1.2.20

FREE

Ever y

Thursday

For

25

Ye a r s

/

w w w. b o u l d e r w e e k l y. c o m

/

Januar y

2-8,

2020

news:

Trolls, conspiracy theorists, hoaxers and Trump have twisted Facebook, YouTube and the news to toxic levels — and it’s only getting worse

by Daniel Walters

9

boulderganic:

15

adventure:

16

Who really stands in the way of wider adoption of cheap renewable energies across the world?

by Paul Brown

Boulder local, Laura Knoblach, finishes Double Deca ultra triathlon in just under 634 hours

by Will Brendza

Happy New Year!

Celebrate the New Year with 20-50% off Gift Cards for retail, dining and entertainment in Boulder County

19

buzz:

A year of Trump

by Clay Jones

23

arts & culture:

Are cellphones and tablets, not e-readers, the future of literature?

by Caitlin Rockett

nibbles:

35

community table:

38

Karim Amirfathi naturally knows what you would love for lunch

by John Lehndorff

Pork and beans, Brazilian style

by Ari LeVaux

bestofboulderdeals.kostizi.com

departments 5 7 22 25 30 31 33 37 41 43 45 46

Danish Plan: It’s just like the sanctuary city movement, only with live ammunition Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views Overtones: Black Violin are tireless champions of authenticity Boulder County Events: What to do and where to go Words: ‘Red Tail’ by John W. Steele Film: A cinematic legacy continues Tasting Menu: Four courses to try in and around Boulder County Drink: The place where beer meets community Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: Party lines Weed Between the Lines: Tall hemp attracts more bees Cannabis Corner: Legalization 2020: Let the people decide (the lawmakers are too chicken)

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

3

• BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER • BEST OF BOULDER •

2019 Best of Boulder Gallery of WINNERS Best Cost me op

~

ares thrift store

2536 Spruce st., BOULDER 303.444.8088 • boulderthriftstore.com

Best et Boa ing ~

COTTONWOOD KENNELS

7275 VALMONT RD., BOULDER 303.442.2602 • COTTONWOODKENNELS.com

Best Me i a Ma i ana va ation e vi e

~

Holos health

Best attoo ie ing a o ~

Rising Tide

3193 Walnut ST., BOULDER 303.500.5046 • tattooboulder.com

Best Cost mes

~

The ritz

959 Walnut St., Boulder 303.443.2850 • theritzcostumes.com

Best enta Ca e ~

North boulder dental

North Boulder D E N TA L

3000 Center Green Dr. SUITE 210 • BOULDER 720.273.3568 • holoshealth.org

Best Moving Company

~

Taylor moving

1001 North st., BOULDER 303.447.1042 • boulderdental.com

Best e B siness ~ A Holistic Funeral home

TM

4949 Broadway #110, Boulder 303.443.5885 • taylormove.com

102 W. Chester st., BOULDER 720.515.2344 • thenaturalfuneral.com

Best C inese esta ant

~

2010 10th St., Boulder 303.545.6262 • zoemama.com

Zoe ma ma

Publisher, Fran Zankowski Editor, Joel Dyer Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Managing Editor, Matt Cortina Senior Editor, Angela K. Evans Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Special Editions Editor, Michael J. Casey Adventure Editor, Emma Athena Contributing Writers, Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Paul Danish, Sarah Haas, Jim Hightower, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Josh Schlossberg, Alan Sculley, Ryan Syrek, Christi Turner, Betsy Welch, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Retail Sales Manager, Allen Carmichael Account Executives, Julian Bourke, Matthew Fischer Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman Graphic Designer, Daisy Bauer CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Cover illustration, Jon Merrell January 2, 2020 Volume XXVII, Number 20 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit www.boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2020 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address 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.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

It’s just like the sanctuary city movement, only with live ammunition By Paul Danish

B

e careful what you wish for, because you might get it.

Good and hard.

Remember the sanctuary city movement, the strategy the Resistance (or the Democratic Party as we used to call it) deployed against Trump’s campaign against illegal immigration? The idea was, and is, to get local governments to declare that they won’t cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) efforts to arrest and deport people who were in the country illegally.

It seemed like a great idea at the time. Hundreds of cities, towns, counties, school districts and even a couple of states signed on (including Boulder, natch), making it that much harder for the feds to detain illegal aliens.

The idea of “sanctuary cities” and “cities of refuge” is centuries old and comes with a lot of historical and religious trappings which lend it legitimacy. A lot of progressives will tell you that Jesus would have approved. Him and Sol Alinsky.

I

And John C. Calhoun.

Especially John C. Calhoun, the slave-owning dead white guy from South Carolina whose political pedigree included vice president to two presidents (John Qunicy Adams and Andrew Jackson), U.S. senator from South Carolina, congressman, secretary of state and secretary of war.

Calhoun is the guy who really would have grokked the sanctuary city movement. That’s because his most important contribution to American political thought was the doctrine of “nullification,” which held that states could refuse to enforce federal laws they didn’t approve of within their borders.

Which is essentially what self-declared sanctuary cities are doing — nullifying federal law they don’t like within their borders.

(The South Carolina legislature actually tried nullification in 1832, when it declared federal tariff laws passed in 1828 and 1832 — known in South Carolina and most of the South as the “tariffs of abomination” — were unconstitutional and unenforceable in the state. It repealed the act of nullification the following year after then-President Andrew Jackson sailed a naval squadron into Charleston Harbor and threatened to hang the nullifiers — while agreeing to some modifications to the tariff. And a good thing they did too; South Carolina had already armed and see DANISH PLAN Page 6

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

5

Prescription Ski Goggle Inserts

Wearing glasses under your ski goggles can be uncomfortable and foggy, but missing the view isn’t fun. And missing your line may be dangerous.

Prescription ski goggle inserts may solve the problem.

Single vision inserts start at $180.

Please bring your goggles so we may be assured of a good fit.

Boulder Vision Center 303-443-4545

or visit bouldervisioncenter.com

28th near arapahoe - buffalo village M

T

T

BOULDER’S WINTER SPORTS RENTAL AND REPAIR HEADQUARTERS SINCE 1976

We sell Discount Loveland Lift Tickets

20% OFF Nordic/XC Rental Package Expires 1/17/20

Cannot combine discounts.

Must present coupon at time of rental.

FREE

Hot Wax 2019-2020 Ski Season

u u " " % # u u n 449 n

$!" ! !

6

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

DANISH PLAN from Page 5

placed on alert 2,000 mounted “minutemen� and 25,000 militiamen. If the South Carolinians hadn’t blinked, the Civil War could have broken out in 1833 instead of 1861.)

Back to the sanctuary cities movement. Progressives weren’t the only ones who liked the concept. Second Amendment advocates saw the possibilities as well. And when states like Colorado started passing new, more restrictive gun control laws — like Colorado’s “red flag� law and ban on large magazines for semi-automatic weapons — rural counties and small towns started declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries.

Judging by a continually updated map accompanying the Wikipedia entry on Second Amendment sanctuary, the idea is spreading like wildfire. Large swaths of Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Illinois and Virginia, as are the entire states of Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho and Alaska have been declared Second Amendment sanctuaries. Ditto for a number of counties in Texas and Florida, and a smattering in eight other states.

So far the national media haven’t taken this movement very seriously, but it has the feel of a ticking time bomb.

And the place where it’s ticking loudest is Virginia.

According to the Wikipedia Second Amendment sanctuary entry, 87 out of 95 Virginia counties, 11 out of its 38 independent cities, and 20 of its towns have adopted Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions.

That prompted Democratic State Representative A. Donald McEachin to suggest that Democratic Governor Ralph Northam “may have to nationalize I

the National Guard to enforce the law.�

(McEachin evidently didn’t pay attention in civics class. Governors don’t “nationalize� the National Guard.

Presidents do that when they call up state National Guard units to serve in U.S. armed forces. Governors can mobilize their states’ National Guard units to deal with state emergencies or put down insurrections, which is presumably what McEachin had in mind.)

The explosion of support for Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions in Virginia seems to stem from reports that the Democratic-controlled state legislature — Democrats won majorities in both houses last November — would propose an assault rifle ban and possible confiscation, or failing that, mandatory gun registration.

Sloppy language aside, McEachin’s broader point is that organized, institutionalized action by local governments not to enforce state laws they consider unconstitutional is an insurrection, and the state government would be within its rights to use military force to put down the insurrection and enforce the law.

The same argument can be made with regard to sanctuary cities. Both the sanctuary cities movement and the Second Amendment sanctuary movements are latter-day examples of Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification, and acts of insurrection. And if nullification is normalized as a political tactic, don’t be surprised is the end result is civil war.

Here’s an idea: Progressives could quit creating sanctuary cities and conservatives could quit creating Second Amendment sanctuaries. If that’s a quid pro quo, make the most of it.

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

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Tesla factory is no miracle

Paul Danish’s column on COP25, the Madrid Climate Conference, (Re: “Another year, another record and COP25,” Danish Plan, Dec. 4, 2019) mocked efforts to cut carbon dioxide, offering a hard-boiled perspective that nobody actually cares and its not going to happen any time soon, if ever.

Specifically, Danish wrote that cutting emissions by 7.6% every year between 2020 and 2030 is somehow an impossible pipe dream — because efforts to date have yet to succeed.

Nonsense. Say your hard-drinking uncle drinks a 12-pack of beer a night.

To kick the habit by ramping down instead of going cold turkey, he can drink 11 beers a night in 2020, 10 in 2021 and so on — until he’s at zero (or maybe just the one) by 2030. That’s doable and so gradual he would hardly notice.

Making the analogy to fossil fuel consumption, commuting to work one less day every two weeks (one day out of 10) saves 10% of the fuel from the annual commute. Many of us are already telecommuting once or twice a week; more can do the same. Another option is to work eight 9-hour days and one 8-hour day every two weeks for the same total of 80 hours over two work weeks. Eight 10s double your saving, as does combining telecommuting and longer days.

Reducing hours driven with that gasoline-powered engine buys time to

replace it with an EV [electric vehicle] powered by a green grid — reducing one’s commuting carbon footprint close to zero. Former Boulder Mayor Will Toor is implementing one of the country’s most comprehensive EV programs at the Colorado Energy Office. In conjunction with ramping down and phasing out hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas, the EV initiative will go a long ways to restoring clean, breathable air and visibility across Colorado.

Colorado is on the verge of a clean renewable grid — because wind and battery storage is far cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, and solar plus storage is cost-competitive. In 2020, the Colorado General Assembly is expected to approve Community Choice Energy options to accelerate the pace and scale of deploying renewables and micro-grids while rewarding conservation and efficiency. We’re joining regional power authorities to make the green grid work across North America.

Net zero construction will remake the residential and commercial sectors of the built economy. We have the technology; it just needs to be deployed. Pueblo and EVRAZ inked a deal for the first steel mill on earth to be largely powered by cheap energy from a solar facility – representing massive progress for the challenging heavy industry sector.

Colorado is brimming with solutions, not pessimism.

The point is that we’re reducing emissions economy-wide. A fair and equitable transition will be an enormous boost for the economy as we rebuild and update our energy infrastructure, creating good jobs for displaced workers from the fossil fuel sector. On top of that, investing in climate-friendly solutions today will save us many times over those amounts by reducing costs of reacting to wildfires, floods, hurricanes and displaced climate refugees tomorrow.

We can do this. We need to commit, we need a plan and we need to fund it.

It’s called the Green New Deal and we can vote it into reality on Nov. 3, 2020.

States, towns, cities, counties and households (including a few common Boulder species, the two-wheeled commuters and the off-grid patriots) have been leading by pioneering workable solutions. For the U.S. Senate, Andy Romanoff is our best choice on climate and environment.

Mike Chiropolos/Boulder

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

Today I read Paul Danish’s opinion piece “Gigafactory 3: Tesla’s miracle in Shanghai” (Re: Danish Plan, Dec. 19, 2019) and had some thoughts on it: 1) Wouldn’t it be lovely to have Teslas manufactured in the U.S. instead of China? Now with this new factory in China, they can see behind the curtain of Tesla technology and before long they will do what China always does: Come up with cheap copies...

2) There is nothing miraculous about the speed in which a totalitarian regime, which has no workers rights or environmental standards to abide to, can build factories. The reason the public environmental consultation was done in a record 10 days, is because as usual, there was none done, really.

Sorry I cannot see the holiday miracle that Paul sees here.

Michael Klein/Boulder

From A to B on Climate

Want a shorter path to

FEELING HEALTHIER, STRONGER AND MORE YOUTHFUL? IV therapy from Boulder Integrative Health’s IV Clinic can boost your immunity to colds and flu and increase your overall energy.

You’ll likely notice a difference the morning after a treatment, which takes about an hour.

Nutrients delivered through IVs are absorbed more quickly and easily since they bypass the body’s digestive system, where nutrients are less likely to be fully absorbed.

The nursing staff at Boulder Integrative Health’s IV Clinic will listen to your health needs, then customize a nutrient solution specifically for you. Typical solutions include rehydration, detoxification and boosters for stronger immunity, better focus and more energy.

Boulder Integrative Health is led by Carrie Ballas, a boardcertified Family Nurse Practitioner. Carrie has been practicing integrative, functional medicine in Boulder for more than 10 years. She leads the nursing staff that administers IV therapies in a beautiful, calming space within Boulder Integrative Health.

RECIEVE 25% YOUR FIRST TREATMENT Email bihivclinic@gmail.com or call 303-459-4875 to schedule an appointment. Visit boulderintegrativehealth. com/iv-therapy for more background.

boulderintegrativehealth.com

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

7

The disinformation nation

Trolls, conspiracy theorists, hoaxers and Trump have twisted Facebook, YouTube and the news to toxic levels — and it’s only getting worse

by Daniel Walters

I

t may be getting harder and harder to figure out the truth, but at least this much is clear: It’s a good time to be a liar.

We’ve spent three years arguing if fake news swung the 2016 election — debating whether the hordes of Russian bots, hoax Facebook pages and inflammatory, dishonest tweets tipped the democratic balance to elect Donald Trump as president.

Yet in those same years we’ve learned that the stakes in the fight against truth, in a muddy world of social media platforms, go beyond politics.

In Brazil, public health workers were attacked after far-right activists lied on YouTube that they were spreading the Zika virus. In Myanmar, government soldiers used fake Facebook accounts to drive an ethnic cleansing, full of incendiary claims and false stories about Muslim minorities raping Buddhist women. Gunmen radicalized by false white-supremacist conspiracies on internet forums like 4chan and 8chan shot up a synagogue in California, a Walmart in Texas and mosques in New Zealand.

Elections have consequences. So do algorithms.

So now, heading into the 2020 election, experts are warning that trolls, hoaxers and dishonest politicians are arming themselves with a whole new arsenal of weapons of mass deception.

New technology is making it easier to hoax audio and video, while advances in artificial intelligence are making it all the more difficult to weed out computerautomated “bot” accounts.

And there’s a deeper risk, beyond figuring out the inaccuracy of any one article.

The deluge of misinformation — full of Trump tweets, deepfakes, InfoWars videos, Russian bots, 4chan trolls, that Washington Post correction, those outof-context memes and your great aunt’s latest questionable Facebook post — has become so overwhelming that some of us may simply give up trying to make sense of it all.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

A lie doesn’t need to be believed. It just needs to create enough doubt that the truth becomes polluted. With enough pollution, it’s impossible to see what’s right in front of you.

“When you’re flooded with so much bullshit,” New York Times media columnist Charlie Warzel says, separating fact from fiction becomes so difficult that “the task of trying to do it becomes, you know, tiresome, so you just stop.”

It’s the sort of thing your college philosophy professor might call an “epistemic crisis.” We don’t know what to believe. Truth is hazy. Reality itself becomes irrelevant. It’s a phenomenon that has already happened in places like Russia and the Philippines — and experts say that in the past few years, the United States has suddenly found itself on the same path.

“And that, to me, is one of the scariest things to think about,” Warzel says.

“It feels like we’ve come incredibly far since 2015.”

THE WEB OF CONSPIRACY History has a pattern.

An advancement in communications technology hands liars the means to lie louder and spread those lies further.

Look at the 1830s, when the invention of the steam printing press and other paper-making technologies produced the rise of the “penny press.” Newspapers I

became cheaper, more independent, more widespread, more competitive, and eager publishers found the power of the 19th-century version of clickbait. The New York-based Sun put out a series of entirely fictional stories that purported that “man-bats” and other exotic creatures were scurrying around on the moon.

Soviet-born British TV producer Peter Pomerantsev, author of This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, argues that when tech rips open the floodgates of communication, the bad guys always find a way to exploit it. Dictators quickly harnessed the power of radio. Joseph McCarthy, as a U.S. senator in the ’50s, used television to spread his anti-Communist conspiracy theories.

Yet for decades, the internet was heralded as a new frontier that allowed “citizen journalists” to take on the stodgy media elite. In 1998, the Drudge Report, a right-wing news-aggregating website, broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal when Newsweek got cold feet. In 2004, when Dan Rather and 60 Minutes put out a 1973 memo purporting to show that President George W. Bush had received special treatment while in the Texas Air National Guard, Drudge elevated the conservative bloggers who persuasively argued the memo was a fake written in Microsoft Word.

JANUARY 2, 2020

An “Army of Davids” — as some bloggers dubbed themselves — swarmed to debunk flawed media accounts, trying to counter bias wherever they saw it. The gatekeepers were being overthrown, the drawbridge had been flung open and the villagers could storm the castle.

But the villagers had their own standards for newsworthiness.

Drudge also sent his readers to darker corners, where sketchy websites claimed Barack Obama wasn’t an American citizen and Bill Clinton had a secret love child. Drudge even provided fuel for “Pizzagate,” the conspiracy that drove a man in 2016 to fire an AR-15 inside a pizzeria, because the internet told him that they were harboring child sex slaves.

Conspiracy theorists used to spread their gospel through books, newsletters, public access television shows, and by standing on street corners and handing out fliers. But the web gave every community a niche — no matter how fringe — and allowed them to spread their message in only a few keystrokes. On the internet, the corkboard is infinite and the spool of yarn used to connect pictures of shadowy figures never runs out.

The internet, Warzel says, handed fringe figures like Alex Jones of InfoWars a powerful new megaphone.

“He was one of the early pioneers of internet radio and video,” Warzel says.

“It was a way to get around the notion that it was hard to sell advertising around some of his kooky ideas.”

An audience of millions repeatedly tuned into Jones’ red-faced rants about 9/11 being an inside job, Obama chemtrails turning frogs gay, and the Sandy Hook shootings being faked. Drudge repeatedly linked to him.

