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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 boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you’re interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.
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HOW POISON SAVED A UTAH LAKE
Government officials used controversial herbicide glyphosate to
BY TED WILLIAMS
Ninety-five-thousand-acre Utah Lake is a major water source for the Great Salt Lake. If it dries up or sickens, so does the Great Salt Lake. Fifteen years ago, it was dying. But the controversial herbicide glyphosate saved it. Virtually everything most Americans think they know about glyphosate — the active ingredient in products like Roundup — is wrong. That’s because social media
and ads by lawyers offering to sue Bayer (owner of Monsanto, glyphosate’s original manufacturer) are rife with misinformation. In 2015, with no original research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — an appendage of the World Health Organization (WHO) — placed glyphosate on its speculative list of “probable carcinogens” along with “red meat” and “very hot beverages.” It did so
even though all scientific authorities that have done original research, including its parent WHO and the United States EPA, report no link to cancer. Some studies that review existing research do report possible links to cancer. But the study subjects are farm workers who used large quantities of Roundup for years, frequently without protective gear. Roundup is applied by wildlife managers in relatively tiny amounts. Still, based on IARC’s speculation, there have been glyphosate bans or restrictions in 28 nations as well as municipalities and counties in 15 U.S. states. And Bayer has paid $11 billion to settle lawsuits brought by cancer victims blaming their illnesses on Roundup.
OPINION
The Cyclist
California responded to the IARC review by requiring glyphosate products to carry cancer warnings. But a federal judge struck it down, ruling it “inherently misleading …when apparently all other regulatory and governmental bodies have found the opposite.”
According to the international news agency Reuters, IARC “edited findings from a draft of its review of the weedkiller glyphosate that were at odds with its final conclusion.”
And this from Dr. Lee Van Wychen, science director for the National and Regional Weed Science Societies: “IARC’s review was such a crooked scam. I’ve never seen anything like it. IARC cherry-picked a couple studies and on top of that fudged the results… Now there are people on the conservation side who are afraid to use glyphosate.”
Utah Lake’s brackish water and extensive wetlands make it one of North America’s most important staging areas for migratory water birds. The watershed also provides vital habitat for other birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, including the federally threatened June sucker.
Fifteen years ago, this biodiversity appeared doomed by an explosion of phragmites, a non-native, deep-rooted reed that spreads through wind-blown seeds and rhizomes. It grows out to four feet in water and all the way to the transitional zone of dry land.
So thick was Utah Lake’s infestation that wildlife couldn’t move through it, and people couldn’t access the lake. Phragmites created fire hazards, sucked vast amounts of water from the already diminished lake and generated swarms of mosquitoes by blocking water flow.
Large infestations of phragmites can’t be cut or bulldozed, leaving herbicide as the only option. Dead stalks are then crushed or burned to make new growth visible for retreatment.
Spraying with glyphosate formulations began in 2009. “Each year, managers would focus on a different area,” reported the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. Every area of the lake got three consecutive years of the spray and trample treatment.
Today, fish, wildlife and human access have been largely restored. Glyphosate has eradicated 70% of the phragmites, and future applications will kill most of what’s left.
Revegetation started this spring. With help from local organizations, the Utah Lake Authority has planted 7,500 native seedlings. “Planting parties” of 400 volunteers will plant 10,000 more native plants by year’s end.
“For the lake,” said Luke Peterson, director of the Utah Lake Authority, “this is a turning point.”
This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.
Utah Lake and the Lake Mountains as seen from from Jordan River Parkway Trail in May 2024.
Credit: Chris Light
GOV’T WATCH
BY TYLER HICKMAN
BOULDER CITY COUNCIL
At the Oct. 10 meeting, council will:
• Hold a public hearing and preliminary vote on a measure to increase Boulder’s minimum wage. Registration to speak at the meeting opens at 8 a.m. Friday, Oct. 4. bit.ly/WageSign-upBW
At a Sept. 3 meeting, council members voted to draft an ordinance that would increase minimum wage 8% annually for the next three years to $18.17 by 2027. This decision came after a regional effort involving five Boulder County cities to raise minimum wages stalled.
BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
On Oct. 8, commissioners will:
• Hold a work session on the county’s 2025 budget. The budget is being developed with a focus on the commissioners three strategic priorities: economic security and social stability, climate action and environmental stewardship, and good governance.
The meeting will not be open for public comment: Testimony can be given at a public hearing Oct. 22. On Oct. 10, commissioners will:
• Vote on the adoption of the Boulder to Erie Regional Trail (BERT) plan during a hybrid public meeting. The BERT plan identifies a path forward for the construction of an 8.5-mile multi-use trail connecting Erie to Boulder. The trail would run along a former stretch of the Union Pacific Railroad that is now owned by RTD. Public testimony will be taken; registration is required. In-person: bit.ly/BERThearingBW, virtual: bit.ly/BERTonlineBW
NEWS
LONGMONT CITY COUNCIL
On Oct. 1, city council:
• Approved a $473.6 million operating budget for 2025, a 6.7% increase from 2024. The budget includes $71 million for the city’s 2025-2029 Capital Investment Program and 18 new full-time employment positions. The city will have 1,161.1 employees, a net increase of 10.5 positions from last year (some positions were eliminated).
LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL
On Oct. 1, council:
• Approved an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) accepting grant funding for sidewalk design and construction. The Federal Safety Improvement Program (FSIP) provides $450,000 in funds with a $50,000 match by the city.
Lafayette’s Multimodal Transportation Plan identified 20.6 miles of incomplete sidewalks on 27 corridors in the city. Staff anticipates construction to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2025.
• Took a preliminary vote to adopt a $121.5 million budget for 2025.
All agenda items are subject to change. Karen Norback contributed reporting.
BOCO, BRIEFLY
Local news at a glance
BY KAYLEE HARTER
SOCIAL SERVICES ORGS TO SEE FUNDING CUTS IN 2025
Boulder County will cut funds for local social services providers by $4 million in 2025, prompting concern from local officials.
“If we could say yes to everything, we would,” said county commissioner Marta Loachamin in a Tuesday interview. “There is not enough money to go around.”
The county’s Community Partnership Grants are being reduced by 36%. Just under $8 million will be awarded in 2025, compared to more than $12 million in 2024.
“[S]uch cuts would have devastating impacts on these organizations and more importantly on the most vulnerable members of our community,” City of Boulder council member Matthew Benjamin wrote in a community hotline email.
The grants fund things like homelessness services, housing supports and mental health programs. Organizations funded in 2024 include All Roads (formerly Boulder Shelter for the Homeless), Emergency Family Assistance Association, the Nederland Food Pantry and Sister Carmen Community Center.
“All Roads is very concerned about the implications of a potential cut of that size in the safety net for Boulder County,” said CEO Michael Bock. “Until we get the final
news, it is very difficult to understand the impact, but as our primary budget expense is staff related, maintaining our current ability to respond to the immediate needs of our community’s homeless as well as finding them a home obviously depends on our ability to find funding.”
In a February email to community partners, the county cited decreasing state and federal funds, which included COVID-era funding, and an increasing demand from “essential programs and services, many of which the county is statutorily required to deliver” as the reason for the cuts.
Grant recipients and amounts will be announced this week, according to the county. Only nonprofits were eligible to receive the funds in 2025, meaning past recipients such as Boulder County Public Health, the City of Boulder and St. Vrain Valley School District are no longer eligible.
“I believe our staff went through a really significant process to look at a more equitable distribution of the funds,” Loachamin said. “To look at different sized organizations, to look at the services in the extensive way that we serve residents, in all the ways throughout the entire county, and still looking at what is our real budget constraint.”
