Boulder Weekly 09.21.2023

PHISHING FOR LOVE

From the Front Range to the farmhouse, Boulder's Local Theater Company spins a tale of romance and jam bands P. 17

Boulder BY

KAYLEE HARTER

16 BOOKS: Boulder author tells a cinematic story of resistance BY

BART SCHANEMAN

17 THEATER: Local Theater Company explores the connective power of jam bands BY TONI

TRESCA

31 WEED: Most delta-9 THC products don’t contain what they advertise, research says BY WILL BRENDZA

Courtesy: CU Boulder

Coffee

Coffee

COMMENTARY

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

Volume 31, Number 5

PUBLISHER: Fran Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Caitlin Rockett

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

INTERN: Lily Fletcher

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Ari LeVaux, Dan Savage, Bart Schaneman, Toni Tresca,

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.

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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

LABOR UPSURGE PROMOTES DEMOCRACY AND PROSPERITY

BY DAVE ANDERSON

We had “Hot Labor Summer” across the country, and working-class discontent continues to smolder. Health care employees, flight attendants, pilots, television and film writers and actors are either on strike or threatening to strike amid labor agreement negotiations.

Workers at Amazon and Starbucks have won amazing victories despite the companies’ multi-million dollar campaigns to intimidate and harass them.

During an inaugural “State of the Unions” address on Aug. 29, AFL-CIO

president Liz Shuler said there have been more than 200 strikes so far in 2023, 10 times more than there were two years ago. She partly blamed “corporate greed and inequality.”

AFL-CIO’s “Executive Paywatch” found that the average pay for a CEO of an S&P 500 company in 2022 was $16.7 million, more than 270 times the amount the average worker earned.

As part of her speech, Shuler discussed findings from a national poll of registered voters that showed twothirds of Americans support unions, with voters under 30 showing “near universal approval” at 88%.

The U.S. Treasury recently released a first-of-its-kind report by its Office of Economic Policy on the benefits of unions to the U.S. economy. Here are some of the findings:

● “Middle-class workers reap substantial benefits from unionization. Unions raise the wages of their members by 10%-15%. Unions also improve fringe benefits and workplace procedures such as retirement plans, workplace grievance policies and predictable scheduling.”

Anderson continued on page 8

THE ANDERSON FILES

● “Unionization also has spillover effects that extend well beyond union workers. Competition means workers at nonunionized firms see increased wages too. Heightened workplace safety norms can pull up whole industries. Union members improve their communities through heightened civic engagement; they are more likely to vote, donate to charity and participate in a neighborhood project.”

● The report also cited research showing that “unions serve to reduce race and gender wage gaps” and can even “boost businesses’ productivity by improving working environments and by giving experienced workers more of an input into decisions that design better and more cost-effective workplace procedures.”

In 2021, the Economic Policy Institute released a report showing that “high unionization levels are associated with positive outcomes across multiple indicators of economic, personal, and democratic well-being.” The 17 U.S. states with the highest union densities have higher wages, fewer people without health insurance and more legislation protecting both sick leave and family and medical leave.

Those states are also more sup-

LETTERS

CORRECTION

Boulder Weekly’s recent article about fall films and festivals (‘Season’s screenings,’ Sept. 14, 2023) included a factual error related to programming at the upcoming Boulder Jewish Film Festival, Nov. 2-12. This year’s opening-night film is ‘Rock Camp: The Movie.’ We regret the mistake.

VOTE FOR YATES

portive of the U.S. being a genuine democracy. Recently, sustained attacks on the right to vote (particularly for people of color) have destabilized America. The right to vote is essential for a vibrant and functioning democracy. Unions have been a crucial force in defending this right from the beginning. The report notes:

“Significantly fewer restrictive voting laws have been passed in the 17 highest-union-density states than in the middle 17 states (including D.C.) and the 17 lowest-union-density states. Over 70% of low-union-density states passed at least one voter suppression law between 2011 and 2019.”

In 2021, after the Trump years and the Jan. 6 insurrection, the respected Stockholm-based think-tank International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance added the U.S. to a list of “backsliding democracies” for the first time.

“Knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale,” their report said.

Currently polling indicates that the 2024 election will be close. A united front against fascism needs to be built out of the center-left coalition that already exists. In the spring of 2020, the Biden and Sanders camps formed several issue task forces that influenced the legislation that Biden would introduce. The proposals were unfortunately chopped up due to obstruction by the GOP and two con-

servative Democratic senators. Nevertheless, Biden has an impressive record of progressive accomplishment.

More needs to be done.

Progressive Democrats have introduced bills on a wide variety of issues that go beyond what Biden supports.

Meanwhile, Biden’s appointees are making a difference at the National Labor Relations Board.

In August, the board ruled in a party-line vote that when a majority of a company’s employees file union affiliation cards, the employer can either voluntarily recognize their union or, if not, run a union recognition election. If the company commits an illegal labor practice, the employer has to immediately recognize the union and begin bargaining. Since employers routinely break the law (like firing union activists) and drag things out, this is a game changer.

It’s a good beginning.

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

The upcoming election for mayor in the city of Boulder is a critical one as our city verges on entering a downward spiral similar to that of Portland, San Francisco and other iconic American metros. Our choice for mayor should be clear. Bob Yates is the only candidate to put public safety as the top priority on his agenda for the Council. Securing public safety is the first obligation of government at every level for without it everything else is impossible. If you live in Boulder, ask yourself: Is our city cleaner, safer, healthier than it was 10, five, or even two years ago? Most who visit downtown would say no. Those who try to enjoy our parks, or who find themselves walking home at night, too frequently report being threatened, harassed or even assaulted while doing so. Repeat offenders practically run through the revolving doors of our courts and jail and illegal campers line our most beautiful public spaces. Dirty needles and other bio hazards can be found along what used to be our most enjoyable footpaths.

As a City Council member, Bob has worked hard to support our police, ensure the enforcement of our camping bans, and retain local control over our land use decisions. His opponents have done just the opposite. Bob understands we should be compassionate and generous with services to help people get back on their feet and he understands there must be consequences for those to continue to break our laws. I urge you to vote for Bob Yates, for common sense, and for the rule of law and order in our community so that we can all feel safe in our homes and in our public spaces.

— Scott Schaefer / Boulder

Starbucks workers at the 2400 Baseline Road location in Boulder celebrate after a successful vote to unionize on Jan. 24. Photo by Samuel Shaw.

Continued from page 7

NO TO SAFE ZONES

Failure to act on gun violence, failure to act on climate change. There are many ways we have failed the younger generation. Let’s not fail them again by telling them that unhoused people in their community are their greatest threat.

Data shows that today’s students are at a far higher risk of unaddressed mental health issues, sexual assault by peers, exposure to drugs and alcohol by peers, suicide, gun violence, becoming homeless themselves, and road injury or death due to unsafe roadways than they are from people experiencing homelessness in their vicinity.

I do not discount the safety concerns of the parents who brought forth “Safe Zones 4 Kids” — my son attends Boulder High School. But while voters may think they are approving a “stop gap” solution to the issue, in fact, nothing in the measure changes the City’s current approach to enforcement of existing ordinances, and the City

said as much in their April 13, 2023 memo.

Those approaches haven’t resulted in the safety that petitioners seek. And neither will “Safe Zones.”

However, BVSD’s School Safety Advocates have been doing amazing work at Boulder High, and BVSD administration and school safety officials work closely with the Boulder Police Department to ensure that all BVSD schools and grounds are safe, welcoming and inclusive places for all students. It was clear in the BVSD Board’s Aug. 22 security update that student safety is a priority.

Furthermore, it must be noted that increased police presence around schools has been documented to lead to increased police interactions and policing of our students, unrelated to perceived external threats to their safety by unhoused people. Vote no on “Safe Zones.” Our students deserve better from their community.

— Izzie Clinton / Boulder

13th

This summer as part of the City of Boulder’s “Social Streets” initiative, the Downtown Boulder Partnership is hosting a series of FREE fun events / activities along 13th Street between Arapahoe Avenue and Canyon Boulevard. (There is no cost to attend the events and all members of the community and visitors near and far are invited to attend to participate or just enjoy as spectators!) So grab your family/neighbors/friends and come meet on the street to celebrate community and enjoy our vibrant downtown district!

Part AUGUST 13 BOULDER STREET SOCCER CLASSIC

Boulder’s

‘FREE HEAT’

An energy efficient building standard is on the rise in Boulder

BY KAYLEE HARTER

The home Matt Brill and Eric Moore are building on Forest Avenue in North Boulder doesn’t look much different than any other home construction site, aside from the fact that it’s blue instead of the typical green or white of mid-construction homes.

But step inside the home and you might notice the several-inch-thick front door or the signs that say, “No drilling, airtight construction,” and, “No cutting, airtight membranes.” The floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the house are triple-pane, and even the doggy door for their white Havanese, Finn, is being constructed to specific standards.

That’s because Moore and Brill’s five-bedroom home will be passive house certified, a green building standard that’s airtight and uber energy efficient thanks to measures like high-performance doors, continuous insulation, an orientation that makes efficient use of the sun’s heat and a ventilation system that supplies fresh air throughout the house. The couple’s home is on track to be the first certified passive house in the city of Boulder, but if trends across the state and country are any indication, they won’t be the only one for long.

Passive house buildings typically save between 75% and 90% on heating- and cooling-related energy costs, according to the Passive House Institute (PHI). The Forest Avenue home will be 100% electric, and solar panels on the roof will offset the electric usage, so Brill says they expect zero energy bills. In the similarly sized house they currently live in, the couple estimates they pay about $250 a month.

And while sustainability was a factor, Brill and Moore say that indoor air quality, quietness provided by the thick walls, and constant temperature throughout the house were what got them excited

about the building practice. The couple expects to move into the home with their 3-year-old son early next year.

