The Death of a Forgotten Candidate

When I first interviewed John Heckman back in 1984, he struck me as a bit elderly, at age 76, to be running for Congress in a race he didn’t have a lotto player’s chance of winning. Twenty-three years later, he was still running — for mayor, senator, governor, you name…

One More Time for Ruby Hill

As anticipated, the Denver City Council chose to once again postpone a vote on an ordinance that would allow Xcel Energy to erect new 111-foot transmission towers in Ruby Hill Park. The decision last night gives neighborhood group leaders until September 10 to come up with a way to pay…

Hard Rock Cafe A Total Misnomer

I don’t think that Kelly Clarkson can be considered hard rock. Neither can Sugar Ray vintage 1998 when Mark McGrath got down on his knees to deepthroat VH1. But that’s just my opinion. Obviously it should be left up to the experts, and when the Hard Rock Café decides to…

A Foss Loss

As a longtime fan of Foss General Store, a landmark in Golden since 1913, I was heartsick to discover that it’s slated to close soon — another victim of that bane to small-town businesses everywhere, the Big Box Store. But upon dropping by on Saturday, July 28, smack in the…

Kangaroo Road Kill — Sleepy Mad Max

7.30.07 Rockhampton, Australia Tropic of Capricorn PBC, I split the first two weeks in this country between Sydney and Melbourne, trying to erase the image of Foo the Saigon security guard and his red Thermos from my mind while also trying to locate the fabled Australian “spirit.” This spirit was…

Delegating Denver #2 of 56: Alaska

Alaska Click here to see a larger image. Total Number of Delegates: 18 Pledged: 13 Unpledged: 5 How to Recognize an Alaska Delegate: Outdoorsy Alaskans are as easy to spot as a pair of paint-splattered tan Timberland boots! Their distinctive look is typically centered around disheveled denim — whether it…

Lobster Sex Champagne, July 30

The entire breadth of digitized human knowledge at their fingertips and this is what America is searching today: Tom Snyder Long live Snyder, the host of the The Late Late Show, who died at the age of 71 yesterday. TMZ reports his catchphrase on the show Tomorrow, was “Fire up…

Back Home Bob

Bob Beauprez tells the Rocky that he decided to get back to his roots following his bid for governor by returning to the old family dairy farm. Only problem was that he had long ago developed the 700 acres into a suburban expansion of 1,300 homes called Indian Peaks. Can…

9News Hypes Javon Walker Non-Story

The idea of a tease in TV news is to offer just enough of a report to convince viewers they should stick around through a commercial break and watch the full piece. But such snippets aren’t supposed to be misleading — and the one sports anchor Rod Mackey employed during…

Labor Saver

No one would name El Paso County as a font of immigration reform. The Southern Colorado locality, where I-25 morphs into the Ronald Reagan highway, doesn’t exactly shine when it comes to welcoming our Mexican neighbors. At least two state delegates from the area belong to the border vigilante Minuteman…

The Simpsons Movie: Don’t Worry, It Doesn’t Suck!

If you’re ready to head off to the box office tonight to check out The Simpsons Movie, you won’t regret the decision. The movie, it does not suck. Check out the whole review here. Or, if you want to see what Marge and Homer look like when they’re imagined in…

Review: I Know Who Killed Me

Yep, Lindsay Lohan was able to finish a movie in between stints in jail and rehab. I Know Who Killed Me opens tonight at theaters everywhere. And while the powers that be didn’t offer a screening in time to make the paper version of Westword, we have one for you…

A Ruby Hill Agreement?

An agreement was reached in the Ruby Hill tower controversy Wednesday evening – an agreement to keep on talking. It’s not exactly the stunning pact one would expect from two closed-door meetings but, hey, it’s a beginning. Beginning of what, nobody is saying. Since all players are bound by a…

Bob Briggs Is Off the Train

Mark Manger Bob Briggs wants rail through the mountains. Bob Briggs (above), the man whose spent the past few years raising support and money for a statewide, high-speed, passenger rail system along the I-25 and I-70 corridors, was fired earlier this month from the group he started. In 2005, the…

Rich Tower, Poor Tower

For residents of southwest Denver who oppose the plan by Xcel Energy to replace electrical lines with taller towers, the issue is as much about the marring of Ruby Hill Park’s scenic view as what they perceive as a double standard in policy. Neighborhood groups want the new lines buried…

KUNC gives Colorado Public Radio More Metro-Area Competition

For years, shows on KUNC, a public-radio station originally affiliated with the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, have reached some folks in Denver’s northern suburbs and nearby parts of the city itself — but the farther south a listener was located, the iffier the reception could be. Fortunately, though,…

Tug of War

Five-year-old Eliot wants to make a birthday card for his father, Tony. He pulls two sheets of paper from a notepad and selects a freshly sharpened blue crayon from the box. “This is a picture of me running Tony over,” he says. “I want to draw a picture of me…

What the If?

What you are about to read may so shock and appall you that your eyes will flutter into the back of your skull and you will collapse in a heap on the floor, like that time you accidentally saw your grandmother struggling out of the shower like a giant prune…

Identity Crisis

The Colorado Department of Revenue promises to introduce some long-awaited changes to the state’s rules for obtaining an ID on August 1 — and they won’t come a moment too soon. On Tuesday, an Off Limits operative visited the Division of Motor Vehicles’ office on West Mississippi — the one…