Let’s Talk Embarrassing

Bad enough that Colorado actually paid money for an awful, out-of-date tourism campaign that sounds like an old Joan Rivers shtick: Let’s Talk Colorado. But can we talk about what that campaign’s sending out to would-be tourists? Today an e-mail newsletter arrived from the Colorado Tourism Office, with handy links…

Reel Life

Last week the Colorado Legislature shot down a proposed economic subsidy for filmmakers — despite the impassioned testimony of John Ashton, aka Sergeant Taggart of Beverly Hills Cop — which gives you a pretty good idea of the B-list star power of the state’s current film scene. But late last…

DIA’s Voice-Over

Denver has a lot to do to get ready for the Democratic National Convention, including fixes both large and small that could help this city put its best foot forward. First up: Going public with the fact that the anonymous voice that started sounding off on DIA trains last summer…

John Ashton, Take Two

Actor John Ashton addressed the Colorado Legislature Tuesday, urging lawmakers to support a new economic incentive for moviemakers. No, not that John Ashton. The guy testifying was the John Ashton of Beverly Hills Cop, who now lives in Fort Collins. Colorado’s original John Ashton — John C. Ashton, to be…

Cheers to First Friday

Drink up! Representative Jerry Frangas has moved to protect one of Denver’s most liquid assets: First Friday, the art events that every month draw thousands of people to gallery-heavy districts around Denver – including Tennyson Street, where Frangas first encountered the event. There are also First Friday celebrations in Rino…

The Protest Test

We are not on trial for the DNC. I am not a member of Re-create 68,” Glenn Morris told the court. “We are on trial for what happened on October 6, 2007.” What happened then is still a matter of dispute — but one thing is certain: Something very like…

Bruce on the Loose

The Colorado Statehouse goes live at 1 p.m. today — and not a moment too soon. When Speaker Andrew Romanoff, et. al., decided to start broadcasting their sessions (at coloradochannel.net and Comcast’s channel 165), they didn’t have any idea that they’d be getting a mid-season star: Doug Bruce. “Our goal…

Tears and Loathing in New Hampshire

At 6 a.m. Tuesday, Fox News reported that it had already received over a thousand e-mails from viewers discussing Hillary Clinton tearing up the day before in New Hampshire — and over 40 percent didn’t believe they were real tears. “Some people think elections are a game, lots of who’s…

David Lane’s Subpoena Envy

The best defense is a good offense. Friday was David Lane’s birthday, and the criminal defense attorney gave himself a present by wreaking some legal havoc. When Claudia Jordan, the Denver County Court judge presiding over a hearing for some of the 83 Columbus Day protesters, announced that potential witnesses…

Always in Vogue

“It’s sad.” All day, the shoppers keep coming into All American Vogue, pausing to look at the Fiesta ware, to read the anti-Bush bumperstickers, to finger that ’50s jacket they’ve fingered so many times before, and then to stop before the man standing behind the counter. The stretch of Broadway…

Photo Finish

Just in time for the holiday crush, Denver International Airport has a new attraction — and no, it’s not the bathroom where Idaho senator Larry Craig reportedly issued another one of his wide-stance invitations (“Stalled,” December 6). This attraction encourages travelers to join another mile-high club altogether, by having their…

Larry Craig Shlepped Here!

“Flying out tomorrow morning…been penned up with my parents all weekend. I see adds on here occasionally for sex at DIA…can that really happen? Love to suck cock and get sucked,” writes one eager poster in the “men seeking men” section of craigslist. “Stuck at dia in red carpet club,”…

A Real Bitch-Hunt

John McCain stood up to his North Vietnamese interrogators, but he caved last month when an elderly supporter asked, “How do we beat the bitch?” Rather than refuse to answer the query (or point out that she wouldn’t ask “How do we beat the prick?”), he called it an “excellent…

Greetings from DIA

Maybe all it took was Sunday’s visit from Mary Peters, the Transportation secretary, who vowed to keep the nation’s airports operating through the holidays — and choose Denver as the poster child for last year’s dysfunctional flying. Maybe it was the holiday entertainment that kicked off yesterday, which translated to…

Getting Denver Ready for the DNC

Hundreds of journalists descended on Denver this week for a Democratic National Convention briefing at the Pepsi Center, just a taste of the tens of thousands who will hit this city next August. On Monday night, many of those journalists got their own first taste of Denver at a reception…

Dinger Bell

“The Rockies mascot is named Dinger,” comedian Jay Mohr wrote in “It Sucks to Be Them,” a piece on SI.com. “He is a big, fat, purple dinosaur who sports a baby T-shirt that barely covers his nipples. According to the web site, Dinger travels the land promoting physical fitness and…

Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow

At Sunday’s game, I sat next to two fellows who said they were with the brewers. In town for the Great American Beer Festival? No, with the Milwaukee Brewers, they corrected me, and since their team beat the Padres, the Rockies really owed them some thanks. Or at least a…

Ballot Up!

Timing is everything. Imagine that you’re the mayor of a big city with some big, expensive ballot issues coming up — an alphabet soup of nine proposals that would fund assorted infrastructure repairs around town to the tune of well over $500 million. What day would you want those big,…

Rock Bottom

Dinger must go. The most embarrassing mascot in the major leagues is a fossil on the field. Dinger should be as dead as a dodo. Last week, as the Colorado Rockies clinched their place in the playoffs by beating the Padres, a sister who’d been watching the game in New…

Fire and Ice

Westword was going to challenge our partner paper, Phoenix New Times, to a bet on the outcome of the Rockies/Diamondback series — but we couldn’t think of anything we wanted from Phoenix. A downtown that’s a ghost town at night, instead of the party that LoDo has become almost every…

Art Attack!

Look for art to break out all over the mall during Denver Arts Week, which runs October 5-12 (for details, go to the Night & Day section of the October 4 Westword). But in fact, you can expect art to break out even earlier, since a few underground-art types, concerned…

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

Denver has always been the Sally Field of cities, grateful for the slightest nod of recognition from the national media. Under normal circumstances, the filming of an Eddie Murphy movie in this town — Nowhereland, for example, which is currently shooting around Denver — would be front-page news. But these…