Boulder Weekly 02.15.2024

UNDER

ONE ROOF Everything we know (and don’t) about Boulder’s new day shelter P. 10

CONTENTS 02.15.2024

20 Credit: Cheryl Dunn

10 COVER Day services are coming to Boulder Shelter

for the Homeless. Here’s what we know — and what we don’t

BY KAYLEE HARTER

20 MUSIC Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo talks 40 years and

‘This Stupid World’ ahead of first Boulder show in nearly a decade

BY JEZY J. GRAY

23 THEATER After the closure of BDT Stage, can Johnstown’s

Candlelight Dinner Playhouse keep a dying tradition alive?

BY TONI TRESCA

35 NIBBLES Boulder’s ‘tea spirit’ gets elevated with mountain hut and tasting ceremonies BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

DEPARTMENTS 05 OPINION

26 EVENTS

14-19 NEWS

32 ASTROLOGY

24 BOOKS

33 SAVAGE LOVE

Just say no to Netanyahu

CU on the moon, lead pipes in Lafayette

Denver author sheds new light on shocking heartland killing spree

25 FILM

Local theaters present Oscar-nominated short films

BOULDER WEEKLY

Where to go and what to do

Know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em, Sag

What to bring to a sex party

38 WEED

Feds seizing more shrooms

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COMMENTARY FEBRUARY 15, 2024 Volume 31, Number 26

PUBLISHER: Francis Zankowski

E DIT ORIAL 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: Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Dan Savage, Bart Schaneman, Toni Tresca, Laura Pritchett, Yesenia Robles, Daniel Strain

S A LE S AND MARKET I NG 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

P ROD UCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

C I RC UL ATION CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

B US I NESS OFFICE

OPINION

BOOKKEEPER/ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Austen Lopp FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo 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.

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BOULDER WEEKLY

JUST SAY NO TO NETANYAHU Calls for ceasefire in Gaza grow louder

BY DAVE ANDERSON

O

n Feb. 1, a large crowd urged the Boulder City Council to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

Boulder Reporting Lab described a raucous and chaotic scene with five recesses and lots of chanting and shouted insults.

A majority of the council declined to take a stand, citing a city code provision. Councilwoman Lauren Folkerts sensibly suggested that the city’s Human Relations Commission advise the council on “how we can help our

community engage in productive dialogue and healing given the trauma associated with this topic.”

It’s almost impossible to have a reasonable conversation about the conflict.

People are afraid of being called antiSemites or Islamophobes. But we need more than polite talks. Many Arab and Muslim Americans are saying they won’t vote for Biden because he is funding mass murder.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a roundtable discussion with Palestinian Americans about the situa-

tion in Gaza. A number of invitees refused to meet with him.

Dr. Tariq Haddad, a Virginia cardiologist, had initially intended to go to the meeting. Instead, he wrote a 12-page letter to Blinken saying “I cannot in good conscience meet with you today knowing this administration’s policies have been responsible for the death of over 80 of my family members including dozens of children, the suffering of hundreds of my remaining family, the famine my family is currently subjected to and the destruction of all my family’s homes.”

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

5

OPINION This war started with a killing spree of spectacular depravity on Oct. 7 by Hamas and allied groups. The Center for Strategic and International Studies says it was the “third-deadliest terrorist attack since data collection began in 1970.” It was the most traumatic event in Israeli history.

Under the cover of rocket barrages fired from Gaza, they killed indiscriminately in the streets, houses, kibbutz communities and at a rave music festival. According to Israeli social security data, the final death toll is thought to be 695 Israeli civilians, including 36 children, as well as 373 security forces and 71 foreigners, giving a total of 1,139.

More than 240 hostages were taken.

President Biden warned Israel not to make the same mistakes the U.S. made after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Various analysts of terrorism said Hamas was deliberately provoking Israel into an emotional and horrific excessive retaliation.

It worked. In a recent speech at the Center for International Policy, Sen. Bernie Sanders said that in just four months of war, 27,000 Palestinians have been killed and 67,000 have been wounded. He noted that two-thirds of the dead and wounded are women and children and that 1.7 million — 80% of the population — have been driven from their homes. Many hundreds of thousands are facing starvation.

Sanders introduced a resolution to compel the State Department, within 30 days, to determine if Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. He was invoking a rarely-used provision of a decades-old law that prohibits security assistance to any country where the government engages in a “consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

The resolution was voted down 72 votes to 11. Progressives in Congress have also introduced a resolution urging Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire.

On Feb. 11, The Washington Post reported that “President Biden and his top aides are closer to a breach” with Netanyahu than at any time since the war began. The article was based on interviews with 19 anonymous senior administration officials and outside advisers.

6

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

The president has known Netanyahu for more than 40 years and “has been largely reluctant to take his private frustrations public so far. … But he is slowly warming to the idea. … As Netanyahu continues to infuriate Biden officials with public humiliations and prompt rejections of basic U.S. demands.”

However, many of Biden’s allies say that “even a sharp rhetorical shift will have little effect unless the United States starts imposing conditions on its support for Israel.”

Biden has issued a national security memorandum aimed at ensuring that countries receiving U.S. weapons abide by certain guidelines. He also issued an executive order sanctioning four West Bank settlers for violence against Palestinians.

In February, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, told The Wall Street Journal that Biden was hampering Israel’s war effort.

“Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas,” he said. “If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different.”

For God’s sake, Joe! Just say no to Netanyahu.

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

OFFICE HOURS

Join the Boulder Weekly staff as we work out and about in the community! Good journalism is all about meeting people where they are, so we’re bringing the office to you.

Stop by and ask us questions, bring us concerns (and juicy news tips) or just introduce yourself.

WHEN: 1-3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 WHERE: Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, 1468 Pearl St. in Boulder

We’ll be taking this show on the road in coming months, too, visiting all the Boulder County towns.

Got recommendations for where we should work next? Email us at editorial@boulderweekly.com

PERO DESPUÉS… One woman’s journey from Venezuela to America

BY LAURA PRITCHETT

The border wall between U.S. and Mexico. Courtesy: Greg Bulla on Unsplash

E

xactly what causes people to leave their homeland and make a difficult trek of 3,000 miles?

A young woman I’ll call Jhovid, who came here from Venezuela, has asked me to listen to her answer, so that I and others may understand.

Her hair neatly ponytailed, her clothes tidy, she looks composed — but her food is uneaten and tears streak her face. She tells me that people are starving to death in Venezuela. She looks at me to make sure I understand. Starving.

We know about the dire conditions generally, and we know that our Colorado town of Fort Collins, like many, has absorbed large numbers of newly arrived immigrants who fled for their safety. Jhovid is one of the many Venezuelan refugees who climbed off a bus months ago with no coat, food, shelter or contacts. She’s 32 and graduated from college with a degree in business administration, but Venezuela was sinking economically as she was growing up. Jobs were scarce and gangs were everywhere.

She traveled with her sister to Colombia, where they worked for five years in a tennis shoe factory. But economic conditions soured there too, so the women went to Chile, traveling 23 days by foot and bus.

Luck, kindness and perseverance seem to be the themes of her story, where — time after time — good people offered help.

Like the time that immigration officials in Chile “gave us medical help and food, and we got jobs in fruit processing.” She liked the factory, the country and sending money to her family.

Pero después. But then. Her father, a retired police officer, who had been kidnapped and rescued, developed Parkinson’s disease. Her family was desperate for help. Jhovid knew that if she could make it to the U.S.-Mexico border where there was a “Very Famous Hole” through the border wall, she could get to America and find work that paid more.

For the next three months, the sisters traveled north, walking and hitchhiking through three countries. In Panama, they foraged for food in the jungle with los animales. Worst of all, her sister became very “sick from the river, because the river was contaminated from dead people.”

A kind person gave them food, medicine and tickets to Costa Rica.

Then it was on to Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. They hid under cars at a mechanic shop to avoid the Mexican Mafia. Caught twice by immigration patrols in southern Mexico, they were sent to towns near the Guatemalan border.

By the third time, she knew how to avoid la migra, and after making it through the Very Famous Hole, they arrived in El Paso. Finally, she and others were bused to Denver, where a stranger directed them to a homeBOULDER WEEKLY

OPINION less shelter, and later, a bus to Fort Collins.

Various groups stepped up with lightning speed, including churches and the nonprofits Fuerza Latina and Alianza NORCO. She’s grateful for all the help but is happy to have found a full-time job.

This woman walked thousands of miles through country after country because she had to. Determination and the kindness of strangers helped her succeed.

I think of a family member’s response to immigrants — one echoed by many in this country: “They’re ruining the country, why would you want to help them?”

My answer: Why wouldn’t you respect their desperate quest for a decent life?

Laura Pritchett is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West.

LETTERS LET STATES DECIDE

According to all the “experts,” it seems very likely that the SCOTUS will overturn Colorado’s decision to take Trump off the ballot. Their logic is apparently represented by something Justice Elena Kagan said, which is that one state should not be able to decide who runs for President of the United States.

That view would completely make sense if the presidential election was a federal one, but IT IS NOT. The election for president consists of fifty state elections, with vastly different voting laws, accounting systems and voters’ rights. Based on that, it seems only fair that Colorado gets to decide who is on the Colorado ballot.

If not, then the electoral college needs to be eliminated (LONG overdue) and voter’s rights and election laws need to be uniform in all states.

— Kyle Richardson, Boulder

PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS IN COLORADO

As an eighth grader, I would like to be hanging out with my friends and talking about teenage girl stuff. Instead, I’m worried about the possibility that my life and the lives of many others like me could be derailed because we were denied access to reproductive rights.

Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, states can deny women the freedom to end a pregnancy. Colorado has allowed abortion to remain legal but has not yet fully protected reproductive freedom.

BOULDER WEEKLY

In the past few months, there has been a petition to add Section 32 to Article II of the Colorado constitution on the ballot; this recognizes the right to abortion and health insurance to cover any abortion. Hopefully, women in Colorado will have the right to decide what to do with their own bodies.

The Guttmacher Institute declares that fourteen states in the U.S. prohibit abortion and seven have restricted abortions in some areas; this leaves 18 million people without access to abortions. That’s possibly 18 million lives turned upside down by the lack of reproductive rights.

People have strong beliefs on abortion for religious or ethical reasons, but the choice should lie with the women whose life could be turned upside down by an unwanted pregnancy. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one.

I know that it is important to many Coloradans, especially women, that this amendment is passed. As a teenage girl, I especially hope to see Colorado protect reproductive and abortion rights.

I can’t change the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v.

Wade, and I can’t change people’s views on abortion, but I can help Colorado protect and secure abortion rights in the Constitution. Maybe, just maybe, Colorado will encourage other states to protect women’s rights to reproductive freedoms.

— Joanie Michel, Boulder

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COVER

UNDER ONE ROOF Everything we know (and don’t know) about Boulder’s new day center

BY KAYLEE HARTER

C

rystal and G, a married couple both wearing tan Carhartt overalls, sit on a bench at the Boulder Bandshell on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

They’ve been homeless for just under a year. Their sleeping bags and backpacks sit next to them. Crystal says they were turned away from the shelter just last night, a regular occurrence.

She describes accessing services as “a hamster wheel,” a constant struggle of figuring out where to be and when, and figuring out a way to get there.

