Writing, Ranching & Romance by Ballantine Communications

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DGO

writing, ranching & romance

Renowned author Pam Houston talks adventure in the American West and writing about her love life

Also: Clean commuting, blues jam to begin, rockstar jeweler at Sorrel Sky, and a regional theater summer roundup

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DGO Magazine

Staff

What’s inside Volume 1 Number 36

July 7, 2016

Chief Executive Officer

8 Rockstar jeweler comes to Sorrel Sky

Douglas Bennett V.P. of Finance and Operations

Santa Fe jeweler extraordinaire Cody Sanderson comes to Sorrel Sky Gallery and his progressive work isn’t anything like the quintessential designs you’ll see in the turquoise and gentle curves of traditional Southwest bling.

Bob Ganley V.P. of Advertising David Habrat V.P. of Marketing Kricket Lewis Founding Editors Amy Maestas David Holub

10 Summer theater guide A roundup of all the local and regional theater you shouldn’t miss.

David Holub dholub@bcimedia.com 375-4551 Staff writer anya@bcimedia.com

11 Pagosa theater actor talks shop

375-4546 Contributors Katie Cahill Christopher Gallagher Bryant Liggett Jon E. Lynch

Courtesy of Pam Houston

Cyle Talley

Reader Services 375-4570

DGO is a free weekly publication distributed by Ballantine Communications Inc., and is available for one copy per person. Taking more than five copies of an edition from a distribution location is illegal and is punishable by law according to Colorado Revised Statute 18-9-314.

Love it or Hate it

Sound

Downtown Lowdown

Beer

Seeing Through the Smoke 18

Netflix and chill ‑ 420 edition 19

5 Get Smart about a clean commute Last week, the city of Durango hosted Clean Commute Week and your lazy ass (probably) didn’t take part. So let Amber Blake, director of the Department of Transportation and Sustainability, tell you about all of the great things our fair city is doing to promote a clean commute.

Tell us what you think!

Plenty of people are proud musical-haters, but Taylor Marrs loves the cheesy, feel-good nature of musical theater – and he’ll remind you that plenty of musicals are insightful, provocative and relevant.

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21 Happening 23 Horoscope/ puzzles/ Bizarro 23 Pages

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On the cover A cabin on Pam Houston’s ranch is nestled inside a massive boot in Creede. Illustration by David Holub/DGO; photos via Pam Houston and Shutterstock

Got something on your mind? Have a joke or a story idea or just something that the world needs to know? Send everything to editor@dgomag.com

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David Holub |DGO editor

America the beer: I’m not buying this gawdy patriotism

omething funny happened when I walked in to Star to get my Fourth of July weekend beer supplies. I took an unexpected pass on America. It’s a rare occasion, me looking to buy corporate, industrial beer in lieu of my usually craft, usually Colorado beer purchases. With a glimmer of irony in my eye, I was going to pick up some Budweiser for America Day, our most patriotic holiday. I wanted to join the rest of America – Middle America, rural America, conservative America, America America – setting aside my snobby preference for quality ingredients and sharp, distinct flavors and my desire to support local and regional brewers. Nearly saluting, I thought, “We might be a country full of diversity and differences, but on this day, let’s all drink the same beer.” And then, after opening the beer case, I was reminded that a couple months back, Budweiser had changed its name on the cans to America. It seemed like I would have been the perfect target, but something twisted my stomach a little and I couldn’t do it. You may remember, back in May it was announced that, through the November elections, Budweiser, would be calling itself, simply, America. They’ve also crowded the labels with patriotic words and phrases from the Pledge of Allegiance and lyrics from “The Star Spangled Banner.” You know, just in case America was too subtle. “We are embarking on what should be the most patriotic summer that this generation has ever seen,” Budweiser Vice President Ricardo Marques said in a press release at the time, referring to the Summer Olympics and other international sporting events that are supposed to make us proud to have been born in our respective countries. The irony hasn’t been lost on anyone that Budweiser’s parent company AB InBev resides in Belgium. And it’d

be easy to say that such a bald marketing attempt to co-opt the identity of an entire nation in the name of corporate profit is rather un-American. My problem with it all is that it is so incredibly American. And it’s not the America I want to live in. So what is the America this America stands for? This is a beer that cloaks itself in the colors of the flag, is all-but-flavorless, because who needs flavor when you’re swillin’ Bud with a fishing pole in your other hand. This America is cheap because of the massive scale of production, seizing every opportunity to make an ounce more profit, lobbying for favorable laws and crushing little guys to make itself even more powerful? This America is the Wal-Mart of beers, and what’s more American than Wal-Mart? Further, who gave Budweiser the right? Can it just do that? (And what’s keeping, say, Ska from changing its name to America for the summer?) The move is over the top. It’s gawdy, pushy, rude, brash. How America is that? It’s white sneakers, black socks and fanny packs. It’s corn dogs and cotton candy. It’s preferring the Hard Rock Café in Paris over a local café in Paris. It’s throngs of tubby Americans abroad, thinking everyone else in the world should learn English already. It’s grotesque, the clear co-opting that takes words and images that are supposed to define our country’s spirit and history, all to sell a few more cans of flimsy beer. It’s exaggerated promises, bloated pride, slogans without substance, marketing without conviction. It’s using a label to hide the fact that the inside is mediocre. It’s saying anything you have to say to gain power. Of course! It’s the Donald Trump of beers. Ultimately, I opted for Coors Original. Not much better, but at least those are Colorado clichés it uses to push its average American-style lager. Turns out that on America Day, America was just too America for me.

Playgrounds Love it Playgrounds are like miniature battlefields. Out there at recess, kids can learn most everything they need to know about the triumphs and pratfalls of the human spirit. You take turns on the tire swing, seeing who can push fastest and highest. You close your eyes and clutch onto the creaking chains, feeling the whole world spinning off its orbit. You participate in heated monkey bar challenges, hanging there until your arms feel like they’ll be ripped out of their sockets. You wait your turn at the tunnel slide and pretend to get stuck there like a snug little parasite, staying until someone slides along and dislodges you. You arrange clandestine meetings with schoolyard friends and enemies on top of the rickety wooden bridge. You try to bounce your friends off. Girls aren’t allowed. Boys aren’t allowed. You form clubs and committees and break hearts and reputations. Adult playgrounds are a thing, too. They’re cropping up in places like Miami, St. Louis, Washington state, Boston, Hong Kong, Austria, you name it. Play is important, even to those who have traditionally outgrown it. Multiple studies demonstrate how effective play is for improving productivity in work environments. It also helps stimulate imagination (your old pal, possibly dusty from misuse) and foster childlike excitement. Plus, it can get your heart pumping. Adults need exercise, yeah, but most of us secretly want to swing and slide and frolic, too. —— Anya Jaremko-Greenwold

Hate it It turns out that there are certain places grown men cannot go alone lest you raise suspicion and elicit stares and scorn, if not flat out calls to the police. The women’s bathroom: Understandable. The women’s section at any store: Maybe I’m shopping for my lady, but point taken. Chuck E. Cheese: I get it; I can get pizza elsewhere. But the big one, one that makes the 10-year-old in me weep and long for innocent times: Playgrounds. As an adult, I’ve been known to hit a playground or two. My favorite activity is to commandeer the swings, get going as high as science will allow and jump off to see how far I can fly. If I’m with anyone else who shares the same desire, a competition always ensues and each jump is an attempt to be “the record.” And what’s more fun than playing “fire tag” on the jungle gym where a normal game of tag is complicated by the fact that the ground is made of lava? And, I’m sorry, but sometimes a guy just wants to take a single trip down the slide on his way home from work. But such enthralling activities are not open to single men or even two men. Whether real or imagined, there’s a great sense that any man by himself at a playground must be a predator (In fact, I’ve had friends tell me flat out that they would never leave a child alone with a man). And the only thing that seemingly disqualifies a man – any man – from being a child molester is to have a woman or child in tow. I hate that. —— David Holub

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[Expert Advice on Trivial Affairs]

Cyle Talley | Get Smart

On clean commuting Last week, the City of Durango hosted Clean Commute Week and your lazy ass (probably) didn’t take part. So let Amber Blake, director of the Department of Transportation and Sustainability, tell you about all of the great things our fair city is doing to promote a clean commute. What’s “Multi Modal”? Multimodal transportation looks at bicycles, pedestrians, accessibility, safe routes to school, transit, and how all of the modes – vehicles, carpool, ride sharing – work together. The community’s vision is to create a safe, connected network that would allow a seventh grade-aged child to get around Durango independently and safely. How did it all get started? In 2009, I was hired by the city as the Multi Modal Coordinator. Durango had been hosting one [Bike To Work Day] already and since the city had hired me, I thought, “The city is behind this, so let’s make it more than just a day.” In 2010, we expanded Bike to Work Day into Clean Commute Week. The Commuter Challenge was born that year, as well as the Pedal vs. Metal Competition. Since then, the Multi Modal programs have only grown. In 2015, the city created a new department called Transportation and Sustainability, and now there are three people who focus on our programs. What’s so great about a clean commute? Research shows that people are more productive when they use an active mode of transportation for their commute. How many times have you gotten out of work stressed out? If you get on your bike, you’re going to burn off some of that steam, you’re going to get some fresh air, you’re body’s going to be moving and you’re going to get home in a better space. ... Oh, and the environment. [laughs] What’s the Way To Go Club? We wrote a grant and were funded to incentivize clean commuting and sustainable transportation. It’s been a huge success, and I really credit that to our amazing partners. Originally, I reached out to hundreds of companies and said, “People like free things, but people LOVE cool free things, so if you can give a good incentive, than you can hook the members.” I mean, people in Durango have a lot of water bottles and T-shirts. Most of our partners have very similar missions, and once we began to explain our club to sponsorship people at each company, they were completely behind it and expressed how they wished that their community had one, too. HydroFlask, Kleen Kanteen, Buckshot Speakers, Elevation Hammocks,

Courtesy of Get Around Durango

Smith Optics – it’s ridiculous. On top of that, we want people to spend local, which is why we also have a monthly raffle so that we can put an emphasis on our local partners. Maria’s, Carver’s, Durango Coffee Company – I could go on and on. Blake

What’s the biggest challenge to your program?

