While most of the Best of Denver 2008 fallout has been outside the office, there's been plenty of talk here at Bite Me World HQ regarding my Best Green Chile award for Jack-n-Grill. Backbeat editor Dave Herrera takes it very personally when I say things about Colorado-style verde being just an insignificant knockoff of the New Mexican original, and often threatens to punch me for my out-of-towner’s perspective and obvious bias toward the Land of Enchantment.
In order to make more sense of the world around us, illustrator and public house naturalist Nate Stone is compiling here a taxonomy of different barflies. While you're out and about in Denver, if you spot any of these specimens please add your observations about their habitat (where to find them) in the comments section below. Also, if you have any pictures of these colorful creatures, please email them here so we can fully document their existence.
Denver has been getting a lot of plugs in the national media over the last few months, and nearly all of it has to do with the Democratic National Convention. The city is typically characterized as a vital and prosperous regional center with a personality reflecting both its status as a capitol of the Old West and as a fountain head of the New West. But despite these strokes -- they do like us, they really do -- Denver has a collective low sense of self esteem, which is clearly demonstrated in the way the city government throws tons of money to artists from elsewhere while offering only tepid support for Denver artists.
What’s brought this to mind most recently is the announcement of an art festival called Dialog: City to be held during the DNC this August, which includes participants from just about everywhere but here. It is being put together under the auspices of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and the Denver 2008 Host Committee by two contract players, Seth Goldenberg and Liz Newton. The two had been the deputy director and the education curator, respectively, at the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver before their jobs were eliminated shortly last fall in a general belt-tightening at the institution. (I think there are many more credible artists in Denver than credible arts administrators.)
Newspaper editorialists spend more time opining about local politics and global brinksmanship than they do musing about fun and games. As a result, their occasional forays into sports can feel clunky, odd and forced. But understanding that still won't prepare readers for "Broncos Taking Hits On, Off Field," a March 31 Denver Post editorial that's weirdly timed and borderline loony.
The Colorado Rockies made for a more logical editorial choice on the 31st. After all, the date corresponds to the team's 2008 debut in defense of the National League penant they won last year. Instead, Post types chose to complain about the Broncos finishing the previous season 7-9 (that was news months ago, not now), letting longtime kicker Jason Elam sign a free-agent contract with Atlanta (Elam's been on the decline for at least half a decade and was hardly a long-term solution for the squad's special-teams woes) and filling assistant coaching positions internally rather than looking for outside help (the latter method has been used for years with little recent success).
Granted, these scribes have a point when they grouse about the Broncos raising season-ticket prices following a dismal campaign. But instead of focusing on this tin-eared ploy, they delve into ancient history -- the public financing of Invesco Field.
The Wall Street Journal gave Hank Brown a heckuva going-away present when the former Colorado senator left his job as president of University of Colorado earlier this month.
In a March 22 editorial, the paper called Brown "the best college president you've never heard of," praising his common-sense handling of both the Ward Churchill scandal and the CU athletic department mess he inherited when he took over from Betsy Hoffman in 2005 -- both controversies that got plenty of national coverage, even if they didn't make Brown a household name.
And the editorial proceeded to suggest Brown for president -- no, not of the United States. That's too easy. Why not let him take on academia's most embattled institution? "Send that man to Harvard," the editorial ended. -- Patricia Calhoun
In early March, The Fan, a sports-talk station long heard at 950 AM, announced its move to 104.3 FM -- and as noted in this More Messages blog on the topic, a simulcast on its old dial spot was slated to continue until March 31. Well, the last date has arrived, and as of this writing, the simulcasting continues. However, no announcement of a new format for 950 AM has reached yours truly, and the closest thing to an update available on the station's website (still accessible at Fan950.com) pertains to a home-page advertisement for board operators and interns.
In the meantime, the FM shift is receiving mixed reviews from radio insiders, and it's resulted in diminished time-spent-listening by at least two people who've frequently tuned in the outlet over the years -- one of whom is yours truly.
For the first time in 25 years, Westword's readers showed the collective good taste to choose something other than McDonald's french fries as the Best French Fries.Their choice? Bistro Vendome, which makes its delicious fries even more addictive with a salty/sweet sprinkle of spices.
The editorial choice for Best French Fries wasn't nearly as smooth a process. Since we're not big fans of sweet potatoes, we'd initially passed over the fries at Bistro Vendome for those at Fruition, a great restaurant made even greater by the spuds, fried in deliciously rich duck fat, that once attended the kitchen’s culotte steak. But one of Fruition's frequent menu shifts ditched the fries (the steak is still on the board), and in a category this contentious, we needed to find a fry that readers could try for themselves.
