Denver cops’ new ride — pedicabs?

Here comes the fuzz? According to a longtime media observer, Channel 7 painted quite a visual picture of the Denver Police Department’s transportation equipment during a DNC-eve news report. He writes that in a live shot on the station’s 10 p.m. broadcast, a reporter talked about undercover police vehicles “like…

The DNC goodie bag: How good is it?

“What have the Democrats done to my brain?” Channel 9 morning anchor Gary Shapiro is usually pretty upbeat about everything. So when he mentioned during a Monday broadcast that his DNC goodie bag wasn’t all that, well, good, I was taken aback. After seeing mine, however, I realized he had…

Breaching the CNN barrier

The once and former Brooklyn’s, CNN’s temporary home. Wanted to check out CNN’s Democratic National Convention headquarters — Brooklyn’s, a restaurant near the Pepsi Center in an area referred to by the security staff as “the perimeter.” So I ambled up to a secuirty guard at one entrance and asked…

The Daily Show‘s John Oliver on the downside of equality

“When we pose, pretend like you’re my best friend.” In the midst of the ridiculous line to the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, I found myself standing alongside none other than British-born comedian John Oliver, a correspondent for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart who I’d just enjoyed at the…

Big fences make cranky talk-show hosts

All fenced in. On Monday morning, when Peter Boyles started broadcasting live from Civic Center Park, the park was wide open to all visitors. On Tuesday morning, same thing. But when he arrived at 3:30 a.m. this morning, the park was suddenly surrounded by temporary fencing. He had to open…

Frustrated by Fox

At least the outside looks nice. After my success at getting into CNN’s outside-the-Pepsi Center base of operations, I moved a hundred yards or so down the perimeter to Braun’s Bar & Grill, which Fox News has taken over for the run of the Democratic National Convention. Unlike with CNN,…

Ken Salazar: scintillating

Ken Salazar. Colorado Senator Ken Salazar has been chosen to help formally nominate Barack Obama for president on Wednesday night, and all I can say is, brace yourself for the thrill of a lifetime. Salazar is among the most laconic, monotonal speakers ever elected to national office, and his verbal…

Bottleneck blues

Lining up. As soon as Tuesday’s taping of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart wrapped (read all about it here), I raced back to Westword’s 10th and Broadway office, parked my car, and began the trek to the Pepsi Center for the evening’s Hillary Clinton-centric spectacle. Earlier in the day,…

Frustrated by Fox

At least the outside looks nice. After my success at getting into CNN’s outside-the-Pepsi Center base of operations, I moved a hundred yards or so down the perimeter to Braun’s Bar & Grill, which Fox News has taken over for the run of the Democratic National Convention. Unlike with CNN,…

Breaching the CNN barrier

The once and former Brooklyn’s, CNN’s temporary home. Wanted to check out CNN’s Democratic National Convention headquarters — Brooklyn’s, a restaurant near the Pepsi Center in an area referred to by the security staff as “the perimeter.” So I ambled up to a secuirty guard at one entrance and asked…

Ken Salazar: scintillating

Ken Salazar. Colorado Senator Ken Salazar has been chosen to help formally nominate Barack Obama for president on Wednesday night, and all I can say is, brace yourself for the thrill of a lifetime. Salazar is among the most laconic, monotonal speakers ever elected to national office, and his verbal…

The Westword.com blog shortcut, belated August 26 edition

Fun, fun, fun. It’s never too late to look back on the blogs that were. On Tuesday, Backbeat Online paged through the diary of a DNC party crasher, offered an extensive roundup of new concert announcements and reviewed Cinemocracy Rocks!, featuring sort-of-hometowners Apples in Stereo. Cafe Society brought us a…

John McClane for President

An expert on foreign policy, law enforcement officer John McClane is a darkhorse to round out the GOP presidential ticket. In the melee of the insatiable, frenzied Obama-fucking that currently is D-town, Colorado, there are glimmers of opposition – fratty, white heads that suddenly poke out of holes, making one…

Denver’s Freewheelin bikes: best freebie ever

Bike. Free. Denver right now is essentially one big schwag bag. Everywhere you go, everyone’s giving stuff away: smoothies, condoms, booze, morals, you name it. The best freebie of all, however, has to be the Freewheelin program that has 1,000 bikes stationed around town for free public use. Yes, the…

Soledad O’Brien needs reminding sometimes

Soledad O’Brien. Everyone knows CNN’s Soledad O’Brien — including, presumably, Soledad O’Brien. Nevertheless, technicians at the network apparently want to be certain her identity doesn’t occasionally slip her mind. During a walk-through of the Pepsi Center on Tuesday morning, I saw three CNN monitors in different parts of the arena…

Umm, sirs, that doesn’t look like Barack Obama

Some local street artists — I’m told they go by “Jher451” and “el mac” — had the audacity to paint this totally Obama-less mural on the side of the La Boheme strip club this week. It seems the portrait artist, el mac, was all Obama’d out. OK, fine. But could…

Umm, sirs, that doesn’t look like Barack Obama

Some local street artists — I’m told they go by “Jher451” and “el mac” — had the audacity to paint this totally Obama-less mural on the side of the La Boheme strip club this week. It seems the portrait artist, el mac, was all Obama’d out. OK, fine. But could…

Alaska gets the shaft

It’s all about who you know. What did Alaska do to piss off the DNC? Its delegation has worse seats at the Pepsi Center than Guam, which, for those of you who started skipping geography in first grade, isn’t even a state — and it’s a helluva lot smaller besides…

The DNC Color Chart

Apparently, these are post-primary colors. Loads of Democrats have made sport of the color-coded terror-threat warning system from practically the moment it was instituted by the George W. Bush administration. Turns out, though, that at the DNC, Dems have a color code of their own. A red pass gets the…

Denver’s Freewheelin Bikes: Best Freebie Ever

Bike. Free. Denver right now is essentially one big schwag bag. Everywhere you go, everyone’s giving stuff away: smoothies, condoms, booze, morals, you name it. The best freebie of all, however, has to be the Freewheelin program that has 1,000 bikes stationed around town for free public use. Yes, the…