Boulder council member Mark Wallach asked in a hotline email about the possibility of diverting city funds being spent on joint projects with the county to bridge the gap.
“I believe that the County has failed to be a good partner with the City in providing these core services, and that we need to look to our own interests in funding these organizations, particularly in a peri-
Superior
od of high need and constrained financial resources,” he wrote.
Loachamin said she was not aware of any additional planned human services budget cuts, but the budgeting process is still ongoing, and community members are invited to share feedback.
FEWER PEOPLE LIVING OUTSIDE, ACCORDING TO JULY SNAPSHOT
Fewer people may be experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Boulder, according to the city’s latest point-intime count released this month.
The city conducts these counts in January and July, and typically sees higher numbers in the summer. The point-in-time count reflects a snapshot of people experiencing homelessness on a specific day, which can be impacted by factors like weather and participation. According to the city, “results from the count do not accurately reflect the actual number of people living unhoused.”
There were 122 people counted this July, compared with 171 in July 2023. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed had been homeless for a year or more, while 32% were newly homeless.
SUPERIOR HOME RULE CHARTER WON’T APPEAR ON BALLOT
The Town of Superior will hold a special election Dec. 10 on the adoption of the proposed home rule charter. It will no longer appear on the November general election ballot due to “a clerical error.”
The town’s home rule commission, elected by voters in 2023, drafted the charter over the past year. Approval for the charter is all-or-nothing, but the charter could be amended in future elections. Read the charter and find more information at superiorcolorado.gov/community/home-ruleinformation
HIGHER PAY FOR BVSD SUBS
After cuts to substitute teacher pay at Boulder Valley School District prompted criticism and concern, the district has promised to raise its rate, though it’s not clear yet how much.
The bump will be funded by unallocated money from the previous year’s budget, and the rate will be announced in the coming weeks, superintendent Rob Anderson said in a Sept. 24 board meeting. More ongoing funding will need to be found in the future, he said.
Subs made $150 per day last school year, but the district announced in July that subs this school year would make $125. For an eight-hour day, that amounts to $15.63 an hour.
Retired teachers, who made a little more at $170 in the 2023-24 school year, would have also seen a $25 cut.
FALL-ORADO
By land, sky or lake, there are plenty of ways to peep the autumnal foliage
BY COURTNEY JOHNSON
While hiking or driving are popular options for glimpsing the change of the seasons, there are other ways to enjoy autumn colors from a different point of view. Here are our favorites.
ALL ABOARD
Autumn is the perfect time to book a scenic rail ride. The Colorado Railroad Museum offers affordable rides through October to catch the changing leaves. Get tickets for the Harvest Haunted Express or a regular scenic ride: coloradorailroadmuseum.org/timetable/ train-rides.
Jump in the car and make a day of it with a trip on the Georgetown Loop. Special events through October include leaf peeping, the Pumpkinfest Express, Trick or Treat Train and Autumnfest: georgetownlooprr.com/events.
FROM THE SKY
Just after sunrise, you can enjoy 360-degree views of the seasonal splendor from over 500 feet in the air. Fair Winds has been offering hot air balloon rides over Boulder County and Estes for over 10 years: bit.ly/FairWindsBW.
The Colorado Balloon — which you may have spotted floating over Lafayette and Erie — through Aero-Cruise Balloon Adventure can be booked at aerocruise balloonadventures.com.
ON FOUR WHEELS
Based near Golden, Oxotic Supercar Driving Experience has a diverse lineup of exotic cars from McLaren and Porsche to AMG and Aston Martin. The 1.5-hour tour allows you to drive a supercar through Golden Gate Canyon, offering some of the best views of the leaves
changing. Stops along the way will enable you to snap pics of the golden color in case you don’t have a passenger along for the ride. More info: oxotic.com.
ON THE BANKS
Throw in a line on the banks of Boulder Canyon or Big Thompson Canyon to get some up-close views of the seasonal hues. Barker Meadow Reservoir and Gross Reservoir also offer places to
catch some fish along with the colorchanging landscape.
ON A BOARD
You can get a unique view of the fall foliage from kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.
The shores of McIntosh Lake in Longmont are lined with grasses, shrubs and cottonwoods that turn an array of hues for the last paddles of the season. Also in Longmont, Union Reservoir offers colorful paddling through the fall. (Rentals are only available through September, so it’s BYOB.)
ON THE RAILS
One of two railbike adventures found in Colorado, Colorado Railbike Adventures will send you pedaling on the historic Denver Boulder Valley Railroad Tracks for a 4.2-mile trip along Coal Creek and past the original depot site. Each bike holds four people as it passes by groves of yellow cottonwoods and through 150 years of Erie coal mining history.
The new 8-mile Longs Peak route is expected to open this fall, passing through large groves of old cottonwoods past the Boulder Valley Mine and the Wise Homestead Open Space: colorado railbikeadventures.com.
SUFFER NEVER
BY ANGELA K. EVANS
One night, long ago, Kazu Makino was on a stage in Denver. Looking out, she saw only a handful of observers. After playing a song or two, she decided to stop the performance to invite everyone in the audience backstage for tea and cake.
“It was a lot more natural than to pretend like we have a crowd and we are playing a huge show,” Makino says. “It felt ridiculous.”
Makino, one third of the time-tested art rock institution Blonde Redhead, can’t remember the venue or even the year of that show-turned-greenroom chat. But she does know it was before the band toured by bus or traveled the world to perform. Along with the multi-instrumentalist Pace brothers — Simone on drums and keys; and Amedeo on lead guitar, keys and vocals — Makino has been singing and playing guitar with the avant-garde trio since forming as a no-wave punk band in 1993.
Looking back on her career, Makino says there were projects she felt particularly connected to. The band’s 2004 watershed Misery Is a Butterfly and its 2007 followup 23 showcased Blonde Redhead’s new sound, swapping their noisy, angular roots for something more lush and cinematic.
Listeners and critics responded, leading to the kind of success that comes with green lights everywhere you turn and a sense that no one can stop you. “We were riding quite high,” she says. Other albums were less life-giving, leaving Makino with a sense of “instant humiliation” that cast her next moves into doubt.
“But then you forget, and then you accumulate energy, and then you start making another album,” she says. It’s not so much that she’s evolved in the last three decades, the Kyoto-born
artist says, but more that she has come into a deeper understanding of herself. Now Makino, 54, appreciates what sets her apart from other musicians, including her bandmates.
“I’m a lot more free-spirited than them,” she says of Simone and Amadeo. “But at the same time, I think that restriction somehow works to my benefit, because maybe I’m a lot more repressed and then kind of I explode — and so, that dynamic, it works in the end.”
Makino hesitates to continue, afraid she’s making the twin siblings sound more conservative in their musical approach than they actually are. This tension may be the secret to Blonde Redhead’s success.
“It can be quite magical,” she says. “It’s not like we get along really, really well, but I think we have musical chemistry, and nothing can take that away.”
Sit Down for Dinner, the 10th studio album by
‘IT’S NOT REALLY IN YOUR CONTROL’
In September 2023, the trio released their latest LP Sit Down for Dinner, a sweeping collection of visceral, melancholic songs about death, doubt and the power of togetherness. Makino didn’t realize it would be Blonde Redhead’s comeback album, returning the band to its criticaldarling status after years in the wilderness.
“I had no idea,” she says. “You don’t know these things. It’s not really in your control.”
