Blogs

This missive about Balls! recently arrived from a Denver native and frequent bold name:

I read your column about Denver. Granted the tourism office's efforts are an easy target, but boy, you are starting to sound like Gene Amole! Although a hipper, more in-tune Gene Amole, but just as cranky.

In my defense, I pointed out a distinct difference between the late Amole's crankiness and my own: The Rocky Mountain News columnist was usually complaining about change (and often rightfully so). I was complaining that the Colorado Tourism Office hasn't recognized just how much in this state has changed for the better -- specifically, its dining scene, which has gone far beyond Rocky Mountain oysters.

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Can we talk? The Colorado Tourism Office still has some work to do.

A few minutes ago, Fox News offered a distinctly unfair view of Colorado skiing. Specifically, that all Colorado ski areas are now closed, which was too bad, said the distinctly blonde anchor (who last week mispronounced "groin"), because when she flew through Denver on Thursday it was snowing! In May!

But a quick check of the Colorado Ski Country website reveals that three resorts are still holding on: Loveland and Echo Mountain will shut down Sunday evening after a weekend of parties. And Arapahoe Basin, which was the first resort in North America to open this season, will hold out until the snow runs out, certainly well into June.

So let's talk Colorado! Next Saturday, the state tourism office should send a delegation from Arapahoe Basin to do a snow job on the Fox newsroom in New York City, where the CTO just put on its pricey show last month.(If the Fox folks can wear Kentucky Derby hats today, they can wear ski boots next week.) Better yet, Colorado should challenge Fox to broadcast live from A-Basin, and party at the Beach. -- Patricia Calhoun

The University of Colorado just got an F in music appreciation.

Next week, the dean of the College of Arts & Media at CU Denver will lead a tour of CAM's classrooms. "As the first college in Colorado devoted entirely to arts and entertainment," the school's announcement boasts, "CAM combines the latest technology with traditional methods and art forms, proving it truly is at the intersection of art making, technology and commerce."

But at this intersection, CAM officials could use a crash course in current music appreciation. Because their announcement also promises that you can see the studios "where the now-famous Colorado band The Frey formed."

A band not quite as famous as The Fray, however. -- Patricia Calhoun

This is the second week in the federal trial of Cory Voorhis, the immigration agent accused of accessing the National Crime Information Center database and leaking information that wound up used in an anti-Bill Ritter ad back in October 2006, one of two involving Ritter's dealings with illegal immigrants when he was DA.

So far, Voorhis is the only one charged in connection with this incident, but it wasn't the only mess entangling the Bob Beauprez campaign, the Colorado Republican Party and Trailhead Group, a 527 funded by prominent Republicans. Two weeks earlier, the Colorado Republican Party had thrown a dead girl under the bus, grossly misrepresenting a drunk-driving case in an attempt to discredit Ritter -- and not even letting the dead girls' parents know that their daughter was about to become a political pawn. Read all about it here. -- Patricia Calhoun

Here's my favorite story about the Mexico City Lounge -- a great neighborhood joint that was in the ballpark neighborhood long before Coors Field ever entered the picture. Back in the days when Denver having a Major League Team was just a pipe dream, Pete Coors was having lunch with some pals at the Mexico City, and the bar was having problems with its Coors tap.

So Pete went down in the basement (which couldn't have been pretty, because this storefront at 2115 Larimer Street dates back to Victorian days), fixed the tap, and then came back upstairs and finished his beer and tacos.

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Bad enough that Colorado actually paid money for an awful, out-of-date tourism campaign that sounds like an old Joan Rivers shtick: Let's Talk Colorado.

But can we talk about what that campaign's sending out to would-be tourists? Today an e-mail newsletter arrived from the Colorado Tourism Office, with handy links to a letstalkcolorado.com site that advises you on how to talk like a Coloradan and offers a glossary of local terms. "Rattlecakes," for example, are like crab-cakes, but made of rattlesnake (tastes like chicken). Click to learn more about Colorado dining, and you get this hilariously overwritten (and under-proofed) description of Rocky Mountain oysters:

Plainly told, these are bovine testicles. No use hiding the fact, or beating ‘round the bush about it. But don’t let this anatomical fact dissuade you from ordering it off the menu. When prepared by a knowledgeable chef, Rocky Mountain oysters are first-rate delicacies.

Most preparations are straightforward. They’re cut into thin strips, battered in flower and herbs, and pan or deep-fried. And the taste? Well, it usually depends on the seasoning used in the batter, but it has often been likened to fried oysters — hence it’s apropos name.

