Boulder Weekly 05.09.2024

The Wind Cries Mahler

A classical giant gets the rock treatment in Boulder P.12

Credit: Isaac Schneider

COMMENTARY

OPINION

BALANCE, NOT BETRAYAL

Unpacking 2A and what its advocates get wrong

BY NICOLE SPEER AND MARK WALLACH

Last month, the Boulder Weekly published a lengthy recitation of grievances and claims of betrayal by the city from some in Boulder’s arts community (“Compromise and consequence,” April 25).

At the heart of that argument was the following complaint: Last November, Boulder voters approved initiative 2A, which provides approximately $3.6 million annually in dedicated arts and culture funding beginning in 2025. The city budgeted $1.8 million for the arts from our general

fund in 2024, and the arts community believes it should be entitled to both this $1.8 million and the approximately $3.6 million from 2A in perpetuity. Because staff wouldn’t guarantee this total of $5.4 million of arts funding for 2025, the city had betrayed 2A’s backers.

That’s a lot to unpack, but let’s give it a whirl.

First, city departments and programs aren’t entitled to general funds, where the $1.8 million we currently spend on the Office of Arts and Culture originates and which includes

MAY 9, 2024

Volume 31, Number 38

PUBLISHER: Francis J. Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

INTERN: Lauren Hill

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Kaylee Harter, Kelly Dean Hansen, Christopher Piercy, Dan Savage, Nicole Speer, Toni Tresca, Gregory Wakeman, Mark Wallach

SALES AND MARKETING

MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: Kellie Robinson

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Matthew Fischer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Chris Allred, Holden Hauke

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Chris Sawyer

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER/ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Austen Lopp

FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo

the budget for arts grants. Every year, staff and council evaluate the city’s needs holistically and allocate general fund money to departments and programs to meet as many needs as possible. As a result of 2A, $3.6 million in arts funding is no longer beholden to that holistic process; the $1.8 million from the general fund is. Regarding the expectation that the last council could mandate future councils allocate general fund money in a particular way, we stated explicitly in our public discussions that we did not have this power. Suggesting city leaders betrayed the community is unnecessarily inflammatory and quite misleading. No such commitment was made; in fact, it was specifically anticipated at that time that the $3.6 million in guaranteed new funding would supersede the funds provided from the general fund.

As Boulder County’s only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holdsbarred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county’s most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you’re interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO 80305 Phone: 303.494.5511, FAX: 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com

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Unfortunately, this is not the only point from the article that was inflammatory and mis leading.

You were told that half of the city’s $1.8 million arts budget went to “internal expenditures,” leaving only $900,000 available for grants. This is false. Administrative costs were around $400,000 in 2023; the $3.6 million will represent a doubling of arts funding, not arts administration.

You were told that the $3.6 million 2A directed toward the arts would represent the entirety of the city’s arts funding. This is false. 2A is one of many sources of arts funding in the city. The Capital Improvement Program will direct over $1 mil lion to artists to produce public art projects for the community in the next few years. Arts nonprofits are getting $74,000 in the Community Culture, Resilience and Safety tax grants’ first round. In addition, the city provides rent subsidies to BMoCA, the Dairy and Chautauqua, which are worth millions of dollars yearly.

emergency fund, considered sound financial management practice.

However, this is not an annual deduction but a one-time transfer which each following year is only adjusted for growth. It is only replenished after it is used for an emergency.

Departments such as Parks and Recreation, Open Space and Mountain Parks, and Housing and Human Services have separate budgets for arts programming, including the Human Services grants program and Parks and Recreation’s contracts for the Pottery Lab, among many others. Later this year, our Facilities and Fleet department will spend $250,000 to have artists from Tajikistan repaint the Teahouse. None of these expenses are included in the arts budget referenced in the article.

You were told that $600,000 of 2A funding will be put into an emergency fund each year, substantially reducing the funds available for the arts. This is false. In the first year (2025), 16.7% ($601,200) will be set aside as an

You were told we spend less money on the arts than other communities.

This is false. Data shows that the City of Boulder’s 2023 allocation for grants was higher per capita than many other government grant funders, including Denver Arts and Venues, Colorado Creative Industries and the National Endowment for the Arts. Also, the arts budget in comparable cities often includes the significant costs for maintaining and operating venues such as city-run museums and theaters.

We’ll say it once again for the folks in the back: Boulder’s current $1.8 million arts budget does not account for the millions of dollars in free rent we give yearly to venues like Chautauqua and the Dairy Arts Center.

Last fall, 2A’s supporters told you that doubling arts funding by diverting $3.6 million from the general fund would not impact other city programs. This was false. Many social services programs implemented in the last few years to offset the lingering economic impacts of COVID-19 on our nonprofits, households and businesses are at risk of being cut or eliminated due to the sunsetting of ARPA funding.

Here is what is true: Our city’s budget of approximately $514 million — less than $5,000 per resident — is not large enough to meet our community’s growing needs and offset the local impacts of regional and national problems such as homelessness, unaffordable housing, climaterelated disasters, energy and food monopolies, migration, mental illness and drug addiction.

Here is what is also true: Municipal budgeting is a zero-sum game. Adding dollars to one program requires cutting them from another. In a climate where painful cuts are inevitable and our community’s needs far outweigh our budget, every other department in the city would gladly change places with the arts community and “settle” for doubling their budgets.

None of us should be comfortable pitting arts funding against food for families, services for people experiencing homelessness or prevention of the next wildfire. In a community, we all matter and should have what we need. But it is not fair to direct this discomfort at city staff and accuse them of betraying our community because they cannot magically meet everyone’s needs. Besides, it is the city council — not staff — that has ultimate responsibility for the budget. The buck stops with us.

More public funding for the arts or any other city-funded program will require us to consider which sacrifices we are willing to make. We’ll have some complex discussions as we create a long-term strategic financial plan for the city in the next two years.

We welcome suggestions on where to spend more money as we plan for our 2025 budget. Just make sure to also tell us what you want to cut, because failure to do so indicates a lack of seriousness.

And please, let’s have enough respect for each other to keep our disagreements grounded in facts. That way we can work together to build a future where we can meet all our community’s needs.

Current Boulder Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Speer and former Boulder Mayor Pro Tem/Councilmember Mark Wallach are writing in their individual capacities. Their views do not necessarily reflect the views of Council or the City of Boulder.

This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

Wallach and Speer are correct: We got some things wrong in our article. As stated above, we incorrectly reported the amount of arts funding that goes to administrative costs and the amount that will go toward creating an emergency reserve fund.

Although we did report that the city funds arts initiatives in a number of ways (including allowing use of city buildings), we suggested elsewhere in the article that 2A represented the “lone” source of funding, rather than the more accurate majority of monetary support (not including in-kind support such as use of city property).

We apologize for the errors and lack of clarity.

We hate getting stuff wrong, but we insist upon fixing it when we do. If you’ve spotted something inaccurate in our paper, please email us: editorial@boulderweekly.com — Shay Castle, editor-in-chief

RECYCLING REVOLUTION

Big companies will pay to divert the waste they create under new state plan

BY SHAY CASTLE

Colorado’s plan to massively expand recycling across the state — and get big companies to pay for it — took another step forward last month as state lawmakers approved a recently completed report showing just how much it will cost to recycle more goods in more places.

The needs assessment, approved last month by the joint budget committee of the Colorado Legislature, found it will take $160-$260 million to build out the state’s recycling services by 2030; $190$310 million by 2035. That includes the cost of building new Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in parts of the state that lack them, bringing the possibility of recycling to some 600,000 households.

Our current recycling system costs $80-$140 million to operate. But instead of local governments and residents paying for recycling, as they do now, the new system will be funded by the businesses that create the waste: Companies — including huge multinational corporations like Amazon, Walmart, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo and General Mills — will be charged a fee on packaging used for their products.

Basically, explains Suzanne Jones, executive director of nonprofit recycler Eco-Cycle, “The consumer brands are going to pay to provide free recycling to all Coloradans.”

The system is an example of extend-

ed producer responsibility, or EPR, a policy that attempts to make companies pay for the disposal or recycling of the products and packaging they send into the market, or recycle materials themselves.

Common in the EU and Canada, some forms of EPR have existed in the U.S. for years. More than a dozen states have rules requiring manufacturer-funded recycling or take-backs of toxic materials like paint, batteries and electronics, or hard-to-recycle products such as mattresses.

Colorado is the fourth state to enact EPR systems for packaging. Companies must be in compliance by July 2025. There are exemptions, including for companies with less than $5 million in yearly revenue.

The goal is to reduce the amount and toxicity of packaging materials. Proponents hope to improve Colorado’s abysmal diversion rates: In 2021, the state kept just 16% of its (solid) trash out of the landfill.

