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Will Colorado get weekend court?

by Angela K. Evans

Amercans want more renewable energy.

Can ‘community choice’ help them get it?

by Alejandra Borunda, The National Geographic

buzz:

Homegrown chanteuse Dafna trades the halls of Fairview for the art deco walls of Boulder Theater

by Caitlin Rockett

events:

In-person and virtual events to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do

by Boulder Weekly staff

drink:

Shandies, and shandy-adjacent beer, from local breweries to enjoy as the weather gets warmer

by Matt Cortina

weed between the lines:

Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars out of Loveland crafts the world’s first fully hempbodied electric guitar and amp cabinets

by Will Brendza

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departments 4 5 6 13 20 21 22 23 25 29

Just Economics: Toward participatory socialism Guest Column: Ag workers’ rights bill will harm those it purports to help Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views News: Protesting threat of climate bill veto, BAFP collects enough signatures, the end of SB-62 and more Words: ‘Get it Together,’ by Amy Stevens Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Film: Sex and dying in high society with ‘Merrily We Go to Hell’ Savage Love: Shafted Try this: Chorizo and Polenta Special @ The Parkway Cafe Feast: Whey cheesy

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Editor, Matt Cortina Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Senior Editor, Angela K. Evans Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Contributing Writers, Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Sarah Haas, Jim Hightower, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Ryan Syrek, Christi Turner, Betsy Welch, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Sami Wainscott 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, Jivan West May 20, 2021 Volume XXVIII, Number 40 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.

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Toward participatory socialism

by Tom Mayer

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apitalist ideology has a mighty grip on the consciousness of contemporary Americans. It is sometimes said that people in the United States can more readily imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Fortunately, not everyone is so conceptually constrained. In his pathbreaking book Capital and Ideology (Harvard University Press, 2020), the preeminent French economist Thomas Piketty writes: “The study of history has convinced me that it is possible to transcend today’s capitalist system and to outline the contours of a new participatory socialism — a new universalist egalitarian perspective based on social ownership, education, and shared knowledge and power.”

Capital and Ideology presents the elements of a viable participatory socialism as well as a plausible strategy for getting there. Piketty’s version of socialism does not eliminate capital. But it radically equalizes the possession of capital and radically democratizes the exercise of both ecoMAY 20, 2021

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nomic and political power. Recognizing the efficiency and incentivizing advantages of regulated competition, Piketty retains markets for the allocation of labor and for the distribution of many (but not all) commodities. Thus, Marxists would characterize Piketty’s participatory socialism as a democratic form of market socialism.

Capitalism is based on the concentration of economic power in the owners of capital. Thus, transcending capitalism requires curtailing or abolishing the economic power of the capitalist class. This can be accomplished, argues Piketty, by changing the nature of property and ownership.

In Piketty’s participatory socialism, ownership becomes temporary rather than permanent possession, and ownership of capital circulates around the adult population.

Temporary and circulating ownership is implemented in two ways: steeply progressive taxation and a universal capital endowment.

Piketty advocates three radically progressive forms of taxation: an annual income tax, an annual wealth tax and a steep inheritance tax. The exact size of these taxes must be see JUST ECONOMICS Page 5

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

JUST ECONOMICS from Page 4

experientially determined, but here are the orders of magnitude that Piketty has in mind. Annual income 100 times the average might be subject to 70% annual taxation, while annual income 1,000 times the average might face 80% annual taxation. Wealth 100 times the average might experience 10% annual taxation and 70% inheritance taxation. Wealth 1,000 times the average might endure 60% annual taxation and 80% inheritance taxation.

Progressive taxation of this magnitude would clearly prevent any huge accumulations of income or wealth. It would rapidly and drastically reduce both income and wealth variation.

The income tax would also pay for education, health care, retirement, unemployment insurance, guaranteed annual income, plus imperative environmental expenditures.

As a means of circulating property, every young adult at age 25 would receive a capital endowment equivalent to about 60% of average wealth.

This endowment would be financed by the wealth taxes mentioned above and could be used as the recipient wishes. This universal capital endowment would be complemented by new rules of business governance according to which workers receive a substantial and expanding share of votes on all corporate boards. The voting share exercised by workers would eventually become a majority in large firms. Moreover, a ceiling would be placed on the votes of large private shareholders. These rule changes aim at a gradual substitution of social ownership for private ownership of productive enterprises.

Participatory socialism also requires liberating the state from plutocratic dominance. To facilitate such liberation, Piketty recommends a low ceiling on individual political contributions combined with what he calls “democratic equality vouchers.”

According to the latter, each citizen would receive an annual voucher, worth say $20, which could be contributed to any political party or movement of the person’s choice.

These financial revisions, Piketty acknowledges, are necessary but not sufficient conditions for rendering government truly democratic.

A viable participatory socialism must address climate change and establish an ecologically sustainable

economic system. With this in mind, Piketty recommends a carbon tax, but emphasizes that it must be supplemented by strict regulations prohibiting environmentally destructive activities. Noting that high-income persons bear disproportional responsibility for carbon emissions, he advises that the carbon tax be added to the progressive income tax rather than levied separately. He also claims that the greatly reduced income inequality of participatory socialism will itself decrease carbon emissions and other environmentally destructive behaviors.

Piketty considers education extremely important for durable social equality.

“Emancipation through education and diffusion of knowledge must be at the heart of any project to build a just society and participatory socialism,” he writes.

Hence participatory socialism must equalize educational funding (public and private) across all income levels and all scholastic durations. Preventing the reemergence of social hierarchy requires that any disadvantaged communities receive ample educational resources of the highest quality.

Piketty’s participatory socialism is not a fully egalitarian society. Indeed, it is best understood as a route towards participatory socialism rather than a completely socialist system.

But in contrast to many socialist utopias, establishment of Piketty’s participatory socialism does not seem politically impossible and would not entail major violence.

If implemented, it would achieve at least four vital objectives: 1) decisively breaking with capitalism, 2) greatly reducing economic inequality, 3) forming an environmentally sustainable economy and 4) eliminating poverty.

A just society, Piketty maintains, is not a completely equal one. Rather, a just society is one in which the least advantaged person has the highest possible life conditions. Such a society maximizes the minimum social welfare and thus could be called a maximin social system. And among realistically attainable social systems, Piketty’s participatory socialism might well be maximin.

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

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Agricultural workers’ rights bill will harm those it purports to help

by Bruce Talbott, President, Colorado Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

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enate bill 21-087, Agricultural Workers’ Rights, contrary to its title, will significantly reduce the paychecks of Colorado ag employees.

A Colorado farmworker under the U.S. temporary worker program, known as H2-A, currently earns $14.82 per hour and also benefits from housing and transportation provided by the farmer. Coloradans hired for the same jobs make the same amount. Many of these employees work 70 hours a week during peak season and earn $4,461 per month.

Under this bill, the same worker would make $2,549 per month for a 40-hour work week, a 43% reduction in income.

Colorado farm workers, like their employers, expect to work long hours during the growing season. If this bill passes, farmers and ranchers will be required to pay overtime to employees who work more than 12 hours per day or 40 hours per week.

Agriculture has always been exempted from paying employees overtime, because unlike any other industry, the Colorado growing season is short and the weather cannot be controlled. Also, unlike other industry, farmers do not have the ability to pass on increased costs — labor or otherwise — to customers. They are in the position of MAY 20, 2021

having to take the price buyers offer them during harvest time.

Produce growers say that workers like to come to Colorado, because they know they can make a lot of money in the short amount of time they are away from their homes and families. Both foreign and American farm workers face lower incomes and job losses if this bill passes, because farmers who are unable to survive under these overtime rules will likely either sell to development or begin raising crops that can be cultivated and harvested mechanically.

Taking the biggest hit are organic produce growers. Human-conducted hand-weeding is the only option for this type of production. In addition to the overtime requirements, this bill proposes to severely restrict handweeding.

SB21-087 would likely reduce the amount of produce raised in the state.

Instead of Pueblo Chile, Olathe Sweet Corn, Palisade Peaches, Rocky Ford Melons and other more generic Colorado produce the public enjoys during summer and early fall, consumers can expect to see more produce from other states and foreign countries on grocery shelves. What a shame.

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

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Correction: Last week’s Weed Between the Lines (RE: “Getting legalization ‘right,’” May 13), incorrectly listed members of CPEAR. The story has been updated online for accuracy. We apologize.

WHAT WE CAN DO Want to thank Chuck Wright for his letter “Move the Needle on Gun Violence” (Re: Letters, May 13). I appreciate the proposed “outside the box” ideas to address the causes of gun violence instead of just throwing more ineffective and unpopular gun control legislation at the problem (kind of like throwing more drugs at cancer instead of addressing the causes of that). State by state or city by city legislation doesn’t work because anyone can cross any state or city line and still get whatever gun they want. We need an intelligent nationwide approach.

What do countries with much less gun violence do that the U.S. is not doing? Are people who are healthy, happy, welcome in the community, well fed and uniquely respected likely to commit gun violence? It would seem not.

