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news:

Key to disrupting Denver’s homeless-to-jail pipeline

by Moe Clark

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news:

NAACP asks Police Oversight Panel to reconsider complaint against fallen officer

by Emma Athena

buzz:

Laura Deal imagines her late grandfather in oneperson show

by Caitlin Rockett

nibbles:

Boulder restaurants moving toward COVID vaccine proof for indoor dining this fall and winter

by John Lehndorff

weed between the lines:

Researchers find cannabis use can stimulate creative entrepreneurial ideas — but it comes at a cost

by Will Brendza

departments 6 17 20 20 21 22 23 29

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One trailblazing brewer, two cutting edges

by Michael J. Casey

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Writers on the Range: Two Western states act to control methane Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views Events: What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do...

Music News: You’ll need a shot to rock at Z2 venues Film: ‘Ashes and Diamonds’ is a potent reminder of the power of Polish cinema Words: ‘With Windows Shut Tight,’ by Burt Rashbaum Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: ‘Bringing all my boyfriends inside’ Taste of the week: Bourbon Chicken @ Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL News Editor, Will Brendza Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Editor, Angela K. Evans Contributing Writers, Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, 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 August 12, 2021 Volume XXIX, Number 1 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.

Two Western states act to control methane

by Tim Lydon, Writers on the Range

N

ew Mexico, the third-ranking U.S. oil producer, has moved to curtail methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, moving it closer to neighboring Colorado’s leadership. Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and also damages human health.

With the United States among the world’s top methane polluters, and the Biden administration promising tighter nationwide rules, these two Western states set a bar for other states to follow.

For decades, the oil and gas industry has freely discharged the colorless pollutant from tens of thousands of wells as a cost-savings measure. Then this March, New Mexico banned the wasteful venting and flaring of natural gas, which is comprised almost entirely of methane. New

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Mexico is only the third state, after Colorado and Alaska, to ban the practice.

This May, New Mexico also proposed a final rule to staunch the leaking of methane from across the state’s oil and gas supply chain, which includes part of the mammoth Permian Basin it shares with Texas. The leaking occurs at well pads, pipelines, compressors, storage facilities and more.

It’s a system-wide problem that generates methane plumes large enough to detect from space.

The proposed rule on leaking, now up for public comment, improves on a December draft that offered broad loopholes. When it’s made final, it will require regular inspection and repair of leaky equipment, which today goes largely unmitigated as yet another industry cost-savings measure.

The state effort means New Mexico is catching up with Colorado. In 2014, Colorado became the first see GUEST COLUMN Page 6

AUGUST 12, 2021

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GUEST COLUMN from Page 5

state to regulate methane and has That concern helped build support twice strengthened its original rule. from Indigenous and other groups, Colorado has also modernized its oil outweighing fears that new reguand gas regulatory agency’s mission lations would detract from drilling so that it includes safeguarding public royalties, which provide over a third health. And it is reworking oil and of New Mexico’s revenue for educagas bonding requirements so taxpaytion, health and other services. ers don’t get burdened with plugging Part of the New Mexico govleaky “orphan wells” abandoned by ernor’s strategy in winning support producers. for methane control was focusing on Colorado’s rules were a model for fiscal accountability. Venting, flaring, the first national methane regulations, and leaking — all monumentally implemented under President Obama wasteful practices — send an estiin 2016. Unfortumated $43 million nately, the Trump in potential state administration revenue into New dismantled those Mexico’s thin air were a model for the rules. every year.

Controlling At the methane is a national level, climate imperaPresident Biden tive. Because the campaigned on gas has 80 times restoring federal the heat-trapmethane regulaping potential of tions rolled back carbon dioxide, it’s under Trump. a potent driver of Biden issued climate change. executive or—Tim Lydon NASA says it has ders on his first fueled a whopping day in office 25% of the huthat set a Sepman-caused global tember goal for warming that toproposing a new day increasingly jeopardizes Western strategy. Crafting new federal rules water, agriculture and recreation. are expected to take years, but New Research also shows that methMexico and Colorado now offer ane is entering the atmosphere from strong examples. By applying rules sources such as wetlands or thawto both new and existing oil and ing permafrost. In the latter, warming gas infrastructure, they exceed the tied to methane begets more methane. original Obama regulations, which It is the ominous type of feedback only addressed new permits. loop that global warming alarmists Today, Western states, along with have warned us about for decades. heavy oil producers Texas and North But the good news is that Dakota, offer only a patchwork of methane only survives in the atmotax incentives and voluntary targets. sphere for about 10 years, unlike the Limited rules, however, often tilt in centuries-long lifespan of carbon industry’s favor. Now, with fossil fuel dioxide. Consequently, methane rules production ramping back up and today could produce swift returns on global temperatures rising, New Mexclimate as the world grapples with the ico and Colorado show that tougher harder problem of carbon dioxide. regulations are the way to go.

But methane and associated pollutants also contribute to harmful Tim Lydon is a contributor to Writground-level ozone, which is linked to ers on the Range, writersontherange.org, premature birth, respiratory sickness a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively and other illnesses. New Mexico Gov. conversation about the West. He writes Michelle Lujan Grisham made this from Alaska. part of her campaign for regulation, pointing out that poor air quality This opinion column does not disproportionately harms poor comnecessarily reflect the views of Boulder munities.

Weekly.

COLORADO RULES

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AUGUST 12, 2021

MICROGRIDS Thanks so much for the good story

by Angela Evans on Dr. Peter Lilienthal (re: Boulderganic, “What’s up with microgrids,” Aug. 5), one of the fathers of “microgrids” — electrical systems that can be “islanded” and keep operating when “Big Grid” electrical power goes out.

As Dr. Lilienthal points out, the only way to have reliable electricity is to have the source of power where you are going to use it. As we’ve seen in California and Texas and many other places, relying on the “Big Grid” leads to big problems when the grid goes down. In contrast, microgrids that can operate independently keep everything from our cars to our cell phones to medical equipment operating.

For good stories on how microgrids have saved lives and businesses and everyday functions during extreme weather events, subscribe for free to Microgrid Knowledge on their website.

If we want to leave a functional electrical system for future generations, it is time to start learning more about microgrids and how they can keep us all powered in the coming century of “never seen before” weather events!

You can start to learn more by attending the virtual Empower Our Future talk by Dr. Lilienthal on Thursday Aug. 12 at 6 p.m.. Register ahead of time on the Empower Our Future website under events. The talk will also be videotaped and available along with other events at the same site.

Thanks again for helping educate Boulder Weekly readers about why microgrids will help save our “bacon,” our cell phones, and in some cases our lives!

Leslie Glustrom/Boulder l

EAT CAKE No member of Congress or serving on the Supreme Court is facing loss of income or eviction. Being fundamentally and functionally bipolar makes it unlikely our legislators can or will find agreement on addressing the economic woes of the public sector, and the Supreme Court, as the cloistered, elitist, life-time arbiters of the ordained meaning of the U.S. Constitution, have so little connection with the realities of the hoi polloi that their pronouncements of the Holy Writ echo, passing on the wind like Marie Antoinette’s, “Let the eat cake.”

Robert Porath/Boulder GUY FIERI IS GROSS Humboldt County, California exported a guy to TV. His name is Guy Fieri whose food is scary. Guy falsely claims to have invented this food An Apple Pie Hot Dog. Guy’s one weird dude! Mr. Fieri, please stop.

You’re making us all ill. And Guy, don’t lie, your crappy cuisine kills.