The stated intent under EPR is 47-60% diversion by 2035, a figure major manufacturers are skeptical will be met. The Colorado Consumer Coalition, which represents business owners, questions projected recycling rates and says that, while more packaging materials may be recycled, the state will still create millions of metric tons of waste.

“We’re disappointed that the Joint Budget Committee did not see the obscene costs to this meager return as prohibitory to this program moving forward,” the statement reads. “This program will cost upward of $260 million per year, fees that will inevitably be passed on to Colorado consumers at a time when inflation has made grocery runs a painful experience for most families.”

What that fee will be is to be determined: It will come from the estimated total cost of an expanded system. In other places, companies typically pay “a percentage of a penny to a penny” per unit, says Jessica Heiges, PhD, a project director in zero waste and circularity at consulting firm WSP.

But, she notes, the definition of “unit” is “ambiguous.” It can be by weight — such as in Oregon, where preliminary fee estimates range from 15-26 cents per pound — or per product. “A cup could be a unit.”

As to whether those costs are being passed onto consumers, “we don’t know,” Heiges says. Comprehensive studies haven’t been done, and there are many factors influencing the costs of goods. “A good proxy” might be hard-to-recycle materials already subject to EPR.

There’s a case to be made that certain types of plastics could be considered hard-to-recycle-materials, Heiges says.

“Plastics, specifically styrofoam, are gunking up the mechanical recycling machines and making it harder for those machines to recycle” more easily processed types of plastics. “Contamination is really what is ruining our recycling rates.”

Colorado’s needs assessment

revealed that 10-20% of recycling is contaminated, causing “equipment downtime, contaminated commodities, lost revenue, worker injuries, increased residue costs, reduced throughput, reduced efficiency and equipment wear and tear.” (The rate includes all materials, not just packaging.)

Proponents of EPR hope the system will financially incentivize companies to use better materials and recapture what’s already been produced rather than continuing to extract from the earth. The legislation also includes something called eco-modulation, wherein fees are reduced for packaging made out of more easily recyclable material such as cardboard.

“The whole idea is to incentivize them to use materials that are easy to collect, sort, put back in the marketplace and disincentivize things that take away from that system,” Jones says. We are “setting up the system to incentivize better outcomes.”

Heiges believes there’s also an “environmental justice component of waste” to consider. “What community is it being landfilled or incinerated in? What impacts does it have on soil degradation? I think that’s an oversight of many of us. We don’t even know where our waste is going.”

As more states pursue similar policies, supporters like Jones hope a national system will eventually supplant individual state policies.

“Producer responsibility is the game changer,” Jones says. “That’s the whole thing, to turn the system the right side up. The cost of recovering all this material is put on to the brands that are producing it in the first place. They’re going to pay for the stuff they put into the world.”

GOV’T WATCH

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

At the May 16 meeting, council will:

• Vote on whether to allow the city manager to authorize intergovernmental agreements with Lafayette, Erie, Louisville and the Boulder County Housing Authority that establish a two-year pilot project. The project, funded by Boulder County and administered by city staff, aims to establish a regional approach to the housing crisis and meet state growth requirements established last year by Proposition 123.

• Review a proposed Boulder Housing Partners development in Gunbarrel called Sunset Park that would build 23 townhomes and 124 apartments. Two office buildings (6550 and 6560 Gunpark Drive) on the site, located south of Gunpark Drive and east of Spine Road, would be demolished.

• Hold a public hearing and vote on whether to adopt an updated energy conservation code, which sets performance standards for new and renovated buildings. Proposed changes to the 2020 rules include requiring electric appliances in most new construction projects or renovations and refining electric vehicle infrastructure requirements to meet state standards. (The city has required EV charging infrastructure for new construction since 2017). Codes are updated every three years.

• Give direction to staff on a project aiming to curb emissions from gas-powered landscape equipment. Staff are in the early stages of exploring solutions to mitigate those impacts, which could include strategies like a complete ban of certain equip-

ment or fuel. According to the city, emissions from one hour of lawn mower use are roughly equivalent to driving 300 miles.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

This week, commissioners will:

• Host a public hearing May 14 at 9:30 a.m. and vote on allowing the Parks and Open Space department to acquire four different properties totaling more than 500 acres for $8.2 million. The biggest and most expensive area includes two conservation easements (493 acres, $7.2 million) adjacent to Heil Valley Ranch open space called Spruce Gulch. Commissioners will also vote to grant United Power, a rural electric cooperative, with permanent, nonexclusive access to part of Alexander Dawson open space (north of Lafayette) to provide more electrical power to the area.

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL

Last week, council:

• Received an update on the city’s water supply. Reservoir storage is at 95%, preventing collection of additional spring runoff. Recommended drought planning storage capacity is three years; Lafayette currently has one year. Watering restrictions remain in place, limiting resi dents to watering lawns and gardens three days a week, excluding the hours between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

• Approved the annual request for Boulder County to partner on potential trails and open space acquisition and/or conservation projects, including trails and open space east of Old Town, an extension of the U.S. 287 multimodal trail, trail connec tions to Boulder at Teller Lake, and extending and preserving the Two Creeks Prairie ecosys tem.

Karen Norback contributed to this reporting. All agendas are subject to change.

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NEWS

BOCO, BRIEFLY

Local news at a glance

BY KAYLEE HARTER

BOULDER SETTLES FOR $1M OVER MISHANDLED CASE

Boulder City Council approved a $1 million settlement with Benjamin Cronin, a Boulder resident who was accused of sexual assault when he was a minor and says the city violated his civil rights during the criminal case.

According to a city memo, Cronin “threatened to sue the city and two police officers” for failing to secure and disclose evidence that could have exonerated him. Cronin’s criminal case was dismissed by Twentieth Judicial District Chief Judge Bakke for lack of probable cause at a 2023 preliminary hearing.

“We are pleased to see the City of Boulder take responsibility for two of its detectives’ wrongful behavior,” Cronin’s attorneys, Christian Griffin and Gwyneth Whalen, said in a written statement. The statement said Cronin’s “high school and college years were irreparably damaged by the detectives’ violations of his constitutional rights.”

The attorneys’ statement also said

“the misconduct is part and parcel of the Boulder Police Department’s ongoing, systemic failure to train and supervise its detectives.”

An internal investigation in 2022 found that a number of cases between 2019 and 2022 were not investigated or fully investigated. Those findings resulted in disciplinary action against five officers, including Detective Kwame Williams, who was on Cronin’s case and resigned in 2023, according to city spokesperson Sarah Huntley. In a written statement, she said the settlement doesn’t reflect any findings “about the merits of the underlying allegations against Mr. Cronin.”

“The fact that this case was not investigated as it should have been in the months after it was first opened, however, is deeply regrettable,” she said in the statement. “The mishandling of the case does not reflect the standards that we expect of ourselves as an organization, nor what our community expects of us, and the city recognizes the lasting and devastating impact this has had on everyone involved in the original case.”

Cronin initially requested $4 million in damages, according to the city memo. The memo stated that “the city attorney believes that it is unlikely that the city will be in a significantly better economic position by litigating the case as compared to approving

the proposed settlement agreement.” City council is required to approve all settlements over $50,000. Last month, council approved a $75,000 settlement with Joslynn Montoya, a deaf mother who claimed the city violated her civil rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act when police officers didn’t provide an American Sign Language interpreter during an interaction at a domestic violence shelter.

BUFFS GRADUATE THURSDAY

More than 9,400 degrees will be awarded at CU Boulder’s spring commencement Thursday, May 9.

That includes 6,882 undergraduate degrees, 1,789 masters degrees, 464 doctoral degrees, 141 MBA degrees and 194 law degrees as of May 3, including fall 2023 and spring and summer 2024 grads. Graduates this year range in age from 20 to 63, according to a CU spokesperson. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who attended CU Boulder in the late ’60s, will deliver the commencement address.

The ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. at Folsom Field and is scheduled to last about 90 minutes. Tickets are not required for spectators.

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Employees of Boulder’s Mental Health Partners (MHP) facility will soon vote on whether to unionize, the Daily Camera reported. If employees decide to unionize, MHP will be the first unionized mental health and substance use facility in the city. Voting results will be shared by May 21, according to Daily Camera reporting.

• Boulder Weekly took home six awards in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism competition. The regional contest included 80 newsrooms from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. Award-winning reporting from BW included stories on a controversial church, prison agriculture programs, Colorado’s struggling child welfare system and the state’s new poet laureate.

