The farming techniques of Africa are being handed down from one generation to the next on a tiny farm in East Aurora. Each day, Somali Bantu parents are there with their young children, planting seeds, tending crops or harvesting a small bit of produce. Their profits are meager, but the…
At the bottom of a July 12 memo to journos at the Rocky Mountain News, managing editor Deb Goeken slipped in an amusing item about restaurant reviewer John Lehndorff, who’s out of commission right now due to an injury to his elbow — something he needs to lean on while…
Putting a stop in the revolving door at Denver county jail is no easy task. But what better way to begin making this effort than with a block party for those not lucky enough to have a strong family or friend to turn to after being released from jail –…
OK, this ooo-eee-ooo story by Katy Human on the front page of today’s Denver Post, about research at the University of Colorado into suppressing traumatic memories, raises two important questions. First, if Katy Human writes about stuff just because she thinks it’s interesting, does that make it a Human Interest…
Shortly after the Colorado Confidential website launched a year ago, David Bennahum, the author and onetime Wired muckraker who co-founded the project, told Westword that he wanted “to build an infrastructure to support promising individuals who could function as journalists — people who could adhere to the standards of journalism,…
Denver has seen the future of downtown development, and his name is Evan Makovsky. Makovsky, a discreet yet long-standing Denver developer, first made waves last month when he announced plans to buy and revitalize most of a decrepit downtown block bordered by the 16th Street Mall, California, 15th and Welton…
American film stars like to do commercials in Japan. The pay is fantastic and, hey, it’s not like their fans back in the U.S. will ever see the things, right? Wrong, thanks to YouTube. Here’s Nicolas Cage shilling for, as far as I can tell, pachinko, a Japanese arcade game…
Andrew Orvedahl Denver comics are coming out swinging once again on Last Comic Standing. Unless you’ve been getting molested under a rock for the past year you already know about local-boy-done-funny Josh Blue winning that title last year, then relentlessly touring the country playing sold-out shows. But if you watched…
Gaze upon the wonder to the right. It’s a glass bottle of Coca-Cola, imported from Mexico. That’s worth more than novelty points, since glass-bottled drinks taste better. There’s a reason no beer besides shitty mass-market swill is bottled in plastic, after all. Even better for the flavor is the fact…
Finally, a blog that dares to ask the question “How do you tell the difference between hippie dirtbags and terrorist dirtbags?” Take a look at the cut-out images from various photographs and it’s obvious that lacking the context of bongs vs. bombs, it’s pretty damn difficult. That probably explains why…
Errors aren’t exactly alien to Rocky Mountain News columnist Bill Johnson — yet he outdid himself with “Woman’s Flag Upside Down, As Are Neighbors’ Responses,” a piece that ran on July 11. The column revolves around Beth Hammer, a 64-year-old Wheat Ridge resident who’s in dutch with her home-owner’s association…
The Denver Post, whose newsroom reorganization plan is detailed in this More Messages blog, isn’t the only local media outlet giving longtime staffers new responsibilities. KUSA-TV/Channel 9, the Post’s print/synergy partner, has also done some shifting, owing to a new initiative from its parent company, Gannett. Below are two memos…
Most interviews done for the The Message column contain more information than can possibly be squeezed onto any given page, and plenty of what doesn’t make the cut is very interesting indeed. Seldom, though, is it presented in such an easily digestible form as was recently the case with comments…
The driver’s seat in Carmelo Anthony’s 1971 Chevelle is set so far back that Vett Capone can’t reach the gas pedal. The five-foot-six-inch Capone slides the seat forward about a foot and a half, then fires up the classic American engine, which rumbles like a boat’s motor as the smell…
This past Sunday was not a good day for New Life Church. Soulforce was out in force outside the Colorado Springs super-church, protesting its support of reparative therapy for the likes of Ted Haggard, New Life founder and (former?) male escort- and meth-using media sensation. Then Mike Jones, the escort…
I was seventeen years old when I first encountered bum wine. My friend Chris and I were in an alley behind a Capitol Hill liquor store, waiting for a local wino whom we would sometimes enlist to buy us a twelve-pack. I remember it was an unusually hot afternoon, so…
“The Beautiful Game,” Adam Cayton-Holland, July 5 Game On! What happened? Did Adam Cayton-Holland run out of hipsters to make fun of? Whatever — I’m glad he turned his attention to the African Community Center soccer team. Theirs is a really remarkable story, and very inspirational. Denver’s hipsters could learn…
The advertising slump that’s afflicting daily newspapers across the country, including the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, can be measured using any common household scale. Simply put, most issues weigh less than they once did because advertisements that fund extra pages are coming in more slowly. As a result,…
I’m not going to lie to you: I’m having a pretty lousy summer. I can’t pinpoint exactly why this summer is blowing, it just is. The days seem lackluster and stagnant, and outside of that knife fight I got into with the hobo who talked back to me after I…
In yet another twist in the bizarre story of Marine Lance Hering, — the 22-year-old Iraq War veteran who faked his death last August in order to avoid returning to duty — police searched his parent’s Boulder home on Tuesday after receiving a tip from the military that he was…
A new version of Hairspray is due out in theaters next week. What makes Hollywood think it can outdo the popular Broadway musical based on John Waters’ 1988 film? Well, they’ve got a gimmick: John Travolta in a fat suit. The 53-year-old actor plays Edna, the plump mother of hefty…
This guy traveled almost two hundred miles in a lawn chair supported by helium balloons. In doing so, he’s become my hero of the day. Not only has he fulfilled one of my childhood dreams (Mom, I told you it would work!), but he’s also figured out a way to…
