It’s strange to think that many people will never know the pleasure of flip, flip, flipping through a stack of LPs at a record store, but almost any music collector of age remembers the act — just as they remember going through a card catalogue (a what?). Back in the…
I was under the impression that the purpose of an urban park was to create a quiet, green oasis away from the hustle and bustle of commerce. So it confounds me that the Libeskind plan for the Civic Center literally bustles with hustle. A shopping arcade, an ice-skating rink, a…
In the face of death, Sandy Bush lived. His greatest fear when he first found out that cancer was eating away his body was that he’d suffer a slow, painful death. The only way Sandy could overcome that fear was to know he could control his time of dying. No…
When it comes to my kids, I’m overprotective. I keep a tight rein on them and rarely let them out of my sight. This means no hanging out at the mall unchaperoned, and I hardly ever co-sign on overnights at friends’ houses. The way I see it, I can’t protect…
“As I reviewed all of the documents for this hearing today, I felt like I was looking at a proposal for a made-for-TV movie,” Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette said last Thursday as the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee convened. And this hearing wasn’t even about the still-to-break scandal of disgraced…
Yesterday’s despicable school assault in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was considerably more deadly than the one that took place at Platte Canyon High School near Bailey last week. The Pennsylvania slayer, Charles Carl Roberts IV (pictured here — and no relation, thankfully), shot ten girls execution-style before committing suicide; at this…
“Slants,” the current Message column, focuses upon a study conducted by the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank; the report charges that the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News were biased in favor of referenda C and D, a pair of 2005 ballot issues opposed by the Institute in…
The Whitest Kids U’ Know, an up-and-coming comedy troupe, will appear in Denver on Tuesday, October 3, as part of the SideOneDummy tour; more details can be found here. But this show is hardly the group’s only Colorado connection. The New York yuksters recently signed with Boulder’s What Are Records?,…
The problem with journalism these days is that reporters are poor. I know: I’m a reporter and I’m poor. All my colleagues are poor, too. It’s why, while we talk big game about journalistic integrity, all you have to do is woo us with a continental breakfast (free croissants!) and…
Many bikes come and go at LaFore’s custom motorcycle shop in Lakewood, but one is there to stay. The shop’s owner, Mike LaFore, pictured here, would never sell it. The engine on the bike was built by Christian, Mike’s son; in 1999, Christian was killed when he collided with a…
Today, Senator Ken Salazar blasted Colorado’s other senator in a hand-delivered letter claiming that Wayne Allard and Representative Marilyn Musgrave have been using Rocky Mountain National Park as a “political pawn.” To fully appreciate the indignant and injured tone of this broadside, check out the text here. What’s got Salazar…
If there was any doubt about the continuing resonance of Columbine on this planet of ours, it was quickly quashed by the call made to Westword as the Platte Canyon High School hostage drama was unfolding yesterday. The person on the other end of the line was a representative from…
The emergence of a nephew of James Rapp, formerly one of the world’s snoopiest private eyes, as a witness in the Hewlett-Packard scandal is a gritty reminder of how Colorado became a largely unregulated free zone for data brokers. Catch up with our sordid history of PIs with “The Case…
He sensed trouble the minute he stepped onto the tiled floor of the Town Center at Aurora. Everywhere he looked — by the Star Makers photo studio and the TacoMex restaurant, around the fake trees and carts of cheap sunglasses — guys were giving him the evil eye. Except they…
From his Air Jordan-clad feet to the blue-dyed braids on his head, Dominique Thomas is a perpetual-motion machine. His legs propel him frantically about as his arms gesture wildly, slapping high-fives, and his mouth emits a constant stream of infectious exuberance: “That’s what’s up” or “That’s real talk.” But standing…
The day begins with Corporal John Harris leading Pond Patrol Third Force Recon Team amongst the blood-red cliffs and knife-shaped outcroppings of Mulberry Ridge. Suddenly, Private Carlos Rodriguez spots Dr. Jefferson Johnson down by the ravine side. “What’s he doing out here?” Harris thinks. “Wasn’t he supposed to be at…
Cockroaches love lettuce. That’s the word from Six Flags St. Louis, which just got its first shipment of live cockroaches for the company’s annual Fright Fest, says Brooke Brasher, spokeswoman for Six Flags Elitch Gardens. Even though Denver has yet to receive a single cucaracha, she’s been dreaming of the…
If I were promoting a baseball team, I would make sure that the seats closest to the field were always filled. That way, even if there weren’t that many fans in the stadium — because, say, their team had pretty much ensured its sixth consecutive losing season by that point…
“All I want is for the newspapers to admit that they have a liberal bias,” announces Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, a right-leaning think tank. “But talking to newspaper people about this is like talking to an alcoholic. It’s obvious they have a liberal bias, but there’s no…
Good Vibrations A peace of the action: Regarding Patricia Calhoun’s “Speak Your Peace,” in the September 21 issue: It seems fitting to have PeaceJam here in Denver. Colorado has so many great things that attract people from around the world, but Denver has a long way to go in the…
They may get sand kicked in their faces and have their lunch money stolen, but yes, damn it, artists have muscles, too. Their muscles are their creativity and God-given almighty talent. And just like the meatheads toning their freakish pecs at the Denver Athletic Club and sweating buckets of Gatorade…
There are gypsies on our streets, prowling the avenues in their ghetto-fabulous low riders, blasting “LA Woman” from the stereo and telling passersby that although they may not have a taxi license, they’ll still take them to their hotel or convention or flight out of DIA in a ride that…
