Boulder Weekly 07.20.2023

Summer Stoke

It’s hot out there, but Teton Gravity Research cools down for the ski season P. 10

Jimmy Eat World. Credit: Jimi Giannatti

JULY 20, 2023

Volume 30, Number 48

COVER: Simon Hillis steezing through pow. Photo by Tyler Ravelle.

PUBLISHER: Fran Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Caitlin Rockett

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER:

Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Kaylee Harter, Dan Savage, Toni Tresca, 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 MANAGER: Cal Winn

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.

690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO 80305 Phone: 303.494.5511, FAX: 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com

Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2023 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

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 We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms.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.

THE ANDERSON FILES

HOW A LANDMARK GREEN NEW DEAL VICTORY WAS WON

BY DAVE ANDERSON

With climate chaos accelerating and extreme weather disasters happening nearly every day, it’s easy to become depressed. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was a first step, but it’s not enough.

Climate activists just won a significant victory in New York, which hasn’t attracted the attention it deserves. The state legislature passed the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), which authorizes the state’s publicly owned power provider — New York Power Authority (NYPA) — to determine each year whether New York is expected to meet its targets of achieving 70% renewable energy by

2030 and 100% by 2040. If the state isn’t on track, NYPA will step in to build enough renewable energy to fill the gap. Until now, the agency has been prohibited from building and owning utility-scale renewable generation projects.

Other renewable energy legislation hands over the responsibility — and resulting profits — of the green transition to private corporations.

The NYPA came out of the Great Depression. Lawrence Wang explains in Jacobin: “Founded in 1931 by then governor Franklin D. Roosevelt with the express purpose of ‘giving back to the people the waterpower which is theirs,’ the agency has become the

country’s largest state-owned public utility, generating and transmitting up to a quarter of New York’s electricity, the vast majority of it created via hydropower. Between its extensive history in operating the most affordable and renewable utility system in the state as well as its ability to raise its own funds through AA-rated bonds, the NYPA is an ideal instrument for a renewable transition.”

While NYPA is publicly owned, the CEO and board are appointed by the governor. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul supported the power authority owning and operating renewable energy projects, but disagreed with mandates that the power authority build to

THE ANDERSON FILES LETTERS

meet climate targets. In spite of that, Wang notes, the version of BPRA that ultimate passed “requires the NYPA to consult stakeholders like unions, community organizations, and climate and resiliency experts in a strategic planning process to determine where, when and how it builds new renewables, which it will then formalize into official plans.” Public hearings and public comment periods are required for each plan.

The victory was the result of a fouryear battle by a coalition called Public Power NY. It began in 2019 with a campaign organized by the ecosocialist working group of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) against a rate hike request by the private utility ConEd.

Ashley Dawson reports in The Nation that the coalition’s research into ConEd revealed a history of corruption and irresponsibility. ConEd was making a billion dollars per year in profits, charging the second-highest residential rates of any major utility in the nation.

“ConEd had received $350 million earlier in the decade to upgrade New York City’s ‘relay protection systems’ — networks of circuit breakers that contain electrical problems before they cause full-blown blackouts,” Dawson writes. “They failed to make these upgrades.” Then, in the summer of 2019, the city was hit with a series of blackouts and shutoffs. The chickens had come home to roost.

Dawson says the NYC DSA coalition succeeded against a powerful “toxic alliance of private energy companies, lobbyists, fossil fuel interests and machine politics.”

They fought establishment Democrats — the governor and leadership — as well as Republicans. Governor Hochul tried to water down BPRA.

“Elements from the original BPRA proposal rescued in negotiations include labor protections written by New York’s AFL-CIO that preserve existing collective bargaining agreements for NYPA workers, and prevailing wage provisions for all projects that apply to contractors and subcontractors,” Kate Arnoff reports in The New Republic. “Under the bill, as well, NYPA will dispense $25 million to the Department of Labor for training programs for the renewable energy workforce via a newly established Office of Just Transition.”

The coalition made public power an election issue. “DSA in particular led the charge to primary Democrats over their positions on it,” Arnoff writes. Activists also enlisted national elected officials — like DSA members Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — to pressure Hochul and others.

Arnoff says the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed by the U.S. Congress was also a “key factor” in BPRA’s victory: “Thanks to the IRA’s changes in how investment and production tax credits are structured, NYPA and other public power providers can now take advantage of expanded incentives for wind and solar development.”

Hopefully New York can be a model for other states.

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

EDITOR’S NOTE: The news story “Turf war,” published on July 13, included an inaccurate account of lethal prairie dog mitigation allegedly used by Boulder County. A quote suggested that ongoing efforts to control the spread of prairie dog colonies included poisoning via pellets, a method the county hasn’t used in more than a decade. The online version of the story has been updated to reflect this.

RE: ‘TURF WAR’

Deanna Meyer of Prairie Protection Colorado used the term “war on wildlife” referring to Boulder County Parks & Open Space and its actions toward prairie dogs (News, “Turf war,” July 13, 2023). “War on wildlife” is not hyperbole, and goes well beyond prairie dogs. The starkest examples regarding what I choose to call “free-living” or “free-roaming” animals are hunting, fishing and trapping, whose legality and euphemism as “sport” is unconscionable — an atrocity — clearly a war on innocent, living, feeling individuals.

Regardless of what words one uses to describe it, the human species has perpetuated a war — exploiting, harming and killing — on virtually all other-thanhuman animals, be it for food, clothing, experimentation, “entertainment” and in virtually any area of life.

The root cause of this issue may be best termed “speciesism,” which Joan Dunayer (author of the books Speciesism and Animal Equality: Language and Liberation) defines as “a failure, on the basis of species membership or species-typical characteristics, to accord any sentient being equal consideration and respect.”

Our attitudes and actions toward nonhuman animals, who are legally defined as property with no legal rights, clearly exemplifies speciesism.

May we, individually and collectively, look deeply into our hearts, consider all

the living entities with whom we share the Earth, and make choices that cause the least harm to any individual, nonhuman or human. Only then will we move toward a kinder, gentler, more just world for All.

— Mark Wiesenfeld / Boulder

RE: ‘HEARING HISTORY’ — CHAUTAUQUA’S 125TH BIRTHDAY

Growing up, I lived just a few blocks from Chautauqua. Going to the movies there in the ’60s were some of the highlights of my childhood. The concessionaire sold little bags of popcorn for 10 cents. I believe the movies were 50 cents and they were always family friendly — there were a lot of Doris Day movies, and Disney movies like Pollyanna, The Absent Minded Professor or Son of Flubber Nights were cool; occasionally a skunk would wander down the aisles or under the seats and a few bats would flutter under the lights. My favorite memory was one night when Paint Your Wagon was playing. There was a scene in the movie with a busty “woman of the night.” A man jumped up, yelling it was filth and we should all be ashamed of ourselves as he dragged his little boy out of the auditorium. The man had his hand over his child’s eyes while he himself couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. Movie nights at Chautauqua were wonderful!

— Lise Cordsen / Boulder

WELOCME TO GONDOLIER ITALIAN EATERY

June 14 The Long Run

Colorado’s Tribute to the Eagles

June 21 The Goonies

June 28 Hazel Miller and The Collective

July 5 Chimbangle

July 12 Chain Station

July 19 Sweet Lillies

July 26 JJ Brown’s Raw Soul Band

August 2 Mighty Mystic

PRESENTED BY: SPONSORED BY:

CASH FLOW

BY KAYLEE HARTER

During his first few days in office, President Biden set out to promote equity in federal climate action with the stroke of a pen. The signing of Executive Order 14008 created the Justice40 Initiative, mandating 40% of climate-related investments from certain federal agencies flow to communities identified as underserved and overburdened by pollution.

While 263 census tracts in Colorado — three in Boulder County — qualify as disadvantaged, many communities have yet to see the benefits of Justice40, leaving leaders to grapple with how to ensure the money gets to those who need it most.

“This is something that in the next year and a half is going to be delivering hundreds of billions of dollars, and our communities need to be kept up on that so that the federal government money is invested in the communities that it was intended for, those that have been most disproportionately affected for the last 50 years,” says GreenLatinos President Mark Magaña, who lives in Boulder and is part of a Justice40 collective that provided recommendations to the federal government.

