Catholic Mailbag

This just in from Barb Wasko in Englewood, refering to my prattling on about Friday fish fries and the Pope in my recent review of the British Bulldog: Fish on Friday — boy, did that ever bring back some memories! Yes, I am a “recovering Catholic.” Grew up in Omaha,…

Think Spring with Ollie Sang

While we’re waiting for the images coming in from Fashion Week, showing us what to expect for fall, let’s think spring for a little while. Seriously, if we all think warm really, really hard, maybe it will quit snowing. I know it’s a stupid mind-over-matter trick that all parents use…

Remember Darrent Williams

Remember Darrent Williams this weekend. The Denver Broncos didn’t make the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl, but the Mile High cornerback with the frohawk who was shot to death on January 1 deserves some recognition from da Bears, the Colts, the NFL and all fans. The stage is set,…

Coming Home

Casey Holden was sixteen years old when he got locked up on juvenile drug and theft charges. A series of problems while serving his time, including two assaults and cutting off his ankle bracelet when he was almost done, has kept him behind bars most of the last decade. For…

More Messages: Sweepings

In the television business, February is sweeps — the month when ratings are watched most closely, because they do much to dictate advertising rates moving forward — and TV news operations tend to trot out their grabbiest material during this stretch. Some of these packages constitute strong stories in their…

Revved Up

The current controversy surrounding Reverend Acen Phillips isn’t the first time his financial dealings have made the news. Ten years ago, Westword reported on his penchant for fancy cars and fleecing members of his church’s flock; for the full story, go here. And Shelly Lowe, the deceased woman at the…

On the Rise

Even though Ben Kronberg lives in Denver, he’ll take a plane to Aspen for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival that starts February 28. He’s not lazy or spoiled, but the festival is providing him with a ticket, so why not cut out the three-hour car trip? He’s even got his…

The Bogeyman’s Back

Is revenge sweet, or sour? That’s what 20/20 wants to know, and tomorrow night the ABC show will devote two hours (starting at 8 p.m. on Channel 7 in Denver) to examining that “powerful human emotion.” Among the examples: Former Westword staff writer David Holthouse confronting the man who raped…

How Fashionable

IMAXTREE.COM Christian Dior presented one of The Cat’s Pajamas favorite collections from fashion week last fall, featuring the Spring 2007 looks. Visit New York Magazine for a full slideshow. Cat is so excited: Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek starts tomorrow in New York. When Cat lived in The City, it was so amazing…

Hot Burnin’

Reader reviews of the Rocky Mountain News’ redesign may be mixed — but whoa, what’s up with the new columnist photos? Who knew that pasty and pale writers could look so damn sexy?! You have to wonder what these wordsmiths were thinking as they stepped in front of the lens…

Snow Time

The nephew of Coors Brewing CEO Pete Coors has gained approval from Clear Creek County to reopen a long-dormant ski area near St. Mary’s Glacier under the name Eclipse. Last night 25-year-old Michael Coors got the 2-1 go-ahead from county commissioners, ending an application process that began more than a…

More Messages: Heads Up

The headline over the Denver Post’s February 1 story about the closure of Bruce’s Bar, a Severance, Colorado, landmark known for its signature Rocky Mountain oysters, reads: “UNFATHOMABULL.” A pun that’s been tortured within an inch of its life? Sure — but it’s also emblematic of a welcome change in…

One Wild Ride

The cheesy theme music blares from the speakers, all keyboards and horns, as the topic of the day’s program scrolls across the screen in bright neon: “I Can’t Lose, I Have Two Women, Why Choose? Ricki, I Want Them Both!” It’s the Ricki Lake Show, sometime in 1997. The camera…

Just the ‘Fax

Dave Walstrom is Mr. Colfax. Everybody along East Colfax Avenue knows his silver hair and deep, throaty voice. They know him because he comes into their businesses, serves as their advocate with various city agencies, organized last year’s Colfax Marathon and turns up at every event on the strip, like…

The Good Part

After Eric Harris shot him and left him for dead on the lawn of Columbine High School, all sixteen-year-old Mark Taylor could think about was seeing his family one more time before the life ebbed out of him. Fighting to stay conscious, he prayed, he babbled — and, with the…

Shrinkage

I never even wanted to be an editor,” insists the Rocky Mountain News’s John Temple. “I just wanted to be a reporter.” Today, however, he not only edits the Rocky, but also serves as its president, publisher and de facto promoter, ballyhooing every change at the tabloid with the sort…

Letters to the Editor

“Bronze Medal,” Adam Cayton-Holland, January 25 Man With a Tan It snot so funny — it’s hilarious. I laughed so hard reading Adam Cayton-Holland’s piece on tan-banning that now my stomach aches. Thanks a lot. Cayton-Holland is my favorite. Rachael Marcy Denver Holy fuck. What a verbose, unamusing introduction paragraph…

On the Marc

This week’s edition of Westword includes a profile of singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, who’s coming back to Colorado for the first time since he was shot in Denver as part of an attempted carjacking following an August 2005 concert. But the comments that made print are only a small sample of…

Beware the Mommies

In an interview that aired today on Colorado Matters , Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet discussed the controversial redesign of North High School. In a district that is suffering from “catastrophic institutional failure,” as Bennet put it, North has the worst graduation rate in DPS — out of 700…

Design After Dark

Getting Groovy in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Cat’s Pajamas had a great time last Friday night at Design After Dark, the benefit for the Denver Art Museum. The food was tasty, the booze was boozy and the music was dancy. All of the architects did an amazing job creating…

Blog Eat Blog

As noted in last week’s cover story the blogosphere is a mess, chock full of factually questionable information. Many erstwhile bloggers are making it their duty to clean up this mess, using their own sites to point out fictitious information they find on their colleagues’ blogs. But a tough question…

Getting Your Swerve On

As I write, the snow is falling again in the Denver area — and beyond depressing the hell out of me (when did the Mile High City swap climate cycles with Buffalo, New York?), this latest round of flurries is only deepening a personal dilemma that seems unlikely to be…