Boulder Weekly 10.14.21

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Colorado’s cradle of festivals

by Will Brendza

20,

2021

analysis:

Why do music festivals flourish in Tellluride?

by Will Brendza

boulderganic:

How climate change is hurting those who live in the West

by Chloe Lindahl

adventure:

Take a hike and have a catered gourmet meal at the top

by Tom Winter

buzz:

Jungle’s third album takes the UK-based duo to a new level

by Caitlin Rockett

nibbles:

You won’t miss the packaging (or its costs) at Boulder’s new zero-waste grocery store

by John Lehndorff

10 15 17 19 30

departments 5 5 13 21 22 25 26 27 29 33 35 37 38

Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views The Anderson Files: The free market assassination on D.C.’s Embassy Row Vote Guide: A cheat sheet for BW’s 2021 endorsements Arts & Culture: The space around tragedy Events: What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do . . .

Words: ‘Orpheus Bluejay’ by Steve Elder Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: Mind the gap Film: The 44th Denver Film Festival Beer: Nederland’s Very Nice Brewing Company Taste of the Week: Monkey bread @ New Moon Bakery Cannabis Corner: The art of Joe Palec Weed Between the Lines: Smaller molecules matter

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Brendan Joel Kelley Managing Editor, Caitlin Rockett News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Editor, Angela K. Evans Contributing Writers: Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Jim Hightower, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer Cover, Courtesy Telluride Blues & Brews October 14, 2021 Volume XXIX, Number 10 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.

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. © 2021 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.

The free market fascist assassination on D.C.’s Embassy Row

by Dave Anderson

W

hen the U.S. was attacked on September 11, 2001, people in Chile remembered another 9/11 in 1973. That’s when Chile’s democratically elected government led by socialist Salvador Allende was brutally overthrown by the military with the assistance of the U.S. Chilean-American novelist Ariel Dorfman described the three-year peaceful revolution of the Allende years: “Peasants became the owners of their land, workers managed their own factories, the resources of the country that had been plundered by foreign corporations were nationalized, with the profits going to health and education, children were given free milk at school, and millions of books were sold at negligable prices at newsstands.”

A massive economic and psychological destabilization campaign was conducted. Big lies promoted

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hysteria. The affluent were told that the government would seize their homes. A conspiracy theory was manufactured by the CIA about mass beheadings of military officers. Allende would also abolish Christmas! The CIA redesigned the layout of Chile’s leading newspaper, El Mercurio. The front page (which previously resembled the New York Times with many articles with several rather small headlines) was covered with blown-up photos and huge screaming headlines.

The coup was led by General Augusto Pinochet. A personality cult developed with saint-like statuettes. He had the special protection of the Virgin Mary and was guided by “the mysterious hand of God.” But the Pinochet regime and other U.S.-backed military dictatorships in Latin America were condemned see OPINION Page 6

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OPINION from Page 5

around the globe. In the 1970s, after respectability to the laissez-faire the Vietnam war and the Watergate dreams and political greed of the scandal/intelligence agency invesold landowning oligarchy and upper tigations, U.S. liberals advocated a bourgeoisie of monopolists and re-evaluation of foreign policy, parfinancial speculators, the military has ticularly concerning human rights. applied the brutal force required to In August 1976, The Nation pub- achieve those goals. Repression for lished an article entitled “The ‘Chithe majorities and ‘economic freecago Boys’ in Chile: Economic ‘Free- dom’ for small privileged groups are dom’s Awful Toll.” The author was in Chile two sides of the same coin.”

Orlando Letelier, a internationally On September 21, 1976, Leteknown Chilean economist who was lier was driving to work when a so important to Allende that he was remote-controlled bomb under his appointed to several crucial positions car detonated on Embassy Row in in the government: at first ambasdowntown Washington, D.C. Letesador to the U.S., then minister of lier and a co-worker, Ronni Moffitt, foreign affairs and were killed in the finally, minister of blast. defense.

The bombing Political anawas the work of lyst Naomi Klein the Chilean secret was said the article police known as “rocked the U.S. the DINA. Two the world’s first expolitical establishDINA officers periment in Chicago ment.” and five Cuban After the American terrorBoys-style free-market coup, Letelier was ists were evenfundamentalism. tortured and held tually convicted in several concenand sentenced to tration camps. A prison. The team worldwide campaign lobbied for his leader was DINA agent Michael release and he moved to WashingTownley, an American-Chilean who ton, D.C. where he was employed had lived in the country since 1957 by the Institute for Policy Studies, a when his dad became the head of leftwing thinktank.

Ford Motor Company operations in Letelier became an eloquent Chile. critic of the Pinochet regime, In 1995, DINA head Manuel lobbying the U.S. Congress and Contreras was convicted in Chile European governments and unions. of having ordered Letelier’s murder He promoted boycotts of Chilean and was sentenced to seven years in products and sabotaged loans to the prison. A detailed CIA intelligence dictatorship. assessment in 1987 concluded that However, he was frustrated Pinochet “personally ordered” the that many who condemned the assassination. regime also praised it for its ferChile under Pinochet was the vent free-market fundamentalism, world’s first experiment in Chicago which involved rapid privatization Boys-style free-market fundamenof state enterprises, deregulation, the talism. Letelier’s 1976 warnings elimination of price controls and the would be ignored. Milton Friedcrushing of labor unions. man, the once fringe economist, In his essay, Letelier noted that was now a star. In 1980, PBS aired economist Milton Friedman of the a show written and narrated by University of Chicago was “the Friedman called “Free to Choose.” intellectual architect and unofficial He was an adviser to British prime adviser for the team of economists minister Thatcher and President now running the economy.”

Reagan. Many Democrats tagged Friedman had authored the faalong. mous book Capitalism and Freedom, Today, we may be entering a which argued that only his policies new era. Joe Biden proposes massive were compatible with political depublic investment in his “Build Back mocracy. Friedman had criticized the Better” proposals. Every once in human rights abuses of the Pinochet awhile, he makes a snarky comment regime but Letelier said he was about Milton Friedman. being hypocritical: This opinion column does not “While the ‘Chicago boys’ have necessarily reflect the views of Boulder provided an appearance of technical Weekly.

CHILE UNDER PINOCHET

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CORRECTIONS: “Vote Guide 2021,” published October 7, contained this inaccurate sentence: “That law says the council cannot amend an initiative passed by voters ‘provided that the amendments do not alter or modify the basic intent of such ordinance . . . “ It should have read “That law says the council can amend” an initiative subject to this provision.

MORE COMPASSION AND CARING, PLEASE This is a response to recent writings about the “Safer Boulder” organization conversations and underlying, inhumane attitudes in this city and around the world. Just because some homes here may cost a million dollars or more now, Boulder is not a gated community. I have lived here for 53 years and it is a community of more and less financial wealth, pale and dark skin, very young to very old, outdoorsy and indoorsy people, and those who work in every imaginable profession. I must say, this special city, and the whole state, has changed a lot, and not for the better, in the last 11-15 years.

“So much of what we call abnormality in this culture [such as homelessness or addictions of all kinds] is actually normal responses to an abnormal culture. The abnormality does not reside in the pathology of individuals, but in the very culture that drives people into suffering and dysfunction.” —Dr. Gabor Maté Let us begin in our community of l

Boulder to foster a more normal caring and compassionate culture toward everyone who happens to be living their lives here at this time, whether it be in a million dollar home, on the streets, in a tent, an apartment, a mobile home, or a college dorm.

R. Lawrence/Boulder CU SOUTH: JUST UNDO IT My echinacea tea bag tag has a Vincent Van Gogh quote, “If one truly loves nature, one finds beauty everywhere.” As the area stands today, there are a thousand paintings, poems, and photographs waiting in the former wetland/gravel pit floodplain that the university wishes to develop as its “South Campus.”

It is my wish everyone in Boulder, looking with Vincent’s eye, visits this site to see what will be destroyed should this project go forward. It will never be the same again. Intrinsic to its natural wonder is its open accessibility and availability of multiple footpaths to navigate the area. Again, all this will disappear if the university and the city council have their way.

Construction traffic of out-of-town workers will further clog rush hour and the necessity for parking will consume acres of the site, and public access will disappear completely during the city’s flood mitigation efforts (which have yet to meet federal standards).

Mitigating the flooding of houses built on a historic floodplain may well

see LETTERS Page 7

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LETTERS from Page 6

prove to be a fool’s undertaking. My crawlspace in Martin Acres flooded not from Skunk Creek overflowing its banks, but from soil saturation and groundwater rise. Rather than seeing the natural world as a source of beauty and inspiration of art, the vision of the university and of the city seem clouded with consumer dollar signs.

We must stop eating the Earth.

Robert Porath/Boulder TAKAHASHI WALKS THE TALK For many years David Takahashi has been one of the most dedicated climate activists in Boulder, working both locally and statewide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He is well aware of the problem firsthand: he lost his original home in the Fourmile Canyon wildfire of 2010. And David walks the talk: He and his wife Emily have retrofitted their 60-year house to make it carbon-neutral (it is one of ten houses on the Boulder Green Home Tour). He is a very active member of more climate action groups than I can list, including Boulder’s Climate Mobilization Action Plan, GreenFaith, and the Regenerative Communities Network South Platte bioregional Council. Now he is running for the Boulder City Council, with the intention of making the whole city carbon-neutral. Given his knowledge and extensive experience, there is no better candidate to promote sustainability and healing our relationship with the earth. In the long run, there is no issue more important than that. We need David, and I know he will work hard for us.

David Loy/Boulder

employees and try to pay them well, it has taken years to build up my business to be able to pay them $15 an hour. I have only recently started paying myself more than $15 an hour.

I know numerous small business owners in this same predicament, with overhead of insurances, taxes, rent, maintenance, etc. No one with five or fewer employees should have to pay a minimum wage.

It has become politically correct to

feel sorry for employees (who deserve our compassion and support) and to blame employers (lumping corporate CEOs with small business owners).

