Denver has long seemed like the Sally Field of cities, eager for any national recognition. And this past weekend, Denver got plenty, for everything from its beer to its beer-drinking governor....especially its beer-drinking governor.
In a piece titled "Puppies, Paintings and Philosophers," the New York Times fell all over the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver and its very creative director, Adam Lerner (billed as "Director and Chief Animator, Department of Fabrications" on MCA business cards). The story focused on Mixed Taste, the tag-team lectures that Lerner introduced at the Lab at Belmar and brought with him to the MCA when he moved there in 2009.
"He's really transforming what the role of the museum is," Governor John Hickenlooper told the Times. "It's almost like they are partners in this kind of transformational experience, like what the artist hopes to create for the viewer." Hickenlooper -- then the mayor of Denver -- was the musical expert for the MCA's first pairing, "Show Tunes and Aquatic Plants."
The next day, the Times poured out more love in "Craft Beer Finds a Welcoming Atmosphere," which described how towns across the country "have cast themselves as havens for brewery lovers.... But perhaps no place is this trend more evident than in Denver, where quirky state laws, a storied brewing culture and a patchwork of well-carved neighborhoods have created ideal conditions for start-up breweries."
This city currently has eighteen breweries, with fifteen more on tap, the paper noted. And the state's craft-beer industry "has a powerful ally in Gov. John W. Hickenlooper, an old brewer himself, who helped found Denver's Wynkoop Brewing Company in 1988."
Finishing out the Hickenlooper trifecta was a brief item on yesterday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos . Although ABC had picked up Hick accidentally labeling "Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia a sex-star" two days earlier, that blunder wasn't enough to keep him off the network's list of potential vice-presidential candidates that also included Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, Andrew Cuomo. But then, it also mentioned Rahm Emanuel...and as Stephanopoulos pointed out, there's always Hillary Clinton...and we still have current veep Joe Biden to kick around.
Still, they like us, they really like us...or at least they like Hickenlooper. And beer. Learn more about Hick's history with hops in the Kenny Be feature "Dome brew: An intoxicating look at Governor John Hickenlooper's heady political career."