Boulder Weekly 8.5.21

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August

5-11,

Birds of Fire lives again Rebolting an iconic RMNP climb as thousands more Front Range bolts need replacing

by Emma Athena

2021

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news:

Colorado aims to improve maternal health care with groundbreaking legislation

by Karlie Huckels

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news:

States are buying hotels to provide short and long-term housing for wildfire survivors

by Julie Strupp, Next City

10

boulderganic:

A Q&A with Dr. Peter Lilienthal about distributed energy

by Angela K. Evans

adventure:

Rebolting an iconic RMNP climb as thousands more Front Range bolts need replacing

by Emma Athena

30

nibbles:

Skip the market crowds for personal, quirky roadside farm stands around Boulder County

by John Lehndorff

departments 7 21 26 27 29 33 35 37 38

13 17

buzz:

Mona Awad creates an anti-fairy-tale heroine in new novel ‘All’s Well’

by Caitlin Rockett

5

The Anderson Files: Disturbing questions about Jan. 6 insurrection and law enforcement Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views Events: The many surprises of Wilco, comedy at The Dairy and more to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do Film: Loss, grief and acceptance in ‘Pig’ Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: Surprised Beer: Tour de brew: Westbound & Down Brewing Company Taste of the week: Three Colorado artisan cheese incidents Cannabis Corner: Raising recreational marijuana taxes?

Weed Between the Lines: Boulder County says no to cannabis hospitality establishments

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Bar open.

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Senior Editor, Angela K. Evans Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Food Editor, John Lehndorff 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, Andrew Andraski August 5, 2021 Volume XXVIII, Number 51 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.

Disturbing questions about Jan. 6 insurrection and law enforcement

by Dave Anderson

A

Republican congressman has described the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection as a “normal tourist visit.” During the opening hearing of the House select committee investigating that event, D.C. police officer Daniel Hodges was asked about this comment. He responded, “Well, if that’s what American tourists are like, I can see why foreign countries don’t like American tourists.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI received many warning signs of what was to come on Jan. 6. R.P. Eddy, a former director of the National Security Council, told NPR that the problem might be the “invisible obvious” — events which are in front of us which we don’t notice. He said it is very difficult for decision makers and analysts in those agencies “to realize that people who look just like them could want to commit this kind of unconstitutional violence and could literally try to and want to kill them.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Eddy said, “Foe look differently, foe act differently, say different things.

They don’t have the same bumper stickers. They don’t have the same yellow flag of ‘Don’t Tread on Me.’ It was hard for them to see that the law-andorder hierarchy in which they were born and bred ... where they got their paycheck, was inciting the mob that was going to commit the violence that was indeed the foe, not the friend.”

It is truly alarming how many law enforcement and military personnel (current and retired) participated in the insurrection. Hodges, a young white officer, told the committee that the mob was “overwhelmingly white males” and that he was treated quite differently from his non-white fellow officers.

He said it was a “white nationalist insurrection” with disciplined members of racist gangs such as the Three Percenters, Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. “Some of them would try to, try to recruit me,” he noted. “One of them came up to me and said, ‘Are you my brother?’”

Harry Dunn, a Capitol Hill officer who is Black, testified that he was repeatedly called the “N” word by rioters

see THE ANDERSON FILES Page 6

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THE ANDERSON FILES from Page 5

and that other Black officers had similar experiences.

Hodges repeatedly referred to the rioters as “terrorists.” He described how he was crushed in a doorway by the mob and then assaulted from all sides. About 140 D.C. and Capitol Hill police were injured. Another died after being assaulted. Four others committed suicide.

D.C. police officer Michael Fanone told the House committee how he was beaten and electrocuted over and over with a stun gun. He suffered a small heart attack and brain injuries.

He condemned the many Republican lawmakers whose lives he defended that day as “downplaying or outright denying what happened.”

Later on CNN, Fanone said he had hoped that the nation’s largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), would come out strongly in defense of him and his fellow officers. He had been a dues-paying member of the FOP since he first became a cop. He said that he and the others waited for six months without being contacted by the union. He then had a conversation with national FOP president Patrick Yves and “wasn’t particularly impressed.”

Later, CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke with Yves and asked him why the union hasn’t been more supportive of Fanone and the other cops who defended the Capitol. Tapper said they have been “smeared” by “MAGA media, MAGA politicians.” Yves said the FOP condemned the riot but Tapper said their response was much milder than their declarations of support for other cops in controversial situations.

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He wondered if this was because the FOP had endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020.

In fact, FOP and other police unions have frequently been accused of protecting many officers who were abusive, violent and racist. In The New Yorker in 2020, Steven Greenhouse cited “recent studies (which) suggest that their political and bargaining power has enabled them to win disciplinary systems so lax that they have helped increase police abuses in the United States.”

Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, told Greenhouse: “(Police unions) have more clout than other public-sector unions, like the teachers or sanitation workers, because they have often been able to command the political support of Republicans. That’s given them a big advantage.”

Recently, many protesters and even some unions have urged the AFL-CIO, the nation’s main labor federation, to expel the International Union of Police Associations, which represents 100,000 law-enforcement officers.

Lately, rightwingers have been using this controversy to argue for the maiming or elimination of all public employee unions.

We should ask a larger question.

What is the role of law enforcement in a genuinely democratic and multi-racial society?

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

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

THE REAL GOAL Near the end of “Out of sight, out of mind” (News, July 29) Emma Athena notes that Coloradans only recycle 1.1 lb/person/day compared with 3 times that much in Oregon or Washington. But that’s not the whole story; we need to know totals of discarded waste per person-day in Oregon or Washington. If that were higher than here, we’d look better; if lower, we’d look even worse. The real goal is not to increase the amount of recycling, but to reduce the amount that goes in landfills. And remember “reduce, re-use, recycle”: recycling is the third goal, coming into play only after we really need to use something and can’t re-use it afterward.

Dick Dunn/Longmont

thus far. We encourage all Coloradans and all our elected officials to support at the national level, the kind of voting access we have in Colorado; access that benefits all voters.

Mandy Nuku, Operations Director ROLE MODEL Considering our long dark history of human rights violations, we have little standing in criticizing those in

China. Voter suppression and curtailing union organizing are as anti-democratic as the crackdown on the people of Hong Kong. The power of the Capital here is as autocratic as that of the Communist Party. Industrial organization and production, having a willing workforce, and capitalizing on international trade have propelled both nations into economic superpowers. China’s current buildup of military power, citing the

preservation of national character and world status, copies that of ours during the “Red Scare” of the 50’s and 60’s, a staged standoff of world powers. Communist China is every bit as much a Capitalist player in the world economy as America. The gorilla in the room facing both nations is Mother Nature and how each will address the effects and their contributions to climate change.

Robert Porath /Boulder

LWV SUPPORTS VOTING RIGHTS Coloradans have many reasons to be proud of our election system.

Our state is widely known as a national model for use of effective processes like mail-in ballots, same-day voting, and the ability for unaffiliated voters to vote in primary elections. Taken together, these and other elements of our election system making voting more accessible to everyone. Our redistricting effort, now underway, is designed to help avoid disenfranchisement through gerrymandering.

The League of Women Voters works to ensure that everyone has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate.

Unfortunately, many states are moving in an opposite direction as Colorado: rolling back hard-won voting rights, disenfranchising people who have already been historically excluded from voting, and weakening our democracy.

That’s why LWV is one of many organizations supporting the For The People Act. This act, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act are two opportunities to secure voting rights at the national level. The bills have had a rocky road this spring, but Congress still has an opportunity to uphold equitable access to the voting process for all who are eligible.

LWV and nonpartisan organizations all over the U.S. are calling on Congress to delay their August recess until the For the People Act is passed.

LWV of Boulder County thanks Representative Neguse, Senator Bennet and Senator Hickenlooper for supporting the For the People Act BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Colorado aims to improve maternal health care with groundbreaking legislation

by Karlie Huckels

T

he 2021 legislative session brought a lot of big changes to Colorado: On July 6, people were infatuated with the passing of a bill that manages the use of plastic products like single use bags. After the racial reckoning protests of 2020 and the case of Elijah McClain, the public had its eyes on the bill that limited ketamine use in pre-hospital settings, and a bill that addresses law enforcement accountability. While the public watched those bills pass, an entire package aimed at maternal health care was overlooked.

Senate Bill 21-193 protects pregnant people through the year of pregnancy and postpartum; 21-194 establishes more care surrounding maternal health for providers and patients; 21-009 creates a reproductive health care program to help provide counseling and contraceptives for everyone, with a specific focus on helping minorities; and 21-181 addresses health care disparities across the system, and will provide data surrounding inequities for minority groups regarding care during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and through postpartum.

Each bill impacts various demographics and addresses holes in the current maternal care systems and protocols within Colorado. The goal is to reduce the pregnancy-associated mortality rates.

The latest data (collected in 2016) shows that in Colorado, 47.4 people died for every 100,000 live births because of pregnancy related reasons.

“Everybody got here by being born, so everybody’s got a stake in these policy issues,” says Indra Lusero, an expert in childbirth law and founder and director of the nonprofit Elephant Circle. Inspired by the way elephants create a circle around a birthing female to provide protection and support for the mother and newborn, Elephant Circle has been working with state officials to help create inclusive and state support for individuals with the capacity for pregnancy.

Elephant Circle was approached in 2020 by House Representative Leslie Herod (D-Denver), and other supporters, to collaborate on SB21-193 and 194 with the goal of improving the experience individuals have within a full year of time known as the perinatal period: the year includes pregnancy and the post-partum “fourth trimester.”

“These laws establish two important things.

One, they establish human rights as a health outcome. Number two, we think these laws also align data and systems for equity,” Lusero says. “We’ve got a data problem on the front end — the information that we are looking at to find out what’s 8

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happening in the system is inadequate. We want to make sure we get better data. That means listening better to people who are experiencing this system.”