Our country was built and still survives on the taxes and services of small businesses. Look behind the obvious for the true causes of the decline of the middle class and the plight of working folks.

Mikl Brawner/Boulder

JOAN PECK A CLEAR CHOICE Thank you for the extensive issue about Boulder County elections. Your description of the Longmont mayor’s race was of particular interest to me.

You described Joan Peck, candidate for Longmont mayor, as a “tireless advocate for better transportation, and was voted into office in 2015 as a stronghand for environmental policy.” see GUEST COLUMN Page 8

RETHINK MINIMUM WAGE I listened to the October 6 candidate for city council forum on KGNU. One question was if a candidate would support a $15 an hour minimum wage. Only David Takahashi had any compassion for small business owners, suggesting an investigation with input from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, especially since many business owners are still suffering from Covid restrictions and revenue loss.

One candidate stated that if a business could not afford to pay $15 an hour to employees, it probably wasn’t a viable business. What an ignorant and insensitive view!

I have run a small business for 30 years, and even though I love my BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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LETTERS from Page 7

The article went on, “She has done the job well for six years, and we believe she has Longmont’s best interest at heart.” She is the clear choice for voters who care about the environment. Joan has more council experience than the other two candidates and would represent the interests of our town best with her dedication, knowledge and.progressive advocacy.

She has been a worker for the people of Longmont and will continue to do so as mayor.

Bill Wilson/Longmont PECK OPPOSES METRO DISTRICTS Joan Peck has long dedicated herself to making Longmont a better place for all.

She has achieved much, both as an intelligent and skillful private citizen, and as a two term at-large city councilwoman. One of the most important reasons for supporting Councilwoman Peck for Mayor is her opposition to Metro Districts, which are favored by another candidate.

METRO DISTRICTS are QUASI GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES that allow developers to tax the residents in their developments, taking control away from the residents and the city. People are lured by low initial taxes, which quickly multiply, sometimes forcing them out of their homes. Metro District developers boards can use the tax money as they wish, without homeowners’ approval or oversight by elected city officials.

Joan Peck will solve problems, not create them. For her better ideas, visit: joanpeckforlongmontmayor.com Robert Dreher/Longmont BEDROOMS ARE FOR RACIAL JUSTICE Voting YES on Bedrooms are for People (BAFP) is an unequivocally progressive stance. Voting yes is the action of an ally to Boulder’s LGBTQ and black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) communities. It’s not necessary to review the racist origins of single-family zoning laws to see this: we can simply examine what is happening in Boulder today.

1) There is inequality in whose voice is heard. Many supporters of BAFP currently live over-occupied and quietly exist under the radar. The threat of eviction prevents them from sharing their experiences in op-eds and council meetings.

It is not allyship when privileged people make decisions on behalf of the marginalized; allyship depends on listen8

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ing to marginalized groups and including them in the policy-making process. The fear of reprisal and eviction prevents many from advocating for their housing needs, so BAFP works with local groups that understand their members’ needs and amplify their voices. The groups that have endorsed the BAFP measure include Boulder Housing Coalition, Emergency Family Assistance Allocation, Standing up for Racial Justice, Out Boulder County, Boulder Area Labor Council, and United Campus Workers Colorado.

2) Why should our government allow one type of household to be exempted from occupancy laws when others are not? For decades, the federal government has protected traditional families. The City of Boulder’s occupancy law expands on this preferential treatment by placing a strict occupancy limit on unrelated people.

Unfortunately, for many people wanting to live in Boulder the dream of being able to marry, have children, and own a home for their nuclear family is just that: a dream. The picture painted by the 2020 Census and the fact that BIPOC are significantly less likely to be able to afford a home and more likely to be a single parent, shows that Boulder’s occupancy law promotes racial segregation.

The occupancy law also hits LGBTQ communities. Living with other adults beyond my partner is an important aspect in not only affording my home, but also in having a built-in community that people with a happy, traditional family may take for granted. Bedrooms are for People would reduce the disparity between traditional families and households like mine by basing occupancy law on the number of bedrooms in a house, not on the relationships of a home’s inhabitants.

3) There exists unequal enforcement and ongoing segregation. By maintaining such a strict occupancy limit in a city where the cost of living continues to rise, Boulder is guaranteeing that this law will be commonly broken. For decades, BIPOC have pointed out the consistent, and deeply problematic, unequal enforcement of laws. People may give the benefit of the doubt to neighbors that “fit in”, while closely scrutinizing and reporting on others who may not.

As our city works to make policing safer and more equitable, we also need to consider whether our current laws enable the removal of certain classes of people.

Community groups endorsing BAFP understand that reforming Boulder’s occupancy law will help the most vulnerable in our communities live more securely and more stably. Maintaining “neighborhood character” should be rooted in compassion, not segregation.

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4) Requiring bedrooms to remain empty during a housing crisis is a gross injustice. Supply and demand is the most basic principle guiding capitalistic markets. In Boulder, demand for a bedroom exceeds the supply of legal bedrooms and BAFP is an easy way to ameliorate the situation without building any new bedrooms or houses. Indeed, Emergency Family Assistance Allocation endorsed BAFP stating: “the most common thing for families to do when they lose housing is to ‘double up’ with another family— which is often illegal under Boulder’s current laws.” Let’s make it legal for Boulder residents to “double up” when they need to.

The Bedrooms are for People measure diminishes codified preferences for specific types of households, legalizes the accommodations that working-class and low-income residents need, and embodies Boulder’s lofty goal of becoming more inclusive, tolerant, and progressive. Vote yes for justice and progress in Boulder, VOTE YES for Measure 300 Bedrooms are for People.

Neesha Regmi Schnepf/Boulder STILL UNCLEAR ON THE BEDROOMS BALLOT MEASURE I was really looking for information from BW on how to vote on Bedrooms are for People. After reading the editorial that recommended FOR, it made me want to vote AGAINST, because much of the article was about how the measure could be fixed after the fact to explicitly include affordability. This speaks to the larger tension I feel between progressive goals and identity in Boulder and the real outcomes I see after living here for 30 years. Maybe crony capitalist profit-driven real estate markets can not create the community that many desire.

We try, tinkering around the edges with small percentages and affordable housing programs that squeeze buyers between qualifying for the program and a mortgage. Development continues in every available space and still for the vast majority of people that would like to live, work and raise a family here, demand will always outstrip supply, perpetually raising prices unless and until we destroy the environment and make it unpleasant enough with our planning or lack thereof that people do not want to live here anymore. Maybe we can make truly radical progressive choices with the precious land that is not yet commercially developed while changing incentives. Are there ideas that only destroy private profit incentive but provide a diverse sustainable community? Ideas that I do not hear much about are: condemning property, rent l

control, owner occupancy rules, real estate transfer tax, higher city minimum wage, car regulation, public works projects for housing, tiny home villages, safely managed campgrounds within city limits, and housing co-op designations and support.

Can the powers that be even let these and other more informed ideas be entertained? Also, I still don’t know how to vote on 300. When in doubt, I think it is a good practice to follow the money and to get a sense of the scope of the effect of the measure. What is the money trail for the ballot measure? How many three or more bedroom rental houses currently have empty bedrooms? Thank you.

Barbara Bradley / Boulder TWICE-BITTEN BY OCCUPANCY LIMITS Boulder has a housing crisis due to restrictive zoning and occupancy limits, and it has been hurting poorer and single people like me in the community for decades. I’ve been a resident of Boulder since I moved here for college in 2001, and have been living here almost continuously since that time. For nearly that entire period, I’ve had to live illegally in the town I call home because of the discriminatory three-person occupancy limit which Bedrooms are for People, Ballot Measure 300, would change to allow higher occupancy in larger residences.

In 2014, I was living with several friends in a five-bedroom in Martin Acres, when the dreaded yellow code enforcement notice appeared on our door. A neighbor, who had never spoken to us, and with whom we had no recourse, reported us because they were angry about our cars parked on the street. We were left with no choice but to break our lease and move out before the city started legal proceedings against us, and it was devastating both personally and financially. A nearly identical sequence of events occurred again in 2018 at another four-bedroom house in North Boulder: a complaint about parking, then a police search of our home, followed by a painful forced breakup of my community.

This ordinance has disrupted my life twice now and I am far from the only law-abiding, taxpaying Boulder resident who has had this experience. It forces people to live in the shadows in a supposedly progressive city, upends the lives of people who are already struggling, and forces more people to commute into Boulder—worsening traffic and pollution.

The three-person occupancy cap causes more harm than it prevents. Voting yes on 300 is the right thing to do.

Kevin McWilliams / Boulder

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COURTESY RACHEL LAUX

Colorado’s cradle of festivals

Why do music festivals flourish in Telluride when the rest of Colorado can’t seem to make a permanent home for them?

by Will Brendza

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he autumn sun was high in the sky and Quinn Sullivan was onstage at Telluride Blues and Brews belting out songs from his new album, Wide Awake, before a crowd of thousands.

Behind him and out of view, backstage beside the artist lounge, Steve Gumble described his own bewilderment at how far the festival had come. Back in 1994, the liquor-store owner turned festival promoter started the Telluride Brewers Fest—the precursor to Blues and Brews—because he was tired of the wine festival and saw an opportunity in the early craft beer movement. He says he never could have imagined that 28 years later, his small-time beer fest would be one of Telluride’s flagship music festivals.

He’s not afraid to take some credit for that success.

But he also freely admits he can’t claim all of it.

“It’s fair to say we do a good job,” Gumble says, sitting in front of the first official Telluride Blues and Brews banner. “But I’ve always said, a lot of our success is attributed to where we’re at.”

Music festivals don’t seem to stick anywhere else in Colorado besides Telluride. Many have tried over the years, like Snowball Music Festival (kicked out of Avon in 2012, uninvited to return to Winter Park in 2013, and, finally, hosting its last hurrah in Denver in 2014) and Vertex Festival, which made an attempt in Buena Vista in 2016. And while Arise Festival has been hosted consistently in Loveland since 2012, it recently relocated as well—to Boone, Colorado, east of Pueblo, two-and-a-half hours south of Denver.

