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Show OCTOBER 21, 1972 THE MOUNTAIN FLOWER PAGE 3 A Dream Recalled, A Quest Begun PHIL RUPP Saloon Editor By Each evening from December to December Before you drift asleep upon your cot Think back on all the tales that you remember Of Camelot. . I don't know why Jerry Johnson chose the name. It even seemed ludicrous for a while: Here was this tiny beer parlor on the corner of Fourth South and State Street in Salt Lake City where some of the citys most outrageous characters created a world of their own. And it was named after the mythical kingdom of Arthur, upon whose legend had spring a musical film so nauseating that not one of die saloons inhabitants would dare admit to seeing it. . But they were more than proud to be associated with the Camelot, a place of peculiar reputation where men of less character had entered and departed just as quickly. Beneath the slightly interior decoration of ' cheesy helmets and battle-axe- s lay a tradition of hospitality and friendship that ran deeper than mere dollars and sense. The Camelot was the sort of place that offered either quiet relaxation over a pitcher of beer, heated discussion of the movement and selling out, or rollicking entertainment in the form of, say, the Revolutionary Youth for Christ singing Cole Porter songs until everyone else had chipped in enough money to buy than another pitcher. . The family that skis together, saves. Amazing. Buy a Family Plan card once for $7.50, then save money all season long on lift passes purchased by your family $7.50 for the first family member, $6.50 for the second, $4.50 for the third, and $3.50 for each additional member. A family of four can save $8.00 each day they ski. Or buy a 72-7season ski pass at $175.00 for the first family member, $117.00 for the second, $87.50 for each additional member. A four member family needs to ski as few as three times a month during our season to save money over the regular daily rate. On sale now at Park City Resort and all four Wolfes' locations. 72-7- 3 - 3 Or call 521-213- 1. P.O. Box 919 Park City, Utah 84060 Camdot was run and make There was the jukebox which, over the years, had evolved a program of jazz, folk, blues and the best of rock largely due to contributions from the patrons. There were the twin barmaids, Jeanie and Joanie, as well as the rest of the bartending staff who Shane, Argo, and Diane could match any argument the feisty clientele could offer, whether it be politics or a free beer. There was the clientele itself, a peculiarly roughshod bunch of revolutionaries, students, cab drivers and inhabitants of the Plandome Hotel who fit together quite well. But most of all, there was he back room. money: You may have liked the back room, but not everyone else did. Wed been hearing about Jerry selling the place and putting his full effort behind its sister bar, the Camdot South. Thats where a lot of the Camelot inhabitants moved. The rest were too shocked. Rupp and Mexico ran into Clow and a blonde who could only be described as foxy at a jazz concert. What about the back room? Rupp asked, his voice started to break. Ahhh, said Clow, sad to say the back room is no more. We knocked out the wall today. Rupp exploded. Dammit all! First this new owner takes all the good songs off the jukebox! Then she replaces the Coors with that Miller dishwater! And now she drives the find nail in the coffin by destroying the back room! Ask every person if he's . heard the story One night, Rupp came in by And tell it strong and clear if himself and took a bar stool out in be bos not. front by Petey. Sitting at the That once there was a comer of the bar was a George C. Scott type, complete with glasses, fleeting wisp of glory who was occasionally demeaning Called Camelot. Peteys perpetual advances toward Jeanie the barmaid. It was dark and dingy, Jeanie was taking it all in stride, even to the point of old Pete passed out down at the end of the something out of the last Century, a newcomer remarked in bar. tiie Camdots last days. It had an Then OLeary came in and adjustable if adjustable light someone wanted to remove or Petey left. Jeanie and Rupp both over a hadn't seen the champion insert a beer glass pad of tiie Western United round table with pkdded edge. It was conclusive to hatching plots, States for a good three months and conversation. whether it was Sherm Clows pie- struck up was mellow. throwing assault on the Board of Everything Education or the more serious Then the George C. Scott type business of starting a newspaper said something demeaning to called the Mountain Flower. OLeary. And, OLeary being Late Sunday nights were OLeary, he gave it bade in typical. The bade room went over to just about the same group each spades. Whereupon the George C. week: The1 Little Guy, whose add Scott type tore off his glasses and step wit hid a fantastic