SB21-193 aims to improve data collection by requiring the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to receive reports about culturally incongruent maternal care provided to pregnant people, data about disability, mortality rates and reason, and data from prisons and jails about those that are in the perinatal period and incarcerated.

“With better data, then we can have better solutions,” Lusero says.

“Because these bills are protecting not only people in hospital and birthing center settings, but also those who are incarcerated, they are really looking at a system change,” says Herod, who was a sponsor for Senate Bills 21-193, 194 and 181.

The new law also provides individuals in the perinatal period in jail or prison access to medical and mental health care, post-partum care and immediate access to care upon release.

Incarcerated individuals in Colorado will now legally be required to have access to things as simple as seeing medical providers who specialize in pregnancy and birth. For the case of individuals who are incarcerated during breastfeeding, they will be required to be provided something as simple as a breast pump.

“These bills set a standard,” Lusero says. “If you are going to incarcerate a person who is pregnant, giving birth or who just gave birth, what are you going to do? These jails and prisons were not designed with pregnant people in mind.”

With the passing of 21-194, insurance providers, including Medicaid coverage, will be required to reimburse providers who participate in maternal healthcare that: promotes high-quality, cost-effective and evidence-based care; employs high-value payment models; and prevents risk in subsequent pregnancies. In short, that means doula and midwifery services will now be covered by insurance.

In Colorado, 14% of births are attended by midwives, but data shows that this profession drastically improves maternal care throughout the perinatal period. There are only three other states that offer this kind of monetary incentive: New Jersey, Oregon and Minnesota. Indiana used to have a state Medicaid program, but funding was eliminated for the program two years ago.

While some are trying to address this dispariAUGUST 5, 2021

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ty on the federal level, in Colorado, doulas and midwives will be more accessible, compensated through insurance for their services, and will be allowed in the delivery room in addition to the traditional “plus one.”

Lusero says this change doesn’t require large shifts in how the systems already run, as certified nurse midwives and direct entry midwives can already practice legally in Colorado.

Jetha Marek is a birth and postpartum doula and clinical social worker who was drawn to the profession because she wanted to provide more support to individuals in the perinatal period.

She says this legislation is a start to providing equity and systematic changes for care through pregnancy, birth and postpartum, especially for minority communities.

“To me this feels like an incredible win,” Marek says. “We are mitigating trauma here, we’re mitigating death, and we are making our maternal morbidity rates better. This is what it means to do better.”

Still, research about the prevalence of maternal death rates — both during pregnancy and post-partum — are lacking. With new information coming out about factual inaccuracies of past studies, researchers are currently working to find how to improve reporting and to recommend legislation that would provide more support for pregnant individuals.

During a webinar in September 2020, researchers Dr. Eugene Declercq, a professor at Boston University who focuses on maternal mortality and morbidity, said, “A mother giving birth today is more likely to die during childbirth than her mother did 30 years ago.”

Data shows many maternal mortality cases occur after the six-week check-up post-delivery when most maternal care ends. With the addition of SB21-193 and 194, Colorado legislators are trying to change that maternal mental health narrative in addition to the perinatal physical health care in our state.

Organizations in Colorado, like Elephant Circle, are doing what they can to change those numbers as well. In addition to working to help build upon this new legislation; the organization provides education materials, meetings and general information on policy issues and changes.

“Just getting people to care will make a difference,” Lusero says. “That’s going to get us further than we’ve been thus far.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

States are buying hotels to provide short and long-term housing for wildfire survivors

by Julie Strupp, Next City

T

he climate crisis is already exacerbating the manent housing. On July 12, Gov. Gavin Newsom Counties, which has been involved with Project housing crisis. Last year, wildfires burned expanded the program with $12 billion over two Turnkey since its inception. She says many of the and damaged about 17,700 structures in the years to create another 42,000 units — the largest Turnkey clients have experienced trauma, and stresses U.S. It was one of the most destructive seasuch investment in state history. the importance of wraparound services in helping the sons on record, and frighteningly, part of an Seeing California’s success, Oregon launched a project succeed. “Those displaced by COVID might upward trend. Wildfires are already contributing to Project Turnkey in the wake of the 2020 Labor Day need food brought to them, those hit by wildfires housing shortages in California and Oregon. Texas, fires, the state’s most destructive blaze on record. might need services to help them rebuild their home Washington and Colorado have also lost a signifIn one weekend, 4,500 homes were lost, many of or to find permanent affordable housing, and those icant number of buildings to fire in recent years. them affordable. The wildfire devastation plus the with mental health issues or addiction also need In the past decade, climate change-fueled natural ongoing pandemic meant shelters were full and also specialized help.” disasters drove internal displacement worldwide dangerous. The state was already mulling a program Temporarily housing people in hotels isn’t a new and forced 20 million people from their homes each like Turnkey, and the fire created a new urgency. As idea, but the practice accelerated during the pandemic year, per the U.N. part of a larger wildfire relief package, Oregon allo- as cities rented out hotels to shelter the homeless and That’s why some wildfire-prone areas are cated $65 million for nonprofit partners to purchase give hotels a boost. Converting them into permanent reworking emergency pandemic housing initiatives and renovate 18-20 hotels, with the goal of housing shelter is more novel, but King County near Seattle to shelter residents affected by extreme weather.

1,000 people for up to a year, providing them with — where the coronavirus first began to spread in the Oregon and California are renting U.S. — is one making a large investREMNANTS OF 2012 WALDO CANYON FIRE IN COLORADO SPRINGS/SHUTTERSTOCK and purchasing hotels to house resment. The county ran a successful idents who have lost their homes to hotels-to-shelter experiment that it’s wildfire, as well as unhoused people reworking to address chronic homeliving in fire-prone areas. They’re lessness, with $350 million to buy also converting some of the units and convert hotels into long-term into transitional and permanent housing. It just purchased its fourth affordable housing, depending on hotel. the needs of the community.

Adding to the urgency of this “In one single investment, you moment, the CDC’s eviction can add emergency shelter and also moratorium expired at the end of address the root cause of long-term July. Housing advocates have been lack of affordable housing,” says sounding the alarm about a potenMegan Loeb, program officer at tial wave of evictions, and Black and Oregon Community Foundation.

Latinx tenants and small landlords The foundation oversees the state’s will likely be hardest-hit. Wildfires Project Turnkey, which launched and other natural disasters tend to in October 2020 to convert hotels impact marginalized communities to various types of housing. She adds that hotels tailored supportive services, and funneling them the most — including people of color, low income and motels can almost immediately shelter peointo other permanent housing. $30 million of this people and people with disabilities — who tend to ple — plus they’re more welcoming to families and was for six rural counties hardest-hit by the fires, be more exposed to dangerous conditions and have LGBTQ people, and safer during a pandemic than and the remaining $35 million for shelter throughfewer resources to turn to afterward. Essentially, congregate housing. out the state for anyone experiencing homelessness. extreme weather multiplies existing housing shortAs pandemic initiatives demonstrated, hotels In its first phase, Turnkey added almost 900 ages and inequalities, a 2019 Center for American and motels are much easier to adapt than, say, beds over 19 properties in 13 counties in less than Progress (CAP) study shows. office buildings, and retrofitting is a faster and eight months — a roughly 20% increase in OreIt’s important to consider affordable houscheaper solution than building from scratch. Plus, gon’s supply of emergency year-round shelter beds. ing and climate change together, according to repurposing existing structures like hotels is more The program partners are gradually adapting the Guillermo Ortiz, formerly a housing and climate environmentally friendly. Even people living in hotel units into permanently affordable housing, researcher with CAP who worked on the report. encampments who are loath to go into shelters tend adding amenities like kitchenettes to bring them After a natural disaster, typically “this housing is to be more open to staying in hotels, advocates say. up to code, according to Loeb. At the end of April not replaced on a one-to-one basis. Often the little Many hotel owners are open to selling, given how 2021, Oregon passed a bill that eases the ability affordable housing you have is being destroyed by COVID-19 has decimated the tourism industry, to convert hotels into shelter and housing. In June these extreme weather events.” and owners are generally reimbursed well, according 2021, Oregon approved another $9.7 million for “Policy issues are looked at in silos, but the to Bloomberg.

Turnkey to fully fund approved projects and create problem with climate change is that it affects evCalifornia’s Project Homekey launched last June 132 more units of emergency housing. erything,” Ortiz says. “When we’re thinking about with $846 million in state and federal emergency “[Project Turnkey] addresses about one-tenth of climate resistance plans, housing should absolutely funds to purchase hotels and establish permanent the need in Oregon. It’s a very important piece of be part of the discussion.” housing for people experiencing homelessness. the puzzle, but it’s only a piece,” says Gina Nikkel, This story is republished as part of the SoJo ExOver six months, it created 6,029 new units of perexecutive director of the Association of Oregon change from the Solutions Journalism Network.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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JIM YOST / NREL

What’s up with microgrids?

THIS STANDALONE photovoltaic system creates a mini-grid wherever it goes and creates enough power to run a small home.

A Q&A with Dr. Peter Lilienthal about distributed energy

by Angela K. Evans

D

r. Peter Lilienthal has been in the renewables business a long time. In 1979 he started selling wind turbines from “the first small wind turbine company — pretty minor job to be honest,” he says. Then he taught alternative energy and sold energy management systems a little bit, too.

But the bulk of his career has been in distributed energy — microgrids, specifically. From 1990 to 2007, he was the senior economist with international programs at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he developed the hybrid power optimization software HOMER, which has been used by over 250,000 energy practitioners in 193 countries. In 2009, HOMER was licensed as a private company and acquired by the global safety science company UL, where Lilienthal now serves as the global microgrid lead. This year, he was selected to be on the City of Boulder – Xcel Energy Partnership’s 18-member community advisory panel.

We recently caught up with Lilienthal to talk about his work, the potential for microgrids in Colorado, and what he plans to share at the Aug. 12 Empower Hour presented by Empower Our Future, a Boulder-based coalition of organizations and individuals in support of local clean power.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Boulder Weekly (BW): How have you seen the field of distributed energy and microgrids change over time?