How about we look to put people to work in healthy regenerative agriculture and energy sourcing and shoring up our infrastructure; consider transitioning into a more sustainable (not consumer-based) economy; reduce our focus and spending on militarist activities; and provide maternity/early childhood parental leave, secondary education and fullspectrum health care for all who want it at no extra cost to The People? Rep. Judy Amabile said, “... what can we do in terms of mental health that will make it easier to get an appointment with a psychiatrist than it is to go buy a gun,” (Re: “The tide has turned,” News, May 13).

Yes, what can we do that will make it easier to do anything except buy a gun and randomly shoot people when we are upset? Why do we even think that is an option?

R. Lawrence/Boulder

POLICING IN AMERICA Americans are struggling with the need to re-imagine policing of America. Americans know of uses of force and violence against Native Americans, slaves, Mexicans, women and children. Consider the fear which our police officers must experience in a nation overflowing with guns. This makes it difficult to compare American police encounters to nations with few weapons. Police in 17 nations carry no guns, including Norway, the U.K. (excepting Northern Ireland), New Zealand and Ireland. Here is a summary of police/citizen outcomes: Average number of deaths per year from police: Australia: 5; Austria: 1; Denmark: 2; Finland: 3; France: 10; Germany: 8; Netherlands: 3; Norway: 1; England and Wales: 2; South Africa: 400; U.S.: 1,140.

After massacres in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, their government successfully offered to buy back weapons. Just imagine statues across America... doves, children on swings, kites... made of melteddown weapons!

Barry Karlin/Lafayette THE FILIBUSTER SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF OUR MISERY The filibuster is an archaic relic of America’s racist past. The rule has no place in a modern democracy.

In the past century, segregationists and white supremacists have brandished the filibuster to block over 200 anti-lynching bills and to frustrate passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 60 days. It is prime time to slay this racist cudgel.

“Democratic” Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are acutely aware of this history as they continue to express support for the filibuster. I urge them and the rest of the Senate to have courage and get rid of the filibuster this summer.

Americans voted for a progressive national agenda — we can’t let a minority of senators continue to protect racist policies using the filibuster.

Rob Edward/Louisville see LETTERS Page 7

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MAY 20, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

LETTERS from Page 6

COLORADO LEGALIZATION IS A JOKE Shame on you, Andrew Freedman! (Re: “Getting legalization ‘right,’” Weed Between the Lines, May 13) The fact is legalization has been a transfer of wealth from the growers and pioneers who carried this medicine (in constant fear of incarceration) for decades into the hands of the state and venture capitalists with little regard to the growers, the patients and the culture who carried this medicine for generations. This is a grand theft-total larceny at its finest because of the way the State of Colorado structured this “legalization”! It has left the workers and patients behind. In the beginning, workers were subjected to hazardous pesticides and unscrupulous owners whose main concern was the bottom line and filling their pockets and state government pockets. This industry should’ve been set up like the trades with fair wages for all workers and appropriate benefits and a living wage. Instead owners and workers get screwed with owners paying exorbitant taxes and workers getting between $10 and $15 an hour typically with no benefits and mostly 1099ed. Shame on you, Colorado state government.

Not to mention a mediocre product that is mostly machine trimmed with potential mold and bugs.

Colorado legalization is a joke.

Know your grower or grow it yourself. Boycott dispensaries!

William C. Donohoe/Boulder SPEAK UP FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES Great news to hear a majority of Americans support the President’s American Families Plan (RE: “Democrats become the progressive family values party,” The Anderson Files, May 13.) Yet, why do questions remain about the possibility of its passage? If members of Congress hear from their constituents about the importance of this legislation,

the roadblocks to passage would be removed. Political will is created when our calls and letters keep pouring in and our follow-up continues asking the question “What is holding up passage of the American Families Plan?” Democracy works when we use our voices to call on our representatives (202-224-3121) to take action! If they don’t, the ballot box is our next option.

Willie Dickerson/ Snohomish, Washington A WIN-WIN FOR ALL As a small business owner and Medicaid consultant, I’ve worked hard to support Coloradans and small businesses alike, and help them navigate the complexities of Medicaid and commercial insurance requirements, enrollments, billing and claims. And yet, I am still unable to provide comprehensive health care coverage for my own employees. Instead, we offer a paid subscription to a concierge doctor that addresses all of our primary care needs. But this is simply not enough to keep them and their families safe and to keep small businesses like me competitive.

We are living in a time when no one — and I mean no one — can afford to not have access to health care. This is why we need the Colorado Health Insurance Option to lower costs and expand options for hard-working Coloradans who are struggling to access coverage.

Passing the Colorado Option will create a standardized benefit plan, which will be available to the individual and small group market through private insurance carriers. It would be a win-win for small businesses and consumers alike.

The future of our small business community lies in their ability to provide affordable health care that works for everyone, not just for big companies. It is time to stop talking and take action.

Stephanie Farrell, owner of Left Hand Management, Englewood

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Legislation and a lawsuit Will Colorado get weekend court?

by Angela K. Evans

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t all started on Aug. 23, 2019. Michelle Reynolds, a wife, mom and home-hospice care provider, was driving to Grand Junction for a niece’s volleyball game when she got pulled over for speeding. When the second officer arrived, she knew something was wrong. Before she knew it, she was arrested without any more information than she had a warrant out of Boulder County. But she didn’t live or work in Boulder County. None of it made sense.

The first few days in jail were “horrific.” She was physically assaulted and traumatized by another inmate. On the fourth day, she was brought in front of a Mesa County judge, who didn’t approve her release, saying that since it was a Boulder County warrant, Boulder County had to deal with it. So she waited for a transport.

More than a week passed. She still had no idea why she had been arrested in the first place.

Eventually she was picked up and taken to Jefferson County, where she spent another night waiting for the Boulder County transport. By the time it came, it was late and she had to spend another night in Boulder County Jail.

The next day she went before a judge, where she was immediately given a personal recognizance bond (meaning she didn’t have to pay) and released. Soon after, the entire case was dismissed and sealed.

“Fifteen days, 6 hours and 23 minutes that I spent in jail for no reason. That’s time I can’t get back,” she told the Colorado House Judiciary Committee on May 5. “More than just the financial burden of it, I lost me. I provide hospice care for those in the last minutes of their life and I am not emotionally strong enough to do that right now.”

Reynolds was testifying in support of a proposed measure (HB21-1280) that would require initial bond hearings within 48 hours of an individual’s arrival to jail. It’s the same story laid out in a federal complaint filed by the ACLU against Mesa County Sheriff Matt Lewis, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle and the chief judge in Mesa County, Brian Flynn. In seeking damages for Reynolds, it alleges that the sheriffs in particular knowingly failed to provide prompt and timely transport, according to communications exchanged between the two offices.

“Basically they took their sweet time and they sort of agreed to take their sweet time,” says Mark Silverstein, ACLU of Colorado legal director, who is representing Reynolds. “The exigency should be apparent because somebody is sitting in a jail with no opportunity for pretrial release. So it’s like, come on, you need to get on it. Somebody’s liberty is at stake.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

The lawsuit, Silverstein says, is not only a way for Reynolds to “take some control of that experience and fight back,” but it also raises awareness of the issue HB-1280 is seeking to address.

If passed, the bill would require jurisdictions around the state to hold weekend court proceedings in order to meet the 48-hour bond hearing requirement. It would also allow hearings to be conducted online or by phone and would create a statewide bond hearing officer position to conduct weekend and holiday hearings.

Three Colorado counties — Weld, Jefferson and Denver — already hold weekend court, and at least seven different states and Washington D.C. already require a bond hearing within 48 hours of an individual’s arrival to jail.

“This bill really makes no changes to what’s happening Tuesdays through Fridays,” says Denise Maes, public policy director of the ACLU of Colorado. “And so, we’re just saying that we want that to happen on the weekends.”

But the proposed measure has received some pushback from law enforcement and district attorneys across the state, who say it doesn’t provide any funding for their offices to staff weekends, and only a small number of cases would actually need to be heard on these days.

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty says his colleagues across the state, in general, support the idea of timely bond hearings, but are concerned about the associated cost, especially in rural districts where one DA’s office can cover multiple counties.

“I fully support this concept in this bill, but I also think it’s a mistake for the state of Colorado to just put that on counties, without accepting any responsibility for the good and positive changes we want to see happen,” he says. “It becomes an issue of staffing and finances, which is the less exciting part of criminal justice reform. But to me, an important part of making it last and making it sustainable.”

Virtual hearings could alleviate some of this, Dougherty says, but not all.

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle says the measure could be a positive step for jails, in that the 48-hour requirement could alleviate overcrowding especially on holidays and three-day weekends. But it would also cost his office to staff up for weekend I

bond hearings.

“The upside is people would get bonded sooner, spend less time in jail, cut down on our cost, and that kind of thing,” he says. “The downside is that the Sheriff ’s office, the public defender, the district attorney and the courts, none of us are staffed for this on the weekends.”

Pelle says that in conjunction with other proposed legislation this year (HB-1211, which restricts the use of solitary confinement in jails, and HB-1250, which would change the way law enforcement is permitted to use deadly force), he’s concerned about how to fund the requirement for weekend bond hearings.

“There’s a ton of data-gathering requirements.

There’s a ton of staffing requirements and nobody’s putting up any money,” he says. “They’re just saying you have to do this.”

