Boulder Weekly 06.13.2024

JUNE 13, 2024

Volume 31, Number 43

PUBLISHER: Francis J. Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Allen Best, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Virginia Gewin, Alejandro Murillo, Dan Savage, Lindsay Temple, Toni Tresca

SALES AND MARKETING

MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: Kellie Robinson

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Matthew Fischer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Chris Allred, Holden Hauke

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Chris Sawyer

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn

CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER/ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Austen Lopp

FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo

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

Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. ©2024 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@boulderweekly.com). Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

OPINION

FROM POLLUTION TO SOLUTION

BY ALEJANDRO MURILLO

Boulder, a beacon of environmental consciousness, faces a pivotal moment in its quest for climate justice. The Valmont Power Station, once a bastion of industrial progress, now stands as a stark reminder of the environmental challenges we confront. As plans

unfold for the cleanup of coal ash at the site, it is imperative for Boulder residents to engage with this issue, recognizing its profound implications for environmental health and social equity.

To fully grasp the significance of this cleanup effort, it’s important to understand key terms such as coal ash, groundwater and beneficial reuse. Coal ash, the byproduct of coal combustion, contains harmful pollutants that can leach into groundwater, posing risks to both ecosystems and human health. Beneficial reuse involves repurposing waste materials in a manner that adds value, offering a sustainable solution to waste management.

For nearly a century, the Valmont

Power Station burned coal to generate electricity, leaving behind over one million tons of coal ash. This waste, buried onsite in unlined landfills, poses significant environmental risks. Groundwater monitoring has revealed elevated levels of contaminants such as lithium and selenium, threatening both the environment and public health.

In response to regulatory requirements, Xcel Energy, the owner of the Valmont site, is proposing a comprehensive cleanup plan. This plan includes pumping and treating contaminated groundwater and removing coal ash from the landfill for beneficial reuse. While these actions hold promise for long-term environmental improvement, they also raise concerns about potential health risks associated with coal ash pollutants.

FROM THE DIVIDE TO YOUR DOOR!

OPINION

While regulatory agencies oversee the cleanup process, the Valmont Community Commission facilitates dialogue, shares information and addresses concerns to ensure that community voices are heard throughout the decision-making process.

The Valmont Community Commission is supported by Boulder County Public Health and the county’s Office for Sustainability Climate Action and Resilience. The agencies are collaborating closely with important partners like the Boulder County Climate Justice Collaborative (BoCoCJC), leaders of the Community Led Preparedness Training (CPT) program, The Boulder Watershed Collective and community leaders of the neighboring manufactured home communities at Vista, Columbine and San Lazaro.

As the Valmont Power Plant cleanup progresses, Boulder residents have an opportunity to make their voices heard. Engaging in the public comment period allows individuals to provide input on the proposed cleanup strategies, ensuring that community concerns are taken into account. Additionally, residents can participate in community-led efforts to promote environmental justice, working toward inclusive solutions that benefit all members of the community.

There will be various public comment periods hosted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE) on the different reports that Xcel Energy provides to the state. The Valmont Community

Commission is preparing for these public comments — the first of which is anticipated by the end of this summer — by connecting with third-party experts and maintaining communication with Boulder County Public Health. County-presented public meetings and questions can be found at bouldercounty.gov/environment/ water/valmont-station.

The cleanup of coal ash at the Valmont Power Station represents a critical step toward environmental justice in Boulder. By actively engaging with this issue and partnering with organizations like BoCoCJC, the Valmont Community Commission and the CPT program, residents can contribute to a more sustainable future for their community.

Boulder can set an example for cities everywhere, demonstrating the power of grassroots activism in addressing climate challenges. Let us seize this opportunity to create positive change and build a healthier, more equitable world.

If you have questions or — even better — you’d like to get involved, contact alejandro@cjcboco.org.

Alejandro Murillo is a member of the steering committee for Climate Justice Collaborative of Boulder County. Micha K. Ben David and Marianne Shiple, also members of the BoCoCJC steering committee, contributed to this piece.

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

Valmont Power Station.

LETTERS

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

Ms. Ochs’ challenging trip to Washington shows how a determined advocate can create more understanding with members of Congress, hopefully leading to action (“Ms. Ochs goes to Washington,” May 28). That is democracy in action.

Any of us can make this trip to the nation’s capital to meet and speak with our members of Congress to advocate for things that make a difference. Whether it is advocating to expand and protect the SNAP program, ensuring a bold pledge to fund Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — improving access to vaccines for children in the poorest countries — or encouraging the Senate to pass the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act helping millions of families that are struggling in poverty, it matters.

Ms. Ochs’ inspiration reminds us we all have the privileges and responsibilities of living in a democracy.

— Willie Dickerson, Snohomish, Washington

MAY THE WORST CANDIDATE WIN

The United States would be better off eliminating presidential elections entirely, replacing them with a parliamentary system. A unicameral Congress elected by hybrid proportional representation could select a chief executive with strictly limited authority, who can be fired at any time on a simple vote of no confidence.

This idea might seem too radical for some people who prefer to have a public vote for the chief executive. U.S. presidential elections play a key role in perpetuating American kakistocracy — government by the worst or least principled people. Republican voters enthusiastically embrace the worst possible candidates. Democratic voters will often admit that their candidates suck, but at least they don’t suck as badly as Republicans. Many voters claim

they are voting against Republicans, not voting for Democrats.

American politics is like a stagnant pond: Scum rises to the top. I propose a modest reform to the process we use for selecting the worst person in the United States.

We can implement a system of disapproval voting. Each voter could vote against as many presidential candidates as they dislike. Just say no! Over and over again.

Noam Chomsky in 1990 pointed out that all modern-era presidents of the United States have committed war crimes that would earn them the death penalty if they were tried under the standards of the Nuremberg tribunals. Of course, civilized societies have abolished capital punishment as a barbaric relic of the Dark Ages: The appropriate sentence for the crime of presidenting should be life imprisonment.

Accordingly, I propose that Alcatraz Island be repurposed as a permanent residence for all living past and present U.S. presidents. Secret Service agents would be stationed on the island to protect people from them and ensure that no presidents escape from prison. The Vice President, fitted with an ankle monitor and carefully guarded by a Secret Service detail, might serve a ceremonial role, making public appearances at used car lot grand openings and attending funerals for children killed by U.S. drone strikes.

The White House could still be used to fulfill its primary function as a manure storage facility.

Gary Swing, Unity Party candidate for Colorado State Senate, District 18

CORRECTION

An article in last week’s edition, “It’s not easy being red,” incorrectly identified Terri Goon as a Republican candidate for House District 10. Goon is running in District 11.

BOCO, BRIEFLY

Local news at a glance

BY KAYLEE HARTER

SUPREME COURT SET TO WEIGH IN ON CAMPING BANS, HOMELESSNESS CRIMINALIZATION

The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision by the end of this month on whether enforcing camping bans when there is not adequate shelter available violates the Eighth Amendment and constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment.”

The pending decision in the case, Johnson v. Grants Pass, will likely impact how local ordinances in Boulder County and beyond can be enforced.

In April, Boulder County District Court Judge Robert Gunning paused a similar case challenging the City of Boulder’s camping ban, saying the Grants Pass ruling will be “of great precedential value.”

Another similar lawsuit, in which a homeless father from Lafayette argued that the city’s camping bans amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and violated his right to privacy, was dismissed in April after the judge said the father failed to file an amended complaint or communicate with the court, according to reporting by the Colorado Sun

RUNOFF SEASON IS HERE: TAKE CAUTION

Residents should be careful near ditches and St. Vrain Creek during runoff season, the City of Longmont said in its weekly newsletter.

“For your own safety, residents should be cautious … as currents can be swift, the water is cold, can contain floating debris, and flows can change dramatically without notice,” the newsletter said.

During late spring and early summer, snowmelt from the mountains fills rivers and creeks, putting area ditches at full capacity and filling local reservoirs. Last month, the City of Boulder warned residents to take caution around Boulder Creek, as Barker Reservoir was expected to spill over, “a normal and expected” spring event that increases flows throughout the city and typically occurs from mid-May to late June.

“Community members are urged to take caution near the creek during the high flow period, which may last for several weeks,” the city’s Barker Reservoir release stated.

Following Barker Dam spillover and flash flooding in 2023, two people, including a 9-year-old, died and seven rescues occurred in the first three weeks of June, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. Another woman died later in the summer when water was calmer. This year, there have been at least three deaths on Boulder Creek, including a 65-year-old woman who died May 31 after falling off an e-bike and into

the creek, according to a release from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

“This incident highlights the importance of safety while recreating in Boulder County, especially near water sources that may appear deceptively calm but can be hazardous,” the release states.

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Eldora Ski Area employees have unionized after the company withdrew its objection to the workers’ 29-3 vote, according to an Instagram post by Eldora Ski Patrol Union. “It has been such a long hard road, and we are so grateful to the folks who have put in hours of work, both patrollers and public, thank you,” the post says. “We feel strongly that it will all be worth it for the future of Eldora ski patrol.”

• CU Boulder bought the former Regal Cinebarre movie theater in Louisville for $10 million. It seeks to build off-campus housing for faculty, staff and “possibly” graduate students, the Daily Camera reports.

• Boulder City Council unanimously passed a new energy conservation code June 6, which mandates all new residential and commercial builds be fully electric starting in December. That means no gas stoves, though it allows exceptions for commercial kitchens and labs.

• The online news site Longmont Leader has permanently shut

down, the outlet announced May 30, the day before its closure. “This is a day I hoped would never come,” editor Macie May wrote in a goodbye letter published on the site. “Having a strong community-focused newsroom is an asset that keeps a community connected.”

• Boulder’s free shuttle to and from Chautauqua Park runs every 15 minutes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. now through Sept. 2 on weekends and holidays. The shuttle, called Park-to-Park, travels along Broadway from downtown Boulder (as opposed to 9th Street, as it has in the past), has 15 stops and drops off near Chautauqua Trailhead and Chautauqua Dining Hall. Free shuttle parking is available at the five downtown parking garages, New Vista High School and the CU Regent parking lot. More information and a route map can be found at bouldercolorado.gov/ services/park-to-park-shuttle. Real time schedules are available on the Transit app.

