Beware the Mommies

In an interview that aired today on Colorado Matters , Denver Public Schools superintendent Michael Bennet discussed the controversial redesign of North High School. In a district that is suffering from “catastrophic institutional failure,” as Bennet put it, North has the worst graduation rate in DPS — out of 700…

Design After Dark

Getting Groovy in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Cat’s Pajamas had a great time last Friday night at Design After Dark, the benefit for the Denver Art Museum. The food was tasty, the booze was boozy and the music was dancy. All of the architects did an amazing job creating…

Blog Eat Blog

As noted in last week’s cover story the blogosphere is a mess, chock full of factually questionable information. Many erstwhile bloggers are making it their duty to clean up this mess, using their own sites to point out fictitious information they find on their colleagues’ blogs. But a tough question…

Getting Your Swerve On

As I write, the snow is falling again in the Denver area — and beyond depressing the hell out of me (when did the Mile High City swap climate cycles with Buffalo, New York?), this latest round of flurries is only deepening a personal dilemma that seems unlikely to be…

Friends With Bennys

Snooze owner Jon Schlegel certainly has loyal fans — and family members. Today’s print edition includes a response to my January 18 Second Helping from Schlegel’s brother Adam, who works at the popular breakfast/lunch place. We also received the following from another relative who lives in Tucson: What’s Jason Sheehan…

A Smokin’ Deal

“Check it out,” I said. “The dancing pizza is back. Why do you think it’s wearing a top hat?” And with that, I begin this week’s exploration of Lebanese cuisine and Middle Eastern pop music at Aladdin Cafe and Grill — where the falafel is hot, the hookahs are smokin’…

The Jeffco Shuffle

Now that former Jefferson County treasurer Mark Paschall has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly soliciting a kickback from an employee out of the enormous bonus he tossed her way (see details here), what’s next for the gang of blundering bureaucrats in Golden’s Taj Mahal? This is the…

True Confessions

I have a confession to make. I enjoy watching reality television — especially really terrible reality television. The drama, the fights, the sex, the tears — what can I say? I’m a voyeur. But it’s become a chore to turn the television on every Wednesday and see what our least-favorite…

Party On

Our River North artist friend, Grand Old RiNo Tracy Weil, reports that last weekend’s RiNo Birthday Celebration and Open House was a great success, despite inhospitable temperatures. Gallery-goer Deborah Elam won the 100-bottle “Wall of Wine” raffle, and a ggod time was had by all. Weil even sent some fabulous…

1001 Reasons

I went to see the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 1001 last weekend; it was my belated birthday, and I was ready for a night on the town. I love the theater, but a production has to be really good to catch my cast-iron mistrust by surprise. So I’m a picker…

A Score for the Rev

Nice to see the Denver Broncos kicking down some cash in the memory of Darrent Williams, in hopes of steering kids away from the gangster path that his killers apparently chose. This week, the team committed $50,000 to Reverend Leon Kelly’s Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives, with a matching $50,000…

More Messages: “Crossing” Guard

In a blog posted yesterday, I shared my take on the first half-dozen chapters of “The Crossing,” the immense series about a 1961 train-schoolbus accident that’s currently being serialized in the Rocky Mountain News. In my view, the decision to slice the tale into 33 separate pieces lessened the impact…

More Messages: Leaving the Air

Air America isn’t thriving, but it isn’t dead, either. As noted in this New York Times article, Air America representatives announced yesterday that Stephen Green of SL Green Realty Corporation has purchased the proudly progressive radio network, which filed for bankruptcy in October. Green, whose brother, Mark, is a sometime…

Brotherly Love

Offense Report No: 07-5001765 Date: 1-24-2007 Location of Offense: Denver Rescue Mission Type of Premises: Other Weapon/Tool used: None The 24-year-old victim who filed this report wrote: “On July 5, 2006 my identical twin brother, Jaime, was arrested in the Civic Center Park in Denver for being out after the…

Elway’s Interception

Over the weekend, I finally reached Tom Moxcey, Elway’s manager and expert floorman, to see how the second Elway’s going into the new Ritz-Carlton Denver on Curtis Street will affect the original Cherry Creek location. “So you sound like you’re having a good day,” I told him. “It’s a good…

Carmelo Cameo

An anonymous individual angry over gang violence has been posting fliers denouncing Carmelo Anthony. This weekend, crude Xerox copies were taped to light poles and newspaper boxes in and around the Golden Triangle, the Central Denver neighborhood where Denver Bronco Darrent Williams was gunned down on January 1. The flier…

Mind Your Ps and BBQs

With temperatures dropping again, people are warming to the thought of hot, hot food. BBQ, in short. Witness this recent plea from Jeff: Growing up in the Midwest, I have developed a predilection (or as my wife would call it, an obsession) for BBQ. I enjoy different regional sauces but…

More Messages: “Crossing” Purposes

To put it mildly, “The Crossing,” an ongoing Rocky Mountain News project penned by reporter Kevin Vaughan (pictured) is a mammoth undertaking. The story of a horrific 1961 train/schoolbus accident that killed twenty children, the series is scheduled to run in 33 parts, with the first appearing on January 23…

Topless in Denver

A cheerful sight on Sunday inspired this haiku: Winter is over! Pop the convertible’s top, It’s forty degrees! — Joel Warner…

More Messages: Logos A-Go-Go

This January 26 blog tells of an odd occurrence the previous night on Channel 9. During two sitcoms, Scrubs and 30 Rock, 9News logos briefly blinked on the screen several times, leading one observer to wonder if the station was engaging in subliminal gamesmanship. Definitely not, says Channel 9 news…

More Messages: Special Delivery

Over the past month or so, some of the same folks who assemble the editorial material to be found in the Boulder Daily Camera have been delivering it, too. As noted in this December 9 article, execs at the Daily Camera recently decided to outsource delivery of its papers to…

The Circle Game

Mark Seibel was, technically, a fugitive from justice when I met him at a westside Starbucks last summer. He was also the first fugitive I’ve met who had his own MySpace page. Homeless at age eleven, in and out of the juvenile and then adult prison system with diagnosed but…