Boulder Weekly 6.16.2022

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Good for a laugh Boulder Comedy Festival puts a spotlight on diverse voices

by Ma! Maenpaa

Black homestead gets a second life, p. 11

A noir tale on the open plains, p. 19

Dinner time at Gold Hill for 60 years, p. 24

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Safe, full capacity dining, and outdoor patio. Bar open. feature:

Colorado’s historical Black homestead is on the verge of dissolution, but could be saved at the final hour by the National Park System

by Lavina Kalwani

14

buzz:

Boulder comedy festival puts a spotlight on unique voices

by Matt Maenpaa

22

film:

A portrait of two freelance range riders in ‘Bitterbrush’

by Michael J. Casey

nibbles:

The rustic Gold Hill Inn restaurant has rung the dinner bell for 60 years

by John Lehndorff

weed between the lines:

Thailand beats U.S. to end prohibition of cannabis, decriminalize sale and cultivation, and expunge cannabis convictions

by Will Brendza

departments

7

9 19 20 23 27 29 31

11

24 30

Unrepentant Tenant: Rent control rallies and 1980s rent tenant battles Letters: Your views, signed, sealed, delivered Art and Culture: Jon Bassoff finds inspiration for dark novel out on the Great Plains Events: What to do when there’s nothing to do Astrology: By Rob Brezsny Drink: An aromatic dash of cocktail balance Cuisine: Taste of the Week: A manly breakfast pie Savage Love: Baddy dom

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin Rockett News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Writers: Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Shay Castle, Angela K. Evans, Mark Fearer, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, Matt Maenpaa, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Adam Perry, Katie Rhodes, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter 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 Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer June 16, 2022 Volume XXIX, number 40 Cover photo, Melissa Leavenworth 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. © 2022 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms.

Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

Rent control rallies and 1980s tenant battles

by Mark Fearer

T

he summer heat is not only breaking records (thank you, climate crisis) but also manifesting itself in the world of rent control and activism.

Two separate rallies have been announced to bring attention to outrageous rents. On June 30 at 6:30 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol, two organizations, Together Colorado and 9to5 Colorado, are holding a rally to protest the recent veto threat by Gov. Polis on a rent stabilization measure for mobile home lot rents. HB 1287 passed with some good protections for mobile home residents, but only after the bills’ sponsors agreed to gut their own proposal by stripping out the most powerful protection, namely, to limit rent increases for mobile home lots. It’s a good opportunity for mobile home residents to voice their opposition to Polis’ veto threat, said Meghan Carrier, of Together Colorado, and push back against the despair on unending rent increases (see Unrepentant Tenant, “Rent relief in St. Paul and the Polis Betrayal,” May 5, 2022).

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The second summer rally will be on July 10 and will protest the state law banning rent control. Sponsored by the Colorado Housing for All Coalition (which includes Together Colorado and 9to5 Colorado), I’ll write more about that event in my next column.

Returning to the big picture of tenant protections from 1969-1985, three Boulder tenant groups were active—The Boulder Tenants Union, Boulder County Tenants Organization and the Renters Rights Project. As they organized and counseled thousands of renters during those years, they collected a mountain of information and saw a number of consistent issues come up, and raised them to the City Council and the media to get meaningful changes.

(Simultaneously, Boulder’s Human Rights Office was receiving more than 200 tenant complaints per year on similar issues. Other organizations, such as Boulder Legal see UNREPENTANT TENANT Page 8

JUNE 16, 2022

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UNREPENTANT TENANT from Page 7

Services, CU Off Campus Housing and others, also fielded similar grievances.)

Tenants didn’t always get those changes, but it did result in Boulder having the best renter protections of any Colorado city, although it still lags behind many states. Sadly, few tenants know about those protections, back then and now.

My last column left off with BTU working with the city’s Human Relations Committee (HRC) to get an ordinance requiring landlords to have a written copy of the lease (if over 30 days) and tenants getting a copy of that lease. That happened in 1983, in spite of lobbying by landlords from the Boulder Rental Property Association.

The previous year, BTU had pushed for a raft of other tenant protections, including a Warranty of Habitability, just-cause eviction protection, creation of a Housing Commission, interest on deposits, and privacy protection.

a forum for landlord, tenant and homeowner issues. The Commission might also investigate the possibility of cooperative housing in Boulder and the impact that speculation has had on the price of city homes. (… )the commission could initiate a warranty of habitability or ‘better repair’ laws for rentals, banning ‘no cause’ evictions, and requiring landlords to pay tenants interest on security deposit.”

No Housing Commission was created, but several years ago Boulder created a Housing Advisory Board.

The HAB has yet to address tenant issues.

CURRENTLY, COLORADO LAW ALLOWS LANDLORDS to evict tenants on month-to-

BANNING NO CAUSE EVICTIONS Currently, Colorado laws allow landlords to evict tenants on month-to-month leases (with minimal notice), or not renew leases—for any or no reason.

BTU had received a number of tenant complaints about these nocause or unjust evictions, and proposed working with the city to require just cause for those situations. No action was taken by either the HRC nor the city council on that issue.

month leases (with minimal notice) or not renew leases.

HOUSING COMMISSION Rather than deal directly with tenant issues, City Council referred most of those issues to the HRC during the early 1980s. While the HRC did hold hearings on most of the issues, they didn’t have the time nor expertise to deal with the proposals BTU was advocating for. During the summer of 1981, the HRC recommended the city establish a separate committee to deal with housing issues, especially rental issues. City Council ignored that advice, and several months later, BTU started another petition drive to create a Housing Commission.

“According to the petition,” the Colorado Daily reported in December, 1982, “the housing commission would be composed of nine city-appointed Boulder residents, including three tenants and one student. Five members would also have to be low- to moderate- incomes between $9,900 and $15,250 a year. Housing commission functions would include the study and preparation of a comprehensive housing policy for Boulder, plus provide 8

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PRIVACY PROTECTION BTU also heard numerous complaints about landlords gaining entry into tenants’ homes with little or no notice—either when they were present or not. No law requires notice of any kind be given. Lease terms may address the issue, but is often about the landlord’s convenience, not tenant privacy. After much debate, in late 1983, on a 5-4 vote, the council passed an ordinance that required landlords to give reasonable notice.

But they refused to define what a reasonable time period was, making it virtually toothless.

Interest on deposits and warranty of habitability were also high on BTU’s agenda, and will be discussed in a future column.

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

Questions and comments to editorial@boulderweekly.com JUNE 16, 2022

ASK, LISTEN, VOTE ACCORDINGLY Since Dave Anderson’s column on guns came out last week, there is indeed hope for some action in the Senate, perhaps in response to the bill that passed the House (The Anderson Files, “Fear, despair, and gun profiteering,” June 9, 2022). With elections coming, gun control, reproductive freedom, homelessness, tax fairness and more are driving voters to the polls. Time to ask questions of candidates to see where they stand. For example, do you support renewing the expanded Child Tax Credit that lifted 4 million children out of poverty? Ask, listen, vote accordingly. None of the crises in America are beyond answer, the question is who is willing to take action? Find out and then let’s elect/ re-elect them.

Willie Dickerson/Snohomish, WA AS IF BOULDER CARES This was my speech to Boulder City Council during open comment last night: Let’s talk about Boulder exceptionalism. Philosophy professor Matthew Harris threatens mass murder at CU, God King Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his son are revealed as abusive sex cultists, while real Buddhist Wynn Bruce burns himself to death to protest climate arsonists like our drill baby drill governor! CU hires Trump insurrection attorney John Eastman and fires scientist Detlev Helmig for studying oil and gas emissions. CU invests student money in oil and gas, sealing their climate fate. Yet, city l

government caters to Polis, CU, Shambala, Xcel, all the 800-pound gorillas.

Boulder, where the roads are crumbling, swimming pools are half closed and half the city department heads have left since 2019, but there’s always millions to persecute the homeless and prevent people from using direct democracy to solve our own problems AND problems caused directly by government.