• Boulder businesses can look forward to a simplified, shortened use review process starting as soon as next month, after city council voted unanimously in favor of changes to the process that officials say will take the process from several months to just several weeks. Read more about the new process at boulderweekly.com/news/ red-tape-reversal/

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WINDS OF ( CLIMATE ) CHANGE

A brief history and a big question about Boulder’s long and ferocious blow

BY ALLEN BEST

It was a big, long blow. Wind whooshed, whipped and wailed through Boulder County for much of April’s first weekend. Pearl Street and other business districts went dark after Xcel Energy cut power midway through that Saturday afternoon with only a few hours of advanced notice. Xcel has a public relations black eye that will last many months and maybe years, with other repercussions yet to be determined.

“An impressive April windstorm,” wrote Russ Schumacher, the state climatologist, on his blog a few days later. At the foot of the Flatirons, gusts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesa Lab were measured at more than 95 miles per hour. Ditto for a recording station along Highway 93 at Rocky Flats.

It was the worst April windstorm in at least the last 25 years, Schumacher wrote. These down-slope wind events, sometimes called mountain waves, usually occur from September to June. This one, though, had an intensity more typi-

cal of those during December and January, the peak months for winds along the Front Range.

Those who had never experienced a big Boulder blow before might have wondered what was going on. Could this be a ramification of the warming climate?

LESS FREQUENT, LESS STRONG

It’s a basic tenet of climate change theory that we will see more extremes in weather. Droughts will last longer and go deeper; hurricanes will grow more intense and rain — when it comes — will trend toward deluges. Already, evidence has arrived to support these predictions.

But the wind storms that have always racked Boulder and the Front Range have actually diminished in severity and frequency since the 1990s. Research conducted by meteorologists at two national agencies based in Boulder has found that the good old days were windier and wilder yet.

“What I can say is that over the past 30 years, wind storms have become less frequent in the corridor from Golden to Boulder and Lyons, and their magnitudes have not been as strong,” says Paul Schlatter, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service in Boulder.

Thirty years ago, he explains, the Boulder area averaged 8.5 days a year of at least one gust hitting 75 mph. That has declined to 5.5 days per year. “That is just a fascinating drop,” Schlatter says.

A DEARTH OF RECORDS

Scientists have ideas about what’s happening. NCAR scientists are producing two research papers under the title of “Earth, Wind and Fire: Are Boulder’s Hurricane-Force Winds Changing?”

Making their work somewhat easier would be longer-term records. Precipitation is relatively easy to measure across a broad area, says Schumacher. Temperature also presents a lesser challenge: “Even if you

don’t have thermometers everywhere all the time, you can pretty robustly piece together data from where you do have thermometers to generate a good climate record,” he says.

But with wind, it’s different.

“You need a lot more measurements to get a good sense of what’s happening with wind than with temperature, and we didn’t really have that until recent years,” Schumacher says. “We have had much denser networks of weather stations since the mid-1990s.”

The best, long-term records in the Boulder area began only in 1967, when an anemometer was installed atop NCAR’s then brand-new four-story laboratory at the foot of the Flatirons. Even there, the record is marginal. For several decades, the results were not saved: Official records have only been kept since 1996.

Pre-1990s, wind measurements were recorded at NCAR on strip charts. Typically, after a big wind event, a reporter from the Daily Camera would call to get a measurement, after which

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

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the charts were routinely discarded by the researchers.

When a team of scientists decided years later that a longer record would be useful, they turned to the Daily Camera archives to locate the maximum wind gusts of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

A WINDY HISTORY

Anecdotal evidence of severe windstorms abounds. A slate-roof tower on Old Main, the first building on CU Boulder’s campus, was toppled by wind shortly after its construction, according to the 1999 book Boulder County: An Illustrated History. (The architect designed a sturdier brick structure with a lighter roof that opened two years later.)

In November 1869, Boulder County News reported that a large frame building being constructed on Pearl Street had been leveled. In what was likely the same 1869 wind storm, Golden had several roofs blown off and two houses destroyed. Farther up Clear Creek, Georgetown experienced even worse.

“An awful and destructive windstorm, with savage violence came plunging down the mountains about four o’clock this morning and continued to rage with unabated violence during most of the day,” said the Georgetown Miner. One small girl was killed when the timbers of a house fell, while others had legs and arms broken and dislocated.

A century later, an IBM employee who was a volunteer firefighter at the Cherryvale department was blown off a firetruck and to his death in a January 1969 wind event. The Daily Camera reported that the storm’s extreme gusts

of up to 130 mph resulted in loss of electricity to 30% of the city’s 10,000 homes.

Maximum gusts of 115 mph were recorded later in the year, then again in January and February of 1970. In January 1972, an even stronger gust was recorded: 142 mph. One decade after that, a windstorm damaged an estimated 40% of the structures in Boulder. Two gusts of 137 mph were recorded, and many more of 120 mph.

Amid the mayhem of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Gerald Meehl began hanging out at NCAR as an undergraduate student assistant. Today, he’s a senior scientist there.

Meehl can remember windier times. The January 1982 windstorm stands out in his mind.

“I drove around the morning after that windstorm and took photos,” he says. “The damage was unbelievable. I mean, houses were blown apart, roofs were blown off. There was a lot of structural damage. Many trees were blown over, power lines blown down all along 30th Street, the poles snapped off and blocked traffic. It was a mess.”

Peter Pollock, who later became a planning director in Boulder, arrived in 1978, commuting to a job at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. “I got a good feel for Boulder winds early,” he remembers. Driving Highway 93 across Rocky Flats was notoriously treacherous.

One evening, the wind sent an element of a chimney crashing through the picture window of his apartment, spewing glass across the carpet.

NEW RECORD SPURS RESEARCH

NCAR’s current research was spurred by a report in February 2016. A new anemometer at Wolf Creek Pass, in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, recorded a wind speed of 148 mph. That dubious superlative bested the 147 mph measurement at NCAR’s Mesa Lab in 1972. (A wind speed of 201 mph was recorded by temporary equipment on Longs Peak in 1981, but for unclear reasons, it is described as an unofficial record.)

“That got us thinking: We just don’t seem to see those kinds of windstorms anymore” in Boulder, says Meehl. “And it turns out we were right.”

One possibility is that building codes have been beefed up, resulting in less damage than 50 years ago. Trees have become bigger, which may be blunting the blow.

“But the climate change piece is the interesting one,” says Meehl. “And it looks like the winds definitely have become weaker. If you look at anemometer reports of those up and down the Front Range, they don’t provide a continuous record before the ’90s. But they do show a decrease in the number of strong wind events just from those in Jefferson, Boulder and Larimer counties.”

Colorado’s dry, relatively warm downslope mountain winds are called foehn winds, and they occur on the lee (downwind) side of mountain ranges in the Alps, New Zealand and many other places in the world. In North America, we call them Chinooks, after the Indigenous people who lived near the Pacific Ocean along the lower Columbia River.

“Anywhere you have a north-south oriented mountain range where the prevailing wind is from the west,” says Meehl, “you’re going to get these downslope winds.”

A general rule is that the steeper the slopes, the stronger the potential winds. Boulder lies closer to the high peaks than any other part of the Great Plains in Colorado. From North Arapaho Peak and others of the Indian Peaks, elevations drop 8,000 feet in just 18.5 miles. But how can the warming climate explain the lessened severity and frequency of Boulder’s winds? Winds higher up in the atmosphere have shifted. A layer of warmer air that used to sit at 15,000 to 20,000 feet has gone even higher. This cap of warm air is rising, like a window being opened. That leaves a wider gap: a raised window results in less of a hurry for the wind to come across the mountains and down the slopes to wreak havoc in Boulder.

Climate change has also made wind shear greater. Wind shear is the sudden change in wind speed, wind direction or both over a short distance in height above the ground. The strong winds in the atmosphere at 15,000 to 18,000 feet altitude have become stronger, while those closer to the Earth’s surface have not. Any increase in wind shear at that height above the Rocky Mountains west of Boulder means the formation of a mountain wave — and thus strong downslope winds — are less likely to occur.

A mountain wave is essentially just like a wave of water, flowing over the top of a giant boulder. The water rises up over the boulder and accelerates quickly on the downstream side,

1999 wind storm blew down this mature tree in Boulder. Credit: Carlye Calvin, UCAR

This airplane was turned upside down at Boulder Municipal Airpot by a windstorm that struck Boulder on Jan. 17, 1982. Credit: Edward Zipser, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

Sandal HeadquarterS

forming a wave that breaks on top of itself. The atmosphere does the same thing: the Rocky Mountains are the boulder, or obstacle in the flow, and the City of Boulder and surrounding area is where the wave of air crashes to the surface. That’s why the wind in Lafayette or Longmont — being farther from the mountains — is generally less strong.

Strong wind shear in the 15,000- to 18,000-foot layer prevents the mountain wave from ever forming, allowing the energy from the wind flowing over the Rockies to harmlessly dissipate in the middle and upper atmosphere, rather than the populated cities in the lee of the Rockies.

If this sounds complex, that’s because it is. Meehl says NCAR researchers are continuing modeling work in an attempt to pin down more precisely the changes that would explain lesser winds.

Bottom line, says Schlatter of the NWS, is that if the temperature inversions formed by the warm layer in the atmosphere aren’t as strong or located at the right altitudes, the conditions will be less favorable for the downslope winds that afflict Boulder. Increasing wind shear in the same area of the atmosphere also is likely reducing the frequency and severity of those high-wind events.

EARTH, WIND AND FIRE

In literature, wind has been described in many ways: as a cleansing force, as something of change. You talk to many people in Boulder County, though, and they describe something else.

“It jostles the inner workings of your being so much that staying present to your most basic needs is a challenge,” says Robert Castellino, a photographer who now lives in Lafayette. He was a resident of Boulder during the ’82 windstorm, and his recollections are powerful.

“You wanna duck, cover and run all at the same time,” he says. There is “nothing like the terror of 60-foot cottonwoods snapping on Boulder Creek nor the blowdown of telephone poles from Iris to Baseline on 30th.”

Terry Minger, who has spent most of the last 60 years in Boulder save

for a decade as the town manager of Vail, admits to getting depressed by the relentless winds.

“Snowstorms, or other types of things, you kind of come to terms with them,” he says. “Wind takes the oxygen out of the room, dries everything out. It causes you to be a little bit on edge, a little grumpy.”