Dr. Peter Lilienthal (PL): We didn’t call them microgrids in the early ’90s. We had a Village Power Program at NREL and the focus there was: Where’s renewable energy going to be cost-effective first? Because in the early ’90s, it really wasn’t cost-effective yet. And I decided it was places that burn diesel, so islands and remote areas. At that time there were 2 billion people — there’s still a billion people — without any energy access at all.

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call the whole island of Puerto Rico a microgrid. But most of the other Caribbean islands are mircogrids — they are only tens of megawatts maybe.

And so microgrids are the best way for them to get power.

Over the years there’s been a lot of experience with these remote microgrids that stand alone all the time. But now solar and storage have gotten cheap enough that the same concept — with some changes but similar in many ways — is cost effective here in the U.S. And so this concept of microgrids, which used to be real niche, now has a lot of experience and expertise that has been built up that is relevant here for anyone that wants real high reliability or their own power to be predominantly renewable, and there’s a real growing interest in grid-connected microgrids.

BW: How do you define microgrids?

PL: Some people define it by limited geographic area. Some people define it by a single power station, but that can get ambiguous. So I think simpler is better. I have a really simple definition, which is any system that is capable of standing on its own. So the remote microgrids stand on their own all the time.

And a grid-connected microgrid is capable of standing on its own, but typically wouldn’t — only when the grid has an outage or emergency or something.

The only problem with my definition is there’s no logical upper bound on what that means. We work on a lot of islands in the Caribbean and Pacific and Alaska; if they’re big enough to have conventional generation — like Puerto Rico, the island itself has a pretty large power system — that’s getting too large for me to AUGUST 5, 2021

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BW: In Colorado, several laws were passed this year that could make way for more grid-connected microgrids in the future — HB21-1269: Public Utilities Commission Study of Community Choice Energy, for example.

Are you hopeful that will change the picture in the state?

PL: I’m wildly optimistic but I’m just starting to get involved in local policy issues. Worldwide and nationwide, there is a growing interest in this.

California was already a trendsetter in terms of microgrids, which really need to have storage, and they were pushing storage before anyone else. But these public safety power shutoffs — where the utilities are cutting off power to whole communities for days at a time just to prevent wildfires — means everyone in these communities need a microgrid, need to be able to stand on their own. So there’s a lot of interest now in California and there are pockets of other places: Green Mountain Power in Vermont is doing innovative stuff. Austin Energy is doing innovative stuff. It’s not always exactly a microgrid, but you know, it’s moving in that direction.

BW: I was going to ask, with these power shutoffs, precipitated by extreme weather events caused in large part by climate change, how do microgrids ensure resiliency?

PL: The only way to really have high reliability is to have the source of power where you are going to use it. The vast majority of outages are caused by problems in the distribution or transmission and distribution system; if the problem is winds or fires or tornadoes or ice storms or whatever are BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

taking down the lines, you need the get in Seattle. That’s not insignificant, power on your side of the line. So the but the difference in electricity costs extreme weather events absolutely from one part of the country and are creating a huge incentive or are others, it’s a lot more than a factor of making people recognize the value two. So the electricity rate matters. The of distributed energy. But distributed rate structure matters. And then the energy coupled with the right conload shape, like residents typically have trols and storage and maybe a backup a very peaky demand where they’ll use generator means that you can stand a lot of power at night when everybody on your own. Just comes home and turns rooftop solar by itself on everything, whereas doesn’t do it, because industry usually has if the grid goes down a flatter demand. the rooftop solar by Some places have very itself can’t continue to seasonal demands... produce power. You And so that’s why you need the right kind of need software. It’s too switch gear controls complicated; rules of and some storage. And thumb don’t work that one of the things that well. It can be very our software really cost-effective, but it’s focuses on is storage, site-specific. because storage still is expensive, but it’s come BW: You were down dramatically and recently selected it’s really cost effective to be on the City ON THE BILL: Dr. Peter if you design it correctof Boulder – Xcel Lilienthal: What’s Up with ly, you don’t overbuild, Energy Partnership’s Microgrids. 6 p.m. Thursday, and you know exactly 18-member commuAug. 12. Virtual. Registration what you’re going to nity advisory panrequired: empowerourfuture. use it for. el. What do you hope org/events to bring to the panel?

BW: Your HOMER software helps PL: I’ve got with design optimization, correct? decades of experience with distributHow does it help foster these microged renewables and all these different rid situations? applications and sure some of them are in a very different context than Boulder, PL: It’s a common combination but there’s valuable information there. of a simulation software that simulates On distributed energy and microgrids how the system will operate embedded and how the industry has evolved and within an optimization framework. So where it’s at now, where we expected it will simulate one system and then to be in the near future. I don’t look it’ll say, well, what if we added more out 20 years that much at all, but I do storage, or what if we added more look out a couple of years and say, this solar, or what if we changed the control technology is improving, etc. — I just strategy? And it will simulate hundreds want to see stuff get done. I want to see of different systems and calculate all the stuff happen. I want to see acceleration costs associated with that system — the of movement now. capital costs, the operating costs, the So, it’s my expertise on distributed replacement costs, fuel costs, if any, and energy — and microgrids are a subset get you the total cost of ownership and or a form of distributed energy — rank them so you can see, OK this is that’s what I bring. the least-cost system.

I don’t know what to expect, frankly. But we’ll see. I’m very hopeful BW: You specialize not just in that Boulder can continue to be sort microgrids but microgrid economics of a cutting-edge leader in this area.

— what are the financial benefits of We certainly have the knowledge and using distributed generation? the interest— the support from the PL: The economics depends more city government and the people. I on the utility tariffs than on the solar don’t really know what Xcel’s plans resource. You’ll get about twice as much are, so we’ll find out. But I’m very out of a solar panel in Phoenix as you’d hopeful.

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Now Sharing a Single Vision

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COURTESY STEVE “CRUSHER” BARTLETT

Birds of Fire lives again

Rebolting an iconic RMNP climb as thousands more Front Range bolts need replacing

By Emma Athena

T

LEFT: Steve “Crush-

he hike to Chiefs Head, the third-higher” Bartlett, climbing est peak in Rocky Mountain National Birds of Fire in 2000.

Park (RMNP), is a haul by any account.

Bottom: Andrew Seven miles deep in the park, the wide Andraski and stone behemoth rises from the back of Carolyn Conant hike into the upper basin Glacier Gorge, linking to Pagoda Mountain and of Glacier Gorge.

Longs Peak on its left, McHenry’s Peak to its Right: A view of right. It’s an ocean of granite that gently slopes Chiefs Head’s northup from the basin floor, vertical near the bottom, west face. then rounding slightly in toward the top — sonamed Chiefs Head for its resemblance to the feathered headdresses worn by male leaders in many nations indigenous to the American West.

Rock climbers like to pick their way up Chiefs Head’s giant granite face, which is different than most of the popular rock walls in RMNP. Where other big walls like the Diamond (the east face of Longs Peak) and the northeast face of Hallett EMMA ATHENA Peak have cracks splitting and criss-crossing all over, the northwest face of Chiefs Head is serenely blank. A clean slab marked only with subtle ripples, crimps and grooves, scarred by the slow drag of the glacier that once clung to its walls.

Straight through the middle of the wall — the cleanest, blankest section — a climbing route called “Birds of Fire” slithers 1,200 feet up from the basin floor. It’s rated 5.11R, the “R” perhaps interpreted as “not suitable for children,” or in climber-speak, “don’t fucking fall.” There are 39 bolts placed sparingly throughout Birds of Fire to help climbers safely get through the blankest sections with zero opportunities for personal protection. Still, to fall between the bolts is to risk falling up to 60 feet before being caught by the rope.

My husband, Jordan, went up to Birds of Fire three times this July. I joined for the second excursion, hauling sleeping, climbing and rebolting supplies — altogether the heaviest pack I’ve donned in years. Jordan and his friend Andrew Andraski had tasked themselves with rebolting the route, removing the wedge-bolts and hangers installed in the 1980s, then replacing them with new-and-improved sleeve-bolts and hangers.

The bolts on Chiefs Head had been suspect for years. A RMNP climbing ranger we chatted with in the park that weekend said he hadn’t climbed Birds of Fire himself because he was wary the bolts wouldn’t hold. On the popular climbing forum Mountain Project I’d seen comments dating back to the early 2000s expressing the need to replace the

EMMA ATHENA

see BIRDS OF FIRE Page 14

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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BIRDS OF FIRE from Page 13 ANDREW ANDRASKI

bolts due to signs of rust and wear.

“Rebolting is probably the hardest thing you can do in terms of rock climbing,” says Daniel Dunn, stewardship manager for the Boulder Climbing Community (BCC). “In general, it’s harder than putting up a new route ... and it’s not as glamorous as a first-ascent. It’s generally pretty thankless.”

As rock climbing at large is a rapidly expanding, dangerous sport with no centralized organizing body, the BCC is a local entity that supports climbers on the Front Range and helps care for the region’s climbing infrastructure.

Part of Dunn’s job, for example, is to survey the dozens of crags in Boulder Canyon, checking for hardware weaknesses and organizing what needs to be fixed. (The BCC also has a “badbolt tracker” on its website where climbers can submit their own hardware concerns.)

Much like the need for replacing bridges and other U.S. infrastructures has peaked in mass waves of structural aging (due to original mass construction), bolts across the nation are approaching their structural lifespan. “We’re right in this zone where a lot of the [bolts] that were placed during the sport climbing boom are needing either maintenance or to be fully replaced now that they’ve been in the rock for 20 to 30 years,” Dunn says. “The bulk of the routes in Boulder Canyon went up in the late 1980s to early 2000s — [installed by] all different people, almost no data to support the hardware choices they were making, no standards across the region or country.”

Dunn says thousands of bolts in Boulder Canyon alone are considered “substandard.” To date the BCC and its partners have replaced more than 1,000 bolts and run a bolt replacement program with clinics and mentorship opportunities; the goal for 2021 is to replace at least 500.