The new city manager, city attorney and city IT director have their jobs because we exposed their predecessors lying, cheating and defrauding taxpayers of half a million dollars, all to try to kill our online petitioning for direct democracy, which we voted for overwhelmingly, in 2018!

(All documented at tinyurl.com/ petitionstory) Yet the new administration told Boulder County Democrats a pack of lies when asked why the city wouldn’t give adequate notice that the online petition system has been fixed. People aren’t using it because they refuse to tell people it’s fixed and waited months to decide to fix it.

I’ll document the lies next time. As if you cared.

Evan Ravitz/Boulder ONLY WOMEN SHOULD HAVE GUNS As I stood in the kitchen listening to news of the latest mass shootings, I blurted out, “It’s always guys! Women never do these crazy things!” So, I searched and discovered that, since 1982, there have been 124 men shooters to 3

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

women shooters. In other words, women are over 40 times less likely than men to massacre people with a firearm. Therefore, I think that lawmakers should consider restricting gun possession to women only, as we men have forfeited any such right through our propensity to violence.

Women could retain that same right because they do not tend to abuse it. And they might need a gun to protect themselves from us, although I prefer the curved-blade dagger that I saw one sister carrying on her belt, which sends the message, “Don’t mess with me.”

We men always seem to need ways to project ourselves outward and relieve the tension of unexpressed emotions, pent-up frustrations, and shattered dreams. But you don’t need to shoot people just to let off steam!

Since time immemorial, men have instinctively known how to pump the pizzle between their legs. And though it may not shoot multiple rounds, the pumping is semi-automatic and has a kick of its own. So, when you are all tied up in knots, go to your room, close the door behind you, and get to work.

It is far more satisfying than going on a deadly rampage.

Abraham Gutmann/Lafayette

have always voted in Boulder and I’m not surprised that it doesn’t happen in a liberal, middle-class white area. It seems these long lines, which result in some people going home without voting, are in areas with a lot of working-class Black and brown people.

I don’t know what happens to cause long lines at such polling places. My theory is that some mid-level employees and maybe some senior employees of county elections departments provide an insufficient number of working computers.

However it’s done, it seems like a great solution is LOTS of early voting.

This is a serious problem when people leave the line without voting so that they can go home and sleep so they can get up for work the next morning. And it’s even more classist and racist than I have already suggested. To some extent a lot of voters who are middle-class and in that situation have some flexibility in their job and can make arrangements to skip the next day or part of the next day so they can sleep in a couple hours

after staying up late to vote. And the white ones who get in that situation have to worry less about their white supervisor firing them for coming in a couple hours late than their Black and brown co-workers do.

I think that some areas need MORE early voting and no areas needs less, and it’s also a good idea to either make election day a holiday or to have elections on Saturdays.

Tom Shelley/Boulder Thoughts? Concerns? Questions?

Email letters@boulderweekly.com

MORE EARLY VOTING It may have been better if I had written this letter about a year ago BEFORE Republicans in many states made large changes to their state’s election system. But I don’t think that those of us who believe in a democratic system are completely defeated and I want to comment on this.

I didn’t read about every change made by these Republicans but I was always relieved when I read that those Democratic state lawmakers standing up to this had succeeded in preserving early voting. I’m not saying the other stuff isn’t important, but I believe that early voting is incredibly important, partly because I don’t think the Republicans have even tried to suggest that it’s easier to commit voting fraud with early voting. I mean as important as voting by mail is, it IS a little more vulnerable to fraud than in-person voting. But not voting early in-person.

I frequently hear reports about long lines at polling places in certain areas. I haven’t seen it myself but I BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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A second chance for Dearfield

Colorado’s historical Black homestead is on the verge of dissolution, but could be saved at the final hour by the National Park System

by Lavina Kalwani, photos courtesy Paul Stewart Collection, University of Northern Colorado

O

ver two decades in the early 20th

went from being one of the most successful Black homestead sites in American history to a shattered dream and deserted settlement. Now, the ghost town might be getting a second chance at life.

The 1910 homestead site, located 80 miles northeast of Boulder in Weld

serves as an important source of Black history and pride.

Dr. George Junne, professor of

lows in its short history. After years of soaring praise in Black newspapers across America, weather changes in the area led to crop failure and the homestead’s eventual abandonment.

After decades of research and calls for preservation starting in the 1980s, new

says, “Many people—no matter if they’re Black, white, Latino, Asian American, whatever—have no idea that Black people built their own towns, their own communities, and [that] many of them were successful. Black people were determined, in spite of everything, to own their own farms, to own their own houses, to take care of themselves, to have their own governments in their communities, their own churches and so forth, and to do for themselves.”

and raise awareness about its history— efforts that were commended at the 2022

The National Park Service survey

In a letter dated May 11, 2022,

promotes awareness, education and technical services to threatened sites of perseverance—of how the Black American history, with World War I on the horizon and the KKK on the rise—and

which houses the National Parks reconnaissance survey to “determine merits further consideration as a potential

our Nation’s heritage”; offer “superlative opportunities for recreation for public use and retain “a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate, and relatively unspoiled example of the resource.”

The survey request comes as part

nearly erased from the map completely.

In 2019, manufactured housing company eventually responded to public pressure by agreeing to a land swap with the which now owns the homestead site.

But without formal safeguards in

introduced by the two lawmakers in January 2022, the bill was designed to across the country,” Neguse said.

The DOI letter indicates that even

future development or other forms of destruction, making the survey a key step in protecting a cultural cornerstone of Black American history.

Preservation underway only two African-American

is taking steps outlined in the bill to preserve the town. If established as a national historic site,

see DEARFIELD Page 12

greater awareness and additional avenues for funding.

date or timeline for the study, but stated it likely would not begin until 2023.

Reconnaissance surveys evaluate

history to be erased. must be “an outstanding example of a particular type of resource”; possess “exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of

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DEARFIELD from Page 11

historical townsites in the country that have standing structures remaining,” said Andrew Feinstein, president of UNC, at the eighth annual on May 21. The oncebustling town has only three buildings left: the

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a diner, and the home of the town’s founder, O.T. Jackson. These three structures, in addition to a fallen lunchroom and blacksmith’s shop, have been the focus of recent preservation efforts. The urgency of preservation is high, as Dr. Robert Brunswig, professor emeritus of anthropology at UNC and a leader

and O.T. Jackson house ABOVE: Charles to “look more or Rothwell perless like what forms a lasso they looked like trick, ca. 1926. in, say, 1920.”

FRONT: James Kim Grant, the endangered resident, poses places program for a portrait. director for CPI, anticipates this process will take about two years.

He also says a separate grant through

notes: “These are deteriorating buildings that are over a century old.” The past several decades have chipped away at

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example, the town grocery store fell in what’s left from a similar fate is high.

In late 2021, the standing buildings were secured through protective chainlink fencing, heavy duty doors and thick polycarbonate window coverings. Termed “mothballing,” these measures address the ongoing threat of vandalism at “People would come in … break through the windows and the doors,”

allocated in June 2022, which will provide more than $49,000 in funding for the architectural design and restoration of the buildings’ interiors.

In 2010, BAWM began hosting For its key role in preservation efforts, BAWM received CPI’s Dana Crawford honors preservation efforts for Colorado’s

bottles, whiskey bottles. [People] urinate In April and May 2022, the site underwent weeks of hazmat testing and abatement that resulted in the removal of lead-based paint and asbestos. As of late

“one of those important sites that helps to tell the story of western migration of Black Americans,” says Grant. “It’s a remarkable story.”

Dearfield’s story

UNC preservation project funded by a

through the early 1920s for its agricultural “We started a little later than we would have hoped,” Brunswig says, due to the inability to work on the site during winter.

and many other crops were not only common, but often yielded unusually large harvests. The town celebrated its prosperity through harvest festivals, where even “the governors would come out … that’s how much of a well-known

The next steps

Now, and in the coming months,

efforts focused on building stabilization and exterior restoration to return the structures to their historic appearance.

