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■ Introducing The Unrepentant Tenant, p. 7
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the unrepentant tenant:
Diving into the history, mythology and impact of rent control and tenant’s issues in Boulder by Mark Fearer
analysis:
As fire and inequality hammer the Front Range, affordable housing might be the region’s best bet at resiliency by Sam Becker
news:
The development of “Colorado’s best land site” is being put to Louisville voters, and it’s a contentious choice between plans by Will Brendza
on the cover:
Women are leading the push for extending outdoor apparel sizes by Emma Athena
buzz:
Bonobo’s seventh record is an exuberant collection that typifies the genre defying, sample-laden sound Simon Green has come to define by Caitlin Rockett
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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin Rockett Senior Editor, Emma Athena News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Writers: Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Angela K. Evans, Jim Hightower, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer March 10, 2022 Volume XXIX, Number 27 Cover: Sam Ortiz, founder of Climb Big, photo courtesy of Sam Ortiz. 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-holds-barred 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 p 303.494.5511 f 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. © 2021 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.
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Boiling frogs by Mark Fearer
Editor’s note: Welcome to the first installment of The Unrepentant Tenant, a biweekly column diving into the history, mythology and impact of rent control and tenant’s issues, written by Mark Fearer, former director of the Boulder Tenants Union. A week doesn’t go by without my inbox getting an email about the skyrocketing prices of rent in Boulder, but cities in Colorado have been prohibited from engaging in rent control for more than 40 years, despite Renters making up more than 50% of Boulder residents.
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t seems like every other day, there’s a new headline about housing prices reaching new dizzying heights—a true housing crisis. And now, like the legendary frogs in gradually boiling water, we’ve normalized what is considered affordable. Within that fleeting realm of “affordable” is the world of rental housing. Although over half the population of Boulder lives in that world, tenant issues (especially rent control) are not high on the list of general media coverage
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nor public policy discussion. As the former director of the Boulder Tenants Union (yes, there was such an organization decades ago), I have a somewhat unique perspective. Boulder has a notable (but buried) history of tenant activism stretching back to at least 1969 that can serve as renewed interest in greater renter protection. While rent control has gotten some passing mention, there’s been little serious focus on it, let alone discussion. In this new column, I will be delving into the history, mythology and impact of rent control (RC) in hopes of it becoming a viable option. I’ll also look at existing tenant protections and the history of the tenant movement. Most of that will be centered on Boulder, but I’ll be taking an occasional glance at tenant issues in Colorado and even nationally. I don’t foresee focusing on affordable housing generally, given the attention it’s getting now. But it will make an occasional appearance, as it relates to rental housing. I’ll start with the most contentious issue out there that see UNREPENTANT TENANT Page 8
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UNREPENTANT TENANT from Page 7
affects every tenant: rent control (RC), inflation, Richard Nixon set national or more likely, out-of-control rents. economic policy that included price This topic gets little attention, despite controls and recommended a 2.5% ceilthe fact that it would have the largest ing for rent increases across the country. impact by far on the issue of housing The newly formed Boulder County affordability. Tenants Organization conducted a There are many myths about RC, survey of renters that year and found mostly promulgated by landlords, a much higher rate of increases, and realtors and developers; and there are started a petition to enact a “temporary different kinds of rent stabilization. emergency measure” of rent control. I’ll be addressing those in future They found support from one city columns. councilman, Tim Fuller, but most of the But let’s start with some hidden city council expressed little interest, and history of local rent control. no action was taken. Fuller was later Believe it recalled, likely beor not, Boulder cause of his support had rent control of RC. starting in (at In 1980, the least) 1947, due newly formed Rentto a housing er’s Rights Project shortage, and reactivated tenant it came under activism with a list of Boulder had rent attack from the proposals (more on beginning. In that later.) In 1981, control starting in (at spite of landwe started a petition least) 1947, due to a lords lobbying to place “moderate the city council rent control” on the housing shortage, and it to end it, the city ballot—somecame under attack from CU adminthing that again istration and received virtually no the beginning. students (and support from the city tenants in gencouncil.There was eral) successfully instant opposition kept RC on the books until 1952. from the landlord industry, spearheaded Boulder was not unique—most of by the Colorado Apartment Association the country had rent control during and (CAA). Within weeks, rather than fight after World War II, as veterans returned a popular idea at the local level, the CAA home, which created the housing short- pushed the nuclear button and successfully age. Although there was broad suplobbied the Colorado State Legislature to port for RC, most local governments ban rent control throughout the state. jettisoned RC under pressure from In 2019 and 2020, the Colorado landlords and their allies. Homes For All (CoHFA) coalition unsucJumping ahead to 1969, a new cessfully tried to repeal the RC ban.To this group called the Boulder Tenants day, it is illegal for any municipality to enact Union (BTU) was formed (I was not any form of rent control. part of it until 1982), and was reportIn a turn around, the Boulder City edly only the second tenant union in Council has gone on record supporting the country. With a CU law professor a repeal of the ban since at least 2019, as its spokesperson, BTU called for although it is not clear if the current council action over high rents and poor housing would support the actual enactment of RC conditions. in Boulder, should the repeal be successful at “More than 1,000 Boulder renters some future point. and their supporters jammed into the Denver-based CoHFA continues to University Memorial Center Ballroom,” work for repeal, although it is unlikely any wrote the Daily Camera on Sept. 17, bill to repeal the RC ban will be intro1969, “to voice their approval of the duced this year. They hope to try again in Boulder Tenants’ Union and to lay the the next year or two. groundwork for a rent strike in Boulder.” About 130 tenants actually went This opinion column does not on rent strike at one apartment complex necessarily reflect the views of Boulder on the Hill a month later, but it fizzled Weekly. out after several months. In 1973, in the face of raging
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
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Correction: Originally, the article “Get out of Boulder” (News, March 3, 2022) incorrectly stated that initial costs for a new day shelter in Boulder will be funded by part of the $20 million Boulder is set to receive through the American Rescue Plan Act. To clarify: it has only been put forward during council meetings that a portion of the city’s ARPA money be dedicated to a day shelter, but the money has yet to be allocated to such a project yet, according to an email from councilmember Nicole Speer. THACKER PASS Electric vehicles are becoming more common. This demand is increasing the cost of, and the profit in, “green” metals. That may be why a subsidiary of a Canadian corporation is proposing to build an open pit lithium mine at Thacker Pass in Northern Nevada. Is the “Green Revolution” becoming a “Greed Revolution”? Choosing “n” for green or “d” for greed might be part of the “nd” game for life on Earth. Lithium is used in the batteries of electric cars. Neither sage grouse nor pronghorn antelope drive. They will, however, be driven closer to extinction if the mine on Thacker Pass is allowed to proceed. This mine will not only destroy l
habitat. It will also suck up water. A lot of water. It is estimated that this mine could use 5,200 acre-feet per year. Nevada is one of the driest states in the nation. It only gets 8 inches of rain, on average, per year. There are alternatives to this mine: REDUCE: Curb our demand. REUSE: Hot waste water from geothermal power plants could be a rich source of lithium. (sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S0262407909632486) RECYCLE: “A study last year found that recycled retired batteries could supply more than half of the global demand for cobalt, lithium, manganese and nickel by 2040, thereby reducing the need for new mines.” (High Country News, February 2022, pg. 17) Recently Serbia Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stopped the development of Jadar, Europe’s biggest lithium mine. She cited environmental concerns. Let’s stop the mine at Thacker Pass for the health of our planet and the survival of the sage grouse. Kristen Marshall, Boulder REBUILDING AFTER THE MARSHALL FIRE Many homeowners in Louis-
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
ville and Superior are beginning to understand that they were significantly under-insured and therefore lack sufficient resources to pay for rebuilding. Lower- and middle-income homeowners will not have the resources to rebuild what they had. One rebuilding option could help not only homeowners, but displaced renters, too. The homeowner could build two smaller homes, where once stood a larger home. The second unit would provide rental income, and help create a revenue stream to cover costs. Or a smaller home could be built on a lot, with an ADU within it or behind it or over the garage. These options would both create a revenue stream for the homeowner and provide much-needed rental housing. This option is not for everyone. But it will be a solution for some owners if the cities will flex the zoning to enable it to happen. There are numerous examples of lovely townhouses, duplexes and ADUs throughout Boulder County. These units blend in with the existing community seamlessly and protect neighborhood character. Where whole neighborhoods were destroyed, a new neighborhood character can be created—one that includes a diversity of housing types, suitable for people at different price points and ages, including renters. We encourage the communities of Louisville and Superior to review their building and zoning codes to create needed flexibility for those seeking to build back, and for those renters who are now being priced even further out of our community through rising rents. Let’s keep options open for rebuilders and give people a chance to stay in our community, while creating opportunities for our fire-displaced residents (both homeowners and renters) to afford to live here. Annmarie Jensen, East County Housing Opportunity Coalition; Geof Cahoon, Boulder Area Labor; Annett James, NAACP Boulder County; Rev. Dr. Charisa Hunter-Crump, Senior Minister, Cairn Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Member Together Colorado, Boulder County; SarahDawn Haynes, Chair, Indian Peaks Group of the Sierra Club
tax cuts, almost all of which have gone to the wealthiest people in this country. And each time those tax cuts have approached expiration, I’ve witnessed Congress go to great lengths to extend them. But when the biggest tax cut for working families in modern American history was on the line in December, Congress went home. We
let a lifeline for tens of millions of children disappear, while we allowed the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy to endure. And now, as we predicted, nearly four million kids have been plunged back into poverty—in the middle of a pandemic that has already taken so much from them. This should be a wake-up call
for Congress and the White House to come together and find a way forward on the Child Tax Credit. We must not turn our backs on America’s children. Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet If you have a letter to the editor that you would like published, email: letters@boulderweekly.com
FINDING A WAY FORWARD ON THE CHILD TAX CREDIT Over the last two decades, Congress has enacted $8 trillion in BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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program, is optimistic that the city will hit its goal this time around due to more recent improvements. From 2014 to 2020, permanently affordable housing comprised 38% of new housing added to the city’s stock (50% greater than the 25% required), and newly constructed houses composed slightly more than purchase-and-conversion of existing houses. But, according to analysis of Boulder’s housing data and data shared by Sugnet, the still city won’t hit its 2035 goal; if recent trends continue, it’ll reach 15% affordable housing stock by 2050. If growth slips to the 25% required under the inclusionary housing policy, the city will not reach its goal until 2079. The city of Longmont, which has a largely identical inclusionary housing policy to Boulder, is in a similar boat: At current rates of construction and procurement, according to analysis of data provided by city staff, its goal of 12% affordable housing will not be met by 2035.
Brittle cities
As fire and inequality hammer the Front Range, affordable housing might be region’s best bet at resilience
by Sam Becker
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
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wo days into his COVID-19 quarantine, Johnny Williams’ mom burst into his room and shouted, “We have to go, grab everything you can.” The 17-year-old senior at Fairview High School and his family evacuated in 15 minutes. Fire was moving rapidly toward their Louisville home. Before the Marshal Fire destroyed Williams’ house along with over 1,000 others, the Boulder metropolitan area was the seventh-most expensive residential real estate market in the United States. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters like wildfires and floods, more residents—especially those in poorer communities—will be displaced from their homes, exacerbating the housing crises and climate migration that already exist in Boulder County and around the globe. While Boulder County’s two largest cities, Boulder and Longmont, have sought to build more housing with a focus on affordability, data suggests both are falling far behind their goals. In 2000, under pressure to improve its affordable housing stock, Boulder’s City Council set the groundwork for today’s affordable housing goals by adopting an inclusionary housing policy that aimed to make 10% of Boulder’s housing permanently affordable to low- and medium-income residents by 2011. Under this policy, 25% of all new residential development must be made permanently affordable, or else developers can contribute an equivalent amount of money, land, or existing housing stock to be used in the construction, purchase, or creation of affordable homes. By 2019, the city still hadn’t achieved its 2011 affordable housing goal, yet Council voted to move the target from 10% of its sock to 15% by 2035. Jay Sugnet, a senior manager at Housing and Human Services who leads Boulder’s affordable housing
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“Part of the reason the fire was so devastating is that we’ve had a housing crisis for the last decade or so,” says Eric Budd, campaign co-chair of Bedrooms Are For People. The Marshall Fire, according to Budd, is fuel to that flame. Fire survivors are being subjected to soaring rental costs as they decide their next moves–– moves that are being heavily constrained by insurance policies that fall short of the coverage needed to rebuild. In their fifth temporary home since the fire destroyed their house, the Wiliams family is feeling the squeeze. While insurance is covering their monthly rent of $4,000 for now, it will only be covering around half the cost of rebuilding their house––leaving his parents on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. To make matters worse, Williams’ parents are still paying off their mortgage. Those who lost their homes to the fire aren’t the only ones affected by the overlapping housing and climate crises. Spencer Downing, interim director at the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, says that “we’re going to have to revisit our budgets for the number of [permanent housing] units we think we’ll be able to acquire simply because housing prices have jumped so significantly; and we think it’s due to the press from the fire.” The shelter, just like renters and homeowners across the fire-impacted region, is getting priced out of housing because demand far outstrips supply––an ominous sign for those who were already homeless before the fire struck. While Downing says that the shelter has yet to serve anyone who lost their home in the fire, he points to research by the Government Accountability Office, which found that a $100-a-month increase of the median rent price in a locality is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness. The Colorado Sun reports that Boulder County homes that would have been rented for $2,400 before the fire are now being listed for $3,000 or more.