Funding. Transportation projects are not cheap. Operating public transit is extremely subsidized. General sales tax doesn’t go into our budget. In the most simple terms, we get federal and state grants, and we have parking money that pays for all of this. We get a little lodger’s tax, but it’s important for the community to understand how we’re funded so that individuals can provide the most effective input. We want to hear what you have to say, so it’s our job to educate folks on how the process works, what the sandbox is. What are some misconceptions about clean commuting? We need to do more education and outreach on rules of the road. As a cyclist and commuter myself, I do my best to obey the rules of the road. I teach my kids to wear a helmet, signal, stop at stop signs and lights, wait for the signal. I tell them, “You are a vehicle,” and that they need to be respectful of the cars on the road because a cyclist isn’t protected by a thousand pounds of metal. At the same time, as a driver, to be respectful as a vehicle, to follow the rules of the road and to keep in mind that a cyclist has a right to the road, too. Technically, a cyclist can take a full lane. We

have to figure out how to get to the point where all modes of transportation can be in harmony. Can we please put the phones away? And that’s for cyclists, too! What drives all of this passion you have? Most people probably don’t wake up in the morning and think, “How am I going to get from point A to point B?” until it’s taken away from them. If you don’t have access to transportation, if you have limited mobility options, your quality of life is drastically changed. Creating a transportation system that is connected and provides access for all increases the quality of life for everyone in the community. It increases the vitality, it increases our economic growth and value ... Just being in the position to look at how all of these pieces fit together, we could have the greatest services and programs and shopping, restaurants and everything, but if people can’t get there, what’s the point? I’m lucky enough to have a job that I’m very passionate about, for a community that I love. I get to make Durango a better place for the next generation – for our generation, too, hopefully. We have a long way to go to be a platinum level bicycle community, but we’re making strides, we’re moving in the right direction, and we have an amazing community— Wait, platinum? That’s a thing? It is. Right now, we’re a Gold level. It’s through the League of American Bicyclists and we started as a silver in 2009. We were awarded gold in 2012. Cyle Talley is all about that platinum life. If there’s something you’d like to Get Smart about, email him at: cyle@ cyletalley.com

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[sound]

Downtown Lowdown | Bryant Liggett

Got the blues? Duo wants to hear it at new Monday jam

t’s a musical ménage à-trois, a Matchdot-com or Craigslist hook-up site for the local music community willing to play the blues: Show up, check in, sing and play the blues yourself, or have a band play with you. That’s how it will roll for the Monday Night Blues Jam at Moe’s; an open invitation blues jam for local musicians. Organized by local guitar player Darren Stroud and his wife and bass player Missy Percifield, it’s an attempt to build a stronger musical community through musical mingling via a genre that is parent to many other genres. The first Blues Jam will be Monday, July 11, and will continue weekly. Both Stroud and Percifield play in the rock outfit PowerTribe. Stroud also plays in country band The High Rollers; along with drummer Clay Louder they are Missy and The Bluetones, the band that will serve as house band for the Blues Jam. There’s no ego and no need to be nervous about your ability or lack thereof. If you have the slightest inclination toward making music, bring it to Moe’s and throw it in with Stroud’s and Percifield’s infectious enthusiasm. “Something I noticed in every town I lived in, there are always these little circles of musicians and they don’t know each other. We would do a metal show as PowerTribe and I’d meet guys that haven’t heard my country band, or they hadn’t heard of any funk bands in town, or didn’t know the classic rock guys,” said Stroud in a recent interview. “I thought even in this small town you have these circles of people that don’t know each other, and blues is the common denominator in all this music. People can meet each other, and it would be good for the community.” Percifield cut her teeth on classical, yet it was going to blues jams that gave her the schooling and the chops to really perform. “Its not only social, it’s educational, too. You learn a lot by getting up on stage and performing,” said Percifield. “We’re here; we might as well do it, and bring the community together.” Blues lays a solid foundation for all genres. You’ll

Courtesy of Missy Percifield

»» Clay Lowder (left), Darren Stroud (center) and Missy Percifield make up “Missy and the Bluetones.”

Bryant’s best Sunday: The Blue Moon Ramblers play bluegrass and folk, 7 p.m. No cover. Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Information: 375-7150. Monday: Blues Jam with local musicians, 8 p.m. No cover. Moe’s, 937 Main Ave. Information: 2599018. hear it in punk, you’ll hear it in country and you’ll hear it in indie rock or within the jam-band community. For this jam, the audio idea is to play blues at its most basic and most traditional way, be it classics found in the blues canon or something original influenced by Chicago, Memphis or Mississippi hill

country blues. The twist will be inviting other musicians to step up and expand the instrumentation. Obviously guitars, bass, or harmonicas are welcome; yet so are horn sections, keyboards or even banjo, mandolin or a fiddle. “There are a lot of diverse instruments in this town. I’m hoping we get some great fiddle players, different stringed-instrument players. They’re going to be able to rip up on some blues, too,” said Stroud. “And the jazz guys, the horn guys, so it all fits. It all has a place, any instrument, anyone that wants to get up and jam with us.” Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

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[sound] What’s new DJ Shadow,“The Mountain Will Fall” Available: Now via Mass Appeal as a download, CD and a double vinyl LP Just barely into the seventh month of the year we’ve slinked into the midway point of 2016 releases. Many blogs, music websites, print publications, zines, etc. etc. etc., as if on cue, will be or have already released the requisite Best Records of 2016 (Thus Far) Review Redux Pt 1. To Be Continued Compendium. This is done by music journalists, the more-than-casual music lover and armchair critics alike in order to take stock of what we’ve heard thus far and to perhaps focus the dwindling list of the year’s Most Anticipated Releases. Considering as such, the timing is damn near giddy perfect as DJ Shadow (born Josh Davis) releases his sixth full-length record, “The Mountain Will Fall,” his first in five years. It should be noted that it has been near 20 years since the release of his near-perfect, groundbreaking and genre-defining classic, “Endtroducing,” but you’d never know it. Shadow is as fresh as ever, still crate-digging for the perfect sample, blending and bending sonic styles with seeming ease, and combining contemporary hip-hop with found sounds and down-tempo trip-hop to cull (perhaps) one of 2016’s finest albums. Shadow chooses his company deliberately, enlisting famed German ambient composer/musician/producer Nils Frahm on a track, in addition to U.K. multitalent Matthew Halsall on “Ashes to Oceans,” one of the record’s cleanest cuts. If all that wasn’t enough, Run the Jewels (El-P & Killer Mike) make an appearance on what may be the best single track – hip-hop or otherwise – of 2016.

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New at Southwest Sound July 8 »»1. Aphex Twin, “Cheetah” »»2. Bad Bad Not Good, “IV” »»3. Car Seat Headrest, “Teens of Denial” »»4. Avalanches, “Wildflowers” »»5. Chevelle, “North Corridor” »»6. Switchfoot, “Where the Light Shines Through” »»7. Gone is Gone, “Self Titled”

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[visual]

Rockstar jeweler comes to Sorrel Sky »» Cody Sanderson brings some edge to traditional Southwest styles Santa Fe jeweler extraordinaire Cody Sanderson will be in Durango this Thursday for a show at Sorrel Sky Gallery. His craftmanship combines traditional Navajo technique with more youthful, modern flair. This progressive work isn’t anything like the quintessential designs you’ll see in the turquoise and gentle curves of traditional Southwestern bling; Sanderson takes those shapes and hardens them. His bangles, rings and necklaces drip with giant spiky stars, arrows and bulbous bumps, at times looking almost like battle armor. We chatted with Sanderson about the unexpected people who buy his most badass pieces and how jewelry is “generational art.” What techniques and materials do you use? I use a variety of techniques that have lasted over 1,000 years and that Navajos have been doing for over 100 years. I also use modern techniques, computergenerated imagery and casting. We did 3-D casting in the last year; we get a component, I’ll design it, then we get it cast in the 3-D form, and decide whether it works or doesn’t. We just introduced a gold line last season. Gold is very forgiving and easy to manipulate because if you Sanderson mess up, you just melt it and do it again. I can sell a ring in silver for $300 but the same ring in gold goes for like $7,000. Do you make jewelry for both men and women? When I started making jewelry, it was for men. I’d do large sizes, heavy and bold. But most of the people who tried them on were women, and they wanted me to make them smaller. Some of my most aggressive pieces, that look like they’re dangerous to wear, are sold to women ages 55 to 85! I can’t explain that. Who do you think would wear that? You’d say, ‘some punk rocker or biker.’ Some of the women will say, ‘my grandkids can’t wait for when I get back after Indian market to see what I got this time.’ You never know who is going to be wearing your pieces. Do you wear jewelry yourself? Yeah, I wear mostly mine because I’m a shameless self-promoter. When I’m working I don’t wear anything, but when I travel and do promotions for my line, I wear more than I should. A few bracelets, a ring or two. That’s pretty comfortable. Though I do have clients who wear like four bracelets on each side – or this one guy had 10 rings on. That’s too much for me. I wear most of my jewelry for a week or two and try to see how comfortable it will be. I make stuff you can wear all day. What’s the most challenging part about making jewelry? Getting good people to make it. I make the first two or three pieces myself and then introduce it to my workers who help me. I can’t physically do all the