But every year since 1974 Telluride has consistently hosted a lineup of perennial festivals that have become rooted in the town’s identity. Festivals like OCTOBER 14, 2021

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Telluride Film Festival and Mountainfilm Festival, Telluride Mushroom Festival, Yoga Festival, Plein Air Festival, and of course Telluride Bluegrass, Jazz Festival, and Blues and Brews. While all of those took a COVID-19 hiatus in 2020, those last three returned this year without missing a beat.

No other town or venue in Colorado is able to sustain its own music festivals. But somehow, up in the box canyon of Bridal Veil Falls, not even a global pandemic could stop them for long. According to Gumble, that’s partly because of Telluride’s local government, partly due to its geographical beauty (and distance from Denver), and largely thanks to the people who help pull it all together every year.

Of course, there were changes at Blues and Brews this year—as there were at most large scale events.

Two lines preceded the ticket booth: one checking attendees’ vaccine cards, and the other administering COVID-19 rapid tests to the unvaccinated. And unfortunately the “brews” element of Blues and Brews had to be heavily scaled back. To the dismay of many fans, the “grand tasting event” wasn’t on the bill this year, meaning beer was only being served in $9 pints.

“We just felt [the grand tasting] was just too much interaction to be safe,” Gumble says. “We intend on bringing it back. But we couldn’t do it this time.”

Despite the gap year and those necessary tweaks, Blues and Brews 2021 still had all the energy of previous years—which is particularly impressive, according to Gumble. Normally he and his team have a full 12 months to plan and produce Blues and Brews, but this year they barely had a quarter of that time to pull it all together.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

“On May 13, when the CDC dropped the restrictions on social distancing, it was our green light,” he says. That gave them just four months before the weekend of September 17.

“It was a lot of hard work . . . But I’ve got the best team here.”

Gumble assembled his troops and they started stacking a lineup with the biggest, boldest blues, funk, indie, rock, jam-band, gospel, and soul headliners they could book. Acts like Samantha Fish, the Taj Mahal Quartet, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Anders Osborne, Larkin Poe, the Monophonics, and Denver-based Nathanial Rateliff & the Night Sweats.

“We dusted off the old playbook and just put it together,” Gumble says, shaking his head somewhat incredulously. “And it sold out in just 36 hours.”

Clearly, people were hungry to get back into music festivals. And in Colorado, Telluride is the only place to go where the fix is dependable.

“This town just lives and breathes music. And luckily, the locals and our town government have supported it,” Gumble says. “Telluride is made for music and we’ve embraced the culture.”

Getting the local community onboard is one of the hardest parts of starting a festival anywhere, he explains. Festivals are loud, they bring in huge crowds, they cost lots of money, they have a big impact on the environment and infrastructure of a town (especially in small mountain communities). And while they typically generate a lot of tourism dollars for local businesses, oftentimes that isn’t enough to get them invited back.

For instance, Gumble recalls Snowmass’ Mammoth Festival which his company, SBG Productions, produced from 2013 to 2015. Mammoth Festival featured live music, chili cook-offs, and a beer festival right in Snowmass Village. But, he says, “the community just didn’t embrace it.

And right there, you’re dead.”

Like so many other Colorado festivals, Mammoth Festival went the way of its namesake.

“But here [in Telluride], the festivals have been around longer than most of the people,” Gumble says.

That fact has given the town ample time to smooth out the kinds of kinks and wrinkles that might trip other municipalities up. Telluride’s traffic and parking logistics have been

fine-tuned and perfected; the in-town festival camping has been carefully contrived; waste and garbage systems have been streamlined. The town has essentially been designed to transform into a festival or concert grounds whenever necessary. That gives it a distinct edge over other mountain towns for retaining and maintaining such large-scale events, year after year.

There’s also the $1.8 million Town Park stage that finished construction in 2016. It acts as a selling point to attract talent, according to Gumble.

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“Telluride is probably one of the most beautiful places you could see music in the world,” he says. “And the people that have the best views are the people on the stage.”

The experience of playing on Telluride’s stage is unlike any other venue in the world, Gumble attests. While they’re playing music, artists are staring straight up into the box canyon toward Bridal Veil Falls, surrounded by the San Juan Mountains. Some have described it like playing “inside of a Bob Ross painting,” Gumble says

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with a chuckle.

As if to prove his point, Quinn Sullivan and his band, who had just finished their set, walked offstage to wild applause. Gumble stepped away momentarily to snap a photo with them, and as he did, Sullivan told him, “I’ve never played in a place like this.”

Pretty views aren’t the only geographic advantage to hosting festivals in Telluride, though. Because see TELLURIDE Page 12

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TELLURIDE from Page 11

the town is far enough away from the Front Range, it lies just outside of Live Nation’s “radius clauses.”

These contractual provisions prevent artists who play at Live Nation venues (i.e., Red Rocks, Mission Ballroom, Fillmore Auditorium, etc.) from performing for up to 90 days prior to and after their show, within a 250-mile radius of the Live Nation venue. It’s an anti-competition clause that essentially bars artists from making stops in Vail, Breckenridge, Winter Park or even (especially) Fort Collins on the same tour they play Red Rocks or the Mission Ballroom.

But not in Telluride. Counterintuitively, its distance from Denver plays to its festival advantage as well.

“I put radius clauses in too,” Gumble says. “But I don’t radius out Denver, and they don’t radius out [Blues and Brews].”

Gumble also attributes Telluride’s level of local engagement as another important ingredient in its success. Many locals either work for SBG Productions or volunteer at the festivals to get free tickets.

Others, who choose to leave town, put their homes on Airbnb. And the rest typically buy tickets, Gumble says. But nearly everyone is contributing or participating in some way or another.

“A lot of locals [volunteer] religiously,” Gumble says. “Some of them volunteer for every [festival], all summer.”

That can make finding volunteers for Blues and Brews somewhat challenging, he admits. It’s the last music festival of the season in Telluride, and a lot of the regular volunteers just want to have fun.

“We all work really hard to cater l

to the tourism industry. And this is kind of [the local’s] treat to themselves.”

And specific to SBG Productions, Gumble recognizes that he couldn’t possibly make Blues and Brews happen without his staff—who he calls his “best friends.” It’s easy to tell he’s still impressed they were able to pull Blues and Brews off this year on such short notice and with all the health and safety hoops they had to jump through. If he hadn’t had the people on his team, he never would have been able to make this happen, he says. Not this year, and not in years past.

“I’m so fortunate to have the people I have who have my back . . . I have the best employees in the world,” Gumble says. “They’re so proud of what we produce. It makes my job easy.”

All told it takes roughly 700 people to pull Brews and Brews off: some 250 paid SBG employees and another 450 volunteers (local or not).

“You start to realize this [festival] is a machine, it’s a monster,” Gumble says. “I just kind of look around when this is going on and I get chills up my spine.”

A monster, indeed—one that’s made up of all the elements that have earned Telluride its name as the cradle of Colorado’s festival culture.

At this point that’s as much a part of Telluride’s identity as its ski culture or its history as a mining town.

And nothing is going to change that, says Gumble.

“From the town government to the promoters to the citizens of Telluride, we know how to festival,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what music you see here . . . the result is going to be a good experience.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

2021

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CITY OF LONGMONT Tim Waters

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Board of Education Karen Ragland Meosha Brooks Sarah Hurianek STATE OF COLORADO Amendment 78 (Requirements for Spending NO Proposition 119 (Out-of-School Education NO Proposition 120 (Reduce Property Tax NO

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Facing the climate penalty

How climate change is hurting those who live in the West

by Chloe Lindahl

C

olorado is no stranger to wildfires. Last year our state saw one of the most active fire seasons in history, with three of the largest wildfires on record and the destruction of hundreds of homes and widespread evacuations. With 100 total days of wildfire that traversed over 400,000 acres causing billions of dollars in damages, it’s no surprise that wildfires are getting worse as climate change leads to hotter, drier forests.

Colorado temperatures are warming faster than the national average, with an increase of two degrees Fahrenheit in most cities, according to Climate Central. Moreover, increasing droughts and reduced snowpack are leading to warmer spring-like temperatures appearing earlier and earlier each season.

To make matters worse, wildfires are not the only climate-related crisis Colorado is facing. Climate change has been affecting ground JOSEPH GRUBER / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM ozone levels for years now, causing acute health effects, particularly in children and those with predispositions.

According to Dr. James L. Crooks, a biostatistics and bioinformatics researcher at National Jewish Health, “We in the West are having OCTOBER 18, to contend with this sort of trifecta of climate impacts, extreme 2020: A plume of heat, wildfire smoke and ozone, all kind of at the same time and all partly driven by the same factors.”

Dr. Crooks and his colleagues, Dr. Rachel Licker, Dr. Adrienne Hollis, and Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel, recently published a paper exploring the ozone climate penalty of increasing health issues along the Colorado Front Range.

While wildfires and ozone concentration levels are both fueled by the ongoing climate crisis in the West, their relationship to one another is complicated. Ozone concentration levels are monitored year-round but are usually particularly bad from the months of May to October, which is similar to wildfire season.

According to Dr. Crooks, “Ozone is formed from two types of gases, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds. But the reaction that forms the ozone sort of accelerates in the presence of heat and sunlight.”

The summer months and dry heat are also catalysts for wildfires in the West to take off. Smoke from the wildfires can conBOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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tain precursor gases that can combine to form ozone. That said, some days the smoke from the fires can increase ozone levels.

However, “smoke also contains particles, and when you have enough particles in the air it can reduce the sunlight reaching the ground. When that happens, the ozone formation doesn’t go as fast.

So on some days when you have really dark clouds of smoke, fires can actually suppress ozone formation,” states Dr. Crooks.

Climate-related disasters, like increasing ozone concentration and wildfires, are being made worse by a combination of local factors, including emissions produced from cars and oil and gas development. Addressing climate change on a global basis could also help fix the ozone and raging wildfires on a local level.