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Sister Carmen Community Center, a non-profit that provides various forms of assistance to East Boulder County residents, is one of the organizations working to keep fire survivors housed, fed and clothed. In the month after the fire, it served close to 700 fire-impacted people and distributed $350,000 of financial assistance—five times the monthly financial assistance it had been distributing prior to the fire. “We know some of these people were struggling prior to the fire,” says Harian Aldama, a bilingual advocate at Sister Carmen. He worries about what will happen to these folks when the state and federal assistance dollars dry up or are inaccessible and they’re still facing unbearable rental prices. “[The fire] was an eye-opener for all of us—an eye-opener for the need for affordable housing,” says Aldama.
Green belt, white city
“We’re probably not going to stay in Boulder,’’ Willams says when asked whether his family plans to stay where they’re currently renting a house. “It’s a little pricey.” The history of unaffordability in Boulder dates back to settler-colonialism and genocide of Indigenous peoples. When gold was discovered in Colorado in the late 1850s, white settlers broke the Fort Laramie Treaty and the governor issued a proclamation of genocide against Indigneous residents. Under this proclamation, U.S. soldiers slaughtered as many as 800 Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples in the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre—a death count that likely downplayed or denied that women, children, and elderly noncombatants were included, according to the Sand Creek Massacre Foundation. Shortly after settlers cleared the area of Indigenous peoples in the mid-to-late 1850s, members of the Boulder City Town Company divided the land between themselves and sold the rest of the downtown area for $1,000 an acre. During this time, open space outside of downtown Boulder was selling for about $1.25 an acre. To conserve formerly inhabited land for recreation, the city and wealthy residents began purchasing nearby open space and farmland in 1898. Today, the city’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Department manages more than 45,000 acres of permanently protected land that forms a moat around the city. Austin Bennett, a member of Boulder County Democratic Socialists and the treasurer for Boulder County No Eviction Without Representation, observes that white settlers not only used conservation rhetoric to reinforce and anesthetize their control over Indigenous land, but to also remove Indigenous traditions of connection to nature. Pointing to the Marshall Fire and how Indigenous practices of fire stewardship on grasslands could have mitigated its destructiveness, he says, “This is going to happen again, we’re going to have hotter and drier summers. We have to ask how people before us did it.” BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
THE REMAINS OF THE WILLIAMS’ HOME IN LOUISVILLE. PHOTO CREDIT: JOHNNY WILLIAMS
Rather than grapple with the question of how to welcome more people into the city while maintaining spaces for connection with nature, Boulder voters have continued to externalize the question to other cities. Amid rapid population growth between the 1950s and 1970s, Boulder residents doubled down on slowgrowth policies couched in conservationist rhetoric, according to Abby Hickcox’s analysis in “Green Belt, White City: Race and the Natural Landscape in Boulder, Colorado.” The policies included a 55-foot building height limit, a 1% growth cap, an elevation limit for water service, and a sales tax to purchase land for open space––all designed to limit growth inside of the city and the sprawl directly around it. Sugnet draws a through-line between the city’s “conservationist roots” and its high prices. “The land values in Boulder are extremely high compared to all other Front Range communities,” he notes. In addition to creating an enclave for the white elite, the consequence of these policies is that the city isn’t “building in and building up,” Budd says. The lack of infill and vertical development, he explains, has exacerbated a regional housing crisis that has priced out working class residents, increased development on fire-prone greenspace in nearby cities, and contributed to the state’s soaring transportation emissions. Bennett, who works as a plumber, might soon become one of those residents. Having shelled out 40% of his income to rent in Boulder, he’s considering relocating somewhere more affordable. If he does, he’d join the ranks of the 64,900 workers who commute into Boulder each day.
The housing-resilience nexus
In the wake of the climate crisis-enhanced Marshall Fire, the city of Boulder is centering strategies for climate resilience—the sustained ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from climate-driven shocks and chronic stresses. In late February 2022, city staff issued a memo based on its 2021 Climate Action Plan update, recommending that City Council put a climate tax on the November 2022 ballot. The tax would, for the first time, fund climate resilience initiatives, like weatherizing low-income homes, increasing tree density, and burying power lines, in addition to continuing to fund greenhouse gas-reducing initiatives. In its current form, neither the memo, its recommendations, nor the Climate Action Plan update explore the nexus between resilience and affordable housing—a potentially harrowing sign for those impacted by impending climate-crisis-fueled disasters. In 2021, 40% of U.S. peoples lived in counties that were hit with natural disasters worsened by climate change. As communities across the country reel from increasingly frequent climate-crisis enhanced natural disasters, climate migration will also increase.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
While Carolyn Elam, energy systems senior manager at the city of Boulder, says that “climate migration is very real, and we’ve certainly seen it locally...and from California,” city officials around the county have signaled limited support for housing measures that would help keep those impacted by the Marshall Fire and future disasters in the region, and/or absorb those from other regions. East County Housing Opportunity Coalition is beginning to push governments in Louisville and Superior to allow the owners of scorched single-family homes to rebuild them as duplexes or townhomes, or with accessory dwelling units, according to Annmarie Jensen, the coalition’s founder and executive director. Giving homeowners the flexibility to build back denser would not only “help them afford to be able to stay in the community, [it’d also] create rentals for renters who lost their homes,” Jensen says. While decisions about giving homeowners the flexibility to make these decisions are a few months away, Jensen points to research showcasing their importance for resilience: without such strategies in place, post-disaster housing is likely to be built back more expensively, thereby pushing low- and medium-income renters and homeowners out of the region.
Stocking up for a changing climate
High winds, record drought and a spark also catalyzed Southern Oregon’s Almeda Fire in September 2020. It destroyed more than 2,600 houses and racked up a $1 billion price tag in a county with an acute shortage of affordable housing. Unlike the Marshall Fire, however, most of the housing stock destroyed was affordable. Maya Jarrad, who has been leading Almeda Fire recovery efforts at Rogue Climate, says that “if there was more affordable housing, fewer people would have left.” While data about the number of people who permanently left the valley is anecdotal, the lack of affordable housing led to steep rent increases that augmented the financial precarity many working-class residents feel, according to the results of a survey conducted by Unete, a Southern Oregon-based farm worker and immigrant advocacy nonprofit. Boulder city and county officials interviewed l
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for this story said that, while proud of collective efforts to keep Marshall Fire survivors in temporary housing throughout the county, they’re uncertain about how to permanently house those who were un- or under-insured and build enough affordable housing to abate the housing crisis at large. “Without more money this isn’t going to happen,” says Kurt Firnhaber, director of Housing and Human services at the City of Boulder. Referencing a potential countywide ballot measure as a source of funding for affordable homes, Firnhaber says the county decided against running the measure in November 2020 due to concerns about its political palatability at the onset of the pandemic. A timeline for the measure has yet to materialize, according to county officials. Money for affordable housing exists at the federal level, but it’s currently hampered by congressional gridlock. For example, the Green New Deal for Cities Act of 2021 would direct $1 trillion in financing over four years to local governments for affordable housing of all kinds, including transitional housing while upgrades are taking place. It also requires that participating governments take steps to prevent rising housing costs, including rent control, rent stabilization, and other methods to prevent gentrification and stabilize property values. Budd says that even if the money was there, the current suite of slow-growth policies in Boulder would likely prevent Boulder from hitting its affordable housing goal—a goal he says that Boulder will only be able to reach if it rapidly promotes infill and vertical development. If other cities want to preserve dwindling open space, he recommends they follow suit. While Boulder city councilors have signaled support for a few reforms promoting low- and middle-income housing, uncertainty persists around whether such reforms would be enough to achieve the 2035 goal of 15% of Boulder’s total housing stock as permanently affordable. Since 2014, 38% of new housing added to Boulder has been designated as affordable, but to reach the 2035 goal, that rate would have to increase to 65% over the next 13 years. Bennett is skeptical. Even if Boulder had “strict tenant protections” and “more incentives for dense, affordable development,” he says, “I don’t think the market can ever meet human needs.” As climate crisis-fueled disasters destroy an increasing amount of housing stock in Boulder County and around the world, he argues that cities must start “buying up as much land and building as much affordable housing as possible to make a direct intervention into the market.” Sam Becker is an organizer, writer, and researcher living in Boulder. He volunteers time researching the eff icacy of low-barrier services and decriminalization for Wake Up Boulder and a local coalition of nonprof it leaders and citizens. 11
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ConocoPhillips vs. Redtail Ridge
WE SPEAK LOCAL.
Residential and Commercial Services
MARCH 10, 2022
The development of “Colorado’s best land site” is being put to Louisville voters, and it’s a contentious choice between plans
by Will Brendza
O
n April 19, residents of Louisville will decide the fate of the long-undeveloped and semi-controversial plot of land formerly owned by Storage Technology Corp., now known as the ConocoPhillips property—or “Redtail Ridge”—a property that’s been called a “crown jewel” and the “best land site in Colorado.” The 475-acre plot of private land represents a significant source of untapped tax revenue for the city of Louisville, and has for almost two decades as it’s laid fallow beside Highway 36. Located between Denver and Boulder, where Louisville, Superior and Broomfield converge, it’s prime real estate. And ever since ConocoPhillips acquired it in 2008, there have been several different proposals and plans made for it—without any follow-through on any of them. Soon, though, that will change. A special election has been called in April will ask Louisville residents to vote on a new development proposal known as the Redtail Ridge plan. The plan requires the developer, Brue Baukol Capital Partners, to use a portion of the property to generate 3 megawatts of solar power energy and would see 93 acres donated to the city of Louisville for permanent open space; it would also extend Campus Drive all the way through the property from 88th to South 96th Street, improving access to Avista Hospital. On top of that, this plan is zoned for hospital use so that Avista has the option to build a second medical campus in the future. There are also several environmental boons to the plan: All commercial buildings l
constructed on the property would be required to be built with LEED standards or better, provide 40 acres of permanent conservation easement for keystone species, and add 15.6 acres of public parks and recreation facilities for Louisville. Financially, estimates put the property tax revenue from this plan at $25 million annually, according to the Yes for Louisville website. A “yes” vote would put this plan in motion. A “no” vote would reject the Redtail Ridge plan, which opponents hope to revise before returning it to City Council for approval. But according to Terre Rushton, a Louisville area local and lawyer endorsing the Yes for Louisville campaign, “The developer [Brue Baukol Capital Partners] has made it very clear that they’re not going back to Council.” “The real misinformation so far has been that there’s three choices: yes, no, or make the developer go back to Council,” says Rushton, reiterating that development is inevitable at this point, and this vote gives the citizens of Louisville an opportunity to decide how it’s done with either a “yes” vote or a “no” vote on the ballot. The Redtail Ridge plan went through seven iterations before it was finally approved by Louisville City
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
HELP WANTED Council in a 4-3 vote in September of 2021. In response to that decision, opponents of the Redtail Ridge plan petitioned for a referendum and collected hundreds of signatures, which prompted April’s special election to put the vote to the people—echoing a similar string of events that played out last November regarding Boulder’s annexation of CU South (News, “Annexed by emergency vote,” Sept. 23, 2021). Such opponents, like Preserve Louisville, point out that the Redtail Ridge plan will increase traffic from 12,400 trips a day to 20,104, according to a traffic study from Fox Tuttle. It’s also zoned for 3 million square feet of commercial development, which opponents argue is too much, and will displace and disrupt prairie dogs, hawks and other native species living there. By comparison, previous major developments in Louisville have required much larger portions of open space to be dedicated to the city, they say. Central to the argument against the Redtail Ridge proposal is that it “will damage Louisville’s small town character with urban commercial development,” the Preserve Louisville website states. If Louisville votes “no” on this issue, Preserve Louisville says “any subsequent plan will require revision and another public review,” followed by approval from the planning commission and City Council. However, Rushton says that’s not the case. She explains Brue Baukol is not legally required to go back to Council for another public review process and they’ve “unequivocally” stated that they won’t. If Redtail Ridge is rejected by the voters on April 19, all development of this privately-owned land will revert to the 2010 ConocoPhillips plan, according Rushton. “[Brue Baukol] has a ‘right-of-use’ to take the ConocoPhillips plan and just implement it. They do not have to [go back to Council] and said they won’t, under these circumstances, with any of the plans. Because so far they’ve complied with every single thing that the planning commission
has wanted,” she says. Rushton asserts a “no” vote does not represent an opportunity to revise the plan and won’t keep the parcel undeveloped any longer; a “no” vote is essentially a vote in favor of the ConocoPhillips plan. So what does that plan entail? According to the Yes for Louisville website, the ConocoPhillips plan would add 38 acres of permanent open space to Louisville (as opposed to the 93 acres offered under the Redtail Ridge plan); it would not be zoned for hospital use, meaning Avista (Louisville’s largest employer) could not move there; and it would include no new parks or recreation facilities. It would also not require LEED certification for the buildings constructed, lacks any renewable energy production requirement, doesn’t require habitat restoration, and dedicates just 20 acres of permanent conservation easement (instead of Redtail Ridge’s 40 acres). This plan would generate $21 million in property tax revenue for Louisville; and according to Fox Tuttle’s traffic study, it would still significantly increase area traffic (from 12,400 trips a day to 17,500). “It’s not a horrible plan if they develop under the ConocoPhillips plan. But why would we throw away all the other benefits our community can get?” Rushton asks. “Redtail Ridge is the most sustainable commercial development [proposal] in the entire state . . . I don’t get it.” Ballots will be mailed to all Louisville residents on March 28, and on April 19 the votes will be tallied, deciding what finally becomes of Louisville’s ConocoPhillips (or Redtail Ridge) property.