Brett Fleishman, who stepped into his current role as senior climate strategist at Boulder County’s Office of Sustainability, Climate Action and Resilience in 2021, says his first big task was figuring out the county’s strategy “to the single largest investment the federal government has ever placed in climate action.”

The county has applied for several grants that would be covered by Justice40, including a project to add more electric vehicle charging stations across the county and another that would invest in increasing the urban tree canopy to reduce heat. Each is a multi-million dollar grant that will be awarded to recipients in the fall.

Money moves slowly though the fed-

eral government, Fleishman says, but he expects 2024 to be a big year for Justice40-covered funding coming through the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Justice40 is vague, it’s frustrating, it’s slow,” Fleishman says. “But it’s a really smart policy, because all the local governments are forced into the process.”

Boulder County is part of a regional coalition on the Front Range that was awarded $3 million to be distributed this summer as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. The initiative is designed to help states, local governments, tribes and territories develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution.

But since the Justice40 initiative was created via presidential fiat, there’s fear a new administration could reverse the order if Biden loses his reelection attempt in 2024.

“We think the Biden administration [and] federal agencies are moving quickly to establish things and get money out the door, because once it’s out the door, you can’t claw it back,” Fleishman says. “But if they take too long to set up the programs and there’s an administration change, then those programs are vulnerable.”

‘MITIGATION IS A LUXURY’

Some Justice40 money has already flowed into the Colorado. Using more than $32 million from the Department of Energy, Colorado School of Mines (Golden) and Carbon America (Arvada) will collaborate with New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory to explore the feasibility of a carbon storage site in Pueblo.

The funding covers the first phase of the project, which includes data collection, planning, site characterization and analyzing potential social and environmental risks.

“Whatever we do will be done with an eye toward environmental justice, to social justice, to equity,” says Manika Prasad, who is leading the project and is director of the Mines Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Innovation Center. In the early portion of this project, this means training on equitable hiring practices and hosting town halls in the community.

If the site is feasible, it would be able to store 50 million tons of CO2 over 30 years.

“Mitigation is a luxury that more affluent societies have,” Prasad says. “We’re coming in to say, ‘No, mitigation needs to be where the problem is, not where the money is.”

Justice40’s screening tool identifies disadvantaged communities using factors like legacy pollution, wastewater discharge and energy costs coupled with low-income by census tract.

investment will require bringing people of color to the table and moving past the planning phase of projects.

“We’ve been asking, and we’ve been telling, and we’ve been sharing, and we’ve been in focus groups, and we’ve been studied, and we’ve been researched,” she says. “We have an opportunity with Justice40 to bring folks of color and organizations who are led by folks of color to truly create this plan and to implement the work.”

‘WE’VE HAD ENOUGH TRICKLE DOWN’

While the executive order only mandates 40% of investments benefit disadvantaged communities, Magaña says the funds need to be invested directly into those communities.

“I’m hoping they still do an investment analysis,” he says. “Not just, ‘How did the benefits trickle down to this community?’ We’ve had enough trickle down.”

Magaña says many small organizations and communities may be unaware of Justice40, or may be intimidated by long, cumbersome grant applications.

Fleishman says that system has its flaws, and the county hopes to use a more comprehensive and granular list of indicators.

“Sometimes a mobile home community is in the same census block group as a wealthy community, and when you put those two together, that census block group doesn’t look like the Justice40 block group,” he says. “The wealthy homes just wash out the statistics.”

Race is not used as an indicator in the screening tool, likely because the administration believes they wouldn’t stand up to a Supreme Court challenge. “They try to use other things that oftentimes will be an overlay of racial disproportionate effects, like income or housing density,” Magaña says.

Boulder County Commissioner Marta Loachamin says a successful Justice40

“It’s a heavy lift to be able to go from a one-, two-, three-person underresourced organization to one that’s going to be a primary applicant for federal government funding,” Magaña says. “We wanted to make sure government entities knew that communities of color needed significant technical assistance to really even participate in federal grants, let alone be the primary applicants.”

It starts, Magaña says, with education about Justice40 and what qualifies. Then, communities need access to technical assistance and matchmaking opportunities for larger organizations that have experience with federal funding to partner “with groups that really have the specialty to do the on-theground work.”

As climate change intensifies, Fleishman says equity is more urgent than ever.

“The poor and marginalized always sort of carry the brunt of most crises,” he says. “This is a moment for us to absorb this tool and make it part of what we do and part of government so that when things get harder, it’s like muscle memory.”

Federal initiative promises equity-based climate action, but local results are still to be seen

Justice40 is vague, it’s frustrating, it’s slow. But it’s a really smart policy, because all the local governments are forced into the process.”

BRETT FLEISHMAN, BOULDER COUNTY OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY, CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE

SUMMER STOKE

Teton Gravity Research cools down the summer in Boulder

BY WILL MATUSKA

Two things attract the attention of Boulderites year-round: powder days and the Grateful Dead.

Somewhere between those two addictions lives Teton Gravity Research (TGR), an organization best known for producing more than 50 award-winning outdoor adventure films about skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking and surfing, often in staggering conditions and terrain.

Co-founder Todd Jones says the company of powderhounds is also full of Deadheads. A dream collaboration

with the Grateful Dead since 2019 includes TGR selling merch with the Dead’s dancing bears on skis, boards and bikes, and setting epic big-mountain lines to the band’s jamming soundtrack in its Fire on the Mountain short film.

That marriage is about as Colorado as it gets.

Embracing that culture, TGR opened its newest brick-and-mortar storefront on June 30 in Boulder to be the epicenter of all things stoke in the state.

The flagship shop on 1420 Pearl

Street is the largest of TGR’s six retail locations, and includes a 15-seat theater to screen films and host community events.

Jones says the company wants to get involved in mountain town jewels, “of which Boulder is obviously a top dog,” for outdoor recreation. It also has stores in Park City, Bozeman, Jackson and Breckenridge.

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett got the chance to wield the big scissors at TGR’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. He says he likes the company’s gear, especially the Grateful Dead-themed clothing for our “Dead-loving town,” and calls the instore theater a noteworthy feature.

While Brockett enjoys snowshoeing and mountain biking in his free time, you won’t see him crushing any of the extreme terrain highlighted in TGR’s films.

“I don’t think anything that I do can qualify as shredding,” Brockett says.

TGR was founded in 1996 by Jones and his brother Steve, Dirk Collins and Corey Gavitt, who wanted to capture the progression of action sports on film. The company

(Left) TGR travels to remote locations around the world in search of powder and clean lines. Photo by Nic Alegre. (Right) Todd Jones. Photo by Jeremy Allen.

Photo by Max Ritter.

Nick McNutt in Alaskan powder. Photo by Nic Alegre.

is based in Jackson, Wyoming, but snow-chasing films have taken the crew from the remote ranges of Alaska to “ma and pa” ski resorts scattered around the Midwest.

It’s these films that bring the group to Colorado, the company’s largest audience, and to sold-out theaters in Boulder for the last two decades. The connection to Boulder deepend after Jones’ brother Jeremy, a professional snowboarder, founded Protect Our Winters (POW) to engage pro athletes and outdoor enthusiasts in climatechange activism. The two companies work together to help TGR “tread lightly” on the environment.

The trailer for this year’s TGR film dropped on July 18. Jones says Legend Has It steps into stories and places that touch on iconic ski history in Patagonia, the California Sierra, Pakistan, Jackson Hole and more with world-renowned athletes like Kai Jones, Ian Mcintosh, Nick McNutt and Griffin Post.

“We’ve traveled the world for 28 years in pursuit of groundbreaking action and cinematography,” Jones said in a press release about the film. “Over the years we have collected countless stories and experienced extraordinary moments. This year’s annual film taps into these legendary tales — be it mythical storm cycles, heroic feats or whispers of fantastical terrain.”

The crew also traveled deep into the Centennial State’s backcountry this past winter with Colorado-native Colter Hinchliffe to document deep powder, cushy pillows, carves above tree line, gnarly jumps and steezy freestyling. Jones says the legendary piece of the Colorado chapter comes from their basecamp — a 10th Mountain Division Hut near Aspen.

“We want to inspire people to get outdoors and to do things they’ve never done before,” he says.

Legend Has It premieres in Boulder on Oct. 4 at the Boulder Theater, followed by a concert from experimental indie rockers Portugal. The Man, longtime friends of the company who have shredded gnar with the TGR crew and whose tracks rock action sequences in several films. Pre-sale tickets for the event are available at the store in Boulder starting July 19.

