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August

A year after falling and breaking her back, Molly Mitchell climbs again

What goes up by Will Brendza

PEACHES TEACHES, P. 23

DINING WITH THE DOGS, P. 32

BUNK WEED’S A BUMMER, P. 38

17,

2022

news:

Public health agencies generally don’t test wastewater for polio, giving the virus time to circulate silently by Robin Fields, ProPublica

adventure:

A year after she broke her back, Molly Mitchell returns to climbing by Will Brendza

overtones:

Twenty-two years later, Peaches’ debut album is still pertinent by Adam Perry

nibbles:

If the wolfhound at the next table is rude, blame the owner, not the dog by John Lehndorff

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

12 23 37 38

weed between the lines:

Without full legalization and regulation, consumers will always be at risk by Will Brendza

departments 5 Opinion: Plenty of food, but not for all farmworkers 6 Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views 17 Buzz: Goose’s Peter Anspach on the raw magic of improvisational live music 21 Overtones: Mexico City’s Petite Amy brings its psych-pop rock north 24 Events: What to do when there’s nothing to do 27 Words: ‘Untitled,’ by Amy Bobeda 29 Film: Down the winding roads of ‘Mulholland Drive’ 30 Astrology: by Rob Brezsney 35 Drink: You can make a barista-quality cup of coffee 37 Cuisine: Ash’Kara, a recipe by chef Janos Wilder and more BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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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 Interns, Ben Berman, Chad Robert Peterson 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, Bart Schaneman, Alan Sculley, Will Matuska, Tom Winter SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman, Chris Allred 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 Aug. 11, 2022 Volume XXIX, number 48 Cover, Molly Mitchell, photo by Cedar Wright 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.

Plenty of food, but not for all farmworkers by Astra Lincoln

This column originally appeared on Writers on the Range

n a summer morning in southern Idaho, the day breaks early, before 6 a.m. The air is stale, never fully cooled from the heat of the day before. In the indigo hour when night becomes morning, dozens of people—most from Mexico—queue for the van that will shuttle them to the picking fields. For the next 15 hours they harvest. Ladders teeter on the uneven, parched earth. Cherries are quickly pulled from high branches by the handful. The fruit isn’t for them. Like most regions in the country whose economies rely on exporting food, little of what’s picked here makes it onto the plates of the people who harvested it.

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At the end of the daylight hours, a company bus returns and drives the farmworkers to Walmart, on the far side of town, where they can shop for groceries and gloves. Farmworkers forced to shop late at night have frequently been met with depleted shelves ever since the early days of the pandemic. They buy what little they can, then re-board the van that brings them home. Many fall asleep hungry. In 2020, when the pandemic began, organizer Samantha Guerrero drove across the low, parched hills of Idaho’s Canyon County to a neighborhood she calls Farmway Village. First built as a labor camp, the low-income housing complex has become home to many of the county’s agricultural employees. Guerrero had planned to distribute see WRITERS ON THE RANGE Page 6

AUGUST 11, 2022

MAKE REDTAIL RIDGE CONFORM TO THE CITY CODE [Longmont’s] Planning Commission must act to ensure that Redtail Ridge fully complies with the City Code now and in the future. Brue Baukol, the developer, recently announced a pivot to biotechnology. The City Code requires developments to “promote the health, safety, convenience, order, prosperity and welfare of the present and future inhabitants of the city.” Questions need to be asked and answered. Biotechnology can mean many things. An online dictionary defines biotech as “the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc.” At the University of Colorado, biotech includes computational biology and the following types of engineering: aerospace; bioastronautics; chemical and biological; biomaterials, biopharmaceuticals and tissue; electrical, computer and energy; optics, nanostructures and bioengineering; and mechanical-biomedical. We need to know what Brue Baukol means by biotechnology. The property is currently a Planned Community Zoned District with a commercial PUD-C overlay. Generally, industrial activity requires an industrial PUD-I overlay. Here, however, the permitted uses probably allow for some industrial activity. But in my opinion, the applicant cannot convert a PUD-C/Commercial Overlay to a PUD-I/Industrial Overlay through the backdoor (i.e., by using one of the 13 permitted uses to completely change the character of Redtail so that it is exclusively or primarily industrial). If this were permissible, no developer would ever apply for a PUD-I/Industrial Overlay. This section of the Code would become meaningless, leaving concerns about pollution, congestion, and public utilities unaddressed. It is the job of the Planning Commission to ask enough questions to determine whether the planned biotechnology center is truly commercial. If it is not, the general development 6

plan must be amended so that the current commercial PUD-C/Commercial overlay is replaced by an industrial PUD-I/Industrial overlay. Cathern Smith/Louisville #COEXIST WITH CARNIVORES Colorado has a unique opportunity to get wolf restoration right. While our neighbors in the Northern Rockies have failed and are now engaged in a full-on war on wolves, Coloradans have the spirit and the leadership to #COexist with native carnivores. Colorado can be a place in which wolves can be safe and welcomed back in sufficient numbers so that their ecological benefits can preserve the state’s open spaces, magnificent forests, and wilderness areas. Colorado’s wolf plan needs to restore wolves throughout suitable habitat in western Colorado to bring about the desired ecological benefit, fulfill the spirit of Proposition 114, and track with the best available science. A half-hearted effort that sees only token wolf populations will fail Colorado and wolves. The Colorado wolf restoration plan should never include recreational wolf hunting. Wolves are shy, intelligent, social animals. Pack structures, prey, and territorialism combine to regulate wild wolf populations. Science indicates that there is no need to “cull” or keep a population “in check.” Hunting wolves is trophy hunting and only done for sport. This was not what the voters passed, and this should never happen as part of a reintroduction plan for a species that is struggling to survive. In fact, most Americans find trophy hunting abhorrent, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Proposition 114 is the first step toward a Colorado that could set the standard for wolf restoration and management in the American West. This is our opportunity to be a leader in preserving our wildlife heritage for all Coloradoans and for future generations. Pamela DeBellis/Boulder Email: letters@boulderweekly.com AUGUST 11, 2022

WRITERS ON THE RANGE from Page 5

information about the new virus. But what she found wasn’t a lack of information; it was a lack of good groceries. She’s been working to change that ever since. For immigrant farmworkers, food is in short supply: “The only thing close to that place is a gas station,” Guerrero told me. “That means they only have access to the processed foods sold there.” Guerrero works for the nonprofit Idaho Organization of Resource Councils, which is trying to change things. Recently, it started distributing culturally relevant foods, like masa for corn tortillas, and some local, organic farmers let volunteers glean produce like tomatoes and pumpkins to redistribute. Yet the need is widespread—in Idaho and elsewhere where farmworkers are needed—and even the best-organized mutual aid projects can’t meet the demand. Nonprofits try to help, but they aren’t equipped to make the systems-level changes needed to end the lack of nutritious food and the hunger suffered by farmworkers and other immigrants. Local food pantries try, but they’re not always an answer. Many farmworkers come from agricultural communities south of our border with Mexico, Guerrero says. They’re used to fresh fruits, home-raised meats, or hand-pressed tortillas. Even though these immigrant communities are the primary audience for many food pantries, the canned and boxed food they provide can be unrecognizable to the people they serve. This holds true across the West. I’ve spoken to other farmworkers and organizers in Montana, Oregon and the Dakotas, and all echo those sentiments. We haven’t diminished the l

hunger of the workers who feed us. There are 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States. For more than 20 years, migration from Mexico has been largely driven by economic hardship that began in 1994, when the NAFTA treaty crashed the value of the peso. Now, migrants from that country and Central America are increasingly coming north to escape drug violence, or when landslides, hurricanes and other disasters hastened by the changing climate force them to flee. When many workers land at large, corporate-owned farms, they sometimes find harsh conditions; this February, the U.S. Department of Labor found that one large Idaho farm had shortchanged its 69 workers by $159,000. Ninety-one percent of counties with the highest rates of overall food insecurity are rural, and workers there face soaring costs of food and a declining number of grocery stores, as consolidation and rising real estate values close outlets. Although farmworkers harvest fruit and vegetables all day, it is odd, but true, that they are living in “food deserts.” “I have to say,” Guerrero says, sighing, “that there is a lot of abundance (in Idaho). There is enough to go around. It’s just all going elsewhere.” Astra Lincoln is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to lively debate about Western issues. She writes in Oregon. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly. Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

