A Real Kick

When I wrote about Glendale going from titty city to rugby town last year, plans for the 5,000-seat rugby stadium and adjacent rec center were still in the design phase. After adopting rugby as the city’s official sport, Glendale was going to spend $20 million to build the first municipally-owned…

So Hsu Me!

Some boosters think Colorado needs celebrities in the worst way. And that’s how this state gets them. Earlier this summer, Andrew Speaker was kept under wraps — literally — at National Jewish, after his global run from a tuberculosis diagnosis. And yesterday, fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu wound up in a…

Judge Kuenhold’s Harmless Errors

The Colorado Judicial Branch has named its Outstanding Judicial Officer of the Year: District Judge O. John Kuenhold of Alamosa. Lots of people think highly of Kuenhold, who’s been on the bench since 1981 and chief judge of his district since 2004. He’s worked long and hard on issues ranging…

Art in the City Afterhours Party

The First Friday gallery extravaganza is tonight, and if you have a tendency to arrive on Santa Fe a little late to get your fill of cutting-edge art and culture, as I do, this time you have an excuse to get started late. Art in the City will hold a…

Something’s Less Rotten in the State of Television

You used to be able to count on TV serving all your lowest-common-denominator needs. Up for some good transgender slap-fighting? Jerry Springer has you covered. Hankering for some good cornpone jokes and T&A? Hee-Haw was on for more than twenty years. Want to see someone forced to eat something disgusting?…

Yappers’ Delight: Centennial Man Suffers From “Popcorn Lung”

You’d think that a person who ate two — sometimes three — bags of buttered popcorn a day would suffer from clogged arteries. But Centennial sofa salesman Wayne Watson became ill with “popcorn lung,” a rare disease that typically affects people working in popcorn factories. Watson lost half his lung…

Cartoons Improved on the Web

Since the publication of the September 6 More Messages column, in which I read all of the comics in the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post for two weeks to discover what I have (and haven’t) been missing, I’ve received plenty of e-mails, pro and con, from fans of…

Popcorn Lung, September 6

Here’s a brief look at some of the items America is desperate to learn about today: iPhone rebate In conjunction with the just-announced $200 price drop on the iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a $100 rebate for people that picked one up in the short time it was available…

Tomb of the Frontier King?

This faux-log-cabin tomb is found in Denver’s Riverside Cemetery. It makes you wonder what Davy Crockett’s grave looks like – hopefully he’s as well taken care of as Mr. Drake here. This picture was taken by Eric Purkalitis in October of 2005. He has a bunch more of the same…

Airborne Resentment

The new fly-in community just east of Parker has drawn plenty of ire from neighbors worried about planes crashing into their homes — see last week’s “Up in the Air.” While much of the anger has been focused on the developer, Pete Vinton, the neighbors also petitioned county leaders to…

Asante Day

As my friend who told me about the event noted, were it not for the neatly manicured grass in Del Mar Park this past Saturday, you wouldn’t have been able to tell you weren’t in Ghana. Because, while everyone else in the city was busy greeting September with college football,…

In for Life: Day Twelve of the Michael Tate Trial

On the twelfth day of Michael Tate’s murder trial, the final day of testimony, he told the judge that he would not be taking the stand in his not guilty by reason of insanity defense. “No ma’am” he said to the judge in a flat, monotone voice that sounded surprisingly…

Ports-to-Plains: Keep on Truckin’

“Mexican Trucks Stampede to U.S.!” Web sites and radio shows are full of talk today about the Mexican truckers who will soon — perhaps even today — cross the border into Texas in a Bush-sanctioned trade deal. This talk describes the Mexican truck deal as the camel’s nose under the…

Wholly Unholy

Nick Sugar, who’s directing The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged), concedes that “there are liberties taken” in this comic adaptation of the ultimate bestseller, which opens tonight. And that’s an understatement of biblical proportions. Appropriately, the extravaganza begins with Earth’s creation and concludes with a number called “Armageddon:…

Cyber Brides

One man, one woman (or choose the gender match of your choice), a ring and a kiss: It all seems so simple, and yet it isn’t. These days, when you commit to marriage, you commit to weeks of intensive planning for a blowout that ostensibly happens only once in your…

Cowboy 101

The only thing I’ve ever done that was remotely cowboy-like was ride a horse one terrifying afternoon in college. His name was Tank, and he tried tossing me into a body cast. Of course, I showed that big bastard a thing or two (mostly about what real fear sounds like)…

Rued Revenge

A young boy stripped of his birthright by a cruel and avaricious uncle sets out to gain the magical powers that will allow him to reap vengeance. Armed with black magic, he returns and kills his uncle and his uncle’s family. In a typical Hollywood film, the movie would end…

Three is a Magic Number

“After years of people in Denver saying, ‘God, we wish we could hear you guys,’ and people going to absurd lengths to wrap wires around their houses to pick up our signal, or driving their car and parking on a certain spot on a hill to hear a program, we…

Tummy Time

When I was ten, I thought I’d make a career out of belly dancing. I was the hula-hoop queen of my neighborhood, after all, and the professional stomach roll appeared just one step away. But after talking with Maria, the belly-dancer extraordinaire who organized tonight’s Delilah Evening Showcase, I learned…

Midweek Report

The best thing about First Friday is the sheer variety of it all. So if you fell off the art bus on Friday last, you’ve already missed a fabulous mixed bag of hard and soft openings and more, featuring art both high and low. Among them are: The Buddy System,…

Hop Stuff

Sixteen years ago, Ute Meadows Elementary School teacher E.J. Boillot began coaching the Jumping Eagles, a jump-rope team named after the mascot at Ute Meadows, in southwestern Jefferson County. Since then, jumping rope has gone from being a casual recreational activity to a highly competitive sport, and the Eagles, who…

349 Movies To Go

Sundance signals, for better or worse, the state of American independent filmmaking. Cannes keeps faith, for those who still believe, with the cinema d’auteur. And Toronto? The largest and most important film festival in North America seems to do nearly as many things as there are movies to see —…