“It’s extremely expensive to run a rebolting program,” Dunn says, as they have to factor in the price of hardware (on Birds of Fire, seven sets of anchors costing $33 each, plus 25 lead bolts, adds up to almost $450, plus specialized tools, some of which are homemade) and insurance as a nonprofit — not to mention the time, physical exertion and technical expertise a rebolting project requires.

To replace the 500 bolts, the BCC is hosting a series of rebolting clinics and supporting community members like Jordan and Andrew who want to take on their own rebolting projects with hardware grants.

In most places on the Front Range, like Boulder or St. Vrain canyons, you can use power drills to install climbing bolts. That way, a single pitch might take a team of two climbers a half-day to rebolt. But in RMNP, power tools are strictly forbidden and Jordan and Andrew knew they’d have to drill each of Birds of Fire’s 39 holes by hand — chiselling the 1.8 billionyear-old granite with a drill bit and hammer — the same method first ascensionists Richard and Joyce 14

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Rossiter used as they designed the route in 1988.

Richard Rossiter is among the small, historic cohort of Boulder climbers that established many of Colorado’s now-classic routes beginning in the ’70s. He’s authored several climbing and mountaineering guide books over the decades and now directs The Pilates Institute of Boulder, which he founded in 2000. He named Birds of Fire after the guitar-shredding six-minute song by Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Rossiter and his then-wife Joyce began bolting Birds of Fire from the ground and worked their way up. “It looks blank from the ground, and even blanker when you’re on the rock. It’s astonishing they bolted it on lead,” Jordan explains to me.

“With one hand on the drill and one hand on the hammer, in some places all he could use was his feet to support himself on the featureless slab — sounds terrifying.”

Bolts in and of themselves have been the subject of much controversy in the alpine climbing world over the years. There’s an ongoing, decades-long debate about where and when bolts are appropriate.

On one end of the spectrum, purists believe bolts have no place in alpine climbing and, on the other end, over-stokers demand bolts be installed in natural rock as they would in climbing gyms. Most want some balance of adventure, risk and safety.

At the time of Rossiter’s first ascent of Birds of Fire, not everyone was jazzed about a line of bolts up “this beautiful flawless piece of granite with virtually no cracks or weaknesses,” says Steve “Crusher” Bartlett, one of the BCC’s rebolting instructors AUGUST 5, 2021

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and another among Colorado’s inaugural climbing cohort. “We were somewhat ... indignant at the thought of somebody just bolting something, putting a protected route, a sport route as it were, up the middle to the face,” he says.

But then he climbed it. “It was nothing like [I expected]. It’s really run out, so you have to be really on your game with being brave and confident. You have long gaps between bolts and you can’t even see the next bolt — you’d have to spend 10 minutes standing on little holds at one bolt, trying to figure out whether you go out left or right, and then finally shrugging your shoulders and going, ‘Oh, well, I’ll just head up and see what happens.’

“It was a visionary climb and very, very impressive. And I was super, super impressed and completely changed my mind,” Bartlett says.

He’d go on to climb the route twice more.

Dunn, who climbed the route in July, in between Jordan and Andrew’s rebolting sessions, says Birds of Fire is as unique as routes come. “The fact that a lot of people wanted to rebuild it is a testament to the quality; folks realize this is a good route, they want future folks to be able to do it.”

Dunn wants rebolting to be a community-driven endeavor, and it kind of needs to be.

“We can’t touch everything. As a program, we couldn’t go out and rebolt Birds of Fire — it’s just too complex for our organization to take on.”

That’s where the hardware grants come in, available to help people organize their own rebolting projects. The organization supplied Jordan and Andrew with all the hangers and quicklinks.

The first weekend Jordan hiked up to Chiefs Head, it was just to drop off some supplies. The following weekend, he brought Andrew and enlisted two more friends to help for the weekend: Aaron Glasenapp and Carolyn Conant. The five of us slept two nights in the boulder field at the base of the vertical ocean of granite. I took pictures and ran around the park while they hustled up to the summit and dropped into the route on long ropes they fixed in place and dangled from as they worked.

For two days they labored, first removing the old zinc-plated steel bolts and then tap-tap-tapping the rock, hand-drilling new holes up to 4 inches deep and 3/8th-inches wide.

After 73 man-hours on the wall (plus a collective 48 hours of hiking), they had 6 more bolts to go. Two weekends later, Jordan and Andrew returned to finish the job. They tried to top-out the route as a final hurrah, but wet rock from a recent storm kicked them off before they could finish.

Later that week, Jordan, Andrew, Bartlett and Rossiter sat around a table at Sanitas Brewing Co. Jordan gave Rossiter the route’s first bolt off the ground, the first bolt Rossiter had tapped in 33 years before. Rossiter ran his fingers over the rusted bolt and hanger, eventually saying to Jordan, “This brings me right back.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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S

tudying fairy tales taught Mona Awad that beauty is humanity’s kryptonite.

“I’m fascinated by the shadow side of the things that we worship and hold up as our ideals,” Awad says over a phone call from her home in Boston.

“Beauty absolutely is a kind of spell that we can be enchanted by, we can fall prey to, and it can make us do terrible things in spite of ourselves — we become powerless in the face of beautiful things.”

Since those graduate school days deconstructing fairy tales in the University of Denver’s doctoral creative writing program, Awad has written three novels examining the power of beauty from different angles; 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, where a woman’s identity shifts with her weight loss over years. Then in Bunny, about the darker byproducts of groupthink and forced vulnerability in an MFA program. And now in All’s Well (Simon and Schuster, Aug. 3), a dark fairy tale

Comedy on stage, tragedy off

Mona Awad creates an anti-fairy-tale heroine in new novel ‘All’s Well’

by Caitlin Rockett

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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using theater as a vehicle to explore Western society’s dismissal of pain — particularly women’s pain.

Across her oeuvre, Awad’s female protagonists search for the privilege that beauty affords: adoration, desire, absolution, see ALL’S WELL Page 18

AUGUST 5, 2021

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COURTESY SIMON AND SCHUSTER

ALL’S WELL from Page 17

plate-deep profundity of traditional standards, becoming complex anti-heroes fueled by nuclear reactors of self-loathing and desperation. Like Nancy Botwin in Weeds, Helena in Orphan Black or Alicia Florricks in The Good Wife, Awad contextualizes her characters’ questionable behavior against their less-than-ideal circumstances, and we can’t help but root for them.

Most of the time.

In All’s Well, Awad writes from the perspective of

AUTHOR TALK:

Mona Awad — ‘All’s Well,’ with Helen Philipps.

Aug. 10, via Zoom. boulderbookstore.net

strapped junior college program. Not so many years earlier, while playing a career-peak role as Helen in Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, a fall from the stage left Miranda in chronic pain, costing her a career as an actor, her marriage and any sense of joie de vivre to mask the pain that runs through her back and legs, her students in the theater down the hall waiting for class to begin, it’s more than conceivable that Miranda’s job is next on the chopping block.

straighten my leg at all, can only limp. My foot is still being crushed by an invisible weight.”

And no one — not her colleagues, not her students, not her ex-husband, not even her physical therapists — believes Miranda’s pain. have your reality acknowledged in some way, or your experience validated, to just be continually invalidated in every sphere of your life can lead you to a very isolating and dark place in your mind. And I really had to go there with Miranda.”

“From the bottle marked Take one as needed for pain, I take two,” Miranda says, Take one as needed for muscle stiffness, I take three. I look down into the dust bowels of the plastic orange

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

All’s Well That Ends Well Macbeth

Umm

Let me think about that.

bitch

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

hysterical

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ANNABEL MEHREN ON THE BILL: WILCO & SLEATER-KINNEY.

The many surprises of Wilco

Amphitheatre, 18300

by Angela K. Evans

$60-$99.50.

G

lenn Kotche is supposed to be on a plane headed to rehearsals when we catch up by phone. But he’s back at home after mechanical issues, found only after boarding, ground-

after 18 months apart will have to wait until tomorrow.

“Everyone’s so eager to get back on the road that it’s probably the right time for something awful to go like that, rather than at the end of the tour when everyone’s exhausted,” says the decades-long drummer

longevity, consistently producing music since the mid-1990s. In the early days, the band went through several iterations, invariably helmed by guitarist, vocalist and

EVENTS

spin on it. It could have been worse. It could have taken off with mechanical issues, so...”

die-rock scene, although with more of a feminist-punk bent), Kotche admits he’s been listening to more of

too. Like the marching machine, which is a classical instrument that gets that kind of big, loud sound. And I used it on bass drums and piano benches and stuff.

in the band’s repertoire.

think played really well with some of the decreased

I don’t go back and listen to the records a lot. I’ve had the songs in my life and I play them every night. It’s

know, some of the other sounds we were getting,” he I think it was really exciting to make it that way, and

away,” he says. “I even listened to [2001’s] Yankee Hotel Foxtrot a few weeks ago just to kind of remind myself of the tour and stuff. And I was still getting surprises just because I haven’t over-listened to that.” represent work in its infancy, he continues, a song evolving over time, especially the more and more it’s played live.

“And so I’m used to [the live] arrangements in my head and when I hear the recorded version, it’s like, whoa, whoa, what is that? I forgot about that.”

Even more recent albums, those that haven’t gotten as much live attention, can be a revelation.

Ode to Joy, the tour that was cut short like everything else by the coronavirus

MUSIC

Kotche joined in 2001 and the lineup stabilized soon after, settling into its six-memmember), guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalist Pat

almost a dozen records, won multiple Grammys, started their own record label, and founded their own festival.

Between the six of them, there are also multiple side projects and solo projects. But they always seem to come “I think we just got the right mix of personalities and the right musical sensibilities. And I think we all foremost, as friends and then as musicians as well,” Kotche says. “And I think we have common goals. territory and not just repeat ourselves. And we all have a deep love for the music, and we want to keep playing it.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

do that live.”

Ode to Joy ing on now is much more collaborative, he says.

