Denver News Blog

It was only a matter of time before someone created a video criticizing Phil Wolf for putting up an anti-Obama birther billboard at his Wheat Ridge auto dealership. We do live in the YouTube age, after all. Problem is, the creator of the clip above used as his guide a Channel 31 article that repeatedly refers to Phil Wolf as "Phil West."

A graphic midway through the piece wonders if "Phil West" is a Nazi. Dodged a bullet that time, Mr. Wolf.

This video by the folks over at Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies is a great hour-by-hour delineation on how the Falcon Heene/Balloon Boy saga went from a local news oddity to international media frenzy, and then to the kind of fast-spreading cultural virus known as a "meme."

Oh yeah, it's alllll coming back to me now.

Say, you know what makes a boring city council meeting less boring? Furries.

Just ask the Durango City Council, which was visited by a human-sized hen Tuesday night during a debate about a chicken ordinance. Watch the faux feathers fly above.

All in favor of live personifications of agenda items laying eggs in city hall? Aye!

Floridians just don't get us Coloradans.

Take this comment posted to a 9News story about the Arvada Senior High School mascot -- Barrelman -- that aired yesterday on First Coast News in Jacksonville.

rustyjax wrote: this could'a been a funny story if they had given more key details such as, Why is the mascot dressed in a barrel?

We don't ask those kinds of questions in Denver, rustyjax. We just go with it.

MTV is looking for overweight home-schoolers who have been affected by natural disasters for the next season of The Real World -- and it's coming to find them in Denver, which hosted its own cast of seven strangers picked to live in a house in 2006 and 2007.

Real World casting directors will be at a Hooters at 1390 South Colorado Boulevard tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., where, we imagine, they will sift through hundreds of hot, bicurious babes and Red-Bull-and-vodka-swilling dudes to find the one plus-size model who was caught in a tsunami when her home-school group went on a field trip to Indonesia one time.

The number of swine flu cases reported in Colorado last week fell for the third week in a row, as can be seen on this handy-dandy chart courtesy of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

But a decline in H1N1 didn't stop the department from making a handy-dandy PSA, which attempts to fight the swine flu with sarcasm, raised eyebrows and rhyming words. See above.

Their effort pales in comparison to the PSAs made by the U.S. guv-ment in 1976, when the swine flu-related death of a single soldier set off mass hysteria and sparked a campaign to convince every American to get a flu shot... by scaring the shit out of them with TV commercials about how old ladies get killed by swine flu -- but not before passing the virus to their veterinarians.

Dun, dun, dun! Watch the PSAs by clicking below:

Frederick Purvis had a date with destiny. And the FBI.

​We've all heard about suicide-bombers wearing woman's burkas in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who knew dressing in drag would catch on with wannabe bombers in the U.S. as well?

Frederick Purvis of Hamilton, Ohio, was sentenced to thirty months in prison yesterday for sending at least ten e-mails to federal agencies and media outlets in which he threatened to blow up various Cincinnati landmarks and kill then-President Bush. He was also apparently fixated on Denver International Airport and sent similar e-mail threats against the airport to Denver television stations.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Purvis wrote: "I will shoot myself in the ladies bathroom at 3:30 p.m. because I do not wish to live any longer... If I live I will kill President Bush."

How did anti-graffiti detectives finally pop KOZE, leader of one of Denver's most notorious graffiti crews? By getting one of his associates to flip on him in court.

But the three mural-like graffiti "pieces" that prompted a jury to convict 27-year-old Timothy Barajas of seven misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and trespassing hardly represents the full body of work generally attributed to KOZE. As the below pictures and videos show, the man behind those four letters isn't your average fourteen-year-old tagger running amok with a broad-tip Sharpie.

Geez, it was like Bravehart at 15th and Larimer on Halloween night -- but with pillows. More random scenes like this and soon everyone's going to start packing feather-filled heat just to go clubbing. Tell mom I'm going to a sleepover at the Denver County Jail, okay?