(Pelle didn’t comment on Reynolds’ complaint, other than to say it was a “systems issue.”)

Dougherty adds that these weekend shifts would also cover a relatively small number of cases, especially compared to other jurisdictions that already hold weekend court. Silverstein, however, says that the ACLU of Colorado has heard of at least a half-dozen cases like Reynolds’ over the years, some of which have ended in lawsuits and settlements.

“And I think that if we’ve heard of it happening that much, I think that means that it happens a bunch more. We’re not going to hear about every case,” Silverstein says.

For the ACLU, it’s a matter of constitutionally protected rights, of guilty until proven innocent and the right to a prompt bond hearing and pretrial release.

And it’s up to the legislature, courts and counties to figure out how to pay for it.

“We really believe that this is constitutionally required,” Maes says. “There are things in the constitution that are unfunded mandates, but they nonetheless are probably, in the long run, a lot cheaper than a lawsuit.”

As of press time, HB-1280 was still in discussions on the House floor.

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Americans want more renewable energy. Can ‘community choice’ help them get it?

by Alejandra Borunda, The National Geographic Editor’s note: A bill to study community choice energy (or aggregation) at the Public Utilities Commission, sponsored

by Rep. Edie Hooten from Boulder, is currently being discussed in the House, after passing out of the Appropriations Committee on May 14.

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he problem, as Dawn Weisz saw it back in the mid-2000s, was straightforward. She and other residents of Marin County, California, wanted green power. But only 16% of the electricity that PG&E, the local utility, was delivering to its 250,000 customers was renewable.

Frustratingly, Weisz and other community members didn’t have any say about what went into that mix.

The county government — for which Weisz worked at the time — had set ambitious decarbonization goals and had found that cleaning up their power supply would be the best first step forward. But they couldn’t force the utility to go green any faster.

So she and others organized to form a “community choice aggregator,” or CCA — a nonprofit that took over buying electricity for Marin from a variety of producers.

Within a year they were providing 50% renewable power to nearly everyone in the county. Today, 10 years after its founding, Marin Clean Energy, (now known as MCE since they serve more than just Marin), has expanded to cover more than a million people and provides just over 60% renewable power.

“To double, and then triple the amount of renewable content people are getting really had a dramatic impact on our carbon footprint, and that was really our goal,” Weisz says.

Marin is at the vanguard of a trend. The model of using CCAs as an environmental force has spread rapidly in recent years in the nine states where the law currently allows them; six other states are considering CCA legislation. Nationwide, some 100 CCAs are offering green electricity alternatives. The ones in California alone have 11 million customers.

“There is huge unmet demand 10

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for renewable energy,” says Kelly Trumbull, a researcher at UCLA who has analyzed California’s CCAs. “Especially as the climate crisis gets worse, people are looking for ways to help move the transition forward.”

BY POPULAR DEMAND

Polling confirms Trumbull’s point: Americans really, really want green energy. Pew Research Center surveys show that 79% of respondents, across political lines, want the U.S.

to develop more alternative energy resources, such as solar and wind. That support has increased more than 15 percentage points since 2011.

Today, the power sector accounts for about 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Its emissions have decreased about 8% over the last decade, as coal plants retired and renewable sources grew, buoyed by their plummeting cost. Photovoltaic power, for example, has gotten 82% cheaper since 2010.

And yet the energy transition hasn’t been moving nearly fast enough to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 — the goal scientists say is necessary in order to keep the planet from warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, and the goal the Biden administration has now adopted for the United States. Even in California, which in 2006 first instituted climate goals that forced utilities to increase renewable power generation every year, those increases have been slow compared MAY 20, 2021

to the rate scientists recommend and many concerned citizens are demanding.

“There’s definitely this grassroots interest in procuring renewable energy,” says Michelle Davis, a solar expert at energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. “Customers are really wanting to take more control over their power.”

Some who can afford it put solar panels on their homes, supplying their own electricity needs and perhaps ADAM BEUHLER

even feeding some back to the grid.

Others have banded together to form community solar “gardens” that do the same. But most Americans still have little ability to influence the greenness of their power, and by extension little clout with which to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

WHAT’S A CCA?

In CCAs, Weisz and others like her have found a tool that can help.

Community choice aggregation lets a city, county or a group of them take over the role of buying power for the community.

In states like California with so-called regulated electricity, utilities such as PG&E have traditionally had three distinct roles: buying power from generating plants; building and maintaining the transmission lines; and providing service to consumers. In other states like Massachusetts, which have “restructured” I

systems, utilities run the transmission and customer-service sides, but customers can choose from different power suppliers.

In both regulated and restructured states, provided a state law allows it, CCAs can take over the power-buying part of the process. Once a local government chooses to form or join a CCA, everyone in the service territory is automatically opted in (though they can choose to leave if they like). By grouping together lots of customers, a CCA gets more negotiating leverage.

Unlike utilities, CCAs are nonprofits and are governed locally, which advocates say makes them more reflective of the community’s needs and desires. When they first emerged in the 1990s, they were mostly used to negotiate lower electricity rates; in states like Ohio and Illinois, that’s still the primary goal for many CCAs. But in California, CCAs started to use them explicitly to forward climate goals.

At first, adoption was slow. MCE formed in 2010 despite vigorous opposition from utilities. The next to form was Sonoma Clean Power in 2014. “There’s been almost exponential growth since then,” says Trumbull. Now, 23 CCAs across the state are in charge of buying power for more than 11 million people — nearly a third of California residents.

“It’s not just California — we’re seeing rapid growth in Massachusetts and other states,” including heavily populated New York, says Joseph Nyangon, an energy economist at the University of Delaware. Legislation that would enable CCAs is in discussion from Arizona to Maryland.

“I would bet that several more have this by next year, and that could be quite significant for the [renewables] market,” Nyangon says.

EMISSIONS IMPACTS

So, are CCAs accelerating the energy transition? A recent UCLA report led by Trumbull suggests that in California, the answer is yes.

In 2018 the state updated its renewables goals, aiming to reach 100% carbon-free power by 2045,

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

with an interim goal of 33% by 2020.

Almost all the California CCAs exceeded that interim goal: In 2019, they provided an average of about 50% renewable power, whereas large utilities averaged less than 40% (though they too exceeded the state goal). The UCLA report found that CCAs indirectly nudged the utilities into a more renewables-heavy energy mix, primarily because as customers leave the utilities for CCAs, the utilities — which still have green power contracts in hand — end up with more renewable energy serving their smaller customer base.

In total, CCAs caused nearly 50 million megawatt hours of renewables to be used in place of fossil fuel sources between 2011 and 2019. That contribution is still relatively small — California uses about five times that much electricity each year — but it’s expected to grow quickly: By the end of 2021, more than 40% of the state’s customers will likely be part of a CCA. Several of the newer CCAs, such as southern California’s Clean Power Alliance, default their customers into 100% renewable power. Some 93% of the Alliance’s 3 million customers stick with that option, which pushes up demand for renewables and helps to “put steel in the ground,” says Ted Bardacke, the executive director. Across the state, CCAs have contracted for about 6,000 megawatts of new solar, wind and other renewables projects, according to the trade association CalCCA. California is going to get to 100% renewables one way or another, but “it’s safe to say that the CCAs are going to accelerate that,” says Eric O’Shaughnessy, an energy researcher with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Nationally, the scale of CCAs’ potential is less clear. They have become the primary tool people use to get greener power than that required by their own state, O’Shaughnessy and colleagues found in a 2019 analysis; in 2017, about 100 of the nation’s roughly 750 CCAs offered greener options than the state baseline. Most of them were still focused on getting cheaper power rather than driving down emissions — though, as Nyangon notes, today those often go hand in hand.

If the states with CCA laws on the books continued to expand their green power customer base, and if the states considering CCA legislation

pass it and follow in the same pattern, O’Shaughnessy and his colleagues calculated that CCAs could provide about 20 to 30 million megawatt hours of extra renewable energy per year. That works out to about 2% of the national load.

Given the scale of the climate challenge, every nudge helps, says Bardacke. “I don’t think it’s an eitheror situation,” he says. “It’s and, and.”

VALUE BEYOND CARBON

Along with clean energy, many communities have been calling for equity in the energy transition. Some have demanded that CCAs provide local jobs while pursuing renewables, or help make rooftop solar and energy efficiency measures available to residents who can’t afford them.

Richmond, California, north of Berkeley on San Francisco Bay, is a good example: It wanted both local solar power and good jobs for community members. So the city government asked MCE to develop a 10.5-megawatt solar farm right in town. They negotiated a cheap lease of an unused 60-acre parcel at the Chevron refinery (Chevron offered it as part of a “modernization” effort undertaken a few years after a disastrous refinery fire). In the end, nearly 60% of the workers who built the “Solar One” plant lived within city limits — including 41 trainees from a low-income workforce training program called RichmondBUILD. Today, the refinery’s rust-red tanks loom from a hill overlooking the solar farm. During peak sunshine hours, the high-pitched whine of inverters — like a constantly ringing fire alarm — signals that solar energy is being transformed into electricity, enough to power about 3,900 local homes.

