Pressing Engagements Last Friday’s papers were all over Katie Couric’s visit. And that very morning, The Early Show broadcast live from Civic Center Park, extolling the Front Range as the Napa Valley of microbrews (the timing was a bit unfortunate, given former Senate candidate Pete Coors’s imminent date with a…
Dear Mexican: I just don’t get Mexicans and their grooming. The men slick their hair with baby oil, gel or Vaseline, or just shave it all off. The women wear it in ponytails with a neon-green hairband or in pigtails, or wear bangs created with the biggest curling iron in…
The wheelchair-bound fellow rolling his way up Broadway just after 7 a.m. this morning, an icy-cold six-pack of Bud Light in his lap (3.2, of course, but your convenience-store options are limited), knew how he was going to spend another 100-degree day: drinking in Civic Center Park. Too bad The…
Dear Mexican: I’m a culturally sensitive, PC Asian-American who laughed my head off at Jack Black’s imitation of a Mexican in Nacho Libre. Is this wrong? Vietnammy Mammy Dear Chinita: Wrong? Of course not. While Latino activists weep and moan about how gabachos like Jack Black reduce Mexicans to stock…
With Robert Novak now fingering Karl Rove as the source of the Valerie Plame leak, the man once called “Bush’s Brain” must be itching to erase some of the recent past. And Rove knows just how easy it can be to revise history. Back when he was a young lad…
Betty Williams owes Ivan Suvanjieff ten bucks. He keeps in close contact with Williams, founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement and winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, just as he does with all the Nobel Peace Prize winners (although communications can be tricky with Aung San Suu Kyi,…
Dear Mexican, Why do Mexicans traditionally like Chevys? Did Chevy once target the Mexican consumer base for some reason and it worked? Pocho in a Pontiac Dear Pocho: An urban legend suggests that Mexicans don’t like Chevys (pronounced with a harsh “ch” as in “chicken” and “chupacabra,” gracias) because the…
By last Tuesday, a question I’d asked President Bill Clinton (see “Clinton, Finally”) had become a joke on Jay Leno. The question was this: “If Senator Clinton becomes president, what would your role be?” The answer (buried in a much longer response) was this: “I’ll do whatever she wants, and…
Elvis was about to enter the building. Last Friday, as former president Bill Clinton charmed group after group back in Colorado — starring at two Democratic fundraisers, surprising a confab of Denver Public Schools principals, picking up a rumored quarter-of-a-million bucks to talk to a national meeting of apartment owners,…
On June 19, 1865, word finally reached slaves living in Galveston that they were free — almost two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. They marked the date with a celebration they called Juneteenth. “As people started to leave the South with the…
One of Denver’s most storied streets is starting a new chapter. In a few days, the cameras will roll on The Real World: Denver, the eighteenth installment of the show that made reality TV a reality, capturing the antics of seven pretty people who work together and live together in…
Hurricane season is about to hit, but Washington, D.C., is still flooded with backwash from Hurricane Katrina. Last week, the Center for Public Integrity released 928 pages of e-mail messages to and from former FEMA head (and current Coloradan) Michael Brown. The e-mails, which the center received seven months after…
From zero to hero. Just a couple of weeks ago, Joe Nacchio’s lawyer was in federal court, arguing that his client’s upcoming trial must be moved, because the former Qwest CEO is one of “the most reviled figures in Denver history” and could never get a fair trial here. But…
Sure, this city’s great at handling 75,000 protesters. But toss it a hundred kids on bikes, and things go to hell. Late in the afternoon on the last Friday of every month, bicyclists in 400 cities around the world gather for Critical Mass, a community bike ride that’s taken off…
Tourism boosters kick off the summer season at a rally today at the State Capitol. And what a season it should be: Come July 1, the state’s annual tourism budget will increase from $5 million to $20 million (pending final legislative approval). But at the same time those boosters tout…
You don’t find green chile in Mexico — but here in Denver, it’s the signature dish at most Mexican restaurants, a sauce/soup/stew of green chiles (always) and tomatoes (sometimes) and onions (sometimes) and pork (sometimes). Order green chile in Puerto Vallarta, or Phoenix, or Cheyenne, and you get a side…
Denver’s about to get The Real World, but four years ago we had a shot at getting a much bigger piece of a world that was — and remains — all too painfully real. “In the name of Allah,” began the 29-page, handwritten pleading filed in U.S. District Court for…
Some day in 2008, you’ll be able to stand on top of the 33-story Ameristar Casino in Black Hawk (right by the pool) and have a clear view of the gold fields that gave birth to Colorado’s past. The future looks cloudier. At last Thursday’s ceremony unveiling Ameristar’s big plans,…
Quick! Call a lawyer! Student Jason Sharman is still several years away from achieving that status, but as the president of the University of Colorado at Denver Pre-Law Society, he’s already getting a pretty good education in the Law of Unintended Consequences. Or maybe CU really intended for events like…
After months of testimony and weeks of deliberation, the ten jurors considering the case of Merilyn Cook, et al., vs. Rockwell International Corporation and the Dow Chemical Company had finally reached a verdict. But before it was revealed, U.S. District Judge John Kane had a few words to say. “Through…
If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, I should simply have snapped a photo outside of Zengo on Monday night. Inside, the restaurant was turning a record number of tables — all thanks to Denver Restaurant Week, the promotion that runs through March 3 and is packing the…
At least Home Depot didn’t accuse Bob Dougherty of shoplifting. Michael Panorelli, a carpenter in Massachusetts, was buying lumber at a local Home Depot. His client handed him a pencil to do some calculations, which Panorelli subsequently pocketed. He didn’t realized his mistake until a Home Depot worker caught up…