GO! What: Cody Sanderson, Carrie Fell and Maura Allen in “Stretching the Boundaries” When: 5 - 7 p.m. Thursday, July 7 Where: Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave., Durango

»» A model fashions jewelry by Cody Sanderson. Courtesy of Sorrel Sky

jewelry all the time. Our last order was 7,000 pieces. There’s no way I can do that! But they are my designs. I have my hands on the majority of the pieces, to some degree. I show my employees how to manipulate the metal to bring it up to my standard. I do know artists who say, ‘I make and polish every single piece myself.’ They like the accolades. But I know they have extra hands helping them, too. I’m pretty much an open book. Do you have a favorite piece you’ve made? I’ve made a few pieces that I really enjoy, and somehow it always ends up on someone else’s wrist. Either I give it away as a gift or someone buys it off of me. I think, ‘I can always make another one.’ But it never happens. I try to keep at least one major piece back a year, for my family archives. What do you love about jewelry? You buy a piece of jewelry and your great-greatgrandkids can wear that ring or earrings you’re wearing now. It kind of gives you a sense of immortality. Most jewelry purchases are emotional. People hate paying for a dentist or an attorney, those are necessary purchases that you don’t enjoy. But jewelry is a luxury purchase that makes you happy, and other people happy, too, throughout generations. I even did an ad that said, “It’s not just jewelry. It’s generational art.” Where is your jewelry sold? A lot of artists in the Southwest say, ‘OK, I’ll sell to Gallup, Albuquerque, Scottsdale and Santa Fe.’ Those are the pinnacles when you’re selling jewelry. But now I’m broadening my horizons. I want to sell in LA, New York, Japan. I picked Japan because they’re the largest disposable income luxury purchasers in the world. And then China follows their suit, times 10. — Anya Jaremko-Greenwold

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[beer]

First Draughts | Robert Alan Wendeborn

But wait ... what is a craft brew exactly?

’ve written about a lot of stuff for this column: Day drinking, drinking on amateur night, lagers, IPAs, buyouts, sellouts, heroes, politicians, saisons, sours, summer beers, session beers, cozy beers, Netflix and chill beers, and all of it bent toward craft beer. But what the F is a craft beer? I think craft beer is hard to define. A beer can be well-crafted, but not craft beer (I’d put a lot of American lagers in this category). A giant mega-brewery can brew a craft beer without being a craft brewery. A craft brewery can brew crappy beer and be shitty citizens of the craft world. Defining a craft brewery against a craft beer is even trickier. As defined by the Brewers Association (BA), craft breweries are small (6 million barrels of beer a year or fewer), independent (less than 25 percent of ownership from an outside alcohol producer that is not itself a craft brewer), and traditional (some special definition that excludes flavored malt beverages). So yeah, even the association that is supposed to decide what is and is not craft beer has some really complicated rules about who’s in and who’s out. I think it’s a lot simpler and more complex than all that. I don’t think it’s about numbers because those keep changing (the number 6 million is raised every year so that Boston Beer Co. stays included in the BA). It’s not about the ingredients (this isn’t the German purity law, reinheitsgebot). And this isn’t about money, either (doesn’t matter who owns what; a shitty owner can run a craft brewery through the mud without it being one of the big, scary, mega-breweries). There are attitudes, practices and tendencies that are pervasive in craft brewing, and when you experience these aspects, you know you’re in a craft brewery. One of these practices is what I call collaborative competition. If two breweries respect each other as competitors, they’ll brew a beer together or distribute each other’s beer. If a beer name or brewery name is in conflict, they’ll brew a beer together and settle the conflict on a brew deck, instead of in court. This is a practice that you see coast to coast (and really it happens around the world). This practice of collaborative competition is so pervasive that it has its own beer festival, Collaboration Fest (which is one of my all-time favorite festivals). If you see a brewery toting its craft credentials, but is really quick to call in lawyers, has its cease and desist orders preprinted or charges other breweries for use of trademarks, chances are it’s not a real craft brewery. Craft beer’s origin as small breweries chipping away at the big multinational breweries is pretty much over. Craft breweries are now more than 10 percent of the total U.S. market, which means craft isn’t small anymore. So what separates the big craft breweries like New Belgium, Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada from the big evil mega-breweries? Ubiquity. Budweiser is

everywhere. They take up space like some smog monster. They slip in and take every tap handle, every bit of shelf space, every venue for their beer that they can possibly take up. But craft brewers take a lot of pride in the rarity of their beer. In Durango, Ska is ubiquitous, but go to Austin or San Diego, and Ska is a jewel that you have to search for, especially the beers that we brew in smaller batches. Ska distributes to Sweden, and we sold out of our first shipment of Decadent in four hours. 3 Floyds in Munster, Indiana, sells Dark Lord, an imperial stout, which is released once a year and often sells out the same day. Cigar City in Tampa, Florida, does the same for their imperial stout, Hunahpu’s, and it sells out that day. The same goes for Sam Adams, New Belgium, and Sierra Nevada: Their limited releases are sought after and cherished by the people lucky enough to get their hands on them. It doesn’t matter how big a craft brewery gets, there’s always going to be something limited, something finite, something rare about their beer. You ever have that limited release Budweiser? Yeah me neither, because it doesn’t exist. The last thing that separates craft beer from the rest is something that I really can’t describe, because words like “quality,” “delicious,” “unique” etc., all fall short of what a craft beer is/has. It’s more of a soul than a flavor or characteristic that can be named and outlined. It’s a feeling that connects you to the other people in the pub; it connects you to the place where it was brewed, to the people who brewed it. Maybe I’m a sentimental weirdo, but I imagine all the people who helped make it happen. When I’m at Animas Brewing Co., I imagine Scott and Jed setting up their hoses for cleaning cycles. At Carvers, I imagine Cody and Patrick smelling hops and crafting their next recipe. At BREW, I imagine Eric checking the clarity of the newest beer in one of his brite tanks. At Steamworks, I imagine Ken and his minion brewers blending their newest sour project. Or even at the soft opening at Durango Brewing Co. last week, it was such joy just imagining Nate and Rooster and Troy and that whole crew, putting in all the hard work for the reopen. And yeah, craft beer should taste good, but it should feel good when you drink it, too. Robert Alan Wendeborn puts the bubbles in the beer at Ska Brewing Company. His first book of poetry, “The Blank Target,” was published in 2015 by The Lettered Streets Press and is available at Maria’s Bookshop. robbie@skabrewing.com Illustration by David Holub/DGO

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[performing]

A guide to regional summer theater class company with a multimillion dollar budget, and the ticket prices reflect that. $222 is the top ticket price. People who go to Milan and Helsinki, La Scala [opera house] and Barcelona, I meet them in Santa Fe for this.”

By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold DGO Staff Writer

Here’s a roundup of all the local and regional theater you shouldn’t miss, according to Durango’s very own theater expert, Judith Reynolds, arts journalist and member of the American Theater Critics Association. She sees everything and knows what’s good this July through Sept.. “There’s a Western tradition of live theater,” said Reynolds. “It adds a little bit of civilization in the wilderness.” Note: these shows do not play every night consecutively, so check out specific dates if you are interested in getting tickets. Durango Durango Arts Center Shows: “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” through July 31 and “Fool For Love” Aug. 26 - Sept. 11 Judith says: “Fool for Love” is a serious play by Sam Shepard, not family entertainment like “Charlie Brown.” Merely Players Theater Company Show: “Collected Stories” Aug. 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20 at Durango Public Library “Collected Stories,” Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize finalist play, is about the complicated relationship between a prominent writer and her student.

