Boulder Weekly 04.06.2023

GAME OVER

CU ROLLS THE DICE ON SPORTS BETTING AND COMES UP SHORT P. 13

HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE P. 18

BLACK IN BOULDER P. 5

2023/24 SEASON PASSES ON SALE NOW

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(CLOSING DAY IS MAY 7, 2023)

13 COVER STORY: CU ends its controversial sports-betting deal

BY WILL MATUSKA

16 MUSIC: Denver indie-pop duo Tennis gets granular on ‘Pollen’

BY JEZY J. GRAY

18 SCREEN: Boulder filmmakers behind ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ talk heist movies and climate activism

BY NATHANIEL KENNON PERKINS

37 GOOD TASTE: Cafe Aion reintroduces lunch service

BY COLIN WRENN

DEPARTMENTS

30 ASTROLOGY: Big money for Virgos

31 SAVAGE LOVE: Sister, wife

33 NIBBLES: Spade & Spoon upgrades delivered food boxes with locally sourced, sustainable meals

YOU

39 WEED: Ibogaine has massive potential for treating serious chemical dependency, but patients have to travel abroad to access it — for now

Courtesy Boulder Arts Week

APRIL 6, 2023

Volume XXX, Number 33

PUBLISHER: Fran Zankowski

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Caitlin Rockett

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER: Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Joel Dyer

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Angela K. Evans, Mark Fearer, Kaylee Harter, Nick Hutchinson, Dave Kirby, Ari LeVaux, Adam Perry, Dan Savage, Bart Schaneman, Alan Sculley, Samuel Shaw, Toni Tresca, Gregory Wakeman, Colin Wrenn

SALES AND MARKETING

MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: Kellie Robinson

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Matthew Fischer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Chris Allred

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

CIRCULATION TEAM:

Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER: Emily Weinberg

FOUNDER/CEO: Stewart Sallo

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

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

COMMENTARY

BLACK IN BOULDER

Making visible the invincible

Boulder is a sacred place. The majestic Flatirons blanket the city with the memories of the people native to this land.

To live in Boulder is to receive this magnificent bounty. We Californians Boulderites are truly blessed.

Sadly, the experience of living in Boulder is not unitive. To some, living in Boulder is accessible, welcoming, culturally sensitive and affirming. To the othered, Boulder can be inaccessible, unwelcoming, and culturally insensitive. One of the plethora of “othered” groups are Black people, who make up 1.2% of Boulder’s current population.

Contemporary Black Boulderites are a continuation of Boulder’s

African American history, a narrative which began in the 1870s with the OG Black pioneers to the area such as Joseph and Mary Anderson, George Reynolds, Henry and Annie Butler, the Leopold family and more. The first Black people in this area were optimists and dreamers who migrated to the area mainly to mine for gold and other valuable ores.

Black people and our optimism were met with the status quo and a century and a half of duplicitous behaviors, such as socio-racial-eco-

BY ANTHONY GALLUCCI

nomic segregation, bigotry, hate crimes/arson, tokenism, pertinacious inclusivity initiatives, over incarceration, redlining, police brutality and lack of significant socio-political representation. Alas, we rise!

Although Black people have been in Boulder for over 150 years, we currently exist mainly as transient residents. The present transient experience, and the low number of Black Boulderite permanent residents, is indicative and responsive to the history of Boulder. The low percentage of Black Boulderites, throughout time, is not

BLACK IN BOULDER

accidental and generally due to Black flight from the area in response to a homogeneously white culture of microaggression, exclusivity and violence against non-white people.

Therefore, to find oneself in Boulder in 2023 is to arrive in a space in which Black culture is mostly invisible. The lack of representation regarding the cultural expressions of Blackness is endemic in the dominant narrative in the U.S. and Boulder. However, the attempt to marginalize and/or misrepresent the narrative of Blackness in no way diminishes the interest, accomplishments and/or excellence of the first Black people in Boulder and those who currently live in this area.

This monthly editorial serves as one of the plethora of efforts to reach out to Black people in Boulder and proudly share aspects of our histories, lived experiences, struggles, joys, accomplishments and excellence. In addition, the editorial will provide constructive criticism of various aspects of Boulder that are insensitive, marginalizing and unfair to Black culture. The critique will often be accompanied by suggestions that intend to be practical and engage in personal growth and systematic change.

I am a Black, single father of four, professional, uncle and brother who

OPINION

has lived in the City of Boulder for the past decade. We are a proud African American family, and we call Boulder our home. My family and other Black people in Boulder spend our time enjoying the fresh air, clean water, quality education, and healthy food options. We are Afrofuturists and our intention is to sustain the positive experiences and minimize the negative. Essentially, we are not only responding to our oppression, we are also liberating ourselves from it.

In this liberation work I wear many hats and one of them is to curate the Boulder African American History Center. The center is a virtual entity that intends to connect the various physical efforts to support the liberation of Black people in the Boulder metro area. We will utilize the Boulder Weekly platform to illuminate the gifts, critics and liberated voices of the Black people who live in the Boulder area. The method is through critical editorials, liberating opinion pieces, captivating and relevant interviews with empowering Black people and highlighting of existing movements and organizations that serve to make the experience of Black people safer and more comfortable to thrive economically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and physically.

Making space for the cultural expressions of Black people in the Boulder area is in no way meant to diminish the need and current efforts to elevate representation of the Indigenous people of the Americas and people of color, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent people, and every other marginalized group not named here. We stand in alliance. We hope to share well and be contagious! We look forward to your engagement.

Local events highlight youth leadership in mental health crisis BY

In recent weeks the mental health crisis devastating our nation’s youth has been getting muchneeded attention from the local and national press. For young people, and for the parents, educators, health professionals, scientists, and others who interact with people under the age of 25 on a regular basis, it feels like it’s about time we focused on this growing crisis. We have seen firsthand how young people increasingly struggle under the weight of misogyny, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression. We see

how record levels of economic inequality, an ever-increasing climate disaster, stagnant wages, crippling student loan debt, lack of healthcare, food insecurity, unaffordable housing and gun violence erode their wellbeing and safety.

Experts in youth mental health have been raising the alarm for years as reported symptoms of mental illness have skyrocketed, particularly among LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color (especially Black and Indigenous youth). In 2021, Children’s Hospital Colorado declared a youth mental health state

Anthony Gallucci is a dad, author, activist and professor. He is currently teaching at Naropa University and finishing his doctoral work in psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies researching masculinity from an Afrocentric epistemological lens.

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

EVANGELYNE ELIASON AND NICOLE SPEER

of emergency due to record numbers of children and youth experiencing mental health crises. In 2021, nearly one-quarter of U.S. high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide and one in 10 high school students had attempted suicide. In the 2020-2021 academic year, more than 60% of college students met criteria for a mental health problem — a 50% rise since 2013. Students of color were the least likely to connect with mental health providers despite having the biggest increase in mental health challenges.

This youth mental health crisis

prompted the Colorado Legislature to increase funding for mental health services and specifically for youth mental health services in 2021 and 2022, and there are myriad mental health-related bills moving through the Legislature in 2023. The City of Boulder recently allocated $2.5 million to stabilize and expand the mental health staff workforce needed to serve Boulder community members. But many of these changes are years away from having any impact, and given the dearth of training programs that equip mental health providers with the knowledge of how

Boulder’s early Black neighborhood, known as the Little Rectangle, was prone to flooding. Courtesy: Carnegie Library for Local History

OPINION

systemic oppression interacts with mental health and the tools needed to address the inequities in our healthcare system, they are unlikely to help the youth and young adults who are most in need of mental health services.

As peers, caregivers, relatives, friends and community members, these statistics may leave you wondering: What can we do?

One solution often ignored by adults in positions of authority and power is to listen to and support the inherent wisdom of youth and young adults.

Gen Z is in a better place than even Millennials in terms of their openness to talking about mental health, but it is still seen as scary and taboo. In our own community we can see examples of young adults creating spaces to talk about their experiences with mental health on their own terms, through community-centered programs that raise awareness and build connections. Creativity Alive’s SEEN collaboration, a high-school led, mental health-focused arts project will open at Ozo on East Pearl this Friday, April 7 at 5:30 p.m.

On Saturday, April 8, Project Kind, led by one of the authors (CU senior Evangelyne Eliason), will be raising awareness about mental health and suicide prevention through a 5K run/walk/roll (11 a.m.) and an open mic night/talent showcase (6 p.m.; register here: bit.ly/ProjectKind). The 5K event is open to the entire community and is intended to encourage everyone to practice getting outside, moving around and taking care of themselves, all things that are especially hard to do when people are experiencing mental health struggles. The open mic night/talent showcase is also open to the public (and local singers, poets and performers) and is intended to help people find a way to process and express their experiences with mental health through different art forms.

We often think of the experience of mental illness and the treatment of mental health problems at the

level of individuals, but the inherent wisdom of youth-led and youthcentered efforts is in their recognition that a crisis arising from increasingly challenging societal problems needs solutions that are grounded in community.

We hope you will show up to support these youth-led activities and those that will follow. We hope you will also support groups in the community that are youth- and young adult-led and communitycentered, such as Natural Highs, the Center for African and AfricanAmerican Studies, and Out Boulder County’s youth programs. Our youth and young adults need more from our community than simply allocating money to behavioral health services that help them cope with the existential threats prior generations created. They need our solidarity, and our support for their solutions.

Ms. Evangelyne Eliason is a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder majoring in Psychology and minoring in Political Science & Sociology who researches healing among marginalized youth for the Voice of Healing project at the Renee Crown Wellness Institute and is the organizer of Project Kind. Dr. Nicole Speer is a Director of Research Services for the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado Boulder and a member of Boulder City Council. She has studied and published research on college student mental health. Both authors are writing in their personal capacities, and encourage readers to get comfortable asking the people in their lives some version of two critical questions in suicide prevention

(“Have you thought about hurting yourself?” and “Do you have a plan?”), as well as to know that 988 is the number to call to reach the 24/7 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

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

April 12–14, 2023

Big ideas. Endless discoveries. Celebrating 75 years.

Dynamic, challenging discussions on climate change. 25+ sessions, more than 80 speakers.

Wednesday, April 12

Ebert Interruptus, noon–2 p.m.

75th Anniversary Program and conference keynote featuring James Balog, 3–5 p.m.

75th Anniversary Gala, 6–9 p.m.

Thursday, April 13

Greenwashing? Can I Trust an Organization’s Climate Claims?, 9:30–10:40 a.m.

Communication Strategies to Motivate Climate Action, 9:30–10:40 a.m.

Human Rights and Climate Justice: A Forward Path Through Activism, 9:30–10:40 a.m.

Inspired by a Changing Planet: Creating and Curating Art, 9:30–10:40 a.m.

Surviving the Elements: Climate Impacts on Winter Sports, Travel and Dining, 11 a.m.–12:10 p.m.

How Climate Change Impacts National Security, 11 a.m.–12:10 p.m.

Green Jobs and Careers, 11 a.m.–12:10 p.m.

Reshaping Education, 12:30–1:40 p.m.

Incentives and Barriers to Scaling New Technologies, 2–3:10 p.m.

Food for the Future, 2–3:10 p.m.

Adapting to Climate Change, 2–3:10 p.m.

Protecting Our Planet and Our Health, 2–3:10 p.m.

Can—and Should—Journalism Be a Part of the Solution to the Climate Crisis?, 3:30–4:40 p.m.

Sustainable Cities: Urban Design for a Green Future, 3:30–4:40 p.m.

An Uncertain Future: Climate Change Concerns for the Next Generation, 3:30–4:40 p.m.

Ebert Interruptus, 4–6 p.m.

CU Jazz Ensemble, 4:15–5:15 p.m.

Leadership in the Age of Climate Change keynote with Rose Marcario, 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Friday, April 14

Competition to Collaboration: Can Climate Issues Unify Rivals?, 9–10:10 a.m.

Colorado River Crisis: How Did We Get Here?, 9–10:10 a.m.

Energy Technology That Will Power the World, 9–10:10 a.m.

Changing the World Through Art and Pop Culture, 9–10:10 a.m.

Democracy in Hotter Times, 10:30–11:40 a.m.

Colorado River Crisis: Where Do We Go From Here?, 10:30–11:40 a.m.

Carbon Capture: Natural and Technological Solutions, 10:30–11:40 a.m.