VALET Market forces for products, not people by Tina Eden

here is a lot of discussion about teacher pay in the United States, and Colorado is no exception. What gets less attention is the pay rate of school district employees such as teachers’ aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, clerical workers, and custodians, collectively referred to as “education support professionals.” Nationally, these support professionals number 2.2 million, while classroom teachers number 3.2 million. The National Education Association analyzed federal data and found that there is no state in the country where education support professionals earn enough, on average, to support themselves and one child while living in the state’s most affordable metropolitan area. The pay ratios within school districts are quite narrow compared to the private sector. The Economic Policy Institute found that, in 2020, the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation was 351 to 1, yet within many school districts, the school-superintendent-to-lowest-paid-employee is closer to 10 to 1. The narrow pay range in school districts is partly the result of having much smaller budgets to work with. Additionally, employee unions, a general sense that teachers should be paid as much as budgets will allow, and wage standards set by the educational community can also be credited with the narrow pay range in school districts. School superintendents may oversee thousands of students and employees, and earn about five times the average teacher’s salary. Although the lowest-paying positions in school districts generally hover just above minimum wage, school districts often provide health insurance as well as state retirement plans to employees who work less than full-time but more than 20 hours weekly. These benefits, which often are not available in the private sector, attract support personnel, so schools are able to retain these employees. But why can’t they pay a livable wage? The simple answer is that there is not enough money to go around. The more nuanced answer is that low pay is acceptable in our economic system, so schools, which, to quote educational philosopher John Dewey, “are a reflection of society,” pay some of their

workforce as little as possible, mirroring the private sector. If schools were to further emulate the private sector, they could follow the lead of Taco Bell. Presently, many Taco Bell restaurants are offering only drive-thru meal service. To some degree, a similar change has taken place in schools. Nearly two-thirds of Colorado school districts are on four-day school weeks. Denver Public Schools is offering sign-on bonuses for bus drivers, special education paraprofessionals, and others. While a four-day work week and sign-on bonuses might pacify workers for a while, they do not provide livable wages. Perhaps another way to address low wages paid by schools would be for schools to limit the number of people they hire to only the number of people that their budgets can afford to pay a livable wage. Schools receive funding based on the number of students enrolled, but in an attempt to provide as many services as possible to their students, school districts have stretched these dollars by paying a large share of their workforce low wages. If a school district were to decrease its number of paid positions to a number that it could pay a livable wage to, a back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the decrease at around 25%. Of course, no school board is going to advocate for such a radical move. It would result in curtailing essential services. Instead of students attending school four or five days per week, they would attend perhaps only three days per week. If bus drivers and cafeteria workers saw their time at work decrease 40%, this translates roughly to a 65% hourly wage increase (assuming total wages are left unchanged). Four-day school weeks and employee sign-on bonuses might be the harbingers of changing pay structures and school structures. Schools are experiencing staffing shortages as their lowest paid employees leave the industry and demand higher wages. The underpaid workers in essential industries are in a position to demand and receive livable wages. If they were to stop showing up for work, society would feel the impact. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly. Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com

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How polio crept back Into the U.S.

U.S. public health agencies generally don’t test wastewater for signs of polio. That may have given the virus time to circulate silently before it paralyzed a New York man.

by Robin Fields, ProPublica A NEW KIND OF POLIO:

A 3D illustration of Poliovirus, an RNA virus from Picornaviridae family that causes polio disease. Wastewater is now the most common mode of transmission for polio, particularly in developing nations.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

bout a month ago, British health authorities announced they’d found evidence suggesting local spread of polio in London. It was a jolt, to be sure. The country was declared polio-free in 2003. But at least no one had turned up sick. The proof came from routine tests of sewage samples, which can alert health officials that a virus is circulating and allow them to intervene quickly. Based on genetic analysis of those samples, officials in the United Kingdom moved to protect the city’s children by reaching out to families with kids under 5 who hadn’t been fully vaccinated. Polio’s first appearance in almost a decade in the U.S., confirmed late last week by health officials in New York, would play out quite differently. In the U.S., public health agencies generally don’t test sewage for polio. Instead, they wait for people to show up sick in doctor’s offices or hospitals—a reactive strategy that can give this stealthy virus more time to circulate silently through the community before it is detected. In New York, the first sign of trouble surfaced when a young man in Rockland County sought medical treatment for weakness and paralysis in June. By the time tests confirmed he had polio, nearly a month had passed. Because the majority of polio infections cause no symptoms, by the time there’s a case of paralysis, 100 to 1,000 infections may have occurred, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine who chairs the Amerl

AUGUST 11, 2022

ican Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases. “You’re already chasing your tail if you’re going to wait for a case to show up,” she said. Only after the case was identified did New York health officials start the sort of surveillance the British did, testing wastewater samples from Rockland County and beyond to help determine if the virus is spreading and where. Like many parts of the U.S., New York already was collecting sewage and analyzing it to track the spread of COVID-19. Health officials say they’re now testing stored samples for signs of polio. They say they’ve detected polio in a few Rockland County samples but need to analyze more to understand what the initial results represent. For decades, the cost of doing wastewater surveillance for diseases like polio pretty clearly outweighed the benefit. High U.S. vaccination rates, topping 90%, made the risk of such diseases incredibly low, though there have long been pockets of population in which rates are far lower. Rockland County, a suburban area northwest of New York City, is one such place. It suffered an extended outbreak of measles, another vaccine-preventable disease, in 2018 and 2019 that was largely concentrated in its Orthodox Jewish community, where many opt out of vaccines. Several news organizations have reported that the polio patient is a member of that community. Nationally and globally, there are signs that see POLIO Page 10 l

POLIO from Page 9

the pandemic has opened up new vulnerabilities to diseases long in retreat. Routine immunizations have been hindered by a host of obstacles, including COVID-19-related lockdowns and growing vaccine resistance stoked by misinformation and politicization. A recent analysis by UNICEF and the World Health Organization showed that the percentage of children worldwide who received all three doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis—a measure of overall immunization—dropped 5 points between 2019 and 2021 and that measles and polio vaccinations fell, too. The organizations say that’s the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in the roughly 30 years they’ve been collecting data. That could create greater risk of polio, a scourge of the first half of the 20th century in the U.S. Highly contagious and potentially life-threatening, polio historically has victimized mostly young children, attacking their spinal cords, brain stems or both. The virus spreads when fecal material or respiratory droplets from infected people get into water or food or onto other people’s hands, which they then for polio has put into their mouths. This may sound unusual, but it’s been a staple in developing among the more common ways viruses circulate, espenations for decades, but cially among children. Around 70% of those at least a few countries who are infected show no signs of the illness but can where cases are rare and infect others. Of those who do get sick, most have mild vaccination rates are high symptoms, such as fever, sore throat, muscle weakness do it too. and nausea. But about 5 in 1,000 infected people develop irreversible paralysis. At its peak in 1952, polio killed more than 3,000 Americans and paralyzed more than 20,000. Images of children encased in coffin-like iron lungs terrified parents. Those fears faded swiftly after the first polio vaccine was approved in 1955. Within two years, cases dropped by as much as 90%. Since 1988, when the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began pouring billions into immunization campaigns and surveillance around the world, polio has been eradicated in much of the rest of the world. Wild polio, the kind that occurs naturally, remains endemic in just two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But there’s another kind of polio that’s circulating, one linked to the type of vaccine that’s used in much of the world, particularly lower-income countries. This oral vaccine, which hasn’t been used in the U.S. since 2000, is easy to administer—just a few drops on the tongue—and cheap to make. It uses weakened live viruses to trigger the immune system to create protective antibodies. That brings a bonus. When the vaccinated shed the weakened live viruses in their stool, they can spread to the unvaccinated, triggering protective antibodies in them as well. But it also brings a risk. In rare instances, when the weakened viruses circulate in people who have not had the vaccine or are under-immunized, they revert to a form that can sicken unvaccinated people, causing the disease they were meant to prevent. The injectable polio vaccine used in the U.S. contains only inactivated viruses and cannot cause this. Cases of vaccine-derived polio have surged in recent years after global health authorities in 2016 decided to remove one strain of polio from the oral vaccine after determining that the wild version had been eradicated globally. That left a growing number of children with no immunity to the vaccine-derived version of that strain, Type 2. (The injectable form of vaccine used in the U.S. conveys protection against all strains of polio.) Type 2 vaccine-derived poliovirus is the kind that was found in the British sewage samples. It was also the kind that infected the unvaccinated Rockland

