Melvin (Chris) McEwen:  

Class of 77, I was (I think) 14yo, skinny, long hair, pot smoking, guitar playing hippy. Except for English and Band class I barely remember anything but playing my guitar and smoking lots of pot, but thats about all I wanted to do back then anyway, so I guess my life was not so bad. I was VERY shy, didnt go out of my way to meet new people much, especially girls, but I soon got over that. (by 16 I would say) I remember living on the Mesa Junction, right accross from Sambo's and Skateland, and we must not forget the Uptown 'Fine Arts' Theatre. My foster parents owned the 'Main Street General Store', so I was exposed to so many types of music, cultures,people,and just about EVERY good concert w/backstage passes, as we were (MSGS)usually the ones selling the tickets etc...a good experience for me. I started leaving home when I was 14, hitch-hiking all over, I would go back to OKC (where I was from originally) in the summer and live in the park with the hippies till school was ready to start up again, then always back to Pueblo. I have good memories of going to 'St George And The Dragon'...I think it was $3 for a stamp and you could drink all the beer you wanted. I have not danced in years, but how I used to cut the rug down at that place! By then I was 16 and had a fake ID. Also liked 'Cosmo Jacks' and the 'Irish Pub' and played in bands at both those places. I left home / struck out on my own at 16 and was quite surprised how relatively easy it actually was, got a dishwashing job and had 3 roomates in a 1 bdrm apt. and stayed (for the most part) out of trouble. When I wasnt working I spent every waking moment looking for others to play music / jam with, its all I ever wanted to do back then. John Travolta derailed my music ambitions twice...I finally was doing what I always wanted to do, play in a band, in clubs, all over the country, (by then I was 18)and having a GREAT time when out comes 'Saturday Nite Fever' and most live music clubs went to DISCO !!! :-( The 'Disco' days were good to me though, I took advantage...I.E...I had the glitter boots, silk shirts, gold chains and even cut my HAIR ! I never did coke, but always had some stashed just in case, if ya know what I mean. The dry period lasted a couple of years, but then comes 'Urban Cowboy', so most of the clubs changed from Disco to Country ! I do like country, but by this time I was 20s somthing and wanted to write & play my own stuff, so I moved to Boulder / Denver area and hooked up with Steve Davis (Salt & Pepper, Apple Pie etc) and Drew Emmit. (Phish, Leftover Salmon) These guys were the cream of the crop and I was lucky to even be playing with them at all, but for me it was just one non-stop booze & babes party train, so that didnt go over with them so well. Steve is now a Enviromental Artcetect and Drew is the leader of a hugely popular band (amoung 'Dead-Heads' especially) called Leftover Salmon. I played for a few more years but my demons finally caught up with me, so that was it, as far as I was concerned. I went from the shy, skinny, pot smoking kid who simply LOVED music to this loud, obnoxious, ego driven, drunken ass-hole who could not seem to wrap his mind around the fact the world was not beating down a path to his door to appreciate all the amazing 'Talent' he had to offer ! Most of my adult life since then I have worked management in the Food & Beverage industry, TGI Fridays, Chile's, Confetti's etc. That kind of work always seemed to suit me well, maybe because thats what I started out doing or maybe because, just like music people...waiters and bartenders are also huge 'Party' people. (?) I did other things as well...Cardiac Surgery Tech, Sales, Barber, Oil Field Roughneck, Carny, Stand-Up Comedian...the list goes on. I was able to retire from that eventually, as I always had stock options in the companies I worked for, which served me well, that is untill recently :-( On the plus side I stopped my 'Party-Boy' ways many years ago and was amazed at how much money you can save when you are not throwing it all out the window ! I started a Window Cleaning business several years ago, but only work part-time now, semi-retired, which really is short version of I didnt plan well enough to FULLY retire yet, but I am only 51 so I guess it wont hurt me to do some more work for a few more years, right ? I am living now in midtown Sacramento Ca. and live a...Expand for more