Turkeys strut and jackrabbits hop among the steel racks supporting the 78,000 panels, half of which follow the arc of the sun overhead.

The site accounts for only a few percent of MCE’s peak load, but for Fred Lucero, the director of RichmondBUILD, the value goes beyond the energy produced. “With a project like Solar One, we were able to lift all the boats in the harbor,” he says.

This story is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems.

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Protesters demonstrate against threat of climate bill veto

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group of protesters are donning red robes and clock-face masks outside the state Capitol this week to protest a potential veto by Gov. Jared Polis of Senate Bill 21-200, dubbed Reduce Greenhouse Gases Increase Environmental Justice.

Environmentalists and community members gathered on the front steps in hopes of changing Polis’ stated position that he would veto the bill if it reaches his desk. The bill would streamline and strengthen greenhouse gas emissions targets, and put in benchmarks for specific industries to meet.

The bill would require such standards to be put in place by March 2022.

SB 21-200 is (as of press time on May 19) being considered by the state Senate.

The bill follows up on 2019 legislation that outlines a roadmap for meeting greenhouse gas emissions, but oversight of the path toward fewer emissions, done by the governor-appointed Air Quality Control Commission, has left environmentalists wanting more stringent guidelines.

Colorado Energy Office Director Will Toor pushed back on the assertion that the roadmap doesn’t require enough action in a lengthy Twitter post outlining how it is not “just an aspirational document based on voluntary actions by the private sector.” Toor cited emission reduction benchmarks from energy providers Xcel and Black Hills Energy, as well as

legislation and enacted vehicle standards to claim that progress is being made.

But for environmentalists (wearing clocks because the state is “out of time” to act on the climate), legislation like SB 21-200 would provide more accountability in meeting the state’s energy goals.

NOAA: The West is indeed hot and dry, despite the recent rain

Bedrooms Are for People meet signature threshold

he U.S. is one degree hotter than it was 20 years ago, and many parts of the West are significantly drier than in the past. That’s according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studying typical temperatures and precipitation across the country over the last 30 years.

Although Boulder County is out of drought, much of the Western Slope (as well as Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada) are still in severe drought.

The data is useful in the context of greater climate change data — tracking “normal” temperatures provides an indication of current trends that are best understood in in the context of a longer period of data (which NOAA does, in its tracking from 1900 on). Simply put, “normals” help us understand how climate change impacts everyday weather. It’s like the Census — a short-framed count that adds to a body of data to produce a better understanding of ongoing trends.

That all said, the recent NOAA data does indicate the impacts of climate change are being felt. In addition to the West being drier and hotter — as has been the trend over the years —the Southeast, prone to flooding from storms and hurricanes, is wetter than it was in the past.

For the full data set, go to ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/briefings/20210420.pdf.

ast year, organizers for Bedrooms Are for People (BAFP), who were circulating a petition to increase housing occupancy limits to the amount of bedrooms in a home plus one, were given incorrect information by the City of Boulder and had to scrap their petition.

This year, things are different. Using the City’s digital signaturegathering platform, Boulder Direct Democracy Online, organizers announced this week they’ve collected the 3,336 signatures needed to get their measure on the ballot come November.

Once the City certifies the petition next month, organizers say it’ll be the first initiative in the nation to secure a spot on the ballot via an online petitioning system.

Because the signatures were collected digitally, voter identification and verification was partly done in the process of signing the ballot — though there were wrinkles to iron out, which BAFP organizers took the lead on resolving. Still, the City will review the signatures by June 15 and either legally certify the measure for the ballot or send it back to organizers with 10 days to collect enough signatures to meet the threshold.

The announcement that BAFP met the signature threshold marks a milestone for the online signature-gathering process, which City voters approved in 2018, and which was finally implemented for the 2021 election cycle.

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Democrats pull SB-62, introduce new arrest standards bill

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enate Democrats have pulled SB-62, which would have changed arrest standards across the state by increasing the use of summons instead of arrest for low-level misdemeanor and felony offenses like traffic violations and drug offenses where public safety or ongoing criminal behavior aren’t a concern. The bill saw pushback from law enforcement agencies across the state, including those in Boulder (see News, “Boulder

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could play central role in shaping state pretrial reform legislation,” March 25). The bill sponsors said widespread misinformation after fierce public debate on social media and elsewhere contributed to their decision, as it wasn’t clear if they’d win a majority in the Senate.

Instead, on Friday, May 14, Democrats introduced replacement legislation that leaves out the least severe felonies mentioned in the previous bill, but still would require the use of summons for traffic, municipal and nonviolent misdemeanor crimes.

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PHOTOS BY JIVAN WEST

Boulder’s sweetheart gets ‘Sweeter’

Homegrown chanteuse Dafna trades the halls of Fairview for the art deco walls of Boulder Theater

by Caitlin Rockett

H

as anyone here ever been in love?” Dafna Margalit asks a crowd.

It’s 2018, and Margalit, then a senior at Fairview High School, is about to perform an original song at a school talent show.

Someone calls back emphatically in the negative.

“Well, I haven’t either,” Margalit says, pacing a bit. Her voice is warm, her ensemble unassuming. “And it hasn’t been because I haven’t wanted to. I’ve been busy: with school, getting a life.” She pauses as the crowd laughs.

“I also realize, I just haven’t had much of a selection to choose from.”

The crowd whoops at Margalit’s jab. She’s only able to deadpan for a second before pulling the mic away to laugh at herself. Moments later she’s pouring her charm into a jazzy lament about disappointment called “I only love you (when I’m alone).”

Three years later, Margalit has traded the halls of Fairview for the sandstone walls of CU Boulder, swapped auditoriums for nightclubs, but kept the gentle humor and self-effacing demeanor. Performing mononymously under her first name, the classically trained pianist (and self-taught guitarist, drummer and bassist) has crafted and self-released two albums of shimmering bedroom pop built around vulnerable lyrics, addictive hooks and endearingly coquettish vocals. She’s racked up more than a million streams on Spotify and amassed a following of more than 67,000 on TikTok, where her videos (also typically produced in her bedroom) sometimes garner tens of thousands of likes.

On May 22, she’ll celebrate the release of her new EP, Sweeter, with an intimate show at Boulder Theater.

But she still hasn’t been in love — not exactly.

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“I haven’t truly had my heart ‘When Things Turn broken yet,” was how she put it to Sour”: An Evening 303 Magazine in late April.

With Dafna. 8 p.m. Saturday, May 22, Boulder Her lyrics, however, prove Theater, 2032 14th St., Margalit is familiar with pain, knows Boulder. Tickets are how to dissect it, as in her most $30-$32, recent single, “Bitter”: bouldertheater.com “You tried a little to give it a taste / Didn’t suit you so you / Tried to replace it / With something sweeter / Didn’t think I’d leave ya / But trust me this is better for the both of us.”

On the damp patio of Trident one morning about a week before the Boulder Theater show, again stylish but unassuming in wide legged jeans adorned with stars, Margalit says her work is a blend of lived and watched experiences.

“I can make [my experiences] more dramatic, but mostly I’ve not had any traumatic events happen to me,” she says.

“Trying to find inspiration is usually then looking at other people, either my family or my friends when they tell me stories.”

When Margalit was in middle school, before she even began writing songs, she would read One Direction fan fiction on the Wattpad app.

“And some of them are like, really good stories,” she says.

“I would like the sort of theme — it was like, maybe I’ll write a song about that.”

Margalit also found inspiration in higher-brow literature.

“Bitter,” the second single from the new EP, features dialog between a man and a woman speaking to each other in desperate tones about faith and humanity.

“I pulled it from the 1930s (film) version of Crime and I

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Punishment,” she says. “I read it in high school, and I really liked how it played with the idea of guilt after murdering someone, so I ended up crafting the EP around that, where it just gets darker as you go on. By ‘Sour,’ the final chapter, the guilt has consumed me.”

Of course Margalit hasn’t killed anyone, but like any thoughtful human — a Gen Z who inherently understands the world is complex, demanding and inequitable — she carries anxiety.

“I wrote ‘Sweeter’ while I was still in high school,” she says, “and at that point I was seeing a close friend of mine going through something really hard and I wanted to help as much as I could, but there was only so much I could do. I couldn’t take on everything that she was going through. [The song] was me [processing] the idea that I feel guilty that if my life is going well, I can’t take a little bit from someone else’s pain and make their life easier. Like, I wish it was a Communist sort of thing where it’s all equal.”

“If I keep on moving / I won’t have time to fall apart,” Margalit sings on the R&Btinged track. “But I can’t control / What I didn’t start / I see distant hands reaching / They’re grasping at straws / They struggle for air / I sit still and stare.”

While the outside world may color Margalit’s music, it’s her inner world that draws the picture.

“When you write a song about your high school crush but release it three years later so he won’t think it’s about him,” she captions over a TikTok video of her make-up-free face while “Sweeter” plays in the background.

“I keep thinking about how there are other people who perceive me and it makes me uncomfortable like please look away,” she captions in another. In yet another, “Stream my songs so I can afford the therapy I so clearly need.”