WASTEWATER TESTING

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

County man, indicating a transmission chain from someone who received the oral polio vaccine, health officials in New York said. Officials are still investigating where the man caught the virus, here or abroad. The Washington Post has reported that the man traveled to Poland and Hungary this year, but a spokesperson for the Rockland County Health Department said in an email, “The person did not travel outside the country during what would have been the incubation window.” Ultimately, New York health officials will use wastewater monitoring to tell them quickly whether they have a bigger problem, essentially allowing them to test thousands of people at once for polio infection rather than individually, David Larsen, an epidemiologist and Syracuse University professor who directs the state’s wastewater surveillance network, said in an email. Wastewater testing for polio has been a staple in developing nations for decades, but at least a few countries where cases are rare and vaccination rates are high do it, too. The U.K. began monitoring wastewater in 2016 for polio and several other viruses that occur in the gastrointestinal tract, a spokesperson for the British health security agency said via email. (It has since added the virus that causes COVID-19 to the list.) Israel has monitored sewage for polio since 1989. In 2013, health officials were able to detect an outbreak of wild polio just from sampling and launch a vaccine campaign in response without ever experiencing a case of paralysis. This year, though, a young child in the Jerusalem area came down with paralytic polio. Public health authorities there found additional infections through sewage tests. Some U.S. public health officials have been skeptical of the value of such testing here. “I’ve always been unenthusiastic about doing it for polio in the U.S. and a big supporter of doing it elsewhere, where there are deficiencies in other surveillance systems,” said Mark Pallansch, who retired in 2021 after spending much of his career working on polio eradication efforts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-19 has triggered a blast of interest in wastewater surveillance, prompting cities, states and colleges to launch programs and opening a floodgate of funding for them. The CDC sent federal money to health departments in over 40 jurisdictions to support such tracking efforts, working with them to collect data that’s published on the agency’s National Wastewater Surveillance System website. A spokesperson said in an email that the agency was working to expand the platform to include data on other pathogens, from foodborne infections like salmonella to influenza, but not polio. Testing nationally for polio would be labor and resource intensive, requiring increases in public health laboratory capacity, the spokesperson said. One asset of wastewater monitoring is the ability to pivot quickly to test something new. In November 2020, the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, based out of Stanford and Emory universities, started daily monitoring at California wastewater plants for the virus that causes COVID-19. It’s since added monitoring for other pathogens, including COVID-19 variants, the common respiratory virus RSV and, most recently, monkeypox. Such additions are relatively economical since the network can test for multiple pathogens from a single sample, said Marlene Wolfe, one of the two principal investigators and an assistant professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory. In adding more tests, Wolfe said, the question is always whether monitoring a disease this way is likely to surface anything of enough concern to drive public health decisions. Many question whether the expansion of wastewater testing fueled by the pandemic will last. Maldonado, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ infectious diseases committee chair, said the recent polio case is another signal that more disease tracking is critical. “Maybe this is a clarion call for us to really start building better surveillance networks,” she said. This article originally ran in ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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here was nothing Molly Mitchell could do as her grip slipped above the crux of Crank It, an insanely challenging 5.13d-rated route she’d been trying to conquer for weeks. There was even less she could do when she felt climbing gear ripped out of the rock, and the second, and then the third. She fell 30 feet and hit the ground, squarely on her back, breaking her spine in two places. “I knew something was bad,” she says. She didn’t move. She tried not to panic. But it was hard to control her thoughts. “Honestly, when I hit the ground, I was like, ‘I don’t even want to climb anymore’ . . . I was just thinking, However, Mitchell, who’s been obsessed with climbing since she was little, and who had successfully bagged was far from through with climbing. In fact, two years later, in May of 2022, she would return to Crank It, to not only conquer the route itself, but to come face-to-face with her trauma.

what goes up

COURTESY CEDAR WRIGHT

A year after falling and breaking her back, pro climber Molly Mitchell returns to climbing

by Will Brendza

moved to Boulder in 2011. She’d found climbing as a girl with her father on a trip to Yosemite, it wasn’t until she turned 16 that she had the freedom to drive to the nearest climbing gym with any regularity. “I was doing track at the time, and I hated it. I was so bad at it,” she says. So with a driver’s license and vehicle at her disposal, “I convinced my parents to let me go [to the climbing gym] basically every day after school.” She met a group of new friends, a community of climbers and a coach who invited her to train with the gym’s club. She was a natural in every sense of the word. Mitchell is tall, with long arms and long legs—the ideal build for a strong rock climber—and more than 12

from the sport—eventually, though, she’d always end up swinging back to it.

CLIMBING THE WALLS: Molly Mitchell pushes it up toward the top of Crank It, a 5.13 route that took her two years to complete—and which changed her relationship with climbing forever.

that, she had talent for scaling challenging routes. But it wasn’t the routes that would get in her way, so much as her own battle with anxiety and other mental health issues. “I didn’t know if I could be a professional [climber], I just wanted to get better,” she says. “But also I put too much pressure on myself . . . [I had] to learn how to have compassion for myself in those situations where I freak out and I don’t understand why.” Even during those early days in the gym, Mitchell remembers highs and lows that challenged her as much as any rock walls ever would. Sometimes she’d get so frustrated when she failed she says she’d push away AUGUST 11, 2022

moved to Boulder in 2011, that she was introduced to trad climbing in Eldorado Canyon and fell in love. It was something that challenged her anxiety as much as her mind and her body. Trad climbing gave her something to overcome in place (or in spite) of those mental blocks. She dove into the sport headlong and with her natural knack for climbing she eventually started reaching out and getting sponsors like Adidas, Five Ten, Edelrid, and Climb On! She moved to Vegas in 2016 and crushed several 5.13 sport routes that few women her age had ever completed. Then, moving back to Boulder she set her sights on the next high point: China Doll, a two-pitch 5.14a (since downgraded to a 5.13c) and one of the hardest routes in Boulder Canyon. “I was feeling kind of down for a while when I moved [back] here. I was going through, like, a lower point and then I found the goal of doing China Doll,” she says. Mitchell started working on the challenge in May 2019

doing both of the route’s pitches on gear individually and then together as one. Not only did she become the seventh woman in the world to climb a 5.14, but at 27, she tied for the youngest woman to ever complete such a challenging pitch. She felt on top of the world—for a while. Then, again, she felt herself slipping back into a depressive state. It’s a mental cycle that she’s become all-too-familiar with career: She goes up working toward a goal and comes down hard when it’s over. She starts right back up again once she’s set her sights on a new challenge. By no means is this struggle her only motivation to BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

COURTESY CEDAR WRIGHT

TOWARD REDEMPTION: Longmont-based professional climber Molly Mitchell has a pattern of picking huge, insanely challenging goals—and stopping at nothing to reach them. Even with a broken back.

climb, she says; but it’s certainly a factor. Which led her again to Boulder Canyon the very next summer, to a 5.13d route that would change her relationship with climbing forever. “My original goal was to do Viseroy, which is the extension [to Crank It], which is a [5.14b]. And then I realized how heinous Crank It is,” she says. “Crank It has this horrendous boulder problem in the beginning of it.” She describes how one has to grab these awkward, greasy cramp holds, “And then you have only one foot, and your right foot is slightly far away and pretty high. Then you have to lunge into an iron cross move with your hands on this really shitty pocket that’s blocked by a roof.” Translation: it’s a wicked hard start. And it doesn’t get much easier from there. Mitchell worked on the route all through the spring and summer of 2020. It kept her occupied and gave her something to stay focused on. She almost made it to the top of Crank It in August, but fell right after the crux of the climb. Then, on Oct. 1, 2020, she almost made it again, climbing up to the same exact spot just above the crux, and just as had happened months earlier, at almost exactly the same spot, she slipped and fell. But this time, her gear failed from 30 feet up. “I hit the ground and it hurt,” she says. “But luckily I landed on that pad.” Just over a year prior, the climbing community had lost another professional climber named Brad Gobright in a rappelling accident. That fatal fall was why Mitchell chose to use a pad that day, and it likely saved her life. The paramedics were on scene shortly. Mitchell was rushed to the hospital where they discovered her L2 and L3 vertebrae were broken. But the fractures weren’t as bad as they could have been, Mitchell admits; she could still move around and she didn’t need surgery. The emotional recovery, on the other hand, is something she’s still very much dealing with to this day. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

underestimated how much the trauma would affect not just scarier climbs, but even easier climbs,” she says. “It’s annoying when I freak out at something that’s obviously stemming from the trauma of my accident.” Mitchell recently remembered (through the haze of

strategize setting her gear. It was good beta, she says. And it got the wheels inside her mind spinning. Mitchell pushed through a lot of mental and personal hardship. She did physical therapy, and was eventually able to ditch her back brace, and in no time at all she was training again. Training to go back and top out on Crank It once and for all. Now, she over-analyzes her gear, striving to set her

COURTESY LANE MATHIS

and PTSD get the better of her. But no matter how secure her gear is, she says, “if I feel like I’m ripping out, that’s what brings me back. I came out, those hip thrusts . . . it’s just like, ‘oh, shit.’” The fall had scarred her relationship with the one thing she’s always been able to rely on, to grab hold of when she’s feeling down and pull herself back up with. Mitchell returned to Crank It the spring of 2021 (yes, that soon) and started training on it again, meticulously planning her gear and approach, and building up toward a radical moment of redemption. Which she got that June, a full 20 months attempt. This time she pushed the climb aggressively, as hard as she could, checking her gear manically as she went, the thought of falling again smoldering at the back of her mind. She breezed past the crux, up past the anchor points where her gear had ripped out, past the greasy granite holds she’d lost her

her opiated early-recovery), that on Oct. 3, just two days after her accident, Topher Donahue, a local climbing legend, reached out to her and planted the seeds of redemption in her mind. “He called me and he was like, ‘Well, if you think about going back, we have some options for what we can do to minimize the risk,’” she recalls. Donahue gave her detailed advice for how to make the approach and

AUGUST 11, 2022

after two long years of trying, she topped out on Crank It. The feeling was unlike anything she’s ever experienced. “It was crazy. I roared. Like, I screamed like an animal,” she says. Then she started crying. “And then I felt like puking . . . and then I was like, ‘I’m a badass!’ It was see MITCHELL Page 14 l

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editing the movie now with a plant to release in spring 2023. “It was her winning a pretty serious mental-health battle that Wright told Climbing Magazine. “Molly had to overcome serious climb happen.” “Overcome” is a strong word very much struggling with that trauma and her own mental health battle. She still feels those pangs of terror when she tests an an-