Ode to Earth, Sky and Ocean, 10:30–11:40 a.m.

Transportation: Where Are We Going and How Will We Get There?, 1:30–2:40 p.m.

Human Displacement: Managing the Effects from Climate Crises, 1:30–2:40 p.m.

The Importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Outdoor Recreation and Climate Advocacy, 1:30–2:40 p.m.

Enacting Climate Solutions Through Human Rights Climate Commitments: Right Here, Right Now Boulder Impact Forum, 3–4:10 p.m.

Ebert Interruptus, 4–6 p.m.

All sessions are Mountain Daylight Time. Join us in person or via livestream. Free and open to the public. For locations, event details, speaker biographies and to watch online, visit colorado.edu/cwa.

Thank you to our partners:

EASE THE HARM

Tent fires fuel debate on Boulder’s camping ban

BY WILL MATUSKA

On a Friday afternoon, studentathletes from Boulder High School were practicing at Christian Recht Field. Around 4:30 p.m. people reported hearing “small

As students evacuated the field on March 17, Boulder Fire-Rescue responded to a tent fire. There were no known injuries. The department confirmed there were propane tanks

was unable to say exactly what started the fire.

The tent and everything inside were destroyed.

The following Tuesday, the fire department responded to another tent fire near the turf football field under similar circumstances, this time spreading to a nearby tree that got “significantly” burned, according to the fire department’s incident summary. From Wednesday night to early Thursday morning, the department responded to five more reports of “unauthorized” fires

manent ban on open burns — in unhoused encampments.

Fires in encampments do happen, but the amount of blazes in mid-March was above average, according to Marya Washburn, public information officer at Boulder Fire-Rescue.

There were 297 total confirmed fires in Boulder in 2022. That year, the fire department dispatched staff to 95 fires in locations where it typically engages with the unhoused community, including the Boulder Creek Path, Foothills Parkway corridor and the Goose Creek Path, according to Washburn.

So far this year there have been 20 reports of unauthorized fire calls to those locations, but Washburn emphasized that those fires weren’t all necessarily started by unhoused communities. The department doesn’t record data regarding housing status during dispatch calls.

Boulder City Councilmember Nicole Speer says the fires make her concerned for everyone’s safety from the people experiencing homelessness in tents to high school students nearby.

“People need to stay warm if we don’t have shelter for them,” says Speer. “So if we don’t want folks to have propane tanks and things that are going to catch on fire, what are we doing to provide alternatives?”

To many in the community — many of whom have different ideas on the subject — this spate of fires highlights Boulder’s homelessness problem and the lack of alternatives for people experiencing homelessness.

“Our current strategy is not working,” says Boulder City Councilmember Matt Benjamin.

A DIVIDED COMMUNITY

Since the City cut the number of overnight beds in 2020, Boulder Shelter for the Homeless hasn’t had the capacity to provide space for the approximately 450 unhoused residents in the city.

The impacts of not providing adequate resources, like shelter, to people experiencing homelessness has resulted in compounding consequences across the community.

Benjamin says it’s an “emotion-

A burned campsite at the confluence of the Broadway bike path and Boulder Creek Path. Photo by Jeff DeMeyer.

al” topic for divided community members, making already anchored opinions hard to sway. But he thinks that is part of what’s prolonged the problem.

“Each side of the homelessness debate has to recognize that the other side has very valid points, and that those needs still need to be met,” he says. “And quite honestly, each side has to be able to give and get in order for us to incrementally make improvements here.”

After the fires near Boulder High on March 17, the high school wrote a letter to families and staff on March 21 promising to increase its “security presence” on paths adjacent to the school.

Some parents of Boulder high schoolers are taking it upon themselves to address their safety concerns because of “the lack of leadership and lack of action” from the “City Council, City Manager and BVSD,” according to Safe Zones 4 Kids, a ballot initiative started by a group of Boulder parents.

Safe Zones 4 Kids was started in October 2022 to establish a “priority enforcement zone” of ordinances like the camping and propane tank ban 500 feet from school property lines and 50 feet from multi-use paths and sidewalks.

Jud Valeski, a Boulder High School parents involved with Safe Zones 4 Kids, said in a text that he wants to put a buffer between students and “significant adult challenges associated with City of Boulder prohibited items.”

According to the City, 354 propane tanks were confiscated between January 2022 and February 2023.

The Safe Zones 4 Kids initiative, which has a petition with more than 1,800 signatures according to its website, calls the paths around Boulder High unsafe, and says the recent fires show “immediate danger to our students.” If the petition reaches 3,437 signatures, it will be put on the ballot for City of Boulder voters this November.

Jennifer Rhodes, a parent of two teenage daughters in the BVSD system who helped start Safe Zones 4 Kids, says the ballot measure could help protect kids from “harassment and other inappropriate adult behavior.”

“We don’t want to wait and see what happens while the City continues to ignore its own prioritization matrix and

ponder the issue for months on end,” she wrote over email.

On its website, the City writes that because Boulder’s camping policy enforcement is citywide, a safe zone around schools “would not add to Boulder’s enforcement toolkit because camping is already banned near schools and in all other public spaces.”

Boulder Fire Chief Michael Calderazzo said in an email that the recent fires are concerning for our community.

“We do consider these fires a wildfire start risk, as are any fires that occur in location or conditions where a fire could spread quickly,” he wrote.

As part of its 2023 budget, the City is allocating $1.3 million to its Safe and Managed Spaces program to add an additional “encampment management” team to “keep up with demand.”

According to the City, the encampment management team has seen “many successes” over the last year, including “389 encampments successfully cleaned, 106 tons of trash removed from public spaces and waterways, over 5,000 downtown graffiti trash removal response, and 174 connections between people experiencing homelessness and service providers.”

On March 29, the City adjusted its policy that gave people participating in unsanctioned camping a 72-hour notice to clean up and leave. Now, the City can clear a person or property without notice when a city street or multi-use path obstruction creates a “significant potential for an accident or harm to other path users.”

Dan Williams, a Boulder-based attorney representing plaintiffs in the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the City’s camping ban, calls the policy a “cruel and unconstitutional policing-first strategy.”

“The City knows full well that without safe and welcoming places for people to go, it’s just shuffling people from one place to the next, meaning its newly revamped enforcement policy is doomed to fail just as badly as the City’s current encampment removal

policy,” Williams wrote in an email.

Homelessness advocates like Boulder nonprofit Feet Forward say the City needs more options and resources, including inpatient care, to mitigate the rise of unmanaged mental health and addiction rates in the unhoused community.

According to its website, the City is still in the design phase of its proposed Homeless Day Services Center after Boulder Shelter for the Homeless (BSH) expressed interest in operating the space.

“People are not going to stop being cold if they don’t have shelter,” she says.

A PLACE TO BE

Boulder City Council will discuss homelessness at its April 13 meeting. Benjamin says he anticipates discussion around a sanctioned camp zone, something he says has been brought up during his tenure on council before.

The idea is to establish a safe area where people experiencing unsheltered homelessness can camp legally, not in public spaces.

The Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC) is establishing and operating Safe Outdoor Spaces around Denver that are “healthy, secure, staffed, resource- and service-rich environments that provide an outdoor, individualized sheltering option for people,” according to the organization’s website. These spaces also have resources like bathrooms, showers, electricity, and services like housing and employment referrals.

At the beginning of March, Denver City Council approved a $7.5 million contract extension for CVC to operate through 2024.

Benjamin says one of the main barriers to establishing that resource in Boulder is figuring out where to put the encampment in a city with few open lots.

The center would provide a “collection of services,” according to the City’s website, but no overnight shelter. Properties are being evaluated for the center’s location by the city.

Colorado struggles to offer support for unhoused communities state-wide ranking 45th nationally in prevalence of mental illness (including substance use disorder) and access to care. Lowranked states have high rates of mental illness, lower access to care, according to Mental Health America (News, “Troubled waters,” Feb. 16, 2023).

Councilmember Speer says there needs to be other options for people experiencing homelessness if “we’re not willing to put them in homes or in shelter.”

“At the end of the day, we need to be able to support our unhoused so that they can feel safe, secure and have a place to be while they’re working through trying to get back on their feet and get the services and support they need,” he says.

No matter the solution, Benjamin says it isn’t realistic to end homelessness. Instead, he hopes to find a balance.

“We’re just trying to ease the suffering and ease the harm for those that are unhoused and find a way to help as many [people] as we can with the resources we have,” he says, “while providing the least amount of harm to the rest of the community.

People need to stay warm if we don’t have shelter for them. So if we don’t want folks to have propane tanks and things that are going to catch on fire, what are we doing to provide alternatives?”

— NICOLE SPEER, BOULDER CITY COUNCILMEMBER

GAME OVER

CU ends its controversial sports-betting deal

BY WILL MATUSKA

Peggy Brown calls it a “silent killer.”

“What I know is that when it gets to problematic behavior, it’ll affect every aspect of [the gambler’s] life, and can lead to isolation, depression, anxiety and possible suicide,” says Brown, president of the Problem Gambling Coalition of Colorado. The organization works to increase awareness, advocate for treatment, and promote research and education for individuals and communities impacted by problem gambling.

According to the University of Villanova, gambling disorder has the highest suicide rate out of any addiction.

The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) estimates 2 million U.S. adults have “severe” gambling problems in a given year, with another 4 to 6 million considered to have moderate problems.

After legalization in 2019, Colorado is one of more than 35 states to pass sports betting bills. The state collected $12.4 million in taxes from sports betting in 2022, according to the Division of Gaming.

In 2020, the University of Colorado made a $1.6 million deal with the sports betting company PointsBet that allowed the company to advertise its products on campus and at sporting events through 2026. The original deal included a $30 referral bonus to the university when anyone signed up on the PointsBet site using a CU promo code. The referral bonus stopped in January 2023.

The partnership between CU and PointsBet was the first high-profile sports gambling deal in major college athletics, but a New York Times investi-

gation found that at least eight universities have partnered with online sports betting companies.

But the deal between CU and PointsBet abruptly ended on March 27.

CU declined to comment further.

Brown says she was “thrilled” when she heard the news.

“Sanctioned betting [has] no place on a collegiate campus,” she says.

ROLLING THE DICE

One study published in The Recovery Village found that one in 20 college students meet the criteria for compulsive gambling and that its rate among college students is more than double the rate of the overall adult population.

“Something that starts out so recreational for fun and excitement, all of a sudden becomes a compulsion,” says Brown. “And to maintain that level [of excitement], the gambler has to increase the frequency and amount of the bet to get the same dopamine rush.”

The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland reported Keith Whyte, the executive director of NCPG, said students’ vulnerability to sports betting is linked to various factors, including the underdevelopment of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which controls impulsive behavior and isn’t fully developed until age 25.

When Boulder Weekly inquired about how CU tracks if signs of problem gambling were developing in students, Assistant Director of Communications Andrew Sorensen pointed toward one resource: the American College Health

Association’s (ACHA) National College Health Assessment III.

The 103-page survey, which consisted of nearly 70,000 nation-wide college student respondents, aims to collect data about “student habits and behaviors on the most prevalent health topics.”

The survey asked four questions about gambling disorders — including if the respondent has been diagnosed with a disorder, or talked to a healthcare professional about it — each with “yes/ no” responses.

Less than 1% of respondents reported ever being diagnosed with a gambling disorder, according to ACHA’s Fall 2022 undergraduate student reference group executive summary. Sorensen says CU had 954 respondents to the survey, with no students indicating they had received a gambling disorder diagnosis.

National studies contradict those survey results.

For example, Yale Medicine says 2% to 7% of youths develop a gambling disorder, compared with about 1% of adults. It also writes that many gambling disorders begin in adolescence, and college students gamble at higher rates than the general population.

NCPG states that about 67% of college students bet on sports and that students who gamble have higher rates of binge drinking, marijuana use, cigarette use, illicit drug use and unsafe sex after drinking.

In addition, the Mayo Clinic says compulsive gambling can be difficult to treat because “most people have a hard time admitting they have a problem. Yet a major part of treatment is working on acknowledging that you’re a compulsive gambler.”

‘INDUSTRY STANDARD’

Rather than connecting Boulder Weekly with individuals for further questions on the topic as requested, Sorensen either did not answer specific questions, or answered with boilerplate responses from the university.