Personally, we like our bull's balls dipped in ground columbines. But then, we're traditionalists.
-- Patricia Calhoun

An addendum: Let's talk fast work! A half-hour after I called the state tourism office regarding the flower/flour problem, that error was corrected. Would that we could wipe out the entire "Let's Talk" campaign as quickly. -- pbc

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

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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Actor John Ashton addressed the Colorado Legislature Tuesday, urging lawmakers to support a new economic incentive for moviemakers. No, not that John Ashton. The guy testifying was the John Ashton of Beverly Hills Cop, who now lives in Fort Collins. Colorado’s original John Ashton -- John C. Ashton, to be precise, as he registered with the Screen Actors Guild when he got a part in Asteroids when it filmed here more than a decade ago -- worked as a newspaper reporter (at Westword, among other places), ran the Avenue Theatre and then got a communications gig with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, of all things. “I spent the whole winter in Pasadena,” this Ashton reports. He hasn’t given up the theater, though, and is set to direct a play at the Aurora Fox when his California FEMA assignment ends.

As for the other John Ashton's efforts: The bill died in committee. -- Patricia Calhoun

Drink up!

Representative Jerry Frangas has moved to protect one of Denver’s most liquid assets: First Friday, the art events that every month draw thousands of people to gallery-heavy districts around Denver – including Tennyson Street, where Frangas first encountered the event. There are also First Friday celebrations in Rino (River North), on Broadway and in Lodo, but the real champ is on Santa Fe, which regularly attracts thousand revelers on the first Friday of the month, some of whom even buy art.

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The Colorado Statehouse goes live at 1 p.m. today -- and not a moment too soon. When Speaker Andrew Romanoff, et. al., decided to start broadcasting their sessions (at coloradochannel.net and Comcast's channel 165), they didn't have any idea that they'd be getting a mid-season star: Doug Bruce.

"Our goal is to make Colorado's government the most transparent, the most accountable, the most citizen-friendly in America," says Romanoff (pictured). "Too many citizens just don't have the time to come to the Capitol in person, so we're bringing it home. We're bringing the statehouse to your house. That's important, because this is a statehouse, not a clubhouse. This is the people's house."

And what people! Sworn in just a week ago to fill an unanticipated El Paso County vacancy, Bruce has already provided some excellent, unscripted moments -- from his upfront-and-personal encounter with a photographer last Monday to the special hearing on his behavior last Friday, which concluded that Bruce should be censured. And apologize for his behavior. Romanoff's decision on that recommendation is due this week.

Don't touch that dial! Although only the House floor debates will be shown live this season -- Senate debates and House committee meetings will remain off-line for now -- Doug TV should be a real kick. -- Patricia Calhoun

Maybe all it took was Sunday's visit from Mary Peters, the Transportation secretary, who vowed to keep the nation's airports operating through the holidays -- and choose Denver as the poster child for last year's dysfunctional flying. Maybe it was the holiday entertainment that kicked off yesterday, which translated to an accordian player at the entrance to Concourse A who kept ripping through renditions of "Lady of Spain." Maybe it was those extra TSA workers added on for the seasonal crush. Or maybe it was that, for once, I'd arrived at DIA over two hours before my plane was scheduled to take off.

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Timing is everything.

Imagine that you're the mayor of a big city with some big, expensive ballot issues coming up -- an alphabet soup of nine proposals that would fund assorted infrastructure repairs around town to the tune of well over $500 million.

What day would you want those big, fat mail-in ballots to arrive? Maybe the day it was decided that your city is going to the World Series?

Timing is everything, and odds are good that the good citizens of Denver will be feeling generous (and overwhelmed) as they look at those ballots that arrived in their mailboxes early this week, right as the Colorado Rockies trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks for the fourth time. Never will they be more likely to invest in Denver's future by voting yes.

Even without trying to make sense of those red letters that Jon Hickenlooper has been leading around town.

Even the dicey 1G and 1H, which would throw major bucks at the reconstruction of Boettcher Concert Hall, are looking better; at the same time they're celebrating sports, voters might be more inclined to throw a bone -- or a ball -- to the highbrow arts.

Too bad there's no New World Series of symphonies. -- Patricia Calhoun

Look for art to break out all over the mall during Denver Arts Week, which runs October 5-12 (for details, go to the Night & Day section of the October 4 Westword). But in fact, you can expect art to break out even earlier, since a few underground-art types, concerned that an Arts Week mall-bus display failed to materialize, plan to take their show-and-tell on the road.

And word has it that Mayor John Hickenlooper, who's touted this city's "creative class," will be one of the aesthetic guerrillas’ favorite targets. -- Patricia Calhoun

Denver has always been the Sally Field of cities, grateful for the slightest nod of recognition from the national media.

Under normal circumstances, the filming of an Eddie Murphy movie in this town -- Nowhereland, for example, which is currently shooting around Denver -- would be front-page news.

But these are not normal circumstances, and the Colorado Rockies are the real stars right now. Eddie Murphy has been relegated to the inside pages -- right by those lame comparisons of Denver and Philadelphia movies, for example. (The DOA Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead will never beat the award-winning Philadelphia.)

Which means that not only do we get to cheer on the home team, but we've won a blessed reprieve from all those stories predicting that Denver will be the next Colywood. That's a real reason to celebrate. -- Patricia Calhoun