Pleased to Meet You!

[Chet56]

The first fragrance I ever owned was - English Leather Lime - a gift in middle school

The first fragrance I bought with my own money was - the long-gone Grand Marque, a fragrance with a motor racing image

My favorite fragrances are - the Aramis classics - Aramis, Devin, Havana

Tell us a bit about where you live - the Upper Arkansas River Valley, a high Alpine valley in Central Colorado - 14,000' (4270m) mountains to the west, high desert to the east, and a river runs through it. Great skiing, mountaineering, hiking, trail running, mountain biking, road cycling, rock climbing, whitewater activities, fly fishing. Great coffee, brewpubs, distilleries, live music, and dining.

Tell us a bit about what you do for fun - almost any outdoors activity, keeping up with world (international) sports and a few American sports, sitting on our deck enjoying the garden and wild birds, reading, listening to music and podcasts.

Tell us a bit about what you do for work - I am a county commissioner, striving to provide great services to our residents, and prepare our community for the future.

Your favourite band / music / album - gosh, too many to name, but force me to choose - classic rock, the Eagles, and their One of These Nights album

Your favourite TV Shows - currently airing - Yellowstone. In general, Masterpiece Theatre, sports, and films

Your favourite Movies - political thrillers

Your favourite Books - political thrillers

Your favourite video games - none - not a video gamer.

Your favourite food - Middle Eastern, Indian, and Mexican cuisine.

Do you have any pets? Yes - an 8 y/o male Weimaraner - our 4th Weim over the years - two males, two females. Great running and hiking companions!

What's your best party trick? Coin out of the ear

Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous? Yes - primarily the late actor Jan-Michael Vincent, and actor Eric Dane, who is still very much alive

 

[hednic]

Welcome to you Chet56! Enjoy your time here at Basenotes!

 

[JON RODGERS]

Welcome aboard, Chet56

 

[PrinceRF]

Pleased to meet you, too! Enjoy your time here at Basenotes!

 

[Bavard]

It's a pleasure, Commissioner Chet. Former resident of Estes Park, Boulder, and Avon here.

 

[CuddleCat]

Welcome to Basenotes, Chet56!

 

[RedRaider430]

Hi Chet, glad you let us know you're here!

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Welcome aboard Chet56

 

[Chet56]

Welcome to you Chet56! Enjoy your time here at Basenotes!

Thank you! I've been a member for over five years (I have a five-year badge anyway) but haven't been very active and plan to be going forward.

Welcome to you Chet56! Enjoy your time here at Basenotes!

 

[Chet56]

Welcome aboard Chet56

Thank you! I've been a member for over five years (I have a five-year badge anyway) but haven't been very active and plan to be going forward. I'll check on those links as time permits.

 

[Chet56]

Hi Chet, welcome! So glad you joined!

Thank you! I've been a member for over five years (I have a five-year badge anyway) but haven't been very active and plan to be going forward.

 

[Chet56]

Welcome aboard, Chet56

Welcome aboard, Chet56

Thank you! I've been a member for over five years (I have a five-year badge anyway) but haven't been very active and plan to be going forward. Thnak you for the naval/nautical welcome!

 

[Chet56]

Hi Chet, welcome! So glad you joined!

Thank you! I've been a member for over five years (I have a five-year badge anyway) but haven't been very active and plan to be going forward.

 

[Chet56]

It's a pleasure, Commissioner Chet. Former resident of Estes Park, Boulder, and Avon here.

Thank you - those are some great places! I've rock climbed Lumpy's Ridge near Estes, skied near and visited Avon a lot, and visit Boulder regularly. If the doc ever orders me to move to a lower elevation, Boulder is on our list!

 

[Juxtapozbliss]

Thanks for getting involved!

 

[Chet56]

Thank you!

 

[naylor]

 

[Chet56]

Thank you, and I appreciate the sailorly greeting!

 

[naylor]

Thank you, and I appreciate the sailorly greeting!

You're certainly welcome. Great musical taste, by the way ... I just picked up tickets to see them in the spring

 

[Goldweave]

Hi Chet! Welcome! I'm feeling the tiniest bit of kinship here: I too have been a member for years without posting, and I have ties to CO - lots of family in Denver metro, staying at various ski resorts in the summers when I was a teen, and fond memories of Boulder and Estes and hiking Rocky Mountain. You're fortunate to live is such a lovely place. As long as it isn't burning to a crisp. I know things have been super tough in CO recently. (And I seem to remember it burning in 2012 too when I was visiting family ) This time we had some friends who were packed and ready to flee but the winds shifted and laid a bit and they lucked out. Scary stuff!

I'll give you the friendly warning about this place though: hanging out for any amount of time is likely to lighten your wallet a bit. There are a WHOLE bunch of enablers here.