The text block accompanying the video above, which was posted earlier this morning, asks, "Surely the first song ever to be written and recorded about Balloon Boy?" Hell to the no. The number of parodies about young Falcon Heene's non-flight has exploded like overinflated Mylar, littering YouTube with tunes whose awfulness is actually kinda charming, not to mention appropriate. Below, check out five more selections, including "I'm in a Box," which riffs on the Andy Samberg classic "I'm in a Boat" (making it a parody of a parody!) and the musical stylings of one Joey Piscopo, who is indeed the son of former Saturday Night Live regular Joe Piscopo. I've never been prouder as a Coloradan, and an American.

Work hard, play hard at Bennett's DIY skatpark

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Even as more and more cities are paying hundreds-of-thousands (or, as in the case of Denver, millions) for professionally designed and constructed outdoor skateboard facilities, many skaters still maintain that the most fun spots to ride are the ones that you and your friends build yourselves. But DIY ain't for lazy-asses. Lucky for Bennett that a ragtag group of skateboarders known as the Colorado Coalition for Public Skateparks took it upon themselves to raise the significant money and manpower to create what may be the state's only open-to-anyone, 100 percent skater-built bowl.

When I was a kid the most awesome place in the mall was the magic/novelty shop. In addition to the rubber poop and hypnosis books, there was always some quirky middle-aged guy behind the counter demonstrating magic tricks to a crowd of boys age seven to thirteen.

Well, like everything else, the new spot to see magic tricks is online. And one Denver-based magician named Jay has amassed a significant YouTube following by posting tutorial videos and hosting card-trick contests for his subscribers, which now number over 20,000. The video above is his latest contest for "Card Spitting," a trick where the person appears to be puking cards. I can already hear the nine-year-old me shouting "Awesome!" View some of his other entertaining entries below.

One of the most unlikely debates to arise following the Broncos win over the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday involved the hugs between baller Brandon Marshall and coach Josh McDaniels -- the first immediately after Marshall's astonishing touchdown catch, the second in a post-game press conference. On their Mile High Sports Radio program, co-hosts Joel Klatt and Nate Kreckman suggested that the second bro-hug in particular simply took too long -- a claim countered by a caller, who argued that the embrace was intended as an ironic acknowledgment of how strange it was for these two antagonists to be clutching each other in special ways.

An ironic hug? More likely, these guys just don't know the rules for socially acceptable man hugging. So sit down and watch this video, guys -- and if another opportunity to rub against each other pops up this weekend, you'll be ready.

After watching the above video of a yesterday's "aerobics flash mob" on the 16th Street Mall, I think it's fair to declare the "flash mob" concept officially dead. And thank God. The spectacle of seemingly-spontaneous, absurdist street theater popularized by left-wing "prank-tavists" and urban, drama club hipsters began to lose its remaining sense of cultural relevancy for me last year when I saw a flash mob weaved into the plot of one of those prime-time CSI shows.

It's true. Just watch the video. Apparently desperate to find a new coach (despite having just enjoyed his team's first victory since 2007), Detroit Lions owner Adolf Hitler recently flew to Denver to court former-Denver Broncos head Mike Shanahan. OMG, Hitler, you so cray-zee!

No denying that Internet multi-millionaire turned Congressman Jared Polis is a believer in new technology. During the past day or so, his office has posted videos on YouTube in which he can be seen talking on the floor of the U.S. House about the personal healthcare stories of real Coloradans. A shitload of real Coloradans. There's Alex, whose tale is told above. There's Arelene. There's Larry. There's Laura. There's a Northglenn resident known as "Northglenn Resident." The total at this writing comes to 24 clips, most of which have been viewed fewer than ten times each -- but you can add to that number. Look below to see three more examples. And rest assured: There's more where they came from.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a look at the way Denver attempted to sell Denver back in 2002, when the International Chamber of Commerce's 34th World Congress took place here. Entitled Another Perfect Day in Denver, the video, produced by the Mayor's Office of Economic Development & International Trade, is narrated by John Elway, who happily delivers lines that can be cheesy figuratively and literally; at one point, he holds up a sandwich and declares, "Denver's where the cheeseburger was invented. Enough said!" Other participants include a parade of celebrities from the recent past: then-Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, then-Colorado Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris, then-mayor Wellington Webb, plus lots of telecom execs before recessionary downturns and layoffs had dented their optimism and lowered their bottom line. Though it was made just seven years ago, it already feels like a memento from a long-ago era.