The band’s lauded new record comes nine years after their last, Barragán, which critics described as “lackluster” and
“utterly barren.” At the time, it was presumed to be Blonde Redhead’s final album. But now there’s new wind in the band’s sails as they once again garner praise for their singular brand of moody, guitar-driven indie rock.
In the interim, Makino released her first solo album, Adult Baby, in 2019 The experience offered an “extremely gratifying” opportunity to collaborate with other musicians on a vision all her own.
“Watching younger artists expressing themselves in the highest scale through my music was one of the most rewarding things,” she says. “I made music that really had a lot of space, then I chose the right people who could do that. They just took off using my platform.”
Makino was able to channel the leftover “energy and enlightenment” into Sit Down for Dinner, an 11-track offering that finds Blonde Redhead trading the minimalism of its predecessor for more fleshed-out arrangements that recall the stratospheric run of their mid-00s glory days.
‘I’M NOT GOING TO SUFFER’
Makino has always battled with the trope that artists have to go through hell to make something great — and after having so much fun with Adult Baby, she refused to fall into that trap with Blonde Redhead. She agreed to work with the Pace brothers again under one important condition.
“I’m not going to suffer. I’m not going to go through pain to make this album,”
she remembers telling Amedeo. “I just wanted to really make a point that we are gonna have, I’m gonna have, fun. You do you, but I’m gonna have fun.”
Taking its title from Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, a 2005 memoir of grief following her husband John Dunne’s fatal heart attack at the dinner table, Sit Down for Dinner inspired an unusual sort of fan service: in-person meals with the band in select cities. Makino says these events felt forced, unlike the greenroom conversations in Denver all those years ago. A selfdescribed “nerd” who likes to read and keep to herself on tour, she’s more introverted than her onstage posture might suggest.
“I’m quite fixated about music and working. And in those moments that I know what I’m supposed to do, I’m not shy. But everything else, I feel extremely awkward,” she says. “I don’t handle it well when a lot of people are paying attention to me.”
Makino intends to keep creating as a solo artist, but she doesn’t know if Sit Down for Dinner will be the last Blonde Redhead album. There are no plans to record anytime soon as the band continues to tour through the end of the year and into the next. Amadeo, for one, wants to keep the project alive.
“He keeps saying, ‘I think we should make a shockingly bad album, like a really terrible one. We can try to make an album so bad that it would become famous for it,’” she says. “I think the whole point is that he wants to reel me in into making another album but without putting ourselves under a lot of pressure.”
Makino seems unsure about the future of Blonde Redhead — but if this winds up being the band’s last chapter, that’s something she can live with.
“I feel like this would be a good record to end with,” she says. “A good note to end on.”
ON THE BILL: Blonde Redhead with Allison Lorenzen. 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4. Levitt Pavilion Denver, 1380 West Florida Ave.
Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead kicks the tortured artist trope to the curb
Kazu Makino (right) says the decision to reunite with her Blonde Redhead bandmates came with a caveat: “You do you, but I’m gonna have fun.” Credit: Charles Billot
Blonde Redhead, was released Sept. 29 of last year. Courtesy: Section1 Records
MUSIC
HURRY UP AND WAIT
Kate Bollinger fine tunes the art of patience on debut album
BY JUSTIN CRIADO
When it comes to sharing her music with the world, Kate Bollinger admits to being a little impatient.
The Virginia-born, LA-based songwriter typically prefers to release new tunes as soon as possible, which has helped her compile a bevy of singles and EPs since 2017. But while working on her debut LP, Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind, Bollinger learned to sit with her work a little longer to allow more time for the material to mature.
“I wish once it was done, I could just put it out immediately. I think that’s why it took me so long to make a full-length album,” the 26-year-old says. “If it were up to me, I would just be putting stuff out all the time.”
This preoccupation with time seeps into the opening track of Bollinger’s shimmering debut, a laid-back jangle pop gem announcing her arrival after so much waiting: “Another day begins / I’ve got the time on fast-forward again,” she sighs over the snappy shuffle of a drum kit and breezy acoustic guitar. “And every moment races on / a fleeting horse determined to win.”
As the moments race on, Bollinger continues to meld modern indie-pop sensibilities with her penchant for 1960s folk and Americana. But Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind, released last Friday via independent label Ghostly International, is a marathon — not a sprint. Comprised of solo material written back in Virginia and recent songs crafted with writing partner Matthew E. White, the 11 tracks on Bollinger’s first LP trace her personal and musical transition from her Southern hometown of Charlottesville to the bright lights of
Hollywood, where she permanently relocated in 2022.
“It feels like the truest expression of myself that I’ve put out so far,” she says.
MUSICAL MAD LIBS
Bollinger is set to take these songs on the road with a tour kickoff and radio taping Oct. 5 at Boulder’s eTown Hall, where she plans to play the album in full along with older cuts from her catalog.
Outlining her writing habits, Bollinger points to the mystery of the muse:
strummed chords magically turn into lyrics, which always come last. It’s hard for her to really put into words, but it’s the only process she knows.
“It’s pretty subconscious. I’ll just mess around on guitar and find a chord progression I like,” she says. “I’ll start singing a melody, and eventually the melody just becomes words.
“Sometimes it’ll come out fully formed,” Bollinger continues. “Other times it’ll be like there’s one syllable or word that I’m hearing in different parts of the melody, then I’ll fill it out like it’s Mad Libs or a puzzle.”
One piece of the puzzle snapped together early, before she conjured up a single song for the new record, when the album name and the overarching idea first came to Bollinger.
“I had that concept in mind before the songs were written,” she says. “Knowing myself and how I write songs, I subconsciously knew that’s how the album was going to come together.”
STAYING POWER
While working on Songs From a Thousand Frames
of Mind, Bollinger’s personal playlist included several Elephant 6 bands (a 1990s indie-rock music collective partially based in Denver) along with early Of Montreal and an overlooked 1960s gem: Greasepaint Smile by the late Elyse Weinberg.
“She was a part of the Laurel Canyon scene, but lesser known than a lot of the other people,” Bollinger says of the artist behind the previously unreleased 1969 album.
The variety of those influences can be heard on singles like the somber piano ballad “Lonely,” the jazzy “Sweet Devil” and the upbeat twee-pop of album opener “What’s This About (La La La La).”
With the album out, now Bollinger is glad she didn’t rush it.
“I think it’s good to sit on things sometimes. I just move on so quickly,” she says. “The problem with making something and releasing it right away is you don’t figure out if it has any lasting power. I learned that it is good to be patient sometimes, because I think I’ll connect to these songs a lot longer — hopefully.”
ON THE BILL: Kate Bollinger. 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $40
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Kate Bollinger kicks off her debut album tour Oct. 5 at eTown Hall in Boulder. Credit: Leanna Kaiser
Songs From a Thousand Frames of Mind by Kate Bollinger was released Sept. 27. Courtesy: Ghostly International
TITLE
FOUND SOUNDS
What’s in Boulder’s headphones?
BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF
Goodbye Brat Summer, hello Billy Fall! As the aspen groves light up with autumnal splendor, we’re bringing you the sounds of the season with our latest roundup of the bestselling new vinyl releases at Paradise Found Records and Music (1646 Pearl St.) From Boulder’s favorite bluegrass phenom Billy Strings to the latest from breakout folk-rock charmer MJ Lenderman, here’s what ruled local turntables in September.
