CS Independent Vol. 1 Issue 10 | September 19, 2024
Growing pains for youth soccer as facilities reach capacity
BY
NOEL BLACK | PAGE 6
IN THIS ISSUE: | COLORADO SPRINGS’ DOYENNE OF DRINKS PAGE 8 | BAND EMBRACES THE BEAUTIFULLY STRANGE PAGE 15 | NEW NONPROFIT COVERS LITERARY LANDSCAPE PAGE 31
A Pikes Peak Media Company
“…
PUBLISHER
Mackenzie Tamayo
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ben Trollinger
REPORTERS Andrew Rogers, Cannon Taylor, Noel Black and Karin Zeitvogel
CONTRIBUTORS
Adam Leech, Lauren Ciborowski, Camille Liptak, Bob Falcone, Willow Welter, Matthew Schniper, Linda Duval, and Jeffery Payne
SALES
AD
ACCOUNT
JT Slivka
Monty Hatch, Erin Cordero
AD COORDINATOR
Lanny Adams
SENIOR
Adam Biddle OPERATIONS
DIGITAL
Sean Cassady
DISTRIBUTION
Kay Williams
Credit: Noel Black
Dempsey
Vita Rasl|
Joel Villanoz
AJUST HAVE FUN OUT THERE
By BEN TROLLINGER • ben.trollinger@ppmc.live
side from a brief and undistinguished stint as an offensive lineman on my middle school football team (this was in Texas and therefore a mandatory rite of passage), youth sports were not a significant part of my childhood. Public humiliation was not as high on my to-do list as binging on movies, books, comics and whatever my grandmother would buy me at 7-Eleven. My father bought me a catcher’s mitt in the hopes that I might be the next Pudge Rodriguez. But while I had the pudgy part down, I never played a single game of baseball. I simply didn’t have the knack and that was that.
My 13-year-old son is a different story. He’s been a gamer since he was in PullUps. Soccer, lacrosse, basketball, golf, football, baseball, track, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking — he’s tried them all and in my completely objective view, excelled at many of them (he hit his first hole-in-one this summer — just saying).
My weekends now mostly consist of watching him play baseball with his travel team at a seemingly endless array of Denver-area sporting facilities. Wait for your pitch! Good eye! Shake it off! Nice cut! Those are the stock phrases that every self-respecting sports parent shrieks enthusiastically from the stands. I mostly stay quiet and marvel at the fact that I’m related to a bona fide jock.
LETTERS .
BUILDING THE FUTURE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must be signed with full name and include daytime phone number, full address, or email address. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. | EMAIL ADDRESS: letters@ppmc.live .
What amazes me most is my son’s near-unwavering grace under pressure. He wants to do well —and he often does — but he also doesn’t fear failure. It’s just part of the game. You don’t win them all. Do better next time. Just have fun out there. These ideas have always struck me as empty platitudes — a convenient belief considering my deep-seated and completely irrational fear of being less than perfect. But at 44 years of age, I finally see — through my son’s joy and fearlessness — the immense value of youth sports. It’s not just about winning. It’s about showing up for life and for other people. It’s about resilience. It’s about putting yourself out there. For my son, life lessons have nothing to do with it — it’s just what he loves.
In this issue, Noel Black, the father of a baller himself, surveys the current landscape of youth soccer facilities in Colorado Springs (Page 6). Although we cheer like hooligans for the Switchbacks and boast about our Olympic pedigree, according to some, we aren’t necessarily meeting the growing infrastructure needs of our young athletes. Whether you’re a jock or a recovering nerd like me, we should remember that the dividends of investing in sports pay off over a lifetime — on and off the field.
I am honored as CEO to celebrate Colorado Springs Utilities’ century of service this year. We have a great deal to be proud of – and a lot of work ahead of us.
Our municipal utility has about $4.6 billion in assets that have been built to support our city over the last 100 years. During the next five years, this will nearly double to include another $3.9 billion. These investments are needed for the community’s future.
After months of work, my team has developed a five-year financial plan to continue providing our customers with safe and reliable utility services while meeting all regulatory requirements. Here is a look at a few of the significant capital budget drivers.
Sustainable Energy Plan: meeting state regulations
Colorado regulations require us to reduce our carbon emissions 80% by 2030. To meet this mandate, we must retire our coal-fired power plants by the end of this decade.
To ensure we can continue providing our community with reliable electricity, we must replace this lost power with new investments in renewable and natural gas generation. Because these new renewable energy resources will be located outside of city limits, additional investments in transmission lines and substations are also critical.
Water and wastewater: crucial to meet growth To meet the demands of growth on the city’s east side, we’ll begin a major project to provide a critical wastewater “backbone.” The current estimated cost of the first phase of this project is $396 million and when complete, will serve up to 225,000 residents.
Major water investments are needed to meet future community needs. We need to acquire new water supplies through our water sharing program in the Lower Arkansas River Valley. We are also planning to enlarge Montgomery Reservoir in Park County to allow us to capture and store enough water to serve an additional 14,000 single-family residences annually.
Funding
We fund these investments through bonds and revenue from customer rates. Rates are based on the cost of providing service; we do not make a profit. To support our five-year plan, we are proposing base-rate increases each year from 2025 to 2029. The estimated
increase on a typical residential bill would be about $14 a month in 2025 if approved by City Council in November.
We understand any increase is significant, and we don’t take these changes lightly. We’ll continue to do everything we can to provide the best value to our customers, and to offer programs, new rate options and assistance to those who need it.
These investments are crucial to maintaining the reliability our customers expect, while meeting regulatory requirements and the city’s growing demands.
Our future depends on the decisions we make today. This is especially true for our energy future. About 30% of our budget drivers are a result of state-mandated emissions reductions. I invite you to learn more about our five-year plan at csu.org.
Travas Deal
Chief Executive Officer
Colorado Springs Utilities
VOTING RECORD
It's that time again when we as voters and the electorate are asked to do our duty and elect the next slate of governing officials. I am talking about our state legislature, both representatives and senators. In that regard, we have an obligation to know the voting record of all incumbents seeking re-election with regard to the issues. For instance, how did your legislator vote on the proposition HH. Remember that one from last year? It certainly has fallen from grace with the media, but is that full and honest reporting? Do you know if your legislator voted for Prop. HH? Yes, that's the amendment that would have denied you all future TABOR refunds for life and I think that is relevant and very important, Don't you think so? If you do, and if you voted to retain your TABOR refund, and your representative and or senator voted to end it, then are they really voting for you? Absolutely not. If you are an informed voter and you are aware your representative did not vote for you, then you should not vote for that person, Republican or Democrat, in the upcoming election. When will they ’fess up to their voting record? Are they ashamed? You decide.
John Lonergan Colorado Springs
An Air Force Academy cadet was found dead in her dorm room. Cadet 4th Class Avery Koonce, 19, of Taylor, Texas, was found unconscious Wednesday, Sept. 4, in her dormitory. Her parents, Eric and Kelly Koonce said in a statement, “We have peace in the knowledge Avery is in the arms of her Heavenly Father and we will be with her again. Avery was not a perfect person but was a perfect daughter. Loving on her brothers and learning how to live with Avery’s loss is our only focus right now. We are beyond blessed for the 19 amazing years we got to call Avery ours. We are praying for all of those that are bearing the incredible darkness of her loss.” The cause of Koonce’s death is still under investigation.
The Citadel Mall removed from the list of off-limits areas for local service members. The mall had been listed due to ongoing safety concerns. Locally stationed service members will now be allowed to return to the mall at Platte Avenue and Academy Boulevard under a three-month probationary status. “This decision is the result of dedicated stakeholders joining together to make necessary changes and demonstrate a proactive approach to safety. By welcoming military families back to the Citadel Mall, we not only restore a sense of normalcy, but also reinforce the strong bond between the military community and Colorado Springs,” said Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade.
The City of Colorado Springs released its 2023 annual financial reports. The report shows that the city collected $670 million in revenue last year, with 66% coming from sales and other taxes. The city reported that revenues decreased by $33.5 million from 2022 due to lower grant contributions. “We take our responsibility as stewards of the city’s financial resources seriously, and we strive to provide customer-focused delivery of effective and efficient city services through solid financial management,” said Charae McDaniel, the city’s chief financial officer. The report also showed that the Colorado Springs Police Department responded to over 250,000 calls for service, public works repaired more than 87,000 potholes and repaved over 216 lane miles with 2C tax dollars, and the Colorado Springs Airport welcomed over 2 million travelers.
The Pikes Peak Continuum of Care releases homeless count for 2024. This year’s Point in Time survey took place on the night of Sunday, Jan. 21, into Monday, Jan. 22. The survey reported that 1,146 unduplicated people experienced homelessness on that night, 156 fewer counted than in 2023 (1,302), a 12% decline. According to the count, 259 people were counted as unsheltered, and 887 people were counted as sheltered in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness.
FIELD OF REALITIES
Growing pains for youth soccer as facilities reach capacity
by NOEL BLACK • noel.black@ppmc.live
Soccer in the United States is having a moment. The U.S. Women’s National Team just won gold at the Olympics just two years after a humiliating loss in the Round of 16 at the World Cup in Australia. Despite having never won a World Cup, or Olympic gold, the U.S. Men’s team just hired Mauricio Pocchetino, arguably one of the top five coaches in the world before they play co-host to the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. Then there’s Lionel Messi, the GOAT, and the star of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup Victory – who now plays for FC Miami in Major League Soccer, even if it is a retirement league.
Colorado soccer is having a moment too. Three of the players on that U.S. Women’s National team that won gold at the Olympics — Lindsey Horan, Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson — all hail from the square state.
Colorado Springs has been having a moment since the Weidner Field opened downtown in 2021 as the home of the Switchbacks, the local professional team that’s made the USL playoffs for the past three years. And, judging by the strain on
local and regional sports complexes, youth soccer in the Pikes Peak region is having a moment too.
“The demand is higher than what [the city] can supply currently,” says Nancy Sibley, sporting director of Forge FC, a new local soccer club. “And I think, systematically, they’re kind of putting themselves in the hole because they’re not developing anything either.”
Sibley is just one of the club soccer directors in Colorado Springs feeling the squeeze of the sport’s popularity as local facilities reach capacity.
“We don’t have facilities that compare to other municipalities, whether it’s a Broomfield or a Boulder or Fort Collins, Jeffco,” says Candy Brooks, executive director of Pride Soccer, the largest club in town, with around 5,000 players. Pride has its own private training facility with nine turf fields on East Woodmen Road, but it’s not nearly enough to accommodate all their needs.
John Venezia Park in the Briargate neighborhood, which opened in 2017,
was the last public park with multiuse sports fields to open in Colorado Springs. With three turf fields and stadium lighting available, it’s a desirable facility. Though it can be reserved for $100 an hour with an extra $30 an hour for lights, the space must otherwise be shared with all comers. The hourly rate makes it cost-prohibitive for most clubs, says Sibley. And while sharing would otherwise be fine, it can make it difficult to plan practices.
Marc Carrasco, the Colorado Springs soccer director for Colorado Rush, says that it’s not a lack of fields, but whether those fields are centralized, have goals with nets on site, and are well maintained for proper training. Rush uses multiple facilities including El Pomar just off of I-25 and Circle Drive in south Colorado Springs, and Boddington Field at Monument Valley. It can be frustrating when the grass gets too long and Rush has to use their own dieselgenerated lights. Though Carrasco doesn’t think the city owes private soccer clubs anything, he sees the unmet demand. “I think if someone built a complex here, they would have it booked all the time.”
The turf field at El Pomar is one of the few with lights. | Credit: Noel Black
The El Pomar Youth Sports Complex, which opened 25 years ago, has nine soccer fields and gets heavy use by local clubs in the evenings and on weekends. But only one of those fields is turf with lights. And technically, El Pomar is not a public facility. It’s a public-private partnership between the city and Colorado Springs Youth Sports Inc., a nonprofit that was created to build and manage the much-needed complex. The city, says Executive Director Steve Czarnecki, helps maintain the fields, but wouldn’t otherwise have had the resources to develop it in the first place.
“There was a recognized need for a more dedicated sports complex in Colorado Springs around that time,” says Czarnecki.
But those needs have far outpaced its capacity. El Pomar, which also has nine baseball and softball diamonds, gets 130,000 “sports plays” per year. And that, says Czarnecki, adds up to nearly half a million visitors, including families and other spectators.
Part of the nonprofit’s mission is to keep the fields affordable, and rental of the grass fields averages around $30 per hour. But keeping costs low also means there’s little left over to improve or further develop the fields to increase capacity.
“We cannot meet all the demand,” says Czarnecki. “We cannot accommodate everyone, particularly on the weekday practice side. I’d say we’ve become more and more full, and many teams and clubs have resorted to having two, three, four teams on a field at a time practicing.”
The Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department has plenty of land it could develop if it had the funding, says park maintenance and operations manager Eric Becker. The city currently has a master plan in place for Coleman Community Park, a 70-acre piece of mostly undeveloped land adjacent to the Vibes baseball stadium just east of Powers Boulevard that includes the already-built Ragain Field, the former home of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks. But the city doesn’t have enough funding to build it, never mind maintain the many parks and facilities that already exist. Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) laws at both the state and local level, which ratchet tax revenues down in lean years and cap them when coffers are full, make it difficult for the parks department to count on a steady budget from year to year.
