The Message

Government is often derided as being slow and ineffective — but the local office of the Federal Communications Commission is anything but. Just ask the man who calls himself Carl Nimbus. He’s involved with Denver Free Radio, an unlicensed collective that wants to provide a musical alternative to the corporation-fueled…

The Blame Game

Carmelo Anthony received a summons Oct. 15 at Denver International Airport after a small amount of marijuana was found in his bag as the team prepared to travel to Milwaukee for an exhibition game. Anthony’s lawyer, Daniel Recht, said the marijuana belonged to James Cunningham, who often stays with Anthony…

Letters to the Editor

Escapable Humor Making the grade: I am a registered Republican, and I enjoy reading Westword. I appreciate many of the excellent articles done by talented writers. I have found Kenny Be to be often entertaining with his “worst-case” imagination, and I really liked the building-department exaggerations. When Kenny ventures into…

Skate Nation

The Hell Ride Crew took one look at the pictures of freshly troweled concrete and put out a call to the tribes. It would be the Sturgis of skateboarding, a weekend of ripping, raging, beer and bands. No big contest money, corporate sponsors or swooping ESPN camera cranes — just…

Ticket to Ride

It’s easy to pinpoint the suckiest public skateparks in Colorado: Just count the number of skaters who aren’t at them. But even the best skaters don’t agree on the best concrete rides. When Westword asked twenty locals to name the state’s top ten parks — based on design, layout and…

File Not Found

On Sunday, September 19, David Stark landed at Denver International Airport on Frontier Airlines flight 447, which had originated in Philadelphia. Stark had checked two pieces of luggage in Philly: a box of clothes and a black suitcase that, when he packed it, had contained a Hewlett-Packard laptop computer in…

Off Limits

Finally, the Unsinkables have either realized their fondest dream — or had their worst nightmare come true. Because this past Tuesday night, the 7-Eleven at 13th Avenue and Pearl Street (right) closed for good. And so far, there are no plans to fill the black hole that’s earned a black…

The Message

The Rocky Mountain News’s October 16 endorsement of George W. Bush was hardly a shock, since the paper’s editorials tend to tilt rightward. Not so the Denver Post, whose editorial page generally slants to the left of center — except on October 24, when the broadsheet formally backed Bush via…

Ice Follies

The good thing about the hockey lockout? Todd Bertuzzi is looking for work. The bad thing? Nobody gets to drive the Zamboni, big lovable galoot of a vehicle that it is. Otherwise, who the hell cares? Not many. Except for the good citizens of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the people who…

Letters to the Editor

The Turn of the Screw Inquiring minds want to know: I really enjoyed your October 21 “Alternative Voter’s Guide” In The City comic strip in that same issue, Derf states that in order to enforce church voting choices on Roman Catholic voters, bishops are authorizing the use of the Inquisition,…

The Alternative Voters Guide

With November 2 less than two weeks off, you can’t turn on the TV without sustaining collateral damage from one attack ad or another. But the biggest danger to your safety may be those innocuous-looking booklets you’ve already gotten in the mail, describing the issues that will be on the…

Across State Lines

Eight major-party candidates. Four congressional districts. One metro area. The Queen City is at the center of this election-year battle — and 2004 hasn’t disappointed fans. The fight card has been full of trash-talking and chest-beating, particularly in the heavyweight championship fight between Congressman Bob Beauprez and Jefferson County District…

Off Limits

He’s a writer, musician and artist, so naturally, Denver’s Gregory Hill is plagued by Life’s Big Questions. Questions like: What would happen if the leader of the free world parachuted onto a desert island populated only by ravenous prehistoric beasts? In the comic “Dinosaurs Versus the President,” Hill attempts to…

The Message

Members of the freakin’ media are supposed to accurately convey what’s going on in the world, but, as usual, they’ve got it all wrong. Although commentators and analysts insist that TV commercials associated with the 2004 election in Colorado are among the meanest, ugliest and most misleading in recent memory,…

Fit to Lead

Voters have had plenty of opportunities to gather information and pass judgment on President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Most, however, are unsatisfying — staged debates, advertising swill, convention hoo-ha, editorial folderol. It makes you wonder: Is there really a way to measure the cut of a man’s…

Letters to the Editor

Big Smack Attack Putting the cartel before the horse: After reading David Holthouse’s “The Chiva Game,” in the October 7 issue, about the illegal aliens selling heroin to the yuppies downtown, I just had to write in. Holthouse worked diligently to make sure we understood that Enoc wasn’t a bad…

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

There’s a strange pantomime going on inside the basement of a Capitol Hill high-rise: A group of eight grown men are pretending to sing in unison. As their mouths move, their chins and chests lift and fall as if in song. But there’s no sound coming from anything but a…

Daily Double

While Bill Schantz’s five older brothers worked on the family farm, Bill dreamed of being a game-show host. At Schantz family gatherings, Bill, the youngest of ten, hosted versions of his favorite TV game shows or introduced games he’d created using the family’s collection of Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers…

Off Limits

In embattled Jefferson County, few government officials have taken as much heat as County Attorney William Tuthill, who announced his resignation last week. Even his departure, effective October 15, isn’t without controversy — including an ungracious gesture from his harshest critic, followed by a rare apology. Since taking over the…

The Message

On October 7, separate stories on the same topic that ran in the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News prompted plenty of head-scratching, but for very different reasons. A day earlier, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch had decreed that the woman accusing Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant…

Somewhere, People Cheer

Where is everybody, baseball fans? Well, let’s have a look: Larry Walker is in St. Louis, suddenly in the pink and belting playoff home runs. The Montreal Expos are in oblivion, waiting to be revived next spring as — what? Let’s say, the Washington Lobbyists. Most of the Cubs faithful…

Letters to the Editor

Armchair Quarterback Consider yourself part of the furniture: Again, a bravo for Kenny Be’s wry wit. Not unlike his “Arnold for Governor of Iraq” Worst-Case Scenario, the October 7 “John Elway Home Collection,” complete with wooden Elway, is a keeper. I’m still smiling. Joseph Green via the Internet Heavy Petting…