It may be the peak of summer, but for some that only means we’re halfway to winter.

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brocket and TGR staff open the new storefront on Pearl Street.

Photo by Alex Crossland.

Photos by Alex Crossland.

SOMETHING LOUD

Jimmy Eat World turn up at Red Rocks on their 30th anniversary tour

BY JEZY J. GRAY

Last summer’s comeback single from time-tested rock institution Jimmy Eat World — the first new music from the Arizona-born outfit since before the pandemic lockdown — hangs on an urgent, arena-ready question: Do you still feel part of something loud?

If you ask 47-year-old frontman Jim Adkins, who co-founded the band with drummer and lifelong friend Zach Lind in 1993, the answer is a deafening yes. “There’s a part of me that I think will always identify as the 14-year-old metal kid going to hardcore shows for the first time and having my mind blown,” says the creative force behind some of the most definitive teenage anthems of the 21st century.

The most inescapable of those anthems came in the fall of 2001, when “The Middle” smashed into the culture during the last gasp of the MTV era. With its bouncy palm-muted guitars, crashing cymbals and life-affirming chorus — It just takes some time, a generation still buzzing from the sugar rush of ’90s pop-punk collective-

ly wailed into their hairbrushes — the track sailed to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Suddenly the band who had blazed a new trail through the basements of the previous decade’s burgeoning second-wave emo scene found themselves on the top of the airwaves, plunked between Eminem and Vanessa Carlton, as the last insurgent indie hitmakers of the pre-streaming landscape.

“When things took off for us in the more commercial, mainstream space, we just kept operating the way we always did: being focused on the things within your control, and being proud of your records,” Adkins says. “We’ve done months-long tours playing for nobody, and we’ve opened up for Green Day at Giants Stadium — but we’re the same band, playing the same songs. So a lot of this stuff isn’t really up to you. And you won’t make it very long if you take those things that aren’t up to you, and make them all about you. Because they’re not going to go your way most of the time. So if you

just focus on things like chasing creative ideas that are exciting to you, and making music that is rewarding and challenging for you, then it’s a win.”

‘DON’T WRITE YOURSELF OFF YET’

Jimmy Eat World had been a staple in the DIY scene for nearly a decade by the time their millennial sleeper hit thumped the band into the radio-rock stratosphere. The accompanying Bleed American LP, which would reach certi-

fied platinum status just over a year after its release, came on the heels of the band’s 1999 major-label masterpiece Clarity — a critical and commercial turning point for the group after years of grinding in the emo underground alongside acts like Sunny Day Real Estate and Colorado’s own Christie Front Drive.

Now, three decades and nearly a dozen albums later, the hardscrabble quartet pauses for a rare moment of reflection as they mark 30 years with a 30-city anniversary tour — coming to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on July 25 — alongside co-headliners Manchester Orchestra and Australian upstarts Middle Kids. According to Jimmy Eat World co-founder Lind, whose dad once coached the Denver Zephyrs minor-league baseball team and whose muscular percussion has propelled the band since day one, the milestone offers a chance to take stock after the whirlwind of the outfit’s relentless and remarkable career so far.

“I don’t think we really stop and look back too often. We’ve always been kind of future-oriented. We’re thinking about the next thing we want to tackle,” Lind says. “You put one foot in front of the other for so long, and then you finally turn back and look around and say, ‘Wow. We’ve accomplished a lot.’”

But when it comes to measuring those accomplishments, the band’s yardstick isn’t eye-popping record sales, stadium-filling tours or front-ofthe-pack chart positions. To hear

Ahead of their July 25 stop at Red Rocks on the band’s 30th anniversary tour, emo arena-rockers Jimmy Eat World spoke to Boulder Weekly about their favorite Colorado memories. Photo by Jimi Giannatti.

Since emerging as trailblazers in the second-wave emo scene of the 1990s, the Arizona-born quartet Jimmy Eat World has become one of the century’s biggest names in rock music. Photo by Lupe Bustos.

bassist Rick Burch tell it, there’s a simpler motivation for chasing the light with his bandmates all these years — and it hasn’t changed much since he joined the ranks in 1995.

“For me, the band was initially about having fun with friends and seeing new places. And coincidentally, that’s still one of the main things I enjoy about it,” says Burch, who took over on bass ahead of the group’s formative sophomore LP Static Prevails. “That’s how it has become such a massive part of my life. It’s that thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.”

‘THE MIDDLE OF THE RIDE’ Adkins shares a similar appreciation for the basic formula that has kept Jimmy Eat World from careening down the path of too many long-running music acts who outlive their sense of urgency. He says it’s about cultivating gratefulness around the fundamentals.

“If you’re alive in your 40s, to have something in your life that’s been a consistent thing for most of it — if not the main thing — is kind of wild. And it’s definitely not an opportunity that a lot of people get to take advantage of,” he says. “Gratitude is the first thing I go to.

JIMMY EAT COLORADO

It’s rare, so you better enjoy what you’re doing. Not everyone gets to do it. If you’re not actively seeking out something rewarding every single day that you’re doing this thing, then what are you doing? Your time is the most expensive thing you have. It’s priceless. Don’t waste it.”

This keen sense of our numbered days is key when it comes to maintaining Adkins’ sense of the urgent and ever-present now, that “something loud” he still feels part of with the mighty little emo band he started in the Arizona desert 30 years ago. For the

Arizona’s favorite sons on the charms of the Centennial State

“Colorado was an important place for us because we could drive there to start a tour circuit. We made friends early on with the guys in Christie Front Drive, who all lived in the Denver area. Almost every tour or eastward loop, Denver — or Boulder, actually — would be on our list of early places to hit. We played all the time at the old Arapahoe Warehouse [in Denver], where some of the Christie Front Drive guys lived, and Club 156 in Boulder.

It’s funny: Stuff like that, I can recall instantly. People I met last week? My kids’ friends’ parents’ names? No. But Club 156 in Boulder — yeah, I still remember everything about playing there.”

— JIM ADKINS, VOCALS AND GUITAR

“My grandparents lived in a tiny town called Timnath, Colorado. It’s just outside of Fort Collins. They’re no longer with us, unfortunately. But in the early days of the band, we would go and stay with them when we didn’t really have any other place. They had a fifth-wheel camper they parked on their property where we would stay and hang out. They were awesome grandparents. I have vivid memories of going to visit them after landing in Denver and driving up to Fort Collins. I always have a soft spot for that — it’s one of the prettiest drives. Whenever we do it [now], I try to make sure I’m sitting at the front of the bus by the window to take it in.”

— ZACH LIND, DRUMS

frontman of what has since arguably become the most defining pop-rock act of the century, that mindfulness helps keep his feet on the ground during each short step of an epic journey.

“Not everybody is going to come along for the ride with you every time. I’m under no illusion that even our most hardcore fan is going to love everything we do — that’s not gonna happen,” he says. “So it’s about keeping things in perspective: Celebrate the small victories and don’t let this stuff go to your head, because you’re just lucky to be here.”

ON THE BILL: Jimmy Eat

World with Manchester

Orchestra and Middle Kids. 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 25, Red Rocks

Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Resale: $75+

“I visit Colorado any chance I get. I’m an avid mountain bike rider, so one of my favorite places is Mary Jane over by Winter Park. You know: Ride the lift up, and have gravity take you down. I spent a few summers going up there riding bikes and just enjoying being up at the top of the Rockies. Just beautiful. I’d like to do more hiking — particularly around the Boulder area, and around Red Rocks. I just haven’t had the opportunity yet. So I’m hoping we get out there early enough to be able to head out on the morning of the show and do a little exploring.”

— RICK BURCH, BASS

AMERICAN DREAMING

Colorado premiere of ‘Edmonds Stories’ by Theater Company of Lafayette explores immigration at the turn of the 20th century

BY TONI TRESCA

Nora Douglass decided to get personal when she started working on her master’s thesis in playwriting at the University of Washington. Rather than writing a fictional story, she drew inspiration for her play, Edmonds Stories, from her family’s history of immigrating to the United States from Sweden in the early 1890s.

“The script is loosely based on my great-grandparents’ experience moving to Minnesota, then Seattle and finally Edmonds, Washington, sometime around 1892,” Douglass says. “My great-grandmother had five daughters, four of whom worshipped her and one of whom left town to live in Canada. Although this breach was not directly discussed, as a young child hiding behind the stove, I overheard my aunts discussing it and could tell that something major had occurred. Edmonds Stories explores mother-daughter conflicts and the difficulties faced by immigrant families.”