“It’s not just about a greener house,” Brill says. “It’s like, ‘What better quality and durability can I build into my house?’”

That quality doesn’t come without a price. Brill estimates building their home will be about 10% more expensive than a code-built residence. Ken Levenson, executive director of the New Yorkbased Passive House Network, says construction can cost anywhere from 5% to 15% more than a code-built house, depending on the size of the project and the team’s experience. Most homeowners make up for that cost in energy savings in about eight to 10 years, Levenson says.

buildings like schools, offices and multifamily homes.

Estimates in passive house databases can be incomplete, since registration is voluntary and not everyone who builds a passive house structure decides to get it certified. One map shows four certified passive houses in Colorado. But Michler, who runs a passive house design firm called Hyperlocal Workshop, estimates there are around 20 houses that meet the standard in Colorado and about 20 more in the works. That doesn’t include houses being built to the Passive House US (PHIUS) standard –a similar, but distinct certification through what was once an approved affiliate of PHI. A messy separation between the two orgs in 2011 resulted in a different standard and pathway for certification.

Michler credits the rise in passive house building in Colorado, in part, to the realization that the state’s climate works well with the design principles and a growing network of professionals who specialize in passive house construction.

“We have lots of sunshine here, and sunshine is free heat in the wintertime, and then we have delightfully cold nights,” Michler says. “So, all we do is capture some of the heat in the day and save it at night.”

Michler says the homes are also more resilient — making them increasingly appealing as climate extremes and disasters become more common.

A GROWING TREND

Back when Andrew Michler constructed Colorado’s first passive house in 2015, which he still lives in, he says such homes in Colorado were “as exotic as a peacock in a forest.” That wasn’t the case worldwide.

The Passive House Institute, or Passivhaus in Europe, was founded in Germany in 1996. Europe now has more than 13 times the amount of certified passive house space than North and South America combined, according to the institute. That number includes not just single family homes, but also other

At least 25 construction projects in the Marshall Fire rebuild area are pursuing passive house principles, according to Passive House Rocky Mountain, a regional chapter of the Passive House Network. Those homes will be eligible for a $37,500 rebate from Xcel, the highest level of rebate the company is offering rebuilding homeowners for various energy efficiency measures. Some of those homes will be part of Michler’s RESTORE project, pre-designed “firewise” homes that meet passive house standards, pre-priced at $550,000 before upgrades and customization.

LOOKING FORWARD

Many proponents would like to see passive house standards incorporated in building and energy codes, and in some places, like Massachusetts and

Brussels, Belgium, that’s already a reality for certain building types.

“Passive house really isn’t the ceiling of what’s possible,” Levenson says. “It needs to be the floor of what we’re doing because it’s just providing fundamental benefits that everybody should have.”

The City of Boulder requires new builds over 3,000 square feet, like Brill and Moore’s home, to be net-zero energy. Similarly, unincorporated Boulder County has a net-zero requirement for new builds over 5,000 square feet. But Josh Hanson, the City’s energy code compliance principal examiner, says it’s unlikely Boulder would codify passive house requirements any time soon.

“Energy code is a minimum,” he says. “If you want to do passive house, that’s above and beyond and I applaud you for doing it, but every person shouldn’t be required to do that because there’s a cost to that.”

He says LEED is the most common green building certification the City sees, but that passive house certification is “head and shoulders above a lot of the other green programs, energy-efficiency programs out there.”

Like Michler, Brill hopes to be part of the growth of passive houses across the state and has started a company, Bauen Build, to help others construct according to passive house standards. Brill says there’s already several projects in Boulder County on the horizon for his company, including in the Marshall Fire Burn area.

“I think it’s just kind of moving homebuilding into that electric era,” Brill says. “As cars are evolving, I think homes need to come along with them. We still have a long way to go, but there’s glimmers of hope I’m seeing. Homeowners are asking for it, builders and architects are starting to learn about it, and I think that combination will help to propel [this standard that’s] better for the planet and better for the people living in these.”

Courtesy of Matt Brill and Eric Moore.

AT ALL COSTS

Colorado’s move to cut drug prices has patients with rare diseases worried

BY MARKIAN HAWRYLUK, KFF HEALTH NEWS

For people with cystic fibrosis, like Sabrina Walker, Trikafta has been a life-changer.

Before she started taking the drug, she would wind up in the hospital for weeks at a time until antibiotics could eliminate the infections in her lungs. Every day, she would wear a vest that shook her body to loosen the mucus buildup.

One particularly bad flare-up, known as a pulmonary exacerbation, had her coughing up blood in 2019, so she was put on the newly approved breakthrough medication.

Within a month, her lung function increased by 20%, she said, and her health improved. Before she started taking Trikafta, she could count on three to four hospitalizations a year. Over the four years on the medication, she has been hospitalized only once.

“I was spending hours a day doing airway clearance and breathing treatments, and that has been significantly reduced,” said the 37-year-old Erie, Colorado, mother. “I’ve gained hours back in my day.”

Now she runs and hikes in the thin Colorado air and works a full-time job. Other patients have seen similar gains with the drug therapy, allowing many to resume regular lives and even take themselves off waiting lists for a lung transplant. Yet Walker and scores of other Colorado patients with cystic fibrosis are worried they could lose access to that transformative medication.

A state board charged with addressing the affordability of the most expensive prescription drugs has chosen Trikafta among its first five drugs to review, and it could move to cut the medication’s average in-state annual price of approximately $200,000, accounting for both insurers’ contributions and patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Drugmakers, including Trikafta’s manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals,

have said payment limits could hurt innovation and limit access, stoking panic among patients that the drug might no longer be sold in Colorado.

Two of the drugs chosen by the state board, the rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel and the psoriasis medication Stelara, also appear on the initial list of 10 drugs for which Medicare will negotiate prices. Any federally negotiated price reductions won’t go into effect until 2026, and it’s unclear how that effort will affect the work of Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board in the interim.

The state board’s choice of drugs to review elucidates one of the thorniest questions the group must wrangle with: Would lowering the price tag for rare-disease medications lead manufacturers to pull out of the state or limit their availability?

State officials contend that the high cost of prescription drugs puts them out of reach for some patients, while patients worry they’ll lose access to a lifechanging therapy and that fewer dollars will be available to develop breakthrough medications. And with affordability boards in other states poised to undergo similar exercises, what happens in Colorado could have implications nationwide.

“It just puts Trikafta as a whole at risk,” Walker said.

“It would start here, but it could create a ripple effect.”

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition that causes the body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and digestive system, leading to lung damage, infections and malnutrition. It is a progressive disease that results in irreversible lung damage and a

median age of death of 34 years. There is no cure.

The disease affects fewer than 40,000 people in the U.S., including about 700 in Colorado. That means research and development costs are spread across a smaller number of patients than for more common conditions, such as the millions of people with heart disease or cancer.

Officials from Vertex Pharmaceuticals declined a request for an interview. But company spokesperson Sarah D’Souza emailed a statement saying that “the price of this medicine reflects its value to patients, the small number of people living with [cystic fibrosis], the billions of dollars Vertex has invested to date to develop the first medicines to treat the underlying cause of [cystic fibrosis], and the billions more we are investing in [cystic fibrosis] and other serious diseases.”

Setting an upper payment limit, the company said, could hinder access to drugs like Trikafta and curtail investment in scientific innovation and drug discovery.

company, or drug manufacturer — cries foul and claims there will be an access problem.

“This is just, from my vantage point, the pharmaceutical industry trying to scare people,” he said.

Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board has been working for more than a year to sort through 604 drugs eligible for review, with 17 data points for each, to create a prioritized list. In the end, they decided to focus this year only on drugs that had no brand-name competition or generic alternatives that could lower costs.

Besides Trikafta, Enbrel and Stelara, the board will review the affordability of the antiretroviral medication Genvoya, used to treat HIV, and another psoriasis treatment, Cosentyx.

Of those five, Trikafta had the highest average annual costs but the lowest five-year increase in price and the fewest patients taking it.

The board’s review of the five drugs will happen over its next three to four meetings this year and early next year, allowing all stakeholders — including patients, pharmacies, suppliers and manufacturers — to provide feedback on whether the drugs are indeed unaffordable and what a reasonable price should be. Any cost limits wouldn’t take effect until next year at the earliest.

The board looked at what patients were paying out-of-pocket for their medicines, using a database that captures all the insurance claims in the state.

State officials counter that Vertex and other drugmakers are resorting to fear-mongering to protect their profits.

Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway said that whenever the state talks about saving people money on health care, the affected entity — be it a hospital, insurance

But that data did not account for patient assistance programs, through which manufacturers reimburse patients for out-ofpocket costs. Such programs boost manufacturer sales of drugs because insurance covers most of the cost, and patients otherwise might not be able to afford them.

Through the first half of the year, Vertex reported profits of $1.6 billion, with 89% of its revenue coming from Trikafta (marketed as Kaftrio in Europe). At the beginning of the year, Vertex decreased copay assistance for

Sabrina Walker, who has cystic fibrosis, has seen her lung health improve since taking Trikafta. Patients worry potential payment limits on the medication set by Colorado’s drug affordability board could cause the drugmaker to stop selling Trikafta in the state. Photo by Adam Walker.

people with cystic fibrosis, in what the company said was a response to insurers limiting patients’ ability to apply copay assistance to their deductibles.

Lila Cummings, director of the Colorado board, said its staff could not find any entity that collects data on patient assistance programs, so those figures were not available to the board. Once they begin reviewing the individual medications, board members will dig into what extra financial help patients are getting. Cummings also said the board is hoping manufacturers will convey in good faith what might prompt them to leave the Colorado market.

When Trikafta came up second on the Colorado board’s prioritized list of drugs eligible for review, patients and advocacy groups flooded the board with pleas to leave pricing for the medication and other drugs for rare diseases untouched.