Look below to watch part two.

What do you get when you mix penguins at the Denver Zoo, a beam of light reflected off someone's watch and Labor Day weekend boredom? Hours and hours of wholesome, family entertainment, that's what!

Cheesman Park: It's not just for weddings and Frisbee.

As the onetime Mount Prospect Cemetery, it's also apparently a good place to pick up bones of Denver's former "villains, robbers and those that had a lot of malfeasance in their character," according to this presentation by a guy who says he found half a human skull near the pavilion. He put it on his mantel.

Some people have all the luck.

Mark Brennan. Photo by Mark Manger.

As I reported last week, things got pretty testy near the end of the three-day disciplinary hearing for attorney Mark Brennan. A physical confrontation between Brennan and his chief accuser, Kim Ikeler of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, erupted when Ikeler approached the podium as Brennan was delivering his closing argument.

Now Law Week Colorado has posted a brief video clip of the square-off, along with Brennan's version of the incident. He claims Ikeler "assaulted" him in an effort to provoke him; other witnesses claim Brennan shoved Ikeler. As they say on TV, you be the judge.

Brennan faces possible suspension of his law license over his conduct in a 2006 trial, in which he won a $1.2 million age discrimination verdict against the City of Denver on behalf of a former firefighter. Judge Robert Blackburn threw out the verdict, citing Brennan's "boorish antics," which allegedly included objectionable facial expressions and the use of prohibited verbal weapons such as sarcasm. For more on that convoluted case and what the jury really thought, see our in-depth account, "Blackburned."

Yesterday, a Colorado State University team led by civil engineering professor John van de Lindt successfully staged a very large-scale test in Miki City, Japan. They've come up with a new approach to building earthquake-proof (or at least more earthquake-proof) buildings, and to see if they're on the right track, they assembled a seven-story mock condominium on an enormous platform capable of simulating a magnitude 7.5 temblor. Not only were the initial results positive, but they're a lot of fun to watch. A video of the test itself is on view above. After the jump, read the CSU press release about the experiment and watch another video, showing the construction of the building in time-lapse fashion. As the title of the release acknowledges, there's "A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On."

Stressed? Uptight? I wouldn't know anything about that: See, I actually enjoy the drillin', sawin' and hammerin' associated with Westword's ongoing remodeling project, which I'm separated from by a thin sheet of dry wall and a Mexican blanket thumb-tacked over a hole that's been chopped into my office wall. But if you're not as chilled-out as I am, take wing courtesy of the video above, a leisurely virtual cruise over the city offered by the folks at Jazeboo, who specialize in easy-listening piano jazz. Enjoy your flight.

"I'm extremely proud today," writes Ross Kaminsky, a local libertarian columnist and blogger, about taking the bronze in MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" list this past Wednesday night.

Kaminsky got the dubious award for a 4th of July post he wrote under the pseudonym Rossputin on the blog for FreedomWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit. The blog, titled "Happy Dependence Day," notes that workers and lobbyists for AIG, GM and other companies that angle for federal earmarks "are the antithesis of this nation's founding, the antidote to liberty and free markets, the source of the smiley-faced fascism which creeps further into our lives daily." Unfortunately, as Olbermann points out in the segment above, the chairman of FreedomWorks, former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, is also lobbyist for AIG and GM.

D'oh!

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Last night, Comedy Central aired a repeat of the July 1 Daily Show that included a segment with comedian Kristen Schaal (whom you might recognize from her role as obsessive fan Mel on Flight of the Conchords) about efforts in France to ban Muslim women from wearing burkas.