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this range of emotions.” All of which you’ll be able to see in Cedar Wright’s forthcoming documentary about Mitchell’s journey. The Boulder-based climber/

AUGUST 11, 2022

after such a high.

and the ups and downs of her mental health struggle a little bit better. Email: wbrendza@boulderweekly.com l

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Phone down, eyes up, heart open

Goose’s Peter Anspach on the raw magic of improvisational live music

COURTESY GREG KNIGHT

by Carter Ferryman

eter Anspach wears many hats at his job. For that reason, he’s been anointed a number of nicknames by his bandmates in Goose, a talented five-piece wedged comfortably into the forefront of jam music’s current landscape. First, “The WizKid.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

“When I first ON THE BILL: joined, [the band] GOOSE. didn’t really have any 6 p.m. Aug. 16 content at all,” Ansand 17, Dillion pach explains. He’d Amphitheater, 201 learned sound mixing, W. Lodgepole St., audio/video production Dillon. and social media stratAug. 18, Red Rocks egizing during his time Amphitheatre, with Great Blue, the 18300 W. Alameda rock-pop hybrid band Parkway, Morrison. he fronted for more than a decade. So, brick by brick, he worked passionately to elevate his new musical home. “I was a huge fan of Goose,” Anspach, who joined the band in 2017, says. “So even to this day, I want to make them sound as good as they are.” Anspach’s efforts paid off—there’s now a see GOOSE Page 18 AUGUST 11, 2022

GOOSE from Page 17

bunch of other hands helping make these things happen. But Anspach is unafraid to step in and help whenever he can. “I know there’s a certain quality that should be getting put out,” Anspach says. “There’s instances where we’ve been able to maintain it where it easily could not have been maintained. We’re all pretty involved.” It’s a supportive role that Anspach has grown to love throughout the East Coast outfit’s rapid ascension from coastal cult-heroes to must-see feature performers. When the amps are plugged in and the lights come on, however, Anspach becomes “Handini.” At any given Goose show, Anspach is front-right stage, next to lead singer Rick Mitarotonda, surrounded by microphones, stringed instruments, and tiers of CHRIS QUINN keyboards. This is Anspach’s sonic control room. The night ahead is at his fingertips. Inside his domain, the man sporting a million-dollar smile and mustache, belts vocals, pounds chords, and shoots funkadelic guitar riffs into the atmosphere. The sheer force and spectacle must be experienced in-person—Mitarotonda’s soft, buttery voice and sharp guitar solos, Ben Atkind and Jeff Arevalo’s deep connection to their library of percussion, and Trevor Weekz’s thick, resounding bass playing all combine to conjure a moment that often leaves show-goers asking: How are they doing that?

[The art of] Improvisational music

For Anspach, the balance between “same” and “different” at a Goose show is addicting. He describes it as a ritual experience. “You’re with your friends,” Anspach says. “You have a routine to get to the show. You’ve got the place where you like to stand or dance, and an idea of a schedule in your head. But the music and performance is entirely different.” Anspach has his show-day rituals, but when a set commences, Goose joins the sea of spectators by diving headfirst into a world of endless musical possibility. No two shows are exactly the same. Anspach recalls a show in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier this year, where Goose played “Slow Ready” into “Hot Tea”— two records off the new album, Dripfield. “I was playing with my arpeggiator at the end of ‘Slow Ready,” Anspach explains, “then I changed keys and dropped the tempo a bit, right to where ‘Hot Tea’ was living.” The band followed the cue and crept in flawlessly. Just like that, a new musical bridge was born. Who knows if they’ll ever play it that way again, but in that moment, the raw, hypnotizing power of jam music was on full display: the transition. For bands like Goose, transitions are the one true “trick,” a spectacle that Anspach himself oftentimes doesn’t know the end result of until he’s playing it. In Legend Valley at Thornville, Ohio, Goose was comfortably ripping “All I Need,” a fan favorite. Then, suddenly, Anspach and the rest of the crew found themselves playing “Knights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues. A song by a ’60s prog-rock band an ocean away was brought to life before a sea of fans without predetermination. Like magic manifested.

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Phone down, eyes up, heart open

DETAILS: Peter

Anspach sits in In the “about” section of the PA—RC (Peter Anshis sonic control pach—Rebecca Chinman) website, a clothing brand room, manning the Anspach founded with Chinman, is a story of the time helm of Goose’s Anspach was fortunate enough to share conversation improvised musical with Jay Blakesberg, a renowned photographer known vessel. The band primarily for capturing the Grateful Dead in the ’70s. His will be playing images of dancing, free-spirited deadheads invoked in three nights of Anspach a sense of raw emotion not often seen in the music across Coldigital age of concert goers. This inspired PA—RC’s first orado from August design: “Phone Down, Eyes Up, Heart Open,” and has 16-18. since become a mantra for Anspach. “Speaking from experience, when I’m on my phone, I’m in a different place than what I’d be in my physical form,” Anspach says. “When I’m using it, and somebody is trying to talk to me, I don’t hear what they’re saying.” The experience of live music is highly spiritual, a chance for connection. “Those are moments you want to cherish,” Anspach says. “If you bring out your phone at the dinner table, it’s rude. So it’s funny how it’s not rude at a concert.” Anspach recognizes there’s a difference in intimacy between the two settings, but the notifications on a home screen can wait—this moment, right now, cannot. When Goose makes the trip to Dillon Amphitheater and Red Rocks in a week, the latter a monumental debut for the band, Anspach hopes the only thing separating the mystique on stage and the eyes and hearts of spectators is crisp mountain air. Goose’s Colorado shows almost always sell out. Whether it’s Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in 2019, two days at Sculpture Park outside the Bellco Theater in 2021 (record crowds for the venue), and most recently Mission Ballroom later that year, Goose and the Centennial State have a profound mutual respect. “Colorado has been incredible to us,” Anspach says. The band’s upcoming shows are the next rung on the ladder, and in many ways, the highest bar for any jam band in a state littered with iconic venues. Goose plays Dillon Amphitheater on Tuesday, Aug. 16 and Wednesday, Aug. 17, then Red Rocks on Thursday, Aug. 18. “It’s going to be the best Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday ever,” Anspach says with a laugh. In July of 2021, Anspach got a taste of one of his “bucket list” venues when String Cheese Incident invited him to come up and perform during a Red Rocks set. “I was pretty nervous,” Anspach admits. “The crowd was an ocean. It just looked unbelievable.” Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Let’s sing it out

Mexico City’s Petite Amie brings its psych-pop rock north

by Angela K. Evans

uring our conversation, Carlos Medina walks around Coyoacán, a “folkloric” neighborhood in Mexico City, known for its cobblestone streets, art galleries, Frida Kahlo Museum and the preserved former home of Leon Trotsky. It is the so-called bohemian center of the city, and Medina describes sweeping mansions and colonial architecture as we talk. sician to describe the work of his dreampop sextet Petite Amie, just before setting off on its U.S. tour. “I think a lot of bands and projects came out from the pandemic and we’re one of those,” Medina says. “As musicians we didn’t have anything to do. Shows were canceled. Everybody was very, very sad and it was, like, let’s sing it out, en petit comité, just the six of us and make an album.” Medina is the thread that knits all members of the group together, the catalyst that started the project in the Little Jesus, he enlisted friends and acquaintances from across the area’s robust music scene: He met Isabel Dosal (vocals) at Vive Latino, a decades-in-the-running festival in Mexico City, pledging to make music with her someday. There’s also Jacobo Velazquez (guitar) and Aline Terrein (also vocals) who had been touring with a Colombian artist. Plus, Santiago Fernandez (bass) of synth-pop band The Plastics Revolution. What started as a gathering of like-minded musicians at Chimychanga Studio in Mexico City in 2020 (taking advantage of the country’s looser pandemic restrictions), Petite Amie has become more than a side project, with one eponymous LP under its belt, and another yet-to-betitled album on the way. Writing as a group, sharing feelings, stories, ideas with each other creates a dynamic if not sometimes disparate repertoire. At one point in the writing process, Terrein (who went to a French school in Mexico City along with Dosal) started singing in French, solidifying the band’s love of language. Medina remembers thinking, “Oh my God, I don’t understand anything, but I love it.” Singing roughly half of their songs in Spanish, the other half French, the ethereal female vocals fuse with psychedelic pop sounds to form rich melodic textures in each track. But Petite Amie doesn’t hold to the rigidity trend of Mexico City’s music scene, a diverse mixture of sounds, styles and musicians—what NPR calls “la capital’s fertile rock scene.” Petite Amie, like Medina’s other projects, is a product of the country’s mid-1990s La Avanzada Regia scene that began in the northern city of Monterrey. The genre-bending indie movement fused disparate sounds from rap to pop, rock and electronica all in the name of revolutionary culture creation. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