To start, this will include an architectural study of the walls and buildings to plan and design areas of work. It will be followed by the actual restoration of roofs, siding and foundation. The goal, Brunswig

GRAND OPENING

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It was also one of the few places where “African Americans had their own

segregated America could achieve. the last 10 years, spearheaded by Brunswig. A sixth began this June. Items

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LIVE MUSIC FRIDAYS! recovered so far include glass beads, shotgun shells, a rubber shoe sole and a 1920s car speedometer. lot of things that are really earthshaking, but add little pieces to the puzzle,” Junne says. The objects paint a picture of a middle class community, with some of the highest quality materials coming from the home of founder O.T. Jackson.

A racially progressive town for its farming, but for its level of racial integration. The town’s school taught both white and Black children, decades ahead of Brown v. Board of Education. Black wheat thrashers in the area, would lend their equipment to white neighbors and vice versa.

“By 1915, you got the rise of the Denver had one of the biggest klaverns of klan members in the United States.

But out there on the farmland, the Black and white farmers got along together.”

Additionally, Black women and men in the area sought work at white houses and farms. The need to rely on each other in the harsh conditions of Colorado homesteading helped cultivate an environment of racial tolerance.

But even when it came to recreation, settler, Squire Brockman, would host dances with his brother-in-law. Both Black and white townsfolk came to enjoy the

households, cooking the meals, raising the children and actually doing a lot of the hard, physical work outside. They were really the bulwark of the homesteads and farmsteads of the day,” Brunswig says.

They maintained social ties with distant homesteads and enriched church life. Yet, while historical records and photographs

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“not well represented.” This was due to discrimination against Black communities and because women in general were “in some ways, second to their husbands,” Brunswig says. “They were secondary because they didn’t necessarily own the land themselves and they didn’t documents.”

O.T. Jackson’s second wife, Minerva Jane Jackson, established herself as a community matriarch. O.T., like many

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in Denver. In his absence, Minerva was instrumental in maintaining and growing the community. Junne says she was functionally “in charge. You didn’t go against her.”

“She was kind of the backbone of

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unfortunate reality of many homesteading Brunswig says, “Women were responsible for an awful lot of the success but at the same time, I don’t think generally they were given enough of the credit.”

Revitalizing history played against all of the white teams in the area.

“It was really kind of a model community in that sense,” Junne remarks.

The role of women in racial integration, women bore the brunt of the day-to-day work that created success for the entire community. “went off to work building railroads, working in the towns and working in the cities,” such as nearby Denver to supplement their income, Brunswig says.

That left the wives to “stay behind, raise the kids and basically keep the farms going. So there was a lot of responsibility and a lot of stress for women. They were tough people.”

Not uncommon for homesteads across the West, women would do “everything—from maintaining the

When the Dust Bowl swept through

one of its many victims. The changing weather patterns made farming town was abandoned, with some people relocating to Greeley and Denver. the topsoil blew away,” Junne says. “The failure had nothing to do with [Black Nearly 100 years later, the town is regaining its mark in Black American is about “honoring the legacy of people made our nation what it is today.” It is about addressing “the histories that have taken place over the past century, two centuries … and understanding it.” And it is about celebrating Black people’s just the past.”

Send questions and comments to editorial@boulderweekly.com.

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Good for a laugh

Boulder Comedy Festival puts a spotlight on diverse voices

by Matt Maenpaa

M

RICKY RAMOS, PHOTO BY CYCLOPS STUDIOS

ark Twain once wrote, “Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.”

Boulder comedian BK Sharad’s philosophy is that everyone is fair game.

“I like making fun of everybody and everything, because I think everybody in the world wants to feel like there’s one right way of living and it’s their way,” Sharad says. “But I think everybody equally messes up and means well. I like pointing that out and making fun of it.”

Sharad doesn’t want to be mean about it, he says. The jokes aren’t meant to punch down, and he certainly doesn’t spare himself during his shows. Even after a rough set, Sharad looks for the humor and laughs it off.

“I have a joke that came from when I was driving home (after a bad set), where I was thinking about driving off the road but my car’s lane assist is too good,” Sharad says wryly.

Jokes about his mental health aside, Sharad says using comedy as a platform to discuss mental health is important to him.

Sharad is frank about his struggles with depression and anxiety, especially after the isolation of COVID lockdowns.

“I try my best,” he explains. “Sometimes people get weird about it, because it’s an uncomfortable conversation to have, but it’s important to have that conversation so people know they aren’t suffering alone.”

It’s probably why Zoe Rogers put him on the lineup for this year’s Boulder Comedy Festival, June 23-26, a diverse roster of comics from Boulder, Denver and beyond performing at venues around the county.

“I don’t like mean comedy,” Rogers says, “the punching-down stuff where you don’t want to laugh because you feel bad. I like the very vulnerable, personal and self-deprecating (comedy), where we’re laughing with the comic.”

Rogers says that the Boulder audience responds well to that style of comedy, meshing well with the lineups she wants to make space for. Bringing comedians to the stage who offer differing perspectives broadens the appeal, she explains, giving the audience more to connect with.

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JUNE 16, 2022

CHRIS FONSECA, PHOTO BY MELISSA LEAVENWORTH

Rogers’ comedy—hilarious recountings of the trials of motherhood and marriage—came from her own need to connect with people over the constant disasters of parenting.

Rogers recalls an anecdote, working with another comedy writer who happened to be a single guy. The writer jokingly said that using her kids for material was cheating, because they practically write the jokes for her.

“Do you want to trade?” Rogers says with a laugh. “I’ll sleep in, shower and form full sentences. You can occasionally get a funny

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DETAILS: Boulder

Comedy Festival runs June 23-26, multiple times and locations.

Visit bouldercomedyfestival.com for schedule and tickets.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ZOE ROGERS, PHOTO BY MELISSA LEAVENWORTH

tidbit about how broken you feel.”

Starting in the Los Angeles comedy scene before moving to Colorado, Rogers made it a goal to after her experiences sharing the stage with more cis white men than women or people of color.

“If it was a really diverse show back then, it was eight straight white guys, me and maybe a Black comic,” she says.

The irony wasn’t lost on Rogers when she was told that having two women on the same set might seem redundant. Two women with wildly different life experiences and comic tendencies couldn’t possibly be more redundant than eight straight white guys, so she started booking her own shows.

Diverse line-ups and all-women comedy sets would help Rogers create reference sheets for other comedy bookers, she explains. Setting up shows would in turn help those diverse comics get booked in more shows.

“I tried to consciously do it, where I’d look at my lineups and say, ‘Oh, this is heavily male,’ or, ‘This is looking pretty white,’ or, ‘I don’t have any gay comics,’ because that’s what pops in my head,” Rogers says. “Because that’s what pops up when I look at other people’s shows. How many different perspectives am I getting? Is this going to be a rerun? So I do consciously make things diverse, because representation does matter.”

All of which would lead to Rogers and her friends launching the Boulder Comedy Festival, returning for its second run this year (after COVID halted the original launch in 2020). Across four nights and a half-dozen venues throughout the county, 30 comics—including Sharad, Rogers and Gabby Gutierrez-Reed— will take the stage to break some funny bones.

Denver-based Gutierrez-Reed leans on the kind of selfdeprecating humor that pokes fun at her own mental health, family and ethnicity as a Mexican-Norwegian woman, along with her job as an educator. Gutierrez-Reed started studying improv about a decade ago, she says, before making the switch to stand up.

Gutierrez-Reed says she was enamored by the joy of standup, particularly the addiction of making other people laugh and how people relate to her sets. Acknowledging that she’s been lucky enough to get booked consistently over the past few years, even through a pandemic, her hard work has paid off. The BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

support she’s received from other comics has been a boon through all of it.

“As a Latina woman I would say there are all kinds of different experiences,” she says.