For example, the university did not specify how much money was being diverted specifically to gambling addiction resources, or if there was any programming on campus to inform students about problem gambling.

When asked if there was a gambling therapist on campus, the university

wrote, “CU Boulder takes issues of addiction seriously and provides support for any CU Boulder community member seeking recovery through the Collegiate Recovery Center.”

Campus resources on the recovery center’s “support resources” page include student- and staff-led substance use workshops, peer wellness coaching, counseling and psychiatric services and a link to an external problem gambling support organization.

Gambling is prohibited in CU Boulder residence halls, and NCAA rules prohibit athletics staff and student athletes from participating in sports betting.

On March 28, the American Gaming Association (AGA) announced updates to its responsible marketing code for sports wagering, which “sets the industry standard for responsibility in marketing and advertising of sports betting.”

Changes to the code include “enhancing protections for college-aged audiences” by prohibiting future partnerships between sports betting companies and universities, “but do not retroactively affect the ones that are in existence,” says Casey Clark, senior vice president of AGA.

When asked if he was concerned about sports betting on college campuses moving forward, Clark said, “we commit hundreds of millions of dollars a year to responsible gaming measures and activities and are fully committed to ensuring that this continues to be entertainment for adults, and not to anybody else.”

Clark also says Americans have bet on sports as long as there have been sports to bet on — and that the legal sports-betting industry is providing regulation and stability to the market by establishing consumer protections and funding problem gambling resources.

Steve Hurlbert, director of communications at CU Boulder, wrote in an email that breaking off from PointsBet was unrelated to the AGA’s updates.

Although CU ended its deal with PointsBet, the University of Denver remains in partnership with sports betting company SuperBook Sports.

According to DU, the agreement includes “branding, media hospitality and social media assets with a focus on responsible gaming and education for student-athletes.”

Holy Week and Easter at St. Aidan’s

Maundy Thursday, April 6, 7pm

Good Friday, April 7 12noon Stations of the Cross

7pm Good Friday Prayers

Saturday Evening Vigil, April 8, 7:30pm

Easter Day, April 9, 8am* and 10am Zoom and livestream available* Nursery open for all services. St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church

2425 Colorado Ave (across from CU Engineering)

The Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis, Rector

All are welcome to walk this Holy Week with Jesus!

NEWS ROUNDUP

NOW YOU KNOW

This week’s news in Boulder County and beyond

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

QUESTIONS ARISE AROUND COMPLAINT PROCESS AS COUNCILMEMBER ACCUSED OF CONDUCT VIOLATION

A Boulder resident has filed a complaint with the City Clerk to investigate a possible Municipal Code violation by Councilmember Nicole Speer. The City Council will address this at its April 6 regular meeting.

The complaint — filed by Emily Reynolds on March 30 — alleges that Speer violated code of conduct requirements laid out in the Municipal Code by testifying on March 1 in support of House Bill 1202, Overdose Prevention Center Authorization. If enacted, the bill would allow municipalities to authorize the operation of an overdose prevention center within the city’s jurisdiction.

In the written complaint, Reynolds alleges “that Council Member Speer’s testimony before the Colorado House Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee occurred prior to any discussion of HB23-1202 by either the City Council or the [Intergovernmental Affairs] Committee and therefore was in fact outside the boundaries and scope of authority granted to individual Council Members as defined by the city charter and code.”

City code maintains that any resident or City employee “may initiate an investigation of any city council mem-

ber, employee or appointee to a city board, commission, task force or similar body by filing a sworn statement with the city clerk.” A properly filed complaint must result in an investigation by an specially appointed counsel.

In an email, Deputy City Attorney Erin Poe called code of conduct complaints like the one filed against Speer “infrequent.”

“I am not sure when the last one was filed prior to 2023,” Poe wrote. “The Council could pass a motion of censure for this type of complaint. There will be additional costs for the investigation.”

Censure is an expression of disapproval and does not carry legal weight.

However, it seems code of conduct complaints are on the rise. City Clerk Elesha Johnson says her office is currently processing a total of six code of conduct complaints.

According to Speer, she was asked to testify on behalf of the bill by one of the sponsors. She then reached out to Carl Castillo, the City’s chief policy advisor on the Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) Committee, who Speer says confirmed to her that the City would be supporting the bill.

When asked via email whether support for HB 1202 was on the city’s legislative policy prior to Speer’s testi-

NEWS ROUNDUP

mony on March 1, Castillo responded, “Arguably, it was. In particular, Council’s stated support for local control.”

Feeling “a little nervous,” Speer says she asked Castillo and Wendy Schwartz, the City’s housing and human services policy manager, to “edit” and provide feedback on her testimony prior to presenting it to the Colorado House Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee on March 1. Both Castillo and Schwartz confirmed this.

Speer expects the investigation will find that she “followed the protocol.”

“If I violated the code by following rules that Council is supposed to follow, then we should look at changing our process for the future,” Speer says.

Councilmember Bob Yates says he’s “somewhat concerned about the number of” complaints recently filed.

“I don’t believe many Code of Conduct complaints were filed during my first seven years serving on city council,” he wrote via email. “However, we have seen several complaints filed in the first few months of this year, on a variety of topics.

“While it is certainly important that we provide community members an avenue to raise legitimate concerns if they believe that an elected official or city staff member has acted unethically or illegally, I would be disappointed if the Code of Conduct complaint system was weaponized to the point where people filed complaints simply because they disagree with a policy position,” Yates wrote. “Given the unprecedented number of complaints filed during the first few months of this year, I think that we need to take a look at our Code of Conduct complaint protocols to ensure that they are used for their intended purpose.”

—Caitlin Rockett

COUNTY EXPLORES METHODS TO TRACK OPIOID USAGE, DISTRIBUTE FUNDS

The Boulder County Regional Opioid Council (BCROC) on March 28 began exploring wastewater testing and opioid mapping plans as methods for pinpointing opioid usage in the county. The council — made up of county,

municipal and elected leaders across the region — is tasked with investing and monitoring the use of more than $17 million in settlement dollars over 18 years to repair damages caused to the region from the opioid epidemic.

BCROC is one of 19 councils in Colorado deciding how to allocate the state’s portion of the nationwide opioids settlement funds.

“We’re just at the place of diving into more investigation on this topic,” says Kelly Viet, Boulder County’s behavioral health hub manager and a member of BCROC’s operations board. “What I can say more generally is that the testing of wastewater for opioids was brought forward as a potential way to both target resources to particular areas and an additional means to help us evaluate our impact on opioid abatement efforts over time.”

At the March 28 meeting, BCROC members discussed a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse that tested wastewater in North Carolina and found correlations between opioid overdose rates and the detection of treatment or overdose reversal drugs at various sites. However, differentiating illegal and medical use of opioids in wastewater is difficult.

The Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, or ODMAP, could allow BCROC to create a map of opioid overdoses in the County. The web-based program allows first responders to report the location, time and status — fatal or non-fatal — of an opioid overdose, reducing lag in information sharing at the time of an overdose.

Viet says the council needs to do more research before it moves forward with either method.

“We’re working closely with our partners to investigate a few key questions: Where else has this been done, and to what end? What are the potential resources required in the lifespan of an initiative like this? What does the data look like, and how actionable might it be? How could this work pair with or complement some of our region’s broader abatement strategies?” Viet says.

The council meets again on April 28. The public is invited to attend via Zoom: bit.ly/OpioidsCouncil

ALL THE SMALL THINGS

Denver indie-pop duo Tennis gets granular on ‘Pollen’

BY JEZY J. GRAY

In his essay introducing the easylistening compilation Seafaring Strangers: Private Yacht, critic Jon Kirby unpacks the baggage surrounding the oft-maligned subgenre known as “yacht rock,” a gentle wave that crested after the countercultural turn of the 1960s by “peddling a product that was sincere, leisurely, and lofty … a sound that was buoyant, crisp, defined.”

The 2010 debut from Denver indiepop duo Tennis dropped many decades after the low-decibel decadence of Christopher Cross and Carly Simon softly rocked the worlds of burgeoning baby boomers, but there’s something of that seaworthy DNA in the smooth, synth-forward sound of the Front Range husband-and-wife outfit. It only makes sense for a band

whose journey began with an extended sailing trip that has since become a touchstone of their origin story. But there was no open sea beckoning Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley when the two started work on the band’s new album, Pollen, released in February through their Mutually Detrimental record label. With the pandemic at a fever pitch, they found themselves rooted like never before — a new equation for artists typically inspired by the experience of wrapping their arms around life’s grandeur.

“There weren’t any of those big earth-shattering moments, like massive tours or sailing trips, that have motivated our writing in the past,” Moore says. “Focusing more on the minutiae of the everyday is what I ended up honing in on for this record.”

The album’s 2020 predecessor Swimmer began with a widescreen meditation on the horizon (“I’ll Haunt You”), but the title-checking centerpiece of the new Tennis LP (“Pollen Song”) shrinks the frame: “You point to the trail where the blossoms have fallen,” Moore sighs over a shuffling drum kit and reverb-drenched guitar. “But all I can see is the pollen fucking me up.”

University of Denver philosophy class in 2008, she exalts the early days of their romance on Pollen with not one but two songs (“One Night with the Valet” and “Hotel Valet”) about the granular details of the couple’s first meeting, when he worked the graveyard shift as a driver at a Front Range hotel.

“Every time we write an album, I think I’ve tapped out everything I could say about my relationship with Patrick, but then I surprise myself by having more to say,” Moore reflects. “In keeping with the theme of Pollen, those little moments that alter your life, I thought back to how we first met — how accidental it was, and how small it was. It could have been nothing, but instead it was something.”

LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

As the first lyrical knot untangled during the writing process of the new record, the perspective shift spurred by an allergy attack would lead to the 10-song offering’s most central theme: the largeness of small stuff. For a songwriter whose view skews panoramic, this new tendency to dwell on the details of daily experience (instead of getting swept up in the splendor of it all) offered a new set of creative possibilities for what Moore describes as the band’s most cohesive album yet.

“Pollen ended up becoming symbolic of a small thing that has a massive impact,” she says. “I started thinking about moments, choices, relationships — those trivial, everyday banalities that can alter the trajectory of your life. I feel like those end up being the moments that are the most definitive, and you don’t even notice them when they’re happening.”

But when it comes to those tiny factors that steer our lives into new territory, Moore is quick to emphasize that it’s not all itchy eyes and ruined scenery. No stranger to writing about her marriage to Riley, whom she met in a

But whether it’s the thrill of young love or the majesty of a Rocky Mountain view, there’s a third step to the alchemy of miniaturizing life’s biggest moments — making them huge again. That’s the task ahead of Moore and Riley as they support Pollen on their upcoming U.S. tour, which comes to the Mission Ballroom in Denver on April 14. After breaking out of the local DIY scene more than two decades ago, the band’s slated return to the Queen City is, like many largerthan-life experiences, cluttered by small complications.

“A hometown show is the most stressful because you’re playing to the people who know you best. I think in order to convincingly be on stage, you need some sort of mystique that allows people to believe that you, an ordinary person, should be on a stage. And that mystique is completely gone when everyone in the crowd has known you since you were like five,” Moore says. “What I would normally rely on to feel comfortable on stage feels really silly when I’m in front of my whole high school class. But it’s also special, because it’s home, and it’s full of all the people who love you — and you love them.”

ON THE BILL: Tennis with Loving. 8 p.m. Friday, April 14, Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $30

“The minutiae of the everyday is what I ended up honing in on for this record,” says Alaina Moore (right) of the Denver indie-pop duo Tennis. Photo courtesy Big Hassle.

Pollen was released Feb. 10, 2023, via Mutually Detrimental.

MUSIC

seen that idea land and I’ve seen people grab hold of it, and it’s amazing.”

Now, Rose is filling the Roots Music Project in Boulder each month with music fans eager to hear him discuss the craft of songwriting with established and up-and-coming local musicians alike — including Farmer, who joined Rose for a sold-out edition of the series earlier this year.

“I warn people beforehand that it’s not going to be a light conversation,” Rose says. “I’m going to probe deep, and if they’re not down with that, it’s probably not the best venue for them. … You have to mix in levity, and you have to be able to laugh at the darkness and realize that we’ve survived it, and that’s something to celebrate.”

BY ADAM PERRY

When Boulder County singersongwriter Kate Farmer was hit with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, she thought it might be time to put her music-making days behind her. Then she got a visit from Clay Rose.