Clogged arteries are this TV clown’s specialty. Guy’s bleached blonde hair is hardly “reality.” Guy lies, and Stephen Colbert busted the fool! The Apple Pie Hot Dog is gross, greasy gruel. Colbert spoke of this dish as a joke long ago, Gross Guy Fieri stole Colbert’s idea, y’know? A Comedy Central bit became Fox News grist, because, like Guy Fieri, Fox is dumb as piss! Go away now, mental midget. Guy, get lost!

It’s time to deport Guy Fieri to the Amazon.

Jake Pickering/Arcata, California

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Congress should lower drug costs, but look beyond numbers

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by Joe Crowley and Bill Shuster

I

n Congress, policy negotiations often center on a couple questions: how much does the bill cost and how much does the bill save? But the intense focus on these numbers can have the effect of distancing members from the real-world impact on Americans.

Congressional caucuses, like the Rare Disease Congressional Caucus which Joe co-founded, provide opportunities to hear from people who confront life-altering decisions. Hearing directly from people affected by rare diseases changes the way members consider legislation.

As our former colleagues begin to consider H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, we hope they will look beyond the numbers and endeavor to understand the impact of potentially reducing access to breakthrough drugs or undermining the development of drugs for rare diseases.

One provision in H.R. 3 would index U.S. drug reimbursements to the lower prices paid in six countries. In these reference countries, government officials use opaque “health technology assessments (HTAs)” to make reimbursement decisions. In some cases, these assessments render certain lifesaving medicines inaccessible to patients.

Pegging our reimbursements to the arbitrary prices generated by those HTAs could saddle Americans with the same access barriers that patients in other countries face, while simultaneously discouraging lifesaving research nationwide.

All six of the reference countries have healthcare systems controlled mostly or exclusively by the government. The governments — not doctors and their patients — decide which medicines should be used to treat patients.

Government agencies conduct health technology assessments to determine which medicines should be covered, and at what prices. But no one really knows the exact methodologies used to make those decisions.

Take Australia for example. The Australian system focuses on “value for money.” That is, the agencies won’t

recommend a new drug that’s “too expensive” in relation to the clinical benefits it provides.

Value for money is an inherently subjective metric. How much is a human life worth? If a new $10,000-a-month cancer drug sends a minority of patients into remission for years, is it worth trying?

In the United States, doctors and patients get to make those decisions.

In the reference countries, government officials make that call. And they often decide that new drugs aren’t worth the cost.

Germans had access to just 64% of all new treatments launched globally from 2011 to the end of 2020, while Americans had access to 86% of those medicines. The British have access to just 60%, the Japanese 52%, and the Canadians 47%.

Proponents of H.R. 3 must ask themselves if it’s worth importing these access restrictions to America. Pegging reimbursements to the arbitrary prices in those reference countries could discourage firms from launching their medicines in the United States.

These firms fund a majority of biopharmaceutical R&D (research and development) in the United States, more than $100 billion annually. The National Institutes of Health, by comparison, put just $3 billion toward pharmaceutical clinical trials in 2018.

American firms won’t pour billions of dollars into challenging R&D projects if the resulting medicines stand no chance of earning a return.

Lowering patients’ pharmacy bills is an urgent and necessary goal — but cutting off Americans’ access to lifesaving drugs and undermining the development of future treatments isn’t the right solution.

Joe Crowley is a former U.S. Representative. He served New York from 1999 to 2019 and co-founded the Rare Disease Caucus in 2009. Bill Shuster is a former U.S. Representative. He served Pennsylvania from 2001 to 2019.

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

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Key to disrupting Denver’s homeless-to-jail pipeline

by Moe Clark, Colorado Newsline

T

he City of Denver embarked on a five-year experiment in 2016 to see if it could disrupt the City’s robust homeless-to-jail pipeline by providing permanent supportive housing, which couples housing with services such as substance use and mental health treatment.

The results?

A “remarkably successful initiative,” said Mary Cunningham, vice president of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, who helped conduct an independent evaluation of the program.

The social and economic policy research organization based in Washington, D.C., released its final report on Tuesday, looking at housing stability rates, health outcomes and whether the initiatives decreased individuals’ interactions with the criminal justice system.

The independent evaluation, which was funded by the City of Denver, found that within the three-year evaluation period, 68% of people who were enrolled in the program remained in housing, 12% had died and 1% had moved into other permanent housing, according to the report.

The report noted the high mortality rate — 28 people — among those in supportive housing was in line with what was seen in a control group. People experiencing homelessness have an average life expectancy of around 56 years, almost 18 years below that of housed populations, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Other notable outcomes from the study included a 34% reduction in police contacts compared to the control group, a 40% decrease in arrests and emergency department visits and a 155% increase in primary and preventative care visits.

In 2014, the City estimated it spent $7 million a year to serve 250 people experiencing chronic homelessness who were frequently interacting with expensive emergency systems not designed to support their long-term needs, according to a Denver City government press release.

A total of 724 people experiencing chronic homelessness who had prior involvement with the criminal justice system were enrolled in the program, half of whom were provided with supportive housing through the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless or Mental Health Center of Denver. The remaining participants — referred to as the control group — received only the resources that were available in the community.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

“Because these results are from our rigorous experimental evaluation we can be confident that any differences between these two groups are because of supportive housing,” Cunningham said during a panel discussion on July 15, announcing the results of the study.

To fund the five-year program, Denver partnered with eight private investors that agreed to pay $8.6 million in upfront costs to house 250 people who had frequent interactions with the City’s jail system. The investors agreed to only get paid back

he got stopped by a staff member.

“I was scared because I was a little late, but they said they had a message for me from the coalition,” he recalled. The message was from the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, saying it had found him temporary housing at a hotel. He stayed there for two months then moved into permanent supportive housing last October in Lakewood.

“It’s a beautiful suburb, I can’t even believe I’m still here,” he added. “I’ve been here almost a year.

Sometimes I feel like I got to pinch myself.”

He said he was able to get MOE CLARK medical treatment for his depression and scoliosis and help finding employment. He said he’s now working with Denver Health as a consultant, helping to conduct a survey on homelessness. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless also provided him emotional support when his mother passed away last year.

“It really was a hard time,” he said. “If I was still on the street, I would have never, never been able to get on my feet.” He added, “So my case managers were able to talk to me and refer me to different programs.”

He wants every person living on the streets to be able to access the supportive housing program.

“I just pray that it continues,” DENVER MAYOR Michael Hancock speaks during a Boyd said. “It’s the greatest thing that’s happened in my life.”

if the program proved successful — an approach referred to as a social impact bond initiative.

Given the program’s success, the City will pay $9.6 million back to NEED FOR SUPPORTIVE HOUSING investors, representing a $1 million DRASTICALLY OUTPACES return in investment, according to the AVAILABILITY study. Approximately $4.5 million is periencing homelessness.

Though the program proved for costs saved on housing stability and to be a success for those who $5.1 million for the reduced number participated, the need for supportof jail stays. The Denver SIB was one ive housing in Denver and across the country far of the first supportive housing programs funded outpaces its availability. through a social impact bond model, according to According to the report, unsheltered homelessthe study. ness in Denver has increased by 25% since 2017, from 3,336 people to 4,171 in 2020. The estimate is ‘GREATEST THING THAT’S HAPPENED IN MY LIFE’ based on annual point-in-time surveys, which are Walter Boyd, a 54-year-old Lakewood resident considered an undercount because the counts occur who obtained supportive housing through the proon a single night in the dead of winter and only gram, said it gave him an opportunity to get his life accounts for people willing to be interviewed. back on track. Really, it saved his life, he said.