Santa Fe Playhouse Shows: “The Pillowman” July 21 – Aug. 7, “The Fiesta Melodrama” Aug. 25 – Sept. 11 The oldest continuously running theater west of the Mississippi. “The Pillowman” is a darkly comic drama set in a dystopian totalitarian state, and “The Fiesta Melodrama” lampoons local news and politics in New Mexico. New Mexico Actors Lab Shows: “Art” July 21 - Aug. 7

Jerry McBride/BCI Media file photo

»» Austin Hohnke (left) and Joey Panelli rehearse at James Ranch north of Durango for last summer’s Merely Players production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”

Patsy Cline” July 15 - Aug. 28 Judith says: “Really high quality performances. Frequently they’ll have one or two equity [professional] actors. This scheme of putting on four musicals with a rep company is pretty unusual and extremely challenging. Those kids work like crazy. And they’ve hired Melissa Firlit, who directed “A Few Good Men” and “Trojan Women” at FLC – she’s directing one of these [“On the Way to the Forum,” co-directing “Patsy Cline”]. Young, smart, she brings all current techniques. It’s worth the drive and ticket price ... You won’t be disappointed.”

Henry Strater Theatre

Creede

Show: Durango Western Music and Vaudeville Show, through Sept. 23

Creede Repertory Theatre

Thingamajig Theatre

Shows: “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” through Aug. 13, “Red Hot Patriot,” Aug. 17, Boom Town (improv comedy) postperformances at 10:30 p.m., “The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence” through Aug. 14, “Private Lives” Aug. 19 - Sept. 17, “The History Room” (world premiere) through Sept. 15, “Kind of Red” July 6 - Aug. 28

Shows: “The Little Mermaid” through Aug. 28, “Cabaret” July 9 - Aug. 25, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” through Aug. 26, “Always,

Judith says: “This is their 51st season. Creede is a small mining town, and they needed to attract people there. They have high-quality performances and do

Judith says: “This is musical entertainment. It has sort of always been for tourists.” The show pays tribute to the Colorado old West with music, humorous skits, old cowboy poetry and sing-alongs.

Pagosa Springs

new and challenging plays. Comedies and musicals, but really serious, heavy-duty stuff, too. A lot of now-famous people have performed as part of the Creede Rep. The new play they’re doing this year is “Kind of Red,” a crazy fantasy about Lucille Ball.”

Farmington Lions Wilderness Park Amphitheater Shows: “The Addams Family,” every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening through July 30 Judith says: “This is outdoor community theater. It is entertaining, perhaps more so for Farmington residents because they know the people in it. Oftentimes music and theater majors from FLC appear in these. The stage is all open, it’s dirt and dust and a couple of red rocks. Reasonable price, unusual setting, small band.”

Santa Fe Santa Fe Opera Shows: “Romeo et Juliette” July 16 - Aug. 25, “Capriccio” July 23 - Aug. 19, “Vanessa” July 30 - Aug. 24, “La Fanciulla del West” July 6 - Aug. 27, “Don Giovanni” July 8 - Aug. 26 Judith says: “Opera aficionados from around the world come here. It’s a world-

Theater company in their inaugural season, premiering three plays this summer written by Tony and Pulitzer award-winning playwrights. “Art” by Yasmina Reza is about investigating the commercial versus creative values of the visual arts world.

Cedar City, Utah Utah Shakespeare Festival Shows: “Much Ado About Nothing” through Sept. 8, “Henry V” through Sept. 10, “The Three Musketeers” through Sept. 9, “The Cocoanuts” through Oct. 15, “The Odd Couple” Sept. 14 - Oct. 22, “Mary Poppins” through Sept. 3, “Julius Caesar” July 29 - Oct. 22, “Murder for Two” Aug. 4 - Oct. 22, “The Greenshow” through Sept. 10 Judith says: “The biggest, most impressive western Shakespeare festival. It’s a seven-hour drive from here, worth every hour. They put on six productions, three Shakespearean, a musical, usually some new play. I go every year and see everything. Every time they complete the entire Shakespearean canon, they start over. They also have something to go and see and do and learn every minute you’re there. There’s an outside seminar in a grove of trees every morning at 9 o’clock, where actors from the previous night’s performances show up, and you can ask them questions and talk about the plays you’ve seen. There are also seminars with costumers/props/backstage people that are all mostly free or $5. Plus pre-performance lectures for everything, where they talk about the plot and the history of the play.”

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[performing]

A summer theater pro talks shop Plenty of people are proud musical-haters, but Taylor Marrs loves the cheesy, feel-good nature of musical theater – and he’ll remind you that plenty of musicals are insightful, provocative and relevant to the time period in which they’re released (“Hamilton,” “Wicked” and “Rent” are good examples). Marrs is an actor and costume designer in Pagosa Springs’ Thingamajig Theatre, performing in all four of the company’s shows this summer: “The Little Mermaid” (he plays King Triton), “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Always Patsy Cline” and “Cabaret.” We chatted with Marrs about what it takes to play the villain and the sacrifices his acting career has required. On playing the villain I’m playing this evil Nazi character Ernst in “Cabaret.” It’s an emotional story. All the characters are going through such a traumatic experience in their lives. I work in the Stanislavski method when I’m acting: I pull from previous experiences in my life to help develop emotions. There’s a scene where I get really angry, and after I get off stage I just break down and start to cry. I don’t like to be that angry. It’s not real, but my emotions are drained. In most musical theater shows, you don’t usually get to that heightened level of anger. They’re typically fluffy and the struggle is that you like THAT girl and not me. But here we’re talking about the Holocaust. Playing a Nazi and being sympathetic to that party is very hard, because it’s not something I support! So I have to find within myself a way to accept that mindset of the Nazis and to support everything they plan on doing, since it takes place 10 years before anything really started happening. My character is trying to change his life, make things better, and at that time the

Nazi party gave that to people. Something to do, something to stand for and a way to make money. Everyone was poor, the country was still paying off debt from the last war. And if you have something to clinch on to that inspires hope or pride, you’re gonna reach for that, even if it goes against some morals. So that’s how I look at it. The space feels heavy when we do “Cabaret,” like there’s this energy we’re conjuring. In a rehearsal, all the lights started to flicker and then went out. It wasn’t raining, no one else was in the building except one person in the lobby and the lights all stayed on for her. I felt like there was this extra energy on me because I was portraying such an awful person. The joys and woes of musical theater I’m a singer first. I’m a soloist because I can be very loud and project over an ensemble. I also design shows. It’s hard, and doing these things at the same time can be complicated. As an actor, I need to take time mentally to prepare. But

when I’m sewing, I gotta get it done before the scene happens. Rodgers and Hammerstein came so early in musical theater that the blend of non-musical and musical hadn’t happened yet. It’s all very broken up. Like, ‘I’m going to sing a song now – Go!’ Nowadays, composers like Lin-Manuel Miranda with “Hamilton” make their musicals sound like actual words you would say, as opposed to a poem. Sondheim does that, too. His songs are patterned like speech, like “Into the Woods.” On whether musical theater is taken seriously There’s a competitiveness with the different performing arts. You could be talking to someone who is trained as a classical opera singer, and they say a musical theater singer is not “properly trained.” I’m trained classically in musical theater – I started in opera and transitioned. And then I was like, ‘I hate operas. I don’t want to sing in Italian.’ Actors can be snooty because the musical theater scripts are often not very in-depth. There’s only like 20 minutes of dialogue to get the story out in the shows. But “Cabaret” has a beautiful script. It’s more of a play with musical numbers. The scenes are long, with so much dialogue and it’s revered by everyone in the artistic community. On his career trajectory and sacrifices I’ve been taking professional singing lessons since I was 8. My family was very supportive and put me in dance classes and vocal lessons. They let me

»» The many looks of Taylor Marrs. Courtesy of Taylor Marrs

drop out of the Boy Scouts because it interfered with play practice. When you’re an actor, you have to sacrifice a lot of time. Holidays are not holidays for you. People are here on vacation, so we need a show for them so we can make money. I’ve missed a lot of weddings and opportunities with family and friends because of my career. I missed the wedding of my best friend from kindergarten because I couldn’t get out of a contract for a weekend. I begged. She wanted me to sing during her father-daughter dance. But they said they couldn’t afford to have me out of the show for that long.

For a video of Taylor Marrs discussing playing straight as a gay actor, go to dgomag.com

Most people work 9 to 5 and are happy to have that consistent job. My schedule’s crazy. I work 10 to 10 on a regular rehearsal day, and for the summer we have two months solid of rehearsals and get one day off a week. But the light at the end of the tunnel is, once we get the shows open, I’m called for the show – just three hours of work a day. And it’s fun. The strangest thing ever done for a role I played a gorilla in “Tarzan” last year. It was very exhausting physically. I had to squat and crawl on my knuckles. Most of us were dancers, so we were used to moving unusually – but this was so out of the realm of jazz or ballet or anything else. —— Anya Jaremko-Greenwold

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[pages]

Cowboys used to be my weakness

With your writing, you’ve tapped into this generation of girls who want but don’t need men, who prefer adventure to settling down. Do you have a big following of young women? I’m not sure that’s true anymore. The vast majority of people who sign up for writer’s workshops are women, because men think they can just go into their garret and write their novel. Women are much more open to instruction, in general. So the vast majority of people in say, Junot Díaz’s class would be women, too. It is true that a certain kind of outdoorsy, independent woman likes my work. The reasons for that are obvious. But I published my first book when I was 30, so all my fans were my age. And because “Cowboys Are My Weakness” remains my best-selling book, new generations of women come along and find that and want to study with me. It’s published in every language. I’ve gotten older, but “Cowboys” stays the same age. I wouldn’t say my students are primarily women who are much younger than me, but my work definitely speaks to young women who have left home, are finding themselves, like the outdoors, and like men but don’t necessarily want to be tucked under one’s arm.