Douglass recently received the opportunity to revisit Edmonds Stories, which she first wrote more than 30 years ago in graduate school, thanks to her longtime friend and artistic director of the Theater Company of Lafayette (TCL), Madge Montgomery. They met as undergrads at the University of Puget Sound and, according to Douglass, were each other’s support systems while pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Washington.

Together, the duo produced the original workshop of the show at the university in 1988, which led to a mainstage production the following year. In 1990, Edmonds Stories participated in the ACTF Regional Festival at Western Washington University and was performed by the Driftwood Players in Edmonds as part of the City of Edmonds Centennial celebration.

“It is a dream come true to be working with Madge again on a play I thought had been put to bed,”

Douglass says. “Edmonds Stories was the first play I wrote in graduate school, and Madge directed that play in two different venues with two different casts. In many ways, I feel like I have returned home with this production at the Theater Company of Lafayette.”

‘A HUMAN STORY’

Edmonds Stories will make its Colorado debut on July 21 at Lafayette’s Mary Miller Theatre, running through Aug. 5. Set in Edmonds in 1900, the award-winning play examines the Medin family’s pursuit of the American dream. It also touches on the importance of honoring one’s heritage and questions how much immigrants are expected to sacrifice in order to assimilate.

“Immigration has become a hot-button topic,” says Montgomery, who is directing Edmonds Stories at TLC. “But unless you are Indigenous, you have immigrant stories in your family. Nora’s play is not overtly political; instead, it tells the story of ordinary people who happen to be immigrants adjusting to a new environment.”

Although the play contains weighty, introspective moments, the creative team says the production is full of heart. “While the subject is serious, there is a lot of humor,” Montgomery says. “It’s not a slog; there are a lot of dimensions to show the full experience

of immigrants. The play manages to be both deeply human and intensely personal while also being complex and layered. Edmonds Stories had been on my list of projects to direct again for a while because I thought the story would resonate with the community and work well in our theater.”

TLC’s intimate 75-seat theater allows audience members to easily connect with the family’s struggles; however, it also presents Montgomery with some directorial challenges.

“Our theater is a little unusual; it is a small space, but this is a big play,” she says. “As a director, it has been challenging adapting a piece that was written for a large space to our theater. We use the aisles and every inch of the space; there are 10 characters in the play, so that is a lot of actors on a little stage. Ultimately, I think the intimacy of our theater is a benefit for the production; this is a lovely human story, and I think people will feel emotionally close to it because they are physically close to the actors.”

The multicultural cast of Edmonds Stories at TLC, including two performers who immigrated to the U.S. from Brazil and the Philippines, highlights the universality of the immigrant experience and how, despite our differences, our stories are ultimately similar.

“I hope the audience understands the family’s struggles and triumphs to make America their home,” Douglass says. “I would like people to think about the larger societal implications of this personal story and remember to have empathy for people who are different and struggling to find their place in this country. We live in such a divisive era, but treating immigrants as a problem is not the answer; America is, and has always been, better off because of immigrants.”

ON STAGE: ‘Edmonds

Stories’ by Theater Company of Lafayette. Various times, July 21–Aug. 5. Mary Miller Theater, 300 E. Simpson St., Lafayette. $25

Running at Lafayette’s Mary Miller Theater through Aug. 5, Edmonds Stories follows “ordinary people who happen to be immigrants adjusting to a new environment.” Photos by Hannah Richards.

20

POOLSIDE SIPPERS WINE

TASTING

4-6 p.m. Thursday, July 20, Dedalus Wine Shop and Market, 1825 Pearl St., Suite B, Boulder. Free

Looking for the perfect summer wine for your next outdoor function? Whether that means unwinding by the pool or just spraying the kids down with the garden hose, you’ll want to drop by this wine tasting at Dedalus Boulder for a taste of southern France right here on the Front Range.

21

’90S NIGHT

5-10 p.m. Friday, July 21, Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. $10

Nineties kids, rejoice! This themed beergarden blowout at Left Hand Brewing will feed your nostalgia for the “raddest era” with a mobile arcade, ice cream truck, live music and plenty of award-winning craft beer. So grab your flannel, your shutter shades and your best chunky sneakers for this thirst-quenching throwback in Longmont.

22

CATURDAY YOGA

8:45-9:45 a.m. Saturday, July 22, Purrfect Pause Cat Cafe, 5290 Arapahoe Ave., Unit E, Boulder. $20

Work on your cat pose during this felinefriendly yoga session at Purrfect Pause Cat Cafe. Join the establishment’s resident yogi, who will be your guide on this one-of-a-kind yoga journey alongside more than a dozen kitties who call the cafe home. The session is open to all experience levels. There’s just one important requirement: Must love cats.

21

DANCING IN THE STREET

5:30-10 p.m. Friday, July 21, Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, 1770 13th St., Boulder. Free

Head to downtown Boulder between Canyon Boulevard and Arapahoe Avenue for an open-air dance party. Featuring performances and immersive lessons covering everything from salsa and swing to belly-dancing, the evening wraps up with a social dance at 8:30 p.m. to the genre-scrambling cuts of DJ Romeo Wong Henderson.

21

GOLDEN HOUR HAPPY HOUR

5-7 p.m. Friday, July 21, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. $15

Happy hour is always happier on a rooftop. That’s why the Museum of Boulder is inviting you to join them for their weekly Golden Hour Happy Hour event featuring libations and live DJs with a breathtaking view. This week’s festivities will feature beverage samples from Dirty Dill and music from multidisciplinary artist Soul Lorain.

22

TOOL EXPERIENCED

10-11 p.m. Saturday, July 22, Fiske Planetarium, 2414 Regent Drive, Boulder. $12

You know the pieces fit, ’cause you’ll be among the diehards at TOOL Experienced — a liquid-light and laser show at Fiske Planetarium, celebrating the music of the alt-metal standard bearers. Whether you’re a longtime devotee, or you’re just looking for a trippy and head-banging night of awe-inspiring visuals, you won’t want to miss it.

OPEN AND 4-H HORSE SHOW

8 a.m. Saturday, July 22, Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. Free

Head to the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont for a little horsing around. This year’s Open and 4-H Horse Show — benefiting the Boulder County 4-H Horse Judging Team — will feature a silent auction, trail warm-up, training tack classes, judge’s critique and more. It’s sure to be the most fun you can have on four hooves this weekend.

23

INTRO TO COFFEE AND CUPPING

9-11 a.m. Sunday, July 23, OZO Coffee Roastery Cafe & Lab, 1898 South Flatiron Court, Suite 110, Boulder. $100

Ever wonder how that morning jolt made its way to your cup? Join the bean geniuses at OZO Coffee to learn all about the process, while enjoying some eye-opening brews along the way. By the end of the morning, you’ll be able to discern how different methods influence the final product using only your nose and taste buds.

23

MORNING MEDITATION

10:30-11:15 a.m. Sunday, July 23, Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram, 2875 County Road 67, Boulder. $15 (sliding scale)

Need a Sunday-morning slow down? Join Eldorado Ashram’s resident Swami, Rudrani Ma, for a rejuvenating A.M. meditation to “discover the Goddesses of Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism in a new light with a practitioner who has worked with this connection for years.”

27

PICNIC ON THE PLAZA

Noon-1 p.m. Thursday, July 27, Festival Plaza, 311 S. Public Road, Lafayette. Free

22

STUDIO AND RANCH TOUR

11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, Claire McArdle Studio and Hanging Ten Ranch, 10145 North 65th St., Longmont. Free

Get up close and personal with the creative process during this guided tour of Claire McArdle Studio and Hanging Ten Ranch. You’ll learn all about how the local artist transforms raw stone into amazing sculptures, in addition to enjoying the gorgeous natural scenery.

Registration is encouraged for this artfocused day on the ranch in East County.

23

SUMMER HERITAGE MORNING

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday, July 23, Walker Ranch Homestead, 7701 Flagstaff Road, Boulder. Free

Step into the past at Walker Ranch Homestead. From blacksmith demos and log-house cooking to old-fashioned games, butter-churning, a general store and more, you’ll travel back to the late 19th century during this immersive historical event that’s fun for the whole family.