Social media sites only accelerated the spread of misinformation. It’s easier than ever for a single comment, particular an untrue one, to go viral. In ancient times, the opinions of quacks were largely quarantined to a newspaper’s page of letters to the editor.

New York Times reporter Maggie see DISINFORMATION Page 10

I

9

DISINFORMATION from Page 9

Haberman and racist Twitter randos with names like “@WhiteGenocideTM” are all simmering in the same stew together. Both, after all, get retweeted by the president.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study published last year took a look at over a decade of Twitter posts and found that tweets about false news went viral six times faster than tweets about true news.

After all, lies are often more sensational, tapping into human emotions of shock, fear and disgust.

It wasn’t just that humans were more likely to share these kinds of stories. It was that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube developed algorithms to elevate certain types of content into your social media feed. It usually didn’t matter if they were true — social media sites didn’t want to become the truth police. It mattered that the stories drew people in.

“The way they keep people clicking and sharing and commenting is prioritizing things that get your heart pumping,” says Andrew Marantz, author of Antisocial: Online Extremists, TechnoUtopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation. “It’s like stocking a huge grocery store, but all of the visible aisles are Oreos and rat poison.”

Hell, YouTube actually started rewarding conspiracy theories above popular content. YouTube used to have what they internally called the “Gangnam Style” problem, where YouTube’s autoplaying recommendation engine would eventually send every viewer to the 2012 South Korean pop hit. In response, YouTube changed their algorithm in 2015, turning down the recommendation dial for merely popular videos and cranking up the preference for videos that led people down rabbit holes. Conspiracy-theory videos flourished.

Simultaneously, the internet had handed brand-new weapons to pranksters, vandals and assholes — “trolls” who could use misinformation and harassment to make life hellish for chosen targets. Image boards like 4chan combined anonymity and a near-total absence of moderation to become a frothing hive of racists, trolls and trolls pretending to be racists.

The boards delighted in pulling hoaxes — creating fake Jewish Twitter accounts to sow discord in the Jewish community, publishing coupons claiming black people were getting free coffee at Starbucks, and attempting to trick journalists into identifying mass shooters as the wrong person.

10

I

Sometimes the hoaxes became reality. A 4chan scheme to trick mainstream media outlets into reporting that the “OK” hand gesture was a white-supremacist sign resulted in white supremacists actually adopting the signal.

One particularly pernicious trolling tactic was to call 911 from a spoofed number and report a horrific crime, in hopes an armed SWAT team would descend on that location.

Marantz says he spent three years embedded in this world.

“There are people who just want to watch the world burn,” Marantz says.

“And that’s a phrase I returned to again and again.”

The motivations vary. In Macedonia, Warzel says, there are clickfarms filled with teenagers pumping out hoax news stories for fake publications, buying Facebook likes, all as a way to make money.

“It’s essentially just like a lemonade stand for them,” he says. But there are also foreign governments trying to influence global trends, politicians trying to game power and true believers who spread falsehoods because they think it’s the truth.

“To some degree, it doesn’t matter as long as there’s power to be gained and money to be made,” Warzel says.

And you don’t get much more powerful than the leader of the free world.

ART OF THE LIE Politicians are known to lie. It’s what they do. Presidents lie, whether about WMDs or keeping your health care or not having sexual relations with this or that woman. But there used to be limits.

“There were unwritten rules or JANUARY 2, 2020

norms about spin,” Jeb Bush’s former campaign spokesman, Tim Miller, says.

“You exaggerated for your candidate.

You used hyperbole. You tried to muddy the waters.”

But there were unspoken, unwritten lines, implicit walls that mainstream candidates didn’t try to breach. But then came Trump.

“Trump has been the Kool-Aid Man who bashed through the wall,” Miller says. And the GOP drank the Kool-Aid. Misinformation comes in a hundred ways from a hundred different sources.

And yet Trump is somehow all of them.

Trump is America’s top troll. Other primary contenders nitpicked Sen. Ted Cruz’s policy record — Trump called him “Lyin’ Ted,” insulted his wife’s appearance and suggested Cruz’s dad helped assassinate JFK. Trump is America’s chief conspiracy theorist, building his political brand on the lie that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

Everyone expected Trump to claim the election was rigged if he lost — but Trump one-upped the cynics. He claimed the election was rigged when he won, falsely charging that thousands of illegal votes had been cast in the election.

Trump is America’s preeminent liar.

At the Toronto Star, fact-checker Daniel Dale tallied over 5,200 false statements from the president since his inauguration, dealing with everything from tariff policy to payoffs to a porn star.

“I was flabbergasted by the frequency and the triviality of many of them,” Dale told the Los Angeles Times. “Trump was simply making things up about everything, for no apparent reason, I

about the smallest things.”

And now, as Congress continues the impeachment processing, focusing on whether Trump inappropriately pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, America gets to watch, once again, how powerful Trump’s misinformation machine is.

A September Monmouth University poll shows that only 40 percent of Republicans believe that Trump mentioned an investigation into Joe Biden during his call with the Ukrainian president, ignoring both the rough transcript of the call and Trump’s own words. Indeed, in March, a Quinnipiac University poll found that two-thirds of Republicans believe Trump is honest.

Some of that’s simple partisan psychology. Whether you voted for Trump because of immigration, judges, abortion or tax rates, your mind needs to continually justify your vote.

You wouldn’t vote for a liar. You voted for Trump, so Trump must not be a liar.

Besides, have you seen those wild claims the Democrats are making?

“At this stage it’s less about defending Trump,” writes columnist Peter Wehner in The New York Times, quoting a conservative psychologist friend.

“They are defending their own defense of Trump.”

It’s the same principle that drove feminists to attempt to justify President Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades.

Trump has a legion of staffers and supporters willing to lie for him. He ordered his press secretary to lie about his inauguration crowd size. He pressed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to defend his inaccurate statements about Hurricane Dorian.

“I have no obligation to be honest to the media,” former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski told Congress in September, speaking under oath.

“Because they’re just as dishonest as anybody else.”

And today, Trump has a loyal media apparatus willing to run interference for his falsehoods. The moment a negative story about Trump goes up, Fox News, the Federalist and a horde of Trump Twitter acolytes fire back with a mix of spin, falsehoods and irrelevancies.

The speed of that response, Miller says, makes it impossible for the truth to get a foothold.

“It prevents the ability for the facts to make it out at all,” Miller says. “People are hearing the alternate story at the same time they are hearing the story.”

So on the right, Trump’s Ukrainian BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

scandal quickly became a story about the motivations of the anonymous whistleblower, the dishonesty of House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, and the purported corruption of Biden and his son.

The Robert Mueller-led special counsel’s investigation into whether Trump’s team colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election turned into a story about the malfeasance of the “deep state,” about Trump-hating FBI agents concocting a scheme to undo the Americans’ actual election.

And for those seeking clarity, the firehose of factually shaky information on Twitter from all sides didn’t help matters. It wasn’t just from Trump fans.

Self-proclaimed members of the anti-Trump #Resistance rack up hundreds of thousands of followers hawking anti-Trump conspiracies and assurances that Trump’s downfall was always imminent.

It’s made social media stars of guys like Ed and Brian Krassenstein — who put out a children’s book featuring a muscled, shirtless Mueller — and former British member of Parliament Louise Mensch.

“My sources say the death penalty, for espionage, being considered for [former Trump campaign manager] @ StevenKBannon,” Mensch tweeted in 2017, just a few months after she’d written an op-ed about Russian hacking for the New York Times. “I am pro-life and take no pleasure in reporting this.”

In the meantime, the media outlets charged with sorting out the messy truth were being hammered from all sides.

Republicans charged that journalists were clearly biased against Trump — just look at all the negative stories they wrote about him! — while Democrats slammed journalists for “false balance” for failing to call Trump’s falsehoods outright lies.

Millions of eyes watched every Trump story, ready to send a barrage of tweets attacking every misstep.

“You could get away with a lot more in the old days,” Miller says. “If you had an error on A17 in the LA Times, people weren’t going to see it.”

The vast majority of media reporting on the Russia scandal was proved to be accurate by the Mueller report. But some bombshells — like reports about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen visiting Prague, a Trump computer server communicating with a Russian bank or WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange meeting repeatedly with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort — turned out to be irrelevant or entirely bogus.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Each big mistake plays into Trump’s hands. And since most national media outlets rely on anonymous sources, it’s relatively easy for Trump aides to intentionally trick reporters into making a mistake.

“In some cases, they’re actually trying to put out disinformation this way,” Miller says. “The media reports it, the White House dunks on them for being incorrect.”

In this environment, where liars are everywhere and the truth is almost too strange to be believed, journalists are constantly second-guessing themselves.

“It leads to exhaustion. It leads to burning out,” Warzel says. “And then those mistakes are a breeding ground for more potential misinformation.”

In 2016, BuzzFeed reported that in the last three months before the election, 20 fake news stories from hoax sites — Clinton sold weapons to ISIS! The Pope endorsed Trump! — received more engagement on Facebook than the top 20 stories on actual news sites.

But Trump hijacked the phrase — “FAKE NEWS!” — and twisted it into his own catchphrase, a way to disparage any story he didn’t like. It was a joke, but the sort of joke that everyone repeats until it burrows into the national psyche.

If all news is fake news, anything can be true. Everything is a lie and nothing is. In the fight over truth, the fog of war is thick. It’s the perfect environment for an enemy to attack.

“As the credibility of the mainstream media continues to deteriorate, it’s only going to embolden bad faith actors,” Miller says.

DEEPFAKE IMPACT In the video footage back in May, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sounded drunk. Her words seemed artificially slow, like a drawling slur.

“What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi?”

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani tweeted.

“Her speech pattern is bizarre.”

In reality, the video itself had been doctored, slowed down to make Pelosi sound like she was slurring. Giuliani later deleted the tweet but refused to apologize.

“How could I have figured out that it was inaccurate?” he told the New York Times.

If an altered video that simple could get shared millions of times, experts worried, what could a more sophisticated hoax look like?

In 2017, a Reddit user named see DISINFORMATION Page 12

I

STATE OF THE ART FULLY EQUIPPED REHEARSAL STUDIOS. Monthly or hourly rentals, Marshall, Fender, Mesa Boogie, Aguilar, Ampeg, Sonor, Yamaha. Rehearse where Elvis Costello, Pixies and Joe Cocker rehearse.

The best studio complex between N.Y.C and L.A. 525 Courtney Way, Lafayette, CO 80026 303.664.1600 • doghousemusic.com

FROM THE DIVIDE TO YOUR DOOR!

INTRODUCTORY OFFER Free Two 5-Gallon Bottles of Water & One Months Rental on the Dispenser of Your Choice

Offering Glass Bottle Options

303.440.0432 • www.IndianPeaksSpringWater.com LOOK FOR OUR SOLAR WATER CART AT BOULDER EVENTS JANUARY 2, 2020

I

11

DISINFORMATION from Page 11

“deepfakes,” using Google’s opensource artificial intelligence software, developed a technique to take footage of one face and overlay it onto video footage of someone else. As is typical with new technologies, the internet immediately harnessed it for both pornography and Nicolas Cage memes.

The faces of pop stars were imposed on the bodies of porn stars, while the face of the Face/Off actor was swapped onto footage of Gollum and Yoda.

At the same time, another piece of a deceptive puzzle is clicking into place.

Audio-editing products like Adobe Max give editors the option to go beyond cutting and splicing sentences, to editing individual sound fragments to make it appear like a speaker said things they never said. Mix and match the sounds, and with a large enough audio library of a politician, you could make them say anything. Combine it with video? It doesn’t take a Black Mirror scriptwriter to predict how the technologies can undermine confidence in the truth.

Just imagine that a week before the 2020 election, a video is leaked. It appears to be Trump, engaged in criminal and/or sexually explicit acts. Trump denies it. Maybe the video is a deepfake hoax. Or maybe it’s real, and Trump is just using the existence of deepfakes to deny it. Now imagine experts are divided on which is which. When you can’t believe your lying eyes or your lying ears, you’re left to trust your lying gut.

Now, at least, government officials and technology companies are aware of the chaos that these hoaxes could cause. The House Intelligence Committee has already held hearings on the issue.

“The tech companies aren’t ready,” Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chair, said on a Vox podcast in June.

“The government isn’t ready. We don’t have the technologies yet to be able to detect more sophisticated fakes. And the public is not ready.”

In August, the Pentagon started talking to partners for their new Semantic Forensics program, intending to develop technologies “to help to identify, understand and deter adversary disinformation campaigns.”

The private sector’s pushing for similar measures.

Last month, Facebook, Microsoft and a slew of research institutions announced they were joining forces for the “Deepfake Detection Challenge,” a contest to better understand the little clues that give even sophisticated deepfakes away. Deepfakes rarely blink in the right way. The heads might have a 12

I

strange tic. The eye color might be off.

Facebook chipped in $10 million to the effort. But those trying to create hoaxes are innovating, too, trying to think of ways to outthink the detection system.

“Networks of bots are behaving more and more like you and me,” Warzel says.

Ultimately, he says, it may come down to two different artificial-intelligence systems trying to outthink each other.

“You basically have two sets of computers playing war games with each other,” Warzel says.

The fight isn’t just about technology.

It’s about corporate policies. In the last two years, tech companies have tried to change their policies, ditching their laissez-faire libertarian approach to try their hand at benevolent censorship.

White supremacists and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones got banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

YouTube shifted viewers away from straight-up conspiracy theory videos in its recommendation stream — although liberals may be unhappy to learn they often landed at Fox News instead.

Twitter banned the #Resistance-tweeting Krassenstein brothers in June, citing rules that prohibit “operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing account interactions.”

Right now, both major political parties are calling for regulation, including raising the prospect of forcing Facebook to shrink in size. But Republicans and Democrats want different things. While liberals complain about lax regulation allowing “Nazis” to run wild on the site, conservatives fret about overregulation, worried that conservatives could be censored for their political opinions.

But the lack of censorship is dangerous, too, argue some experts. Whitney Phillips, author of the forthcoming book You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Network Pollution, points to YouTube and Facebook’s recent announcement that since political statements were newsworthy, the sites would rarely take down posts from politicians, even if the posts broke the rules.

“At every turn, at every conceivable opportunity, despite how loud the chorus might get, these technology companies made a choice to protect their bottom line over protecting the democratic process,” Phillips says.

Facebook’s motto for its developers was “move fast and break things.”

Phillips thinks they were successful.

“Yeah, they’ve broken democracy,” Phillips says. “There’s no more simple JANUARY 2, 2020

How to avoid spreading misinformation • Wait before reposting. You won’t need to apologize for forwarding untrue information if you never share it to begin with.

• Don’t share something just because it comes from a friend. Double check the source to make sure the reporting is from a respectable publication and that they’re not just summarizing the reaction on social media.

Better yet, wait until a second publication independently confirms the reports.

• Read the actual story first. Follow links to make sure the links actually back up the news stories. Biased news sources are infamous for making sensational claims in their headlines that the underlying material doesn’t support.

• Be cautious about sharing bogus stories just to point how stupid or wrong they are. That’s an easy way to inadvertently spread a falsehood.

• Mute #Resistance Twitter stars like Seth Abramson and Eric Garland and ignore far-right websites like Gateway Pundit, Breitbart and (increasingly) the Federalist. Just because they tell you what you want to hear doesn’t mean they’re giving you a straight story.

— Daniel Walters way to describe it.”

TOO MUCH INFORMATION Phillips wants to make it clear that it’s not just Facebook or Twitter’s fault.

It’s not just the fault of Alex Jones or Donald Trump or 4chan. It’s your fault, too.

“A lot of the misinformation being spread is not the result of bad actors,” Phillips says. “It’s everyday people doing everyday things.”

She thinks of it in terms of an ecological metaphor, where pollution is the accumulation of a billion little actions from individuals. All of the tweeting, retweeting and Facebook posting adds up.

“We’re sort of at the whims of everyday folks, disinformation agents, algorithms, white supremacists, all jockeying to win the attention economy,” Phillips says. “The result is an air that is so clogged that we can barely breathe.”

In that environment, with so many different competing and contradictory claims, people “don’t even necessarily trust there is such a thing as truth.”

But Phillips doesn’t necessarily agree that more information is the answer. Journalists like to say that sunlight is the best disinfectant. But Phillips argues that sometimes the sunlight simply heats up the petri dish and spreads the disease — especially when people are liable to believe a hoax is true because a journalist says it isn’t.

“The truth can contribute to pollution as much as falsehood can,” Phillips says. “It is easy to feel like you are pushing back against a story when you

are saying, ‘This story’s terrible.’ But the algorithm doesn’t care about your righteous indignation. The algorithm cares that you’re engaging with content.”

She urges journalists and everyday people to shift the lens, focusing less on the liars and more on how lies and ideologies have impacted communities.

Warzel, meanwhile, also urges social media users to slow down. Be wary about clicking that retweet button.

If a story seems too perfect, doubt it. If a crazy news story doesn’t come from an established media outlet, wait until at least one outlet covers it — ideally two.

Marantz, the expert on online trolls, says the long-term solution to the disinformation crisis is a deep and philosophical one that he’d explain at length with phrases like “reaffirming our commitment to epistemic depth.” But for now, the simpler way to react to disinformation is to rely a little bit more on the old gatekeepers.

“If you read the New York Times or the BBC or the alt-weekly in your town or the New Yorker, you’re going to be better informed than if you read Facebook,” Marantz says.

Not because they’re perfect — there’s a billion reasons to complain about mainstream journalists, he says — but because, for all their flaws, right now they’re the best we’ve got.

“It’s the best short-term solution,” he says, “as opposed to just living a world where no one knows anything.”

A version of this article first appeared in the Inlander, a weekly based in Spokane, Washington.

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

NEW YEARS SALE!

Boulder’s Local Music Shop Since 1971

TONS OF STYLES INCLUDED! 25-50% OFF!

Plus: Eastman, Deering, Ohana, KoAloha, Danelectro

comfortableshoes.com

3101 28th St, Tebo Plaza, Boulder

Wed nesd ay

BOULDER On the Downtown Mall at 1425 Pearl St. 303-449-5260 & in The Village next to McGuckin 303-449-7440 DENVER Next to REI at 15th & Platte at 2368 15th St. 720-532-1084

303.449.0516

hbwoodsongs.com

$5 Burger $5 Draft Beer (Wednesdays 3pm to close) Longmont Public House 1111 Francis Street, Suite A Longmont, Colorado 303.647.3755 longmontpublichouse.com

New Year’s

FLOORING Get a Fresh New Look for the New Year

SALE

*

hardwood

Albany PRODUCT Ridge NAME

carpet

5 0

49 $$ 00 sf SF

l tile luxury viny

High PRODUCT Bridge NAME

Hollow PRODUCT Creek NAME

01

$$ 00 80 SFsf

ceramic

0 3

$$ 00 99

12 MONTHS

sf SF

PRODUCT Oasis NAME

01

$$ 00 99 sf SF

on purchases made with your Carpet One SPECIAL FINANCING on purchases made with your Carpet Credit Card at participating stores from One Credit Card at participating stores.

