A lot of stand-up comics who never died on the stage seem to be passing away off it these days. First, Denver’s legendary Don Becker, who I wrote about in this June 19 feature, and then George Carlin, who was loved and revered the world over (read blogs about his…
On June 25, more than three years after Brenda Denton was killed in her Capitol Hill living room, the Denver district attorney charged John Lee Carson with first degree murder. According to the arrest affidavit, Carson, a friend of Denton’s, confessed to the murder from prison in March 2007. Then,…
Although former New Life Church leader Ted Haggard said that he had been guilty of “sexual immorality” in his 2006 farewell letter to his congregation, he insisted that any massages he received from frequent Westword subject Mike Jones lacked a happy ending. Now, however, at least one news organization is…
Rayo Casablanca is the author of the inventive new thriller 6 Sick Hipsters, his debut novel. And just in time for a Friday, June 27, appearance at the LoDo Tattered Cover (click here to learn more), he sat down with Westword for a conversation captured in the Q&A below. Spoiler…
Remember Newt Gingrich? Speaker of the House. Contract with America. Quadrennially rumored Republican Presidential candidate. No? Well, the extremely wealthy Hasan family does, and they hosted Gingrich last Friday, June 20, at their $10 million Beaver Creek mansion, where Gingrich gave a speech to a group of from the Eagle…
It’s rapidly becoming apparent that when Mayor John Hickenlooper said he wanted to “make this the greenest convention in the history of the planet,” he wasn’t talking about the kind of green that comes with pictures of dead presidents. While fundraising for the upcoming Democratic National Convention lags, the press…
The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News both reported about Houston Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon’s indefinite suspension after allegedly seizing general manager Ed Wade by the neck and hurling him to the ground like a resin bag, although with few details or mentions of his Colorado connections. In its…
Back in May when I blogged my screed “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love High Gas Prices”, the price per gallon was an outrageous $3.55. Oh, how we long for those good ol’ days! But even though the once unthinkable four bucks per gallon has sent the cost…
“Curtain Call,” Adam Cayton-Holland, June 19 The Last Laugh Thanks for the well-written article/sendoff and wild cover for Don Becker and for the community of which he was a treasure. That goes for the comic/poet/playwright communities, too. Don was unique, passionate and hilarious. One of my best memories of Don…
Mayor John Hickenlooper has insisted it will be business as usual in downtown Denver during the Democratic National Convention this August, when an estimated 50,000 people will be simmering in the hot sun and the even hotter media spotlight. “Please know that our intention is to minimize any impacts on…
During major international soccer tournaments, my friend Darren and I are in almost constant contact. We’re either watching games together or texting back and forth about the games. And since Euro 2008 has been in full swing since the beginning of this month, I’ve been getting lots of texts and…
For the most part, Channel 31 forecaster Chris Dunn has a sunny disposition. But even he clouds over at the thought of what he considers to be the biggest misconception about on-air weather prognosticators — “the idea that, ‘Oh, you guys are always wrong’ and ‘If I had a job…
In the endless muddle of battle between Mike Zinna and The Powers That Be in Jefferson County, moments of truth have been hard to find. But once in a while there’s a burst of light over the benighted trenches, like a flare from heaven, that offers a glimpse of the…
THE ZINNA BILL LITIGATION EXPENSES FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY RELATED TO DISPUTES WITH MIKE ZINNA JANUARY 2004-APRIL 2008 Outside Counsel Zinna v. Congrove $ 112,310.71 Zinna v. County $ 79,763.47 Open Records Requests $ 27,223.23 Stille v. Congrove $ 20,146.81 Zinna v. Beyer-Ulrich $ 18,205.95 Zinna v. Sheehan $ 17, 020.67…
The content keeps a-comin’ on The Latest ‘Word and the family of Westword.com blogs. At Backbeat Online, eyeball plenty of good stuff, including an update on Denver’s own Meese, news about 3Oh!3 and the Flobots getting hyped on the MySpace music page, and Q&As with Cee-Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley…
The first time I ever saw George Carlin’s act was on HBO: 1983’s Carlin at Carnegie, his third special for the channel — and one of eleven HBO is running tonight and tomorrow, June 25 and 26, in a fitting tribute to the late comedian and his work. Before its…
A June 20 More Messages blog needled the Rocky Mountain News for leaving the letter “y” off the word “say” in a headline affixed to one of the day’s biggest stories. Somehow, though, I missed an even funnier gaffe in the June 21 Rocky. In that issue, “pooh-pooh,” which means…
After the absolutely astonishing twists of fate that propelled the long-suffering Colorado Rockies into the 2007 World Series, I was filled with optimism that carried over into this season. But as the losses mounted and hints of the old ineptitude kept cropping up, I found myself musing about if and…
June 25’s Bike to Work Day became a bigger adventure than anticipated for me and, I’m sure, countless other riders who rely on the path through City of Cuernavaca Park to access Confluence Park, all thanks to the unexpected presence of a police crime scene. Not to mention a cadaver…
Here’s a sure sign that the Democratic National Convention is less than ten weeks away: local crazy John Madden has updated his sign! Westword first wrote about the relentless political sign-flier in 2005. Three months after the presidential election and five years since Bill Clinton had been president, the then-63-year-old…
With so many folks leaving the Rocky Mountain News of late, it’d be easy to assume that the paper is operating under a hiring moratorium. But no: The paper recently announced the hiring of two new staffers scheduled to start work next month. Here’s the memo with which Rocky managing…
This past winter in Colorado was wet and wild. According to info compiled by the National Climatic Data Center, Telluride and Aspen set season-to-date snowfall records at the end of February, and even traditionally parched zones in southwestern Colorado collected over 150 percent of normal snow water equivalent earlier in…