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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When ‘plus-size’ is average, why consider it niche?
that kind of history played out, and we just haven’t moved fast enough to make a change to that.” The pace at which the needle has moved on extended sizing options in outdoor apparel has been excruciatingly slow, but it has accelerated somewhat in the last five years, thanks to industry-wide awareness and conversations about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the outdoors, and, in large part, to folks like Vélez, Riggins, and many others on trails, in design rooms and at conference tables taking matters into their own hands… oftentimes literally. COURTESY SAM ORTIZ In 2020, Vélez left her job as a mechanical engineer in the software industry and, having recently learned to sew, began creating her own patterns for plus-size women’s activewear that were actually proportionally sound—none of the über-elongated arms or extra-wide ankle and neck openings that’re found when, as is standard in the apparel industry, the “sample fit” or “perfect fit” (size medium) clothing designs are blindly scaled-up to accommodate larger bodies. “This is an experience a lot of plus-size people have,” Vélez says. “A pant that is supposed to be a skinny jean on a size 6 is somehow a wide-leg jean on a size 24. And you’re like, why is that? Now, maybe [the designer] was like, ‘Oh, skinny jeans don’t work on big people,’ which we know is not true, because Lizzo looks amazing in skinny jeans. More likely,” she says, is that the standard grading algorithm that heritage brands have historically used is wrong. “Your ankle isn’t gonna change as much as the circumference of your hips—it’s just not how bodies work.” Vélez explains two ways she found to fix the fit issue: one, create a new series of “sample fits” that move away from “size medium” to better represent the population majority and its various shapes and sizes; two, use better algorithms to create different scalable models. With this knowledge, Vélez founded her own plus-size outdoor apparel company, Alpine Parrot.
Women are leading the push for extending outdoor apparel sizes
By Emma Athena
T
he first time Raquel Vélez went skiing, she wore a hoodie and sweatpants under a rain jacket and rain pants, not for fashion’s sake, but because the 37-year-old Denver-based Latina entrepreneur is a practical person. “The thing about starting something new is that, a lot of times, we try to use the gear that we have available to us at the time, right?” she says. “[Who’s] gonna go out there and be like, ‘I’m going to learn how to ski, so I’m gonna drop $3,000 on new boots and skis, gear and everything?’” But after a few days on the slopes, Vélez’s crush on skiing had flourished into a full-on affair, and so she took herself out to buy snow pants. A size 14 at the time, “I went to my local shop and couldn’t find anything [that fit],” she says. “That’s it. Nothing, not a single thing. And that was, unfortunately, a very common experience for me.” This conundrum— wanting to participate in an outdoor activity, but finding no technical clothing (or gear) to comfortably or safely facilitate it—is far from unique to Vélez. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average woman wears a size 16 (typically translated to an XL); this has historically represented the end, or the beginning of the end, of many apparel size runs, when, logically, it should be the very middle. “To consider that she’s ‘plus,’ or somehow an addition to a market that already exists, it’s kind of crazy because she’s… the majority,” says CJ Riggins, a 20-year apparel industry veteran based in Lafayette who, in 2017, left working at Pearl Izumi to found her own apparel company, Rsports, one of the first niche brands catering to the so-called ‘plussize’ athlete community (selling triathlon clothing up to size 6X). “Shouldn’t she be the standard?” Riggins says of Vélez. “There’s really no need for ‘plus,’ but, you know,
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“And now I’m an apparel engineer,” she says. She’s focused the last two years on developing a line of hiking pants that begins at size 14, runs to size 24, and comes in two fit models—Mountain fit (bigger booty, smaller waist) and River fit (bigger waist, smaller booty)—that Vélez had tested on more than 30 different, active bodies before determining they were ready for the market. In April 2021, Vélez launched a crowdfunding campaign with a $10,000 goal to produce the first batch of pants. The goal was smashed in a matter of hours; by the campaign’s end she’d raked in more than $60,000. The demand, Vélez says, speaks for itself. By the end of 2021, Outside Magazine would name her one of its “Outsiders of the Year” as someone “who changed our world for the better.” On the pants’ Kickstarter page it states: “If Alpine Parrot is for you, then you are well aware of the problem we’re tackling.” The problem, of course, is a lack of functional, high-quality, plus-size outdoor clothing—but it doesn’t stop there. And it doesn’t start there, either. • • • • One cold week in Washington, Sam Ortiz was up high in the mountains taking an alpine mountaineering course, learning how to use crampons, manage ropes, and stay safe when adventuring above treeline. “I really struggled during that class,” she says, “struggles that none of my other classmates had, because I could not find the gear that I needed to be warm and dry at the same time.” She’d found a pair of rain pants to use during the course, but they didn’t fit her size 18 body: “They were so tight that I could barely, like, lift my leg up to step uphill, and I couldn’t wear anything underneath them because they were already too tight.” Not having functional gear in snowy or wet alpine conditions can be dangerous; rain pants, for example, help prevent life-threatening backcountry conditions like hypothermia and irritated or blistered skin. “I very often have to make safety choices that other people who wear straight sizes don’t, and that’s still true today,” Ortiz says. Now a size 24, Ortiz, who founded the organization Climb Big to help make “climbing more accessible for fat folx,” says “the market has been getting better, there have been more options, but I still could not find a pair of full-zip rain pants that would fit me comfortably today, and that’s what you need for that environment [in Washington’s alpine].” Typically, she explains, she wears a size 3X, but likes to wear full-zip rain pants with a bit of extra room to layer warm clothing underneath. “So they’d have to be 4X pants,” she says, “and to be honest, that’s not something I still have ever been able to find.” (For reference, today, Patagonia runs some women’s pants up to a size 22; The North Face reaches 3XL; Columbia, 3X; Outdoor Research 3X; Boulder County-based Pearl Izumi and Skirt Sports run to 3X.) BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Beyond safety issues, ill-fitting and hard-to-find outdoor clothing restricts accessibility and discourages participation, which a lack of visibility and representation across traditional marketing materials only compounds. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” says Ashley Duffus-Jambor, co-founder and CEO of Cosmic Dirt, a Washington-based mountain bike apparel company that fits to size 4XL. She’s seen the shifting sands of outdoor culture and conversations about inclusivity as an invitation to more deeply and thoroughly reimagine how apparel is marketed—how it communicates with its audiences. “As a brand, we sat down and we were like, OK, we don’t want to gender our clothing, because that’s stupid (gender is a construct). So how do we, like, accurately communicate what this shirt is and how it’s going to fit?” Cosmic Dirt’s solution: Rather than the traditional “men’s” and “women’s” labels, the brand uses “fitted shirt” and “relaxed shirt.” (On the topic of terminology, Riggins has stayed away from “plus-size” since the inception of Rsport, and instead uses “Athena,” a homage to the triathlon racing category for women greater than 165 pounds.) Any day of the week you can find Duffus-Jambor hustling on two wheels, skiing, or participating in any of the other Pacific Northwest outdoor activities. “There’s nothing about being in a bigger body that says that you can’t do those things,” she says. Vélez echoes the sentiment: “I want to be able to go outside just as much as everybody else, like, I should have that access, and I should have access to gear.” But if a plus-sized person was invited to go skiing tomorrow, and didn’t already own their own gear, Ortiz explains it’s highly unlikely they’d be able to go: “Somebody who wears ‘straight sizes’ (XS-XL) could go to the store, pick up ski gear, buy it, go skiing,” she says, whereas a plus-size-wearing person would need extra time “to heavily research every ski company to see if they have gear in [the right] size, to look up the exact measurements of their ski gear—how much give does it have, does it have any stretch? Or does it have the exact measurements where the hip fits, the thigh fits, the chest fits… and then she’d have to order it and wait, you know, weeks for it to arrive.” It makes one start to wonder who is welcome, where and why. “I felt like for a long time that I shouldn’t be skiing because the gear didn’t exist,” says Duffus-Jambor. “And like, getting back into it because the gear does finally exist is really empowering.” On the podcast She Explores, Marielle Elizabeth, a Western Canada-based model, photographer, self-described “fat advocate,” and writer of the viral essay “Apparently, I’m Too Fat to Ski” published in The Cut, said: “It’s not just about not BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
having the right thing to wear, it’s having the ability to take part and exist in those spaces.” • • • • Many factors familiar to the fashion world— fat-phobia, research and product development costs— have contributed to why it’s taken so long for established outdoor brands to functionally extend their size options; and it’s left room for the recent surge of smaller companies like Alpine Parrot, Cosmic Dirt and Rsport to succeed in the interim. In the U.S., 68% of women wear a size 14 or larger, “and yet my research shows that less than 20% of outdoor apparel is available in plus sizes,” Vélez says. “Are y’all really leaving all this money on the table like you don’t want it? I thought we lived in a capitalistic world, I would think you would want this. But it’s OK. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it.” In 2019, Walmart was the most frequented
Andrea Kelly, senior merchandiser of extended sizes at Columbia Sportswear. “I also know that it didn’t happen yesterday, like, the ‘why now’ actually started years ago.” Over the last decade, Kelly has championed the development of plus-size outdoor clothing the brand. In the early 2000s, 17% of Columbia’s women’s clothing was offered in extended sizes; Outside Business Journal reports that by spring 2023, that’ll grow to 50%. “One of the obstacles (for larger brands) that existed in the past was having access to intel of what people actually needed,” Kelly says. “So they would take their best guess and watch what product they thought people wanted, which wasn’t necessarily what people wanted, so it didn’t sell... and again, you get [a] circle of: we built it, they didn’t buy it. “So I think that’s been, for the industry, a big learning moment about the value of engagement COURTESY ASHLEY DUFFUS-JAMBOR with consumers, and really getting to know what they actually need and having conversations with them.” Both Ortiz and Duffus-Jambor have participated in conversations and acted as consultants with several big brands like Columbia, Outdoor Research, Patagonia, REI and others in the last couple years. Ultimately, while progress is slowly happening across the heritage brands, “the smaller companies are doing the work of really paying attention to what plus-size bodies need... and so they’re making products that fit better than some of these larger companies,” Ortiz says. “I’m hoping that the larger companies take note.” Duffus-Jambor says she sees bigger brands are watching, from however afar. “I’m finding that because of what we’re doing, all of these larger brands are paying attention. And they’re like, ‘OK, like, how is this gonna go for [us]?’ It’s almost like we’re a guinea pig that has less to lose. But it’s going really well for us.” Vélez has big plans for Alpine Parrot expanding far beyond hiking pants and her current direct-to-consumer business model. “In addition to evretailer among plus-size shoppers when shopping erything that we’re doing, one major byproduct that I’m for plus-size apparel needs, according to Statisconvinced we’re going to have is more people fighting for ta, a company specializing in consumer data and the planet. ... There’s no reason for you to care if you don’t marketing. “There is still room for growth in the have the opportunity to bond with what’s outside,” she plus-size apparel market, to reflect the reality of explains. “You can’t [form that bond] if you have literal U.S. women’s sizes,” the report states. In an Outside physical barriers to entry.” Business Journal op-ed by Kara Richardson Whitely, The market demands combined with her author of Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 expertise and engineering instincts are pushing her Pounds, she puts it plainly: “The ROI on plus-size to develop and expand Alpine Parrot as quickly as gear is hard to ignore: Outdoor brands are finally possible. “I’m impatient,” she says. “I’m trying to starting to see that building clothing and gear in grow a lot faster because there’s an obvious need, plus sizes is a boon for the bottom line.” and people don’t want to wait 10 years for me to The plus-size women’s apparel market was valued have a full line of clothing. They want to be able at $29.8 billion in 2019, Richardson Whitely writes, to go to their local store [today] to be able to find but it was projected to grow to $46.6 billion (13% of everything they need for their camping trip. the total U.S. apparel market) by 2021’s end. “I don’t want plus-size to be a niche product,” “I see the competitive landscape changing, I she adds. “68% of American women are a size 14 see more brands finally coming to the table,” says and up—that’s two-thirds of us.” l
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
GRANT SPANIER
The sound of transience