Reducing fossil fuel reliance could rapidly improve short-term air quality, and replacing finite resources with green energy could drastically fix long-term air quality.

The EPA has national standards for ozone ambient air that are tightened every few years, making it harder and harder for states like Colorado to meet the standards. According to Dr. Crooks, Colorado hasn’t achieved the EPA’s standards since 2007. And the health consequences of living below the national standard are horrifying.

According to Dr. Crooks, “Ozone is a gas and it’s very, very reactive. So when you breathe it, it tends to inflame your lungs.

That can cause your chest to feel tight in people with chronic issues such as asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). People with really severe respiratory disease can actually increase their risk of death.”

Wildfire smoke also has numerous health consequences when people are continuously exposed. The smoke particles, especially if they’ve been in the air for a long time, pick up extra oxygen that reacts poorly with your lungs. The small particles get inside of your bloodstream and could potentially inflame your arteries and other organs in the body.

The health consequences of these climate-related issues primarily affect people living in low-income communities, which predominantly consist of people of color and children living below the poverty line. Factors such as proximity to highways and how tightly homes are sealed can cause more exposure to outside air pollutants. For children, research has shown that long-term exposure to particular pollution like wildfire smoke has negative impacts on cognitive development, IQ, risk of behavioral problems, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

According to Dr. Crooks, “There are certain specific biomes in the West that are transitioning from a forest biome to a more arid biome. That transition is happening very rapidly and the way that transition works out is through wildfires.” While some climate damage may be irreversible, it’s still up to us to slow these changes to prevent further damage to our environment.

The majority of children born in 2021 will be alive for the 22nd century. If change is not enacted now, decisively and swiftly, the generations growing up in this decade will face insurmountable issues.

“We can't keep passing the buck, the buck has to stop with us,” Dr. Crooks states. “We can’t impose the task of cleaning this up on the people that didn’t even cause this mess in the first place.”

OCTOBER 14, 2021

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Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?

Take a hike and have a catered gourmet meal at the top

by Tom Winter

T

he air on top of Peak One (12,805) on July 15 at 6:33 a.m. is clear, the temperatures are cool, and the breakfast? The breakfast is hot: a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich with a side of yogurt, fresh fruit, and granola.

The Summit Brunch Instagram feed is full of moments like this: smoked salmon Benedict, scallops with pink peppercorn sauce, lamb chop “lollipops” for lunch, and fresh coffee on top of remote peaks. This, one thinks, is how life should be lived—outrageously beautiful and tasty food at some of Colorado’s most remote and beautiful spots.

Summit Brunch, to be honest, was never born to make money or feed your face.

“If I go hike something, I want to have skis on my back,” admits Zachary Ryan, Summit Brunch head chef and company founder. “I want to have an adventure on the way down.” The hardcore skier adds that he needed a bit more motivation when the snow melted in the spring: “If I was going to hike [in summer] I wanted a reward, and the hike down seemed to be a lot easier after a good meal.”

Ryan, who originally hails from Vermont and moved to Frisco to ski, started complementing his summer hikes by cooking himself breakfasts and other meals on his local journeys. At first, the meals were simple, but with a childhood spent assisting his father’s catering company and experience in fine dining, he couldn’t resist refining his menus and documenting the results (and locations) on Instagram.

“I started posting the more extravagant meals, the eggs Benedict, mimosas and such as Instagram flex,” he laughs, adding, “I would climb a 14er and cook breakfast at the top.”

The Instagram buzz was real and growing, but it took COVID-19 to give Ryan the push he needed to dive fully into the Summit Brunch concept.

With the tourism-based economies of Summit County taking a massive hit in the first few months of the pandemic as Governor Polis ordered ski areas shuttered on March 15, 2020 and instituted a mandatory stay-at-home order shortly after on March

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

IAN ZINNER

SUMMIT BRUNCH currently offers catering services to clients on private lands. You can learn more at summitbrunch.com or whet your appetite by following @summitbrunch on Instagram.

25, Ryan found himself out of his fine dining job, unemployed and with plenty of time to think. “It gave me some motivation,” admits Ryan of the shutdown, noting that in general, COVID was a wake up call for many.

“I started cooking for friends and honing my skills,” says Ryan of the evolution of Summit Brunch, which also involved working with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to obtain the necessary permits to cook commercially for clients at the most interesting and spectacular JOEY REUTEMAN locations across Colorado’s public lands.

“The issue,” Ryan says, “is that Summit Brunch is a whole new concept. The closest thing to our experience is that someone hires a guide and they’ll cook them a basic meal. We are not a guide service, we are not hiking with these folks. We meet them at a location.” Adds Ryan of the potential to surprise and delight, “It can be really exciting.

A ‘let’s go for a hike’ and then at the top there is a white tablecloth meal waiting.”

Ryan is complimentary towards the USFS and understands that the novelty of his service and the newness of the concept poses a challenge to the agency.

“I am grateful for my personal access to USFS lands,” Ryan says of his own love of the outdoor l

OCTOBER 14, 2021

public lands surrounding Summit County. “The White River district is one of the most utilized areas in Colorado. They have a tremendous workload and it is going to take a bit longer to get through the permitting process.”

Ryan is hopeful that he will be able to cater to commercial clients on the public lands surrounding Summit County in the summer of 2022. For now, while he navigates the permitting process, he is focused on pro-bono dining experiences for friends and family, catered experiences on private lands, and refining his menus.

“Each experience will have its own menu,” Ryan says. “I can work with each guest to dial in a menu that is specific to their tastes. If their favorite breakfast is Oscar-style eggs Benedict, then we can do it.

It’s an elevated experience.”

But don’t expect that a flight of Champagne or a mimosa will be part of that experience, unless you’re willing to bring your own. “The experiences do not have a fixed physical address,” Ryan says.

“That’s the one thing you need for a liquor license, so while I’m happy to open a special bottle for someone, they’ll have to bring it themselves.”

The Summit Brunch concept is a “wow, why hasn’t anyone thought of that before” idea that has obvious advantages for anyone looking to make a splash when proposing to a significant other, celebrating an anniversary or other special date, or even wanting to make a unique—and special— first impression. Go for a hike and arrive at your destination where a catered meal waits for you is an experience guaranteed to delight and satisfy.

With his USFS permitting process underway, his old job gone (maybe forever), and his images of feasts creating buzz across social media, COVID was the proverbial kick in the ass that Ryan needed.

“COVID has been a very scary thing,” he says.

“But there are a lot of creative people and a lot of positivity coming out of quarantine. It gave people motivation to start their own thing, because you realize how much instability there is. Betting on yourself is the best bet.” l

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Manna from pop heaven

Jungle’s third album takes the UK-based duo to a new level

by Caitlin Rockett

W

hen Tom McFarland is touring in the States, he likes to “dip back into the American classics,” listening to Simon & Garfunkel when he’s in Manhattan, “basically transporting myself back to ’70s New York.”

“Now I’m in Toronto,” he says over a Zoom interview, “so this afternoon I’ll put on some Neil Young and walk the streets.”

If you listen closely to the music McFarland makes with Josh Llyod-Watson as the duo Jungle, you can hear the falsettos call back to Paul and Art; their penchant for dreamy melodies stem from hours and hours dissecting Pet Sounds as children growing up in West London; bouncing basslines over pensive organ chords evoke the Brit Pop wave that washed over the world in the mid-’90s; police sirens over Studio 54-inspired grooves capture the aughts’ dance zeitgeist of Moby and The Chemical Brothers.

When the lads broke into the scene in 2014 with their bedroom-produced, self-titled debut, the world instantly fell in love with Jungle’s warm, carefree sound, propelled further by single-shot videos featuring a recurring cast of divinely diverse West London choreographers—but never McFarland and Lloyd-Watson. That hint of mystery, combined with those slinky basslines and cooing vocals, was manna from pop heaven, and the world ate hungrily.

by Southwest, American late night, Reading, Leeds, BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Glastonbury, shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.

It was four years before they released their sophomore album, For Ever, a slightly more somber affair that seemed to acknowledge the altitude sickness of such a meteoric rise to prominence with tracks like “House in “I feel alive in the sunlight / All my fears are only real life / Two whole years on the rewrite / Tell my friends I’m gonna be right there.”

FILMAWI “I think in the second record we were like, ‘It’s got to be about us,’” McFarland says. “It was the most personal and emotional [collection of] songs that we’ve ever written, and it took a long time to find the words in order to tell that story properly. It’s about Josh being in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and me being back in London, and then a breakup and Josh coming home. There’s multiple layers of loss, grief, yearning, jealousy.

Those songs are so dipped in deep, dark emotion that sometimes playing them on stage just doesn’t feel right.

We still play songs like ‘Pray’ or ‘Cherry’ because they just seem to fit within kind of the most recent incarnation of what we perceive Jungle to be. And maybe it is a little bit more carefree and a little bit less emotional.

But this third record is a bit more about getting back to having some fun and not taking it too seriously.”

But it’s clear the pair took their third offering, Loving In Stereo distillation yet of Jungle’s vision, remaining true to their l

OCTOBER 14, 2021

ON THE BILL: dance-focused origins while JUNGLE WITH BLU artfully showcasing the duo’s DETIGER. 8 p.m. eclectic tastes. The refreshed Tuesday, October sound is due in part to the 19, Mission band’s decision to release Ballroom, on its own imprint, Caiola 4242 Wynkoop Records, and in part to the Street, Denver. evolution of McFarland and Lloyd-Watson as musicians.

“The more albums you make, the better you get at making them,” McFarland says. “And I think we’ve

implement those tools to their maximum capacity in order to fully realize our vision. When we were making our ideas, but we didn’t have the musical language to say that with. Now the music actually sounds like what we want it to sound like.”

It’s true, though, that this album coaxes listeners to let go of their worries, at least for the next 40 minutes, kicking off with the linked tracks “Dry Your Tears” and “Keep Moving.”