STAFF PICK
It only took three years of waiting for Remi Wolf to drop her sophomore album, Big Ideas, and I was not disappointed. This is a jam-in-your-car, scream-in-your-room, stare-at-the-wall-and-contemplate-all-your-mistakes vibe all rolled into one unskippable record. It’s got the funky psych-pop beats with stunning vocals that we’ve come to expect from Remi, with a smattering of emo grunge that makes me feel like you’re “Alone in Miami.” This LP is on repeat whenever I need to feel literally anything at all. — Tyler Hickman, reporter
For the complete list of top new local vinyl releases, visit bit.ly/FoundSoundsSept24
1. BILLY STRINGS Highway Prayers
2. CHAPPELL ROAN Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Reissue)
3. LUMINEERS Live from Wrigley Field
4. MJ LENDERMAN Manning Fireworks
5. JAMIE XX In Waves
FREAKTOBERFEST
Spooky season is business as usual at Friday Night Weird
BY JEZY J. GRAY
For most of us, Halloween means shedding the bubblegum sensibilities of summer and embracing the darkness that comes with the season of creeping death. But for the Dairy Arts Center’s resident “queen of the weird” Shay Wescott, it’s just another month of programming the freakiest films she can find.
“Horror movies are so foundational to Friday Night Weird,” she says of the nonprofit’s weekly underground cinema showcase. “It’s not something where all year I’m waiting, like, ‘What are we going to do in October?’ It kind of happens organically.”
You’ll find no shortage of schlocky Halloween fare at the multiplex this season, but the unsettling selections of this long-running homespun showcase at the Boedecker Theater offer a lot more than jump scares and so-called scream queens.
“We’re looking to find the films that are maybe less accessible that we want to spotlight and uplift,” Wescott says. “Those don’t always fall into the perfect ‘Halloween’ category.”
AZRAEL
Friday, Oct. 4
E.L. Katz, 2024, Estonia & USA, 1:25, R
Wescott has a tough time with the term “scream queen.” She sees a dark undercurrent coursing beneath the moniker adopted by film critics (mostly men) to describe the ’80s ladies anchoring the era’s stomach-turning slasher flicks.
“The screams generally came with a lot of sexual vio-
lence — a lot of exploitation,” she explains.
That’s why Wescott is particularly stoked about Azrael, starring Australian horror standout
Samara Weaving. The actionpacked film by director E.L. Katz follows a group of religious zealots left behind after the rapture as they hunt a young woman who has escaped bondage in a silent world where no one speaks.
“It’s really focused on empowering her and making her look like a badass,” she says. “It’s also a setup in which she cannot scream. You will not hear screaming of any sort.”
THE BIRTHDAY
Friday, Oct. 11
Eugenio Mira, 2004, Spain, 1:40, NR
Corey Feldman has had a rough go since his star-making run as a ’80s teen heartthrob. The actor’s public image gelled near the turn of the century as a washed-
GHOULS TO THE FRONT
Embrace the Halloween spirit with these Criterion Channel titles
BY SHAY WESCOTT
Criterion definitely has the themes of The Substance on the brain with their October lineup. The streaming service’s Horror F/X showcase brings together some of the most audacious triumphs of practical-effects innovation from across horror history, while its Witches series explores “cultural fears and fantasies around powerful women and the shadowy, forbidden flip side of the everyday patriarchal order.” These are all iconic titles, but here are a few I’ll be personally revisiting.
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• Day of the Dead (1985)
• Häxan (1922)
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)*
• The Love Witch (2016)
*…because I’m a millennial.
up bad boy punchline, but spend a few minutes on his Wikipedia page and you’ll see a familiar constellation of abuses suffered by too many child performers. So there’s a certain triumph in his starring role in The Birthday, a cult favorite in which a hapless boyfriend uncovers an “ancient evil” that might just bring on the end of the world. Following decades of underground buzz, the film is finally getting a proper theatrical release after Jordan Peele programmed it at the Film Society of Lincoln Center last year for its second-ever U.S. screening.
“I think the world owes [Feldman] a big apology and an endless well of empathy,” Wescott says. “I’m really excited about the fact that this is in no way making fun of him. Everything surrounding this comes from an earnest place of love and appreciation in a way that cult films are not usually handled — so it feels special.”
GANJA & HESS
Friday, Oct. 18
Bill Gunn, 1973, USA, 1:52, R
Immortality is a blessing and a curse. Just ask anthropologist Hess Green (Duane Jones) who develops a taste for blood after being shanked by a ceremonial dagger. This is the turn of events launching the unholy marriage of Blaxploitation and horror that is Bill Gunn’s paradigm-shifting indie vampire film, Ganja & Hess
“It elevated Gunn to the status of ‘the Black Stanley Kubrick’ in some circles, but was otherwise completely ignored in the U.S. due to racism and the
incredibly vanilla taste of most American filmgoers,” Wescott says.
Purchased, stripped for parts and re-cut by a low-budget grindhouse distributor after its release, Ganja & Hess — later adapted by Spike Lee as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus in 2014 — spent years in the choppy waters of critical opinion before cementing its status as a cult-horror cornerstone and mainstay of Black cinema.
THE SUBSTANCE
Friday, Oct. 25
Coralie Fargeat, 2024, USA, 2:20, R
Aging has never been scarier than it is in this fussed-over film by French director and screenwriter Coralie Fargeat. The Substance follows “past her prime” A-list actress (Demi Moore) who turns to a miracle youth drug after being fired by a repugnant studio executive (Dennis Quaid). The catch? She must spend equal time in her own body and that of her 20-something counterpart (Margaret Qualley).
That might not sound like much of a problem, but if you haven’t already gleaned from the discourse surrounding this body-horror conversation piece, Wescott says viewers will get more than they bargained for as Fargeat’s unforgettable film unfolds.
“The Substance is already one of the most talked-about films of the year, depicting one of our favorite pastimes: picking apart the bodies of aging women who dare to put themselves on film, quite literally,” she says. “It is absolutely every bit as grotesque as anyone will tell you. What I didn’t expect is that it would be so magical — and so funny.”
Ganja & Hess by director Bill Gunn screens Oct. 18 as part of the Friday Night Weird film series at the Dairy Arts Center. Courtesy: IMDb
EMPTY VESSEL
‘A Different Man’ is a twisty black comedy
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
Edward is a man alone. He lives a solitary life in a decaying New York apartment with a rotting ceiling. He’s an actor on an industrial short, the kind new hires have to watch as part of their diversity, equity and inclusion training, and he doesn’t seem interested in engaging with his costars. He also doesn’t have friends, and his family is dead. Then, a beautiful playwright moves in next door, and Edward senses a connection but can’t overcome the barrier.
The barrier, Edward (Sebastian Stan) assumes, is his neurofibromatosis. When Edward looks in the mirror, all he sees looking back at him is a deformed face. That’s how most of the world sees him, sure, but not everyone. Edward suffers from many shortcomings, and superficiality certainly is one of them.
The neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), is an energetic breath of fresh air in Edward’s life. He falls for her immediately,
and she seems to reciprocate some of that affection. But Edward doesn’t seem interested in Ingrid the person, just Ingrid the effervescent beauty. Ingrid, in turn, is very interested in Edward the person, and that includes anything she might be able to mine for future plays.
But since Edward is in every scene of A Different Man, written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, it’s hard to tell if these scenes of playful attraction are rose-colored because they’re from Edward’s perspective or if Schimberg is playing them straight. More than once, something happens in the narrative that doesn’t make logical sense or impact the plot in any direct way.
At its heart, A Different Man is a twisty black comedy about not knowing yourself or the person standing next to you — maybe even the lack of an attempt to.
Case in point: Ingrid uses Edward’s plight for her breakthrough play while Edward undergoes a mysterious new treatment that makes his deformed face fall away and reveal the Sebastian Stan underneath.