It isn’t something they’ve done since 2011’s The Whole Love, he says, or maybe even 2007’s Sky Blue Sky. And the pandemic has made it a unique collaboration in and of itself. Although they all band has not been together since. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t been writing. that he was sending us one a day for 50 some days and everyone was commenting on and adding little parts to the demos,” Kotche says.

Fifty new songs? One a day? of fun to start decoding them and constructing them.”

are a little closer to my heart or I listen to them and I’m still just like, oh my God, this is right up my alley,” he says. “Like, I still get surprised from them, and that’s one of them.”

Ode to Joy is a sparse record, Kotche’s percus-

all this material, the entire sextet recording together again in the studio. And there will be more tours, too.

“I wouldn’t say no one needs it; No one is asking Classically trained Kotche forwent a drum kit while composing his part on Ode to Joy, choosing instead to use the more orchestral method of playing each instrument separately, then stringing them together in production.

“I did use a lot of unconventional instruments

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and we could still tour and play the same size places and still maintain the band strictly as a live entity. But records, making records together.” see EVENTS Page 22

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E VENTS

EVENTS from Page 21

EVENTS

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

Tinder Live with Lane Moore.

Back to School Special w/ a Yoga Momma GROUP DYNAMICS, BONDING, or JUST TO HAVE FUN

Private Yoga Parties $54 (up to 18 people)

Yin - Relax & Stretch Hatha - Stretch & Move Nurturing, caring adaptable teacher

7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 9, 2021, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder.

Price: $20 —18 and over event.

Tinder Live! With Lane Moore is the critically acclaimed, anything-can-happen, totally improvised, interactive comedy show where Moore projects her Tinder onto a screen, swipes through the best of the worst and she messages them in real time, to hilarious results.

JOSH BLUE

Josh Blue.

7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, Dairy Arts Center, Gordon Gamm Theater, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $20, thedairy.org Following his win on NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2006, Josh Blue has risen through the ranks to become a well-established headliner at venues throughout the world. Josh does over 200 shows a year, continuing to spread laughter and break down stereotypes of people with disabilities (Blue has cerebral palsy). His stand-up routine is in a constant state of evolution and his off-the-cuff improvisational skills guarantee that no two shows are alike.

Longmont 150 Opening Reception.

Spiritual & Strength Building Yoga JCC Boulder Fridays 4:15 - 5:15 To Register: www.boulderjcc.org

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6-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, Longmont Museum & Cultural Center, 400 Quail Road, Longmont.

What makes our town special? Is it the pure water, which led us to overcome Longmont’s temperance origins to become a center of craft brewing? Or is it our long history of innovation, in telecommunications, data storage and patents? Or, the many years when Main Street was the place to cruise on a Friday night? Discover these stories and more in Longmont 150, the Museum’s celebration of Longmont’s Sesquicentennial. Kids will love taking a “ride” in our customized lowrider and exploring Longmont’s bygone industries with stops on our model train. The Museum’s historic

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Ron Garan — ‘Floating in Darkness.’

6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: Price: $5, boulderbookstore.net Humanity faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens and Boulder resident Ron Garan addresses this head-on in Floating in Darkness: A Journey of Evolution. Garan explores the dancing, intersecting orbits of religion, spirituality and science while grappling with his own role in the violence of combat and the effects of war on all aspects of human life. Through riveting stories and deep introspection, Garan shows readers how to discover their purpose, detoxify our divisive culture, and become a “white blood cell” in a growing immune response to heal our world.

NICK AND HELEN FORSTER

An Evening with eTown Founders Nick and Helen Forster.

6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder.

Tickets: $18.

In April 1991, the world-renowned radio/podcast program eTown launched, making its way to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame this April. To honor those years of providing one-of-a-kind great live musical performances and compelling social and environmental focused conversations, the Museum of Boulder is throwing eTown a party. Nick and Helen Forster, cofounders of Boulder’s eTown, will share their experience of the past 30 years in an interview led by local favorite Colorado Sound DJ Ron Bostwick. Following the interview, feel free to mingle on the beautiful rooftop of the Museum and visit with Nick and Helen (they’ve even offered to do a song or two!).

Kenbe Fem Social Fundraiser for Haiti.

7:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, Twisted Pine Brewing Company, 3201 Walnut St., Suite A, Boulder. Price: Kenbe Fem social fundraiser is free. Film screening is ticketed.

Batay La about Batay Ouvriye (Workers Struggle) and the Haitian workers who sew our T-shirts and pandemic masks, their movement to resist exploitation and their request for international solidarity as they face growing instability exacerbated by gang violence and the recent assasination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse. Batay La screens twice at Mimesis Film Festival. Following the Saturday, Aug. 7 screening, the conversation continues after the screening with Kenbe Fem, a social fundraiser for Haitian workers at 7:30 p.m. at Twisted Pine Brewing Company. Bites are covered; you cover your beer.

Creative Catalyzers Sustainable Summer Daze.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Boulder Central Park, Arapahoe Avenue and 13th Street, Boulder. Free.

Creative Catalyzers is hosting a creative community sustainable day at Boulder Central Park as part of the Arts in the Parks program. Art workshops and info sessions will be held to support an ecocentric vision of Boulder. Learn how the City provides biodegradable take-out containers, where to drop off your e-waste, how you can turn your recycled materials into art, and meet your local, sustainable organizations and more! Join us in making waste into art! All ages are welcome to participate. Please bring rinsed out take-out container lids, colored plastic caps or recycled materials you think would be a great addition to our collaborative mural and tree wraps.

Open Range Competition Teams Summer Day Camps Classes & Private Lessons

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

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

see EVENTS Page 24

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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EVENTS from Page 23

EVENTS

Up to 50% Off Local Dining Discounts

CONCERTS COVENHOVEN

Save on local dining, entertainment, retail and wellness. bestofboulderdeals.kostizi.com Go to website to purchase

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(We also offer flame cremation.)

Green burial with no embalming, no cement vault, with a shroud or locally made pine casket.

Contact Karen van Vuuren or any of our staff to find out how to minimize your final footprint.

Thursday, Aug. 5

Picnic on the Plaza — Las Dahlias Duo. Noon. Festival Plaza, 311 S. Public Road, Lafayette.

Beethoven’s Eroica + Joel Thompson’s World Premiere (classical). 6:45 p.m.

Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $45-$76.

The Tuffenuffs: Blues Underground. 8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St., Louisville. Admission: $10-$15.

TEN MILES SOUTH Friday, Aug. 6 Rocky Mountain Folks Fest. Aug. 6-8, Planet Bluegrass, 500 W. Main St, Lyons.

Grant Ole Opry Live (Americana). 5 p.m. Last Stand Tavern, 32138 Highway 72, Golden. Admission: Free.

Jeremy Mohney Band (jazz/swing).

5 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Gold Hill, Boulder.

The Miley Brothers. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont.

Vince Herman & Friends (a hybrid indoor/outdoor show). 6 p.m. The Caribou Room, 55 Indian Peaks Drive, Nederland.

Parking: $35 per vehicle includes one person; $25 for each additional person up to six total in a parking space; $100/four person circle.

Tipper. 8 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $67.50-$100.

Ten Miles South with Hate Drugs, HoldFast, Clayton Polzkill (indie rock). 9 p.m. The Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: Advance $15, Day of Show $18.

Mark Farina with Godlazer (house/dance). 9 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $20-$27.

720-515-2344 info@thenaturalfuneral.com TheNaturalFuneral.com Live and Die Your Values 24

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

THE TUFFENUFFS

Saturday, Aug. 7

Matt G Funkmas$ter (funk, hip-hop and soul). 3 p.m. Dickens 300 Prime, 300 Main St., Longmont. Admission: Free.

JJ Fraser (acoustic blues, folk and rock). 5 p.m. Last Stand Tavern, 32138 Highway 72, Golden. Admission: Free.

300 Days (bluegrass). 5 p.m. The Caribou Room, 55 Indian Peaks Drive, Nederland.

Parking: $10 per vehicle includes one person; $10 for each additional person up to six total in a parking space; $40/four person circle.

Stone Cottage Studios Summer Music Series presents An Evening with Covenhoven. 5:30 p.m. Tickets available at stonecottagestudios.com The Tony Luke Band (R&B, roadhouse rock). 8 p.m. The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St., Louisville. Tickets: $15 — limited table seating.

Tipper (electronic). 8 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $67.50-$100.

Boulder’s Local Music Shop Since 1971 Shop online at hbwoodsongs.com for no contact pickup or freelocal delivery (on purchases over $20).

Open to customers or for pick-up with these new hours of operations:

Sunday, Aug. 8

Clay Rose Trio (alt-country/Americana). 5 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, Charles Sawtelle Memorial Outdoor Stage, Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Gold Hill, Boulder. $15 cover Bluegrass at the Muse. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. Tickets: $20.

Joe Bonamassa (blues rock). 8 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $59-$199.

Bands on the Bricks: Selasee and the Fafa Family (reggae) with Shanna in a Dress. 5:30 p.m. 1300 block of the Pearl Street Mall, 1942 Broadway, Suite 301, Boulder.

Mon.-Fri. 11:30am - 5:30pm, Sat. 11am - 5pm, Sun. 12-4 pm

3101 28th St, Tebo Plaza, Boulder

303.449.0516

hbwoodsongs.com

PARENTAL CONTROLS SETUP & SUPPORT

JOE BONAMASSA

Monday, Aug. 9

Joe Bonamassa. 8 p.m.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison.

Tickets: $59-$199.

Tuesday, Aug. 10

Wilco & Sleater-Kinney (Americana/indie rock). 8 p.m.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison.

Tickets: $55-$99.50.

• Protection options at the device and network level • Manage device usage by limiting screen time and reinforcing healthier habits • Protect against unwanted communication with strangers • Deter children from accessing mature content • We come to your home or office

Wednesday, Aug. 11

Rüfüs Du Sol (electronic).