John Parvensky, president and chief executive After leaving a bad marriage, he found himself officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homehomeless in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic less, said during the panel discussion that the report and stayed at the emergency men’s shelter at the reinforces what housing and homelessness providers National Western Stock Show for four months. A few weeks before the shelter was scheduled to close, see HOMELESS Page 10 l

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have known for 20 years. program, which sends mental health “The housing first (approach) professionals to crisis calls instead of works, that supportive housing with law enforcement officers. wraparound services works, and that For Cervantes, the outcomes integrated health care provided and outlined in the Urban Institute report linked to housing directly contraworks,” he added. dict the City’s Parvensky current approach expand prowants the City to homelessness, to invest more in which includes grams like this by eight times just conducting conbuilding supportive housing, as tinuous homeless to meet the needs of the people well as increase sweeps of enrental assistance campments that who are homeless tonight. and access to are in violation of health care and the City’s urban — John Parvensky, president mental health camping ban. treatment. “We “The City need to expand is doubling programs like down on that this by eight Colorado Coalition for the Homeless approach with times just to this new SET meet the needs program, the of the people Street Enforcewho are homement Team,” he less tonight,” he said. added.

Cunningham said in order for Denver City officials announced Denver to scale the supportive houson July 13 their plans to establish a ing program to serve 1,200 people Street Enforcement Team to issue experiencing chronic homelessness citations to residents for disobeying (which is still well below the need), it City ordinances, including the urban would cost between $14.6 million and camping ban. The team will include $18.7 million per year. But she added six unarmed civilians. the efforts would ultimately save the “This is going to only increase the City $8.3 million in emergency serbarriers that people face to get out of vices such as hospital and jail stays. the situation they are in,” Cervantes said. “We’re not going to enforce our way out of these crises.”

OPPORTUNITY FOR DENVER TO “The City of Denver has done CHANGE ITS APPROACH everything to prove that they’re gonna Vinnie Cervantes, director of double down on those efforts of crimiDenver Alliance for Street Health nalization and harm and compounding Response, said he would like to see trauma and I think that this report, Denver reallocate public safety funds hopefully, will at least be a way for them — which accounts for 42% of the to reverse course,” he added.

City’s $1.3 billion municipal budget, This story is part of the SoJo Exaccording to The Denver Post — and change from the Solutions Journalism direct it toward housing and mental Network, a nonprofit organization health services. dedicated to rigorous reporting about Cervantes’ organization helped responses to social problems. pave the way for Denver’s STAR

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

NAACP asks Police Oversight Panel to reconsider complaint against fallen officer

by Emma Athena

O

n Aug. 12, the NAACP of Boulder County will ask the City of Boulder’s newly formed Police Oversight Panel to reconsider a 2014 complaint against Officer Eric Talley, who died in the March 22 shooting at King Soopers.

The request comes on the heels of a bill — introduced by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse — to rename the historic downtown Boulder post office after Talley.

In May, the NAACP approached Neguse with a recommendation to rename the post office in a way that recognizes all 10 victims of the shooting.

While the allegations against Talley were originally found unsustained due to a lack of evidence by both the Boulder Police Department’s Professional Standards Unit and the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, the NAACP has expressed concern that initial and subsequent reviews placed more weight on the officer’s telling of the events than the complainant’s. The alleged interaction occurred while Officer Talley was off-duty, so there is no body camera footage, nor were there any eyewitnesses.

In June, the NAACP requested the City’s new Independent Police Monitor (IMP) review the 2014 investigation, a request that “was based on the overwhelming dissatisfaction of three NAACP Boulder County Branch Executive Committee Members who attended a presentation summarizing the investigation,” according to a letter from the NAACP to city staff. Completed in July, the IMP review found Talley could have been exonerated on one allegation, while the other allegation remains not sustained due to lack of evidence.

“To be clear, we don’t take away from [Talley’s] actions on that day (March 22) being heroic, and that he lost his life in the line of duty,” says Darren O’Connor, who serves as the Chair of NAACP Boulder County’s Criminal Justice Committee. “We advocate for the civil rights of people in Boulder County and certainly for persons of color and Black folks ... to ensure that they’re treated equally.”

The Independent Police Monitor and Police Oversight Panel were created last year as a part of the City’s new response to law enforcement accountability.

O’Connor sees this case as the first test of Boulder’s new system for handling citizen complaints against police officers.

In a statement in response to the NAACP’s concerns, Chief of Police Maris Herold, who was not in command in 2014 during the original investigation but who has since collaborated with the DA’s office in reviewing the complaint, said: “We take any allegations of inappropriate police behavior seriously.

This case was reviewed thoroughly and found to be without merit. To bring this up now, years later and after Officer Talley’s death, is unfortunate and unnecessarily painful for Officer Talley’s family. Officer Talley was an exemplary public servant. He gave his life in the service of community members as well as his fellow officers. We are proud of his overwhelmingly positive professional record and heroic sacrifice.”

As Rep. Neguse’s bill remains in the U.S. Congress legislative queue, Annett James, president of NAACP Boulder County, says, “We all share in the grief of that horrible tragedy ... but there are so many ways to do collective healing, and I think this just brings on more pain.”

Police Oversight Panel meetings are open to the public. The Aug. 12 meeting will take place virtually at 6 p.m., and will hear the NAACP’s concerns.

You can learn more about how to attend the meeting at bouldercolorado.gov/ events/police-oversight-panel

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

A person created from words

Laura Deal imagines her late grandfather in one-person show

by Caitlin Rockett

T COURTESY LAURA DEAL

ON THE BILL: Love, Ramsey. Aug. 12, 13, 14, 19, 21.

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Tickets: $8-$10, boulderfringe.com

he typewriter weighs 25 pounds, give or take a pound or two — much too heavy for a child to pick up. But Laura Deal had to learn that the hard way.

As she and a friend played in Deal’s childhood home in Fort Collins, the 1920s-model Underwood typewriter caught their eye, and they couldn’t resist.

“It got dropped,” Deal says over a phone call from her home in Boulder. “My mom was really heartsick about that and banished it to the attic so that she wouldn’t have to think about it.”

The typewriter belonged to Deal’s maternal grandfather, Harold “Ramsey” Osborne, a journalist at the San Diego Tribune during World War II. Deal estimates that her grandfather must have typed out some 13 million words on the machine.

The typewriter stayed in Deal’s parent’s attic in Fort Collins for decades, until her father died and Deal asked her brother to help her bring it down for a project she was working on. Ramsey — a nickname given to Osborne by his wife Lucille — died a decade before his granddaughter Laura was born, but the intrepid reporter left behind a huge archive of newspaper clippings, personal letters and photographs that Deal has turned into a one-person show called Love, Ramsey, premiering with six showings at this year’s Boulder Fringe Festival.

Deal says that most of her family’s archives have wound up in her possession, likely because she’s a historian by education, with experience archiving artifacts and documents. But Deal is also an oral storyteller and a “dream worker,” helping others explore the meaning behind their slumbering visions. It’s these skills she brings to bear on Love, Ramsey, weaving together the threads of Ramsey’s life “into the larger fabric of the history he lived through.”

“There are something like 95 scrapbooks that he kept, with the front page of the newspaper all the way through the late 30s as the war was building [in the United States],” Deal says.

Ramsey lived through expansive and tumultuous times: the beginning of the automobile age, the Great Depression and the blackouts in San Diego following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He met the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, loved cats and gardening, and meticulously chronicled his own life through diaries, letters and the articles he wrote as a reporter.

“I think there’s a kind of magic that happens with the written word,” Deal says. “One of the things that becomes very clear in the way that I was trained to do [dream work] is that anything that I say about a dream that someone else has is my own projection.

And so it’s true for me at some level or I wouldn’t even think to see it in that dream. And I think that’s true, too, with sort of creating this person out of his letters and diaries, newspaper articles and photographs. You know, I’m building a relationship with somebody that I’m imagining. But it’s possible because of the magic of the written word. And it’s incredible how much his personality comes through.”

