Sunset State

Florida is where New Yorkers go to die. Unsurprising, then, that Rudy Giuliani’s campaign, which had started in the grandeur of double-digit leads in national polls, would crawl from bungalow to bungalow on the I-4 corridor before unceremoniously collapsing in tatty defeat at his headquarters in Orlando. Reeling from a…

Denver Post Editor Gives Some Staffers Go-Ahead to Caucus, Bars Others

In the recent past, relatively few journalists had a burning desire to participate in Colorado’s caucuses during presidential election years — or even to cover them. After all, these sessions generally happened long after presumptive nominees had been determined in both major parties, making the time-consuming process rather redundant. But…

Jack Kerouac Wrote Here, Crisscrossing America Chasing Cool

Day One Day Two Day Three January 15, 2008 by David Amram The American West | Since I was brought up on a farm in Feasterville, Pennsylvania during the 1930s, most of my first impressions of the American West were informed by Saturday matinees at the movies. But my Uncle…

Fate of the Union

Forgive the President for appearing exceedingly relaxed during his last State of the Union. Sporting the air of resignation that a student council president uses when reminding revelers to drive home safely from the prom — long after the cool kids have moved on to hotel rooms and tomorrow’s conquests…

Delegating Denver #28 of 56: Mississippi

View larger image Mississippi Total Number of Delegates: 40 Pledged: 33 Unpledged: 7 How to Recognize a Mississippi Delegate: Due to a prolonged history of ill-timed natural disasters and social injustice, Mississippi today is the poorest state in the nation. Fortunately, that poverty has created a form of super-human state…

Barfly Taxonomy: The Feathered Air Sucker

View larger specimen 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…

Moment of Schadenfreude

Switching suddenly from PBS’ Antiques Roadshow to Fox’s new reality-based game show Moment of Truth? Host Mark Walberg must need a neck brace from the whiplash. Or at least a hot shower, you know, to scrub vainly away at the shame…

Weitzman Makes a Move

A quick update on ex-Café Star chef Rebecca Weitzman’s New York adventure. When I checked out her work at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain in Manhattan, I loved the food and hated just about everything else. Now I just got word that Weitzman has put in her notice and is once…

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino’s Job Gets a Lot Easier

When Westword profiled former Coloradoan turned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino last September, she admitted that “there weren’t a lot of people lining up” to take the position. But now, her gig looks like one of the easiest in Washington. Americans of every political stripe are currently paying little…

In Defense of Bitch Slapping

ProgressNow has successfully embarrassed KOA talk-show hosts for unwise statements in the past. Remember that in May 2007, the left-leaning organization made headlines for whipping up an advertiser boycott aimed at rabble-rouser Bob Newman, who’d declared, “I want every Muslim immigrant to America who holds a green card, a visa,…

Death Becomes Us

What would happen to the planet if the human race were to suddenly vanish? The short answer is this: all the animals high-five, and then commence eating one another. Pretty much everything falls down. And then the plants grow over everything. That’s it. Good night! Pleasant dreams. A longer answer…

Best of Denver Winners from 1999

In 1999, Westword published its sixteenth Best of Denver issue, a celebration of the city that saluted everything from the Best New Public Art (Donald Lipski’s still-beloved “Yearling”) to Best Brunch Served by Drag Queens (Bump and Grind) to Best Hair on a TV Personality (Adele Arakawa, as serious as…

Anti-Abortion Group Raises Stakes in Construction Boycott

A Denver-based anti-abortion group has issued a deadline of January 31 to the local office of contractor Weitz Co. to halt construction on a Planned Parenthood facility in East Denver. More than a symbolic gesture to mark the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Will Duffy, lead organizer…

Emo Kids Watch Your Back

Longtime Denver scenesters may know Zachary Helm best as the head mortician for the Denver Hearse Association, a club devoted to lovers of the casket-carrying cars. Or as an erstwhile urban explorer of the abandoned Gates factory. Maybe you’ve even spotted his black hearse driving around town – you know,…

Shmuck of the Week: William Farr

He may have meant no malice by it, and he quickly apologized for it, but when Greeley businessman William Farr said at last week’s Citizen of the West banquet, “They’re going to have to change the name of [the White House] if Obama’s elected,” he shot almost immediately to the…

KUVO’s New Expansion Plan

In the January 10 Message column, Gene Craven (pictured), the new president and general manager of KUVO/89-3 FM, Denver’s jazz-centric public-radio station, talked about his desire to expand the outlet’s reach. A couple of weeks later, he’s already moving forward with this plan. On January 23, the station formally announced…

Letters to the Editor

“Mucha Lucha,” Adam Cayton-Holland, January 10 Mask Confusion Thanks so much for the great article on lucha libre. I am a huge fan, and was unaware that any local scene existed at all. It would have been nice to get a little more information on the sport itself, like the…

Anarchists Stalk Democratic Convention

If not for all the pink hair and inventive body modifications, the two dozen people wandering around the Golden Triangle on a sunny Saturday could be mistaken for delegates surveying the city in advance of the Democratic National Convention. “Gather ’round, everyone. Welcome to Denver. My name is Rockslide. I…

No Chubbies? Fat Chance

During his January 14 program, Fox Business personality Neil Cavuto tried to bait Michael Karolchyk, the willfully offensive owner of Denver’s Anti-Gym, into directing one of his trademark tirades against overweight people at the jolliest soul he could imagine: Santa Claus. And Karolchyk was more than happy to oblige. “Santa…