Schaal, who grew up on a farm in Longmont, included a joke about how birds in Colorado often mistook her for a scarecrow and built nests in her mouth.

"That was a dark time," she mutters.

Finally, someone is telling the truth about the long-ignored epidemic of Bird Nest Mouth Flu in Colorado!

Truth be told, plenty of us have personal obsessions that would convince people uninterested in our particular thang that we need to get a life. It's just that these pastimes differ from individual to individual -- and some are quirkier than others. Witness the just-completed 35th annual Coca-Cola Collectors Convention, which took place at the Denver Tech Center Hyatt. The 35th annual event, sponsored by the California-based Coca-Cola Collectors Club, drew a throng of folks so jazzed about memorabilia associated with a certain sody-pop that they were willing to spend a whopping five days reveling in it; festivities began on June 30 and didn't end until July 4. The video above offers a look at one presentation, featuring a Coke tchotchke from the 1920s containing "run-animator wands" -- and yes, viewers will find out what the hell they are. Below, get a glimpse at a Coca-Cola collectors version of Jeopardy, complete with a category in which contestants have to guess which president was in office when certain Coke trays were first produced.

Wow: Suddenly my mania for buying seven-inch vinyl singles for my old jukebox doesn't seem so strange....

Students training for a mustard gas mishap in Pueblo.

There are some memories from elementary school that just seem to stick in your mind: The time Tanya broke her arm on the tire swing... the gym teacher singing "Wind Beneath My Wings" at the school talent show... all that hilarious farting.

But after watching the video after the jump, one can bet that elementary-school students in Pueblo will remember the time that weird lady from the goverment came to their classroom to talk about chemical weapons and made everybody try on gas masks. No, it wasn't for Cold War History Appreciation Month. Apparently, the U.S. Army is building a facility to destroy 2,600 tons of mustard agent stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot and officials want to prepare the population for any possible, er, misadventures.

But there's no reason why preparing for a horrific, skin-melting accident can't be fun, right kids?

I could talk about how Thriller was my first cassette and what it felt like listening to those foreboding synthesizers and Vincent Price monologue coming out of my dinky one-speaker tape player. Or I could talk about what it's been like watching my two-year-old son grooving to "Billie Jean" on his Fisher-Price ghetto blaster as of late. But since everyone's already written that treacly stuff about MJ today, I figured I'd focus on the King of Pop's real legacy: He's left behind a planet united not by love or understanding, but by bad moonwalk attempts.

Ever since Jackson first unveiled his signature move to an awestruck crowd on the 1983 special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, people have been attempting to slide their uncoordinated feed across linoleum floors the world over. We've compiled a bunch of attempts from around Denver that we found on YouTube, including the one above at DIA which is priceless for its brilliantly timed let-down. Taken together, the clips are slightly beautiful and slightly awkward -- which, come to think of it, is just like Michael Jackson himself.

Talking on a cellphone and driving: bad. Texting and driving: really bad. Making a video and driving: off the friggin' charts. This clip, posted on YouTube earlier today, purports to show bad traffic on I-25, and it does. But the stopping and starting, coupled with erratic zooms, repeatedly makes it seem as if the person behind the wheel is about to go straight of the tailpipe of the car ahead. As far as we can tell, no one was hurt in the making of this video. Or maybe the camera malfunctioned at the moment of impact.

We like things big in the West -- and that's true when it comes to art, too, as the just-posted YouTube video demonstrates. The montage spotlights the big Borofksy dancers at the DCPA, the big Blue Bear at the convention center, the big red chair with horse and the big broom and dustpan at the Denver Art Museum, plus such lesser-known artistic marvels as a big muffler man and a big bee. Does this mean we're insecure? Hell, no! We'll show you ours if you show us yours!

I got a call a few weeks ago from Jolt, local graffiti OG and head of the graffiti advocacy group Guerilla Garden.

"Hey, man," said Jolt, aka Jeremy Ulibarri. The background was noisy, like a freight train or an... indoor swimming pool? "We're doing that project I was telling you about today. You should come down and check it out."