Diner After Dark

art entertainment food drink music nightlife Thursday, March 9, 2017

DGO

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DINER AFTER DARK

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Original art by Maureen May

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2017 Durango Home and Ranch Show has limited spots left for vendors!

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La Plata County Fairgrounds • Durango, Colorado Saturday, April 29, 2017 • 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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DGO Magazine

STAFF

What’s inside Volume 2 Number 20

March 9, 2017

Chief Executive Officer

10 What all goes into

beer? The numbers

are astounding

Douglas Bennett V.P. of Finance and Operations

What does the recipe for a pint of beer look like? If we laid it out on a table, prepping to make a single serving of beer, what would we see?

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

Do you think we should have at least one Durango-area lodging establishment that’s willing to accommodate cannabis and tourism by offering inconspicuous 420-friendly hotel rooms and suites?

David Holub dholub@bcimedia.com 375-4551 Staff writer Patty Templeton ptempleton@bcimedia.com Contributors Katie Cahill Christopher Gallagher

5

The uncanny, enigmatic art of Minna Jain Minna Jain’s art (above) feels like the cipher you’d use to crack open the meaning of the shadow side of life.

Jain, one of the five co-owners of Studio &, talked to DGO about her haunting, contemplative work.

Jon E. Lynch Roldo Cooper Stapleton Cyle Talley Robert Alan Wendeborn Advertising 247-3504

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.

7

Vintage Durango

8

Sound 8

16 Weed

Seeing Through 16 the Smoke

Yes and Know 17

18 Savage Love 19 Happening 20 DGO Deals 22 Horoscope/ puzzles

23 First Person Charles Thomas (Chuck) Newmyer II talks about his work as a freelance designer and how living in his van helps him to appreciate spaces more.

22 Pages 23 First Person

/dgomag

Reader Services 375-4570

Love it or Hate it

10 Beer

17 But it’s legal!

Editor/ creative director

Bryant Liggett

4

Album Reviews 9

David Holub

Jennifer F. Knight

From the Editor

Downtown Lowdown

Amy Maestas

Alexi Grojean

4

6

An interview with P.O.S. Rapper P.O.S. will perform at the Animas City Theatre. He discusses his newest album, “Chill, Dummy,” and his favorite sci-fi books.

Tell us what you think!

/dgomag @dgo_mag

ON THE COVER Pancake o’clock. Hashbrown:30. Whatever it is, 2:07 a.m. at Denny’s is always magical.

David Holub/DGO

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

DGO Magazine is published by Ballantine Communications Inc., P.O. Drawer A, Durango, CO 81302

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@dg

dg

[CTRL-A]

[ love it or hate it ]

David Holub |DGO editor

Cheap coffee Love it

At the Jim Belushi show, the big star: My coworker, Patty

W

hen I saw Ringo Starr and his AllStar Big Band, it was not the ex-Beatle I walked away infatuated with, it was Peter Frampton. When I saw Texas country legend Ray Wiley Hubbard, it was his guitar player Jeff Plankenhorn I rushed to talk to afterward. How often has it happened to you: You go to a show with a big-name headliner, but someone else steals the show and that’s who you tell all your friends about?

That was last Saturday. We were at the Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts show with the near-capacity crowd at the Community Concert Hall. Besides the big guy himself and perhaps Sacred Heart and Durango resident extraordinaire John Rubano’s singing, dancing, and raucous emceeing, the star of the show was ...

Patty Templeton?

But that’s what happened. For about four minutes, Patty, my DGO partner in crime, owned the stage in her Freddy Kreuger sweater. She had the crowd in a frenzy, and Belushi looking over the top of his sunglasses, most likely saying, “Who is this?”

But let me back up a bit. It was clear early on that Belushi is not so much a singer as he is a performer. Ten minutes in, during one of the opening tunes, the house lights went up and Belushi was out working the aisles, singing in people’s faces, lifting women from their seats to give them a twirl.

Later, he told an apocryphal joke about his 15-year-old son getting caught with naughty S&M pictures on his computer, leading he and his wife to wonder how to punish the boy, you know, because they couldn’t exactly spank him.

He plucked one woman from the dance floor for a little mano y womano serenade. And during one song, he lifted his shirt to slap and comically expose his heftiness, then spinning around to shake his XL-ence, before doing everything in his power to get a yellow-shirted male security guard to join him

onstage to do the same.

At some point, Patty left her seat to make her way closer to the stage to get some photos. Between shots, I could see her skippin’ and skankin’. Then Belushi announced that he would be looking for four women – always with the women, this guy – to join him on stage. But they had to be real, true, serious dancers, he stressed, because they would have to get after it in a real, true, serious way. As these words came out of his mouth, I knew – just knew – Patty would be among them.

Sure enough, Patty was suddenly onstage with a dance-off imminent.

The first three danced and twirled and shook it and the audience rewarded them kindly. Then it was Patty’s turn, and it was like everything went into double-time with her montage of every popular dance between 1920 and 1950. With her jackknife clipped to the top of her right combat boot, she did The Pony, as well as The Swim. She even trotted out some skanking and a little of The Twist. She spun around, flailed around, and swung her arms all the ways arms can go. She touched her toes, straightened her legs, then theatrically ba-boomed her backside in Belushi’s direction, all after her phone – previously perched in her waistband of her pocketless pants – had migrated halfway down her leg.