As with Jungle’s previous bodies of work, Loving In Stereo will get single-shot video treatments featuring the same cast of choreographers, but this time for all 14 “I think, essentially, we’re very conceptual thinkers,” McFarland says. “Some of the bands that we actually love the most are the ones that have continued conceptual themes like Daft Punk, Justice, Bon Iver to an extent, The Strokes to an extent . . . We always love listening to concept albums, like Dark Side of the Moon, Pet Sounds, all of those records and everything about those records just screams artistry and theater and passion and dedication. We never want to present anything to the public that isn’t whole and complete.” l

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OCTOBER 14, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Aftermath

Tim Roessler documents the space around tragedy in new photobook

by Caitlin Rockett

T

im Roessler had a prescription filled on a Sunday. The pharmacist smiled and walked Roessler through his dosage and schedule—he admired the care she took—and then he headed home, a 10-minute walk to the west.

The next day Roessler watched a live stream of police escorting the pharmacist through the parking lot of King Soopers on Table Mesa, her left hand balled in a fist over her chest.

TIM ROESSLER

DETAILS: You can order Aftermath, Tim Roessler’s photobook/zine at blurb. com/b/10844077-aftermath

As he talks about that Monday in March when 10 people lost their lives, Roessler’s eyes go glossy, then wet.

“You pick out the faces of other cashiers you’ve seen dozens of times, and it’s not like a profound relationship, but they’re part of the texture of your life,” he says.

On the patio of Caffè Sole, Roessler is seven months and 500 feet removed from the scene as he talks about his photo book, Aftermath.

The series of black and white photos

were all taken within a 100-yard perimeter of the shooting—the range of the AR-556 the gunman used— south to the coffee shop, east to a small playground, then a tattoo parlor.

From shots of police tape in the hours after the incident to photos of people sipping coffee and working on laptops months later, Roessler documents the space around tragedy, and the quiet moments that follow the chaos.

“I decided to take photographs from within 100 yards of the entrance to King Soopers to introduce the idea of the weapon’s lethality and to say, ‘What’s at stake in this situation?’” Roessler says. “It’s not just a grocery store clerk; it’s someone learning how to cook at the school across the way. It’s not just a police officer; it’s a mother who’s watching her child play on the playground.

And all of that could vanish in a second.”

In the hours after the shooting, Roessler—a video producer with a degree in journalism—struggled with whether he wanted to document the incident at all. He felt “voyeuristic and exploitative” when he took his camera to the shopping center on the evening of March 22 and found a cadre of photojournalists from national outlets with their 200-millimeter lenses trained on the building “like hawks on prey.” He avoided the shopping center for weeks.

But he finally convinced himself to go look at the chainlink fence surrounding the perimeter of the grocery store that became a makeshift memorial to the dead, so weighed down by tokens of remembrance that

supports had to be put in place within just a matter of days.

“You’re supposed to take pictures of whatever moves you, so I started photographing the fence,” Roessler says. “And each time I went there, it seemed like there was somebody who was curious, and then there’s somebody crying, and there’s somebody leaving something on the fence.

It became really like a living correlation with my inner peace.

“But even just going to the fence was rough,” he adds. “It made me wonder how combat photographers do it.”

Roessler describes the confusion of where to place himself in this story as someone who wasn’t there when it happened, who didn’t lose a close friend or family member, but still feels grief and anger.

“It’s not my story,” he says, “but it’s something transformative.”

For those of us who see Table Mesa Shopping Center nearly every day, who were nearby when the shooting began, who have cried at that fence for people we didn’t know or barely knew, who wondered why it was them and not us, Roessler’s collection of photographs captures our peripheral place in a story that is both horrifically surreal and painfully commonplace. It could have been us.

It might be, another time.

“I want people to look at the book like a piece of the memorial at the fence,” Roessler says. “And if they want to remember that time, or to show somebody what it was like, they can.”

He opens the book with a quote from Emily Dickinson: “Tell the truth, but tell it slant.”

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OCTOBER 14, 2021

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hbwoodsongs.com 21

E VENTS

EVENTS

If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email the managing editor at crockett@boulderweekly.com

Chautauqua Explorer Series presents Lynn Hill 7 p.m. Thursday, October 14, Chautauqua Community House, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder.

Tickets: $12. of what is possible in rock climbing famous big wall climb in the world called The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California. More than 19 years later, Tommy Caldwell and Hill are still the only two people in the world to have succeeded in making an all-free, one-day ascent of The Nose. Hill will speak about her career at this Chautauqua Explorer Series.

Astronomy: Moon Magic

5:45-8 p.m. Friday, October 15, Near Lyons (exact location provided when registering). Free.

Our natural satellite, the Moon, comes with all sorts of stories and myths.

Hear some of these stories and discover cool facts about the moon at a brief program at the shelter. Then view the sky with telescopes provided by the Longmont Astronomical Society. Register at BoulderCountyOpenSpace.org/Register.

American Music Research Center Symposium: Borders/Boundaries/Fronteras

Noon-5 p.m. Friday, October 15, Koelbel Building (Room C342), 995 Regent Drive, Boulder. Free.

This symposium brings together leading scholars in American music studies to explore the ways that borders—whether geographic, political, social, sonic, performative or temporal—impact music, musical making, musical reception and musical meaning. Learn more about the American Music Research Center at colorado.edu/amrc.

‘Incredible Lightness’: A Retrospective of the Work of Jerry Wingren

October 14–January 23, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th Street, Boulder. Admission: $2 (free on Saturdays).

This exhibition features the abstract, geometric sculptures of alabaster, granite, marble, steatite, steel, and wood, as well as works on paper, by artist Jerry Wingren. It centers on Wingren’s career-long attempt to lighten up, his work there is a dichotomy between how elemental materials of stone, steel, and wood interact with light and time.

University of Colorado Boulder presents ‘The Promised Lands?’ A Film Series on Israel/Palestine and the United States

7:30 p.m. Monday, October 18. Free. Virtual Event URL: bit.ly/3lrkO4w Join Hilary Falb Kalisman, endowed professor of Israel/Palestine studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, for a conversation with Ahmed Mansour, the director of Brooklyn Inshallah, and Dan Chyutin, a director and Brooklyn Inshallah (2019), covering the candidacy of a pastor from Palestine City Council, and ‘Til Kingdom Come (2020), exploring the relationship between American evangelicals and Israeli politics—will be made available for streaming, free of charge, during the two weeks before the event; details will be sent upon registering. Viewing one or both of the documentaries before the October 18 conversation is encouraged, but not required.

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OCTOBER 14, 2021

Opening Reception: ‘Music Buffs: A Century of Music at CU’

4-7 p.m. Saturday, October 16, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. Admission: $8-$10.

The Museum of Boulder has partnered with the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder to create a pop-up exhibit exploring the history of the college in celebration of its 100th anniversary.

The exhibit, Music Buffs: A Century of Music at CU, also features the stories of some of the most iconic music venues on campus, as well as famous CU alumni. The exhibit runs through November 28. Meet the curators of the exhibit and special guests from the College of Music. The opening reception is included with admission to the museum and includes access to all exhibits.

Brandon Wolf: A Discussion on Gun Violence, Trauma, and What Comes Next

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 20, Chautauqua Community House, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Free.

Brandon Wolf is an activist, changemaker, and thought leader on issues of LGBTQ equality, gun safety, and progressive politics. A survivor of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Brandon has committed his life to honoring victims of injustice with action. see EVENTS Page 23

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events l

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

EVENTS

ERYKAH BADU

CONCERTS BILLY STRINGS, PHOTO BY EMILY BUTLER

Sunday, October 17

Black Tiger Sex Machine with Whipped Cream, Kai Wachi B2B YOOKiE, Vampa, Lektrique. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $45-75.

Billy Strings. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver.

Tickets: $35-$89. SOLD OUT.

Monday, October 18

Thursday, October 14

Lane 8 with Sultan + Shepard. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $45.

Delta Sonics. 8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main Street, Louisville. Tickets: $10-$15.

Billy Strings. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver.

Tickets: $35-$89. SOLD OUT.

Friday, October 15

Lane 8 with Sultan + Shepard. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $45.

Jayme Stone. 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Community House, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $18.

Rex Peoples & XFactr Band. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt Street, Longmont. Free.

Medianoche. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder. Suggest $15 cover.

Billy Strings. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver.

Tickets: $35-$89. SOLD OUT. Shlump with Pashmonix. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder.

Tickets: $18 advance/$20 day of show.

Saturday, October 16

Midland with Hailey Whitters, Jackson Dean. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $39.95.

Stumble Monkey. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt Street, Longmont. Free.

Lenore Raphael. 7 p.m. Caffè Sole, 637 S. Broadway, Boulder. Suggest $15 cover.

Billy Strings. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver.

Tickets: $35-$89. SOLD OUT. Champagne Drip. 9 p.m. The Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder.

Tickets: $10-$20.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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The Hu. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $29.50$34.50.

Machine Gun Kelly with jxdn, KennyHoopla. 6:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $39.95-$99.95.

Erykah Badu. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver.

Tickets: $69.95-$149.95.

Tuesday, October 19

JUNGLE, PHOTO BY FILMAWI

Dead & Company. 5:30 p.m.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison.

Tickets: $99.95-$199.50.

The High Kings. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$35.

Whitney with Renée Reed.

8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $35.00 $39.50 Jungle with Blu DeTiger.

8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $39.99-$79.99.

Wednesday, October 20

Dead & Company. 5:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $99.95-$199.50.