»» At the intersection of literature

and nature, best-selling author Pam Houston has firmly planted her boots By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold DGO Staff Writer

am Houston lives on a 120-acre ranch in an open valley just outside Creede. Sweeping green vistas circle the property, and two giant wolfhounds (William and Olivia) have room to romp. Someone at the sheriff’s office in town offered Houston’s address to me when I got a little lost. “If anyone ever comes to murder me ...” Houston joked, later. Houston bought the ranch with money from her first book, “Cowboys Are My Weakness,” named a New York Times Notable Book after publication in 1992. That collection of stories stirred the wild hearts and minds of a new generation of women. Houston’s gutsy heroines craved freedom rather than family life and wanted to raft rivers and scale mountains instead of nurturing children and husbands. They also fostered dozens of tumultuous trysts with Western outdoorsmen. Writers are most often considered ivory tower types, scribbling away in classrooms and university libraries. But Houston breaks the mold, dragging the noise of literature into quiet forests and the thrust of athleticism into musty books. In addition to her published works, Pam teaches writing workshops around the world. She’s currently the Director of Creative Writing at University of California-Davis, and is working on a memoir about her “love affair” with the idyllic Creede ranch. Houston is a cowboy in her own right, happy to be alone in the wilderness and visit with her longtime partner intermittently. We chatted about how her writerly perspective on men and romance has shifted over the years, where her voracious appetite for the American West stems from, and the pleasures of learning to be by yourself.

Courtesy of Pam Houston

»» Author Pam Houston.

You grew up in New Jersey – where did your obsession with the American West come from?

Courtesy of Pam Houston

»» Pam Houston’s wolfhound surveys the grounds at Houston’s ranch in Creede.

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I grew up on the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border. There was a guy in our neighborhood named Colonel Bob Miller who loaded all the local kids in station wagons and took us camping. He made us ride under blankets and told us he was taking us “out West,” and if we peeked we got demoted. We all had ranks. It sounds a little like Aryan nation, but it wasn’t. He was just an army guy, and that’s how he did things. When I started going I was probably 6 or 7. Kids would come back from college to go on Colonel Bob’s weekends, he was like the Pied Piper. He taught us how to read compasses and do something called “the bravery test” in the middle of night, where he would position white markers in the woods and we had to find them with our flashlights. It was all about learning how to love the outdoors, to respect it, be in it intelligently. He was a huge influence on me. Anyway, he would put us under blankets in the station wagon and be like,

‘There goes the Mississippi river!’ Then he’d pull to the side of the road and be like, “Now we have to get permission from the Indian chiefs!” Obviously at some age we came to understand we weren’t really going west, we were going to a state park four miles outside of town. But I honestly think that’s where I got my ideas. Those weekends were the best of my childhood. He also planted this idea that there’s BIGGER nature out West. Parents would never let their kids do that now. It’s not safe or regulated. Totally. We would have church on Sunday morning, which was like “the Church of Nature,” where he’d talk about how you feel God in the woods. It was very secular, in a good way. Then I went to college in Ohio, and when I got done, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was having a hard time having ambition, though I had very good grades. I wanted to write but getting on Continued on Page 14

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[pages] From Page 13

the job market didn’t sound right to me, even though I had a lot of student loans. So I got on my bicycle with a girlfriend, we went and rode around the maritime provinces of Canada. Then Mary had to go back to school and I was like, ‘I could do this indefinitely.’ So I kept riding, and I rode out here to Colorado. I ran out of money. A flagger stopped me because they were doing construction and I said, ‘How much are they paying you to hold that flag?’ And I got a job as a flagger. I never left the West after that. What’s the biggest difference between the West and East Coast lifestyle? Oh my god, there’s so many. One of my favorite things about living out here is how big the weather and nature is. You can’t ignore it when it’s hailing, snowing, 30 below, when there’s a fire in your background. You’re aware you are a creature among creatures and that the elements affect your life. I think if you live in a New Jersey suburb, you can pretend that’s not true. One of the reasons I loved guiding so much is because when you’re guiding, the whole day is about the basics. Making your miles, finding a place to sleep, cooking food, being dry, being safe. I would’ve been a good hunter/gatherer because I love when life is elemental. And out here that’s just so much more possible. I also feel people here are more relaxed about most things. Like whether you’re

married or not, if you’re living together, or whether you have a Ph.D. from whatever school. There’s just not this rigid idea of who’s made it and who hasn’t. It’s much more laissez faire. Were you influenced by any adventurous women in your life growing up? My mother, actually. By the time I met her she was sort of a wife in an abusive marriage, so she didn’t seem adventurous at all. But she was. She ran away from home at 13 to Broadway and became an actress. She did USO with Bob Hope and was Frank Sinatra’s opening act in Vegas. I knew her when she was beaten down and drunk a lot. And then this fantastic woman named Martha Washington raised me, because my mom was a little checked out. She was just a babysitter. She was probably a lesbian and unmarried. She said, ‘I got married once for about 10 minutes. It didn’t take.’ She taught me to swim, ride a bike and read when I was two. She had been in the army as a supply sergeant and supported herself, so in her own way she was not your basic woman of HER generation. Are you an only child? I am. I liked it. I know people feel sorry for us. Without siblings you have to learn to like being alone. Yeah, and be OK with it. I have a lot of alone time here [at the ranch] in the dead of winter. And I love it. I had some middle decades where the fact that I

loved that so much scared me. I thought it meant I was anti-social. And now it just makes so much sense. I wouldn’t want to be alone all the time; I have a big social life and a job that puts me in front of people a lot. But to just be able to come here and not have to please anyone for six weeks ... How do the real people in your stories appreciate being fictionalized? I have five books, and they all fall into this middle category of autobiographical fiction, except for one that’s a book of essays that’s theoretically truer than the others. Now I’m writing a memoir about my time here on this ranch that’s truly a memoir. I’m trying not to make anything up for the first time in my life. It has been interesting, and forces me to use some other muscles. I’m good at shaping a scene, taking the real scene and making it better. So I was like, ‘What if you couldn’t do that?’ Not that I’d ever hold a book in my hand and say, ‘Every word of this is true.’ I don’t think that’s true, for me or for anyone. I’ve had more situations where people were pissed when I wasn’t even writing about them. I was writing about someone else, and I get this angry letter saying, ‘I can’t believe how you portrayed me.’ It’s also never the people I thought would be angry, once it was someone I thought I had basically written a love letter to. Your women characters are smart, Continued on Page 15

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but often stupid in love and when it comes to men. Why do you think women relinquish their values or good sense in relationships? It’s probably related to childhood trauma for most women, though they might not think of it as trauma. Speaking about those two decades you’re referring to, when I was in a lot of relationships where I wasn’t 100 percent myself, I would say I was caught up, subconsciously, in making some do-over about childhood. Where I made the man who wouldn’t love me, love me. One of the major things I wanted out of a relationship – call me shallow – was to learn how to run rivers or how to hunt or get to Africa. I wanted men who would teach me things I wanted to learn. And those guys tend to be a little on the noncommittal side. But the truth is, I didn’t want commitment either! I might have thought I did, in the throes of whatever I was going through. But I was terrible at commitment and I still am. Now I’m just up-front about it with myself and others: I want to be free and alone. Not all the time. But I need my freedom to say yes or no to anything. Do you want to teach in France or at Dartmouth for six months or go on a boat in the Great Bear Wilderness? I don’t want to consider anybody, except for them [gestures to dogs] because they’re my children. That sort of personal freedom is the thing that’s so important to me, and in my 20s and 30s I was afraid to admit that, or I didn’t exactly know it and hadn’t said it to myself. Well, women aren’t necessarily supposed to want freedom. And I didn’t want children, which is also a thing we’re not supposed to say. Because it makes me less of a bad person in people’s eyes. I like saying, ‘I knew I wanted to be a writer and dedicate myself to my art.’ Which is true. But I didn’t want to have kids anyway. My mother hated being a mother, and my father was worse than that. How has your approach to male/female dynamics evolved from writing “Cowboys” in your 20s to “Contents May Have Shifted,” your latest book? With “Cowboys” it was the biggest thing in my life, embarrassingly.