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tymied by “a blend of anxiety and boredom” in the lockdown days of the pandemic, Simon Green frequently drove outside of Los Angeles in search of “creative momentum.” “It certainly wasn’t a very creative time,” Green, who records and performs under the moniker Bonobo, says over the phone between tour stops in D.C. and NYC. “I kind of tried to get out and do something a little bit different.” He drove to Alabama Hills in the Owens Valley, its natural arches and smooth hillsides set against the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Having “overdone Joshua Tree at this point,” he drove to Death Valley, where he and his friend Dan Medhurst, a photographer, walked out into the shimmering haze heat toward the dunes that span the horizon. (“Some of the conditions can be a little extreme,” Green says of Death Valley, “but it’s a beautiful landscape, very alien. I feel like in comparison, if Joshua Tree was Coldplay, Death Valley would be Radiohead. It’s kind of a fair analogy.”) He sought even more “alien” landscapes and isolation in remote parts of Utah, where he, a British citizen unable to vote, could ride out the anxiety of the 2020 election away from cell service. And slowly but surely, Green found the creative drive that would allow him to finish his seventh album, Fragments, a sweeping, exuberant collection of orchestral interludes, Detroit-influenced techno, shimmering house, irresistible pop and jazzy hip-hop that typifies the genre-defying, sample-laden sound Green has come to define over the last 20 years. Working again with Neil Krug, who created the vast landscapes for Bonobo’s 2017 release Migration, Green partially submerged the listener in water for Fragments’ album art, creating a sense of movement, of transience, “a lack of permanence,” Green says. Where Migration suggests immovable, ancient landscapes, carved over unfathomable amounts of time, Fragments highlights the constantly moving forces that create those landscapes. Around the time when Migration was released five years ago, Green was acutely aware of “cycles of time” and impermanence as he coped with the death of both of his parents in a two-year timespan and took to the road nonstop with no real homebase to speak of. He eventually settled in Los Angeles after having given New York City a go for a while, and, when he wrapped up touring around Migration—which included a stop at Red Rocks with friend Nick Murphy, aka Chet Faker—Green told his longtime record label, Ninja Tune, that he needed some space before he could think about creating another album. Never one to really sit still, Green placed his focus on Outlier, the name of his long standing resident DJ show at NYC’s now-defunct club Output. He intended to expand Outlier to become not only a series of shows he would put on in “unexpected” places (like Denver’s Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, where Green et al stopped in late 2019) with pals like TOKiMONSTA (Jennifer Lee), Jaques Greene, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (Orlando Higgenbottom), but an imprint focused on dance music for the club. By early 2020 he’d teamed up with Higgenbottom to BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Bonobo’s seventh record is an exuberant collection that typifies the genre-defying, sample-laden sound Simon Green has come to define over the last 20 years
by Caitlin Rockett
produce the joyous, disco-driven track “Heartbreak” that would launch Outlier as both a record label and a roving party. And then the pandemic happened. While the parties had to wait, Green offered “Heartbreak” as a way to dance away the uncertainty of the time. “Like anybody needed another ambient lockdown record at that point,” Green jokes. “And it’s still fun to play it out now. People still haven’t heard it on big speakers.” Almost a year ago, Outlier released its first full album, a tough but tender collection called A Tenuous Tale of Her by Poté, the Caribbean-born Sylvern Mathurin. Collaboration has always been key to Green’s musical output, and has become a way for Green to continue his love-affair with layered sampling while avoiding the increasingly difficult work of licensing. For Fragments, Green enlisted out-of-the-box harpist and composer Lara Somogyi. Prior to lockdowns, Green was able to sit with Somogyi in the studio to capture more than an hour’s worth of original harp music that he was then able to build into Fragments. Somogyi’s harp runs throughout the album, creating continuity and that “organic” sound that so often gets applied to Green’s music. The heart of Fragments is the track “Tides,” a heart-rending ballad that exemplifies Green’s ability to straddle genres, marrying Jamila Woods emotive, pop-focused vocals with samples of Somogyi’s harp, a bit of acoustic guitar, and a gentle yet driving beat that brings to mind the ebb and flow of waves. “We cloud people, we live in gray,” Woods sings. “What we don’t need, release in rain / We cloud people we never stay / We hold our freedom like a blade / We won’t be dry soon / Here comes the tides / You move when I do / You’ll never be mine.” Woods recorded the track from a studio in her homebase of Chicago and sent it back to Green, who said it nearly brought him to tears. “I think the reason I’m working with a person in the first place is I kind of love what they do,” Green says. “So I don’t want to sort of parameter too much. I give people a kind of idea of what I think, here’s some themes and l
MARCH 10, 2022
some ideas, but ultimately, ON THE BILL: I want to hear you. I want to Bonobo with give people their own sort of Jordan Rakei. creative freedom, to self-con7 p.m. Mission tribute their own sounds and Ballroom, 4242 some of themselves.” Wynkoop St., Green provides space Denver. Tickets: for fellow Ninja Tune artist $39.50-$55 Kadhja Bonet to showcase her silky, ethereal vocals on closing track “Day by Day.” By Green’s own account, the track comes “full circle” back to tracks from his 2012 album Black Sands, considered his seminal work by many fans, where Green first brought in live recorded woodwinds— clarinets, oboes, flutes—for orchestral numbers like the title track and “Animals.” The album is beloved, to say the least, and Green is frequently asked, as he was in a March 9 Ask Me Anything on Reddit, if he’ll drop the “clubby” numbers and “go back” to the sounds of Black Sands. Green was politely direct, as is his way. “I get this a lot,” he responded. “I don’t think [my music has] completely changed from that era. There are tracks like ‘Elysian’ [from Fragments] or ‘Second Sun’ [from Migration] or ‘Day by Day’ that are very much in that arena. Also, Black Sands has tracks like ‘Eyesdown’ that were very ‘clubby.’ But more importantly, I think it wouldn’t be productive to stay in the same lane forever. Although there’s lineage thru (sic) these records, each is a statement from the time it was made. Black Sands was from a time [when] I lived in London and was obsessed with what was happening musically at that time. It wouldn’t make sense to keep making the same record over and over. I also think we’re attached to certain records because [of where] our lives were when we heard them, so maybe it’s more a desire to have that part of our lives back.” Fragments offers the most refined version of Green’s style to-date, leaving little desire to look backward, and only joy at the thought of what’s to come. l
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Frozen Dead Guy Days 2022 FRIDAY, MARCH 18TH
BLUE BALL 4PM - 1AM REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT $25 online - $30 at the-door Includes your very own, officially sanctioned, acre on the moon, from Lunarland.com Live Music. Costume Contest—Be crowned Cold-As-Ice Queen or Grandpa Bredo Silent Disco from 10:30 pm until 1 AM. Live Music from Alfonzo, Smooth Money Gesture, Dead Floyd & “Silent Disco” with Sassfactory, Gangsterish & DJ Blue
FROZEN DEAD GUY DAYS PRESENTS
friday march 18 2022 reanimate yourself tent 4PM - 1AM
Alfonzo Smooth Money Gesture DEAD FLOYD & “Silent Disco” with Sassfactory GanGsterish & DJ Blue sponsored by Planet Home Lending
SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH REGISTRATION & WRISTBAND PICK-UP 9AM - NOON TEEN CENTER, 151 EAST STREET
GRANDPA’S MALL CRAWL 11AM - 8PM
DOWNTOWN NEDERLAND (1st St. east of the Visitor Center)
REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM GUERCIO FIELD
BACON BOURBON & BREWS TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM GUERCIO FIELD
NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM 1st STREET
“CALL ME NED” MUSICAL PERFORMANCE 11AM BACKDOOR THEATRE
PARADE OF COFFIN RACERS & HEARSES 12PM NOON
PARADE STARTS AT THE TEEN CENTER, 151 EAST ST. (EAST END OF 1ST ST.) AND GOES UP (WEST ON) 1ST ST.
SNOWY HUMAN FOOSBALL 12PM NOON – 4PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
LIVE VULTURES & OTHER SCAVENGERS 12PM - 3PM
WILD BEAR NATURE CENTER CARIBOU SHOPPING CENTER, 20 LAKEVIEW DR., UNIT 107
POLAR PLUNGE 1:30PM – 2PM GUERCIO FIELD
COFFIN RACES 2PM – 3:30PM GUERCIO FIELD
ICE CARVING COMPETITION WITH BONGO LOVE AND FRIENDS 2PM - 4PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
FROZEN DEAD SHOWINGS 2PM & 5PM BACKDOOR THEATRE 243 W 4th STREET
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
GRANDPA’S MALL CRAWL 12PM - 6PM
DOWNTOWN NEDERLAND (1st St. east of the Visitor Center)
REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT OPEN 12PM - 8PM GUERCIO FIELD
NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT OPEN 12AM - 8PM 1st STREET
BACON BOURBON & BREWS TENT OPEN 12AM - 8PM GUERCIO FIELD
HOT WINGS EATING CONTEST 12PM BUSEY BREWS 70 EAST 1ST STREET
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 1PM - 2PM
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
VIEWING OF “GRANDPA’S IN THE TUFF SHED” DOCUMENTARY 3:30PM
SNOWY HUMAN FOOSBALL 1PM – 3PM
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 3PM - 4PM
ICE CARVING COMPETITION WITH BONGO LOVE AND FRIENDS 1PM - 3PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
BACKDOOR THEATRE 243 W 4th STREET
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
BRAIN FREEZE CONTEST 3PM - 4PM
ON 1ST ST. IN FRONT OF THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
ICY TURKEY BOWLING 3PM - 5PM
ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
FROZEN FIX-A-FLAT CONTEST 4PM - 5PM
ON THE CLOCK TOWER PATIO AT 112 E 2ND STREET (BY TIN SHED SPORTS & SALTO COFFEE WORKS)
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 5PM - 6PM
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
FROZEN DEAD POET SLAM 5PM - 6PM
ON A SOAP BOX ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
SUNDAY, MARCH 20TH THE NEWLY DEAD GAME INDIVIDUALS EDITION 12:30PM VERY NICE BREWING 20 LAKEVIEW DR #112 LIVE VULTURES & OTHER SCAVENGERS 12PM - 3PM
WILD BEAR NATURE CENTER CARIBOU SHOPPING CENTER, 20 LAKEVIEW DR., UNIT 107
100 EAST 1ST STREET
ICY TURKEY BOWLING 1PM - 3PM ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT FROZEN FIX-A-FLAT CONTEST 1PM - 2PM
ON THE CLOCK TOWER PATIO AT 112 E 2ND STREET (BY TIN SHED SPORTS & SALTO COFFEE WORKS)
SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH MUSIC SCHEDULE REANIMATE YOURSELF
NOT YET DEAD IN NED
BACON, BOURBON & BREWS
Wylie Jones 11 am – 12 noon
Creekbed 11 am – 12 noon
PJ Moon 11 am – 12 noon
The Alcapones 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Seeing Stars 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Crowboy 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Chain Station 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Lunsfjord Cunnane 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Los Cheesies 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Pink Hawks 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Green Buddha 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Extra Gold 4:30 pm – 6 pm
The Drunken Hearts 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Mali LLama 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Dead Pay Rent 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Tierro Band 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Powerlung Rangers 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Flash Mountain Flood 8:30 pm – 10 pm
SUNDAY, MARCH 20TH MUSIC SCHEDULE REANIMATE YOURSELF
NOT YET DEAD IN NED
BACON, BOURBON & BREWS
Bannetones 12:30 pm – 2 pm
New Family Dog 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Short N Lowe 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Foxfeather 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Grant & Friends 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Johnny & The Mongrels 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Nick Dunbar & the Sad Cowboy 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Highway 50 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Dirk Quinn Band 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Twang Is Dead featuring Dave Watts 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Howlin’ Goatz 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Source 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Purchase your Saturday or Sunday General Admission pre-sale ticket $25 online or $30 day of show for entrance into 3 live music tents. Outdoor activities and events free of charge, food & beverages available everywhere.
THANK YOU TO OUR OUT OF THIS WORLD SPONSORS
FIND COOL FROZEN DEAD GUY MERCHANDISE AT GRANDPA’S GIFT SHOPS. Located in the Not Yet Dead In Ned & Reanimate Yourself tents, Guercio Field & Nederland Visitor Center.
BRAIN FREEZE CONTEST 2PM - 3PM
ON 1ST ST. IN FRONT OF THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
FROZEN DEAD POET SLAM 2PM - 5PM
ON A SOAP BOX ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
THE NEWLY DEAD GAME COUPLES EDITION 4PM VERY NICE BREWING 20 LAKEVIEW DR #112
. There will be a shuttle running from Boulder to Nederland, please go to BusToShow.org for pick-up locations and times.
Frozen Dead Guy Days 2022 FRIDAY, MARCH 18TH
BLUE BALL 4PM - 1AM REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT $25 online - $30 at the-door Includes your very own, officially sanctioned, acre on the moon, from Lunarland.com Live Music. Costume Contest—Be crowned Cold-As-Ice Queen or Grandpa Bredo Silent Disco from 10:30 pm until 1 AM. Live Music from Alfonzo, Smooth Money Gesture, Dead Floyd & “Silent Disco” with Sassfactory, Gangsterish & DJ Blue
FROZEN DEAD GUY DAYS PRESENTS
friday march 18 2022 reanimate yourself tent 4PM - 1AM
Alfonzo Smooth Money Gesture DEAD FLOYD & “Silent Disco” with Sassfactory GanGsterish & DJ Blue sponsored by Planet Home Lending
SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH REGISTRATION & WRISTBAND PICK-UP 9AM - NOON TEEN CENTER, 151 EAST STREET
GRANDPA’S MALL CRAWL 11AM - 8PM
DOWNTOWN NEDERLAND (1st St. east of the Visitor Center)
REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM GUERCIO FIELD
BACON BOURBON & BREWS TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM GUERCIO FIELD
NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT OPEN 11AM - 10PM 1st STREET
“CALL ME NED” MUSICAL PERFORMANCE 11AM BACKDOOR THEATRE
PARADE OF COFFIN RACERS & HEARSES 12PM NOON
PARADE STARTS AT THE TEEN CENTER, 151 EAST ST. (EAST END OF 1ST ST.) AND GOES UP (WEST ON) 1ST ST.