“I said, ‘If there was ever a time to start playing music, it’s now. This is what music is for,’” Rose recalls. “She was saying, ‘Nobody wants to hear about all this darkness and all this pain and all this fear.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, they do. That’s the juice. That’s where we all connect, on a really deep level.’ The next day she wrote probably my favorite song of hers.”

Rose knows a little something about songs. The Colorado native has crafted plenty of them, from country-punk

anthems to tender acoustic ballads, since his band Gasoline Lollipops formed on the Front Range more than a decade ago. The industry veteran has a handle on the basic building blocks of the craft, but he says the good stuff often comes from painful personal experiences like Farmer’s.

“I think the real catharsis for me is finding songs within stored trauma. I feel this deep relief when the song that’s attached to that trauma comes out and I have a vessel to compartmentalize [it]. I can put it on a shelf and take it down and play that song when I need to feel that again or express that again,” he says. “That is the function of songwriting that I’m trying to give to young or novice songwriters, and I’ve seen it work. I’ve

THE ‘WEIRD’ OLD DAYS

Roots Music Project founder Dave Kennedy sees plenty to celebrate as the monthly salon becomes an important fixture at his local music venue near Pearl and 47th streets — the perfect space, Rose thought, for such an intimate night of songs and storytelling.

“Clay reached out to us about hosting his songwriters series because he was seeking a room where he could connect with an attentive, open-minded audience,” Kennedy says. “The result is mesmerizing. Each performance has a packed house of fans on the edge of their seats, cheering, laughing, and sometimes teary-eyed.”

On top of its function as a platform for discussing songwriting with artists of all experience levels, Rose sees the series as a way to get back to his

early days growing up in Boulder — back when it was weird here.

“Especially with the old timers like me, we discuss how Boulder used to be, and how there used to be a lot of venues for something like this,” he says. “It’s also [an opportunity] for me to talk a lot of trash about the musicindustry mafia kinda taking over most of Colorado.”

But these reminiscences, performances and conversations on craft aren’t just for the audience’s benefit. According to Rose, they’re also opportunities to shine a spotlight on the people and music he cares about.

“The shows where we have been able to expose some of my friends to a large audience, it was always sort of the highlight of the night for me,” he says. “The [events] I feel are the most successful are the ones where people get to play a bigger room than they’re used to, and really get heard. It’s an excellent listening room and the audience is extremely respectful. You can hear a pin drop in there.”

ON THE BILL: Songwriter Series - Clay Rose of Gasoline Lollipops with Mike Clark. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $25

Editor’s note: Reporter Adam Perry occasionally performs as a drummer with Clay Rose, and was a full-time member of the Gasoline Lollipops from 2015-2018.

Clay Rose and Kate Farmer in conversation at Roots Music Project on Jan. 19, 2023. Photo by Shawn Camden.

‘THAT’S THE JUICE’

Local songwriters series explores what to do with ‘all this darkness’

DIRECT ACTION

Boulder filmmakers behind ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ talk heist movies and climate activism

BY NATHANIEL KENNON PERKINS

As the human toll of global climate change comes into clearer view, attempts to find political or market solutions frustrate many environmentalists who call for a more immediate response. This is the driving force behind How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a new film about a group of activists who commit to a far more explosive form of direct action.

For Boulder-native filmmaking duo Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei, the realities of this struggle are deeply ingrained in who they are as people and artists. Director and co-writer Goldhaber came from a household in which both of his parents were climate scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

“I grew up with what I call ‘the doom of climate apocalypse’ hanging over me,” he says. “Climate change has kind of touched every person on planet Earth at this point, and we need to pivot the conversation away

from awareness and toward how we are going to stop this.”

How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an adaptation of Andreas Malm’s nonfiction book of the same title, published by Verso Books in 2021. Malm’s work critiques passivity and pacifism within activist circles as well as the “climate fatalism” adopted by people outside the movement who see the problem as incomprehensibly big, complicated and unstoppable.

The movie, which premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival and made its local debut with an April 4 preview screening at Century Boulder, combines the arguments and ideas of Malm’s treatise with the conventions and excitement of a heist film.

“The heist movie is a political genre. It’s always been a genre about inequality,” says Goldhaber. “But the heist movie is also great because it’s about a team coming together when all of them are necessary to do the job.”

But while the crew of a standard heist movie is most often motivated by the allure of a momentous payday, the ensemble of characters in How to Blow Up a Pipeline find

themselves uncomfortably connected in a bold scheme to halt the flow of oil through a part of rural West Texas.

Although there is no shortage of action and suspense, the film is heavily character driven. By jumping back and forth through time, each person’s tale of hardship and frustration is explored, illuminating how the crew ultimately found one another despite divergent life experiences and opposing positions on the political spectrum.

For Producer Mazzei, this cinematic device reflects the real-world importance of people of different backgrounds and ideologies uniting to address the problems that confront all of us.

“Each character has a different viewpoint,” she says. “They’re brought together by one issue, but they all come from different places.”

CLIMATE APOCALYPSE NOW

But the movie’s ultimate goal is not advocacy for the sabotage of fossil fuel infrastructure. Instead, How to Blow Up a Pipeline aims to contribute to the discourse surrounding the gaps between ideology and action in the face of the climate crisis.

“In our hometown, we’re watching climate change destroy the homes of people we know and love,” says Mazzei, referring to the Marshall Fire of December 2021, estimated to have

burned more than 1,000 structures and to have caused over $2 billion in damages.

“Boulder has always been about supporting the environment, but it’s clear that whatever we’re doing is not working, and it’s starting to harm our community in very visible and tragic ways,” Mazzei continues. “This film is hopefully the start of a conversation about what else we can do.”

But the ideas that are so inspiring to Mazzei and Goldhaber also bring their share of controversy. After the release of Malm’s book, critics on the political right attacked his thesis, calling it an extremist stance. But Goldhaber isn’t worried about this kind of pushback.

“Any time anyone makes a piece of media today, there’s going to be some kind of bad-faith criticism, and you can’t really worry too much about that,” he says.

To Goldhaber and the rest of the team behind How to Blow Up a Pipeline, there are more important things to focus on.

“What we’re staring at is climate apocalypse,” he says. “What kind of tactics are necessary and defensible to prevent one?”

ON SCREEN: How to Blow Up a Pipeline arrives in Colorado theaters on April 14.

Ariela Barer (above) in How to Blow Up a Pipeline. The film makes its Colorado debut on April 14. Photos at left courtesy Neon.

Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber, the Boulder filmmaking duo behind How to Blow Up a Pipeline Photo by Drew Levin.

April 7-15, 2023

B O U L D E R A R T S W E E K . O R G

Events Inside

THIS WEEKENDS EVENTS

FULL SCHEDULE

April 7th-15th, 2023

FULL SCHEDULE

THIS WEEK THIS WEEK ENDS EVENTS ENDS EVENTS

April 7th-15th, 2023

BENEFIT

Chautauqua Art In The Park (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Chautauqua Park 900 Baseline Rd

CLASSES

Let’s Break Some Glass!! (VA)

4/8 at Colorado Glass Works 1500 Pearl St.Ste. D

Open Hawaiian Hula Class: Free Class (DA)

4/9 at Arborwood Condos

3250 ONeal Cir (Clubhouse)

Saturday Taiko Class (ongoing) (MU)

4/8 at One Dojo Boulder

3005 Sterling Circle, Suite 150

Master Class Drumming & Song by Jorge Alabe of Brazil (MU) (DA)

4/8 at Artist’s Studio 1810 30th St

Mexican Art Fabric Books / Libros de Tela de Arte

Mexicano (LIT) (VA)

4/8 at Boulder Public Library

Arapahoe Room,1001

Arapahoe Ave,

UI/UX Design Certificate Program (FILM) (Online)

4/8 on Zoom

Learn Spanish Vocabulary through Drawing Classes (VA) (Online)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 All Ages on Zoom

Figurative Long Pose (VA)

4/9 at The NoBo Art Center

4929 Broadway,Unit E

EVENTS

Pizza & Pottery Open House (VA)

4/8 at Studio Arts Boulder Pottery Lab

1010 Aurora Ave.

NoBo First Friday (VA)

4/7 at NoBo Art District N. Broadway

FREE Dance for Parkinson’s (DA) (Online) And Other Mobility Challanges 4/7, 4/8 on Zoom

Persian Classical Dance Class (DA)

4/8 at Hamsa Design & Arts 1919 Spruce St.

Artist Spotlight & Collage Making (VA)

4/7 at CU Art Museum 1085 18th St.

Friday Art Night (VA)

4/7 at Tinker Art Studio 693B S Broadway

Spring Fest at THE NEW LOCAL (VA)

4/8 at The New Local 741 Pearl St.

Master Classes by Rosangela Silvestre of Brazil (MU)(DA)

Symbology of Orixa Dance & Silvestre Technique

4/8 at My Boulder Studio 1810 30th St.

Second Saturday at the CU Art Museum (VA)

4/8 at CU Art Museum 1085 18th St.

National Poetry Month Writing Marathon w/ Beyond Academia Free Skool (LIT)

4/9 at Boulder Public Library- Arapahoe Room 1001 Arapahoe Ave

Art Journals Group (VA)

4/7 on Zoom

Julia Gao -- Charlotte Lexington (LIT) and the Dungeon of Unknown Doom

4/8 at Boulder Bookstore 1107 Pearl St.

Figure Drawing Marathon (VA)

4/8 at The Spark 4847 Pearl St. Suite B4

ASCENT: A Boulder Soundwalk (MU)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Scott Carpenter Park

1505 30th St.

NoBo Art Tour (VA)

4/8, 4/9 at Gallery at the Bus Stop

4895 Broadway

Street Wise Arts Mural Walking Tour (VA)(MU)

4/8 at Pedestrian alley next to Pedestrian Shops 1425 Pearl St.

Sidewalk Paint Party (VA)

Celebrate Arts Week at Ima Design Gallery!

4/8 at Ima Design Gallery 4688 Broadway

First Friday at The Crowd Collective! (VA)

4/7 at The Crowd Collective 4939 N Broadway #58

NoBo Art Tour: Open Studios + Gallery (VA)

4/8, 4/9 at The Crowd Collective, 4939 N Broadway #58

Brunch w/ the Artist: Rob Lantz (VA) Event, Visual Art

4/9 at R Gallery + Wine Bar

2027 Broadway

Visual Art (VA) Theater (TH) Dance (DA) Literature (LIT) Film (FILM) Music (MU)

Marathon Carpenter Bus next to (VA)

Ima Crowd Collective Collective, Rob Art Bar

Master of Fine Arts Thesis

Exhibition: Round One (VA)

4/7 at CU Art Museum

1085 18th St.

Beyond Academia Poetry & Literature Festival (LIT)

4/7 at Boulder Public LibraryCreek Room

1001 Arapahoe Ave.

Laurie D Music (MU)(VA)

4/8 at Karen A DombrowskiSobel Studio

2804 16th St.

Explorations In Body Landscapes (VA)

4/7 at NoBo Art Center

4929 Broadway Unit E

NoBo Art District Artist Member Show (VA)

4/7 at NoBo Gallery @ the Bus Stop Apartments

4895 Broadway St.

Persian Cultural Circle Celebrates Iranian New Year (VA)(MU)(DA)

4/9 at Museum of Boulder

2205 Broadway

EXHIBITS

SEEN Art Gallery & Performances (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at OZO Coffee East Pearl

1521 Pearl St.

Setting the Tone - Abstract

Paintings by: Laura

Brenton, Cyndy HinkelmanSmith and Margot Rowan

(VA) 4/7, 4/8 at Third Floor Gallery @ Rembrandt Yard

1301 Spruce St.

SANCTUARY Photographs by Todd Edward Herman (VA)

4/7, 4/8 at Mercury Framing

4692 North Broadway

Explorations of Resilience and Resistance (VA)

Our Backs Hold Our Stories. Photos by Kali Spitzer

4/7 at East Window and Gallery

4550 Broadway,Suite C-3B2

Jean Pless and Serge Goldberg Abstract Paintings (VA)

4/8 at Studio Sixty-Five NinetyFive

6595 Odell Place,Unit H

Open Wall: Exhibition & Sale! (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA)

1750 13th St.