“We lack significant resources to be able to
not just build new stuff, but also to maintain our stuff to a level where it needs to be,” says Becker. An outside study done in 2020 showed that there was $279 million in deferred maintenance alone, “just to bring us up to that level where we need to be, replacing backstops, bleachers, pavilions, irrigation systems, playgrounds and all kinds of things.”
To put that into context, the amount of money that the parks department receives annually from the city’s general operating fund was just shy of $18 million this year, which is roughly the same amount allocated just before the 2008 recession. Though Trails, Open Space and Parks (TOPS) funds and other grants brought the total 2024 parks budget up to $57,633,300, it’s not money they can always count on. And, says Eric Becker, sports facilities must compete with demand for more trails and open space, which are popular with voters in Colorado Springs.
There was some hope in 2021 that private developers might begin to step up to build youth sports facilities when Norwood announced a 126.5-acre sports complex as part of its Percheron development just north of the Pride Soccer Complex. But so far, nothing has moved forward, and Norwood could not be reached for comment.
Some public schools in the area rent their fields to clubs when they aren’t in use, says Nancy Sibley of Forge, but they often want more than three times what El Pomar charges. And those costs get passed on to families already struggling to pay fees.
The popularity of the Colorado Springs Switchbacks games and their top-tier stadium downtown offer the possibility
All above-ground work completed in the demolition of the Martin Drake Power Plant. Colorado Springs Utilities began demolition efforts in the summer of 2023. The project consisted of more than 83,000 hours of labor and the removal of approximately 8,700 gross tons of metal, filling 770 truckloads. Environmental studies of the Drake site will be explored in the future, although specific timelines and details are unknown at this time.
that professional soccer may create a stronger local culture in support of youth development, including training facilities.
The Switchbacks have had a working partnership with Pride Soccer for the past several years and recently announced the creation of Switchbacks II, a preprofessional youth squad made up of highlevel local youth players from ages 13 to 19.
Jon Taylor, business development director for the Switchbacks, thinks that public, private and nonprofit stakeholders could come together to develop a sports complex that not only addresses the needs of local teams and clubs, but also attracts major tournaments and events. That, in turn, could generate significant revenue for the city and surrounding businesses.
“I mean, you could make thousands and thousands of dollars with hotels and food and beverage and all that,” said Taylor, noting Weidner Field’s success. Switchbacks games. According to Taylor, games have an average attendance of 6,600 and growing — more than three quarters of the stadium’s capacity — that generate significant business inside and around the stadium.
Taylor raises an eyebrow toward the site of the recently demolished Martin Drake Power Plant just to the west of the Switchbacks facility downtown. Given the value of the land, the cost of cleanup, and the scope of the project, it would undoubtedly have to involve significant developer investment. But it’s not impossible, he says. “I've heard from other partners in the community that there's talk.”
Note: The author’s son plays soccer for Forge FC.
Mountain Metropolitan Transit will begin new service changes at the end of the month. The changes include adjusting the scheduled time of Route 24 at South Carefree Circle and Tutt Boulevard to allow riders more time to make their connection with Route 23. Extending weekday evening service on Route 18 by three additional hours with service ending at 9:47 p.m. Extending weekday evening service on Route 19 by one additional hour with service ending at 9:41 p.m. and extending weekday evening service on Route 39 by one additional hour with service ending at 9:20 p.m. These changes go into effect on Sunday, Sept. 29.
Colorado Springs Airport received $14 million in federal airport improvement funds. The funding is made available through the Airport Improvement Program, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as discretionary supplemental grant funding. Colorado Springs funding will go toward the reconstruction of 3,700 feet of taxiway.
300 local coaches receiving national grant funding for youth development training. Colorado Springs Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services was awarded a grant from the National Recreation and Park Association as part of the Million Coaches Challenge. Thanks to the grant, the department will train 300 coaches by the end of 2024 through the Positive Coaching Alliance.
Swiss solar company says the proposed Colorado Springs facility is no longer financially viable. Meyer Burger Technology AG announced that the construction of a solar cell production facility was no longer financially viable and that the project will be discontinued. The company did not provide further details on the decision. Meyer Burger said this move will also lead them to focus their production efforts at their plant in Goodyear, AZ.
UCCS is partnering with Norwood Development Corp. and Weidner Apartment Homes for a four-year degree in Property Management and Real Estate. UCCS says the new program will be established with $2 million in joint funding, split evenly between Weidner and Norwood Development. Both groups will also have seats on the Program Advisory Board to provide guidance to the College of Business. UCCS will commit $2.1 million toward operations and scholarships. The degree will be offered through the UCCS Downtown campus in 2025.
Compiled by Andrew Rogers andrew.rogers@ppmc.live
Weidner Field, home of the Switchbacks, during a recent game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. | Credit: Noel Black
FOOD&DRINK .
IA NIGHT OUT WITH BAR MOM
Touring Colorado Springs’ cocktail scene with its unlikely matriarch
her a cucumber vodka and Pimm’s No. 1 gin liqueur drink named The Will to Live on the current cocktail list. Sally has made Shame a regular destination to see owner Matt Baumgartner, whom she’s known since his Rabbit Hole days. When Sally enters a bar, she gets hugs and kisses, too, from her bartender friends. She often chats with other regulars along the bar rail, and sometimes new faces, telling them about her favorite spots in town if they’re new or visiting.
When doing her rounds, a few nights a week on average, she’ll typically hit three or four bars over the course of as many hours, Ubering downtown from Gold Hill Mesa around 6 p.m. and heading home around 10 p.m. Prior to hitting Shame, we launched this night’s tour just up the alleyway at District Elleven, where Andrew Alverson starts Sally off with a fancier version of a vodka/cranberry. He and D11’s Colby Schaffer chat with us at the bar between customers. I sip a mocktail to start the tour light while I interview Sally, the glow of my laptop out of place in the moody, dim lounge. Some people ask what we’re doing, and when I say I’m interviewing Sally, she seems pleased, acknowledged as special enough to warrant a story. She is.
My first question to her is less the existential “Why are we here?” and more of the situational “Why are we here?” Like, when did these tours begin, and for what purpose?
DATES WITH NATE
Sally traces it all back to 2011. She was working downtown off Nevada Avenue for Kinder Morgan; she’d been an accountant since 1984. She worked for the same company (previously Colorado Interstate Gas) for 37 years in the same building, and she and co-workers would stop by The Famous once a week or so after work. There, she met Luis Rodriguez, Evan Martz (out of the industry) and Colby Carlson (now at Red Gravy). Over several years, she got to know them each a little through casual convos.
By MATTHEW SCHNIPER
t’s a Wednesday night in early July, and I’m doing Sally’s rounds with her — dropping into a series of cocktail bars downtown for a drink at each. Sally is Sally Wood, affectionately known as “Bar Mom” to many in the cocktail industry. If you don’t know her, you’re probably not drinking in the right places. She’s 64 but rents a room in her house to The Archives’ Shayne Baldwin, one of the top-awarded bartenders in town, 35 years her junior. She goes to concerts with the crew. Jack White with Eleven18’s Jacob Pfund. U2 at the Sphere in Las Vegas with Tony’s bartender Luis Rodriguez, who she also went on a Jay and Silent Bob cruise with last year. She’s the guest of honor at Friendsgivings. She’s cool AF, with the
cocktail tattoos to prove it. She’s adored.
“Sally isn’t obligatory,” Jacob tells me over a drink at Shame & Regret. “It’s not charity. She’s someone we genuinely want to spend time with. We truly love her, and she loves us.” He says all bartenders attract some barflies whom they appreciate seeing regularly, but usually the relationship ends there. Those are more surface-level interactions. But not with Sally. The time spent across the counter from one another is just “the gateway to who she is,” he says, recalling he first met her when he was working at Sakura many years ago, but didn’t really get to know her until he mixed drinks at The Archives for a stint.
Emily Kindt is behind the bar this night at Shame and greets Sally with a warm, sincere smile before mixing
In 2012, her husband, John, passed away from a sudden heart attack while hiking in Red Rock Canyon. They’d met when she was 16 while working together at a McDonald's outside Chicago. They got married two years later; he was 23, five years her elder. Though she was born in Olathe, Kansas, she’d been in the big city since age 10. They later left together and came to Colorado Springs where she studied accounting and eventually got an MBA from UCCS. John had several jobs, including managing 7-Elevens, but he went to massage school in the ’90s and found work at the Broadmoor spa. He worked there until the early aughts, when his health forced him to retire. Sally’s income supported them forward.
Also in 2012, Sally met legendary local bartender and mixology historian Nate Windham. She attended one of his “Dates with Nate” Sunday cocktail classes at The Blue Star. She was instantly hooked, and frequented his bars as he traveled around town, eventually landing at Brooklyn’s on Boulder when it opened around 2016. “That became my spot,” Sally says. “At that time there weren't as many other good cocktail bars in town.” Sally credits Nate with essentially
Sally Wood and Shayne Baldwin at the recent Sip with Schnip at Bristol Brewing Co. |
Credit: by Matthew Schniper
saving her life during a very tough year by putting her on the path toward her future industry tribe. At Brooklyn’s she also befriended Dylan Currier (now co-owner of The Archives), Regan Capozzella (now at Bar 33), Philip Taylor (now a sommelier in New York City, who personally called Sally “industry mom”) and Carlos Garcia (who recently left the Springs for my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama).
I reach out to Carlos, who says, “She really is a mom. She’s been to every single one of my cocktail competitions. She helped me get furniture the first time I lived on my own when I was 21. She’s helped me through breakups, and she was there when I made my first martini up to Nate’s standards. She’s an incredible woman!” He mentions they’ll be FaceTiming later that week. (Relatedly: Sally has made it to almost every one of my monthly Sip with Schnip events around town; the only one I can recall she missed was because she was out of town.)
Anyway, when Dylan moved down the street to Sakura (in the back of what was then Rooster’s House of Ramen and is now Allusion Speakeasy), Sally
followed him and met Shayne Baldwin.
“I was wary of him at first” she says. “Like, who’s this baby behind the bar, who the hell is this kid?” Now, they’re close friends with common interests, says Shayne. “He’s much younger than me, but he reads, watches older movies, listens to history podcasts — he’s very smart,” Sally adds. She notes most of her friends are now in their 30s. She was 51 when her husband died, and she tried some dating apps in later years but found in her experience that most men who want to date women in their 50s are in their 70s. “I don’t relate to 70-year-olds,” she says. “I’d rather just have good people to be around. I don’t need anything else.”
As for how they became roomies, Sally and Shayne had already become good buds before he took off to work in New York City a few years ago. When she heard he was looking to return home a year ago, she offered a spare room in her house to help him easily get resettled. She’d never had a roommate before, but things worked out swimmingly. She’s friends with his girlfriend, Karina, and sometimes she and Shayne make time to watch a basketball game
Chiba’s owner, Mike Carsten, whom she sat with as an honored guest at a recent paired dinner there.
together or just relax at the house. “But I see him more when I’m sitting at The Archives than when I’m home,” she says, noting somewhat opposite schedules due to his late-night bar life. Still, she says, “It’s just nice to have someone else around to care about.”
BOOMERANG
Our third tour stop is to Chiba Bar, where Sally’s greeted by her good friend Anastacio GarciaLiley behind the bar. They’d first met around five years ago when he was at 503W, and she attended many of his Bartender’s Guild events in recent years when he was a co-organizer. She has it marked on her calendar to attend the opening of Anastacio’s new Cocktails After Dusk venture on Aug. 9. That’s with fellow bartender Tim Chapman, who also drops by Chiba for a drink with us, and who Sally dressed up as for Halloween in 2023. She showed up in a Fernet-Branca sweatshirt and a beanie cap to Cowboy Star to surprise him at his bar. She says he didn’t get it at first, until a co-worker was like, “Dude, she’s dressed as you!” Sally’s also well acquainted with Chiba’s other popular bartenders like John Terry and Camille Stellar, as well as
“Chiba is usually my food stop on the tour,” Sally tells me. She gets a pour of cold sake, and we also order some bites. Chef Kalen Janifer appears and effortlessly talks me into an omakase meal, and then buries me in good eats. Jacob has followed us down from Shame & Regret, and we all share the food. At some point, I don’t remember why, they hug, and I snap a photo of them. Then, for my own amusement, if nothing else, I upload the image to Chiba’s cocktail printer from my phone and have it printed on the egg white foam of my cocktail, an alluring rosemary gin and Campari drink finished with Earl Grey syrup, named Meet Hanako at Embers (a nerdy reference to the video game “Cyberpunk 2077”). I present the finished drink to them, proud of my jackassery, and they give a polite laugh. I’m still trying to finish my food when I see Sally starting to get antsy and tap her credit card on the counter, ready to pay and move on in the tour. I can tell that I’m too long-winded and would easily turn her four-hour rounds into six with my gabbing — so it’s a good thing I don’t do this often and hold her back. On our way to The Archives as our last stop, she says, “This is when I get my steps in for the day.” I ask how many on a given tour night, and she says around 4,000 or 5,000. Continuing with the theme of Sally onboarding new friends with each bar opening, she says when The Archives first opened, “everyone worked there.” So she buddied up with Zach Long (Colorado Craft), George Dillon (out of the industry), Adam Ridens (later the cofounding chef at Ephemera) and Zak Popovich (Cowboy Star).