Belushi motioned to the band to keep playing to give Patty more stage time.

During the post-concert meet-andgreet, Belushi bellowed, “Patty!” at first sight of the showstopper. He claimed it was the first time he had kept the band going longer to accommodate a single dancer during that particular stage bit.

Later, Patty said the feat had nearly made her lungs explode.

It’s not often you get to hear a guy you’ve seen so much in movies and on TV play some seriously tight rock ’n’ roll and then shake his hand afterward. But who knew that in the stories I’d tell in the days after that, Belushi would be so overshadowed by the person I sit next to at work?

Coffee is more than a drink, it is a ritual. In her “Selected Writings,” Gertrude Stein describes coffee as “an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but like somewhere within yourself.” The acquiring or creation of coffee becomes a ceremony that provides a reflective, internal space that assists in alleviating sorrow, reducing anxiety, and increasing a general connectivity to the world around you.

Amen for breaks in the day.

My love of percolating and possessing coffee is bottomless, but my pockets ain’t. Which means, I buy cheap coffee. I don’t just buy cheap coffee, I like it.

I grew up on off-white mugs of diner mud. That bruised, bold liquid that’s been burning in the pot for hours on end. Graveyard shift coffee.

It’s not that I haven’t tried posh coffee. I have. Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world, ranging $100 to $200 a pound. It’s made from the partially digested coffee cherries collected from the shit of civets.

It’s also known as “cat poop coffee.” It was ... meh.

David Lynch, the meditating, silver fox behind “Twin Peaks,” said, “Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all.” So I’ll have a cup of your bad stuff.

A medium roast, if you please. Just your plain old drip coffee. Hell, if you’re out of coffee filters, I’ll even take instant.

— Patty Templeton

Hate it I’m not sure “cheap” is the best word here, because the less I have to pay for coffee, the better. And I’ve had expensive coffee that made me so buzzy-weird that I had to take the rest of the day off, or that was so acidic, bitter, and burned that my stomach told me to piss off. (My stomach is British. It’s weird).

Perhaps what I’m referring to is weak coffee, which just so happens to normally not cost a whole lot. It’s the stuff you find in the lobby at the Hampton Inn, on airplanes, at work conventions, church fellowship halls, your friend’s house who doesn’t know the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, and every diner I’ve ever been to.

What I hate is the translucent brown-like coffee-ish drink that makes you say, “I guess water DOES have a flavor,” that gives you as much caffeine as licking the inside of an empty soda can, so weak that you need not add any sugar or cream like usual, for the same reasons you don’t add sugar and cream to a cup of hot water.

Quite frankly, I ask, what’s the point? Coffee should scream its name with every gulp. Coffee should make your mind sharp and alert after a mug or two, and downright paranoid and convulsive after four. Anything less, well, you can go ahead and water my plants with it.

— David Holub

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[visual]

THE UNCANNY, ENIGMATIC ART OF MINNA JAIN »» The printmaking and wearable sculptures of a Durango artist Minna Jain’s art feels like the cipher you’d use to crack open the meaning of the shadow side of life. Her work creates a mystic, bleak aura that never quite reaches melancholy. The viewer is agitated into engaging with disconcerting sights rather than walking by them. “We need a tonic of wildness,” said writer Henry David Thoreau, and Jain’s multimedia art, including alternative photographic process printmaking and wearable sculpture, are that feral serum to savor.

Jain, one of the five co-owners of Studio &, talked to DGO about her haunting, contemplative work.

More at dgomag.com For more photos and an extended version of this interview, where Minna Jain discusses collaborations with the Salt Fire Circus, 20 Moons, as well as what she has coming up in 2017, hit up dgomag.com.

How would you describe your work?

Unsettling is a word that a lot of people bring up. Or spooky.

To me, my pieces don’t feel that way because of where they’re coming from – how they express the worlds that I experience internally ... To me, they Jain feel like stories. I tend towards the minor key. The darker stories that are bittersweet. The things that hurt because they’re so pretty.

What are the current mediums you work in?

There are two main things I do. Most of what you see at Studio & is alternative photographic process printmaking. It involves lots of darkroom work. I use vintage film cameras to take photos, then I develop the film and use a UV alt-processing station because the sun is not always the easiest tool to use at this altitude. You don’t get consistent exposures. I use multiple coatings of photosensitive chemicals like VanDyke Brownprints and UV reactive dyes.

I also do wearable sculpture and performance installation. I have done a bunch of shows where I workshopped with performance artists to wear the pieces and do performance installations in pop-up events that last two to four hours on an opening night. Then the pieces display on mannequins for the rest of the show.

Your printmaking and your wearable sculptures seem to explore two very different tones.

One of the things that bridges them is this idea of participation. I’m really process-driven in my art.

The process is the performance. The reason all of my printmaking is so process-heavy is that I can’t help it.

There’s 12 steps in everything or more. I make it really hard on myself. But part of that is that I want the audience to see that print and see the brush strokes and the stitching and see the hand of the artist in it.