Frankly, that’s all I really want to say. A Different Man is a delightful mash-up of sci-fi, body horror, screwball comedy, existential dread and one of the best plot twists I’ve seen all year. The twist involves Oswald (Adam Pearson), a charismatic
man who also has neurofibromatosis, put upon this earth to upset every half-baked invention Edward can concoct.
Schimberg races through everything like an all-consuming fire. In other movies, previous players would return, loops would be closed and narrative strands would make sense. Not here. The director seems content to use a sci-fi plot device and discard it the second it serves its purpose. Ditto for characters: They come, they shine, they vanish. It leaves some loose threads — who is that woman Edward looks at in the penultimate shot? — but they’re not the kinds of loose threads you want to pull on. They’re more like the ratty ends that make the sweater look more loved, more lived in.
LOCALLY GROWN
Colorado artists shine at the Denver Film Festival
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
And through it all is lonely Edward, someone who wanted so badly to be different that he never stopped to consider whether he should try to be better.
ON SCREEN:
A Different Man opens in theaters Oct. 4
These movies may take you as far away as a dilapidated house deep in the heart of Texas, a disappearing glacier in Iceland or even as close as a wildlife refuge in Rocky Flats. But they all have one thing in common: Colorado.
On Oct. 1, the Denver Film Festival (DFF) announced the lineup for its 47th fest. Among the 185 features and shorts, narratives, docs and series playing Nov. 1-10, more than 20 were made in or connected to Colorado.
You may recognize two titles in this year’s Colorado Spotlight (Chasing Time, The Lost Season) from festivals past, but there are plenty more to enjoy, and they run the gamut. Alexandre O. Philippe’s new cinema-obsessed documentary Chain Reactions tackles the enduring legacy and love for 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre through five distinct and recognizable fans. Jeff Gipes’ call-to-action doc explores the past, present and future of Rocky Flats in Half-Life of Memory: America’s Forgotten Bomb Factory. And Devon Wycoff’s short, The Seagull (but like, not Chekhov), is a humorous therapy session presented in close-up.
Peruse the full lineup of DFF’s Colorado Spotlight, as well as movies playing the rest of the fest, at denver film.org/denverfilmfestival. Festival passes and ticket packages are on sale now. Individual tickets go on sale for the general public Oct. 4.
Still from Half-Life of Memory. Courtesy: Denver Film Festival
Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson in A Different Man Courtesy: A24
Sunday, October 6
12-5 p.m. at Columbia Cemetery
1201 9th St. Boulder, CO 80302 Rain Date: October 13th, 2024 https://go.historicboulder.org/meetthespirits
DEAR WHOLE FOODS DADDY
Your burning Boulder questions, asked and answered
BY GABBY VERMEIRE
We all have questions and need advice, but sometimes the pseudo therapy in the Instagram stories of astrology girlies doesn’t cut it. Or maybe the gate-keeping culture of adventure bros has you fearing the judgment that comes with revealing yourself as a newbie at anything. This advice column exists to hold space for you and your Boulder queries (especially the uncool ones).
deathmatch of natural selection. To answer your question, they’re probably at a Jeff and Paige concert with their friends-withkids, getting toasted off a Topo Chico Ranch Water and shaking their ass to “The Bobcat Walk.” Honestly though, bless, because Jeff and Paige are fucking awesome.
Is getting hit by a Rivian the new American dream?
Where are all the hot 30-somethings without kids?
You can find the Longmont DINKs thriving and cooking dinner together in the house they own, and if you’re lucky they’ll invite you over for the Broncos game on Sunday.
But you’re probably asking about the single ones — and good lord, there’s a reason those miserable bastards are single. It’s actually pretty easy to be hot without the life commitment of offspring, and it’s a sad consolation prize in the
Once upon a time, every gal dreamed of being Jennifer Lopez getting saved by Matthew McConaughey (a truly Naropacoded human) from a runaway dumpster in The Wedding Planner. These days, we’re saddled with our generation’s grim nihilistic humor, always making jokes about maybe wanting to get hit by a truck haha not really but also then I wouldn’t have to pay rent…
So now, now we all wait for the day that a nouveau-riche Boulderite blissed out on ketamine backs their haphazardly-parked Rivian out of the Beleza parking lot and straight into us, scattering our avocados and landing us ass-up on the black top. Lying dazed on the ground, our consciousness fades, and a final thought crosses our mind: Did I wear panties today?
Why am I seeing ads with Coach Prime selling California Almonds as workout recovery?
I must break it to you: The ads are based on your social media activity, my friend. There’s a reason my Instagram ads are all $30 bamboo underwear or attractive dudes in Cotopaxi. What I’m saying is the algorithm knows you,
and it knows you probably have a thing for Coach Prime — and there’s no shame in that, because at the end of the day he’s just a #hotdad. And not just a Hot Dad, but a Hot Dad that even heteronormative CU dads shamelessly crush on from September to November. Or am I going about this all wrong, and you’re actually asking why such ads exist? I mean this with the utmost respect to Hot-Dad Coach Prime, but those almond ads are kinda odd, and he is (respectfully) a kinda odd dude.
Why do I keep accidentally dating ultra runners?
I have the strangest feeling that you keep accidentally dating ultrarunners the way I keep acciden tally getting my hand stuck in the dried mango bulk bin and pulling it out with mango samples attached to it. But I get it — the strong legs and booty, the fragile upper-body build, the need to violently disassoci ate from one’s emotions by run ning, like, way too much — it’s so sexy.
What’s the best Boulder Halloween costume?
Just like a sensitive Boulder man with his hand over his heart talking about intention, the best costume depends on your purpose. Waited until the last minute and happen to have a slight frame, beard and leg tats? You’re actually just one Boxcarespresso-in-hand away from being the ultra-runner situationship we just can’t quit. Trying to win a “most tasteless Halloween costume” competition against the CU frat boy dressed as Chief Niwot? He’s no match for your prairie dog in a plague doctor mask! Oh wait, yeah he’s still way more tasteless, congrats.
Maybe the real question is why do they keep dating you Are you way too chill with the fact that they would rather go SO FAST through an aspen grove than eat ass have the Nederland leaf-peeping moment you planned for Sunday? But it’s definitely OK; maybe your friend Emma can go with you instead. :)
Just like a sensitive Boulder man with his hand over his heart talking about intention, the best local costume depends on your purpose. Illustration: Chris Sawyer
Honorable mentions: Coach Prime (this is only an option for actual Deion Sanders); slutty sexy Allen Ginsberg during his Naropa years; sexy green vest McGuckins employee (but it’s just dressing as a normal green vest McGuckins guy because they’re inherently sexy and so, so happily married).
But there it is — you both love the pain, whether it’s the miles or the miles on the heart, baby!
Got a burning Boulder question? DM @wholefoods_daddy on Instagram or email letters@boulderweekly with the subject line “Dear Whole Foods Daddy.”
Where are the hot 30-somethings without children? Probably at a Jeff and Paige concert with their friends-with-kids, shaking their asses to “The Bobcat Walk.” Courtesy: Jeff and Paige
A nouveau-riche Boulderite blissed out on ketamine backing their haphazardly-parked Rivian out of the Beleza parking lot may be your best bet for making rent this month.
3
LCAB INDIGENOUS
3-4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, Lafayette Public Library - North Lawn, 775 W. Baseline Road.
Lafayette Cultural Arts Board (LCAB) hosts this performance by Lorenzo J. Ramirez, founder and artistic director of Grupo Folklórico Sabor Latino. Wearing full ceremonial dress and playing traditional instruments, Ramirez will detail the history and traditions of the AztecaMexica people.