All of this coalesced at a time when digital platforms were on the rise and corporate music labels were crashing, making room for more elastic indie label models. Petite Amie releases under the local Devil in the Woods label, a company Medina says is eager to create a new music scene in Mexico City. “It came, like, from the heavens,” he says. “We don’t get a lot of independent labels in Mexico with, I don’t structure of their northern neighbors, channeling the spirit of such groups as Broken Social Scene, the critically acclaimed Canadian group that fuses the musical tastes of its individual members, most of whom are involved in a variety of side projects as well. Plus, they all bond over their love of classics like The Beatles and Pink Floyd, along with more current acts like Big Thief, Magic Potion, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Crumb. Petit Amie’s latest single —“Otra Vez”—signals an expansion of the band’s original concept, which addressed the melancholy and existential dread that naturally followed a worldwide pandemic and claimed the lives of people close to the band’s members. Likewise, “Otra Vez” (or once again) speaks to the current moment, describing attempts to reason with somebody, engaging in the same conversation over

and over again without seeing any change. “It’s a dark song,” Medina says. It describes, “that hideous thing that always haunts us.” There is, however, a bit of optimism thrown in, a recognition that the world doesn’t exist in the black and white binary we often attempt to use. Rather, every situation, every conversation comes with mixed emotions, and such cyclical patterns of conversation are often futile without the desire to change. Petite Amie suggests that perhaps our energy is better spent attempting to accept other people and ourselves as they are rather than how we wish them to be. Email:editorial@boulderweekly.com

ON THE BILL:

Spaceface with Petite Amie and Pleasure Prince. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, Lost Lake Lounge, 3602 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets are $15, lost-lake.com

AUGUST 11, 2022

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Peaches teaches Twenty-two years later, the Canadian sex-positivity icon’s debut album is as pertinent as ever

hen the iconic, multi-talented Peaches (born Merrill Nisker) answered our recent Zoom call, she was lounging in a sunny Los Angeles backyard, playing with stretches of her

taposing “I Feel Cream” and “Dick in the Air” with a cover of “Smoke On the Water” anytime soon, but in a way her music is classic rock for people who fell in love with dancing and singing along to liberating, sweaty electroclash in the early

tour since the pandemic began, the famously sex-positive Canadian musician and performance artist—who has also

“There are a lot of older people—40, 50, 60—and then there are super young people, like 18 or 19, who are really interested in and excited about the whole

shows—expressed elation, and relief,

super excited to go to shows, so they have renewed energy and also sort of an

The Teaches of Peaches,

by Adam Perry

The Teaches of Peaches solo force but, to me, Fatherfucker, which is a little more mature, is where so many people told me that they understood their they listened to Teaches of Peaches when

When asked if there is even an

Making people somewhat uncomfortable might also be important when any musician is touring the United States right now, with a Supreme Court majority built

like mine, who will soon be a teenager,

wreaking havoc of many kinds, and states

“Sure—it depends on them, you

The Handmaid’s Tale when we should be moving forward with all the vocabulary and the language

actually Fatherfucker is even the one Everybody loves

ON THE BILL: THE TEACHES OF PEACHES ANNIVERSARY TOUR.

people are expressing themselves,” be: That people get to be who they need to be, and you know as well as I how patriarchal lineages and societal ways are just trying to press it down for visions of power, and to continue

length album under the Peaches moniker but also the album that features the pulsing “Fuck the Pain Away,” which helped make her an international star and has recently found new

Peaches, with her sensationally sex-positive live shows, might be described as a kind of cult favorite, but she has made records with everyone from Iggy Pop to Christina Aguilera, and interestingly takes as much inspiration from

Sex Education “I think people really come to these shows with a sense of their own empowerment and their own

John Waters as she quite relevant, which is really

bring equality to expletives with Fatherfucker, tackled ageism in entertainment, and even has

fresh, which is really cool, and the audience

female busts cast by Cynthia Plaster Caster, who gained fame BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

Rub “It was quite hard,” she explains, “because when we were in the height of [the

was quite focused more on those kinds of In the meantime, celebrating over 20 years of The Teaches of Peaches on the and her tour will hit Denver on Wednesshow, because Yvie Oddly [winner of season 11 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race] is gonna Oddly is a Denver native who has been doing drag for over a decade, and got into musical theater as a kid after a genetic condition made gymnastics too I wondered whether Peaches thinks “Fuck the Pain Away” and her unforgettable live shows helped take music from “I wanna fuck you like an animal,” but female musicians in the mainstream were met with different standards, to a current climate where songs like “WAP” become

all the incredible songs that have come out that are very sex-positive and very of expressing both identity and sexuality about Annie Lennox, and Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper, these huge stars, or Grace She recommends parents bring their -

exciting, anyway, to develop discussion Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com 23

E VE N T S

EVENTS

Author Talk: Joanne Tubbs Kelly—‘Walking Him Home’

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

Rocky Mountain Folk Festival

10 a.m. Aug. 12-14, 500 W. Main St., Lyons. Friday Tickets: $85.50, bluegrass.com For over 30 years, Folks Fest has brought together songwriters of all genres to the Planet Bluegrass Ranch in Lyons for three days of music, camping and inspiration. This year you can catch Ani DiFranco, Robert Earl Keen, Yola, Sarah Jarosz and more on the Main Stage. Not far away, you can come say “Hi!” to Boulder Weekly editors and writers, sign up for our newsletter and enter to win a gift card to local businesses like Avanti and OAK at fourteenth.

Arts in the Open Workshops

10 a.m.-noon, Saturday Aug. 13, Chautauqua Park, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$30, tickets.chautauqua.com Surround yourself with beauty at Chautauqua Park and paint a masterpiece, step by step, with help from a teacher. This event is appropriate for families, couples, and friends. Participants should wear clothes to paint in and bring a blanket to sit on, water bottles and sunscreen.

7 p.m.-midnight, Saturday, Aug. 13, Junkyard Social Club, 2525 Frontier Ave., Unit A, Boulder. Tickets at various price tiers, junkyardsocialclub.org/events As we work together to culturally smash the patriarchy, take your rage out physically right now while raising money for Colorado-based work to promote reproductive rights. Take a sledgehammer to a gutted-out Prius, and smash patriarchal

4:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. Tickets: $5, museumofboulder.org 2022 marks Boulder Community Health’s 100th anniversary. This fall, the Museum of Boulder is celebrating the contributions BCH has made to the community with an exhibit highlighting the organization’s history, partnerships, and innovations. Explore 100 years of history, from medical procedures in the 1920s to the pandemic response, and beyond to the future of BCH. Light refreshments and snacks will be served.

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

AUGUST 11, 2022

he wants to end his suffering using Colorado’s Medical Aid in Dying law. Walking Him Home is Joanne Tubbs Kelly’s tale of coming to terms with her kind, funny husband’s illness; of learning to navigate caregiving and the pitfalls of our medical system; and of choosing to help her husband in his quest to die with dignity. (Kelly will also speak at Tattered Cover Bookstore, 8885 Westminster Blvd., on Aug. 18.)

FU Smash the Patriarchy: A Fundraiser for Reproductive Rights

Opening Reception of 100 Years of Boulder Community Health

6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11, Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: $5, boulderbookstore.net Alan and Joanne marry in midlife and live a happily-ever-after existence until, at 69, Alan is diagnosed with a rare, fatal, neurodegenerative illness. As he becomes increasingly disabled and dependent on others, and decreasingly

Throw plates that will be repurplus cocktails by DV8 and food by Fancy AF, and an incredible line-up of live music and performance, including drag, circus, DJs, and an unnameable, local, 34-member band that engulfs the audience in an electric bog of music, ephemera, and spectacle. Proceeds go that advances reproductive rights, and COLOR Latino, the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Selfie Night at Longmont Public Media longmontpublicmedia.org

Neptune Mountaineering presents Henna Taylor: Adventure Storytelling In Reel Time 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18. Neptune Mountaineering, 633 S. Broadway Boulder. Tickets are free but Speak To Me Softly A Thousand Ways To Kiss The Ground. An Accidental Life

Boulder County Fair

EVENTS

Longmont, bouldercountyfair.org

CONCERTS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12

Inn,

Chain Station.

Stafford Hunter. ,

Eben Grace Duo.

The Samples.

Showdown.

Goldpine.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13

Jesse Cook.

see CONCERTS Page 20

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

EVENTS JUST ANNOUNCED

JUST ANNOUNCED

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CONCERTS from Page 25 RED FANG, PHOTO BY JAMES REXROAD

50 YEARS OF MUSIC

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SELASEE & THE FAFA FAMILY TUE. AUG 16

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ALPENGLOW

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CLINTON KANE

Joe Schicke Duo. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $5

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17

Anya Hinkle. 6 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: Free

Stafford Hunter. 6 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637R S. Broadway St., Boulder. $17 suggested cover.

Bourbon, Blues & Grooves: Jack Hadley Band. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: Free

The Alcapones. The Caribou Room, 55 Indian Peaks Dr., Nederland. Tickets: $15 The Pamlico Sound & The Burroughs with Card Catalog. 7:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1164 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14

Bombino with Selasee & The Fafa Family. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater. 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $20$25

Rodney Rice Duo. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $5

THURSDAY, AUGUST 18

Alpenglow with The Rocky Coasts, The Dick Nixons. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1164 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20

Chaz Fest West 2022 (Sunday). 6 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: $20

David Lawrence and the Spoonful. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $10

Lionel Young Duo. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $5

MONDAY, AUGUST 15

Keith Waters. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $20; Students: $10

Michael “Mikee T” Patrick: A Celebration of Life. 7:30 p.m. Boulder Theater. 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $25-$30

Loose Cannon. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Tickets: Free MuseCycles Vocal Jam. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. S. Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $10

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events 26

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Sunday, August 28, 2022 11 am - 5 pm

FOOD TRUCKS, LIVE MUSIC, FUN FOR THE KIDDOS AND MORE!

