The Temporary Return of a Rocky Mountain News Expatriate

As noted in this Message column from April, Rocky Mountain News video game writer Brian D. Crecente (pictured) was one of four members of the tabloid’s feature staff who management wanted to transfer back to the news division, in order to fill holes left by attrition. Crecente, who’d built a…

Addicted to Dunkin’ Donuts

I have good news for everyone who’s been bugging me since I mentioned back in March that Dunkin’ Donuts had signed a deal that would put its excellent coffee into retail locations across the country. Finally, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is available at Colorado Rite Aid locations…

Star Car

This incredible art car was spotted somewhere in Denver by Flickr user Seetwist. The full-size version of the photo above can be found here. Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to have any info about who built or owns the thing, but he does have quite a few more pictures of it,…

Fishing for Compliments

On September 5, assorted chefs from the Oceanaire Seafood Room restaurants will offer up the Ultimate Seafood Experience at the James Beard House in New York City – and Matt Mine, chef at Denver’s Oceanaire that opened just a month ago at 1400 Arapahoe Street, will be among them. On…

The Brunch Bunch

Rise and shine, hipsters! Two of Denver’s finest bar/pub hangouts are now serving brunch. Sputnik — located at 3 South Broadway next to the hi-dive — has been serving up brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for about a month now, and offers a nice,…

The Caged Life

When the goon squad showed up at his place at five in the morning, Tommy Silverstein knew something was up. He wasn’t accustomed to greeting guests at such an ungodly hour — much less a team of corrections officers, helmeted and suited up for action. In fact, Silverstein wasn’t used…

Baby Half-Wit

When I visit my parents, I usually take one of the dogs for a walk. Dorothy and Sylvia are the two creatures that make me most happy in this world, and a walk is the very least I can do to show my gratitude. And it is on these walks…

Fortress of Solitude

A hundred miles southwest of Denver, the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum houses a killer lineup of mobsters (Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano), gang leaders (Barry “The Baron” Mills), assassins (Colombian hit man Dandenis “La Quica” Muñoz Mosquera) and terrorists (John “American Taliban” Walker Lindh). But not to worry — despite…

Bad Joke

Until recently, the most popular pages on the North Denver News’s website included a 2005 article on Sunflower Market’s plan to open a store at the old Elitch Gardens site and information on how to submit your poodle for the paper’s “pet of the month.” That changed last week, when…

People Power

Just like the district he represents, Chris Nevitt contains two seemingly contradictory sides. First there’s the hardcore union activist: “Unions built the middle class. Historically, when unions were strong, America was strong. And, frankly, over the years many union-supported politicians have sold working people down the river over and over.”…

You on the Tube

Plenty of new media boosters hailed the July 23 YouTube debate of Democratic presidential contenders on CNN as an egalitarian breakthrough — the first event of its type at which real people, not Beltway insiders, asked the questions. But Adam Schrager knows better. For the past several years the veteran…

Letters to the Editor

“Prize Patrol,” Patricia Calhoun, August 9 Eye on the Prize I’m not sure if Ms. Engle and Mr. Suvanjieff understand the rarified company they would find themselves in should they win the Nobel Peace Prize. Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most feckless and ineffective American president of the twentieth century, and…

Geeks on Board

Board games can be a lot of fun, but unless you have a bunch of friends with identical schedules and equally geeky taste in pastimes, it can be hard to get enough people together for a good game. Luckily, the Internet can be used to bring people together for more…

Cedric the Vodka Drinker

I don’t know why seeing Cedric the Entertainer would make you want to drink vodka, but clearly the people who sell Ceren Vodka think it’s a great idea, because Cedric was at the Ceren launch party at the Mile High Station last week. When I asked Cedric for his favorite…

Art Bucks for Booze

While art galleries keep looking for loopholes in the state liquor laws that would allow them to serve alcohol during openings, one bar has already come up with a solution. The Highland Tavern, located at 3400 Navajo Street, is passing out Art Bucks good for a dollar off your tab…

Sound Bites: Udi’s Bread Café

The Stapleton neighborhood just got a new place where you can grab a quick bite for breakfast. Udi’s Bread Café (7357 East 29th Avenue, 303-329-8888) — already revered for dishing up some of the neighborhood’s best dinner and weekend brunch entrees — began serving up a pared-down weekday breakfast menu…

The Working Women of Wellington

August 14, 2007 Wellington, New Zealand Subject: The Ambassadors of Penzance Boss, CJ’s was located a few blocks away from my motel in the capitol of Kiwi-land. Just a pink neon sign and an empty doorway painted sea foam green, sharing the building with an auto body shop full of…

ID Victory

Last Thursday, I opened my mailbox to find a little surprise that would change my life in a big way: My driver license! It finally came! Over the past two weeks I had visited the Department of Motor Vehicles twice in order to acquire the plastic card. My visits (chronicled…

Burn, Baby, Burn

Congressman Tom Tancredo’s fourth-place finish in last Saturday’s Iowa Straw Poll indicates that some people are actually taking him seriously as a candidate – and not just in this country. A few days earlier, protesters in Lahore, Pakistan, burned Tancredo in effigy, right alongside smoldering dummies of President George W…

Georgetown.com redux

As was noted in a May Off Limits column, promotional efforts for the Georgetown Loop railroad have recently been stymied by www.georgetowncolorado.com, www.georgetownloop.com and www.gtownloop.com – websites owned by former Loop operator Mark Greksa. The sites, which are usually the first to pop up in a Google search on the…

Hey, I Can See My House From Here!

According to this blog post, Denver is the most texture-mapped city on Earth. What does that mean? It means you can fly through a remarkably realistic mock up of our fair city with the right software on your computer (available here). For those without a computer powerful enough to run…