“I’m really happy that our scene has evolved into being very supportive.

Women and nonbinary comedians are very supportive and there’s an amazing queer scene.”

Passive-aggressive comments still happen, but Gutierrez-Reed says she tries not to dwell on them too much. Instead, she focuses on the better parts—laughing with her friends, hearing new sets and producing women-run shows like Firecracker Comedy. Producing has helped her think about the lineups.

Through the pandemic, when live shows were impossible, both Gutierrez-Reed and Sharad took to performances through being distanced from an audience. Gutierrez-Reed says the best shows were when the virtual audience had their mics on and you could hear the laughter.

“The worst ones were when everybody was muted. It was like you were in a blank void and just performing standup in a mirror,” she says.

Fortunately for comics and comedy lovers alike, in-person events returned as vaccines rolled out. Rogers said last year’s Boulder Comedy Festival got a tremendous response in both turnout and laughs for the comics.

I said, ‘thank you for coming out,’ the whole audience was like, ‘Thank you for doing this!’ So that was great,” Rogers says.

For this year’s festival, shows are spread throughout Louisville, Lafayette and Boulder. Highlights include a fundraiser for Out Boulder County at Tilt Pinball in Louisville on June 23, as well as a boozy brunch on June 24 at The Tiki Hut in Louisville.

Folks interested in the working side of comedy can also register for a standup comedy class Sunday morning before the brunch, hosted by Rogers and comedian Heather Pasternak. all the comics, one can all but guarantee a sneeze of a laugh at this year’s festival.

Email questions or comments to editorial@boulderweekly.com l

JUNE 16, 2022

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JUST ANNOUNCED

JUST ANNOUNCED

AUG 2 ............................................................................................. GARCIA PEOPLES SEPT 4 .............................................................................................. COLE SCHEIFELE SEPT 29 ........................................................................................... MONOPHONICS OCT 11 .......................................................................................... PATRICK WATSON OCT 13 .................................................................. DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO

SEP 24 ........................................................................................................ TWO FEET NOV 19 ......................................................................................... NINJA SEX PARTY

THU. JUN 16 KBCO, TERRAPIN, SKA BREWING & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: A DEAD & CO PRE-PARTY

THU. JUN 16 KGNU, DEADHEAD STORIES, WESTWORD, TERRAPIN & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: DEAD & CO PRE-PARTY

EXTRA GOLD’S “DEAD & COUNTRY” FRI. JUN 17 KBCO, ROOSTER, TERRAPIN & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: DEAD & CO AFTER PARTY

LET’S GO CRAZY A TRIBUTE TO PRINCE & THE TIME FEAT. CASEY RUSSELL, DJ WILLIAMS, DAVE WATTS, DAN AFRICANO, & MORE SAT. JUN 18 KBCO, TERRAPIN & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: DEAD & CO AFTER PARTY

THE JERRY DANCE PARTY FEAT. DEE J. HEALS IMMERSIVE PSYCHEDELIC A/V EXPERIENCE TUE. JUN 21

THE STEEL WOODS GHOST TOWN DRIFTERS TUE. JUN 28

MELVIN SEALS & JGB FRI. JUN 17

KBCO, ROOSTER, TERRAPIN & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: DEAD & CO AFTER PARTY

PINK TALKING FISH ARE DEAD PERFORMING THE MUSIC OF PINK FLOYD, TALKING HEADS, PHISH AND GRATEFUL DEAD SAT. JUN 18 KBCO, TERRAPIN & GRATEFUL WEB PRESENT: DEAD & CO AFTER PARTY

ROSS JAMES & GOO BROS.

FEAT. ADAM MACDOUGALL (CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN, GRATEFUL SHRED), KEITH MOSELEY (STRING CHEESE INCIDENT), JEREMY SALKEN (BIG GIGANTIC) THU. JUN 23

TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH: ESPERANTO SAT. JUL 23 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

JAMES MCMURTRY JONNY BURKE

MEET & LIVE TOUR IN USA

GOLDEN CHILD FRI. JUL 1 88.5 KGNU, WESTWORD & MCDEVITT TACO SUPPLY PRESENT

MOUNTAIN ROSE

SOLSATELLITE, THE GREEN HOUSE BAND SAT. JUL 2 ROOSTER & PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENT

THE EXPENDABLES A-MAC & THE HEIGHT, P-NUCKLE FRI. JUL 15 DAB RECORDS PRESENTS

COLORADO’S FINEST UNDERGROUND HIP HOP

FEAT. LANDON WORDSWELL & THE DON AVELAR/MCAD OF FREEDOM MOVEMENT, VOZ-11, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, OSCIFY, SAV, ROBIN SAMPLES, TMC! & TONE ET SAT. JUL 16

STEELY DEAD COOL SHADE

WED. AUG 3 INSIDE AN HOURGLASS TOUR

LOCAL NATIVES THU. AUG 4 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

SON VOLT

JACK BROADBENT FRI. AUG 5 88.5 KGNU PRESENTS

LES CLAYPOOL’S BASTARD JAZZ

FEAT. STANTON MOORE, MIKE DILLON, SKERIK SAT. AUG 13 50 YEARS OF MUSIC

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL GREG SCHOCHET & LITTLE AMERICA SUN. AUG 14 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

BOMBINO

SELASEE & THE FAFA FAMILY

FRI. JUL 29 88.5 KGNU PRESENTS: KING OF THE BEACH TOUR

WAVVES

WED. AUG 31 88.5 KGNU PRESENTS

BOYO, SMUT

HIATUS KAIYOTE

SUN. JUL 31

INNER WAVE MON. AUG 1

JERRY GARCIA’S 80TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

FEAT. A VERY JERRY BAND, DAVE & MATT ABEAR, CHRIS SHELDON, BILL MCKAY, WSG EVAN JONES (BOBBY) WED. AUG 3

TUE. OCT 4

INVIOLATE TOUR

STEVE VAI SAT. OCT 8 THE PYRAMID SCREAM TOUR

JACK BARTON ENTERTAINMENT & 97.3 KBCO PRESENT: JBE TRIPLE A SUMMITFEST

CHARLEY CROCKETT, SAM FENDER, NIKKI LANE THU. AUG 4

HERE COME THE MUMMIES WITH SPECIAL GUEST SAXSQUATCH FRI. OCT 14 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

JACK BARTON ENTERTAINMENT & 97.3 KBCO PRESENT: JBE TRIPLE A SUMMITFEST

GASOLINE LOLLIPOPS

FRI. AUG 5

OCT 25 ............................................................................. GRAHAM NASH NOV 8 ...................................................... CHARLES LLOYD OCEAN TRIO

PAOLO NUTINI, DELTA SPIRIT, MYRON ELKINS

THE RIVER ARKANSAS

EIVØR

EMILY JANE WHITE AUG 11 .......................................................................................... LOVING AUG 12 ...................................................................................... RED FANG AUG 13 ................................ THE PAMLICO SOUND + THE BURROUGHS AUG 20 .............................................................................. THE DISTRICTS SEP 1 ...................................................................................... VISTA KICKS

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June 23-26

RY X WED. OCT 5

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JUNE 16, 2022

Featuring comics from Late Night and Comedy Central along side local headliners. The festival highlights women and diversity in comedy.

Shows are at Tilt, License No. 1, Finkle and Garf, Front Range Brewing, Dairy Arts and Tiki on Main.

Tickets at BoulderComedyFestival.com l

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

So much loneliness so close to home Jon Bassoff finds inspiration for dark novel out on the Great Plains

by Bart Schaneman

W

hen people think of Colorado, they typically imagine mountains. Red rocks, aspen forests, alpine lakes.

But there’s another Colorado, the one of small towns and open country far east of the Rockies.

That’s where author Jon Bassoff turned his attention for his new novel, Beneath Cruel Waters, a dark drama about family secrets, guilt and tragedy.