“You don’t know what you’re looking for? You’re screwed. That’s where I’ve been — just going in circles, chasing my tail,” Crystal says. “I don’t know the questions to ask everybody, and everybody’s so busy.”

She describes the slog of getting to the right place at the right time: “Back and forth, back and forth. That’s a pain in the rear end, and it hurts.

You’re gone for a couple hours, but it feels like you just went to work and did manual labor.”

That could be changing soon as plans to bring a range of services under one roof at Boulder Shelter for the Homeless (BSH) progress. City Council made a day center a priority at their 2022 retreat. Previous plans for the center on Folsom fell through after the developer withdrew from the project in July 2023, and in December 2023, the City and BSH announced plans for the day center in the existing shelter facility.

“The best practice in this work is to co-locate services so people don’t have to bounce all around the city to access services, but rather have a one-stop shop where they can access several services in one place,” says Megan Newton, the City’s homelessness policy advisor.

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FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Crystal says she found out about the day services center by mistake — she was searching for services when she came across an article in which housed neighbors lamented potential property loss values. Crystal and G see the co-location of services as largely positive.

“I personally don’t care to be out in the streets by myself, not knowing where I’m going,” Crystal says. “We can’t both get a job, because you

can’t keep [your stuff] in the locker with how big they are. I don’t know how to fit this with my other stuff. So are we supposed to just throw it all away and say, ‘OK, I’ll just wear the same underwear for the next two weeks?’”

G sits behind Crystal with his arms wrapped around her. They say they keep each other going.

“As long as it’s at the shelter itself, then I can go to work, and I ain’t got to worry about her having to pack all our stuff up every day and walk these streets and tote our stuff,” G says. “I mean, yeah, that would be a good thing.”

For the City and shelter, the day center is a piece of the puzzle in addressing Boulder’s growing homelessness crisis.

“The ultimate goal is to get engaged folks into services in an effort to exit them from homelessness altogether,” says Newton. “This is just another piece of a full continuum to be able to do that.”

It’s a work in progress, and City staff approval is still required for the center to move ahead, but here’s what we know — and what we don’t — about the day center so far.

WHAT WE KNOW

The center will provide a dedicated space for the unhoused to go during the day — something that hasn’t existed (other than during critical weather) in the city since 2017. The hope is that it will engage a new population of people who, for a variety of reasons, don’t come to the congregate nighttime shelter.

“The big plus for us is that we have a place and an attraction for those people so that we can get them connected to services that already exist,” says Andy Schultheiss, a spokesperson for the shelter. “Whether that’s mental health or substance abuse or job searching or connecting with lost relatives and all of these things that we do normally, we can only do that for people who show up for our nighttime services.”

Reaching those new people isn’t without its hurdles.

“Dealing with a whole new population that isn’t used to the rules that we have in the shelter — that’s going to be a bit of a challenge, and we’re gonna have to work through that, working with the police department and others and figure out what those rules are going to be,” Schultheiss says. “All these things are overcomable, they’re just going to take a little while.”

Funding for the day center is coming from several different sources. The City’s general fund will contribute $2.6 million for the next five years to pay for ongoing day service center expenses as well as housing and capital supports. After that, the City will pay $1.6 million annually, according to Lyndsy Morse-Casillas, a spokesperson for the City.

Of the City’s general fund contributions, $108,000 will go toward 30 housing vouchers that the state is helping to fund. City funding is also being supplemented with a one-year state grant of more than $1.2 million for expanded services in 2024, which includes additional case management services, a second retention team, peer support and mental and behavioral health services.

A $2 million two-year grant from the state’s Department of Local Affairs along with “some general fund” money will cover a new respite program, according to Morse-Casillas.

Staff also “expect to request funding during the mid-year process to support renovations and startup costs for both respite and day services,” according to Morse-Casillas.

Some neighbors aren’t happy. In a nearly two-hour long Good Neighbor Meeting, a required part of BOULDER WEEKLY

NEWS

updating the management plan, most of the more than 20 neighbors that spoke expressed concerns about the shelter adding day services.

“Had I known this was going to happen, I would have highly reconsidered buying considering the price that it cost to live in this neighborhood,” said Dakota Ridge resident Emily Metsa at the meeting. “Safety is a huge issue. Loitering is happening beyond your property as people leave the property.”

Schultheiss believes having a day center will likely reduce loitering.

“Right now, we have a situation where people are kicked out, and they typically hang around for a while before getting on a bus or walking downtown or whatever they have to do that day,” he says. “And then the same thing happens in the evening — there’s a line around the block of people waiting to get into the shelter.

“If we’re open 24/7, those people are going to be inside. And yes, it’s true that people are going to come and go a little bit during the day, but I think that will be balanced by people who aren’t just waiting around at the BOULDER WEEKLY

beginning and end of the day with no place to go.” The management plan allows for people to come and go during the day — a deviation from how the night shelter operates, with no coming and going allowed.

Crystal echoed Schultheiss’ sentiment.

“They don’t want us around and sleeping here and there,” she says.

“Well, then give those who want it the opportunity to change all that. You know, help us help you help us.”

Transportation to the shelter will double. Currently, free transportation to the shelter consists of one HOP bus from the shelter in the morning and one to the shelter in the evening.

The shelter is at the terminus of the SKIP and HOP lines, and Newton says in addition to doubling the free buses to the shelter, the City also plans to provide bus passes.

“Although there will be free buses running, folks don’t have to wait necessarily for that bus, but rather would have access to bus passes both at the day center and from outreach teams,” Newton says.

The day center comes with

increased capacity at the night shelter year round. The shelter’s 160 beds will be increased to 180 beds every night. Previously, those extra 20 beds were only available during critical weather events. Moving forward, no additional beds will be added for critical weather.

The shelter needs to hire more people. Schultheiss says a big part of the shelter’s focus right now is hiring more staff and figuring out shifts to meet the increased hours. Currently, the shelter employs 70 people, 50 of whom are client facing at the shelter or other permanent housing sites.

Ideally, the shelter will hire between five and 10 new employees, Schultheiss says.

“Our client-facing staff are amazing, and they don’t get paid all that well.

It’s tough work,” he says. “We’re constantly hiring people for the night shifts, and now we’ve got to do the same for the day shifts. So that is a big, big lift for us.”

WHAT WE SORT OF KNOW

When the shelter will open. The goal is for the shelter to open by the

end of winter, but Spencer Downing, chief housing officer at BSH, says spring is a safer estimate.

The services that will be offered, but not when they’ll be offered. The full list of proposed services includes respite care for those transitioning from the hospital, community court and treatment for substance abuse, but not all those services will necessarily be available from the outset.

Coordinated Entry and diversion programs such as those that help people reconnect with family members will be available right away, Schultheiss says.

“It’s amazing how many people would go live with their cousin in Kentucky or wherever they’re from if they had fare to get there and a nice set of clothes and all that. So we do that,” he says.

Services to help get folks who qualify into permanent housing will also start on day one, according to Schultheiss. Showers, laundry and lockers — all of which the shelter already has — will also most likely be available from the start.

Lunch is an evolving discussion, FEBRUARY 15, 2024

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COVER but Schultheiss says it will probably be available shortly after the opening of the day services center.

“We’re going from 110,000 meals a year to 160,000 meals a year, which is an enormous thing, and food storage is a huge headache,” Schultheiss says. “We don’t have that much room here.”

Crystal says she thinks having lunches available will be an important factor in whether the center is utilized.

“I hope that it’s doing breakfast and lunch, so that we’re fed,” she says. “Because otherwise, the day center is going to be, more or less, not really utilized as much without the food there, because then we have to go out and look for food.”

Bringing in outside partners such as mental health and substance abuse service providers is currently the biggest question mark and will happen “more slowly,” Schultheiss says. The plan is for the entire management staff of the shelter to move their offices out of the shelter to make room for service providers.

“It’s going to happen at some point, but perhaps not on day one,” he says.

Putting the day center in the existing shelter saves time and money. Having the day center in a separate location would have likely required additional costs to buy or lease space. Schultheiss says because of those savings and additional funding that comes with the day center, BSH will be able to nearly double the number of people in permanent housing over the next year.

“Past that, we expect there will be savings,” Newton says, “but until we do it, we’re not quite sure where that lies.”

Since a new building or renovations to an existing building are no longer needed, the City also expects the center to open six to 12 months earlier than if it was in a new location, Morse-Casillas says.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

What intake at the shelter will look like. Currently, those hoping to stay at the shelter must arrive between 5 and 7 p.m. and have completed the Coordinated Entry

process ahead of time. On nights when the shelter is at capacity, a lottery system is used to decide who gets a bed.

With the shelter’s new hours and services, that protocol will likely change. Schultheiss says those plans are in development, but likely won’t be nailed down until the final permit is submitted to the City.

Whether the shelter will update the management plan before resubmitting to the City. Some speakers at the Good Neighbor Meeting said they feel that NoBo bears the brunt of a disproportionate amount of homelessness services.

Others said they felt the process was rushed and like the meeting was “just checking a box” rather than meaningfully engaging.

It’s true that the Good Neighbor Meeting doesn’t actually require any additional action on the part of the shelter or the City. Updating the management plan requires a stafflevel review, and it’s unlikely it won’t be approved since the center already has support from the City.

Still, Schultheiss says it’s possible there will be another update to the management plan based on neighbors’ feedback.

How the new services at the day center will be received by homeless folks. Consolidating services is good. It makes them more accessible and easier to navigate.

But until the center is up and running, it’s hard to say how many people will access the services a day and how many of those people will be new to the services.

“Different day centers have had different experiences in terms of how many people come in. We don’t really know,” Schultheiss says.

“There will be people here, but I very much doubt there will be 180 people there unless there’s a blizzard going on. We’d be very, very pleased if we could serve 30 or 40 people a day and get them into meetings with service providers.”

For some, the fact that the day center is in the same location as the night shelter could be a turnoff.

“I think everyone in this process hopes that we will be able to create opportunities for people who often BOULDER WEEKLY

NEWS

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New merchants and specials added regularly Check it out so you can start saving! had been reluctant to go to the shelter, or have had difficulty with the shelter or finding the shelter and appealing to them,” says Downing.

“One of the things that we were looking forward to in creating a separate space was the opportunity to have a place that didn’t have those associations.”

Brittany Ann, who’s been homeless for a little over four years, says she’s stayed at the shelter before but is unlikely to go back even for day services except in critical weather.

“I feel like the shelter is too many people in one place,” she says. “All we have in common is that we don’t have anywhere to be, so you end up with all of this cultural turmoil and stress, and it’s a really poor environment.”

Figuring out how to reach people like Brittany Ann who are wary of the shelter is one of the biggest questions staff are working to answer, Downing says.

“How do we make this resource attractive and, above all, useful to people experiencing homelessness [so] that we can be a piece of solving whatever they need that gets them into housing,” he says. “Like, how do we make it useful to that person who is annoyed with bureaucracy? How do we make it useful to that person who is suspicious of the BOULDER WEEKLY

helper industry? I say that as somebody who is part of the helper industry, and how can we be useful to those people?”

WHAT’S NEXT?

After the shelter resubmits the management plan, it will be reviewed on a two-week track, and staff could require a third round of review.

All in all, City and shelter staff acknowledge they don’t have all the answers yet — and likely won’t until the center is operational.