Flogging Molly & Violent Femmes with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, THICK. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $49.95-$75.

see CALENDAR Page 24

OCTOBER 14, 2021

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JUST ANNOUNCED

JUST ANNOUNCED

JAN 20 ........................................................................ THE UNLIKELY CANDIDATES JAN 27 ............................................................................................................. WOOLI

DEC 7 .................... TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH: MOUNTAIN REVELATIONS

THU. OCT 14

FRI. OCT 15

WHAT TO

EVENTS from Page 23

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MALAA

SHLUMP

HARVE B2B KAEGI, GANO, RYNE CUNNINGHAM

SAT. OCT 16

107.9 KBPI PRESENTS: THE HUN TOUR

ONHELL, PASHMONIX PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

CHAMPAGNE DRIP MIZE, ON-11, IAM_JACKO TUE. OCT 19

MON. OCT 18

THE HU THE HAUNT

TUE. OCT 19 THE CELTIC CONNECTION, 88.5 KGNU & BOULDER WEEKLY PRESENT: THE HOME FROM HOME TOUR

THE HIGH KINGS

WESTWORD PRESENTS

WHITNEY

SAT. OCT 23

THU. OCT 21

JOHN HIATT & THE JERRY DOUGLAS BAND

97.3 KBCO PRESENTS

RENEE REED

BACK 2 BUSINESS FEAT.

HARVE B2B KAEGI, BATHROOM BREAK, PŠMITYŸ B2B GANO & MORE FRI. OCT 22

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THE DEL MCCOURY BAND

MEGAN HAMILTON

THU. OCT 28

SAT. OCT 23

MONSTER ENERGY UP & UP FESTIVAL PRESENTS

WRECKNO

WOOD BELLY

TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENTS

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GETTER

BRAZEN, KRUSHENDO SAT. OCT 30 97.3 KBCO, WESTWORD & BELL’S BREWERY PRESENT: AN EVENING WITH

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LAWRENCE

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SAT. NOV 6

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SUN. NOV 7

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97.3 KBCO PRESENTS: SEE THE WORLD TOUR

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WED. NOV 10

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PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG SAT. NOV 13 97.3 KBCO PRESENTS: PLAY LOUD TOUR

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READ

RAVENSCOON, SIPPY

DEC 2 ................................................. ROBERT GLASPER + CORY HENRY DEC 9 ........................................................................................ CHVRCHES DEC 14 .................................................................... JAKE SHIMABUKURO DEC 17 .......................... LACUNA: TOM HAMILTON & HOLLY BOWLING DEC 20 ................................................................ LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

’Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood,’ by Leonard Maltin

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GoodKnight Books, $26.95 (hardcover), $11.99 (ebook)

t probably won’t bother Leonard Maltin if his newest book, Starstruck, doesn’t sell. He wrote four and published a monthly movie magazine before graduating college—all for pleasure, none for profit.

“Given the amount of time it took to research them, I’d have made out better working at Arby’s.”

But it was TV Movies— later rebranded Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide—that sold millions, transforming the self-proclaiamed “film nerd” into a household name, Entertainment Tonight’s resident critic, and professor of USC’s most enviable film class.

Maltin’s success is nothing if not exemplary of following one’s bliss.

Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood is Maltin’s first memoir and, as the title suggests, is largely a collection of anecdotes about meeting and working with the celebrities and artists Maltin grew up admiring. His love for the moving image and his awe at the hands who make those images move is palpable even if Starstruck doesn’t dig much deeper than the surface. To borrow Maltin’s words on an encounter he had with Buster Keaton: “No great revelations, just a nice remembrance.” Though the remembrance he includes of Mel Brooks describing the never-seen Lobsters in New York is worth the price of publication.

Yet, there is something galvanizing about reading Maltin’s story.

He loved his work so much he’d have done it for free if not for his wife Alice making sure he got paid. And his eagerness to adapt to the ever-evolving media landscape feels like a breath of fresh air.

Available wherever books are sold.

—Michael J. Casey

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Orpheus Bluejay

by Steve Elder

My shadow has no calories, so I peel it off the front porch and pour it in my coffee cup.

You say it can’t be done?

I just did it, vibrantly.

It peers at me like the unsettled pupil of a great bird.

Lights out and shadow springs from all corners— an erotic sovereign of the nightsweats.

Which of us is who then?

But now is just plain now, all around the universe, so who is that naked on my roof again?

Orpheus Bluejay!—you blurred bird.

We hear the surround-sound of your beedle-beedle, your tulili, but where is your rakish sky-blue beret?

Where your exotic North Woods eyeliner?

Where your wings, beak and grabby black birdfeet?

Your look’s askance when your look’s direct, and in the name of the euphoria your bluejay blue gems will not lock-in.

Perch close, perch in the air, if you must, but endow us with your cadenza • • • • And may all our days be wing’d animation, and all our nights a heavy levitation.

Steve Elder is in charge of Tea Service at the University of Colorado Law Library.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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OCTOBER 14, 2021

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BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

LIBRA

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: According to my understanding of the

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: “We must never be afraid to go too far, for truth lies beyond,” declared novelist Marcel Proust. I wouldn’t normally offer that counsel to you Libras. One of your strengths is your skill at maintaining healthy boundaries. You know how to set dynamic limits that are just right: neither too extreme nor too timid. But according to my analysis of the astrological potentials, the coming weeks will be one of those rare times when you’ll be wise to consider an alternative approach: that the most vigorous truths and liveliest energies may lie beyond where you usually go.

upcoming weeks, life will present you with unusual opportunities. I suspect you will find it reasonable and righteous to shed, dismantle, and rebel against the past. Redefining your history will be a fun and worthy project. Here are other related activities I recommend for you: 1. Forget and renounce a long-running fear that has never come true. 2. Throw away a reminder of an old experience that makes you feel bad. 3. Freshen your mood and attitude by moving around the furniture and decor in your home. 4.

Write a note of atonement to a person you hurt once upon a time. 5. Give yourself a new nickname that inspires you to emancipate yourself from a pattern or habit you want to leave behind.

SCORPIO

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: Taurus poet Donte Collins’ preferred pronouns are “they” and “them.” They describe themself as Black, queer, and adopted. “A lover doesn’t discourage your growth,” they write. “A lover says, ‘I see who you are today, and I cannot wait to see who you become tomorrow.’” I hope you have people like that in your life, Taurus—lovers, friends, allies, and relatives. If there is a scarcity of such beloved companions in your life, the next eight weeks will be an excellent time to round up new ones. And if you are connected with people who delight in your progress and evolution, deepen your connection with them.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: Gemini author Lisa Cron advises her fellow

writers, “Avoid exclamation points! Really!! Because they’re distracting!! Almost as much as CAPITALIZING THINGS!!!”

I’ll expand her counsel to apply not just to writers, but to all of you Geminis. In my astrological opinion, you’re likely to find success in the coming weeks if you’re understated, modest, and unmelodramatic. Make it your goal to create smooth, suave, savvy solutions. Be cagey and cool and crafty.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu told us that water is in one sense soft and passive, but is in another sense superb at eroding jams and obstacles that are hard and firm. There’s a magic in the way its apparent weakness overcomes what seems strong and unassailable.

You are one of the zodiac’s top wielders of water’s superpower, Cancerian. And in the coming weeks, it will work for you with even more amazing grace than usual. Take full advantage of your sensitivity, your emotional intelligence, and your empathy.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: Leo author James Baldwin told us, “You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to [Russian novelist] Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This is a great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone.” In that spirit, Leo, and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to track down people who have had pivotal experiences similar to yours, either in the distant or recent past. These days, you need the consoling companionship they can provide. Their influence could be key to liberating you from at least some of your pain.

VIRGO

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SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: In her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Sagittarian author Shirley Jackson wrote, “Today my winged horse is coming, and I am carrying you off to the moon, and on the moon we will eat rose petals.” I wonder what you would do if you received a message like that—an invitation to wander out on fanciful or mysterious adventures.

I hope you’d be receptive. I hope you wouldn’t say, “There are so such things as flying horses. It’s impossible to fly to the moon and eat rose petals.” Even if you don’t typically entertain such whimsical notions, the time is favorable to do so now. I bet you will be pleased with the unexpected grace they bring your way.

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Capricorn author Susan Sontag wrote

about people who weren’t receptive to her intensity and intelligence. She said she always had “a feeling of being ‘too much’ for them—a creature from another planet—and I would try to scale myself down to size, so I could be apprehendable and lovable by them.” I understand the inclination to engage in such self-diminishment. We all want to be appreciated and understood. But I urge you to refrain from taming and toning yourself down too much in the coming weeks. Don’t do what Sontag did. In my astrological opinion, it’s time for you to be an extra vivid version of yourself.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: “I am diagnosed with not having enough

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Poet Octavio Paz described two kinds of distraction. One is “the distraction of the person who is always outside himself, lost in the trivial, senseless, turmoil of everyday life.” The other is “the distraction of the person who withdraws from the world in order to shut himself up in the secret and ever-changing land of his fantasy.” In my astrological opinion, you Virgos should specialize in the latter during the coming weeks. It’s time to reinvigorate your relationship with your deep inner sources. Go in search of the reverent joy that comes from communing with your tantalizing mysteries. Explore the riddles at the core of your destiny.

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OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Author William S. Burroughs claimed his greatest strength was a “capacity to confront myself no matter how unpleasant.” But he added a caveat to his brag: Although he recognized his mistakes, he rarely made any corrections. Yikes! Dear Scorpio, I invite you to do what Burroughs couldn’t. Question yourself about how you might have gone off course, but then actually make adjustments and atonements. As you do, keep in mind these principles: 1. An apparent mistake could lead you to a key insight or revelation. 2. An obstruction to the flow may prod you to open your mind and heart to a liberating possibility. 3. A snafu might motivate you to get back to where you belong.

4. A mess could show you something important you’ve been missing.

insanely addictive drugs coursing through my body,” joked comedian Sarah Silverman. Judging from current cosmic rhythms, I’m inclined to draw a similar conclusion about you.

It may be wise for you to dose yourself with intoxicants.