Bassoff, who lives in Longmont, opens the novel this way: “Except for the lines of cottonwoods and willows nestled against the banks of the South Platte River, the landscape surrounding the town of Thompsonville, Colorado, was mainly desolation and starkness.”

For grist in the landscape mill, Bassoff likes to get in his car and head east.

“In Colorado it seems like you can just drive forever,” he says. “You’re not seeing anything, but you’re sort of seeing everything as well.”

DETAILS: Beneath Cruel Waters (Blackstone Publishing), available everywhere books are sold on June 21.

Bassoff has been writing for more than 20 years. This is his ninth novel. As he’s aged and watched his children grow, he’s more willing to allow his work to take a softer edge.

“In my previous novels there was a lot more malice,” he says. “In this book, there are bad decisions and terrible things happening, but for maybe the right reasons.

“I don’t think I’ll ever write a feel good novel or a great coming of age novel. But I think there has been a little shift where I’m least able to give the characters the hope that they might have the possibility of redemption.”

Bassoff has taught English and creative writing for over a decade at Longmont High School, where his students hold him accountable for getting his writing done.

“Having my students look up to me and say, ‘Hey, our teacher actually writes books as well,’ it makes me feel good, but it also gives me a little bit of the push to keep going, to keep walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.”

He had a former student come to one of his readings “It was wonderful,” Bassoff says. “The students give back to me a little bit more than I give to them.”

He has a few other projects burning, including a book that

The story begins with the family matriarch, Vivian, killing a man in cold blood. The past reemerges when Vivian kills herself 34 years later at the very same location she committed the murder.

Her son, Holt Davidson, comes home for the funeral and

a decade ago, and a screenplay he developed with Irish director Ivan Kavanaugh.

“There’s all these things that may happen, but I’ve been waiting long enough to know until they actually get the cameras

The narrative moves back and forth over more than 30 years, with Bassoff deftly depicting the pivotal moments as Holt uncovers a harrowing family melodrama.

Bassoff says it’s hard to explain why he’s drawn to writing about dark material, but he knows why he sets these stories in what he calls haunted landscapes.

“There’s the contrast of the freedom, because of how much openness there is, versus being trapped in your life and in the

that you can’t count on anything,” he says. “I’m just assuming it won’t happen. If it does I’ll be really happy.”

Email us at editorial@ boulderweekly.com

Jon Bassoff’s Top 5 favorite books 1. ‘The Killer Inside Me’ by Jim Thompson “A novel written in the repressive 1950s and told from It is terrifyingly funny.”

2. ‘The Butcher Boy’ by

Patrick McCabe “Never has a terribly sad book been so much fun to read. The unreliable narration combines a blend of dirty realism and violent fantasy, and the farther along you get in the tell them apart.”

3. ‘Wise Blood’ by Flannery O’Connor “O’Connor’s writing is

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

grotesqueness, and mental America great. If I could have written a single book this would have been it.”

4: ‘The Unconsoled’ by Kazuo Ishiguro “I’ve always been fascinated by surrealism and expressionism, and The Unconsoled takes a multitude l

JON BASSOFF

bleak landscape for this twisted story.

“For me, with this kind of noir stuff that I write, I really love the idea of the open spaces,” Bassoff says. “And there’s so much of that there, so much loneliness, and you can see how it can relate to the loneliness of families. Just that openness, the loneliness of the Eastern Plains and the stark beauty of it as well.”

of dreamlike images and expresses them in a fascinating and disorienting story.”

5. ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat’ by Oliver Sacks “Sacks was a brilliant neurologist. These case studies are heartbreaking and fascinating and show us the power of the brain and the danger of assuming in absolute truth.”

JUNE 16, 2022

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E VENTS

EVENTS

Brew

HaHa N June oon-5 p.

18, A m. Sa tu rista Park rday, Free , 800 .

1 Explo re loc food t two l rucks, law al craft be iv for sh e bands n games ers, p o on th pping. P lus vend and e law ors lus, f re n at 1 0:30 e yoga a.m.

If your organization is planning an event, please email the editor at crockett@boulderweekly.com

Louisville Street Faire featuring the North Mississippi Allstars

Lyons Garden Club Mountain Blooms Garden Tour

9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, June 18, Sandstone Park, 350 Broadway St., Lyons.

Suggested $5-$20 per person donation, lyonsgardenclub.com/garden-tour Participants will experience a day of visual splendor as they explore the town of Lyons through the lens of local gardeners. Moving at their own pace, participants will make their way through 10 gardens,

5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday, June 17, 824 Front St., Louisville Hosted at the Steinbaugh Pavilion, the Louisville Street Faire will feature excellent food, cold drinks, lots of children’s activities, quality arts, crafts and sundries. Live music will begin around 6 p.m.

After 25 years, twelve albums, four GRAMMY® Award nominations, and sold out shows everywhere, North Mississippi Allstars continue to thrill audiences with contemporary blues and rock.

William Shakespeare’s ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’

June 18-Aug. 6, University Theatre, 261 University of Colorado, Boulder. Tickets: $20, cupresents.org A smart and sexy coming-of-age romp set in elegant 1950s France, ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ introduces audiences to Helen and Bertram—one, a brilliant but poor physician’s daughter, the other, a wealthy, roguish soldier—as they grow up and grow

and fruit gardens. Pre-registered participants will receive a digital map and descriptions of the garden closer to the date of the event, and do not need to visit Sandstone Park on the day of the tour. Event-day registration will be hosted at Sandstone Park and can be made via cash, check, or credit card (online). All registration donations raised from this event will continue of plants, seeds, and supplies for community gardens and planters in our public spaces.

Boulder County Celebrates Inaugural Juneteenth Federal Holiday

June 16-20, locations across Boulder County. For full events and to register, visit: bit.ly/3mMrU3s

The NAACP Boulder County Branch and ECAACE bring you seven events and celebration locations from June 16-20 to experience history, culture, education, and understanding of why across the county; youth workshops and performances on African art, dance, drumming and singing; an outdoor celebration with Rep. Joe Neguse at Roosevelt Park in Longmont; and a celebration of Black excellence featuring BVSD/SVVSD graduates at Boulder High School.

Registration allows organizers to prepare with appropriate resources for each event and to keep participants up to date on activities, so please register via Eventbrite.

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events 20

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JUNE 16, 2022

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

EVENTS

CONCERTS PABLO NARAYANA

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

Bill Kopper & Gui Kroneberger. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637R S. Broadway St., Boulder. $15 suggested cover.

Let’s Go Crazy. 11:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $20-$25 Pink Talking Fish Are Dead. 11:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $12.50-$15 Ravin’Wolf. 7 p.m. Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: Free Songs of Genesis & Message In A Bottle.

7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: $12-$18 The Dirty Grass Players. 8:30 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: $15 cover.

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

Joe & Trevor Anderies Quartet. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637R S. Broadway St., Boulder. $15 suggested cover.

Last Men On Earth. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: $15-$18

COURTESY DIRTY GRASS BAND

TOP: Krishna Das will share his kirtan practice and stories of his life at Boulder Theater on Tuesday, June 21.

BOTTOM: Catch the Dirty Grass Players at Gold Hill Inn on Friday, June 17.

Late Night Gore. 10 p.m. Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: Free Ross James & Goo Bros. 11:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18 The Jerry Dance Party. 11 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18 This House Has Lions. 2 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $20; Students: $10 Pete Wernick and Flexigrass. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $20

SUNDAY, JUNE 19

Bill McCrossen: A Father’s Day Remembrance. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: Free, donations welcome

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Ostevetto. 5 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: Free The 420 Café. 6:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: Free

TUESDAY, JUNE 21

Krishna Das. 7:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $45-$55 The Steel Woods. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22

Keith Waters and Tina Phillips: Partners in Time. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $20; Students: $10

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JUNE 16, 2022

Swamp Molly. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: Free

THURSDAY, JUNE 23

Jordan VanHemert. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette.