“When Disney World was created, Walt Disney decided not to pave the sidewalks. Instead, he waited a couple of years to see where the visitors were gonna walk, and then he paved those,” Schultheiss says. “So that’s kind of what we’re going to do. We’re going to see how this goes, and we’re going to stay in close touch with the neighborhood, and we’re going to figure out what’s the best way to do it, and then we’re going to pave those paths.”

For Crystal, input from those with lived experience will be crucial.

“They want to know where to start to fix it? They need to start asking people who are homeless and listening to what they have to say.”

Editor’s note: The homeless individuals featured in this story asked to be identified by their first names only.

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NEWS

‘GIVE IT YOUR ALL’ BHS grad honored with Governor’s Citizenship Medal

Osvaldo Garcia Barron.

Courtesy: Elevations Foundation

BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

W

hen Osvaldo Garcia Barron started high school, he was often the only student of color in his advanced classes. He struggled to speak up and wondered if he had anything to contribute.

The start of the pandemic interrupted his freshman year of high school.

But instead of coming out of it feeling isolated, Garcia Barron came back to school determined. He followed his older sister Paola’s lead in participating in some leadership programs and continued taking advanced classes.

When he still struggled to feel a sense of belonging, he realized he probably wasn’t the only one.

Garcia Barron restarted the Boulder High School Latino Student Organization where he eventually became president. He started getting involved in lots of other programs in his school, district and city, including serving as a board member for the Boulder Valley School District Youth Equity Council and being a mentor in

the school’s AVID program, which helps prepare students who are historically underrepresented in higher education for college.

Now he is being recognized as this year’s recipient of the Emerging Community Leader Citizenship Medal.

The awards, delivered last month, are in their ninth year and are given by Gov. Jared Polis and CiviCo, a nonprofit leadership development organization.

Garcia Barron was nominated by one of his mentors who says he’s an inspiration to others.

“Osvaldo has the type of personality that can truly change lives,” Jasmine Johnson, the mentor who nominated him, wrote in the nomination letter.

“Oftentimes, Osvaldo seems more like a counselor himself than a student. I am excited to see all the growth and

change Osvaldo will inevitably bring to himself, his peers and the wider community.”

Garcia Barron didn’t know he was even being considered until he got a call from Polis.

“The moment I answered that call it was like a series of emotions, first of all I was, like, in shock,” Garcia Barron says. “Talking to a governor, I didn’t know how to process that emotion. I did feel a sense of gratitude. I was honestly really honored and humbled.”

Garcia Barron, who is in his first year of college at Pitzer College in California, called his mom right after.

He says the unexpected recognition helped reinforce that his work does matter.

Asked to pick the work he’s done that he’s most proud of, he can’t pick just one thing.

When he was a member of Boulder’s Youth Opportunities Advisory Board, he helped interview children about how to make the city more kidfriendly. He researched how the City of Boulder could create an immigrant defense fund, perhaps modeled after other cities. He helped host information sessions for immigrants when he was involved with the city’s Office of Equity and Belonging.

Growing up with immigrant parents in a city that is predominantly white, Garcia Barron says he saw his family go through many struggles. His dad

Osvaldo Garcia Barron poses for a portrait after graduating. He won the 2023 Emerging Community Leader Medal from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis for his advocacy for Latino students while at Boulder High. Courtesy: Paolo Garcia Barron, via Chalkbeat

14

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

works multiple jobs, and his mom stays home with his three younger sisters. They support his education and his work, but don’t have a lot of time to be involved themselves. But he says his parents always instilled hope in him, despite their challenges.

“Echale ganas, mijo,” is one saying his parents tell him that he hangs on to. Roughly translated it means, “Give it your all, son.”

Johnson, who nominated Garcia Barron for the award, is a counselor for Access Opportunity, a nonprofit that selects students to help them with college prep, leadership skills and career exploration.

She went shopping with Garcia Barron when he was preparing to leave for college.

“Just being out in Boulder with him, we were stopped seven to 10 times,” Johnson said. “People who just wanted to say hello. Those that have been impacted by him and his family. It was beautiful to see that.”

Even though it’s his first semester of college, Garcia Barron is already involved in several groups. He’s the first-year representative for the Latino Student Union, and he’s a part of the First Generation Club. He’s a Spanish conversation tutor, and he’s being trained to become an Affinity Fellow, which will mean representing Latino organizations on campus and facilitating their communication with the university’s other departments.

It’s a lot to manage, but he says it’s not difficult because he’s passionate about all of the work. He’s exploring a major in either sociology or political studies, with a possible major in Chicano studies. He may one day go into politics, he says. Or he would like to help write policy with a nonprofit organization.

Most of all, he wants to help lift the voice of young people.

“It’s really important to trust the process and continue advocating when it gets difficult,” Garcia Barron says. “I just hope the work I’m engaging in is inspiring others to get involved.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

BOULDER WEEKLY

NEWS

GOV’T WATCH What your elected officials are up to

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF Government offices are closed Monday, Feb. 19 in observance of President’s Day.

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

On Feb. 22, Council will: Hold a three-hour joint meeting with the Open Space Board of Trustees (OSBT), beginning at 6 p.m. There’s one item on the agenda: the disposal of 2.2 acres of Van Vleet Open Space. The land is needed to build flood mitigation along South Boulder Creek, commonly known as the CU South project, to protect 2,300 residents and 1,100 homes.

Because Van Vleet was purchased as open space, using open space funds, it cannot legally be used for other purposes. OSBT will have to vote to formally dispose of the land; that is, officially give it to the utilities department to use for flood protection. Residents could also force the matter to a public vote with a citizen petition, filed within 60 days of the vote.

The land is needed to build a floodwall along U.S. 36., according to City utilities staff. Another 1.9 acres will be impacted temporarily during construction; a separate agreement will govern access and impacts.

There will not be a meeting of Boulder City Council on Feb. 29.

Meetings resume March 7.

Watch Boulder City Council meetings on YouTube (youtube.com/@ CityofBoulderGov) or Channel 8.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Reminder: Commissioners will be interviewing candidates for Boulder County Coroner at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15. Attend virtually: boco.org/Coroner-Interviews-2.

BOULDER WEEKLY

On Feb. 21, Commissioner Claire Levy will: Attend the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) meeting at 6:30 p.m. The organization includes representatives from 58 participating governments and addresses issues of transportation, growth and development and aging and disability resources.

On Feb. 22, Commissioners will: Attend the Counties & Commissioners Acting Together (CCAT) meeting at 5:30 p.m. CCAT is a group that represents county interests at the state capitol.

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL

On Feb. 6, the Council: Approved a contract to inventory all city water lines and come up with a plan to replace any and all lead pipes. The contract will also identify possible funding strategies.

Approved a contract for predesign and siting of a second water treatment plant. The facility will provide additional capacity and allow for maintenance and upgrades at the Baseline Water Treatment Plant.

On Feb. 16-17, Council will: Hold a retreat to discuss the group’s goals for the next two years.

On Feb. 20, Council will: Hear a presentation from the Regional Housing Partnership, a cross-jurisdictional group working toward increasing affordable housing in Boulder County. The Partnership has a goal of preserving or building 12% of the county’s housing as affordable by 2035.

Watch Lafayette City Council meetings on YouTube (youtube.com/ cityoflafayetteco) or Channel 8. Find a calendar of meetings at bit.ly/ Lafayette-council.

Want to learn more about Lafayette City Council? Karen Norback, our new Lafayette correspondent, writes Reports from a Political Hobbyist on Substack. Sign up at bit.ly/Lafayettenews

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NEWS

BOCO, BRIEFLY Local news at a glance

BY WILL MATUSKA DOWNTOWN BOULDER STATION LOBBY TO REOPEN

RTD’s Downtown Boulder Station lobby is slated to reopen Monday, Feb. 19 after methamphetamine residue was found in the restrooms and in the station’s ductwork in January 2023.

Over the last year, the original ductwork was removed and replaced with a system that can be cleaned, according to an RTD press release.

The District also installed more powerful exhaust fans in the public restroom. Now, smoke will be contained to the bathroom if drug use happens there again.

The state’s cleanup standard for meth detected in habitable spaces is 0.5 micrograms per 100 square centimeters.

The closure of the station’s lobby happened after Boulder’s downtown public library was closed on Dec. 20, 2022, following similar meth contamination in its public restrooms and common areas. The library reopened in early January, and the bathrooms followed in mid-April.

Meth contamination in public spaces isn’t unique to Boulder — other libraries across the Denver metro

closed from the same cause in early 2023. Meth use, along with the number of meth-involved overdoses, has increased nationally.

CU Boulder published a draft of its updated climate action plan (CAP) on Feb. 5.

The plan aims to “advance just and equitable climate solutions that address mitigation, adaptation and

upgrades. Other strategies include renewable energy, fleet replacement and heating system upgrades.

The university did not reach the Phase 1 goal of its first climate action plan, approved on Oct. 8 2009, to reach 20% greenhouse gas reduction by 2020.

“The CAP is a critical document that maps out our strategy for achieving carbon neutrality, and the voices of our campus community are vital to ensuring the CAP is as good as it can

resilience” through five core goals, including reaching 50% reduction of certain emissions by 2030 and to be on track to reach zero emissions by 2050 using baseline emissions from 2019.

Between now and 2030, the plan outlines how more than 80% of carbon savings will come from increasing building efficiency through projects like lighting retrofits and HVAC system

be,” Chris Ewing, a member of the CAP steering committee, said in a press release.

The final plan is expected to be published in April.

The CAP steering committee is seeking public comment on the draft through March 5. Upcoming engagement sessions include Feb. 13, 23 and 28, all on Zoom. Submit feedback on the plan here.

CU DRAFTS NEW CLIMATE GOALS

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Boulder County Sheriff’s Office

released a new tool to show open burn locations in unincorporated Boulder County on Feb. 5. The “open burning portal” includes a map displaying permitted and registered open, slash or agricultural burns and a new notification hotline.

Along with increasing community awareness and safety, the system is supposed to reduce burn-related calls to 911 county dispatchers.

• The City of Boulder will install two more red-light cameras and another automated speed enforcement by April 1 as part of an effort to curb severe crashes. One of the red-light cameras will be installed at Canyon and 15th, and the other at 28th and Jay Road. The speed enforcement will be at Broadway and Pine, where there is already a red-light camera. According to the City, speeding and running red lights are two of the most common causes of severe crashes in town.

• Nineteen Colorado conservation and environmental organizations, including Boulder County Audubon, signed a letter asking elected officials to pause “wildfire fuel reduction” logging as “a large and growing body of peer-reviewed science questions the reasoning for and effectiveness” of those projects.

This comes as some land managers are utilizing techniques that focus on community readiness, like home hardening, to balance with traditional forest thinning to prepare for wildfire.

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NEWS

BACK TO THE MOON Radio telescope with CU ties heads to moon’s south pole

BY DANIEL STRAIN CU BOULDER TODAY

A

strophysicists at CU Boulder will be part of the first United States science payloads to land on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Their data could help reveal the sheath of charged particles that lies just above the moon, potentially giving the lunar surface a small electrical charge like a sweater coming out of the dryer.