Explorations in Body Landscapes: (VA)

Demry Frankenheimer + Margaret Josey Parker

4/7, 4/8 at NoBo Center for the Arts, 4929 Broadway #E

7 Deadly Sins Exhibit (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at R Gallery + Wine Bar, 2027 Broadway

Breaking Free Photography Exhibit (VA)

4/7 at Niche

4571 Broadway St.

Rabid Rabits Studio and Galeria Grand Opening (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at 4949 N. Broadway, #103

It’s All In Your Head (VA)

Boulder High School Student Art Exhibit

4/7, 4/8 at Cafe Aion

1235 Pennsylvania Ave.

Equine Western and Eclectic Art (VA)

4/7, 4/8 at Rumours Hair Studio

30th and Walnut

Karen Dombrowski-SobelOpen Studio (VA)

4/8, 4/9 at Karen’s Studio

2804 16th St.Corner of Balsam

Beer HERE! Brewing the New West (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9

Museum of Boulder

2205 Broadway

Gallery Opening: Stillness of Space (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at The Crowd Collective

4939 N Broadway #58

Open Studio- Whitman Lindstrom (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at The Crowd Collective

4939 N Broadway #58

Laura’s Dark Room (FILM)

4/9 at Upstairs at House of Serein

103 Canyon Blvd

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) Showcase (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Boulder Public Library, Canyon Gallery 1001 Arapahoe Ave.

Betsy Cole- Open Studio (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Betsy Cole’s Studio 4171 South Hampton Circle

A Tribute to Marshall: Painting My Way Towards Healing (VA)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9

Boulder Public Library, Main Branch

1001 Arapahoe Ave.

Exit Paradise - Sherry Wiggins and Luís Branco, Kristen and Mark Sink

4/7, 4/8 at Seidel City 3205 Longhorn Rd

LECTURES

Caffeinated Morning: First Friday (VA)

Speaking Series with Parisa Tashakori

4/7 at CMCI Studio

1301 Walnut St.

Virtual Art Critique LIVE (VA)

4/8 at R Gallery

2027 Broadway

Studio Visit with Bill Snider (VA) 4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at 5140 Denver St.

F E A T U R E D E V E N T

Printmaking as Activism: A Two Day Event on Building Community Through Art (VA)

4/7 at CU Art Museum

1085 18th St.

PERFORMANCE

BETC Presents: Eden Prairie,1971 by Mat Smart (TH)

4/8 at Dairy Arts Center, Carsen Theatre 2590 Walnut St.

Blue Dime Cabaret Spring Fling! (TH)(DA)

4/7 at DV8 Distillery 2480 49th St.Ste E

Vihaan: A Short Margam (DA)

4/9 at The Spark 4847 Pearl St. Suite B4

SEEN Opening Reception & Performances (LIT)

4/7 at OZO Coffee East Pearl 1521 Pearl

Bonnie Lowdermilk Quartet (MU)

4/7 at Thistle Gallery @ the Bus Stop Apartments 4871 Broadway

Samba Colorado Presents AGO! (DA)(TH)(MU)

4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at Dairy Arts Center, Grace Gamm Theater 2590 Walnut St.

Sonic Alchemy (MU)

4/8 at Dairy Arts Center, Gordon Gamm Theater 2590 Walnut St.

Every Brilliant Thing a play by Duncan Macmillan (TH) 4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at R Gallery 2027 Broadway

eTown Presents: Bendigo Fletcher with The Wonderful (MU)

4/7,eTown Hall 1535 Spruce St.

eTown Presents: Jake

Xerxes Fussell with Danny Shafer (MU)

4/8 at eTown Hall 1535 Spruce St.

Scary Pockets with David Ryan Harris (MU) 4/7 at Fox Theatre

1135 13th St.

Big Richard with AJ Lee & Blue Summit (MU) 4/8 at Boulder Theater 2032 14th St.

Michigander with Special Guest Abby Holliday, South of France (MU) 4/8 at Fox Theatre

1135 13th St.

1. What’s Left (VA) 4/7, 4/8, 4/9 at JRMade Studio

4593 Broadway,Unit C-121

Student Banner Project

All Week on Pearl Street

In collaboration with the Downtown Boulder Partnership, Arts Week asked students from Columbine Elementary, Casey Middle, and Boulder High School “What brings you joy?”

The art inspired by this question has been printed on vinyl banners and hung along the Pearl Street Mall through the month of April. F E A T U R E D E V E N T

Sunday, April 8th 11:00am

Come explore the street art of Downtown Boulder with Street Wise Arts!

Guided walking tours led by a Street Wise Arts docent cover murals created by local and alley galleries and student art banners.

Tours begin in the alley next to Pedestrian Shops and kick off with live DJ and end with a free pint at Mountain Sun!

Downtown Public Art Walking Tour

‘A SHARED NEST’

Real pandemic romance sets the stage for world premiere of ‘Strange Bird, Queer Bird’

BY TONI TRESCA

Pushing boundaries is nothing new for the team behind Grapefruit Lab. What’s rarer for the Denver-based production company are those moments when the thrill of experimentation meets the relatability of everyday human experience. That’s the intersection occupied by its new world-premiere Strange Bird, Queer Bird, an early-pandemic love story based on real-life events.

“We think what we do is weird and, most of the time, other people do too,” says Miriam Suzanne, company co-founder and writer-producer of its latest show running through April 15 at Buntport Theater. “So when people find our work relatable, it is exciting. We all lived through this traumatic experience where we were alone during the pandemic and felt disconnected. This show revisits that time through the lens of connection between two people who care for each other.”

Grapefruit Lab’s “weird” roots go back to 2009, when Suzanne bonded with fellow Colorado creatives Julie Rada and Kenny Storms while working on shows as part of The LIDA Project, a meta-media art collective focused on live performance. The trio collaborated under various names before forming Grapefruit Lab to create avant-garde, mixed-media shows that both challenge and inspire.

When it comes to executing that last part of the company’s mission, Strange Bird offers a formal experiment that turns its creative powers toward a universal theme: love. Focusing on a light in the darkness offered the production team a chance to consider a grim moment in history from a new perspective.

“Because we are telling this interpersonal love story amid the pandemic, it felt important for us to contextualize the story and gravity of what

was happening,” says Rada, who writes and stars in the show. “The world felt like it was ending, but also, life continued; love, hope and possibility continued. That period wasn’t all darkness because, despite how closed off everything felt, I fell in love.”

QUEER LOVE TAKES FLIGHT

Rada met Lars Reid online before the start of the pandemic in 2020, and the couple spent the first five months of their relationship socially distanced. After matching on Tinder — a first for both — they had their inaugural date on March 8, right before the world shut down.

The script for Strange Bird, Queer Bird was created verbatim from exchanges between Rada and Reid during the couple’s initial courtship. Suzanne worked with them to organize a handful of letters, poems, two full journals and nearly 700 pages of text messages into a cohesive narrative. The result weaves Rada and Reid’s communications with original choreography by Kate Speer and Allison Blakeny and live music by Denver indie-rock band Teacup Gorilla to tell a unique story about how two nonbinary lovers persisted through a period of intense isolation.

But romance between people wasn’t the only inspiration for Strange Bird. The play was also influenced by the elaborate mating rituals and lengthy courtships of bower-

birds. This avian energy gives wings to a queer love story that is distinctly and deeply human.

“These birds build intricate nests and colorful collections to impress each other — and we’re telling a queer version of that story,” says Rada. “In the context of the pandemic, it’s a story that seems relatable, in spite of these specifics.”

To that end, the set features scenic sculptural pieces designed by Annabel Reader and Dan Huling arranged in an oval-shaped nest the audience will sit around. “When you do work in the round, the audience can’t help but recognize that they are in the community,” says Rada. “We are inviting people into our shared nest to experience a story about the importance of being together.”

To hammer home that point of togetherness, and give back to the artistic community that supported Grapefruit Lab throughout the pandemic, all ticket sales from its performance on April 9 will benefit the Denver Actors Fund. The organization provides financial support to Colorado artists with medical needs — including an approximately $3,500 grant to Suzanne to help cover living expenses following her gender-confirming surgery.

“Grapefruit Lab exists in an artistic ecosystem,” Rada says. “Buntport has donated space to us to do this show; artists have shown up to support our work; and the Denver Actors Fund has helped our artistic team. We acknowledge that we have benefited from our community, so we want to give back.”

The pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of that ecosystem, but the Strange Bird team is preparing for the play’s debut in a drastically different environment than the one in which it was conceived. With audiences hungry for connection after a period of isolation, the hope is to reframe the collective trauma of recent years to reveal something that looks like hope.

“Though our story might sound crazy given the devastation [that was] going on in the rest of the world, people were dying and people were living,” says Rada. “No matter what you were doing, the seasons still came.”

ON STAGE: Strange Bird, Queer Bird by Julie Rada, Lars Reid and Miriam Suzanne. Various times, April 7-15. Buntport Theater, 717 Lipan St., Denver. Tickets are name-your-own-price.

Lars Reid and Julie Rada in Strange Bird, Queer Bird Photo courtesy Grapefruit Lab.

SIGHTLINES

Boulder County arts and culture news, at a glance

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

We love our local arts scene here in Boulder County — but with so much going on, it can be hard to keep up. That’s why Boulder Weekly is bringing you our regular round-up of goings-on in the world of performing and visual arts, film, music and more. Here’s a snapshot of what’s happening locally, so you don’t have to miss a beat.

RAIN ON ME

Share your thoughts on Valmont Rain Garden public art project

The City of Boulder Stormwater Quality Program — stick with us here — is soliciting input from the community regarding a new public arts project at the Valmont Rain Garden within the parking lot for the Valmont Bike and Skate Park at Valmont Road and Sterling Circle in northeast Boulder.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

Apply now for Open Studios tour and membership

The nonprofit artist advocacy organization Open Studios invites Boulder County artists ages 18 and up to apply for membership and participation in the next iteration of its countywide studio tour program scheduled for October 2023. The annual threeweekend Open Studios Tour opens creative workspaces to the public for a mutually beneficial exchange of inspiration and ideas.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for artists to develop their collectors and get exposure,” Open Studios Executive Director Mary Horrocks told Boulder Weekly in the run-up to last year’s studio tour. “In the last few years, we have seen approximately 8,000 patrons at locations on the tour. We do post-tour surveys, and the average patron tells us they visit, on average, six different studios.”

Applications are open through May 14 via the QR code above.

POP OF COLOR

Local artist completes new mural at George Reynolds Branch Library

In our Feb. 16 edition of Sightlines, we shared news of an in-progress mural by Boulder-area artist Marco Antonio Garcia at George Reynolds Branch Library (3595 Table Mesa Drive) in South Boulder. As of March 31, the eye-popping work in the children’s reading area is now complete and on view to the general public.

“Marco is a self-taught artist who is rooted in his Mexican Culture and inspired by the detailed paintings of the Alebrije wooden mythical animals that were popularized in Mexico in the ’70s and ’80s, Ancient Mayan Art, and famous Mexican artists including Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo and Diego Rivera among many others,” according to the artist’s website

To that end, the Boulder Office of Arts and Culture is hosting an in-person feedback session on April 15. Drop by the event at 3160 Airport Road from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to share your ideas and learn more about stormwater and its impact on water quality, or provide your thoughts online by scanning the QR code above.

EXIT STAGE LEFT

Leadership changes at Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado

After nearly two decades at the helm of Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado (BETC), formerly known as Boulder Ensemble Theater, co-founders Rebecca Remaly and Stephen Weitz will step down as the company’s artistic and managing directors beginning July 1. The husband-andwife team will be replaced by artists Jessica Robblee and Mark Ragan, per a unanimous vote by the company’s board of directors.

“We are so proud of everything that BETC has become and couldn’t be more pleased than to see it continue its journey as an important part of the local arts ecosystem,” Weitz said in a March 30 press release.

Grab next week’s edition of Boulder Weekly for a preview of Eden Prairie, 1971, the final BETC production under the leadership of Remaly and Weitz running through April 29.

SHOW YOUR STUFF

BMoCA’s annual community art showcase returns

Whether you’re fresh out of the gate or a seasoned professional artist, you can display and sell your work during BMoCA’s annual Open Wall event on Friday, April 7. The annual self-curated exhibition and sale kicking off Boulder Arts Week (schedule on pgs. 19-22) features work from local painters, potters, photographers, weavers, woodworkers and more. Just show up to the museum at 1750 13th St. in downtown Boulder with your install-ready work between 4 and 6 p.m.