“Archives is my Cheers bar if I was Norm,” she says, telling me another story about how Dylan once whipped up a Black Manhattan portion as a “boomerang” for her to take on a trip to London. A boomerang is an illegal but cherished practice among bartenders whereby they send shots — poured into mini jars or plastic wrapped glassware, even Tupperware — to one another via patrons (usually trusted regulars) on their way to a next bar. It’s an amusing secret handshake that builds camaraderie. Some nights shots come back their way. Sally’s destination in London was the CONTINUED ON PAGE 11...
Sally Wood at the District Elleven bar with Andrew Alverson and Colby Schaffer. | Credit: Matthew Schniper
FOOD&DRINK .
American Bar at the Savory Hotel, rated among the top 50 bars in the world. She says that after a couple of drinks, she got up the courage to approach a staff member and present the shot. She says it was well-received, and they made a Hanky Panky for her in return. She ferried it on the rest of her travels, including through Iceland, eventually bringing it home and drinking it with Dylan. The boomerang had returned to the hand. Nice work, Sally.
CONNECTION
While she sips on a Sakura martini made with sake, Japanese gin and maraschino liqueur, I ask Sally more questions about the “why” of these tours, as several of our prior convos have been naturally interrupted with bar banter. But I also ask what she likes to do on the nights of the week that she doesn’t go out. She tells me she’s otherwise a homebody who likes to build puzzles. She’ll sometimes go out to dinner at places like The Warehouse or Ephemera with her friend Eric, whom she met on tour one night. She’ll watch TV, most recently “The Bear.” But she also volunteers twice a week for Care and Share Food Bank, and she acts as the secretary for the Gold Hill Mesa townhome owners association. She retired from the office job in 2021, and she says that’s really when her bar tours in their current form began in earnest. “I do this for a living now,” she jokes.
But she doesn’t stay in a rut, drinking the same drinks over and over again, although a Negroni is her go-to to get a feel for a new-to-her place’s prowess. Sometimes she mixes that up with a Boulevardier instead. She likes spirit-forward drinks, and she’s not the biggest tequila or mezcal fan, though she says she’s always willing to try drinks made with them.
Having heard her story about venturing to London, I ask if she aims to travel more during her retirement. She says she and her husband did a fair amount of international exploration, and she did even more, mostly cruises, after he died, to keep busy. But, “Right now, I just don’t feel like it much,” she says. Instead, she’s excited by the idea of helping cofinance and open a new cocktail bar with a few of her industry friends. I won’t disclose whom at this time, but she says they’ve already issued some letters of interest on places, and she’d
like to help out in the background with the accounting work. “It could be a rewarding late chapter of life,” she says, “since I’m so into bars. A lot of times I will sit by myself and observe — I know what good bar service looks like.”
It’s why she also frequents places on her tours like Odyssey Gastropub, Four by Brother Luck, Bar Thirty Three and Tony’s. She also likes to brunch at 503W to see Emilio Ortiz and crew.
“I go to see family at this point,” she says. “I know that there’s about 20 people I could call who’d do almost anything for me if I needed.”
She has no children and says literally this is the only family she has left. “Everyone’s gone. This is my community now. They consider me part of it, as Bar Mom.”
To the heart of why she tours, she says, “If I didn’t do this I’d be lonely.” She mentions an article she read not long ago about how loneliness and isolation are as bad for a person as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. (It’s true; the surgeon general said it.) By comparison, what’s
who’s now at Tony’s. I give him a call and try to phrase an easy catch-all question, basically, “What does Sally mean to you?”
The first thing he says is, “She’s always followed me wherever I go — she’s always supporting us.” Then he reaches for an analogy that places her in context for himself and the wider community. It’s Peter Pan.
“What I always feel like with Sally is I’m Pan in Neverland, and she’s Wendy who left and grew up and now here to stay with us Lost Boys. We’re just Pan and Wendy hanging out — that vibe. And all the Lost Boys are the bartenders. We’re pumped she’s here. It’s our family.”
Luis says when they travel together they have similar styles, mainly as foodies. “She’s my best friend,” he says. “There’s that nature to it, like we already had a past life together and now we’re having another. When I’m with her, it’s like, “Yeah, let’s go f--- with some pirates.”
That’s why he leans on the Peter Pan reference, he says. It’s common bond kinship over adventures on proverbial islands. And in the same way comedians hang out with comedians, he lumps Sally into the bartender gang as one of them.
the harm of a drink an hour during her rounds, a few nights a week? She’s not going to call it healthy, per se, but she’s clearly embraced a belief about the lesser of two evils — and she’s not a churchgoer, by the way.
What’s important to her at this time in her life, she says, is people. “As I’ve gotten older, it’s a lot less about things and a lot more about people.”
As if to help me shape my synopsis of this story — her story — she says, “It’s a story about how one person has tried to get over grief and loneliness, and found some great people — a whole community of great people.”
It’s connection over cocktails. A perpetual bartender’s boomerang of circular love. “What I find interesting is some people say ‘I love you’ easily,” she says. “I go out to see my bartenders so I can get a hug and kiss and be told ‘I love you, Sally.’”
ONE OF US
The bartender who’s known Sally the longest is Luis Rodriguez, the one she initially bonded with at The Famous,
“When you’ve been behind the bar as long as I have, you realize you need to be next to people of your feather,” he says. We have a different way of thinking, eating, drinking — a whole different way of life.” Sally has the same frame of mind, he says.
With her, he says, it’s nice to be with someone who listens to you, because as a bartender most customers just want to talk to you. “They want to tell us everything.”
When Sally does do the talking, he says she “talks the same way as us, so it’s like hanging out with other bartenders.”
As Jacob Pfund had said, she’s not the average barfly. She might be sitting on the other side of the counter, but she’s one of the crew. One of the misfits. Bar Mom.
Matthew Schniper is the former Food & Drink Editor at the Colorado Springs Independent. He now produces a weekly newsletter, “Side Dish with Schniper,” where this story first appeared. Find out more at http://sidedishschnip.substack. com.
Sally Wood with a Bitter & Glitter cocktail at Taste of Pikes Peak. | Credit: Matthew Schniper
A guide to Colorado Springs’ offbeat caffeinated offerings
TBy CANNON TAYLOR • cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
oe beans and espresso beans combined on Sept. 6 during the grand opening of Comfort & Joy Cat Cafe, Colorado Springs’ latest bizarre cafe experience. In a world where your biggest competitors are soulless megacorporations and dozens of other local haunts, you have to do something out of the box to stand out. So, just what are some of the offbeat coffee options Colorado Springs is offering? I embarked on a quest find out.
COMFORT & JOY CAT CAFE
When Sharon Mullally took her mother’s ashes to Scotland three years ago, she stumbled upon a cat cafe in Glasgow. Experiencing coffee with cats wandering all over the place was a revelation. She knew she had to tell Carol Guinta, her friend of 22 years, about the concept. Mullally and Guinta had always wanted to start a business together. Their first effort — a winemaking business — hadn’t worked out (unless you count having enough wine in your garage to last a lifetime as “working out”). But after trial and error, they had finally landed on the perfect idea.
Mullally and Guinta partnered with the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter to provide the kitties while they provided the coffee.
Patrons can purchase 50-minute sessions that come with complimentary machine coffee and tea. In Europe, cats sit on your lap while you enjoy a meal, but in Colorado Springs, health code requires that the cats be kept in a separate room and that only drinks enter the space.
Because Comfort and Joy Cat Cafe does not yet have its food license, they are serving prepackaged snacks and beverages. When they do get their license, hopefully in the next month, they plan on offering homemade waffles, avocado toast, bagels, omelets, smoothies and, of course, signature coffees and warm drinks.
Comfort and Joy is Colorado Springs’ second cat cafe, after The Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge. There’s friendly competition, but in Mullally’s view, all that matters is that as many cats as possible are provided
with new homes.
Mullally and Guinta’s goal was to get one cat adopted a week, but in about a week of business, six cats have been claimed.
Comfort & Joy focuses on scratch post and litter box training to provide a smooth experience for new cat owners. Even after a cat is adopted, they’re here to answer questions.
Mullally thinks a dislike for cats comes from the misconception that cats are aloof and don’t like their human owners. She promises that 50 minutes with their kitties will change your mind. Take one of their contractors as an example. He came in disliking cats but grew to love them after so many hours as their coworker.
“A lot of them want to be your assistant. They want to follow you around and be where you’re at and lay on your lap,”
Mullally said. “They are just wonderful, magical little creatures, and I think it wouldn’t take long for someone who thought they didn’t want to be a cat owner to become a cat owner.”
DUNGEONS & JAVAS
Patrons of Dungeons & Javas will have to roll 12 or higher for courage and face down the beholder — a floating, cyclopean head covered in one-eyed tentacles instead of hair — if they want to order a cup of coffee. Inspired by similar shops and their lifelong love for tabletop role-playing games, husband and wife Jared Scriven and Candus Scriven-Zacher opened Dungeons & Javas in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As stay-at-home restrictions lifted, friend groups dying for interaction and classic tabletop fun looked to Dungeons & Javas as a hangout spot. The store has grown steadily since then. While most coffee shops are filled to the brim with office drones and college students, patrons come to Dungeons & Javas to play, not work. The barrier to entry for tabletop RPGs is high: You need a knowledge of the game, the pricey equipment and a group of friends who are willing to commit to a days-long campaign stretched across months of game sessions. Dungeons & Javas lowers these barriers
Ruby, the adopted queen of Comfort & Joy Cat Cafe. | Credit: Cannon Taylor
FOOD&DRINK .
through their free game library. It’s not all RPGs, either. Candus Scriven-Zacher says that families come in for simple nights of Monopoly or Ticket to Ride all the time. The store follows typical coffee shop etiquette: The purchase of food or drink is your ticket to hang out there for as long as you’d like. Guests can call in advance to reserve a table; and if they want some privacy, they can reserve the VIP room, a secluded dungeon of a conference room lined with fake torches and walls painted by a local artist, for $10 per hour or $30 for four hours.
Because the shop is designed for long stays, withhours extending until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, Dungeons & Javas allows outside water and food. That doesn’t mean you should skimp on their menu, which offers a variety of drinks named after mythical creatures, “potions” (Red Bull energy drink mixes) and food offerings like pizza, pastries
and sandwiches. I tried an iced Unicorn Breve; the orange hint was a little too subtle for my tastes, but the creamy vanilla was delicious.
Dungeons & Javas also sells collectibles, game books, minis, dice and goods made by local artists, and hosts events and tournaments regularly.
With increasing depictions of Dungeons & Dragons in popular culture, from “Stranger Things” to “Baldur’s Gate 3,” Jared Scriven is constantly introducing patrons and parents to the world of tabletop RPGs. Games that were maligned as Satanic back in Scriven’s day are now being embraced by homeschool groups and summer camps, which use Dungeons & Javas as a home base. Scriven’s even seen a children’s therapist embrace RPGs as play therapy.
“He was doing a therapy session with kids, but they’re playing D&D,” Scriven said. “I would never have thought of
that.”
With their lease running out in 2025, Dungeons & Javas is looking to relocate to a building in the Springs that can accommodate for more customers on packed weekends. For the time being, tabletop gamers can enjoy campaigns with friends at their location on Austin Bluffs Parkway. Fans who also happen to be comic nerds can visit Heroes & Dragons a few doors down to check out their offerings. And, of course, they should check out another coffee shop on North Nevada Avenue.
KAPOW COMICS & COFFEE
Siblings Martin and Laura Davidson bring unique disciplines to the world of coffee shops. Martin was a science teacher at Palmer High School for most of his life, selling, buying and trading comic books at conventions and swap meets in his free time. While Martin offers his expertise and acquires, cleans, presses
and grades comics, his business-sensible sister Laura uses her master's of business administration and decades of experience in corporate America to help keep the lights on.
Having grown tired of the grind in their respective careers, the Davidson siblings instead set their sights on grinding coffee beans in 2016. Laura even attended a coffee shop boot camp in Portland, Oregon, in anticipation of opening KaPow Comics & Coffee.
KaPow offers roasts from Coda Coffee Co., a conservation-minded coffee company based in Denver. Drinks are, naturally, inspired by pop culture. I embraced the power of the “Dark Side,” a dark chocolate mocha topped with a chocolate whipped cream and drizzle. Much like the Sith Lord it was inspired by, “Dark Side” is an eclipse of a blend — a starless, bitter black concealing undertones of sweet light.
... CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13
Jared Scriven and Candus Scriven-Zacher of Dungeons & Javas. | Credit: Cannon Taylor
FOOD&DRINK .
Surprisingly, no major incidents have come about in combining coffee stains with often rare and expensive comic books. It helps that certain areas of the store are marked with “No Food or Drink” signs.
“Sometimes people will come in and ask if they can, like a library, look at stuff. And I just say, ‘Well, everything is for sale, so please be gentle with whatever you look at,’” Laura said. “We haven’t really had to be too dogged about, ‘Don’t do that!’ or anything.”
Most customers come in, purchase some reading material, then adjourn to the cafe area for a cup of Joe and a peaceful read. Comic aficionados sometimes come in just to chat with Martin about comics or ask for advice about what to do with their collections.