The effort is one piece of the first mission in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative— in which the space agency is “working with several American companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface.” On Valentine’s Day, a NOVA-C lander designed and built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines launched for the moon’s south pole. The vehicle will carry five NASA-funded scientific payloads, including an instrument called Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photo Electron Sheath (ROLSES).

CU Boulder astrophysicist Jack Burns is a co-investigator on the ROLSES instrument, which is led by Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

“We are going to the surface of the moon for the first time in over 50 years,” says Burns, professor emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.

ROLSES may look modest in size and mass. The instrument is made up of four radio monopole antennas and associated electronics that together weigh about 30 pounds.

The team will use these simple tools to collect the first measurements of the electrical charges that scientists suspect hover above the moon’s surface — and which could

BOULDER WEEKLY

create hazards for future moon explorers. The researchers also hope to do something even more ambitious: observe radio waves emanating from around the Earth as if our planet was orbiting a star much farther away.

“We’re going to look at Earth like it’s an exoplanet,” Burns says. “We want to understand what a habitable planet might look like at radio frequencies from 30 light-years away.”

ROLSES will also observe various types of radio bursts generated in the interplanetary medium by highenergy electrons accelerated by solar eruptions.

“We have an opportunity to observe radio signatures of electron beams and shock waves leaving the Sun that may adversely impact Earth,” says Gopalswamy, who works in the heliophysics science division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

“ROLSES will be a pathfinder in setting up future radio observatories on the moon.”

RETURNING TO THE MOON

When the lander, which is named Odysseus, alights on the moon about a week after the launch, it will encounter an environment unlike any on Earth.

ROLSES co-investigator Bill Farrell, a scientist at the Space Science Institute, explained that charged electrons and protons in the solar wind, or the stream of radiation coming from the sun, beat down on the moon’s polar regions. Scientists suspect that this bath will charge up the lunar surface negatively, leaving a deficit of electrons in the region just above the surface.

The lack of electrons in this sheath might also pose a risk to astronauts.

As explorers cross over the lunar soil from sunlight to the moon’s night-

Jack Burns, professor emeritus in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.

Courtesy: CU Boulder

side, they may build up charges on their space suits — an effect that is bit like what happens if you touch a metal doorknob after walking on a carpet.

NASA is currently planning to send humans back to the moon later this decade through the Artemis program.

“In the Apollo era, the astronauts were always in daylight, so this wasn’t much of an issue,” Burns says. “But if you’re going from daylight to, say, a permanently shadowed crater, you could create some substantial electrical currents.”

ROLSES will collect measurements of the moon’s electron sheath for the first time, revealing just how dense these regions might be.

The instrument’s four antennas will also look up. Burns noted that Earth produces a constant surge of radio waves, both through natural processes and the churn of cell towers and other human technologies. ROLSES will begin to map out those signals from hundreds of thousands of miles away, obtaining a sort of space radio selfie of our planet.

JUST THE BEGINNING

For Burns, the mission, while modest, is a first step in his decades-long quest to conduct astrophysics on the

moon. Burns and his colleagues are developing a plan to lay out more than 75 square miles of radio antennas not unlike those on ROLSES across the moon’s far side facing away from Earth. These antennas will be so precise that they may pick up the faint signals left behind in the universe from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.

Burns and his colleagues also plan to follow ROLSES with another instrument called the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment at Night (LuSEE-Night). It is manifested to land on the far side of the moon in 2026 as part of a later CLPS flight.

“LuSEE will probe for the first time the unexplored ‘Dark Ages’ of the early universe,” Burns says, “just before the formation of the first stars where new exotic physics concerning, for example, dark matter might be revealed.”

The mission comes one month after Peregrine, developed by Astrobotic Technology, was felled by a fuel leak. It marks the second attempted moon landing by a private company in partnership with NASA as the U.S. tries to return to the moon. Plans for a manned mission have been pushed back to 2026 due to developmental delays.

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

19

MUSIC

F

ew bands have surfed the sands of time quite like Yo La Tengo. Formed in 1984 by married creative team Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan, the revered indie-rock outfit gelled as a bulletproof trio in the early ’90s with the addition of bassist James McNew, kicking off a golden era for the New Jersey-born heavyweights that continues unvarnished today.

From the 1993 breakthrough Painful to last year’s return-to-form This Stupid World, Yo La Tengo have spent the past four decades building a 17-album discography packed with jangle-pop earworms, sprawling psych-rock freakouts and a reverence for the old masters of soul, jazz and R&B — sometimes hushed and delicate, other times smothered in earsplitting feedback. Throughout their vibrant and varied career, including original scores for major films and guest spots on TV shows like Gilmore Girls and Parks and Recreation, the band has sealed their place in music history by staying true to a sound that never sits still.

After last year’s scheduled Boulder Theater performance was postponed due to Hubley’s knee surgery, Yo La Tengo returns to the city’s historic downtown venue for the first time in nearly a decade on Feb. 16. Presented

by Paradise Found Records and Music, the anticipated make-up show will be followed the next night by a second Front Range gig at Washington’s in Fort Collins.

“If anyone’s tempted to go to both nights, I guarantee they will be extremely different from a song-choice perspective,” Kaplan says. “Except for perhaps a couple songs from This Stupid World, we likely won’t repeat any of the old songs. We’re going to treat Boulder and Fort Collins like one long night at two locations.”

Boulder Weekly caught up with Kaplan, 67, ahead of his band’s upcoming Colorado double feature to talk about Yo La Tengo’s 40-year legacy, their first self-produced album and whether or not the time-tested rock ‘n’ roll institution could conceivably be considered a “jam band.”

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

20

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

OVERWHELMED BY YO LA TENGO’S 17-ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY? SCAN THE QR CODE FOR A BOULDER WEEKLYCURATED PLAYLIST SPANNING THE BAND’S 40-YEAR CAREER.

Credit: Cheryl Dunn

‘BIG DAY COMING’ Ira Kaplan talks 40 years of Yo La Tengo and ‘This Stupid World’

BY JEZY J. GRAY Thanks so much for carving out some time to speak with us today. This interview will run in print and online ahead of your shows in Boulder and Fort Collins, so ...

Print!

If you can believe it. I understand you have some alt-weekly music journalism in your background, too.

I’m not sure if “journalism” is the right word for it. But yes: I put typewriter to page.

Well, let’s start with an aerial view of where things are with the band right now. It’s been almost exactly one year since the release of This Stupid World.

What have the last 12 months been like?

We toured a lot in 2023, and it was a blast. That’s the aerial view [laughs].

We just did our Hanukkah shows — I don’t know how familiar you are with them, but they’re pretty involved.

Those shows seem like a lot of work.

Oh yeah. There’s nothing as rewarding for us. But I think a lot of people who

come to the shows in Colorado might enjoy those shows more than a Hanukkah show. We’ll be looking forward to playing what people know.

There’s not as many deep, deep, deep cuts. There’s not as many versions of our songs. But for the people who’ve seen us a great deal, they value that every single Hannukah show is unlike any other one. So yes, it takes a lot to make that happen.

When was the last time you came to our neck of the woods?

I think There’s a Riot Going On [2018] was the last time we played Colorado, which was a festival. It’s been quite a while since we’ve done shows there.

I’ve heard you describe your hometown [Westchester, New York] as a hotbed for jam bands and hippie culture, which sounds a lot like Boulder.

I’m curious how that world imprinted itself on your music. Could Yo La Tengo be considered a “jam band” in any meaningful sense of the term?

I think with a lot of genres, there’s the capital-letter version and the lowercase

version. I 100% think we’re a jam band in the lowercase definition. But I think for all of us, the capital-letter version we’re not very familiar with. We know the names. We have some inkling of what it’s about, but it’s not like we’re familiar with the music and go to the shows.

I think the kinship is the appreciation for the ’60s. In our case, it probably comes out different than it does for some of the bands associated with that term. Before Yo La Tengo existed and long after The Grateful Dead were established, I saw Television at CBGBs — which by some measures, was considered to be a corrective to certain kinds of music that preceded it. Their connection to The Dead seemed unmistakable to me and was one of the things I loved about them. The period in which I rejected the music I listened to when I was younger was a very brief one. So I definitely feel a kinship with that whole tradition.

Let’s talk about your new record. I understand it was the band’s first time self-producing an album — what did that open up for you?

I don’t think it felt like a huge sea change. It was just the next step in a process that had been going on for a pretty long time. When we recorded Fade [2013], we were produced by John McEntire [Tortoise, The Sea and Cake] in Chicago, and it was the first time we had recorded with [longtime Yo La Tengo producer] Roger Moutenot in quite some time. John is much more hands-off, and his production input was subtler than Roger’s. And meanwhile, James [McNew] has always continued to develop his abilities to record.

So we had some extremely evolved demos that we brought to Chicago, and we ended up using a lot of those on the record. When we recorded There’s a Riot Going On, we figured out along the way that we could record the whole thing ourselves — which is what we did in our practice space and then brought that out to John, now in L.A., who mixed it.

BOULDER WEEKLY

MUSIC With this new record, we thought we were doing that again. But one of the natures of working on Pro Tools is that you’re always mixing. So we already had rough mixes and began to realize that we were kind of close to what we wanted, and we felt it was obtainable.

So instead of getting together with John or someone else to finish the record, we decided we were capable and interested in doing it ourselves. It didn’t feel like something we’ve never done before. It just felt like we took another step in the direction we’d already been taking.

Maybe we can zoom in on one of these songs. What can you tell readers about the lifespan of the title track, “This Stupid World”?

Well, one of the reasons I think of us as a “jam band” is that we do a lot of jamming [laughs]. As you will have the

opportunity to see at least one of the Colorado shows, we play that song closer to the way it sounds on the record. On that version, Georgia is playing keyboard, James is playing drums and I’m playing guitar. We recorded a few takes of the instrumental track during practice, and we were just having a blast making that sound.

I tend to write the majority of the lyrics, so at some point I was thinking about how singing could work with the song and what role it could take. On the last few records, we really responded to the sound of the three of us singing together, and it seemed like an effective way to put this lyric across [“This stupid world, it’s killing me / This stupid world, is all we have”]. It took shape from there.

The thing is, a lot of this happens over a long period of time after the initial jam. When we decided we were

going to really focus on making a record, we went and looked back at the things we’d been recording to see what we liked and wanted to work with.

That’s a long answer, but it’s a long process.

Yo La Tengo is turning 40 this year.

What goes through your mind when you reflect on setting out with a new album against the backdrop of such a giant milestone?

You read so many interviews where bands are promoting the new record as the best thing they’ve ever done. And of course it’s not — that’s preposterous.

But one thing I’ve learned in doing this for so long is things that once seemed ridiculous no longer seem ridiculous. I’m now completely sympathetic to anyone who says that. I mean, what’s the point of doing it if you don’t believe in it entirely?

I’m so grateful that we get to go out on tour and play our new songs and not just play a greatest-hits set of the same 15 songs every night. So even though we play songs from our entire existence and maintain our relationship with our past, we’re not really thinking about it that much. And in some ways, with a record like Painful, which came out in 1993 — until we see a picture of ourselves, we feel like that was yesterday. But it wasn’t.

ON THE BILL: An

Evening with Yo La Tengo.