After some last-minute eating, Jason Sheehan found his Best French Fries: at Encore, the restaurant that opened last December in the Lowenstein project. Fine on their own, these fries are made even better by the squiggle of mustard the kitchen squirts on the spuds before sending them out.
Read about those fries here. And then run, don't walk, to brunch at either Encore and Bistro Vendome, and fry some spuds on for size. -- Calhoun
Beer lovers at Lodo’s Falling Rock Taphouse got to try a unique Colorado pairing Friday night when the staff from Oskar Blues brewery passed out samples of their winter seasonal, Ten FIDY imperial stout, as well as the same beer after it had been aged for three months in a barrel from Stranahan's Colorado Whisky.
Dubbed “The Battle of the FIDYs,” the tasting attracted numerous beer aficionados. The Ten FIDY, already a big beer with more than ten percent alcohol by volume, became even larger with the addition of the whiskey-barrel flavor, which gave it an immense, almost port-like character. Stranahan’s (a 2007 Westword Best of winner makes small batches of whiskey on Blake Street, just five blocks from Falling Rock, a 2008 winner.)
Oskar Blues (famous for its canned microbrews like Dale's Pale Ale) recently opened a new brewery in Longmont to handle its rapid growth. It plans to phase out Ten FIDY for the summer, but will likely bring it back. On tap for the warmer months is something creatively light, said one of the brewers on-hand for the tasting. (The brewery staff, incidentally, were sampling Odell Brewing Company’s new IPA and Hoegaarden when they weren’t drinking their own concoction; always good to know what brewers like.) Sadly, Falling Rock blew through the whisky-aged beer on Friday; hopefully, they'll bring it back another time. – Jonathan Shikes
Every year, our work on the Best of Denver reminds us of not just what's new and wonderful in this city, but what we've lost -- although you don't see the latter in the final issue. We just take note of the dearly departed as we research, then discard, potential awards, because we discover that a certain dish is no longer served -- or that the place that served it has disappeared altogether.
That's what happened with Slayton & Corine’s, a bizarre little to-go joint tucked into the old McKinley mansion at 950 Logan Street. Last year, Jason Sheehan was tipped off to the place by a Capitol Hill neighbor, and he hurried over to try the joint, which he wrote about here.
But sadly, Slayton & Corine's has disappeared, and that wonderful fried tilapia is now just a memory. Ditto for the mean lemon and cream-cheese pie. -- Patricia Calhoun
Trey Deuce original gangster Brad Braxton had been locked up before. He’d been to jail for assault and to prison for selling crack and caught cases for weapons, too. But no one ever called him a sex offender, not until Denver Sheriff’s deputies arrested him last summer when he went to court to handle a traffic matter.
But it turned out the Brad Braxton who was wanted on the sex assault charge warrant was a white man. This Brad Braxton is black.
After spending eight days falsely imprisoned (he was denied bail), Braxton filed suit against the city of Denver. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting it will be determined whether or not the city wants to settle. – Luke Turf
If you feel that Denver’s Public Works has too much authority in your life, you may find catharsis in the artwork of Dan Ericson. The self-proclaimed “street sign artist,” who adopts the nom de plume ‘Dunn’ as a graffiti-esque pseudonym, produces original artwork by painting hip hop tableaus on deteriorated street signs, then gives them to the artists who inspired them. “It’s kind of like backwards graffiti, taking a piece of the city…changing the meaning,” says Ericson. Unlike graffiti, whose proponents have rationalized it as a populist reclamation of private space, Ericson’s art bypasses the ‘public sphere’ altogether.
Mayor John Hickenlooper and Erin Trapp, director of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs will announce today -- from New York, no less -- that Denver will host a biennial art extravaganza beginning in 2010. (The pair is in the Big Apple for a confab of the tourist press.) The idea, which has been kicking around for a while, is that once every two years, the city would host an exhibit featuring contemporary art from the Americas -- along the lines of SITE Santa Fe (a catalogue from it is pictured at left).
The Biennial of the Americas, as it is being called, will either be fabulous or a civic embarrassment. Guess which one I think has the edge considering that the city administration is in charge? Here’s a clue: think about the cascade of disappointments coming out of the Justice Center, notably the removal of lead architect Steven Holl. That was about fifteen minutes before Holl achieved international fame with his Nelson-Atkins Museum addition in Kansas City.
Hold onto your hamburgers and tune up your drive-thrus, Denver: Steve Bigari is coming to town.
Bigari, a Colorado Springs McDonald’s franchise owner who used one of his more ingenious fast-food inventions, a drive-thru call center, to break the drive-thru world record for number of customers served per hour in 2005, then sold his restaurants to focus on America's Family Inc., his charity dedicated to helping the working poor, has set his entrepreneurial sites on the Mile High City. On February 8, he acquired Fat City, a 144,000 square foot family fun center at 9670 West Coal Mine Avenue in Littleton, to expand his successful Colorado Springs operation, Mr. Biggs Family Food and Fun Destination. And, like everything Bigari does, he’s got big plans for his second Mr. Biggs. Very big plans.