Her two previous albums, I LOVE YOU and submerge, both released in 2020, feel deeply personal, even diaristic. But unlike the most diaristic of all sirens, Taylor Swift, whose work is notoriously watermarked by her personal experiences, Margalit makes broader brush strokes, understanding that the emotion is more important than the details.

Across Margalit’s body of work she weaves themes of yearning, guilt, indifference, confusion and acceptance — the ingredients for a hearty stew of emotions — without ever taking herself too seriously. Songs often show Margalit confidently declaring her stance in the early verses (“I work better by myself”) before walking back at the end (“I guess I’m fine by myself”).

“I can’t really stick to one thing I say,” she says with a laugh. “So I’m like, at this point in time, that’s what was right for me. I have to leave it open so it can be OK if I change my mind later.”

Wise words from a 20 year old. But wisdom aside, she keeps her tongue planted firmly in her cheek with songs like the 2021 single “Light of My Life:” “I can’t replace you / Even after all I did was break you / If I could face you / I would never let you out of my sight” “Imagine releasing a song and everyone thinks it’s about your ex but it’s about your favorite pair of sunglasses that you broke two years ago,” she captions over her face on TikTok. The Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life” is about pot, the “Electric Slide” is about a vibrator, and “Closing Time” by Semisonic is about the birth of a child; Dafna just joins the greats in her command of the double entendre.

And though she’s playing runs and fills that evoke the whimsy of Fiona Apple, writing lyrics as reversible and accessible as a David Byrne work, and self-producing tracks that would make FINNEAS and Billie nod in approval, Margalit is still a college student working through a degree in electrical engineering, trying to fit all the pieces together as best she can. There’s sometimes more work to be done — for school, for her music — then there is time. At Trident she mentions relief over having learned she passed a class she feared she’d need to retake.

College was her mom’s idea — her mom’s insistence, actually — when Margalit mentioned wanting to take a gap year to search for herself a bit.

“I guess I never really read into all of the stuff I was doing and why I was doing it,” Margalit says of her choice to study engineering. “And I kinda [did] stuff because I thought that was what I liked. I would use my older siblings as an example. Both of my older siblings also did engineering, so I don’t know how much of it is me, what I like to do, or just because I’m doing what I saw them do. I’m honestly still at that point where I don’t really know... I mean, I know that I love music, and engineering is interesting, but I’m always thinking, would I have done that if my siblings hadn’t done that? Probably not.”

Where music is concerned, however, she knows where she stands.

“This next year I’ll be focused on working on my next album,’ she says. “That’s the goal is to have that done by like March next year. Then graduate. Then tour.”

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Events

events

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

AFTER TABLE MESA MONDAY: HOW DO WE HEAL A COMMUNITY?

11:30 a.m. Friday, May 21, via Zoom (free, but donations appreciated): interfaceboulder.org What can we do for our community after a trauma like the one on March 22 in South Boulder? Community Mental Health agencies and churches have gotten involved to process and address the community’s needs. Engaging in their passions for helping those in a spiritual crisis and those in trauma, two speakers will present their work in healing the community and individuals affected by the tragedy at Table Mesa King Soopers: Rev. Nicole Lamarche, minister at Community United Church of Christ, and Susan Bellas, regional director of Mental Health Partners.

‘GONE TO THE DOGS’ PHOTO EXHIBIT.

Through May 31. North Boulder Recreation Center, 3170 Broadway, Boulder.

This photo exhibit has gone to the dogs! Loveable, funny, comforting and guileless, dogs are man’s best friend for a reason, and this photo exhibit captures the moments that bind people with our four-legged friends.

THE COLORADO IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COALITION PRESENTS ALAN PELAEZ LOPEZ.

7 p.m. Thursday, May 20, coloradoimmigrant.org.

Admission is $5.

Motus Theater is sponsoring a Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition virtual performance featuring poetry from, and a Q&A with, AfroIndigenous poet Alan Pelaez Lopez. In his reading, Lopez will share published and unpublished work about growing up undocumented in the United States, Black embodiments and their insistence on the imagination as a tool of liberation. Lopez currently serves on the steering committee of the Black LGBT Migrant Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the lives of immigrants and refugees by making Colorado a more welcoming, immigrantfriendly state.

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ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY: LIVE MUSIC AND CRAFTS AT THE MUSEUM OF BOULDER.

11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 22, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder, museumofboulder.org.

Included with admission to the Museum of Boulder.

Head to Museum of Boulder for an afternoon of music and dance brought to you by Cultural Caravan with standard admission to the Museum. Paul Erhard, Joshua Halpern, Catherine Hunziker and Andrew Wilder perform in multiple galleries throughout the museum. Stop by the exhibit “Daughters of the Sun” and learn about how you can protect monarch butterflies from going extinct to celebrate Endangered Species Day. Special craft projects will be included.

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COURTESY FIREHOUSE ART CENTER

‘ONE THING, AND THEN ANOTHER’: SAMANTHA FISHER, JOSEPH CAVALIERI, MARK FERREL, MONTOYA BARELA.

Through July 4, Firehouse Art Center, Fourth and Coffman, Longmont, firehouseart.org In “One Thing and Then Another” the Firehouse Art Center presents four painters addressing the gray spaces between ideas and reality. While looking at the world around us, we see one thing, and then another. All four artists draw from childhood and memory, combining the real and the absurd — achieving a cumulative expression of what it’s like to love the world as a child and then reflect as an adult, blending a mature perspective with the cultural aesthetics and naive playfulness of youth.

JESTERS DINNER THEATRE PRESENTS ‘OLIVER!’

May 21-August 28, Jesters Dinner Theatre, 224 Main St., Longmont, jesterstheatre.com The streets of Victorian England come to life as Oliver, a malnourished orphan in a workhouse, becomes the neglected apprentice of an undertaker. Oliver escapes to London and finds acceptance among a group of petty thieves and pickpockets led by the elderly Fagin. When Oliver is captured for a theft that he did not commit, the benevolent victim, Mr. Brownlow, takes him in. Fearing the safety of his hideout, Fagin employs the sinister Bill Sikes and the sympathetic Nancy to kidnap him back, threatening Oliver’s chances of discovering the true love of a family.

BACK PORCH SERIES AT THE DAIRY: AMI DAYAN IN ‘A TALE OF A TIGER.’

5 p.m. Sunday, May 23, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, thedairy.org. Tickets are $15-$25.

A Tale of a Tiger is an award-winning Israeli-American adaptation of an Italian Nobel Prize Laureate play, based on an ancient Chinese theater folk tale, with roots in an Indian myth. A seriously hilarious tale of a soldier who is shot in the Himalayas and left to die. The soldier is saved by a tigress who feeds him of her milk and heals his wounds with her saliva. His life regained, the soldier redetermines the personal and moral standards by which he is to live.

HISTORY AND NATURE HIKE.

1 p.m. Saturday, May 22, Chautauqua Park, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder, chautauqua.com. Tickets are $30-$37.50.

Venture back more than 120 years on this fun, 3-mile hike with naturalist Suzanne Michot. Come and discover how the histories of Chautauqua and Open Space Mountain Parks (OSMP) are woven together. Your guide will interpret the history, flora, wildlife and geology that surround and inspire us along the trail. Elevation gain approximately 700 feet. Wear sturdy shoes and bring water, snacks and rain gear. No pets, please. see EVENTS Page 18

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Events

EVENTS from page 17

events

SEICENTO BAROQUE ENSEMBLE PRESENTS THE FLUTE’S PLEASURE GARDEN: BAROQUE FLUTES AND RECORDERS AND THEIR MUSIC.

6 p.m. Friday, May 21, via YouTube. Sign up: bit.ly/3bExqjz Using instruments from his extensive personal collection of flutes and recorders, Rob Turner — baroque flute and recorder specialist — will take you on a tour of baroque music transcribed or composed for unaccompanied recorder or transverse flute. While there is relatively little true solo music that was originally composed for either kind of flute that survives from the two centuries that this program spans, what there is is truly beautiful. Turner will share his own history with these instruments, both as a performer and as an instrument maker, and will answer questions and demonstrate more of his collection in the Zoom Q&A session after the YouTube Premiere.

BOULDER PHIL EVENT OF NOTE: PIANIST & COMPOSER ALDO LÓPEZ-GAVILÁN.

5 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, boulderphil.org. Tickets are $30/ Dinner with Aldo $40.

Celebrate the Boulder Phil’s Reimagined season conclusion with this online event featuring multi-talented Cuban pianist and composer Aldo LópezGavilán. Equally versed in both classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator and performer of his own electrifying jazz compositions, Mr. López-Gavilán is praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire.” Boulder Phil invites you to join a Cuban-themed dinner and cocktail mixer prepared by catering sponsor Three Leaf Concepts and delivered to your home. Delivery to Boulder, Louisville and Lafayette residents only.

Others may pick up at Zucca, 808 Main St., in Louisville.

NAMIWALKS YOUR WAY: A UNITED DAY OF HOPE (A VIRTUAL EVENT).

Saturday, May 22, namibouldercounty.org/nami-walks On May 22, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) communities across the country will come together in a day of solidarity and awareness for the annual NAMIWalks event. This year, NAMIWalks will become a virtual experience. You can walk a 5K at home or do something else meaningful and fun. Please join the NAMI Boulder team to help improve the lives of those with mental health conditions and their families. Please make a donation or ask for donations to help NAMI reach its goal.