Nothing says summertime like a picnic. So grab your spread and head to downtown Lafayette for a weekly community gathering on the city’s Festival Plaza, featuring a rotating lineup of local musicians to soundtrack your Thursday afternoon. The upcoming July 27 event features a performance by JiDaJi you won’t want to miss.

Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.

FRI. 7/21 - 8:00PM

DAVE TAMKIN & CO AND ANTONIO LOPEZ W/ SPECIAL GUEST

CHRISTOPHER MORSE Starts at $15.00

SAT. 7/22 - 8:00PM

GOOD MUSIC

MEDICINE

MON. 7/24 - 6:30PM

ROOTS MUSIC

PROJECT COMMUNITY OPEN MIC W/ HOST STEVE KOPPE

TUE. 7/25 - 6.30PM

PAUL SODERMAN AND THE OGS WITH NASHVILLE’S CHRIS TAYLOR

EVERY WEDNSDAY BOULDER

BLUEGRASS JAM

THU. 7/27 - 7:00PM

PRE-PARTY BOULDER BIG HOOTENANY FOR CONSCIOUS ALLIANCE

SAT. 8/5 - 8:30PM

JEFF CROSBY

FRI. 8/11 - 8:00PM

PETER KARP BAND

SAT. 8/12 - 7:00PM

PINE TOP PERKINS BENEFIT WITH BOB MARGOLIN

TUE. 8/15 - 8:00PM

WILL EVANS (OF BAREFOOT TRUTH)

SAT. 8/19 - 9:00PM

SQUEAKY FEET

THU. 8/24 - 7:00PM

CLAY ROSE SINGER SONGWRITER

FRI. 8/25 - 8:00PM

TERESA STORCH BAND WITH MACKENZIE RAE

Purchase Tickets at RMPtix.com RootsMusicProject.org

4747 Pearl Suite V3A

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, JULY 20

CAAMP WITH LADY WRAY AND TUCKER GILL 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $65

GII ASTORGA 6 p.m. 300 Suns Brewing, 335 1st Ave., Unit C, Longmont. Free

TONY CRANK 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

SELASEE & THE FAFA FAMILY WITH JACK CAMPBELL DUO

6:30 p.m. Louisville Community Park, 955 Bella Vista Drive. Free

STEVE VIDAIC QUARTET

7:30 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. Free

FLASH MOUNTAIN FLOOD & RADO

9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $15

MICHAEL CHRISTIE 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 198 Morning Glory Drive, Boulder. $18

DREADNOUGHT WITH IZTHMI AND GHOSTS OF GLACIERS

8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15

ANDREW DUHON WITH LONELY CHOIR 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $20

FRIDAY, JULY 21

JEFF TWEEDY WITH LE REN 6:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $45. BW Pick of the Week

ARLO MCKINLEY. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $15

LITTLE FEAT WITH LEFTOVER SALMON 7 p.m. Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, 6350 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Greenwood Village. $49

STS9 WITH DUFFREY 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $40

NATHAN & ZYDECO CHA CHAS

9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $20

ON THE BILL

SWEET PORK WITH AMORE VITA.

7 p.m. The End Lafayette, 525 Courtney Way. $20

GASOLINE LOLLIPOPS 5:30 p.m. Steinbaugh Pavilion, 824 Front St., Louisville. Free

ROCK STEADY FREDDY 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

GOLDEN FEATURES WITH DON

FUEGO AND TANTOK 9 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $25

LIME CORDIALA WITH LITTLE TRIPS

9 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $30

SATURDAY, JULY 22

MF RUCKUS WITH THE BLIND STAGGERS AND IPECAC 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $20

STS9 WITH DUFFREY 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $40

THE WOOD BROTHERS 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 198 Morning Glory Drive, Boulder. $40

GOOD MUSIC MEDICINE. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl, Suite V3A, Boulder. $12

After establishing himself during his decades as frontman of the legendary Chicago indie-rock outfit Wilco, critically lauded singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy comes to Boulder Theater for a solo performance at the iconic downtown venue. Expect cuts from Tweedy’s growing personal catalog, along with some old favorites from his band’s celebrated discography, with support from Montreal artist Le Ren See listing for details.

MOON DIAL WITH CLEMENTINE AND BIG PINCH 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $15

CLIFFSIDE RODEO 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

KIWI JR WITH MAINLAND BREAK AND CANDY CHIC 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15

BLOOKAH WITH SPIRIT MOTEL, JAMESIK AND SIAH RAIN’N. 6 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $10

SUNDAY, JULY 23

PORTUGAL. THE MAN WITH THE COLORADO SYMPHONY AND THEE SACRED SOUL. 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $50

THE BELOVED INVADERS

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

RAINBOW GIRLS 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $15

AVERAGE WITH SATELLITE FRIEND, SPONGEBONG HEMPPANTS AND STEPHEN LEAR BAND 4 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $14

LOCATE S,1 WITH DETH RALI AND MELISSA JONES 8 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $15

BUSCABULLA WITH BRIJEAN

8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $25

MONDAY, JULY 24

BOULDER CONCERT BAND

7 p.m. Martin Park, 36th and Eastman Avenue, Boulder. Free

TUESDAY, JULY 25

BRAHMS, BRITTEN & POULENC

7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. $18

JIMMY EAT WORLD WITH MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA AND MIDDLE KIDS 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $45. Story on p. 13

BRAID WITH DESPAIR JORDAN AND CHAP 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $33

WEDNESDAY, JULY 26

EKKSTACY WITH 60JUNO

8 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $20

LAURIE D 4:30 p.m. Roadhouse Boulder Depot, 2366 Junction Place, Boulder. Free

BANDS ON THE BRICKS 1300 Block of the Pearl Street Mall, 1325 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

TROPA MAGICA WITH DON CHICARRÓN, AND MOVETE CHIQUITA VINYL CLUB. 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $20

NOAH KAHAN WITH BRISTON MARONEY 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $350

AMBROSIA 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $38

Other green options include body composting (natural reduction) and water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis). We also offer flame cremation.

When entrepreneurs come up with plans to redevelop the strip, it’s up to Bourbon Room staff and egocentric rock star Stacee Jaxx to save their beloved club. Featuring music by bands including Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Poison and more, this rock musical pays tribute to the hair bands of the 80’s! This production is rated PG-13 for adult themes

GET

‘ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA’

New documentary introduces viewers to outsider filmmaker Isaac Nabwana

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

Isaac Nabwana was a bricklayer with movies on his mind. But Uganda didn’t have the resources for Isaac’s dreams. By Isaac’s admission, his neighborhood, Wakaliga, is a ghetto, a small village littered with refuse and an open sewage channel running through town. Electricity is spotty. Money is a luxury. No matter: Isaac had enough creativity to overcome it all. Here he built Wakaliwood. To say Isaac started with nothing is to undersell his origin story. After laying bricks all day, Isaac went home to write scripts — dozens of them. Then,

they were eaten by termites. No matter; Isaac kept on keeping on. When he got his hands on a DV camera, he had to build his own computers from spare parts to edit the footage. But the heat in Wakaliga is oppressive, the dust constant. Hard drives failed, processors seized, data chips got lost. Nothing deterred Isaac, and he continued creating his special brand of action comedies, each populated with friends, family and neighbors. “I want people to laugh,” he tells the documentary crew following him. “If you’re watching my movie and you

are sad, then I’ve done nothing.”

Directed by New York-based documentarian Cathryne Czubek, Once Upon a Time in Uganda is the story of Isaac and the man who helped bring Isaac’s movies to greater attention. That man is Alan Hofmanis, a movie lover, programmer and the protagonist in Once Upon a Time in Uganda. Alan estimates Isaac has made about 40 movies in 11 years, each costing about $200 and taking a month to complete. With no industry to utilize, Isaac and his wife distribute the movies by hand on DVD-Rs to surrounding villages. Isaac wishes they played in area theaters, but class barriers stand in his way. It bothers Isaac, sure, but not enough to discourage him. He just keeps making movies.

That spirit attracted Alan to Isaac and Czubek to their story. Alan saw a trailer for one of Isaac’s movies on YouTube and was impressed with the work and the high number of views.

The world must know more about Isaac Nabwana, Alan surmised, and he dropped everything and relocated to Wakaliga. For a while, Alan and Isaac were the closest of partners, making Isaac’s special “beating up the white person” genre — extremely popular in Wakaliga and the surrounding villages. But then the world did discover Isaac, and a schism developed between the two.