BODY TALK

Julian Cashwan Pratt of Show Me the Body on mutual aid and the New York Sound

BY CHRISTOPHER PIERCY

The cacophonous, shape-shifting blend of hardcore, hip-hop and noise cooked up by New York City’s Show Me the Body delivers a jolt to the system.

Formed as a high-school punk band in 2009, the outfit is led by menacing frontman Julian Cashwan Pratt. Conjuring a uniquely demented sound from a metallically overdriven banjo, he is joined by the bruising Jackie McDermott on drums and Harlan Steed on bass, assorted synths and pedal board noise-makers. Together, the trio pays homage to their DIY forebears while sounding like no one else.

“We do what the fuck we want to do,” Pratt says when asked about where they fit within the rich tapestry of NYC music history. “I think of it as a lineage of New York Sound, starting from people singing doo-wop on the corner, and then the Ramones making doo-wop into punk songs. Then hip-hop happened. When I was growing up, I was

Going to the gig? Read a Boulder Weekly interview with headliner Knocked Loose: bit.ly/KnockedLooseBW

listening to [late Harlem rapper] Big L and no-wave music and stuff. So to me, it’s really all New York Sound, baby.”

Show Me the Body grew out of an adolescent friendship between Steed and Pratt, eventually leading to the creation of a collective of revolutionary youth dubbed CORPUS. Based on the tenants of direct action and working-class solidarity, the group spearheaded by the Queens-based band helps organize mutual aid initiatives with local homeless shelters, free self-defense classes for kids and fundraising campaigns for causes like Palestinian relief and more.

“And we do a book club,” Pratt adds.

COP CITY

If it’s not clear by now, Show Me the Body aren’t some nihilistic, jaded punks. But you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise after listening to the band’s most recent album, Trouble the Water, which pushes their ferocious New York Sound into the red. Sonically, the group’s third release via Loma Vista Recordings finds them even wilder, weirder and more titanic.

The record opens with a subdued yet threatening banjo on opener “Loose Talk” before careening into a blast of barely contained violence. Pratt’s knifesharp lyrics cut through the broken systems gentrifying our cities and leaving communities broken in the face of deadly police violence.

“They say they’re raising the numbers / more killed over the weekend,” Pratt slurs into the mic with a heavy New York accent on the album’s slowburning first track. “Humidity makes the police stupid / and they’ll kill some if they can.”

‘FOR THE KIDS’

At this point in the phone interview, Pratt is briefly distracted on the call by a passing friend and takes a moment to chat — an off-the-cuff example of his visibility in the extended community he serves.

“Most of our initiatives cost money for us to achieve, but they’re all free for our community,” Pratt says, after apologizing for the interruption. “Most of the CORPUS initiatives are for kids. And then there’s the other side, which is a label, and we throw shows and we put out music.”

Some of the label’s recent and upcoming releases include records from Atlanta hardcore band Symbiote, New York artists Dr. Slice and Posterboy, and D.C. rapper WiFiGawd.

While the collective has been successful in both its musical and mutual aid campaigns, Pratt says the path pursued by CORPUS isn’t the only way to make a difference in the places we call home.

“No one singular vision is ever going to lead to the best result,” he says. “The mutual visions combined can lead to something that not one person could have thought of, and that will always be more sacred and most special.”

No strangers to sneering at systems of oppression, Show Me the Body attracted major attention in 2019 for their caustic sophomore album Dog Whistle. Just as that momentum was growing, COVID ground live music to a halt. But the stark new reality offered an opportunity for the band to deepen their social mission.

“All of our time was spent working on our initiatives,” Pratt says. “Obviously, no one was happy about what was happening, and people went through hardships, and some had people [close to them] who died and it’s really awful. But at the same time, it did give us, as Show Me the Body, the ability to really hone in the core group that is CORPUS — not just the community, but the actual working group, and get a whole lot more shit done during the pandemic.”

Pratt is eager to discuss this community-level work, but a big part of what he finds so edifying is the reaction he gets from young people at the shows — kids who seem genuinely engaged with the music and the mission of Show Me the Body.

“We make this music, but it’s for the kids who listen to it and find shelter within it,” Pratt says. “I was a young kid in the scene, but really felt taken care of by the people around me. Feeling like this is a world that I want to be in and I feel comfortable in. Show Me the Body shows are for everybody.”

ON THE BILL: Knocked Loose with Show Me the Body, Loathe and SPEED. 6 p.m. Sunday, May 19, Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $40

“We make this music, but it’s for the kids who listen to it and find shelter within it,” says Julian Cashwan Pratt (center) of genre-bending New York hardcore trio Show Me the Body. Credit: Nick Sethi

Show Me the Body’s third album, Trouble the Water, is out now on CD, LP and streaming services. Courtesy: Loma Vista Recordings

MOVING MOUNTAINS

MahlerFest 37 includes gigantic Richard Strauss work and Gustav Mahler’s most modest symphony

BY KELLY DEAN HANSEN

Nearly two decades ago, a 12,497-foot peak in Colorado’s Never Summer Mountains was officially named Mount Mahler to honor the Austrian postromantic composer. Colorado MahlerFest, the annual Boulder event dedicated to his music, was instrumental in lobbying for the toponym.

But the long-running festival is about more than its mountain-sized namesake. This year’s event will include works by Richard Strauss, Mahler’s contemporary, friend and sometime rival. Fittingly, the German composer’s An Alpine Symphony will be featured during this month’s MahlerFest 37, whose theme is “Mahler and the Mountains.”

“The last time Mahler conducted

Strauss was at a concert in New York before his final illness and death in 1911,” says MahlerFest Music Director Kenneth Woods. Mahler paired his own Fourth Symphony with the Strauss tone poem Ein Heldenleben

In 1915, Strauss composed An Alpine Symphony, his last and largest tone poem — an orchestral work typically composed of a single, unbroken movement — in part as a memorial to Mahler. “He struggled with the work and its concept until Mahler died, then it became clear to him,” Woods says. “It seemed like such a poignant and lovely connection.”

‘FIRST-CLASS BRASS’

An Alpine Symphony will anchor the first of two major concerts at Macky Auditorium on May 18, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is the featured work on the following night. The Fourth is Mahler’s most modestly scored symphony and An Alpine Symphony is truly massive, with an orchestra as large as Mahler himself ever used.

begins with the sunrise and ends with nightfall.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard to build a firstclass brass section, and the Fourth is not too big on the brass,” Woods says, noting that it does not even include trombones. “We didn’t want them to have the year off.”

An Alpine Symphony is 50 uninterrupted minutes of music that graphically illustrates the climb up a peak, concluding with a thunderstorm and descent. It

The Fourth Symphony, Mahler’s vision of “Heavenly Life” from the perspective of a child, uses an orchestral song with soprano solo as its final movement. April Fredrick, featured on the last two MahlerFest programs, will sing the part.

COMING DOWN FROM THE SUMMIT

Both concerts will pair the major works with pieces written for strings only. Preceding the Mahler symphony on the Sunday concert is a much later piece by Strauss, his Metamorphosen (Metamorphoses) for 23 solo strings, written in 1945 near the end of the composer’s long life. Woods says it is an awe-inspiring work, whose craftsmanship is beyond belief.

“From a professional point of view, Mahler and Strauss ascended an artistic summit,” he says. “When you get to the summit, you have to come down at some point, but Mahler’s early death left that descent to Strauss. If An Alpine Symphony represents the end of his public and revolutionary phase, then the deeply felt Metamorphosen is Strauss at his most personal and intimate.”

The Sunday program opens with a third work, Richard Wagner’s jubilant prelude to the 1867 opera Die

Meistersinger von Nürnberg. “Wagner is one of the important influences for both Mahler and Strauss, and they took his ideas in vastly different directions,” Woods says.

On the Saturday program, the other work is Mahler’s arrangement for string orchestra of Franz Schubert’s 1824 String Quartet in D minor known as “Death and the Maiden.” Woods says that Mahler’s inspiration for his symphonies came from songs, including the spirit of the great songwriter Schubert. Mahler was also influenced by Schubert’s later large-scale instrumental works like this quartet.

“I see the Fourth as Mahler’s most Schubertian symphony, so there is another connection,” Woods says.

“The arrangement is a great window onto Mahler’s worldview as an interpreter.”

ON THE BILL: Colorado

MahlerFest presents works by Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18 (An Alpine Symphony by Strauss) and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19 (Symphony No. 4 by Mahler), Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. $35-$75

MahlerFest Music Director Kenneth Woods leads the charge during the 37th annual celebration of the iconic composer. Courtesy: MahlerFest

The legacy of Austrian post-romantic composer Gustav Mahler takes center stage during MahlerFest 37, May 15-19 in Boulder. Courtesy: MahlerFest

MUSIC

MORE MAHLERFEST

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15: “VISIONS OF CHILDHOOD”

7:30 p.m., Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder. $35-$45

This program for chamber orchestra includes arrangements of various works with childhood themes, including songs by Schubert, Mahler and Strauss. “I conceived it as an upbeat to the Mahler Fourth,” Woods says.