“I had a Superman No. 2 come through the door just a couple months ago. Didn’t buy that, but helped the guy get it graded and told him what he should do to sell it,” Martin recalled. “My advice and my knowledge is free. And every now and then I got a guy that says, ‘You should really charge for your knowledge.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s comics, dude.’” Martin Davidson's encyclopedic
kowledge of comic books is the reason why he doesn’t overextend KaPow’s offerings.
“If it’s not in my wheelhouse, I’m not doing it,” he said.
It’s certainly a smart business strategy — customers can tell when an owner has no idea what they’re talking about — just don’t expect a sprawling manga section at KaPow.
Still, the world of comic books and is diverse. It's not as impenetrable and lore-heavy as it seems. There’s something for everybody, be it a short, one-off series based on a popular character or a completely original world created in the medium. Martin’s advice is to think of a character or series you’re interested and see if there are any comics related to them. The results may surprise you. With the two Davidson siblings as the sole employees, and their desires to spend time with family in retirement, KaPow Comics & Coffee won’t be around forever.
“It’s not going to go on indefinitely, but we got a few more years in us,” Martin said. Be
KaPow Comics & Coffee. | Credit: Cannon Taylor
BEAUTIFULLY STRANGE
An interview with Colorado Springs’ premier queer band
By CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
The creature, wearing a Michael Myers-esque mask, doesn’t speak during interviews. Instead, he spins in his revolving chair and fidgets like a kid listening to his mom chat with friends after a church service. While his bandmates answer most questions, occasionally he chimes in with claps of agreement or games of charades.
By day, this creature is kept locked up in keyboardist Finch Gortz’s garage, where he scrounges on dead cigarette butts for nourishment. By night, he becomes the Gimp, Colorado Springs band Glitter Porn’s iconic pink-haired drummer.
The Gimp’s nonverbal and anonymous persona remains a mystery. Is he insecure? Camera shy? Part of a witness protection program?
“My best guess as to why he doesn’t talk is maybe his face is kind of melded onto the mask itself,” said Gortz.
In every sense of the phrase, Glitter Porn is committed to the bit. Attending one of their shows is an invitation to embrace unbridled, bizarro chaos. Shows come with themes: Crowds come dressed as zombies, kaiju monsters or survivors of a nuclear disaster, all at the band’s behest.
“If your community is willing to put you up on a stage, then you owe them an act,” said bassist Alek Clark.
At a few shows, the band has created miniature models of Colorado Springs out of cardboard and paint for people to destroy in the mosh pit.
Creating a dedicated space for people to overcome their feelings of smallness by transforming into colossal concert creatures is one of many ways Glitter Porn takes notes from old horror flicks. Their song “Frankenstein” begins with muddy drums and bass backing the maddened cries from Dr. Victor himself as he brings his monster to life. This intro gives way to Glitter Porn’s signature staccato piano chords and lyrics about being a transgender child failing to meet family expectations and masculine gender roles.
Another track, “Attack of the Mushroom
People,” takes inspiration from Japanese horror film “Matango,” which finds the fear in fungi. Glitter Porn’s tribute to the film can be taken at face value or as an allegory for the AIDS epidemic and its impact on the LGBTQ+ community.
“We embrace this kind of campiness with monster movies and things like that not because we think it’s funny, but because we think it’s sincere,” said vocalist Marlowe Doll. “Camp isn’t comedy, camp is sincerity. If you meet it on its level, it becomes something that can make you cry.”
Glitter Porn’s LGBTQ+ themes are woven throughout their lyrics and presentation. In fact, their name is more than a gross-out; it’s a combination of the two elements outsiders tend to paint the community as. The band challenges this oversimplification by writing lyrics that embody the fuller spectrum of the LGBTQ+ experience.
Their most recent single, “Gay Panic,”
embodies the feeling of deer-in-headlights infatuation. The vocal delivery resembles a retro Speak & Spell toy, creating the effect of a robot beginning to gain sentience by means of an overwhelming crush.
Their prior single, “Safeword,” explores lyrics about angels having to keep a pair apart because of their powerful and unconventional love, all while being backed by a reverent chorus.
Doll thinks that a major reason Glitter Porn has been noticed is because they stood up, spread their arms out and made themselves so visibly queer. It’s the band’s hope that their example will help others in their community not feel so alone.
“The more people who spread their arms up, the more shelter there is,” Gortz said.
The band members understand feeling scared as members of a marginalized group, but they do everything in their power not to give into that fear. Instead of canceling a show for safety reasons in the days following the Club Q shooting
in 2022, they chose to play as an act of defiance.
“It’s normal to be afraid,” Clark said. “But I think that queer art is always going to be protest, just through existing, through not needing anyone’s permission to exist.”
Glitter Porn’s unabashed presentation certainly seems to be paying off. In less than three years of existence, their song
“Mind Sick” — the soundscape of a manic spiral backed by the ragtime piano of a black-and-white Mickey Mouse cartoon — has accumulated 10,000 Spotify streams. Glitter Porn’s fan base is ever-growing, and they’re constantly receiving fan art and edits (music videos that combine characters from popular culture with fitting song selections).
The band adores the love language of derivative works more than anything.
“It’s so fun that they hear our music and they’re like, ‘You know what?
The Gimp, Glitter Porn’s anonymous drummer. | Credit: @machkne on Instagram
AMERICAN
AMERICAN
Mackenzie’s Chop House
Mackenzie’s Chop House
128 S. Tejon St. Historic Alamo Building / Downtown / 719-635-3536
128 S. Tejon St. Historic Alamo Building / Downtown / 719-635-3536
Voted Best Power Lunch, Steakhouse and Martini! Downtown’s choice for quality meats and mixed drinks. Mackenzieschophouse.com. Open Mon-Fri. 11:30a.m.-3p.m. for lunch, and 5pm every day for Dinner.
Offering half off all bottles of wine under $100! Voted Best Power Lunch, Steakhouse and Martini! Downtown’s choice for quality meats and mixed drinks. Mackenzieschophouse.com. Open Mon-Fri. 11:30a.m.-3p.m. for lunch, and 5p.m. - close every day for dinner!
https://www.MackenziesChopHouse.com
https://www.mackenzieschophouse.com
Tony’s Downtown Bar
Tony’s Downtown Bar
326 N Tejon St. / (719) 228-6566
326 N Tejon St. / (719) 228-6566
Winners of 80+ Independent “Best of Awards” in 25 years. A great Midwestern Tavern with warm beer, lousy food & poor service!!! Pabst, Fried Cheese Curds, Leinenkugle’s, Walleye Fish-fry, cocktails, burgers and more. 11am-2am daily. HH 3-6. GO PACK GO!
Winners of 80+ Independent “Best of Awards” in 25 years. A great Midwestern Tavern with warm beer, lousy food & poor service!!! Pabst, Fried Cheese Curds, Leinenkugle’s, Walleye Fish-fry, cocktails, burgers and more. 11am-2am daily. HH 3-6. GO PACK GO!
https://tonysdowntownbar.com
https://TonysDowntownBar.com
GERMAN
Edelweiss
Edelweiss
GERMAN
34 E. Ramona Ave. / (South Nevada & Tejon) / 719-633-2220
34 E. Ramona Ave. / (South Nevada & Tejon) / 719-633-2220
For 55 years Edelweiss has brought Bavaria to Colorado Springs! Using fresh ingredients, the menu invites you to visit Germany. Voted Gold Best German, Silver Dessert Menu and Bronze Best Patio by Indy readers! Reservations and the menu can be found online at https://Edelweissrest.com.
For 55 years Edelweiss has brought Bavaria to Colorado Springs! Using fresh ingredients, the menu invites you to visit Germany. Voted Gold Best German, Silver Dessert Menu and Bronze Best Patio by Indy readers! Reservations and the menu can be found online at https://EdelweissRest.com.
JAMAICAN
Rasta Pasta
JAMAICAN
405 N Tejon St. / (719) 481-6888
Rasta Pasta
405 N Tejon St. / (719) 481-6888
Open daily for lunch and dinner. Happy Hour daily 3-5 PM. Italian-Jamaican Fusion Cuisine, unlike anything else! Caribbean inspired pasta dishes, fresh and fun Salads, full bar with local drafts and rum specials, ridiculously good desserts. Lively atmosphere and friendly service. http://realrastapasta.com
Open daily for lunch and dinner. Happy Hour daily 3-5 PM. Italian-Jamaican Fusion Cuisine, unlike anything else! Caribbean inspired pasta dishes, fresh and fun Salads, full bar with local drafts and rum specials, ridiculously good desserts. Lively atmosphere and friendly service. http://RealRastaPasta.com
MEXICAN
José Muldoons
MEXICAN
222 N. Tejon St. / 719-636-2311 / 5710 S. Carefree
CR @ Powers / 719-574-5673
José Muldoons
222 N. Tejon St. / 719-636-2311
Celebrating 50 years! Authentic Tex-Mex & Mexican fare in a Contemporary Sante Fe-styled establishment. Across from Acacia Park Downtown. Award winning Queso, Chili Rellenos, and Mean Green Chili. https://JoseMuldoons.com
Since 1974. Features authentic Tex-Mex and Mexican fare in a Contemporary Sante Fe-styled establishment. Across from Acacia Park, and west of Powers and Carefree. Josemuldoons.com. Support local restaurants! We are open for delivery, carry out and dine-in at both locations! Please check our Facebook page for hours, as they are subject to change. https://josemuldoons.com
This reminds me of my character, or this character that I love, and I’m going to combine the two things and make something beautiful,’” Gortz said.
“It’s the exact type of thing that we were doing as kids, too, which is really, really vindicating to see,” Clark added.
Glitter Porn will be playing at What’s Left Records on Tuesday, Sept. 24. They will be opening for Desperate Electric at Vultures on Friday, Sept. 27. These will likely be their last shows of the year before they go off the grid to escape the clutches of an all-powerful entity hunting them across time and space — and, of
September 18 - October 2 | 17
ARTS&CULTURE .
course, to record new music.
While the recording process for one song used to take months, Glitter Porn has finally found their creative flow. They recently recorded fan-favorite song “Fool” in only a week and have plenty more material in their back pocket.
When Glitter Porn wakes up from their hibernation, they’ll be as striking and surreal as ever.
“For me, definitely, the best part of this will be finding more and more people who feel like they can be weird around us,” Doll said. “Everybody needs that. We need that. … It’s beautiful to be kind of strange.”
Glitter Porn: Marlowe Doll, Finch Gortz, Alek Clark and The Gimp. | Credit: Glitter Porn
Glitter Porn playing a porch show. | Credit: @machkne on Instagram
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Fundraiser adds art to the Colorado Springs landscape
by CANNON TAYLOR • cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
In a moment of honest desperation in the middle of the night, Jessy Smith Cruz threw paint at a canvas inside her garage. Painting became her way to vent frustration over the challenges of her chronic illness, from late-night insomnia and extensive surgeries to autoimmune disorders and arthritis.
“Almost every single one of my paintings has some sort of story or emotion behind it because of what I was feeling that day,” Cruz said.
Noticing her talent, Cruz’s husband encouraged her to start a business, now known as The Pour Painter. Cruz and her protégé/chaos coordinator, Jadzia Dax McClendon, create art by acrylic flow painting — pouring out paint on a canvas and directing its flow to create something new and unpredictable.
In the process, paint flows off the side of the canvas, which Cruz and McClendon reuse to create jewelry.
“We don’t like waste. We’re hippie children,” McClendon joked.
The process is a laborious one. “You have to understand there’s certain viscosities and weights to paint in order to make your choices to pour it out,” McClendon said.
The Pour Painter’s latest artwork — a dragonfly sculpture depicting Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods against a backdrop of celestial phenomena, from a solar eclipse to the TsuchinshanATLAS comet — was even more laborintensive, requiring the creation of a “bathtub” of layers upon layers of tape where the dragonfly could sit during the pouring and drying processes.
This dragonfly, titled “Space: The Sky is Not Black,” is just one of 56 dragonflies and butterflies, ranging in size from baby Chihuahuas to giant mastiffs, manufactured and painted locally for this year’s Wings of Change charity auction.
Since its inception in 2008, the Wings of Change auction, organized by the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs, has raised just over $1 million in net proceeds. These funds have been channeled back into community service projects, public school grants, scholarships and equipment and other local and international service efforts. The petite sculptures tend to rake in a few hundred dollars each, while their big brothers, designed to be displayed in gardens or outside of businesses, go for anywhere between $3,000 and $10,000.
The impact hasn’t gone unnoticed. “I’ve been a D11 parent for about three years now, and when I talk to the teachers about it, they’re saying that they’re seeing an impact as far as the things that they have access to in their STEM programs,” McClendon said.
The garden butterflies and dragonflies will be on display outside the Pioneers Museum until the auction on September 28, with the petite sculptures kept inside. Although some of these sculptures are erected in public places by their buyers, many go into backyards or personal collections, so come see the swarm — including the Pour Painter’s glow-in-the-dark dragonfly — before it flies off.
“We dedicate spoons to this as a volunteer gift to our town,” McClendon said. “There’s really not much else that we can do. I mask through pain, but at the end of the day, I can’t be out there in the soup kitchens. I can’t be volunteering in other ways. But I can dedicate some energy to creating some really cool art that goes out there into the world, that goes back into the school districts and everywhere else.”