Tickets: $20; Students: $10 Magnolia Grove. 7 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: $10-13 The Tesseract. 7 p.m. Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: Free

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events

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Reviewer Jill Murphy:

On the range in the gig economy

A portrait of two freelance range riders in ‘Bitterbrush’

by Michael J. Casey

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & Boulder Book Store

UPCOMING CONCERTS and EVENTS at

“THE GABRIEL, COLLINS, GENESIS TRIBUTE”

“PAT BENETAR TRIBUTE”

“ROCK” FREE ADMISSION

“THE POLICE TRIBUTE”

FATHER’S DAY DINNER & NU JAZZ WITH

BOURBON, BLUES, & GROOVES

FREE ADMISSION

FREE ADMISSION

“ARENA ROCK” DOG HOUSE STUDIOS PRESENTS

ORIGINAL MUSIC NIGHT WITH

live entertainment, special events, great food and drinks

Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center 1455 Coal Creek Drive Unit T • Lafayette Get your tickets @ www.nissis.com 22

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H

ollyn Patterson was born ready. And, as she jokes, premature, but that’s neither here nor there. Not yet, at least. Today she’s rustlin’ some beef across the Idaho hinterlands. And with Colie Moline at her side and a dozen dogs at their command, those cows are going where they need to get.

Directed by Emelie Mahdavian, Bitterbrush follows Patterson and Moline through three seasons of lonesome work herding cattle through endless sagebrush. Patterson and Moline are freelance range riders moving livestock from one grazing spot to the next for whoever has work. Neither has land of their own, but this is what they are good at, and this is what they love doing.

One of the pleasures of Bitterbrush is the rapport Patterson and Moline have with each other, something Mahdavian focuses on but does not overly emphasize. Most of Bitterbrush is understated. Everything er riding through a blizzard, breaking pregnancy, Patterson and Moline never look unsure of their abilities.

Nor do they appear uncomfortable on screen. Occasionally one will talk to the camera to explain something. But this probably has more to do with how Patterson and Moline view peppering them with questions off-screen. Honestly, it works in the movie’s favor that Patterson and Moline acknowledge they’re being photographed. It makes Bitterbrush feel more authentic. Take Patterson’s long ride

ON THE BILL: Bitterbrush opens in limited release on

wind, and the dog races ahead to the cows and then back to Patterson. Patterson dips her head low so that her hat bears the brunt of the wind. It’s a stunning shot, and the longer it goes on, the more you become aware that in this same blizzard in the middle of nowhere is another person riding on horseback, about 50 feet from Patterson, capturing it all with a movie camera.

His name is Derek Howard, and his cinematography gives Bitterbrush realism. The music you hear, Bach keyboard pieces, is performed by piano duo Anderson and Roe. Their performance gives Bitterbrush its lyricism. This isn’t your average day-in-the-life documentary. century is an exercise in accepting frustrating realities. Even Moline discussing her relationship to God drives at something more than just belief—it’s a lesson in practical spirituality.

None of this Mahdavian hammers home or underlines with bold markers. It’s so quiet at times you may even wonder what it all adds up to—quite a bit, once you start mulling it over.

For Mahdavian, Bitterbrush was a chance to make a movie about the community she lived in and the people she encountered. She succeeded. And not just by giving a portrait of two fascinating subjects, but by depicting a reality next door to ours that couldn’t feel more distant.

For more movie reviews, tune into After Image, Fridays at 3 p.m., on KGNU: 88.5 FM and online at kgnu.org. Send questions or comments to editorial@boulderweekly. com l

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: Libran lexicographer

by Rob Brezsny ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Aries actor Marilu Henner has an unusual condition: hyperthymesia. She can remember in detail voluminous amounts of past events. For instance, she vividly recalls being at the Superdome in New Orleans on September 15, 1978, where she and her actor friends watched a boxing match between Leon Spinks and Muhammad Ali. You probably don’t have hyperthymesia, Aries, but I invite you to approximate that state. Now is an excellent time to engage in a leisurely review of your life story, beginning with your earliest memories. Why? It will strengthen your foundation, nurture your roots, and bolster your stability.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: Poet Elizabeth Bishop noted that many of us are “addicted to the gigantic.” We live in a “mostly huge and roaring, glaring world.” As a counterbalance, she wished for “small works of art, short poems, short pieces of music, intimate, low-voiced, and delicate things.”

That’s the spirit I recommend to you in the coming weeks, Taurus. You will be best served by consorting with subtle, and quiet wonders and understated truths.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: In the coming weeks, you will need even more human touch than usual. Your mental, physical, and spiritual health REQUIRE you to have your skin in contact with people who care for you and are eager to feel their skin against yours. A Tumblr blogger named FriendSuggestion sets the tone for the mood I hope you cultivate. They write, “I love! human contact! with! my friends!

So put your leg over mine! Let our knees touch! Hold my hand! Make excuses to feel my arm by drawing pictures on my skin! Stand close to me! Lean into my space! Slow dance super close to me! Hold my face in your hands or kick my foot to get my attention! Put your arm around me when we’re standing or sitting around! Hug me from behind at random times!”

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Author John Banville wrote what might serve as a manifesto for some of us Crabs: “To be concealed, protected, guarded: that is all I have ever truly wanted. To burrow down into a place of womby warmth and cower there, hidden from the sky’s indifferent gaze and the harsh air’s damagings. The past is such a retreat for me. I go there eagerly, shaking off the cold present and the colder future.” If you are a Crab who feels a kinship with Banville’s approach, I ask you to refrain from indulging in it during the coming months. You’re in a phase of your long-term astrological cycle when your destiny is calling you to be bolder and brighter than usual, more visible

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: author Clarissa Pinkola Estés. That’s good advice for you right now. Your anger can serve you, but only if you use it to gain clarity—not if you allow it to control or immobilize you. So here’s my counsel: Regard your wrath as a fertilizing fuel that helps deepen your understanding of what you’re angry about—and shows you how to engage in constructive actions that will liberate you from what is making you angry.

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Virgo author Jeanette Winterson was asked, “Do you fall in love often?” She replied, “Yes, often. With a view, with a book, with a dog, a cat, with numbers, with friends, with complete strangers, with nothing at all.” Even if you’re not usually as prone to infatuation and enchantment as Winterson, you could have many experiences like hers encourage you to welcome it. Your capacity to be fascinated and captivated will be at a peak. Your inclination to trust your attractions will be extra high. Sounds fun!

Daniel Webster (1758–1843) worked hard to create his dictionary, and it became 26 years perfecting it. To make sure he could properly analyze the etymologies, he learned 28 languages. He had never been included in a published dictionary. I trust Libra. This entire year is an excellent time to devote yourself with exacting diligence to a monumental labor of love.

If you haven’t started it yet, launch now. If it’s already in motion, kick it into a higher gear.

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: “Shouldn’t the distance between impossible and improbable be widened?” asks poet Luke Johnson. I agree that it should, and I nominate you to power to make progress in accomplishing goals that some people may regard as unlikely, fantastical, and absurdly challenging. (Don’t listen to them!) I’m not necessarily saying you will always succeed in wrangling the remote possibilities into practical realities. But you might. And even if you’re only partially victorious, you will learn key lessons that bolster your abilities to harness future amazements.

Now Offering: • In Person Workshops • Virtual and In Person Private Coaching

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: Sagittarian novelist George Eliot wrote, “It is very hard to say the exact truth, even about your own immediate feelings—much harder than to say something will be exempt from this rule during the next seven weeks.

You will be able to speak with lucid candor about your feelings—maybe more so than you’ve been able to in a long time. And that will serve you well as you take advantage of the opportunity that life is offering you: to deepen,

For more information: 720-333-7978

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Author bell hooks (who didn’t capitalize her name) expressed advice I recommend for you. She said, “Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” As you enter a phase of potential renewal for your close relationships, you’ll be wise to deepen your commitment at how profoundly that enriches intimacy. Here are two more helpful gems from bell hooks: “You can never love anybody if you are unable to love yourself” and “Do not expect to receive the love from someone else you do not give yourself.”