This year’s presentation of works by Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler illustrates “a poignant and lovely connection” between the two sometimes rival composers.

The Strauss Four Last Songs, contemporary with Metamorphosen, are featured, as is Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, and thus all three composers on the larger programs. April Fredrick is also the vocalist on this program.

THURSDAY, MAY 16: “MOUNTAINS OF BRASS”

3 p.m., Canyon Theater at Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave.

This free concert is a brass quintet program featuring players from the MahlerFest Orchestra’s brass section. “We wanted to get the brass in front of everyone, and it’s an interesting, wide-ranging program,” Woods says. Major works by Victor Ewald and Joan Tower are included.

FRIDAY, MAY 17: SCHOENBERG & MORE; ELECTRIC LIEDERLAND: HENDRIX MEETS MAHLER

7 and 9 p.m., Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $35 for both ($25 and $15 individually)

This double bill at a non-traditional venue opens with a standard chamber music concert including Arnold Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night, a blues cakewalk by Taylor Perkinson for solo violin, and contemporary pieces for two violas played by the Tallā Rouge Duo. After a break, Woods will play electric guitar with a rock trio in a fusion program inspired by Jimi Hendrix, who loved the music of Mahler. Two late Mahler pieces are played in Hendrix-inspired arrangements, along with Jimi’s own “Machine Gun.”

SATURDAY, MAY 18: MAHLERFEST SYMPOSIUM

9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place. Free Lectures by guest scholars on Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and other topics.

FROM BASEMENT TO BEACON

The future of Lafayette’s Arts HUB takes shape under new leadership

BY TONI TRESCA

The Arts HUB in Lafayette recently ushered in a new era with the appointment of Andrew Krimm as executive director in March. Krimm, who previously served as executive director of the Boulder Symphony & Music Academy — where he nearly doubled ticket sales and tripled revenue, according to a press statement — brings a clear vision for the company’s future.

“My number one goal is to create an art space for all of Boulder County,” he explains. “This will expand our programming, donor base and arts support. The Arts HUB already has fantastic visual art and theater programming, so I want to grow that while expanding the music program.”

Krimm’s ambition to enrich the Arts HUB echoes the goals set by the organization’s early leaders. The company’s story begins in December 2006 at a Louisville holiday art market, when Lori Jones — a community member whose educational background includes a focus on nonprofit administration — recognized what she saw as an opportunity to help a community in need of creative expression.

Following the success of her art popup downtown, Jones began searching for a space to run classes and artsrelated programming. Originally known

as the Art Underground, this grassroots effort quickly gained traction at its first location in a basement in downtown Louisville.

“As the classes increased, we expanded — it was a very natural development,” Jones recalls.

“We started with only one art room, a dance room and an office, but we were able to expand to over five rooms in five years.”

SHOW ME THE MONEY

By 2012, a larger home was necessary to continue the Arts HUB’s mission.

While Jones and her team were committed in Louisville, logistical challenges drove them to search for alternatives.

After considering six options in Louisville, a board member recommended they look into Lafayette, where they decided to build a 14,000-square-foot facility at 420 Courtney Way in 2015.

The $3 million move was financed through a low-interest loan from an anonymous private donor, along with fundraising efforts and community

grants. Jones says they secured the land for around $250,000, but the project’s budget skyrocketed due to rising construction costs. She says they only survived because the organization secured “the lowest interest rates possible” and attracted supporters to its new location when it opened the following year.

“We had already invested so much money in building this location that failure would have meant the end of the organization,” Jones says. “Most of our clients moved with us from Louisville to Lafayette, and we drew more people from Broomfield, Longmont, Denver and Boulder. There was just more potential in Lafayette to reach more people.”

The new space included a 195-seat theater, multiple art and dance studios, and outdoor areas for community festivals, boosting their capacity to host a wider range of events. However, just as the Arts HUB was hitting its stride, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Jones had planned to step down that year but stayed on to stabilize the organization before board member Melissa McGowan took over as interim executive director in 2022.

“Melissa took on a hero’s journey and helped secure the future of an organization that was floundering due to pandemic-related issues,” says Arts HUB board chair Christine Berg. “We are thrilled to have Andrew [Krimm] on board; he has the fundraising experience to take us to the next level.”

Currently, the organization operates on a $800,000 annual budget, which Krimm describes as “small but mighty,” adding that they “do a lot” with that money. Between August 2022 and August 2023, the venue hosted nearly 11,000 people at its youth and adult shows.

In addition to its classes, which served more than 1,200 students last year, the Arts HUB offers scholarships

to low-income students and collaborates with local organizations such as Alicia Sanchez Elementary and Lafayette Youth Spaces. These efforts are supported largely by ticket sales and class fees, with a smaller portion funded by grants and donations.

“We have the opposite problem as most other arts organizations,” Krimm explains. “Our budget is primarily funded by programming, so we need to balance out donations and grants.”

‘GROWTH PHASE’

Looking ahead, Krimm emphasizes a balanced growth strategy, aiming to increase donor support while maintaining strong educational programming. He hopes to strengthen community ties, build an outdoor stage to host a summer music program and raise enough funds to ensure that financial barriers do not prevent anyone from enrolling in classes.

Amid these developments, the Arts HUB is gearing up for the final production of its current season, Rent, in June. Starting in the fall, the organization says it will shift to a production model that prioritizes fewer but more impactful shows.

“We are in a growth phase, so we thought a three-show season for adults would be more sustainable,” says Mekenzie Rosen-Stone, director of theater programming. “Our fall show is The Prom. Rather than announcing the season, we will go show by show to ensure we are producing the right shows for our audiences.”

The upcoming programming and planned expansions at the Arts HUB aim to further its longtime mission of enriching the local cultural landscape. With ambitious plans for the future, Krimm summarizes the journey and path ahead.

“There is no shortage of art in the area, but there is a scarcity of art space in Boulder County,” Krimm says. “Many people have tried to build performance spaces here, but most have failed. The Arts HUB can serve as a space for people to express themselves, perform and do their art.”

For more on the Arts HUB’s upcoming productions, classes, camps and more, visit artshub.org.

The cast of Beauty and the Beast at the Arts HUB in 2023. Credit: Bennet Forsyth

After leading the Boulder Symphony & Music Academy, Andrew Krimm was named the new executive director of Lafayette’s Arts HUB in March. Courtesy: The Arts HUB

UP TO $500 OFF YOUR NEXT PROJECT

*Applies to residential painting projects of $2000 or more **Call for details

MAHLERFEST 37 MAY 15–19, 2024 BOULDER, CO

Scan to schedule your free estimate appointment

MAHLER: Symphony No. 4, featuring April Fredrick, soprano

STRAUSS: An Alpine Symphony

ELECTRIC LIEDERLAND: Hendrix

Meets Mahler

...plus chamber music, a hike, a free brass concert, a symposium, social events, & more! MAHLERFEST.ORG

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director

CAREER KILLER

Maligned masterpiece ‘Peeping Tom’ lives on Criterion

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

Something must have been in the water in 1960. All around the world, filmmakers, either at the beginning, middle or the end of their careers, swung for the fences.

In Japan, Akira Kurosawa spun Shakespeare’s Hamlet into a corporate thriller with The Bad Sleep Well. In India, Satyajit Ray made his first directly political movie with Devi. In Sweden, Ingmar Bergman’s rape-revenge story, The Virgin Spring, blazed a new genre trail. In Italy, Federico Fellini gave the world La Dolce Vita, while in France, Jean-Luc Godard reinvented the game with Breathless. Back here in the states, Alfred Hitchcock struck a new chord with Psycho. And across the pond, Michael Powell buried his career with Peeping Tom

It’s worth singling out those last two for comparison. Both Hitchcock and Powell enjoyed career heights in the 1940s and ’50s, both became synonymous with lush Technicolor dreamscapes, and both tested the limits of cinema’s ability to transport viewers into their characters’ point of view. Both also enjoyed artistic and financial success.

But in England, Powell (who worked with Emeric Pressburger under the production label of The Archers from 194359) was beginning to see that success wane. He was bursting with creativity and innovation, but it was becoming harder to get projects off the ground and convince the moneymen to take a risk. So the director split amicably with Pressburger — the two would remain friends for the rest of their lives, even working together on subsequent projects — and struck out on his own to tell the story of a boy who loves watching so much that he kills for it. The film destroyed his career.