AVAILABLE ** Dec 28, 2016 to Jan 10, 2017.

* Applies to flooring materials only. At participating stores only; not all products available at all locations. See store for details. Photos for illustrative purposes only. Not responsible for typographical errors. Offer ends 1/10/2017.

Offers cannot be combined with other discounts or promotional offers and are not valid on previous purchases. 2016 Carpet One Floor & Home©. All Rights reserved. **Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

13

When we say we still serve Grandma’s recipes we mean it!

Gondolier Longmont

Gondolier Boulder

Take Out & Delivery Available at Both Locations

gondolieritalianeatery.com

Welcome

We offer an advanced medical treatment, known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), to alleviate depressive episodes that have failed to improve with the use of antidepressant medication.

I T ’ S A N E W DAY F O R D E P R E S S I O N T R E AT M E N T.

Richard L. Suddath MD Earle Shugerman MD

. Comfortable Office Setting in Central Boulder . Treatments Are Well Tolerated and Do Not Interfere With Usual Daily Activities . Non-Invasive, FDA Approved Procedure . No Anesthesia or Sedation Required

2501 Walnut, Ste. 207, Boulder, CO

Now Participating With Several Major Insurance Providers

ADD

Connect with a non-medication alternative for ADHD. Do you or a member of your family have difficulty concentrating or focusing? Are you concerned about hyperactivity or impulsive behavior? Now there is a clinically proven alternative to medication.

Research shows neurofeedback to be an effective, safe, non-invasive way to work with children and adults—without resorting to psychoactive medication. Help you or your child utilize and train the brain to improve performance. neuroAgility provides diagnostic evaluations for AD/HD and Brain Injury. We offer state-of-the-art training that is respectful and nonstigmatizing; we build on your strengths leading to a sense of self mastery.

Kerri Honaker, M.S., LPC, BCIA, Clinic Director Earle Shugerman, MD 2501 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80302

Attention and Performance Psychology

We accept most major credit cards. Insurance coverage may apply

www.neuroAgility.com 14

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

ADHD BRAIN INJURY ANXIETY AUTISM SPECTRUM HEARING ENHANCEMENT

303-417-1797 I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LIVE MUSIC!

Politicians, not markets, slow new energy dawn

Foggy Tops Bluegrass The Tune Up at Full Cycle Friday, January 3 6:30-8:30 PM - NO COVER Happy Hour till 7pm

Who really stands in the way of wider adoption of cheap renewable energies across the world?

1795 Pearl St., Boulder, Co 80302 www.tuneupboulder.com

by Paul Brown

O

ften blamed for society’s problems, politicians have now been brought to book for the slow take-up of renewable forms of energy.

These are now so cheap that installation worldwide is happening faster than governments have allowed for in their national plans for action, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

This shows, IRENA says, that it is politicians, many of whose election campaigns are still financed and overly influenced by the fossil fuel lobby, that are the barrier to tackling climate change, rather than any lack of available technology.

A report by IRENA, using calculations made by Carbon Action Tracker, says that as a result the socalled Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that each government is supposed to produce to show how they will cut greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement of 2015 are woefully inadequate.

Even if implemented in full, they would still allow the world to warm by 2.6 degrees Celsius, 70% more than the 1.5 degrees regarded as desirable by the Agreement, and well above the agreed danger level of 2 degrees. As it is, governments are not even reaching their declared NDC targets.

A “profound transformation” is BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

required, the report says. Higher renewable energy deployment amounting to 7.7 terawatts, or 3.3 times the current global capacity, could be achieved cost-effectively, and would bring considerable social and economic benefits.

“Given the competitiveness of technologies and the multiple benefits they bring the economy (e.g., job creation) renewables are a readilyavailable and cost-effective option to raise NDC ambitions today,” the report states.

“By adopting targets to transform the global energy system, policymakers could finally begin to turn the tide against global warming.”

The national plans that governments have produced to try to stem climate change currently allow for only a 4% annual growth in wind and solar power between 2015 and 2030 — even though annual renewable power growth averaged 5.8% between 2010 and 2014.

With current growth, the targets governments had set for 2030 would be met by 2022. According to the agency’s calculations, the progress made already means there could be 3.3 times as much global capacity installed by 2030.

POLITICAL REFUSAL The report, released during the recent UN climate talks in Spain, is designed to show that combating the climate emergency by using renewI

ables to electrify the power system is well within the grasp of governments — if only politicians were prepared to endorse the idea.

The issue becomes critical next year at the climate summit due to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, when governments are due to ratchet up their commitments to tackle the climate crisis. The report notes that, despite the lack of government support, many financial institutions are already moving towards investment in renewables and climate-resilient investments.

However, this on its own will not achieve the estimated $110 trillion that need to be invested in the energy sector by 2050. There have to be positive policies from governments to switch from fossil fuels — what the report calls addressing “economic and social misalignments.”

At the moment the report notes it is not reluctance on the part of wider society that is preventing this change, merely the lack of action by politicians. For example, executives who run companies are driving the renewable energy build-up by buying renewables for their businesses.

In 75 countries, with 2,400 businesses, surveyed for the report, more than half said they actively looked for renewable energies to power their activities. These decisions were driven by the environmental and social benefits that renewables brought.

This story previously ran on Climate News Network.

JANURY 2, 2020

FRIDAY JANUARY 3

D

L D

7:00 PM

T LL T L

8:30 PM

T

L

T L

10:00 PM

L

L

T

TL

SATURDAY JANUARY 4

D

L

D

L

T

1:00 PM

W L T D 2:30 PM

T

L

L

T L

T

SUNDAY JANUARY 5

D D

L L

12:00 PM

L

T

T LL T

W T

1:30 PM

T T

Fiske Planetarium - Regent Drive

(Next to Coors Event Center, main campus CU Boulder)

www.colorado.edu/fiske 303-492-5002 I

15

DANIEL PUISSANT

Chasing dreams

COURTESY LAURA KNOBLACH

Boulder local, Laura Knoblach, finishes Double Deca triathlon in just under 634 hours, smashing previous women’s world record

COURTESY LAURA KNOBLACH

by Will Brendza

OVER 26 DAYS, Laura Knoblach swam 48 miles, biked 2,237 miles and ran 523 miles, setting a world record in the process.

T

he race was about to start, and all Laura Knoblach could think about was the fact that the swim she was about to embark on was 48 miles long. Plus the reality that it was only .017% of the full distance she’d signed up to cover over the next 26 days.

There was also going to be the 2,237-mile bike ride. Then the 523-mile run to the finish.

It was going to be a challenging month, to say the least. But it was exactly the kind of thing Knoblach lives for.

Knoblach, a spunky and energetic 24-year-old University of Colorado grad, has a healthy, albeit masochistic, obsession with races that would make the average person weak in the knees. She’s been running since she was 9, she rides her bike everywhere, and grew up in Minnesota swimming in lakes when it wasn’t freezing cold.

This October, Knoblach traveled to Leon, Mexico, a city she’d never visited, to participate in a race only one woman had ever finished — a race equivalent to 20 combined Ironman triathlons known as the “Double Deca.” It would take her 26 days of near-non-stop action with minimal sleep. She would be tried, she would be tested, she would experience chemical skin burns and rescue kittens, and in the end she would smash the previous 1998 female world record by a full 10 hours.

But on the night of Oct. 4, just moments before the Double Deca Ultra Triathlon began at 10 p.m., it was the swim, the shortest portion of the race, that was daunting to her.

16

I

“You can’t really swim 48 miles in training,” Knoblach says. “So, I was really nervous. Like, what if I don’t make this swim? Then I came all the way down to Mexico for a month, to do nothing.”

Knoblach had been training for the race for a long time. Throughout the summer, she climbed 14ers, went on long runs through the mountains and even longer bike rides; she hiked, she swam, she pushed her endurance as far as she could, knowing that the race for which she was conditioning her body would push it much, much further.

So, with all that training and sponsors like Boco Gear, Deboer Wetsuits and Baretich Engineering behind her, she set those nerves aside. The race director began a countdown and when he got to “one,” Knoblach dove bravely into the Double Deca — the longest, most trying event she had ever dared.

“The swim itself wasn’t actually that bad,” Knoblach says. What was bad were the chemicals in the pool. The race director, a veteran endurance racer, had asked the pool staff to turn the chemicals down, anticipating issues with athletes swimming in chlorinated water for dozens of hours.

Instead, the pool staff accidentally turned them up.

“Basically, any exposed skin got chemical burns on it and people were having respiratory issues,” Knoblach recalls.

Yet she swam though that discomfort, sleeping just over an hour between long sessions in the pool.

When she finally stepped out of the water 53 hours later, covered in pink rashes that would last for weeks, JANUARY 2, 2020

I

it was with a sense of victory, followed by fatigue.

“I was just taken out after that, exhausted,” she says. Out of necessity, after her crew slathered ointments on her chemical burns, she slept for seven glorious hours.

“Then the bike was next,” she explains. The course was around Parque Metropolitano de León, a park with a big beautiful lake at the center ringed by a nearly four-mile bike circuit.

Which, to some, might sound monotonous, considering she was about to ride 2,237 miles. That’s over 500 laps, pedaling around that park like a hamster on a wheel.

“There’s positives and negatives about having a looped course because it is boring in some ways,” Knoblach admits. “But a positive aspect of it is you could be 300 miles ahead of someone in a race and be biking right next to them. So, if you pull energy from having other people around you, doing a multi-loop course can be really helpful.”

By that point Knoblach was getting to know her fellow racers well, and their camaraderie was building.

Having friends to ride alongside fueled her, she says.

Still, despite those companions and the vitality they provided, and despite Knoblach’s undaunted attitude, her body was starting to feel the consequences of such an intense race.

“The first three days of the bike, I felt like trash,” she recalls. “I woke up and I was stiff, I was sore, my knee hurt and my ankle hurt. And I was thinking, ‘Oh, god, I’m two days in. How am I going to finish this?’”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

But the laps kept passing, the miles ticked by and slowly her aches and pains muted. Every day after the third day on the bike was a better one, she says. She started going faster, doing more miles per day and gaining on the women’s world record set by Silvia Andonie 21 years earlier.

There was at least one memorable moment that broke up the monotony.

About halfway through, she and another racer heard a cry from some nearby bushes. They saw a small kitten, alone, calling for help. At first, they assumed that it was just looking for its mother. But the next lap, they heard it again, in the same place. Maybe it was feral or rabid? They wondered, and again pedaled on. “Third lap around, we see my friend Georgetta and she’s holding this tiny, tiny little white kitten just bawling her eyes out,� Knoblach recalls. And Georgetta was adamant: they needed to do something to help.

Problem was, they were on the complete opposite side of the lake as the race site, where they could pass the animal off to help. Nevertheless, the three racers took some time out and figured out how to carry the kitten on their bikes. It wasn’t easy, she says, but they did it, and they saved a life in the process. “Georgetta is bringing the kitten home,� Knoblach says. And she’s named it DD for (you guessed it) Double Deca.

After 11 days in the saddle, when the bike portion was finally over Knoblach crashed and collected a few hours rest. Then she rose again and put on her running shoes.

Just like the bike, though, Knoblach says the first few days on the trail felt terrible. She wasn’t covering the distances she wanted. “The first day of the run, I don’t think I even did a marathon,�

Knoblach says shaking her head. “The second day, I did like 40 miles and it was just barely. The third day was another 40 miles, barely.�

Everything hurt and she felt awful.

The third day of the run was the crux of the whole Double Deca, she says.

That night, her unsinkable spirit was starting to feel heavy. “I was pissed off. And I was just on the verge of tears because I wasn’t hitting enough miles each day to even finish.�

It was close to midnight. Her pace had slowed to a “gimpy, staggered walk� in her words, when the headlights

appeared and a car rolled up alongside her. She knew it was someone with the race, so she waved, feigned a smile and continued walking, trying not to engage.

But someone jumped out of the car; it was Marcos, the race’s massage therapist, another friend of hers, and he could tell she was on the struggle bus. “So, he starts giving me like a three-mile pep talk,� she says.

He was drilling it into her, “you’re going to be fine,� he said. “You’re going to get through this,� he reminded her.

That pep-talk actually worked, too, Knoblach admits. Her pace picked up, she pushed the pain to the back of her mind and the miles kept moving steadily past.

There were still nine days left at that point, and who-knows how many miles to go. But she called that moment the beginning of an “upswing.� And before she knew it, it was almost the last day of the race and she was almost done. “I ran all night, maybe slept like an hour and a half, and then I ran all day and all night again,� she says. “I was just thinking, ‘Don’t blow this on the last day, Laura. You just gotta keep going.’�

Around 7 a.m. on Oct. 30 — 633 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds after the race had begun in the pool — she crossed the finish line a full 10 hours ahead of the previous women’s world record.

And on top of that, she had also beat the previous men’s U.S. national record by 44 hours, she says. “That was a nice surprise,� she says.

For the next hour Knoblach sat on an air mattress, dazed and confused, holding a friend’s small dog and swaddled in a sleeping bag as people tried to get her to eat food and drink water. It was surreal, she says. Not unlike her return to the U.S. “When you do a race that long, it’s so different from your normal life,� she says. “My house had become this little tent in this park in Mexico and it’s all I knew anymore. Coming back, I was like, wait, which one is the dream?�

Perhaps neither, and perhaps both.

When she returned to the reality of life in Boulder, she was a world record holder, she had completed one of the longest most intense races in the world, and made her dream of doing so a reality — she was, in more sense than one, living the dream she’d chased through the desert.

Which she says, she’s still trying to wrap her mind around.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

Realign your body. Move with ease. FEEL BETTER. START THE NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT

WITH ROLFINGÂŽ

720-878-2888 GETROLFING.COM

1290 Yellow Pine Ave. Boulder, CO 80304

#

S OUTHWEST A CUPUNCTURE C OLLEGE B OULDER ANTE F E

T HE F UTURE

OF

M EDICINE

IS

W AITING

FOR

Y OU !

Flexible online classes embedded within an accredited Master’s residential program Spring 2020 transfer students receive 10% discount on first semester tuition $$$ " " !" " &

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

17

Offering cosmetic and therapeutic injections, restorative medical infusions, and premier skin care solutions to keep you looking and feeling your best.

#" # ! %

inlightrejuvenation.com

Open Range Competition Teams Summer Day Camps Classes & Private Lessons

Target & Hunting Full Service Retail Pro Shop & Service Recurve & Compound

High Altitude Archery 455 Weaver Park Rd #500 Longmont, CO 80501 720-491-3309

18

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

A year of Trump FOR THOSE WHO make their

living producing political cartoons, it could be argued that the election of Donald Trump was a godsend. It has been three years of low-hanging fruit and short workdays for our fellow journalists of the cartooning ilk. Our chosen provider of hand-drawn presidential humor is Clay Jones. And while we ran 52 of his Trumpian efforts in our newspaper this year, he actually produced several hundred more that we couldn’t work in with our weekly schedule. Here is a look back at some of our favorite Trump political cartoons that didn’t make it into the paper. The times may be crazy and challenging, but none of us can afford to lose our sense of humor. Enjoy.

see CARTOONS Page 20

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

19

CARTOONS from Page 19

20

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

21

Running through walls

Black Violin are tireless champions for authenticity

by Alan Sculley

A

ny music act with a unique sound is bound to sound familiar from album to album. But violinist Kev Marcus has no problem seeing a difference between Take The Stairs and the previous two albums he has made as one-half of hip-hop/classical fusion project Black Violin. In fact, Marcus can sum it up in one word.

“This is the most authentic album we’ve ever done,” he says.

“The album is who we are. That was the best part of it. It didn’t feel like we had to try to conform or act like anything else, and we were still able to make an album that we feel very, very proud about without necessarily compromising our ideas in any way — all without being preachy.”

Marcus will allow that the first Black Violin album was also authentic. But he sees several reasons why he and his partner in Black Violin, viola/keyboardist/ singer Wil Baptiste, were able to achieve start-to-finish authenticity on Take The Stairs.

“Our very first album was — it was our life’s work,” he says. “It’s everything up until the point where we were 23 years old and we put that out. But since then, this is the most authentic album, and I think it’s because, honestly, we had a long time to do it. [When the album] Stereotypes came out in 2015, we were looking for producers, looking for different situations since we had to fight to get out of our deal with Universal. We had so many other things that were happening at that time.

“Then last year, we got together with [producer] Phil [Beaudreau] in like September, and the album was done in like October last year,” Marcus says.

“Since then, we’ve just sat on it and been able to fix this note, change this snare, fix this word. I mean, I’m more at peace with every note on this project than I’ve ever been on anything we’ve ever done.

So I think that’s some of it, just the authenticity of it.”

Marcus feels three songs from Take The Stairs that lean decidedly classical — “Rise,” “Serenade” and “Elgar Nimrod” — represent new twists in the way he 22

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

ON THE BILL: BLACK VIOLIN. 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place, Denver, altitudetickets.com. Tickets are $27.50-$50.

COLIN BRENNAN

and Baptiste write music, while most of the other songs continue to demonstrate the duo’s ability to blend hip-hop and classical instrumentation and melody in fairly equal measures. For instance, “One Step” starts out with a sonic blast that’s almost industrial before layering in hiphop beats and an R&B-leaning vocal melody (sung by Baptiste, who has grown into a capable singer). “Lost in the Garden” has a bit of Marvin Gaye in its soulful sound, while “Spaz,” “Showoff” and “Dreamer” are good examples of the melding of hip-hop and classical.

This musical hybrid is something Marcus and Baptiste began forming in high school, when one day Marcus had an idea for how to incorporate violin into the Busta Rhymes song “Gimme Some More.”

That musical idea, however, was put on hold when, in 2004, after winning the Showtime at the Apollo talent competition, Marcus and Baptiste were introduced to Alicia Keys’ manager, and were then hired to join her band for a performance during the 2004 Billboard Music Awards.”

This led to opportunities to tour, not only with Keys but with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Linkin Park. But the duo never lost sight of the idea of creating their own music, and eventually they decided to stop taking touring gigs and pursue Black Violin in earnest.

