The Westword.com blog shortcut, September 22 edition

The Purple Fluid. Westword’s other blogs are pipin’ hot. Backbeat Online features an on-site report from Wax Trax’s 30th anniversary celebration, complete with a reunion of the Fluid and a set by the Purple Fluid, co-starring the sons of Fluid guitarist Rick Kulwicki. The next generation appears to be in…

Shmuck Redux: Christina Szele’s bumpy ride

Christina Szele’s most recent flights have been fueled by nose candy. This city’s most famous accidental tourist is coming back. On June 17, 35-year-old Christina Elizabeth Szele was on a JetBlue flight bound from San Francisco for New York when she lit up a cigarette, then yelled obscenities, including racial…

Denver Post‘s Ritter affair fishing expedition goes nowhere

Bill Ritter. Ten days ago, in a report headlined “Ritter Aide’s Victory Lap Cut Short,” Denver Post staffer Karen Crummy included quotes aplenty from Greg Kolomitz, a former advisor to Colorado governor Bill Ritter. Kolomitz and Ritter had a major falling out a while back, with Ritter’s camp alleging that…

Festival Italiano: eccellente

Chalk art’s come a long way since hopscotch. In just five short years, Festival Italiano, whose latest edition was staged Saturday and Sunday at Belmar, has become one of the city’s most enjoyable late-summer gatherings. Of course, I’m not the most objective observer, since these are my people: My original…

Over the Weekend: Tats, beats, and booze

What you missed while you were eulogizing baseball season … Thursday: As usual, the weekend started early for westword.com, with DJ John Digweed’s set at Beta. Cory Casciato reviews; Chad Fahnestock checks in with photos (including the one above)…

Is Mike Shanahan having an affair with Miss Clairol?

Mike Shanahan’s coiffure: nature vs. nurture. At a recent staff meeting, Westword’s esteemed editor suggested that Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan’s hair color had changed this season — and not in a wholly natural way. She felt he looked almost blond, as if he’d taken to tinting his locks. Staffers…

Thirteen more flukes to bail out the Broncos defense

Champ Bailey seems as shocked that the Broncos beat the Saints as the rest of us are. For the second consecutive week, the Denver Broncos’ defense proved incapable of stopping their opponents when it counted, and even when it didn’t. Yet the team won 34-32 over the New Orleans Saints…

Christmas in September? It’s about time…

Doesn’t this get you into the yuletide spirit? Visited a Highlands Ranch-area Hobby Lobby on Saturday and was stunned — and yet not stunned — to see the store’s entire lobby stuffed with Christmas trees. Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Then…

Westword Blog Shortcut, September 19 Edition

Everybody get your blog on/Everybody, everybody get your blog on Today on Backbeat Online, Cory Casciato reviews John Digweed’s set at Beta, and Dave Herrera unearths some old recordings from Rainbow Music Hall. Meanwhile, on a much prettier blog called Cat’s Pajamas, Aubrey Shoe previews an upcoming fashion show. And…

Hooray! Another celebrity to add to the Denver roster.

Chris Eigeman, Denver guy. As a certain Westword editor-in-chief likes to say, Denver has exactly ONE in-town celebrity. His name rhymes with “smellway.” But unless you spend Tuesday nights sucking down saketinis and $45 steaks in Cherry Creek, you are not likely to encounter the Mile High City’s famous son…

Julia Ormond comes to the Westin, talks about human trafficking

Julia Ormond. Most Hollywood stars could safely say they’re against modern slavery and might even pose for a protest picture about it. But you’d be hard-pressed to find one who could spell “trafficking.” Luckily, Julia Ormond is not your average movie star. As founder and president of the Alliance to…

Denver Blogs: Iverson, affirmative action might be on way out

News and awesomeness from around the Colorogosphere … Affirmative action cuts: On the heels of the news that Amendment 46 opponents have pulled their lawsuit against the initiative’s backers, the Vote No on 46 campaign has released a list of programs it believes will be cut with the measure’s passage…

Q&A with Martin Short

Martin Short. Martin Short, who headlines at the Paramount Theatre tomorrow, September 20 (click here for more information), is on the cover of the current Rolling Stone — an issue focusing on comedy. Granted, it’s the back cover. Nevertheless, his presence among fellow comics David Letterman, Tina Fey, Chris Rock,…

Flat-screen TVs in the immigration jail?

The Rocky Mountain Chronicle’s ICE center cover. The private, for-profit immigration detention center in Aurora has gotten some bad press lately. Last year, the Rocky Mountain Chronicle detailed complaints about overcrowding, poor medical care, and trouble making phone calls from the facility. Then, this summer, the jail’s planned expansion from…

Breaking: College professors might be kind of liberal

“So, class, is this Alaska bitch hot or what? Three pages double-spaced by Friday.” A not-very-subtle professor at Denver’s Metropolitan State is drawing the ire of conservative lawmakers and, in all likelihood, his stealthier liberal colleagues, by assigning his students to write essays critiquing potential VPILF Sarah Palin. The adjunct…

Undressed at the Republican National Shmuckvention

Mr. Schwartz is on the right. Some stories are too good to be true, and although we should sympathize with Colorado Republican delegate Gabriel Nathan Schwartz, who says he was robbed by a woman he took to his hotel room during the GOP convention, we hope this one holds up…

Broncos-Saints Preview: Things that may or may not slow down Reggie Bush

Reggie Bush prepares to take the snap from girlfriend Kim Kardashian. The 1-1 2-0 Broncos host the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Invesco, which means the Broncos’ defense, not an impressive bunch thus far, will have to slow down Saints running back Reggie Bush, whose less-than-mind-blowing stats don’t account…

Denver Tattoo Convention: Why you should go

Bodies Ink. The Denver Tattoo Convention is this weekend at the Sheraton Hotel downtown. So if you’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo since you were fourteen but haven’t pulled the trigger because you wanted to make sure you got something that’s meaningful, because, you know, you’re going to have…

Meeting Barack Obama in Grand Junction

The “me” in this shot is Arn McConnell. Barack Obama’s appearance this week at the Colorado School of Mines was preceded by a stop in Grand Junction — and as documented in the photo above, Arn McConnell, a good friend of mine, got the opportunity to meet and pose with…

Westword.com blog shortcut, September 18 edition

Pray to the Priest. Boss blog. Backbeat Online unearths a series of killer bootlegs from the long-gone Rainbow Music Hall, including performances by acts as disparate as Judas Priest and Graham Parker and the Rumour. You can’t be too strong. Additional features: A blog about DeVotchKa taking it on the…