JUST KIDDING! I lied. Here’s the truth: I would love for you to experience extra rapture, mystic illumination, transcendent sex, and yes, even intoxication in the coming weeks. My analysis of the astrological omens suggests these delights are more likely and desirable than usual. However, the best way to arouse them is by communing with your favorite nondrug and non-alcohol inebriants. The benefits will last longer and incur no psychological cost.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: “The truth is,” writes cartoonist Bill

Watterson, “most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive.” I sense this will describe your life during the next six weeks. Your long, strange journey won’t come to an end, of course. But a key chapter in that long, strange journey will climax. You will be mostly finished with lessons you have been studying for many moons. The winding road you have been following will end up someplace in particular. And sometime soon, I suspect you’ll spy a foreshadowing flash of this denouement.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: Thirty-year-old trans woman here, Dan, and I have a question about what is surely one of your favorite subjects: the “age gap discourse.”

About four years ago, I had a sexual experience that I go back and forth on whether to label as sexual assault. When I was 26 years old, I met a 19-year-old on a dating site and drove to a neighboring state to hook up with them. I’ll spare you the details, but when we started doing things we had mutually agreed upon, one of them didn’t feel right in the moment, so I withdrew my consent. They respected my boundary for about 15 minutes, then tried it again. I said no again, they refrained for another 15 minutes, then tried it again. The cycle continued until I just got worn down. The night ended with me trying to fall asleep so I at least wouldn’t be conscious for what they were going to do. It didn’t work.

I’m friends with a lot of social-justice-focused millennials, and as such, discourse about age gaps in romantic and sexual relationships occasionally appear on my social media. The consensus, as I understand it, seems to be that there is a vast maturity gap between someone who is 19 and someone who is 26; therefore, someone in their mid-20s sexual happens with someone who is 19. It is also suggested that someone like me is a creep and a predator for even thinking about hooking up with a 19-year-old. It’s hard to not apply my own experience to the discourse, and boy, is it a mind fuck. Hearing people go on about how vulnerable teenagers are or how I occupied a position of power not only dredges up painful memories, but also makes me feel like a creep.

Did I do something wrong? I’m leaning towards no. I didn’t have any institutional power over the other person, it wasn’t an ongoing relationship, nor is it a pattern of behavior. (Like hell am I going to trust a 19-year-old again.) I also tried to follow your campsite rule. Instead of ghosting them, I sent them a message explaining why I wasn’t going to play with them again—the boundary violations—in the hope that they would do better in the future. I’m about 80 percent sure I have nothing to feel guilty about, but that other 20 percent just won’t shut up. Was I the bad guy here?

—Am Getting Exasperated Dear AGE: “I feel for this woman and, it should go without saying, she shouldn’t feel guilty about having been sexually assaulted,” said James Greig, a London-based writer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, Vice, and other publications. “And to my mind, this incident shows that things are often more complex than the online ‘age gap discourse’ acknowledges.”

Greig has written about the online age gap discourse for The Guardian, AGE, and while he feels the conversation is motivated

by legitimate concerns about unequal power dynamics and their potential for abuse and exploitation, he worries the black-and-white nature of the age gap discourse can lull people into a false sense of security. “People imagine that abuse is less likely to occur in relationships where both parties are the same age,” said Greig, “and in my experience, that’s not always the case.” Additionally, condemnations of relationships and/or hook

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

puritanical “discourse” that has left you feeling so isolated—often fails to acknowledge, much less grapple with factors besides age that can make a person vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

“Being a trans woman in itself can make you more vulnerable,” said Greig. “But it could be just about anything: wealth, status, even just disposition or temperament—some people are more domineering or cruel than others.”

And some people don’t understand that only yes means yes, that no absolutely means no, and that withdrawal consent doesn’t mean, Sometimes a person guilty of the kind of consent/boundary/physical violation you endured isn’t acting maliciously and is capable of learning from their mistakes—here’s hoping that message you sent that 19-year-old had an impact—but some people know what they’re doing when they pressure a person to engage in (or submit to) unwanted sexual acts and don’t care. Those people can be 19 and those people can be 99, AGE, and their victims can be younger or older. And if their last name is Trump, those people can be POTUS. all prescriptions like ‘age gap relationships are bad’ to be of much use,” said Greig, “and that means we have to take these things on a case-by-case basis.”

And in your case, AGE, neither of us think you were the bad guy.

All that said, AGE, driving to a neighboring state to hook up with a teenager—yeah, the optics aren’t good, and a lot of people aren’t gonna be able to see past them. But just because some very online people (and some ages at the time, do the math, and label you a predator, AGE, you aren’t obligated to slap that label on yourself. You were consenting adults until you withdrew your consent, at which point you were the victim of a sexual assault. You in about this, AGE, but you don’t have to shame yourself. You lived, you learned, you’ve tried to do better. Here’s hoping the other person—now in their 20s themselves—learned something too and has also tried to do better.

Follow James Greig on Twitter @JamesDGreig.

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

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Speakeasy Halloween

Bring your finest costume and favorite people and join us for craft cocktails, live music and late-night bites

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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hat does home mean to you?

That’s the question Flee director Jonas Poher Rasmussen poses to Amin Nawabi, an Afghan refugee on the eve of marrying his boyfriend.

Amin has a story from his past to tell. And until he does, there is little hope for a healthy future.

Flee is a knockout, an animated documentary that provides just enough visual distance from the details to elicit genuine empathy while protecting the real people involved—even the name “Amin” is a pseudonym. It won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary category at January’s Sundance Film Festival. Now it comes to the Front Range, thanks to the Denver Film Festival.

Flee is one of the 230NEON plus features and shorts, narratives and documentaries, music videos, and series set to screen in-person and virtually November 3-14 at the 44th Denver Film Festival (DFF). The festivities kick off Wednesday, November 3, with a red carpet presentation of Spencer at Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver. Spencer,

The 44th Denver Film Festival returns with in-person and at home offerings

by Michael J. Casey ON THE BILL: The 44th Denver Film Festival, November 3-14, multiple venues and online. Informa-

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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maker Pablo Larraín, stars Kristen Stewart as Diana Frances Spencer, known to the world as Diana, Princess of Wales. If you’re looking for the big movie of the season, look no further.

In addition to Spencer, DFF will host four red carpet screenings at Ellie Caulkins: C’mon C’mon from director Mike Mills and actor Joaquin Phoenix; Torn from documentarian Max Lowe about the death of his father, climber Alex Lowe; King Richard, starring Will Smith as Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena Williams (among others); and Jockey, from director Clint Bentley and actor Clifton Collins Jr. Go ahead and skip King Richard, but don’t miss Jockey on the big screen. It’s racing—in a manner that is both poetic and dramatic. Collins gives one of the best John Cassavetes Award.

Other must-sees include The Pink Cloud

Petit Maman, a short and sweet French fairy tale from Céline Sciamma that is as accessible as it is mysterious; and Procession, a documentary following a group of sexual assault survivors using theatrical reenactment to confront their trauma.

Closer to home, DFF’s Colorado Spotlight features two collections of short subjects and nine features, including the documentary Anonymous Sister from former CU-Boulder student and Emmy-winner Jamie Boyle and The Sleeping Negro from CU-Boulder’s newest member to the Cinema Studies faculty, Skinner Myers. Watch this space for more from both of them.

OCTOBER 14, 2021

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SUSAN FRANCE

Enjoy going nude

You won’t miss the packaging (or its costs) at Boulder’s new zero-waste grocery store

by JOHN LEHNDORFF

S

mall natural foods stores and co-ops have been an essential part of Boulder’s zeitgeist since the 1970s, when New Age Foods, Green Mountain Granary, and the Pearl Street Market started changing the way food was retailed. These pioneers blazed trails for Alfalfa’s, Wild Oats, Lucky’s, and other more upscale stores.

Every single one of them—ostensibly devoted to sustainability—has had to face the packaging and bagging dilemma. How can you tout yourself as “natural” when your organic, GMO-free, fair-trade dried apricots are leaving the store in plastic or paper bags unlikely to be

NUDE FOODS MARKET (3233 Walnut Street) offers groceries without the guilt of wasted packaging.

Boulder’s newest grocery store may have a viable answer. Nude Foods Market, at 3233 Walnut Street, is missing almost everything you expect in a supermarket. It is not a clothing optional establishment. But it does strive to be zero-waste in every aspect of its business When you walk into the market the difference is obvious. Naturally, no shopping bags are provided, but more importantly, none of the hundreds of items on the shelves, ranging from lentils to keto doughnuts, are packaged in anything that could end up in a

SUSAN FRANCE

However, Nude Foods Market isn’t is a bulk foods place with bins of self-serve nuts and oils. You bring your own shopping bags but not your own containers to weigh and thing in the store is packed in reusable glass jars that require a $1 deposit. Customers bring the jars back, and the store staff washes, sanitizes and reuses them.

Bread and other items are sold in cloth bags that can be washed and reused. Eggs are sold in hard recycled plastic containers that are also washed and reused. Most of the products arrive in bulk containers that are reused.

The limited produce selection is primarily rescued, meaning lots of seconds—slightly blemished or misshapen fruits and vegetables.

When Nude Foods Market originally opened in October 2020, the pandemic forced the company to pivot to pickup and delivery. Most of the market’s deliveries are still done by bicycle, with others, especially during bad weather, dropped off by electric vehicles.

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Other aspects of the zero-waste approach are less obvious, like having no energy intensive air conditioning in the store or open top coolers or freezers. The jars use semi-reusable labeling and soy ink on recycled paper. There are no paper receipts since almost all purchasing and checkouts are done on the store’s app, although cash is still accepted.

Contact us for Take Out orders!

crunchy-granola ideological purity. A good example is the single most popular item so time keeping them on the shelf,” says store manager Nena Rowan, who gave me a tour.

On the shelves in jars is a wide selection of pantry staples like rice, spices, dried fruit

SUSAN FRANCE

butter, maple syrup, olive oil, and non-edible products like cleaning supplies and body lotion.

The coolers feature jarred, house-prepared sauces and meals made with rescued produce such as salsa, marinara sauce, lemony lentil soup, sweet potato chili, and pickled red onions. The wise-use approach means that perfectly tasty and affordable day-old bagels from Moe’s are on the menu.