The self-titled debut arrived in 2008,

followed in 2012 by Classically Trained and then Stereotypes in 2015. Along the way, Black Violin has built a robust touring business, had multiple songs used in commercials, television, movies and other media, and have also become involved in a variety of programs, including their own foundation, which encourages kids to pursue music or whatever careers they are passionate about — a message that is very much woven through several songs on Take The Stairs.

With the release of the new album, Marcus and Baptiste have returned to the road, bringing along drummer Nat Stokes and turntablist extraordinaire DJ SPS — both long-time touring members — to create a unique live experience.

“It’s more dynamic than the show has ever been because of the new album,” Marcus says. “The first and last songs on [Take The Stairs] are the first and last songs of the show. So it’s like we really frame the show around Take The Stairs.

“We wanted to kind of use the character of the album and start and end the show with the two kind of like classic palate cleansers,” he says. “Of course, we tell kids to dream, tell people to dream, the impossible is possible, just run through walls for whatever you’re passionate about. All of the messaging of the album is pretty much there [in the show].”

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

#InstaNovels

Are cellphones and tablets, not e-readers, the future of literature?

by Caitlin Rockett

Y

ou may think of Instagram as a platform for images, but it may be the next place you turn to read a novel.

Don’t scoff, because it’s already happening. In August 2018, New York Public Library (NYPL) launched its Insta Novels program with a digitized version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, with colorful modern illustration by Swedish designer Magoz. For the next several months, NYPL released more Insta Novels, including Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. All titles are available to followers of NYPL’s Instagram account — whether you live in New York or not, no library card necessary.

A little over a year later, NYPL confirmed approximately 300,000 people had read the handful of iconic novels it made available on its Instagram page.

While it’s safe to say Insta Novels likely won’t replace your Kindle anytime soon, the concept — whether you care for it or not — equalizes access to literature. Anyone with a smartphone (about 2.3 billion people globally, according to Pew Research Center) can read these stories, whether they’re in New York or New Zealand or Papua New Guinea.

This is no debate about print versus digital — that ship has sailed, and digital reading is here to stay. The question is how best to use digital media (and its platforms, like Instagram and Twitter) to encourage reading in an age when very few adults read a single novel in a year. (Again, Pew reports roughly a quarter of U.S. adults — 27% — say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form.)

Insta Novels are only the tip of the iceberg.

“Cell phone novels” are far from new. “Keitai shousetsu” began in Japan in the early aughts, primarily consumed and produced by young women. The literature — mostly romantic fiction in those early days — was sent chapter by chapter directly to readers via text message, email or online sharing website.

The chapters were typically between 70 and 100 words.

Though short, these novels rarely lacked complexity. For a culture that’s traditionally economical with language, cell phone novels were a perfect fit for Japan. They also predicted the shortening of attention spans that was to follow the boom of smartphones.

Then of course came e-readers, with the Kindle released in November 2007. Sales of Amazon’s e-reader reached more than 23 million by 2010, but started declining in 2012 and haven’t really stopped (though, it should be noted that Amazon still reports selling more e-books than hard copies).

“The ebook is a stupid product,” Arnaud Nourry, chief executive of French publishing company Hachette Livre, told Indian news site Scroll.in back in February 2018. “It is exactly the BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

same as print, except it’s electronic. There is no creativity, no enhancement, no real digital experience.” Nourry was adamant that the decline of e-book sales in the U.S. and U.K. is “not going to reverse.”

Nourry is far from alone in his analysis. Articles from The Guardian and TechCrunch in 2017 lamented the e-book’s lack of creativity.

“Children’s books, which represent an area of significant growth, just don’t work well on e-readers (although there are lots of children’s reading apps),” Paula Cocozza wrote for The Guardian. “Neither do young adult titles, even though this age group might be expected to opt for the most technological reading experience.”

Brian Heater, a reporter for TechCrunch, blames the lack of innovation. “[T]he technology hasn’t evolved all that much in over a decade,” he writes.

“Refresh rates are still a major hurdle to doing anything beyond page flipping.

“Color e-ink, meanwhile, has seemed perpetually just out of reach.

Technologies are just too expensive, too glitchy or both. And besides, a move to color brings us back to that earlier question: at what point would users just be better off with an inexpensive tablet?”

Or a cellphone. Ninety-two percent of American adults own a cellphone, and 45% own a tablet. Why spend money on a device dedicated to reading when you can read on a device meant to manage multiple tasks?

Insta Novels, designed by the agency Mother New York, use the character of Instagram to pull readers forward, including small animations throughout the books. With stunning, fully color illustrations and moving animations, an Insta Novel is far more visually appealing than anything an e-reader can offer.

Cell phone and tablet technology has also opened up the possibility of immersive, personalized storytelling. The Ambient Literature project publishes stories that pull in details about the reader’s location, the time of day and the current weather for a smartphone-based story.

“With the rising percentage of people using mobile phones as an extension of themselves, it makes sense that books would find a home on them alongside texts, games, music, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and all those other handy apps,” publishing expert Laurie McLean wrote in a late 2018 story for Fuse Literary. “I would love to predict that in 2019 savvy authors will really study this small, portable reading format and create a new kind of book perfectly suited to the screen size and shortened reading times. Of course I’m still waiting for ebooks v2.0, so we may not see a spark of something new on iPhones or Galaxies for a while yet.”

Perhaps 2020 is the year of the cell phone novel in America.

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

Live Entertainment Nightly at our 1709 Pearl St location

FRIDAY JANUARY 3

T

T

D

8PM

SATURDAY JANUARY 4

LT

T T D W

T

8PM

SUNDAY JANUARY 5

T

T

D L

8PM 9PM

MONDAY JANUARY 6

DL

DD D

8PM 9PM

TUESDAY JANUARY 7

D W

LL

8PM 9PM 10PM

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 8

L

8PM

THURSDAY JANUARY 9 8PM

Happy Hour 4-8 Every Day THELAUGHINGGOAT.COM I

23

Winner of Best Slice!

Order Online at cosmospizza.com

WWW T

WE DELIVER TO GUNBARREL UNTIL 2:30AM EVERY NIGHT!

T

T

T

T LD

T

LD

FRI. JAN 10

REI PRESENTS: PRETTY STRONG

OMNOM, PARMAJAWN

THUR. JAN 23 & FRI. JAN 24

THUR. JAN 16

COLTER WALL

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS

TUES. JAN 28

FRI. JAN 17

LIVE FOR LIVE MUSIC & 97.3 KBCO PRESENT

RADIO 1190, ROOSTER AND TWIST & SHOUT PRESENT

BOYFRIEND

KITTY CRIMES, SUNSHINE MEDLEY SAT. JAN 18 BOULDER WEEKLY PRESENTS

MIKE GORDON FRI. JAN 31

YBN CORDAE 24KGOLDN

FRONT COUNTRY

SAT. FEB 1

WED. JAN 22

THE WAILERS

FOXFEATHER, MONOCLE BAND ROOSTER PRESENTS

BACK2SCHOOL HAUS PARTY DERDY HARRY B2B FOUNDRY, HAASY, WEIR B2B MXXNWATCHERS, AWAL B2B HARVE, MIKALOVESKY B2B VISIONZZZ

3117 28th Street North Boulder Free Delivery 303-442-FAST

T

T

SAT. JAN 11

97.3 KBCO, WESTWORD & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT

1325 Broadway University Hill Plaza 303-447-1133 (Carry-out or dine-in only.

No Delivery)

T

LD T

88.5 KGNU & ROOSTER PRESENT: MR. GOOD LP ALBUM RELEASE TOUR

ARDALAN

659 30th Street Williams Village Free Delivery 303-447-FAST

WWW

97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

POLICULTURE

MON. FEB 10 KUVO 89.3 PRESENTS: AN EVENING WITH

THE DOO WOP PROJECT

THUR. JAN 23

THUR. FEB 13

DAB RECORDS PRESENTS

PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON

FLOWALITION, JORDAN POLOVINA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, PLAIN N SIMPLE, ROBIN SAMPLES, BABAH FLY, ILL-SE7EN, TONE ET, ARTWORK BY BARRY MCCLAIN JR.

97.3 KBCO PRESENTS: “EL DORADO TOUR”

THE MARCUS KING BAND

FRI. JAN 24

SAT. FEB 15

COLORADO’S FINEST UNDERGROUND HIP-HOP

97.3 KBCO, WESTWORD & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT

CHADWICK STOKES & THE PINTOS DANIEL RODRIGUEZ

FRI. FEB 14

DEE WHITE

97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

MARTIN SEXTON

SAT. JAN 25

SUN. FEB 16

ROOSTER PRESENTS: SUNNY SIDE UP TOUR

THE CELTIC CONNECTION & 88.5 KGNU PRESENT

MOODY GOOD

THE HIGH KINGS

THUR. JAN 30

SECOND CITY

GRAVITRAX, EXO, OPTIX 88.5 KGNU, BOULDER WEEKLY, GRATEFUL WEB & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT

TUES. FEB 18

THEO KATZMAN

LAUGHING FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS

RETT MADISON

THUR. FEB 20

FRI. JAN 31

LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB JACKSON CLOUD ODYSSEY SAT. FEB 1

SUMMER CAMP: ON THE ROAD TOUR 2020 MON. FEB 3 - WED. FEB 5

FRI. FEB 21 LIVE FOR LIVE MUSIC & 97.3 KBCO PRESENT: SQUAD TOUR 2020

TAUK

SAT. FEB 22

FOR THE RECORD | AN ACOUSTIC TOUR

88.5 KGNU & PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENT

THUR. FEB 6

DYNOHUNTER (DJ SET), MXXNWATCHERS

WESTWORD PRESENTS

FRI. FEB 28 & SAT. FEB 29

SHAKEY GRAVES

MAGIC CITY HIPPIES TIM ATLAS

FRI. FEB 7

LATE NIGHT RADIO (LIVE BAND) + STAR KITCHEN (MARC BROWNSTEIN, MARLON LEWIS, ROB MARSCHER, DANNY MAYER) RECESS

SAT. FEB 8 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND, WESTWORD AND TWIST & SHOUT PRESENT

JOSEPH

DEEP SEA DIVER TUES. FEB 11

OTT.

97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

ELECTRIC HOT TUNA + DAVID BROMBERG QUINTET SUN. MAR 1

SAM BUSH TUES. MAR 3

BILL FRISELL: HARMONY

FEAT. PETRA HADEN, HANK ROBERTS, LUKE BERGMAN THUR. MAR 5 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

GUSTER

88.5 KGNU PRESENTS: SECRETS & ESCAPES TOUR 2020

AN EVENING OF ACOUSTIC MUSIC AND IMPROV

OPEN MIKE EAGLE, DJ LAST WORD

SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING

BROTHER ALI WED. FEB 12

ZACH DEPUTY LUCAS WOLF, COUS

THUR. FEB 13

TUBBY LOVE & AMBER LILY + THE REMINDERS FRI. FEB 14 & SUN. FEB 16 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

TRIBAL SEEDS THE EXPANDERS SAT. FEB 15 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

OZOMATLI

QUILOMBO SOUND SYSTEM, SUENATRON WED. FEB 19

MOLLY TUTTLE FRI. FEB 21 88.5 KGNU & BOULDER WEEKLY PRESENT

MARCHFOURTH THE PAMLICO SOUND SAT. FEB 22

TUES. MAR 10

ROSANNE CASH WITH JOHN LEVENTHAL WED. MAR 11 & THUR. MAR 12 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS: NATURAL AFFAIR TOUR 2020

THE GROWLERS SAT. MAR 14 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

LOS LOBOS TUES. MAR 17 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS

ANDERS OSBORNE + JACKIE GREENE THUR. MAR 19 DISRAELI GEARS TOUR

THE MUSIC OF CREAM MAR 28 .................................. ROSS MATHEWS “NAME DROP” BOOK TOUR MAR 29 ................................................................. THE DEL MCCOURY BAND APR 5 ............................................................................... PAVLO IN CONCERT APR 11 .............................................. A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN APR 22 ..... TIGRAN HAMASYAN FEAT. ARTHUR HNATEK & EVAN MARIEN

105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS: UP AND ROLLING TOUR

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS FEB 23 .............................................................................................. RAPSODY FEB 27 ................................................................................................ VINCENT FEB 28 ........................................................................................... SON LITTLE FEB 29 .................................................................. G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE MAR 3 ................................................. DURAND JONES & THE INDICATIONS

24

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

2028 14TH STREET NOW FT. MCDEVITT TACO SUPPLY SUPER HEADY TACOS! 303-786-7030 | OPEN DURING EVENTS

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

GREGORY BERG

A HUMAN NAMED DAVID.

7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, Longtucky Spirits, 350 Terry St., Suite 120, Longmont, 720-545-2017.

Longmont-based solo piano act A Human Named David offers up an extensive catalog of original music that reminds of vintage Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. A Human Named David delivers a rich blend of modern storytelling and classic showmanship with every performance.

LIONEL YOUNG INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE VICTORY BAND NEW YEARS BLUES BASH.

7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-499-2985.

The Lionel Young ROAD DAWG TOURING CO. Band, winners of numerous awards for best in and around the Colorado region, won the 2011 International Blues Challenge (IBC) band competition.

Added to his victory at the 2008 IBC in the solo-duo category, that makes Lionel Young the first double champion in the history of the IBC. Fans of the inspired, classically trained Young love his distinctive brand of blues on the electric violin. The band’s show features not only originals but also interpretations of blues classics by Willie Dixon, Leadbelly, T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters. What a perfect way to ring in the first Friday of 2020.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

see EVENTS Page 26

LIVESTRONG, LAUGHSTRONG, LOVESTRONG: A COMEDY SHOW CASE.

BOURBON & BLUES WITH 50 SHADES OF BLUE.

There’s a new comedy showcase in Boulder at The Tune Up at Full Cycle. Hosted by local comedian BK Sharad, this showcase features locals, out of towners and even folks who’ve been on Comedy Central. The Tune Up is a full service espresso bar and taproom with 16 beers on tap, plus wine and kombucha. So come on your bike for a beer, coffee, tea or chai and some comedy.

50 Shades of Blue is a dynamic trio featuring Christine Webb on bass and vocals, Dan “Mojoman” Crecco on drums and Dr. Jim Seely on guitar. All three are former winners of the Mile High Blues Society International Blues Challenge. They play an eclectic mix of blues, funk, soul and R&B with a little Cajun spice thrown in. Admission is free, and there’s $1 off bourbon and whiskey drinks.

6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, The Tune Up at Full Cycle, 1795 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-440-1002.

JANUARY 2, 2020

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, Nissi’s, 2675 Northpark Drive, Lafayette, 303-665-2757.

I

25

arts Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA), 1750 13th St., Boulder: Adriana Corral: ‘Unearthed/Desenterrado;’ Gretchen Marie Schaefer: ‘Folding and Thrusting,’ through Jan. 19.

GRETCHEN MARIE SCHAEFER, FOLDING, (DETAIL), 2019. IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST.

Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder: ‘Build a Better Book: Stories for Your Senses,’ Canyon Gallery, through Feb. 2.

JAN 16 | EXPLORER SERIES KELLY CORDES: THE STORIES WE TELL

JAN 23 | COLLECTIVE SPEAKERS SERIES DESSA: SENSELESS LOVE

1/24

1/30

AN EVENING WITH BUNTPORT THEATER BY STORIES ON STAGE JOE SERTICH: DINOSAURS IN YOUR BACKYARD

MATCHSTICK 2/1 PRODUCTIONS: “RETURN TO SEND’ER” 2/7

DAVE SHOWALTER: FREEDOM TO ROAM

2/15

MEADOW MOUNTAIN

2/19

BOULDER’S EARLY AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

2/24

PROPULSION GOES GREEN

2/27

BOULDER COUNTY BIRDS OF PREY

2/29

AN EVENING WITH ROSS NEWELL

v

Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder: ‘We Are What We Wear,’ featuring: Jim Ardnt, Erika Diamond, Noah Pica and Winnie van der Riijn, and ‘The Pavlova Project: a brilliantly costumed life,’ through Jan. 12.

Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway, Denver: ‘Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature,’ through Feb. 2; ‘Shantell Martin: Words and Lines,’ through Jan. 31; ‘The Light Show,’ through May; ‘Treasures of British Art: The Berger Collection,’ through January 2020; Firehouse Art Center, 667 Fourth Ave., Longmont: ‘Nacimiento’ — Justin and Isabel Favela, through Jan. 5.

Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont: ‘Front Range Rising,’ permanent exhibit; ‘Ruckus Rodeo: Pop Art & Cowboy Culture,’ through Jan. 5.

Lyons Redstone Museum, 340 High St., Lyons: ‘40 years/40 artifacts’; ‘All Aboard! Railroads in Lyons’; ‘Lyons Newspapers: A History,’;

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 Music Dancing, Movement, Music, Community and Chocolate. 7:30 p.m. Alchemy of Movement, 2436 30th St., Boulder, 608-332-4355.

Meat and Potatoes. 7:30 p.m. Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, 303-777-1003.

Music & Me Class (Pre-K to K). 2 p.m.

Adventure Judaism, 825 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-417-6200.

Open Mic at Bootstrap Brewing. 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont, 303-652-4186.

chautauqua.com

Shawn Cunnane. 5:30 p.m. The Tasty Weasel, 1800 Pike Road, Longmont, 303-776-1914.

Events Chris Distefano. 8 p.m. Comedy Works, 1226 15th St., Denver, 303-595-3637. Through Jan. 4.

Skating is in partnership with City of Boulder Parks and Recreation

Dance For Parkinson’s Program. 11:30 a.m.

Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-506-3568. Also on Thursdays at 11:30 a.m.

Cost is $5.

GET YOUR TICKETS AND RENTALS AT THE RINK

Hand Stamped Tote Bags. 4 p.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

900 BASELINE ROAD BOULDER CO | 303.440.7666

The Improvised Shakespeare Company.

7:30 p.m. The Garner Galleria Theatre, 1385 Curtis St., Denver, 303-893-4100.

@colo_chautauqua coloradochautauqua @colorado_chautauqua

26

I

‘125 Years of Distinctive Cameras’; ‘Tiny Stories: Art of the Dollhouse’; ‘The Flood of 2013’; ‘Native American Artifacts,’ and more.

MONUMENTAL — coproduced by Black Cube and the Denver Theatre District. Through Jan. 31.

For times and locations, denvertheatredistrict.com/ event/monumental.

Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder: ‘Wild: Buffalo in Boulder,’ through Jan. 12; ‘Archive 75: Multilayered Stories Told Through a Boulder Lens,’ through January.

Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, 1485 Delgany St., Denver: ‘Francesca Woodman: Portrait of a Reputation,’ through April 5; ‘Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler: Flora,’ through April 5; ‘Stacey Steers: Edge of Alchemy,’ through April 5.

Center for Atmospheric Research Visitor Center, 1850 Table Mesa Drive: Acrylic on canvas by Monica Tymcio and ‘Chapters ’ ber art by si artists through an. .

University of Colorado Art Museum, 1085 18th St., Boulder: ‘Body Language: Picturing People,’ through June.

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Henderson Building,1035 Broadway, Boulder: ‘Feathers and Flora,’ Henderson Building, through Jan. 31; ‘Fossils: Clues to the Past,’ Paleontology Hall, ongoing exhibit; ‘Ground Level Ozone,’ McKenna Gallery, ongoing exhibit; ‘Life in Colorado’s Freshwater,’ ongoing traveling exhibit; and more.

NCAR/UCAR Community Art Program, National

EVENTS from Page 25

FOR TICKETS & full

events calendar, visit:

‘FOLDING AND THRUSTING,’ on display at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art through Jan. 19, is a solo exhibition of new work by Denver-based artist Gretchen Marie Schaefer.

Rooted in geology, the exhibition features a largescale dimensional painting and photographic works that combine geologic abstraction with notions of perception. This exhibition delves into the implicit power dynamics embedded in common ways of seeing the world.

JANUARY 2, 2020

Naughty Pierre Comedy and Burlesque. 8 p.m. The Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe St., Denver, 303-293-0075.

Comedian Sam Adams: Six Point Uh-Oh! 8 p.m. Soiled Dove Underground, 7401 E. First Ave., Denver, 303-830-9214.

Out Boulder County Gender Support Group — Boulder. 7 p.m. 2132 14th St., Boulder.

Dante ThatGuy “Mr. Koolr & Friends.”

7 p.m. Marquis Theatre, 2009 Larimer St., Denver, 303-487-0111.

Storytime Break: Afternoon Open Play.

4 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Storytime Break: Baby Play Time. 10:15 a.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Storytime Break: Open Play. 10:15 a.m.

Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100; Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Top Shelf Comedy Showcase Comedy Show. 6:30 p.m. Irish Rover, 54 S. Broadway, Denver, 303-282-4643.

Fifth Annual Winter String Fling. 9 p.m.

Cervantes Masterpiece, 2637 Welton St., Denver, 303-297-1772. Through Jan. 5.

First Friday — Five Points Jazz Hop: Joshua Trinidad Trio Live. 5:30 p.m.

Spangalang Brewery, 2736 Welton St., Denver, 303-297-1276.

First Friday — Five Points Jazz Hop: Tenia Nelson Trio. 7 p.m. Dunbar Kitchen & Tap House, 2844 Welton St., Denver, 720-630-7641.

Music

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows™ Part 1 in Concert. 7:30 p.m. Boettcher Concert Hall, 1000 14th St., Denver, 720-865-4220.

Through Jan. 5.

All Things Latin Party. 7 p.m. Downtown Denver Rink at Skyline Park, 1601 Arapahoe St., Denver, 303-534-6161.

A Human Named David. 7 p.m. Longtucky Spirits, 350 Terry St., Suite 120, Longmont, 720-545-2017.

Boulder Contra Dance. 7 p.m. Avalon Ballroom, 6185 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, 303-440-8303.

Jason Eady & Courtney Patton. 8 p.m.

Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, 303-777-1003.

Bunny Blake aka Lindsey Saunders. 7:30 p.m. Oskar Blues Tap Room, 921 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-776-1914.

Lionel Young International Blues Challenge Victory Band New Years Blues Bash. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-499-2985.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

words

Live Music Fridays. 7 p.m. The Tune Up at Full Cycle, 1795 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-440-1002.

Many Mountains. 5 p.m. The Tasty Weasel, 1800 Pike Road, Longmont, 303-776-1914.

The Mighty Twisters. 9 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-0486.

COURTESY OF LEVI MARINUCCI

LEVI MARINUCCI is a local poet, songwriter, visual artist and gardener. He graduated from Naropa University with a BA in music in the spring of 2019, and has since worked as a music teacher in the community. He enjoys standing barefoot in the garden with his chihuahua, Theo. Marinucci will be performing some of his original works at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at 6:30 p.m.

Old-Fashioned Hootenanny. 7 p.m. Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, 303-777-1003.

One On One. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 2675 Northpark Drive, Lafayette, 303-665-2757.

Ramaya & The Troubadours. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Roots & Rhythm. Großen Bart Brewery, 1025 Delaware Ave., Longmont, 214-770-9847.

FRIDAY, JAN. 3

SugarBeat. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont, 303-652-4186.

Write Your Story Writing Class. 10 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder.

Tasting Room Open. 4 p.m. Still Cellars, 1115 Colorado Ave., Longmont, 720-204-6064.

SATURDAY, JAN. 4

Vonnie Kyle. 6:30 p.m. Still Cellars, 1115 Colorado Ave., Longmont, 720-204-6064.

Boulder Writing Dates. 9 a.m. Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., Boulder.

Events

TUESDAY, JAN. 7

Levi Marinucci. 6:30 p.m. Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., Boulder.

Open Poetry Reading. 7 p.m. Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Cafe, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., Boulder.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8 Write Your Life in Poetry. 6 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder.

Barley-Har-Har Comedy Open Mic Night.

7:30 p.m. 300 Suns Brewing, 335 First Ave., Unit C, Longmont, 720-442-8292.

Double Feature: Black Holes & Solar Superstorms. 8:30 p.m. Fiske Planetarium, 2414 Regent Drive, Boulder, 303-492-5002.

Drag Decades with Drag Queen Shirley Delta Blow. 8 p.m. The Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe St., Denver, 303-293-0075.

First Friday Food Lab: Potato Chips. 4 p.m.

George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

First Friday FÜKD Up Comedy & Kink. 11 p.m. Dangerous Theatre, 2620 W. Second Ave., Suite 1, Denver, 720-989-3283.

Games @ Meadows. 4 p.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

InsideOut Creative Movement. 3 p.m.

WOW! Children’s Museum, 110 N. Harrison Ave., Lafayette, 303-604-2424.

Kaepora, Atom Jetty, Yuppie Wagon. 7 p.m. Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont, 720-297-6397.

Last Night of Lights! 5 p.m. Lake Lights, 3555 Lakeshore Drive, Longmont.

LEGO Block Party. 4 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Lucha Libre & Laughs: That’s Show Biz, Baby! 8 p.m. Oriental Theater, 4335 W. 44th Ave., Denver, 720-420-0030.

Minecrafternoons. 4 p.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Spanish Modern Literature Club/ Club de Literatura Moderna en Espanol. 4 p.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4 Music Aaron Walker Gypsy Jazz Quartet — with Guest singer Laura Lyngar. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway St., Boulder, 303-499-2985.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

C.R.O. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont, 303-652-4186.

The Dear Landlords. 4:30 p.m. The Tasty Weasel, 1800 Pike Road, Longmont, 303-776-1914.

Disco Ball (’70s Dance Party). 9 p.m. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, 1215 20th St., Denver, 303-993-8023.

Veronique Van Pelt Presents: the Deep Cuts Showcase no. 13. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Events 2020 Takeoff! Burlesque and Aerial Revue. 8 p.m. The Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe St., Denver, 303-293-0075.

DJ Shift. 9 p.m. Temple Denver Night Club, 1136 Broadway, Denver, 303-309-2144.

Comedy Open Mic Saturday Night. 6:30 p.m. The Tune Up at Full Cycle, 1795 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-440-1002.

Full Circle Blues Band. 7 p.m. Großen Bart Brewery, 1025 Delaware Ave., Longmont, 214-770-9847.

Double Feature: Black Holes & Solar Superstorms. 2:30 p.m. Fiske Planetarium, 2414 Regent Drive, Boulder, 303-492-5002.

The Gateway Show. 8 p.m. The Church, 1160 Lincoln St., Denver, 303-832-2383.

Double Feature: We Are Stars / Laser Galactic Odyssey. 1 p.m. Fiske Planetarium, 2414 Regent Drive, Boulder, 303-492-5002.

Happy Hour Live Jazz. 5:30 p.m. Tandoori Grill South, 619 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-543-7339.

Helleborus. 9 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver, 303-296-1003.

Jeff & Paige. 3:30 p.m. Gunbarrel Brewing Company, 7088 Winchester Circle, Boulder, 800-803-5732.

Kirk Wydner . 6 p.m. 300 Suns Brewing, 335 First Ave., Unit C, Longmont, 720-442-8292.

LVDY. 8 p.m. Marquis Theatre, 2009 Larimer St., Denver, 303-487-0111.

One On One. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 2675 Northpark Drive, Lafayette, 303-665-2757.

Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts. 8 p.m. Oskar Blues Tap Room, 921 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-776-1914.

Skean Dubh. 8 p.m. Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, 303-777-1003.

Spooky & AmericanGrime. 9 p.m. The Black Box, 314 E. 13th Ave., Denver.

Suitable Miss. 9 p.m. Lost Lake, 3602 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

Drop In Tech Help. 10:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

First Saturday Yoga: Warriors. 11 a.m.

George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Free Day at the Denver Art Museum. 10 a.m. Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway, Denver, 720-913-0061.

Livestrong, Laughstrong, Lovestrong: A Comedy Show Case. 6:30 p.m. The Tune Up at Full Cycle, 1795 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-440-1002.

Relationsh*t. 8 p.m. Grafenberg Sketch Comedy And Improv Theatre, 70 S. Broadway, Denver, 303-803-8894.

Saturday Morning Groove. 10:30 a.m. Free Motion Dance Studio, 2126 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-379-8299.

Spanish/English Storytime. 10:15 a.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

see EVENTS Page 28

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

27

FILMS There’s a scene halfway through ‘Ford v Ferrari’ where Carrol Shelby (Matt Damon) takes Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) for a spin on the test-track in their newest GT40 prototype. It’s been a long time since Ford — derisively nicknamed “The Deuce” — spent time in the front seat, and he’s never been in a car like this. A few seconds and several thousand RPMs later, Ford is reduced to a puddle of tears and a wet seat. “I wish my Daddy could have seen this,” he chokes through terror and delight, realizing for the rst time in decades that a car is not a commodity, a cup holder on wheels, but a way to scream at the heavens and declare our existence. A feat of engineering, a thing of beauty, and a work of art built by human hands worthy of those lost along the way. ‘Ford v Ferrari’ may be a somewhat overlong and bulky story of the 24-hour race at Le Mans in 1966, but whenever Shelby or Ken Miles (Christian

Bale) slide behind the wheel, it’s a giddy work of combustible energy.

—MJC

BOULDER:

Boedecker Theatre, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., 303-444-7328: The 21st Annual Show of Shows, Jan. 1-7.

‘63 Up,’ Jan. 8-11.

‘Knives and Skin,’ 8:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3.

‘The Portal,’ Jan. 1-4.

‘Stuffed,’ Jan. 8-10.

‘The Grudge’ ‘A Hidden Life’ ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ ‘Knives Out’ ‘Little Women’ ‘Pain and Glory’ ‘Richard Jewell’ ‘Spies in Disguise’ ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ ‘Uncut Gems’

‘Knives Out’ ‘Little Women’ ‘Richard Jewell’ ‘Spies in Disguise’ ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ ‘Uncut Gems’ ‘Wizard of Oz,’ 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4.

DENVER:

Regal Cinebarre Boulder, 1164 W. Dillon Road, 844-462-7342: ‘Cats’ ‘Ford v Ferrari’ ‘Frozen 2’ ‘The Grudge’ ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ ‘Knives Out’ ‘Little Women’ ‘Richard Jewell’ ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ ‘Spies in Disguise’ ‘Uncut Gems’ ‘Wizard of Oz,’ 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4.

Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., 303-744-9686: ‘Inception’ Sie Film Center, 2510 E. Colfax Ave., 303-595-3456: ‘The 400 Blows,’ 1 p.m Sunday, Jan. 5.

‘Little Women,’ DCP and 35mm.

‘Parasite’ ‘Uncut Gems’

Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., 303-441-3011: ‘Animal Farm,’ 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5.

Century Theatre, 1700 29th St., 303-444-0583: ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ ‘Black Christmas’ ‘Bombshell’ ‘Cats’ ‘Ford v Ferrari’ ‘Frozen 2’

LONGMONT:

Regal Village at the Peaks 12, 1230 S. Hover Road, 844-462-7342: ‘Bombshell’ ‘Cats’ ‘Ford v Ferrari’ ‘Frozen 2’ ‘The Grudge’ ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’

LOUISVILLE:

NEDERLAND:

Backdoor Theater, 243 W. Fourth St., 303-258-0188: ‘Ford v Ferrari,’ Jan. 3-4.

EVENTS from Page 27

Spanish/English Storytime: Read and Play in Spanish. 10:15 a.m. NoBo Corner Library, 4600 Broadway, Boulder, 303-441-4250.

Boulder Comedy Show. 7 and 9:15 p.m.

Bohemian Biergarten, 2017 13th St., Boulder, 720-328-8328.

Open Mic at Bootstrap Brewing. 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont, 303-652-4186.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5

Colorado Bridal Show. Noon. The Curtis Hotel, 1405 Curtis St., Denver, 303-571-0300.

Sawicki-Shafer-Wisekal Trio: Pastoral Past and Present. 6:30 p.m. Dazzle at Baur’s, 1512 Curtis St., Denver, 303-839-5100.

Music The Annie Oakley. 9 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Dinner with Rabblefish. 6 p.m. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox, 1215 20th St., Denver, 303-993-8023.

Forest Porridge. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Fortune’s Fool. 7 p.m. Marquis Theatre, 2009 Larimer St., Denver, 303-487-0111.

Jon Ridnell Duo. 3 p.m. The Tasty Weasel, 1800 Pike Road, Longmont, 303-776-1914.

LOCO Ukulele Jam. 2 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont, 303-652-4186.

Paul Thorn. 7 p.m. Swallow Hill Music, 71 E. Yale Ave., Denver, 303-777-1003.

The Slacks. 8 p.m. Lost Lake, 3602 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

Team Jknott Presents: Behind Every Joke is the Truth. 4 p.m. Your Mom’s House, 608 E. 13th Ave., Denver, 303-860-4516.

Weekend Coffee Shop Jazz Jam (Boulder).

Noon. Vic’s Again, 3305 30th St., Boulder.

Events Adult Aerial Sampler. 11:30 a.m. Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

28

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

Free Aerial Open House. 1 p.m. Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

Go Club for Kids & Teens: Mini-Tournament. 2 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Events Mis Pininos/Spanish Conversation for Kids. 4:15 p.m. NoBo Corner Library, 4600 Broadway, Boulder, 303-441-4250.

Hawaiian Hula Classes. 5 p.m. A Place to B, 1750 30th St., Unit 64, Boulder, 303-440-8007.

Aerial Day Off Camp. 9 a.m. Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

Lil Flyers Aerial Sampler. 10:15 a.m.

Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

All Ages Storytime. 10:15 a.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Teen Aerial Sampler. 11:30 a.m. Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

Arabic Literature Discussion Group. 6 p.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Youth Aerial Sampler. 10:15 a.m. Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, 3022 E. Sterling Circle, Suite 150, Boulder, 303-245-8272.

Babies and Board Books. 10:15 a.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

MONDAY, JANUARY 6

Citizenship Classes. 6 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Music Blue Grass Mondays. 7:30 p.m. 12Degree Brewing, 820 Main St., Louisville, 720-638-1623.

Dylan Roddick. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Nick Boeder. 9 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

I

Conversations in English Mondays. 10:30 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Denver Magic Show. 7:30 p.m. Patterson Inn, 420 E. 11th Ave., Denver, 303-955-5142.

Monday Storytime. 10:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

theater

Movement Mondays. 7 p.m. Free Motion Dance Studio, 2126 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-379-8299.

School Day-Off Camp: Baby it’s Cold Outside! 9 a.m. Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-2122.

JESTERS DINNER THEATER PUBLIC WORKS THEATRE COMPANY

Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family — a man her parents have never met. Wednesday confides in her father and now Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before — keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

Jesters Dinner Theater presents ‘The Addams Family’ on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons Jan. 3-26.

Spanish/English Storytime: Read and Play in Spanish. 10:15 a.m. NoBo Corner Library, 4600 Broadway, Boulder, 303-441-4250.

Toddler Time. 9:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 Music 2019 Winner’s Showcase: IndigoAura, Psionic, Ghast (Electronic Tuesdays). 9 p.m. The Black Box, 314 E. 13th Ave., Denver.

Ben Davis Jr. 9 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Ben Wagner. 10 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

Boulder Drum Circle. 7:30 p.m. Avalon Ballroom, 6185 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, 707-599-1908.

FJO ‘A Tribute to Count Basie.’ 6:30 p.m.

Dazzle at Baur’s, 1512 Curtis St., Denver, 303-839-5100.

The Revelries. 8 p.m. Lost Lake, 3602 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

Events All Ages Storytime. 10:15 a.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Around the World Storytime. 10:15 a.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Boulder World Affairs Discussion Group.

10 a.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Conversations in English Tuesdays. 6 p.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Drop In Tech Help. 6 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Drop-In Improv Class. 6 p.m. The Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, 1260 22nd St., Denver, 303-578-0079.

BOOK YOUR NEXT PRIVATE EVENT AT NISSI’S Have your next business meeting, celebration, benefit, or wedding at Nissi’s – award winning cuisine & service and world class sound in a beautiful and artistic setting.

www.nissisevents.com

Upcoming Events & Entertainment ONE ON ONE “Motown/R & B”

The Addams Family. Jesters Dinner Theater, 224 Main St., Longmont. Opens Jan. 3.

Through Jan. 26.

Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville.

Denver Center for Performing Arts, Buell Theatre, 1350 Curtis St., Denver. Through Jan. 5.

Holiday Inn. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown. Through Jan. 19.

Mamma Mia! BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder. Through Feb. 22.

Tuck Everlasting. Vintage Theatre Productions, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. Through Jan. 5.

Wednesday January 8

BOURBON & BLUES 50 SHADES OF BLUE “Blues” Friday January 10

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8

Events

Music

Birds of Prey Slide Program. 6 p.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Bourbon & Blues with 50 Shades of Blue.

7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 2675 Northpark Drive, Lafayette, 303-665-2757.

DU Lamont CATS Guest Artist – Horacio Contreras, cello. 7:30 p.m. Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver, 303-871-7720.