Untitled

by Amy Bobeda

Boulder Bandshell & Central Park 1212 Canyon Blvd. Boulder, CO

a pink chalk uterus lines the sidewalk outside the high school allison calls it medicinal pink, my favorite color and on twitter a dozen people can’t identify the wings of a clitoris a goat head catching the foam of my sneaker on her porch we strategize mutual aid and resistance how to show up with energy our bodies/their bodies/this body tired oh so tired deserves support the great resistance in bodies that count within state lines bodies within bodies chalking medicinal pink lines invisible pink lines talking

Amy holds an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her book Red Memory is forthcoming from Flowersong Press 8/22. Read her work in Hobart, The Columbia Journal, Full-Stop, and elsewhere. @amybobeda on twitter.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

By the people and things you love; a private place where you have the freedom to do what and when you want,

for the best life possible.

Providing you the dignity and care you need in your own home, to meet your medical and daily challenges.

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

jitterbug contest. Hot rods drag race on a mountain road. A violent car crash. A woman wanders the Hollywood Hills with a head injury. A man recounts a dream of meeting a monster

A starry-eyed dreamer arrives at LAX. An elderly couple with grotesque smiles smeared across their faces. I haven’t even gotten to the mysterious blue box with the triangle Mulholland Drive David Lynch’s failed TV pilot turned CRITERION COLLECTION cinematic masterpiece. Logic need not apply. wrote Mulholland Drive after the street winding through and Mark Frost found certain fame with Twin Peaks. But Twin Peaks grabbed viewers’ attention in 1990 when network television was willing to take a few risks. Not so by the end of the decade. The suits running ABC had problems with the character of smoking. Lord knows what notes they had about the incompetent hit when he means to pop one. But what Lynch lost in episodic Mulholland Drive gained. It’s hard imagining someand silly playing network TV. The nudity would certainly have to go.

What’s in the box?

Down the winding roads of ‘Mulholland Drive’

by Michael J. Casey ON THE BILL: Mulholland Drive. 10 p.m. -

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Lynch is the other half. There’s something beautifully Brechtian about his movies: He never wants you to forget you are watching an aryou don’t want to live without. It’s hard to locate Lynch’s high-water mark. He’s been working somewhat infrequently since the ’70s and with many peaks along the

590 N. Downing

as a daily online weatherman.

And on 4K UHD Blu-ray from The Criterion Collec-

a renewed appreciation thanks to digital 4K restorations playing art house theaters and making their way to home video. Take a trip back to Mulholland Drive Theater at 10 p.m. on Aug. 12 or at home via Criterion’s 4K UHD Bluray set. Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOOKEEPER Looking for a fulfilling part-time position? Want to be part of an exciting, dynamic team? Then Boulder Weekly is the place for you.

Send cover letter and resume to our publisher at:

franzan@boulderweekly.com

We have immediate need for detail-oriented, bookkeeper who is experienced in accounting standards and is a wizard with QuickBooks. This position handles both receivables and payables. Flexible 20 hours/week.

by Rob Brezsny ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Aries filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky wrote,

“All my life, I’ve been going around waiting for something—as if I were waiting in a railway station. And I’ve always felt as if the living I’ve done so far hasn’t actually been real life but a long wait for it—a long wait for something real.” If I could speak with Tarkovsky right now, I would cheerfully tell him that his wait will soon be over. I’d say that in the coming months, Aries people who have been postponing and postponing, who have been standing by and holding on and biding time, will have an excellent chance to begin inhabiting their full destiny.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: Taurus poet Sherko Bekas wrote, “Each joy

I wear, its sleeves are either too short or too long, too loose or too tight on me. And each sorrow I wear fits as if it were made for me wherever I am.” With this as our starting point, Taurus, I’m pleased to report some good news. In the next three weeks, you will have zero sorrows to try on and wear like a garment. And there will be at least three joys that fit just right. The sleeves will be the correct length, and the form will be neither too loose nor too tight.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: Tips on how to get the most out of the com-

The Dairy Arts Center presents

M u s i c a l Va n g u a r d s

ing weeks: 1. Create a big spacious realization by weaving together several small hunches. 2. Keep a little angel on your right shoulder and a little devil on your left shoulder. Enjoy listening to them argue, and don’t get attached to anything they say. 3. Do the unexpected until it becomes expected. Then abandon it and try a new, unexpected experiment. 4. Meditate expansively on the question, “How many careers can I have in one lifetime?” 5. Enhance your home so it feels even more comfortable.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Be fluid and flexible while still being rooted

and sturdy. Be soft and sensitive even as you are also firm and resolute. Be mostly modest and adaptable, but become assertive and outspoken as necessary. Be cautious about inviting and seeking out challenges, but be bold and brash when a golden challenge arrives. Be your naturally generous self most of the time, but avoid giving too much. Got all that, Cancerian? Carrying out the multifaceted assignments I just described might be nearly impossible for most of the other signs of the zodiac, but they are in your wheelhouse.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: “I’ve swung from ancient vines in the caves of Jamaica,” exults Hoodoo priestess Luisah Teish. “I’ve danced with delight around totem poles and pressed foreheads with Maori warriors. I’ve joked with the pale fox in the crossroads, then wrestled with the jaguar and won. I have embraced great trees between my thighs and spoken words of love to thunder while riding lightning bolts.” I offer Teish’s celebratory brag to inspire you as you formulate plans for the coming weeks and months. What exhilarating adventures will you give yourself? What expansive encounters will you learn from?

Emmaline

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: In his poem “The Pupil,” Virgo-born Donald

On Sale Now!

Justice speaks of how he spent “a whole week practicing for that moment on the threshold.” I advise you to do the same, Virgo. The goal is to be as prepared as you can be for the upcoming rite of transition—without, of course, being neurotically over-prepared. It’s fine and natural to honor the tension of anticipation, using it as motivation to do your best. One other thing: As you get ready, please have as much fun as possible. Visualize the sense of accomplishment you’ll feel when you’ve reached the other side of the test.

Scan for details and tickets

LIBRA

Miss Mojo

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: “One is always at home in one’s past,” wrote

author Vladimir Nabokov. But I encourage you to rebel against that theory, Libra. For now, find a way to NOT feel at home in

AUGUST 11, 2022

your past. Question it, be curious about it, re-evaluate it. My hope is that you will then be motivated to change how your history lives in you. Now is an excellent time to reconfigure your life story, to develop a revised relationship with its plot twists and evolution. Revisit and update some of your memories. Re-evaluate the meanings of key events. Healings will materialize.

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Of all the signs in the zodiac, you Scorpios

are most likely to regard that old pop tune by the Animals as your theme song. “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good,” croons lead singer Eric Burdon, “Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.” But you may have less motivation to express that sentiment in the coming weeks, dear Scorpio. I suspect you will experience record-breaking levels of being seen and appreciated for who you are. For best results, do this: 1. Inform your deep psyche that you have no attachment to being misunderstood. 2. Tell your deep psyche that you would very much like to be well understood.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: “Unless we are creators, we are not fully

alive,” wrote Sagittarian author Madeleine L’Engle. She was referring to everyone, not just people in the arts. She believed that to be soulful humans, we must always make new things, generate fresh possibilities, and explore novel approaches. The restless urge to transform what already exists can be expressed in how we do our jobs, our parenting, our intimate relationships, and every other activity. You are now entering a phase, Sagittarius, when this initiatory energy will be especially available, needed, and valuable.

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: In her poem “Valentine,” Capricorn poet Carol

Ann Duffy tells a lover she won’t give her a “red rose or a satin heart.” Instead, her token of affection is an onion, a symbol of multi-layered complexity. “Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,” Duffy writes, “possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are.” She adds that the onion will “blind you with tears like a lover.” I understand the tough attitude expressed by Duffy. Romance isn’t a relentlessly sweet, sentimental romp through paradise. But I don’t recommend that you imitate her approach to your love life in the coming weeks and months. Appreciate the sometimes shadowy and labyrinthine convolutions, yes, but don’t make them more important than beauty and joy and love. How about invoking the symbol of a pomegranate? It represents fertility and rebirth out of the darkness.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: Be extra expressive with the people and

animals you care about. Be even more amusing and generous than usual. Dare to be abundantly entertaining and engaging and empathetic. Make it your goal to draw out your allies’ dormant potentials and inspire them to love themselves even more than they already do. I’ll tell you about the endearing terms that author Vladimir Nabokov called his wife. Consider using them with your dear ones: “My sun, my soul, my song, my bird, my pink sky, my sunny rainbow, my little music, my inexpressible delight, my tenderness, my lightness, my dear life, my dear eyes, kittykin, poochums, goosikins, sparrowling, bird of paradise.”