“

There were times when I thought if I wasn’t having some hell-onwheels relationship, I wouldn’t have anything to write. That’s definitely not true anymore. Pam Houston

”

Whether this man loved me or not. And there were times when I thought I wouldn’t breathe or I wasn’t alive if they didn’t write or call me back. Then in “Waltzing the Cat,” my second book, I got the idea that I had some responsibility to take in all of this. It wasn’t just these bad men who wouldn’t call me back. “Waltzing” investigates that and I think it’s a much more intelligent book. I had some therapy and I was like ‘Hmm, how am I contributing to this dynamic?’ And in “Contents,” I kind of wrote it consciously as ‘“Cowboys” 20 years later.’ It goes back to some of those themes, but hopefully in a different way. The men are given more credit. I tried to make it more about how the world softens the injuries we do to each other, how the world keeps us alive and interested in spite of the ways we get hurt and hurt others. And the ranch memoir has nothing to do with men at all. It’s about me being my own cowboy. By the time 50 comes along, I know that I gave all that time and attention to what men thought of me – but I can hardly believe it. I feel so different about that now. I feel like they didn’t even want all that power I kept heaping on them. I love my partner, we have a lot of fun together. But to be like, ‘I have to do this or else he might leave me,’ I can’t believe I spent those years engaged in that thinking. Part of it is learning, part of it is realizing there’s not an infinite number of years left. I’ve told that to lots of young women beating themselves over the head over some guy; if you live long enough, you will stop feeling this way. You’ll just be happy with yourself. There were times when I thought if I wasn’t having some hell-on-wheels relationship, I wouldn’t have anything to write. That’s definitely not true anymore. This interview has been edited for space and clarity.

�� Thursday, July 7, 2016 | 15

[movies] The Secret Life of Pets Playing at Stadium 9 (Also available in 3-D with surcharge) Rating: PG Genre: Animation, comedy Directed by: Chris Renaud, Yarrow

Cheney Written by: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio,

Brian Lynch Runtime: 1 hr. 30 min. Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 77% Synopsis: For one Manhattan apart-

ment building, the real day starts after the folks on two legs leave for work and school. That’s when the pets begin their own routine of hanging out with each other. The building’s top dog, Max, a terrier rescue, finds his pampered life rocked when his owner brings home Duke, a massive mess of a mongrel. When this duo finds themselves out on the streets of New York, they have to set aside their differences and unite against a bunny named Snowball, who’s building an army of Ex-Pets abandoned by their owners.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Playing at Animas City Theatre (Wednesday only) Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action &

adventure, comedy, mystery & suspense Directed by: Jay Roach Written by: Mike Myers Runtime: 1 hr. 30 min. Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 70% Synopsis: Austin Powers is a hipster

fashion photographer in mid-’60s swingin’ London by day and a crimefighting secret agen by night. When his nemesis Dr. Evil has himself frozen and sent into space, Powers also has himself put on ice so he can be thawed out when Dr. Evil returns. Come 1997, Dr. Evil returns to Earth, so Austin is thawed out and returned to active service.

Mike and Dave Stangle put the “bro” in brothers. Twenty-something liquor salesmen, they’re the life of the party – but also the death of it – having turned a perfectly lovely Fourth of July fireworks spectacle into a conflagration while endangering innocent bystanders with overthe-top trampoline acrobatics. They just don’t know when to say when. The movie they’re in is similarly afflicted. Starring Adam Devine and Zac Efron as the titular duo, “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” is uproarious and flamboyantly raunchy, utterly stupid yet also occasionally winning. You’ll laugh, but you might feel bad for doing it: Amusement is a form of approval, and do we really want to encourage such filth? Directed by Jake Szymanski, the movie opens as Mike and Dave are preparing for the wedding of their beloved little sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard), who’s getting hitched to Eric (Sam Richardson) in Hawaii. Justifiably convinced that the brothers will ruin yet another classy affair, Jeanie, Eric and the elder Stangles (Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) stage an intervention. For some reason, the foursome thinks that female companions will keep the guys from their usual attention-seeking antics. Mike and Dave unenthusiastically agree to the terms. One viral Craigslist ad later, and the brothers are barraged with emails from women hoping for a free beach vacation. Cue the predictable montage: a parade of blind dates that all turn out to be duds, in the extreme. Just as the brothers are losing hope, they hit the jackpot. Alice (Anna Kendrick) has a nice smile and runs a hedge fund, and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) is a schoolteacher who makes a lavish display of sucking on a No. 2 pencil. Mike and Dave are too distracted by their good fortune to notice the red flags: Alice doesn’t actually know what a hedge fund

Gemma LaMana/20th Century Fox via AP

»» Adam Devine, left, and Zac Efron star in “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.”

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Playing at Stadium 9 Rating: R Genre: Comedy Directed by: Jake Szymanski Written by: Andrew Jay Cohen,

Brendan O’Brien Runtime: 1 hr. 38 min. Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 69%

is, and Tatiana’s good-girl persona comes and goes. The four are soon headed to Hawaii for what’s supposed to be a sedate wedding where everything goes according to plan. It turns out that Alice and Tatiana are actually recently fired waitresses who spend their days drinking, smoking weed and getting into trouble. The two women are instigators, setting off a series of events that include a bad Ecstasy trip, a horse stampede and an ATV accident. Nothing says “laugh riot” like a near-fatal injury. Oddly enough, the movie has a pseudo-feminist heart. The message, which has all the subtlety of a slap to the face, is that girls can be just as grotesque, offensive and self-centered as guys. It’s no surprise that screenwriters Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien

also wrote “Neighbors 2,” built on a similar premise. And yet the ladies aren’t nearly as amusing or interesting as their male counterparts. So much for equal opportunity. Alice is funny enough, with her tendency to tell preposterous lies. But Tatiana is hard to take. She’s a selfish downer with few redeeming qualities, and Plaza’s distractingly trashy accent – a strenuous attempt to prove she’s a bad girl deep down – doesn’t help. Efron, who is well on his way to establishing his comedy chops, doesn’t disappoint as the hotter, dumber Stangle. Devine, meanwhile, lands plenty of solid punch lines despite his default performance mode: screaming. It gets old fast. Some of the best humor come from the supporting cast. During one especially hilarious sight gag, Jeanie gets a massage from a therapist (Kumail Nanjiani) who strips down, covers himself in oil and proceeds to give her the strangest, most transcendent deep-tissue work you can possibly imagine. Except you’d be wrong: It’s a perfect example of the movie doing what it does best. The movie doesn’t really level the playing field for men and women. It’s bizarre and vulgar, but also too funny to resist.

16 | Thursday, July 7, 2016 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[poetry] Ornate Feelings, by Dan Groth

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[ weed ] Seeing Through the Smoke Christopher Gallagher

Natives and transplants: Where should investment come from?

reen begets green: The legalization of cannabis in Colorado has generated enormous amounts of money, a situation that should be a win for everyone involved. But there are a host of problems that have accompanied this green rush. While most of the difficulties bypass the happy consumers, business owners are forced to grapple with a unique set of issues while they navigate the waters between in-state legality and nationwide prohibition. The first involves who is actually allowed to invest in the cannabis industry. As of now, only Colorado citizens with a minimum of two years of residency have been allowed to have medical or recreational licenses, as granted by the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. There is a bill, SB 16-040, that passed the Colorado Senate and awaits the governor’s signature; it would expand the potential pool of owners and investors to include individuals who do not meet the current residency standards beginning in January 2017. I remember my first trip to Colorado, in the summer of 2014. Legalization was about six months along. My friend and I stopped into a dispensary as we entered Denver, grabbed a stash for our weekend, dropped in to his cousin’s place for a shower and dinner, and headed out to meet my friend Mark. Mark is a native and a life-long state resident. As the evening proceeded, as conversations deepened, and as Mark’s bourbon tally rose, it became obvious that he carried a strong bias against out-of-state investment in the new and booming marijuana economy. I’m unable to print much in the way of direct quotes, but suffice it to say that, were this column a movie, Mark’s scene would blow any chance

The MED’s residency standards and background checks not only provided preferential treatment for those folks who put in the work to create a legal weed market here, but have also operated as a safeguard against investment by those who might use the new freedom to enrich criminals – including drug cartels – while deftly handling the complications that come with the federal ban on interstate commerce involving cannabis businesses. The program has been a great success so far, and the problems that have arisen between the state and the Obama David Holub/DGO administration have been negligible. The era of native investment at a PG-13 rating. is coming to a close. This is AmerThe schism beica, after all, and cash is king. As the other legal tween the natives and the transplants is a wellstates – Oregon (two-year residency requirement), known, decades-old, deeply-rooted complex with Alaska (two years), and Washington (six months) tendrils that expand in a variety of interesting direc– create policies related to who they will allow to tions. But this wasn’t just bashing the newbies for invest in their cannabis industries, and as California the sake of bashing; as he looked directly into my gears up for ballot measure that would expand its eyes (slightly blurred but also as fiery as a football current medical-only program to a full recreational coach late in the fourth quarter) and grabbed the one, Colorado business owners and lawmakers have front of my shirt for emphasis, I knew something some important decisions to make with regard to that mattered deeply to him was about to come out the competition that has grown in other state since of his mouth: “We didn’t do this ... we didn’t fight for 2014. Billions of dollars hang in the balance and so long to get the laws changed so outsiders could there is a tightrope to be walked regarding keeping just come in here and make money off our hard cannabis money in-state and the potential loss of work,” he said. “Come here; that’s fine. Have fun. financing to those investors who might feel hamLearn from us ... Then go back to your state and get strung by the regulations and decide to take their the laws changed there.” money elsewhere. He had a point. Colorado residents put the sweat equity into changing the state’s cannabis laws while also assuming the risk of going into direct conflict Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four with federal regulations and leading the charge in dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good. Contact him recreational marijuana. at chrstphrgallagher@gmail.com

232642

18 | Thursday, July 7, 2016 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[weed]

[Netflix and chill — 420 edition]

Famous faces weigh in on weed

‘The Shallows’

“When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” Barack Obama

“The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.” Carl Sagan

“Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.”