For me, as a viewer, that draws me in and shifts me from a consumer of the art to a witness and participant in it.

»» “Fox Spirit,” alternative photographic process printmaking, (above), and “I am Shelter,” wearable sculpture, by Minna Jain There is a consistent, sometimes quiet, social justice element to your work ...

So the art piece becomes a storytelling unit rather than only beautiful object?

Totally. I think of art at its pinnacle and human beings as culture creating and storytellers. The wearables are much more immediate. All of the performance installations I’ve created have been such that the audience interacts and is intermingled with the art. There isn’t a stage. So the audience doesn’t necessarily know what to do. A lot of my pieces have been mirrored and are reflective. The audience has an opportunity to interact with the pieces and see themselves in the bodies and reflections of the performers. That idea of exploring how we are in our bodies and exploring bringing art off the walls into the body and bringing it to a participatory realm, it is really important to me.

Because I always think about ‘What is art for?’ and for me, it comes to storytelling and collaboration and participation and being able to think about ourselves and each other complexly.

I have spent my whole life as a social justice activist.

I’ve been having a big, internal dialogue lately about the usefulness of overt political messages in art versus not. Is it my duty to be more overt about the social justice elements? As a person and as an artist I don’t want to be pigeonholed into having to have my work speak overtly about all of the identity flags that I wave. She’s obviously queer. She’s obviously a first generation American. Those sorts of things. All of those experiences that I have are the lenses that I see everything. It’s the lenses that I see my parents being ill or my friend passing away or dealing with divorce, so I guess the answer is that it is really important to me that my work comes from a place of needing to be made. I feel like I have a duty to be a culture creator and storyteller in the world and to connect people with the more complex stories of who we are.

—— Patty Templeton DGO Staff Writer

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[sound]

AN INTERVIEW WITH P.O.S.

Chiseling his name into history »» Hip-hop

P.O.S. has “optimist” in cursive across his knuckles. His music feels, in alternate turns, artist to play to be a cerebral assault on a sleeping world and bomb-ass party tunes. than 15 years in the game and a kidney transplant later, P.O.S. hasn’t let up. Eruat Animas More dite lyrics pound over dramatic beats. His newest album, “Chill, Dummy,” feels less chaCity Theatre otic than previous works but still as if it could soundscape a gritty, “Blade Runner” future.

On Tuesday (March 14), P.O.S., accompanied by Dwynell Roland and DJ Fundo, will perform at the Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive. The Doomtree co-founder chatted with DGO while he was on his way to Missoula, Montana, for another tour stop.

More at dgomag. com To read an extended interview, where P.O.S. goes further in-depth about “Chill, Dummy,” go to dgomag.com.

Your new album’s called “Chill, Dummy.” What’s it mean?

I wanted to think of a name that was more casual than my other records. It was between “HOTDOG!” and “Chill, Dummy.” When I picked the final song, the album sounded more like a “Chill, Dummy” album. That title comes from the idea of stressing myself out and trying to make everything perfect, with myself and the world. I think it was a name to take the pressure off myself of making the greatest album of all time.

Was there pressure as an artist to write songs that will “fix the world’s problems,” especially with all the political upheaval going on?

I’ve definitely written that way before. I’ve tried.

This album, all the songs that I wrote, they are more inward-facing. They ended up being better songs, this time around, focusing in instead of out.

There’s science and sci-fi all over “Chill, Dummy.” Everything from quantum mechanics to “They Live” references.

Are you an awesome secret nerd?

Um, I mean, yeah [laughs]. I did pretty terrible in school but I think it was mostly because the school books and structure weren’t interesting. I do a lot of research on things that I’m interested in. I think that some of the most interesting stuff is science, science fiction, and history.

GO! When: 8:30 p.m. doors, 9 p.m. show, Tuesday, March 14

Is your favorite part the creation process or performance?

What’s a science or sci-fi book you want more people to read?

Where: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive

Oh man, pretty much everything Philip K. Dick wrote.

Ages: 18 and over

The album’s a mix of anarchic sounds and zen slowdowns. How did the beats come to be?

Information: www.animascitytheatre.com

Performing. When I was younger, the only reason to make my own songs was to perform them. Then it began to become more fun to make music and explore styles, but still it’s more fun to make the music and finish the song than it is to write words. Writing words very much feels like homework. It’s still the hard part. Especially when almost nobody ever actually understands what the hell you’re trying to say anyways [laughs]. People always get the gist. I guess that’s more important. But I spent a lot of my early records really wanting people to know exactly what I was trying to say. Now, I feel a lot better about saying what’s on my head or what’s on my heart and letting people assign their own meaning and values to it.

The beats feel more stripped back to me than stuff I’ve made before. For beats I make, I usually keep my palette pretty sparse and it’s like bass guitar, synthesizer, real drums, fake drums. When I was making this record, I came to the inevitable writer’s block or being stumped about what to write. It ended up that I went back to what I know are my basics, which is to stop looking for samples and to pick up the bass. Give it some distorted something and play until a cool part shows up. I think it feels slower than some of my older music, and I think that’s just a pocket that a lot of music that I am listening to right now sits in.