Another anxiety has swept into the minds of locals in recent years: Fire. The wind that fanned Colorado’s most destructive blaze was strong, with gusts of up to 115 mph, as recorded by NOAA.

It was not, however, unusual. The NCAR search of archives revealed about a third of the accounts going back to the 19th century also mentioned fires, including a 1936 wind storm that produced a blaze in the Marshall area.

One resident of Louisville, a woman in her 70s, was evacuated during the wind-instigated Marshall Fire. She was stuck in traffic as the smoke ballooned. The fire came within two blocks of her house. Now, when red flag warnings go out, as they did in April, her fears resurface.

“I numbed my brain and methodically packed a suitcase with clothes, books and enough food for a few days,” says Judy Althaus. “I checked the gas tank and pulled up a map to verify escape [routes] in four directions. My hands shook.

“We can make our little preparations, all the while knowing there is no truly adequate defense.”

Some manage a stoic shrug of the shoulders when the heavens bellow and roar. Minger was the assistant city manager in Boulder in 1967 when the wind broke a window in council chambers. He recalls that a couple of council members carried on with the meeting as if nothing more serious than a glass of water had been spilled.

It was just Boulder, and just another wind storm.

Allen Best publishes an e-journal called Big Pivots that tracks the energy and water transitions in Colorado provoked by climate change. He wrote this in collaboration with Boulder Weekly.

GOV’T WATCH

BY WILL MATUSKA

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

At its June 20 meeting, council will:

• Take a preliminary vote on whether to authorize city acquisition of property easements through pur chase or eminent domain for the Gregory Canyon Creek Flood Mitigation Project. Property ease ments, which allow the city the right to use and access specific areas on private property, will be needed for construction and main tenance of the creek. According to the city, it is emphasizing collabo ration with property owners to obtain easements and will only use its authority as an option of last resort.

fire mitigation team at 5:30 p.m. to present an update on their work.

Gregory Canyon Creek originates in city open space and flows through residential areas roughly between 6th and 8th streets on University Hill until it reaches Boulder Creek near the downtown library. The project’s preliminary design includes building new channel and roadway culvert structures with the goal of protecting property and infrastructure, creating a nature-based design along the creek. City staff are currently conducting community outreach, which will include meetings with impacted property owners and continue through spring 2025. Construction is expected to start next fall. For more information, visit the city’s website: bit.ly/gregory canyonmitigation

• Vote on whether to give an official conservation designation to an area called North Foothills, located west of U.S. Highway 36 just north of Boulder. The Open Space and Mountain Parks department uses conservation areas to protect rare plants and animals like horned lizards and birdsfoot violets.

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL

On June 4, council:

• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with the county and city of Broomfield, Boulder County, Thornton and Erie to share costs to design six bus rapid transit (BRT) stations as part of the conceptual plan for regional transportation from Boulder to Brighton. Lafayette will pay $28,750 for the design of a “superstation” at the intersection of U.S. Highway 287 and Lucerne Drive to serve future BRT routes on 287 and State Highway 7.

• Received an annual report from Republic Services, the city’s partner in solid waste collection. In November 2023, 3,500 homes were added to the three-cart program (trash, recycling, compost) resulting in a 33% increase in participation and a 3.7% decrease in the amount of materials being sent to landfills.

All agenda items are subject to change. Karen Norback contributed to this reporting.

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Medically Supervised Weight Loss

Mental Health Medications

Sports and Camp Physicals

Illness & Injury Care

A 24/7 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY’

Heat waves are making pregnancy more dangerous

BY VIRGINIA GEWIN

When Rupa Basu was pregnant with her second child, her body temperature felt out of control — particularly as her third trimester began in the summer of 2007. It wasn’t particularly hot in Oakland, California, with high temperatures reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, she felt uncomfortably warm even as her colleagues and friends were unbothered.

As her October due date approached, she drank extra fluids and avoided going outside during the hottest stretch of the day. “This is really weird,” she recalls thinking. She wondered if there could be a biological mechanism at work.

That notion had troubling implications. “If this is a biological response, imagine what’s happening in places like India and Africa where the heat can get to an unbearable 130 degrees Fahrenheit,” Basu remembers thinking. As a researcher at the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Basu knew that other vulnerable populations, notably the elderly, were particularly susceptible to heat. But she couldn’t find any answers to one fundamental question: Do higher temperatures lead to premature births or other pregnancy complications?

As Basu prepared for her second baby’s delivery, she began gathering state weather data and birth records to identify preterm births, those that occur prior to 37 weeks of gestation. Preterm birth is linked to a wide variety of health conditions, including anemia, respiratory distress, jaundice, sepsis and retinopathy — and, at worst, infant mortality.

Researchers, including Basu, had already documented the impacts of air pollution on adverse pregnancy outcomes. But heat was, at the time,

uncharted terrain — and the suggestion that it might have an effect was met with skepticism. Colleagues, particularly those who had not ever been pregnant, implied she was wasting her time. But when Basu published her study, her findings spurred similar research all over the world.

Basu analyzed 60,000 summertime births — those taking place between May and September — from 1999 to 2006, across 16 California counties.

to get studied. But the most vulnerable people are those who are pregnant.” Those vulnerabilities are intensifying. In the last year, the hottest on record, 6.3 billion people experienced at least 31 days of extreme heat, hotter than 90% of documented temperatures between 1991-2020, according to a new report. As temperatures rise, so does drought and air pollution, which also increases the risk of preterm birth or low birthweight babies. Pollutants from vehicle combustion, including nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, react in sunlight to form ozone.

In the 14 years since Basu’s initial paper, dozens of studies have confirmed that higher temperatures and heat waves are linked to preterm birth as well as stillbirth. Scientists have found an association between heat exposure and preterm birth rates in

She found higher rates of preterm births during higher temperatures. She published the research in 2010, and even though she focused on California, it was the first large-scale epidemiological study looking at preterm delivery and temperature conducted anywhere in the world.

What was especially shocking, Basu says, was how much greater the risk was for Black mothers — 2.5 times higher than for white populations.

“How did we miss this for so long?” Basu asks. “Women are often the last

The U.S. has the highest rate of preterm births in the developed world. Kasey Rivas, associate director of strategic partnerships at the March of Dimes and a co-author of a recent report on birth outcomes and disparities, says that maternal health disparities in the U.S. stem largely from systemic racism and are worsening due to climate change.

Predominantly Black neighborhoods were redlined, or deemed most risky, beginning in the 1930s when insurance companies created maps assigning investment risk levels based on race. Today, those redlined areas have more industrial facilities, excessive truck traffic and a heavier pollution burden — and often, the least shade or green space. Areas dominated by concrete, asphalt and buildings experience hotter temperatures due to the urban heat island effect, the phenomenon in which gray infrastructure absorbs and holds more heat than forests or waterways.

A 2023 study found that the average preterm birth rate was 7.9% across North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe in 2020; but the United States’ preterm birth rate was higher — 10%. By comparison, the highest population-wide preterm birth rate in the world is 13.2% in South Asia. U.S. rates of preterm birth increased 4% between 2020 and 2021 — and rates were far higher in Black women (14.8%) compared to white women (9.5%), according to the March of Dimes report.

every developed nation, and in the few developing nations to conduct studies so far.

While it’s not yet clear how heat triggers preterm birth, there are several hypotheses — including dehydration, hormonal releases that rupture membranes surrounding the fetus, or poor blood flow between parent and unborn child.

This research has taken place against a backdrop of a worsening maternal health crisis in the U.S., particularly in marginalized communities.

A study conducted in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, found that the risk of preterm birth was 15% higher following extremely hot days — and had the greatest impact on communities of color that lived in neighborhoods with more concrete than trees.

Obstetric providers in low-income communities of color describe preterm birth as a crisis. “Preterm birth is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year public health emergency in my community,” says Nneoma Nwachuku Ojiaku, an obstetrician in Sacramento.

This story was produced as part of a collaboration between Grist, Vox and The 19th. Read the full story at bit. ly/3xeZKXB

CONVERSATION STARTER

BY LINDSAY TEMPLE

For Béla Fleck, the joy of playing music is the ability to be part of a dialogue. As both a speaker and unbiased ear, the celebrated banjo virtuoso’s approach to music as a conversation holds a fundamental truth: Communicating clearly requires listening closely.

“I really love the traditions of the world, and I love to learn from great musicians,” Fleck says. “But I also think you have to [show up] to the party and find the things you can bring to it.”

Fleck has brought plenty to the party in the more than four decades since his 1979 debut, Crossing the Tracks. From his progressive ’80s bluegrass band New Grass Revival to the frenetic fusion of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones and records with his wife and fellow banjo player Abigail Washburn, Fleck has established himself over the years as a true champion of the instrument.

when it comes to the dynamic between Meyer and Hussain. The pair’s electrifying synergy is apparent across As We Speak, most notably on the track “Beast in the Garden,” where Hussain sings syncopated, staccato rhythms over Meyer’s full-bowed bassline.

n’goni. Kouyate is known as a griot — a community figure who recounts tribal and cultural stories through the oral tradition, often accompanied by music. Historically, griots marry other griots and beget children they raise in the tradition; usually, every family member is also a band member.

Now, with an upcoming performance at Chautauqua Auditorium on June 18, Fleck presents As We Speak, a collaborative album featuring three of what he calls “the greatest musicians of all time” — tabla player Zakir Hussain, double bassist Edgar Meyer and bansurist Rakesh Chaurasia.

Each player brings a unique voice to the interchange: Hussain and Chaurasia with backgrounds in traditional Indian music, Meyer’s classical music of the West and Fleck’s underpinning of bluegrass and jazz. The result is an intoxicating sonic cocktail brimming with explosive and tranquil moments alike.

“Every time I collaborate with somebody from a different culture, it makes me better the next time, even if the cultures are wildly different,” he says.

“I’m always looking for a way to be myself within their world. Because if I try too hard to be them, it doesn’t work out. It’s just not good. I can’t be an Indian musician, I can only be a banjo player who is inspired by Indian musicians and attempts to find a way in.”

LISTENING IN DETAIL

The dialogue between Fleck, Hussain, Meyer and Chaurasia continues to take new shape, expanding as each musician articulates themselves fluently and without restraint — while still leaving space for one another.