It’s also incredible, Deal says, to see the cyclic nature of history. through as humans and come out on the other side. I think for me that’s been one of the big takeaways is just how ordinary my grandfather was and how simple his wisdom was and how it helped him endure some incredibly stressful times. I’ve found comfort in the resonances of history and realizing that people have always gone through really hard things.”

Like pandemics. Deal found a letter written to her great-grandmother — Ramsey’s mother — by time that people have gone into isolation because of illness,” Deal says. “My grandmother and her was ending, and killed a lot of young men.” see LAURA DEAL Page 14

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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AUGUST 12, 2021

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COURTESY LAURA DEAL

HAROLD “RAMSEY” OSBORNE, historian Laura Deal’s grandfather, was a journalist in San Diego during World War II. Deal recreates her grandfather’s life in her one-person show ‘Love, Ramsey.’

LAURA DEAL from Page 13

Deal will present Love, Ramsey from her own home in Boulder over Zoom, with her grandfather’s typewriter and pipe organ in the background as props. She’ll share his stories alongside the photographs and letters he left behind over an hour-long presentation. could be a book, and maybe it will be someday.

Boulder-born Fringe shows There are two dozen performances by national and international artists at this year’s Boulder Fringe Festival, with offerings as diverse as a musical about polyamory to improvisational theater to shows about getting freaky over 60.

Laura Deal is one of several Boulder artists represented at the festival. Here are the other Boulder-born productions you can catch at this year’s Fringe. See a full lineup and buy tickets at boulderfringe.com

Cirque de Menses: A Menstruation Celebration.

Aug. 20 and 21. Junkyard Social Club 2525 Frontier Ave., Unit A, Boulder.

With Aunt Flo, Fairy Flow Mother, a girl goes on a wild journey after her

personal experiences to celebrate the magic of menstruation. Tickets: $25.

26 Red Flags.

Aug. 12, 14, 15, 19. Virtual.

A story of a divorced woman who seeks love through online dating. A hilarious and honest one-woman show about facing what you run from. Tickets: $13-$15.

Home: Containment & Freedom.

Aug. 12, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22.The Spark A Performing Arts Community 4847 Pearl St., Suite B4, Boulder.

Home: Containment & Freedom explores imagination within limited space.

The familiar becomes a doorway to a dreamlike world with limitless possibilities.

Tickets: $5-$15.

Laughgasms: Sex in the Prime of Life (60s and Beyond).

Aug. 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22. Wesley Chapel Theatre 1290 Folsom St., Boulder.

Gramma and Grampa Clown are hilarious in and out of the sack and they want to share the fun with you. Whether you’re partnered or not, currently sexually active or not, or sexually indifferent (is that a thing?), you are welcome to this sexual circus. Rated R for language. Tickets: $10-$15.

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E VENTS

EVENTS

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

CAROLINE SHARKEY PHOTO

Puppetry with Recycled Materials.

11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Price: Free Workshop participants will use recycled and upcycled materials to create original rod puppets.

They will learn manipulation techniques for bringing their characters to life in simple scenes. Materials will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring additional recycled items if they wish. For more information, contact Betsy Tobin at 303-5885048. Free for adults and children ages 11 and up. Registration required. Tobin has toured her award-winning performances through Europe and the United States. She has also taught puppetry techniques to all ages in France and the United States in schools, universities, museums, cultural centers and theater schools.

Free Comic Book Day 2020.

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Time Warp Comics, 3105 28th St., Boulder.

Free Comic Book Day is an event where local comic shops give free comics to the public at large. This 20-year-old tradition celebrates comics as a medium and the fandom around comics. Expect cosplayers and local comics creators. COVID-19 safety requires masks and 6-foot social distancing at this event.

Versatility Dance Festival.

7 p.m .Saturday, Aug. 14, 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $20-$25, or make a one-time donation A co-presentation with the Dairy Arts Center, Versatility Dance Festival offers the Denver Metro Area a unique dance experience presenting the best

Old-Time Bike to the Museum Night.

Art in the Garden.

9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Chautauqua Picnic Shelter, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $27-$30.

Head to Chautauqua to paint your very own masterpiece, step by step, inspired by the beautiful surroundings. This event is appropriate for both families and for the individual with friends. Participants should wear clothes to paint in, bring a blanket to sit on, a water bottle and sunscreen. Minimum age: 10 years old.

Wonderland Within!

6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road, Longmont. Price: Free.

Bike to the Longmont Museum to see the new “Longmont 150” exhibit.

Old-time costumes, old-time bikes and all-around fun. Show your bike helmet to receive half-price admission. Bike valet parking available. To learn more, visit longmontmuseum. org or call 303-651-8374.

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Dv8 Distillery, 2480 49th St., Unit E, Boulder.

Tickets: $17-$30.

In this zany, dark, aerial dance adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we follow Alice through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole House of Colorado, an extended care licensed residential addiction treatment facility for women.

All Together Now: Lafayette Old Town Stroll.

BDT Stage presents ‘Avenue Q.’

Noon-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14, Pub-

Aug. 13-Oct. 17, BDT Stage, 5501 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder.

Tickets: $65-$70.

Avenue Q ingredients needed to create a laugh-out-loud musical comedy featuring

Support Lafayette’s vibrant restaurants, bars, entertainment venues and local businesses of all types while enjoying the art markets, live music, performers and shopping with some of the best artisans around.

leave the younger kids at home with a sitter because this show is full of mature content.

see EVENTS Page 18

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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EVENTS from Page 17

CONCERTS

INDIGO GIRLS

EVENTS MAD DOG BLUES TRIO

Thursday, Aug. 12

Hold The Line: a Tribute to ToTo @ Warehouse. 7:30 p.m. Warehouse Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl, Suite V3A, Boulder. Tickets: $25.

Mad Dog Blues Trio. Noon. Festival Plaza, 311 S. Public Road, Lafayette. Free.

The Jack Hadley Band (blues). 8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St., Louisville.

Price: $10-$15.

Friday, Aug. 13

Sunday, Aug. 15

Indigo Girls. 6:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 198 Morning Glory Drive Boulder. Additional show on Aug. 17. Tickets: SOLD OUT. Our Connected World Concert with Jeff & Paige (children’s educational). 10 a.m. In-person at “The Green” at West Civic Park, Boulder. Virtual Event: calendar.boulderlibrary.org/event/7835005 Hippy Bluegrass Church. 10:30 a.m.

Boulder Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Blvd., Boulder.

Tickets: $5-$10.

Wylie “Crazy Horse” Jones. Noon. Dickens 300 Prime, 300 Main St., Longmont. Free.

WU-TANG CLAN

Home Groove Band (R&B). 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free.

Francis & The Wolf Album Release Show (rock). 6 p.m. Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. Free.

Wu-Tang Clan with the Colorado Symphony (hip-hop/rap). 7 p.m.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $69.95-$139.95.

Monday, Aug. 16

Saturday, Aug. 14

SLIGHTLY STOOPID

Chris Musial (rock). 3 p.m. Dickens 300 Prime, 300 Main St., Longmont. Free.

Unauthorized Absence (classic rock covers). 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont.

Free.

Slightly Stoopid. 6 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $52.50$85. Second show on Aug. 15.

Opera in the Park. 7 p.m. Boulder Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Blvd., Boulder. Free.

The CBDs (hippie rock). 7 p.m. The Tune Up, 2355 30th St., Boulder. Free.

Max Mackey (Americana/rock). 7 p.m. Wibby Brewing, 209 Emery St., Longmont. Free.

Boulder Symphony — ‘Generations.’ 7:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $25-$35.