P.O.S. w/ Dwynell Roland & DJ Fundo

Cost: $15 advance, $20 day of

There’s a ton of guest artists on this album. Who is someone you especially want people to dig into?

I think everybody. I mean, that’s the cop-out answer, but I don’t think there is anybody that I work with on there that was by mistake. It is almost exclusively people who are super inspiring to me. Mike Eagle, I find him a kindred spirit, and Busdriver is the same, people that are doing their thing super hard on the other side of the country, inspiring me for years. Everybody, they are people who maybe people don’t know who they

are, but I think they’re dope and I want people to hear them. Everybody kills it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity.

—— Patty Templeton DGO Staff Writer

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[Vintage Durango]

Spring Break in style!

From the beach to the slopes, we’ve got the attire for you!

New arrivals from around the world.

Think globally, shop locally.

»» Pabst Blue Ribbon advertisement in the Durango Democrat morning edition, Sept. 4, 1907.

For the free traveling spirit in you.

5 1 0 1 5 M a i n A v e . • D u r a n g o, C O • 9 7 0. 3 8 5.4 2 6

Back when PBR was classy Ahh, Pabst Blue Ribbon, the perfect beer for your romantic, Edwardian-era booty call. Or, you know, to drink now on the cheap.

Over 170 years ago, the first run of PBR was but a wee 300 barrels. The company began to hand-tie blue ribbons to each bottle as a marketing-savvy representation of how many awards it had won, the culmination being a now-nebulous prize at the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition. PBR kept those ribbons in place until World War I rationing caused a silk shortage.

Fast forward to 1920. Alcohol was outlawed, and thus, the cuddle call illustrated in the ad here wouldn’t have been possible. Pabst quit making booze and made butter instead. Thank the lager gods, it was back to beer as usual in 1933 with the repeal of Prohibition.

Bonus: If you look up vintage PBR ads online, you’ll find a 1979 commercial starring Patrick Swayze’s bouncy hair and a “Mad Max” roller derby advert.

Daylight savings time is upon us…

Let there be more light! More variety! More fun!

New later hours begin April 1st

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[sound]

Downtown Lowdown | Bryant Liggett

Railsplitters are latest/greatest in Colorado bluegrass tradition

T

here’s a good reason why fans of acoustic-based bluegrass in its not-so-traditional sense look to the state of Colorado. Because when it comes to this “style” of music, Colorado continues to generate some of the best. It’s been like that since Hot Rize gave way to the jam-grass bands, with the state still standing tall in the genre, with pockets of musicians in the various mountain towns from the Front Range to the Western Slope continuing to crank out bands that catch the eyes and ears of bluegrass fans. There are dozens, from the party bands like Leftover Salmon or Yonder Mountain String Band, to bands like Sweet Sunny South, Jeff Scroggins & Colorado, or even one-time local bands like the now-defunct Rock n Rye and Waiting on Trial.

Boulder’s Railsplitters are making a name for themselves, becoming festival regulars and fan favorites with upbeat shows and stellar musicianship, all in a package of precise picking and sharp delivery, with a strong female front. It’s refreshing, clean and catchy in a scene that favors a crisp sound. The Railsplitters will perform Friday (March 10) at The Balcony Backstage.

They carry the lineage of Colorado-based bluegrass bands that have come before them, and the

If you go Friday: Bluegrass with The Railsplitters and The Clods, 8 p.m. $5/$7 day of show. The Balcony Backstage, 600 Main Ave. upstairs. Information: 422-8008.

Railsplitters live up to the hype and expectation. It’s like the state has a draw that can make you an immediate legacy because of your location.

“At the time I was living in Alaska, and a friend of mine told me that if I can, come to Boulder and Lyons because that’s where the scene is,” said banjo player Dusty Rider. “‘Get in touch with K.C. Groves,’ and I did, and K.C. took me under her wing and kind of helped me get into the scene. That was my story; everybody else has a similar story as well.”

The band is still rolling on the momentum of winning The Rockygrass Band Competition in 2013.

Despite that being now three competitions ago, it’s a great kick in the ass that creates a long wave to ride.

“For us it was a combination of being a humongous morale booster as well as, for one, just playing there. It’s packed full of all kinds of people who really are just there to support the bands and give

everyone a huge jolt. It doesn’t matter if you win, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win, everybody comes out feeling really good,” said Rider. “The fact that we won throws an additional bonus on that. It helps you stand out just a little bit more. Of course, then you have to keep proving yourself, but you take that and run with it and that’s what we really try to do.”

The Railsplitters just wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign to fund their forthcoming record, which will offer bonus material for the diehard fans of Colorado bluegrass that supported the project; it’s now common for bands to ask fans for money to fund projects, but its testament to the fans of bands in this genre; they know the value of the product, and are willing to shell out cash for it.

“It is nerve-wracking, but it seems to be the new norm for independent artists,” said Rider. “Most bands that we know and that we love, they do the same thing. And it gives us a lot more flexibility as to what we do with our music, and it also gives our fans a little something extra for supporting us, instead of just getting a digital download or CD.” Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

As we say goodbye, we would like to thank our loyal customers and friends for the past 26 years.

We cherish the people we have met along the way and are grateful to have been part of your community.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

With love, Gail, Harry, Taylor, Jordan, Nicole and all the Hanson Honda family.