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COURTESY BOULDER CREEK FESTIVAL

BOULDER CREEK SUMMER SUNDAYS MARKET.

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays through June 27, Civic Area near the Bandshell, Boulder.

Every Sunday leading up to the Boulder Creek Festival, from May 16 through June, head to the Civic Area Park at the Bandshell to shop handmade goods and small businesses you’d usually see at the Boulder Creek Festival. Each market will feature about 30 vendors, with a variety of handcrafted artisans and Boulder-based businesses for a hyper-local shopping experience. Attendees have the opportunity to support Boulder High School athletics by contributing to fundraising opportunities for the Boulder High School cheerleaders, who will have volunteers staffing each Summer Sundays Market. Open Studios will coordinate two live artist demonstrations each week. Each Summer Sundays Market will also feature two different performers on a small acoustic stage.

IN THE EYE OF THE HAWK.

6 p.m. Thursday, May 20, via Zoom: bit.ly/3uYBZwy Join naturalist Martin Ogle for a Lafayette Open Space webinar over Zoom. He will share a practical and metaphoric reflection on the cycles and seasons and our human relationship to life. This virtual presentation will inspire and delight you with stories, scientific insights and the wisdom contained in symbols of the circle and four directions, and from his book In the Eye of the Hawk.

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by Amy Stevens

Just there after, the lights dim down to a nearly indiscriminate fade.

The hush falls on the crowd like a falling line of dominos.

It’s the same reaction every time it plays The nostalgics movies’ nostalgic rerun Where one might be able to separate the self But the memory plays heavy none the less.

We are standing in the kitchen And I can see the sun catching the horizon Just above the mountains and just before The sun slides into the night.

Water boiled rapidly on the stove and The air was drenched in steam and shame.

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I wonder if you think about saying that Or even think of it at all Replay it, dim the lights, Replay it, quiet the noise, Replay it, and find your answer.

Your words repeat in mind without failIn sips of quiet spaces, in moves of loud pockets.

The movie reel continues on But is never without the clip The lid of the boiling pot Idles between stable and not.

Amy Stevens is a poet writing in Denver. This poem has been published on hellopoetry.com and Reddit.

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LIBRA

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Aries playwright Samuel Beckett wrote the play Waiting for Godot. At one point in the tale, the character named Estragon suggests it might be possible, even desirable, to “dance first and think afterwards.” In response, the character named Pozzo says, “By all means, nothing simpler. It’s the natural order.” With that in mind, and in accordance with astrological omens, I am going to encourage you to dance first and think afterwards as much as possible in the coming weeks. In my opinion, your ability to analyze and reason will thrive to the degree that you encourage your body to engage in enjoyable free-form play. Your power to make good decisions will grow as you take really good care of your physical organism and give it an abundance of pleasure and release.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: As you enter a phase when gradual,

incremental progress is the best progress possible, I offer you the concluding lines of Taurus poet Adrienne Rich’s poem “From a Survivor”: “not as a leap, but a succession of brief, amazing movements, each one making possible the next.” I especially want to call your attention to the fact that the small steps can be “brief, amazing movements.” Don’t underestimate the power of minor, subtle, regular breakthroughs.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: Here’s a public service announcement for you Geminis from the planet and god Mercury: You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were three years ago or six months ago or last week — or even five minutes ago, for that matter.

Mercury furthermore wants you to know that you have been authorized to begin a period of improvisation and experimentation, hopefully guided by a single overriding directive: What feels most fun and interesting to you.

In the coming weeks it will be more important to create yourself anew than to know precisely who you are.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: As a Zen Buddhist priest for 47 years, that illusions can wield over our imaginations. “If we’re not careful,” he said, “we are apt to grant ultimate value to something we’ve just made up in our heads.” I won’t tell you the examples from my own life that prove his point, because they’re too embarrassing. And I’m happy to report that I don’t think you’re anywhere near granting ultimate value to something you’ve just made up in your head. But I do advise you to be on the lookout for milder versions of that phenomenon.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: Leo-born professor Sibelan Forrester

is an expert on charms, spells and incantations in Russian folklore. She wrote, “An empty place where no one can see or hear what one says is the proper locus for working magic.” Spells often start with these words, she added: “I rise up, saying a blessing. I go out, crossing myself, and I go to an open field.” Whether or not you have Russian heritage, Leo, I see the immediate future as being a good time for you to perform magic in an open field with no one else around. What might be the intention of your magic? How about something like this: “I ask my guides and ancestors to help me offer my most inspired largesse so as to serve the health and inspiration and liberation of the people whose lives I touch.”

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Spiritual author Stephen Russell wrote,

“Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability: It is your greatest asset.” That’s an exaggeration, in my opinion.

Vulnerability is a greater asset than your intelligence, compassion and creativity? Not in my view. But I do recognize the high value of vulnerability, especially for you Virgos during the next three weeks. “Be vulnerable,” Russell continues. “Quake and shake in your boots with it. The new bounty and beauty that are coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things, can only come to you when you are vulnerable — open.”

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: My friend Jenny’s Swedish grandmother used to say to her on a semiregular basis, “åh tänk om vi vore korkade, vi skulle vara så lyckliga,” meaning, “If only we were stupid, we would be so happy.” In the coming weeks, I am asking you to disprove that folk wisdom. According to my analysis of the astrological potentials, now is a favorable time for you to explore ways in which your intelligence might enhance and deepen your enjoyment of life. Your motto should be: “The smarter we are, the happier we will be.”

SCORPIO

Call 720.253.4710 All credit cards accepted No text messages

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Sometime soon I invite you to speak a message similar to what poet Kenneth Rexroth once delivered to a special person in his life. He wrote, “Your tongue thrums and moves / Into me, and I become / Hollow and blaze with / Whirling light, like the inside / Of a vast expanding pearl.” Do you know anyone who might be receptive to hearing such lyrical praise? If not, create a fantasy character in your imagination to whom you can say it. On the other hand, maybe you do know a real person who would appreciate an earthier, less poetical tribute. If so, please convey it; something akin to this: “Your influence on me amplifies my ability to be my best self.”

Now is a perfect time to honor and extol and reward those who move you and excite you.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: Author Aldous Huxley said, “I can sympathize with people’s pains, but not with their pleasures. There is something curiously boring about somebody else’s happiness.” To that I reply, “Other people’s pleasure and happiness bored you? Maybe you were suffering from raging narcissism and an addiction to cynicism.” In any case, Sagittarius, I hope you won’t be like Huxley in the next few weeks.

I believe you could glean useful insights and derive personal benefits from knowing about and appreciating the joys of others.

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Capricorn businessman Howard Hughes

(1905–1976) had great success early in his life.

Working as a film director and aviation pioneer, he became a wealthy philanthropist. But as he aged, he became increasingly eccentric and reclusive. For the last 10 years of his life, he lived in expensive hotels, where he placed strict and often absurd demands on the hotel staff. For example, if he called on room service to bring him a meal that included peas, he would measure the peas with a ruler and send back any he deemed too big. I do hope that you Capricorns will also have an intense focus on mastering the details in the coming weeks — but not as intense or misguided as that nonsensical obsession.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: Aquarian author Charles Dickens (1812– 1870) was famous and popular. Audiences packed the halls where he did public lectures and readings. His favorite way to prepare for these evening events was to spend the day drinking a pint of champagne, as well as generous servings of rum, cream and sherry with eggs beaten into the mix. I don’t have a problem with that — whatever works, right? — but I suggest a different approach for your upcoming appointments with greater visibility and prominence. Like what? How about sexy meditations on the gratitude you feel for your expanding possibilities? How about fun fantasies focusing on how you’ll use your increased clout?

PISCES

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FEB. 19-MARCH 20: In his upcoming book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig proposes that we begin using “monachopsis,” a word he coined. He defines it as follows: “the feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach — lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits, unable to recognize the ambient roar of your intended habitat, in which you’d be fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.” Even if you have spent too much time lately experiencing monachopsis, my dear, I predict this malaise will soon dissipate and give way to an extended phase of being fluidly, brilliantly, effortlessly at home.

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H

e’s just so damn handsome. Smooth skin, full head of shiny black hair, snappy dinner clothes, thin as a rail — what girl wouldn’t fall for Jerry Corbett? Coffee heiress Joan Prentice sure does. She falls for his charm and she falls for his wit. She even falls for his passion. He’s a reporter, another ink-stained wretch, but someday he’ll write for the stage. He’s well below her station and they both know it, but Joan doesn’t THE CRITERION COLLECTION it’s a little blurry on Jerry’s end. He’s

been overserved, sure, but it’s a high society party. Isn’t everyone?

Trouble is, Jerry lives his life overserved. Joan explains it away: He drinks too much at parties, and they do go to a lot of parties. He drinks when his plays are rejected, and his plays are frequently rejected.