I already recommended a shark movie in this column (“Deep Blue Sea” a few weeks back), but “The Shallows” is currently in theaters, and there’s nothing like big screen blue waters teeming with blood and chum to get your stoned heart racing. “Shallows” stars Blake Lively, who has been a sweet if uninspiring presence in most of the lowerstakes projects she’s taken on (“Gossip Girl,” “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”) The stakes are higher here, since Lively is tasked with carrying an entire film by herself. She’s practically the only human character we see on-screen. Lively plays Nancy, a surfer stranded on a rock a mere 200 yards from shore after being bitten by a great white shark. Most survival movies star dudes: “127 Hours,” “Cast Away,” even “Buried” featuring Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds trapped in a coffin.

rock and past the shark’s gnashing teeth before she bleeds out. “The Shallows” is frightening until the shark begins to make his fleshy appearance. Don’t expect the sustained tension of “Jaws” here. This movie is visually dreamy, all aquamarine and dappled tropical sunlight streaking through waves, and director Jaume Collet-Serra collects plenty of good, long looks at Lively’s lithe, tan legs and sun-kissed golden tresses. The camera is as predatory as the fish itself. But the shark is CGI, not animatronic like in “Jaws,” and you can tell he’s a computer creation. Being stoned might help get you past that – god knows a good indica will heighten situations and sensations – but he’s undeniably elastic-looking. CGI won’t ever fool the human eye. Still, this is a better summer blockbuster than most.

But Nancy is every bit as tough as those guys. She’s a med school dropout whose mother just passed away from cancer, and she’s visiting a secluded Mexican beach for a grief-charged surfing respite. Nancy suspects her chosen profession is possibly pointless, as medicine couldn’t save her mom. Not surprisingly, this despairing attitude is challenged when she’s stalked by the great white; a dead whale carcass floats nearby, signifying that she’s stumbled upon his feeding grounds. With a bleeding leg and a bird buddy she affectionately dubs “Steven Seagull” (he’s basically Wilson in “Cast Away,”) Nancy has to find a way off the

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“Alcohol and marijuana, if used in moderation, plus loud, usually low-class music, make stress and boredom infinitely more bearable.”

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“Hollywood is a coke town, but weed is so much better. And molly, too. Those are happy drugs – social drugs. They make you want to be with friends. You’re out in the open. You’re not in a bathroom.” Miley Cyrus

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�� Thursday, July 7, 2016 | 19

[love and sex]

Savage Love | Dan Savage

I’m married to a serial cheater ... should I end it? My wife and I have been married for 14 years and in a committed (I assumed) relationship for 17 years. Sex between us (often kinky) has always been great. We have a wonderful life together and two perfect children. I thought we were good; turns out things were too good to be true. I learned recently that my wife has been unfaithful to me throughout our marriage. She began an affair with an older man soon before we were married, and they were physically intimate for five years, including bondage and a Master/sub relationship. The physical sex stopped, but phone sex and online flirting continued up until I discovered this two weeks ago. This is a man I know. She has introduced our children to him. There’s more: She slept with another man (just once, more bondage) but also flirted with him online and met up with him while I was away. She slept with yet another man she works with (just once, vanilla this time). She had phone sex with at least two other men and flirted with still more on Facebook. This came out because I was jealous about something that now seems minor and checked her email. (Not proud of that.) She is repentant and relieved that I finally know, and she promises that she will be faithful from now on. I’ll always love her, and I know she loves me. We had one session with a counselor and another is scheduled. Results were mixed. One thing that came out was that she has never been faithful to a romantic/sexual partner. I could forgive a one-time drunken fling, but this is a consistent pattern of infidelity that runs from the beginning of our marriage, and I had no idea. I cannot process it. I thought she had always been as loyal as I’ve been, which is to say completely. I can’t put my wedding ring on – it feels like a lie. I have no one to talk to. For the sake of our future, the love we still share, and our children, we are committed to fixing things, but we’re not sure how. Heartbroken And Devastated I’m going to preface my response with what someone in my position is expected to say and what, given the circumstances, may even be true: Your marriage is over. The scale, duration, and psychological cruelty of your wife’s betrayals may be too great for you to overcome. But you didn’t need me to tell you that, HAD. You knew that already. So I can only assume you wrote wanting to hear something else. You don’t need me to outline the reasons you should leave, and you don’t need my permission to go. You wrote

because you’re looking for a reason to stay. I’ll give it my best shot. A long-term relationship is a myth two people create together. It’s not chemistry, it’s not math, it’s not engineering. It’s a story, HAD, a story we tell each other, a story we tell others, and a story we tell ourselves. And sometimes it’s a story we have to revise. Right now, it feels like the story you’ve been telling yourself and others about your marriage is a lie: not partly, but wholly. You thought your marriage was a loving, committed, and “completely loyal” one, but it’s not – it can’t be, and it never was, because she was cheating on you from the beginning. But loyalty isn’t something we demonstrate with our genitals alone. Your wife wasn’t loyal to you sexually, HAD, and that’s painful. And the conventional “wisdom” is that people don’t cheat on partners they love. But you were married to this woman, and you describe your marriage as good, loving, and wonderful. And it somehow managed to be all those things despite your wife’s betrayals. She must have been loyal to you in other ways or you would’ve divorced her long before you discovered her infidelities. Think back over the last 17 years: every kind and loving gesture, every considerate action, every intimacy, every moment you took care of each other – was it all a lie? I’m not trying to exonerate your wife, and I’m not trying to minimize her betrayal or your pain. But if you want to stay together, HAD, you’re going to have to tell yourself a new story, one that makes room for contradiction (loves you, cheated on you), betrayal (shitloads), apologies (shitloads from her), forgiveness (shitloads from you), and ... some accommodations going forward. If I may paraphrase Maya Angelou: When someone finally shows you who they are – after you found the incriminating e-mails – you should believe them. Your wife has never been faithful to you or to anyone else, HAD, at least not sexually. Adjusting your expectations and making accommodations accordingly is more realistic than expecting your wife to become a different person. Finally, HAD, a little bonus advice. I ran into Esther Perel, author of “Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence,” the day your letter arrived. Perel is a psychotherapist and couples counselor whose most recent TED Talk (“Rethinking Infidelity”) is one you’re going to want to watch. I shared your letter with Perel and asked her what she thought: Based on her vast experience working with couples confronting infidelity, did she think

your marriage was doomed? “No, I don’t,” said Perel. Perel’s response honestly surprised me. We spoke for 10 minutes, and I recorded the conversation. It won’t fit in this space – so I’m going to post Perel’s thoughts as the Savage Love Letter of the Day when this column comes out. So you’re going to get a second opinion from an actual expert, HAD, and – spoiler alert – it’s a hopeful one. I’m a cis woman in my late 20s. About three months ago, I had my first one-night stand. I’ve noticed my thoughts have continued to gravitate toward this man ever since – despite having other sexual partners in the interim. I recently ran across his profile on Tinder – however, I’m fairly sure he hasn’t logged on for a while as certain things weren’t up to date. While I obviously swiped right, I’m curious as to whether it would be seen as inappropriate or possibly invasive if I were to reach out via the powers of social media. The night we had went well – it was all incredibly comfortable sexually, and I found him very interesting to talk to both before and after we hooked up. I should mention that I left rather swiftly that evening without grabbing his number in an attempt to “play it cool.” I definitely don’t want to cross social or personal boundaries, but I’d like to see him again. Creep There’s nothing creepy about letting someone you [bleeped] know you wanna [bleep] ’em again or, hey, maybe even date ’em for a while. It gets creepy only if they don’t respond, or if they politely decline, and you keep letting them know you would like to [bleep]/date them some more. You liked him, you had a nice time, the sex was good – and you left, stupidly, without his number for fear of looking clingy or uncool. Social media has come with costs – trolls, bullying, Donald Trump’s Twitter feed – but the ability to locate someone and ask for a do-over/screw-over is one of the benefits. So look him up on Facebook or Instagram and send him a note. If you don’t hear back, consider yourself swiped left and move on. Dan Savage is a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist writing for The Stranger in Seattle. Contact him at mail@savagelove.net or @fakedansavage on Twitter and listen to his podcast every week at savagelovecast.com

20 | Thursday, July 7, 2016 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[happening] Thursday

Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio, 259-6580.

Thursday Accoustic Lunches, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Smiley Cafe, 1309 East Third Ave, 426-8340.

Outdoor Movie Night:“Hotel Transylvania 2”, 8:30 p.m., Three Springs, 125

The Black Velvet Duo, with Nina Sasaki

& Larry Carver, 6-8 p.m., Dalton Ranch, 589 County Road 252, 247-8774. Rocky Mountain UkeFest, 1 p.m., Early

Bird Master Class with Shirli McAllen and Leftover Cuties. Alpine Bank Tent, Buckley Park, Main Ave. and 12th Street, 903-6417. Stretching the Boundaries art reception, Carrie Fell, Cody Sanderson, and

Mercado Street, 459-1303.