Meanwhile, back in the states, Hitchcock’s career surged to new

heights with his own story of a disturbed young man with a predilection for voyeurism and murder. And considering both men, played by Anthony Perkins in Psycho and Carl Boehm in Peeping Tom, display a vulnerability that is unsettling to the audience and attractive to the women in the respective movies, the films feel like Robert Frost’s two roads diverging in a yellow wood.

Why Peeping Tom failed where Psycho succeeded is explored in The Criterion Collection’s newest 4K+Bluray. The set includes two commentary tracks and a bevy of interviews (including one with Thelma Schoonmaker, Powell’s widow) about the film and the filmmaker, enough that one could spend more time fixating about everything outside of the frame than what’s in it — as I seem to be doing here. It must be the capitalistic impulses baked into our very being that we have to find where the line between failure and success lies.

Or it might be because as great as Peeping Tom is, it tackles such an icky subject that it’s difficult to praise Powell’s on-point presentation. Look at how cinematographer Otto Heller employs color; consider how screenwriter Leo Marks uses the blind Mrs. Stephens (Maxine Audley) as a foil for consummate watcher Mark (Boehm).

Don’t they feel somewhat lurid? Immensely clever and appropriate, yes, but lurid nevertheless.

Peeping Tom is like no other. The story revolves around Mark, who acts and talks like a loner but is surrounded by women and work. He’s only alone in his mind. Mark is a freelance photographer living in a London flat above landlord Mrs. Stephens and her adult daughter Helen (Anna Massey), who has eyes for Mark. She’s also a little on the lonely side, and in another movie, theirs would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

But this is not that movie. Mark is disturbed, and swirling around town is the mystery of murdered women, all who perished with their faces screwed up in terror as if the last thing they witnessed was the most horrific thing imaginable. You know Mark is the murderer from the get-go without Powell tipping his hand — he’s that good of a storyteller — but you don’t know how the women died or what scared them so. Nor do you know what scarred Mark and led him down this dark path. You will, by the movie’s end, but you won’t feel good about it. Powell has no interest in assuaging the audience’s feelings or letting them know it’s all right and everything will be fine.

And for that, the British critics called for his head and suggested the film be

flushed down the sewer. Powell’s run as one of Britain’s finest filmmakers came to a grinding halt.

Forty years after Peeping Tom’s release, my college professor screened the movie as part of our Intro to Film class, and my fellow students were equally up in arms. I, too, was rattled by the film but also impressed and intrigued. Peeping Tom is an odd entry point into the cinema of Michael Powell, but it was mine, and it sparked a love affair with his movies these past 20-plus years.

Peeping Tom was also my entry point into the world of stories where troubled young men are not easily dispatched with resolution or explained away strictly for comfort, convenience and commerce. (Psycho became a franchise while also giving birth to the slasher genre.) Peeping Tom shows you the ugliness of the world not simply to scare you, but to prepare you for what’s out there. For that, I will always be grateful that Powell put it all on the line. It cost him a lot, but it gave us so much.

ON SCREEN: Peeping Tom is available May 14 on 4K+UHD from The Criterion Collection.

Michael Powell’s controversial 1960 masterwork Peeping Tom brought the celebrated filmmaker’s career to a grinding halt. Courtesy: Criterion Collection

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LET’S GET PHYSICAL

Colorado-raised Jessica Rothe kicks ass in action-comedy thriller ‘Boy

BY GREGORY WAKEMAN

It’s been nearly two decades since Jessica Rothe called the Front Range home, but the prolific screen actor says she’ll always be “a homegrown Colorado girl.”

Like her parents, Rothe was born and raised in Denver, where she caught the acting bug as a student at Cherry Creek High School. After graduating from Boston University, Rothe made New York and eventually Los Angeles her home, all in pursuit of a career on screen.

Rothe has done pretty well in that regard, leading both installments of the horror movie series Happy Death Day with additional roles in romantic films like All My Life and the musicals Forever My Girl and La La Land.

Rothe’s most recent release is Boy Kills World, the feature directorial debut of emerging filmmaker Moritz Mohr. She plays a character by the name of June 27, an enforcer working for the Van Der Koy crime family. The action-comedy thriller revolves around Boy (Bill Skarsgård), who seeks revenge against the Van Der Koys after they kill his entire family.

“I’d always wanted to do an action movie,” Rothe tells Boulder Weekly over the phone. Growing up, her favorite was Die Hard, while in recent years she’s become obsessed with Bruce Lee classics. “There’s just so much to be said about the physical language of action films. I love that recent action movies like John Wick do a lot more than explosions and guns. That was one thing that was so exciting about this project.”

‘EXPLORING FEMALE RAGE’

After reading the “brash, funny, wild and heartfelt” script by Tyler Burton Smith and Arend Remmers, Rothe

Kills World’

knew she had to be involved in Boy Kills World. But she also knew how much work she’d have to put into it.

Her preparation included training in martial arts, which Rothe compares to learning a “beautifully choreographed dance.” She also found a new respect for stunt people and action actors due to their ability to create riveting scenes while keeping things safe.

“Physically, I was training between two and eight hours a day,” she says. “I became extraordinarily strong. It was really cool to have an excuse to learn new physical things and get into great shape.”

“She has so much rage,” Rothe says. “I loved the opportunity and the experience to really dive into that. Exploring female rage has become more acceptable. It’s something women don’t always get to tap into. It allowed me to dig deep into those visceral dark places, explore them and give them an outlet.”

Rothe actually got a head start when it came to her Boy Kills World preparation in the way of ballet classes she took as an eightyear-old.

“That certainly helped,” she says. “I definitely consider myself more of an actor who can move. But there were definitely moves in this [film] that reminded me of ballet.”

‘I CAN BREATHE IN A DIFFERENT WAY’

this if you wanted to,’” Rothe recalls “She helped me apply for two acting programs at different colleges around the country.”

For a short time, Rothe considered other professions. But she soon realized that she was only interested in them because of how she’d seen these jobs depicted on film.

“I played around with the idea of being an art historian who restores paintings. I wanted to be a teacher who traveled the world. Then I realized I just wanted to be that part in a movie,” she says. “I wanted to be in the Da Vinci Code, not an historian. It’s thanks to Jennifer and my parents, who were so supportive, that my dream of being an actor suddenly felt like it could happen.”

Rothe says it was a great privilege to work on the physical aspects of the film, but she also connected with the character of June 27. That was especially true when it came to channeling the aggression inside her.

The 36-year-old performer showcased a love of storytelling from a young age. Her mother often tells the story of Rothe watching live musicals as a child, her mouth hanging open with astonishment and delight. While she performed in school plays and sang with Colorado Children’s Chorale, kind words from her Cherry Creek High School drama teacher Jennifer Condreay made Rothe take acting more seriously.

“We had worked together in a production. She sat me down at one point and said, ‘I think you could really do

While she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Eric Clem, Rothe is still as proud a Coloradan as anyone is likely to meet.

“I’m incredibly biased, but I think Colorado is one of the most magical places in the world. All of my family is still there, and every time I’m home I find it a haven,” she says. “The nature there is so special and important. I feel like I can breathe in a different way.”

ON SCREEN: Boy Kills

World is currently in theaters at Cinemark Century Boulder, Regal Cinebarre Boulder and AMC Flatiron Crossing 14.

Jessica Rothe in Boy Kills World, in theaters now. Courtesy: Roadside Attractions / Lionsgate

A mysterious shaman trains an orphaned boy to become the ultimate killing machine in Boy Kills World

Courtesy: Roadside Attractions / Lionsgate

9

VEGGIE GARDEN BASICS

6 p.m. Thursday, May 9, Brunner Farmhouse, 640 Main St., Broomfield.

Are you ready to get the most out of your summer veggies? Get hands-on practice during this free workshop at Broomfield Library’s Teaching Vegetable Garden along with plenty of practical tips to carry you through the whole season. Online registration required.

9

DEATH CAFE

5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, Boulder Public Library - Boulder Creek Room, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free

Join mindfulness-based therapists with Windhorse Elder Care “to help bring a sense of curiosity and openness to conversations around death” — with snacks! This loosely structured group discussion will unpack whatever feelings arise about the Big Nap in store for all of us.

10

DAIRY EXHIBITION OPENINGS

5 p.m. Friday, May 10, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

The Dairy marks the opening of five new visual arts exhibitions with a free reception featuring artist meet-andgreets and refreshments available for purchase. Opening shows include works by Sarah Kelly, Edica Pacha, Bala Thiagarajan, Sangeeta Reddy and former Boulder Weekly editor Joel Dyer.