UT CO AZ NM

Your Four Corners Honda Dealer Since 1991

5301 E. MAIN ST · FARMINGTON, NM 877-737-3528 · hansonhonda.com SALES MON - FRI: 9AM-7PM · SAT: 9AM-6PM SALES SUN: CLOSED

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[sound] What’s new

Available: Friday, March 10, via Kill Rock Stars in various formats: digital download, double compact disc, and double LP on standard black vinyl. A limited edition double LP on Buttercream Splatter vinyl was available in a pressing of 1,000 and quickly sold out, though it is entirely possible that one could scour the internet for a copy at an inflated, exorbitant price.

Elliott Smith released his third record, and final for Olympia, Washington-based independent label Kill Rock Stars in late February 1997. Twenty years and a few days later, the same

New at

The Shins,“Heartworms” The Shins return with another heady dose of pop folk, and it is as successful as any other record they’ve done.

The Shins aren’t my usual cup of tea, but in the time I’ve spent with “Heartworms,” I’ve found myself bopping along to falsetto pop tunes like “Name for You” and “Painting a Hole” outside of my own control. The Shins fit into the strange not-winter we have been having lately as well, bringing in the warmth of their sound with some moments of cool choruses, electric drums out of nowhere, or even bits literally written for you to clap along to.

Darkest Hour is a great band that I have seen almost 10 times, but never on purpose. They always open for bands I really like or are mid-billed at festivals I go to. Not to say I don’t like them; it’s just a weird coincidence.

Their new album is one of those Kickstarter darlings that got way more press than I think the band even expected. Sound-wise, Darkest Hour has always sat neatly in the middle of the venn diagram for Post-Hardcore and Melodic Death Metal, blending the staccato riffing that made bands like Converge famous, while still giving some breathing room. These guys have slowly creeped their way into my taste

original tracks “carefully remastered from the original tapes under the supervision of Larry Crane.” Crane is the official archivist for Smith and has owned and operated famed Jackpot!

Recording Studio in Portland, where he has made records with Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, The Thermals, Death Cab for Cutie, and Sleater-Kinney, among many other indie stalwarts in the Pacific Northwest. No one was better suited for the

undertaking. Aside from the remastering, the album includes five live multitrack recordings, three previously-unreleased studio recordings and a “b side gem.” This version of the album is a more-than-appropriate introduction, or reintroduction, to Smith’s delicate vocal style, complex guitar work, and layered harmonies that typified his unique style of indie/folk.

over the years, and I found myself really loving “Godless Prophets.”

Galactic Empire,“Galactic Empire”

Demdike Stare,“Wonderland”

Take notes, everyone. This is how you pander to Cooper: Make “Star Wars”themed death metal. It doesn’t matter if it’s good, I will love it. Lucky for me, my worries concerning lackluster musicianship or gimmickry were

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And they play John Williams’ untouchable score with just enough of their own flavor to make it a genuine joy. If you, like me, like both “Star Wars” and metal music, listen to this. You will not be disappointed.

The expanded edition features the

Demdike Stare is one of the groups that finally got me off my ass and making weird music of my own. When I first heard “Voices of Dust” years back, it awoke something in me, and showed me that electronic music wasn’t solely suspiciously-happy teenagers eating pills and pushing buttons. Sometimes it was really bummed-out teenagers who stayed at home reading H.P. Lovecraft making the soundtrack to a stay in the dungeon. Though they have since voyaged past the dungeon-synth sound, the new album “Wonderland” is a wonderful blend of their old style and the new take on dub the band has been experimenting with for a few years now. Rest assured, while there are still some tracks that will freak your weasel, “Hardnoise” being a huge highlight, the record is grounded enough to not scare away whoever you may be listening with.

Recommended for fans of Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst/ Bright Eyes, Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens or Jeff Buckley.

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—— Cooper Stapleton

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Elements of bluegrass, Appalachia folk, straight-up country music and more are all over the record, topped with her trademark light and smoky voice. I enjoyed the hell out of “Order of Time,” and was not disappointed after how much I enjoyed her previous effort, “Pushin’ Against a Stone.”

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[beer]

First Draughts | Robert Alan Wendeborn

What all goes into beer? The sheer numbers are astounding

S

o head cool-guy at DGO, David Holub, asked me a seemingly small and random question last week: What does the recipe for a pint of beer look like? If we laid it out on a table, prepping to make a single serving of beer, what would we see? In my head, I thought this is a simple question, easy to determine, and then I started doing the math, and then thought, “Wow this is really, really simple and boring even.”

A pint of beer has four ingredients: Water, yeast, malted grains, and hops. For a pint of beer, there would be about .09 ounces of hops (for a moderately-hopped pale ale), 4 ounces of malts, around 22 to 24 ounces of water (I know, I know, we’re well over the 16 ounces in a pint, but that’s how much water you need to make the beer!), and probably around .3 ounces of yeast. It’s all very unimpressive. And if laid out on a table, would be quite boring.

It’s so unimpressive that it’s hard to believe that all those flavors come from such a small supply of

ingredients and that so much joy can come from so little. It’s so simple, it’s almost like magic.

