Owing to an aunt who taught ballroom dancing classes, I know more than I should about that world. And even so, I was amazed — slack-jawed, even — when Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader whose tactics earned him the nickname “The Hammer,” showed up as a contestant on…
Dear Mexican: In “Garfield” strips in the funny pages that appeared earlier this year, Garfield is wearing a sombrero and taking siestas. While cute and all, isn’t that the sort of thing that we have been striving to stop? What was Jim Davis thinking? Maybe he needs a refresher course…
When we heard that Joe Rogan, the host of Fear Factor, had moved to town, we immediately started working on our list of the Ten Most Frightening Things About Life in Denver. The fact that a DIA shuttle driver could be part of an international terrorist conspiracy came in at…
Political journalist Helen Thorpe had a problem when she moved to Denver: She came here to marry John Hickenlooper, an entrepreneur who soon decided to plunge into politics and was elected mayor of Denver. What does a top reporter married to the town’s top politician write about? The underdogs, the…
The 22nd Annual Uptown Sampler runs tonight from 5-8:30 p.m., and there’s no better way to get a taste of how this neighborhood has finally grown into a real restaurant row. It was 25 years ago that Cliff Young opened his eponymous restaurant at 700 East 17th Avenue, in a…
The back of the Beauvallon, Craig Nassi’s monumental mess, is now wrapped in scaffolding and fabric, like a Christo construction looming over the Golden Triangle. But the art of this deal isn’t pretty. The building is in receivership, and the last three retail tenants — who dared to complain about…
When Cliff Young’s opened back in 1984, it was the hottest restaurant in town — a beautiful space on East 17th Avenue that was full of beautiful people eating beautiful food. After that run ended in ’93, Young wound up moving to France, where he bought an old manor house…
It was “old home week,” Mayor John Hickenlooper proclaimed yesterday at the kick-off for a new event, Denver Beer Fest, which has the town overflowing with more than150 beery happenings between now and September 27. Hickenlooper was referring not just to the setting of the announcement — the Wynkoop Brewing…
City officials and other Denver dignitaries will be on hand this morning when the Four Seasons project tops off with the placement of “The Mast,” a 75-foot capper to the 45-story hotel-and-residential development on 14th Street. There was a little less hoopla last Friday, when city officials cut a ribbon…
Dear Mexican: We gabachos get differing reports regarding the Reconquista. Some say it’s a genuine movement, well under way. Others claim it’ll never happen, but that it’s useful as a slogan that both antagonizes white America and energizes young Mexicans. Let’s say for now that it’s a genuine movement destined…
Steve Horner is not happy, and his unhappiness fills my voice mail, spilling over in message after message. The source of this bitter spew? A recent ruling from the Division of Civil Rights, an “amended determination” in response to charge No. P20090009X, a complaint that Horner had originally filed against…
As she kicked off her campaign as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate yesterday, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton promised to stand up to the “big spenders in both parties.” But big spenders in the Republican Party have certainly stood up for Jane Norton before. In fact, they helped…
The Best and Worst of National News for July according to GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is out, and Kenny Be — yes, Kenny Be,Westword’s sensitive and insightful staff cartoonist — is on the hit list. Here’s the story from GLAAD’s website: THE WORST The Denver Westword…
The 2010 election is still more than thirteen months away, but the race for the U.S. Senate season occupied (for the past eight months) by Michael Bennet really starts this week. On Tuesday, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton will formally announce her bid for the Republican nomination — taking on…
Juicy Lucy’s has given up the ghost at 250 Josephine Street — a ghost that’s claimed so many other restaurants, including Papillon, Indigo, Go Fish Grille and Tula. Although the restaurant closed suddenly last Thursday, the owners — who also own the popular Juicy Lucy’s in Glenwood Springs — have…
Apparently all the behind-the-scenes arm-twisting hasn’t convinced Andrew Romanoff to abandon the idea of running for Michael Bennet’s Senate seat. The former Speaker of the House hasn’t been speaking to the press since word of his possible Senate race leaked out two weeks ago, but yesterday, he issued one of…
In this week’s Westword, Joel Warner reports on the ganjapreneurs, economic adventurers exploring this state’s booming business in medical marijuana. Among the folks high on the field’s possibilities: the Candy Girls, three women who started a company that cooks up goodies made with cannabis-infused oils or butters. This medicine may…
I am not a lawyer, but lately I’ve been called upon to play one when visiting local watering holes — as a member of the bar, so to speak. The owners of these locales all want to know one thing: Can they hold a ladies’ night? I’ve developed an unwanted…
Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans make the sign of mucho dinero with a gap between their thumb and index fingers, as if holding an imaginary wad of bills between both fingers? El Zorro Chupagringos Dear Gabacho-Sucking Fox: Because if a pendejo like you can get the gesture, imagine us normal…
Since Tony’s Market moved in across the street from the Westword office at 950 Broadway, we’ve been making a lot of runs to the store. But nothing beat our most recent mission: joining a crew of faithful customers and founder Tony Rosacci to judge specialty burgers, all created by staffers…
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read,” Scout, the young tomboy narrator, confides in To Kill a Mockingbird. “One does not love breathing.” Now, To Kill a Mockingbird has been called on to breathe new life into One Book, One Denver, the program that promotes…
The Colorado Division of Civil Rights finally issued a ruling affirming Westword’s position that by publishing an ad for a ladies’ night at a local club, the paper did not discriminate against Steve Horner. And the decision didn’t stop there: In addition to agreeing that a newspaper is not a…