“People are scared,” Walker said. “If you look at all the drugs out there, it’s one that has been so transformational that I think it will go down in history for how positively it’s impacted our population as a whole.”

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, lung exacerbations dropped 65% and lung transplants dropped 80% after the drug’s approval. More patients have been able to work, attend school, or start a family. Clinicians have reported a baby boom among patients who take Trikafta.

A study published this year showed that two-thirds of people with cystic fibrosis struggled with finances, experiencing debt, food insecurity or trouble paying for household or health expenses. The survey was conducted in 2019, before U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of Trikafta.

Years ago, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation invested in Aurora Biosciences, later acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to promote development of cystic fibrosis therapies. The foundation completed the sale of its royalty rights in 2020.

Mary Dwight, chief policy and advocacy officer for the Cystic

Fibrosis Foundation, said the board should “ensure its review of Trikafta accounts for the overall value this drug has for someone with [cystic fibrosis], including the impact on an individual’s long-term health and well-being.”

There is no guarantee that the Colorado board will take action on Trikafta. State officials have stressed

that board members are solely focused on improving access and wouldn’t jeopardize the availability of the medication.

“We have a history of being able to save people money on health care that doesn’t lead to access problems,” Conway said. “We’re not talking about these companies losing money at all; we’re talking about making it more

affordable so that more Coloradans can get access to the pharmaceutical needs that they have.”

But Walker remains unconvinced.

“They had so much testimony on their call and they still selected Trikafta,” she said. “Everyone was just saying how important this drug is, and it didn’t matter. It still got pushed through.”

NOW YOU KNOW

This

week’s

news in Boulder County and beyond

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

SOLAR CO-OP LAUNCHES IN BOULDER COUNTY

Boulder County has launched its first solar co-op.

The project, which kicked off on Monday, Sept. 18, is a collaboration between Boulder County, the municipalities of Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, Erie, Superior, Lyons, and Nederland, and the nonprofit Solar United Neighbors (SUN). It’s free to join and open to all homeowners and small business owners in Boulder County.

Solar co-ops are a group of property owners who purchase solar panels at a group rate from a single installer.

According to SUN, co-op membership saves money compared to purchasing independently, and opportunities to learn more about solar technology and financing.

“This new co-op is about taking action to create a better tomorrow,” Boulder County Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said in a press release. “It’s about increasing access to renewable solar energy by reducing upfront costs, building local resilience, and taking bold strides towards cutting out the fossil fuels causing the climate chaos we’re all experiencing.”

After a competitive bidding process facilitated by SUN, a solar company will

be selected to complete installations. The co-op has nearly 100 members as of publication and is halfway to its member goal. The deadline for residents to sign up is Nov. 30.

People interested in learning more can attend free sessions on Oct. 15 and Nov. 15. Register at bit.ly/Oct_25_ session or bit.ly/Nov_15_session

— Lily Fletcher

BOULDER’S 2024 RECOMMENDED BUDGET

The City of Boulder’s recommended budget for 2024 is slightly higher than last year’s, and includes increased funding to human services projects, but a reduction in allocations to transportation and mobility.

The proposed budget is $514.8 million across all funds, with an operating budget of $374.1 million and capital budget of $140.7 million. The City estimates this year’s budget is nearly 5% higher than the 2023 approved budget in terms of operating expenses, though the number appears lower due to changes in bond proceeds practices.

But staff say the City is operating in a “constrained environment.” Mark Woulf, Boulder’s senior budget manager, says that’s due to a combination

of factors including the rapid restoration of City-funded services following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional demand on City services, and “inflationary pressure.” Half the City’s revenue comes from sales and use tax, making its budget somewhat dependent on external economic conditions.

Certain funds, like the $6.5 million the City receives each year from its Climate Tax, are “dedicated funding” sources, revenues restricted to a specific purpose. The City estimates about 70% of all revenues are dedicated.

Woulf says this collective environment limits the City’s flexibility.

“As we have these emerging community needs or shifting priorities, that makes it hard to shift quickly without seeking voter approval to do something differently,” he says.

But change is on the horizon. In November, a ballot measure will ask residents to decide whether to renew the 0.15% sales tax that is set to expire at the end of 2024. If approved, half the money will be allocated to “support arts, culture and heritage” and half to the general fund.

If it expires, even after a potential November 2024 follow-up vote, the City will have to reduce more than $7 million of expenses currently programmed in the general fund.

Boulder’s 2024 budget also includes nearly $3 million more for Housing and Human Services, with $43.5 million dedicated to the social services organization.

More than $2 million of that increase is devoted to human servic-

es, which includes programs like behavioral health and non-law enforcement response. Woulf says that’s one area where the City has shifted to meet community demand.

However, Transportation & Mobility was $2 million less than last year, leading some Council members to voice concern over the City’s ability to fix potholes on City-owned streets.

There’s already conversation about how the “Prime Effect” — the emergence of CU football as a nation-wide craze — might impact Boulder’s budget. While the City is expecting more revenue from sales tax, Woulf says it’s too early to predict how it will impact budgeting.

Council can propose changes to the recommended budget. The City currently expects to adopt the official budget by Oct. 19. More about the City’s budget at bit.

ly/2024BoulderBudget

— Will Matuska

NSF AWARDS CU RESEARCH CENTER

The JILA Physics Frontier Center (JILA PFC) is receiving a $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue research into quantum systems over the next six years.

Founded in 1962, JILA, housed on the campus of CU Boulder, brings together 20 researchers who explore the nature of the quantum many-particle systems that govern the evolution of the universe. JILA PFC is housed within the JILA institute, which is a collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the university.

JILA is one of four physics research centers that will receive between $14 million and $25 million from NSF.

“Research teams at NSF Physics Frontiers Centers have made breakthrough after breakthrough, such as creating remarkable new states of matter and revealing the first evidence for the gravitational wave background of the universe,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a press release. “While different in their respective areas of focus, NSF’s newly funded centers are all bold team efforts to punch through to exciting new vistas of scientific exploration.”

— Will Matuska

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

BY THE NUMBERS: COACH PRIME CHANGES

THE HERD

Coach Deion Sanders’ impact on the Colorado Buffaloes this year “ain’t hard to find.” Here are some ways the former NFL star has changed the herd thus far:

● The Buffs are now garnering college football’s most expensive ticket. The cheapest ticket for the Buffs’ next home game on Sept. 30 against the University of Southern California is $377, and the average resale ticket price for a sold out home game is $506. The team’s growing popularity is following them on the road too: The average ticket price for the Oregon game in Eugene on Sept. 23 is $242, according to Ticketiq. According to SeatGeek, the average single ticket price for a 2022 CU Boulder football game was $61.

● CU football’s home attendance average was 46,485 per game last year. The average of the first two games this year is 52,191.

● The university announced on Sept. 19 that home game tickets are sold out for the entire season for the first time in school history. Tickets are still available through secondary vendors like SeatGeek.

● According to an ESPN post on X (formerly Twitter *sigh*), the CU versus Colorado State game was the fifth most watched game in the network’s history, with an average of 9.3 million viewers and a peak of 11 million. It was the company’s moststreamed regular season college football game of all time.

COMING UP

● The City of Longmont is distributing a survey to understand how extreme heat impacts residents and what they do to stay cool. Complete the survey at bit.ly/LongmontHeatSurvey and become eligible for a $10 electric bill credit.

● Unincorporated Boulder County will see a minimum wage increase to $15.69 per hour, 15% above Colorado’s minimum wage, on Jan. 1, 2024. There are multiple ways for residents to provide feedback on the future of minimum wage in Boulder County:

○ Fill out an online survey by Oct. 16 at bit.lyBCMinimum WageSurvey

○ Attend an in-person Town Hall event on Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Left Hand Grange, 195 2nd Ave., Niwot.

○ Comment in-person, over Zoom or by phone at a County Commissioners hearing on Nov. 2. Registration links and further details will be available in the Commissioners’ Advance Agenda on Friday, Oct. 20. Sign up for the agenda at bit.ly/Commissioners Agenda

W

W

Mozart - Mass in C-Minor Klein and Jamison - Summation

Boulder Chorale and the BCO

OCT 21

Chamber Music Night - Capturing the Folk Spirit Hsig-ay Hsu and members of BCO perform music by Brahms, Dvorak and Bartok

DEC 16

Beethoven Birthday Celebration and Holiday Concert

Music by Beethoven, Goulet, Bodorova and Mozart

Tickets are $13 - $30 at boulderchamberorchestra.org

All concerts listed are in Boulder. Check website for location.

Courtesy CU Boulder

BOOKS

FREEDOM FIGHTER

Boulder author tells a cinematic story of resistance

BY BART SCHANEMAN

In writing a historical novel about Dutch World War II resistance fighter Hannie Schaft, author Buzzy Jackson didn’t feel like she needed to embellish anything to craft a compelling narrative.

“Her story was already so amazing that I really didn’t need to add much,” Jackson says. In fact, despite To Die Beautiful clocking in at 430 pages, there was plenty Jackson had to leave out when depicting Hannie’s fight against the Nazi invasion of her homeland. The material she does include, though, is as propulsive as it is tragic.

In 1940, Schaft was 19 years old and living in Nazi-occupied Holland when she joined the Dutch Resistance movement and went on to assassinate Nazi leaders and bomb munition factories, among other anti-facist activities. She was even on the Nazis’ most-wanted list for her actions.

Her tactics caught the attention of Adolf Hitler, who called her out as “the girl with the red hair.” (The novel is titled The Girl With the Red Hair outside the United States.) That’s also one of the common nicknames for Jannetje Johanna Schaft in Holland, who went by “Hannie” in the resistance movement.