Saturday Art on the Animas Arts & Crafts Festival, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Santa Rita River Walk at

Durango Visitor Center, 247-2117. Henry Stoy, piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-

Pierre Bakery, 601 Main Ave., 385-0122. The Black Velvet Duo, with Nina Sasaki

Maura Allen, 5-7 p.m., Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave., 247-3555.

& Larry Carver, 5-9 p.m., Animas River Café at the DoubleTree Hotel, 501 Camino del Rio, 259-6580.

Ska-BQ! with Afrobeatniks, 5-7 p.m.,

Rocky Mountain UkeFest, Saturday

Ska Brewing, 225 Girard Street. Burger and Band Night with Tim Sullivan, 5-8 p.m., James Ranch, 33846

Highway 550, 385-6858. Concert Hall @ The Park: Leftover Cuties, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Buckley Park, Main

luncheon, 11:30 a.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave., 903-6417. Theory of a Deadman, 7 p.m., Sky Ute Casino Resort Events Center, 14324 Hwy 172 North, Ignacio, www.skyutecasino.com/eventsentertainment.

Ave. and 12th Street, www.durangoconcerts. com.

Ragtime Piano, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle

Trivia, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science

The Durango Western Music and Vaudeville Show, 7 p.m., Henry Strater

Center, 1333 Camino del Rio, sharon@powsci. org. Ragtime Piano, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle

Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 375-7150.

Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160. Pete Giuliani, 6-10 p.m., Lake House at Val-

Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 375-7150.

lecito Lake.

The Durango Western Music and Vaudeville Show, 7 p.m., Henry Strater

Sunday

Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160. First Thursdays Art Walk, 5-7 p.m., par-

ticipating galleries, http://durangoarts.org. Karaoke, 9 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801. Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m.,

Wild Horse Saloon, 601 East Second Ave., 3752568.

Soulful Uke Jam & Breakfast w/Danielle Ate the Sandwich, 9:30 a.m., Strater

Hotel, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160. Irish music jam session, 12:30 p.m.,

Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.theirishembassypub.com. The Black Velvet Trio, 5-9 p.m., Balcony Bar & Grill, 600 Main Ave., 422-2008.

Friday

Karaoke, 8 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

Art on the Animas Arts & Crafts Festival, noon-6 p.m., Santa Rita River Walk at

Henry Stoy, piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-

Durango Visitor Center, 247-2117. Open mic, 7-11 p.m., Steaming Bean, located downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembassypub. com. Karaoke, 8 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801. Pierre Bakery, 601 Main Ave., 385-0122. Irish music jam session, 12:30 p.m.,

Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.theirishembassypub.com. The Durango Western Music and Vaudeville Show, 7 p.m., Henry Strater

Courtesy of Rocky Mountain UkeFest

»» Danielle Ate the Sandwich will be among the Ukulele players on hand for this week-

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160.

end’s second annual Rocky Mountain UkeFest.

Stretching the Boundaries art show,

Jazz church (experienced musician drop-in session), 6 p.m., Derailed Pour

UkeFest comes back to Durango

Carrie Fell, Cody Sanderson, and Maura Allen, 9 a.m., Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave., 2473555. Rocky Mountain UkeFest, welcome re-

ception and open uke jam, 5:30 p.m., The Rochester Hotel, 726 East Second Ave., 385-1920 Harpeth Rising: World Concert, Music

in the Mountains Festival, Bayfield Performing Arts Center, 800 County Road 501, Bayfield, www.musicinthemountains.com.

House, 725 Main Ave., 247-5440, www.derailedpourhouse.com. Summer Soiree: Music in the Mountains featuring Fei-Fei Dong piano concert (by invitation only), reception

5 p.m. at Purgy’s; concert 7 p.m. at Festival Tent, Purgatory Resort.

Monday

The Durango Western Music and Vaudeville Show, 7 p.m., Henry Strater

Chad MacCluskey: solo jazz guitar,

Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160.

Pete Giuliani, 6-9:30 p.m., Farview Lodge, Mesa Verde National Park.

Ragtime Piano, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle

Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 375-7150. Old West Gunfights, 7 p.m., Diamond

Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 375-7150. Pete Giuliani and Richard Leavitt,

5-9 p.m., Animas River Café at the DoubleTree

6-9 p.m., Cyprus Cafe, 725 East Second Ave.

Spoken Word, 7-9 p.m., Steaming Bean, located downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembassypub.com.

It’s time to grab your ukulele and head downtown for the second annual Rocky Mountain UkeFest, scheduled to take place at venues around Durango. The festival starts Thursday afternoon at Buckley Park with an Early Bird Master Class with Shirli McAllen and Leftover Cuties from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The class will be followed by a performance by Leftover Cuties from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the park. The rest of the weekend will offer a ton of workshops, openmics, live jams and a marketplace. For tickets or more information, visit www.rockymountainukefest.com.

Continued on Page 22

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[happening] Summer’s for art festivals

Where should we

DGO tonight?

Your #1 source for what’s going on around Durango dgomag.com/calendar

+ Add an Event

to the DGO calendar with

One of the best things about summer is all the festivals that are held – especially the kind where you pick up little pieces of art or candles or other things you couldn’t find in a store. And to be able to actually talk to the person who created what you’re buying makes the experience that much cooler. The 25th annual Art on the Animas Arts and Craft Festival will be held this weekend at the Santa Rita River Walk at the Durango Visitor Center, 149 South Camino BCI Media file photo del Rio. »» Artist Brady Haynes participates in the 2012 Art on the While you’re there, Animas Arts and Craft Festival. you can pick up fine art, jewelry, Native American crafts, aromatherapy, quilts, blown glass, henna body art and more. The festival will be held from noon to 6 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

From Page 21

Tuesday Pete Giuliani, 6-9:30 p.m., Farview Lodge,

Mesa Verde National Park. Open Mic Night, 8 p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., 259-9018.

Geeks Who Drink trivia, 8:30 p.m.,

BREW Pub & Kitchen, 117 W. College Drive, 259-5959. Pub quiz, 6:30 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200. Pingpong and poker tournament, 8

p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., 259-9018. Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m.,

Wednesday

Wild Horse Saloon, 601 East Second Ave., 3752568.

Pete Giuliani Band (Spring Creek Horse Rescue benefit show), 5-7:30

Submissions

p.m., The Rochester Hotel Secret Garden, 726 East Second Ave., http://www.swcommunityfoundation.org.

To submit listings for publication in DGO and dgomag.com, go to www.

Jason Thies (solo), 6 p.m., Far View Lodge,

Mesa Verde National Park. Bluegrass Jam, 6-9 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembassypub.com.

swscene.com and click “Add Your Event,” fill out the form with all your event info and submit. Listings at swscene.com will appear both at dgomag.com and in our weekly print edition. Posting events at swscene.com is free and takes about one business day to process.

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Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19)

Chill out.

Something unexpected might occur at home that shakes up your world. As a result, arguments with authority figures might occur. Pull in your reins and be diplomatic with everyone.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22)

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Your routine will definitely be interrupted. Give yourself extra time for wiggle room. If not, you might bark at someone because you are frustrated. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Keep an eye on your finances and cash flow because something unexpected will affect them. Avoid disputes about shared property, money and debt. CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

Bizarro

This is a tricky week! Because something catches you off guard, you might be so frazzled that you end up having an argument with a friend or a partner.

Something going on behind the scenes is unpredictable. Feelings of uncertainty could make you impatient with others. Stay frosty. VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) Because someone might say or do something unusual, this could lead to a dispute, especially with a member of a group. For your own good, count to three before you respond. LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Even though you’re unhappy with a decision made by someone, avoid arguments with bosses, parents, teachers, VIPs and the police. You will lose more ground than you gain. SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) Avoid controversial subjects like politics, religion and racial issues because

they will become embroiled. Meanwhile, travel plans will be canceled or changed. Crazy day! SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Double-check your bank account because something unexpected might be going on. (You might be overdrawn, or worse.) Quarrels about shared property and debt might occur. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) This is a dicey week to deal with partners and close friends. Even if you practice patience, you might encounter conflicts with others. Solution? Be cool. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) Power struggles might arise with a coworker. This could be because of equipment breakdowns, canceled meetings or something unexpected. Don’t lose

your cool. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) Parents will have to be patient with their kids. Likewise, romantic partners need to be patient with each other because the week is full of intense energy! BORN THIS WEEK You want to reveal the truth of things to others. You will do this even if you have to use shock value. Finally! It’s the year you have been waiting for because you are ready for change. Take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Expect a major change, perhaps as significant as what occurred around 2006. It’s time to test your future! © 2016 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

[pages]

weekly bestsellers June 26 - July 2 »»1. Euphoria, by Lily King (Paperback) »»2. The Emerald Mile, By Kevin Fedarko (Paperback) »»3. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Paperback) »»4. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George (Paperback) »»5. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (Paperback) »»6. Circling the Sun, by Paula McClain (Paperback) »»7. We Are Called to Rise, by Laura McBride (Paperback) »»8. Trials of Apollo Book One, by Rick Riordan (Hardcover) »»9. The BFG, by Roald Dahl (Paperback) »»10. The Hour of Land, by Terry Tempest Williams (Hardcover)

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