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Not Our First Goat Rodeo featuring Yo-yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile — with Aoife O’Donovan. 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $39.50-$175.

Tuesday, Aug. 17

Quinn Xcii, Chelsea Cutler, Jeremy Zucker, Ayokay. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $44.75-$64.75

see EVENTS Page 20

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EVENTS

EVENTS from Page 18

MUSIC

You’ll need a shot to rock at Z2 venues

In the depths of the ash

Criterion releases ‘Ashes and Diamonds,’ a potent reminder of the power of Polish cinema

by Michael J. Casey

DANA RAMSEY

Lollapalooza. Telluride Blues and Brews.

Bonnaroo. Across the country, music festivals and entertainment venues are requiring patrons to show proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 or that they have tested negative for the disease within the last two to three days.

Z2 Entertainment, which owns the Fox and Boulder theaters in Boulder and the Aggie in Fort Collins, has joined the growing collection of venues upping Delta variant that began sweeping the nation earlier this year. Starting Aug. 7, all attendees at all Z2 venues are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours, effective until further notice.

We checked in with Cheryl Liguori, CEO of Z2, to clarify these policies and see how patrons have reacted to what, for some, is a very controversial policy.

Boulder Weekly: Will those who have purchased tickets to a show but come without proof of vaccination or negative test be given a refund?

Cheryl Liguori: Yes, we have been giving refunds for those who will not have a card or test results.

BW: What will happen to those who refuse to mask up inside the venues?

CL: Our staff is required to mask up. While there is currently no mask mandate in place, we are highly encouraging our patrons to mask up while not enjoying a beverage or food.

BW: Will a passport be accepted as a valid form of ID? CL: We will accept legitimate passport apps to show proof of vaccination.

BW: How many folks are working across all three of these venues — Fox, Aggie and Boulder? Are 100% of these employees vaccinated?

CL: We have close to 180 on payroll but only staff that is fully vaccinated will be scheduled to work at this time.

BW: Has Z2 faced any pushback against this? If so, what has that looked like?

CL: Yes, of course we have seen some pushback and some people are not happy about our decision and others are very happy about our decision who have reached out to say thank you. It is a very small ask of our patrons. I think people don’t realize that if our venues are required to return to 6-foot social-distancing indoors then we would likely need to cancel all shows until we can return to 100% capacity. The Fox was closed for 15 months because we couldn’t allow more than 36 people (inside the venue), and the Boulder Theater opened with 10% capacity under these restrictions. We had to move all our Chautauqua shows to late summer in order to get to 100% capacity. Going back to restrictions on indoor venues is not sustainable for our business.

BW: How has Z2 responded to pushback?

CL: We understand people’s desire to come to concerts but we are not making exceptions to our new policy. Touring artists are setting their own safety protocols for the venues they tour through. We all want to slow the spread for the health of our industry and our community. I would like to add that during these stressful times, we need people to be understanding, cooperative and kind. We are all doing the best we can to ensure a safe environment to enjoy live entertainment.

Digital copies of vaccination cards may be obtained through: https://ciis.state. co.us/public/Application/PublicPortal or mycolorado.state.co.us.

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wo men wait outside a church. They are armed and tasked with an assassination mission. The mark approaches, and the men leap into action, gunning their target down as he opens the doors to the chapel. Mission accomplished. The date: May 8, 1945. By nightfall, news of the Axis surrender will reach this rural area, and the two Polish assassins of the Home Army will be free of Nazi rule.

Except that the man they just killed wasn’t a Nazi. He was a Communist. Furthermore, he was the wrong man.

So opens Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 masterpiece, Ashes and Diamonds, considered by many to be one of the greatest Polish movies ever made. Top tier, no doubt. And a large part of the praise CRITERION goes to the theatricality Wajda employs throughout (Zbigniew Cybulski) opens outside the church, the bullet holes in the man’s Realistic? Absolutely not. But it’s catches your attention. To take one’s life is to take your own. And when Maciek heads to the ON THE BILL: hotel where he will spend the rest of the movie, you don’t have A new 4K digital restoration of Ashes to strain too hard to see the strata of heaven and hell joined via & Diamonds will be shabby staircases and boozy bars. available on Blu-ray In addition to his work behind the camera, Wajda was from The Criterion a renowned director of the stage, and it shows. He also Collection on Aug. studied painting and romantic Hollywood cinema. Both lend 24. themselves to the rich chiaroscuro compositions Wajda and cinematographer Jerzy Wójcik craft.

But images are inert without performers, and Ashes and Diamonds has Cybulski.

Looking like a young Warren Beatty, Cybulski wore his own clothes and dark glasses instant icon with Polish audiences, and his psychologically wracked and physically fraught performance is in league with Marlon Brando and James Dean. You believe every tortured word coming out of his mouth. The Dean comparison goes tragically further: On Jan. 8, 1967, Cybulski died while trying to jump aboard a speeding train. He slipped and fell under the wheels. He was 39.

Coincidentally, Cybulski has a brief role in A Generation 1955, where he jumps aboard a speeding train. That movie is also set during World War II, as was his follow-up, Kanal. Ashes and Diamonds concludes this informal trilogy, imbuing the three with moral resonance. You’ve got to see all three, if for no other three years.

Ashes and Diamonds takes its title from a poem by 19th-century Polish poet Cyprian Norwid: “Will only ashes remain, and chaos whirling into the void. Or will the ashes hold the glory of a starlike diamond, the Morning Star of everlasting triumph.” Maciek come across it inscribed on the wall of a bombed-out church. Maciek used to be a student. Now he’s a soldier. He would give anything to go back to being a student, but it’s not in the cards. Wajda and co-author Jerzy Andrzejewski would give anything for Poland to be its own sovereign nation, but in the late 1950s, they had about as much optimism as Maciek. As soon as the Nazis surrendered in 1945, the Communists took over, and things went downhill from there. Starlike diamonds may form in time, but it’s ashes in the chaos dragging us all toward the abyss until then.

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BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: “Consecrate” isn’t a word you often

encounter in intellectual circles. In my home country of America, many otherwise smart people spurn the possibility that we might want to make things sacred. And a lot of art aspires to do the opposite of consecration: strip the world of holiness and mock the urge to commune with sanctified experiences. But filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975) expressed a contradictory view. He wrote, “I am not interested in deconsecrating: that’s a fashion I hate. I want to reconsecrate things as much as possible, I want to re-mythicize them.” In accordance with astrological omens, Aries, I invite you to look for opportunities to do the same.

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APRIL 20-MAY 20: Anais Nin wrote, “I don’t want worship. I want understanding.” George Orwell said, “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” Poet Marina Tsvetaeva declared, “For as long as I can remember, I thought I wanted to be loved. Now I know: I don’t need love, I need understanding.” Here’s what I’ll add, Taurus: If you ask for understanding and seek it out, a wealth of it will be available to you in the coming weeks.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: The English idiom “playing hard to get”

means “pretending to be unavailable or uninterested so as to make oneself more attractive or desirable.” Psychologists say this strategy often works, although it’s crucial not to go too far and make your pursuer lose interest. Seventeenthcentury philosopher Baltasar Gracián expressed the concept more philosophically. He said, “Leave people hungry. Even with physical thirst, good taste’s trick is to stimulate it, not quench it. What’s good, if sparse, is twice as good. A surfeit of pleasure is dangerous, for it occasions disdain even towards what’s undisputedly excellent. Hard-won happiness is twice as enjoyable.” I suggest you consider deploying these strategies, Gemini.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) sometimes worked alongside painter Claude Monet (1840– 1926) at Monet’s home. He sought the older man’s guidance. Before their first session, Sargent realized there was no black among the paint colors Monet gave him to work with. What?! Monet didn’t use black? Sargent was shocked.