The simplicity of beer becomes this amazing beautiful thing, and when you start moving up in scale, it becomes mind-blowing. This isn’t rocket science, but when you do it at massive scales, it becomes so magnificent that it almost doesn’t seem possible.

That .09 ounces of hops becomes thousands of pounds of hops when you’re at production sizes. A brewery that’s making decently-hopped beers can put as much as a pound per barrel in their dry hop alone.

So a brewery the size of Ska would need as much as 45,000 lbs. of hops a year, which not cheap. Mandarina Bavaria, the hop used in Modus Mandarina, can go for $10 to $17 a pound, a million dollars in hops alone.

This goes for everything: millions of pounds of yeast and grain, and millions of gallons of waters.

And then when you talk about finished beer at scale, it gets even crazier. On a busier day at Ska, they filter something like 240 barrels of beer, or 7,440

gallons (but I heard they just set the single day record with 540 barrels – 16,740 gallons – so way to go, guys!). Their filter runs around 60 barrels per hour.

That’s approximately 14,880 pints of beer an hour, 248 pints per minute, and four pints per second.

Enough beer in one second to get someone quite buzzed. Ska’s record breaking filter day will pour approximately 133,920 pints of beer.

The amount of beer filtered in one day, 7,440 gallons, is easily more than an average person drinks in their lifetime: 2,216 gallons (if they start drinking at birth). Even the most robust drinker, (Montanans drink around 40 gallons of beer a year) would need 186 years to drink all that beer.

So I easily filtered more beer in a day than I would drink in a few (very lucky) lifetimes.

Robert Alan Wendeborn is a former cellar operator at Ska Brewing and current lead cellar operator at Tin Roof Brewing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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[nightlife]

DRUNKS, DINE-AND-DASHERS, AND GOOD CONVERSATION »» Behind the scenes at the Denny’s graveyard shift, Durango’s only 24-hour diner

»» Advice from a former

I

f you ain’t got religion, you got Denny’s.

Hear me out. Church, at its best, is a fortress of folks who care about you in an otherwise blasé world. Similarly, Denny’s is a bastion of community open to dang near everyone. Both attempt to wipe your worries away, for the hour or so that you’re there, while getting a little money outta ya.

Hell, I want your money, too. Or at least I used to. I worked at Denny’s, that King of all-American diners (only rivaled by Waffle House), for six years from high school through a smidge of college. It was a phenomenal experience that taught me a high-level of organization in a fast-paced environment and, when I worked graveyard shift, I felt like I was swaggering into a Tom Waits song. The only downside were the jackasses who thought they were so original by making a joke Never been to a diner in the wee hours? Hey, I ain’t judging. Means you probably sleep better than me. But you’re missing out. There’s a sense of community, a civility of service, and a slash of the extraordinary that happens in the early morning hours at places like Denny’s.

Cheap coffee and seasoned fries, my perfect midnight meal on Saturday in Durango. I was in Nick’s section at Denny’s. He’s a tall, slim fella who was working the 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. shift. He was kind enough to spend his break talking with me about late-night diner life.

When do y’all get busy around here?

At about 1:20 [a.m.]. Last call for alcohol is at 1:45. Pisses some people off, so they leave and come here. Always in a big flock.

Folks can get kind of wild in the middle of the night, even if they haven’t been drinking. What kinda stuff do you see?

Depends on the night, you can usually feel it. There’s a certain energy in the restaurant.

Right now, it’s OK. It feels OK. Occasionally, you’ll get the couple who comes in all drunk and horny and they’ll be in the back, in the booth in the corner, thinking

11 THINGS NOT TO DO AT DENNY’S (OR ANYWHERE, REALLY) Denny’s server

Being a diner waitress was great. You heard helltons of stories and made swell money. I worked at Denny’s, on and off, for about six years and though it was fun, it wasn’t all greenbacks and good coffee. Here’s a few pet peeves from those days.

1. Your kids Your cooing meat-bundle doesn’t know any better than to mash food in its mouth and throw crap on the ground. You do. Tip hardcore for extra mess or clean it up yourself.

2. Oh wait, it ain’t your kid making the mess Don’t wad up a pancake and put it in your coffee cup. I, or the dishwasher, will kill you. Ditto this for sugar packets, napkins, straw wrappers, etc. Also, don’t create a teetering tower of filth. If you stack plates, do it in a structurally sound way that won’t end in Moons Over My Hammy grease all over my boobs.

3. Hey creeper, stop being a creeper Don’t overuse my name. Why are you saying it at the beginning and end of a sentence? “Patty, I will have the Grand Slam, Patty.” And, if you reach for my nametag because you think it is a suave way to “accidentally” poke my boob, I will destroy you.

they can get away with something.

Then you get the drunks – usually girls – whose inhibitions are down and the clothes start falling off. That actually happens very rarely. Usually Snowdown, New Year’s Eve, or Halloween.

4. Speaking of touching – do not touch me or my accoutrements

Any fights?

5. Do not beckon me, you douchetroll

I’ve only seen a few fights. Mama, the manager, she makes sure they don’t happen.