Fleck says every performance with this ensemble feels fresh, especially

“All of a sudden Edgar’s got all these new writing ideas. Completely original to Edgar still, but the light gets turned on,” Fleck says. “You get infected by an idea and then all of a sudden it presents all of these opportunities.”

LOVE LANGUAGE

As We Speak is not Fleck’s first crosscultural conversation. In 2005, he began filming Throw Down Your Heart, a documentary following his trip to four African countries to explore the origins of the banjo. Often associated with minstrelry and the intense racism of Appalachia, the film attempts to bridge the instrument’s estrangement from its history as Fleck jams with gifted musicians from Tanzania, Gambia, Uganda and Mali.

Among the musicians he worked with was Bassekou Kouyate, who plays a predecessor of the banjo called the djeli

Much like the familial musical traditions coursing throughout the As We Speak ensemble, Fleck’s collaboration with these West African artists underscores a lineage of storytelling, music and family. It’s all part of the conversation, and according to Fleck, the best part is not knowing where it will go.

“You know, music is like language: We’re talking and we haven’t preplanned anything, and we can have this exchange and it can lead this way, can lead that way,” Fleck says. “Music can be that way, too.”

ON THE BILL:

Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer feat. Rakesh Chaurasia: As We Speak 7:30 pm. Tuesday, June 18, Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. $53

Bluegrass icon Béla Fleck wants to chat

Left to right: Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer and Rakesh Chaurasia. Credit: Justin Cowart

As We Speak was released May 12, 2023. Courtesy: Thirty Tigers

Boulder Weekly Market

SKA CITY, USA

Understanding a maligned genre ahead of inaugural Denver fest

BY JEZY J. GRAY

Picture in your mind’s eye the average ska enjoyer and you might see a neck-bearded white guy in checkerboard Vans and a goofy little hat. Maybe he’s doing a running-man style mosh dance (known regrettably as “skanking”) to the bounce of a brass section in a comically large pop-punk band. Fronting the ensemble is another dude with a soul patch and slicked-back hair, sputtering on his vintage mic in a faux patois: Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!

“For a lot of people who aren’t enmeshed in this music, that’s the entirety of ska,” says veteran music journalist Aaron Carnes. “It’s a bunch of Orange County kids who are very white and don’t know how to dance, don’t know how to dress, and they brought in the horn section from their high school marching band. This is what people think of ska.”

Carnes wants to broaden our view on what he sees as a half-baked stereotype. The 52-year-old author and enthusiast of the Jamaican-born subgenre set out to do just that with his 2021 book, In Defense of Ska, which takes a critical look at the maligned and misunderstood music style whose “cringe” reputation is wedded (fairly or not) to the mid-90s radio punk that gave rise to the cheerful dorkiness of SoCal bands like Reel Big Fish and the matching suits of New England’s Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

popular in 1997 — let’s get a wider picture of it,” Carnes told Boulder Weekly during a recent Zoom call from his home in Sacramento, California, ahead of the inaugural Denver Ska Fest on June 15. “Because what’s happening now, and where the music comes from, is so much bigger than that.”

SKANKING IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE UNCOOL

To tell that story, Carnes takes skacurious readers to the midcentury ghettos of West Kingston, Jamaica. That’s where a heady mix of jazz, R&B and traditional folk music known as mento was beginning to take root in the 1950s: “lo-fi, wonky and performed on often out-of-tune instruments.”

The expanded second edition of Aaron Carnes’ In Defense of Ska hits stores Oct. 29. Courtesy: CLASH Books

“Part of what my work has revolved around is broadening our perspective on this genre. Let’s look past what was

at the austerity regime of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

It was, in short, a far cry from the whitewashed, mallrat frivolity the genre would come to be associated with during the American “third wave” of the 1990s. So what happened?

Locals would soon move past the genre as it evolved into the roots reggae most commonly associated with the island nation today, but not before unleashing a musical pathogen that would mutate and make its way decades later to the bedrooms of suburban white kids across the U.S. and U.K. What we now recognize as ska is most cleanly traced to an offshoot known as 2 Tone that sprung up in late-70s England. Racially diverse and sharply dressed bands like The Specials, English Beat and Madness began to climb the charts, marrying punk and new wave signatures with spiky upstroked guitars, buzzing organ stabs and overtly political lyrics aimed

“A whole bunch of stuff happened between 2 Tone and ’90s ska — it wasn’t just this thing that popped up out of nowhere. It was built off of 15 years of an underground subculture happening in the U.S. and spreading all over the world,” Carnes says of the genre’s stateside evolution after the ’70s British revival. “There were the goofballs, and there were bands doing traditional ska soul and super political punk-rock ska. It’s a complex subculture, but it’s hard to retell a story once it’s been told.”

This flattening of a rich musical lineage has indeed been a tough knot to untangle. The fallout from the pre-Y2K explosion cemented ska as shorthand for silly pop-punk bands with horns, its fans jumping ship for the more fashionable emo and post-hardcore that would come to dominate local Hot Topic window displays. As a result, the onetime genre of the moment spent the following decades in the wilderness of critical consensus: unserious, undignified and — perhaps worst of all — uncool.

“A lot of people who got into the music when it launched into the mainstream started to view their ska phase negatively. Like, ‘Oh man, that was so embarrassing when I was part of the band-geek crowd and wore fedora hats and danced around in circles,’” he says. “Now I think a lot of the key audience for that time is hitting a certain age where they’re ready to admit that maybe ska wasn’t that bad.”

HORNED UP ON CAP HILL

Leanor Ortega Till’s ska journey began far from the sunny beaches of Jamaica or the overcast West Midlands of Great Britain — at the former state armory in Greeley, Colorado. The converted venue was hosting a big-time West Coast band called Skankin’ Pickle around the time of the genre’s third-wave resurgence in the mid-90s, and the Front Range 15-yearold was ready to receive a message of radical sincerity.

“I had never seen ska before. My little teenage brain was watching them laughing and dancing and going into the crowd,” Ortega Till, now 47, recalls. “I was a hyper ADD kid who played saxophone and I thought, ‘Whoa, these aren’t just the cool kids with guitars. They’re horn players, too.’”

Growing up 30 minutes north in the tiny town of Pierce (pop. 1,095) didn’t offer much in the way of musical opportunities for kids like Ortega Till. But her cousin Micah Ortega played in a Denver thrash metal band called Exhumator, and he soon tapped his younger sax-playing family member to join a new side project in the big city called Five Iron Frenzy.

Since their first practice in a Capitol Hill basement in 1995, Denver’s Five Iron Frenzy has established themselves as one of the most enduring DIY bands of ska’s vilified third wave. Courtesy: Leanor Ortega Till

MUSIC

He and fellow bandmates Reese Roper and Scott Kerr found themselves growing tired of the dour schtick that came with the territory of heavy music. They were looking for something more approachable, more authentic to themselves — and more, well, fun.

“They realized they were not angry people, and they saw that ska was fun. They could have a good time on stage and be dorks who like music,” she says. “I found myself in the basement of a punk house on Pennsylvania and 6th in Capitol Hill for the first band practice, and they realized I sucked. We all sucked, but I sucked more than them. So they paid for my lessons, and that’s how we started.”

GOD’S TROMBONE

From those scrappy beginnings, Five Iron Frenzy would go on to amass a devoted following as one of the most successful DIY bands of ska’s vilified third wave. While the outfit shared many chromosomes with their frivolous and fun-loving peers, they set themselves apart with political lyrics and a social justice bent not unlike their 2 Tone predecessors across the pond. Often turning their gigs into benefits for people experiencing homelessness and hunger, the eight-piece ensemble could be accused of many of ska’s alleged crimes — but the sin of unseriousness was not among them.

where Ortega Till was a women’s pastor for 16 years before becoming an interfaith chaplain at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.

“Now we’re adults, we’re voters and we’re parents … we have to be even more of a strong voice for what we feel is important,” she says. “Not everybody is Christian anymore in our band, but we’re still able to write about hope and love and redemption. Mostly it is political, the things that are happening right now: If the meek inherit the Earth, we’re really doing a bad job of helping them feel like they matter.”

PICK IT UP, PICK IT UP!

Scan the QR code for a

Looking back on Five Iron Frenzy’s legacy as the world’s foremost Christian ska band, a cluster of words that might send a collective shudder down the spines of tastemaker music critics, Ortega Till hopes they’ve done more than make a joyful noise for the Lord. She hopes they’ve won hearts and minds to the cause of equity, love and justice for all.

Unlike the cowards who distanced themselves from the songs that once spoke to them so clearly, Kish never wavered in her devotion to the genre. She wrote her college admissions essay about none other than hometown hero Ortega Till, an idol she would later befriend as co-founder of a local collective known as Mile High Ska — a legion of like-minded misfits who turn out in droves for local shows. But if you ask the 36-year-old what makes the scene so special, the music itself isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.

30-deep to cheer on local favorites The Dendrites (“Denver’s original ska party”) at the Supernova International Ska Festival in Virginia. And if you’re looking to put a figure on it, consider Five Iron Frenzy’s record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $200,000 for the band’s reunion following an eight-year hiatus in 2011 — the most funded music campaign in the history of the platform at the time.

Ironically, what drove Five Iron Frenzy to a more substantial place than their ’90s ska-punk siblings grew from an influence that would never fly with the gatekeepers of cool: the band’s overt Christian faith. Woven into the music from that first practice session in a dank Denver basement, it has since guided the band’s professed regimen of care for the least among us. Vocalist Roper would go on to co-found a nondenominational punk church in Denver called Scum of the Earth in 2000,

“Five Iron helped homeschool kids and evangelical kids who might have been very sheltered and weren’t able to hear other messages, or heard conflicting messages from the [Christian music] world,” she says. “I hope that legacy has been pleasing to God and helpful for society.”

‘SKA IS FOR EVERYBODY’

When Tara Kish thinks back on her first brush with ska, she hears the bright burst of brass opening Five Iron Frenzy’s 1997 debut, Upbeats & Beatdowns. Sharing the headphones of her green anti-skip Discman with a friend beneath a junior-high school desk, she says her first taste of music outside Top 40 radio “hit the geek in me.”

“When you’re an adult, no one teaches you how to make friends. This was my way of creating a community I wanted to belong to,” says Kish, who describes her childhood as a lonely one besieged by bullies. “My big thing is: Build something you want to be a part of. And I wanted to be part of the music scene. I wanted to be part of something bigger than the status quo.