Code for Boulder. 6 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Conversations in English Wednesdays.

10:30 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Improv Cabaret. 7:30 p.m. Bovine Metropolis Theater, 1527 Champa St., Denver, 303-758-4722.

Cosmology and Modern Physics. 6 p.m.

Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Midday Music Meditation. Noon. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Lap Babies. 11:15 a.m. NoBo Corner Library, 4600 Broadway, Boulder, 303-441-4250.

Open Mic Hosted by Silent Bear (In Remembrance of Redeye). 7 p.m. Tandoori Grill South Side Bar, 619 S. Broadway, Boulder, 303-543-7339.

Rabblefish. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

GED Preparation Class. 10 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

RE:Search featuring Mystic Grizzly and Toadface — with Untitld b2b Vide (Lost Dogz). 8:30 p.m. Cervantes Masterpiece, 2637 Welton St., Denver, 303-297-1772.

Lap Babies. 9:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100; 10:15 a.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Rodina featuring Joe Tatton (The New Mastersounds) — with Daniella Katzir Band. 8 p.m. Cervantes’ Other Side, 2637 Welton St., Denver, 303-297-1772.

Out Boulder County Gender Support Group — Longmont. 6:30 a.m. Out Boulder County, 630 Main St., Longmont, 303-499-5777.

Unplugged Drop-In Acoustic Jam. 6 p.m.

300 Suns Brewing, 335 First Ave., Unit C, Longmont, 720-442-8292.

Snark Attack. 4 p.m. Louisville Public Library, 951 Spruce St., Louisville, 303-335-4849.

Weird Wednesday: Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, Rockstead, Higher Education.

8 p.m. Summit Music Hall, 1902 Blake St., Denver, 303-487-0111.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Buy Tickets: www.nissis.com

Friday & Saturday January 4/5

Marshall Hayes. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder, 720-201-3731.

New Beginning Hawaiian Hula Classes.

4 p.m. A Place to B, 1570 30th St., Suite 64, Boulder, 720-771-9772.

A gathering place for... live entertainment, special events, great food and drinks

I

DEJA BLU

“Variety Dance” Sunday & Tuesday January 12/14

STEPHEN ROSS & CODY QUALLS (OF FACE)

BY REQUEST SHOW “Cabaret” Wednesday January 15

BOURBON & BLUES ERIK BOA & THE CONSTRICTORS “Blues” Thursday January 16

Musical Storytime. 10:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

DUELING PIANOS FEATURING THE COLORADO KEYS

Pages and Paws. 3:45 p.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

SOLDIER OF LOVE

Podcast Workshop with Local Podcaster, Dave Gonzales: Planning and Producing a Podcast. 4:30 p.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100.

Friday January 17

“The Sade Tribute”

PAIZLEY PARK “The Prince Tribute”

STEAM Storytime. 10:15 a.m. Meadows Branch Library, 4800 Baseline Road, Boulder, 303-441-3100.

STEAM Storytime: Spicy Playdough. 4 p.m.

George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Wobblers & Walkers. 9:15 a.m. Boulder Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-441-3100; 10:15 a.m. George Reynolds Branch Library, 3595 Table Mesa Drive, Boulder, 303-441-3120.

Give the Gift of a Great Night Out! Nissi’s Gift Cards available @ nissis.com 2675 NORTH PARK DRIVE (SE Corner of 95th & Arapahoe)

LAFAYETTE, CO 303.665.2757 JANUARY 2, 2020

I

29

JOHN JAMES AUDOBON/ PUBLIC DOMAIN

FRIDAY & SATURDAY JANUARY 3-4

THURSDAY JANUARY 2

5TH ANNUAL WINTER STRING FLING

SHOOKA & FRIENDS BDAY B2B

DUAL VENUE!

MOLLY TUTTLE, JERRY DOUGLAS, RONNIE MCCOURY, ALLIE KRAL, MISSY RAINES & BILLY FAILING WEDNESDAY JANUARY 8 RE: SEARCH

MYSTIC GRIZZLY & TOADFACE

W/ UNTITLD B2B VIDE (LOST DOGZ)

RE: SEARCH

W/ CASUAL COMMANDER (SUNSQUABI) & MIKEY THUNDER

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 8

RODINA

FEAT JOE TATTON (THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS) W/ DANIELLA KATZIR & LAVENDER JONES

FRIDAY & SATURDAY JANUARY 10-11

JOEY PORTER’S SHADY BUSINESS FEAT DAN SCHWINDT & NATE EDGAR

FRIDAY JANUARY 10

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15

W/ MELODY LINES, TELEMETRY & KAPTAIN

5AM TRIO, MALAKAI & LUSID

TNERTLE

SATURDAY JANUARY 11 SOLD OUT

JAMES MURPHY DJ SET (LCD SOUNDSYSTEM / DFA)

FRIDAY JANUARY 24

RE: SEARCH

(THE RUST SHOWCASE)

THURSDAY JANUARY 16

FRONT COUNTRY & WHITEWATER RAMBLE W/ ACOUSTIC MINING CO.

EVERYONE’S DEAD

FRIDAY JANUARY 17

SATURDAY JANUARY 25

W/ SUPERTASK + THENEWDEAL W/ BEN SILVER OF ORCHARD LOUNGE

W/ FLOWER IN THE SUN : TRIBUTE TO JANIS JOPLIN

EVERYONE ORCHESTRA W/ THE ELEGANT PLUMS

THURSDAY JANUARY 30

SUMMER CAMP ON THE ROAD FRIDAY JANUARY 31 DUAL VENUE!

EMANCIPATOR

W/ BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD, FRAMEWORKS, TOR, PLANTRAE, THOMA & IL:LO

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1

JACQUEES

MONDAY FEBRUARY 3

EARTHGANG

W/ MICK JENKINS, WYNNE & JURDAN BRYANT

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6

PHORA

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8

MARCO BENEVENTO THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13 RE: SEARCH

GOLDROOM

W/ JORDAN POLOVINA

BUKU

SATURDAY JANUARY 18

MADDY O’NEAL & NOBIDE + THE NEWDEAL W/ BEN SILVER OF ORCHARD LOUNGE

SUNDAY JANUARY 19

JOE ROBINSON

W/ JACKSON CLOUD ODYSSEY & TREVOR KREHEL

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22 RE: SEARCH

MOODY GOOD W/ EFFIN & DOZIER

THURSDAY JANUARY 23

UNIVERSAL SIGH

W/ MOONRADISH & THE SOUL CRUSHERS

FRIDAY JANUARY 24

ARLO MCKINLEY & THE LONESOME SOUND

W/ EXTRA GOLD & SHAWN NELSON BAND

SATURDAY JANUARY 25

DAVE WATT’S BDAY BASH

FEAT DAVE WATTS, JASON HANN & IAN NEVILLE

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29 RE: SEARCH

RODDY RICH

BORAHM LEE, KEVIN DONOHUE & COLBY BUCKLER

RE: SEARCH

THURSDAY JANUARY 30

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15 THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20

W/ LAPA & NADASOUND

STEVE DARKO & WORTHY

HOT BUTTERED RUM

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1

W/ LUCATI

ALO & TEA LEAF GREEN THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27 RE: SEARCH

ULTRASLOTH (KLL SMTH X DUFFREY X BIOLUMIGEN) W/ RESONANT LANGUAGE

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28

DANCE PARTY TIME MACHINE

W/ LONESOME DAYS

RUNAWAY GIN

(TRIBUTE TO PHISH) W/ SQWERV & RUBY HILL

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 7

EAZYBAKED

FEAT MEMBERS OF TURKUAZ & DOPAPOD

MARC E. BASSY

KBONG, MIKE LOVE & GIANT PANDA GUERILLA DUB SQUAD

W/ GIANNI & KYLE

THURSDAY MARCH 5 - DUAL VENUE RE: SEARCH

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11

IANN DIOR

W/ LANDON CUBE & POORSTACY

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14 DUAL VENUE!

W/ SENSI TRAILS

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 15

RUSS LIQUID & MARVEL YEARS

THOUXANBANFAUNI X TEEJAYX6

THURSDAY MARCH 12 - DUAL VENUE

CRIS JACOBS BAND & DELLA MAE

W/ FUNKSTATIK VISUALS BY ANDROID JONES RE: SEARCH

PROTOHYPE & JANTSEN

W/ G-SPACE + SPICYBOIS TAKEOVER FEAT MESO

FRIDAY MARCH 13 SOLD OUT

PHAB4

(PHOFFMAN & ANDRERS BECK) FEAT WILLIAM APOSTOL & TODD HERRINGTON

SATURDAY MARCH 14

MANIC FOCUS

W/ SUPERVISION, MIDICINAL, LWKY & FLATS STANLIE

THURSDAY MARCH 19 RE: SEARCH

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20 W/ JON STICKLEY TRIO

PASSAFIRE

W/ PROJECT 432, BETARAY & DJ NAYSAYERS

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22

TAUK

W/ AARON KAMM & THE ONE DROPS

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 23

MARK GUILIANA FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28

THURSDAY APRIL 2 - DUAL VENUE

KENDALL STREET COMPANY & CBDB

RE: SEARCH

THURSDAY APRIL 9 RE: SEARCH

PHUTUREPRIMITIVE W/ ETHNO

MONDAY APRIL 20 - AT RED ROCKS

LIVWELL PRESENTS ICE CUBE X METHOD MAN & REDMAN W/ ACTION BRONSON THURSDAY APRIL 23 RE: SEARCH

SECRET HEADLINER TBA

W/ JON CASEY

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29 WEDNESDAY MARCH 4

RAMIREZ

I scoop up Maya, hold her tight, look into her almond-sunshine eyes.

He turns his blood-dark gaze back to his prey.

NAUGHTY PROFESSOR & THE BURROUGHS FRIDAY MARCH 13

CON BRIO

TUESDAY MARCH 17

BBNO$

FRIDAY MARCH 20

CITY MORGUE TEXT CERVANTES TO 91944 FOR TICKET GIVEAWAYS, DRINK SPECIALS, DISCOUNTED TICKET PROMOTIONS & MORE

MAX 15 MSG/MO. MSG & DATA RATES MAY APPLY TEXT STOP TO OPT OUT FOR OUR PRIVACY TERMS & SERVICE GO TO HTTP://CERVANTESMASTERPIECE.TICKETFLY.COM/FILES/2014/03/CERVANTES-PRIVACY-DOCUMENT.PDF

7ELTON 3T s s #ERVANTES-ASTERPIECE COM

I

He plumps his creampuff chest, turns away, pivots forward, spreads his wings, lifts his red-fanned tail, excretes a stream of white.

FRIDAY MARCH 6

W/ ARTIFAKTS, SWUM, JORDAN POLOVINA

30

toward him, another. He lifts and swivels his head, tilts it down, drills his laser eyes through my tail-tucked chihuahua. I drag her by the leash behind me, whisper, “Stay.”

W/ DANDU & CHRONOLOGUE

DJ CRAZE & SFAM

BREAK SCIENCE

His yellow talons clutch a gnarled branch not ten yards away. His regal head turns to take me in. When he turns back to look across the lake, I take one step

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21

CHRISTIAN MARTIN W/ DATELESS & C.H.A.Y.

by John W. Steele

W/ VCTRE & GANGUS

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8

MUNGION & HEADBAND

ROBERT RANDOLPH, MARC BROWNSTEIN, ARON MAGNER, ALLEN AUCOIN, MIKE GREENFIELD, JENNIFER HARTSWICK, NATALIE CRESSMAN & JEFF FRANCA TUESDAY MARCH 3

Red Tail

JANUARY 2, 2020

John W. Steele is a psychologist, yoga teacher, assistant editor of Think: A Journal of Poetry, Fiction and Essays, and graduate of the MFA Poetry Program at Western Colorado University, where he studied with Julie Kane, Ernest Hilbert and David Rothman.

I

BOULDER WEEKLY

Host An Aura Party!

Belle Star will come and take ten or more auras, read the photos and interpret the colors.

Now we are 63

A cinematic legacy continues

by Michael J. Casey

ON THE BILL: ‘63 Up,’ Jan. 8-11, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder; 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 26, International Film Series, CU-Boulder, Muenzinger Auditorium.

I

n 1964, Britain’s Granada Television charged researcher Michael Apted to select 14 7-year-olds from disparate backgrounds for the documentary program, Seven Up! Their aim: to get a glimpse of England in the year 2000. “Give me a child until he is 7,” the Jesuit teaches of Francis Xavier goes, “and I will give you the man.”

But if the stated aim of Seven Up! was to see if you could predict the adult based on the child — the 40-minute program concludes with a teaser for their followup episode, to be broadcast May 2, 2000 — then the secondary motive was to see how the English class system helped or hindered personal growth.

Apted could not wait. Moving into the director’s chair, he revisited the children seven years later for 7 Plus Seven. Seven years later, he once again sought their participation for 21 Up, and so on with a new installment following every seven years.

Now the participants are 63, and once again Apted turns his camera to Andrew, John, Suzy, Jackie, Lynn, Sue, Tony, Paul, Symon, Nick, Peter, Neil and Bruce, their families, and their pasts.

GRANADA TELEVISION Like previous installments, Apted and editor Kim Horton freely cut back and forth between episodes, painting a picture of similarities and contradictions throughout the years. If you haven’t seen any of the previous installments, worry not, Apted and Horton go to great lengths to bring you up to speed.

The Up documentaries might be one of the greatest experiments in the history of cinema. Watch the first four installments, and you’ll see children pushing against their environments, teenagers pushing against their childhood, young adults pushing against their teenage years. The middle films find the participants concerned with typical middle-age pursuits of security and meaning. And, with these last few installments, age and maturity have brought perspective. Death has crept in, and these 63-year-olds resemble the fearful child more than the wide-eyed teenagers.

Age has smoothed their anger and flattened their idiosyncrasies. The interviews here are not as engaging or electric as in previous installments, and, at times, the wealth of material Apted draws from weighs 63 Up down. When the time comes for 70 Up, Apted ought to break it into multiple episodes. Then again, with each future installment, there will be fewer participants to speak with and questions to ask. As death nears, it tends to occupy the mind more.

Other wrinkles have hindered this installment: The participants are celebrities of sorts and have become frustrated with how their voice “represents” their class/status/ heritage. They have grown weary of vocalizing their minds for fear of social media backlash. Apted asks about Brexit and Trump, and their responses are opinionated but measured. A far cry from the anger and condemnation they directed at Apted in 21 Up. But fireworks be damned, 63 Up is a fascinating watch and a unique social experiment. Did Apted and the powers that be at Granada TV have any idea it would lead to this? Probably not. Lucky for us, they gave it a go anyway.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

YOUR PHOTO WILL BE

FREE! www.belleStar.net Labellestar12@gmail.com 303-249-6958

KEEP CONNECTED facebook.com/boulderweeklymedia twitter.com/boulderweekly

boulderweekly.com

Shovelers Needed Trident Commercial Snow Removal Reliably serving Boulder County since 1987

303.857.5632 JANUARY 2, 2020

I

31

S I M P L E

|

L O C A L

|

FA R M

T O

TA B L E

EAST COUNTY’S BEST KEPT SECRET! Only 12 miles from Boulder

5 7 8 B r i g g s S t re e t E r i e, C O 8 0 5 1 6 303.828.1392 www.24carrotbistro.com

32

I

BRUNCH

S AT & SU N 9 AM - 2 PM

L U N C H TUE-FRI 11AM-3PM

JANUARY 2, 2020

DINNER

TUE-THR 5PM-9PM

F R I & S AT 5PM-10PM

I

S U N D AY 5PM-9PM

BOULDER WEEKLY

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF Howdy Beer

The Post Brewing Co. Multiple locations in Boulder County, postbrewing.com

PHOTOS BY STAFF

A

Benne Toast

Jacaranda at Rosetta Hall 1109 Walnut St., Boulder, rosettahall.com/ chefs/jacaranda

fter saturating ourselves with dark beers and winter warmers, we needed a break and so reached for The Post’s esteemed Howdy pilsner. It’s crisp and light but with a taste that brings to mind a sundrenched meadow and, in a good way, fresh hay. Howdy’s taken home several Great American Beer Festival and U.S. Open Beer Championship medals, so don’t take our word for it. Available on tap at The Post’s restaurants or in cans throughout the county. Prices vary.

C

hef Modou Jaiteh was raised in Gambia, and he credits some of the menu items he serves at Jacaranda in Rosetta Hall to watching his mother cook while growing up. But the Jacaranda menu explores not only Gambian and West African cuisine but the African diaspora in the Caribbean and American South — think Ghanaian-inspired po’ boys, Johnny cakes and peanut butter stew with Boulder lamb. We opted for eye-popping benne toast — a thick, crusty slice of sweet potato bread topped with creamy sweet potato puree and dollops of silky mascarpone. Lest the bite become too sweet, Jaiteh adds pumpkin seeds, a dusting of crunchy and earthy dukkah and bright lime zest. $9.

BOULDER WEEKLY

I

Mochicko Chicken Bowl Motomaki 1600 28th St., Boulder, motomaki.com

F

ast casual chain Motomaki prepares Japanese-inspired rice and poke bowls, sushi burritos, salads and more.

Build your own bowl/roll/salad from a long list of proteins, grains, veggies, sauces and fix-ins, or pick from its menu of well-composed meals. We like the mochicko bowl, an appetite-satisfying blend of chicken thighs fried in rice flour and slathered in teriyaki sauce, cucumber spears, avocado slices, slaw and spicy sprouts. $9.75.

Flu shot

Wonder 946 Pearl St., Boulder, wonderpress.co

I

t’s that time of year when at least one person you know has the flu at any given time. Or, if not the flu, some sort of winter cold brought on by frigid temps and holiday travel. Which means it’s also time to give your body the most vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients you can to help boost immunity and stave off sickness. At Wonder, coldpressed juices and shots are made from raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and herbs. The flu shot is especially potent: a ginger and lemon juice base is mixed with oregano oil and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper for the in-house variation. (The 4 oz. bottle comes with apple cider vinegar as well.) The lemon and ginger juice is incredibly refreshing, as well as a bit intense. The cayenne and oregano give the whole shot some heat as it goes down. $3 for 2 oz, $6.75 for 4 oz to go.

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

33

Free Range Food for Front Range Families

Your place for wings

Voted East County’s BEST Gluten Free Menu

P

This is the World Famous Buddha Bowl!

Cashew Gravy! Black Rice! Steamed fresh veggies! “Shake and Bake� Tofu!

Open at 7:30 Every Day for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner!