He couldn’t imagine painting without it. And yet, he did fine without it. In fact, the apparent limitation compelled him to be creative in ways he hadn’t previously imagined. What would be your metaphorical equivalent, Cancerian: a limitation that inspires?

LEO

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Maupassant, “We are in the habit of using our eyes only with the memory of what people before us have thought about the things we are looking at.” That’s too bad. It causes us to miss a lot of life’s richness. In fact, said de Maupassant, “There is an element of the unexplored in everything. The smallest thing contains a little of what is unknown.” Your assignment in the next two weeks, Leo, is to take his thoughts to heart. In every experience, engage “with enough attention to find an aspect of it that no one has ever seen or spoken of.” You are in a phase when you could discover and enjoy record-breaking levels of novelty.

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly wrote a poem I want you to know about. She described how, when she was a child, she stayed up all night picking peaches from her father’s orchard by starlight. For hours, she climbed up and down the ladder. Her hands “twisted fruit” as if she “were entering a thousand doors.” When the stars faded and morning arrived, her insides felt like “the stillness a bell possesses just after it has been rung.” That’s the kind of experience I wish for you in the coming days, Virgo. I know it can’t be exactly the same. Can you imagine what the nearest equivalent might be? Make it happen!

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LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: Ancient Greek philosopher Plato mistrusted laughter, poetry, bright colors and artists who used bright colors. All those soulful activities influenced people to be emotional, Plato thought, and therefore represented a threat to rational, orderly society. Wow! I’m glad I don’t live in a culture descended from Plato! Oh, wait, I do. His writing is foundational to Western thought. One modern philosopher declared, “The European philosophical tradition consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” Anyway, I’m counseling you to rebel against Plato in the coming weeks. You especially need experiences that awaken and please and highlight your feelings. Contrary to Plato’s fears, doing this will boost your intelligence and enhance your decision-making powers.

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: A biography of Nobel Prize-winning Scorpio author Albert Camus noted that he had two modes. They are summed up in the French words solidaire (“unity”) and solitaire (“solitary”). When Camus was in a solidaire phase, he immersed himself in convivial engagement, enjoying the pleasures of socializing. But when he decided it was time to work hard on writing his books, he retreated into a monastic routine to marshal intense creativity. According to my astrological analysis, you Scorpios are currently in the solidaire phase of your rhythm. Enjoy it to the max! When might the next *solitaire* phase come? October could be such a time.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: During the 76 years since the end of World War II, Italy has had 69 different governments. That’s a great deal of turnover! Is it a strength or weakness to have so many changes in leadership? On the one hand, such flexibility could be an asset; it might be wise to keep reinventing the power structure as circumstances shift. On the other hand, having so little continuity and stability may undermine confidence and generate stressful uncertainty.

I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because you’re entering a phase when you could be as changeable as Italy.

Is that what you want? Would it serve you or undermine you? Make a conscious choice.

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Capricorn actor Nicholas Browne testifies,

“My heart is too full; it overflows onto everything I see. I am drowning in my own heart. I’ve plunged into the deepness of emotion, and I don’t see any way back up. Still, I pray no one comes to save me.” I’m guessing that his profound capacity to feel and express emotions serves Browne well in his craft. While I don’t recommend such a deep immersion for you 24/7/365, I suspect you’ll be wise to embark on such an excursion during the next three weeks. Have fun diving! How deep can you go?

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: In accordance with current astrological

omens, I’m calling on author Byron Katie to offer you a message. Is it infused with tough love or sweet encouragement? Both! Here’s Katie: “When you realize that suffering and discomfort are the call to inquiry, you may actually begin to look forward to uncomfortable feelings. You may even experience them as friends coming to show you what you have not yet investigated thoroughly enough.”

Get ready to dive deeper than you’ve dared to go before, Aquarius. I guarantee you it will ultimately become fun and educational.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: In August 1922, author Nikos Kazantzakis

wrote this triumphant declaration: “All day today I’ve had the most gentle, quivering joy, because I’m beginning to heal. Consciously, happily, I feel that I am being born anew, that I am beginning once again to take possession of the light.” On behalf of the cosmic powers-that-be, I authorize you to use these words as your own in the coming weeks.

They capture transformations that are in the works for you. By speaking Kazantzakis’s declarations aloud several times every day, you will ensure that his experience will be yours, too.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: Three months ago, I Dear FUNERAL: Your childhood came out as polyamorous in an email best friend dropped hints about being I sent to my immediate and my entire assaulted by this man — her stepfather extended family, because I’m done asking — but she never actually came out and one of my partners to pretend he’s “our told you that. But you know for a fact that roommate” when my parents or siblings he preyed on a mentally disabled woman come to visit, and it hurts me so much and that he sexually harassed you when to exclude him from family events and you were a minor. And like so many holidays. (And it hurts him too.) My whole sexual predators on altars, this asshole family is getting together over Labor Day got away with it. There haven’t been any weekend and all three of us are planning consequences, no accountability, and to go. Is there any way to avoid awkward- he’s still in a position — a position of ness? spiritual authority — where he can (and —Bringing All My probably does) abuse and ROMAN ROBINSON Boyfriends Inside exploit other vulnerable women and girls.

Dear BAMBI: Nope.

Ugh. P.S. They’ll get used I’m pro telling this to you being poly, you’ll asshole to go fuck himself get used to them knowing at the funeral — loudly — you’re poly, and it’ll get less but there’s something you awkward over time. But could do before the funeral. there’s no way to avoid that While you can’t control what your parents or this ness. Instead of trying to church have done or failed avoid it, BAMBI, try to have to do, FUNERAL, and while a sense of humor about it. your childhood best friend’s story isn’t yours to tell — and you don’t Dear Dan: I was raised in a conserva- know or don’t officially know the full tive batshit household and equally batshit story — you can tell your own story. church. The youth leader, who was my You can report this asshole to the pious best friend’s stepdad and who I viewed lowlifes who run this fucking church and file a police report at the same time.

When I was 17, he started asking me for Oh, and make sure to let those church sex and also told me he’d thought of me leaders know you filed a police report. “that way” since I was 12. I found out later While there’s no guarantee they’ll act he got a woman with a mental disability against this creep after getting a report pregnant, and my childhood best friend of sexual abuse (see Catholic Church, has hinted to me that he assaulted her as sex abuse scandals), they’ll at least well. Much to my rage, this guy’s wife, this know they’re leaving themselves open church and even my own parents never to potential financial consequences if went after this guy legally or otherwise. they fail to act (see Catholic Church, Outrageously, he’s still a member in good sex abuse scandal settlements). standing of this same church. A few days I’ve been to a few funerals in ago, a different childhood friend died. He my time, FUNERAL, and it’s not the was my best friend’s cousin, and we all people at the funeral we tend to grew up together. Obviously, this asshole remember — it’s the people who were will be at the funeral. I’m determined to there for us before the funeral and be there to support my friend but how do I after. Head home, be there for your interact with this predator without causing old friend, and feel free to skip the a scene? I don’t want to make this sad funeral if that asshole is gonna be reunion about me, but I refuse to entertain there. this guy in any way. Any thoughts on telling him to go fuck himself?

Send questions to mail@savagelove.

—Feels Uncomfortable Near Exnet, follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavtremely Religious Asshole Lowlifes age, and visit savagelovecast.com.

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‘Do you have a reser-vaccination?’

Boulder restaurants moving toward COVID vaccine proof for indoor dining this fall and winter

by John Lehndorff

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ere’s the thing: If you want to dine inside most Boulder restaurants this fall and winter, you should get the COVID vaccine ASAP. While the State, City or County is unlikely to issue a vaccine mandate for eateries, bars and music venues, by Oct. 1 — if not earlier — many of Boulder’s restaurants and bars will impose the vax requirement on indoor diners. After barely surviving the winter of 2020, you can’t blame owners for trying to keep staff and customers safe and their businesses viable as the delta variant invades.