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: driver’s license. She failed. In fairness to her, the written test wasn’t easy. It required an understanding of car unsuccessful. She persevered, however. Five years later, she passed the test and received her license. It was her able future. I doubt you’ll have to persist as long as she did, but you’ll be wise to cultivate maximum doggedness and diligence.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: In the eighth century, Chinese poet Du Fu gave a batch of freshly written poems to his friend and colleague, the poet Li Bai. “Thank you for letting me read your new poems,” Li Bai later wrote to Du Fu. “It was like being alive twice.” I foresee you double its usual intensity. How should you respond to this gift from the Fates? Get twice as much work done?

Start work on a future masterpiece? Become a beacon of inspiration to everyone you encounter? Sure, if that’s every detail of your daily rhythm with supreme, sublime delight.

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SUSAN FRANCE

SUSAN FRANCE

SUSAN FRANCE

A taste of time

The rustic Gold Hill Inn restaurant has rung the dinner bell for 60 years

by John Lehndorff

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he Gold Hill Inn opened in 1962. That year was so long ago that all the memories are in blackand-white. The rustic eatery began serving 60 years ago when John Kennedy was president and John Glenn was an astronaut. It was the time before the invention of the internet, CDs, cell phones and personal computers. Few Americans had color TVs to watch The Beverly Hillbillies, the No. 1 show.

That was the year that an adventurous young couple, Barbara and Frank Finn, visited a closed-up, run-down building in a barely-there mountain town at the top of a long, steep, rutted and winding dirt road. They had hopes of transforming the log building into an eatery that would entice guests into making the trek to 8,300-foot Gold Hill for dinner. The family had four children, including their very young son, Brian.

“They were a little crazy,” recalls Brian Finn. “There were maybe they didn’t have any money, but they borrowed $12,000 to buy the place.” Today, Brian runs the Gold Hill Inn with his brother, Chris, who is in charge of the kitchen.

From the beginning, Gold Hill dining was different.

“They decided they were going to do the table d’hote—table of the house, the full six-course meal—in the middle of nowhere. Mom would take popular recipes, like from Julia Child, and mold them into her own style,” Brian says.

The full dinner in the dining room still includes appetizers, house-baked whole grain bread, butter and jam, hot and cold soups, and choice of salads.

Chris Finn usually lists four to six entrees on the chalkboard menu at the entrance to the dining room. The most popular dishes in 2022 have been popular for decades: broiled stuffed cold-smoked rainbow trout and bacon-wrapped beef tournedos with hunter sauce, and roast lamb with rosemary sauce.

The old-fashioned desserts range from sour cream apple pie

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and frozen chocolate mint cups, to Red Hoss Mountain (frozen strawberry cream) and sherryof cheeses, fruits and Melba toast.

CHA-CHING:

Part of the Gold Hill Inn’s charm is its historic brica-brac.

the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder discovered the place and loved it,” Brian says.

“When some of them went to Antarctica, they built an igloo for instruments with a sign out front that said ‘Gold Hill Inn.’ An Associated Press photographer shot a photo of the sign that appeared in publications nationally.”

The Gold Hill Inn has survived the decades, in part, because it wasn’t open year-round. “My parents would shut down the inn for the winter, pack us in an old school bus and take us down to Mexico where we camped on the beach,” Brian adds. cottage in Key West, Florida, every winter. our history,” Brian says. “One day we were looking at our huge side yard we only used for concerts on three holiday weekends a year.

We decided to try putting out some tables, serving food and drinks and having live music. It was a huge success immediately and it saved us.” l

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served an a la carte menu. The inn continues to serve that menu in its bar room and beer garden.

“It’s a blast. Now it’s my favorite thing we do,” Brian says.

“When we come out into the yard with our usual big, heavy plate loaded with three vegetables, a starch and an entrée, people are like, ‘Whoa! That’s a real dinner.’ It wasn’t just a cheeseburger,” he says.

The mountain cabin experience diners encountered in the 1960s remains much the same now. On a recent Saturday night at the Gold Hill Inn, the place was packed. The worn, slightly warped

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MEMORIES:

tanks on the toilets in the restrooms. People still belly up to the big old bar to order the Kirby Bump, a historic cocktail made with rum,

Fran and Barbara Finn opened the Gold Hill Inn in 1962.

The Gold Hill Inn has long been a beloved concert venue that has hosted the likes of John Hartford, The Dillards and Guy Clark.

a dinner concert featuring old favorites, Drew Emmitt and Andy Thorn of Leftover Salmon.

As twilight shadows the foothills, you could hear the clink of glasses and the sound of everyone in the yard singing along. Barbara and Frank Finn would be pleased by how their wild idea has taken root 60 years on.

Local Food News

A social media message posted in the past week by the Niwot Tavern: “Please!

For the LOVE OF GOD! Stop going to restaurants if you are not feeling well! We are all trying to continue to do business! We are all short staffed to begin with and then, when you bring your sicknesses to us, we then have to close because we do not have healthy staff! Please be respectful of others’ health.”

Words to Chew On

“... ’Nd windin’ up wuz cake or pie, with coffee demy tass,

That left a sort of pleasant ticklin’ in a feller’s throat, ’Nd made him a hanker after more of Casey’s table d’hote.”

— Casey’s Table D’ Hote, Eugene Field’s 1800s poem about a meal he ate in Gold Hill.

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles Thursdays on KGNU. Listen to podcasts at news.kgnu.org. Email questions or comments to nibbles@boulderweekly.com.

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JUNE 16, 2022

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

JOHN LEHNDORFF

by John Lehndorff

Taste of the Week: A manly breakfast pie

F

stopped eating egg pie. A bestselling book was published that year entitled Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. It was a silly guide to masculine living in a world thankfully becoming progressively less macho. Manly men in France and the U.S. laughed at the silliness and kept eating well-made quiche. I’ve always loved and made quiche because, well, it’s pie for breakfast.

Julien Jeannot knows real quiche. At Lafayette’s Jeannot’s Patisserie & Bistro, the French-born pastry chef melds nutmeg-accented creamy eggs what’s not to like?

Jeannot’s classic quiche Lorraine is rich and creamy, not rubbery, and baked long enough to caramelize the cheese-y top. I enjoyed a slice with a side of raspberry preserves, plus a fresh fruit and berry salad and a cup of dark-roasted coffee.

The bistro’s breakfast/lunch menu also features salade Lyonnaise topped with bacon and a poached egg, croque monsieur, and a salmon English The cases are full of traditional French classics including croissant, pain What I like here is the attention to detail all around. Jeannot’s is not cheap quiche, but it’s well worth savoring.

Culinary Calendar: Take this Class Another Roadfood Attraction: Donut Attraction

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National Park entrance when they rounded a corner in Estes Park and saw the Donut Haus sign.

Doughnut lovers have a new reason to smack their lips at high altitude since The Daily Donut opened recently near the original Donut Haus location. With windows where you can view the doughnut frying, glazing and topping process, Daily Donut is far more entertaining than another Estes Park culinary attraction I visited. Beef Jerky Experience is just a whole lot of jerky hanging out.

The Daily Donut was opened by the same folks who operate the You cream and coated in chocolate glaze. My favorite variety is the yeast-raised doughnut with thick maple glaze and a crown of smoky bacon pieces.

The shop’s menu also features baked and fried cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, and, on the savory side, Texas kolaches and breakfast burritos.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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lease take this class or a similar knife skills class.

It is the single best thing you can do to make food prep easier, faster, safer and more fun for the rest of your cooking life. The Knife Skills Class June 18 at Longmont’s Journey Culinary Ltd. shows you how to choose a knife, sharpen it, hold it safely and chop, dice, slice and mince (journeyculinary.com). … Slow Food Boulder County org). … The Denver Greek Festival, June 17-19, features an array of Greek foods (thegreekfestival.com). … Botanica: A Festival of Plants is June 18-19 at Lafayette’s Three Leaf Farm, with workshops about wild foods and a farm dinner (botanicafestival.com).