Participation is free, all mediums are welcome, and gallery space is first-come, first-served. Visit bmoca. org to learn more.

Got local art news? Email BW culture editor Jezy J. Gray at jgray@boulderweekly.com

EVENTS

6

WOMEN’S ADVENTURE FILM TOUR

4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. $15

Barrier-breaking longboard surfing. Free ascents on El Capitan. The breathtaking landscape of the White Mountains. This is just a taste of what’s in store for the Women’s Adventure Film Tour at Boulder Theater, featuring six jaw-dropping short films to spark discussions of inclusivity and the great outdoors. Whether you’ve got a taste for outdoor adventure, or you just want to soak in the inspiration, you won’t want to miss it.

7-15

BOULDER ARTS WEEK

Various times beginning Friday, April 7, citywide

The city’s only large-scale, communitywide art bash returns April 7-15 for another round of gallery shows, live music, workshops, film screenings and more. With Boulder boasting the country’s third-highest concentration of artists according to the National Endowment for the Arts, Boulder Arts Week is a great opportunity to experience everything the city has to offer when it comes to culture. See full schedule on pg. 19.

8

PIE PAIRING

10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 8, OZO Coffee Roastery, 1898 S. Flatiron Court., Boulder. $60

Denver’s Hinman Pie and Boulder’s Ozo Coffee join forces this weekend for a classic diner pairing you don’t want to miss. Attendees will indulge in artisan pies and a roster of craft coffee, guided by an Ozo coffee expert, alongside John Lehndorff — Boulder Weekly cuisine writer and host of Radio Nibbles. Head over to Ozo Coffee Roastery this weekend and treat yourself during this tasty event supporting KGNU Independent Community Radio.

6

FLY FISHING FILM TOUR (F3T)

7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. $23

Right after the Women’s Adventure Film Tour, fly fishing brands Costa and Simms are keeping the outdoor cinema streak going at Boulder Theater with the 17th Annual Fly Fishing Film Tour. Featuring riveting rod-and-lure stories from Cuba to Patagonia, Mexico, Australia, Alaska and beyond, this international showcase of one of Colorado’s most popular activities will surely have you reaching for your fishing pole this weekend.

7

‘SEEN’ ART GALLERY AND PERFORMANCES

5:30-8 p.m. Friday, April 7, OZO Coffee, 1521 Pearl Street, Boulder. Free

It’s no secret that life can be tough for young people. That’s why a group of local Boulder High School students are teaming with local arts organization Creativity Alive to present a student-led, mental health-focused gallery show and slate of performances — including music, poetry, collaborative art projects and more — at OZO Coffee on East Pearl. See pg. 7 for more.

8

HOPPY EASTER CELEBRATION

1-5 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Rocky Mountain Tap & Garden, 1071 Courtesy Road, Louisville.

Break out the bunny ears and hop on over to Rocky Mountain Tap & Garden for a Saturday Easter event that includes fun for the entire family. An Easter egg hunt, bouncy house, face painting and drink specials (plus a visit from the reallife Easter Bunny) await at this beautiful Louisville beer garden.

LIVE MUSIC

8

BOULDER BACH FESTIVAL: SONIC ALCHEMY

4 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $47

LA-based violinist YuEun Kim, NYCbased cellist Coleman Itzkoff and Boulder Bach Festival art director and pianist Mina Gajić meld Byzantine influence (Arvo Pärt) and music from the European Enlightenment (Mozart) in Sonic Alchemy. Grab your ticket to be the first to experience this one-of-a-kind composition before it releases later in 2023.

8- 9

COLORADO TARTAN DAY FESTIVAL

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 8 and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, April 9, Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. Free

Roller derby isn’t the only fun coming to the Boulder County Fairgrounds this weekend. Scottish vibes will be in full swing during the Colorado Tartan Day Festival, where attendees can celebrate Celtic heritage with a variety of unique events in a welcoming atmosphere. This free event runs all weekend, so lay out your best plaid now (kilt optional).

9

PASSOVER ON THE FARM

10-11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 9, Boulder Jewish Community Center, 6007 Oreg Ave. $10

Bring the whole family for a special passover event at the 2-acre Milk and Honey Farm on the Boulder JCC campus. Geared toward families with children ages 2-8 and their siblings, this multisensory adventure will highlight signs of spring and “make the Seder plate come alive” with planting, tasting and a meetand-greet with farm animals.

All credit cards accepted

text messages

8

BOULDER COUNTY ROLLER DERBY

5-10 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. $15

What’s better than a full-contact sport on roller skates? Drop by the Boulder County Fairgrounds for an evening of the county’s hardest-hitting action on wheels. Festivities at this family-friendly event will include food trucks, craft beer and plenty of high-octane roller derby action featuring local competitors.

9

PERSIAN CULTURAL DAY

Noon-5 p.m. Sunday, April 9, Museum of Boulder at Tebo Center, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. $10

Persian culture takes center stage this Sunday at the Museum of Boulder, as the local history center partners with the Persian Cultural Circle and Gift of Life for a day of celebration. Iranian music, Hafiz Poetry, an oracle card reading station and for-sale artwork are just a slice of what’s in store at this afternoon blowout centered around the Persian New Year.

10

FIREHOUSE ARTISTS CIRCLE

Noon-2:30 p.m. Monday, April 10, Firehouse Art Center, 667 4th Ave., Longmont. Free

Want to work on your creative project while sharing inspiration, conversation and community? Pack a sack lunch and drop by the monthly Firehouse Artists Circle on Monday for a chance to do just that. This casual and supportive gathering is a great way to further develop your art practice while forming meaningful relationships and garnering valuable feedback with other Boulder County creatives.

HELP WANTED

Workday, Inc. has an opening for Sr Associate Machine Learning Engineer in Boulder, CO. Job duties include: Lead exploration, design and execution of machine learning models and frameworks that deliver value to our users. Salary: $122,700$184,100 per year, 40 hours per wk. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location and recruiters can share more during the hiring process. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, future potential and internal pay parity. For more information regarding Workday’s comprehensive benefits, please go to workday.com/en-us/ company/careers/life-at-workday. html Interested candidates send resume to: J. Thurston at Workday, Inc., 6110 Stoneridge Mall Road, Pleasanton, CA 94588. Must reference job 20637.1951

LIVE MUSIC

TCHAMI WITH DISCO LINES, NOIZU AND CAPOZZI 6 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Ampitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $50

LAURIE LEWIS. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Community House, 301 Morning Glory Dr., Boulder. $28

BENDIGO FLETCHER WITH THE WONDERFOOL. 7 p.m. 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $15

SATURDAY, APRIL 8

ON THE BILL: It’s been nearly a decade since Lindsey Jordan selfrecorded her first EP under the name Snail Mail, and the years since have seen her beloved indie-rock band from Maryland grow into a veritable standard-bearer of the genre. Jordan and co. bring their pristine, guitardriven sound to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday, April 11 in support of the outfit’s latest, Valentine, out now via Matador Records. See listing for details. (Photo credit: Tina Tyrell)

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

SCARY POCKETS WITH DAVID RYAN HARRIS 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $25

COLONY HOUSE WITH LITTLE IMAGE. 8 p.m. Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. $30

STEPHEN LEAR BAND WITH JUBILINGO. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $10

DOMINICK ANTONELLI 5 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

ZIZANIA. 7 p.m. R Gallery + Wine Bar. 2027 Broadway, Boulder. Free

FRIDAY, APRIL 7

MICHIGANDER WITH SPECIAL GUESTS ABBY HOLLIDAY AND SOUTH OF FRANCE 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

GLADYS KNIGHT 8 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place, Denver. $60

MERSIV WITH MR. CARMACK, PUSHLOOP, DISTINCT MOTIVE, HUXLEY ANNE, KEOTA AND LABYRINTH 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $40

THE WAR AND TREATY WITH KAT & ALEX. 8 p.m. Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. $26

BIG RICHARD WITH AJ LEE & BLUE SUMMIT. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $20

BOOGIE T WITH MANIC FOCUS, BOOGIE T.RIO, THE WIDLER, INTEGRATE AND AUSTERIA 5:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $50

MAC AYRES. 9 p.m. Ogden Theater, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $26

DOGS IN A PILE WITH KNUCKLEBALL AND AMOEBA SWING 8 p.m. Ogden Theater, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $18

CHEEKFACE WITH SAD PARK AND MR. ATOMIC 8 p.m. 4483 Logan St., Denver. $18

JAKE XERXES FUSSELL WITH DANNY SHAFER. 7 p.m. 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $18

PERPETUAL GROOVE 9 p.m. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, 1215 20th St., Denver. $30

SUNDAY, APRIL 9

MAVI 8 p.m. Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $28

ROCK STEADY FREDDIE 4 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

TUESDAY, APRIL 11

SNAIL MAIL WITH WATER FROM YOUR EYES AND DAZY. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $30

SHAYFER JAMES. 7 p.m. Marquis Theater, Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $30

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12

YEAT. 8 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $60

CAP CARTER W/ GEORGINA GRASSIE

6-10:30 p.m. Nevei Kodesh, 1925 Glenwood Drive, Boulder. $20

HAPPY LITTLE TREES

Social satire between the brushstrokes in ‘Paint’

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

With a tightly wound blond perm, a smoker’s pipe and a voice that registers just north of a whisper, Carl Nargle is one of the biggest draws on Burlington, Vermont, public television.

Broadcasting daily from 3 to 4 p.m., Carl paints pictures in real-time for a devoted following of viewers in retirement homes, aspiring painters and women so smitten with him they can barely contain themselves. To put it simply, Carl is the man.

One of the best jokes running through Paint, the feature debut of writer-director Brit McAdams, is that Carl (Owen Wilson) is the man — the number-one celebrity of Burlington — but that doesn’t amount to a whole lot. When the station’s pledge drive rolls around, he uses his status to drum up donations by challenging the station’s newest star, Ambrosia (Ciara Renée), to a paint-off. It works: Carl brings in a whopping $845 in pledges, almost seven times what Ambrosia musters. Too bad the station needs $300,000 to stay afloat.

That station is run by Tony (Stephen Root), originally hired to design graphics, and Katherine (Michaela Watkins), who is on her way out for a job at PBS Albany. That’s trouble for Tony, who is woefully over his head in the management department, and Carl, who has been having a silent love affair with Katherine for some time now.

Paint has a delightful sense of humor that exists somewhere between Bob Ross, Wes Anderson and Portlandia

Vermont and PBS certainly get their licks, but so does the divide between high and low art. Carl’s dream is to hang on the line in Burlington’s art museum, but the director isn’t having it. He would rather show off the museum’s newly painted walls or Ambrosia’s paintings of a UFO dumping blood on a stump in a forest.

Ambrosia gets almost everything Carl wants and has, from a spot at the museum to groupies at the station and even Katherine for a hot minute. Ultimately the self-absorbed, soft-spoken white Luddite — Carl doesn’t even have call-waiting on his landline — is replaced by an edgy, young, queer, bi-racial woman.

But that’s not the joke of Paint. The joke is that the industry sees these two talents as essentially interchangeable. Both of their shows are shot on the same set but from two slightly different camera angles, so the backgrounds look different: warm wood for Carl, modernist slate black for Ambrosia. And that the same audience who first cancels Carl because he smokes a pipe while he paints, welcomes him back with open arms once his old episodes are edited for modern sensibilities. It all amounts to a low-key satire, a comedy in autumnal tones, that’s as satisfying as it is silly.

Owen Wilson as Carl Nargle in Paint Photo courtesy IFC Films.

Boulder Weekly Market

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Aries-born René Descartes (1596–1650) was instrumental in developing modern science and philosophy. His famous motto, “I think, therefore I am” is an assertion that the analytical component of intelligence is primary and foremost. And yet, few history books mention the supernatural intervention that was pivotal in his evolution as a supreme rationalist. On the night of November 10, 1619, he had three mystical dreams that changed his life, revealing the contours of the quest to discern the “miraculous science” that would occupy him for the next 30 years. I suspect you are in store for a comparable experience or two, Aries. Brilliant ideas and marvelous solutions to your dilemmas will visit you as you bask in unusual and magical states of awareness.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): The dirty work is becoming milder and easier. It’s still a bit dirty, but is growing progressively less grungy and more rewarding. The command to “adjust, adjust, and adjust some more, you beast of burden” is giving way to “refine, refine, and refine some more, you beautiful animal.” At this pivotal moment, it’s crucial to remain consummately conscientious. If you stay in close touch with your shadowy side, it will never commandeer more than 10% of your total personality. In other words, a bit of healthy distrust for your own motives will keep you trustworthy. (PS: Groaning and grousing, if done in righteous and constructive causes, will continue to be good therapy for now.)

