On a quiet Sunday morning last February, Jaime Brown arrived at that dark and unthinkable place every young mother dreads. She walked into the room of her three-year-old daughter, Abigail Holland Brown, and found her face-down on her bed. Her skin was cold and blue. There was no breath, no…
Hotter than July? Or exactly as hot as July? Today in Backbeat Online: • Last Night’s Show: Meese at Twist & Shout. • DJ Vajra announces new project, offers free mix for download. • Flier of the Week: Get Down at Beta Friday, July 3. • Remembering Tickle Me Pink’s…
A blog earlier today detailed a Debtwire article about MediaNews Group, a Denver-based firm that owns dozens of newspapers around the country, including the Denver Post. That piece included information about a series of outstanding loans, as well as the following passage: “MediaNews has scheduled a 1 July lender call…
So being the financial masochist that I am, I decided to renew my car’s delinquent registration at 8 a.m. this morning, on the exact day that new fees and fines went into effect. The cost in March when my registration ran out: $87. The cost today: $283. But Jared, you…
We went blog picking. These, as always, are the fruits of our labor. If we left something delicious hanging on the branch, drop it in our basket. My god, this metaphor is tired. Will the Birdman fly the coop? Here’s hoping no. (Pickaxe and Roll) Independence Day: A lovely day…
Good news for at least some job seekers: The Denver Business Journal reported today that a recent survey by ConsultNet, an IT and engineering staffing agency, shows that 25 percent of surveyed companies expect to hire more IT and engineering staff in the next six months. That’s up from 10…
Some folks find Garrison Keillor to be an acquired taste (myself included, some of the time), but it isn’t hard to fall into the mesmerizing drag of his dulcet tones. I remember when Keillor’s powerful radio wizardry first truly overtook me: It was in the midst of a Guy Noir…
There’s not much respect and affection to be found between former colleagues David Shaklee and Jim Hibbard. The controversial Adams County coroner whose strained dealings with other agencies and his own staff is the subject of this week’s cover story, “The Body Shop,” Hibbard used to work for the county…
Until recently, Lesley Kennedy, a founding partner of the new Denveralamode.com website, served as fashion editor and deputy features editor for the Rocky Mountain News, earning a reputation for stylishness and accessibility during her nine years at the tabloid. But this experience didn’t help her land another newspaper gig when…
Don’t let the current economic recession ruin your summer fun. As the daytime temperatures rise, bike riders and rafters can riverdance to the Denver rhythm in the heart of the city every Thursday night in July…
While TV networks aplenty have rehashed the late Michael Jackson’s various legal battles over child-molestation allegations, they’ve neglected his early ’90s court appearance in Denver, when he defended himself against accusations from singer-songwriter Crystal Cartier that the title track of the 1991 album Dangerous ripped off her 1988 tune of…
Armed robbers are almost invariably armed with the same thing: a gun. Bo-ring! But nineteen-year-old Dylan Lee Suomi reportedly took a different tack Tuesday night when he decided to boost some Oxycontin from a Glendale Walgreens, using a samurai sword. Can’t say this switcheroo was all that successful: He managed…
When the Rocky Mountain News was put up for sale in December (a move that prefigured its February closure), employees clinging to hopes of a last minute reversal of fortune repeatedly pointed to the debts burdening MediaNews Group, owner of the Rocky’s rival, the Denver Post. Because MediaNews, chaired by…
Today, former Saturday Night Live castmember Al Franken is the toast of the Democratic Party after the Minnesota Supreme Court confirmed his ultra-narrow November 2008 senatorial victory over Republican Norm Coleman, who’s finally conceded defeat. Given the hoopla, it’s easy to forget how shaky his status has been, in both…
Yesterday, Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, leveled a formal complaint against Aurora City Council member Ryan Frazier with the to-do of a major political bombshell. Noting they’d filed a compliant with the Aurora City Clerk accusing Frazier, an up-and coming GOP hotshot who’s aiming for Michael Bennett’s Senate…
James Dobson’s February decision to step down as chairman of Focus on the Family doesn’t mean the organization is abandoning its ideological agenda. Indeed, his minions are as busy as ever attacking governmental actions that don’t represent Focus on the Family values, including pretty much anything having to do with…
We’re accustomed to seeing celebrities threatened with jail sentences walk out of court after receiving much more minor penalties. But not in the case of Nuggets guard J.R. Smith. Yesterday, we told you that Smith faced a possible forty days behind bars in relation to a 2007 crash that killed…
See you next month. Today in Backbeat Online: • Rabbit is a Sphere giving away entire discography. • Michael Jackson’s single, bedazzled glove: What’s up with that? • MP3 Freeloader: The Nautical Mile Sunday, July 5 at hi-dive. • CacheFlowe’s “Computer World” video. • Download a track from Breathe Carolina’s…
If you think it’s time-consuming to maintain your own Facebook page, imagine how Mayor John Hickenlooper must feel. The guy’s got nearly 5,000 “friends” — or at least he will until the end of the day Tuesday, when they will all become simply “fans.” “I am deleting this personal profile…
Just when you thought serial abuser Brandon Marshall couldn’t become any less sympathetic, voila! Along comes something else to make the Broncos receiver look like a churlish, entitled moron. Thanks for the latest evidence goes to Tony Kovaleski and Arthur Kane of Channel 7, who got their hands on a…
Another look at local blog goodness. Missing something? Send links here. If you thought you were rid of the folks behind last election season’s anti-abortion movement, then…. Who am I kidding? We all knew they’d be back. (Colorado Pols) Rep. Betsy Markey probably didn’t mean she she reads the entire,…
Back again with three more great Twits to follow for your burgeoning Twitter feed. As always, follow us at @denverwestword, @cafewestword and @casciato. @TCGO1974: The Twitter feed of Kamtin Mohager, aka The Chain Gang of 1974, one of Denver’s up-and-coming musical exports and an active Twit. Currently, Mr. Mohager is…