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Resale: $80+ | 8 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 17, Washington’s, 132 Laporte Ave., Fort Collins. $30

YO LA TENGO, BY THE DECADES 40 years of indie-rock history in five essential albums

1986: RIDE THE TIGER 1993: PAINFUL Yo La Tengo’s first full-length LP doesn’t quite scale the sonic and emotional heights of their discography to come, but it’s an important snapshot of the band’s early days amid the post-punk turn of the mid-80s in Hoboken, New Jersey. Ride the Tiger neatly frames the creative spark between Kaplan and Hubley that would give rise to a richer and more realized sound in the years ahead.

STANDOUTS: “Big Sky,” “The Cone of Silence,” “Forest Green”

BOULDER WEEKLY

The first album featuring bassist James McNew in an active role, the trio’s Matador Records debut marks a major watershed for the band. In the minds of many critics and listeners, this landmark 11-track offering is the moment Yo La Tengo became Yo La Tengo.

Coming nearly a decade after forming in 1984, the slow burn that led to this breakthrough feels baked into the record’s opening line: “Let’s be undecided, let’s take our time.”

STANDOUTS: “Big Day Coming,” “Double Dare,” “I Heard You Looking”

2000: AND THEN NOTHING TURNED ITSELF INSIDE OUT

As fellow ’90s guitar bands like Radiohead were throwing out the rulebook at the turn of the century, Yo La Tengo was also leaning into the experimental drive of the Y2K moment. With druggy drum loops, politely buzzing organs and elegant walls of noise wrapped around some of the most beautiful songs of their career, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out is the band’s low-key masterpiece.

2013: FADE

As the 21st century slouched ahead, Yo La Tengo’s status as indie-rock royalty was indisputable. On the band’s lucky 13th album Fade, the trio of Hubley, Kaplan and McNew sound more comfortable in their skin than ever, sharpening their psychedelic edges while leaning into finely tuned pop and R&B influences with effortless verve.

STANDOUTS: “Is That Enough,” “Ohm,” “The Point of It”

2023: THIS STUPID WORLD

With a sound that runs the map, it’s hard to describe any particular Yo La Tengo album as a “return to form.” But after a period of pandemic-inspired improvisations (We Have Amnesia Sometimes), the outfit’s latest is a breath of fresh air for listeners who missed their classic mix of mild-mannered melodies and amp-shredding theatrics.

STANDOUTS: “Aselestine,” “Sinatra Drive Breakdown,” “Apology Letter”

STANDOUTS: “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House,” “Cherry Chapstick,” “Tears Are in Your Eyes”

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

21

THEATER

LAST STAGE STANDING After the closure of BDT, can Johnstown’s Candlelight Dinner Playhouse save a dying tradition?

BY TONI TRESCA

D

riving northbound on I-25, the Flatirons fade in the rearview mirror, replaced by the expansive vistas of the rural Colorado plains.

Turning off past RV parks and a livestock trailer sales dealership, you’ll soon arrive at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown, where the rustic charm of the countryside meets the glitz and glamor of Broadway.

Nestled just over the Boulder County line northeast of Longmont, Candlelight stands as one of the last playhouses of its kind on the Front Range. Once a thriving part of the state’s cultural fabric, dinner theater is now a rarity in the live entertainment industry. A staggering number of dinner theaters across the state have closed, including the recent shuttering of Boulder’s legendary BDT Stage in January.

“BDT was Broadway to us,” Candlelight Marketing and Sales Director Jalyn Webb told Boulder Weekly upon the local institution’s closure last month. “Their contribution to Northern Colorado’s arts landscape is staggering, and their legacy needs to be recognized. It makes me happy that they were able to have this final season and leave on their own terms rather than being defeated by COVID.” With BDT gone for good, and Jesters Dinner Theatre co-owner Scott Moore estimating “another year-and-a-half to two years” for the Longmont playhouse, Candlelight will soon be left to fill the gap when it comes to local dinner theater outside the Denver metro. Reflecting on the mentorship of former BDT linchpin Michael Duran, Candlelight’s Executive Director Dave Clark says the mission to honor their legacy is personal.

“He helped me through some of the challenges that I was facing here,” says Clark, who comes from a construction background and had little theatrical experience when he first started Candlelight in 2008. “My wife and I

BOULDER WEEKLY

developed a close friendship with the owners of BDT, Gene and Judy Bolles; we are lifelong friends. I have all the respect in the world for them and what that team has done to keep that place going for 47 years. BDT’s closing is a huge loss to the theater community.”

‘PEOPLE VALUE EXPERIENCES’

In the face of this uncertain market, Candlelight not only survives but thrives. As dinner theaters and their tra-

also ask ourselves regularly how we stay relevant — the truth is, in the entertainment industry, it is ever-changing.”

Clark attributes Candelight’s unlikely success to a pretty simple formula: producing the sorts of shows people actually want to see.

“I have a saying: ‘A great product sells great,’ and that’s what our goal is,” he says. “We’ve struggled like everyone else, but it’s always been my goal to make great productions and continue to improve the production value each year as we go on.”

Crucially, Clark’s vision of a viable future for dinner theater doesn’t end in Johnstown. The company plans to expand across the Front Range, including the construction of a 900-seat theater and concert venue in Thornton and an 800-seat proscenium theater in Fort Collins estimated to open in 2025.

Emery Hines in a 2022 production of Little Women at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown, one of the last theaters of its kind on the Front Range. Credit: RDG Photography

ditional counterparts across the country continue struggling to bring audiences back during the COVID era, Candlelight hopes to illuminate a path forward with its vibrant productions and commitment to an allegedly dying format.

“People value experiences,” says Candlelight Artistic Director Kate Vallee.

“They don’t just want to be an audience member watching something from afar; they truly want to experience it in some tactile way. When we did The Little Mermaid, we decorated our lobby and made it an underworld experience. We

“As we start to scale, we have a strategy in place,” Webb explains. “It’s not all happening at once; we have a strategic timeline so that we can deliver that Candlelight charm. They’re three very different spaces: It would not be a smart idea to try to replicate what we’re doing here in all our venues because then we would be cannibalizing ourselves. Each venue will encourage people across the Front Range to experience very different types of theater, but all under that Candlelight umbrella.”

‘AN ENIGMA IN TIME’

Within this context, Candlelight’s ongoing production of Crazy For You speaks to the company’s tenacity and adaptability in a fast-changing entertainment landscape. The zany romantic comedy tells the story of young New York banker Bobby Child who, upon arriving in a small Nevada town to foreclose on a rundown theater, falls head over heels for Polly Baker, the theater owner’s spunky daughter.

Through a whirlwind of mistaken identities and show-stopping musical numbers, Bobby embarks on a quest to win Polly’s heart and save the theater.

Directed by Steve Wilson, with choreography by Shawna Hallinan and music direction by Richard Shore, the production is set to the timeless music of George and Ira Gershwin, featuring classics like “Embraceable You” and “I Got Rhythm.”

“Even though it’s set in the 1930s, the story is very much alive,” Wilson says. “It’s based on the 1930 Gershwin musical Girl Crazy, but the book was updated by Ken Ludwig, so it doesn’t feel clunky or dated to me. Some folks may look at the rom-com piece of it and write the musical off as nostalgic, but to me, it feels vital to today’s audience.”

Bringing Crazy For You to life at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse involves navigating a complex labyrinth of technical feats, from mastering the Gershwin score to executing elaborate dance routines. Calling it “a huge show design-wise with lots of challenges,” Wilson sees the production as an example of what the playhouse — and the tradition it carries on — does best.

“Candlelight is one of the most successful theater organizations currently in the region, and part of that is because of the package you get when you come,” Wilson says. “You get to sit down, have dinner and then enjoy this fantastic show. It creates this great, warm feeling. It is an enigma geographically and an enigma in time.”

ON STAGE: Crazy For You. Through April 7, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown. $45-$83

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

23

BOOKS

‘A MEANNESS IN THIS WORLD’ Denver author sheds new light on killing spree that terrorized the heartland in 1958

BY BART SCHANEMAN

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the book many times before, but didn’t efore the American news cycle was dominated by mass commit until he read about Fugate’s denied request for a pardon in 2020, shootings at schools, grocery decades after her parole in 1976. In stores and other public places, there video clips from the hearing, Fugate was one killer who tore a hole in the broke down crying, insisting she fabric of Midwestern culture: Charles wasn’t in the house when her parents Starkweather. were killed.

In 1958, 19-year-old Starkweather “That was the hook,” MacLean says. murdered the parents and sister of his “Either she was telling the truth, or she 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Fugate, at was a great actress.” The lawyer side their home in Lincoln, Nebraska. of MacLean kicked in, and he started Starkweather took Fugate with him on looking for evidence that Fugate was a killing spree ending in Wyoming that also a killer. “That pulled me into the would leave 10 dead, shocking the story: her guilt or innocence.” nation and gripping the heartland in terror. Starkweather was convicted and executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in 1959, and Fugate was sentenced to life in prison the year prior.

The story captivated the consciousness of the U.S. during a relatively prosperous and seemingly placid time in the country, later serving as inspiration for Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers and Bruce Springsteen’s somber masterpiece Nebraska, among other works of art.

Denver true crime author Harry MacLean, who grew up in Lincoln and was a teenager at the time of the murders, felt the Starkweather saga was fading from the country’s collective memory. He also thought there was more to be said about the guilt or innocence of Fugate, Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree who was paroled for good behavior That Changed America was released Nov. 28, 2023. nearly two decades after her initial Courtesy: Counterpoint Press life sentence.

So he set upon a two-year project that would become Starkweather: MORE TO THE STORY The Untold Story of the Killing Spree There was another reason MacLean that Changed America, published in wanted to explore this story. He saw it November by Counterpoint Press. as overly romanticized, often cast in MacLean drew on his skills as an the same light as the Bonnie and attorney, poring over court materials in Clyde mythology or portrayed as a his quest to better understand the dramatic love story in the case of tragic story. He had toyed with writing Terrence Malick’s Badlands.

24

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

“That I knew wasn’t true,” MacLean says. “There’s a whole reality behind it. I wanted to sink deeper into that.”

Part of that reality involves whether Fugate was an accomplice to the killings. She has maintained her innocence, despite Starkweather’s insistence until his execution that she was in on some of the murders.

By laying out the facts for the reader to interpret, MacLean argues that Fugate was “under duress” during the spree, in a state of PTSD and dissociation partly due to her age.

“That randomness of what he was doing marked him as really the first sociopath who went out and without a particular vengeance, or sense of revenge, just started killing people,” MacLean says. “That’s what he wanted to do, and he did it. He got famous, which was also what he wanted.”

‘WHAT WOULD IT TAKE?’

This leads to another key element of the story: Starkweather’s killing spree took place in the early days of mass media, when most families had a television in their home.

According to MacLean, Starkweather had a sense that he would end up on national TV — which he did, all the way through the trial coverage and convictions.

“It was right into the living room,” MacLean says.

“Which is a lot more powerful than reading a newspaper.”

Untangling the story surrounding this brutal chapter of American history is a continuation of MacLean’s knack as a true-crime writer for tapping into what he calls “people’s fascination with the dark side of the human personality.”