SNOWY HUMAN FOOSBALL 12PM NOON – 4PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
LIVE VULTURES & OTHER SCAVENGERS 12PM - 3PM
WILD BEAR NATURE CENTER CARIBOU SHOPPING CENTER, 20 LAKEVIEW DR., UNIT 107
POLAR PLUNGE 1:30PM – 2PM GUERCIO FIELD
COFFIN RACES 2PM – 3:30PM GUERCIO FIELD
ICE CARVING COMPETITION WITH BONGO LOVE AND FRIENDS 2PM - 4PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
FROZEN DEAD SHOWINGS 2PM & 5PM BACKDOOR THEATRE 243 W 4th STREET
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
REANIMATE YOURSELF
NOT YET DEAD IN NED
BACON, BOURBON & BREWS
Wylie Jones 11 am – 12 noon
Creekbed 11 am – 12 noon
PJ Moon 11 am – 12 noon
DOWNTOWN NEDERLAND (1st St. east of the Visitor Center)
The Alcapones 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Seeing Stars 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Crowboy 12:30 pm – 2 pm
REANIMATE YOURSELF TENT OPEN 12PM - 8PM
Chain Station 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Lunsfjord Cunnane 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Los Cheesies 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Pink Hawks 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Green Buddha 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Extra Gold 4:30 pm – 6 pm
The Drunken Hearts 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Mali LLama 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Dead Pay Rent 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Tierro Band 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Powerlung Rangers 8:30 pm – 10 pm
Flash Mountain Flood 8:30 pm – 10 pm
GRANDPA’S MALL CRAWL 12PM - 6PM
GUERCIO FIELD
NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT OPEN 12AM - 8PM 1st STREET
BACON BOURBON & BREWS TENT OPEN 12AM - 8PM GUERCIO FIELD
HOT WINGS EATING CONTEST 12PM BUSEY BREWS 70 EAST 1ST STREET
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 1PM - 2PM
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
VIEWING OF “GRANDPA’S IN THE TUFF SHED” DOCUMENTARY 3:30PM
SNOWY HUMAN FOOSBALL 1PM – 3PM
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 3PM - 4PM
ICE CARVING COMPETITION WITH BONGO LOVE AND FRIENDS 1PM - 3PM 100 EAST 1ST STREET
BACKDOOR THEATRE 243 W 4th STREET
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
BRAIN FREEZE CONTEST 3PM - 4PM
ON 1ST ST. IN FRONT OF THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
ICY TURKEY BOWLING 3PM - 5PM
ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
FROZEN FIX-A-FLAT CONTEST 4PM - 5PM
ON THE CLOCK TOWER PATIO AT 112 E 2ND STREET (BY TIN SHED SPORTS & SALTO COFFEE WORKS)
FROZEN T-SHIRT CONTEST 5PM - 6PM
1ST STREET IN FRONT OF COVERED WAGON
FROZEN DEAD POET SLAM 5PM - 6PM
ON A SOAP BOX ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
SUNDAY, MARCH 20TH THE NEWLY DEAD GAME INDIVIDUALS EDITION 12:30PM VERY NICE BREWING 20 LAKEVIEW DR #112 LIVE VULTURES & OTHER SCAVENGERS 12PM - 3PM
WILD BEAR NATURE CENTER CARIBOU SHOPPING CENTER, 20 LAKEVIEW DR., UNIT 107
SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH MUSIC SCHEDULE
100 EAST 1ST STREET
ICY TURKEY BOWLING 1PM - 3PM ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT FROZEN FIX-A-FLAT CONTEST 1PM - 2PM
ON THE CLOCK TOWER PATIO AT 112 E 2ND STREET (BY TIN SHED SPORTS & SALTO COFFEE WORKS)
SUNDAY, MARCH 20TH MUSIC SCHEDULE REANIMATE YOURSELF
NOT YET DEAD IN NED
BACON, BOURBON & BREWS
Bannetones 12:30 pm – 2 pm
New Family Dog 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Short N Lowe 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Foxfeather 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Grant & Friends 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Johnny & The Mongrels 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Nick Dunbar & the Sad Cowboy 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Highway 50 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Dirk Quinn Band 4:30 pm – 6 pm
Twang Is Dead featuring Dave Watts 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Howlin’ Goatz 6:30 pm – 8 pm
6:30Sour pm –ce8 pm
Purchase your Saturday or Sunday General Admission pre-sale ticket $25 online or $30 day of show for entrance into 3 live music tents. Outdoor activities and events free of charge, food & beverages available everywhere.
THANK YOU TO OUR OUT OF THIS WORLD SPONSORS
FIND COOL FROZEN DEAD GUY MERCHANDISE AT GRANDPA’S GIFT SHOPS. Located in the Not Yet Dead In Ned & Reanimate Yourself tents, Guercio Field & Nederland Visitor Center.
BRAIN FREEZE CONTEST 2PM - 3PM
ON 1ST ST. IN FRONT OF THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
FROZEN DEAD POET SLAM 2PM - 5PM
ON A SOAP BOX ON 1ST ST. ACROSS FROM THE NOT YET DEAD IN NED TENT
THE NEWLY DEAD GAME COUPLES EDITION 4PM VERY NICE BREWING 20 LAKEVIEW DR #112
. There will be a shuttle running from Boulder to Nederland, please go to BusToShow.org for pick-up locations and times.
E VENTS
EVENTS
If your organization is planning an event, please email the editor at crockett@boulderweekly.com
■ Art & Sip: Abstract Ink Art
6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont. Free, register online or by calling 303-651-8374 Join this class and allow instructor Rachel Courtney to teach you to create abstract pieces of art using the popular “alcohol ink” on yupo paper and ceramic tile. Alcohol ink is a free-flowing medium that allows you to create gorgeous one-of-a-kind pieces. Grab a drink and get creative with these classes for adults. Beer, wine, non-alcoholic beverages, and snacks will be available for purchase in the Atrium Bar.
■ Front Range Vegetable Gardening 101 Community Class
6 p.m. Thursday, March 10 (additional date: 9 a.m. Saturday, March 12), Growing Gardens, 1630 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder. Tickets: $45 In this class, participants will dive into details about how to prepare your garden and start planting. Topics will include understanding soils and soil amendments, bed preparation, starting seeds at home, direct seeding in your garden, and transplanting seedlings. This introductory class is a great place to start if you are new to gardening or new to gardening in the Colorado climate.
■ Boulder Book Store presents Dan Millman— ‘Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit’ (virtual)
5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, Tickets: $17.95-$27.95, boulderbookstore.net Dan Millman’s books and teachings have been a guiding light to millions of people. Now comes the true story of his search for the good life, a quest for meaning in the modern world. In vivid detail, he describes his evolution from childhood dreamer to world-class athlete, including the events that led him to write Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Over the course of two decades Millman was guided by four radically different mentors: the Professor, a scientist-mystic; the Guru, a charismatic spiritual master; the Warrior-Priest, a rescuer of lost souls; and the Sage, a servant of reality. Each of them generated mind-expanding experiences that prepared Millman for his calling as a down-to-earth spiritual teacher.
■ Deep Listening Workshop
A STILL FROM ‘IKIRU’
Noon. Thursday, March 10 (additional dates: Thursday, April 7), CU Art Museum, 1085 18th St., Boulder. Free, colorado.edu/cuartmuseum Join in this virtual deep listening workshop led by artist Brittney Hofer, inspired by LaMont Hamilton’s light and sound installation, To Hear the Earth Before the End of the World. The practice involves hearing, listening, and moving. Participants will focus on the element of air to explore the differences between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature of listening. The practice includes bodywork, sonic meditations, and interactive performances aimed at cultivating a heightened awareness of the sonic environment, at the same time promoting a playful atmosphere.
■ east window presents Contemporary Short Films Screenings: ‘Popil’
11:15 a.m. Thursday, March 10, The Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Suite 102B, Boulder. Free, eventbrite.com/e/249791341627 Khvay Khvay’s Popil (2018, 22 minutes) develops a complex choreography based around the symbolism of the dragon, playing to both Euro-America’s tendency to employ the motif as a blanket symbol for much of East/Southeast Asia, as well as an examination of the manner in which such iconography speaks toward a specifically Chinese or Cambodian mode of identity formation.
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MARCH 10, 2022
■ Longmont Museum presents ‘Ikiru’ (1952)
7 p.m. Thursday, March 10, Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road, Longmont. Tickets: $5-$10 One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate-affirming life through an exploration of death. Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is compelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two-part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.
For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
E VEN T S
■ Purim Festival
EVENTS
1 p.m. Sunday, March 13, Boulder JCC, 6007 Oreg Ave., Boulder. Tickets: $5 per person under 2 years, boulderjcc.org Purim is a joyous holiday celebrated with costumes, hamantashen, and sharing the story of Purim. Celebrate Purim at the Boulder JCC with a fun afternoon filled with outdoor activities for the whole family.
■ Firehouse Art Center presents Greg Santos: ‘Mixed Grit’
■ Many Paths To Peace: An Interfaith/Intercultural Concert (in-person and virtual)
6 p.m. Friday, March 11, Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Ave., Longmont, firehouseart.org Featuring 24 prints representing the full scope of the project to date, each piece of work in Mixed Grit is created by a different artist from around the country, and printed by Greg Santos at Art Gym in Denver. Every four months, four artists are sent a small lithographic stone in the mail. Stones vary in size but are approximately 8-by-10 inches. Artist participation is by invitation. The print exchange is a long-running tradition among printmakers that serves as a model for collecting art and building professional networks and community.
■ The North Face presents Reel Rock 16 World Premiere, Hosted by Alex Honnold and Nina Williams
EVENTS
7 p.m. Friday, March 11, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $21.75, z2ent.com/boulder-theater-venue Join Reel Rock for a world-premiere event hosted by Alex Honnold and Nina Williams. This special evening will feature four brand-new films, athlete Q&As, gear giveaways and more. Presented by The North Face and supported by Black Diamond, TruBlue Autobelay and Yeti. Also supported by Tension Climbing, Upslope Brewing, Neptune Mountaineering, La Sportiva NA, ABC Kids Climbing, and Boulder Rock Club.
Keller Williams. 7 p.m. The Caribou Room, 55 Indian Peaks Drive, Nederland. Tickets: $35
CONCERTS
March 11
The Boulder Altitude Directive. 2:30 p.m. Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road, Longmont. Tickets: $8-$12 Fruition. 6:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $25-$50 The Other Favorites & Kingdom Jasmine. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. Tickets start at $20. Second show March 12.
Mitski. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $42.50-$125
The Good Kind with Fists of the Proletariat. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-18 The Pot & Desert Radio. 8 p.m. Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont. Tickets: $20 Valley. 9 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $20
Dizzy With a Dame. 8 p.m. Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont. Tickets: $10-$12
March 12
Dodie with Lizzy McAlpine. 7 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $43.75-$48
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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March 14
Glass Animals. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $69.50-$90 Lala Lala with Elton Aura. 7 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. Tickets: $20 Snow Patrol. 8 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place, Denver
March 15
Dua Lipa. 7:30 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver
March 16
March 13
Rocky Mountain Composer’s Spring Concert. 2 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 16th and Walnut, Boulder. Free
Sturtz with Megan Burtt and Monica LaBonte. 7 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$23
6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, Unity Columbine Spiritual Center, 2855 Folsom St., Boulder Tickets: $20-$25, fb.me/e/ec3FARAkG The first annual Many Paths To Peace is an interfaith/intercultural concert in honor of the 25th Season for Nonviolence, featuring a lineup of artists and musicians representing cultures and spiritual traditions from across the globe. The intention of Many Paths To Peace is to help build bridges of connection and understanding between people from all walks of life through the healing power of music. The lineup includes the Sholeh Mani Ensemble, Dr. Michael Williams, Bijay Shrestha, Maputo Mensah, Bill Kopper, Sheldon Sands, El Javi, Zane Cupec, Marcy Baruch, Freyja Wild and Janis Kelly, along with an all-star rhythm section comprised of Larry Thompson, Pete Jacobs and Meg York.
MARCH 10, 2022
Danú. 7:30 p.m. Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. Tickets: $23-$90 Justin Beiber. 7:30 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver see EVENTS Page 24
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EVENTS from Page 23
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SOUNDS OF TAYLOR SWIFT & OLIVIA RODRIGO
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The Catamounts centers Black folklore in ‘One Way-Back Day’ by Caitlin Rockett
B
MICHAEL ENSMINGER
efore she wrote One Way-Back Day—the most recent production by Boulder’s Catamounts theater troupe—Tresha Farris was questioning her writing ability. “I had a bad interaction with a professor about my writing,” the Denver-based actor explains. “I was a little disheartened.” But her father, himself a writer, pushed her “to go back to the pen,” Farris says. “I decided I had to find a project I was really interested in doing.” She turned to her childhood for inspiration, to a collection of African American folklore by Virginia Hamilton called Her Stories. Farris took her concept to rework these stories—with African, Black, Gullah, and GeeChee roots—to The Catamounts, where she assembled a team of non-white writers to help her bring them to life as One Way-Back Day, now showing at The Dairy Arts Center through March 19. At the center of the story is Lettice (a beguiling Colette Brown), a 110-year-old Black matriarch who has lived through slavery, the Civil War, both world wars, and now the Great Depression. Sitting on the front porch of her home, all Lettice wants on the day we meet her is a bit of light bread and some cheese. But this country has never been giving to Black folks—only taking—and getting her bread and cheese is no easy task. For decades, Lettice and her family have been visited by a mythical entity called Boo Hag (an impish Farris), an energy vampire, we might say today. Lettice is full of stories from a century of life, and Boo Hag wants them all, no matter how Lettice feels about it. Lettice is based on a real woman who sat for an interview for a New Deal program called the WPA Writer’s Project, which collected stories from America’s past, including narratives from formerly enslaved people. “They would send people out to interview Black people and get these stories, their accounts of when they were in slavery,” Farris explains, but often the stories would be recast in a racist light. Books were made from these collected narratives and sold around the country, but those who shared their stories never saw a dime. “I have Boo [Hag] as sort of a representation of this organization that basically appropriates your culture, your history, and resells it to you,” It’s not hard to draw a straight line from the past to the present; Black culture has always been appropriated by and capitalized on by white America, whether it’s the WPA or the Kardashians. And while it’s impossible to ignore the trauma of 400 years of slavery (“Maybe we were better off as slaves,” Lettice wonders aloud as we first meet her), One Way-Back Day also offers stories of Black joy and transcendence, particularly for Black women. “This play started, for me, as an ode to Black women, particularly my mom and my sisters,” Farris says. “I think it’s ultimately about credit and proper credit. In lots of moments, Lettice says, ‘I’m giving you my life, my memories, and I just want this one thing; I just want my cheese and bread.’ She wants to be given proper credit for the life she lived, and she never gets that. Especially with Black women, we never get the proper credit.” It’s a reality that The Catamounts is trying to unravel with projects like One Way-Back Day. “Part of our journey has to be sometimes totally turning the space that The Catamounts have created completely over to non-white voices,” says Cats’ artistic director Amanda Berg Wilson. “It’s part of the dismantling. We’re stumbling, but trying to stumble forward.”