The store’s devotion to transparency means it’s easy to identify the items as

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Market is not vegan. It does sell local sustainably raised meats. The eggs are rescued, pasture-raised pullet eggs that are a little smaller because they are from young chickens. stopped by there were no eggs because, as a sign noted, “the pullets are molting.”

I was happy to see the market featuring notable locally produced foods that share a hot sauces, On Tap Pretzels, and Himalayas Chai’s delicious momo dumplings.

A Thanksgiving warning

Last year Thanksgiving was only memorable because it was so far removed from the traditional gatherings we always loved. In November 2021 we will be able to shop and gather safely but the table may be missing traditional foods your family loves.

In a nutshell, the food supply chain is compromised by COVID. Container ships they can’t dependably source. They cite the rising price of everything including produce and the aluminum pans for pumpkin pies. Local food deliveries to stores and eateries are already often delayed or canceled for lack of warehouse workers and drivers.

If there are foods that you deem essential for your feast, including large turkeys, you better buy them now. The same advice goes for any imported food and beverage items you plan on gifting or serving during the end-of-year holidays.

Words to chew on

“Making conscious choices about what we eat, based on what the earth can sustain and what our bodies need, can help remind us that our whole society must begin to 1971’s Diet for a Small Planet.

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU (88.5 FM, kgnu.org)

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Voted East County’s BEST Gluten Free Menu

Hello Boulder!

All of us at Japango are excited to welcome you to dine with us this summer. Our four patios are the perfect place to enjoy all your Japango favorites or you can opt for a great indoor dining experience with enhanced cleaning protocols and our air filtration system to keep you safe. And if you want to order for curbside pick up or delivery, we can do that too. Hope to see you soon!

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

‘Where the beer was born’

The story behind Nederland’s Very Nice Brewing Company

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by Michael J. Casey

e brew beers that 50 percent of the people are going to love and 50 percent of the people are

its own version COURTESY VERY NICE BREWING

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and carpeted

Michael J. Casey is the author of , a refreshing history of how a collection of young entrepreneurs like Green turned the cities of Boulder, Longmont, Nederland, and beyond into ground zero for craft beer in the Centennial State.

Locally owned & operated since 2020 HOURS: Monday - Thursday 11am - 10pm • Friday 11am - 11pm • Saturday 9am - 11pm • Sunday 9am - 8pm

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TAKE-OUT AVA I L A B L E

S AT & SU N 9 AM - 2 PM

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TUE-FRI 11AM-2PM

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TUE-THUR 4:30PM-9PM

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F R I & S AT 4:30PM-9:30PM

S U N D AY 4:30PM-9PM

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JOHN LEHNDORFF

bY JOHN LEHNDORFF

TASTE OF THE WEEK:

Monkey bread @ New Moon Bakery

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totally memorable and satisfying treat. Sitting with a good cup of

Another road food attraction

European pastries.

What to do with too many green tomatoes

Echoing Bubba’s transcendent shrimp monologue in Forrest Gump, there must be a thousand things you can do with green tomatoes now that the garden season is over. You can slice them

JOHN LEHNDORFF

crumbs and fry golden brown. Use those slices for fried green tomato Parmesan or as a base for eggs Benedict for brunch

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t’s time again for the March Madness of Boulder’s world-class natural, organic, sustainable food industry. Naturally, Boulder’s 17th Annual Pitch Slam, October 21 on the Boulder Jewish Community Center lawn, is a day of meeting, greeting and tasting for the industry, culminating in the big event.

Of the 20 original companies in the

chutney or jam, pureed for salsa, grilled or

at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes and sauce.

Send detailed information about Boulder County food events, wine dinners, classes, festivals and tastings at least two weeks in advance to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com

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Culinary calendar

ABOVE: Bread served at Nederland.

LEFT: in Denver.

The winner will get a big boost toward becoming a national brand.

YouTube.)

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PHOTOS COURTESY JOE PALEC’S INSTAGRAM

Dangerously whimsical

Joe Palec’s doodles are all over the Front Range cannabis industry

by Caitlin Rockett

E

ven the pizza guy has to come in for a minute to take a look,” Joe Palec’s partner, Andrea Fischer, says, gesturing around the room.

The living room walls of the Santa Fe Art District apartment she shares with Palec are covered in Palec’s mind-bending doodles, a stream-of-consciousness exploration of mythology, literature, and pop culture rendered in thick, black acrylic lines, one idea bleeding into the next—a high school notebook writ large.

“There’s no reason why E.T. should be carrying a pug on his back with tentacle arms feeding pizza to a lunch lady,” Palec says. “Like, it is just the most pure, random thing— that doesn’t make any sense.” makes sense to people, with its offbeat nods to cultural touchstones. And the cannabis industry has taken notice, with companies like O.penVAPE, Magic Buzz and Veritas tapping Palec to create art for packaging, rolling trays, apparel, and even skis.

“The cannabis industry has been super, super helpful in projecting my art career,” Palec says. “The industry has been welcoming to all artists—they are really fueling Denver’s art community right now, from street artists to more traditional artists, they’re all getting work from these cannabis companies, which is incredible. Not a lot of other industries are doing that.”

The Wisconsin native works in the cannabis industry when he’s not creating his “dangerously puts it, for SLANG Worldwide, bringing shipments

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of vape pens, edibles, tinctures and other cannabis goodies to dispensaries around the Denver metro work on his art, and gave him the chance to feature his art in ways he never imagined.

“It wasn’t until I moved [to the Santa Fe Art District] that people started knowing me as an artist,” Palec says. “The cannabis company that I work for now took notice and asked me to do a few things for them. And that slowly turned into other companies noticing, and more companies noticing, and art collectors noticing.”

He’s created T-shirts for O.penVAPE, label art for hemp and CBD oils for Lantern, Veritas Fine Cannabis on rolling trays and Icelantic Skis, and murals for Mammoth Farms and Colorado Harvest Company dispensaries in Denver. He’s doodled on the in Denver and Robertson Glass in Evergreen.

You can even snap pictures with your friends Denver, Seattle, Miami, Atlanta, or San Antonio.

Though he’s been doodling his whole life, Palec never considered a professional career as an artist. Even now, as opportunities continue to surface, Palec jokes that he’s “peaking.”

“It’s hard for me to grasp the idea of being an artist,” he says. “I’m just doing things that make me happy. If this ever isn’t fun, I don’t want to do it anymore.”

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Size matters (and smaller is better)

With CBD salves, the molecular size of the isolate matters—one company is leveraging that to maximize their products’ efficacy

by Will Brendza

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ral cannabidiol (CBD) products have their benefits: They deliver more CBD to a user more directly than any other form of consumption. But they are neither the fastest nor most effective delivery method for CBD. According to multiple recent research papers, transdermal CBD is the fastest form of delivery—that is, through the skin via patches or salves. Scientists aren’t completely sure why, as of yet, but evidence is mounting to support that statement as fact. If you want CBD that will work fast, get something that penetrates your skin.

But for maximum effect, explains Peter Espig, the CEO and director of Sweet Earth Skin Care, CBD producers should consider the molecular size of the isolate used in their CBD products. Skin, as an organ, only allows very small molecules to pass through it and into the body. No matter how much CBD a salve contains, if the molecular size of that isolate is too big, the CBD won’t make it through the epidermis and the dermis and into the subcutaneous tissue.

“The effectiveness of CBD is contingent on the molecular size of the isolate,” Espig says. Your skin won’t absorb large molecules, he explains. “And if the CBD stays on the outside of your skin, it’s not effective.”

With smaller CBD isolate molecules, however, more CBD actually penetrates the skin, getting into the muscles, and into the joints, with less product. In other words, smaller molecule sizes make CBD salves go a lot further and work a lot more potently, according to Espig.

He explains that, generally, most CBD companies making salves, rubs, or transdermal patches are using CBD isolate that has a molecular size of 150 microns (or one-thousandths of a millimeter). According to Espig, that’s the cheapest kind of isolate because it’s comparably large.

But only two to 10 percent of CBD isolate molecules that size will make it all the way through the skin.

That’s why Sweet Earth Skin Care uses CBD isolate with 70 micron molecules, he says. It costs more, certainly, but Espig asserts that the results are well worth the higher price.

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“We’re getting anywhere between 20 to 35 percent penetration to the muscle,” he says. “It’s a completely different type of product. It’s at the level of an ingestible.”

A higher rate of skin penetration means that Sweet Earth can get away with using less CBD in its skin care products.

Where most muscle rubs contain somewhere between 20-30 percent CBD, Sweet Earth’s products contain just 10 percent. It’s not about how much CBD is in the product, Espig says, it’s about how much of the CBD actually makes it through the skin and into the user’s tissue. If a company is selling a 30 percent CBD salve with a 150 micron CBD isolate molecule, their product won’t deliver as much of the CBD isolate as Sweet Earth’s 10 percent rub.

“Our products give you six times more penetration into the muscles,” Espig explains, “which is what you actually want. That’s why you have muscle rub. You’re not after 20 percent or 30 percent or 40 percent [CBD concentration].

What you really want is for the product to work.”

To prove that its products work, Sweet Earth is in the process of conducting its own research to better understand “Companies are out there putting out these products, but they really have no research or documentation behind them doing the opposite.”

Sweet Earth isn’t using just any hemp for the CBD in its products, either. It’s a completely vertically integrated company. Their non-GMO hemp is grown at their own farm in Oregon’s Applegate Valley by farmers growing a proprietary Earth’s products.

And Sweet Earth’s skin care products are organic, gluten-free, cruelty-free, vegan products produced by “the number-one spa product company in the state of California,” according to Espig.

“We teamed up with a company that has 30 years of experience in creating spa grade products. And then we blend those with our [CBD isolate].”

The result is CBD skin care products that are high quality designed to deliver more CBD, faster, than most other CBD products out there.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on this and I think we’re kind of a leader in this industry. [We’re] not just putting things together. We’re putting it together for the sole purpose of effectiveness,” Espig says.

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