Hannie has long been celebrated as a Dutch icon and is buried in the Dutch Honorary Cemetery Bloemendaal. Her life and work is honored each year in the Netherlands, and there is a monument of her in her hometown of Haarlem.

BRINGING HANNIE TO LIFE

Jackson, who lives in Boulder and works as an editor and consultant when she isn’t writing, was visiting the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam in 2016 when she first heard about Hannie. Inside a small glass display case were a pair of round, wire-rimmed glasses, a battered pistol, and a photograph of a young, auburn-

haired woman in a skirt, blouse and sensible shoes — with a defiant look on her face.

At first Jackson thought she would write Hannie’s story as a biography. That made sense with the author’s background as a historian and non-fiction writer. For about a year and a half she dove into the research, combing through the archives and interviewing people with knowledge on the subject. Then she got stuck.

“I was trying to wrap my mind around how to frame the story, and I started to realize that although there is a lot of great archival material related to World War II and to the Dutch Resistance, there really was not a lot of material about Hannie Schaft and certainly not much in her own words,” Jackson says.

There was nothing to draw upon like one of the most famous WWII texts, The Diary of a Young Girl, where Anne Frank left behind, in her own words, what her life was like in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

“We know so much about Anne Frank, but that’s because she left a diary,” Jackson says.

Hannie, on the other hand, would not have wanted to risk anyone finding a record of her activities as an underground resistance fighter. Jackson was left to draw on a few of her surviving letters and a memoir by Truus Oversteegen — a major character in To Die Beautiful

“I was really in a bind,” Jackson says. “If I wanted to include any real dialogue in the biography, there was hardly going to be any. There was nothing to quote. The idea of writing a

fairly serious, big book with very little dialogue is kind of dry.”

To bring Hannie to the page by giving her an inner life readers could relate to, Jackson’s literary agent suggested she write the story as a novel. Jackson agreed, taking inspiration from how Thomas Keneally wrote another famous WWII story, Schindler’s List, and based the story in facts but used fictional techniques to shape the narrative.

Fortunately for Jackson, by the time she had decided to shift this story away from non-fiction, she’d already written three other “practice novels,” as she calls them.

“Every time I wrote one of those I learned a lot, and I felt like I was getting better at it,” Jackson says. “I thought, ‘Well, what the hell, I might as well try it.’”

The result is a made-for-the-bigscreen narrative of high stakes and gripping drama, as Hannie becomes increasingly involved with the resistance

movement and the amount of danger she takes on becomes more and more intense.

When it came to achieving that cinematic scope as a novelist, Jackson highlights the importance of a writers’ group she belongs to. There are about six people in her group who meet regularly, at least once a month, to share pages and hold each other accountable to continuously work on new material. She encourages any young writer to find something similar.

“When I first came back from Amsterdam I said, ‘You guys, I think I have an idea for a book.’ And they were super supportive through the whole thing,” Jackson says. “They definitely were a huge part of getting this to the finish line.”

ON THE PAGE: To Die Beautiful by Buzzy Jackson is available now in hardcover via Dutton / Penguin Books.

Boulder-based novelist Buzzy Jackson’s fictionalized account of Dutch World War II resistance fighter Hannie Schaft was inspired by a 2016 visit to the Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. Photo courtesy the author.

PHISHING FOR LOVE

Local Theater Company explores the connective power of jam bands

BY TONI TRESCA

It’s no secret that the love affair between Boulder and jam bands is central to the cultural landscape here. But with Topher Payne’s You Enjoy Myself, a new world premiere from Local Theater Company borrowing its title from the 1985 Phish classic, it’s now fodder for a theatrical stage.

“While it never became my music, Phish’s ability to create a welcoming space truly driven by acceptance and healthy curiosity about other people was very instructive,” says the playwright whose first husband introduced him to the band and its rabid fanbase. “I wanted to tell a love story in that world, or, actually, several love stories.”

To that end, You Enjoy Myself follows three couples: one in the glow of a budding relationship, one at the end of its life cycle, and another rekindling an old flame. Former partners Judith and Eileen, who met through their love of Phish, are reunited through an Instagram post, along with four other lost souls searching for meaning.

“We’re still retraining ourselves on

how to connect with other human beings,” Payne says of our post-lockdown years amid the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. “I do not find it surprising that the first thing I wrote after coming back from that experience is something that is desperately trying to be a Bat-Signal to let people know that there is a safe place to empathically engage and be courageous enough to be vulnerable.”

The play’s exploration of personal growth and leaning into the unknown aligns with the theme of Local’s 13th season: “Lose yourself to find yourself.” According to Betty Hart, co-artistic director of the company and president of the Colorado Theatre Guild, she saw the optimism of that maxim on full display during her first Phish concert in Denver earlier this month.

“The fans were so welcoming and embraced me even though it was my first journey,” Hart says. “There was just so much joy, energy, passion and a real desire to be together in a time when our world feels so fractured. It was really powerful.”

‘DREAMS, PASSION AND SEX’

Payne, who is originally from a small Mississippi town, has been living in Atlanta since 1999 — more than a thousand miles from the rural Vermont farmhouse where his latest work is set. That’s where he met Hart, then a staff member with Kaiser Permanente’s educational theater program in Georgia, when Payne auditioned at a Southeastern Theater Conference.

“Topher immediately caught our eye, so we invited him for a callback, and he got the gig,” Hart recalls. “He literally told me in our first live meeting that, although he was here for acting, he was going to be a playwright whose plays would one day be performed all over the world.”

This meeting heralded the beginning of a partnership that has spanned years and produced a number of highly regarded theatrical works. Payne’s Hartdirected play about New York public school teachers, Evelyn in Purgatory, marked a turning point in his career. The work gained attention, subsequently leading to other productions, including the off-Broadway success of Perfect Arrangement in 2015, which received a rave review in The New York Times.

Payne’s career took another turn when he began writing for the Hallmark Channel in 2016, contributing to six films. Nevertheless, he remained dedicated to playwriting and started working on You Enjoy Myself at a workshop in Massachusetts. But COVID-19 would disrupt this creative journey a few short years later.

“I was one of those writers who didn’t find the pandemic to be a productive period,” Payne says. “While I respect people who used that to finish their novel, everything that I do is based on the conversions in the room; that’s where the play becomes the play. Since I didn’t have access to that, I took an extensive break from playwriting starting in 2020 and didn’t return to

it until I got a call from Betty.”

The following year, Hart reached out to see if Payne had any plays he’d be interested in submitting to Local Lab, the company’s new play festival. The unique blend of humor, music and romance in You Enjoy Myself won over the Local staff, and it was chosen with Hart attached as director.

On top of those winning qualities that first endeared the work to the company, Eden Lane, a Colorado Public Radio arts reporter who played Judith in the original reading and is reprising her role in the current production at the Dairy, praises the play for its inclusion of older women in stories — a rarity in the theater world. “How often do we not see older women included in stories like this? [In] this show, we have two who have goals, dreams, passion and sex,” Lane says.

But despite hitting the marks on so many key points, You Enjoy Myself didn’t quite fit into what co-artistic director Nick Chase called its “season of women,” which was already in development to include titles like Raised on Ronstadt and UNDONE: The Lady M Project.

“Shortly after we presented the developmental workshop of the play in our 2022 Local Lab, we concluded as a team that we wanted to pursue a full production of that work,” Chase told Boulder Weekly in June. “We all agree that we wanted to support it, but we had just scheduled our 12th season, and it had a lovely theme that this play didn’t fit into, so we decided that it would be our Season 13 opener.”

The world premiere production builds on the work done by Hart, Payne and the actors — four of whom reprise their roles — during the play’s workshop in April 2022. And now, after years of development, You Enjoy Myself is about to make its debut, giving audiences the opportunity to rediscover the beauty of vulnerability.

ON STAGE: You Enjoy Myself Sept. 21–Oct. 14, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $35+

Local Theater Company’s ‘You Enjoy Myself’ runs at the Dairy Arts Center through Oct. 14. Artwork by Ligature Creative.

Left to right: Betty Hart, Topher Payne and Eden Lane.

EVERY WEDNESDAY BOULDER BLUEGRASS JAM

THU. 9/21 - 9:00PM

TROUBADOURS W/ RAMAYA SOSKIN. FEATURING BETH PRESTON & JULIAN PETERSON

FRI. 9/22 - 9:00PM

AFRICAN ROOTS & RHYTHM: ZIVANAI MASANGO, KUTANDARA & MBIRA JAM

SAT. 9/23 - 8:00PM

MUSIC FOR MAUI: KGNU COMMUNITY RADIO BENEFIT

TUE. 9/26- 8:30PM

PAUL SODERMAN AND THE OGS W/DFK AND THE LAB RATS

WED. 9/27- 8:00PM

WAYNE GRAHAM

THU. 9/28 - 8:00PM

THE TONY FURTADO ACOUSTIC TRIO FEAT. MATT FLINNER

SUN. 9/30 - 7:00PM

SISTER WINDS-FUNDRAISING CONCERT W/ AKACIA ROSE, MYSTIC CHOIR AND MORE

TUE. 10/3 - 9:00PM

SONGCRAFT: SONGWRITER SHOWCASE WITH JORDAN YEWEY AND RAMAYA SOSKIN

WED. 10/4 - 8:00PM

SARAH & SHANNON W/ MAIA SHARP

FRI. 10/6 - 8:00PM

BIRDS OF PLAY

THU. 10/12 - 8:00PM

JEREMY GARRETT

FRI. 10/13 - 7:30PM

DELTA SONICS BLUES

DANCE PARTY

SAT. 10/14 - 9:00PM

MASQUERADE CARNIVALE GALA

WED. 10/18 - 8:30PM

BRENDAN ABERNATHY

Purchase Tickets at RMPtix.com RootsMusicProject.org

4747 Pearl Suite V3A

JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT

6-9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free

For its ninth year, this international literary celebration returns to Boulder with readings and panels by authors from all over the world. Kick off the weekend-long event with hors d’oeuvres and a performance from musician Ambi Subramaniam, presented by the Colorado Fine Arts Association.

