From: Lois
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 12:09 PM
Subject: Good Work  

Let Danforth know that his article is a huge success.  I have one woman who is convinced that Danforth is a former member of Cream who actually lives in Ward.  Danforth has created a stir and, as editor of the magazine, I couldn't be more pleased.

I would like to know if it is O.K. to use the title A Bitter Bastard for this and any future articles that Danforth may write.  We used it as a heading for his last piece because everyone thought it was damn funny when we read it in the article. 

We would like to extend the invitation to Dan to write for a regular column for our magazine.  If he gets sick of it, we are not going to hold him to a contract or anything.  Talk it over with him and see what he says. 

Take care, Greg, and buy Danforth a beer for me.  The old geezer has done well.   

Lois

#

God Bless Jesse Garon
Strapping Danforth Shows Holiday Cheer  

I went to Denver to buy some string. It was a couple days before Christmas and people were flinging change around like it was the end of the world. Salvation Army bells rang up and down the 16th Street Mall.  Little children, money from mom's purse in hand, crept up, dropped coins in the can, and ran back to mommy.

I came upon a man playing guitar. He was sitting on the steps of Independence Plaza where business people gnaw hotdogs.  

His clothes were the color of the sidewalk. He played a beat-up guitar. He sang, “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” and it was obvious that this guy loved beautiful mornings. “Aoh whoat a beoutifoal moawring.” Just like that.

The man was Elvis' dead twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley. One look and I knew; it was the nose. 

So what if no one applauds a street musician? So what if you get paid in gum wrappers? So what if freaks crawl out of manholes to request “American Pie”? So what if you play in the cold on Chrismas Eve Eve?  So what if strings go out of tune, cops hassle you, and peckerheads in suits tell you to get a job?

It really was a beautiful morning.

People got it all wrong. The streets make you stronger. It's Vegas that kills.  

---Strapping Danforth, January 2001