Alan returned to New York but continued to spread the word. That makes Alan a good entry point into this story, but a frustrating protagonist. Alan is a soldier of cinema, no doubt about it. But when Czubek follows Alan back to New York and around the world promoting Isaac’s movies, it’s hard not to feel like Isaac is being pushed out of a story about him. Isaac seems to feel the same way. In early scenes, he is welcoming of Czubek’s camera. As Once Upon a Time enters the third act, Isaac seems more reserved, less gregarious.

It’s a disappointing shift because the first half of Once Upon a Time in Uganda is about as electric as any movie about filmmaking you’ll find. And the way Czubek weaves in bits and pieces about class struggle, social critique and the impetus behind Isaac’s hyper-violent and cartoonish style of action feels so smart, it’s a wonder why the documentary landed in a crowd-pleasing climax when it could have taken many different roads.

But maybe that’s not the point. Maybe the point is to do what Alan set out to do in the first place and show the world the wonder of Isaac Nabwana. And for that, Once Upon a Time in Uganda is a treat.

ON SCREEN:

Once

Upon a Time in Uganda, 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 21, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $12

Directed by New York-based documentarian Cathryne Czubek, ‘Once Upon a Time in Uganda’ is the story of Isaac Nabwana and the man who helped bring his films to greater attention. Photo courtesy Drafthouse Films.

Ground-level ozone is invisible and the Front Range’s biggest air quality issue. Created from pollutants like car exhaust, ozone is a leading cause of respiratory problems.

Improving our air quality takes all of us, and there are many ways to help.

We encourage you to #JustSkipTwo car trips a week, mow your lawn after 5 p.m., don’t idle your car, telework a few days each week, and take the bus, bike, or walk.

Sign up for air quality alerts and learn more about the simple steps you can do to help.

SimpleStepsBetterAir.org

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Your deep psyche will soon well up with extra creativity and fertility. I hope you will eagerly tap into these gifts. You should assume that you will be more imaginative and ingenious than usual. You will have an enhanced ability to solve problems with vigor and flair. In what areas of your life would you love to gently erupt with a burst of reinvention? Which of your habits might benefit from being cheerfully disrupted? Give yourself permission to change whatever bores you.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): My teacher Paul Foster Case said the color yellow is midway between warm, exciting red and cool, calming blue. “Yellow has an equilibrating influence,” he wrote. “It stimulates the finer functions of the brain, is of assistance in developing alertness and discrimination, and helps to establish emotional balance.” According to my astrological analysis, Taurus, you should emphasize this hue in the coming days. If you call on yellow to help strengthen the qualities Case describes, you will place yourself in sweet alignment with cosmic rhythms.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Because I enjoy joking with you, I am slightly tempted right now to give you one of the following nicknames: Fidgety, Twitch, Jittery, Quivers, or Shakes. But I will take a more serious tack. Let’s instead see if we can influence you to slow down, stabilize your rhythm, get really steady and secure, and stand strong in your foundational power spot. Would you consider adopting any of the following nicknames? Anchor, Unshakeable, Sturdy, Rock Solid, Staunch, Steadfast, Resolute.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): The sometimes overly clever author Oscar Wilde said, “When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” I reject that warped view of reality and assure you it will have no bearing on your life in the coming weeks. If you formulate your prayers with care and discernment, they will lead you to rewards, not problems. Maybe not the exact rewards you imagined, but still close to your hopes and helpful in the next chapter of your life story. (PS: No sloppy, lazy, careless prayers, please. Be precise and clear.)

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Leo theologian Bernard McGinn defines mysticism as “the consciousness of the immediate presence of God.” In other words, people having a mystic experience are filled with a visceral sensation of the divine intelligence. It’s not just an idea or concept; it’s a deeply felt communion infused with intimate tenderness. You Leos will be more likely than usual to have such contact in the coming weeks — if you want it. If you don’t want it, or don’t believe it’s real, or don’t think it’s possible, well, then, you can of course resist it. But why not give it a whirl? There’s nothing to lose, and it could be fun.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Here’s a parable for you. Once upon a time, there was a woman who could read the future in the night sky. She regarded the planets and stars as her divine informants. On one moonless evening, she took a walk down a dirt road near her home. It was so dark she could barely see two feet ahead of her. Oops! She should have brought a flashlight. Lost in wonder, she gazed up at the heavenly bodies, watching and listening for revelations they might have for her. Then one of the lights, the planet Saturn, whispered, “Stop and look down, friend.” The woman turned her eyes from the sky to the ground just in time to find she was two strides away from stepping into a deep, muddy hole. What’s the moral of the tale? Here are some possibilities. 1. Sometimes the heights provide useful information about the depths. 2. Soaring visions may help you tune in to practical details. 3. To become aware of important facts you’ve overlooked in your daily rhythm, consult your higher mind.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): A Libran writer I know received many rejection notices when he launched his career. I was amazed at how undaunted he was. In fact, he was the opposite of undaunted. He taped copies of his rejection notices to his bedroom wall. Seeing the evidence of his failures motivated him. It drove him to improve his writing and churn out even more articles. It fueled his search for a wider array of publications that might host his work. During the fourth year of this approach, luck and fate turned in his favor. Within the next eight months, 12 of his pieces appeared in print. My muses tell me, Libra, that you need to hear this story right now.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): The cartoon character Bart Simpson is one of the stars of The Simpsons animated TV show. According to him, “Life is a paradox. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” While that principle may sometimes be true, I believe you will be exempt from it in the coming weeks. In fact, I suspect you will be as free as it’s possible for a human to be of grueling contradictions, frustrating oppositions, clashing truths, and paralyzing contraries. There’s a good chance you will also outwit and avoid annoying incongruities and silly arguments. Congratulations in advance, Scorpio! Take full advantage of this phase of simple clarity.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): The dragon has appeared in the myths and legends of many cultures. Europe, China, and Mesoamerica are just a few places where the fire-breathing flying reptiles have fascinated the human imagination. In some traditions, they are dangerous and predatory. In China, though, they have been harbingers of good fortune and symbols of great power. Emperors claimed the dragon as their special emblem. In assigning the dragon to be your soul creature, Sagittarius, I am drawing from Chinese lore. What would you like to accomplish that would benefit from you having access to fierce, dynamic, indomitable energy? Call on the dragon for help and power.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): “There is a world of people who will love you for who you are,” writes author Cheryl Strayed. “A whole, vibrant, fucked-up, happy, conflicted, joyous, and depressed mass of people.” In the coming months, one of your prime tasks is to specialize in communing with these folks. Make it your intention to surround yourself more and more with interesting, imperfect, everchanging life-lovers who appreciate you for exactly who you are—and who inspire you to grow more and more into the full idiosyncratic glory of your authentic self.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): What psychic or prophet is most popular with a-list celebrities? I can assure you it’s not me. Few of my millions of readers are worldfamous. What about the planet’s most scientifically accurate astrologer? Who might that be? It ain’t me. I don’t regard astrology as a science, and I mistrust those who say it is. In my view, astrology is a mythopoetic language and psychospiritual system that nurtures our souls and helps liberate us from our conditioning. We shouldn’t try to get “scientifically accurate” information from it. Now I encourage you to do what I just did, Aquarius. Have fun telling people who you are not, what you don’t believe in, and which goals you aren’t interested in pursuing.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): To come up with your astrological reports, I study the positions of the sun, moon and planets in relation to your sign. That’s the technical part of the work, the framework within which I unleash my intuition and imagination. To augment this work, I meditate and pray, asking higher powers to guide me in providing useful information for you. I often consult books written by my favorite astrology writers. (Currently reading Steven Forrest’s The Elements Series.) I also ask my deep mind to slip me info that might not be accounted for by traditional factors. How about you, Pisces? How do you do the work that you love and care about? Now is a good time to take inventory and make necessary adjustments.

If you could see Colorado’s air, you would want to improve it.

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

Q: How much pineapple should I be eating?

A: Most commercial pineapple growers use a lot of pesticides and other agrochemicals in the production of this slowgrowing fruit, which isn’t good for the environment or the health of agriculture workers. Furthermore, unless you live in South America, the pineapples you’re eating most likely traveled thousands of miles to get to you, which means their carbon footprints are huge. So, you should be eating only organic pineapple, if you’re eating any at all, and even then only as a special treat.

