It was the first Friday of the month, which meant that arts districts around Denver were gearing up to greet hordes of art lovers…and those who also love a good party. And since November 2 was also the start of Denver Arts Week, they were anticipating even bigger hordes than…
Governor John Hickenlooper gave this election a real sound bite when he warned that the passage of Amendment 64 doesn’t change the fact that “federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don’t break out the Cheetos or [Goldfish] too quickly.”…
At 7:35 a.m., a Colorado Republican Committee radio ad urging people to vote early by mail was airing on KHOW. Too late. I’d just returned from the polling place in my neighborhood — a neighborhood that has changed drastically in the twenty years I’ve been voting here…
The national newscasts this morning are full of speculation about which way Colorado will swing tomorrow. But whether the color wheel lands on red or blue, Colorado won’t look as black as it did the morning after the 1992 election, when this state was labeled “The Hate State.”…
The country is swamped by devastation from Hurricane Sandy and the storm of the 2012 election, but it’s still beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And who’s the Santa hauling the 2012 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree — — “America’s gift to the nation” — to Washington, D.C.? Former Senator…
This is the first National Bison Day, a project pushed by groups that would like to make bison the national mammal. For the past century, every day has been a bison day in Denver, since the city has had its own herd since 1914 — but if other bison boosters…
Dear Mexican: After a year in Spain, I speak more-than-decent Spanish, and I want to get a job in the non-profit field, where I can put it to use and pursue social justice and all that. Thing is, my Spanish is pretty peninsular. I maintained my seseo, thank God, but…
Just in time for Denver Arts Week, which kicks off on November 2, the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts is unveiling the results of its most recent study, which shows that metro Denver arts and culture generated $1.76 billion in total economic activity in 2011 — a year that…
Mayor Michael Hancock’s cabinet is finally complete. Late last week, he announced that he had hired a planning director to fill the slot that Peter Park left in mid-2011: Rocky Piro, a native of Denver who’s been working in Washington State. And one of the first things Piro should plan…
President Barack Obama took Friday off from the campaign trail — but he didn’t put all politicking on hold. He did a number of interviews, including a big one with MTV and satellite chats with a handful of local reporters from toss-up states, including 9News’ Kyle Clark, who definitely came…
The first Denver Startup Week got off to a roaring start, with Mayor Michael Hancock telling a packed luncheon that “we’re going to knock out Silicon Valley…. We’re going to become Silicon Mountain.” To help in that effort, he announced the launch of Denver Capital Matrix, a resource directory of…
Jesse Morreale has decided he can’t fight city hall on two fronts. And so after last call on Saturday, he’ll close Rockbar, the hipster hangout he opened six years ago. The other front? First Avenue Hotel at 101 Broadway, which could have a date with destiny next Thursday if the…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that every Mexican I know refuses to eat chocolate? My in-laws drink things I wouldn’t clean my carburetor in. They fill their piñatas with every kind of hard candy — but no chocolate! I bring out a bag of M&Ms and everyone backs away to…
The McNichols Building, which will be launched this morning as a cultural and event space, got its start as a Carnegie Library — the biggest one in Colorado. But it was far from the only one. Over two decades at the turn of the last century, the Carnegie Corporation of…
You didn’t need to listen to all the pundits dissect the presidential debate to know that Colorado is still a swing state. Just check traffic reports: Today, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will hold a rally at Red Rocks — accompanied by Kid Rock. (This might be the only way…
The news that George McGovern, now ninety, is in hospice care stirred memories — not just of his campaign for president, but of a night in Ovando, Montana. I was at Trixi’s Antler Saloon when I started seeing familiar faces passing by: a man who looked like Dick Lamm, a…
Dear Mexican: As a college-educated Mexican-American, I had my fair share of Chicanas in college…all of whom my jefita considered putas with books. But now that I’ve graduated, I’m going out with a gabacha for the first time. She’s nice — bilingual, tall, skinny, educated, and a liberal with liberal…
Doug Campbell knows just how important third-party candidacies can be (and how often they’re ignored). After all, it was Tom Tancredo’s run for governor in 2010 as the American Constitution Party candidate that elevated that group to major-party status here in Colorado, even though Tancredo has since returned to the…
Back in 2007, Denver residents voted for an alphabet soup of nine civic improvements. While almost all of those bond-backed Better Denver projects are done (with signs to prove it), much of the money from G and H, earmarked for maintenance and construction of cultural facilities, including an update of…
This is National Wildlife Refuge Week, and the feds are encouraging you to “see what wildlife refuges are doing to conserve America’s wildlife heritage.” But when I asked if I could see Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, the regional U.S. Fish & Wildlife office declined that request, and instead suggested…
If Mitt Romney comes back to Colorado before election day on November 6 — and he will, since this state is still in play — he has an invitation for a “family meal” with the Aguirres at Rosa Linda’s Mexican Cafe. But if he accepts this invitation, he can leave…
Every party has a pooper, and in the case of the 16th Street Mall’s thirtieth anniversary party, that would be the New York Times, which published an article on Tuesday’s celebration — both online and in print — that some boosters think made the event look a lot like Mayberry,…