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: Sometimes, you may feel you’re under the

influence of a debilitating spell or hindered by a murky curse. Pisceans are prone to such worries. But, more than any other zodiac sign, you have the power to escape from spells. Even if you have never studied the occult or read a witch’s grimoire, you possess a natural facility for the magic that disperses curses. From the depths of your psyche, you can summon the spiritual force necessary to cleanse the gunk and free yourself. Now is a perfect time to prove to yourself that what I’ve said here is true.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I’ve recently discovered that being pinned down by my neck is a huge turn on for me. I love the feeling of being dominated and controlled, and of feeling my partner’s strength on this part of my body. I’m much more interested in this feeling than in actual breath control or oxygen deprivation. I’ve been reading up on choking because I’m trying to make sure I can be manhandled in the way I like as safely as possible. However, all the advice about choking is about how dangerous it is. But most of the advice concentrates on the dangers of restricting oxygen (which is not what I am going for) or on damaging the windpipe by putting pressure on the front of the throat (which my partners avoid). So, my question is… how dangerous is this kind of simulated choking play? Play where one person is being held down by their throat with only mild pressure? What can we do to make it as safe as possible? —Please I Need More Expertise Dear PINME: Dr. Herbenick is a professor at Indiana University School published sex researcher, and the author of many books, including The Coregasm Workout: The Revolutionary Method for Better Sex Through Exercise ago, Dr. Herbenick’s students began

and that inspired Dr. Herbenick and some

“Because most people experiment repercussions, they often think they’re doing it ‘safely,’ and that may not be the case,” said Dr. Herbenick. “And because people sometimes engage in choking frequently, there may be cumulative effects

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

effects that build up over time rather than from a single incident of being choked. Even mild pressure on the neck/throat is likely to reduce oxygen to the brain because it involves compressing blood vessels. The kinds of cumulative effects that may occur include greater likelihood of depression, anxiety, ringing in the ears, headaches, and memory issues, among say for sure.” ask their partner to lightly press against their collarbone but not their throat,” said Dr. Herbenick. “And PINME is correct that any pressure to the front of the throat is

September 9 - 11, 2022

decide to ask their partner to choke them likelihood of cumulative risk.” Consent to a sex practice as risky as choking is only meaningful if everyone involved is fully informed of the risks.

Photo: Chris DeCicco

a person requests to be choked during sex—has a duty to fully inform their partner of the risks they’ll be running. “If mild pressure is being used, make sure she can fully breathe, speak, has does lose ability to speak—and that her desire for mild pressure—very mild pressure—is clearly understood by her partner,” said Dr. Herbenick. “Further, if PINME starts to experience visual

sexual choking. Dr. Herbenick found that a lot of

unambiguously enthusiastic consent, and

of the risks. “Although rare, people do occasionally die from being choked,” said Dr. Herbenick, “and people have gone to jail for accidentally injuring or killing a partner during consensual choking.” to Dr. Herbenick’s research. Which raises another concern: the false sense of security many have about it.

euphoria, then that suggests she is likely potential neurological effects.” You can follow Dr. Debby Herbenick more about her research into choking— and sexual pleasure and communication and vibrator use and more—at her website: www.debbyherbenick.com. Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

Dining

IF THE WOLFHOUND AT THE NEXT TABLE IS RUDE, BLAME THE OWNER, NOT THE DOG

by John Lehndorff

and the dogs

lancing at a labradoodle companion being fed expensive Italian food a couple of tables away at a Boulder eatery, a curious thought crossed my mind: “If it’s OK for dogs to dine at restaurants, why not cats? Or ferrets? Or iguanas?” When I posted the question online, the snap response was: Cats have a mind of their own. They wouldn’t observe proper dining etiquette. If you dine out enough you see canines consuming cuisine and behaving in ways that disturb a lot of diners. If these dogs were kids, we’d mutter under our breath that the parents were doing a poor job of parenting. In defense of dogs, some of the canines behave a lot better than the children who run wild inappropriately at Boulder County eateries. Are we just being cranky diners, or has something fundamentally changed? Here are some comments: “As a very allergic person, I vote NO to having non-service dogs inside restaurants. Outside is OK for well-behaved dogs. There are a lot of other places folks can commune with their animals, so please save restaurants for humans.” “Dogs and cats should not be allowed in restaurants or cafes or bakeries. Supermarkets and brewpubs maybe. Service animals are different because they have been through a lot of training. Most people don’t bother to train their dogs much and assume the dog is ‘nice’ because it is nice at home or in familiar situations. Dogs are unpredictable, at best, especially with children. Many people think everyone should love their dog as much as they do. I assure you, everyone does not.” “In England, France and Germany, all allow dogs in pubs and cafes without a problem. I think behavior is a must.” “Barking is a complete deal breaker. No one has the patience for dining with a barker.” behaved.” “No, unless it’s a genuine service dog that

lies next to the owner’s feet. No dogs on chairs, slobbering on chairs and tables. Who wants to sit on a chair that had a dog’s behind on it?” “Ginger and Baker in Ft. Collins has an outdoor dog patio with a menu for pooches. They also run special events for dogs such as Halloween dressup events with free photos.” Share your thoughts on dog and cat dining: Nibbles@BoulderWeekly.com

AUGUST 11, 2022

CANINE AMERICANS:

Do they have the right to dine beside their humans, or should segregation at restaurants continue?

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Colorado Peach Pleasure

It is turning out to be a good year for Colorado’s famous Western Slope peaches, with successive varieties of sweet juiciness arriving each week. Be sure to preserve some now for a pie in the chill of November. on, it’s not ripe nor sweet enough to eat. Drop whole peaches into a pot of simmering diately chill in icy water. Drain, then spread slices on a small metal sheet and freeze. Place frozen slices in a bag for use later. Before you compost the peach peels and pits, put them in a saucepan with a little water, sugar or honey, plus vanilla or almond extract to top ice cream. Palisade peaches are also popping up in some notable limited-time local foods. Colorado-made Noosa Palisade Peach Yogurt is available now and the fruit marries well with that smooth, creamy yogurt. You can also try fresh peach slices in Noosa’s Honey Yogurt. Boulder’s Moksha Chocolate is producing a limited number of vegan Palisade Peach Pie Bars made with Palisade peaches, fresh-pressed cacao butter, coconut milk and toasted oats. Breckenridge Brewery offers its Palisade Peach Wheat Ale this time of year, an

The Nibbles Index: Beer is Here Local Food News: New Longmont Italian

c i t n e h t u A Afghan Food!

you know you can buy squeaky fresh cheese curds at MouCo Cheese Company in Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay.

Words to Chew On Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-10pm • Sunday 10am-8:30pm • Closed Mondays John Lehndorff is a former dining critic, line cook, caterer and cooking teacher. He hosts Radio Nibbles every Thursday on KGNU. Comments: Nibbles@BoulderWeekly.com BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

2607 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302 303-443-1210 • silkroadgrillandmarket.com AUGUST 11, 2022

Voted East County’s BEST Gluten Free Menu

2011 10TH STREET, BOULDER CO (ON PEARL AND 10TH) OPEN 9AM - 11PM WELCOME. A SOLITUDE PLACE FOR STUDY, WORK, GATHER & MEET. 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.

New Hours: Open 7 days a week: 7:30am - 3:00pm daily 303.604.6351 | 1377 FOREST PARK CIRCLE, LAFAYETTE

A taste of modern Japan in the heart of Boulder Summer is here and our three patios are the perfect place to immerse yourself in everything Pearl Street has to offer. Prefer the great indoors? Take a seat at one of our lively bars, feast alongside the jellyfish or sink into a comfy lounge. If a sushi picnic more your style, all of your favorites are available for curbside pickup too. No matter how you choose to dine don’t miss our ever-evolving specials, delicious seasonal cocktails, and latest rare whiskey!