Denver true-crime author Harry MacLean taps into Although MacLean cer“people’s fascination with the dark side of the human tainly doesn’t characterize personality.” Courtesy: Harry MacLean Starkweather as “normal,” he says readers are interested in what causes seemingly every“The trauma pretty much disabled day people to do terrible things. her from making a decision to run and “How thin is the veneer [of civilizaescape,” he says. tion] and how easily would some of The way MacLean tells it, our values and norms dissipate if chalStarkweather had told Fugate that her lenged,” he asks. “There’s a neighbor parents were still alive and being held or a guy in the next town over who captive by his “gang,” and she looks just like them who killed somebelieved him at first. As it dawned on one. That raises a question: What her that they were likely dead, the dire would it take?” reality of her situation set in.

Others have long argued that Fugate had multiple opportunities to get away from Starkweather before ON THE PAGE: they were finally caught in Wyoming.

Starkweather: The Untold But MacLean believes she was too Story of the Killing Spree terrified of a man on a murderous ramThat Changed America is page, killing people at random in an out now in hardcover via attempt to become more in death than Counterpoint Press. he ever would be in life.

BOULDER WEEKLY

FILM

SHORT KINGS

Ninety-Five Senses

by Jared and Jerusha Hess screens as part of the 2024 Oscar

Local theaters present Oscar-nominated films with brief runtimes and big payoffs

Nominated Short Films program coming to the Front Range this month. Courtesy: MAST

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

T

here are no small parts in movies — only those that are long and those that are short.

That was the philosophy British filmmaker Michael Powell ascribed to. It’s one worth keeping in mind anytime you watch a movie, but it’s especially true when you watch this year’s Oscarnominated short films.

Take Pachyderme — nominated in the Animation category — from French director Stéphanie Clément. It’s a young woman’s recollections of the summer she spent at her grandparents’ house and the grandfather who abused her.

The movie runs only 11 minutes, yet there’s nothing small about it. With this much emotion, trauma and realization in such a brief runtime, it’s evident that brevity is what makes Pachyderme’s impression so big.

That’s not always true of all 15 nominated short subjects, which will be playing in three separate programs (Animation, Documentary and Live Action) at CU Boulder’s International Film Series, the Dairy Arts Center and the Sie Film Center this month. But with a slate running the gamut of war, grief, reproductive rights, book banning, economic uplift, clairvoyance and the memoir of a death row inmate, there is more BOULDER WEEKLY

than enough here to illustrate the potency of a truncated running time.

Of the three categories, Live Action (Invincible, Knights of Fortune, Red, White and Blue, The After and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar) stands tallest this year, with offerings from Canada, Denmark, the U.S. and the U.K. You might have already seen Wes Anderson’s Henry Sugar, but this is your chance to see all that formalist control on the big screen.

Henry Sugar is the most well-known of the five nominees, but my money for the Oscar is on Red, White and Blue from director Nazrin Choudhury. Brittany Snow stars as a single mother of two with a positive pregnancy test in her hand. The nearest abortion clinic is a seven-hour drive away, and she lacks the funds to get there. But getting there is imperative, and not for the reason you may suspect. It’s a gut punch of a movie with two scenes that are too on the nose for their own good, but Choudhury plays her audience like a well-tuned piano.

Over in Documentary (The ABCs of Book Banning, The Barber of Little Rock, Island in Between, The Last Repair Shop and Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó), The Barber of Little Rock from directors John Hoffman and Christine Turner feels

like something more than straightforward reportage.

Hoffman and Turner do an excellent job of laying out the problem at hand — the economic disparity of Black and white residents of Little Rock and how that is easily measured by available banks — and follow the work of community member Arlo Washington for a possible solution. Washington runs a barbershop school. But he isn’t just teaching his students how to cut hair; he’s showing them how to build community and believe in one another.

Rounding out the nominees is the Animation category, which is, for the record, not family-friendly. This year’s line-up (Letter to a Pig, Ninety-Five Senses, Our Uniform, Pachyderme and War is Over!) presents an interesting array of animation styles, even if they seem to lack a certain aesthetic appeal or clarity. In Letter to a Pig, the intent of the narrative appears to cloud even the drawings themselves.

Of the five, Ninety-Five Senses hits the hardest with a winning combination of emotional heft and levity, one that’s likely to catch you off guard if you don’t know anything going into the program.

You might also be surprised that it’s the work of Jared and Jerusha Hess — the

married writing-directing team behind Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos. In only 13 minutes, the Hesses show their adeptness with tone and technique. It should also get you excited for their upcoming featurelength animation adaptation of Aaron Blabey’s children’s book, Thelma the Unicorn.

The Hesses aren’t the only nominees with features headed for release later this year: Sean Wang, director of Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó, just won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival for the coming-of-age drama Dìdi (弟弟) and is sure to garner plenty of attention.

The future for some of these nominees is already bright.

ON SCREEN: 2024 Oscar

Nominated Short Films — International Film Series, Feb. 16-18 and Feb. 23-25, CU Boulder, Muenzinger Auditorium, 1905 Colorado Ave. | Dairy Arts Center, Feb. 28-March 3, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. | Sie FilmCenter, opens Feb. 16, 2510 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

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Stephen Brooks Duo In the Bar

Many Mountains In the Bar

15

SHINE: A LOVE LETTER TO THE TRANS COMMUNITY

Chuck sitero & liz patton In the Bar

Taylor scott band with Bison Bone

7-9 p.m. East Window, 4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder. Free $14 + $4

service charge

Vitalwild & Zaje In the Bar

This collaboration between East Window and Out Boulder County hangs on a simple but powerful question: “What is trans joy?” Curated by local writer and activist Charlotte Piper, the celebratory evening features spoken word, poetry and short stories by trans youth.

Katie Mintle

16-17

REEL ROCK 18

7-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 and Saturday, Feb. 17, Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. $28 Get a grip with four thrilling new climbing films from around the world, from Japan’s mythical Mount Mizugaki to a treacherous free ascent of Jirishanca in the Peruvian Andes. If it’s adrenaline you’re after, you’ll find it during his hometown world premiere of Reel Rock 18 on the CU Boulder campus.

In the Bar

17

MARDI GRAS AT THE DICKENS OPERA HOUSE 3-11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, Dickens opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont. $20-$35

Celebrate Mardis Gras in style at the historic Dickens Opera House in Longmont. Festivities at this Bourbon Street-style bash include live DJs, creole and cajun cuisine, drink specials and more.

Lionel young duo In the Bar

Lionel young duo In the Bar

Deer creek sharp shooters and the grass project

Chuck Sitero In the Bar

$14 + $4

service charge

17

PROCLAIMING COLORADO’S BLACK HISTORY: GUIDED TOUR Noon-1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $20

Tmule

In the Bar

Many Mountains In the Bar

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Join NAACP Boulder County Branch President Annett James for a guided tour of Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History. Running at the Museum of Boulder through Sept. 25, this cultural history exhibition offers a kaleidoscopic view of local African American history from pre-statehood to the present.

17

BOULDER SYMPHONY AT DAIRY ARTS CENTER

7:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, Feb 16 and Saturday, Feb. 17, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St. $30 Boulder Symphony presents “a journey from darkness to light” during a special performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 at the Dairy Arts Center. The evening will also celebrate Jialin Yao, the winner of the 2023 International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival Competition, who will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

17

CLIMATIQUEFEST

5:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free Collective liberation is on the menu during this climate justice bash where you can “meet comrades, make art and boogie.” The evening kicks off with an open mic, followed by live music from Sneaki Bandit and the Scavengers, Beauprex and a special guest to be announced.

BOULDER WEEKLY

EVENTS

18 17 LOVE IS IN THE AIR: AERIAL CABARET

8-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Unit 150, Boulder. $30 Grab your special someone and join Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance performers during this high-flying love fest on V-Day Weekend. This all-ages showcase features performances by Tel Razo-Mannsz, Valerie Morris & Michelle Randolph, Whitney Moore and more.

17

CUPID’S DEAD: ANTIVALENTINES DANCE PARTY 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, DV8 Distillery, 2480 48th St., Suite E, Boulder. $10

Not in the Valentine’s Day mood this year? Boulder’s DV8 Distillery has you covered with their Anti-Valentines Dance Party: “No roses. No sweet nothings. Just beats that make your heart pound.”

BOULDER WEEKLY

NAACP BOULDER COUNTY FREEDOM FUND CELEBRATION

3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. Free Support Boulder County NAACP during this free event “where justice and music unite.” The afternoon features guest speaker Anthony Ray Hinton, who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row for a crime he didn’t commit, plus the rich R&B sounds of performer Danielle Ponder.

19-21

BANFF CENTRE MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR

7-10 p.m. Mon.-Wed., Feb. 19-21, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25 The short films featured on the threenight Colorado stop of the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour will take audiences on a breathtaking and reflective exploration of remote landscapes, mountain cultures and high-octane adventure sports.

21

CHARDONNAY: QUEEN OF THE GRAPES

6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, Boulder Wine Bar, 2035 Broadway. $50 Learn all about “The Queen of Grapes” during this educational thinkand-drink event at Boulder Wine Bar. The $50 admission price gets you four wine tastings, snacks and an hour of top-notch vino education.

BOULDERTHEATER.COM

21

FOLLOW THE STARS: LAKOTA JOURNEY THROUGH THE BLACK HILLS

6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, Fiske Planetarium, 2414 Regent Drive, Boulder. Free Experience the Black Hills before colonization through the eyes of the Lakota people who navigated the area for approximately 1,500 years. You’ll learn all about how they used the Sun and stars for guidance with the help of the Fiske Planetarium’s fully digital projection system during this celestial showcase in Boulder.

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

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B

oulder-based Local Theater Company’s latest production, acts of faith, offers a beacon of hope amid the turmoil of our current moment. This solo play starring Colorado Theatre Guild president and Local’s co-artistic director Betty Hart is a timely exploration of the role of faith in our modern world. Scan the QR code for a BW feature on the show. See listing for details.

ACTS OF FAITH. Through Feb. 18,

Dairy Arts Center – Grace Gamm Theatre, 2509 Walnut St., Boulder. $45 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

ART. Through Feb. 25, Aurora Fox Arts Center, 9900 E. Colfax Ave. $38-$42 FUN HOME. Through Feb. 25, Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. $20-$38 MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE. Through Feb.

25, Denver Center for the Performing Arts – Buell Theatre, 1101 13th St. $30-$100

CRAZY FOR YOU. Through April 7, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown. $45$83 STORY ON P. 23 CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES. Through March 24, Jesters Dinner Theater, 224 Main St., Longmont. $27-$50

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FEBRUARY 15, 2024

ON VIEW

ON STAGE

A&C EVENTS

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Credit: Sherry Wiggins and Luís Filipe Branco

he ongoing East Window photography exhibition, Aging Bodies: Myths and Heroines, explores “the social and ethical implications of the observational image and challenges some of the myths and misunderstandings often imposed upon elder members of contemporary western societies.”

See listing for details.

