To hear Ernie Paragallo tell it, he owns the fastest three-year-old on the face of the earth--maybe in the history of the universe. "I don't think he'll be beaten again," Ernie boasted last week. "Ever?" a reporter asked. "Ever," the owner said. Now, if you'd like to take that to...
In 1988 Irma Zimmerman stood on the back porch of her lime-green house in Overland Park and faced a tornado. "We watched it come right up Asbury," she says, shaking her head of tangled gray hair. "Stood there like idiots and just watched it come. Hurling doors and sheds and...
On Tuesday, April 2, KBPI disc jockeys Dean Myers and Roger Beaty--better known as Dean and Rog--demonstrated how well they'd learned their lesson. As every local able to turn on a radio knows, Myers and Beaty, who can be found weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. at 106.7 FM, were...
When my arteries start clogging up like Colorado Boulevard, Indian food is just what the doctor ordered. While some cuisines cancel out vegetables and rice with sugary sauces and fatty pork products and still call themselves healthy, this is the real thing: meats marinated in low-fat yogurt, lentil-thickened sauces and...
Wednesday August 9 Listen and learn: Jazz and Japan are the culturally diverse subjects at two separate lecture series in the area. The Chautauqua Forum Series ends its season at 8 tonight with a time-honored tradition--a concert lecture given annually by Willie Hill, University of Colorado College of Music professor...
Like all of Elliott Smith's best songs, "Junk Bond Trader," a key track on Figure 8, his fine new album, is more than its title indicates; instead of merely telling the story of a Wall Street bottom-feeder, it uses such an individual as a jumping-off point for a more personal...
Want the best method for picking the winner of this Saturday's Kentucky Derby? Just follow these three easy steps: 1. Lock your doors and draw the blinds. 2. Have five or six mint juleps. 3. Call Uncle Willie down at the state hospital and ask him who he likes. As...
Wednesday April 26 The works: Appearing tonight as part of the Creative Music Works' innovative Wednesday-night music series, the double quartet Index Ensemble will rework a few concepts with the help of two guitarists, two saxophonists, voices, and percussion and vocal samples. Index begins to beat, spin, strum and blow...
At the beginning of his performances, John Cale says, "I think a lot of people are kind of mystified by what I'm doing. But on a good night, they're intrigued by the end." Those two sentences neatly encapsulate the dilemma that is Cale. Although he's most widely recognized as a...
At the moment, Westword may be responsible for the only positive revenue stream at Denver's $5 billion new airport. That's because we pay the city's Airport Revenue Fund $1.25 for each piece of paper we are allowed to see regarding the fees paid to private legal firms retained by the...
I'm a hugger," confesses voice-over artist and teacher Dick Terry. He draws nearer, his smile exuding a blinding white glow. "Did you know that your voice changes when you smile?" he asks. With each elongated, oddly cadenced syllable, he broadens his already enormous grin until his face is all but...
Ironically, it took a legal threat to convince Denver city attorney Dan Muse to release the legal bills of Debevoise & Plimpton, the high-priced spread that's rung up a $1 million tab representing Denver's interests against the Securities and Exchange Commission's "informal inquiry" into DIA bond sales. If an "informal"...
In order to reach Cooperstown, New York, from the north, you drive south on winding, tree-shaded Route 28 through the villages of Dennison Corners, Richfield Springs and Schuyler Lake, whereupon the lovely shore of Lake Otsego springs into view, then the picturesque town beyond. From the south, stay on 28...
This was the year that was. And what was the year 1994? From a musical standpoint, it was a transitional period. Some trends arose and some trends died during the past twelve months, but no movements were so overpowering that they brushed aside everything else in their paths. As a...
Vance Johnson says he's sorry. Sorry for the tantrums, the violence, the abusive behavior. So sorry, in fact, that the back cover of his recent vanity--and I do mean vanity--book, The Vance: The Beginning & The End, includes a large, generic "I'm Sorry!" And you will be, too, if you...
No population bomb: Governor Roy Romer says he had no idea that challenger Bruce Benson would drop the bomb during their first debate last week about his two DUI arrests. If so, the shirt-sleeved Romer--whose jacket was off, if not his gloves--was sure quick with a comeback. After Benson concluded...
The tulips are in bloom, and Bud Biegel is thinking comeback. Last June he tore a hamstring while diving for a foul pop, and before he could heal, some banjo hitter whacked him on his mitt hand with the bat. Busted index finger. Out for the year. So after getting...
