live in a state where grass is legal and swat teams are not busting into people's homes over a plant. 

I am excited to live in a state where Single Payer Health Care is on the ballot next week.

I am excited to live much closer to some of the most amazing, generous, fun-loving, adventurous, brave, funny, and smart friends and family in existence. 

Our moving date is in November - which is now officially this month. 

I'll do my best to be back next week with more WTF treasures. 

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions. 

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 90s Ginger the Cat Sweatshirt
• 80s Canine Companions T-shirt
• 90s Glitter Carousel Horse T-shirt
• 80s Cat Crazy T-shirt
• 80s Smorgasbird Sweatshirt
• 90s SMH Wind Shirt
• 80s Dandelion Seeds Sweatshirt
• 80s Jesus Fish in Wayfarer Sunglasses T-shirt

a week in colorado

i have been to colorado and i have seen some glorious things.

kevin's parents' neighbors have two bernese mountain dog littermates. poppy (upside down female) and barney (side eye male). they are extremely snuggly and sweet. i spent a lot of time squeezing them. they will grow to 100-120 lbs, and only live 7-8 years, but good lord they are awesome animals!

my late great grandfather 'flops' once went to a bernese mountain dog convention at the hotel near his house in rhode island and was also wow-ed by their adorableness and continued to talk about bernese mountain dogs as often as he could, which was often.

a big highlight of the trip was a 30 mile bike ride on the rio grande trail from aspen down to carbondale with a stop for lunch at woody creek tavern. the walls are plastered with polaroids and old memorabilia, much of it associated with local legend hunter s. thompson who used to eat (drink) there every day. the carpet is cheetah print. there are oversized christmas ornaments hanging from the low ceiling. the ice water is free. the salad is organic. the place was packed with bicyclists.

another highlight of the trip was walking a sweet munchkin down to her first grade classroom. she took us on a tour of her 100 year old elementary school building and it was so cool to see her interacting with all the kids and teachers. i may be biased, but i think she's a superstar in training!

all in all, it was a wonderful trip, though it's always great to be home!