Scott D. Clark, the drunken Denver man who ripped the head off a live domesticated duck in September in the lobby of a St. Paul, Minnesota hotel, was sentenced Wednesday to 21 days in a “workhouse” and eighty hours of community service.
An auditor with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – and Westword 2007 Hall of Shame inductee -- Clark lost his job after the incident, in which he told stunned onlookers that he was hungry and was going to eat it. He then took the bloody body up to the fifth floor, where he was detained. In sentencing him, a Minnesota judge reportedly told Clark he needed help with alcohol abuse and mandated that his community service be done at two homeless shelters, so he could understand what real hunger is. At the hearing, Clark took responsibility for his actions, and was quoted as saying "I understand my actions were shocking and horrifying to the hotel ... and the entire community ... I don't know why I did what I did, but I take full responsibility.”
Hopefully so. Then again, if it quacks like a Shmuck…
When I wrote about I-70 a year ago, the story started in 1988, when the state first began planning how it was going to tackle congestion in the mountain corridor. Twenty years and at least $30 million in studies later, a decision on a solution that everybody can live with may finally be at hand.
"The buck stops here." President Truman's famous line, embedded there on his desk for all to see, lingers still today. Specifically, in the presidency of George W. Bush.
Not in the sense that W. embraced that philosophy. On the contrary, he seems to have been eager to pass that buck back down the chain of command. Or, more likely, he was never given the buck in the first place. Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld held on to that buck like it was a shotgun on a captive grouse farm.
Although Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s name is often synonymous with the right-to-die campaigns around the world, people were fighting for control of their demise long before Kevorkian’s name shot to the forefront of the debate.
While Kevorkian, pictured, was locked up for assisting a suicide that he filmed and sent to 60 minutes, the right-to-die movement gained steam and settled into a headquarters right here in Denver.
Now that Jack’s back in the press with a decision to run for Congress, even if he’s never elected, the right-to-die debate is likely to follow him back into the spotlight. -- Luke Turf
People find God in unusual places and often try to show others the way to their savior in even stranger places.
Believers have tried to “save” me on Mexican beaches and at basketball games. They’ve tried to lead me to God on college campuses, in airports and on airplanes. They’ve praised Jesus and encouraged me to follow his way at Spanish parties and Mexican weddings, too.
The west facing wall of the alleyway off 8th Avenue at Galapago Street in the Santa Fe Arts District got some fresh pieces earlier this month. The spot is the city's most frequented graffiti location for it's ever-changing murals that will often extend deep into the alleyway and around the buildings. The location is known by many as the "Revo Wall" for art collective known as Revoluciones that formerly occupied the building. The artist moved shop to the River North district about four years ago, but some of the best graffiti painting in the city persists.
At the Bethany Baptist Church in Boulder, a painting shows a small black child, screaming—his squinting eyes and upturned palms splattering into negative space. Another shows a ghostly set of eyelids, bordered by the stylized word “faith”. The pieces—one a portrait of Emmett Till, a 14 year old black child murdered in 1955, the second a Good Friday mural depicting the eyes of Jesus, share themes of martyrdom and injustice, as well as a style drawn directly from the urban vernacular. Their humble creator, 22 year-old former college football player Nolan Lee, is a Boulder painter and street artist making a name for himself outside of the gallery system.
Sunshine Megatron, the Donald Trump of online T-shirt sales (if Donald Trump were slightly mad, changed his name to that of a gay robot and didn't have any furniture in his house), is still considering whether or not to stay in Denver after moving here on a whim several months ago. To help convince him to stay, we've been soliciting suggestions from readers about things he could do in Denver and Colorado that would demonstrate to him that our environs aren't a craphole. Here are the latest proposals:
In the "It takes one to know one" category:
If they're still doing it, Freak Train at the Bug Theater on the last Monday of the month. Starts at 8 p.m. but you have to get there early. Beyond description, but it sounds like it would be right up Sunshine's alley for the unusual in entertainment.
-Sandy
In the "Behold the power of the Interweb!" category:
A Denver-based T-shirt website could really work because I think no matter what, people have really deep emotions about Denver. In fact, you could open two, one for lovers and one for haters: DenverMakesMeFeelLikeAFrozenTurd.com, ICouldntLiveAnywhereElse.org, Cowtown.edu, ICameOnVacationAndImStillHere.net, TheGrassWasGreenerTillAllTheCaliforniansMovedToDenverInThe90s.com, BadAltitude.com
In the pile-on frenzy that has gripped local media outlets and bloggers over Judge Edward Nottingham’s reputed bad behavior recently, nobody probably has a better claim to the story than pro se litigant Sean Harrington and his website, KnowYourCourts.com.