Sun-Thur 11am to 10pm | Fri-Sat 11am to 11pm BoulderJapango.com | 303.938.0330 | 1136 Pearl

JapangoRestaurant

AUGUST 11, 2022

JapangoBoulder

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Espresso exceptionalism

You can make a barista-quality cup of coffee at home—with a little practice

by Ari LeVaux

hen I go to the coffee shop, it’s not usually for the coffee. Only one or two spots in town can brew a better cup than I. They have expensive, well-maintained espresso machines, carefully roasted beans, and baristas who know how to shoot a shot. But unless they are on top of their game, I can still out brew them with my stovetop moka pot. My snobbery translates into money in the bank, because my level of consumption would cost about $10 a day at the espresso bar, while I can stay properly caffeinated at home for about $15 a week. I respect the gentle complexity of a pour-over, and the thick intensity of the French press, but espresso is exactly what I want in a sip of coffee. The little goes a long way. I drink the other stuff too quickly, but espresso is strong enough to slow me down. I’ll nurse my little cup for hours, sometimes adding a little hot water. late 1800s by forcing steam through coffee grounds. Today’s machines force water through that’s just below boiling. But the classic stovetop moka pot, invented by Alfonso Bialetti in 1933—and many of its modern imitations—can come remarkably close to what a fancy machine can do. With a

in about a week in my house. If the home barista plays their grounds right,

coffee beans, and the best way to obtain them is to grind your own immediately before brewing. Whether you want a coarse grind for a French press, a medium grind for

a golden foam of small bubbles called crema. It have just the right amount of heat and pressure and steam in the coffee grounds. A moka pot espresso maker consists of three

basket” in the middle, where the grounds go; and a collection chamber on top, which has a spout in the middle from The ideal cup of coffee happens when just the right amount of grounds are confronted with just the right amount of water, and a small dark shot ends with a followed by a blast of weak, off-tasting coffee, as steam continues to rush through the spent grounds. Too many grounds in be able to push through, and so much pressure will build in the lower chamber that a little valve will hiss steam as the overpacked grounds burn in the and nothing good. I started my home espresso journey with an original, octagonal shaped aluminum Bialetti moka pot acquired at a yard sale. A few years later I bought a $35 stainless steel AMFOCUS, which I will always love for being the one by my side when I made my quantum leaps. But now I’m totally into my $50 stainless steel Bonvivo, which is slightly larger and has a metal handle that will never melt.

particle size will make your equipment run properly. If you’re using the all-too-common spinning blade type of grinder, you might as well be bonking your beans with a frying pan. The only type of grinder to consider is a burr grinder, which crushes the beans to a uniform size between spinning metal spools. My Baratza Virtuoso burr grinder lists for $250, and is worth every penny. The Cuisinart it replaced was loud and awkward, but basically got the job done. Hand-held burr grinders, which can grind as well as my Virtuoso, start at about $15. That spinning blade grinder is great for grinding spices, so you don’t have to throw it away. As for the beans themselves, you need a local roaster, preferably with skills. You want to grind and brew your coffee within two weeks of when the beans are roasted, so freshness is of the essence. My current moka pot and two exes have all been of different sizes, but they all make the best coffee with about half the recommended amount of water. In my Bonvivo I use a tad less than a cup of water and 3 tablesame ratio for larger or smaller amounts of water. For more intense, concentrated shot, use even less water — as little as a half-cup per three tablespoons of grounds. beans will make about 20 cups per week. As it heats, watch the little espresso machine like a soon darken. When you see that golden crema it’s basically done. Turn off the heat and wait until the bubbling stops. After pouring the coffee, add some water to the collection chamber to prevent buildup. Enjoy your smooth, strong, beautiful cup of coffee. Rinse. Regrind. Repeat. Email: editorial@boulderweekly.com

Best Margarita Best Place to Eat Outdoors Best Restaurant Service Best Take-Out Best Wings

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

AUGUST 11, 2022

S I M P L E

L O C A L

FA R M

T O

TA B L E

BEST AMERICAN RESTAUR ANT

S AT & SU N 9 AM - 2 PM

TUE-FRI 11AM-2PM

TUE-THUR 4:30PM-9PM

F R I & S AT 4:30PM-9:30PM

S U N D AY 4:30PM-9PM

• BEST PIZZA SLICE • BEST FOOD DELIVERY • BEST LATE NIGHT

AUGUST 11, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

by John Lehndorff

JOHN LE

Perfect pita pillows creamy hummus, a salsa recipe from Janos Wilder, and a weekend of food events

HND OR FF

ummus and pita bread. We eat that once uncommon Middle Eastern fare all the time and that duo is available in many local restaurants and most supermarkets. However, once you taste the scratchmade hummus and pita bread at Ash’Kara you’ll swear you are

Chef Dan Asher’s Boulder eatery specializes in modern Israeli cuisine Ash’Kara’s hummus starts with dried chickpeas that are cooked, pureed, and mixed with a serious wealth of sesame seed tahini paste, fresh lemon juice, sea salt, toasted ground cumin, parsley and smoked paprika. The dip is puddled with single origin California olive oil. tub that’s mostly beans.

a simple dip conveyance tool. The pita at Ash’Kara is made with locally grown heirloom wheat freshly milled in Boulder with sourdough starter, yeast and local honey. After the loaves rise, they are slid into a hot, tion of irresistible. feta, the sweet-glazed baked eggplant and olive oil cake at Ash’Kara, but I’d be happy to dip that warm pita into that creamy hummus for the rest of my life.

Culinary Calendar: First Bite is Coming

Boulder Recipe Flashback: How Janos Got Hot

a Festa, Louisville’s annual celebration of its Italian heritage, is Aug. 14 at Memory Square Park. On the menu are sausage sandwiches, pizza and pizzelles. … The

anos Wilder started his cooking career at

studying food and opening several award-winning eateries in Arizona

… The dates for Boulder’s County’s First Bite restaurant -

and Tales from a Southwest

coming from Boulder County farmers. Janos Salsa Fresca 6 medium ripe tomatoes, diced 1 Anaheim chile, peeled, seeded and diced 1 poblano chile, peeled, seeded and diced 1 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste Combine all the ingredients, mix well and refrigerate at least an hour before serving. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with tortilla chips or baked pita triangles.

festival.org; and The Boulder Library main branch hosts a Library. … Send information about upcoming food and

Boulder County Farm Stand Guide Once blackened, place them in a plastic bag to peel off easily. Be sure to wear gloves!

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

down-on-the-farm-stand.

AUGUST 11, 2022

Gray market problems

Without full legalization and federal regulation, consumers will always be at risk of buying tainted or bunk products

by Will Brendza

ore Americans are becoming cannabidiol (CBD)-curious than ever before. That’s according to Murry Woronoff, who recently curated a survey for Adtaxi on the topic; polling over 1,000 people spanning across U.S. geographic regions, income levels, gender, and age. And the results were clear, he says. “Twice as many people are familiar with CBD as are subscribed to cable TV,” Woronoff reports. Eighty-three percent of the survey respondents knew about CBD, and over 50% reported having tried a CBD product within the past year. “It’s just appealing to so many people for so many reasons, and with so many products there’s a reason to try it,” Woronoff says. Nearly half of those who reported using CBD are doing so for health or medical reasons, to relieve anxiety, pain, or sleeplessness the survey indicates. But without oversight or regulation from the federal and state governments, the world of CBD products is riddled with blundering entrepreneurs, and in some cases, outright snake oil salesmen, putting the burden on this snowballing consumer base to do their own research on where their CBD is coming from. “With no oversight, with no regulatory safety agency looking over this, it’s a free-for-all,” says Chris Hudulla, the founder and CSO of ProVerde Labs, an accredited CBD testing laboratory. ProVerde Labs provides full-panel testing for CBD products to identify contaminants like toxic solvents, heavy metals, salmonella and mold, as well as providing sive process, he admits; and one that isn’t required by

the federal government. As a result, few producers elect to invest in it. “A lot of people are just jumping into this [industry],” Hudulla says. “Some of them don’t care about consumer quality or consumer safety or some of them just don’t know enough.” A lot of companies play games with semantics, Hudulla says, advertising with claims like, “Contains 100% real hemp oil!” “What is hemp oil? As a chemist who’s been working in this for almost six years now, I don’t know what hemp oil is,” Hudulla says. “It could be hemp seed oil, which contains no CBD, or it could be the resin extracted from the plant, which would be predominantly CBD.” Over the years, working in this Wild West, he’s caught some bad actors. He describes one instance where a client called him having just bought $2,000 of CBD isolate online (which turned out to be forged) claiming 99.9% CBD purity. “They sent me a picture and the picture is of a yellow oil. Well, these poor guys don’t know that high-purity CBD would be a white crystalline solid,” he says. “I had them send me a sample and there wasn’t a bit of CBD in it. Somebody was basically selling vegetable oil.” In another instance, a producer was advertising the “highest quality CBD on the market” and actually -

to the attorney general, then called the company and demanded they recall the product. “The guy hung up the phone on me, and by the next day, the phone number was disconnected and the website was gone,” Hudalla says. The worst case Hudualla describes is of a product that was being sold across different states by different residual solvents that was identical between the disparate products. ProVerde got its hands on a photo of what the producer was using to extract the CBD isolate. “It was a picture of paint remover,” he says, “Like, a NAFTA paint stripper.” Hudulla doesn’t want to scare people away from CBD. He believes in its medicinal anti-seizure, anti-inwithout federal or state regulation it’s up to consumers to make sure the companies they’re buying CBD from are willing to invest in third-party testing by labs like ProVerde Labs, Botanica Labs, ACS Laboratory or another similar tester. “You have a lot of very responsible producers who are really focused on high-quality products,” Hudulla says; it’s about having more transparency. “Producers who are willing to spend the money, whether it’s our lab or another lab, should be doing some level of third-party testing.” With the 2018 Hemp Farming Bill, the federal government removed hemp and hemp seeds from the DEA’s list of Controlled Substances, but did not explicitly legalize around in a gray market where selling and purchasing it is “legal” according to the DEA, but no products are regulated for safety or consistency by the FDA. And therein lies the problem with prohibition of any substance at any level. Unless it’s fully legalized, it remains unregulated—and there’s always a risk to consumers associated with that. Email: wbrendza@boulderweekly.com

AUGUST 11, 2022

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