Get creative this fall season by crafting your own Halloween-themed terrarium at the Longmont Museum. This hands-on arts workshop features two rounds of instruction designed for beginners and experienced artists alike. Beer, wine, fizzy water and snacks will be available at the Atrium Bar.
Step into the shadows to experience the spooky side of Longmont. Join this tour for exclusive access behind the scenes of the city’s eeriest haunts, but beware: The city’s spirits still roam the streets at night. Call 720-453-4733 more than 24 hours ahead to register and receive the exact location.
5
LAFAYETTE MUSIC FESTIVAL
10 a.m. to midnight. Saturday, Oct. 5, various locations. $40 advance / $50 day-of
Lafayette’s premiere live music extravaganza returns for another round of performances by local artists across nine stages throughout town — from free shows at District Atrium and Tier Two Live to ticketed performances by BoCo favorites like the Gasoline Lollipops and Card Catalog at Nissi’s, Bounce Empire, the Arts HUB and more.
“See the land with new eyes” on this 2.5mile guided hike with naturalist Suzanne Michot and artist Lisa Michot. Bring a sketchbook or loose drawing paper, drawing pencils, color pencils and something to sit on while you work.
5
ECOTOBERFEST
2-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, City of Louisville Community Park, 955 Bella Vista Dr.
Forget oranges and yellows — this event is turning fall green. Head to Community Park for a celebration of all things sustainability. Hosted by Louisville, Lafayette, Erie and Superior, Saturday’s festivities include a costume exchange, electric vehicle showcase and a locally sourced pumpkin patch.
6
NED HARVEST FEST
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, Nederland Farmers Market, 80 E. Second St. Free
Welcome the changing season and turning leaves in the Indian Peaks with chile roasting, a pumpkin patch and cider pressing at Nederland’s annual Harvest Fest. It doesn’t get much more autumnal than this, folks.
6
YELLOW BARN FILM FESTIVAL
10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, Yellow Barn Farm, 9417 N. Foothills Highway, Longmont. $12-$25
Explore the intersection of community, agriculture and the land at this annual festival. Selected films include director Morissa Maltz’s first narrative feature, The Unknown Country starring Lily Gladstone, and documentary Common Ground. Stick around for the post-festival cocktail mixer and mingle with your fellow cinephiles.
Start the day by cheering on the Walker Ranchers as they play baseball, 19th century style: no gloves or helmets, with cloth bases and balls and a bell ringing as players cross home plate. Afterward, participate in games and chores from the 1800s, guided by costumed volunteers. BYO seating, food and drink.
6
MEET THE SPIRITS
Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, Colombia Cemetery, 1201 9th St., Boulder. $25 for adults, $5 for kids (4th graders free)
For one night only, some of the residents of Columbia Cemetery come back to life to share their stories — with the help of costumed community volunteers. Kids can enjoy Day of the Dead activities, a scavenger hunt and ice cream from the Sweet Cow Moo Mobile, with psychic readings for the grown-ups. Proceeds support cemetery maintenance.
9
COMMUNITY HARVEST FESTIVAL
3:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, Growing Gardens, 1630 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder. Suggested donation: $5-$25 per family
Face painting, lawn games, bluegrass and dairy goats — what’s not to love? Bring the whole family out to Growing Gardens at Hawthorn Farm for this annual celebration of the season complete with local food trucks, a biergarten and local pumpkins and fall perennials for sale.
9
MOMS UNHINGED
7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, Dickens Opera House, 302 Main St., Longmont. $25
It’s time to book your babysitters. Andrea Marie, Heather Gray, Lindsay Porter, and headliner Zoe Rogers promise a night of side-splitting laughter with “clean-ish” comedy about motherhood, midlife crises, marriage and more.
Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.
FRIDAY 10/05
TINA PHILLIPS & FRIENDS
SATURDAY 10/06
THE TOM WEISER QUINTET
LIVE MUSIC
THURSDAY, OCT. 3
OPERA COLORADO: BARBER OF SEVILLE. 10:30 a.m. Broomfield Library and Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road. Free
ERIK KOSKINEN WITH JEFFREY FOUCAULT 5:30 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Free
PEDDLERS OF JOY 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free
Local death metal heroes Blood Incantation bring their psychedelic and highly technical spin on the genre to the historic Boulder Theater for an album release show with ambient-electronic pioneer Steve Roach on Oct. 4. The Denver-based quartet performs in support of their latest LP, Absolute Elsewhere, dropping the same day via Century Media See listing for
THE MILK BLOSSOMS WITH WHEELCHAIR SPORTS CAMP AND GEORGE CESSNA 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15
YEMEN BLUES. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25
SUNDAY, OCT. 6
SHARKK HEARTT WITH LARA RUGGLES Noon. Jamestown Mercantile, 108 Main St. Free
REGGAE ON DA CREEK 1 p.m. The Riverside, 1724 Broadway, Boulder. $18
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): During some Wiccan rituals, participants are asked, “What binds you? And what will you do to free yourself from what binds you?” I recommend this exercise to you right now, Aries. Here’s a third question: Will you replace your shackles with a weaving that inspires and empowers you? In other words, will you shed what binds you and, in its stead, create a bond that links you to an influence you treasure?
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): If I had to name the zodiac sign that other signs are most likely to underestimate, I would say Taurus. Why? Well, many of you Bulls are rather modest and humble. You prefer to let your practical actions speak louder than fine words. Your well-grounded strength is diligent and poised, not flashy. People may misread your resilience and dependability as signs of passivity. But here’s good news, dear Taurus: In the coming weeks, you will be less likely to be undervalued and overlooked. Even those who have been ignorant of your appeal may tune in to the fullness of your tender power and earthy wisdom.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): In the coming days, I invite you to work on writing an essay called “People and Things I Never Knew I Liked and Loved Until Now.” To get the project started, visit places that have previously been off your radar. Wander around in uncharted territory, inviting life to surprise you. Call on every trick you know to stimulate your imagination and break out of habitual ruts of thinking. A key practice will be to experiment and improvise as you open your heart and your eyes wide. Here’s my prophecy: In the frontiers, you will encounter unruly delights that inspire you to grow wiser.
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Now is an excellent time to search for new teachers, mentors and role models. Please cooperate with life’s intention to connect you with people and animals who can inspire your journey for the months and years ahead. A good way to prepare yourself for this onslaught of grace is to contemplate the history of your educational experiences. Who are the heroes, helpers and villains who have taught you crucial lessons? Another strategy to get ready is to think about what’s most vital for you to learn right now. What are the gaps in your understanding that need to be filled?
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): The English language has more synonyms than any other language. That’s in part because it’s like a magpie. It steals words from many tongues, including German, French, Old Norse, Latin and Greek, as well as from Algonquin, Chinese, Hindi, Basque and Tagalog. Japanese may be the next most magpie-like language. It borrows from English, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, French and German. In accordance with astrological possibilities, I invite you to adopt the spirit of the English and Japanese languages in the coming weeks. Freely borrow and steal influences. Be a collector of sundry inspirations, a scavenger of fun ideas, a gatherer of rich cultural diversity.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Here are my bold decrees: You are entitled to extra bonuses and special privileges in the coming weeks. The biggest piece of every cake and pie should go to you, as should the freshest wonders, the most provocative revelations and the wildest breakthroughs. I invite you to give and take extravagant amounts of everything you regard as sweet, rich and nourishing. I hope you will begin cultivating a skill you are destined to master. I trust you will receive clear and direct answers to at least two nagging questions.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): On those infrequent occasions when I buy a new gadget, I never read the instructions. I drop the booklet in the recycling bin immediately, despite the fact that I may not know all the fine points of using my new vacuum cleaner, air purifier or hairdryer.