Even worse, he’s not the type to get charmingly defenseless when he ties one on. That’s death for Joan. She

Here’s mud in your eye

Sex and dying in high society with ‘Merrily We Go to Hell’

by Michael J. Casey ON THE BILL: ‘Merrily we Go to Hell’ is now available on Blu-ray and DVD from The Criterion Collection.

and only novel, I Jerry Take Thee Joan, 1932’s Merrily We Go to Hell is an underrated gem from Hollywood’s pre-Code era. Two years later, the Motion Picture Production Code would be the law of the land, and half of what’s in Merrily We Go to Hell — particularly Jerry and Joan’s open marriage — wouldn’t be allowed on the screen. And no title could use the word “hell.” In the 1930s, Hollywood went awful conservative.

That title, Merrily We Go to Hell, comes courtesy of Jerry’s favorite toast, one that rings close to another drinking salutation: Here’s mud in your eye.

A friend of mine, who once drank but now doesn’t, called it an expression of endearment. Only someone close could throw mud in your eye, and you only let the ones you love that close. I think Joan would agree.

Sylvia Sidney plays Joan wide-eyed and effervescent. When she’s happy, cinematographer David Abel makes her face sparkle like Champagne. When delicacy, and Sidney is outstanding. So is Fredric March as Jerry, fresh off his Best Acting Oscar performance in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Five years later, March would play another enchanting self-destructive drunk in A Star is Born.

In that movie, his character is all washed up. Here, he can’t get started. Call it personal preference, but this one rings truer.

Good as Sidney and March are, Merrily would play like an after-school special if not for director Dorothy Arzner. Her style isn’t overtly directorial, but the camera always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and the story beats fall right when you expect them. The lone misstep might be the tion. They don’t call them Hollywood endings for nothing.

And now it looks like Merrily We Go to Hell’s Hollywood ending has come.

Well received upon release, Merrily has been overshadowed by Arzner’s more Dance, Girl, Dance, and overlooked by pre-Code enthusiasts for more salacious fare like Red-Headed Woman and Baby Face. That should change thanks to Criterion’s release of Merrily We Go to Hell The set includes a documentary about Arzner, a video essay on Arzner’s career from Cari Beauchamp and a written essay from Judith Mayne.

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

STAY CONNECTED

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I’m an European heterosexual girl and reading your column from afar has been a good way for me to better know the sex world! I am wondering if you have advice for me about a “faster” way to do blowjobs.

Or rather a way to make my boyfriend come faster from them. I like doing them but after some time my mouth begins to hurt and I’d like him to finish. My partner is “slower” to come than other men I’ve been with. During intercourse sex I don’t mind. I usually come first but it is not a problem to wait for him to finish. But during oral sex, it is harder to wait.

Sometimes I say no to giving him a blowjob because I know the effort it will take. I don’t want to talk with him about this because I don’t want to make him self-conscious. I know how good it is to receive oral sex without thinking about having to rush my own orgasm and I don’t want to make him feel rushed. In the years of our relationship I haven’t found a trick that gives me the power to make it faster. I need some button to push.

Maybe you have some tips for me?

—Sex Tips Inducing Faster Finish Easing Discomfort Dear STIFFED: I have some good news: There is a button. It’s doesn’t work on all men, sadly, but for many men a little pressure on this button can speed up an approaching orgasm considerably. While this button isn’t hard to find, STIFFED, you can’t see it with the naked eye... because it’s inside a guy’s ass. The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland that produces seminal fluid; it’s located inside and up a man’s bum. If you’re facing your boyfriend — which you would be while blowing him — his prostate is on the same side of his body that you are. Slip a finger in his ass, make a gentle “come here” motion with your finger, and you’ll be hitting that button. Keep gently pressing on his prostate as his orgasm approaches and you should feel it harden, swell and contract. But you’re gonna need to get your boyfriend’s consent before sticking a finger in his ass, STIFFED, which means you’re gonna have to talk to him about trying this — and I think you should level with him about why you wanna try it.

You don’t frame it as a problem (“You take too long!”) but it isn’t a problem. He has amazing stamina, right? And while that stamina is great during PIV (you always come first), it’s a challenge when you blow him. Figuring out what you can do to get him there a little faster without making him feel rushed is something you should be able to talk about. ... And if a finger in the butt is a no-go for your boyfriend (or you), STIFFED, there are some other tricks you can try. Some guys get there a little faster

during oral if you cup, squeeze or gently pull on their balls; some guys get there a little faster if you play with their nipples (or they play with their own).

Dear Dan: My wife and I just celebrated our 34th anniversary. For the first year it was great. We shared many intimate moments. But on her 26th birthday (33 years ago!) she got “it.” A vibrator. Ever since I feel like I’ve been bumped down to a distant fourth in our relationship. Her priorities: family, job, “it,” then me. She thinks everything is fine and that we’re soul mates, friends, lovers, etc., but I feel like her lowest priority. I’ve read articles where women can become addicted to these devices, essentially snubbing their significant others. I know it’s complicated, but what can I do to win her back? I’ve tried romancing her but I always compete with “it” for intimate attention. How many others have been replaced by “it” in their relationships? What can I do?

—Vanquishing ‘It’ Becomes Essential Quest Dear VIBEQ: First, your wife is not broken and her clit does not have addiction issues. Your wife is most likely one of the many women out there who can only come with the help of a vibrator. Some women (and some other people with clits) need sustained deep-tissue vibrations in order to get off. Remember: Dicks and clits are made up of the same starter-pack of fetal tissues. But most of the clit — the “shaft” of the clit, e.g., the erectile tissues and chambers that anchor the exposed glans of the clit to the body — is internal. ... Some men (and other people who have penises) focus all of their efforts on the heads of their cocks — working the glans — while others barely touch the head and focus most of their efforts on the shaft. Basically, there are women out there who need the “shaft” of the clitoris stimulated in order to come — not the exposed glans, but the majority of the clitoris, which is inside the body. The sensations provided by a powerful vibrator are the best and, for some women, the only way to hit their shafts with the sensations required to get them off. So my advice ... is to finally learn to love “it.” Invite your wife to incorporate “it” into your sex sessions; don’t make the mistake (or continue making the mistake) of forcing her to choose between sex with you that doesn’t get her all the way there and masturbation sessions with “it” that do. Let her use “it” on/with herself when you’re having intercourse and ask if you can use “it” on/with her when you’re not.

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

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BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

Try this week:

Chorizo and Polenta Special @ The Parkway Cafe

THE PARKWAY CAFE. 4700 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-447-1833, breakfastboulder. com

THERE ARE FEW things as reliably great in the Boulder County food scene as weekend breakfast specials at The Parkway Cafe. (There are few things as reliably great as Parkway itself, for what it’s worth.) The ever-changing weekend breakfast specials often blend Mexican, Southwest and American cuisines and showcase the creativity of the kitchen staff. On a recent weekend visit, we devoured a chorizo, egg, cheese and tomato sauce scramble served on tostados with a side of crispy green chile polenta. Spicy and savory with a wonderful balance of textures, this was another gem from Parkway — and enough food to last until dinner.

2

1 JAX OVERHAULS MENU Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar launched a new menu on May 17, with several new dishes made from sustainably sourced seafood. The overhaul is the result of a collaboration between Big Red F Culinary Director Sheila Lucero and Executive Chef Kyle Mendenhall. New dishes include ahi tuna poke, blue crab garganelli, Alaskan halibut with Anson Mills grits, “accidentally vegan” stuffed tomato and quinoa pilaf with marinated heirloom sea island peas, and a simplified version of the Jax Maine lobster roll. The grilled Hawaiian yellowfin tuna steak (pictured here) includes line-caught yellowfin tuna (which is not the critically endangered bluefin) served with a Mediterranean-inspired combination of fresh-grated tomato sauce, grilled summer squash, sweet garlic purée and crispy roasted kalamata olives.

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FRASCA BRINGS BACK GUEST CHEF DINNER SERIES Frasca Food and Wine is bringing back its Guest Chef Dinner Series, with the first event of 2021 featuring chef/author Gregory Gourdet on Thursday, June 17. Gourdet is a James Beard Foundation Award nominee, who honed his culinary skills within celebrity chef JeanGeorges Vongerichten’s restaurant dynasty. After moving to Portland, Oregon, Gourdet has been a guest judge on Top Chef: Portland while preparing for the opening of Kann Restaurant, a wood-fired Haitian restaurant scheduled to open in 2022.

Dishes for the dinner include Thai muslin-style beef curry with cauliflowercashew puree and slow-cooked salmon with jerk plantain. Dinner is $145 and includes a signed copy of Gourdet’s book, Everyone’s Table. Reserve your spot (tables are filling up quickly) and look for future Guest Chef Dinners at frascafoodandwine.com.

MAY 20, 2021

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Fruit beers for summer

Shandies, and shandy-adjacent beer, from local breweries to enjoy as the weather gets warmer

By Matt Cortina

A

AVERY

lright, are we past the threat of snow? I’m looking at the 10-day forecast and

we wouldn’t get a classic Colorado snowstorm in June, would we?