7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Additional show on Aug. 12.

info@co-techpoint.com • 303-848-3738 • www.co-techpoint.com BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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STAY CONNECTED Check us out on Facebook and Twitter for events, local news, and ticket giveaways. facebook.com/theboulderweekly twitter.com/boulderweekly

‘We don’t get a lot of things to really care about’ Loss, grief and acceptance in ‘Pig’

by Michael J. Casey

D

eep in the Oregonian woods, a man lives with his pig. He is a recluse with a past; she is a Kunekune with a gorgeous ginger coat. Together they hunt become America’s culinary heart, and local ingredients are king. Every chef in

his pig unearth all the more valuable and the industry all the more cutthroat.

Pig, written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, is not by establishment. He asks for the story — every restaurant has a story.

NEON

umpteenth time in his life: The restaurant specializes in local ingredients deconstructed. The words are right, but the tune

boulderweekly.com

knows. cooking this food?”

ON THE BILL: Pig,

in theaters and On

critics love it. The people rave about it. The wait to get in is

choice. He has yet to convince himself.

This exchange comes midway through Pig

English-style pubs this side of the Mississippi. They’re the inspiration behind the Moun-

thing you care about most is something the world doesn’t give a damn about?

Pig. The plot is as direct:

classical music.

Pig winds Pig they make Pig something worth caring about.

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Filmmaker Federico Fellini had an

unexpected definition of happiness. He said it was “being able to speak the truth without hurting anyone.” I suspect you will have abundant access to that kind of happiness in the coming weeks, Aries. I’ll go even further: You will have extra power to speak the truth in ways that heal and uplift people. My advice to you, therefore, is to celebrate and indulge your ability. Be bold in expressing the fullness of what’s interesting to you.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: “Look for a long time at what pleases

you, and longer still at what pains you,” wrote the novelist Colette. What?! Was she making a perverse joke? That’s wicked advice, and I hope you adopt it only on rare occasions. In fact, the exact opposite is the healthy way to live — especially for you in the coming weeks. Look at what pains you, yes. Don’t lose sight of what your problems and wounds are. But please, for the sake of your dreams, for the benefit of your spiritual and psychological health, look longer at what pleases you, energizes you, and inspires you.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: If you deepen your affection for butterflies

and hummibirds, I will love it. If you decide you want the dragonfly or bumblebee or lark to be your spirit creature, I will approve. You almost always benefit from cultivating relationships with swift, nimble and lively influences — and that’s especially true these days. So give yourself full permission to experiment with the superpower of playful curiosity. You’re most likely to thrive when you’re zipping around in quest of zesty ripples and sprightly rhythms.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Life is showing you truths about what

you are not, what you don’t need and what you shouldn’t strive for. That’s auspicious, although it may initially feel unsettling. I urge you to welcome these revelations with gratitude. They will help you tune in to the nuances of what it means to be radically authentic. They will boost your confidence in the rightness of the path you’ve chosen for yourself. I’m hoping they may even show you which of your fears are irrelevant. Be hungry for these extraordinary teachings.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: The next two months will be a propitious

time for you and your intimate allies to grow closer by harnessing the power of your imaginations. I urge you to be inventive in dreaming up ways to educate and entertain each other. Seek frisky adventures together that will delight you. Here’s a poem by Vyacheslav Ivanov that I hope will stimulate you: “We are two flames in a midnight forest. We are two meteors that fly at night, a two-pointed arrow of one fate. We are two steeds whose bridle is held by one hand.

We are two eyes of a single gaze, two quivering wings of one dream, two-voiced lips of single mysteries. We are two arms of a single cross.”

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Virgo spiritual author Don Miguel Ruiz

urges us not to take anything personally. He says that if someone treats us disrespectfully, it’s almost certainly because they are suffering from psychological wounds that make them act in vulgar, insensitive ways. Their attacks have little to do with what’s true about us. I agree with him, and will add this important caveat. Even if you refrain from taking such abuses personally, it doesn’t mean you should tolerate them. It doesn’t mean you should keep that person in your life or allow them to bully you in the future. I suspect these are important themes for you to contemplate right now.

LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: “People who feel deeply, live deeply, and

love deeply are destined to suffer deeply,” writes poet Juansen Dizon. To that romanticized, juvenile nonsense, I say: NO! WRONG! People who feel and live and love deeply are more emotionally intelligent than folks who live on the

surface — and are therefore less fragile. The deep ones are likely to be psychologically adept; they have skills at liberating themselves from the smothering crush of their problems. The deep ones also have access to rich spiritual resources that ensure their suffering is a source of transformative teaching — and rarely a cause of defeat. Have you guessed that I’m describing you as you will be in the coming weeks?

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SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Professor of psychology Ethan Kross tells

us there can be healthy, creative forms of envy. “Just as hunger tells us we need to eat,” he writes, “the feeling of envy could show us what is missing from our lives that really matters to us.” The trick is to not interpret envy as a negative emotion, but to see it as useful information that shows us what we want. In my astrological opinion, that’s a valuable practice for you to deploy in the coming days. So pay close attention to the twinges of envy that pop into your awareness. Harness that volatile stuff to motivate yourself as you make plans to get the very experience or reward you envy.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: Poet Walt Whitman bragged that he was

“large.” He said, “I contain multitudes.” One critic compared him to “a whole continent with its waters, with its trees, with its animals.” Responding to Whitman, Sagittarian poet Gertrud Kolmar uttered an equally grandiose boast. “I too am a continent,” she wrote. “I contain mountains never-reached, scrubland unpenetrated, pond bay, river-delta, salt-licking coast-tongue.” That’s how I’m imagining you these days, dear Sagittarius: as unexplored territory: as frontier land teeming with undiscovered mysteries. I love how expansive you are as you open your mind and heart to new self-definitions. I love how you’re willing to risk being unknowable for a while as you wander out in the direction of the future.

CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Poet Ezra Pound wrote a letter to novelist

James Joyce that included the following passage: “You are fucking with my head, and so far I’ve been enjoying it.

Where is the crime?” I bring this up, Capricorn, because I believe the coming weeks will be prime time for you to engage with interesting souls who fuck with your head in enjoyable ways. You need a friendly jolt or two: a series of galvanizing prods; dialogs that catalyze you to try new ways of thinking and seeing; lively exchanges that inspire you to experiment.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: Blogger Mandukhai Munkhbaatar offers

advice on the arts of intimate communion. “Do not fall in love only with a body or with a face,” she tells us. “Do not fall in love with the idea of being in love.” She also wants you to know that it’s best for your long-term health and happiness if you don’t seek cozy involvement with a person who is afraid of your madness, or with someone who, after you fight, disappears and refuses to talk. I approve of all these suggestions. Any others you would add? It’s a favorable phase to get clearer about the qualities of people you want and don’t want as your allies.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: I gave my readers homework, asking

them to answer the question, “What is your favorite rule to break?” In response, Laura Grolla sent these thoughts: “My favorite rule to break is an unwritten one: that we must all stress and strive for excellence. I have come up with a stress-busting mantra, ‘It is OK to be OK.’ In my OKness, I have discovered the subtle frontier of contentment, which is vast and largely unexplored. OKness allows me not to compete for attention, but rather to pay attention to others.

I love OKness for the humor and deep, renewing sleep it has generated. Best of all, OKness allows me to be happily aging rather than anxiously hot.” I bring this to your attention, Pisces, because I think the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to investigate and embody the relaxing mysteries of OKness.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I’m a 24-year-old gay man having sex. That’s a tough thing to naviwith a 31-year-old bi boyfriend. I’ve gate, but laughter helps.” known since we got together that he’s a It may seem kind of random that the lot more sexually experienced than I am, former mayor of Minneapolis is giving you but it’s never been a big deal before now. sex advice, IKHWIB, but Hodges reached This weekend, he met my parents for out to me after I posted your letter to what we thought would be the first time.

Twitter, where I told my followers — the But it turns out that 10 years ago, during former mayor of Minneapolis among them his “big bi slut phase” (his words), they — that I was going to run your letter ain had a threesome. I recognize that no one my column even though I didn’t have the did anything wrong — they were three faintest idea what to tell you. Betsy consenting adults — and it’s not like any- Hodges, on the other hand, knew exactly one could’ve known that he and I would what to say. get together in the future. But also, my “He has to ask himself if the boyboyfriend fucked my parents! I’m mortifriend is worth it,” Hodges said. fied, he’s mortified, they’re “Everything really depends ROMAN ROBINSON mortified, and I may never on the strength of their conbe able to look at my parnection — which will have to ents again. Please help us be weighed against whatevfind a way to move past er tension now exists this! between IKHWIB, his boy—I Knew He Was Into friend and his parents. Can Blonds they navigate that tension?

If any of them feel bad (as Dear IKHWIB: I’ve opposed to mortified) about been writing Savage Love what happened and they for almost 30 years — it’ll aren’t motivated to work be 30 years this September through this and don’t have — and I rarely get letters the tools for doing so, this that surprise me anymore. But after read- will go sideways.” ing your letter today... and then laying in The Honorable Betsy Hodges suga dark room with a cool washcloth over gests that the four of you have a convermy eyes for six hours... I came to a few sation about what happened and how realizations. you want to handle things going forward.