Send information about Boulder County and Colorado food and drink events, classes, festivals, farm dinners, farm stands and tastings to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com.

JUNE 16, 2022

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Thailand’s green gold rush

Thailand beats U.S. to end prohibition of cannabis, decriminalize sale and cultivation, and expunge cannabis convictions

by Will Brendza

plant was coming off the prohibited drugs list sometime in 2022; people would be allowed to cultivate it at home. And just six months later country to decriminalize cannabis—beating the

I

t was hot and humid, like most June afternoons in Buriram, Thailand. A crowd of over a hundred had gathered in the northern province for a small fair and exhibition, presided over by the nation’s health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul—who was handing out seedling cannabis plants with a big smile.

Charnvirakul, who has largely spearheaded the Thai government’s decriminalization movement, gave out 100 free cannabis plants to Thai citizens that day, and the government plans on giving out 1 million more over the next six months. At the beginning of 2022, Thailand announced that it would be decriminalizing cannabis this year, clearing a pathway for home cultivation and entrepreneurship.

“It is an opportunity for people and the state to earn income from marijuana and hemp,” Charnvirakul wrote in a social media post. “Anyone can sell it if they obey the law.” in a new era for the Land of Smiles. An era that will see Thailand’s opportunity and tourism revenue skyrocket.

And an era that represents a second chance for thousands of people currently serving time in Thailand’s jails.

Cannabis isn’t new to the Thai people or culture. It’s been part of their traditional medicine and cooking for centuries, and was only made illegal in 1935. Since then, though, the Thai government has remained fairly strict about it: If a person was caught smoking cannabis in public, they’d be handed a three-month jail sentence and

However, in 2018 the nation legalized medicinal cannabis. And the levee of prohibition started to show some cracks.

“This is a New Year’s gift from the National Legislative Assembly to the government and the Thai people,” Somchai Sawangkarn, chairman of the drafting com-

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mittee, said at the 2018 announcement of Thailand’s medicinal cannabis policy.

Then, in January, the Thai government’s

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Under Thailand’s law, Thai citizens can grow up to six plants per-household (which can be sold to hospitals, research facilities or used in food or cosmetics). To produce more than that, a cultivation permit from the government will be required; and any cannabis businesses have to be licensed by the state. Charnvirakul told the Bangkok Post that over 700,000 applications for cannabis permits and licenses have already been submitted.

“That exceeds the target,” he said. And it indicates how eager the Thai people are to start tapping into this new revenue stream.

To date (10 years into recreational legalization), cannabis has made almost $13 billion dollars in Colorado alone.

Just last year, the state raked in $423 million in tax and fee revenue. And every year, recreational legalization attracts millions of visitors from other states.

Thailand could soon see similar explosions of wealth called a “green gold rush.”

Jonathan Caulkins is an American drug policy researcher who has produced several cannabis reports for the RAND corporation looking at how legalization affects state economies and social welfare. He likens the revenue legal states make off of cannabis tourism to that of casinos in the ’80s.

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“Nevada had casinos then, and it was only Nevada,” he says. “And in those years you had tourists from other states coming in spending their money there.”

He also points out that when a legal state borders a cantly more revenue, as people cross state lines to make their purchases. That applies to countries too.

“Thailand could draw tourists from [prohibition nations] as a place to get away from [their] own country’s rules, to indulge,” Caulkins says. Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Chinese all travel to Thailand in droves throughout the year, and all come from countries with standing cannabis prohibitions.

While the revenue possibilities will soon make a huge difference in Thailand, the expungement aspect of this policy suffering in the county. With this announcement, some 4,000 prisoners currently serving jail-time for cannabis offenses will not only be released, but their records will be wiped clean. It’s a progressive step for a county that only recently started breaking down cannabis prohibition, and one that the U.S. could surely learn from. According to the ACLU, 40,000 Americans are currently behind bars for cannabis crimes, even though it’s been fully legalized in 19 states.

Thailand has yet to set forth a comprehensive law for regulating recreational cannabis, now that it’s been decriminalized. But business owners are already taking steps to position themselves for when their parliament does. One business owner who has already started selling cannabis flowers at her shop, alongside her terpene-infused gummies, told ABC News she knows tighter regulations are coming. But for now, cannabis has “become as free as garlic [and] as chili.”

Email the author at wbrendza@boulderweekly.com

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: My husband and I were at a kink event that required pronouns under scene names. My husband is a crossdresser and wants “he/him” pronouns used when he is presenting as a boy and “she/her” pronouns to be used when he’s presenting as a girl. He does not want to use “they/them.” I suggested he go with “he/she,” but he doesn’t think “he/she” is an appropriate option because he wants people to use the pronouns assigned to what he is presenting as. He doesn’t want to be insensitive to those whose presentation isn’t obviously binary but feels it is obvious when he’s presenting as either masculine or feminine and that it should be easy for people to use the pronouns he would prefer without having to specify them. How do you opt out and ask people to read your current “presenting gender” and apply traditional pronouns in the moment?

—Helping Everyone Seeking Help Everywhere Dear HESHE: Are we talking nametags here? Because if we’re talking

nametags, HESHE, then your husband can wear a “he/him” nametag when he’s presenting as a man and “she/her” nametag when he’s presenting as a woman. But if this is a kink event run by anal weirdos who require attendees to preregister their scenes and list the names of all players involved in those scenes and itemize the pronouns those players intend to use during their scenes and stick to those pronouns under threat of expulsion… then your husband will just have to pick a team, i.e., pick the gender he will present as that night and the pronouns that go with it.

Dear Dan: I am a white American cis-gendered paramilitary-looking heterosexual-seeming guy who happens to be in a polyamorous relationship. In the kink community, I am considered a “service top.” I enjoy group sex with my partner and in a group sex setting I will sometimes play with other men. But I am not interested in playing with men outside of those hyper-sexual situations. How am I supposed to identify? I ask because for those of us who grew up in the 1990s, a person was considered gay if he

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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performed even a single gay act. I am comfortable/confident in myself, and if a guy wants to mess around with me during group sex, I figure it doesn’t hurt me any to make him feel good. I would rate these experiences on the positive side of neutral. I worry that using terms like “heteroflexible” or “mostly straight” contributes to bisexual erasure but calling myself bisexual seems appropriative because I can walk through life with all this heterosexual privilege. I would like to identify as bi because I think it helps normalize it, but somehow don’t feel like I make the cut.

If you could help me out, I would really appreciate it.

—Just Oppressed Enough Dear JOE: I think you’re perfectly entitled to identify as bisexual, JOE. But just to be sure, I got a second opinion from Zachary Zane, the bisexual sexadvice columnist for Men’s Health.

“I often receive questions from bi folks who don’t feel ‘queer’ enough to claim a bisexual label,” said Zane.

“Typically, I hear this from cisgender women married to straight cis men who haven’t experienced the same level of oppression as, say, femme gay men in

JUNE 16, 2022

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relationships with nonbinary individuals.”

But your own personal experience with oppression—or your lack thereof— doesn’t invalidate your queerness or disqualify you from identifying as bisexual.

“How sad is it that our understanding of queer identity is inextricably linked and dependent on having experienced oppression,” said Zane. “That is so wildly fucked up. Being queer and/or bisexual is about your attraction to genders,” and not about being or feeling oppressed.

“So I would say yes, JOE can identify as bisexual because he enjoys, in certain situations, playing sexually with men,” said Zane. “At the same time, I think JOE can and should also acknowledge his privilege from how he presents—which he’s already doing, and should continue doing—and hopefully, he will use that privilege to support other bisexuals who don’t experience the same heteropresenting privileges he does.”

Zachary Zane is the co-author of Men’s Health Best. Sex. Ever. Follow him on Twitter @ZacharyZane.

Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

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