10

ARTMIX FUNDRAISER & AUCTION

5 p.m. Friday, May 10, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St. $150

BMoCA’s biggest party of the year is an opportunity to support and celebrate contemporary art with a curated silent auction featuring art from 100 local creatives. Ticket price includes food and drink, with proceeds supporting the artists, the museum’s exhibitions and education outreach programs.

11

COFFEE WITH A RANGER

8-11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, Eben G. Fine Park, 101 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder. Free

Get to know the folks who keep our parks protected and safe. Stop by Eben G. Fine Park anytime between 8 and 11 a.m. for a free drink from the Café Alejandro food truck with park rangers from Boulder’s Parks & Recreation and Open Space and Mountain Parks departments.

11

SAPPHIC FACTORY: A MODERN QUEER JOY DANCE PARTY

9 p.m. Saturday, May 11, Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $16-$25

“Celebrate the sounds of eternal longing” during this queer-affirming dance party supporting the LGBT National Help Center. Grab the girlies and head to the Fox Theatre in Boulder to get down (or sway sadly) to the music of MUNA, boygenius, Tegan and Sara, girl in red and more.

11

GRAVITY BREWING SPRING ART MARKET

1-6 p.m. Saturday, May 11, Gravity Brewing, 1150 Pine St., Louisville. Free

This season’s Gravity Brewing Spring Art Market will feature a day of shopping from local artisans, plus live music and award-winning craft beers. It’s a great opportunity to support your local art community while searching for your perfect springtime gift.

11

FLORAL WALL HANGING WORKSHOP

9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 11, Fettle & Fire, 921 Kimbark St., Longmont. $65

Searching for a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day activity or post-spring cleaning decor option? Look no further than Longmont’s Fettle & Fire, where you can create your own clay floral wall hanging using a design of your choosing. Registration fee includes all materials plus 2.5 hours with an instructor.

12

CHOCOLATE TASTING PARTY

1 p.m. Sunday, May 12, George Reynolds Branch, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder. Free

Enjoy a selection of artisan chocolate from Boulder brand Moksha Chocolate, along with a Game of Four chocolate tasting game. Offerings from the local chocolatier are “bean-to-bar,” made from minimal ingredients from their cacao farm in Peru. Online registration required.

12

RESCUE PUPPY YOGA

11 a.m. Sunday, May 12, Emotion Fitness, 9140 W 100th Ave., Broomfield. $35

The only thing better than an hour of rejuvenating, mindful, community-driven yoga practice is the same thing, but with puppies. Good luck resisting the urge to sign one of those adoption forms, which will be available on-site.

EVENTS

12

MOTHER’S DAY CONCERT

4-5:30 p.m. Sunday, May 12, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $25-$40

Celebrate mom with music during this holiday concert featuring Hazel Miller and the Collective with special guest Chris Daniels. Tickets include a dessert buffet, flowers for mothers and a complimentary glass of Prosecco for attendees over 21.

12

SECOND CHANCE COMEDY

6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 12, The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. $25

Laugh for a cause in Louisville at this stand-up showcase featuring comedians directly or indirectly impacted by addiction. 20% of ticket sales will benefit Sobriety House, Colorado’s oldest licensed substance use disorder treatment center.

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, MAY 9

TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS WITH THE RED CLAY STRAYS AND AMERICAN AQUARIUM (NIGHT 1) 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $80

STEEL PULSE WITH CHALA 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $35

JOSH HALPERN. 5 p.m. Erie Community Center, 450 Powers St., Erie. Free

TIM MERKEL 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

RICHMAN. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

JT JONES WITH DAN FROELICH 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

TOM’S HOME GROWN JAZZ 7 p.m.

Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

LIONEL YOUNG DUO 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

PHOTON. 9 p.m. Southern Sun Pub, 627 S. Broadway St., Boulder. Free

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $35

FRIDAY, MAY 10

BRUCE COCKBURN 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $40

EMO NIGHT BROOKLYN. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

WATER FROM YOUR EYES WITH FRIKO AND THE RED SCARE. 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $18

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN WITH THE WEATHER STATION. 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10, Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., Denver. $50+ BW PICK OF THE WEEK

TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS WITH WYATT FLORES AND SIERRA HULL (NIGHT 2). 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $80

DENNY DRISCOLL. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

DISNEY POP PUNK TRIBUTE WITH MAN CUBS. 6 p.m. Bounce Empire 1380 S. Public Road, Lafayette. $29

IAN CUDNEY 6 p.m. Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

DIVINO BETSATORI 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

ADAM BODINE QUARTET 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

DAVE BRUZZA WITH SETH BERNARD. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $28

CANTABILE PRESENTS: STORIES IN SONG. 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church, 1128 Pine St., Boulder. $20

YING LI 7:30 p.m. Center for Musical Arts, 200 E. Baseline Road, Lafayette. $25

5280S BAND WITH NINE WIDE SKY 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $15

CHUCK SITERO WITH DYLAN KOBER 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

CRICK WOODER (NIGHT 1) 9 p.m. Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

J BOOG WITH KY-MANI MARLEY, IAM TONGI AND L.A.B. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $40

SATURDAY, MAY 11

JAKE LEG 6 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $30

STONEHALL 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

BROOMFIELD SYMPHONY. 5:30 p.m. Broomfield Library and Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road, Broomfield. Free

CRICK WOODER (NIGHT 2) 9 p.m. Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

UNAUTHORIZED ABSENCE. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

UNICORN HITS WITH KAYLN THE MILLER & FRIENDS. 6 p.m. Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

LIVE MUSIC

ON THE BILL

After canceling last year’s world tour due to frontman Stuart Murdoch’s recovery from an illness, Scottish indie-pop OGs Belle and Sebastian make their triumphant return to Colorado for a show with The Weather Station at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium on May 10. The band performs in support of their back-to-back albums, Late Developers and A Bit of Previous, out now via Matador Records See listing for details

LOS CHEESIES PRESENT: CHEESE AND CHONG PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE

6:30 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $15

SCARLETT BEFORE HORSES 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

DAN HOCHMAN. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

YESTERDAY’S DEAD (GRATEFUL DEAD TRIBUTE) 7 p.m. Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. $20

POND WITH 26FIX. 9 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax, Denver. $30

SUNDAY, MAY 12

GUNNA. 7:30 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., Denver. $65

SWEET SUNDAY SWING BAND 3 p.m. Spirit Hound Distillers, 4196 Ute Highway, Lyons. Free

BEYOND COMPREHENSION. 4 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

HAZEL MILLER AND THE COLLECTIVE 4 p.m. 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $25

AARON MITCHELL. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

MONDAY, MAY 13

GARY CLARK JR. WITH MAVIS STAPLES 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $55

TUESDAY, MAY 14

VIAL WITH RAIN ON FRIDAYS AND TEAM NONEXISTENT 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $17

LATE NIGHT DRIVE HOME WITH PLEASURE PILL AND LADY DENIM 8

p.m. Aggie Theatre, 204 S. College Ave., Fort Collins. $25

ILLENIUM 6 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $114

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15

ADAM BODINE 7 p.m. Dry Land Distillers, 519 Main St., Longmont. Free

RUBYJOYFUL WITH DREW EMMITT AND ANDY THORN (OF LEFTOVER SALMON) 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $33

MAMUSE 7:30 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $35

MAHLERFEST OPENING NIGHT: VISIONS OF CHILDHOOD 7:30 p.m. Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder. $35 STORY ON P. 12

JACK CLOONAN BAND (NIGHT 1). 9 p.m. Southern Sun Pub, 627 S. Broadway, Boulder. Free

Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): When my friend Jessalyn first visited Disneyland as a child, she was smitten by its glimmering, unblemished mystery. “It was far more real than real,” she said. “A dream come true.” But after a few hours, her infatuation unraveled. She began to see through the luster. Waiting in long lines to go on the rides exhausted her. The mechanical elephant was broken. The food was unappetizing. The actor impersonating Mickey Mouse shucked his big mouse head and swilled a beer. The days ahead may have resemblances to Jessalyn’s awakening for you. This slowmotion jolt might vex you initially, although I believe it’s a healthy sign. It will lead to a cleansed perspective that’s free of illusion and teeming with clarity.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): “Keizoku wa chikara nari” is a Japanese proverb that means “To continue is power.” Make that your motto for the next four weeks. Everything you need to happen and all the resources you need to attract will come your way as long as your overarching intention is perseverance. This is always a key principle for you Tauruses, but especially now. If you can keep going, if you can overcome your urges to quit your devotions, you will gain a permanent invigoration of your willpower.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Do you believe there are divine beings, animal spirits and departed ancestors who are willing and able to help us? If not, you may want to skip this horoscope. I won’t be upset if you feel that way. But if you do harbor such views, as I do, I’m pleased to tell you that they will be extra available for you in the coming weeks. Remember one of the key rules about their behavior: They love to be asked for assistance; they adore it when you express your desires for them to bring you specific blessings and insights. Reach out, Gemini. Call on them.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): I’m taking a gamble here as I advise you to experiment with the counsel of visionary poet and painter William Blake (1757–1825). It’s a gamble because I’m asking you to exert a measure of caution as you explore his daring, unruly advice. Be simultaneously prudent and ebullient, Cancerian. Be discerning and wild. Be watchful and experimental. Here are Blake’s directions: 1. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. 2. If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. 3. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. 4. No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings. 5. Exuberance is Beauty.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Cosmic energies are staging a big party in your astrological House of Ambition. It’s a great time to expand and intensify your concepts of what you want to accomplish with your one wild and precious life. You will attract unexpected help as you shed your inhibitions about asking for what you really want. Life will benevolently conspire on your behalf as you dare to get bolder in defining your highest goals. Be audacious, Leo! Be brazen and brave and brilliant! I predict you will be gifted with lucid intuitions about how best to channel your drive for success. You will get feelers from influential people who can help you in your quest for victory. (P.S. The phrase “Your one wild and precious life” comes from poet Mary Oliver.)