Close-up of Michele Arthur’s garden dragonfly “Oh Beautiful America.” | Credit: Cannon Taylor
"Space: The Sky is Not Black” and petite butterfly “Spaaaace: Glitter in the Sky” glowing in the dark. | Credit: Jadzia Dax McClendon
CLOCK’S TICKING
Springs-based filmmaking trio wins Denver’s 48-Hour Film Project
By CAMILLE LIPTAK
Making a film in two days is no easy feat — but for Mikey Hardesty, Matthew Perlinger, and Vitezslav Rasl, it was more than just a challenge. It was an opportunity to shine. And shine they did, as their 7-minute short film “brothergirls” took home a slew of awards, including the coveted Best Film award at the 48-Hour Film Project premier on Aug. 23.
“There were such great films that played at the festival,” said 22-year-old director Hardesty. “When it was announced that we won, it was a huge thing for us. I was stunned.”
This win solidifies the trio — operating under MVP Productions for the 48-Hour Film Project — as rising stars in the Colorado film scene. Their whirlwind weekend began July 26, when the Springs team, alongside 38 other Denver-based filmmaking groups, received a random genre, character, prop and line of dialogue. With the clock ticking, they had just 48 hours to write, shoot and edit their short film.
What emerged from the whirlwind 48-hour challenge was “brothergirls,” an inspiring coming-of-age film that delves into the bonds of friendship as high school friends rally to help one of their own through the heartache of a breakup. For this story, written by Abigail Wehrman and shot in Colorado Springs, MVP Productions enlisted the assistance of their 19-person cast and crew, including digital filmmaking instructor and video production manager Jeff Dempsey. A former teacher of the trio, Dempsey happily lent his ex-
pertise to the demanding project as camera operator, equipment tech and executive producer. “To see my students so enthusiastic about making a film is really inspiring,” he said. “I love to be in the middle of production, helping them with anything technical or challenging.”
Grateful for the tireless efforts of their small but mighty crew, for MVP Productions, the big payoff came Aug. 23. Their short film premiered at The Bug Theatre in Denver, earning Best Acting, Best Writing, Audience Choice (for Block C) and Best Film. This puts the team one step closer to making a name for themselves and their budding production company, Mikey Hardesty LLC, in the competitive film industry.
“Receiving the awards was amazing, but since the festival we have been recognized at multiple events as the winners of this year’s festival, and it continues to leave me in awe,” said producer and sound designer Matthew Perlinger. Their success wasn’t just luck. The trio’s collaboration began in 2022 when Hardesty and Perlinger, childhood friends from Littleton, reconnected and later teamed up with Rasl, a Czech-born film enthusiast, at UCCS. Since then, they’ve all been honing their craft. Their first collaboration, “The Gamble He Left Us,” swept several awards at the Kickass Film Festival 2024, including Best Screenwriting, Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Short Film. For this year’s 48-Hour Film Project, Hardesty, Perlinger and Rasl joined forces for the second time, hoping to establish their name in the film world. With “brothergirls” the team delivered in spades, but the camaraderie is by far their favorite feat.
“To celebrate the teamwork involved with this film and come together like a family has made this more of a success than I've ever experienced,” said Hardesty. “The team was the real win.”
With Denver’s 48-Hour Film Project “Best Film” title under their belts, Mikey Hardesty LLC is now headed to Filmapalooza, the 48-Hour Film Project’s international festival. There, they’ll represent the state of Colorado and compete against top films from around the world. And if the stars align, their film could even get a screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.
“The night we won the award, I didn’t fully comprehend the significance of the achievement,” said Perlinger. “We are so incredibly proud of the team we worked with … our pride in the work we accomplished in just 48 hours only grew.”
The victories don’t stop there. For a few days, the “brothergirls” trailer kept climbing the charts on Instagram and TikTok. A couple of weeks after the film’s official release Aug. 23, the view count had settled at an impressive 700,000.
While the “brothergirls” film is just their second festival narrative collaboration and first social media smash hit, Hardesty and crew have bigger plans. “People want good storytelling, and they’re looking for it,” said Hardesty. “So, we’re going to continue to make that our highest priority.” To stay up to date with Mikey Hardesty LLC, follow them on social media @mikeyhfilm. And to learn more about the 48-Hour Film Project, head over to 48hourfilm.com/denver.
Mikey Hardesty, Vitezslav Rasl and Matthew Perlinger in action on the set of “brothergirls.” | Courtesy: Joel Villanoz
Director Mikey Hardesty watching playbacks of the film. | Courtesy: Joel Villanoz
SEPTEMBER: OCTOBER:
September 27 | Steve Miller Band
Sep 28 | ZZ Top & Lynyrd Skynyrd
September 29 | for KING + COUNTRY
October 2 | Foreigner
October 4 | Ivan Cornejo
October 17 | Godsmack
Photo Credit: Jeff Nelson
Photo Credit: Krys Fakir at Chief Creative
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ARTS&CULTURE .
KIND OF BLUEY
W.I.P. IT
By LAUREN CIBOROWSKI
As someone who normally visits the Pikes Peak Center for reasons of the philharmonian variety, I know those vaunted walls are no stranger to blue hair. (Don’t ask your grandkids how to cancel me, seniors!) But at a recent outing, that hallowed space was probably a bit confused instead at the sight of blue … heelers. Bluey, that is. Yes, that’s right. I’m writing about Bluey. Tell me you have a 4-year-old without telling me you have a 4-year-old, eh?
If you’re not familiar, this incredibly charming Australian cartoon follows the life of a family of blue heeler dogs — a mom and dad and their two daughters. It’s adorable, not boring for adults, super short in duration, nervily on-point with certain emotional commentary — and the cherry on top for me is the inventive score with touches of classical music everywhere. (Not to say that it’s universally beloved. Bitched one friend of mine, “It’s just so unrealistic how much those parents play with their kids!”)
I’m an unabashed fan, and so when the touring show came through a few weeks ago, we had to go. Because talking dogs aren’t real, this happens to be a wonder of a puppetry spectacle. Each character was manned by two to three puppeteers clad in jaunty, monochromatic rompers. They were masterful, and the wriggling audience of tots was overjoyed. The climactic scene featured a kid-friendly rave of sorts, replete with bubble machines aimed into the audience to the tune of an insane arrangement of Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. What’s not to love? There, there, Wolfie. At least you aren’t forgotten.
A few weeks later, I took my 4-year-old to a very different kind of show in the same venue: “Avatar: the Last Airbender” in Concert. The original “Avatar” aired on
Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, and courtesy of my husband and teenage stepson, my little one is quite the fan. This particular event was a “live-to-screen concert” featuring a large screen display of animation from the series with live accompaniment of composer Jeremy Zuckerman’s score. What a scene this turned out to be. My little one was the youngest one there by about 15 years, if I had to guess, and we were definitely surrounded by NoCAs — Nerds of a Certain Age. About half of them seemed to be on a first date, judging from the awkward quality of overheard small talk.
And let me tell you, those of you who are concerned about when to clap would not have had an issue at this concert. At the urging of the opening announcer, the audience cheered their favorite characters, booed the antagonists and shouted encouragement with abandon. I don’t need to go to City Council about it or anything, but it got loud up in there.
The conductor was absolutely killing it in a short skirt and an inversely proportionally large score. On her own smaller screen above her music stand, she could see the same animation as the big screen up close, but with a flashing dot to indicate the downbeat. It was fascinating to watch. And at the beck and call of her baton? An intriguing array of instruments including the “erhu” (a Chinese bowed instrument), taiko drums and four vocalists. For the record, neither this nor “Bluey’s Big Play” had a program of any kind available, not even a QR code, and nothing that I could find even after annoyingly extensive googling. I mention this because I would love to give a shoutout to one of the most compelling musicians on the stage that night, but I have no way of knowing her name. I did though, through some miracle of internet Nancy Drewing, figure out that what she was playing was a “guzheng,” which is a Chinese plucked zither. The gracefulness of her wrists lifting from the strings was visible even from our seats near the back of the orchestra floor. We lasted through the first half before I needed to get my enchanted but wilting boy off to bed, but I’m genuinely glad we went. At one point before we left, the phrase “Love is brightest in the dark” flashed across the screen, accompanied by “awws” from the crowd. A sweet sentiment … and one that I’m guessing was tattooed on several NoCAs’ forearms in the audience that evening.
You need art. Art needs you.
Lauren Ciborowski writes about the arts and music in every issue. W.I.P. stands for Works in Progress.
MUSIC
THOSE ARE THE BRAKES
WHAT’S GOING ON?
By ADAM LEECH
Iam not a religious man. In fact, I am hardly even spiritual. Aside from a brief manic episode (bipolar 1, remember?) — when I was convinced that we are living in a hyperrealistic escape room simulation, the afterlife being a bespoke combination of heaven, hell, nirvana and some sort of “supermodel island” type of situation complete with your own personal Jesus, or “70 virgins,” or all-you-can-eat buffet or whatever — I have lived the majority of my life (or death) in self-inflicted purgatory, trapped in a cosmic pickle between atheism and agnosticism, generously slathered in a layer of rich, creamy cynicism.
That is not to say I haven’t had my fair share of “what the f---?!” experiences, the kind that make you question how on “God’s green earth” something so insanely coincidental could go down without the guidance of some higher powers. One such incident occurred in my teenage years whilst on tour with my first band, a childishly ghoulish high school horror-punk outfit called The Deadites. Traveling in the archetypal chariot of teenage garage punk, a vintage Cadillac hearse, we were barreling through the twisted canyons of northeast Utah when our brakes began making the most terrible screeching noise, far more frightening than even my most desperate attempts at backup vocals.
As we lurched our ill-treated death wagon onto the prudent streets of St. George, we spied a purveyor of automobile parts and took refuge in the adjacent car park. Being the headstrong, infallible idiots that most young men are, we figured our little brake problem was nothing a healthy exchange of fluids couldn’t fix, and so we proceeded to attempt the sacred ritual of “Thee Replace-
ment of the Brake Fluids.”
“They really should make this easier,” I thought as I pried open the fluid compartment with a flat head screwdriver. Unable to locate any sort of drain or spout, we began soaking up the old fluid with a dirty sock. Suddenly, just seconds before topping off the defiled basin and heading back onto the long and winding road, a road I now know would have ended in certain death, a woman appeared as if from nowhere (but probably the nearby grocery store).
“Do you know what you are doing?” she asked. Looking up from under the monstrous hood of our silvery funeral carriage, encrusted in fake blood and corpse paint from the previous evening’s “performance” in the basement of a laser-tag arena in Salt Lake City, we dumbly delivered our epic response … “Uh, yeah … changing our brake fluid.” She proceeded to inform us that we were, in fact, idiots and were definitely going to die in a fiery explosion of gasoline, crushed red velvet and stupendous stupidity. “My husband is a mechanic,” she continued. “We live a few blocks away. Follow me SLOWLY, and you should be able to get there.” Not sure if she could be trusted (it was Utah, after all), we proceeded with caution. Noticing an alarming softening of the brakes at each stop along the way, we crept into her driveway and made a final stop with the brake pedal firmly depressed into the floorboards. We slowly climbed from the disabled vehicle as her husband came out of the house, followed immediately by a procession of young daughters, aged from 18-ish to 8-ish, with barely a year or two between each of the six of them, decked neck to ankle in the finest matching “prairie chic” fashion.
The husband, without hesitation or apprehension, began to bleed the brakes of the depraved lunatics he found before him. Patiently, he explained the physics of hydraulic fluids, and how his wife, in no uncertain terms, just saved our “f---ing” lives (my words, not his, although I knew what he meant). Having nothing with which to repay him, we offered to take a few of his daughters off his hands (just kidding). Really, though, we just thanked him profusely as his wife brought us each a sandwich and sent us on our stupid way.
I had intended to use this anecdote to introduce a less life-threatening but similarly coincidental “religious” live music experience I had recently, but sadly, I just never got there. Next time, Conan, next time. Smell ya later.
Adam Leech is the proprietor of Leechpit Records & Vintage at 3020 W. Colorado Ave.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 19
SpringsSCENE
Jazz Thursdays | Free, live jazz music at the Mining Exchange Hotel. 8 S. Nevada Ave. 5 p.m.
Cage the Elephant | Indie band performing at Ford Amphitheater. 95 Spectrum Loop. 7 p.m.
Keller Williams | Singer-songwriter performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 20
Bit Brigade Performs “Super Mario World” and “F-Zero” | Video game tribute band performing at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 7 p.m.
Crystal Gayle | Country musician performing at Boot Barn Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Dr. 7 p.m.
Tropidelic, Grieves, The Palmer Squares | Reggae band performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 21
SofaKillers | Variety band performing at Gold Hill Mesa. 142 S. Raven Mine Drive. 11 a.m.
Boogie Nights | Disco dance party at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 7 p.m.
Ten Years Gone | Led Zeppelin tribute band performing at Boot Barn Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Dr. 7 p.m.
Barenaked Ladies with Toad the Wet Sprocket | Rock bands performing at Ford Amphitheater. 95 Spectrum Loop. 7:30 p.m.