Research reveals that I am typical: 92% of all instructions get thrown away. I don’t recommend this approach to you in the coming weeks, however, whether you’re dealing with gadgets or more intangible things. You really should call on guidance to help you navigate your way through introductory phases and new experiences.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): I knew a Scorpio performance artist who did a splashy public show about private matters. She stationed herself on the rooftop of an apartment building and for 12 hours loudly described everything she felt guilty about. (She was an ex-Catholic who had been raised to regard some normal behavior as sinful.) If you, dear Scorpio, have ever felt an urge to engage in a purge of remorse, now would be an excellent time. I suggest an alternate approach, though. Spend a half hour writing your regrets on paper, then burn the paper in the kitchen sink as you chant something like the following: “With love and compassion for myself, I apologize for my shortcomings and frailties. I declare myself free of shame and guilt. I forgive myself forever.”
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Be HEARTY, POTENT and DYNAMIC, Sagittarius. Don’t worry about decorum and propriety. Be in quest of lively twists that excite the adventurer in you. Avoid anyone who seems to like you best when you are anxious or tightly controlled. Don’t proceed as if you have nothing to lose; instead, act as if you have everything to win. Finally, my dear, ask life to bring you a steady stream of marvels that make you overjoyed to be alive. If you’re feeling extra bold (and I believe you will), request the delivery of a miracle or two.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Nineteenthcentury Capricorn author Anne Brontë wrote The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which many critics regard as the first feminist novel. It challenged contemporary social customs. The main character, Helen, leaves her husband because he’s a bad influence on their son. She goes into hiding, becoming a single mother who supports her family by creating art. Unfortunately, after the author’s death at a young age, her older sister Charlotte suppressed the publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It’s not well-known today. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, so as to inspire you to action. I believe the coming months will be a favorable time to get the attention and recognition you’ve been denied but thoroughly deserve. Start now! Liberate, express and disseminate whatever has been suppressed.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): What is the most important question you want to find an answer for during the next year? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to formulate that inquiry clearly and concisely. I urge you to write it out in longhand and place it somewhere prominent in your home. Ponder it lightly and lovingly for two minutes every morning upon awakening and each night before sleep. (Key descriptors: “lightly and lovingly.”) As new insights float into your awareness, jot them down. One further suggestion: Create or acquire a symbolic representation of the primal question.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): Scientific research suggests that some foods are more addictive than cocaine. They include pizza, chocolate, potato chips and ice cream. The good news is that they are not as problematic for long-term health as cocaine. The bad news is that they are not exactly healthy. (The sugar in chocolate neutralizes its modest health benefits.) With these facts in mind, Pisces, I invite you to reorder your priorities about addictive things. Now is a favorable time to figure out what substances and activities might be tonifying, invigorating addictions — and then retrain yourself to focus your addictive energy on them. Maybe you could encourage an addiction to juices that blend spinach, cucumber, kale, celery and apple. Perhaps you could cultivate an addiction to doing a pleasurable form of exercise or reading books that thrill your imagination.
Quick and dirty question for you about online dating: What’s the best next step after texting? Audio message? Phone call? Video date? Or a quick, in-person meet-up?
I recommend a quick video call before that first brief, in-person meeting in a public place. If someone isn’t willing to jump on FaceTime to confirm their photos are current and they’re not a fake, a flake or a chatbot, they don’t deserve the pleasure of your company.
Help! I keep falling in love! With every female friend I have!
Maybe! You should stop! Using your dick! As a divining rod! To pick female friends!
We used to talk, my boyfriend and me. We used to share everything. Now I can barely get him to talk to me, to share things with me, to spend time with me. The more I ask him to spend time with me to talk and share, the more withdrawn he becomes. And forget about sex. How can I get our intimacy back?
You can only ask — and you have asked repeatedly, and it sounds like the answer to all three asks (talk, share, fuck) is “no.” So, time to go.
Which is better: wrist cuffs or handcuffs?
By “handcuffs,” you obviously mean steel law-enforcement-style restraints that snap around wrists. By wrist cuffs, I’m assuming you mean wide and ideally padded leather restraints that buckle around wrists. Handcuffs are effective, but they’re not comfortable or safe for play: If they twist, they can do nerve or bone damage. And while some kinksters find the “law enforcement” vibes arousing, others are turned off by them. Leather wrist restraints, on the other hand, are far safer and far more comfortable for play and longer-term wear, and they give “depraved pervert” vibes, which many kinksters prefer.
I feel creeped out when a man refers to me as his “lover.” It makes me feel like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: “I’ve been slimed!” Hearing that word applied to me makes me want to jump in the shower. But I don’t say anything because I know it’s sup-
SAVAGE LOVE
BY DAN SAVAGE
posed to be a compliment. What’s wrong with me?
Nothing. Lots of people have aversions to certain words — words that trigger feelings of irrational disgust — and “lover” triggers you the way moist, loins, panties, phlegm and sputum trigger others. Personally, I always hated the word “nipple” when applied to me, so I was delighted when gay men started using “tits” a decade or two ago. (They don’t give milk, but they’re still tits — decommissioned tits, tits in drydock, but tits.) Some possible alternatives for “lover” that your lovers could use when referring to you (offered in ascending order of emotional importance): cumdump, fuckbuddy, friend-with-benefits, significant other, boyfriend/girlfriend/enbyfriend, fiancé/fiancée/ intended, husband/wife/spouse.
I am going to the Dominican Republic with my boyfriend for our anniversary. He is quite well endowed, and he wants to top me. How can I be a good bottom and anally douche in a country where the tap water is not drinkable? They sell bottled water in the Dominican Republic — I checked — and as anyone who has ever left their douche bulb at home and had to improvise on the road knows, a squeezable plastic water bottle doubles as a douche bulb in a pinch.
I want you to put me in touch with the man who wants a submissive boyfriend willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for him and have his genitals removed. I would do anything to have a boyfriend, even if it meant making that sacrifice. Please send him my email address.
I am not allowed to put my readers in touch with each other — per my lawyer’s advice — but I can’t stop my readers from sliding into the comment thread for a particular column or podcast in the hopes of catching the attention of a particular letter writer or caller. But before you do anything rash: Desperation is unattractive, and I don’t think anything shouts “desperate” quite so loudly as, “I will cut off my cock and balls to land a boyfriend.” Boyfriends are great — I’m a big fan of mine — but unless becoming a nullo is something you’ve always wanted to do for you, it’s not something you should do for “love.”
WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR TASTES
Twenty years after opening, Boulder’s Frasca Food and Wine is Colorado’s most celebrated restaurant
BY JOHN LEHNORFF
When foodies and dining critics across the nation (and even the world) discuss Boulder, one word is usually on their lips: Frasca.
At the age of 20, Frasca Food and Wine is the most acclaimed restaurant that has ever opened in Colorado by many metrics. With a Michelin star (for the second consecutive year) and a bundle of James Beard Awards, the little eatery on Pearl Street is a must-visit bucket list destination.
Diners pilgrimage to Boulder to sample fare like aged carnaroli risotto with black truffle, Colorado corn and montasio cheese paired with rare wines from Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, and spectacular service.
How did such a temple of white tablecloth fine dining arise in a small city that isn’t exactly at the crossroads of American cuisine?
FIXER-UPPER
Survival, not success, was on the menu the night Frasca Food and Wine opened in 2004. In the beginning, Frasca was just two people with an idea to feature the food and wine of an obscure Italian region.
Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey and chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson met while working at The French Laundry, chef Thomas Keller’s legendary Napa Valley restaurant.
“The night we opened [Frasca] was supposed to be the second practice meal we served to family and friends,” Stuckey says.
“I had to call everybody on the invitation list that morning and say, ‘You’re still invited to come in, but I can’t comp your dinner. I’m totally out of money.’”
The duo were complete unknowns and didn’t have deep-pocketed inves-
tors to support their new spot.
“We did it on a shoestring budget,”
Stuckey says. “My wife, Danette, and I used the sale of our little two-bedroom fixer upper in Napa Valley as our seed money,” he says.
The future Frasca space had previously been the site of a gourmet market, Daily Bread bakery and the legendary Penny Lane Coffee House. The space needed a lot of work, according to Stuckey. To save money, the wine guy and the chef volunteered to work as construction laborers.
A ‘BOULDER’ RESTAURANT — WITH RESERVATIONS
Frasca ended up in Boulder because Stuckey — who had been working at the Little Nell hotel in Aspen — was an athlete who loved running and cycling, and the couple had relatives nearby.
“At that time, Denver wasn’t the food city that it is now, so we went for Boulder,” he says.
When the restaurant opened, few Boulder eateries required reservations.
“Reservations weren’t part of the Boulder aesthetic then, or arriving on time,” Stuckey says. “We thought Frasca would be a Boulder neighborhood restaurant, but from day one, most of our guests have come from Denver. We have guests that have been with us two decades.”
Boulderites did filter through the doors, too. And they stuck around.
“We have these incredible connections with Boulder regulars,” he says. “We’ve seen these families grow up here. We are a Boulder restaurant.”
WHY THE FRASCA FAMILY KEEPS GROWING
Opening more than one establishment was not originally on the dance card, according to Stuckey.
(Images above and below) Credit: Casey Wilson. (Bottom image) Credit: Marc Vetri
NIBBLES
“Of my business partners, I was the one least wanting to have multiple restaurants,” he says. “I just wanted to have one restaurant: Frasca.”
The first expansion was the opening of Pizzeria Locale — now Pizzeria Alberico — next door to Frasca. Next, Tavernetta and Sunday Vinyl opened near Denver’s Union Station. Osteria Alberico recently launched in Englewood, and a second Tavernetta is set to open soon in Vail.
Along the way, the duo also launched Scarpetta, a company that imports Italian wines. The Frasca Hospitality Group now employs more than 250 employees, with more about to be hired.
“I was wrong about opening more restaurants,” Stuckey says. “That was the rudest, most insensitive thing I could do to my staff. If I was still the general manager here and Lachlan was still in the kitchen, there would be an ironclad ceiling that no one could grow from.”
Of the many Frasca spinoffs, the newest and hottest is Sunday Vinyl, an intimate restaurant, wine bar and listening room already attracting national awards nominations.
Sunday Vinyl is also Stuckey’s most personal venture.
“Danette and I never had children. It’s just the two of us, and I work a lot of shifts,” he says. “We started a tradition
of listening to some vinyl and having a glass of wine on Sundays when Frasca was closed.”
Sundays have become sacred in the Stuckey household.
“She’ll let me work as hard as I can,” he says, “but she’s like: ‘Be there on Sunday.”
From her days working as a hostess to her decade-long streak of polishing wine glasses without breaking one, “I don’t think Danette gets enough credit for how much she helps me,” Stuckey continues. “The reason I can work so hard on our projects and do all these things is that I have her.”
Twenty years after popping the cork for Frasca, you’ll find the famous master sommelier polishing glasses and bussing tables on most evenings.
“I still think of it as, ‘Hey, let’s get open tonight. Let’s get the team in place, and let’s take care of our guests.’
“To be squarely in the fine dining camp in Boulder, Colorado, is not an easy task. I feel humbled and honored, and I totally understand that responsibility of showing up every night ready to do it.”
John Lehndorff is the former Dining Critic of the Rocky Mountain News. He hosts Radio Nibbles and Kitchen Table Talk on KGNU.
Courtesy: Frasca Food and Wine
ON DRUGS
SHROOM BLOOM
Psychedelics are seemingly everywhere, but cost, politics and red tape will likely slow their mainstream adoption
BY BENJAMIN Y. FONG THE CONVERSATION
An operations manager finds relief from her depression with the help of psilocybin, the primary psychoactive component of magic mushrooms. A veteran conquers his post-traumatic stress disorder through therapy using MDMA, a synthetic compound also known as ecstasy or molly. A stay-athome mom tries LSD, otherwise known as acid, for her anxiety.
Nearly every day, such stories appear about the healing potential of psychedelic drugs.
These stories reflect a so-called “psychedelic renaissance” of the moment — a new interest in the drugs most often associated with 1960s counterculture, but now put to therapeutic rather than recreational ends.
As a drug researcher, I have been conducting interviews with psilocybin facilitators, service center owners, manufacturers, researchers and policymakers in Oregon. My goal is to get their perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of their state’s model for psilocybin legalization.
WHAT PSILOCYBIN COSTS
The primary problem with the Oregon model has to do with cost. It is estimated
that the average journey costs about $1,500. That includes $500-$2,000 for the facilitator, $300-$600 for the room, and $150-$200 for the psilocybin itself. For more intensive facilitation at pricier facilities, costs can be upward of $5,000 per journey.
Part of the exorbitant cost lies in startup fees, which are significant. The architects of Measure 109 wanted Oregon’s psilocybin services office to be self-funded. As a result, annual license fees for facilitators ($2,000 per year), service centers ($10,000 per year) and manufacturers ($10,000 per year) are relatively high. Special manufacturing equipment and high taxes further increase costs.
All of this translates to higher prices for consumers, who have not flocked to psilocybin service centers at the expected volume. The overwhelming majority of psilocybin treatment clients come from out of state, possibly due to the fact that most Oregonians can easily procure psilocybin at a lower cost outside of the legal market.
able model. It’s very labor intensive on the facilitator side. Investors are typically looking to make five times their money, and they don’t see how that can happen with the way the current industry is structured.”
NOT ALL GREEN LIGHTS
Two psychedelic bills recently failed in California. In Arizona, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill in June 2024 that would have allowed psilocybin treatment and testing in the state. The bill was sponsored by Republican Senator T.J. Shope.
For the most part, however, such bills have support on both sides of the aisle,
SYNTHETIC WAVE
Large pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson are investing in psychedelic drug development, but the nascent industry is really being driven by smaller market disruptors like Compass and MindMed, both of which are seeking FDA approval for their own patented psychedelic formulations.
Many experts in the industry believe that the FDA will approve certain psychedelic drugs, including synthetic psilocybin, in the coming years. As the Oregon and Colorado programs only work with natural substances, and as any FDAapproved psychedelics would likely only be able to be prescribed by medical professionals, synthetic psilocybin would not be used at service centers under present law.
One service center owner told me: “We don’t have a really scalable or profit-
which is one indication that state-level psilocybin legislation is likely to advance in the coming years. This will happen in tandem with developments at the Food and Drug Administration, which has already granted multiple psychedelic drugs “breakthrough therapy” status, a designation that accelerates the drug development and review process.
The development of the market for potentially FDAapproved psychedelics thus represents a parallel track for the psychedelic renaissance. Some of my interviewees predicted eventual conflict between the statelevel legalization track and that of FDAapproved drugs, but my research suggests that this conflict will not come to a head for many years.
Benjamin F. Yong is a drug researcher and honors faculty fellow at Arizona State University. The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization.
