It takes a village to fool Tom Clark. Roughly 80 attendees at his surprise 60th-birthday party Tuesday managed to pull off the event without someone letting it slip out.
Clark, the executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, was feted with special lyrics to the David Bowie song “Space Oddity.” The song begins with the lyric “Ground Control to Major Tom,” which was changed to “Ground Control to Chamber Tom.”
The tables were turned because Clark is the chamber’s resident lyricist for special occasions.
“When I had my band, TC and the Destroyers, we were picked by Westword as the best band led by bureaucrats,” Clark told me from his “music room” at home, where he was composing new words for Nat King Cole‘s “Unforgettable” for chamber honcho Joe Blake‘s going-away party coming up. Blake’s leaving to take the job as chancellor at Colorado State University.
At the party, Clark will sing “Unforgivable.”
At Clark’s 60th, staff members smuggled out his Larry Lounge Lizard smoking jacket and the fedora he used to wear in his band and loaned them to a singer who serenaded the birthday boy.
“They had this 8-foot caricature of me with my guitar from Balloonatics,” Clark said. “My third day on the job, I was cutting a candy bar and slipped and plunged it into my thigh. A candy bar and a Swiss Army knife were attached to the side of the balloon.”
Nuggets star nails new home.
Playoff darling Nugget Chaun cey Billups is digging his new digs in a Cherry Hills subdivision.
Kentwood Cherry Creek real- estate broker Rollie Jordan and Re/Max Alliance DTC broker Gary Davis sealed the deal.
In the spirit of the b-ball playoffs, neighborhood kids have put up signs on the house that say, “Welcome home, Mr. Billups. Good luck.” He’s greeted with those signs on his return trips from L.A.
Speaking of the Nugs . . .
While the whole town is caught up in Nuggets fever, the playoffs are affecting the Children’s Museum, whose big annual Birthday Bash fundraiser is from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday during Game 6 vs. the Lakers at the Pepsi Center.
“We’ve been swamped with calls checking to see if we will be showing the game, and yes, we will,” museum president Tom Downey said.
Eavesdropping.
At Tony’s Restaurant & Lounge in Fort Collins: “Now that you’re drunk, are you any less (angry)?”
“No, but I’m more indifferent to my anger.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