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Is it possible to be too smart for your own good? Maybe, although that won’t be a problem for you anytime soon. However, you may temporarily be too smart for some people who are fixated on conventional and simplistic solutions. You could be too super-brilliant for those who wallow in fear or regard cynicism as a sign of intelligence. But I will not advise you to dumb yourself down, dear Virgo. Instead, I will suggest you be crafty and circumspect. Act agreeable and humble, even as you plot behind the scenes to turn everything upside-down and inside-out — by which I mean, make it work with more grace and benefit for everyone concerned.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): In my fairy tale about your life in the coming weeks and months, you will transform from a crafty sleuth to an eager explorer. You will finish your wrestling matches with tricky angels and wander off to consort with big thinkers and deep feelers. You will finish your yeoman attempts to keep everyone happy in the human zoo and instead indulge your sacred longings for liberation and experimentation. In this fairy tale of your life, Libra, I will play the role of your secret benefactor. I will unleash a steady stream of prayers to bless you with blithe zeal as you relish every heartopening, brain-cleansing moment of your new chapter.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): In the coming months, I will encourage you to keep deepening and refining the art of intimacy. I will rejoice as you learn more and more about how to feel close to people you care for and how to creatively deal with challenges you encounter in your quest to become closer. Dear Scorpio, I will also cheer you on whenever you dream up innovations to propitiate togetherness. Bonus blessings! If you do all I’m describing, your identity will come into brighter focus. You will know who you are with greater accuracy. Get ready! The coming weeks will offer you novel opportunities to make progress on the themes I’ve mentioned.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): You could offer a workshop on the perks of wobbliness. Your anxious ruminations and worried fantasies are so colorful that I almost hesitate to tell you to stop. I’m wondering if this is one of those rare phases when you could take advantage of your socalled negative feelings. Is it possible that lurking just below the uneasiness are sensational revelations about a path to liberation? I’m guessing there are. To pluck these revelations, you must get to the core of the uneasiness.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): During the last 11 months, life has offered you unprecedented opportunities to deepen and ripen your emotional intelligence. You have been vividly invited to grow your wisdom about how to manage and understand your feelings. I trust you have been capitalizing on these glorious teachings. I hope you have honed your skills at tapping into the power and insights provided by your heart and gut. There’s still more time to work on this project, Capricorn. In the coming weeks, seek out breakthroughs that will climax this phase of your destiny.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau declared, “We need the tonic of wildness.” Amen! In my view, you Aquarians especially need this sweet, rugged healing power in the coming weeks. Borrowing more words from Thoreau, I urge you to exult in all that is mysterious, unsurveyed and unfathomable. Like Thoreau, I hope you will deepen your connection with the natural world because “it is cheerfully, musically earnest.” Share in his belief that “we must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root, send out some little fiber.”

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): I have four questions and homework assignments for you, Pisces. 1. Is there a person in your inner circle who is close to ripening a latent talent that would ultimately benefit you? I suspect there is. What can you do to assist them? 2. Is there a pending gift or legacy that you have not yet claimed or activated? I think so. What would be a good first step to get it fully into your life? 3. What halfdormant potency could you call on and use if you were more confident about your ability to wield it? I believe you now have the wherewithal to summon the confidence you need. 4. What wasteful habit could you replace with a positive new habit?

I’m a 33-year-old gay man emailing you because I have a kink that I enjoy but have always felt ashamed about. My kink is called “wet and messy” (WAM) and it involves getting covered head to toe in messy, gloopy substances.

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

People who are into this usually have preferred substances. In no specific order, my preferred substances are paint, mud and pies. People enjoy WAM for a variety of reasons; some people like the humiliation aspect, but I just love the feeling of losing myself in the mess. It’s very primal and very freeing. I’ve done this with a couple of men I met through a website that caters to people who are interested in this, and I’ve even told my longterm boyfriend about it. He took it well and even offered to do it with me, but I shot him down.

The problem is I feel ashamed about this on some level. I know it’s harmless, if a little weird, but I can’t shake the feeling of shame that keeps me from enjoying this part of my sexuality. I feel like I’ll be branded a freak forever if my boyfriend sees how much I enjoy this. This feels like as much of a struggle as coming out of the closet was. Any sage words?

— Getting Off On Pies

I’ve talked with a lot of kinky gay men over the years, and more than one has described kink as a second coming out. That said, gay people who wanna come out to lovers and friends about kink have an advantage over straight people who wanna do the same: experience and perspective. Telling lovers you’re kinky is a lot less scary than telling parents you’re gay; lovers that shame can be replaced, parents who shame are forever. But just as coming out as gay has the power to improve lives and relationships, coming out as kinky has

the power to improve love lives and romantic relationships.

Don’t deny yourself the pleasure of exploring your kink with someone who cares about you. It doesn’t sound like he offered to indulge you because he doesn’t want you doing this with other guys but that he offered because he’s sincerely invested in your pleasure. And if your boyfriend is one of those guys who gets off on getting people off, letting him get you off will get him off, too. Sometimes kinks are contagious, GOOP, even the weirder ones.

Your kink isn’t really that weird. While WAM, aka “gunging” and “sploshing,” isn’t my thing, it’s not that hard to wrap my head around it. You find the sensation of paint, mud and pies running down your skin arousing. Additionally, you like being covered in gooey substances because it relieves you — temporarily — from the burden of being yourself. Like a drone covered head-to-toe in rubber or a furry in a mascot costume or women in Lycra a superhero, you enjoy erasing and/or transforming yourself. In that, you are far from alone.

If getting covered in slime gives you joy and doesn’t hurt anyone, take your boyfriend’s yes for an answer. If you could learn to let go of the shame of being a cocksucker, you can let go of the shame of being a wet-andmessy player. Get some tarp, bake some pies and invite the boyfriend over to play.

EVENTS EVENTS

MAY 10 • Artist Talk and Screening of Ana Min Wein? (Where Am I From?) at East Window, 7-9 pm

MAY 10 • Electronica composed and performed by THE AEFONIC at the Bus Stop Gallery, 7:30-10:30 pm

MAY 11 • World Collage Day Celebration, a collage-making party at NoBo Art Center, 10 am-noon

MAY 19 • Mandala Painting Workshop by artist Bala Thiagarajan at the Bus Stop Gallery, 1-4 pm

MAY 18 • Batik Basics Workshop at NoBo Art Center, 1- 4 pm

EAT

a taste of modern Japan in the heart of beautiful Boulder

DRINK

an unmatched selection of rare whiskey, sake, and craft cocktails

ENJOY

the scenery on one of our 3 fireside patios, a feast alongside the jellyfish, or a front row seat at a lively bar

TOFU, TEA AND TRUTH

Boulder’s natural foods history is longer than you think

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

“Nestled against the Rocky Mountains, Boulder, Colorado, has blossomed into a thriving hub for the natural products and wellness industry,” explained the narrator of an April CNBC profile about The People’s Republic, which the business-focused network named one of its cities of success. “The industry’s roots trace back to local hikers who, in 1969, hand-picked wild herbs on the foothills of the Rockies.”

The first statement is completely accurate, and the CNBC feature includes mentions of some notable Boulder food names ranging from Celestial Seasonings and Justin’s Nut Butter to newer companies like Frescos Naturales and Quinn Foods.

But the birth of natural foods in Boulder actually began at least 80 years sooner.

“The story they tell isn’t inaccurate,” says Boulder’s Hass Hassan, founder of the now-closed Alfalfa’s Market. “It’s just a very small, very slim slice of that history.”

