Hitting the trail á la JibJab. Looking for proof that Colorado’s a battleground state? Barack Obama will be in the Denver area today, his wife Michelle is coming in Wednesday, and Sarah Palin is slated for an October 4 visit. And more evidence will arrive in your mailbox soon, since…
Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, was in town this week to tout his new book, Orange County: A Personal History, and since he’s a colleague, we wanted to take him out to eat. But since he’s also the food editor of the OC Weekly (and the hardest-working man…
Chipotle, the little homegrown company that got very big by selling big burritos, is looking for a new advertising agency. According to Ad Age, Chipotle only lasted nine months with New York’s DeVito/Verdi, and now wants to stuff its $15-to-$20 million account into some other company’s coffers. “We are looking…
FasTracks tries to get back on track, financially speaking. Four weeks ago today, the Democratic National Convention kicked off in town – and now, Denver’s post-party depression has given way to fears of a real depression. This week, it’s all about the money – yours, mine, and Joe Nacchio’s, with…
Red alert. As promised, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s proposed budget for FY 2009 includes “increased funding for graffiti prevention and coordination efforts.” The suggested $250,000 line item is just a pittance in comparison to the $914 million total, but it could have a big impact on efforts to channel urban artists’…
Mary Smith as seen on Fox News during the Democratic National Convention. When last I saw Mary Smith, she was sitting on the patio outside Lime XS on Sixth Avenue, demonstrating how easy it is to imitate Sarah Palin with a borrowed pair of glasses, a ponytail and some lipstick…
No one’s in the driver’s seat. Last week, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown reported that 38 of the hybrids donated for use during the Democratic National Convention were missing. He’d heard that from Paul Lhevine of the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee at a convention recap on Friday, September 5…
The city’s not whitewashing this one. It made a mistake, and it plans to make good on it. On Monday, representatives of several Denver agencies — including the Department of Public Works, Solid Waste Management, Denver City Council, Denver Partners Against Graffiti, the Denver Police Department and the Denver Office…
Don’t let Denver Partners Against Graffiti near Park Hill this month — at least not until they’ve taken a refresher course in arts appreciation. Because otherwise, they could ruin the Park Hill Alley Contest, a true community service concocted by residents Jack and Pam Farrar. Back in May, the Farrars…
Shortly after this edition of Westword went to press with my follow on the mauling of murals before the Democratic National Convention, Sean Rice, the proprietor of Orange Cat Studios, finally got a call from the city in response to his complaint that Denver Partners Against Graffiti had wiped out…
Coming to a milk carton near you. In Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown’s September newsletter, he reports that 38 of the SUVs and cars loaned by General Motors to the Democratic National Convention were missing a week after the event and cites Paul Lhevine, chief operating officer for the Denver…
Denver won’t be turning to Mark Twain. At 11 a.m. today, Mayor John Hickenlooper will unveil the fifth selection for the city’s One Book One Denver reading program. Here’s what we know it won’t be: Plainsong, Kent Haruf’s lovely novel about life on the Eastern Plains, rejected early on because…
Mo Rocca. I’m looking out over the Platte Valley, the scene of so much celebration last week. Invesco Field at Mile High, which filled with a record crowd for Barack Obama’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. The Pepsi Center, where politicos and stars and Joe Citizens gathered to…
Sam Waterston and Fred Thompson in the L&O glory days. Was it just a year ago — it feels like decades — that Fred Thompson finally officially entered the Republican race for president on September 5, 2007? After all the slow, coy buildup to that announcement, Thompson’s campaign fell flat,…
The writing’s on the wall. The Democratic National Convention in Denver will go down as a huge success — as long as you’re not a local artist, that is. Early on Sunday, August 24, the day before the DNC officially kicked off a mile away at the Pepsi Center, a…
While other galleries found their exterior art suddenly wiped off the map, Boom: A Nomadic Gallery wasn’t about to wait around. This mobile arts ambassador kept on the move through the Democratic National Convention. “Boom went great — except when we got chased out of City Park for the yoga…
Michael Brown. After he was booted from FEMA in the wake of Katrina, Michael Brown returned to Boulder, where he set up an emergency consulting business (and talked with me for this column on the one year anniversary of his “heckuva job.”) But yesterday he headed back to the East…
Denver was still drunk on the success of the Democratic National Convention yesterday morning when suddenly, the party was over. Speculation that Alaska governor Sarah Palin would be the surprise pick for the Republican vice-presidential nomination pushed the DNC out of the national spotlight on all the TV talk-shows –…
A last hurrah for Denver with former resident Harry Smith If you hurry, you can bask in the reflected glow of a final moment in the spotlight for Denver. CBS’s The Early Show — helmed by former Denverite Harry Smith, who wrote for Westword back in the ’70s — has…
At 3:30 a.m., southbound Speer Boulevard is empty — and open. To the left, two cabs are cruising for their last fares of the night. To the right, Invesco Field at Mile High is still glowing, lit up with memories — and the cleaning crews getting the place back in…
Smokin’ hot stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery in Mad Men and with Mayor John Hickenlooper at the Pepsi Center. I’d been getting kind of cranky about all the celebrity hype surrounding the Democratic National Convention. Where were the big parties? a radio producer wanted to know. The only party…
The whole world is in my back yard. From the bluffs right above the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek, the layout of the Democratic National Convention spreads before me — from the Colorado Convention Center to the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field at Mile High, where Barack…