Galactic Empire, Powerglove, Super MadNES | Pop culture tribute bands performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 7:30 p.m.
Peelander-Z | Punk rock band performing at Vultures. 2100 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
Synth Night | Electronic music party at Ohana Kava Bar. 112 E. Boulder St. 8 p.m.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 22
Brujeria, Night of the Living Shred, Pendejoles | Metal bands performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 24
Will Hoge, Bri Bagwell | Country musicians performing at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 7 p.m.
Mest, Mercy Music, Rookie of the Year,
Summer Stars | Rock bands performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25
Hillside Gardens Summer Concert Series | Live music at Hillside Gardens. 1006 S. Institute St. 5 p.m.
Richie Kotzen, Mark Daly | Rock musicians performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 26
Jazz Thursdays | Free, live jazz music at the Mining Exchange Hotel. 8 S. Nevada Ave. 5 p.m.
Revele and Paul | Singer/pianist duo performing at Rico’s Café & Wine Bar. 322 ½ N. Tejon St. 5 p.m.
Jane’s Addiction | The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, Oct. 2
Jeff Lynne’s ELO | Ball Arena, Denver, Oct. 2
Justice | Mission Ballroom, Denver, Oct. 2
wave to earth | The Summit Music Hall, Denver, Oct. 2
The Black Keys | Ball Arena,
Griff plays Ogden Theater on Sept. 29. | Courtesy: Warner Records
Suki Waterhouse plays Mission Ballroom on Sept. 28. | Credit: Jeremy Soma, courtesy Sub Pop Records
CALENDER&EVENTS .
ART EXHIBITIONS
“The Aspen Show”
Thursday, Sept. 19, Laura Reilly Fine Art Gallery and Studio, 2522A W. Colorado Ave. “The Aspen Show” is Laura Reilly’s annual tribute to the changing seasons. Her canvases shimmer with brilliant colors, textures and energy. Through Nov. 2. laurareilly.com.
Four Solo Exhibits
Thursday, Sept. 19, Auric Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St., noon: “Continuum” by Margaret Kasahara, “On the Way Back” by Jean Gumpper, “miscellaneous” by Judith Marie and “Flutter and Flow” by Mandy Hansen. Through Sept. 27. auricgallery.com.
“Van Briggle Pottery” and “Garden of the Gods Pottery”
Thursday, Sept. 19, Manitou Springs Heritage Center and Museum, 517 Manitou Ave., noon: See dozens of beautifully designed pottery creations crafted by Van Biggle Pottery, America’s longest-running pottery works, and The Garden of the Gods Pottery, founded by early Colorado Springs craftsman Eric Hellman. Through December 31. manitouspringsheritagecenter.org.
The Way of Water
Thursday, Sept. 19, Laura Reilly Fine Art Gallery and Studio, 2522A W. Colorado Ave., noon: Finding water in unexpected places in Colorado takes a keen eye and a willingness to hike just one more hill.
Through Sept. 29. laurareilly.com.
Renée Darling Art Meet & Greet
Thursday, Sept. 19, Ink Spot Studio, 3749 Bloomington Street, 5 p.m.: Celebrate art with Renée as she shares the stories behind her mixed media paintings. reneedarling.com.
Bronze Sculpture Care
Friday, Sept. 20, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 10 a.m.: Join the FAC collections team for a special day of sculpture care. Visitors are invited to watch staff clean and wax the bronze sculptures around the museum. This drop-in program is free and open to the public. fac. coloradocollege.edu.
“Kaleidoscope of Nature”
Friday, Sept. 20, Commonwheel Artists Co-op, 102 Cañon Ave., 10 a.m.: Featuring plein air paintings by Elisia Fernandez and wood sculptures by Grant Morris. Through Sept. 29. commonwheel.com.
“A Moment of Solitude: Meditations of Earth and Clouds”
Friday, Sept. 20, Surface Gallery, 2752 W. Colorado Ave., noon: All of my pigments are real dirt that I have gathered and processed by hand. Using these materials, I create images of the landscapes that I live in and interact with. Through Sept. 27. surfacegallerycos.com.
“ODE: No. 41”
Friday, Sept. 20, Surface Gallery, 2752
W. Colorado Ave., noon: Heidi Almosara is inspired by her grandmother’s 1962 ikebana exhibition catalogue titled Sogetsu Exhibition No.41. Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. Through Sept. 27. surfacegallerycos. com.
“Colors of Colorado: Woven by Hand”
Friday, Sept. 20, Auric Gallery, 125 E. Boulder St., 3 p.m.: A fiber group exhibit featuring works by Susan Bowman, Jeanne Steiner, Bev Weaver and Dottie Weir. Through Sept. 27. auricgallery.com. “photo·synthesis”
Friday, Sept. 20, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., 3 p.m.: photo·synthesis is an exhibition featuring the work of James Tapscott, an Australian artist renowned for his use of light as a medium in minimalist sculptural installations. entcenterforthearts.org.
“Work in Progress”: Re-Envisioning the Collection
Ending Saturday, Sept. 21, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 10 a.m.: “Work In Progress” is an experimental series of collection-based installations designed to explore new ways of presenting and understanding the collection. fac.coloradocollege.edu.
“What Inkling This Time?”
Saturday, Sept. 21, and Saturday, Sept. 28, The Bridge Gallery, 218 W. Colorado Ave., noon: Toni George’s abstract works consist of paper weavings and of penand-ink drawings inspired by Zentangle, which is a process of creating designs using repeating patterns. These patterns flow and develop into unique works of art. thebridgegallery.com.
“We Are The Sky”
Monday, Sept. 23, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., 2 p.m.: Featuring over 40 artists, the exhibition explores themes of mental health, community identity, and innovation through a diverse collection of 2-D and 3-D artworks, performances and ephemeral experiences. Through Oct. 5. entcenterforthearts.org.
Family Art Workshop: Faux Glass –Broaches, Pots & Flowers
Saturday, Sept. 28, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St., 10 a.m.: Children 6 and older and their favorite grownup are invited to repurpose plastic cups and bottles into gorgeous art pieces that can be worn or displayed. cspm.org.
“Enchanted Textures of Taos, New Mexico”
Monday, Sept. 30, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 9 a.m.: Professional artist and instructor Martha Mans will concentrate on water media and gouache painting with a special small presentation about how she creates her casein paintings. fac.coloradocollege.edu.
PERFORMING ARTS
“What Kinda Brown Are You”
Thursday, Sept. 19, Ent Center for the Arts, 5225 N. Nevada Ave., 6 p.m.: An evening of artist panel discussion and live performances. Poems and performance art will feature Kevin Persaud, Sofia Hernandez Crade, Jasmine Dillavou and Avery Chatmon. This event is free and open to the public. entcenterforthearts.org.
“The Bluebird”
Thursday, Sept. 19, The Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon Street, 7:30 p.m.: Take flight with “The Bluebird,” a bittersweet journey of dreams and dreamers that invites audiences to engage with themes of identity, exclusion, and resilience. Through Sept. 22. themat.org.
“Dial M for Murder”
Thursday, Sept. 19, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 7:30 p.m.: A new version of the celebrated murder mystery that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s movie masterpiece. Through Oct. 6. fac.coloradocollege.edu.
“God of Carnage”
Thursday, Sept. 19, The Fifty Niner Speakeasy, 2409 W. Colorado Ave., 7:30 p.m.: After their 11-year-old son hits another boy with a stick, Alan and Annette Raleigh visit Michael and Veronica to resolve the matter. What begins as diplomatic conversation turns sour as the adults pull no punches, proving no one is immune from a playground brawl. Through Oct. 6. springsensembletheatre. org.
“Magic and Mind Reading”
Saturday, Sept. 21, and Friday, Sept. 27, Cosmo’s Magic Theater, 1045 Garden of the Gods Road Unit 1, 7:30 p.m.: Continuing in our tradition of storytelling, light and fun presentation and comedy, this show includes brand-new, original material created specifically for this performance. Weekly performances throughout 2024. cosmosmagictheater.com.
2nd Annual Colorado Springs Comedy Festival
Wednesday, Sept. 25, Loonee’s Comedy Corner, 1305 N. Academy Blvd., 7:30 p.m.: With 30 of the nation's funniest comics, this is a week of laugher you don't want to miss. Through Sept. 28. looneescc.com.
The Brewery Comedy Tour
Saturday, Sept. 28, Bell Brothers Brewing, 114 N. Tejon St., No. 100, 7 p.m.: Currently in its 11th year, this nationwide comedy tour has already hit 4,200 venues across the country. The drinks are pretty good too! allevents.in/coloradosprings/the-brewery-comedy-tour-atbell-brothers.
Saturday, Sept. 21, Gold Hill Theatres, 615 Midland Ave., 11 a.m.: This documentary tells about this historic train and the various towns it inspired on Ute Pass, some still around. Through Sept. 29. utepasshistoricalsociety.org.
“What’s Up with the Hitch?” A Discussion of the Life and Films of Alfred Hitchcock
Friday, Sept. 27, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, 30 W. Dale St., 5:30 p.m.: Go behind the scenes of Hitchcock's most iconic works with a themed cocktail in hand! fac. coloradocollege.edu.
WRITING
“Beneath Blue Mesa”: Author Talk with David Primus
Thursday, Sept. 19, East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd., 6 p.m.: David Primus will discuss his book “Beneath Blue Mesa: The Gunnison River Valley Before the Reservoir” and present a slideshow of the history of the Gunnison River Valley before Blue Mesa Reservoir was completed in 1965. ppld.org.
“Cowboy Stories and the Code of the West” by Mike Torreano
Thursday, Sept. 19, Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent Drive, 7 p.m.:
Mike Torreano’s novels have received the Firebird Book Award for Western fiction. Books will be on sale. palmerdividehistory.org.
FOOD & DRINK
Bines & Brews Beer Fest 2024
Saturday, Sept. 21, Limbach Park, 151 Front Street, 1 p.m.: A celebration of fall with beer, gin, wine, spirits and moonshine while listening to upbeat contemporary jazz from New Vintage Jazz in a beautiful locale. trilakeschamber.com.
Paniolo Western BBQ
Saturday, Sept. 21, Asian Heritage Center, 1819 W. Cheyenne Road, 1 p.m.: Aloha, friends and family! Learn about Hawaiian cowboy culture and music, enjoy island barbecue cuisine and live music at this family event. info@goldenlotusfoundation.org.
CFAM Downtown Farmers Market
Wednesday, Sept. 25, and Wednesday, Oct. 2, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St., 3 p.m.: Held every Wednesday, the market offers a diverse selection of fresh locally grown produce, handmade crafts, baked goods and specialty foods. farmandartmarket.com.
3rd Annual Oktoberfest
Saturday, Sept. 28, Goat Patch Brewing
ing their masterpieces. Thrifters offering one-of-a-kind treasures. Makers crafting unique goods. Live entertainment filling the air with music and entertainment. Delicious aromas wafting from food trucks serving up tasty treats. wreckdcollective.com/artisanalley.
3rd Annual Farm & Art Market
Saturday, Sept. 21, Green Box Farm Stand, 6990 Lake Street, 2 p.m.: Spend an afternoon perusing a unique variety of specially curated regional and national vendors, offering goods such as Farm Fresh produce, artisanal pasta, gourmet breads, and jewelry. info@greenboxarts.org.
Falcon Harvest Festival
Saturday, Sept. 28, Falcon High School, 10255 Lambert Road, 10 a.m.: Get ready to enjoy live music with Alyssa Ruffin, art and crafts for the kids, bounce houses and much more. Don’t miss out on the local vendors selling handmade crafts and tasty treats. eventbrite. com/e/falcon-harvest-festival-tickets-900616106017.
Ellafest 2024
Company. 2727 N. Cascade Ave. No. 123, 11 a.m.: Live music by Pourly Edukated, wiener toss, dog costume contest and special beer. goatpatchbrewing.com.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
TRE 60th Anniversary Art Show & Sale
Thursday, Sept. 19, The Resource Exchange, 6385 Corporate Drive, 6 p.m.: This inaugural event will feature stunning artwork available for purchase and delectable hors d’oeuvres. Your ticket purchase and attendance will support TRE's mission of building inclusive communities and help further our Capital Campaign. info@tre.org.
Folk n Flannel Festival & Fundraiser
Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, Meanwhile Block, 425 S. Sierra Madre Street, 7 p.m.: Enjoy live music, a silent disco, a scavenger hunt through America the Beautiful Park, crafts, games, a mini pumpkin patch, vendors, a beer garden and more while supporting UpaDowna and their mission of providing access to outdoor adventures for all. info@ upadowna.org.
Artisan Alley Market
Saturday, Sept. 21, Cottonwood Center for the Arts, 427 E Colorado Ave., 11 a.m.: Picture this: Local artists showcas -
Saturday, Sept. 28, 2886 S. Circle Drive, 3 p.m.: Please join us for our signature fundraiser to support clients with sickle cell in Southern Colorado and research for the cure. ellamae.org.
OUTDOOR
REC
Tails, Tunes & Tastes
Thursday, Sept. 26, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, 4250 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road, 6 p.m.: Join us for a magical evening on the mountain with live music. Tickets include unlimited small plates from our chef-crafted menu and two drink tickets. cmzoo.org.