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): “’Tis the good reader that makes the good book,” wrote Gemini philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. “In every book, he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear.” In the coming weeks, a similar principle will apply to everything you encounter, Gemini — not just books. You will find rich meaning and entertainment wherever you go. From seemingly ordinary experiences, you’ll notice and pluck clues that will be wildly useful for you personally. For inspiration, read this quote from author Sam Keen: “Enter each day with the expectation that the happenings of the day may contain a clandestine message addressed to you personally. Expect omens, epiphanies, casual blessings, and teachers who unknowingly speak to your condition.”

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Traditional astrologers don’t regard the planet Mars as being a natural ally of you Crabs. But I suspect you will enjoy an invigorating relationship with the red planet during the next six weeks. For best results, tap into its rigorous vigor in the following ways: 1. Gather new wisdom about how to fight tenderly and fiercely for what’s yours. 2. Refine and energize your ambitions so they become more ingenious and beautiful. 3. Find out more about how to provide your physical body with exactly what it needs to be strong and lively on an ongoing basis. 4. Mediate on how to activate a boost in your willpower.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): I won’t ask you to start heading back toward your comfort zone yet, Leo. I’d love to see you keep wandering out in the frontiers for a while longer. It’s healthy and wise to be extra fanciful, improvisatory, and imaginative. The more rigorous and daring your experiments, the better. Possible bonus: If you are willing to question at least some of your fixed opinions and dogmatic beliefs, you could very well outgrow the part of the Old You that has finished its mission.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): The Supreme Deity with the most power may not be Jehovah or Allah or Brahman or Jesus’s Dad. There’s a good chance it’s actually Mammon, the God of Money. The devoted worship that humans offer to Mammon far surpasses the loyalty offered to all the other gods combined. His values and commandments rule civilization. I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because now is an excellent time for you to deliver extra intense prayers to Mammon. From what I can determine, this formi-

dable Lord of Lords is far more likely to favor you than usual. (PS: I’m only half-kidding. I really do believe your financial luck will be at a peak in the coming weeks.)

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): It’s an excellent time to give up depleted, used-up obsessions so you have plenty of room and energy to embrace fresh, succulent passions. I hope you will take advantage of the cosmic help that’s available as you try this fun experiment. You will get in touch with previously untapped resources as you wind down your attachments to old pleasures that have dissipated. You will activate dormant reserves of energy as you phase out connections that take more than they give.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy,” said ancient Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius. I’m tempted to advise every Scorpio to get a tattoo of that motto. That way, you will forever keep in mind this excellent advice; As fun as it may initially feel to retaliate against those who have crossed you, it rarely generates redemptive grace or glorious rebirth, which are key Scorpio birthrights. I believe these thoughts should be prime meditations for you in the coming weeks.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Sometimes love can be boring. We may become overly accustomed to feeling affection and tenderness for a special person or animal. What blazed like a fiery fountain in the early stages of our attraction might have subsided into a routine sensation of mild fondness. But here’s the good news, Sagittarius: Even if you have been ensconced in bland sweetness, I suspect you will soon transition into a phase of enhanced zeal. Are you ready to be immersed in a luscious lusty bloom of heartful yearning and adventure?

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): What shall we call this latest chapter of your life story? How about “Stealthy Triumph over Lonely Fear” or maybe “Creating Rapport with the Holy Darkness.” Other choices might be “As Far Down into the Wild Rich Depths That I Dare to Go” or “My Roots Are Stronger and Deeper Than I Ever Imagined.” Congratulations on this quiet but amazing work you’ve been attending to. Some other possible descriptors: “I Didn’t Have to Slay the Dragon Because I Figured Out How to Harness It” or “The Unexpected Wealth I Discovered Amidst the Confusing Chaos.”

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): It’s sway-swirlswivel time for you, Aquarius — a phase when you will be wise to gyrate and rollick and zigzag. This is a bouncy, shimmering interlude that will hopefully clean and clear your mind as it provides you with an abundance of reasons to utter “whee!” and “yahoo!” and “hooray!” My advice: Don’t expect the straight-and-narrow version of anything. Be sure you get more than minimal doses of twirling and swooping and cavorting. Your brain needs to be teased and tickled, and your heart requires regular encounters with improvised fun.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): When I was growing up in suburban America, way back in the 20th century, many adults told me that I was wrong and bad to grow my hair really long. Really! It’s hard to believe now, but I endured ongoing assaults of criticism, ridicule, and threats because of how I shaped my physical appearance. Teachers, relatives, baseball coaches, neighbors, strangers in the grocery store — literally hundreds of people — warned me that sporting a big head of hair would cause the whole world to be prejudiced against me and sabotage my success. Decades later, I can safely say that all those critics were resoundingly wrong. My hair is still long, has always been so, and my ability to live the life I love has not been obstructed by it in the least. Telling you this story is my way of encouraging you to keep being who you really are, even in the face of people telling you that’s not who you really are. The astrological omens say it’s time for you to take a stand.

DEAR DAN: My hub and I enjoy your columns and it’s opened our minds about sex a lot. We recently gave each other the OK to try to fulfill our monogamish fantasies IRL but haven’t acted on them yet. But I did meet a guy online, who is also married, and we’ve been having the most incredible cybersex. It’s turned into regular chats, and we’ve talked about meeting up in person. Why am I feeling kind of guilty about this? The hub knows I’m fucking around online with this guy, and it even turns him on! I find myself thinking about this other guy all of the time. Should I end it? Or keep having fantastic orgasms without the hub?

— Wife And Naughty Tease

DEAR WANT: Seeing as you brought this question to me, WANT, and not a priest or an uptight monogamy fetishist posing as a couples’ counselor, I’m gonna go ahead and tell you what you wanted to hear: Keep fucking around with this guy online and IRL, if you get a good feeling from him after you meet up in person. New relationship energy (NRE), which is what you’re feeling for this guy, can be intense, but it’s always temporary; so, go ahead and enjoy it as long as it lasts. As for the guilt, well, people who do and enjoy things they’ve been told — for no legitimate reason — they’re not supposed to do or enjoy, e.g., gay sex, extramarital sex, kinky sex, seeing a sex worker, etc., they sometimes convince themselves that having the decency to feel bad about what they’ve done (at least during their refractory period) means they’re still good and moral people. I’m here from the future — I’m here from your future — to tell you that you don’t have to feel bad about what you’re doing with your husband’s permission, WANT, and to his delight. Unless feeling bad about it turns you on, of course, in which case… you can enjoy that and enjoy feeling bad about that, too.

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

DEAR DAN: We splurge on a housecleaner a couple times a month while we’re at work. We always make sure to tidy up our personal items before she comes, but this week I accidentally left not one but TWO vibrators by the bathroom sink. I had forgotten to put them away after I washed them, and I was in a rush! Total accident! When I returned home to a clean house, the vibes were neatly laid on the bathroom counter. I am not a person with shame around sex, but this made me feel SO embarrassed! She should not have had to see/touch those! Should we apologize? If so, how to bring it up in a way that’s not awkward? Should we pay her extra for that session? I’m so embarrassed and don’t want her to feel demeaned.

— Very Intense BlushingEnhanced Situation

DEAR VIBES: What does your housecleaner know now that she didn’t know before? Assuming she’s never spotted one of your sex toys before an assumption I would classify as semi-reasonable (at best!) — she now knows, thanks to your shocking carelessness, that you have sex and that you, like millions of other adults (and surely one or two of her other clients), sometimes use sex toys. Even if she was shocked and mortified and disappointed in you, VIBES, I think you should follow your housekeeper’s lead: she didn’t make a big deal about it, and you shouldn’t make a big deal about it. Just like your hole, VIBES, the memory hole is there to be used.

P.S. Once after we very specifically asked that our room not be made up during a week-long stay at a hotel, we came back after breakfast — on the very first morning we were there — to find the two dozen sex toys and 50 pounds of bondage gear we’d left strewn all over the room neatly arranged on the shelves of our walkin closet. If we could look the little old Slovenian lady who cleaned our room in the eye every day for the rest of that week, you can look your housecleaner in the eye, too.

Send your burning questions to mailbox@savage.love. Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love!

SPRING BREAK BIKING CAMP INDOOR/OUTDOOR CAMP

WWW PEDALINGMINDS ORG

NON-PROFIT 5O1(C)3 SERVING BOULDER, LOUISVILLE, AND LONGMONT AREA

Whether the sun is shining or snow is falling, our little corner of Pearl Street is the perfect place to soak up winter in beautiful Boulder! Feast alongside the jellyfish, sink into a lounge or take a seat at one of our lively bars.

Prefer the great outdoors? Our fireside patios are the coziest place to savor those mild winter days.

When your own couch is calling, all of your favorites are available for curbside pickup too.

No matter how you choose to dine don’t miss our ever-evolving specials, delicious seasonal cocktails, and latest rare whiskey!

UNBOXING LOCAL FLAVORS

Spade & Spoon upgrades delivered food boxes with locally-sourced, sustainable meals

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

There is a lot to loathe about services like Blue Apron that deliver meal prep boxes. During the height of the pandemic, lots of us tried these services out only to be appalled by the pile of plastic trash and cardboard left behind. Convenience was nice, but many of the bagged ingredients didn’t seem to be local, in-season or sustainably produced.

At the price, the meal boxes seemed like a waste, literally and figuratively.

When a new boxed-meal service came to town recently with a promise to shift the paradigm and deliver food in a saner way, healthy skepticism was in order. Spade & Spoon delivers localfirst, sustainably oriented meal kits weekly to homes from Denver to Fort Collins, with its largest concentration of customers in Boulder.

“Our goal is to serve a region and get as much good food delivered from that place to homes as possible,” says Joy Rubey, who founded Spade & Spoon in Denver in 2022. The meals come with freezer packs and recycled boxes that can be returned and reused.

When I decided to try out Spade & Spoon recently, it was clear that the service was not a startup figuring out logistics on the fly. It was hard not to be impressed by the thoughtfulness behind everything from the ordering system to the recipes.

That’s because Rubey and her company had already spent more than a decade figuring out the details.

FEEDING FAMILIES, SAVING FARMS

In 2011, Rubey was an architect and mom of a 2-year-old, trying to market produce from her husband’s farm in Washington state at farmers markets.

“When the farmers markets shut down for the season, for so many food people it shuts down their income. How

do you build a sustainable business that way?” she says.

At the same time, Rubey was on the other side of the food equation. “I wanted to serve good healthy food to my family, but I wasn’t an excellent cook. I didn’t have time to shop or meal plan,” she says.

The answer to both problems came together in Acme Farms + Kitchen. Opened in 2011 in the Pacific Northwest, it was one of the nation’s first local-first meal kit delivery services.

“We felt like we could move a lot of

ability and for the producers. Customers order a week ahead. The farms and producers only make what we order so there’s no waste or returns. We keep farmers on the farm and producers in the kitchen by doing all the pickup and delivery.”

By only delivering once a week, the number of delivery trips to the same neighborhoods is reduced, she says.

HOW TO UNBOX A LOCAL MEAL

I put aside my qualms and shopped a week ahead of time for a Spade & Spoon box. The ordering portal offered one-time delivery or a subscription service.

With a weekly menu of 18 to 20 rotating meals drawn from a roster of more than 900 chef-tested recipes, Spade & Spoon customers can choose à la carte meals or pre-selected themed boxes such as vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, and gluten and dairy

an easy pasta meal from Denver’s Sfoglina. I dropped nests of their fresh mafaldine — long ribbony noodles made from semolina and turkey red heirloom wheat — into boiling salted water. After draining, I simmered them in Sfoglina’s ready-to-heat Bolognese sauce. It was so thick with local ground beef and pork, I thinned it out with the tasty pasta cooking water.