22

FROLIC INTO FALL DRAG SHOW

7-10 p.m. Friday Sept. 22, DV8 Distillery, 2480 49th St., Boulder. $15

Welcome fall at DV8 Distillery with a new season of drag and a new talented cast. Performer Mo Whoremoans will be your guide alongside Irishimo, Throbbin Hood and more. Everyone over the age of 18 is welcome, and students are offered 20% off with a valid ID.

23

2023 PLEIN AIR PAINTING FESTIVAL

10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, Purple Park, 1310 S. Pitkin Ave., Superior. Free

Head to scenic Purple Park in Superior as more than a dozen artists paint the scene for the 2023 Plein Air Painting Festival. Join in on the art by making your own masterpiece, or just enjoy the live music, get your kid’s face painted, and grab grub from a food truck for your art walk around the lake.

22 – 24

DOWNTOWN BOULDER FALL FEST

5-9 p.m. Friday, 10-9 p.m. Saturday, and 10-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22-24, 1325 Pearl St. Free

Is that autumn in the air? Celebrate the coming season with a stroll through Pearl Street during this family friendly event featuring live music and the Firefly Handmade Market.

Fill your bags with unique fall crafts and goods during this fall festival complete with a beer, wine and margarita garden.

22 – 23

COMMUNITY REVIVAL

12-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23, VisionQuest Brewery, 2510 47th St., Suite A2 Boulder. Free

Support local artists, musicians and businesses at this two-day fundraiser to benefit victims of local wildfires. More than 60 artists and a lineup of musical acts will be on hand to help promote a new seltzer and beer release for the brewery at this dogand kid-friendly event.

23

LAUGH (LAFAYETTE ART UNDERGROUND HUSTLE):

FREAKING, FALLING AND ART CRAWLING

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, Downtown Historic Lafayette, 401 S. Public Road. Free

Experience the local art of Lafayette with a LAUGH passport and a curated map, collect stamps through Old Town and support local makers with purchases during this East County art walk sponsored by the Lafayette Cultural Arts Commission.

23

CONDOM COUTURE 2023

6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, Boulder Jewish Community Center, 6007 Oreg Ave. $145 (single) / $290 (couple)

Celebrate 50 years of Boulder Valley Health Center with the return of Condom Couture, a prophylacticthemed fashion show to raise funds and awareness for sexual and reproductive health. Dress in your grooviest ’70s attire for a night of themed cocktails and mingling with condominspired couture from local designers.

24

VINTAGE BASEBALL GAME AND AUTUMN HERITAGE DAY

12-3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, Walker Ranch Homestead, 7701 Flagstaff Road, Boulder. Free

Transport to the 1800s at Walker Ranch Homestead during this vintage-themed baseball game following 19th century rules and regulations. Bring your lawn furniture and snacks, and get ready for an oldschool throwback the whole family will love.

27

TAROT 101

7-8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, Yellow Barn Farm, 9417 North Foothills Highway, Longmont. $22

The long history of Tarot can make it overwhelming for a beginner reader. That’s why the Healer’s Haven collective wants to guide you through this journey and hone your interpretation skills. This event hosted by Yellow Barn Farm hopes to spark self discovery. Bring your own Tarot deck and an open mind.

facebook.com/theboulderweekly twitter.com/boulderweekly

24

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL: CU VS. STANFORD

11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, CU Events Center, 950 Regent Drive, Boulder. $5

Watch the Buffs take on tough opponent Stanford at the CU Events Center. Buffs have been on a roll this season, currently 6-2 and coming off a recent Invitational Title win earlier this month. The team hopes to crush a long time losing streak against the Cardinals this year.

26

RENT STABILIZATION AND RENTERS’ RIGHTS: PANEL AND DISCUSSION

5:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free

Over 40 years ago, Boulder residents fought for rent control on the ballot and lost, but that hasn’t stopped residents from advocating for affordable housing and renters’ rights. Join panelists Rep. Javier Mabrey, Chris Goodwin and Todd Ulrich with the advocacy group ThinkBoulder for brief presentations and a discussion on the topic.

BUFFS PRIME TIME COACHES SHOW

10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, The Post Chicken and Beer, 2027 13th St., Boulder. $30

“Hot chicken, cold beer and CU football play-by-play with Coach Prime”? Get in the huddle at The Post in downtown Boulder to grab stagefront seating for the Coaches Show, complete with lunch specials and a free beverage. Sko Buffs!

boulderweekly.com

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, SEPT. 21

SANTA ANA RODEO WITH THE DIRTY TURKEYS AND FREE LICKS 8 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $15

BIG DOPES AND PHOEBE MIX 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $15

TROUBADOURS W/ RAMAYA SOSKIN. FEATURING BETH PRESTON & JULIAN PETERSON 7 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $5

FIELD MEDIC WITH OLIVIA BARTON 7 p.m. Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $20

WINK 6:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Free

WIND SYMPHONY AND SYMPHONIC BAND 7:30 p.m. Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. Free

STING 8 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Resale: $260

LOCAL NATIVES 8 p.m. The Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St. Denver. $40

FRIDAY, SEPT. 22

GREEN BUDDHA 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl, Suite V3A, Boulder. $12

BALKAN BUMP WITH DYNOHUNTER, MAH ZE TAR 9 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20

FOLK ROCK WITH MERCY CLUB. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

TY COOPER 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

LILA DOWNS 7:30 p.m. Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. $24

SILENT BEAR TRIO WITH PAA KOW 9:30 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

SATURDAY, SEPT. 23

BLUE COLLAR FOLK WITH STRANGEBYRDS 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

ON THE BILL

DANIEL DONATO’S COSMIC COUNTRY

8 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20

LIONEL YOUNG DUO 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge. 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

CODY QUALLS 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $25

WEARY BONES 8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. $15

GREEN BUDDHA 10 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $12

DANA KYLE STOKES. 9:30 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

LOUIS THE CHILD WITH FRANC MOODY, ALUNA AND SPUNKE (NIGHT 1).

6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $110

SUNDAY, SEPT. 24

THE YAWPERS (NIGHT 1) 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $7

LOUIS THE CHILD WITH FRANC MOODY, ALUNA, AND SPUNKE (NIGHT 2)

6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Resale: $110

GEORGE CLANTON, FROST CHILDREN AND DEATH’S DYNAMIC SHROUD. 9 p.m. Gothic Theatre. 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. $26

THE WOMBATS WITH RED RUM CLUB 8 p.m. The Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. $30

MONDAY, SEPT. 25

THE YAWPERS (NIGHT 2) 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $7

COUNTING CROWS WITH DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Resale: $130

THE RED PEARS WITH MEXICAN SLUM RATS AND 60 JUNO 7 p.m. Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $15

TUESDAY, SEPT. 26

WILDERADO WITH HUSBANDS. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25

PAUL SODERMAN AND THE OGS WITH DFK AND THE LAB RATS 6:30 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $5

TASSEL, STREET FEVER, TELLER, DESASOCIADO, KILL YOU CLUB & DJ PRECIOUS BLOOD. 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15

THE POSTAL SERVICE & DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE (NIGHT 1). 7:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St. Denver. $75 BW Pick of the Week

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27

BLACKBERRY SMOKE WITH MILES MILLER. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $38

JAWNY WITH ADAN DIAZ. 8 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $25

BROOKS FORSYTH. 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge. 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

WAYNE GRAHAM 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $12

GEORGE NELSON BAND 8 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

THE POSTAL SERVICE & DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE (NIGHT 2). 7:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $75 BW Pick of the Week

JOCKSTRAP 7 p.m. Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $25

THURSDAY, SEPT. 28

ARI MELINGER-COHEN. 5 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

JALEN NGONDA 8 p.m. Fox Theater, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20

THE STEELDRIVERS WITH TROUBADOUR BLUE 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. $38

MANY MOUNTAINS 9 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge. 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

THE TONY FURTADO ACOUSTIC TRIO FT. MATT FLINNER 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $25

KEY OF SHE WOMEN’S VOCAL GROUP 7:30 p.m. 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $15

VULGARIAN, GRIEF RITUAL, WATCHING PEOPLE DROWN 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $12

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

ON THE BILL: Millennial sad sacks, rejoice! Indie-emo upstarts turned arena rockers Death Cab for Cutie and the related Ben Gibbard side project The Postal Service come to Mission Ballroom for a two-night stint, playing the classic 2003 albums Transatlanticism and Give Up in their entirety. Time-tested LA outfit Warpaint opens both nights. See listing for details

A&C EVENTS

ON STAGE

Set in a dystopian future where the government has outlawed private restrooms due to a lack of water, the satirical smash Urinetown is a sardonically funny tale of a society in which people must pay the mega-corporation Urine Good Company to find relief. It’s your last weekend to catch the show at The Arts HUB in Lafayette. See listing for details

ON VIEW

Time is running out to experience the ongoing exhibition Art of Trans Liberation at Boulder’s East Window Gallery, on view through Sept. 29 at the NoBo art space. The show by visual artist Micah Bazant explores concepts of love and solidarity through a power-building framework centered on the struggles for trans rights and racial justice. See listing for details

ON THE PAGE

Uber-prolific Boulder author Stephen Graham Jones comes to Boulder Book Store on Sept. 28 to read from and sign copies of his new graphic novel Earthdivers, Vol. 1: Kill Columbus, a time travel tale about Indigenous outcasts on a mission to save the world by killing the Italian explorer before he reaches the “New World.” See listing for details