First, I can still be surprised. Thank you “Having that conversation — which I for that. Second, if couples in their 40s with know sounds dreadful — could actually teenage children at home are gonna have help them think about this less,” Hodges threesomes with guys in their 20s — and said, “especially if they get to a point some are — there will always be a where they can laugh about the insanity hard-to-quantify-but-nevertheless-inelimand awkwardness of the situation they’ve inable risk that their children, once grown, all found themselves in.” could wind up meeting and fucking and You can laugh about this until you even falling in love one of the guys their pass out, IKHWIB, but if you can’t suck parents had a threesome with back in the your boyfriend’s cock without thinking day. Third, since I helped create a world about your dad sucking your boyfriend’s where 40-something couples with kids cock, you may not be able to get past sometimes have MMF threesomes with this. If you can’t look at your mom without 20-something bisexual dudes, IKHWIB, this thinking about her sitting on your boyis all my fault oh my God what have I done friend’s face, you might not be able to get can you ever forgive me. past this. If you can’t take your boyWith that said, IKHWIB, do you know friend’s load without thinking about the who I think should weigh in on this? The load he dropped in dad or your mom or former mayor of Minneapolis. both (21-year-olds have great stamina “If they’ve been able to laugh about and such short refractory periods), you this, that’s a good sign,” said Betsy might not be able to get past this. You Hodges, who was the mayor of might be able to, like Hodges said, think Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018. “It might about this less. be a while before he can look at his boyWhile I’m doubtful there’s a memory friend and not think about his parents hole out there big enough to stuff this in and BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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tight enough to prevent it from falling right back out, IKHWIB, perhaps your parents have already shown you how it’s done. I know when I came out to my mom, IKHWIB, she had a really hard time being around any guy I was dating due to the unwelcome mental images that plagued her when she saw me with a boyfriend. She could look at my sister and her boyfriend without picturing her little girl sucking that boy’s cock, but she somehow couldn’t look at my boyfriend without picturing that brute sodomizing her little boy. It took some very awkward conversations, some raised voices, and, yes, some laughter before my mom successfully willed herself to stop conjuring up mental images of me getting my ass fucked. Maybe with some time, some awkward conversations and a little laughter, you’ll be able to purge all those unwelcome mental images of your boyfriend railing your parents from your mind too.

I guess my point is, if gay and straight kids can pretend not to know what they damn well do know, i.e., that their grown children are sexually active adults now, and if they can learn not to torture themselves with unwelcome mental images of our partners fucking the shit out of us, IKHWIB, seems to me that we should be able to do the same for them: recognize that our parents are sexual beings and at the same time expunge all unwelcome mental images from our minds. Yours is a much heavier lift than most, I realize, but if your boyfriend is worth it, IKHWIB, you at least gotta try.

P.S. Perhaps this verse by poet Philip Larkin will help put things in perspective...

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.

You’re not the first person whose parents… well, let’s not say your parents fucked you up. Instead let’s say you’re not the first person whose parents were a little extra. Good luck.

Follow Betsy Hodges on Twitter @BetsyHodges.

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

His new book, Savage Love From A to Z, is available now for pre-order AUGUST 5, 2021

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PHOTOS BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

I’ll take a stand

Skip the market crowds for personal, quirky roadside farm stands around Boulder County

by John Lehndorff

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really do get why farmers markets are so popular, especially good ones like the Boulder County Farmers Markets.

I like a good farmers market, but long before they became popular you went to roadside farm stands operated by individual farmers. Many of Boulder’s market growers also maintain a roadside stand at the farm during the season.

What farm stands lack in prepared food options, beer, live music, convenience and crowds, they make up for in quirkiness, personal contact with the growers and a different selection of produce and food items available anywhere else. that morning. It’s about as “local” as food can get.

All around the edges of Boulder and Longmont there are dozens of small roadside agricultural attractions if you know miss with small signs on dusty rural byways. tomatoes, they specialize in different heirloom varieties.

The prime farm stand day around Boulder is Saturday, roughly 8 a.m. to maybe 2 p.m., but there are stands open every day of the week through the end of September. Always bring cash.

Zwecks Fresh Vegetables and Flowers: Tom and Connie Zweck have had a roadside stand selling their Market on the Boulder County Courthouse lawn in the mid-1980s. Connie was arranging the green beans, Costata day and decide how to cook it.” The Zwecks may retire their farm stand after this summer. 10901 Airport Road, Longmont, zwecksfresh.com Growing Gardens and programs and camps for kids. Almost every Wednesday it operates a farm stand packed with produce, which also spotlights local food products including meats from SkyPilot Farm. 1630 Hawthorn Drive, Boulder, growinggardens.org Sunbeam Farm: Best known as a dependable source of healthy plant starts in the spring, Sunbeam also

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

maintains an honor system stand offering lots of greens and veggies and eggs all year round. 1005 Cherryvale Road, Boulder, sunbeamfarm.com Naughty Goat Farm Stand: A group of farmers gets together at this single location each Saturday with vegetables including super-sweet beets, plus baked goods like

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just owner Mary Ingram’s pets. 63rd Street north of Valmont Road, thenaughtygoatfarm.com Grandma’s Farm Produce with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, Olathe sweet corn and Palisade peaches as well as beef, bread and jam. 11596 County Road, Longmont (near Union Reservoir), grandmasproduce.com or-system cart at the corner of Willow Creek Drive and Arapahoe east of 95th Street (next to a lavender and honey to kombucha.

Many larger, longstanding locations are well known to foodies and located on major roads. Some are

son Farms for its sweet corn. If you haven’t visited many farm stands, start with these favorites as we swing into the tomato, sweet corn, chile pepper and apple seasons.

Munson Farms, 7355 Valmont Road, Boulder, munsonfarms.com Cure Farm, 7450 Valmont Road, Boulder, cureorganicfarm.com Ollin Farms, 8627 N. 95th St., Longmont, ollinfarms.com Black Cat Farm, 4975 Jay Road, Boulder, blackcatboulder.com Ya Ya Farm and Orchard, 6914 Ute Highway, Longmont, yayafarmandorchard.com Isabelle Farm: 1640 Baseline Road, Lafayette, isabellefarm.com

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detailed listings of Colorado’s agricultural attractions, check out: ag.colorado.gov/markets/colorado-proud

LOCAL FOOD NEWS

Boulder-based Western Slope winery Bookcliff Vineyards reports that virtually all of

to harvest any red grapes later this year. ... Coming soon: Sherry’s Soda Shoppe, a traditional ice cream shop, at 262 College Ave. ... Longmont-based Journey Culinary is offering in-person and online cooking classes which include music, culture and language as well as a meal. Upcoming classes range from Peruvian Cuisine, Flavors of France and Nutritional Power Foods to Una Notte in Italia and International Classic Sauces, journeyculinary.com

Culinary Festivals Are Back

Words to Chew On

“Americans can eat garbage, provided you sprinkle it liberally with ketchup, mustard, chili sauce, tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, or any other condiment which John Lehndorff is the Boulder Weekly’s Food Editor. Comments and local food news to: Nibbles@boulderweekly.com BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Tour de brew:

MICHAEL J. CASEY

Westbound & Down Brewing Company Great beer is only a short drive away

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by Michael J. Casey

estbound & Down Brewing Company, the Idaho Springs-based brewery that was dubbed the Great American Beer Festival’s 2019 midsized brewpub of the year, is currently at work putting at 2755 Dagny Way.

says in an email. “Brewery is up and running and the tanks are full. We

Quick Draw, in particular, is soft and bready, full in the mouth and features Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Zuper Saazer & Tettnanger hops. If you’ve ever been one who passed up a

for the impatient among us, Westbound’s O.G. facility is but a short drive away.

Situated in a parking lot south of I-70, Westbound & Down opened in the former mining town of Idaho Springs in late 2015. Today the endeavor is a three-pronged affair with a modernist brewpub in the middle, a renovated Western ON TAP: bar to the left and a general store to the right. There’s also Westbound & a medium-sized patio out back — with a delightful view of Down Brewing Bridal Veil Falls — and covered dining out front where Miner Company. 1617 Street has been temporarily converted into a pedestrian mall Miner St., Idaho with al fresco dining. Westbound also offers more isolated Springs, westseating: large wood barrels converted into indoor/outdoor boundanddown. dining during the pandemic. The barrels don’t appear to be com. Opens daily getting much use these days, with everyone crowded around at 8 a.m. bar tops and community tables sharing beers, bison burgers and fried green tomatoes. Still, the barrels wait for chillier times and rainstorms when an enclosed space will be a perfect place to drink outside without the hassle of the elements. top inside the Buffalo Bar. According to some Westbound & Down literature, the Buffalo dates back to 1963, but the bar and back bar are originally from Telluride’s Cosmopolitan Saloon. If you’re a Pantera fan, you might recognize it from the album cover for Cowboys From Hell. It’s the kind of drinking hall that calls to mind Frontier Days. They drank more spirits than beer back then, and to that end, the Buffalo is loaded for bear.

But forget bears, let’s talk beers: The tap list features about 10 house and two guest beers on draft. You could jump right in with a pint of Westbound’s silver medal-winning Double IPA, but it’s 7,526 feet up here. Start small with

The award for the best name of the bunch goes to Don’t Hassel the ‘Hef,’ and the beer is just as fetching: Banana and clove on the nose, sweet malt and wheat in the mouth. It’s round, creamy and thirst-quenching with a pop of citrus. This one disappears fast.

For the hopheads, Westbound & Down features hazy and clear IPAs. Its Westbound IPA is a thing of beauty, with the color of clear honey, an attractive head of white foam, and an exquisite balance of bitterness and body and juicy hops bursting with tropical fruit and citrus rind. It clocks in at 7% alcohol by volume but doesn’t drink like it. San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing once scored a perfect 100 among beer critics with their Sculpin IPA. If they ran the contest again, Westbound IPA would give Sculpin a run for its money.

All those and a whole lot more will be local soon enough. Until then, the short drive is worth your time. Oh, and it’s about 10 degrees cooler in Idaho Springs — should that be of interest to you as well.

Odd13 celebrates eight

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comedy Dodgeball as its guide, Odd13’s OCHOversary will feature limited-edition beers (including Batches O’Brewlihan, an octo-hopped hazy IPA), a block party on Saturday and a kick the keg event on Sunday. The festivities are free and kick off Friday at noon. For more, visit Odd13’s social media accounts.

HAPPY HOUR DAILY - 4pm-6pm

$1 off Well Drinks, Beer and House Wine TUESDAYS - Half of Select Bottles of Wine

WEDNESDAYS

Ladies Night $3 off Specialty Cocktails THURSDAYS - $5 Margaritas Open for Banquets during the day in our private rooms downstairs and upstairs

Locally owned & operated since 2020 HOURS: Tuesday - Thursday: 3pm - 10pm • Friday: 3pm - 11pm • Saturday: 9am - 11pm • Sunday: 9am - 8pm

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ROCKING W CHEESE

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

TASTE OF THE WEEK: Three Colorado artisan cheese incidents

I

don’t know why it still surprises folks that Colorado — home to tons of dairies Greeley is the world’s largest producer of mozzarella for pizza.)