“As people were showing up, [Mile High Ska] started to really become a thing,” she continues. “It was more than just going to shows — we had cookouts; we had camping trips. We had friendship, and that’s what a community really is. It showed me I don’t have to do things by myself. It’s not just about supporting the scene, but also supporting each other.”

That support manifests in the gender solidarity of Rude Girl Revue, an allwomen ska ensemble formed by Kish in 2021. It rang out in high fidelity when the Mile High Ska crew showed up

You’ll likely feel it too when Five Iron Frenzy takes the stage at Denver Ska Fest in a co-headlining slot alongside fellow ’90s scene setters Goldfinger and Less Than Jake. That’s where you’ll find Kish and her Mile High Ska cohort skanking to their hearts’ content, kicking up dust in the community they built for themselves in their own weird little corner of the Front Range. Coolness be damned.

“Ska is about creating a space where people can be genuinely themselves no matter where they came from, what age they are, who they love — it doesn’t matter,” she says. “Ska is for everybody.”

ON THE BILL: Denver Ska Fest feat. Goldfinger, Less Than Jake, Five Iron Frenzy and more. 2 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, June 15, Sculpture Park at Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1400 Curtis St., Denver. $70

skankin’ soundtrack curated by In Defense of Ska author Aaron Carnes.

Since launching during the pandemic, the Mile High Ska collective has been a source of community and friendship for local fans. Credit: Justine Bean Photography

Formed in 1977 in Coventry, England, The Specials were forebears of the ska revival known as 2 Tone — a far cry from the pop-punk mutation of the 1990s. Courtesy: The Specials

MUSIC SKANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

Four bands to put on your Denver Ska Fest dance card

Now that you know a little about the history and community surrounding one of the 20th century’s most defamed musical movements, you’ll need a quick primer before lacing up your skankin’ boots at Denver Ska Fest. Boulder Weekly asked ska historian and journalist Aaron Carnes for his take on some of the can’t-miss acts coming to the inaugural event this weekend. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity

KILL LINCOLN

“Kill Lincoln is pretty active in the newer ska scene. It’s the band of Bad Time Records owner Mike Sosinski. They’re really good — very hardcore-oriented ska. But it sounds different to me than what was happening in the ’90s when you talk about ‘skacore.’ You can hear how the aggressive side of ska has evolved over the years. They put on a really energetic, wild show. You’ll see their trombone player in the audience being held up by the crowd while playing. If there’s a place to climb and jump, he’s going to do it.”

JOYSTICK

“They’re another really heavy band, but still ska. There’s a lot of heavy ska now. In the ’90s, there was a lot of ska-punk this and that, but most of it wasn’t that heavy if you think about it. A lot of it was pop-punk, but there wasn’t much actual hardcore mixed with ska back then. There were a few bands doing that, but it’s much more of a thing today.”

THE PLANET SMASHERS

“The Planet Smashers are from Canada, and they’ve had a hard time playing the U.S. for a while due to visa issues. They’re playing Supernova [International Ska Festival in Virginia] this year, and it was a bit of a big deal because they’ve been scheduled to play before but had to cancel because they couldn’t get in the country.

They used to tour all the time, and they got really big — particularly in Montreal, where they’re from. They’re pretty well known in the U.S. because of all the touring they did back in the day. But like I said, it’s been a while since they’ve been able to get into the country. So that’s a good get.”

FIVE IRON FRENZY

“Even though they’re not the headliner, I’m gonna guess Five Iron Frenzy will likely have the biggest response because they’re a Denver band. They’re wellloved in Colorado, and they have a pretty voracious fan base on top of that. They’re probably going to steal the show.

I wasn’t into them in the ’90s when they were more of an active Christian ska band. But when they came back in 2013, they were a bit of a different band in my opinion — a really good band — even though it’s basically the same people. I think their last record from 2021 [Until This Shakes Apart] is by far the best record they’ve ever done.

It’s a hard sell: ‘We’re Christians, but we hate what’s happened to Christianity. We hate what’s happened to politics in this country and how Christianity has been used.’ They’re very passionate about that. You’re not seeing a lot of people who identify that way, speaking out with as much emotion as they have.”

— Aaron Carnes

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PRESENTS A SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT

Penner’s 75-minute tour de force is spine-tingling, fierce and un-blinking.

TICKETS at BETC.ORG July 11 - 21

CURTAIN CALLS

Three local stage productions to catch or skip

BY TONI TRESCA

As summer gets into gear, the local theatrical scene is in full swing. From an imaginative immersive experience to a heartfelt musical comedy and a beloved cult classic, here’s a closer look at what worked — and what needed work.

WHIMSICAL WORLD

The world premiere of Impossible Things at the Museum of Outdoor Arts is a fantastical spin on Lonnie Hanzon’s Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities, a permanent installation of oddities at the museum’s new Marjorie Park headquarters. This immersive theater experience, created by Hanzon Studios and Boulder-based experimental troupe The Catamounts, begins with the high school graduation party for a nonbinary teenager named Alex. From there, it quickly evolves into a surreal fairytale of memories and possibilities.

Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson and written by Jessica Austgen, the production boasts an all-Colorado cast that guides you through the whimsical experience. Attendees are dropped into conversations with Alex and their supportive, albeit slightly abrasive, family as guests at a reception designed by the preppy “awardwinning” party planner Barb (Maggie Tisdale).

After speeches from family members including Mom (Betty Hart) and Dad (Mark Collins), it becomes increasingly clear that Alex has no idea what they want from the future. This question serves as the audience’s call to adventure, as the “guests” are divided into five small groups and led through various scenes in Hanzon’s installation and other areas of the Marjorie Park outdoor sculpture garden. From there, visitors explore the venue — featuring more than 40 pieces designed after settings like the tea party from Alice in Wonderland — to meet fantastical

characters such as Mother Goose, Mr. Grimm and the Ugly Duckling, who are played by the same actors as Alex’s family and offer advice at locations throughout the park.

Mel Schaffer’s portrayal of Alex captures the character’s inner turmoil and indecision about their uncertain next steps with grace. The rest of the cast, including Joan Bruemmer-Holden, Collins, Hart, Chris Kendall, Min Kyung (Cecillia) Kim and Tisdale, each bring gravitas to their often dual roles as family members and fantasy characters from Hanzon’s exhibition. The result is an enchanting experience that makes an excellent addition to Colorado’s thriving immersive arts community.

ON STAGE: Impossible

Things Through Sunday, June 16, Museum of Outdoor Arts, 6331 South Fiddler’s Green Circle, Greenwood Village. $45

UNEVEN OUTING

The Prom, now playing at Littleton’s Town Hall Arts Center, is a musical comedy that aims to tackle LGBTQ+ themes with humor but often stumbles in its execution. The story follows four Broadway stars who seek redemption after a career-halting flop by championing a cause: helping a young woman take her girlfriend to the prom in a small Indiana town after she was banned from attending the dance by the school board.

Directed by Nathan Halvorson, the production features energetic performances from Megan Schraeder as Emma Nolan, Gavin Juckette as Trent Oliver and Piper Lindsay Arpan as Angie Dickinson. However, the show’s balance of social commentary and theatrical inside jokes is awkwardly juxtaposed, and the set design by M.

Curtis Grittner — primarily centered around the high school gym — is overly elaborate and constraining.

Despite these drawbacks, Carrie Colton’s splashy, though slightly compact, choreography and the vibrant, rainbow-colored lighting design by Kate Bashore maximize the 260-seat theater, particularly in group numbers like “Love Thy Neighbor.” While the use of a backing track instead of live musicians detracts from the musical’s dynamism, the cast’s enthusiasm make it an enjoyable, if somewhat uneven, night at the theater.

ON STAGE: The Prom

Through Saturday, June 22, Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 West Main St., Littleton.

$34-$52

ROCKY HORROR ROCKS

Pride Month no longer “shivers with antici…pation” after The Arts HUB’s screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Denver’s beloved Rocky Horror shadow cast: Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient. This cult classic, known for its audience participation and campy embrace of gender fluidity, invites guests to shout lines at the screen, throw props at the stage and sing along as Dr. Frank-N-Furter seeks to bring life

to a hunky plaything inside his castle.

The Arts HUB’s intimate setting, which can accommodate nearly 200 people, strengthens the bond between the cast and the audience by reducing the separation between spectator and spectacle to almost nothing. This connection was bolstered by prop bags for audience members containing noisemakers and other items to use throughout the show.

Standout performances include the debut of a cast member billed as Motherdaddy, who plays the naive Janet, and Casper Smith as the romantic Brad whose dynamic presence energized the crowd. However, the performance did face a few challenges. The lack of captions or prompts for audience callouts left some attendees confused, especially those less familiar with the Rocky Horror tradition. Despite this, the dedicated fans in the crowd kept the energy high.

ON STAGE: The Rocky Horror Picture Show featuring Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient. Friday, June 21, DCPA - Studio Loft, 980 14th St., Denver. $14 | Saturday, June 29, Esquire Theater, 590 N. Downing St., Denver. Sold out

Betty Hart, co-artistic director of the Boulder-based Local Theater Company, performs in the ongoing production of Impossible Things at the Museum of Outdoor Arts. Credit: Michael Ensminger Photography

DEATH BECOMES HER

Dying is for the birds in ‘Tuesday’

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

The specter of death hangs over everyone and everything. In the movie Tuesday by writer-director Daina Oniunas-Pusić, that specter takes the form of a size-shifting parrot — a filthy, scarred one with a deep and terrifying voice supplied by Arinzé Kene. How old the bird is and from whence it came is of no significance to this story, only that the parrot can take any size it wants, from a teardrop to a full-grown human, hear all the voices of the world crying out for release and silence their suffering with a wave of its wing. The parrot moves invisibly among the living. But for the dying, it is the last thing they see.

It must be quite a shock to see a large parrot approaching out of nowhere, but I imagine anyone drawing their last breath experiences all kinds of shocks. Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), a

teenager with a terminal case, handles the shock better than most. So when the parrot shows up, she pulls a Scheherazade and delays the inevitable by telling the parrot a joke.

The joke works, and the parrot and Tuesday develop a bond. Tuesday knows the parrot’s arrival means the end for her, and she’s ready to go. But if only the parrot could grant her this one wish and wait long enough for Tuesday to tell her mother, Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), goodbye. The parrot abides, and a conflict neither Tuesday nor Zora can foresee sends the world around them into chaos.