P.S. If this is about the taste of your cum — and pineapple questions are always about the taste of your cum it doesn’t matter how many pineapples you eat, your cum will never taste like room temp froyo.

Q: Is licking ripe armpits bad for my health? My boys and I like to sniff and lick each other’s pits after sweaty workouts. Can that bacteria in there do evil things?

A: There’s a decent amount of bacteria in your boys’ armpits, but there’s way more bacteria in their mouths and yours — between six and 20 billion bacteria per mouth. Still, the 700+ species of bacteria found in your mouth and your boys’ armpits are mostly benign. The same can’t be said for the bacteria living all over the equipment at the gym where you work out. Wipe your gym equipment down before use!

Q: I feel like a bit of an outlier in this, and maybe it’s just porn that makes me feel this way, but I won’t suck a dick after it’s been inside me. I also won’t take a dick if it’s just been in someone else. Am I a germophobe?

A: Do you kiss boys on the mouth? Do you suck their dicks? Do you go to the gym? If the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” then you’re not a germophobe. As for ATM (“ass to mouth”), you can ignore the messages porn is sending you: that shit definitely isn’t for everyone.

Q: When should you reveal to a would-be partner that you’re not as thin as they think you might be? If you used to be thin, and their mental image of you is how you used to look, and they haven’t seen you lately, do you need to disclose that you are now, in fact, fat before anything happens? Or do you wait until they see you in person and let them see it for themselves?

A: Well, it depends on what kind of rejection you’re more comfortable risking here — and to be clear, I’m not saying you will be rejected because you’re not as skinny as you used to be. And I’m certainly not suggesting you should be rejected for that reason. But if being rejected because of your size when you meet face-to-face for the next time would be more painful than being rejected before that face-to-face meeting, you’re going to want to disclose that fact in advance. If you don’t say something and/or send some current pics, you will be tense when you arrive; after you’ve arrived, you’ll be so busy scrutinizing every look or statement for evidence that your size is a problem that you won’t be able to relax, enjoy yourself, and be yourself. Tell them.

CHEWING THE FAUX FAT

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

It’s like a scene from The Matrix films set in the produce aisle at Sprouts: A woman offers a sample of a new local meat alternative. My mind knows it isn’t steak, even though it smells like steak. I’m told it isn’t meat. But once I hear the sizzling and start chewing it no longer matters. My mouth says: “Mmmm, flank steak.”

I expect to be underwhelmed by the “Classic Steak” from Boulder’s Meati Foods. As green apple Jolly Ranchers are to real Granny Smith apples, so are most plant-based burgers compared to fresh ground beef.

I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I’ve tasted generations of pulled jackfruit

barbecue and plant-based burgers in the line of duty. Most of them taste like good-faith imitations, simulations of the flavor and texture of meat meant to remind you of flesh. But the nose and taste buds know faux.

Meati’s steaks and chicken-like cutlets are different. They don’t crumble but tear into chewable muscle-like fibers, minus the fat and bone. They also lack the blast of fermented flavor that make

WHERE TO DINE LIKE THE JOKER

Colorado is still basking in the glow of the Denver Nuggets’ recent crowning as NBA Champions. The triumph spotlighted the team’s down-to-earth MVP, Serbian-born Nikola “The Joker” Jokić. A reader wonders:

“Where can I taste the Serbian cuisine The Joker loves?”

The simple answer is that no Boulder or Denver eateries specialize in Serbian cuisine. However, it’s complicated once you realize how close

meatless burgers decidedly not taste like ground beef.

“Everyone wants to eat a clean, healthy diet, but at the end of the day, flavor wins,” says Christina Ra, vice president of marketing communications at Meati Foods.

FLESHY FUNGI

Meati’s co-founders, Tyler Huggins and Justin Whitely, met while pursuing

Ph.D.s at the University of Colorado Boulder.

“They realized they both had a profound interest in creating a more sustainable future,” Ra says. The duo decided to focus on meat alternatives.

“They went through thousands of species and strains of mycelium to find the one fungi that grows fast, is naturally super nutritious and incapable of producing toxins. Flavorwise, the one they

Serbia is to Eastern European countries such as Greece and Turkey.

For instance, Serbia is only about 600 miles from Ukraine. By comparison, cities 600 or less miles from Boulder include Phoenix, Las Vegas and Oklahoma City.

Serbia’s crossroads cuisine ranges from schnitzels, sarma (meat and rice filled cabbage rolls), and gibanica (egg and cheese filo pie), to paprika chile-spiced stews and grilled meats.

There are plenty of local spots where you can taste dishes similar to those served in Serbia. In Boulder, you can sample the Mediterranean aspects of the cuisine at Kalita Greek Cafe (2426 Arapahoe Ave.) and the Mediterranean Market (2690 28th St.). Afghani flavors are on the menu at Silk Road Grill and Market (2607 Pearl St., Boulder).

Westminster is home to Cracovia Restaurant (8121 W. 94th Ave.), which dishes Polish favorites like cabbage rolls. Closely related Russian fare is available in Denver at Masha and the Bear (12101 E. Iliff Ave.), and at Molotov Kitschen (3333 E. Colfax Ave.). Hard-to-find Armenian goodies are a delight at Denver’s family-owned House of Bread (2020 S. Parker Road).

Denver and Aurora also offer many Middle Eastern spots such as the delightful Istanbul Cafe & Bakery (850 S. Monaco Parkway, Unit 9) and its dozen baklava variations.

To taste a wider variety of foods from the region, check out the blood sausages and beer at the Polish Food Festival, Aug. 26-27 in Denver, and the diverse fare at the Taste of The Middle East Festival, Sept. 9 in Aurora.

Boulder’s Meati delivers a new mushroom-based steak that tastes and chews like the real thing

Credit: Meati Foods

Belgrade, Serbia

found is a blank canvas for foods,” she says.

Meati launched in 2022 and its products are currently only available at Sprouts Markets. Grown rapidly in fermentation tanks at Meati’s new 100,000-square-foot Thornton facility, the fungi is harvested, seasoned and minimally processed into steaks or cutlets before being frozen.

“Meati is a complete whole food protein with all the fiber and tons of vitamins and micronutrients intact,” Ra says.

MAKING MEATI TASTE MEATY

Right now, the Meati line includes Classic Steak, Carne Asada Steak, Classic Cutlet and Crispy Cutlet. Like preparing chicken, beef or pork, cooking Meati’s fungi flesh requires some attention to detail if you want it to taste great.

The Classic Steak and Classic Cutlets, like plain steak or chicken breast, are bland. They need to be marinated or seasoned while sauteing or grilling. The cooking time depends on whether you start with the product frozen or thawed.

The Crispy Cutlet with gluten-free

breading is a textural dead ringer for the type of boneless fried chicken that launched the Sandwich Wars a few years ago. Just spray it with a little oil and bake in an air fryer until brown and crispy.

Cooking Meati’s Carne Asada

Steaks at home, I follow Ra’s advice, drying off the thawed “steaks,” frying them extra long in a little coconut oil and flipping them several times.

It’s also important to let Meati, like roast turkey or beef, rest for a few minutes after cooking. The result is the caramelization, chew and crust that gives meat a lot of its appeal. Flavorwise, Meati manages to mimic the umami notes that make meat so craveable. The Carne Asada doesn’t need any additional seasoning.

“[My kids will] use the Classic Cutlet in stir fries or with some barbecue sauce. The Carne Asada is spicier, so that’s for tacos for the adults,” Ra says. Because it holds its shape, Meati works well in a range of recipes.

Nobody is pretending that Meati perfectly replicates an aged Wagyu ribeye or a farm-raised chicken, but with its huge environmental and health benefits, this “beef” and “chicken” just might shift the protein paradigm.

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: 40 YEARS OF LOAVES

● Great Harvest Bread Co. (2525 Arapahoe Ave.) is celebrating 40 years of grinding wheat to make bread in Boulder. It opened a decade after the Village Coffee Shop (1605 Folsom St.) opened across the way on Folsom Street.

● Happy 13th birthday to Eats & Sweets (401 S. Public Road), the cute Lafayette dessert, ice cream and lunch spot.

● Fried soft-shell crab and beef wrapped in betel leaves are dished at Tu’s Kitchen (6500 W. 120th Ave., Broomfield), an offshoot of Boulder’s Chez Thuy (2655 28th St.).