knowledge of said,AUright, you tubes and electronic circuits;. outside and say that!" Whidi was Wolf, a graduate in engineering against Camelot rules and Jeanie, whose hulk quietly appearing had with the surprising facility of a sent a number of frightened old sailor, was quick to let him know bums scampering out the door; it, so quick that the man put his music glasses back on and sheepishly Carswell, the drop-ou- t major who was determined to Offered to buy the surprised build a synthesizer of his very own OLeary and Rupp each a beer. and start his own electronic music As they accepted, Jeanie went center; and Phil Rupp, a to the end of the bar, where old sometimes writer who was had revived ami was asking Pete thinking about writing a novel. her a question. Rupp saw her turn Out in front, Clow, the pale mid shake her head. turned TV - bull-throw- er so-and-- revolutionary Thai Rupp asked Jeanie what Whats she trying to do?" had made her turn pale at the repair apprentice, would be arguing with OLeary or Petey. You, sir, OLeary would finally say, are a parasite of the lowest order, unfit to be in even the same roam with the rest of these fine people. And in the back room, the boys would be talking about Haroldynes and how there hasn't been a decent radio made since Atwater Kent. -- A few minutes later, the phone rang. It was for the George C. Scott type. Yeah, he growled into it, yeah, yeah. . .Aw, all right.- And he hung up. That was my wife, he explained. I. . .1 gotta go. See you guys around. And he shoved his beer in front of OLeary. - , I took out the Cbors, said tiie other end of tiie bar. because Coors is a blonde, It was Pete, she replied. The fascist pig. noise work him up and he wanted As was. he Don't let it be to know where his gin forgot was asking, I saw it bdow the bar. That once there was a spot If hed known it was there, he wouldve plugged the guy for For one brief shining moment sure. That was known as Camelot. There were no dewy-eye- d young damsels crying over the demise of this Camdot the way theyd cried But in Camelot! Camelot! .when Richard Harris had sung Those were conditions there. those lines on the silver screen. There were only the regulars, suddenly scattered by an apathetic bartending staff and rhetoric-spewin- g owner. Rupp ran Long before, there were virfew later and months a into Jerry tuoso drinkers. Clow remembers would be there that assured was the night he sat in the back room another and with bar another it, with Smoke Blues Band and room. back everybody was drinking a pitcher But the twins had gone back to at a time. There was the night school. Of the back room bunch, Clow and Richard Hart hatched Guy went back in the the Bastille Family Reunion, a the LittleWolf took a graduate celebration in Fairmont Park one Army; Carswell turned and fellowship; July 14 with free food and music his a computer. into synthesizer because the city outlawed amClow was Even expelled from tiie plified music at anything but new all the work hed after place, unions. famL done hdping them change it over, because the bartender that night Bones Mexico, enThere . sconced in a Duoth, muttering, had decided he was too loud. That guy over there, some This is insane. And Qrazy Davy flower child said to Logan, the bookseller who overgrownlast time he was in the there, disappeared to Nepal. And Riqip never had a veteran. is Rupp Pheasant, a man so dangerous before. the seen guy you just didnt mess around with Clow who gave Rupp the was It him. And the night Clow, Red idea, who told him it was his FYed and Rupp brought protest to find a new bar. singer Phil Ochs in and bummed responsibility if you must, he it a Call quest beer all night off a guy who but said, frankly Im gang daimed he was once lightweight of being knighted Short crazy. tiie of And Tom world. tiie Sir of Loxley, that was all night champ some Mexico and Rupp saw Rupp needed. Like Galahad in search of the Holy Grail, he was reguees from Dees come in, remarking about what a suddenly imbued with a purpose in life: to visit and study and, darling place it was as Mexico screamed: and Rupp inwardly ultimately, recognize those public And how the refugees abruptly left houses in the area that rose above when Argo came in and kept being mere beer parlors. And just as suddenly, with the first falling off the bar stool. citation being a Maybe the end was inevitable. An amateur efficiency expert says posthumous one, he saw one the for the Camdot s name. a bar the run can't 'reason way you Camelot! Camelot ! I know it seems a bit too fair. . th Me Yes On 'Mo V OXE YES on whether the people of Colorado will have to spend any more money on the games. Were voting on whether or not the games will be held in Colorado at all. Lamb says Colorado simply can not stand the financial burden of the games. The last Winter Olympics, held in Sapporo, Japan, cost $1.3 billion. 9 |