DNC - In Search of Red Carpet and Uniforms

On my way from the Denver airport tonight about 5:15pm, I decided to take a "right" and wandered west on Colfax toward downtown Denver to see how far I could get and what might be going on in the city filled with celebrities, politicians and protesters. (I was in Eugene, OR for meetings, demos, preview of the Ducks season inclusive of a viewing of the Beavers football team arriving at the Eugene airport to fly off to play Stanford this weekend.)
I was on the phone with Marjorie and advised I believed Denver had truly become the NEW Hollywood with all the red carpet, signage, spotlights and such I was seeing - even on East Colfax! I wished Carey were available to coach me on how best to handle this situation and get great pictures!
Hanging up on Marjorie, I jumped out of my car and ran to take a peek at a local establishment next to the Bluebird Cafe. I'm sure someone is having an after party tonight in this area, maybe Sean Penn who was at the Denver Library today with a cast of others discussing Oxfam and Katrina (as Gustav approaches....) (Reports indicate he looked much like the Joker from the recent summer movie. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/08/party_time_08_sean_penn_to_rel.html?hpid=artslot; or maybe Ben Affleck will be having a late night poker game here tonight, or maybe Susan Sarandon having a discussion with a billboard person. Ben was in town to play poker and do something for Food Bank of the Rockies. My friend sent this picture she took - too bad I was in Eugene today, I would have been there!

I moved the car closer to downtown, found a lovely parking spot one block off Civic Center park between the City and County Building and the Capitol. (Hope no riots happen in next couple hours or pepper spray events.) I walked toward the music, which turned out to be the Ginger Ninjas, the band who powers their music by riding bicycles to power their musical instruments. http://www.pleasantrevolution.net/

I spotted a small groups of protesters wanting grass fed cows, I think, you name it, they protest it. Collected in a huddle were about 20 SWAT team members. As I walked closer, they seemed to work like a synchronized Olympic swimming team, splitting into threes, then twos then threes and rotating around this park. It was quite humorous.

Continuing on, I went another 3 blocks to the 16th Street Mall created by I.M.Pei. Here are a couple snap shots of Secret Service (were these two getting a hair cut at Sheer Productions???, same suit, pins, ear piece and ties), bike patrol cops, SWAT team combat cops and who knows what else. Every 15 minutes, the sirens would start, 100 SWAT team members would literally run down the mall, and a team of cars and vans would fly at a high rate of speed toward the Pepsi Center. I'm SURE someone really important was in the vans :)

The best viewing was in terms of the variety of Tshirts and Pins I saw. Apparently they were sold out of the Shawn Johnson Pledge of Allegiance pin, the Bruce Springsteen pins, and the Jennifer Hudson sings the National Anthem were still available but going fast....Here are a few shots to flavor the evening.

I have no idea why I can't get this TShirt and "shoes" pin to view itself correctly, so stretch your neck a bit and look.

DNC - The Weekend in Denver

The blog traveled around to a few scattered places since last post, took a few days off for canoe trips, river weekends and biking. That information will be updated as time permits. Finally the DNC is here in Denver and so am I (at least for part of the week).

Getting in on the action on Friday night, arriving home from Charlotte, NC business trip, I saw this celebrity (in red) and her entourage at airport and offered them directions. Later this celebrity was seen being interviewed by Extra! outside Mezcal restaurant on East Colfax in Denver http://www.mezcal-restaurant.com/where Sunday evening the celebrities gathered for some local flavor. Who is she Carey???

On Saturday, on my return from Fort Collins to mountain bike, I went to my local downtown REI store, where I noted various out of town shoppers. I figured this was my last trip near downtown Denver in a car for a couple weeks. I was talking to my friend Paul who works at REI. He indicated every FBI staff in the West and every bomb squad tech had been hanging out looking for something to do. I did see several of them in the bike section, and advised two of them where to ride on a nice hill climb on Sunday morning. REI is a pretty nice area, at the confluence of two rivers/creeks in Denver, and the junction of many bike paths with a clear view of the Pepsi Center and downtown Denver.

On Sunday late morning, I rode my bike downtown, along the Cherry Creek Bike Path to check out the scene, knowing a Rockies Baseball game was in town that afternoon, along with various protesters, most notably the "Recreate-68" group (they are getting alot of press and rather boring to date)http://recreate68.com/?p=94. I notice they are having some music in Civic Center Park tonight, so maybe another bike ride downtown to see what I can see...

My best celebrity sighting was Tom Brokaw, fresh from Beijing, walking down the 16th Street Mall. No one noticed him as the crowds were watching the bus loads of the FBI, Denver Police and Bomb Squads offload a bus with all their gear! He just walked through, ignoring the buses and I wondered why he wasn't interesting, then I realized who he was! Very nice catch!!!


Sunday evening, I volunteered as an "On Call" volunteer, showing up for my shift and free TShirt, from 5pm to 10pm at the Tabor Center (attached to The Westin downtown where Obama is confirmed to be staying. My job and crew were to finish stuffing "goody bags" and transport them to the press boxes at the Pepsi Center. I did get a glimpse inside the Pepsi Center, but wasn't allowed past the elevator due to security. No cameras or cell phones either :)

I also found out that Oprah Winfrey will be staying about 1 mile from me in an empty house right off Washington Park. My confirmed source is a barista at Starbucks who is doing part of the catering. You better believe I'm going to be biking around the park every free moment I have this week :)


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DEN - $2 after 2pm

Think of all the money I am going to save through September 2! This should get that stock price back in great position and on the uphill climb :) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26031245