Last week, my wife and I decided it was time for a last-minute weekend getaway, and we decided on Manitou Springs. We’d never been there, and its cave-and-castle kitschiness sounded like Niagara Falls mixed with oddball Colorado charm. As it would turn out, the town’s lodgings would be happy to…
On the afternoon of December 21, 2007, twelve jurors filed into a Boulder courtroom, ready to issue their verdict for the city’s most sensational trial in years. Over the previous two weeks, these jurors and everyone else in the packed courtroom had heard all about the very short life of…
A recent investment report coming out of Colorado has been turning heads and making headlines. Medical marijuana sales in states where it’s legal has reached $1.7 billion, just under the $1.9 billion generated annually by Viagra sales. That’s some serious green, but it begs a major question: Who, specifically, is…
That gutter-cleaning job you’ve been putting off? Forget about it. That iPad you’ve been cautiously eying? Time to splurge, my friend. Why? Because we only have a mere seven weeks, just 47 more days, until Judgment Day. Swear to God. After all, a downtown billboard proclaims — wait, guarantees it…
Telling Stories, a group of musicians and writers combining classical pieces with David Sedaris-style essays, is one of the hippest home-grown cultural endeavors around. No wonder founder Jennie Dorris scored a 2010 Westword MasterMind award for her efforts. And while for years Telling Stories serenaded live audiences with intimate events…
The Denver-bred Quiznos chain is an odd duck. While its toasted sandwiches are now sold coast to coast, it’s courted controversy because of its franchise practices. And its commercials, while memorable, are pretty damn strange, whether it’s singing mutant hamsters, sexualized talking ovens or its possibly NSFW “2 Girls, 1…
Ray Young Chu was true Denver original we were sorry to see go. After shaking up the local art scene with his colorful canvas-based fusion of anime and photorealism and his experimental “art band” The Yummies — which involved Chu and his colleagues rapping and doing graffiti in bear and…
Ever wonder what our fair city sounds like? Not the noises-on-the-street sound, but the unofficial theme song, if you will, that perfectly encapsulates what makes Denver Denver? Now you can find out, courtesy of “You Are Listening to Denver,” a web venture that has captured the aural essence of our…
In the ongoing bureaucratic battle over medical marijuana, Castle Rock has already witnessed its fair share of skirmishes. Amber Ostrom, owner of the city’s one and only dispensary, Plants 4 Life, had to jump through numerous legal hoops before she was allowed to keep operating. And now, on April 5,…
While James Mejia may not be considered the front-runner in the Denver mayoral race, he’s willing to push the publicity envelope to earn some attention — and possibly a few more votes. Take his decision to sit down for a video interview with stand-up comic and former Westword writer Adam…
If the Interwebs are to be believed, Josh Allen may just be the funniest wordsmith Denver has to offer. His 40,000-follower Twitter feed @fireland has been named among the best by the likes of the New York Times, the Washington Post, Gawker and Boing Boing, thanks to his 140-word gems…
As recounted in the April story “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Tell,” Alan Sudduth has spent more than half his 31 years behind bars for the 1995 killing of Denver cab driver Finley Bradshaw Myers, even though somebody else — a friend named Nicholas Reed — has confessed to the murder…
Last year, one of the many new enterprises to spring up from the medical marijuana deluge were pot classes. So-called institutes, colleges and universities opened their doors to help newbies understand complicated marijuana regulations, open their own MMJ businesses and learn how to properly grow medicinal crops. A year later,…
The November feature story “Mean Streets” detailed how frustrated taxi drivers, faced with alleged discrimination and abuse, have spent years asking the state’s Public Utilities Commission to let them launch a company of their own, Mile High Cab. In January, the PUC rejected Mile High’s last-ditch appeal — so now…
There’s a new coffee shop in town, and it’s unlike any that’s come before. For one thing, it has no walls, no roof, no doors, no windows — just a couple of wheels, a handlebar and two pedals. Introducing the Perk Cycle, Wash Perk Coffee Shop’s free-wheeling new venture, one…
Mighty Fudge, the naughty Boulder animation studio that’s lately been taking on the likes of Jay Leno and YouTube, is now pimping its newest animated atrocity. Titled “Under the Bed” and starring big-league vocal talent Maggie Roswell (the voice of now-deceased Maude Flanders and other characters on the Simpsons) and…
Hey, do you know Ernie? No? Well, you should, since the guy wants to draw your face off. Seriously: Ernie, apparently a local guy, has a brand new operation titled — you guessed it — “Draw Your Face Off.” The premise? Give Ernie a picture of your face, as well…
The claims are sure to turn some heads, as well as ruffle some feathers: The Denver-based Aminokit Laboratories is said to offer Colorado’s first medical marijuana detox program. But how does one detox off medical marijuana — and why, exactly, would you want to?…
Congratulations, Denver: You have officially been swallowed up whole by the Matrix. Men’s Health recently came out with its list of the country’s most socially networked cities, and Denver, of all places, came in third. Do we get a prize for this? Like a new FarmVille animal or something?…
After an exciting year-long run-up, Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Board of Trustees has announced its choice for the school’s new moniker. And the winner is…Denver State University! The crowd goes…meh. What’s that? Think we should stop bellyaching unless we have better suggestions? Actually, we do. We have suggestions that…
In the crowded Denver mayoral race, one candidate has pulled ahead with the pro-cannabis constituency: Doug Linkhart. The Denver city councilman has gone on record as favoring the legalization of marijuana, and has fought attempts to increase zoning restrictions on patient grows. Now he’s scored one of the first-ever endorsements…
Plot twists continue in Operation Fortune Cookie, Colorado’s largest weed bust that imploded among suspicions of snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Two weeks ago, two Fortune Cookie investigators currently suing their superiors filed a motion claiming that Thornton Commander Dante Carbone was the prime suspect in an…
