Jonesin’

I have a date with Mike Jones. Actually, it’s a threesome — with Paula Woodward. Tomorrow night, Jones, the gay escort/masseuse who made headlines in November 2006 when he revealed the identity of one of his regulars, will take the stage in Naked Before God: Exposing the Hypocrisy of Ted…

Me and Mr. Jones

I have a date with Mike Jones. Actually, it’s a threesome – with Paula Woodward. Tomorrow night, Jones, the gay escort/masseuse who made headlines in November 2006 when he revealed the identity of one of his regulars, will take the stage in Naked Before God: Exposing the Hypocrisy of Ted…

In Memory: Imagining a Great City

Back in 1982, Sandy Widener, one of Westword’s co-founders who by then had gone on to far more respectable employment with Rocky Mountain Magazine, was charged with coming up with a campaign slogan for Federico Pena, a lawyer/legislator and very dark-horse candidate running for mayor of Denver. John Parr, Sandy’s…

Cops in MySpace

It’s no secret that police are logging onto MySpace to dig up incriminating information for criminal investigations. But who would’ve thought that cops are actually getting ON MySpace? Check out the official social networking page for the Denver Police Department that was registered last December. It not only has a…

French Kiss

“Is this your first time dining with us?” she asks, smiling. In response, I just bob my head like a moron—completely gone on whatever weird cocktail of hormones and brain chemicals it is that makes a grown man fall in love with a menu, with nothing more than words on…

French Kiss

“Is this your first time dining with us?” she asks, smiling. In response, I just bob my head like a moron—completely gone on whatever weird cocktail of hormones and brain chemicals it is that makes a grown man fall in love with a menu, with nothing more than words on…

Masters of Disguise

Originally, my review of Agave Grill was supposed to be a two-fer — a kind of culinary Entebbe Raid whereby Laura and I would roll in fast on slow nights to the King Soopers plaza at Orchard and Holly, where both Agave and Mel’s Greenwood Village incarnation are located, have…

Masters of Disguise

Originally, my review of Agave Grill was supposed to be a two-fer — a kind of culinary Entebbe Raid whereby Laura and I would roll in fast on slow nights to the King Soopers plaza at Orchard and Holly, where both Agave and Mel’s Greenwood Village incarnation are located, have…

Charity Began at Home

In December, I boarded an airplane bound for Haiti with Dan Jeune, a man who’d just worn a dashiki through Denver International Airport. Since back in my days at j-school, before I was ever paid to write a word, Haiti was a spot I’d hoped to go on a story…

March 4: “Critical Tuesday”

The night started out with Vermont being crazy. Not crazy because they went for frontrunners Barack Obama and John McCain, in sizeable fashion (Obama carried white voters, male voters and even female voters by smart margins), but because they voted to arrest Bush and Cheney, 2,012 to 1,795. If that…

Curb Your Enthusiasm

The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee just spewed out another release — this time noting that “local software company Nanco Global LLC has provided a software upgrade to the Host Committee’s volunteer page at www.DenverConvention2008.com.” Unfortunately, that upgrade clearly didn’t include a stop by spellcheck…

Scam, Bam, Thank You, Ma’am

Since writing my column about “Ana,” the faux-pregnant grifter poisoning this city’s fine streets, I have been inundated with many letters and countless comments from people who also fell victim to this scam-artist’s ruse – and not just in the Baker neighborhood – all expressing the same disbelief and frustration…

Mouth by Southwest

About three weeks ago, Chad Clevenger put Agave Grill through a mid-season menu overhaul, altering or outright dumping about two-thirds of the opening board. While the result could have been a return to the mixed Chihuahua-meets-Lyon Old World/New World fusion of the Cherry Creek Mel’s during Clevenger’s days there, he…

Mouth by Southwest

About three weeks ago, Chad Clevenger put Agave Grill through a mid-season menu overhaul, altering or outright dumping about two-thirds of the opening board. While the result could have been a return to the mixed Chihuahua-meets-Lyon Old World/New World fusion of the Cherry Creek Mel’s during Clevenger’s days there, he…

Crepe Nuts

Crepes ‘n Crepes is uncompromisingly, unabashedly and unstintingly French. The cooks are French. Owners Kathy Knight and Alain Veratti have imported all their iron crepe griddles from France. The ingredients and preparations — the Camembert and Chambord, ratatouille and sauce aux champignons — are French. And the space itself –…

Crepe Nuts

Crepes ‘n Crepes is uncompromisingly, unabashedly and unstintingly French. The cooks are French. Owners Kathy Knight and Alain Veratti have imported all their iron crepe griddles from France. The ingredients and preparations — the Camembert and Chambord, ratatouille and sauce aux champignons — are French. And the space itself –…

Last Chance for Life Skills

As reported in this story, Life Skills Center of Denver is the last chance at a high school diploma for many Denver dropouts. And now, thanks to the board of Denver Public Schools, the charter school is getting one last chance of its own…

Source of Humor

Truth is definitely stranger than fiction — but fiction gets plenty strange in A Highly Placed Source, a very funny novel by local media-relations consultant (and former Westword staffer) Michelle Dally. Drawing from her experience in politics, journalism and motherhood, she’s created an insider’s story that touches on everything from…

Really Free Speech

“I want to speak for things,” Jack Kerouac said, when asked why he was a writer. And this weekend, there will be plenty of people speaking on his behalf, as the Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life program continues to put the Central Library at the center of the town’s…

La La Land

Denver boosters are always whining about this town’s lack of celebrities, so they should stock up on the current issue of Sports Illustrated — the swimsuit edition, of course — which features some local (at least for now) talent: La La Vazquez, fiance of Nugget Carmelo Anthony. She’s one of…

The Green Machine

As reported in Off Limits this week, absinthe is now legal in the United States! And I don’t mean that phony shit that’s like anisette dyed green or that Eastern European stuff that tastes like cough syrup or that legally gray gunk shipped under cover and marketed specifically for its…

The Green Machine

As reported in Off Limits this week, absinthe is now legal in the United States! And I don’t mean that phony shit that’s like anisette dyed green or that Eastern European stuff that tastes like cough syrup or that legally gray gunk shipped under cover and marketed specifically for its…