MOON OVER BUFFALO. Through Sept. 23, Longmont Theatre Company, 513 Main St. $33

URINETOWN Through Sept. 24, The Arts HUB, 420 Courtney Way, Lafayette. $30 BW Pick of the Week

YOU ENJOY MYSELF

Through Oct. 14, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $35+ Story on p. 17

ART OF TRANS LIBERATION Through Sept. 29, East Window Gallery, 4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder. Free (by appointment)

BW Pick of the Week

LIGNIN: A HOMECOMING

Through Oct. 8, Firehouse Art Center - Main Gallery, 667 4th Ave., Longmont. Free

KRISTEN ABBOTT: THE LANGUAGE OF LEAVES

Tuesdays and Thursdays (10 a.m.-

2 p.m.) through Oct. 8, The New Local Annex, 713 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

WATCHER BY SCOTT

DONIGER 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE BY CRAIG JOHNSON

6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22, Tattered Cover, 2526 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Free

TOO MUCH! BY JOLENE GUTIÉRREZ 6 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 23, Tattered Cover, 8895 Westminster Blvd. Free

MISS RHYTHM: THE LEGEND OF RUTH BROWN Through Oct. 15, Denver Center for the Performing Arts (Garner Galleria Theatre), 1101 13th St. $46

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

Through Oct. 22, Jesters Dinner Theatre, 224 Main St. Longmont. $20

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Through Jan. 13, BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder. $70

GIGANTES Through Oct. 8, Firehouse Art Center - South Gallery, 667 4th Ave., Longmont. Free

THE SILHOUETTE PROJECT: NEWCOMERS. Through Oct. 21, East Window Gallery, 4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder. Free (by appointment)

FLAT SPACE: WHITMAN LINDSTROM Through Oct. 29, Dairy Arts Center - Caruso Lounge, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

agriCULTURE: ART INSPIRED BY THE LAND Through Jan. 7, various locations including Longmont Museum and BMoCA. Prices vary

SONG AFTER SONG BY JULIE HEDLUND 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 26, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

THE WIND WILL CATCH YOU BY MICHELLE THEALL 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

EARTHDIVERS, VOL. 1: KILL COLUMBUS BY STEPHEN GRAHAM

JONES 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5 BW Pick of the Week

STACIA IS A CERTIFIED SOMATIC AND HOLOTROPIC BREATHWORK PRACTITIONER WITH 25+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE FACILITATING EXPANDED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS SHE HAS COLLABORATED CLOSELY WITH BOTH MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC STUDIES (MAPS) AND THE

INSTITUTE.

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): So it begins: the Building and Nurturing Togetherness phase of your astrological cycle. The next eight weeks will bring excellent opportunities to shed bad relationship habits and grow good new ones. Let’s get you in the mood with some suggestions from intimacy counselors Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Vélez: “No matter how long you’ve been together or how well you think you know each other, you still need to romance your partner, especially in stability. Don’t run off and get an extreme makeover or buy into the red-roses-and-champagne bit. Instead, try being kind, receptive, and respectful. Show your partner, often and in whatever tender, goofy way you both understand, that their heart is your home.”

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): From May 2023 to May 2024, the planets Jupiter and Uranus have been and will be in Taurus. I suspect that many Taurus revolutionaries will be born during this time. And yes, Tauruses can be revolutionaries. Here’s a list of some prominent rebel Bulls: Karl Marx, Malcolm X, activist Kathleen Cleaver, lesbian feminist author Adrienne Rich, Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, artist Salvador Dali, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and dancer Martha Graham. All were wildly original innovators who left a bold mark on their cultures. May their examples inspire you to clarify and deepen the uniquely stirring impact you would like to make, Taurus.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Gemini writer

Joe Hill believes the only fight that matters is “the struggle to take the world’s chaos and make it mean something.” I can think of many other fights that matter, too, but Hill’s choice is a good one that can be both interesting and rewarding. I especially recommend it to you in the coming weeks, Gemini. You are poised at a threshold that promises substantial breakthroughs in your ongoing wrangles with confusion, ambiguity, and enigma. My blessings go with you as you wade into the evocative

Author Crescent Dragonwagon has written over 50 books, so we might conclude she has no problem expressing herself fully. But a character in one of her novels says the following: “I don’t know exactly what I mean by ‘hold something back,’ except that I do it. I don’t know what the ‘something’ is. It’s some part that’s a mystery, maybe even to me. I feel it may be my essence or what I am deep down under all the layers. But if I don’t know what it is, how can I give it or share it with someone even if I wanted to?” I bring these thoughts to your attention, Cancerian, because I believe the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to overcome your own inclination to “hold something back.”

In her book

Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Sur, psychologist and author Martha Manning says she is more likely to experience epiphanies in “grocery stores and laundromats, rather than in the more traditional places of reverence and prayer.” She marvels that “it’s in the most ordinary aspects of life” that she is “offered glimpses of the extraordinary.” During these breakthrough moments, “the baseline about what is good and important in my life changes.” I suspect you will be in a similar groove during the coming weeks, Leo. Are you ready to find the sacred in the mundane? Are you willing to shed your expectations of how magic occurs so you will be receptive to it when

“These are the bad facts,” says author Fran Lebowitz. “Men have much easier lives than women. Men have the advantage. So do white people. So do rich people. So do beautiful people.” Do you agree, Virgo? I do. I’m not rich or received enormous advantages because of it. What about you? Now is a good time to tally any unearned blessings you have benefited from,

give thanks for them, and atone by offering help to people who have obtained fewer favors. And if you have not received many advantages, the coming months will be an excellent time to ask for and even demand more.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): My favorite creativity teacher is author Roger von Oech. He produced the Creative Whack Pack, a card deck with prompts to stimulate imaginative thinking. I decided to draw one such card for your use in the coming weeks. It’s titled EXAGGERATE. Here’s its advice: “Imagine a joke so funny you can’t stop laughing for a month. Paper stronger than steel. An apple the size of a hotel. A jet engine quieter than a moth beating its wings. A home-cooked dinner for 25,000 people. Try exaggerating your idea. What if it were a thousand times bigger, louder, stronger, faster, and brighter?” (PS: It’s a favorable time for you to entertain brainstorms and heartstorms and soulstorms. For best results, EXAGGERATE!)

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): If you buy a bag of popcorn and cook it in your microwave oven, there are usually kernels at the bottom that fail to pop. As tasty as your snack is, you may still may feel cheated by the duds. I will be bold and predict that you won’t have to deal with such duds in the near future — not in your popcorn bags and not in any other area of your life, either literally or metaphorically. You’re due for a series of experiences that are complete and thorough and fully bloomed.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Writer George Bernard Shaw observed that new ideas and novel perspectives “often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” As you strive to get people to consider fresh approaches, Sagittarius, I advise you to skip the “blasphemies and treason” stage. If you proceed with compassion and good humor, you can go directly from “jokes and fancies” to “questions open to discussion.” But one way or another, please be a leader who initiates shifts in your favorite groups and organizations. Shake things up with panache and good humor.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Novelist and astrologer Forrest E. Fickling researched which signs are the worst and best in various activities. He discovered that Capricorns are the hardest workers, as well as the most efficient. They get a lot done, and they are expeditious about it. I suspect you will be at the peak of your ability to express these Capricornian strengths in the coming weeks. Here’s a bonus: You will also be at the height of your power to enjoy your work and be extra likely to produce good work. Take maximum advantage of this grace period!

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): The British band Oasis has sold over 95 million records. The first song they ever released was “Supersonic.” Guitarist Noel Gallagher wrote most of its music and lyrics in half an hour while the rest of the band was eating Chinese take-out food. I suspect you will have that kind of agile, succinct, matter-of-fact creativity in the coming days. If you are wise, you will channel it into dreaming up solutions for two of your current dilemmas. This is one time when life should be easer and more efficient than usual.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): “When sex is really, really good,” writes Piscean novelist Geoff Nicholson, “I feel as though I’m disappearing, being pulverized, so that I’m nothing, just particles of debris, smog, soot, and skin floating through the air.”

Hmmmm. I guess that’s one version of wonderful sex. And if you want it, you can have it in abundance during the coming weeks. But I encourage you to explore other kinds of wonderful sex, as well — like the kind that makes you feel like a genius animal or a gorgeous storm or a super-powered deity.

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

DEAR DAN: I’m a 34-year-old cis bi guy who recently moved after getting out of a rocky, dead-bedroom marriage. I decided to hire a professional mommy domme to live out my adult baby/diaper lover (ABDL) fantasies for the first time. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of the local dommes is my former high school girlfriend. We were together for a little less than a year, and haven’t kept up with each other. She’s super hot and I can’t think of anybody who I would trust more for my first time visiting a sex worker. But I worry she would find it weird to get a session request from an ex-boyfriend from high school.

— Anxiously Babbling Divorced Lad

DEAR ABDL: “It’s been over 10 years since they graduated; everyone is a grown up now,” said Mistress Matisse, a sex worker with decades of experience. “He needs to be honest and say, ‘I feel like this could be a great and safe experience for us both. But if you feel like this is too weird, I understand and I won’t contact you again. I also won’t tell any possible mutual acquaintances about your career, which I have the utmost respect for.’ And he should abide by her decision and stick to those promises.”

Even if your ex doesn’t feel comfortable booking a session with you, she might be able to refer you to a colleague in the area. The more consideration and tact you demonstrate when you contact your ex, the more likely she is to refer you to a trusted friend.

DEAR DAN: I’m a 36-year-old woman who has been dating a 46-year-old man exclusively for over a year. We are planning on moving in together soon and, if all goes well, marriage. We don’t want to have children at the moment, but we might change our minds. I love him so much, but I don’t

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love the choice he made 10 years ago to become a sperm donor. If we do have children, I don’t like the idea of my child having up to a hundred half siblings. The bank said he was very popular. Sometimes these kids reach out because they want a relationship or money. I feel like if we did end up having children, my child would be less special. I feel a lot of grief over a decision he made that so profoundly affects my life. This is the best relationship I’ve ever been in, but I don’t know if I should end it because of his past.