WHOLE GRAINS AND ENEMAS

Boulder has had a focus on healthy eating since at least 1896. The Colorado Sanitarium near Mt. Sanitas was opened by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg — the inventor of corn flakes. Thousands of tuberculosis patients came here for the sunshine and fresh air along with exercise, unusual treatments like enemas and shock therapy, and strict vegetarian diets spotlighting whole grains.

According to Boulder historian Silvia Pettem, the sanitarium was also one of the first natural foods companies selling peanut butter, nuts, grains, granola and some of the first plant-based meat substitutes.

Although the 1960s and ’70s get all the credit, that time period — focused on political, spiritual, social, environmental and dietary change — was actually the second wave of natural foods interest in Boulder. Inspired by the city’s growing countercultural population, many of those flower children were in open rebellion against white bread, plastic cheese, pesticides and war.

A man chooses from items on a display at The Bread Shop, a wholesale manufacturer of organic bread, located at 5590 Arapahoe Ave., in 1975. Courtesy: Carnegie Library for Local History

evolving beyond rice and beans at the communal Carnival Cafe, The Harvest Restaurant, Heartland Café, Yarrow Stalk and a roster of small, short-lived eateries.

As the interest in health and wellness resurged, so too did its less savory aspects. Kellogg was a noted leader of the eugenics movement. Celestial Seasonings, founded in 1969, would later come under scrutiny for its founders’ association with a religious organization whose founding text espouses racist ideas.

FERTILE GROUND

Driven by a search for healthy and vegetarian foods, Hassan launched Rainbow Grocery in Denver in the early 1970s. He moved to Boulder in 1978 to co-found Pearl Street Market, which later became Alfalfa’s Market.

There was a good reason he and his partners brought their natural foods supermarket idea here. Specifically, Hassan says: “We knew that Boulder was really fertile ground for the concept we had.”

By the late 1970s, Boulder was already home to a thriving natural foods community with a bevy of health food stores like the Green Mountain Grainery, Hannah Kroger’s New Age Foods, Down to Earth and Arati Grocery. Natural and vegetarian cuisine was

“Steve Demos of White Wave had a tiny shop where he made blocks of tofu he delivered in a bucket to restaurants,” Hassan remembers. “All those people were doing it out of love. It wasn’t career oriented at that time.”

At the forefront was that little tea company packing 24-herb tea into cloth bags.

Celestial Seasonings was “a real company producing a range of highquality products,” Hassan says. “They weren’t a bunch of private equity guys who came up with a product and a really catchy name and located in

TASTE OF THE WEEK: FOR THE LOVE OF PASTRIES

Fans of classic baked goods celebrated when Longmont’s MECO Coffee opened a second location back in November at 1280 Centaur Village Drive in Lafayette.

Instead of the same old muffins, MECO freshly bakes moist blueberry lemon quick bread, cranberry scones, frosted cake pops, apple coffee cake, buttery chocolate chip cookies and notably tasty gluten-free/ vegan doughnuts.

Pleasure is a MECO double chocolate raspberry brownie or a morning bun paired with a latte made with beans from Longmont’s Nimbus Coffee Roasters

Boulder. They were people who had to go out and make something happen without a whole lot of support.

“Celestial brought this aura of, ‘Hey, you can do it, too, and be successful.’ It certainly wouldn’t have happened the way it happened without them and the Boulder consumers who all supported it.”

WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS

While the Celestial Seasonings factory remains in Boulder, it is owned by the Hoboken NJ-based Hain Celestial Group, which also acquired Boulderbased Rudi’s Organic Bakery. In 2016, Hormel Foods — makers of SPAM — bought Justin’s Nut Butter, still headquartered here.

Coffee and pastries at MECO Coffee in Lafayette.

Credit:

The neighborhood hangout is located in a pod of cool independent food businesses near Centaurus High School that includes Big Daddy’s Pizza, Blendz Juice Bar, Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery, Basil Bowl, Panadería Tradicional y Neveria, Tacos Aya Yay and Dillinger’s Food & Spirits PS: If you love cheese crackers, don’t miss MECO’s savory cheesy bits.

John Lehndorff

A woman stands near a Celestial Seasonings display at New Age Foods, a health food store located at 1122 Pearl St. Courtesy: Carnegie Library for Local History

New Hours: Mon 7:30am - 3pm • Tuesday Closed • Wed-Sun 7:30am - 3pm

NIBBLES

While a handful of Boulder’s natural foods businesses became national brands, including White Wave Foods and Rudi’s Organic Bakery, many more faded from memory.

“You know what they say: History is written by the victors. Stories of the natural foods industry are told by the companies that made a lot of money,” Hassan says. “It doesn’t mean they aren’t true, but it gets a different telling.”

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: A GROWING SPRUCE

Beloved chef Amos Watts, who wowed Boulder diners at Corrida and Jax Fish House, has died at the age of 43, days before he was to open Denver’s Fifth String restaurant.

Shreddy’s Tacos is open at 2690 Baseline Road, former site of Beau Jo’s Pizza.

Louisville hummus maker Hope Foods has closed.

Coming soon: Spruce Cafe, 600 S. Airport Road, the first Longmont location for Boulder’s Spruce Confections.

CULINARY CALENDAR: BAG HUNGER SATURDAY

The National Association of Letter Carriers annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive day takes place May 11 as Boulder County food banks are seeing empty shelves. Leave a bag of non-perishable food at your mailbox: cereal, pasta, spaghetti sauce, rice, canned meats and meals, beans, grains and oils. No glass, please.

Plan ahead: Whiskey Throwdown & Doughnut Showdown, June 1, Denver. whiskeydoughnuts.com

WORDS TO CHEW ON: PLANET OF THE APES DIET

“Eat what the monkey eats: simple food and not too much of it.” — Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943)

John Lehndorff is the food editor of Boulder Weekly. Send comments to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com

Workers package tea in the early days of Celestial Seasonings. Courtesy: Hain Celestial

WEED BETWEEN THE LINES

THE GREAT RESCHEDULING

DEA’s shift on cannabis has big implications for business, criminal justice and science

BY WILL BRENDZA

After more than 50 years of classification as a dangerous, highly addictive drug with no medical value, the U.S. federal government is changing its stance on cannabis.

On April 30, Attorney General Merrick Garland circulated an official proposal to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I substance to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agreed to the recommendation.

Next, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will review the rule. If accepted, it goes to public comment before being adopted as law.

When asked about the status of the Department of Justice’s proposed rule to reschedule cannabis, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “This is a commitment and a promise that [President Biden] made when he decided to run back in 2019.”

Technically, Biden campaigned in 2019 on the promise to legalize or decriminalize cannabis, not to reschedule it. But this is historic progress.

In accepting the Department of Health and Human Services’ recom-

mendation to reschedule cannabis, the DEA and federal government are, for the first time, officially recognizing the medical value of this plant.

Schedule I substances — like cannabis, LSD, mescaline, heroin, ecstasy, bath salts, magic mushrooms, GHB and others — are classified as dangerous, having no known medical use and a high potential for abuse. They not only carry the heaviest criminal penalties but are severely restricted and controlled when it comes to scientific and pharmaceutical research.

gerous, unlike Schedule I and II drugs. Codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone are in this tier of controlled substances. Legally possessing them requires a prescription.

Rescheduling will make it possible for universities and private labs to dig into serious research on cannabis, its health effects and potential uses as a medicine. It will also open the doors for the pharmaceutical industry to start its own research and start making chemical analogs of THC, CBD, CBN or other

University of California, Los Angeles Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids, told PBS News Hour. “When the dust has settled, I don’t know how many years from now, research will be easier.”

According to a May 1 Congressional Research Service report, rescheduling could also affect criminal sentences for anyone incarcerated for a cannabis crime that hinged on its classification as a Schedule I substance. Any quantitybased mandatory minimums would likely remain unchanged.

Schedule III drugs, by contrast, are described by the DEA as having a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” They have known medical uses and are not considered dan-

cannabinoids that could be patented and sold over the counter — but it won’t happen overnight.

“It’s going to be really confusing for a long time,” Ziva Cooper, director of the

One of the biggest upsides may be for cannabis businesses themselves. A Schedule III trade or business falls outside of the purview of Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code. That tax code section currently prevents cannabis businesses from making any federal tax deductions. Removing that restriction would finally allow cannabis companies to file taxes, giving them access to expense write-offs and other benefits that traditional businesses enjoy.

At the May 1 press conference, JeanPierre said she could not confirm if the OMB had received the proposed rule change yet, but assured those watching that “the process continues.”

Alexis at The Cannabis Depot. Credit: David Harwi Photography