Harrington was railing against the arrogance of Colorado’s federal courts, including Nottingham’s bully-boy demeanor, long before the revelations about strip-club visits, parking in a handicapped spot, allegedly having ex parte negotiations with hookers, etc. And it was Harrington who filed a complaint about Nottingham’s personal conduct that is now being investigated by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
So it’s not surprising that Harrington’s site has uncovered yet another little disturbing anecdote, purportedly from Nottingham’s early days on the federal bench. It involves a striking blonde, a note handed by the judge to the bailiff, a disappointing response--and an apparently punitive act by the judge that might have cost the plaintiff in a civil suit a hefty hunk of change. Most unusual of all, the whole story is attributed to a named source, a retired attorney who evidently has no fears about retribution. Read all about it here in the March 22 entry, “New details about Judge Nottingham emerge from interview with retired attorney,” and believe it or don’t. –- Alan Prendergast
I'll admit to taking no small amount of pleasure from having watched Patrick Roy raise fists against Red Wings goaltenders Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood on two separate and glorious occasions. Anyone who straps on a red helmet against the Avs is easy to hate. But, given Roy's off-ice history of violence, watching his son Jonathan skate full speed into an opposing goalie to pick a fight with someone who won't even defend himself just seems sad. During a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff game Saturday night, Roy, goaltender for the Quebec Remparts, threw himself into a brawl that started in front of his net between several players on his team and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Not satisfied to fight one player, Roy skated to center ice, broke free of a referee who tried to restrain him, and skated full speed into the opposing goaltender who didn't put up a fist in defense. Roy could face suspension over the pummeling he gave the goalie. Time will tell if league's disciplinary committee will take either "I can't tend goal like my dad so I'm gonna fight like him," or "I'm just an asshole like my father only without the kind of talent that gives athletes a free pass" as reasonable defenses for his actions.
In order to make more sense of the world around us, illustrator and public house naturalist Nate Stone is compiling here a taxonomy of different barflies. While you're out and about in Denver, if you spot any of these specimens please add your observations about their habitat (where to find them) in the comments section below. Also, if you have any pictures of these colorful creatures, please email them here so we can fully document their existence.
Last week the Colorado Legislature shot down a proposed economic subsidy for filmmakers -- despite the impassioned testimony of John Ashton, aka Sergeant Taggart of Beverly Hills Cop -- which gives you a pretty good idea of the B-list star power of the state's current film scene.
But late last week, we got news that Denver will play a prominent role in an as-yet-untitled Sam Mendes movie. The comedy follows a couple as they try to decide what city will be the best place to raise their child, and travel the country exploring potential homes.
Travel the country only in theory, though. The filmmakers will be recreating Denver using local props --- including a March 20 issue of Westword, which, according to the props company, will "help establish the main characters' itinerary and lend an authentic touch to our production."
Happy to be of help. Roll 'em. -- Patricia Calhoun
Alison Miller, the ex-girlfriend and former publicist for Republican Statehouse candidate Muhammad Ali Hasan, has asked to withdraw her request for a restraining order against the Eagle County politician and businessman, according to this story in the Vail Daily. Miller said the case was causing “too much stress to my health, time from work and family, and has become a financial burden."
Hasan, who was the subject of an in-depth Westwordcover story, is running in the ski-resort-heavy House District 56. He is the wealthy son of Malik Hasan, a partially retired HMO executive and multi-millionaire, and Seeme Masan, a longtime Republican activist. Hasan, pictured above in a photo from the website of Muslims for America, an organization he founded, grew up in Pueblo and now lives in a 28,000-square-foot, $10 million mansion owned by the family outside of Vail.
In the March 3 restraining order, Miller accused Hasan of repeatedly harassing her via text message, disconnecting her phone and hiring a firm to crack the passwords to her three e-mail accounts. -- Jonathan Shikes
The current rumpus over whether the state prison system is letting too many criminal fiends out on parole is a pretty good example of what Governor Bill Ritter is up against in his effort to bring some economic common sense to our criminal justice system — namely, a bunch of thick-browed, pandering politicos who know that being "tough on crime" sells, and to hell with the cost or the evidence.
Denver has a lot to do to get ready for the Democratic National Convention, including fixes both large and small that could help this city put its best foot forward.
First up: Going public with the fact that the anonymous voice that started sounding off on DIA trains last summer belongs to Mayor John Hickenlooper.
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Sunshine Megatron, the Donald Trump of online T-shirt sales (if Donald Trump were slightly mad, changed his name to that of a gay robot and didn't have any furniture in his house), is still considering whether or not to stay in Denver 