Rocking W Farmer’s Cheese

Farmer’s cheese is simple stuff, made by pressing curds together, but the version from Rocking W Cheese in Olathe (rockingwcheese.com) has a great, mild, tangy taste and is made to melt on toast.

Origin A2 Jack Cheese

Colorado’s Origin Jack cheese (originmilk.com) is made from Guernesy A2 milk with more of vitamins D, A and K, plus more calcium, protein and omega-3 to make Rocky Mountain Soft Ripened and Camembert cheeses, as well as A2 Jack, one of the creamiest, richest tasting Monterrey Jack-style cheeses I’ve ever sampled.

MouCo Fresh Cheese Curds

You don’t know cheese until you’ve squeaked some fresh curds. Once a rare treat in Colorado, fresh cheese curds are now sold by the bag at MouCo Cheese (mouco.com) stores in Fort Collins and Greeley.

CHRISTINA KIFFNEY FROM ‘A BIT OF BOULDER’ COOKBOOK

Smashing Cukes big hit in Boulder

FOOD NEWS ITEMS

Because of a wetter-than-usual spring, gardens and farms are delivering a wave of cucumbers. Besides pickling cukes, try this tastepacked simple salad from Edwin Zoe, owner and chef of Zoe Ma Ma, Chimera Ramen and Pho Mi. The cookbook, A Bite of Boulder, edited by Jessica Benjamin of First Bite: Boulder County Restaurant Week (Oct. 8-17). More than 40 recipes from Boulder eateries plus other features on local food

proceeds going back to the eateries.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Chimera’s Smashed Cucumber 2 small Korean or Persian cucumbers 2 teaspoons rice vinegar Dash of toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon of chili oil Pinch of kosher salt 1 teaspoon of minced dried shrimp (available at most Asian grocery stores) Cross cut two small Korean or Persian cucumbers in half, then quarter cut lengthwise so that each slice is about 2 to 3 inches long. Cover with plastic wrap on a cutting board and a knife, a mallet or your hand. Not too hard, just a few whacks. This creates more surface area for dressing.

Place the cucumbers in a mixing bowl. Add rice vinegar, dash of toasted sesame oil, chili oil and salt,

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shrimp over the top. Place in a dish onions. Serves two.

What’s made here? 50% of it is disposable

According to Tim Broderick, senior sustainability strategist at Boulder of all manufacturing in Boulder County (is) attributed to the food and beverage industry.” Boulder County is supporting the design of reusable, recycled, recyclable, bio-based and compostable food and drink packaging.

Celebrating Colorado culinary milestones

Along with Boulder’s Flagstaff House, Glendale’s Bull & Bush pub

AUGUST 5, 2021

while Pueblo’s Gagliano’s Italian Market & Deli celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Meanwhile, Kim Moyle has been named executive chef at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel. It’s noto hold the position in the more than 100-year history of Denver’s stolid Palace Arms restaurant.

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C

ome November, it looks like Colorado voters will be asked to raise marijuana taxes to support after-school initiatives intended to close the education gap created by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Colorado Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress (LEAP) campaign seeks to raise recreational marijuana taxes by 5% in the state — from 15% to 20% — to fund after-school programs, tutoring and summer learning activities for low- and middle-income families through $1,500 stipends.

especially tone deaf,” Hashim Coates, executive director of the diversity-focused trade group Black Brown and Red Badged, said in a press release about the measure. “But that is to be expected when the backers of this “Let’s just be perfectly clear: This is a regressive tax — which always harms Black and Brown consumers the most. This is going to a voucher program — which always harms Black and Brown communities the most,” Coates said. “And it’s targeting the marijuana industry as a magical bottomless piggy bank — which will devastate the Black- and Brown-owned cannabis businesses the most. Can we just let the Black community breathe for a moment after this pandemic before we start taxing them to death?”

Peter Marcus, spokesman for Boulder-based dispensary chain Terrapin Care Station, echoed these thoughts in an interview with Westword back in March, when the LEAP initiative was just starting to collect signatures.

“Generally speaking ... we’re seeing increased efforts to use the cannabis consumer as the piggy bank for state and local budget woes,” Marcus said. “It’s important that we maintain cannabis tax rates that won’t empower a[n illicit] market. Cannabis is already taxed at a high rate; at some point, we’re going to wake a dormant black market if we continue to leaders should be working to fund long-term sustainable solutions for our

A new tax for the ballot

Raising recreational marijuana taxes could help reduce the state’s education gap, but at what cost?

by Boulder Weekly Staff LEAP campaign members turned in some 90 boxes of signatures to But while the outpouring of support in signatures seems clear, not everyone is behind the measure.

“That this initiative is being pushed at a moment in Colorado when the cannabis industry is trying to create more equity and bring economic growth to marginalized communities harmed by the racist Drug War is

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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In June, the state’s top teachers union, the Colorado Education Association (CEA), withdrew support for the initiative, citing concerns about the implementation of the out-of-school learning program.

CEA President Amie Baca-Oehlert told the Colorado Sun in mid-June that she was particularly concerned about whether rural Colorado students would have the same access to after-school programming as their peers in more populous areas of the state.

Still, the measure is endorsed by two former Colorado governors, some 20 sitting state lawmakers, several former legislative leaders and a number of educational organizations.

Advocates estimate that the measure will net $150 million in additional funding annually. While marijuana is the main funding source, the LEAP initiative also seeks to repurpose a portion of investment revenue from leases, rents and royalties paid for state-owned lands, estimated at around $60 million annually. The remaining revenue will come from the 5% increase in recreational marijuana sales tax.

Signatures are now on their way to the Colorado Secretary of State’s

AUGUST 5, 2021

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37

Doubling down

Boulder County says ‘no’ again to hospitality establishments for marijuana

by Will Brendza

O

n July 29, Boulder’s Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted to approve changes to the County codes related to marijuana. Among

tion on the County’s stance on one particularly unsettled issue in Boulder County: “cannabis hospitality establishments,” businesses where people can use cannabis in public.

Instead of moving to approve these businesses as Denver and Colorado Springs have, Boulder updated its policy to clarify that it still won’t allow social consumption clubs. Despite the state having legalized hospitality establishments for marijuana, and despite other, similar establishments already existing within the County.

“Boulder County has not authorized hospitality establishments, so staff is proposing to clarify this in the Code by indicating that Membership Clubs, retail food establishments, and eating or drinking places ... are not eligible for this use.” The proposed policy update reads. the Code.”

BOCC voted 2-0 in approval. (Commissioner Marta Loachamin was excused.)

This reiteration of the County’s stance on hospitality establishments comes just months after the City of Boulder’s Cannabis Licensing and Advisory Board (CLAB) hosted an hours-long public comment meeting on this issue. Proponents and opponents both made arguments before CLAB, making it clear that there’s no real consensus on the subject of licensing these establishments in Boulder.

Opponents see these establishments as a step backwards for a very health-conscious place.

“The City of Boulder has historically been one of the passing and implementing comprehensive smoke-free

38

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policies,” Gretchen Smith, who works in Boulder County Public Health’s Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership, argued to CLAB. “We are concerned that allowing marijuana hospitality establishments would be a step back in these protections.”

Proponents, like Art Way, a drug policy consultant, argued the opposite. He told CLAB that these establishments will actually make marijuana consumption safer for users and non-users alike.

“If we can normalize the culture of alcohol, which from a public health perspective is far more damaging to the body and society than marijuana will ever be, I think Way said. “And I actually think the more we normalize it, the more we take away the countercultural aspect of it that made it so place.”

That was at a City Council meeting in May. Then on July 29, the County held its vote and approved the updates to language in its own Land Use and Zoning Codes — reiterating its stance just in case anyone wasn’t clear on it.

“We’re really just clarifying in our code what we had already been interpreting, which is that Boulder County has not authorized hospitality establishments,” Molly Marcucilli, a planner with Boulder County, says. “We’re just clarifying the code language to avoid any ambiguity.”

Hospitality establishments for marijuana have been legal in Colorado since 2019. The law legalizing them left it up to the local governments to opt into the licensing program, though. So, if a county didn’t want hospitality establishments for marijuana, they didn’t have to have them.

In places like Denver and Colorado Springs, where hospitality establishments have been given the goahead, new businesses like the Coffee Joint and Studio

AUGUST 5, 2021

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A64 opened their doors, creating jobs and enriching the local business scene — and, more importantly, changing the public stigma surrounding cannabis.

Still, Boulder County’s decision isn’t surprising. Boulban on smoking cigarettes indoors. Since the mid-’80s there have been ordinances in the city prohibiting indoor smoking or smoking within proximity to air vents and entryways. And several years ago, smoking was outlawed anywhere on the Pearl Street Mall.

“Some of the public comments from the planning commission, people had concerns about the safety of allowing the consumption of marijuana in a public place,” Marcucilli says. “I know there have been some members of the public who have mentioned that air quality is a big concern as well for those types of uses.”

However, Boulder County already allows for certain exemptions to that rule. Hookah lounges, for example, are permitted as businesses within City and County limits. Patrons at these establishments agree to the risks associated with smoking indoors, and smoke in a safe and social environment.

If air quality is the issue, proponents wonder, why couldn’t the same setup work for cannabis clubs that works for hookah lounges? Why isn’t the County opting, to allow these businesses to open their doors?

Marcucilli says it could happen someday down the road.

But for now, the County has doubled down on its stance: It won’t abide cannabis lounges in Boulder County.

“I wouldn’t even go as far as to say that Boulder County has opted out [of licensing hospitality establishments] forever,” Marcucilli says. “I just don’t think they have enough information to make an informed decision, yet.”

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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