Palmer Lake .5K
Sunday, Sept. 29, Palmer Lake Centennial Park Pavilion, 199 County Line Road, 9 a.m.: Time for “The Race for the Rest of Us”! Walk, run, skip or crawl, it is still a whopping 500 meters in the picturesque setting of Palmer Lake. As usual, we encourage kooky and fun (and family-friendly) costumes and get ups. info@ awakepalmerlake.org.
Paint. Sip. Safari.
Wednesday, Oct. 2, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, 4250 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Rd., 6 p.m.: Join us for an adults-only program where you not only get to create memories but a painting of one of our amazing animals as well. cmzoo.org.
What Kinda Brown Are You, Sept. 19 | Credit: Stellar Propeller Studio, for the Galleries of Contemporary Art at UCCS, 2024
IT’S LIT BOOKS .
by NOEL BLACK • noel.black@ppmc.live
Kathryn Eastburn, the founding editor of the Colorado Springs Independent when it first launched in 1993, doesn’t know what she’d do with herself if she actually retired.
“You know, if I had a bunch of money and a pension and all those things, I might feel differently,” she said in a recent interview, “but I don't think I would. I can't picture not being stimulated by work.”
Since returning to Colorado Springs last year after a long stint as a reporter at the Greenwood Commonwealth in Greenwood, Mississippi, followed by half a decade writing and freelancing in Galveston, Texas, Eastburn has been plenty busy. She just launched RockyMountainReader.org, a nonprofit website dedicated to Colorado literature and its authors.
Eastburn, as anyone who’s followed her career knows, has always surrounded herself with books and book culture. Along with her journalism, she’s the author of “Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns and Murder” (DaCapo Press, 2008), and “A Sacred Feast: Reflections on Sacred Harp Singing and Dinner on
Former Independent editor launches ‘Rocky Mountain Reader’ website
the Ground” (University of Nebraska Press, 2008). As the banner on the new website reads: “We’re here because we value books and authors and the freedom to exchange ideas and explore new worlds through reading. We’re here to highlight the vast and varied landscape of literary arts in our home state of Colorado.”
INDEPENDENT: Let me ask you the obvious first: What prompted you to start this website and nonprofit dedicated to book culture in Colorado at a time when the world is fairly drowning in AI and digital content?
KATHRYN EASTBURN: I was inspired by a project in Tennessee called Chapter 16. It’s an online, statewide literary review that was started in 2009. It’s really successful, and it was inspired by a book reviewer who got laid off when her newspaper got bought. She saw the writing on the wall. She saw the corporate consolidation and shrinking newspapers using more syndicated content and getting rid of their local arts coverage. So she proposed this idea to Tennessee Humanities, and they have been covering authors and books for 15 years in Tennessee, and they do a great job. I love their publication. I started reading it when I was living down in Mississippi. But I just reached out to them and said, “How did you do this?” And I reached out to their current editor and their business manager and said, “How does this work?” And when I moved back here last year, I started actively working on it and went to Colorado Humanities in Denver, which is the state arm of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and pitched the idea to them. Colorado Humanities operates The Center for the Book as a program, and they agreed to be our fiscal sponsor, which means they don't pay for our operations, they don't fund us, but they provide their 501(c)(3) legal tax-exempt status to us, and they do a tremendous amount of administrative help for us.
INDEPENDENT: Do you think there’s a renewed interest in physical books — maybe in the same kind of way that vinyl records made a comeback and got discovered by younger people?
EASTBURN: With print-on-demand, self-publishing, subsidy publishing, I mean, anybody can be in print now. And that's a dream that I don't think has diminished from one generation to another. I see a lot of resurgence of interest in the actual physical book. But it's also becoming difficult for people writing in traditional genres — literary fiction and pretty much all nonfiction — to find publishing houses that will take them on if they haven't proven already to be a selling quantity, or they're not a celebrity, or they're not already well known. It's much, much more difficult now to find an agent because agents don't take on clients whose books they can't sell. So, it's really interesting that these two things are happening simultaneously.
readers can connect with authors, authors, publishing companies can connect with other publications and literary organizations.
INDEPENDENT: Do you think there is something that defines Colorado writing in particular?
"I SEE A LOT OF RESURGENCE OF INTEREST IN THE ACTUAL PHYSICAL BOOK. BUT IT'S ALSO BECOMING DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE WRITING IN TRADITIONAL GENRES ..."
EASTBURN: Well, there are several common threads. Appreciation of nature is one. There’s definitely a strong sense of place at work in a lot of Colorado-based literature that’s nurtured by having been in this gorgeous landscape, you know. There’s a Western ethic, I think, that you can find in a lot of Colorado literature, and there's a lot of Indigenous literature — a lot of work around that idea of displacement.
INDEPENDENT: What do you think it is about books — digital and print — as a medium that we need to protect and encourage at this point in history?
INDEPENDENT: What are your goals for the site, and why choose the squarish border of our state as the parameters of your coverage?
EASTBURN: Well, in part because the state is manageable in the age of the internet. In terms of setting a theme, there are a million sites out there all dedicated … to one aspect of the literary arts in Colorado, whether they're an organization, a library, a bookseller, an author, a publisher or a book club. So their coverage of literary arts in general is very fragmented. And it seemed to me that it would be useful to provide a central hub where all these things can meet so authors can connect with readers,
EASTBURN: Well, my personal experience is that books are the thing that have allowed me to learn about human experience outside my narrow little life. And I feel that that's true for many people who love reading. And obviously, this is not a site for people who don’t love reading. This is a site for writers, readers and book lovers. And I think that that has value in the culture, in civilization. And I think that it's worth celebrating. There's a whole lot of attention paid to getting books off of shelves in school libraries and public libraries based on one group's opinions about what kids should be allowed to read and what they should not be allowed to read. But to me, we should just be doing the opposite of that at a time when we are so divided and so polarized.
IN MEMORIAM: AUTHOR AND ADVENTURER STEWART GREEN
Green’s books of dreams introduced countless readers to Colorado outdoor treasures
By LINDA DUVAL
• Rocky Mountain Reader •
Wherever you’ve hiked, climbed or driven in Colorado, it’s likely that Stewart Green has been your guide. Green, who published more than 70 books, mostly on exploring Colorado’s vast outdoors, died in June at age 71, leaving a rich legacy of information and photos for current and future generations.
Want to know a great hike to a waterfall or around a lake? Ask Stewart.
Want to know where to drive to see the best fall colors this year? Ask Stewart. Want to know what it’s really like to climb Pikes Peak? You get the idea.
He’s the author of such books as “Scenic Driving Colorado: Exploring the State’s Most Spectacular Back Roads,” “Hiking Colorado’s Hidden Gems,” featuring 40 unique trails, and “Rock Climbing Colorado,” with 1,800 suggestions (yes, really) of places to climb.
Green climbed them all.
“He didn’t rely on other people’s research. He visited all the places he wrote about, climbing the crags, hiking the trails, taking the photographs and tracking the routes by GPS to create maps,” said Susan Joy Paul, a close friend who coauthored four books with Green. “He wanted his readers not only to read his books, but also to experience the drives, hikes and climbs safely and without getting lost.”
That alone set his works apart from many guidebooks.
A native of Colorado Springs, Green lived in North Cheyenne Cañon as a boy and often visited the waterfall named for the legendary Colorado Springs author Helen Hunt Jackson. His admiration for Jackson resulted in his writing about her later.
Starting in the 1980s, he was a contract writer and photographer for Falcon Guides and Globe Pequot Press. His work also included forays into other Western states, notably Utah and California, but Colorado was his first love and focus of most of his books.
On his website, he answered the questions
of those he met when speaking at various events in a fairly succinct manner. He said:
“I write and photograph because of what is in front of me, to honor everything … in the world that is great, interesting, mysterious, and always changing. To be a writer and photographer is to see newly every day, as if for the first time, the essence that illuminates and lives within the earth and within me and my experience of the world. Every subject redefines me and allows me to discover harmony, reconcile disparities and inequities, and to find shape, symmetry, and truth in the chaos of life.
“As a writer and photographer, I seek to record my life and times, my vision of the world and its natural beauty, its other creatures, and my fellow human beings, and to find affirmation in life through belonging, wholeness, and living. I always think of the reader and the viewer over my shoulder, the person who sees my vision and reinterprets it in their own experience.”
And that’s precisely what he did, said Paul. “Stewart’s extensive, nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Colorado history, geography, geology, flora and fauna added another dimension to his writing, and he built on that knowledge with every journey into the unknown, observing and documenting what he saw, heard, smelled and felt on his travels and putting it into his books for others to enjoy,” she said.
“He referred to his guidebooks as ‘books of dreams,’ and for many readers, his books allowed their dreams to come true.”
Linda DuVal was an award-winning reporter/feature writer/section editor at The Gazette in Colorado Springs for 32 years. This story first appeared at rockymountainreader.org, a nonprofit service dedicated to the literary landscape in Colorado. n
OUR CLOSEST CELESTIAL NEIGHBOR COMES TO LIGHT IN 'OUR MOON'
Understanding our lunar sister better
By JEFFERY PAYNE
• Rocky Mountain Reader •
Did you know that there is no sound on the moon? You could stub your toe on a random, colorless rock, thrash about s...l...o...w...l...y — gravity on the moon is one-sixth of what we experience here on Earth — and yell, no, scream all those bad, fun words and there would be, well, silence.
That’s if you could actually breathe on the moon, but you can’t because the oxygen on the moon is compressed in the rock your toe hit. In all likelihood you’d have a spacesuit on, and those nice people at NASA would hear your expletives, roll their eyes and try their darnedest not to laugh. Because you tripped, on a rock, on the moon. (It’s happened to all of the astronauts who’ve walked in lunar dust apparently). Gravity, or lack thereof, on the moon skews the senses. It’s actually very challenging to walk on the surface of the gray space; the horizon, ever-moving, toys with one’s equilibrium.
Colorado Springs-based journalist Rebecca Boyle takes on our closest celestial neighbor with style, imagination and broad knowledge in her bestselling book, “Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution and Made Us Who We Are.” An award-winning science journalist, Boyle is a contributing editor at Scientific American, contributing writer at The New York Times and frequent contributor to many other national publications.
In “Our Moon,” Boyle explores the moon’s origin, the alluring moodiness it beams down upon us and the fact that without it we wouldn’t be here. We learn how Earth and its moon were (more than
likely) created as she easily breaks down 4 billion years of astronomical happenings and events, introducing us to violent and messy, lesser-known concepts such as Earth 1.0, Synestia and Theia. Think rivers of lava, searing winds and a soy sauce muck. Somehow, in all that brutal chaos, life took hold and the initial beginnings of Earth and moon developed together, creating a unique symbiotic pairing in our universe.
Here’s something to ponder: The moon revolves, just like Earth, but due to some quirky astronomical physics thingy, (the author explains why), we only see the same side of the moon, always. Mind blown on that one.
The relationship we have with the great shining orb in the sky is incredibly complex. Boyle’s “Our Moon” gives us captivating lessons in ancient archaeological history and
how ancestors from eons ago revered the planetoid, creating impossibly precise monuments that pay homage to both the moon and sun. We gain a mighty perspective of just how much Earth’s moon has influenced our theologies, culture and scientific disciplines and how that impact continues today.
People have used the moon (and sun) as clock and calendar from practically Day 1. Somehow, despite what we think of our Neanderthal brethren, they created a very sophisticated system to track the moon’s movement. The book’s in-depth review of how timekeeping and calendars came about and evolved, then took shape through the ages, is fascinating.
The absolute excitement and fascination Boyle has for the moon is evident, so much so that it’s infectious for the reader. She brings to the page an uncanny ability to break down vast scientific concepts into easy-to-understand bits, and to bring history alive with a wry sense of humor and
engaging writing. “Our Moon” will give any reader a much deeper appreciation and understanding of our lunar sister.
Jeffery Payne has been a bookseller for over 40 years. This review first appeared at rockymountainreader.org, a nonprofit service dedicated to the literary landscape in Colorado. n
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THE STATE .
GRASSHOPPERS CHEW WAY ACROSS COLORADO
By JENNIFER BROWN
• The Colorado Sun •
It was as if Doug Bay’s wish had come true, the day the doves landed. Bay, who grows alfalfa and a bit of corn and sorghum in Otero County, had been eyeing the 3 acres of fresh green shoots for days, worrying they were about to be destroyed by the swarms of crop-munching grasshoppers that were bouncing all over his farm.
He was holding out hope that he wouldn’t have to spray pesticide to save his alfalfa crop from the destructive insects, which are vexing farmers and gardeners from Denver to the plains this summer. Bay almost called the local crop duster, but he put it off.
Then came the doves. About 200 of the tan birds swooped down from the sky and feasted on the grasshoppers, demolishing pretty much the whole lot.
“It was kinda neat,” recalled Bay, whose family has been farming in Cheraw since 1950. “A couple hundred of them, eating those grasshoppers. They must have told their friends this was a good place to eat.”
For farmers, the best way to deal with grasshoppers is to let birds handle it. But this year, when the grasshopper infestation is one of the worst in recent history, farmers can’t rely on just the birds.