Fingers crossed, but I’m ready to put snow in the rearview mirror and crack open a shandy

little sweet, they’re perfect for afternoons on the water or for In fact, shandy pioneers based brewery (which is well worth a stop for a tour if you’re

Peach Wheat — Finkel & Garf

accommodate a mass of cyclists after a bike race, tavern-owner Kugler cut his beer with lemonade and

there are plenty of typical shandies and shandy-adjacent beverages to try from local brewers that you’ll enjoy as the

Boulder Shandies — Twisted Pine produce a line of pairings you can mix yourself to make a

Liliko’i Kepolo — Avery Brewing Belgian-style white ale and adds four pounds of passion fruit puree to each barrel to produce a juicy, tangy and bold beer that’s drinkable in all situations where a shandy is called

Gettin’ Tiki With It — Left Hand Brewing smoother by the nitrogen, and add coconut and pineapple

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ARI LEVAUX

Whey cheesy

Fried Lemon Cheese with Dulce de Leche Sauce The sauce is a fun touch, but hardly necessary. It adds quite a bit to the cooking time.

If you skip the sauce, your cheese is ready in a couple of hours. Serves four.

by Ari LeVaux

For the Cheese 1 gallon whole milk 10 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice (or a blend) ½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons ghee or light vegetable oil

A

farmer friend gave me a box of spinach the other week. It wasn’t long until the novelty wore off. By then I had added the dark green foliage to ramen, salad, omelets, sandwiches and anywhere else I could think to insert those protein- and calcium-rich leaves. large batch of saag paneer, in which I steamed and pureed the remaining spinach, along with some mustard greens, and cooked them with sauteed onions, garam masala and browned chunks of creamy, nutty, salty homemade cheese. When the lemony cheese. never gets old, and I feel like I’m only beginning to explore the possibilities of what to do with this cheese. Alas, this exploration has been restricted by a certain step in the process: I can’t stop eating. I just can’t seem to get off my tuffet and quit eating those curds and whey, and it’s cutting into my cheese output. cheese-making process. You heat the milk and add some kind of acidic agent that causes the milk to curdle. It’s similar to what happens if you add both lemon and honey to a cup of tea with milk, but more palatable.

When you stir that acid — in my case, lemon juice — into that hot milk, what had been a homogeneous liquid in a bath of clear, watery whey. Typically the curds are

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

makes them more dense. These curds are the foundation of most cheeses, while the whey has uses of its own.

A warm bowl of curds and whey is not a bad thing to eat. It’s a little bit sweet, thanks to the lactose; a little tart, thanks to the curdling agent; and slightly salty, as I add salt with the acid. It’s a bit like eating cereal and milk, because you have two different textures inhabiting the same bowl. You can sweeten it, of course, but you can also turn the meal in a more savory direction. I like to drink off the whey and stir in a bit of olive oil and minced garlic, for example, and a touch more salt. through cheesecloth — imagine that; using cheesecloth to make cheese! When the curds and whey are poured through, I tie the corners of the cheesecloth around the wad of curds and hang it above the whey pot so I can capture the stream of draining whey.

You can try to get a second curdling from your whey. That’s how they make ricotta and other types of “whey cheese.” I’ve been doing something a bit more decadent: slowly cooking down the lemon tinged whey until it develops into a smooth brown caramel that’s pour this lemony caramel sauce over pieces of drained cheese, which I have fried to a golden hue, a process that somehow makes the cheese taste like the milk leftover from a bowl of Fruit Loops. Together with the caramel sauce, it’s a soft, sweet and decadent little treat made from nothing but milk, lemon and salt. And it’s just one of the many whey cool things you can do with curds and whey.

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In a thick-bottomed pot, heat the milk to a boil on medium/high, stirring often to make sure nothing sticks. When it starts to foam as it approaches boiling, turn it off and wait for 10 minutes.

When the milk has cooled that little bit, give it a stir to get it moving in a vortex, and add the lemon/lime juice. The result should be immediate, as the solid white milk breaks apart into cloud-like curds, suspended in the almost clear, watery whey. Let it cool for about 20 minutes, and then pour it through cheesecloth or a nut milk bag and into a pot to collect the whey.

Tie the corners of the cheese cloth (or pull the cinch if using a nut milk bag) and hang it in a place where you can catch the drips. After at least two hours, but as long as overnight, carefully remove the cheese.

To fry the cheese, carefully unwrap it from the cheesecloth and slice it into half-inch slabs or cubes. Fry them slowly in the oil on low/medium heat until browned on at least two sides.

You don’t have to fry it up. Not everyone, after all, appreciates the subtle taste of the milk left over from a bowl of Fruit Loops. You can spread that lemony cheese like whipped cream cheese. You can sweeten it into a bright, rich dessert or mix it with chives, olive oil and salt for a savory alternative. As for that whey…

For the Caramel Sauce The lemon whey from one gallon of milk 2 tablespoons sugar Add the sugar to the whey. On medium heat, simmer the whey until it cooks down to a thick, brown sauce, stirring occasionally to monitor any sticking. Amazingly, it doesn’t seem to want to stick. As the volume gets close to zero, it will begin to foam, turning into more of a bubbling gas than liquid. At this point you can turn it off and the foam will collapse back into a liquid with the look and thickness of caramel. Pour it over the cheese chunks or dip them into it.

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The sound of hemp

“We’re the first ones that have done this, so that’s the coolest part,” Beegle says.

“And they’re really good guitars and cabinets.”

Silver Mountain Hemp’s guitars come equipped with some of the finest electric hardware on the market: DeMarzio humbucker pickups, Warmoth necks, Planet Waves locking tuners and a Gotoh tele bridge. But, unlike conventional guitars (which are typically made from mahogany, alder, swamp ash or maple), the bodies of Beegle’s guitars are made from hemp. Specifically, a substance called HempWood, which is made by compressing hemp stalks together with solid binder.

“It’s a really hard material — harder than hickory, even,” he says. And the guitars are pretty heavy too, he adds. “The first Strat we built was like 10-and-a-half pounds … it’s like a good, heavy Les Paul.”

However, Beegle says he wants to reduce the weight to under eight pounds as he refines the process.

Prior to using HempWood, Beegle was experimenting with a company out of Canada that uses molded hemp shells placed over top of conventional wooden instruments. That worked, Beegle says, but it wasn’t truly satisfying his vision. He wanted his guitars to be hemp to their core — so he reached out to the French Brothers, and together they started making electric guitars using HempWood.

“We’ve fine-tuned it in the last year, and now we’re ready to go into a full-on custom shop,” Beegle says. “There will be about seven different colors, two different body styles; you can have various pickup configurations, you can have various necks and various fret boards,” Beegle says. “There

Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars out of Loveland crafts the world’s first fully hemp-bodied electric guitars and amp cabinets

by Will Brendza

H

emp is truly a super-plant: It can be turned into CBD to treat a spectrum of health ailments; it can be turned into textiles to make clothing, and it can be turned into biodegradable bioplastics. It is one of the most durable fibers on the planet, it is extremely lightweight, and it’s far cheaper and grows faster than conventional construction lumber. And, of course, it’s far more sustainable to farm.

But what does it sound like?

That’s the question that has consumed Morris Beegle for the last few years. He’s been on a mission, working with different guitar makers, hemp companies, speaker companies and music buffs to craft the world’s first hemp-bodied electric guitars and amplifier cabinets. It’s been a journey, Beegle says, one that’s culminated in the creation and debut of Silver Mountain Hemp — a Lovelandbased boutique instrument collaboration between Beegle, the French Brothers and the Hard Truckers speaker company.

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will be a lot of one-of-a-kinds out there.”

To create their hemp amp cabinets, Beegle teamed up with Hard Trucker speakers. The Hard Truckers have been hand-crafting tube amps and speakers for jam bands since 2006, Beegle says.

They’d even experimented with making their own hemp cabinets at one point in time. So, when Beegle approached them with his vision of making the Silver Mountain boutique hemp amp cabinets, they jumped on board without hesitation.

“Now we’re utilizing different materials to build these cabinets,” Beegle says. The cabinets are mostly HempWood with CannaGrove board and some wooden components. And with the Hard Truckers hand-wired tube amps in them, “They sound incredible,” Beegle says.

This venture is a junction between two of Beegle’s career passions: hemp and entertainment.

He’s been in the music industry since he graduated high school. His brother Dave is a professional guitarist, and for a long time the Beegle brothers were tied to a local record imprint that had them regularly working with local musicians. Then, in 2012, Beegle started dabbling in the cannabis and hemp worlds; he launched Tree Free Hemp in 2013 and for the last eight years he’s organized the NoCo Hemp Expo, the world’s largest hemp expo, as well as the Summit Hemp Expo and the Winter Hemp Summit — all under the umbrella of his company, We Are For Better Alternatives (WAFBA).

Today Beegle spends his time hosting podcasts, virtual events, webinars, live events and, of course, playing and refining his Silver Mountain Hemp guitars, which he plans on officially launching this summer with a jam party in Fort Collins.

“We’re going to get a whole bunch of hemp guitars and cabinets and other amps and guitars and have a shred fest with 20-or-so Colorado guitar players,” he says. “It’s going to be the sound of hemp. And I’m looking forward to hearing it … it’s going to be something that’s never been done before.”

You can pre-order Silver Mountain Hemp’s electric guitars or amp cabinets online at silvermountainhemp.com/shop.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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