Topped with grated Parmesan, the hearty herbed flavor of the sauce filled the chewy ruffles on the pasta making for a truly happy meal. Extra sauce topped slices of true sourdough bread baked by Denver’s Hearth Bakery using Moxie Bread Co. flour.

As a biscuit lover, I had to order the kit with freshly made biscuit mix, dated and packed in a paper sack. The recipe turned out perfectly fluffy biscuits ready for unsalted butter and a jar of Bjorn’s Colorado Honey.

The most complicated dish was saag tofu or bean curd in curried spinach sauce. Firm tofu, fresh spinach and collard greens, tomato paste, cashews, fresh ginger and garlic cloves plus basmati rice and a spice blend were provided. The only item required from my pantry was vegetable oil, but I opted to use the optional vegetable broth and coconut cream.

Yes, there were multiple prep and cooking steps requiring attention to detail, but it was more than worth it for a high-flavor feast.

As someone who has written, edited and published hundreds of recipes, I enjoyed the fact that the accompanying Spade & Spoon recipes were well written in clear steps. They detailed what is supplied, what the cook needs from the pantry and optional ingredients that can be added.

local food if we made it easy on the farmers and producers, minimized packaging and food waste, and made it easy to access for consumers and affordable,” Rubey says.

The system was dialed in and roadtested before Spade & Spoon was launched in Colorado.

First, this isn’t for you if you need instant gratification and can’t plan meals ahead.

“We chose from the beginning not to do quick delivery on demand,” Rubey says. “We do that for sustain-

free. The Family Classics Box includes three meals that serve four people each.

Ingredients are primarily sourced from dozens of Colorado’s family farmers, ranchers, bakers and artisan food and beverage makers, including Buckner Family Farms, Haystack Mountain cheese, Pastificio and Project Umami.

When my box arrived, it was a little like Christmas or one of those unboxing videos on YouTube.

My Spade & Spoon order featured

Recently, Spade & Spoon’s online marketplace expanded its offerings with a marketplace of hard-to-find local taste treats such as Colorado Springs’ Sawatch Artisan Foods cheddar cheese, thick yogurt from Five Freedoms Dairy, locally made DAR and Bibamba chocolates, and Rancho Largo ribeye steaks.

“When you have a system that keeps local producers open, you support regional food resiliency. You begin to have a sustainable food system,” Rubey says.

Credit: Spade & Spoon

NIBBLES

TASTE OF THE WEEK: THAI WITH A TWIST

The extract of the pretty anchan plant, known as the butterfly pea flower, adds a transformative magic to a simple beverage. My cobalt blue glass of lemonade turned shades of violet as lemon juice was swirled in at Anchan Thai restaurant.

Everything I tasted recently at the Longmont eatery (1325 Dry Creek Drive) provided a slight twist on standard Thai dishes.

My rad na was a captivating bowl of chewy wide rice noodles tossed with fermented bean sauce, egg, collard greens, veggies and chicken. The complex, slightly sweet flavor was brightened by an unexpected ingredient: whole green peppercorns on the branch.

My dining partner’s Northern Thai jungle curry was a spicy soup rather than a creamy sauce, packed with green beans, carrots, bell peppers and those tasty little round Thai eggplants. Its big flavor infusion was provided by red curry, Thai basil, lime leaves and “finger root” — a ginger-galangal relative.

We also enjoyed fried roti — hot, thin, crispy wedges of flatbread ready to dip in a craveable peanut sauce.

LOCAL FOOD NEWS

Congrats to Chef Nick Swanson of Longmont’s Urban Field Pizza & Market. He placed seventh (out of 51 competitors) for crafting the best pan pizza in the world at the recent 2023 International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.

● Kapow Thai is serving dishes like curried noodle soup with chicken at 1377 Forest Park Circle in Lafayette.

● Lafayette’s Three Leaf Farm hosts onsite dinners June 18, July 16, Aug. 13, Sept. 10, threeleaffarm.com/farm-dinners

WORDS TO CHEW ON

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him... the people who give you their food will give you their heart.”

— Cesar Chavez

John Lehndorff hosts Kitchen Table Talk with chef Dan Asher on KGNU the first Thursday of the month. Podcasts: news.kgnu.org/category/radio-nibbles

HILLSIDE AFTERNOON

Cafe Aion reintroduces lunch service

BY COLIN WRENN

In the 13 years that Cafe Aion has operated from its intimate location at the base of University Hill, the Spanish and Moroccan restaurant by Chef Dakota Soifer has distinguished itself for its paella and a decidedly more refined style than most of its neighbors. On Tuesday, April 4, Soifer and current chef Austen Vasquez reintroduced lunch after a three-year hiatus. The menu features a blend of classic items alongside a new set developed by Vasquez.

Soifer was raised in South China, Maine, by parents he describes as restaurant folks and back-to-the-land hippies.

“For rural Maine I experienced a ton of great and diverse food. We had a couch in our kitchen. It was more of a living room than our living room,” the chef says. His mom would cook dumplings, and his dad, who had previously managed private clubs in Washington D.C., would make dishes with a clear sense of refinement.

In high school, Soifer began working for his uncle’s catering company, a large-scale operation based in Connecticut that would routinely work massive jobs including events at Madison Square Garden for more than 3,000 people. He moved to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado, where he studied architecture. During that time, he started rolling burritos at Illegal Pete’s, which helped reignite his interest in kitchen work.

“I was eating two or three burritos for my shift meal,” Soifer says with a laugh.

After graduating, his love for restaurants continued. He cooked at the sorely missed Caribbean-fusion joint Rhumba before moving over to The West End Tavern. Soifer then spent some time at Zolo Grill before moving to San Francisco to work at the James Beard Award-winning Zuni Cafe, a

space he likens to the SF equivalent of Alice Waters’ Berkeley-based Chez Panisse. He then popped up to Napa for a stint, working the line at Bistro Don Giovanni, an old school whitetablecloth joint that focused on handcrafted pastas and Neapolitan pizzas.

After returning to Boulder in the mid-aughts, Soifer helmed the backof-house at The Kitchen Upstairs before running the whole operation for three years. It was during this time that he began experimenting with the type of cuisine that would eventually define his menu at Cafe Aion.

“You find a lot of ingredient crossover with Colorado and Spain,” Soifer says, noting that seasonality informs much of Aion’s cooking. Directly ahead of opening Aion, Soifer worked for Meadow Lark Farm Dinners, an annual project that hosts fine-dining meals at farms around the Front Range, including Red Wagon Organic Farm, Lyons Farmette and Oxford Gardens. “I was able to make wonderful connections with local farmers.”

“Working at Colterra and Salt, I was comfortable doing French food,” Vasquez says. When Cafe Aion reopened for standard service, Brasserie Boulder’s menu was folded into the existing list, though the two concepts still remain separate on all delivery platforms.

“It’s not on the menu, but if someone asks for a paella, I’ll make them a paella,” says Vasquez with a grin, noting that the dish takes no less than 45 minutes.

Soifer diligently ran the kitchen until 2020, when he hired Vasquez to oversee the menu. “He’s kind of grown into the role,” Soifer says. “It’s fulfilling to mentor someone a little bit.”

Vasquez’s tenure started in March 2020. He and Soifer quickly converted Aion into several ghost kitchens, including Brasserie Boulder, a French concept helmed by Vasquez.

Aion’s new lunch menu is a neat blend of appetizers, sandwiches, entrees and desserts with classic items from across France and Spain. A croque madame and French onion soup sit well next to shakshuka — a Moroccan tomato stew with housemade flatbread — and a BLT served with house chips that are coated in baharat, an Eastern-Mediterranean barbecue spice made with black pepper, cardamom, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, coriander and paprika. Larger plates include moules frites — mussels with garlic, butter, white wine and French fries — and coq au vin, a red wine-braised chicken with vegetables, potatoes and jus.

The lunch menu is also full of vegetarian options, including the veggie burger with a house-made quinoa and yam patty and the unmissable mushroom flatbread that comes topped with a hearty mix of king trumpets, blue oysters, black pearl kings, beech and pioppino mushrooms, all from Denver’s own MycoCosm Mushrooms.

With Vasquez behind the wheel, Soifer has had a chance to focus on the backend and administrative roles as well as recently taking over the Loveland Breakfast Club, a longstanding institution with a compact menu of diner classics.

“It’s really exciting to have Austen flexing some muscle and showing his take on Cafe Aion,” Soifer says.

All images courtesy CafeAion

THE ADDICTION THERAPY DRUG

BY WILL BRENDZA

Kevin Franciotti’s heroin addiction was consuming his life.

Desperate to help their son, his parents agreed to send him to an ibogaine therapy program in Mexico.

He arrived at the clinic in La Misión, slept, and, the following morning, ate his last meal for the next 24 hours. A nurse gave Franciotti an EKG to make sure his heart was healthy enough for the medicine. And then, finally, sometime around sunset, he consumed it — two capsules of extracted ibogaine — 12-methoxyibogamine, a psychoactive alkaloid derived from the West African shrub iboga — and settled in for his journey.

Within the hour he noticed a weird buzzing in his ears. Within two, he was experiencing what he would later call “the fireworks show.”

“In my mind there’s a vision like I’m being launched through a worm-hole which spits me out in what looks like outer space,” Franciotti wrote, reflecting on his experience for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Research (MAPS). “I’m capable of an easy maneuverability where I’m in complete control of my thoughts, and yet I’m experiencing

vivid, fluidly changing visions corresponding to every thought.”

Then came the hard part, he says, the darker, more personal, reflective, indescribably uncom fortable part of the trip — the part his nurse said “would keep you clean.”

Franciotti describes it as an extremely powerful experience that changed his perspective on life and helped him deal with many of the demons driving his addiction. More than four years later, he says he’s still abstinent.

Ibogaine is classified as a Schedule I narcotic by the federal government, even though it has almost no recreational appeal. It’s proven to be remarkably well suited for helping addicts overcome cravings and even prevent relapses. Clinics like the one Franciotti went to in La Misión exist just across our southern border with Mexico and in places like New Zealand. Some are operated by locals. Others are run by American ex-pat clinicians — doctors

who saw potential in this form of treatment but couldn’t provide it in their own country.

In recent years, thanks to the University of California Davis (UCD), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and MAPS, research is starting to support the use of ibogaine therapy to treat fentanyl, heroin, alcohol and other substance addictions. Which is why some states, including Colorado, are starting to legalize its therapeutic use. Peer-reviewed research shows ibogaine increases the level of a brain protein known as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF. Separate research had already associated the protein with decreased alcohol consumption.

“By identifying the brain protein that ibogaine regulates to reduce alcohol consumption in rats, we have established a link between GDNF and reversal of addiction,” said Dorit Ron, UCSF associate professor of neurology and the principal investigator at the Gallo Center. “[It’s] knowledge of a molecular mechanism that should allow development of a new class of drugs to treat addiction without ibogaine’s side effects.”

In 2017, MAPS-sponsored ibogaine researcher Thomas Kingsley Brown took it beyond mice and rats — he conducted his observational study on patients at the La Misión ibogaine clinic in Mexico. And Franciotti was one of his test subjects.

That study concluded that ibogaine has a “substantiated treatment effect in

opioid detoxification” and that it “provided distinctive benefit for individuals with histories of previously unsuccessful treatment.”

“About 90% of the people in the study had a dramatic reduction in their withdrawal symptoms at the point when you’d expect they’d be at their worst,” Brown told the BBC of his study.

In 2020, UCD published one of the most recent peer-reviewed ibogaine studies. This one aimed to make a synthetic analog to GDNF that would mimic ibogaine’s addiction treatment qualities without producing hallucinations. And the scientists were successful. They engineered a new synthetic molecule they called “tabernathalog” (TBG), which not only decreased addiction urges and relapse tendencies in mice but also increased the formation of new dendrites (or branches) in nerve cells.

However, many advocates for ibogaine therapy maintain that the psychedelic journey is one of its most essential and effective parts.

Even with the annual death rate for opioid drug overdoses surpassing 100,000 people a year, ibogaine remains federally criminalized in the U.S.

But not here in Colorado. As part of the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, Colorado voters legalized psilocybin, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine. By 2026, state-certified clinics will be able to start administering ibogaine addiction therapy here.

And people like Franciotti won’t have to travel abroad to access this form of therapy any longer.

Ibogaine has massive potential for treating serious chemical dependency, but patients have to travel abroad to access it — for now