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Jesters Dinner Theatre set to close at end of May
An Interfaith/Intercultural Concert in honor of the 25th Season for Nonviolence
by Caitlin Rockett
Maputo Mensah, Sholeh Mani Ensemble, Bill Kopper, Dr. Michael Williams, Sheldon Sands, El Javi, Bijay & Nabin Shrestha w/Meg York Zane Cupec, Marcy Baruch, Freyja Wild and Janis Kelly
Actor launches campaign to raise $1 million to buy the building that houses the Longmont-based company
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fter more than 22 years of producing shows in Longmont, Jesters Dinner Theatre will close at the end of May, according to emails from the Jesters box office. “It’s been an amazing 22+ years,” reads a March 7 email from Jesters box office, “lots of ups and downs, and, frankly, business has been great (except for the pandemic closure) for the past six or seven years. We know that the theatre has become a ‘home,’ to many, especially youth.” Jesters actor Amber Sutherland wants to save the dinner theater. Sutherland, who’s worked at Jesters for the last year, launched a GoFundMe campaign on March 7 with the goal of raising $1 million—only half the estimated cost of the building at 224 Main Street, according to Sutherland. “This is happening very fast,” Sutherland says. “The time crunch is the biggest piece—it’s already set up to go out on the market on April 4.” With the voraciousness of the Front Range realty market, Sutherland says she believes that if the building goes on the market, it will be purchased quickly, then razed. After more than a decade of staging Jesters Theatre productions out of different locations around Longmont, including Dickens Opera House, Scott and Mary Lou Moore bought the 9,100 square-foot property on Main Street in 1998 and opened the dinner theater on July 24, 1999 with a production of Oklahoma!. “There are adults that have been there since this place started, and they started in children’s programs,” Sutherland says. “I’ve been involved in a lot of different community theaters, and they all offer wonderful pieces. But [Jesters] has offered a family to these kids and these adults more than I have ever experienced in my life. It’s emotional—it’s incredibly special. And there are performers who were there for the first production of Oklahoma! who are still performing there today.” Sutherland comes from a theatrical family; her grandparents, Richard and Jo Bell, founded Boulder’s Upstart Crow Theatre Company in 1981. “I know that from a time standpoint, my investment in Jesters seems small, especially compared to the people who have been there for all 23 years,” Sutherland says. “But I have been in theater my entire life. … I grew up doing theater, directing, running kids theaters, sound, lights, sets, everything you can imagine I am. I have worked in the entertainment acting industry, not only in theater, but doing film, TV and improv. I just have a dying love for this industry and to see this place disappear just breaks my heart, and I’m willing to do anything and everything it takes to keep it alive.” As of Wednesday, March 9, the campaign has raised $1,100.
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To learn more about Sutherland’s campaign to buy Jesters Dinner Theatre, visit the Facebook group Save the Jesters, or donate at: bit.ly/3pQjLNc
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Join us March 20th at 1PM at the Colorado Burial Preserve in Florence, Colorado. 7997 State Highway 67, Florence, Colorado, 81226 Music, refreshments, and a celebration of giving precious soil back to the planet. Contact 720-515-2344 info@thenaturalfuneral.com TheNaturalFuneral.com
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My life as a ditch by CM Brown
I am a ditch. I live in the ground. When the water flows through me it washes along my sides with a familiar tingling that I have felt every day for the past one hundred years. I feel it now as I see you walking. I see your ankles and when I see your ankles a sadness leaps out of me. I gaze upward to the top of your heads, those heads that are sometimes bald, heads with the sun reflected on the bare skin of a skull. Sometimes you are young with great oceans of unfurled hair dancing on your shoulders as you pass. Sometimes I see a gray hat turned to one side and you are singing. But I am silent. I am listening. I have heard you for years walking beside me. I have seen the two of you pause and whisper and kiss. The afternoon is late. It will soon be evening, and you are still here sitting in the grass. I know you are hopeful. I have heard you say so. I know you are worried about the passing of your life into the dull shadows of tall trees, and I wonder, what is it like to be a human? Sometimes you sit down on the grass, and you look at me. “This ditch will outlive me,” you say. “This ditch will still be here in this valley when my beautiful body is dust.” I am silent when you speak, sitting alone beside me. And, I wonder, where does this loss come from, where does this joy come from? But I am a ditch. I have no fear. The water flowing through me is a song of remembrance. Every moment of my life I have heard the trickle of these small singing voices. They move through me now, all night and all day and when the rain falls and I am full, I feel I am becoming. The water is my blood. What is your blood? What is the mystery of your red blood? What is this empire of longing? What do you feel moving through you? Do you know where it comes from? Do you know the beginning of rain? CM Brown is a poet, visual artist, an integral yoga and meditation instructor, and counselor who lives in Louisville.
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The key to my heart
Criterion releases ‘The Piano’ on 4K UHD/Blu-ray
by Michael J. Casey
boulderweekly.com
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young girl spies her mother in bed with a man ON THE BILL: who is neither her father nor the woman’s husThe Piano is now band. The young girl is Flora (Anna Paquin), the available in a 4K UHD/ speaking child of her mute mother, Ada (Holly Blu-ray set from The Hunter). Both were bought and brought here by Criterion Collection. Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill), a white settler in New Zealand Maori country. The mute part, Alisdair knew about that. Though he probably expected her to be more meek than mute. What he didn’t expect was that Ada would be bringing her voice, a John Broadwood & Sons piano, along with her. Alisdair is the quiet, reserved type. Handsome, yes (it’s Sam Neill, after all), but lacking in the lust department. This is the Victorian Era we’re talking about, and I doubt many parents took their kids aside to give them “the talk.” The urges are still there. What to do about them is the problem. These settlers—including the very prim and proper Aunt Morag (Kerry Walker) and Nessie (Genevieve Lemon)—are trying to bring civilization and repression to the bush. If only they knew how nature works. Back to Ada’s bed: The man she is lying with, the one Flora spies through a hole in the door, that’s George Baines (Harvey Keitel), a man who would not look out of place aboard the Pequod. In the parlance of the time, Baines has gone native—finding more spiritual solace in the Maori culture than his own. It’s little wonder why he’s attracted to Ada: She’s the type of woman he went looking for all those years ago and never found. And it’s a two-way street. Baines might be the first man Ada has known, carnally, that was not taken. That little Flora does not understand this is the tragedy of the movie. Flora doesn’t do anything about seeing her mother and Baines together—at least not immediately. The next scene shows Flora and a handful of Maori kids playing among the trees. They take turns hugging each tree, giving it a little kiss and, in the case of one of the boys, a couple of healthy humps. The Maori mothers watch and laugh. Kids being kids. But when Alisdair comes upon the scene, he’s appalled. “You’re greatly shamed,” he scolds Flora. “You’ve shamed these trunks.” To make amends, Flora scrubs the tree trunks at Alisdair’s behest, covering them in thick, white soapy suds. It’s a powerful image in a movie filled with powerful images, each one more charged than the next. So why am I so locked in on these three scenes, brief as they are? Because I think they provide the skeleton key to unlock the mystery at the heart of 1993’s The Piano, written and directed by New Zealander Jane Campion. The Piano’s place in cinema history is secure as Campion was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the first for a female director. The win launched Campion onto the world stage, a role she’s held with considerable acclaim for the better part of three decades, and brought attention to New Zealand filmmaking, particularly Campion’s previous features: Sweetie (1989) and An Angel at My Table (1990). Both Sweetie and An Angel at My Table are good—well, An Angel is incredible, but I have limited space—but how The Piano takes Campion’s interest with female sexuality and imbued it with gothic eroticism and earthy imagery is second to none. Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh uses a process similar to Autochrome, the photographic style popular during Ada and Alisdair’s time, to give the New Zealand bush a lush, sea green hue. It looks like Ada and her stark black Western wear are drowning no matter where she goes. The Piano is beautifully gothic. Campion adores the Brontë sisters, and to see The Piano through their lens is to understand what all that pent-up passion is all about. But what makes The Piano all Campion are the two endings: One fitting, the other hopeful. In my heart of hearts, I know the story really ends a few minutes before the credits— you’ll see what I mean. But I prefer Campion’s ending, the one that bumps right up against the final fade-out. It has the touch of an author, one who doesn’t want life to end in despair or heroic sacrifice. The kind of ending that knows life, no matter how mired in the muck it may be, is still worth living. That music and sunsets and love plaster over all of the hurt out there. Sure it’s romantic, but if that isn’t the reason to keep going, I don’t know what is.
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bouldermountainbike.org MARCH 10, 2022
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BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES
LIBRA
MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Singer, dancer, and comedian Sammy
Davis Jr. disliked the song “The Candy Man,” but he recorded it anyway, heeding his advisors. He spent just a brief time in the studio, finishing his vocals in two takes. “The song is going straight to the toilet,” he complained, “pulling my career down with it.” Surprise! It became the best-selling tune of his career, topping the Billboard charts for three weeks. I suspect there could be a similar phenomenon (or two!) in your life during the coming months, Aries. Don’t be too sure you know how or where your interesting accomplishments will arise.
APRIL 20-MAY 20: I love author Maya Angelou’s definition of high accomplishment, and I recommend you take steps to make it your own in the coming weeks. She wrote, “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” Please note that in her view, success is not primarily about being popular, prestigious, powerful, or prosperous. I’m sure she wouldn’t exclude those qualities from her formula, but the key point is that they are all less crucial than self-love. Please devote quality time to refining and upgrading this aspect of your drive for success.
actor Courteney Cox. On the face of it, that’s an amazing statement for a Gemini to make. After all, many in your tribe are masters of disguise and shapeshifting. Cox herself has won accolades for playing a wide variety of characters during her film and TV career, ranging from comedy to drama to horror. But let’s consider the possibility that, yes, you Geminis can be versatile, mutable, and mercurial, yet also authentic and genuine. I think this specialty of yours could and should be extra prominent in the coming weeks.
NOV. 22-DEC. 21: Witty Sagittarian author Ashleigh Brilliant has created thousands of cheerful yet often sardonic epigrams. In accordance with current astrological omens, I have chosen six that will be useful for you to treat as your own in the coming weeks. 1. “I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.” 2. “I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.” 3. “All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.” 4. “Do your best to satisfy me—that’s all I ask of everybody.” 5. “I’m just moving clouds today, tomorrow I’ll try mountains.” 6. “A terrible thing has happened. I have lost my will to suffer.”
CANCER
CAPRICORN
make me good, but Baby Jesus didn’t,” wrote author Barbara Kingsolver about her childhood approach to self-improvement. Just because this method failed to work for her, however, doesn’t mean it won’t work for others. In saying that, I’m not implying you should send out appeals to Baby Jesus. But I suggest you call on your imagination to help you figure out what influences may, in fact, boost your goodness. It’s an excellent time to seek help as you elevate your integrity, expand your compassion, and deepen your commitment to ethical behavior. It’s not that you’re deficient in those departments; just that now is your special time to do what we all need to do periodically: Make sure our actual behavior is in rapt alignment with our high ideals.
than an impoverishment,” wrote author Eudora Welty. That may seem like a simple and obvious statement, but in my view, it’s profound and revolutionary. Too often, we are inclined to conclude that a relatively unpleasant or inconvenient event has diminished us. And while it may indeed have drained some of our vitality or caused us angst, it has almost certainly taught us a lesson or given us insight that will serve us well in the long run—if only to help us avoid similar downers in the future. According to my analysis of your current astrological omens, these thoughts are of prime importance for you right now.
MAY 21-JUNE 20: “I’m not fake in any way,” declared Gemini
JUNE 21-JULY 22: “Sometimes I prayed for Baby Jesus to
DEC. 22-JAN. 19: “All experience is an enrichment rather
AQUARIUS
specialized in the history of ancient Greece. The poet Homer was one of the most influential voices of that world. Hamilton wrote, “An ancient writer said of Homer that he touched nothing without somehow honoring and glorifying it.” I love that about his work, and I invite you to match his energy in the coming weeks. I realize that’s a lot to ask. But according to my reading of the astrological omens, you will indeed have a knack for honoring and glorifying all you touch.
JAN. 20-FEB. 18: “Life swarms with innocent monsters,” observed poet Charles Baudelaire. Who are the “innocent monsters”? I’ll suggest a few candidates. Boring people who waste your time but who aren’t inherently evil. Cute advertisements that subtly coax you to want stuff you don’t really need. Social media that seem like amusing diversions except for the fact that they suck your time and drain your energy. That’s the bad news, Aquarius. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time to eliminate from your life at least some of those innocent monsters. You’re entering a period when you’ll have a strong knack for purging “nice” influences that aren’t really very nice.