Read my June 24 column (see Nibbles, “Back around the table”) to be reminded about the all-star roster of Boulder eateries, from The Med to Zolo Grill, that have died during this ongoing pandemic.

Many current eateries will not survive another shutdown or cutting capacity to 25%.

I’m fully vaccinated and still generally wary of dining indoors in the summer. This winter I will only “swap air” — as the epidemiologists put it — indoors at local restaurants which require other diners to be vaccinated. I am not alone in that safer dining intention.

Many businesses, restaurants, venues and institutions are now wisely advancing a vax requirement It was the University of Colorado’s (CU) decision to mandate vaccinations that prompted a change by chef Dakota Soifer, owner of Café Aion on the Hill.

“We now ask diners eating indoors to show that they are vaccinated. This doesn’t affect

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patrons dining on the patio, getting takeout or delivery,” Soifer says.

“We learned a few things during the pandemic and one of them is that dining indoors is a high-risk activity. Dining outdoors is a whole lot safer. This decision makes sense to me to keep my staff and patrons safe,” he says.

Soifer points out that restaurants are different from other retail environments. Café Aion’s dining areas are snug spaces inside an old building. “Even with a mask mandate, most patrons have their masks off for most of their meal,” he says. Many of the restaurant’s diners are over 40, are associated with CU and are likely vaccinated anyway, he adds. Parents with children too young to be vaccinated will be impacted until pediatric vaccines are approved.

Soifer also wants to show “solidarity” with CU and the Boulder Theater and Fox Theatre, which now require all concert attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours.

After a rough 18 months, Soifer and other frustrated Boulder restaurateurs express the hope that governments offer some recommendations to take the heat off of them.

Soifer doesn’t expect many problems. “My paella is good but not good enough for someone to forge proof to eat it,” he says.

However, the “No shirt, no shoes, no vax, no service” approach can be fraught with peril.

Given the mask backlash last year, restaurant thing causing confrontations between patrons and employees.

MIT Technology Review reported recently that restaurants limiting indoor dining service to vaccinated customers have been attacked online by trolls leaving negative reviews on Yelp

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and other platforms.

“Aion is a small restaurant and it isn’t going to move the needle by itself but maybe we’ll encourage others and learn a little from the experience this year,” Soifer says.

Denver's Bonanno Concepts this week announced that it will require both employees and dining guests at its restaurants to be vaccinated against coronavirus starting Sept. 30.

Former Boulder Restaurant Week owner Kate Lacroix has been lobbying eateries to adopt the vacciCHEF DAKOTA SOIFER, CAFE AION nation-proof mandate.

“We are in a toxic relationship with the willingly unvaccinated. It’s time to move away from begging, pleading and bribing people to get the vaccine. We should not have our ability to move safely around society impeded.

We shouldn’t have to face being bullied by the willingly unvaccinated,” Lacroix says.

She notes that there will be plenty of places where the unvaccinated can dine with each other, including outside in yurts and tents.

By the way, save those masks. We will likely be back to mask-wearing again soon in restaurants and indoor spaces. Mask-wearing is now being strongly encouraged for everyone, including the vaccinated, at local supermarkets.

Comments to: Nibbles@boulderweekly.com

A Toast to Jim Smailer

Chef Jim Smailer surely holds the longevity record for anyone in Boulder restaurant history as he has been cooking at the Boulder Cork for 40 years.

That run will end Sept. 9 when Smailer exits the kitchen shortly before his 65th birthday. Smailer is revered in the local culinary community. Long before “farmto-table” had a name, he was an advocate for local food. A well-known forager, he always maintained a great garden at the Cork. Besides being a steak lovers’ Smailer.

Local Food News

Chef Tsehay Hailu's classic Ras Kassa's Ethiopian Restaurant in Lafayette has reopened, serving Tuesday through Sundays. ... South Street Market has opened at 824 South St. in Louisville offering ready-to-eat meals, rotisserie chickens, sandwiches, coffee, baked goods and grocery items. ... Laguna Mexican Restaurant is dishing Tex-Mex fare in the former Two Dog Diner space in Longmont at 645 Tenacity Drive.

Words to Chew On

“As I go along, I add ... tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar — I balance sweetness with acid. Major with minor. I imagine I’m creating a concerto, with a main voice speaking, backed up by the other instruments, carefully balanced.

They all have to make sense together to make that dish sing.” —Chef Susan Feniger John Lehndorff is the Boulder Weekly’s food editor and the former dining critic of the Rocky Mountain News.

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COURTESY CERIA BREWING

Profiles in brew:

Keith Villa, Ph.D.

One trailblazing brewer, two cutting edges

by Michael J. Casey

F

ew people get to be at the forefront of something special. Keith Villa has been there twice.

“They said I was one of the major disruptors in the alcohol world,” Villa says, reading from a past interview now framed on his office wall.

“They said, ‘He was instrumental in bringing non-craft beer drinkers to craft.’”

The beer they’re referencing: Blue Moon, the ubiquitous Belgian-style white ale Villa developed for Coors Brewing 25 years ago. And if Villa’s current venture hangs on for another 25 years, he’ll have to build another office just to hang the interviews. Only this time, the c-word they’ll be using won’t be craft; it’ll be cannabis.

Villa is Colorado through and through. He grew up in Wheat Ridge and went to Arvada’s Pomona High School. There he met Jodi Nelson, his future wife.

Both went on to CU-Boulder. Medicine was Villa’s plan, but a Coors job-posting calling for a brewing scientist caught his eye. Villa was homebrewing, and Jodi’s father, Donavon Nelson, was a life-long employee of the Golden-based company. Destiny, as they say, is hard to avoid.

Coors sent Villa to Belgium, where he earned his Ph.D. at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, completing his transformation from “people doctor” to “beer doctor.”

When he came back, Coors charged him with crafting a new beer the company could package alongside George Killian’s Irish Red, “the number one selling microbrew,” Villa recounts.

The beer Villa came up with: Blue Moon Belgian White. The year was 1995, and though Coors’ initial push was impressive, the ale floundered. But Villa resolved to make Blue Moon a success and launched an educational campaign to get bartenders on board. Villa knew the beer needed a garnish, a slice of orange to compliment the beer’s bright

citrus. But bars didn’t have oranges on hand, just lemons and limes. So, Villa bought them oranges. Then came the vessel, a curvaceous weizenbier glass that made Blue Moon’s hazy orange liquid all the more desirable.

It took time, and it took effort, but by the time the 21st century rolled around, Blue Moon was a hit.

“I started getting emails from brewers thanking me for creating Blue Moon because it gave them the idea to become a brewer,” Villa says, adding that Blue Moon “laid the groundwork and showed craft brewers that if you make a gateway beer, your sales are going to go up.”

And what do you do when you’ve had a hit? You see who’s up next. Villa retired from Coors in 2018 and started two new breweries, both significantly smaller but loaded with potential: CERIA Brewing and Donavan Brewing, the latter named after Jodi’s father. Both are owned and operated by the Villas — daughter Catherine is also part of the team — and one informs the other.

It starts with Donavan. Brewing on a three-barrel system, Villa uses Donavan as his test kitchen. A Vienna-style lager here, a cinnamon horchata ale there.

He’s even brewed a beer patterned after the mojito cocktail.

“We literally could brew anything we want under the Donavan label,” Villa explains. And if it’s good, he’ll sell it to a handful of accounts around town. With Donavan, growth is not the goal. “We just want it to be a way for us to test recipes.”