(Ask me how I know this... )

Oh, and I loved the old Aramis too. My uncle and cousins wore it and they smelled SO good! I read somewhere that it was supposed to be the masculine version of Aliage, and if that's true it's no surprise that I loved it so.

 

[Chet56]

Thank you very kindly. Some people (probably none here) would think my fragrance collection is silly, extravagant, or effete but similar to you, my grandfathers, uncles, and older cousins imprinted me with being turned out well and that stays with me. There's certainly nothing unmanly about that, although it's somehow been given a bit of a bad name the past few decades. My wardrobe includes some department store labels but nothing one would call a high-end designer fragrance. Value shopping and watching for bargains is another characteristic - and my military exchange privileges help!

Make me choose and the Aramis line would be my go-to. A discussion on The Perfume Guy's YouTube channel gave me an aspirational goal: "Original Aramis is a Dad's fragrance - if your Dad's been a badass all his life, from when he was in high school, college, to being a badass in the boardroom." That's a motivating vision!

Likewise, Devin fits with my self-description as a Gemini and a lover of the outdoors: The mind of an engineer and the soul of a poet (and my best efforts for a healthy, fit body).

Your thoughts and well-wishes for the people of Fair Colorado are deeply appreciated. The devastation in Boulder County is unbelievable.

Best regards

 

[LiveJazz]

Welcome back into the fold! Glad to see another Coloradan posting. Echoing your and others' supportive thoughts on the Boulder County devastation...one of my coworkers lost his home...it's heartbreaking for so many.

Your post above really spoke to me. Enthusiasm for fragrance seems like an unnecessarily complicated and weirdly gender coded thing for men. And in the West in particular, it just doesn't seem like there's much of a scent "culture", or at least not in plain sight. I rarely smell scents on other men here, and it can be lonely. I wonder if that's part of the reason a lot of guys turned to places like Basenotes with substantive discussions that can seen a bit awkward or forced to them in other venues.

Thumbs up on the Aramis line. Many, many fans here, including myself.

PS...I live in Denver, have in-laws in Eagle County, and would love to move up to the mountains to be closer to them. But as I'm sure you know, mountain real estate is bananas right now. As an avid mountain biker, hiker and skier, your specific area of Colorado is one of my favorite places in the world. Finally ticked Monarch Crest off my MTB bucket list last summer, raced a little in Leadville and rode a lot around Buena Vista and Salida.

 

[Chet56]

Hi LiveJazz - Thank you for the note. Let me know when you're going to be up here and we'll go mountain biking or something. My surname is Baker, and "Chet" was my Navy callsign in honor of Chet Baker.

It probably is largely cultural, and I'll date myself by saying fragrances were an accepted part of manhood when I came of age. Our heroes were sharp-dressing hippie-playboys like Steve McQueen, Richard Harris, Joe Namath, Derek Sanderson, and James Hunt, and it was hard to imagine them not wearing a scent, even before Joe Namath shilled for Brut.

I asked for and received a bottle of a motor-racing themed cologne called Grand Marque for Christmas my freshman year of high school. Soon after school resumed after the holidays, the cute girl sitting next to me at a table in the library (we'd been crushing on each oher since before Christmas) suddenly turned and asked "What are you wearing!?"

And thus the practice was solidified.

 

[Cook.bot]

A gearshift knob as a bottle cap! I'm surprised we haven't seen that done more often.

I'm glad you're speaking up and joining in now, Chet56, but I have to confess I clicked in here because I thought the user name said CHEF56.

 

[Chet56]

A gearshift knob as a bottle cap! I'm surprised we haven't seen that done more often.

I'm glad you're speaking up and joining in now, Chet56, but I have to confess I clicked in here because I thought the user name said CHEF56.

Ha! No worries! That Grand Marque was good stuff. It was distributed by Speidel, the Twist-o-Flex watchband people. They probably had to pay a licensing fee to Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and Aston Martin and that kept them from making a profit. Otherwise, it might still be around.

Thank you for noticing I joined eight years ago, but only recently did something get me energized.

 

[Ken_Russell]

Welcome, wishing you a wonderful stay here in this fragrance community and thanking you for the fragrance impressions posted so far

 

[Chet56]

Welcome, wishing you a wonderful stay here in this fragrance community and thanking you for the fragrance impressions posted so far

Thank you! I look forward to it!

 

[Bavard]

I'm enjoying your reviews, Chet, especially on the Ralph Lauren fragrances.

 

[Chet56]

I'm enjoying your reviews, Chet, especially on the Ralph Lauren fragrances.

Thank you, @Bavard! I'm not a collector, nor do I spend a lot on my fragrance wardrobe, but men's fragrances are a family tradition. I came to fragrances as a young man and they have been an important part of my life since. You'll see my tastes are somewhat traditional, and (like me), rather "mature."

Thnak you again, and I look forward to learning from you!