VIRGO
PISCES
reminds us that “sexuality is the expression of the creative life force of the universe. It is not dirty, nor is it merely ‘normal’; it is sacred. And sacred can also be affectionate, joyful, pleasurable, passionate, funny, or purely animal.” I hope you enjoy an abundance of such lushness in the coming weeks, Virgo. It’s a favorable time in your astrological cycle for synergizing eros and spirituality. You have poetic license to express your delight about being alive with imaginative acts of sublime love.
being easily satisfied,” wrote aphorist Marty Rubin. If you’re open to welcoming such a challenge, Pisces, I propose that you work on being very easily satisfied during the coming weeks. See if you can figure out how to enjoy even the smallest daily events with blissful gratitude. Exult in the details that make your daily rhythm so rich. Use your ingenuity to deepen your capacity for regarding life as an ongoing miracle. If you do this right, there will be no need to pretend you’re having fun. You will vividly enhance your sensitivity to the ordinary glories we all tend to take for granted.
LEO
JULY 23-AUG. 22: Leo classicist and author Edith Hamilton
AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Starhawk, one of my favorite witches,
MARCH 10, 2022
I know,” declares author Anne Lamott. “That even when we’re most sure that love can’t conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds.” Lamott’s thoughts will be your wisdom to live by during the next eight weeks, Scorpio. Even if you think you already know everything there is to know about the powers of love to heal and transform, I urge you to be open to new powers that you have never before seen in action.
SAGITTARIUS
GEMINI
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OCT. 23-NOV. 21: “This is the most profound spiritual truth
TAURUS
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SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: In 1634, English poet John Milton coined the phrase “silver lining.” It has become an idiom referring to a redemptive aspect of an experience that falls short of expectations. Over 350 years later, American author Arthur Yorinks wrote, “Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.” Now I’m relaying his message to you. Hopefully, my heads-up will ensure that you won’t miss the silver lining for any reason, including the possibility that you’re fixated on gold.
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FEB. 19-MARCH 20: “Never underestimate the wisdom of
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I lost my lover unexpectedly last weekend. He was a long-time friend and periodic hook-up, and things were finally starting to turn as serious as I’d always secretly wanted them to be. I’m writing because I don’t know what to do with my desire for him, because that certainly didn’t die with him. He’s the only person I’ve been with in the past year and a half and re-reading our old sexts and thinking about the last time we were together has been turning me on. But I feel all sorts of torn up about masturbating to the thought of him. We had a trip planned at the end of March that I am still planning on taking where he was telling me we were going to fall in love. I was looking forward to having the best sex of my life with him while on a tropical island. Now I will be going alone. Is it healthy for me to masturbate about him? I mean, I know he’d love the thought, but it also makes me feel so devastatingly sad. Thoughts? —Too Heartbroken For Witty Acronyms Dear THFWA: First and most importantly, THFWA, I’m so sorry for your loss—the loss of your friend and lover, and the loss of the future you might have had with him. My heart goes out to you. Back in my younger days, when I first started writing this column, I advised people against masturbating about the dead. Being a gay man who came out just as the AIDS crisis was starting, I would go on to lose friends and boyfriends during that pandemic, including the first man I ever truly loved. Looking back, I gave the advice I did not because it was good advice for everyone, but because sex was so closely associated with death for me that I personally couldn’t bear the thought of doing anything that would make that association any stronger. So, as alive as my desire still was for my first true love, I couldn’t fantasize about my time with him. It made me feel his loss too deeply at a time when I knew more loss was coming my way, and soon. What I can see now is that we all grieve in our own ways. If the thought of masturbating about your lover gives you a feeling of peace or pleasure or makes you feel connected to him, you should do it. But brace yourself for the very real possibility that you’ll be overwhelmed by feelings of loss after you climax. While fantasies have the power to lift us out of the moment, our refractory periods have a way of throwing us back down to Earth. But there’s more than one way someone’s memory can be a blessing.
Dear Dan: I’m a 22-year-old straight man. My problem is simple but hard to solve: How do I cope with intense sexual desires that cannot be satisfied? I have a lot of sexual fantasies that I cannot satisfy for two reasons. First, because I’m not considered attractive by the people I’m attracted to. Secondly, I am now in a long-distance monogamous relationship. The relationship is perfect. We have a lot of great sex when we are together, but I cannot try other things I’d like to explore. My girlfriend doesn’t want to open the relationship and I respect that. I honestly love her more than my need to have other sexual experiences. Also, I believe that even if we opened the relationship, I wouldn’t have much opportunity to try other things anyway. Seeing as I can’t have all the experiences I’d like to— and I feel like a whiny cis-het babyman typing that—what is the best way to cope with frustration? Can I reduce my sexual desire? I don’t want this to be a problem for my girlfriend or for me. —Libido Is Brimming, Intense Desires Obsess Dear LIBIDO: Even the hottest people—and by, “the hottest people,” I mean, “the most conventionally-attractive people,” and it needs to be said that not all conventionally-attractive people are hot and not all hot people are conventionally attractive—don’t get everything they want. Some don’t know how to ask for what they want, some are too paralyzed by shame to ask for it, and some are so out of touch with their own desires that they don’t even know what they want. So, you shouldn’t look at the conventionally attractive and assume their sex lives are better than yours. Instead of dumping the girlfriend you’ve got because she doesn’t want to open your relationship, LIBIDO, I would encourage you to live in hope. She may not be interested in opening the relationship now, but she might be open to the idea at some point down the road. Most couples in open relationships were monogamous to start, sometimes for many years. A time may come when your girlfriend is not just willing to open your relationship (fully or just enough to let you explore some of your kinks with others), but excited about the idea herself. In the meantime, enjoy the sex you’re having, masturbate about the sex you’d like to have, and stop contemplating chemical castration. Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.
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Selling Boulder’s taste buds
Ever since Red Zinger hooked up with Velveeta, beloved hometown natural food brands have left us for the big bucks
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by John Lehndorff
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ear Dale’s Pale Ale, I’m breaking up with you! I know we’ve been in “like” for years. You were always my go-to, easy-to-recommend local brew. Then I woke up one morning recently to your Dear John note. Oskar Blues brewery is marrying Monster Energy Drinks, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola. Ewwww! Are you really going out with them? Now you’re just a beer that I used to know. I guess I should be used to it. Born in the Summer of Tea, 1969, Celestial Seasonings is the mythic mother of all Boulder natural food favorites. In 1984, Celestial Seasonings was sold to the cheese-kings, Kraft Foods. The tea-maker was eventually bought back and now is owned by New Jersey-based Hain Celestial. Since then, a parade of healthy Boulder County favorites, from White Wave tofu to Izze soda and Horizon Organic Milk, have charmed their way into our taste buds and budgets, only to ditch us for the sexy capitalists from out of town and end up on shelves across the nation. With mountains in its logo, those tasty Boulder Canyon Chips are actually owned by Pennsylvania’s Utz Brands. Justin’s topnotch nut butters are made by the same folks who produce SPAM, the handy canned pork product. Lily’s sugarless chocolate company was recently inhaled
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by Hershey’s, the owner of Twizzlers and another Colorado food legend, Jolly Rancher. America’s top organic hummus— Louisville-based Hope—left a note on the kitchen counter saying it was running away with a French dude, Savencia Fromage & Dairy. I know I should just let it go and move on, but I cringe every time I walk the supermarket aisles. For a reality check, I called Steve Hoffman, a Boulderite who knows as much about the Boulder and national natural foods industry as anyone I know. He’s the founder of Compass Natural, the Boulder PR and marketing firm for natural products companies. “From when I first got involved with natural foods in 1985, we’ve seen the evolution of natural foods in Boulder with consolidation and acquisitions,” Hoffman says. It’s true in grocery stores. Boulder’s Pearl Street Market begat Alfalfa’s Market, which was eaten by Wild Oats Markets (which started as Crystal Market on Pearl Street), then assimilated by Whole Foods Markets before Alfalfa’s was reborn only to die again recently. “The cream of the crop of Boulder companies always get scooped up by major multinational food companies. They have the money for acquisitions,” Hoffman says. “These companies usually have
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
owners and investors who want or compel an exit. They use the funds to invest in other companies,” Hoffman explains. In other words, they don’t mean to betray you. They were just born to be sold. That said, Hoffman admits that after a beloved Boulder company gets in bed with a multinational concern, the relationship changes. “I’ve certainly seen instances where a brand will get bought and the products change. You won’t maintain consumer loyalty that way,” he says. The companies that have kept the romance with Boulderites warm are the ones where the founder is still involved, as is the case at Justin’s. Other products are still actually made here—like Sleepytime Tea and Rudi’s Organic Cinnamon Raisin Bread— and employ many Boulder County residents. While Dale’s Pale Ale has been “merged,” the beloved Oskar Blues taproom restaurants are still owned locally. However, some formerly local natural foods companies simply retain offices here so they can put “Boulder” on their labels and bask in Boulder’s good glow. Frankly, we feel used. Boulder County residents have long been the food industry’s guinea pigs, an admittedly well-fed set of pet palates. We’re too easy because of our aspirations and our desire to buy local, eat local, support local and drink here now. We feel connected to the story about the nerdy entrepreneur who created healthy foods out of love. It’s intimate. We welcome EVOL frozen foods and Silk milk into our kitchens and bedrooms. Hoffman points out that the history of natural foods in beautiful Boulder is a lot like the local high-tech industry and, frankly, other occupations, like journalism. “Once you’re here you want to stay. Celestial Seasonings and Alfalfa’s Market started a family tree of local companies,” he says. Once Boulder had a critical mass of granola, sprouts and plant-based people, it became the epicenter of the natural foods world … and still is. While Steve Hoffman avoids romantic attachments to snack foods, he is clear-eyed about the products he buys and promotes today. “I support a food product that is helping to fight climate change. As a cancer survivor I support organic foods. People tell me organic foods are too expensive. You should try the costs of health care,” he says. Hoffman suggests consumers still buy and love local food companies that go beyond non-GMO and organic and support regenerative agriculture and zero waste. Me? I’ve got a heavy crush on a bevy of new, small, beautiful artisan organic foods products made with care in Boulder County. I may ask a couple to go steady.
Hello Boulder! We can’t wait to welcome you through every season ahead. Opt for a cozy indoor dining experience with enhanced cleaning protocols and our air filtration system or enjoy all of your Japango favorites on one of our four heated patios. Prefer to indulge in the comfort of your home? We can do that too with curbside pick up. Hope to see you soon!
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Local food news
Niwot’s new Farow Restaurant has been awarded the 2022 Snail of Approval Award because it follows Slow Foods’ sustainable and fair practices. … Local coming dining attractions include Mason’s Dumpling Shop, Maria Empanada, and Dickens 300 Prime Steakhouse in Boulder, and a Chicken Salad Chick—a chicken salad-centric eatery—in Longmont.
Words to chew on
“I would say if you are eating to impress anyone that you are not eating well and have misunderstood life.” —Francois de Melogue John Lehndorff is the Boulder Weekly’s food editor and host of Radio Nibbles on KGNU. Contact: nibbles@boulderweekly.com
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Dine-in | Pickup | Delivery | Expanded Patio
MARCH 10, 2022
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OPEN FOR DINNER! 4 - 8ish Wednesday - Saturday
Voted East County’s BEST Gluten Free Menu
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WE INVITE YOU TO COME RELAX, BREATHE, DRINK, EAT AND LOVE. ENJOY OUR SELECT MENU OF AROMATHERAPY INFUSED OXYGEN THERAPY, HERBAL ELIXIR TEAS, COFFEE, ORGANIC WINES AND ORGANIC DESSERTS.
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MARCH 10, 2022
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Spirit Hound noses out another fine whiskey release by Matt Maenpaa
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ike many fine things in life, making good whiskey takes patience and time. Spirit Hound Distillers’ latest release, a five-year-old Colorado rye whiskey, proudly bears the fruits of that wait. The rich, flavorful whiskey continues the distillery’s legacy of top-shelf spirits with an air of approachability. Going into the bottle at a fiery 90-proof, the rye starts off with a rich, clean nose that is both sharp and refined. A lush mouthfeel helps carry notes of warm caramel and chocolate on the front, with the spice and pepper of rye resting on the back of the tongue. The five-year age gives the whiskey an opportunity to mellow with the American white oak, soothing the aggressive temperament of a younger whiskey. None of this should come as a surprise from the producer that has taken Boulder Weekly’s Best Distillery several years running. As the collective alcohol by volume of Colorado booze producers continues to climb in 2022, with hundreds of breweries, distilleries, cideries, mead-makers and vintners jockeying for shelf space in liquor stores and bars, releasing whiskey with a significant barrel-age is a good sign. Using grains grown by Alamosa-based Colorado Malting Company, Spirit Hound’s whiskeys started releasing one barrel at a time in summer 2015. In that time, the distillery added bourbon and rye barrels to the aging list. Complementing their portfolio, the Lyons distillery produces vodka, gin and rum, sambuca and a coffee liqueur, making for almost a one-stop shop for a home bar. According to head distiller and co-founder Craig Engelhorn, Spirit Hound was issued the 32nd distilled spirits production permit in the state of Colorado, way back in 2012. August 5 of this year will mark a full decade that sweet, sweet whiskey has spilled forth from Spirit Hound’s copper stills. More than a hundred barrels later, the supply is steady and the flavors are dialed in for the Lyons staple. Engelhorn and his staff have been increasing production steadily all the while, to the point where they are running out of space in their barrel house. Expansion plans are looming on the horizon, adding onto the exist-
ing space for production, MATT MAENPAA storage and filling out the tasting room indoors and out. Feeling confident that Spirit Hound’s presence is known in Boulder County, the next goal is statewide coverage and a huge marketing push that will make it a household name, Engelhorn says. “When you’re standing in front of the damn liquor store shelf and you’re confronted with a huge wall of Colorado craft spirits, how do you know one is any better than the others?” Engelhorn says. “Our push this year is to get in the consumers’ face.” That includes promotions with Planet Bluegrass, and RTD buses wrapped in Spirit Hound regalia, along with print and radio ads. Spirit’s production is already growing in anticipation of the new marketing campaigns, Engelhorn says, but the distillery won’t be forgetting its roots any time soon. With warmer weather an inevitability and the world settling into whatever new normal COVID-19 has brought, Spirit Hound is ready for full tasting rooms and patios again. To celebrate, a tasting room series called Science & Spirits―what Engelhorn describes as a college lecture with cocktails―is making a return on March 24. After movie nights, game nights and flag football in the backyard, Engelhorn said that the educational series has been far and away its most popular event. Previous iterations of Science & Spirits have brought clever cocktail pairings to go with the educational component, including ice spheres made to look like the moon for astronomy discussions.