— Debate Over Nixing Otherwise Reliable Suitor

DEAR DONORS: I think you’re being ridiculous. You don’t even know if you want kids — you don’t even know if you wanna marry this man — and you’re having an existential crisis about children you aren’t sure you want feeling less special because the man you aren’t sure you’re going to marry might have a few biological kids out there already. Kids with siblings — full or half, donor or direct deposit — aren’t any less special than kids without siblings. And if you don’t agree with that statement and/or don’t think you can get there with the help of a good therapist, please don’t have kids you aren’t sure you want with this man you aren’t sure you wanna marry.

If you can’t see yourself being a loving and supportive partner when one of his biological kids tracks him down, you shouldn’t marry this guy. If he’s as lovely as you say he is, he deserves better.

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FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, WE WANT TO THANK OUR COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES!

SOLDIERS OF CINEMA

Two docs from Mark Cousins explore the eternal allure of the moving image

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

Unless you’re a real film buff, the name Jeremy Thomas might not mean anything to you. But it should. He is one of the producers behind some of the more acclaimed (1987’s The Last Emperor), the more audacious (2010’s 13 Assassins) and the more salacious (1996’s Crash) movies of the last 40 years.

A true independent, Thomas is at once the progeny of British cinema royalty — his father and uncle were behind the immensely popular Doctor and Carry On series — and a punk subversive whose interest in sex, politics and automobiles shaped the movies he produced just as corporatization was beginning to take hold.

This makes Thomas an ideal subject for the movie-mad documentarian Mark Cousins. His latest, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, is a delightful and informative road film through the life and career of the British producer.

The vehicle for this exploration is Thomas’ annual 850-mile, five-day road trip from England to the south of France for the Cannes Film Festival. Thomas loves to drive. Makes sense: In front of every driver is a large rectangle screen where one views the world — a movie screen on wheels.

These are the kinds of analogies Cousins excels at. He’s on the journey with Thomas in the passenger seat, playing the audience’s co-pilot through his subject’s biography, filmography and the conversations the two have on the road.

Cousins weaves clips from Thomas’ movies throughout Storms like memories. His life and work are inseparable, a kind of lifelong infatuation — a kinder word than obsession — where the line between reality’s end and cinema’s beginning is constantly blurred.

Thomas, who was 72 when Storms was made, isn’t slowing down. A cancer survivor, he has entered a phase of life where reflection is a welcome thing. Cousins, a prolific filmmaker, uses Thomas’ life and work as another entry point to explore how the movies we love become a kind of oxygen we need to survive.

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas is an enlightening portrait of a producer — the type of creative often overlooked or derided in the cinematic firmament — and an engaging reminder that the movies that made us are only as strong as those who made the movies.

BIG SCREEN DREAMS

As you might guess from his latest offering, Cousins loves a good road

trip. It forms the foundation for several of his movies, be they city symphonies or cinematic histories. And his magnum opus, 2011’s The Story of Film: An Odyssey, has finally been released on Blu-ray along with his 2021 follow-up, The Story of Film: A New Generation

Available now from Music Box Films, The Complete Story of Film is a grand and sweeping exploration of cinematic innovation. It’s nearly 19 hours long, discusses more than 600 movies and features 30-plus filmmakers from all over the globe.

Cousins’ essayist documentary is

neither history nor survey — though you could certainly watch it that way. It’s an exploration of how writers, directors, actors, producers, cinematographers, editors, et al. crafted the cinematic medium into one of the most intoxicating art forms of our time. It displays an understanding of the global and political forces that shape and mold the art we make — and celebrates how that art shapes and molds us.

The Complete Story of Film is a must for anyone interested in the moving image. Cousins is a master at bringing the cinematic canon in conversation with the films and filmmakers long forgotten or never discovered, and you will find a lifetime’s worth of movies to watch and love here. It’s a triumph and one you can now have on hand for multiple trips into one of the greatest stories of our time.

ON SCREEN: The Storms of Jeremy Thomas is in limited release. The Complete Story of Film is available now on Blu-ray from Music Box Films.

Jeremy Thomas (left) and documentarian Mark Cousins in ‘The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.’ Photo courtesy Creative Scotland.

FALLING FOR PUMPKIN SPICE

Now 20 years old, a seasonal Starbucks staple unleashes a plague upon us every autumn

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

There’s nothing intrinsically evil about pumpkin spice lattes. However, when Starbucks introduced the seasonal drink 20 years ago, it unleashed a torrent of pumpkin pie spice horrors upon our land. Now, PSL is legion, with cult-like fans addicted to their seasonal dose of spice. The climax comes Oct. 1, National Pumpkin Spice Day.

If you love pumpkin spice everything, you might want to look away. I am not of your clan, because I actually like pumpkin pie.

You should also be aware that Boulder County has been neck-deep in pumpkin spice culture since before the turn of the last century.

For Thanksgiving 1896, the Daily Camera published a spicy pumpkin pie recipe: “Take four cups of this strained pumpkin, add four cups of rich milk, a teaspoonful of salt, two of ginger, one of nutmeg and one of mace, a small cup of sugar and four or five eggs according to their size.” You had to come up with your own crust.

For decades the Boulder-area produced bumper crops of pumpkins to be canned, and the original Pumpkin Pie Days drew tens of thousands to

Longmont for pastry, coffee and horse races.

These days you can find the spice everywhere in everything, from Boulder Baked’s pumpkin spice cupcakes to Rush Bowls’ pumpkin spice bowl, Upslope Brewing’s Pumpkin Ale and Cocomel’s pumpkin spice coconut caramels. And if you’ve burned yourself out on the original, try a spiced pumpkin latte with pumpkin seed milk from Peak Press Juicery in Longmont. Some places, like Caribou Coffee, advertise PSL and other hot beverages “made with real pumpkin,” which sounds like weird pumpkin soup.

I wouldn’t be so anti-PSL if it wasn’t for the false advertising. Most pumpkin spice products contain oodles of sugar and zero pumpkin, a vegetable few Americans like and consume anyway. Many Americans only eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Day. Asked the flavors they favor in a pie and “pumpkin” comes up only 10% of the time in national surveys.

Besides, the “pumpkin” pies we eat are made with a variety of butternut squash. You have to wonder how far Starbucks would have gotten with Butternut Squash Spice Lattes.

FINDING THE RIGHT PUMPKIN SPICE

Pumpkin pie spice only exists as a seasoning idea, not a hard-and-fast recipe. Every mixture is different, and it always tastes better when fresh.

Avery Riffle has no conscious memory of the pre-PSL era, but she welcomes the season as manager of Boulder’s Savory Spice Shop. She guides shoppers directly to a shelf featuring the store’s pumpkin pie spice, a mixture of two types of cinnamon, plus ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves that leaves a tingle on the tongue.

Riffle points out that pumpkin spice is just one of many related blends. The Shop’s Baking Spice is similar, minus the cloves. Georgia peach spice, spiced vanilla bean sugar and Mt. Baker chai seasoning are variations on the theme. The Savory Spice website includes 20-plus pumpkin spiceinfused recipes ranging from chipotle

pumpkin soup to pumpkin pie. “People do love their pumpkin pie spice,” Riffle says. “I think most of them use it in coffee, but also in cookies and ice cream. I’m not a huge [pumpkin spice] girl. I’m more to the savory side and lean towards herb or paprika spice blends.”

JUST SAY ‘NO’ AND DRINK CHAI

Recent seasoning atrocities like pumpkin spice Spam and pumpkin spice massages may have prompted Krispy Kreme’s recent tongue-in-glazed-cheek “Pumpkin Spice Purchase Protection.”

“Bad pumpkin spice products shouldn’t happen to good people,” announced Dave Skena, marketing officer for Krispy Kreme Doughnut, in a press release. “If you’ve been impacted by the proliferation of pumpkin spice products that don’t make sense, come to Krispy Kreme and we’ll make it all better with a free pumpkin spice doughnut.” Is he talking about Cicis Pizza’s pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls, IHOP’s pumpkin spice pancakes, or Wendy’s pumpkin spice Frosty?

My advice is to stop the madness and have a cup of spicy chai instead. Sherpa Chai, Bhakti Chai, Boulder Teahouse Chai, Third Street Chai, Sanctuary Chai, Kucha House of Tea and Dot’s Diner chai are all made in Boulder.

How

So old that when it opened, Jimmy Carter was president,

the Oakland Raiders were NFL champions, and the first Apple II computers went on sale. Star Wars: A New Hope was the hottest movie in 1977 when the Pearl Street Mall opened. By the way, the pseudoDanish words “Häagen-Dazs” mean nothing at all.

THE BOULDER SCOOP ON HÄAGEN-DAZS

Pumpkin pie and coffee were on the menu around 1914 at Longmont’s Pumpkin Pie Days. Courteay The St. Vrain Historical Society.

Credit: Cocomels

Credit: Savory Spice Shop

old is the Häagen-Dazs shop inside Lindsay’s Boulder Deli on the Pearl Street Mall?

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: FIRST BITE, LAST CHANCE

● Make your reservations now if you want your choice of tables for First Bite, Boulder’s annual restaurant fest. Eateries featuring special menus Oct. 20-29 include Café Aion, Dagabi, Gemini, Greenbriar Inn, Masas, Pasta Press, Postino Wine Cafe, River and Woods and Sugarbeet Learn more at firstbiteboulder.com

● If you love the restaurants and bakeries in Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette and beyond, fill out your ballot for Boulder Weekly’s Best of Boulder East County awards by Sept. 23 You must vote in at least 20 categories for your ballot to count. Head to vote.boulderweekly.com

● Farm & Market, a one-of-a-kind restaurant complete with a vertical farm and a market, has opened at 2401 Larimer St. in Denver.