ROB LANTZ: FOCAL POINT. Through March 3, R Gallery + Wine Bar, 2027 Broadway, Boulder. Free NATASHA MISTRY: SUPER-CONSCIOUS. Through March 10, The New Local Annex, 713 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

PERFORMING SELF. Through April 28, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St. $2

WE CU: A VISUAL CELEBRATION OF BLACK WOMANHOOD, PRESENCE, AND CONNECTEDNESS. Through July 13, CU Art

Museum 1085 18th St., Boulder. Free

AGING BODIES: MYTHS AND HEROINES. Through Feb. 28, East Window Gallery, 4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder. Free. BW PICK OF THE WEEK

AMOAKO BOAFO: SOUL OF BLACK FOLKS. Through Feb. 19, Denver Art

Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. $18

BOULDER WEEKLY

EVENTS LIVE MUSIC

ON THE PAGE

T HUR SD AY, FEB. 15 HAKEN. 7 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $30

J

oin author Eric Blehm at Boulder Book Store for a Feb. 26 reading and discussion surrounding his new book, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him. The nonfiction work tells the story of Craig Kelly, “the Michael Jordan of snowboarding,” who was killed at age 36 in the Durrand Glacier Avalanche of 2003. See listing for details.

SOLO BY PETER MCGRAW.

6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, Tattered Cover Colfax, 2526 East Colfax Ave., Denver. Free

BRANDILYN TEBO AND ALEXANDER GENTILE IN CONVERSATION. 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 15, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. Free

p.m. Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. $33

MANY MOUNTAINS. 8 p.m.

Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

DEAD ALIVE. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $15

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: REMEMBER. Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. Free

ROLLING HARVEST WITH MOTHER LODE. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $20

MANY MOUNTAINS. 8 p.m.

Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

SATURDAY, FEB. 17

ANDREAS DEVALERA. 7 p.m.

Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

SARAH JAROSZ WITH THE BALLROOM THIEVES. 7 p.m.

Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25

ACOUSTIC EIDOLON. 7:30 p.m.

Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Dr. Unit T, Lafayette. $35

SABAI WITH FAR OUT AND EIGHTYTWO. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $22

MEN OF CONSTANT SORROW. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

F R I DAY, FEB. 16 MINNESOTA WITH ABELATION, DON JAMAL, PINK LEMONADE. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $25 THE ZEN COWBOYS WITH JOHN SHEPHERD. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder.

Free

TEACHING AS IF STUDENTS MATTER BY JOHN AND JAYE ZOLA. 6:30

YO LA TENGO. 7 p.m.

Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Resale: $80+ STORY ON P. 20

p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. Free

THE DARKEST WHITE

BY ERIC BLEHM.

6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

BOULDER WEEKLY

RODNEY RICE WITH SHAWN HESS, GEORGE CESSNA AND JAKE LUNA. 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15 STURTZ WITH NATALIE SPEARS. 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Community House, 301 Morning Glory Drive. $20

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SARAH JAROSZ WITH THE BALLROOM THIEVES. 6:30

THE HIGH LINES + BEGGARS UNION WITH ON THE DOT. 7 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

COUNTDOWN BY SARAH SCOLES. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

CHUCK SITERO AND LIZ PATTON OF HIGH LONESOME. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

KEEP CONNECTED

NECROPANTHER WITH OBSCENE WORSHIP, NIGHTWRAITH AND TERATANTHROPOS. 8 p.m.

Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15 TAYLOR SCOTT BAND WITH BISON BONE. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $14 WILL EVANS WITH THE CONTENDERS FEAT. JAY NASH. 7:30 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $15 MARY LOUISE LEE’S DIVAS OF THE DECADES & SOUL SCHOOL. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $20

SUN D AY, FEB. 18 MARCHFOURTH. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $22.50

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Help wanted Sr. Software engineer, Medtronic, Inc., lafayette, CO. Req. Bachelor’s deg. or foreign equiv. in Comp. Sci., Computer engr., Software engr., electronic engr., or rel. technical or engr. fld. & 5 yrs. exp. as a software engineer or rel. occupation in the medical industry or other regulated industry. Must poss. at least 5 yrs. exp. w/ each of the following: C++, C# & python; software design incl. OOa/OOd & UMl; software requirement gathering, dsgn., dev., debugging, & test practices; dev. on linux platform & Git modern version control systems; MySQl, MSSQl, postgreSQl, or Oracle dBMS; & digital image processing using OpenCV library. Must poss. at least 2 yrs. exp. with ultrasound modality.

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See listing for details.

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February 19 - February 21

VITALWILD & ZAJE. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free PROGFEST. 4 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $20

M ON DAY, FEB. 19 PETE MULLER WITH WRENN VAN AND MARINA EVE. 7 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

REV. KRISTIN MICHAEL HAYTER. 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $40 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

TH URS DAY, F E B. 22

TU ESD AY, FEB. 20

FRENSHIP WITH VEAUX AND BLEAK MYSTIQUE. 7 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20

FACE VOCAL BAND. 7:30 p.m.

Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $30

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

Free

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS WITH SPACE IN TIME AND CHEAP PERFUME. 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $22

FUNK KNUF. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive,. Unit T, Lafayette. Free

WEN DESDAY, FEB. 2 1

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

KATIE MINTLE. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

30

MARCUS MOTEL & THE CLOSERS. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Free

BOULDER WEEKLY

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ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Some stories don’t have a distinct and orderly beginning, middle and end. At any one point, it may be hard to know where you are.

Other tales have a clear beginning, middle and end, but the parts occur out of order: Maybe the middle happens first, then the end, followed by the beginning. Every other variation is possible, too. And then there’s the fact that the beginning of a new story is implied at the end of many stories, even stories with fuzzy plots and ambiguous endings. Keep these ruminations in mind during the coming weeks, Aries. You will be in a phase when it’s essential to know what story you are living in and where you are located in the plot’s unfoldment.

MORE FUN TRAILS • Volunteer to build/maintain trail • Meet up for a Group Ride • Come out for a Skills Clinic Connect with the Boulder mountain bike community Join (BMA membership) to support our programs Join BMA today and access social events and group rides--

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bouldermountainbike.org 32

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): In the natural world, there are four partnership styles.

In the parasitic variety, one living thing damages another while exploiting it. In the commensal mode, there is exploitation by one partner, but no harm occurs. In the epizoic model, one creature serves as a vehicle for the other but gets nothing in return. The fourth kind of partnership is symbiotic. It’s beneficial to both parties. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Libra, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to take an inventory of your alliances and affiliations and begin to de-emphasize, even phase out, all but the symbiotic ones.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): As I meditate on your destiny in the near future, I sense you will summon extra courage, perhaps even fearless and heroic energy. I wonder if you will save a drowning person or rescue a child from a burning building, or administer successful CPR to a stranger who has collapsed on the street. Although I suspect your adventures will be less dramatic than those, they may still be epic. Maybe you will audaciously expose corruption and deceit, persuade a friend to not commit self-harm or speak bold thoughts you haven’t had the daring to utter before.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Scorpio author Dan Savage says, “I wish I could let myself eat and eat and eat.” He imagines what it would be like if he didn’t “have to monitor the foods I put in my mouth or go to the gym anymore.” He feels envious of those who have no inhibitions about being gluttonous. In alignment with astrological aspects, I authorize Savage and all Scorpios to temporarily set aside such inhibitions. Take a brief break. Experiment with what it feels like to free yourself to ingest big helpings of food and drink — as well as metaphorical kinds of nourishment like love and sex and sensations and entertainment. Just for now, allow yourself to play around with voraciousness. You may be surprised at the deeper liberations it triggers.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Lately, you have been learning more than you thought possible. You have surpassed and transcended previous limits in your understanding of how the world works.

Congratulations! I believe the numerous awakenings stem from your willingness to wander freely into the edgy frontier — and then stay there to gather in all the surprising discoveries and revelations flowing your way. I will love it if you continue your pilgrimage out there beyond the borders for a while longer.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Dear Wise Gambler: You rank high in your spacious intelligence, intuitive logic and robust fantasy life. There’s only one factor that may diminish your ability to discern the difference between wise and unwise gambles. That’s your tendency to get so excited by big, expansive ideas that you neglect to account for messy, inconvenient details. And it’s especially important not to dismiss or underplay those details in the coming weeks. If you include them in your assessments, you will indeed be the shrewdest of wise gamblers.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): As I study the astrological omens for the coming weeks, I suspect you will feel more at home in a situation that has previously felt unnerving or alien. Or you will expedite the arrival of the future by connecting more deeply with your roots. Or you will cultivate more peace and serenity by exploring exotic places.

To be honest, though, the planetary configurations are half-mystifying me; I’m offering my best guesses. You may assemble a strong foundation for an experimental fantasy. Or perhaps you will engage in imaginary travel, enabling you to wander widely without leaving your sanctuary. Or all of the above.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Capricorn golfer Tiger Woods is one of the all-time greats. He holds numerous records and has won scores of tournaments. On 20 occasions, he has accomplished the most difficult feat: hitting a hole-in-one. But the weird fact is that there were two decades (1998–2018) between his 19th and 20th holes-in-one. I suspect your own fallow time came in 2023, Capricorn. By now, you should be back in the hole-in-one groove, metaphorically speaking.

And the coming months may bring a series of such crowning strokes.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Of your hundreds of wishes and yearnings, Leo, which is the highest on your priority list? And which are the next two? What are the sweet, rich, inspiring experiences you want more than anything else in life? I invite you to compile a tally of your top three longings. Write them on a piece of paper. Draw or paste an evocative symbol next to each one. Then place this holy document in a prominent spot that you will see regularly. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you are in a phase when focusing and intensifying your intentions will bring big rewards.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy hiked across Spain along the famous pilgrimage route, Camino de Santiago. On the way, he felt so brave and strong that at one point he paradoxically had a sobbing breakdown. He realized how fear had always dominated his life. With this chronic agitation absent for the first time ever, he felt free to be his genuine self. “I started to feel more comfortable in the world and consequently in my own skin,” he testified, concluding, “I think travel obliterates fear.” I recommend applying his prescription to yourself in the coming months, Virgo — in whatever ways your intuition tells you are right.

Cosmic forces will be aligned with you.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Poet Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) lived till age 76, but her destiny was a rough ride. Her native country, the authoritarian Soviet Union, censored her work and imprisoned her friends and family. In one of her poems, she wrote, “If I can’t have love, if I can’t find peace, give me a bitter glory.” She got the latter wish. She came close to winning a Nobel Prize and is now renowned as a great poet and heroic symbol of principled resistance to tyranny. Dear Aquarius, I predict that your life in the coming months will be very different from Akhmatova’s. I expect you will enjoy more peace and love than you’ve had in a long time. Glory will stream your way, too, but it will be graceful, never bitter. The effects will be heightened if you express principled resistance to tyranny.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): Piscean perfumer Sophia Grojsman says, “Our lives are quiet. We like to be disturbed by delight.” To that end, she has created over 30 best-selling fragrances, including Eternity Purple Orchid, Désir Coulant (Flowing Desire), Spellbound, Volupté (Pleasure), and Jelisaveta (“God is abundance”). I bring this up, Pisces, because I believe it’s now essential for you to be disturbed by delight as well as to disturb others with delight. Please do what’s necessary to become a potent magnet for marvelous interruptions, sublime interventions and blissful intrusions. And make yourself into a provider of those healing subversions, too.

BOULDER WEEKLY

SAVAGE LOVE

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Q: I am invited to a (gay) sex party. When invited for dinner, you bring a bottle of wine, but what is the proper etiquette for a sex party? Come showered and douched, I guess. What else? Do I bring something for the host?