BEHIND THE “Pre-COVID (the tastBAR: Spirit Hound ing) room was full with Distillers, 4196 Ute people. We’re starting it Hwy, Lyons, up again and we’re very spirithounds.com excited,” Engelhorn says. “People clearly have a thirst for knowledge.” Even if lectures on earth sciences or astronomy aren’t your jam, readers should still plan a visit to the Lyons tasting room to sample from a creative cocktail list and grab a bite to eat from upscale Americana food truck Cluck-n-Burger parked right out front. If the past 10 years, and this latest batch of rye, are any indicator, Spirit Hound Distillers will be as well-known in Colorado as Stranahan’s. One of the next releases Engelhorn anticipates will be a bottled-in-bond rye whiskey. Aged for at least four years and released at 100 proof, a bottled-in-bond whiskey requires every aspect of the spirit to be distilled in house.
LONGMONT’S NEWEST STEAKHOUSE featuring NoCo’s Best Beef and Freshest Seafood in town
Locally owned & operated since 2020
NOW SERVING BRUNCH SATURDAY & SUNDAY 9am - 3pm
HOURS: Monday - Thursday 11am - 10pm • Friday 11am - 11pm • Saturday 9am - 11pm • Sunday 9am - 8pm
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300 Main St. Longmont, CO • (303) 834-9384 • dickens300prime.com MARCH 10, 2022
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FROM THE DIVIDE TO YOUR DOOR! Offering Glass Bottle Options
INTRODUCTORY OFFER: Free Two 5-Gallon Bottles of Water & One Months Rental on the Dispenser of Your Choice 303.440.0432 • www.IndianPeaksSpringWater.com LOOK FOR OUR SOLAR WATER CART AT BOULDER EVENTS
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TO GONDOLIER ITALIAN EATERY Where Going Out Feels Like Coming Home
VOTED BEST BBQ Best Margarita Best Place to Eat Outdoors Best Restaurant Service Best Take-Out Best Wings
701 B Main St., Louisville, CO
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720-583-1789
www.lulus-bbq.com
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
JOHN LEHNDORFF
Taste of the Week
Chicken red curry and beef drunken noodles @ McCaslin Thai
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by John Lehndorff
he aroma of spices and herbs filled the dining room, but on the weekend evening I dropped by McCaslin Thai, it was too quiet to order takeout. Open only six months, the small, family-run eatery chose a challenging time to introduce its authentic fare to local diners. Even though the Marshall Fire flames stopped before they got to the Louisville shopping center that McCaslin Thai shares with Loco Hermanos and Via Toscana, it was closed for a while. My red curry was a compelling—read “yummy”—treat, a creamy sauce jammed with chicken breast slices, carrots, onions, red bell pepper, zucchini and bamboo shoots. Even ordered “medium,” the curry had a bouncy heat level that lingered, balanced by steamed jasmine rice. For sheer comfort, nothing beats the eatery’s “drunken” noodles. The wide soft noodles have an almost dumpling-like chew mingled with thinly sliced, wok-fried beef and broccoli in a soy-accented sauce. McCaslin Thai’s menu also includes green papaya salad, tofu larb, chicken momo steamed dumplings, a cashew stir fry with roasted duck, and tom yum soup laced with chilies, lemongrass, galangal and Kaffir lime leaf.
Another roadfood attraction: Gallo Italian Supper Club
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ike the private East Coast Italian-American eateries that inspired it, Gallo Italian Supper Club and Bakery is sort of hidden at 3470 S. Broadway in Englewood. The parking and the entrance are in the back of this nice family-owned establishment. Gallo’s savory menu features the usual suspects ranging from arancini, stromboli and minestrone to clams linguine, chicken piccata, as well as pizza. I made a beeline past the bar to the long glass counters lit by the afternoon sun enveloped in that sweet almond aroma. The eatery is justly famous for its cannoli, and trays of the classic, freshly fried pastry shells overloaded with sweetened ricotta cream, chocolate chips and nuts wait in a cooler. I was entranced by the trays of traditional Italian cookies. On the drive back home, I dined on a pine nut-imbedded pignoli cookie, an apricot jam bowtie and a soft pistachio cookie. Best of all was a dark chocolate-dipped, raspberry-filled soft chewy macaroon. Next time I’ll go for the infamous lobster tail, a flaky, puffy pastry filled with chocolate mousse and dusted with powdered sugar.
Culinary Calendar
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en cents from every sustainably farmed Emersum oyster shucked during March at Jax Fish House supports First Descents Colorado, providing outdoor adventures for young adults impacted by cancer. … National Pi Day, March 14, celebrates math. If you like pie, plan ahead for National Blueberry Pie Day (April 28), National Raspberry Tart Day (May 3), National Coconut Cream Pie Day (May 8), and National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day (June 9).
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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Boulder Recipe Flashback: Mijbani Indian Restaurant
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losed in 1999, Mijbani Indian Restaurant at 2005 18th St., Boulder introduced diners to the universe of regional cuisines beyond the standard dishes most Indian eateries focus on, thanks to Mumbai-born owner and chef Jessica Shah. She shared this recipe for vadas, or Indian fritters. Note that other vegetables can be added or substituted for the cabbage. Mijbani Red Cabbage Vada 8 cups finely grated red cabbage 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, firmly packed 2 cups chopped fresh cilantro 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon salt 1/2 tablespoon (heaping) garam masala spice mixture 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh, de-seeded serrano chilies Vegetable oil for frying Chop cabbage finely in a food processor. In a large bowl mix cabbage, cilantro, flour, oil, spices and chilies together with your fingers until a thick batter is formed. If too wet, add a little more flour. Heat about an inch of vegetable oil in a heavy cast-iron pan. Make sure the oil is hot! Make one test vada. When done, split it open to make sure it’s thoroughly cooked inside. Taste it and adjust salt, heat, and seasoning in the batter. Use a small ice cream scoop to gently drop scoops of batter into the oil. Careful of splashing oil! You can make four to eight vadas at a time but don’t overload the pan. Let them fry until dark brown and then flip. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with chutneys, raita, hot sauce, relishes and other condiments. MARCH 10, 2022
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All ballots must be submitted online. VOTE NOW at boulderweekly.com. Ballot closes at midnight on April 2. There is only one Best of Boulder™ Only in the Weekly.
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Medical and Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries 14er Holistics Ajoya Boulder Wellness Center The Bud Depot Complete Releaf Dab Dispensary Dandelion Drift Eclipse Cannabis Company Euflora Extract Labs The Farm Fresh Baked
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LONGMONT 19 S Sunset St Longmont, CO 80501 720. 340. 4870
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Embracing crypto-cannabis
And Frosts’ team delivered. Soon, the dispensary will be the first in Colorado to incorporate crypto in its upcoming customer loyalty program (called “Metanugs”) by offering discounts to non-fungible token (NFT) owners (Boulder Weekly, “The real disruption is coming,” March 11, 2021); it’ll be minting its own NFTs for customers and allowing customers to pay for purchases using cryptocurrency. Demers and his team have paved the way and opened the door, and by April of this year, crypto-cannabis will become a reality in Colorado. “Frost is going to be part of a network to offer benefits to community members who hold different NFTs,” Demers explains. That could come in the form of discounts or special deals on specific cannabis products, unlocking Frost-exclusive podcasts from cannabis experts on cannabis topics, or any other creative deal Demers and his team cook up. That incentivizes ownership of NFTs and attracts new customers who already have them and want to get cannabis rewards for it. Demers also outlined a plan to create Frost’s own NFT down the road, which could be incorporated into a meta-game where customers can breed their own meta-cannabis plants, and compete for the best strains with the most unique or potent meta-attributes. It could be like Farmville, with cannabis plants instead of animals, and NFTs instead of characters. Of course, accepting crypto-currency payments will also allow Frost to circumvent the complicated business of banking cannabis money. Instead of going through a bank with government oversight, they will go straight through the blockchain—which is decentralized and unregulated. Demers clarifies that’s not the main reason he wants to accept crypto as a form of payment, though, as there are now banks that accept cash from cannabis business-
Digital currencies and tangible chronic are coming together in a variety of ways, but what’s the benefit?
by Will Brendza
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he cannabis industry and the emerging crypto industry have a lot in common: They both represent new spaces for enterprising investors, both attract innovative and early-adopter entrepreneurs, and the federal government isn’t quite sure how to deal with either one of them. (Not to mention the amount of cross-over between user-bases.) It’s only natural, then, that the two industries have started to merge as they both gain more social and legal legitimacy. Cannabis companies are investing in crypto, crypto companies are investing in cannabis, and there are even specific canna-crypto coins that have already been minted and put into digital “circulation.” “We’re really passionate about blending cannabis and crypto,” says Neil Demers, the CEO of Frost Exotic Cannabis. “I think we have a big opportunity to bring them together.” Frost Exotic Cannabis is a Denver-based dispensary, defined by its creative approach to the cannabis business. Not only does Frost focus on exotic cultivation techniques, and not only is it an immersive art-based dispensary shopping experience (think “Meow-Wolf” with budtenders), but it’s also the first cannabis company in the state to embrace crypto-culture with open arms. “We do want to be innovative and we want to always try to improve and think outside the box of how we can bring new value to our customers,” Demers says. Which is why, following Frost Exotic Cannabis’ recent rebrand (from Diego Pellicer), Demers gave his team a mission: to incorporate crypto technology into Frost’s operation.
es. His tactic will be to save the crypto-currency income and sustain the business off of its regular cash flow. “[Any crypto payments] can sit there and hopefully crypto will go up. So we get the benefit of the appreciation in the value,” he explains. “A lot of the benefit is in collecting the payment, letting it sit there as an investment opportunity to allow us to grow the value of that money.” Demers might be the first cannabis entrepreneur in Colorado to try and merge the crypto- and cannabis-communities, but he’s not the first to pursue the idea nationally. The Crypto Cannabis Club out of California is an NFT collection and metaverse community likewise debuting this year, with a line of NFT’s it’s calling “NFTokers.” The Crypto Cannabis Club partnered with CampNova to launch a line of premium packaged cannabis flower. It kicked off its first round of 10,000 NFTokers in August of 2021, and starting in March 2022, random 1/8th ounce flower packages they sell will contain an authentic Crypto Cannabis Club NFToker stashed inside—like a golden ticket to Wonka’s chocolate factory. Except this prize is valued at roughly $600 according to Forbes, and admits its owner to a game-themed canna-crypto meta-community. There’s also been a number of attempts to start cannabis-specific crypto currencies like PotCoin (POT), HempCoin (THC), DopeCoin (DOPE), and CannabisCoin (CANN). Theoretically, developing digital coins specific to marijuana transactions could make it easier for businesses to get around banking problems associated with selling a Schedule I substance. However, all of those crypto-coins have been on a steady and semi-dramatic decline over the last year, as no dispensaries accept them as currency. That’s changing, though. With Frost Exotic’s soonto-launch crypto-cannabis and NFT-rewards-program, customers will be able to buy cannabis with crypto and use their NFTs for discounts. Demers says they’ll probably start by accepting what he calls “blue-chip” coins (like Ethereum or Bitcoin) but will open up to more forms of digital currency as time goes on. “Our vision is to marry crypto and cannabis together, and try to turn it into the best opportunity we can, and the best [customer] experience we can,” Demers says. “We’re embracing crypto with open arms.”
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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TM
on April
Sr. Software Engineer for Covidien LP (a Medtronic company), Boulder, CO. Req. Bachelor’s in Electronic Engr., Computer Engr., Software Engr., or related field & 5 yrs exp. in software engr. for medical devices OR Master’s in Electronic Engr., Computer Engr., Software Engr., or related field & 2 yrs exp. in software engr. for medical devices. Must possess min. 5 yrs w/ a Bachelor’s or 2 yrs w/ a Master’s w/ each of the following: ISO 13485, ISO 14971 & IEC 62304; integrate apps to electro surgical medical devices using Data Distrib’n Svc Protocol & custom serial protocols; develop apps for multi-platform usage to include Windows, Linux & IOS leveraging C#, Java, & Angular; WPF, WCF, MVVM, PRISM framework & multi-threading; RESTful svc & relational database exp. to include SQL Server, MySQL, or PostgreSQL; design Cybersecurity solutions for apps which interface w/ medical devices; build automation using Atlassian tools to include Bamboo, Bitbucket & JIRA; & software algorithm design & devel’t including OOA, design patterns & SOLID principles. To apply, visit https:// jobs.medtronic.com/, select Req. #220004PF. No agencies or phone calls please. Medtronic/ Covidien is an equal opportunity employer committed to cultural diversity in the workplace. All individuals are encouraged to apply.
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