● Food service giant Sodexo has installed a SavorEat’s 3D printing robot at the University of Denver to make plant-based burgers and sausages based on customer preference.

CULINARY CALENDAR: CACAO, FUNGI & QUESO

● Fall in Colorado is full of interesting food events. DAR Chocolate will host A Sensory Trip to the Candy Shop - Edible Preparations of Magic Mushrooms Sept. 23 in Parker. More info at milagromushrooms.com

● For Halloween, Illegal Pete’s and cannabis vape brand O.pen are collaborating on the Illegal Pete’s Queso Cannabis Vape, available at local dispensaries. The nacho high comes with a coupon for free queso and chips at Illegal Pete’s. The eatery chain will be dispensing queso soon at its new Table Mesa location.

● Colorado Cocoa Pod hosts a sake and chocolate bonbon pairing Nov. 9 at Colorado Sake Co.

WORDS TO CHEW ON: THE SATANIC LATTES

“It hurts my heart to say these words: the specter of pumpkin spice. It’s like a demonic possession, pumpkin spice everything; pumpkin spice flavored shoes, pumpkin spice BLTs.”

Anne Lamott

John Lehndorff is the former Chief Judge at the National Pie Championships. Comments: nibbles@boulderweekly.com.

EGGPLANT VERTIGO

A seasonal recipe to knock you out cold

BY ARI LEVAUX

Imam Bayildi is an eggplant dish named for its ability to separate a man from his consciousness. The Turkish phrase means, “the Imam fainted,” and the implication is that the decadent and aromatic experience of eating this glorious dish knocked the Imam out cold.

There are other theories for the origin of the name: One posits that the Iman fainted when he realized how much olive oil his wife used while making it. Or maybe it’s a reference to some potentially psychoactive business going on.

Eggplant is one of the more enigmatic members of the nightshade family, which includes tobacco. Most nightshades are either poisonous, hallucinogenic, medicinal, inflammatory or any combination of the above, depending on the dosage.

Eggplant, tomato, potato and pepper are pretty much the only edible species in this family, and they

IMAM BAYILDI

Serves 6

2 lbs. eggplant, trimmed and sliced in half lengthwise

1 lb. tomatoes cut into ribs (see below)

1 lb. onion cut into half ribs

2 tablespoons Baharat (recipe below)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

have small amounts of nicotine and other alkaloids, a molecule that’s diversely represented in the nightshade family. Maybe the Imam just got a weird eggplant.

BAHARAT

Makes ½ cup

1 tablespoon whole cumin seed

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1 tablespoon coriander

1 tablespoon cloves

2 tablespoons nutmeg

2 tablespoons paprika

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cardamom

My friend Ray Risho is a SyrianAmerican chef, restaurateur and lifelong scholar of Old World cuisines. He grew up in an eggplant-friendly household in 1950s Providence, Rhode Island, and to this day, during the peak eggplant months of late summer and early fall, Risho goes on a seasonal binge. He brings home armloads of the fat, purple fruit (yes, fruit, just like tomatoes) from the farmers market and prepares them in various ancient, succulent, fragrant ways. Risho’s rendition of Imam Bayildi will make you bliss out, if not pass out.

Toast the cumin, peppercorns, coriander, cloves and cardamom in a dry pan. Grind and mix with the other ingredients.

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Hours: Tues-Sun: 11a-8:30p Closed

The trick, aside from unholy amounts of EVOO, is Baharat spice blend. Being a black belt in spice blending, Risho mixes his own; but

3 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 tablespoon dried mint

1 head garlic, chopped coarsely

¼ cup lemon juice

Slice off a thin piece of skin on the underside of each eggplant half so it sits flat. Fill a cast iron pan or other baking dish with eggplant halves, trimming as necessary so they fit in the pan as snuggly as possible with no empty spaces. If there are lots of gaps, cut up an eggplant to pieces that fit. With a sharply pointed knife, score a crosshatch

it’s available online and in most Middle Eastern stores. When purchasing Baharat or any spice mix, Risho advises reading the ingredient label carefully. You only want the spices — no flour, salt, sugar, oil or any other filler that would dilute the impact. You can add salt later.

“The idea is to get the onions, tomatoes and eggplant to melt,” Risho says. Like the Imam, we presume. He lays eggplant halves in a cast iron skillet, blankets them with a onion and tomato mix that’s heavily seasoned with Baharat, then bakes the skillet, covered, until its contents are a savory pudding.

When it’s done, the kitchen will fill

pattern into the up-facing sides of the eggplants, about a quarter-inch deep, so the cut halves look like they have been overlaid with graph paper.

To make onion ribs, cut an unpeeled onion in half from end to end, and lay one of the halves flat-side down. Slice off both ends, slip off the skin, and slice thinly along the axis between the two trimmed ends. Finally, make one slice across the middle, 90 degrees from the others, so all the ribs get cut in half. Cut the tomatoes to ribs, but don’t cut them in half.

Combine the tomatoes and onions. Add the salt, olive oil, Baharat powder, lemon juice, garlic, mint and tamarind syrup, then stir it into a caramel-hued mix. Spread this mix evenly atop the eggplant. Bake covered at 350 for two hours. It should be succulent and soft but not collapsed and mushy.

with Baharat aerosol, and you will have to restrain yourself to let it cool to a reasonable temperature so you don’t burn your mouth. Room temperature or slightly warm is perfect. My mom hung onto consciousness, but ate so much she got heartburn. Me, if I had passed out and woken up on the floor, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the least. The only surprise would have been if I’d stopped chewing.

THE CHEMICALS BETWEEN US

BY

Prior to the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp was classified as a Schedule I substance, just like marijuana. That bill not only decriminalized hemp containing less than .3% THC, turning it into a viable agricultural crop, but it also decriminalized all products that could be derived from hemp, meaning people could extract CBD to make salves, tinctures, gummies, tablets, vape cartridges and more.

The bill also decriminalized hempderived THC products like delta-8 THC and delta-9 THC, which has created some legal loopholes that companies are exploiting to sell mislabeled and even disingenuous products.

Like CBD, hemp-derived THC can be isolated or synthesized from legal hemp containing less than .3% THC. All three molecules have purported medicinal properties and are used by people experiencing inflammation, anxiety, sleeplessness, muscle and joint pain and more. However, unlike CBD, both delta-8 and delta-9 THC have psychoactive properties.

And now, they’re all floating around in a legal gray area. They can be bought

and sold in some states and online without risk of legal retribution or arrest. But none of the products containing those substances are regulated, controlled or monitored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any other federal agency. There are no product testing or safety standards in this market. Many ethical businesses will pay for third-party testing to prove their products are safe and contain the dosages they claim. But it is also not uncommon for some products to contain less or none of what they claim, to have illegally isolated or synthesized their contents, or to contain other potentially dangerous chemicals.

That’s why some states, like Colorado, specifically prohibit products created by “chemically modifying” a natural hemp component. Delta-9 is legal here because it’s a “phytocannabinoid” occurring naturally in the hemp plant. But its chemically synthesized cousin delta-8 THC is not (Weed Between the Lines, “The delta-8 gray area,” July 8, 2021).

And new research published in the Journal of Cannabis Research suggests that a significant percentage of hempderived delta-9 THC products actually contain chemically modified THC and THC derived from traditional cannabis plants. The research team studied selected products marketed as containing “hemp-derived delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol” and had them analyzed in a lab.

“While 96.2% of products were under the legal delta-9 THC limit, 66% differed from their stated dosage by more than 10%, and although 84.9% provided a lab report to customers, 71.1% of these did not check for impurities,” the study’s abstract reads. “Additionally, 49% of products converted CBD to THC to achieve their levels, and only 15.1% performed age verification at checkout.”

The study’s lead author, Lee Johnson, also points out that 26.5% had sourced the THC in their product not from hemp, but from traditional cannabis plants — which is still illegal according to the federal government.

The study concludes: “Only 18.4 percent probably used natural hempderived delta-9 THC.”

“[Companies] get away with it,” says Johnson. “And I’m surprised that they get away with it. It’s very brazen to do that.”

According to the FDA, delta-9 THC products are not protected under the 2018 Farm Bill and remain illegal. In a letter from 2021, Terrence Boos, chief of the DEA Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section, clarified that if THC is arrived at via a chemical starting from CBD, it “makes the [substance] synthetic and therefore, not exempted” under that bill.

However, in 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with that. They rejected arguments that hempderived THC products, even those chemically synthesized from hempderived CBD, fall beyond the scope of the 2018 Farm Bill.

“Regardless of the wisdom of legalizing [ingestible hemp-derived] THC products, this Court will not substitute its own policy judgment for that of Congress,” the three-judge panel wrote in its decision. “If [the defendant] is correct, and Congress inadvertently created a loophole legalizing vaping products containing [hemp-derived] THC, then it is for Congress to fix its mistake.”

Johnson echoed the court’s sentiments. “I do put the blame on the federal government for not thinking through the consequences of the law that they wrote,” he says. The lawmakers wrote the 2018 Farm Bill in such a general way, without specifying the legality of hemp-derived THC, or putting an age limit on who can buy these products, that they created this problem, Johnson continues.

The only solution he sees to getting the labeling correct and regulating delta8 and delta-9 THC products is through a law like Colorado has made. And, preferably, a law that comes from the federal government.

“The distinction between cannabis is purely theoretical. Is a plant with less than .3% THC hemp, or the plant with 23% cannabis? It’s just an arbitrary line,” he says. “So I think [the government] should really treat them the same way.”

Despite decriminalization, research suggests most delta-9 THC products don’t contain what they advertise

WILL BRENDZA