She has this place on lockdown. But there’s always the few stragglers you can’t

I know you are there. I am trying to grab orders, input orders, fill drinks, make salads, oh, hey, look at that! I get to make three milkshakes plus deliver two tables’ worth of food. I will get to you. Don’t tap or drum on the table, wave like you are signaling a helicopter from a deserted island, or snap your fingers at me.

Continued on Page 14

Unless you are Henry Rollins, Elvira, or Keanu Reeves, I swear to god if you touch my server tray I will bludgeon you with a goddamn salt shaker. Ditto that for touching me.

Alexi Grojean/Special to DGO

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Continued on Page 14

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[nightlife] From Page 12

control. The second she gets a hold of them, they’re gone. Usually just for the night. If you’re in that mood, you’re going to stay in that mood.

Sleep on it.

I almost got into a fight on Halloween. I was in Section 1, by the door. The amount of people crushed in, I couldn’t serve the first three tables.

Then people sat down at a table without going through the proper channels to get it. I told them, “You gotta get up and wait your turn.” The guy had a mouth on him and wasn’t having politeness.

I don’t like to get in fights, but I’ve been in prison and I understand the respect thing that goes with it, but I don’t play that. Just respect everybody, there are people who were waiting before you.

You didn’t earn this space. Get up.

What do people get banned for?

For continually walking out on tickets. Then you get 86ed. There’s a few of those. Everyone who’s been on this shift knows who they are.

It feels like diners breed good conversation and especially between people who might have not otherwise known each other existed.

Yesterday, I had an eight-top in the back and they were a bunch of cowboys, good ol’ boys, and we we’re getting along and I sat down with them and all of a sudden my whole life story came out. We just started talking. That talking – I do that with a lot of tables I feel comfortable with. You can usually tell who’s up to meeting someone new. That’s what I love about this job. Meeting new people.

Do late hours open up interesting conversation easier than day hours?

I’ve always thought that in the middle of the night, my mind was more at peace than in the middle of the day. There’s always so much going on in the middle of the day. You got all these errands and things you need to take care of. All your priorities. What are you gonna do in the middle of the night? There’s only one place open and it’s a diner. You have nothing to worry about until later. Worry about it later.

It’s the one time that you can really focus on what is going on right now. Which is all we will really have in this now – what we have right now.

Do you think that’s why folks come to places like this in the middle of the night?

I think it is human nature to congregate. To be honest with you, we grow up and everyone thinks you have to go to college to prepare for your future, nobody ever prepares for what’s happening right now. Nobody focuses on what’s happening right now. It’s harder to see the gift that is going on right now.

In the middle of the night, at places like this, there’s a peace. Worry starts to go away – unless you’re drunk enough to bring all that worry back.

What’s a pet peeve about waiting tables?

I have a flow. There’s a certain way I do things.

Everything will get done. Patience, please. That’s one of my biggest things. People don’t have patience.

What’s something behind the scenes that people wouldn’t expect about your job?

I think people become oblivious to the stress and strain that is put on us. The cooks feel it the most, however, they push that on us and then the customers push it on us and it clashes to create a big stress level and everyone who works here starts arguing. During bar rush, we’re no longer friends. Afterward, whatever happened, nobody takes personally, we forgive each other, and we smoke a cigarette and we’re good to go.

What do you love about your job?

I’ve worked a few different jobs. Like a call center.

It was so scripted. You have to do it one way and that’s the only way. I couldn’t be myself. That’s what I love most about this job. It allows me to be me at any time of the day with everybody. Do things my way. The fact that I can, and choose to be, genuine.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

From Page 13

6. This is Denny’s, order off the dang menu If you want to order the thing off the menu three menus ago that we don’t have the ingredients to make anymore, well, sorry.

7. In fact, be ready to order Dude, don’t tell me you’re ready to order and then make my ass stand still for five minutes. Doesn’t seem like a long time to you, but it’s an eternity plus bad tips for me.

8. Shut off the sound on your electronics, jerkface Don’t be the selfish nob who blasts music or video games from your phone. Ditto that for your kids. Use headphones or mute it. It ain’t your damn living room, rudehole.

9. Don’t tip like a monster Don’t tip with anything besides money, unless that Amazon gift card actually has a grand on it. Religious pamphlets? Dick move. Check for less than the gas money to get me to the bank? Suck it. Tipping less than 15 percent? You blow monkey nuts.

Also, the percentage rule ain’t always right.

Are you seriously gonna tip me two bucks but you took up my table for all three hours of the dinner rush? Hey, thanks.

10. Don’t be an amateur Don’t be the jackass who starts a vomit-chain-reaction in the diner.

11. Do not have sex here Do not screw in the dish room. Don’t. I don’t want to clean up ass sweat and broken glass. Ditto that for sexing anywhere else in the restaurant. Save it for your car, lovebirds.

—— Patty Templeton DGO Staff Writer

—— Patty Templeton DGO Staff Writer

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[democracy] What we all missed this week in vague military spendNews you need to FROM THE FILES OF ing by slashing social and know environmental budgets.

