War of the Words

Poetry is not all old-fashioned hearts and flowers. As delivered by members of the Slam Nuba Team, poetry is vital, thoroughly modern and not remotely well-behaved. See for yourself tonight, when National Poetry Month gets off to an invigorating start Friday at Slam Nuba Team Slam Off 2009, at Crossroads…

Be An Angel

Sandy Widener, Westword’s original managing editor, was a force of nature, a ball of unstoppable energy – never more so than when she took to rollerblading along the Cherry Creek bike path. Today’s second annual Parr-Widener Scholarship Walk-Run, a benefit for graduates of the East High School A+ Angels mentor…

Grandfather Knows Best

Jack A. Weil was the oldest still-working CEO in the country when he passed away last summer at the age of 107 – and the founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear hasn’t quit working yet. Cleaning up the store at 1626 Wazee Street last month, his granddaughter-in-law came across a manifesto…

An unhappy hour at McCormick’s

What? After twenty years of offering the most dependable happy hour in the city, with a terrific cheeseburger among the other $1.95 specials, McCormick’s has changed its hours? Just walked into the bar at the corner of the Oxford Hotel and found out that corporate had dictated a cutback several…

Common Grounds to move to SugarBeat space

Common Grounds will soon leave its longtime LoDo home at 17th and Wazee streets and move over to the SugarBeat space — across the street at 444 17th Street, in the Millennium Building. But  the coffeehouse/winebar lost its liquor license when its lease ran out (there’s a story there), so…

Wine, before its time

The eighteenth annual Colorado Mountain Winefest doesn’t start until September 17, but the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology just uncorked the winner of its WineFest art contest. “Labor of Love,” by Grand Junction artist Mary Ellen Andrews, will be featured on all promotional materials for the four-day Winefest, and…

Join the lunch bunch at Super Star Asian

Most people go to Super Star Asian for the dim sum. But we’ll let you in on a secret: This modest storefront in what remains of Alameda Square, at 2200 West Alameda Avenue, has an amazing lunch deal: Just $5.95 buys you hot tea, a big bowl of hot-and-sour soup,…

Wake-Up Call: Best place to think about the Best of Denver

Yesterday morning, before heading to the office to finish up the Best of Denver 2009, our 25th anniversary celebration of this city, our annual orgy of niceness, I stopped for a moment at my favorite spot in Denver. Denver got its start at the confluence of the South Platte River…

Rise to the occasion at Kitchen Table Cooking School

Baking isn’t easy a mile above sea level, but you should be able to rise to the occasion after taking “Baking Fundamentals,” a six-week series whose first session runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. tonight at the Kitchen Table Cooking School in the Landmark project in Greenwood Village. Tuition is…

Wake-Up Call: Columbine, redux

There have been other school shootings in the ten years since Columbine, horror scenes with even bigger body counts. But for some reason, Columbine is the crime that resonates; “Columbine” is the word that keeps getting repeated in the tales of similar plots — some carried out, some foiled. It…

Get a taste of Denver history tonight

At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, El Camino, 3628 West 32nd Avenue (that’s the address of the former swimclub 32), will host a happy hour to celebrate buckfifty.org, the great web site that celebrates Denver, with $1.50 specials. For more info on the venue, go to www.elcaminotavern.com. Marczyk Fine…

Wake-Up Call: Business, not as usual

Barack Obama spilled way past 60 Minutes talking about the economy last night, and there’s still plenty of talk to come. Trump University is in session, offering four days of classes on how you can “make a fortune” in real estate; today’s are at 1 and 6 p.m. at the…

Appleman’s cooking in Boulder tonight

Nate Appleman, author of the A16: Food + Wine cookbook and chef at San Francisco’s A16 and SPQR restaurants, will be cooking tonight and tomorrow night at Frasca, 1738 Pearl Street in Boulder; Frasca co-owner and wine director Bobby Stuckey will pair the wines. Tickets are $140, and hard to…

Tosh’s makes a comeback in Marina Square

After months of delays, Tosh’s Cantina has finally opened in Marina Square, at 8101 East Belleview Avenue. I called the restaurant this morning, and reached Ruben Macintosh — the family patriarch who presided over the original (and much loved) restaurant at 3090 Downing Street for decades, before the family business…

Wake-Up Call: Columbine rises again

You don’t need a calendar to know that it’s just one month until the tenth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine. You can tell by the flood of programs, movies and books pouring out. The day-long “Colorado Rising: A Columbine Update,” sponsored by School Safety Partners, kicks off at 9…

Say so long to the Blue Spruce Market

For three years, the Blue Spruce Market at 1552 Bergen Parkway has been a regular stop for Evergreen residents and other fans of folksy service and fresh produce, meat and fish. But the market owned by Carol and Seth Miller will shut its doors for good at the end of…

Think spring, slurp an oyster

Jax Fish House at 1539 17th Street is celebrating oyster week through Sunday, March 22, when it will hold its annual oyster-eating contest at 2 p.m. Until then, chef Sheila Lucero is offering a $35, prix-fixe oyster meal; eleven oysters for $11; and other food and drink specials. And for…

Wake-Up Call: The dudes of Haggard

“This is part of Ted’s journey,” Gayle Haggard told a reporter. “It’s made him a better man. I see what has happened as a divine rescue.” Of the Haggards’ bank account, if nothing else. Three years ago Ted Haggard, then pastor of the New Life Church and head of the…

Wine and cheese…and green chile?

Danielle Cyrot, chief winemaker for St. Clement Winery in the Napa Valley, will host a wine-tasting at Strings, 1700 Humboldt Street tonight at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30, and a portion benefits the Women’s Bean Project; for reservations, go to www.stringsrestaurant.com. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. on March 19, the…

Zaidy’s fuses a deli with a hipster hot spot

As we noted last week, the downtown Zaidy’s will be transforming at night — from Zaidy’s Deli into Zaidy’s Fusion Grill, taking advantage of its perch at the edge of Larimer Square and the start of LoDo. Here’s the restaurant’s announcement: Zaidy’s Fusion Grill is opening Saturday, March 21st downtown…

Wake-Up Call: The frat pack

Even as Jason Wren’s family was mourning the Littleton freshman’s tragic death at a Kansas frat house, Leslie Lanahan, the mother of Lynn “Gordie” Bailey, a pledge who was found literally dead-drunk in the the Chi Psi fraternity house in Boulder in 2004, agreed to settle her lawsuit against the…

Eat my dust: free burgers at Trail Dust Steak House

Trail Dust Steak House was once known for cutting off the ties of overdressed diners. But today, it will have another claim to fame: free burgers. The Denver area’s sole surviving Trail Dust, at 7101 South Clinton Street in Englewood, is offering free burgers (with fries) from 11 a.m. to…