● Coming soon: Rocks & Hops Brewing (2516 49th St., Boulder).

WORDS TO CHEW ON: BACON DANGERS

“Slicing a warm slab of bacon is a lot like giving a ferret a shave. No matter how careful you are, somebody’s going to get hurt.”

— Alton Brown

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles Thursdays on KGNU. Podcasts: bit.ly/RadioNibbles

‘BIGGER AND BETTER’

Former OAK sous chef takes over the helm at Denver’s Redeemer Pizza

BY COLIN WRENN

When Devin Donohoe walked into Babette’s Bakery in Longmont looking for a job in 2020, he was surprised by a question: Do you do pizza?

Donohoe thought to himself: Why does this keep happening to me?

Pizza is foundational to Donohue’s career. He started slinging pies when he was 17 back in his hometown, working at the Memphis Pizza Cafe. After relocating to Colorado, he opened Pizza Bar 66 in Lyons in 2012 as chef and owner alongside friend and business partner Gavin Moore.

Armed with a lifetime of pizza pedagogy, Donohoe ran the takeout program at Babette’s throughout the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic: “I really learned about dough on a new level,” he says.

On April 20 of this year, Donohoe took over the helm at Redeemer Pizza, the Larimer Street eatery considered by many as the best pizza place in the Mile High City.

Redeemer Pizza launched in 2021 under the leadership of the same folks who own and operate nearby temple of all things pasta, Dio Mio. Redeemer’s mission is simple: craft top-notch pizza with the same less-ismore approach that made Dio Mio a

continue to step up their game and hone their technique. While Redeemer was getting in motion, Donohoe was similarly sharpening his talents at OAK at Fourteenth in Boulder. He acted as part of a team of sous chefs, delivering a series of elegant seasonal menus during his 18-month stay.

But Donohoe’s entry point to the Boulder cuisine scene was Mountain Sun, where he met chef John Bissell who was just beginning a career that would eventually find him running the show at OAK. “John’s a unicorn,” says Donohoe, adding that Bissell’s influence has helped shape him into the chef he is today.

While pizza has been an ongoing theme in Donohoe’s career, he also takes his fine dining chops seriously. Early on, he attended the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin, a nowshuttered school associated with Le Cordon Bleu. After graduating he returned to Memphis where he worked at Jarrett’s under chef Rick Farmer doing bread and American regional cuisine. “Bigger and better has always been my get-down. I really like unique stuff and I like a challenge,” says Donohoe.

His approach at Redeemer is similar to White’s. Both chefs have an elevat-

their unpretentious philosophy and method when it comes to both deepdish and New York-style pies. The now-collaborators first cooked together roughly a year and a half ago during OAK’s Italian Week, where White was acting as a visiting chef and making his signature pasta.

New to the menu is the pork shank. The hefty plate arrives tender and bone-in, the meat having been braised, fried, glazed and then coated in a thick outer crust of toasted sesame and pepperoni crumble. It’s a refined dish, one that would have no problem fitting in on one of Bissell’s fabulous menus at OAK. He also updated the sandwich offerings to include the pork banh mi, which has thick slabs of fried pork cutlet, housemade pate mousse, pickled daikon and carrots on top of housemade focaccia. The bread alone is reason enough to visit.

Non-pizza items have always been an attraction at Redeemer, but Donohoe has upped the ante. But his goal for Redeemer is bigger than revising the menu and updating the culture. “I want Denver to be known for fire pizza. I’m trying to make people stoked and have somewhere they can be proud of and hold down when they go somewhere else,” he says. “It’s important to keep your block hot.”

Beyond championing his home turf, Donohoe wants to rank among his idols, like New York’s Scarr’s Pizza and Danny Boy in L.A. “We’re pushing the envelope on what a pizzeria can do,” he says.

Donohoe says there will be plenty to look forward to as he continues to establish his footing at the pizzeria, though he’s been sworn to secrecy on some of the details: “We don’t like to count our chickens, but we do like to cook ’em.”

The Larimer Street eatery Redeemer Pizza is currently known in many circles as the best pizza place in Denver. Former Boulder chef Devin Donohoe (left) took over the helm at Denver’s Redeemer Pizza in April of this year. Photos courtesy Redeemer Pizza.

GROWING PAINS

BY WILL BRENDZA

Cultivating cannabis is an environmentally dirty business.

Indoor grows require immense energy to keep the lights on, the HVAC systems running and the temperature consistent. Cannabis production in Colorado emits more carbon than the state’s mining industry, according to CSU researchers. Researchers in Illinois found that cannabis requires more water than almost any other commodity crop.

Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division reports more than 1.2 million plants are cultivated monthly statewide. The cumulative effect on the environment is not insignificant. If it continues at this rate, the consequences will stack up.

But Eloisa Lewis has a solution: grow outdoors.

Lewis is the founder of New Climate Science, a consulting company that connects researchers and creatives in search of solutions to reverse global warming.

“We want to help cannabis cultivators and producers and warehouses everyone in the supply chain adopt sustainable practices,” she says.

New Climate Culture works with farmers and agricultural companies across the board, but cannabis cultivators are its bread and butter. Lewis has a soft spot: Cannabis was the first crop she ever farmed. She developed a passion for the plant and a fascination with the most sustainable ways to cultivate it.

After years of research, working on farms, and learning from masters of regenerative forms of agriculture, Lewis believes there is a clean way of growing cannabis in a circular economy.

“When you farm something sustainably, it’s going to detox the environment,” Lewis says. “It’s going to pull pollutants out of the air, and return them to the soil. It’s going to help nourish and create more living, robust soil.”

And it all starts with farming cannabis outdoors instead of indoors. First and foremost, because it makes the plants more resilient to disease and pests. Lewis likens it to a human’s immune system becoming more robust with exposure to pathogens. Indoor-grown plants are raised in a sterile environment that weakens their genetics, making them more prone to disease and pestilence over generations.

In fact, Lewis has seen the practice in action and knows it improves crops. She works with a farm in Connecticut called The CBG Gurus, run by Shawn Magill. She calls Magill’s acreage a “world-class demonstration site where the best regenerative practices are actively in place.” The operation collects rainwater throughout the year to supplement water usage and insulate against municipal grid shutdowns and natural disasters.

CBG Gurus also practice polyculture, raising chickens and rabbits and growing fungi, radishes, strawberries and fruit trees. The animals spread seeds through excrement and till soil with their beaks and feet. The crops are left unharvested so they can decay into the soil, enriching it.

Lewis is a huge proponent of both JADAM and KNF farming. These styles of regenerative farming come from Korea and implement organic, Indigenous fertilizer. Farmers take bacterial cultures from the soil and use the natu-

ral enzymes present to repel pests.

It’s also another opportunity to cut costs. Ordering industrial agriculture fertilizers online can cost as much as $30 a gallon, whereas natural enzymebased pesticides cost as little as $7 a gallon to make, and produce no carbon footprint associated with shipping.

The same goes for energy usage: Outdoor cultivators won’t be using HVAC systems or artificial lights. On top of that, there’s no need to import fresh soil and growing substrates like rockwool and coco coir.

There are limitations, she admits. Farming outdoors requires more land, and would likely require some kind of subsidy from the state government to encourage these kinds of best practices. But it is possible.

“It’s not so much about it being more expensive,” Lewis says. “It’s more like, what are we spending our money on? Isn’t the value of a repaired ecosystem and a regenerative farm worth the expense?”

Outdoor cannabis operations could be the key to making this energy-intensive industry more sustainable

PUBLIC NOTICE

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Estate of ROBERT ALLEN REID A/K/A ROBERT A. REID A/K/A ROBERT REID A/K/A ROBERT ALLEN REID, JR., Deceased

Case No.: 2023PR030264

All persons having claims against the above-named estate are required to present them to the Personal Representative or to the District Court of Boulder County, Colorado on or before November 23, 2023, or said claims may be forever barred.

Howard O. Bernstein, P.C. for William Elbert Reid, Personal Representative, Personal Representative 1111 Pearl Street, Suite 203 Boulder, Colorado 80302

Submit a letter to the editor

To submit a letter for publication to Boulder Weekly, please email letters@boulderweekly.com

Letters should include the author’s full name, address, and telephone number, and may be edited for length and clarity. If a submission is over 500 words, it will be considered as a guest opinion piece separate from Boulder Weekly’s letters section.