The bounty of grasshoppers is on par with last summer’s Mormon cricket invasion on the Western Slope. Bay said he had to hire the crop duster to spray his other, larger field of alfalfa, costing him about $15 for each of the 120 acres. He’s also got 15 chickens that spend their days pecking his yard and keeping the grasshoppers at a more manageable level, at least near his house.
Scientists say the grasshoppers are having a banner year in Colorado because the conditions for hatching eggs and growing big insects were
ideal. Grasshoppers lay their eggs in dirt, and the pods or “egg beds” remain underground through the winter. The eggs hatch in the spring, and the tiny “nymphs” crawl out of the ground in search of food, according to Colorado State University’s extension services.
If weather conditions are good, and there is plenty to eat, grasshoppers grow for several weeks until they reach adult size — and this summer they are quite large. The insects likely hatched earlier this year because of a mild, warmer spring, and then did not face the kind of cold, wet weather that can kill off newly hatched grasshoppers.
In Denver, gardeners are reporting extra-large grasshoppers and in extra large numbers, popping around yards and chewing holes in the leaves of their lettuce and tomato plants. On the Eastern Plains, their destruction has been spotty — some farms are having to spray pesticides or losing yields to the bugs, while others have had few issues. For gardeners, experts suggest adding some plants that repel grasshoppers — garlic or chives — or using garlic to make a natural spray. Another idea is to
cover the garden with netting to keep the insects from jumping into it. Get some chickens. Or put up a bird feeder. While grasshopper eggs are more likely to survive the winter in dry soil, undisturbed by tillage or irrigation, the insects often live longer and grow bigger in irrigated land where there is plenty of foliage.
Farmers, including Bay in Otero County, are on their third out of four cuts of alfalfa for the season, and still keeping an eye on the grasshoppers. Alfalfa is most vulnerable to grasshoppers when it’s just beginning to grow and “they can mow it right down,” Bay said. When the plants are taller, grasshoppers can’t destroy it but can decrease its yield, he said.
At Bay’s son-in-law’s ranch, in the southeastern corner of the state, the grasshoppers hatched early and died off when they were small because there wasn’t enough moisture for them to survive. But Bay has had to deal with two grasshopper hatches, and the second one produced especially big grasshoppers.
He and others were forced to spray, he
said, and Bay hired a pilot because the alfalfa was too thick to drive a sprayer through it. “Once you spray them, it pretty well kills them,” he said. “You have to watch it real close — you can spray one batch and another batch could hatch.”
Farmers also can scatter an insecticide called EcoBran, which grasshoppers will eat and die. Then other grasshoppers, which are cannibals, will eat the dead grasshoppers and die, too. But this is “hit or miss,” Bay said, because if the grasshoppers have other things to eat — say, alfalfa or lettuce — they likely won’t eat the wheat bran laced with the chemical carbaryl, which is toxic to insects.
Ranchers have little recourse, since their grazing land is so vast. Their cattle just get less to eat when grasshoppers are rampant.
It’s just all part of the season for farmers and ranchers, Bay said. “I gamble every day,” he said. “You gamble with the weather. You gamble with the bugs. So I don’t much like to go to Cripple Creek.”
On the bright side for hunters: The doves are thick this year thanks to grasshopper abundance, and dove hunting season starts this month.
Bay is optimistic lately, as he finishes the latest cut of alfalfa and moves on to cutting the sorghum, that the grasshoppers will run out of things to eat and fade out. The Arkansas River, which supplies his irrigation water, is getting low now at the end of summer. And it hasn’t rained much lately on the plains. Bay will also keep hoping for black birds or more doves, the “most awesome” natural control for insects.
“But you can’t order a flock of birds to come in,” he said. “It’s a luck thing.”
The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonprofit news outlet that covers our state. Learn more and sign up for free newsletters at coloradosun.com. n
Grasshoppers navigate insect-damaged leaves. | Credit: Dana Coffield, The Colorado Sun
BRIGHT LEAVES Pikes Peak region comes alive with fall colors
I’ve always been of the opinion that September is the best month to be in Colorado. The days are still fairly long, the weather is still warm, the monsoons are behind us, there are still wildflowers to see, and the aspens change from green to gold. Without a doubt, some of the most scenic fall colors can be found along Highway 550, the “Million Dollar Highway,” between Ouray and Silverton on Colorado’s Western Slope, and even as far south as Durango. But there are plenty of places much closer to Colorado Springs to see some fantastic fall colors. It is as important to know where to see and photograph fall colors as to know when. Generally speaking, fall colors should be popping up now — mid-September — in the northern part of the state and continue through early October, with the color changes migrating south. Social media is usually a good way to track changes, but unfortunately there is a trend to post photos from previous years and to not identify them as such. So if you see a photo of a wide swath of great fall colors, make sure it was actually taken this year.
There are a couple of online tools you can use to help you predict when and where to see fall colors at their peak. The website smokymountains.com has a fall color prediction map (https://tinyurl. com/4sf52pkj) as does Explorefall.com (https://tinyurl.com/mvfrak99). I have used the tools at smokymountains.com in the past and found them to be pretty accurate, but it helps to remember that
everything to do with the outdoors is at the whims of Mother Nature, so use these tools in conjunction with your own observations and verified social media posts.
Since quaking aspens grow at elevations above 7,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, and the elevation of Colorado Springs averages at around 6,000 feet, you won’t find many here in town. Fortunately, you don’t have to go far to find some impressive displays of golden leaves. The nearest place is Mueller State Park, less than an hour’s drive west of Colorado Springs, on Highway 67 between Divide and Cripple Creek. My recommendations for scenic hikes at Mueller are on opposite ends of the park. At the south end of the park, and starting at the visitors center, you can do this loop that takes you past four ponds and through stands of tall aspens (https:// tinyurl.com/ywc4nxdw). At the far-north end of the park, this route that starts at the Grouse Mountain trailhead is not
only shorter, but also offers completely different views than on the four-pond loop (https://tinyurl.com/4awtkx7y). You’ll want to do this hike both in the morning and afternoon, since the change in lighting direction completely changes the view.
In reality, there is no shortage of trails to hike to experience fall colors, including other trails in Mueller State Park. Check out the Shootin’ Star and Twin Rocks trails in Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, which goes past a nice stand of aspens that reflect in a small pond (https://tinyurl.com/yuhaurw2), and the hiking trails in Eleven Mile State Park that wind through stands of aspens while also overlooking the reservoir (https://tinyurl.com/cfjurj3c).
A bit north, the Abyss Lake Trail off of Guanella Pass Road is beautiful, but also very busy. Go there on a weekday. Later in September and going into October, you’ll want to go south. The area west of Lake Isabel (Highway 165 west
of Rye and Colorado City) is very nice, and there are many hiking trails in the area. Farther south, Highway 12 south of the town of La Veta through Cuchara and over Cuchara Pass is not only incredibly beautiful, but there are also many hiking trails to take advantage of, including one of my favorites, the Dodgeton Trail (https://tinyurl.com/5fa93du8).
There is plenty to see. Go out and explore!
Be Good. Do Good Things. Leave No Trace.
Bob “Hiking Bob” Falcone is a retired career firefighter, USAF veteran, an accomplished photographer and 30-year resident of Colorado Springs. He has served on boards and committees for city, county and state parks in the Pikes Peak region, and spends much of his time hiking 800 or more miles each year, looking for new places and trails to visit, often with his canine sidekick, Coal.
By BOB “HIKING BOB” FALCONE
Mueller State Park |Credit: Bob Falcone
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PUZZLES!
News of the WEIRD
BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
WEIRD IN THE WILD
A bald eagle that was “rescued” near Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri because it couldn't seem to fly wasn't injured at all, Fox News reported Aug. 25. Instead, wildlife officials at the Missouri Department of Conservation determined that it was “too fat to fly.” “The bird was ... engorged with raccoon,” officials said. X-rays taken at a nearby zoo showed a raccoon paw inside the eagle’s distended stomach. The bird was released near where it was found.
FLORIDA
Tampa police responded to a call Aug. 24 at the Rags to Riches Animal Rescue, WFTS-TV reported. Dominique Amerosa, one of the owners of the rescue, said she and her mother were doing a meet-andgreet with a potential owner for Bluey, a disabled pug, when they told the woman she wouldn’t be a good fit because of her other dogs. First, the woman wouldn’t give the dog back to the owners; then she retrieved a gun out of her car and pointed it at the back of Amerosa’s head. “My lovely neighbor came out and saw her with my mom and then ran in her house to call 911,” Amerosa said. “That is a very scary person,” she said. Police said they are investigating and working with the state's attorney's office to “determine the most appropriate charges.”
UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT
Rolando Ramos, the quarterbacks coach for the Cigarroa Toros football program in Laredo, Texas, was arrested Aug. 19 after he called police to report that a prostitute had stolen money from him, the Laredo Morning Times reported. When Ramos tried to pay her, she allegedly grabbed $100 and ran away. Ramos, who is also a health and physical education teacher at Cigarroa High School, faced a $2,500 bond for soliciting prostitution and was released later that day. He was placed on administrative leave by the district.
SNAFU
The U.S. Navy has run out of pants, the New York Post reported Aug. 21. The official “Navy Working Uniform,” or NWU, camouflage trousers are out of stock because of “Defense Logistics Agency vendor issues,” officials said. This particular uniform is allowed for wear on the job and out in public, but only new recruits will get new pants until at least October. In the meantime, sailors will be allowed to wear coveralls off-base (so chic) or the “2-piece Organizational Clothing,” which features flame-resistant tops and bottoms.
BRIGHT IDEA
A 9-year-old boy left his home in Brooklyn, New York, for school Aug. 22 but never showed up, the Associated Press reported. His parents called police, who released a description of the missing child. When the New York CBS News helicopter arrived at the scene, they spotted the truant on the rooftop of his family’s building. “We came across a person sitting in a chair over here on the rooftop. We zoomed in with the camera,” said reporter Dan Rice. “It appeared to be the child that fit the description of the missing child.” They alerted police and as the news helicopter watched, Rice said, “He just packs up his computer and his book bag and goes off with the police officers,” who took the boy to his parents.
QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENT
Back in January, a 33-year-old man underwent emergency surgery at Graz University Hospital in Austria after a forestry accident, Sky News reported. It wasn’t until July, however, that the patient learned the unnamed surgeon allowed his 13-yearold daughter to drill a hole in the patient’s head. “There was no contact, no explanation or apology, nothing,” said the patient's attorney, Peter Freiberger. “That is simply undignified.” The operation was successful, but the patient is still recovering. The main surgeon and another specialist who was present during the operation were let go by the hospital. Investigations by the public prosecutor’s office are underway.
THAT RULE DOESN'T APPLY
Police in Brighton, New Jersey, charged Zyair J. Dennis, 24, on Aug. 23 with one count of defiant trespassing after an incident Aug. 18, the Cherry Hill Courier Post reported. Dennis, of Millville, New Jersey, was recorded at the Cohanzick Zoo taunting a tiger after climbing a barrier into the
animal's enclosure. Police said she tried to “entice” one of the Bengal tigers through a second, inside fence. In the video, the tiger appeared to try to bite the woman’s hand. Dennis was also caught on camera at the zoo’s bear exhibit, demonstrating the same kind of behavior, said Bridgerton Police Chief Michael Gaimari.
IAstro-logic
BY CAMILLE LIPTAK, COSMIC CANNIBAL
t’s officially that time of year. The Autumn Equinox signals the shift into sweater weather and Halloween prep. Whether you're gearing up for spooky season or avoiding all decorative gourds, there’s plenty of astro-action on the horizon. Let’s dive in, shall we?.. Want more astro-logic from Cosmic Cannibal? Social Media @cosmiccannibalcamille, Substack cosmiccannibal.substack.com and the web cosmiccannibal.com
ARIES
Ready to partner up? Beginning Sept. 22, you’re all about partnerships — romantic, business, frenemies, the works. Expect others to seek your attention, but watch out: There is added intensity to your love life, and some of those connections may come with strings attached. Don’t shirk vulnerability, but don’t let anyone guilt-trip you into it either …
TAURUS
The autumn equinox brings a reality check to your daily grind. Have you been slacking off? No shame — just
CANCER
When autumn comes knocking, your cocoon could become a den of drama. Relationship conflicts around who’s in charge at home may send you ducking for cover. It doesn’t last, but it is emotionally tense. Luckily, Sept. 30 gives you the courage to tackle these issues head-on. Use this energy to set some serious boundaries …
LEO
The onset of fall marks the start of a chatty time of year. Just beware of stepping on toes, especially on the
LIBRA
Yes, fall is beginning and all that jazz, but you’re the star of the show — which might be the issue behind the power struggles that may pop up on the home front. The good news? By Sept. 26, you’ve got your voice back — and you’re diplomatically using it. Good thing — we always need your levelheadedness …
SCORPIO
This fall, you might be feeling conflicted. On hand, you want to hibernate. On the other hand, you want to mix and
CAPRICORN
Sept. 22 brings fall, and your professional aspirations take center stage. You’re likely dealing with some power plays — who’s in charge, you or them? — and on Sept. 26, those long-overdue career convos are happening whether you’re ready or not. Sept. 30 offers you the stamina to overcome obstacles. Pro tip: Diplomacy goes a long way …
AQUARIUS
Autumn’s equinox on Sept. 22 puts you in adventure mode. The caveat? Your attention also shifts to making your mark