Tuesday is a somber story with a couple of jokes that are pretty funny if you remember to laugh. It would be easy to call this movie a downer, considering all the talk of death and dying and mourning going on, but there’s a

bonkers energy coursing through Tuesday’s veins that keeps it afloat. Louis-Dreyfus gives an unglamorous performance full of abrupt but understandable turns, including a few scenes where the manic energy of Elaine Benes pushes through. It’s a performance so good you revise your opinion halfway through once it’s clear the detached monotony of earlier scenes wasn’t an actor going through the motions but the carefully calibrated choices of a performance so natural you almost missed it.

Naturalism isn’t what you might expect in a story where one of the players is a talking CGI parrot, but here we are. Oniunas-Pusić makes the right decision not to hide or shoot around the parrot but instead to look right at it and frame it in a way that takes viewers past the uncanny and into the realm of fable. It’s not supposed to look like a real parrot, anyway. And how real it is in the first place is a decision each viewer gets to make.

Aside from Louis-Dryefus and Petticrew’s wonderful performances, Tuesday’s strength comes from Oniunas-Pusić’s script. On the one

hand, the premise is so beautifully simple that you feel it could fly off in any direction at any moment, and it often does. On the other hand, its overarching idea is so academically sophomoric — without death, the world would be thrown into chaos — that you run with it without bothering to question it. Why does Zora do what she does? Wouldn’t any mother do anything to be with her daughter just one more day? Even just one more moment?

Tuesday has fun with that idea, even if watching the movie doesn’t exactly make for a fun time. It’s a small story where the door is open just enough to glimpse a much bigger picture and a proper realization: The end has no end. How many books, movies, paintings, poems, songs, etc., have you read, seen or heard with this same message? Ditto. And now Oniunas-Pusić has thrown in her two cents as well — and in a feature debut, no less. It’s sure to echo.

ON SCREEN: Tuesday opens in theaters June 15.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in Tuesday, the latest from writer-director Daina Oniunas-Pusić. Courtesy: A24

13

MOVEMENT WORKSHOP

6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13, Terracotta, 2005 Pearl St., Boulder. $30

The mission behind this somatic workshop at Terracotta is to help you “move freely, confidently, playfully and expressively while connecting with yourself and others.” No props required, but organizers recommend long-sleeve shirts and long pants. Socks and kneepads optional.

14

OBJECTS OF PROTEST: BOULDER SPEAKS!

Noon to 2 p.m. Friday, June 14, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $15

Join Museum of Boulder curator Elizabeth Nosek for the latest installment of the ongoing lunchtime lecture series focusing on materials from the local history center’s permanent collection. This month’s talk focuses on special donated items related to protests in Boulder over the decades.

14

ART NIGHT OUT

5-9 p.m. Friday, June 14, Public Road between Emma and Cannon streets, Lafayette. Free

Downtown Lafayette transforms into a walkable culture hub with 50 art vendors and eight food trucks during this monthly summer block party. This month’s event features live music by Los Mocochetes alongside face painters, balloon artists, magicians and street performers.

15

JUNETEENTH HIKE *

9-11 a.m. Saturday, June 15, 1206 Euclid Ave., Boulder. Free

Explore Boulder’s Black history and enjoy the breathtaking beauty in our own backyard during this all-ages hike with Women’s Wilderness. Presented as part of Boulder’s multi-day Juneteenth celebration, the guided hike begins with introductions and light refreshments before a gentle 2.5-mile trek at Chautauqua.

15

ARTIST TALK: SANGEETA REDDY AND BALA THIAGARAJAN

1-3 p.m. Saturday, June 15, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

Join Dairy exhibiting artists Sangeeta Reddy and Bala Thiagarajan for an illuminating conversation with curator Drew Austin. The pair will discuss their ongoing shows In Search of Personal Icons and Shakti: The Source of Strength, on display in the nonprofit arts center’s free gallery space through July 14.

16

THE SUNDAY COMICS: FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL

11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Sunday, June 16, The Times Collaborative, 338 Main St., Longmont. $35-$40 (includes brunch board)

Head to the Times Collaborative in Longmont for a special Father’s Day edition of the Sunday Comics standup series with Joshua Emerson, Israel Avila, Ren Q. Dawe and Philip Ogren, complete with a brunch board prepared by Cruagh Catering Company and libations from Dry Land Distillers.

16

BOULDER VINTAGE

BICYCLE SWAP AND SHOW

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 16, Arapahoe and Broadway, Boulder. Free to attend / $25 swap space

Drop by The Riverside parking lot on Father’s Day to check out classic, vintage and antique bikes and parts from throughout history. Festivities will also include a beer garden and live bluegrass music at this two-wheeled blowout just across the creek from the farmer’s market.

16

FATHER’S DAY AT SPIRIT HOUND

11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 16, Spirit Hound Tasting Room, 4196 Ute Highway, Lyons. Free

Grab your pops and head to the Spirit Hound Tasting Room in Lyons for a special Father’s Day event complete with a complementary pour of whisky, a Spirit Hound scavenger hunt and Whisky Pony Races. The day will also include music by the Sweet Sunday Swing Band with Colorado fiddle player Jessie Burns.

17

JUNETEENTH PANEL: BANNED BOOKS *

3-5 p.m. Monday, June 17, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

Get in on the conversation with Reiland Rabaka, founder and director of the CU Center for African & African American Studies, for a panel discussion on banned books. Audience members are encouraged to be part of the dialogue during this Juneteenth event at the Dairy Arts Center, including entertainment by the Ron Ivory Band.

19

JUNETEENTH CONCERT *

6-11 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Unit 3VA, Boulder. Free

Juneteenth celebrations continue with a night of “soul-stirring tunes and powerful performances celebrating freedom.” The free evening of music includes performances by Rex Peoples and Xfactr, Jack Hadley, Wellington Bullings, Kid Astronaut, Zivanai Masango and Blessing Chimanga.

20

ROOFTOP POETRY BASH *

5-8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $10

Museum of Boulder and Out Boulder County join forces to “celebrate the beauty of Black resilience, community and the expression of liberation for QTPOC futures.” From poetry readings to drag performances and live music, this rooftop Juneteenth event celebrates freedom with a view.

22

JUNETEENTH FAMILY CELEBRATION *

1-6 p.m. Saturday, June 22, Roosevelt Park, 700 Longs Peak Ave., Longmont. Free

Pack up the family and head to Longmont for a Juneteenth community bash. Festivities include live music by Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Chrisette Michele, along with vendors, kids’ activities, high school drumline performances and more.

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

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, JUNE 13

ANDY THORN & FRIENDS WITH ROSS JAMES AND SILAS HERMAN 5:30 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Free

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

MOJAZZ TRIO. 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

JT JONES WITH DAN FROELICH. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

DANA COOPER WITH DAVID STARR 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

ROB ICKES WITH TREY HENSLEY. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $25

DJ WILLIAMS BAND WITH MARCUS MACHADO Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $22

RUNAWAY GIN 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $15

BEN SPROUL BAND 9 p.m. Southern Sun Pub, 627 S. Broadway St., Boulder. Free

FRIDAY, JUNE 14

KAYLA MARQUE 1 p.m. Read Queen Bookstore, 129 N. Harrison Ave., Lafayette. Free

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

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

6 MILLION DOLLAR BAND 7 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $25

PAT METHENY. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

SWING AGGREGATE 7 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

PARLANDO PRESENTS THE LIGHTNING THIEF. 7 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $17

BLANKSLATE. 7 p.m. Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. Free

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

PHOEBE NIX WITH ARI MELINGERCOHEN, JASON BRANDT AND THE BUILD-OUT 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

STOMP STREET HEIST. 9 p.m. Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

LEFTAPALOOZA 11 a.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free

PEAK2PEAK 6 p.m. Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. $13

SATURDAY, JUNE 15

LEFTAPALOOZA. 11 a.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free

PEAK2PEAK 6 p.m. Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. $13

SPARE CHANGE WITH BIG DADDY TY 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

STEEL MONKEY. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

CRICK WOODER 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

STRANGEBYRDS. 6:30 p.m. 300 Suns Brewing, 335 1st Ave., Unit C, Longmont. Free

M3DIUM WITH IGNYTE AND EL SANTO 7 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A. $10

GONZALO TEPPA & FRIENDS. 7 p.m. Mountain View United Methodist Church, 355 Ponca Place, Boulder. $5

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

MATT FLAHERTY 7 p.m. Longs Peak Pub, 600 Longs Peak Ave., Longmont. Free

PRETTY IN PUNK: PRIDE MONTH CELEBRATION 7 p.m. Junkyard Social Club, 2525 Frontier Ave., Unit A, Boulder. $25

LIVE MUSIC

ON THE BILL

Following last week’s release of Santa Cruz, the third LP in the “musical memoir” of singer-songwriter David Bazan, the celebrated musician brings his long-running slowcore emo project Pedro the Lion back to the Front Range for a show at Bluebird Theater on June 19. Scan the QR code for a BW interview with Ella Williams of opening act Squirrel Flower before you go. See listing for details

HALFWAY THERE 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $25

MORGAN LEE POWERS 8 p.m.

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

SUNDAY, JUNE 16

FLATIRON SOUNDS MUSIC

FESTIVAL WITH CLAY

STREET UNIT, ALEXA

WILDISH AND MORE 1 p.m. Chautauqua Park, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Free STORY AT BOULDERWEEKLY.COM

JACK HADLEY 4 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

JONATHAN POWELL’S MAMBO

JAZZ PARTY. 7 p.m. Muse

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

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

MONDAY, JUNE 17

MEADOW MUSIC 5:30 p.m.