BOTTOMLESS WINE WEDNESDAYS 4-8pm MORNINGGLORYCAFE | 1377 FOREST PARK CIRCLE, LAFAYETTE | 303.604.6351

1320 COLLEGE AVE, BOULDER | 720.475.1561 Check out our menu: Breakfast and Brunch 8am to 2:30pm DAILY Happy Hours: Thursday – Saturday 5-9pm

fresh, authentic, tasty japanese food

[ 34

]

AUTHENTIC JAPANESE CUISINE

I

LUNCH Tue-Fri, 11:30am – 2pm DINNER Sun, Tue-Thu 5pm–9pm Fri-Sat 5pm – 10pm. Closed Monday Follow us on instagram: Sushiyoshilouisville JANUARY 2, 2020

6565 Gun Park Drive, Suite 190, Boulder, CO 80301

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

SUSAN FRANCE

The Buzz on Rumi

Karim Amirfathi naturally knows what you would love for lunch

By JOHN LEHNDORFF

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

U

nder the radar” doesn’t describe just how obscure Cafe Rumi is. This is the most established Boulder restaurant/ market that is unknown to even many savvy Boulder foodies.

The North Broadway location boasts complicated signage and is home to the decade-old In Season Local Market, the 3-year-old Cafe Rumi and a lab where Szechuan button (a sense-dazzling edible flower) products are created. Mostly, Cafe Rumi is where you will find the remarkable Karim Amirfathi, from about 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. Monday to Friday.

When I walked in for the first time, the look and spice aromas of the place zapped me back to Boulder’s seminal natural food markets and healthy cafes in the 1970s. Places like New Age Foods, The Yarrow Stalk, Carnival Cafe, Green Mountain Grainery and Pearl St. Market were open during the birth of the U.S. natural foods industry.

“This place feels like you are in a time warp,” a longtime Cafe Rumi regular tells me with a smile on her face.

In Season Local Market offers a curated selection of organic nuts, grains, spices, seeds, dried sour cherries, Turkish figs and Mission figs plus teas and local honey. A stack of planters I

growing diverse microgreens and herbs fills the front window.

There is a refreshing absence of pretension and an egalitarian approach. The only tables at Cafe Rumi are community tables so you never dine alone. afe Rumi is named after al l ad D n Muhammad R m . The th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic left behind a wealth of writings about how to live. (“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” — Rumi) Amirfathi grew up in Iran, leaving there at the age of 26. His interests have always been diverse. “Growing up I always liked to work with plants. I majored in science and went to medical school. Then I went to law school and studied international relations,” he says. After moving to Colorado, he studied at CSU, became an electrical engineer at CU and worked for 22 years for a phone company.

All that time he was growing crops at Altan Alma Farm, including wheat grass, microgreens, buzz buttons and herbs, and he keeps chickens for eggs and beehives.

Amirfathi says he works “about 95 hours a week. I like people, and I hope they leave

KARIM AMIRFATHI, OWNER of In Season/Cafe Rumi on North Broadway and the Altan Alma Farm, at work in his cafe.

see NIBBLES Page 36

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

35

NIBBLES from Page 35

here feeling better.” (“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” — Rumi) The fare at Cafe Rumi is prepared in an extremely tiny kitchen. The chalkboard menu is just an icebreaker. Brunch grain bowls, house-made yogurt, egg sandwiches, wraps and salads are available, but Amirfathi doesn’t want to know what you think you want to order. He SUSAN FRANCE cares about what you need. He looks you in the eye and asks: “What is it you would like to eat?”

Like a dining therapist, he asks persistent questions when it comes to his daily lunch/dinner plate, a “simple” rice stir fry. He uses very long grain rice — the longest I’ve ever seen. “To cook, you wash it first to get the starch off. You steam it and then rinse with cold water,” Amirfathi says. The separate, noodle-like grains are stir-fried with olive oil.

“I see which organic veggies would be good for them. I can add grilled natural meats, sometimes garbanzo or fava beans. Do you want it spicy with cayenne or more Eastern with cardamom? I like ginger, saffron and turmeric. Persian cuisine is rich but never very spicy hot,” Amirfathi says. One popular variation is a traditional pilaf dotted with first-class nuts and dried fruits.

Cafe Rumi’s mixed organic salads are served with special pickled whole mustard grains that appeared to Amirfathi in a dream. “One night as I slept my mother came to me and gave me the recipe. I soak the mustard seed in vinegar for three weeks and add a little honey,” he says. The mildly pungent seeds are an unexpected pop of flavor. (“The heart is cooking a pot of food for you. Be patient until it is cooked.” — Rumi) He serves everyone his special Persian botanical tea and sometimes a unique appetizer: Plump sweet figs coated in powdered buzz button. It is a genuinely unique oral experience — herbal with a pungent, tingling sensation and a hint of numbness.

“We were listening to National Public Radio and a story came on about Szechuan buttons. They said that the herb could replace a whole medicine cabinet. I 36

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

started growing them as an experiment and started discovering what they could do,” he says.

The spilanthes acmella plant has antibacterial, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effects that can be used for gum health, pain management, skin care and other therapeutic reasons.

Amirfathi grows organic buzz buttons at Altan Alma Farm outside Boulder, the home he shares with his wife, Sharon. “I use it in skin and mouth products I make here. I have dozens of products I can put buzz buttons in to help people,” he says. (“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” — Rumi) LOCAL FOOD NEWS Final notes on 2019: Formosa Bakery is open at 1305 Broadway as a tiny, oneperson counter dishing authentic Taiwanese-style street food including savory pancakes, beef noodle soup and dim sum faves from siu mai to egg tarts. ... Boulder’s Big Red F will open a fifth The Post Brewing Co. in the Carriage House at Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel in 2020. … Recipe — running Jan. 9-19 at the Savoy at Curtis Park — is a performance and story-sharing project collecting tales from locals about how food has shaped their experience of home. theartibus.com/recipe TASTE OF THE WEEK My final addition to the Best Things I Ate in 2019 is a winner. The Lithuanian dumplings dished at Eridu, one of the stalls at Boulder’s new Rosetta Hall, are a lip-smacking joy. The envelopes stuffed with local lamb and mushrooms are served in a rich lamb jus with perfectly braised lamb, creme fraiche and green onions on top like a stroganoff.

WORDS TO CHEW ON “Good food is a right, not a privilege. It brings children into a positive relationship with their health, community, and environment.” — Alice Waters John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU (88.5 FM, 1390 AM, kgnu.org). His blog page is: johnlehndorff.wordpress.com BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Then and now: Craft spaces The place where beer meets community

by Michael J. Casey

C

raft beer has never been about just the beverage. It’s about history and tradition, ingredients and flavors, and, maybe most importantly, it’s about community.

For centuries, communities of every size revolved around beer gardens, beer halls, pubs and bars. Here, revolutionaries planned, the intelligentsia debated and locals gathered to chat. Then came Prohibition, and with it, the notion that the watering hole was a social scourge. Thirteen years later, the 18th Amendment was repealed, and America once again became a wet nation, but the damage to the local tavern was done. The following decades would introduce a series of developments — the aluminum can, the interstate highway system, a move to the suburbs, etc. — that would push beer drinking from a social activity to a personal one. Come the 20th century’s midpoint; the American middle class was more likely to drink a beer at home than at the bar down the street.

Then came the 1970s and the craft beer revolution. Communal groups like homebrew clubs put a flavorful and inventive shine on social drinking, while the first commercial craft breweries attracted the MOUNTAIN SUN PUB & BREWERY curious and the eager.

The majority of these breweries produced English-style ales, partly because they required less time to brew than German-style lagers (and thus, were more cost-effective), and partly because a vast number of these pioneering brewers spent time across the pond in pubs. Yes, the beer was flavorful, but so was the atmosphere.

There’s a rich history of the English SANITAS BREWING COMPANY pub, romantic even, and as these brewers designed and built their tasting rooms and brewpubs, the English model proved seaworthy. Think of Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery (established 1993) on Pearl Street: Carpet, wood furniture, decorative walls, no TVs or loud music.

Cozy craft spaces still exist.

Longmont’s Primitive Beer has picnic tables next to their koelschip and couches by the oak barrels.

Nederland’s Very Nice Brewing Company features a handsome beetle-kill pine bar top and about a half-dozen tables. But they are becoming increasingly rare in a world where the typical taproom features concrete flooring, exposed ceilings, metal tables and chairs. These breweries lean on factory and industrial aesthetics to reflect the production behind the bar, the physical location — they are often outside neighborhoods and towns in warehouse areas where space is more affordable — and a modern appeal. These are not your parents’ taprooms.

With nearly 8,000 breweries in the U.S., you can visit practically any city and find examples of both. Most of the time, the age of the brewery and the selection featured on the tap list will also fall along party lines.

Back here in the Centennial State, one commonality connects them all: The patio.

Sometimes it’s a few chairs and tables in a quartered off section of the parking lot.

Other times it’s an elaborate outdoor dining and drinking space with canvas awnings, a plethora of games and a food truck.

It takes all types: Cozy and cluttered, spacious and loud, even al fresco. When it comes to drinking in the Colorado, there’s a craft space for all.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

37

PHOTOS BY ARI LEVAUX

Pork and beans, Brazilian style

by Ari LeVaux

38

I

P

ork and beans is an age-old combination, expressed in countless ways around the world: Southwestern pinto beans refried in lard; Asian tofu with pork sauce; the all-American can of pork and beans. Wherever there are pork and beans, there is pork with beans.

Portugal’s feijoada (faysh-WA-da) has spread to the furthest reaches of its empire. Each former colony’s version is built on a different bean: red beans in the Iberian motherland, white beans in Angola, kidney beans in Macau. But the world’s favorite feijoada is probably the one made with black beans.

The national dish of Portugal’s largest former colony, Brazil, is usually what we are talking about when we talk about feijoada.

In any Brazilian restaurant, in or outside of Brazil, from swanky steak house to the eminently practical pay-by-weight buffet, there will be a vat of dark, chunky feijoada waiting for you. It isn’t glamorous, but it hits the spot.

The ascent of Brazilian feijoada began in slave quarters, urban slums and poor rural villages. Beans were used to extend the mileage from each precious scrap of meat, and extract nutrients from bones. Over time less desperate cuts made their way into the panela de feijoada, along with smoked meat and sausage.

I learned how to make feijoada from Edilson Oliveira, owner of Oliveira’s Steakhouse in Somerville, Massachusetts. His first and only question was, “With or without pig feet?”

I soon realized that when it comes to his feijoada, such flexibility is rare.

Oliveira is soft-spoken and polite, with a wide grin and close-cropped hair. I asked about adding other meats like beef to a pork feijoada. He shook his head sympathetically. “Beef meat will confuse the taste,” he said. “It will make no sense.”

Oliveira’s feijoada recipe is one that any Brazilian would immediately recognize as an exemplary representation of this national art form. It’s a feijoada that breaks no rules, takes no chances, crosses no lines and contains no adulterants. A feijoaJANUARY 2, 2020

I

BOULDER WEEKLY

da you could bring home to mama.

Most Brazilian meals are served with a shaker or bowl of cassava flour. This gritty powder, called farinha (far-EEN-ya), is hugely important in Brazilian food and culture.

Like feijoada, farinha began as a coping mechanism for the poor. It absorbs water from its surroundings and becomes a thick paste. A bowl of broth and a dish of farinha was a normal meal for the poorest Brazilians. In the same way beans can stretch the goodness of a chunk of meat, a few spoonfuls of farinha will stretch the goodness of a bowl of feijoada. And it isn’t just starvation food. Even well-fed Brazilians add farinha to many dishes, either plain or in its toasted form, farofa (fa-ROW-fa).

Oliveira’s manager, Victor Almeida, who’d been sitting with us in the crowded dining room, held up his phone so I could see the photo of a package of Yoki brand premade farofa. “This is what you want it to taste like,� he said. Almeida suggested buying both plain farinha and a package of Yoki — easily found online — so that you have a reference for the farofa flavor when you fry it yourself.

While feijoada and farinha or farofa make a filling meal, on special occasions a whole spread is built around feijoada. Feijoada completa (comb-PLAY-tah) includes fried greens like collards or kale, along with rice, orange slices and pickled vegetables.

Brazilians are known to take good ideas to extremes, and a feijoada completa is no exception. It’s the Carnival of pork and beans.

25% OFF

the purchase of a Big Daddy Club Mug, & get FREE COFFEE REFILLS EVERY MONDAY WITH THE MUG

WE ARE BOULDER COUNTY! Expires 1/31/20

Authentic NYC BAGELS in Colorado

or a

GOLDEN on Route 93 303.279.1481 BOULDER at Meadows Shopping Center 303.554.0193

TRADITIONAL VIETNAMESE PHO HOUSE

FREE PARKING

Along the lines of “with or without feet,� the only room for improvisation in this recipe is in the kinds of pork to use. There should be at least three types of pork, one of which is sausage, ideally linguica. Something needs to be smoked, preferably not bacon unless it’s unsliced. A smoked ham hock is great. There should be meaty pieces, fatty pieces and a bone or two. A rib, for example, has meat, fat and bone. The recipe below gives one example of three types of pork that check all of these boxes.

Add the beans to a large pot, and then water, to twice the depth of the beans.

Bring to a boil and cook for about an hour, or 25 minutes in the pressure cooker, so the beans are soft but not mushy.

Meanwhile, brown the pork under the broiler, each type of pork in its own ovensafe pan — I use cast-iron. Rotate the pans and stir the parts as necessary so nothing stays too close to the broiler for too long. The sausage needs the least amount of time — it just needs to be browned on the outside. Cut the sausage into rounds, add the mashed garlic to the pan and cook the sausage and garlic on medium heat until browned, but not burned. Then turn off the heat.

When the meat is cool enough to work with, remove it from the greasy pans.

Oliveira recommends leaving the melted fat behind. “Otherwise it would be too heavy.�

Cut the meat off the bones and into pieces of half an inch or less on a side. Add the meat, bones, bay leaves and browned garlic from the sausage pan back to the bean pot, along with enough water to cover everything. Cook another hour or two, seasoning with salt and pepper. The next morning it will be even better, and thicker. It’s always OK to add water. Serve with all of the available fixings.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

ertising information call . .5511 www.Bo l er ee l .com

LAFAYETTE 489 US Highway 287 303.665.5918 LONGMONT Prospect Village 1940 Ionosphere, Ste. D 303.834.8237

FEIJOADA BRASILEIRA

Serves: Everyone, provided there is farinha 2 lbs dry black beans 1 lb pork belly 2 lb smoked ham hock (bone included) 1 lb sausage (linguica, kielbasa or bratwurst) 5 garlic cloves (smashed with salt) 4 bay leaves Salt & Pepper Optional accompaniments: farofa, collards, rice, orange, minced onion as a garnish

INDEPENDENT & LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1993

WHILE YOU EAT

!

HIGH ALTITUDE CRAFT PIES BUILT IN BOULDER

Bringing the traditional savory pie culture of New Zealand to America.

We don’t use words like organic or natural, we just call it food.

MEAT PIES

VEGGIE PIES

SWEET PIES

SIDES

BREKKIES

Steak & Ale Mushroom & Ale Apple Brown Butter Sausage Rolls Bacon Steak & Cheese Cauliflower Tikka Masala Pumpkin Ginger Mac & Cheese Nippers Sausage Roast Chicken Dinner Cowgirl 3 Bean Chili Cookie Meatball Parmesan Nippers Green Chili Chicken Curry & more...

Open Sunday through Thursday 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Friday and Saturday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM 105 North Public Road, Lafayette, Colorado (720) 845-2155 JANUARY 2, 2020

I

39

LIBRA

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: “We are all hostages of the joy

of which we deprive ourselves,� wrote poet Odysseus Elytis. Isn’t that an astounding idea? That we refuse to allow ourselves to experience some of the bliss and pleasure we could easily have; and that we are immured inside that suppressed bliss and pleasure?

I call on you, Aries, to rebel against this human tendency. As I see it, one of your main tasks in 2020 is to permit yourself to welcome more bliss, to aggressively seize more pleasure, and thereby free yourself from the rot of its nullification.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: At age 22, Taurus-born Dutch citi-

zen Willem de Kooning sneaked into the United States.

He was a stowaway on an Argentina-bound freighter, and stealthily disembarked when the ship made a stop in Virginia. As he lived in America during subsequent decades, he became a renowned painter who helped pioneer the movement known as abstract expressionism. His status as an illegal immigrant rarely presented any obstacles to his growing success and stature. Not until age 57 did he finally became an American citizen.

I propose we make him one of your role models in 2020. May he inspire you to capitalize on being a maverick, outsider or stranger. May he encourage you to find opportunities beyond your safety zone.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: When British novelist E. M. Forster

was in his late 30s, he had sex with another person for the first time. Before that he had published five novels.

After that, he produced just one more novel, though he lived till age 91. Why? Was he having too much fun? Looking back from his old age, he remarked that he would “have been a more famous writer if I had published more, but sex prevented the latter.� I suspect that sensual pleasure and intimacy will have the exact opposite effect on you in 2020, Gemini. In sometimes mysterious ways, they will make you more productive in your chosen sphere.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: “Every part of our personality that we do

not love will regress and become hostile to us,� wrote poet Robert Bly. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t suffer from this problem at least a little. That’s the bad news.

The good news for us Cancerians (yes, I’m a Crab!) is that 2020 will be a favorable time to engage in a holy crusade to fix this glitch: to feel and express more love for parts of our personality that we have dismissed or marginalized. The result? Any self-sabotage we have suffered from in the past could dramatically diminish.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: As a young adult, Leo-born

Raymond Chandler worked as a fruit-picker, tennis racquet-stringer, and bookkeeper. At age 34, he began a clerical job at the Dabney Oil Syndicate, and eventually rose in the ranks to become a well-paid executive.

The cushy role lasted until he was 44, when he was fired. He mourned for a while, then decided to become an author of detective fiction. It took a while, but at age 50, he published his first novel. During the next 20 years, he wrote six additional novels as well as numerous short stories and screenplays — and in the process became popular and influential. I present this synopsis as an inspirational story to fuel your destiny in 2020.

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: The fame of Virgo-born Italian poet

Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) has persisted through the ages because of Orlando Furioso, an epic poem he authored. It tells the story of the Christian knight Orlando and his adoration for a pagan princess. This great work did not come easily to Ariosto. It wasn’t until he had written 56 versions of it that he was finally satisfied. I suspect you may harbor an equally perfectionist streak about the good works and labors of love you’ll craft in 2020. May I suggest you confine your experiments to no more than ten versions?