The Villas have a special recipe for their nationwide venture: CERIA Brewing’s non-alcoholic beers infused with Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

“We’re a little bit ahead of the curve with cannabis and cannabis beer,” Villa says. “Enough to the point that I was able to write a book.”

That book, Brewing with Cannabis: Using THC and CBD in Beer, is now available from Brewers Publications.

“We’ve created a pathway, a gateway, for craft brewers,” Villa says. “Even people who aren’t in the beer business that may be in it in two years. Maybe they see [cannabis beer] as a gold rush, a once in a lifetime opportunity to jump in.”

The first beer Villa released under the CERIA label: Grainwave, a Belgian-style white ale brewed with blood orange peel and coriander. Were you expecting something else?

“When I look back at Blue Moon — I launched that in 25 countries outside of the U.S., and it’s available almost everywhere,” Villa recounts. “I see that brand and say, ‘Wow, some kid from Colorado, who graduated from CU, did that!’”

Now the kid from Colorado is on a new cutting edge, this one in the burgeoning market of legalized drinkables.

“I hope CERIA grows to become a real big brand,” Villa says. “And then we can just go on to the next venture.”

Next week: More from Villa on CERIA Brewing, why beer can be a vehicle to bring cannabis to the masses, and an excerpt from Brewing with Cannabis.

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JOHN LEHNDORFF

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

TASTE OF THE WEEK: Bourbon Chicken @ Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery

B

ourbon Chicken is a curious bird. As Chris Rubeck prepares it in Lafayette, the classic sauce doesn’t taste much like the famous whiskey, but his tangysweet, fruity variation on a spicy teriyaki theme turns boneless chicken thighs into craveable candy. It’s the signature dish at Ruby Ru’s Street Eatery, a popular food truck successfully graduated to a storefront at 1280 Centaur Village Drive near Centaurus High School.

At Ruby Ru’s, the secret is grilling the chicken until the glaze chars a little and serving it hot and heavily sauced over steamed rice. The moist thighs are also dished in a taco jammed with slaw, grilled pineapple and aioli. The portions are generous as are the sides of mac-n-cheese, Cajun potatoes and grilled summer vegetables.

Other choices are sausages, chicken tacos, chicken banh mi and jerk chicken rice bowls and a Buffalo chick-

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What to do with too much watermelon

FOOD NEWS

These are the juicy summer days when the locally grown watermelons are so sweet and affordable. Colorado’s melon fame will be celebrated on Watermelon Day, Aug. 21, at the 144th Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford with watermelon carving and seed spitting contests and all the watermelon you can eat. The challenge with watermelon is that that the best ones are physically huge how to use and preserve

that excess of goodness.

Besides eating it plain or in a salad with feta cheese, I like

water and honey into a blender. Blend until smooth.

Strain if you want less pulp.

and puree it in a blender for drinks and freezing in cubes.

I also puree ripe melon with coconut milk and honey to make frozen sherbet.

Franklin Escobar of Familia Pupusas shares this simple drink recipe through the Boulder County Farmers Market.

thoroughly and serve.

Culinary Calendar

Longmont dinners on the farm Longmont caterer Whistling Boar hosts a Caribbean-themed dinner Aug. 21 at MetaCarbon Organic Farm with a tour of the regenerative farming site. Reservations: whistlingboar.com ...

Longmont’s Ollin Farms and chef Paul C. Reilly present a Coperta farm lunch on Sept.

19. Crops showcased will include Japanese eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, Dragon

Watermelon Agua Fresca 20 ounces (approx.) cut into chunks 2 1/2 cups water 1/2 tablespoons honey Place the watermelon,

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Tongue beans, summer garlic and Jimmy Nardello peppers. Reservations: ollinfarms.com

Markets: Pie cherries to cotton candy

Besides peaches, apples, freshly pressed cider, and doughnuts, Ya Ya Farm & Orchard in Longmont offers their Montmorency pie cherries — harvested, pitted and frozen. They are by far the best cherry variety for cherry pies and a tough commodity to find. ... For a market change of pace, visit the Nederland Farmers Market, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Food vendors include Five Freedoms

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Dairy, Head in the Clouds Cotton Candy, Green Tahini, Tortilleria la Esmerelda, The Vegetable Express, Kathmandu, Columbine Bakery, Coloradough Pizza, and Ranch Bakery.

—John Lehndorff

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A double-edged sword

all completing a new-venture-ideation task generating as many ideas for a new business as possible.

Each participant also answered questions about their business experience, their passion for entrepreneurship and their personal cannabis use patterns.

Participants were then separated into two groups: cannabis users (who had used more than 20 times in the past month) and non-users. (None of the participants were actually high during the study, Warnick notes.)

The cannabis users in the study still had more original ideas than non-users — coming up with ideas like weightless, gravity-free virtual reality workouts.

“It’s really important to

Researchers find cannabis use can stimulate creative entrepreneurial ideas — but it comes at a cost

by Will Brendza

C

annabis is often anecdotally associated with creativity. Artists, musicians, writers and many other creative types often use it and claim that it helps them think outside of the box — to achieve new creative heights.

This might actually be true, a new study from Washington State University (WSU) has found. According to the researchers, led by Dr. Ben Warnick, an entrepreneurship professor at WSU, cannabis use does seem to stimulate original thought and unique ideas — but, it’s a double-edged sword. Without adequate business experience or someone else to act as an idealistic anchor, cannabis users’ ideas, while often passionate and original, can get somewhat unrealistic.

aware of.”

Going into the study, Warnick and his team of researchers expected there to be some kind of observable difference in the creative acumen of a cannabis user and that of a non-user. What they didn’t expect to

your ideas before they get a chance to really prove themselves,” Warnick explains. “So cannabis has these cognitive effects of opening the brain and reducing inhibition, so users are less likely to be critical and to judge ideas.”

That can be extremely

use and creative entrepreneurial ideas is also heavily dependent on the person’s experience with and passion for the business.

For the study, titled “Head in the clouds? Cannabis users’ creativity in new venture ideation depends on their entrepreneurial passion and experience,” Warnick teamed up with Dr. Alex Kier, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship, and several WSU psychology professors. 254 entrepreneurs participated in the study;

and connections during a business brainstorming session. However, it can also lead to practicality problems.

While cannabis users had more original ideas than non-users, they were notably less-realistic as well.

However, Warnick adds, just because someone uses cannabis doesn’t mean their ideas are always more original. According to their findings, entrepreneurial “passion for inventing” boosts the originality of

use — or really any kind of drug use — and its implications for entrepreneurs,” Warnick says. “And we found

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cannabis users’ ideas, though it can be a detriment to the idea’s feasibility. Conversely, entrepreneurial experience works the other way: the more experience a person has with starting businesses, the more realistic their entrepreneurial ideas tend to be.

In other words: the view might be great with your head in the clouds, but that doesn’t mean you’re seeing it clearly. “[Successful ideas] aren’t just original ideas that are different, but also ones that actually have legs and some feasibility and usefulness to the market,” Warnick says.

“The implication is that, being a cannabis user, or having someone on your team who is, can help with these brainstorming processes,” Warnick explains.

“But it’s probably better to either quit using cannabis for a while before you start, or have someone else who’s not a cannabis user to help with the feasibility and more pragmatic stages of thinking.”

Because of cannabis’ status as a Schedule I substance, research like this has been stiSo, not much is known about the long-term or lasting effects of cannabis use on people or their thought processes.

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researchers like Warnick and the team behind this study, we’re starting to better understand the potential uses and the limitations of cannabis. being a cannabis user when it comes to creativity,” Warnick says. “There’s a lot of claims out there, and I think they should be put to the test.”

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