Chautauqua Park, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Free

PARCELS WITH MOLLY LEWIS. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $110

TUESDAY, JUNE 18

DAVE HONIG. 5 p.m. Roadhouse Boulder Depot, 2366 Junction Place, Boulder. Free

WILL HOGE WITH DAVE TAMKIN. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $25

GRLWOOD WITH MAY BE FERN. 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $25

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19

MATT VENUTI. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

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

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

PEDRO THE LION WITH SQUIRREL FLOWER 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $26

BW PICK OF THE WEEK

GOGO PENGUIN 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 13th St. $25

RACE STREET RIDERS 9 p.m. Southern Sun Pub, 627 S. Broadway St., Boulder. Free

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): The term “maze” has various meanings. Most commonly, it signifies a puzzling cluster of choices that lead nowhere and bode frustration. But there are more positive meanings of the word. In ancient myths, a maze was where heroes underwent ritual tests. There they might summon ingenuity to win access to a hidden treasure. In modern psychology labs, the maze is a structure used to stimulate learning in rats. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the maze you are now in is metaphorically akin to the second two meanings, not the first.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): There is an abundance of good news, Taurus. In the coming weeks, your conversations could awaken realizations that will augment your wealth — both the financial and emotional kind. Be eager to commune with vigorous souls who inspire your power to attract resources and goodies. Furthermore, you could generate enriching benefits for yourself by engaging with unfamiliar influences that are outside your web of expectations. Don’t be too sure you already know everything you need. Helpful surprises could arrive if you’re extra open-minded.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Though 2024 isn’t even half over, you have already earned the title “Least Boring Zodiac Sign of the Year.” Or maybe a more positive way to frame it would be to award you the title “Most Scintillating, Interesting and Stimulating Zodiac Sign of the Year.” Please keep doing what you have been doing, Gemini. Entertain us with your unruly escapades and gossip-worthy breakthroughs. Encourage us to question our dull certainties and dare us to be more fun. If we seem nervous to be in your stirring presence, disarm our worries with your humor.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Your subconscious mind is full of marvelous capacities and magic potencies. But it also contains old habits of feeling and thinking that influence you to respond to life in ways that are out of sync with what’s actually happening. These habits may sabotage or undermine your conscious intentions. Now here’s the good news: In the next nine months, there’s a lot you can do to dissolve the outmoded imprints. You will have more power than ever before to perform this wizardry. So get started! How? Ask your subconscious mind to send you intuitions about how to proceed.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): The fairy tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will serve as a prime metaphor for you in the coming weeks. Ruminate on its themes as being applicable to your life. I’ll refresh you with the main points of the story. Young Jack and his mother need money, so she decides to take drastic measures. She bids him to sell the family cow at the marketplace a few miles away. But on the way into town, Jack meets a man who coaxes him to sell the cow in exchange for magic beans — not money. When Jack returns home, his mother is angry at his foolishness. In disgust, she flings the beans out the window into the dirt. Later, though, the beans live up to their promise. They grow into a giant beanstalk that Jack climbs to reach the lair of a giant who lives in the clouds. There Jack retrieves three of his family’s lost treasures, which had been stolen by the giant long ago.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Before the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century BCE, Chinese people had built many local walls designed to keep out invaders. Qin Shi Huang initiated a great public works project to connect all of these fragments into what’s now known as the Great Wall of China. He also erected a vast system of roads and a city-sized mausoleum filled with the Terracotta Army: sculptures of 8,000 soldiers with their chariots and horses. Qin Shi Huang was a big thinker who was also highly organized. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to glide into your very own Qin Shi Huang phase. What long-lasting structures do you want to build in the next 11 months?

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Psychologist Carl Jung believed we could accomplish profound self-transformation by working hard on our psyches’ unripe and wounded aspects. That might entail honest self-examination, objective observation of how we affect others and a willingness to recognize and forgive our mistakes. Jung also recommended another way to heal our neuroses: through the power of numinous experiences. By “numinous,” he meant mystical, sublime or awe-inspiring. Jung said that such visitations could radically diminish our painful habits of mind and feeling. They might arrive through grace, thanks to life’s surprising interventions. They may also be coaxed to appear through meditation, dreamwork, communing with myth and fairy tales, and spiritual practices. I foresee a wealth of numinous events in your life during the coming months, Libra. May they bring you a steady stream of healing.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): In a moment, I will list events I foresee as being possible for you during the next 11 months. They are cosmic tendencies but not cosmic mandates. Whether or not they actually occur will depend on how you wield your willpower — which, by the way, could be freer and more muscular than it has been in a long time. Here are the potential developments: 1. An offer to create one of the most symbiotic unions or robust collaborations ever. 2. Great chances for you to capitalize on the success of others. 3. Alterations in the family configuration. 4. Major shifts in loyalty and affinity. 5. A raise in rank. 6. Revelations of secrets you can use to your advantage.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Have you been metaphysically itchy and psychologically ticklish? Are you unsure whether those tingling sensations you’re feeling are worrisome symptoms or signs of healing and awakening? I believe they are signs of healing and awakening. They suggest you are doing the metaphorical equivalent of what a snake does when it sheds its skin. Expect imminent redemption, Sagittarius. Reframe the discomfort as a herald of relief and release.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): It’s time for Super Mom to make an appearance. Some circumstances in your life could benefit from healing tweaks best initiated by her. And when I say “Super Mom,” I’m not necessarily referring to your actual mother. I’m envisioning a wise older woman who sees you as you really are and who can assist you in living your destiny according to your own inner necessity, no one else’s. If you have no Super Mom in your world, see if you can locate one, even hire one. I also recommend creating an inner Super Mom in your imagination. You need and deserve sympathetic input from the archetype of the sage crone.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): I suspect that later in 2024, I will authorize you to commune with boisterous adventures and tricky risks. But right now, I advise you to flirt with modest adventures and sensible risks. Can you contain your burning, churning yearnings for a while? Are you willing to coax your crazy wild heart into enjoying some mild pleasures? By early autumn, I’m guessing you will have done the necessary preparations to successfully roam through the experimental frontiers. Until then, you are most likely to corral X-factors on your behalf if you pace yourself and bide your time.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): “Oh God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul.” That prayer was the handiwork of Piscean philosopher Joseph Ernest Renan. If his ironic minimalism is the only spiritual aspiration you can manage right now, so be it. But I hope you will strive for a more intimate, expansive and personal connection with the divine. The coming weeks will be an extra favorable time for you to speak and listen to mysterious powers beyond your rational comprehension. Please take advantage! Go in quest of the sweet, deep lowdown directly from the sublime source!

SAVAGE LOVE

Q: I hooked up during a lunch break. While I was sucking on a dude’s titties with his encouragement, he started sucking on my neck. I shook him off as soon as I realized what he was doing, but an hour later my office bathroom mirror revealed a prominent hickey. This is a major party foul, right? Like, a borderline consent violation? How pissed at this random dude do I have a right to be?

A: I’m reluctant to slap the “consent violation” label on this — no need to get the authorities involved — but giving an adult a hickey is inconsiderate and juvenile, and you have every right to be pissed.

Q: How to get over feeling self-conscious about poop during anal when my partner doesn’t care?

A: It’s a butt — as I’m sure you’re aware — and regular butt stuff (it’s an exit) sometimes derails irregular butt stuff (it’s an entry). Take fiber supplements, douche, only have anal when you feel like you’re good to go, and if the worst should happen, jump in the shower and pivot to something else.

Q: Do you think masc/masc is a toxic gay identity?

A: Not necessarily. Some masc guys — gay and straight — are insecure and overcompensating assholes, of course, but a masculine gender presentation isn’t always an act, and it’s rarely an attack on anyone else. Just as femme can be a guy’s authentic gender expression, masc can be a

BY DAN SAVAGE

guy’s authentic gender expression; just as someone can be genuinely attracted to femme-presenting partners, someone can be genuinely attracted to masc-presenting partners.

Q: I’m a bi assigned male at birth 26-year-old nonbinary person who moved back in with my verbally abusive mom after college. Things with her came to a boiling point, so I moved in with my partner of six months. They’re 100% supportive and caring, but I’m worried about putting too much pressure on our new relationship. It’s the best relationship I’ve ever been in, and I don’t wanna ruin it, but I can’t afford my own place and I can’t move back in with my mom. What do I do?

A: Six months is too soon to move in with a new partner — but what other choice do you have? If there are no sublets or roommate situations you can afford in your area and you can’t move home, you’ll have to accept your new partner’s generosity. Find ways to take the pressure off by spending time with other friends, giving your partner plenty of space and plenty of head.

Q: Me and my wife are in this cycle where the sex drops off from once a week to once a month due to her not feeling sexy due to body image issues. We talk, I reassure her, we go back to having sex once a week, and then the cycle repeats. Any advice on how to break the cycle?

A: If body image is the issue, offer regular reassurance — not just when the sex drops off — and make sure your wife has time for solo activities that make her feel comfortable in her own skin. And broadening your definition of sex to include non-PIV options and/or asking your wife to help you have a wank once in a while (without any pressure to upgrade to intercourse) and/or offering to go down on your wife (ditto) might also help.

Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love

A SUPERIOR BBQ

Devotees helped Wayne’s Smoke Shack survive pandemic and fire. Now they’re busier than ever.

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

Asalty, oaky aroma wafts over the long line outside Wayne’s Smoke Shack on a June Saturday morning. Based on the blissful expressions on the faces of waiting customers, a casual observer might mistake this queue for pilgrims waiting to get baptized.

Once inside, diners scan the list of offerings on the wall hoping the object of their barbecue affection is still available. By noon this day, Wayne’s popular smoked salmon and catfish, smoked pineapple ham and famous sticky toffee pudding were already sold out. Plenty of smoked brisket, ribs, shredded pork shoulder, pork belly and turkey breast are still available: Some days, the “sold out” sign hangs outside before the restaurant closes.

At the counter, Sam Shelnutt takes orders for meat by the pound, deftly hand slicing portions onto a scale under heat lamps. She co-owns the smokehouse with her husband, Wayne Shelnutt, who is pulling food from the smoker.

The meals are served simply on a paper-lined tray with sides of green chile mac-n-cheese, Southern green beans, baked beans or coleslaw.

While pickled white onions, dill pickle chips and three house-made BBQ sauces are available, the right way to appreciate the goodness is without any distractions, according to Sam.

The rib and cobbler rush eases after 1 p.m., after which she sits briefly to talk about the business’ roller coaster ride to success and its singularly independent attitude.

“This is a traditional Texas smokehouse, the kind that Wayne grew up with,” Shellnut says. “These are all his recipes. He smokes. I make the sides.”

A photo homage to famous Texas BBQ joints like Austin’s Franklin BBQ fill one wall of the eatery.

Wayne and Sam opened the restau-

rant in 2013 in a nondescript Superior shopping center, and the fare was an immediate hit. Wayne’s hasn’t entered any barbecue contests, yet it still remains on experts’ lists of the top barbecue joints in Colorado.