— Newby At Sex Party

All credit cards accepted No text messages

A: A host gift is a thoughtful idea,

NASP, but slipping your host a little cash — paper towels are way more expensive than they used to be — may be a better idea.

“I usually ask for a £5 tip to cover the costs of food, soft drinks and hard drinks I provide at the parties I run,” says Ali Bushell, author of the Sex Party Handbook.

“Even if the host of NASP’s first sex party doesn’t ask for money, being willing to tip the host $10 or so is always appreciated. It’s especially appreciated when the guest acknowledges the time and effort that went into making the event happen and mentions that they’re grateful.”

And big ups to arriving very recently douched and very freshly showered.

Also: Don’t wear cologne, put your phone away, be polite when you decline to play with someone, be just as polite to someone who declines to play with you, get on PrEP (prevents HIV infection), look into DoxyPEP (offers some protection against other sexually transmitted infections), and maybe consider using condoms (they offer excellent protection against HIV and other STIs).

Q: I have a lover and we are long-distance. I’d like to spend the limited time we have in person doing physical activities — getting intimate — but he takes a long time to warm up and needs to spend a lot of time talking first. If we had all the time in the world, that wouldn’t be a problem, but we usually only see each other on business trips that take us to each other’s cities. Can we cut to the chase without shortchanging his need to reconnect emotionally first?

— Down To Business A: You can’t.

Q: I’m a 28-year-old woman in Australia. I am talking to a very hot dominant man in his forties. He gives me extremely explicit tasks that he wants photos of constantly including writing his initials on me each day. I have verified his ID — I know his real name and he is who he says he is — but other than the fact that he’s married and very private about his life, I don’t know much about him.

I’m enjoying having a regular (constant!) D/s dynamic in my life, but I’m worried these photos would ruin me if they got out. Advice please?

— Personal Images Complicate Situation A: Sex is never risk-free — there’s

no such thing as entirely safe sex — but sane people do what they can to mitigate risks. The only way to eliminate the risk here is for you to stop sending these photos.

That said, PICS, the fact that you know this man’s name does provide you with some protection.

If this man were to post your photos online because you wanted to end the relationship, you have legal recourse — revenge porn is a crime in Australia — and so the risks here are shared and that will hopefully motivate him to keep your photos on a secure and unhackable server.

Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love BOULDER WEEKLY

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NIBBLES

BOULDER’S ‘TEA SPIRIT’ Boulder Tea Hut elevates the sipping experience

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

R

Boulder Tea Hut began quietev. Bu Nan Brown, co-founder ly in 2016 when Brown began of Boulder Tea Hut, likes a crafting a traditional, mug of Earl Grey now and 120-square-foot tea house in again. “That’s what we call tea with a Sunshine Canyon located near small ‘t’ rather than Tea with a big ‘T,’” a natural spring. The opening of he says.

Sunshine Springs Teahouse Boulder Tea Hut, co-founded by was delayed by the pandemic.

Brown and Stephan van der Mersch, The mountain tea house is offers Zen Buddhist tea ceremonies small, remote and only used for and education at spaces near private ceremonies. “Our teachChautauqua Park and up Sunshine Boulder Tea Hut in Sunshine Canyon. Credit: Yi Shan er asked us to open a space in Canyon.

The capital “T” teas Brown steeps for Boulder more accessible to the public,” van der Mersch says. “We attendees are far removed from the EVERY DETAIL MATTERS remodeled the carriage house next to powdered leaves found in supermarket Tea ceremonies at Boulder Tea Hut my home and opened in 2023.” tea bags and even the exotic teas focus on critical details in making and The nonprofit Boulder Tea Hut is not brewed properly in pots at Boulder’s serving the beverage. Beyond the like most tea houses. cafes. leaves themselves, it starts with water.

“You can’t come in off the street and “The teas we use come from wild “Tea is 99% water,” Brown says. “If we have tea ready for you,” Bu Nan trees, not plantation bushes treated you want to improve the quality of your with fertilizers and pesticides tea, improve the quality of and harvested and processed in your water. The best water ways that are very damaging to you can get for tea is fresh the leaves,” van der Mersch mountain spring water.” says. “These tea trees are up to Classes at the Boulder 200 feet tall with leaves bigger Hut often involve tasting tap than your hand.” water, spring water, distilled Some of the teas Boulder Tea and reverse osmosis water Hut uses come from trees in that has been stored in Taiwan that are more than ceramic, glass and plastic 1,000 years old. Some teas containers, and then the were harvested in the 1940s teas made with them. and every decade onwards.

“If you try them side by Like Bordeaux wines, these vinside, the teas are completely tage teas exhibit terroir. They different,” van der Mersch taste the way they do because says. “I was completely of where the tree grows. blown away.”

“We have more than 200 teas When heating the water, stored here. It is certainly traditional hardwood charamong the largest collections of coal is preferred, but is aged and antique oolong teas unsafe indoors. Other radiCredit: Global Tea Hut in the United States,” van der ant heat sources are acceptMersch says. “The best teas in able; microwaving and using Brown says. “You sign up for anythe world are already all spoken for. induction stoves are not. where from an hour to a three-hour tea The only way we get access is through “If we have to use a microwave to ceremony. We are going to sit down our teacher.” make tea,” Brown says, “we just don’t and have this experience together.”

The project was inspired by Wu De, have tea.”

“There’s a way in which we’re more a Taiwan-based monk who teaches the The vessel you boil in matters, too. of a church than we are a store or centuries-old contemplative Zen Stainless steel is OK, as is glass, but cafe,” van der Mersch adds.

Buddhist tradition. aluminum pans should never be used.

BOULDER WEEKLY

In tea ceremonies, the tea is always sipped from handmade ceramic bowls.

“I’ve been practicing for eight years, and I still find brewing oolong teas to be incredibly challenging,” van der Mersh says.

Boulder has been “Tea Town” since some of the first white settlers arrived.

Herbal teas were prescribed at Boulder’s Sanitarium starting in 1896.

Today in Boulder, you can go out for a cup at Ku Cha House of Tea or Old Barrel Tea Company, sip Korean tea at A Cup of Tea, sample herb tea on the Celestial Seasonings tea factory tour and afternoon Earl Grey at the new Alice & Rose tea house on the Hill. You can have afternoon tea at Boulder’s Dushanbe, a traditional Tajik tea house.

More than four varieties of popular spiced chai are made here, and a Chinese tea cafe, Day Day Up, recently opened in Lafayette.

Those locations don’t include many other cafes offering boba tea, mushroom infusions, green tea lattes and kava.

Despite this crowded market and no marketing efforts, more than 800 people have already participated in tea ceremonies at Boulder Tea Hut. “Our teacher has traveled around the world and taught in all sorts of different places,” Brown says. “After we brought him here a number of times, he said that Boulder has the best tea spirit that he’s ever seen.”

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

35

NIBBLES

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ROAD FOOD: OMAKASE BLISS IN LITTLETON Working in Littleton one recent afternoon, hunger had me Googling “sushi near me.”

Low expectations led instead to serious Japanese fare at Makizushico. Tucked away inconspicuously in a strip mall at 5950 S. Platte Canyon Road, this pleasant place Smoky omakase at Littleton’s Makizushico. specializes in omakase, a Credit: Makizushico chef-chosen multi-course tasting menu of the best seafood in the place. The coolest taste is sashimi served under a glass bell filled with cherrywood smoke. Locals love this place, so reservations are highly recommended.

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: JUST BE KITCHEN OPENS

Just BE Kitchen is open at 2500 30th St. #101 in Boulder. The Colorado-born eatery dishes fare that is free of gluten, refined sugars, soy, corn, peanuts and seed oils, and is 99% free of grains, dairy and legumes.

John’s Table Kitchen and Bar — formerly Redgarden Restaurant — is open at 1700 Dogwood St. in Louisville. Menu includes panseared salmon with polenta and broccolini.

Lafayette’s Tandoori Kitchen ranks No. 41 on Yelp’s new list of the Top 100 U.S. Restaurants.

Coming soon: Busaba Thai Restaurant, 2343 Clover Basin Drive in Longmont.

Tickets for six summer dinners at Lafayette’s Three Leaf Farm are on sale. threeleaffarm.com/farm-dinners

WORDS TO CHEW ON: PEELING AWAY JOY “You can see everything in the universe in one tangerine. When you peel it and smell it, it’s wonderful. You can take your time eating a tangerine and be very happy.”

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John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles and Kitchen Table Talk on KGNU. Comments: nibbles@boulderweekly.com

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WEED BETWEEN THE LINES

MUSHROOM SEIZURES UP 369% stances such as MDMA, ketamine, GHB, methamphetamine, cocaine and other “party drugs.”

Palamar and his researchers decided to take a look at drug seizures by law enforcement — specifically seizures of

2022 with most of those seizures in the Midwest (36.0%), followed by the West (33.5%), according to the study.

Between the first three months of 2017 and the last three months of 2022, the number of seizures increased by more than 360% with “significant increases” across the country.

Palamar says the results weren’t really all that surprising. With the increased interest in psychedelics as they are decriminalized and more widely used, it makes sense that police seizures of this federally illegal substance are increasing.

psilocybin mushrooms between 2017 and 2022. He expected that the number of psilocybin seizures by law enforcement to have increased over those five years, but the sheer number surprised him.

There were just over 400 seizures in 2017 compared to just under 1,400 in

“The greatest weight of shrooms seized was in the West, which happens to have the most liberal laws surrounding psychedelics,” says Palamar. “I believe some of the big seizures in the West could have been instances of people thinking they’ll get away with large growing and distribution opera-

New research suggests psilocybin use is on the rise

BY WILL BRENDZA

A

ccording to the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), 62.8% (177 million) of Americans 12 and older used alcohol at least once in 2022.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 18% (48.2 million) of Americans used cannabis at least once in 2019.

No such numbers exist for psychedelics, though. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) asserts that, in 2021, marijuana and psychedelic usage among young adults reached an “all-time high.” But specific data on the rates of use are lacking.

That gap of knowledge is exactly what led Joseph Palamar to start investigating.

His recent paper, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, illuminates how prevalent psychedelics are and how quickly their use is growing.

Palamar is an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at New York University (NYU) Langone.

He specializes in drug use epidemiology, focusing largely on the use of sub-

38

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

tions while it may still be illegal to sell the product.”

One example is the arrest of Denver’s mushroom rabbi, Ben Gorelick, and the seizure of his church’s sacrament in 2022 (Weed Between The Lines, “Struggle of the sacred tribe,” June 9, 2022). When police raided Gorelick’s grow facility, they found 31 different strains of mushrooms growing in large quantities.

Gorelick was arrested at the time for first-degree felony possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance (although he was cleared of all charges by the Denver District Attorney’s Office in December of the same year).

Examples like this account for a significant portion of the 368.9% increase in psilocybin seizures across the U.S., according to Palamar. Still, the trend suggests that the use of these substances is proliferating quickly across the country.

Palamar hopes that this research can help shed light on how prevalent the use of psilocybin is throughout the U.S. It could also offer researchers a new route of tracking the use of other psychedelics like mescaline, ibogaine and LSD. “It’s doubtful that police were specifically searching for shrooms in many of these cases,” Palamar says. “I believe drugs like fentanyl are the big concern for most people right now.”

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