The editors of birdy like to joke that their magazine is banned in Thornton. And it’s true that the collectible arts and literary publication is no longer allowed inside the lobby of a particular art company there. birdy had donated a free advertisement to the Thornton-based business, but the owners were offended…
Cannabis and music have always gone hand in hand, but even since Colorado legalized recreational pot use in 2012 with Amendment 64, it is still illegal to consume cannabis in public and in private businesses that are accessed by the public – including concert venues. This November, voters in Denver…
As people began shouting at Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks at an October 4 meeting at Brother Jeff’s Cultural Center, Jeff S. Fard – better known as Brother Jeff — grabbed the microphone. “I hope that everybody’s hearing what’s taking place,” the moderator said sternly. “Trust me, I don’t know if…
The first hearing in a class action lawsuit filed against the City of Denver that challenges the city’s treatment of the homeless during routine sweeps is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, October 12, at the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse at 901 19th Street. Today, the judge presiding over the case…
Earlier this year, Mayor Michael Hancock announced “Denveright,” a campaign designed to solicit community feedback as Denver revises four master planning documents, including Blueprint Denver, that address growth and development of the city over the next twenty years. On October 4 and 5, the city is hosting a number of…
On September 19, Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks deleted a number of tweets made from his Twitter handle @AlbusBrooksD9. It’s not a coincidence that the deletions occurred around the same time that the following post showed up on Project VOYCE’s Facebook page: Through Project VOYCE’s Candi CdeBaca, who co-founded the…
Without some context, the scribbles in my reporter’s notebook would read like they were made by someone on an acid trip: “Floating, tetrahedral animals…fuck yeah!” “Band appears like a hologram, immersed in surrounding light.” “Jónsi has such a unique voice…Now there’s a spaceship beaming light down on him, like he’s…
It’s not always the case that something positive comes out of tragedy. But Alex Landau, a local African-American activist who was the victim of a brutal beating by Denver Police officers in 2009 after being pulled over for a traffic violation, won an Emmy award this week for an animated…
“Pipe Town” was not easy to get to. If you didn’t already know how to get there, chances are you’d never be aware of the homeless encampment, which was located about a half mile from the National Western Complex behind some train tracks on the south side of the Platte…
Early on the morning of July 13, police officers arrived en masse at Confluence Park, as expected — only there were a lot more of them than seemed necessary. This was the moment that members of the advocacy group Denver Homeless Out Loud were waiting for; they wanted to document…
On Thursday, the local news outlet Denverite noticed that the building that houses the record store Twist & Shout has been listed for sale for $4 million dollars. The listing, represented by Pinnacle Real Estate Advisors, includes the 13,303-square-foot building occupied by Twist & Shout, Chipotle and New World Cheese…
The latest data obtained by Westword from the Denver Police Department shows that enforcement of Denver’s unauthorized camping ordinance – better known as the “urban camping ban” — remains at elevated levels since regular sweeps of the homeless began in March. Here is the updated chart: The urban camping ban…
When Lillian Ballard moved into a transitional-housing facility for women leaving the sex industry and survivors of sex trafficking, nobody, herself included, thought that she would last there. During her first three days at Street’s Hope in Denver, Ballard suffered from severe panic attacks, spending the majority of her time…
“Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” With each repetition of the line, Gregory Alan Isakov’s singing became softer and softer, until finally the words were but a whisper, the last syllables fading without a trace into the windy…
Last week, we reported that a local lawyer was preparing a class action lawsuit against the city of Denver for violating the constitutional rights of the city’s homeless population when conducting sweeps of homeless people, their encampments and their property. Today, the law office of Jason Flores-Williams made good on…
Exactly 365 days after Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats released their self-titled debut album, the band stands before a sold-out crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheater. They’ve just finished playing the final chords of their hit, “S.O.B,” and the resulting fever-pitch of adoration and roars of approval cascading down the…
“Gentrification is such a big, scary word,” said Katherine Agular to a crowded gymnasium at Manual High School. “It angers me to see my friends and neighbors pack up and leave. But they have no choice, they can no longer afford to live in our neighborhood,” she continued. “It angers…
This story ends with me being offered $300,000. But here’s what came first: Back in April, when the New Yorker published “The Voyeur’s Motel,” Gay Talese’s article detailing how Gerald Foos had spied on guests having sex in his East Colfax Avenue motel for decades through special ventilation screens he’d…
Ever since the March 8 and 9 sweeps of homeless encampments near the Denver Rescue Mission, the city has engaged in a sustained crackdown on uprooted and displaced individuals throughout the city. These actions have been documented by “camping ban” statistics kept by the Denver Police Department, as well as…
It’s not always apparent which music artists will stand the test of time, but Digable Planets has proven to be one of the most fondly remembered and still-listened-to groups of the East Coast hip-hop scene of the early 1990s. With jazz-influenced samples set behind politically charged and sometimes quirky lyrics,…
After Denver Police detectives left the interrogation room, the suspect they were questioning about a murder began to mumble to himself. At least, that’s what a video recording of the interrogation suggested. The problem was that detectives could not hear exactly what the man was saying under his breath; the…
When you live in Los Angeles, you don’t really think about music scenes anywhere else. Why would you? L.A. has it all. Sure, you might occasionally give a passing nod to cool shit going on in other places. Kudos to Seattle for that grunge run way back when. And, yeah,…