The couple applied outside-thebox thinking to the establishment from the start.

“We decided not to serve alcohol or to be open for dinner. We’re only open on Friday and Saturday. It concentrates the business into two days,” Sam says. “All our meats are hormoneand antibiotic-free and the beef is grass-fed. We don’t cut any corners.”

WHEN THE FLAMES SCORCHED SUPERIOR

December 30, 2021, was a day off for Wayne and Sam, who was seven months pregnant at the time.

“We were out for lunch that day when we saw the smoke,” she recalls. “We went to check it out because we lived nearby. We got maybe one minute tops inside our house when we got there because the flames and smoke were so bad. We wanted to grab so much more.”

Later that day, the couple heard the news while staying with a friend. “Our rental house and everything in it burned down completely, and we lost a car and a storage shed,” Sam says. Also lost were their daughter’s Christmas presents, unwrapped under the tree.

The Marshall Fire, the most costly wildfire in Colorado history, destroyed 1,084 homes that day in Marshall, Superior and Louisville.

Wayne’s Smoke Shack did not burn down, but it suffered severe smoke damage. “Ash blew in everywhere, and there was water damage from the snow the next day,” Sam recounts.

Following what Sam describes as “an insurance nightmare,” the restaurant finally reopened on June 6, 2023. One year later, they are busier than ever.

“We were so grateful for all the community support,” she says. “Like everyone who went through the fire, you’re in this warm embrace for a while, and then you have to start over.”

TASTE OF THE WEEK: WAYNE’S BBQ JOY

A devotion to quality and flavor shows in every dish served at Wayne’s Smoke Shack. This much bliss is not inexpensive, nor should it be. I haven’t tasted anything at Wayne’s that I wouldn’t happily order again, but some flavors are truly memorable:

• Luscious, sugar-crusted, slow-smoked pork belly is what bacon wants to be when it grows up. It pairs well with Wayne’s tart-hot mustard BBQ sauce.

• Texas-style brisket, gushing savory juice.

• Fall-off-the-bone St. Louisstyle pork ribs with a thick, chewy, almost candied bark.

• House-baked yeasted rolls brushed with beef butter: rendered brisket tallow mixed with grass-fed butter and salt.

• Deep-dish peach cobbler served with real, freshly whipped heavy cream.

• Note: An on-site freezer offers packaged smoked meats for 10% off the menu price.

Image credits: John Lehndorff

NIBBLES

CULINARY CALENDAR: SUMMER FOOD AND FILMS

Boulder’s Flatirons Food Film Festival hosts Reels for Meals on July 18 at eTown Hall, featuring the acclaimed French film, The Taste of Things. The benefit for Meals on Wheels includes tastings, demos and a post-film panel with Julien Jeannot, owner of Lafayette’s Jeannot’s Patisserie & Bistro. Tickets: bit.ly/3KBu9ST

Denver’s Balistreri Vineyards hosts an Italian feast with wine and a screening, July 12 and 13, of the food-driven classic Moonstruck Menu includes caponata, panzanella, fritto misto and arancini. balistreriwine.com

Plan ahead: The Big Eat, July 18 at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, is a cool tasting featuring unlimited bites from more than 50 independent restaurants. Tickets: eatdenver.com/the-big-eat.

WHERE ARE BOULDER COUNTY’S FARM STANDS?

Farmers markets are great, but Boulder County’s backroads are dotted with many more roadside stands for farms offering local vegetables, fruits, eggs, honey and baked goods. Our annual Boulder County Roadside Farm Stand Guide is coming soon. Send detailed information about roadside farm stand hours, offerings and location to nibbles@boulderweekly.com.

WORDS TO CHEW ON: THE HELL WITH KALE

“I know and hate kale when I see it — and these days I see it everywhere: like scorched bits of burned paper atop pizzas, muffled into pesto as a dusty, bitter blanket over pasta and risotto, studded like flecks of parchment in brownies and cookies.” — Mimi Sheraton, noted American dining critic

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles on Thursdays on KGNU, 88.5 FM. Podcasts: kgnu.org/category/radio-nibbles

The Taste of Things Courtesy: Curiosa Films

ON DRUGS

GRAY MATTER

Colorado companies walk the legal line at inaugural ShroomFest

BY SHAY CASTLE

“Under Colorado law, I cannot sell you psilocybin,” an employee tells the crowd gathered at the Mad Hatter booth. “If you buy a sticker, I can gift you some product. We have candy, capsules and dry,” the latter referring to the actual mushrooms that potential customers have come here to procure.

The vendor is walking the fine line created by Proposition 122, which last year decriminalized so-called magic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs in Colorado but did not legalize them for sale. Adults over the age of 21, however, can give them as gifts to other adults.

That’s why the 20 businesses at Denver’s inaugural ShroomFest, held June 9 at event venue ReelWorks, are hawking t-shirts, consulting sessions and tote bags with drugs on the side for free. Some 1,200 people paid $65

apiece to attend, presumably if not technically for the chance to get their hands on shrooms, infused chocolate bars and psilocybinpacked pills. Spores, liquid cultures and grow kits were also popular offerings.

‘RESEARCH PURPOSES’

Spores are another loophole. Until they have been germinated, they don’t contain the compound that makes mushrooms psychedelic, so they’re technically legal. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) put out a statement earlier this year clarifying that spores are legal under federal law.

“If the mushroom spores (or any other material) do not contain psilocybin or psilocin (or any other controlled substance or listed chemical), the material is considered not controlled under the [Controlled Substances Act],” the statement read. “However, if at any time the material contains a controlled substance such as psilocybin or psilocin (for example, upon germination), the material would be considered a controlled substance under the CSA.”

Nearly every vendor at ShroomFest

were themselves customers of Altitude Consulting or other labs that test for potency and make sure products like spores and cultures don’t contain too much psilocybin.

Assuming their products pass the lab test, businesses also have to be careful in their advertising and marketing. It is still federally illegal to sell products intended for consumption that have the potential to develop into psychedelics (like spores), so companies like Wonderbags, based in Colorado Springs, label their live mushroom grow kits with the disclaimer, “For research purposes only,” before shipping them throughout the U.S.

Phil Foote, Wonderbags’ market manager, rattled off a dozen states the company ships to — and the ones they don’t, including California, Idaho and Georgia, which prohibit spores.

“Making sure everything is legal,” is the top concern for the businesses Raquel Heras works with, she says. Heras is a public relations professional in the cannabis industry who recently added psilocybin operations into the mix. ShroomFest is an early client.

On-site consumption was prohibited at the event, as security staff reminded several patrons bringing in their own drugs. Bags were searched, but contraband was not confiscated.

Employees of JamCare Medical were on hand to provide “medical, nursing and psychological care” in the event of a bad trip — “just in case,”

says ShroomFest cofounder Eric Burden. “I’m trying to be respectful to the laws, the community and the mushroom.”

‘CELEBRATE THE MUSHROOM’

The event was meant to be a “celebration of the culture” as much as a chance to buy and sell goods, Burden says. Bands played at the nightclub adjoining ReelWorks, multiple bars were open for business and nearly two-dozen vendors sold food, clothing and art.

So much attention has been put to the use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes — also part of Prop 122 — Burden says. He wanted ShroomFest not to be so “clinical” but a place “for people to have fun, to celebrate the mushroom.”

It was also a chance for businesses to support and learn from one another. Burden, who founded Denver Spore Company after the city decriminalized mushrooms in 2019, says the “biggest issue is credit card processing.”

As with cannabis, national companies like Venmo, Visa, MasterCard, etc. and heavily regulated industries such as banks often don’t want to touch a business trading in what is still a federally prohibited substance.

Eric Sturm, CEO of E&B Supply, a spore and culture company, has had his payment processing and web hosting shut down once service providers discovered what he was up to. Even though it would remove several operational hurdles, Sturm says “I do not want to see [mushrooms] legalized” for sale the way cannabis has been.

“This is different than cannabis,” Sturm says. People can easily take too much, and shrooms are more debilitating.

Other entrepreneurs are similarly split on the idea of legalization. A man who preferred to be identified as “Chunk” says many people already treat psychedelics as a “cash grab,” an attitude he fears would worsen with full legalization.

Leo Mendoza of Shroom Sack places some “dry” — slang for psychedelic mushrooms — on display at ShroomFest. Credit: Shay Castle

Eric Burden, owner of Denver Spore Company, started ShroomFest as a way to “celebrate and respect the mushroom.” Courtesy: Denver Spore Company

‘HAVE YOU REALLY JOURNEYED?’

Another concern is the potential for people of color to be pushed out by government regulations that screen for criminal backgrounds, as happened with cannabis. Even with the proliferation of social equity programs — meant to undo the uneven prosecution of drug crimes that kept BIPOC operators from obtaining business licenses in the first place — the majority of cannabis industry executives are still white.

Chunk and his business partner, Leo Mendoza, say prejudice is already a “constant” within the world of psychedelics. Their operation, Shroom Sack, markets themselves as an “Indigenous and BIPOC” group of cultivators in part because they believe white organizers want to capitalize on the image of diversity while still treating non-white companies as less-than.

“We’ve done a couple of events like this,” Mendoza adds, “and we have noticed it.”

“People are posturing in the space,” Chunk says. “I hear them use these buzzwords, and it’s like, ‘Have you really journeyed?’”

Still, Mendoza believes legalization is inevitable.

“I feel like cannabis already laid the path down,” he says. “For the government, it’s really about the money they can make.”

ShroomFest founder Burden thinks full legalization is “the way” to expand safe access. He views collaboration as crucial to fending off corporations who might want to invest big money into mushrooms.

“A big reason I’m doing ShroomFest is to give the grassroots guys an opportunity to come together,” Burden says. “This is the kind of stuff that keeps corporations out.”

Besides, there’s room for everyone.

Nearly “1.3 million people voted” for Prop 122, he says. “I can’t fill 1.3 million orders this year.”

Grow bags like this one from Colorado Springs-based Wonderbags are popular because they contain non-psychoactive spores, which are federally legal. Credit: Shay Castle

This Jedi Mind Fuck, a strain of psychedelic mushrooms, was grown in one of Denver Spore Company’s all-in-one bags. Courtesy: Denver Spore Company