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: Leonardo da Vinci

worked on his painting “The Last Supper� from 1495 to 1498. It’s a big piece — about 15 by 29 feet. That’s one reason why he took so long to finish. But there was another explanation, too. He told his patron, the Duke of Milan, that he sometimes positioned himself in front of his painting-in-progress and simply gazed at and thought about it, not lifting a brush. Those were times he did some of his hardest work, he said. I trust you will have regular experiences like that in 2020, Libra. Some of your best efforts will arise out of your willingness and ability to incubate your good ideas with concentrated silence and patience.

(3"/% 01&/*/( $&-&#3"5*0/

'3&& $#% 45"35&3

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: By 1895, Henry James had already published 94 books. He was renowned in the U.S. and England, and had written the works that would later lead to him being considered for a Nobel Prize. Then, at age 52, although he was not physically fit, he decided to learn how to ride a bicycle. He paid for lessons at a bicycle academy, and cheerfully tolerated bruises and cuts from his frequent falls as an acceptable price to pay for his new ability. I admire James’ determination to keep transforming. Let’s make him a role model for you in 2020. May he inspire you to keep adding new aptitudes as you outgrow your previous successes.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: When Sagittarian composer Ludwig van Beethoven created the “Eroica� symphony in the early 1800s, many observers panned it. They said its rhythms were eccentric, that it was too long. One critic said it was “glaring and bizarre,� while another condemned its “undesirable originality.� This same critic concluded, “Genius proclaims itself not in the unusual and fantastic but in the beautiful and sublime.�

Today, of course, “Eroica� has a different reputation. It’s regarded as a breakthrough event in musical history.

I’ll go on record here, Sagittarius, to say that I suspect you created your own personal version of “Eroica� in 2019. 2020 is the year it will get the full appreciation it deserves, although it may take a while. Be patient.

7"-6&

0OF QFS QFSTPO &NBJM SFRVJSFE 8IJMF TVQQMJFT MBTU

0''

:063 163$)"4& 0' 03 .03& /362? :.+ +9:H

-PDBUFE BU UI 4U 6OJU $ #PVMEFS $0 /FYU UP 8IPMF 'PPET ]

(MVUFO 'SFF

/PO 5PYJD

)BOEDSBGUFE XJUI -07&

/PO (.0

XXX UBTQFOT DPN ] ] XXX ESBHPOGMZIFNQDCE DPN

/P "OJNBM 5FTUJOH

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: I’m going to speculate that sometime in

the next six months, you will experience events that years from now you’ll look back on as having been the beginning of a fresh universe for you. What should you call this launch? I suggest you consider elegant terms like “Destiny Rebirthâ€? or “Fate Renewalâ€? rather than a clichĂŠ like the “Big Bang.â€? And how should you celebrate it? As if it were the Grand Opening of the rest of your long life.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: In 2020, I believe you will be able to

summon the insight and kismet necessary to resolve at least one long-running problem, and probably more.

You’ll have an enhanced ability to kick bad habits and escape dead-ends and uncover liberating truths about mysteries that have flustered you. Frustrations and irritations you’ve grudgingly tolerated for far too much time will finally begin to wane. Congratulations in advance, Aquarius! The hard work you do to score these triumphs won’t always be delightful, but it could provide you with a curiously robust and muscular kind of fun.

Premium Products at Smokin’ Prices Recreational & Medical 18+

PISCES

Industry Employees Receive 25% Discount Off All Recreational Products Everyday

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: Let’s say you wanted to dress

completely in silk: shirt, pants, vest, scarf, socks, shoes, hat, underwear all made of silk. And let’s say your dream was to grow and process and weave the silk from scratch. You’d start with half an ounce of silkworm eggs. They’d hatch into 10,000 silkworms.

Eventually those hard-working insects would generate five pounds of silk — enough to create your entire outfit. So in other words, you’d be able to generate an array of functional beauty from a small but concentrated amount of raw material. By the way, that last sentence is a good description of what I think your general approach should be in 2020. And also by the way, dressing in silk wouldn’t be too crazy an idea in the coming months. I hope you’ll have fun cultivating your allure, style and flair.

I

7464 Arapahoe Ave A9, Boulder, CO (located behind KT BBQ, lots of parking) Hours: 10am – 8pm Monday – Sunday JANUARY 2, 2020

I

41

OUR FLOWER OUR QUALITY YOUR LOW PRICES

The Health Center Wishes You

A Happy & High 2020!

$99

Mix & Match LL T

L

Ounce D

T

T

T

T

$55 4 GRAMS

NUHI SUGAR WAX & SHATTER

$12 CANNAMERICA GUMMIES ORDER ONLINE WITH OUR LIVE MENU

www.thchealth.com

Text JOIN THC to (720) 513-3543 for Deals and Promotions Rec 21+ Happy Hours Mon-Sat: 8am-9am & 8pm-9pm, Sunday: ALL DAY

537 Canyon Blvd. Boulder, CO

ALL SALES VALID 1/2/20 - 1/5/20

gation here?

—Perturbed, Horny, Offering No Encouragement

BY DAN SAVAGE

Dear PHONE: Anonymous strangers on Dear Dan: Gay male here. Every so phone-sex party lines — who even knew often, I call an old-fashioned phone-sex those were still a thing — are not manparty line to get off with strangers. datory reporters. Meaning, you aren’t Usually the talk is pretty legally obligated to go to ROMAN ROBINSON standard stuff about what the police if you suspect we would be doing to each someone might be abusing other if we were together. a child. But even if you did Sometimes I like to pop file a report, what would into the older/younger you say? Someone, someroom, and more than once where is saying some seriI’ve found an older guy ously fucked-up shit on an who likes connecting with anonymous phone-sex younger guys (me). That’s line? You would get fine, but as this guy phoneshrugged out of the police fucks me, he starts slipping station. My advice would into some disturbing combe to tell the guy, if you ments. Specifically, he’ll go ever get matched with him from talking about how again, that his child-rape fantasies are a much he likes fucking me — a consenthuge turnoff and you’ve thought about ing, over-18 male — to talking about how reporting him. Then hang up. much he’s enjoying fucking underage girls in his own family. I have no control Dear Dan: My best friend (gay male) over who the system matches me with, and I (straight male) are students in our and of course I can click out at will. I also penultimate year of university. While I have no way of knowing where this guy and my other friends all do reasonably is calling from. But I’ve encountered him well romantically, my gay friend hasn’t a few times. Do I have some kind of oblihad anything significant happen in the

three years I’ve known him. He’s never had a relationship. It’s always been a bit of a soft spot for him, but recently, after going through an unreciprocated crush on a straight friend, he’s been very down about it. His constant complaint is that all the men he likes always wind up being straight male metrosexual types who don’t seem to realize they’re leading him on or are outright homophobic/super-hetero dickheads. He’s gotten on Grindr, but still no luck. Conversations about romance or sex almost inevitably end up with him lamenting his fate. While I’m always there to listen and talk, I’m not sure what I can say or do, other than the generic “It’ll happen one day” platitudes.

He’s definitely attractive and charming and relatively confident, so it really does seem like the issue might just be one of scarcity. Just wondering if you have any advice.

—Begging Advice Regarding Ending Bestie’s Elongated Dry Spell Dear BAREBEDS: If your roommate is the only gay guy on your campus and Grindr is actually an empty cupboard, if this is truly a scarcity issue, then your roommate has all my sympathy, BAREBEDS. But if he’s one of those gay guys who finds gayness so repulsive in others that all openly gay men are automatically disqualified — if he’s

one of those gay guys who’s only into straight-identified boys, straight metrosexuals, and his fellow homophobes — then your roommate has a lot less of my sympathy. If you’ve seen him pass on other attractive, charming, confident gay boys he could have so he could go moon over straight boys he can’t have, BAREBEDS, then he doesn’t need to hear, “It’ll happen one day.” He needs to hear, “It’ll never happen until you get over your internalized homophobia, dude.” Because even if one of his straight crushes turns out to be just heteroflexible enough to let your roommate suck his dick, that guy isn’t going to be interested in more than a few blowjobs and certainly won’t be capable of loving him.

But, hey, if it really is about scarcity, and only graduating and moving away will change things, you can always tell him, “Sorry, it’s obviously not going to happen for you here — but instead of lamenting your fate, let’s talk about all the ass you’re gonna get when you move to New York/London/Berlin.”

On the Lovecast: Did you get herpes for the holidays? Listen in: savagelovecast.com.

Send questions to mail@savagelove. net, follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage and visit ITMFA.org.

RESTORE RELAX RECOVER BOULD ER' S PREM I E R E CB D SPEC I ALTY STO R E CBD TINCTURES - TOPICALS E D I B L E S - P E T - VA P E S & M O R E .

Visit our new retail location at

2425 Canyon Blvd., Unit D, Boulder, CO 80302

GET 20%OFF ne your next on-li de co purchase, use

for our full line of products visit: M O O N M O T H E R H E M P. C O M

BW20

These products are not for use by or sale to persons under the age of 18. Consult with a physician before use if you have a serious medical condition or use prescription medications.

The statements and products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

43

Tall hemp attracts more bees

by Seymour

I

t’s 2020, and I want you to take a moment to imagine a world where Donald Trump isn’t president, health care is universal and bee populations are no longer in decline.

Dream big my friends, because it’s all possible — in some cases with a little help from hemp.

In February 2019, scientists at Colorado State University found that hemp crops attract a variety of bees, and in December, scientists at Cornell University found that the taller the hemp plants, the more bees the crop attracts.

With bee populations in decline in North America, Europe and Asia, research like this is nothing to sneeze at: it can inform beefriendly agricultural practices.

The Cornell team collected bees at 11

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

I

hemp farms in central New York in the summer of 2018. Their findings, published in Environmental Entomology, show that hemp plants at least 2 meters (6.6 feet) tall attract “nearly 17 times the number of [bee] visits compared to short plants.”

The number and species of bees increased proportionally with plant height, with 16 different bee varieties making cannabis pit stops.

Of the 355 bees collected and identified, 30% were identified as Bombus impatiens, the common Eastern bumble bee, which the authors say are “intensively relied upon” for pollination. Sixty percent were identified as western honey bees.

Hemp’s made quite an impression on the U.S. agricultural scene since the 2018 Farm Bill took the non-psychoactive form of cannabis off of the controlled-substances drug classification and allowed all U.S. farmers to legally produce the crop for the first time since 1937 (when the Marihuana Tax Act was passed).

But some states, like Colorado, got a head start. In 2014, then-U.S. congressman Jared Polis introduced and advanced an amendment to that year’s Farm Bill that allowed for hemp-growing pilot programs.

Now with five years of hemp production

JANUARY 2, 2020

under its belt, Colorado leads the nation in production, with more than 21,000 acres planted and 828 cultivation licenses issued, according to a September report by New Frontier Data.

There’s been a huge boom in hemp production because of increased demand for CBD across the country, and that trend is projected to continue.

“As cultivation of hemp increases,” the Cornell researchers write, “growers, land managers, and policy makers should consider its value in supporting bee communities and take its attractiveness to bees into account when developing pest management strategies.”

According to an article for the University of Nebraska Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, “Varieties of hemp, whose stems are used for fiber, bio-fuel, or other products, grow to 6-7 feet in height, providing the desired long fibers for industrial processing.” So these varieties might be best when considering bee populations.

Hemp may seem a bit of an odd choice for bees, since hemp doesn’t present the vivid colors and tantalizing scents that typically woo our honey-making pals. But hemp produces a lot of pollen, which provides essential protein for bees, and hemp produces pollen during a time of year when there’s not a lot, making hemp an important food source for bees during lean times.

The Cornell team believes that tall hemp could be crucial to stemming declining bee populations.

No word yet on tall hemp’s affect on Donald Trump’s presidency.

I

45

Legalization 2020: Let the people decide (the lawmakers are too chicken) By Paul Danish

W

ith the exception of Vermont, every state that has legalized recreational marijuana has done so by a vote of the people. What’s more, in all cases the legalization measure was put on the ballot by a citizen-initiated petition drive.

However, not all state constitutions allow initiatives.

In several of those states, most notably New Jersey and New York, bills to legalize recreational pot have been introduced in the state legislatures, where they flopped. When it comes to marijuana, most state legislators are too chicken or too troglodyte to vote for legalizing it.

But even chicken lawmakers can read polls, so they know there is overwhelming support among the American people for ending marijuana prohibition and repairing the damage done by the war on drugs. Which means that a lot of the lawmakers who are afraid of voting to legalize pot are also afraid of not voting to legalize pot.

So what’s a chicken legislator to do? Easy.

Vote to put a legalization measure on his or her state’s ballot and let the people decide.

And that is likely to happen in a number of states during the 2020 election cycle. The term for measures put on the ballot by legislatures instead by citizen petitioning is “referred laws.”

Stressed Out? Think Massage!

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

Between such referrals and citizen petition drives, voters in as many as 16 states could be voting on either recreational or medical marijuana legalization ballot questions next November.

According to Marijuana Moment Editor Tom Angel, the list includes Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and South Dakota.

If all of these states end up with marijuana questions on their ballots come November, the impact could be greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s because with that many states voting on marijuana measures, the marijuana legalization debate could be effectively nationalized, and impact both the presidential election and congressional races, even in states where pot isn’t on the ballot.

It’s been a long time coming, but as far as marijuana legalization is concerned, 2020 could be the tipping point.

• • • • Come next October, just in time for the 2020 election, the U.S. Postal Service will be bringing out a new commemorative stamp — commemorating the War on Drugs of all things.

“This Drug Free USA Forever stamp will help further raise awareness about the dangers of drug

abuse, and the toll it is taking on families and communities around the county,” Robert Duncan, chairman of the USPS Board of Governors, said brightly.

Added DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon: “This stamp will help raise awareness of the fight against drug addiction and honor those who have dedicated their lives to the cause.”

The late CU Anthropology Professor John Greenway once remarked that we tend to make slogans out of things we no longer believe. His example was “In God We Trust.”

“Drug Free USA Forever” will be following in this great tradition, and is orders of magnitude less believable.

• • • • If you’ve had the impression that the price of marijuana in Colorado has been going up lately, it’s not because you’ve been smoking too much wacky weed.

According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, the price of pot in the state will hit a three-year high in January.

Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31, the median price of a pound of marijuana sold to a retail store by a grow was $1,316. The figure is almost a third higher than the median market rate during the previous quarter, $999.

The increase is the largest single-quarter spike in the history of the state’s recreational program. A year earlier the price of pot was $781 a pound.

The latest price hike was likely driven in part by the Oct. 10 snow storm and early freeze that hammered Pueblo County-based Los Suenos Farms, the state’s largest outdoors grower.

Reports at the time were that the storm slashed the company’s harvest by 50 percent.

INDULGE & UNWIND PamPering relief nY StYle

Fast, Secure, Professional

California Blonde Now Accepting Preferred clientele No Texts

SINCE 1987, DBC HAS HELPED CUT DOWN ON POLLUTION AND TRAFFIC ALONG THE FRONT RANGE WWW.DBCOURIERS.COM | WWW.DBCOURIERS.COM/QUICKQUOTE | (303) 571-5719

720-364-0840 46

I

JANUARY 2, 2020

I

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

NOMAD EXTRACTS

GROWN BY OPTIONS

COLLEGE STUDENTS

BRING IN YOUR BUFF ONE CARD AND GET

10% OFF

CONCENTRATE SUPPLY CO.

GROWN BY OPTIONS

CONCENTRATE SUPPLY CO.

GROWN BY OPTIONS

All Flower Hand Trimmed!

1G LIVE RESIN

1 GRAM

(CSC & GREEN DOT)

WAX & SHATTER (CSC)

4 GRAMS

.5G CARTRIDGES

EIGHTHS STARTING AT

$24.10 $16.07 $12.05

WAX & SHATTER (CSC)

1G CARTRIDGES

$48.21 $20.08 $36.16

A L L P R I C E S A R E P R E T A X . O F F E R S W H I L E S U P P L Y L A S T.

LONGMONT’S BIGGEST DISPENSARY

+

Twin Peaks DISPENSARY

medical and recreational

last word T TT

ALL TOP SHELF BUDS. NO STRAIN RESTRICTIONS. ONE TIER PRICING.

W

ORDER ONLINE WITH OUR LIVE MENU - WWW.THCHEALTH.COM VALID JANUARY 2 - JANUARY 5

FLOWER SALE $39 1/2 OZ REC FLOWER $20 1/2 OZ REC SHAKE $59 OUNCE MED FLOWER $29 OUNCE MED SHAKE $59 4G WAX / SHATTER $89 4G LIVE RESIN Text “twin” to 833-864-7639 to receive our SPECIAL DEAL of the week!

Open 8am - 10pm Monday - Sunday 900 S. Hover St. #A, Longmont, CO • 720-892-5969

537 Canyon Blvd. Boulder, CO • 720-532-8664 • www.thchealth.com • 21+

5420 Arapahoe, Unit F • 303.442.2565

Bo l er 11 Pearl t.

PIPE estminster 1 . th e. heat Ri ge 1 1 Interstate rontage R N. 1 55 ighlan s Ranch 1 E. o nt Line R .

5 1 Den er ra ahoe in LoDo 5 PIPE

See our ad below

“Weed Between the Lines” on page 45.

Atlas Valley Center, SW corner of Arapahoe and 95th

www.eatreelfish.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT BWC! CHECK OUT BOULDER’S LONGEST RUNNING DISPENSARY AND SEE THE DIFFERENCE LOVE CAN MAKE! www.boulderwc.com

www.twinpeaksdispensary.com

Award-winning seafood at a reasonable price

AWARD-WINNING ARTISAN CANNABIS & EXTRACTS SINCE 2009

A F FORDAB L E E V E RY DAY PRICING ON BOULDER’S FINEST CANNABIS

LOW TIER

HIGH TIER

$15 / 16TH $25 / 8TH $55 / ½ oz

$20 / 16TH $30 / 8TH $65 / ½ oz

Huge Huge Selection Selection of of Edibles, Edibles, Vapes, Vapes, Local Local Glass Glass & & Unique Unique Apparel Apparel

Premium Products at Smokin’ Prices Recreational & Medical

Industry Employees Receive 25% Discount Off All Recreational Products Everyday 7464 Arapahoe Ave A9, Boulder, Co (located behind KT BBQ, lots of parking) Hours: 10am – 8pm Monday – Sunday

Taste for o rself s abo t o r a

Met Your Soul Drum Yet? HAND DRUMS, DRUM SETS, AND LESSONS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES.

free trial

www.el ora os rings.com

The Dr m ho th t. Bo l er 1