The media is too busy keepFor example, Trump ing up with President Trump’s proposed cutting the conspiracy theory tweets to National Oceanic and notice many of the controverAtmospheric Administrasial acts of his administration. tion (NOAA) by 18 percent. The biggest cut will Why this is not be to NOAA’s satellite normal NOT division, which provides NORMAL Instead of talking about 90 percent of weather how Trump has, without forecast info. Cutting this evidence, accused President budget line will make it Obama of wiretapping, let’s take note harder to keep Americans safe from that: extreme weather. »»Education Secretary Betsy DeVos »»Remember the uproar Trump doesn’t understand that historically made about Hillary Clinton using black colleges and universities were a personal server for government a direct response to racial segregabusiness? Vice President Pence did tion, not marketplace choice. the same thing, and his AOL email was hacked. »»Schools are beginning to ban children from using the bathroom that But hey, let’s all keep looking at how corresponds to their gender identity.

Trump thinks that a former president This will lead to a decline in safety illegally, absurdly wire-tapped him. for trans kids.

—— Patty Templeton »»Trump proposed a $54 billion uptick DGO Staff Writer

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[ weed ] Seeing Through the Smoke Christopher Gallagher

Forget division: Burn one with someone different than you

S

o, in an attempt to get ahead of things, I am just going to apologize in advance to all you DGO lovelies who may have come here today in order to get the latest information on embattled Attorney General Jeff “My Experts Are Probbbbbbably Experts In Some Arena, It Just Happens Not To Be Cannabis” Sessions and the recent shots fired by the current clowns in the circus known as Washington, D.C., across the bow of the recreational cannabis systems in place across the country (including, by the way, the one in – get ready for it – Washington, D.C.).

If that is what you are after, I refer you to every. single. other. cannabis-related. media. outlet. in. the. nation.

No, my friends, our business here today concerns the salvation of souls – it’s about finding that place within ourselves that we may remember from a time that has probably settled into memory with the tones of an Instagram filter; that handful of moments when the sun shined on your face after what felt like an eternity of clouds; when that special person let you know that you held the same place in their heart that they held in yours; when the hard work was done and the future sat there specifically for you. You know these moments. They are the reason we carry on when times get tough. There is salvation to be had for each and every one of us wandering this material plane. It can be found in the recognition that we are, each and every one of us, made of the same starstuff that makes up the oceans and the forests and the birds flying above us in the country and the cities and in every micrometer of outer space, in diamonds and ashes and sand, there is salvation.

I found this salvation in a seed, and I exhort you to look there for yours. Now is the time of year to begin your garden. Colorado has

returned to each and every adult the universal right to grow cannabis. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of this right. Yes, growing your own represents a political statement in 2017’s ohso-strange version of America. But, more than that, it will align you with the essence of what it means to be a human being in ways you cannot imagine until you have done the thing.

Some of the best cannabis the world has ever known grows right here in Colorado. Some of the best cannabis ever grown has done so in the rugged mountains between India and the Black Sea – the places now marked “Enemy Territory.” I’ve enjoyed a toke at one time or another with folks who could be called white, brown, yellow, red, and every other color one could call another human. I’ve burned with the rich, the poor, the squarely middle-class, and with those who decided to leave money behind and throw their lots with the wilds beyond civilization, with folks twice my age and folks half my age, with ivy tower intellectuals and pistol-packing rednecks. I promise you, when the weed takes hold and the foreheads soften above the eyes, it’s easy to remember that we are all just flesh, blood, and bone, separated only by circumstance.

Dirt, water, wind, sun; work, contemplation, care: This is the recipe for a more finely-tuned life, an opportunity to remember that we are all one, that every division foisted upon us is done for its own reasons but that these things that drive us apart will, themselves, eventually collapse to rubble like everything that came before us, like everything that surrounds us, and everything that has yet to be made.

Alexi Grojean/Special to DGO

Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good. Contact him at chrstphrgallagher@gmail.com.

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[Yes and Know]

IT’S LEGAL!

(But where to do it outside your home?)

By Jennifer F. Knight SPECIAL TO DGO

D

o you think we should have at least one Durango-area lodging establishment that’s willing to accommodate cannabis and tourism by offering inconspicuous 420-friendly hotel rooms and suites?

Watching “Pulp Fiction” in an undisclosed Durango hotel room with a couple Sweet (South West Expert Extraction Technology) CO2 Hash Oil cartridges and a king’s share of Vitamin C helped me choose this week’s topic: Responsible adults who are visiting Durango for all sorts of reasons and would like to smoke pot in a reasonably nice hotel room while they’re here, for fun.

The scene that stuck out was Jules and Vincent discussing legal cannabis in Amsterdam. Vincent explains it this way: “Yeah, it’s legal, but it ain’t a hundred percent legal. I mean, you can’t walk into a restaurant, roll a joint, and start puffin’ away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places ... breaks down like this, OK: it’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to own it, and if you’re the proprietor of a hash bar, it’s legal to sell it. It’s illegal to carry it, but that doesn’t really matter ’cause, get a load of this, all right; if you get stopped by the cops in Amsterdam, it’s illegal for them to search you. I mean, that’s a right the cops in Amsterdam don’t have.”

So how would Vincent have broken it down if he and Jules had been rapping about how to safely and enjoyably consume cannabis during a trip to Durango? I can only imagine it would go something like this: It’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to own it, and if you possess a badge from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division that allows you to work for a licensed medical

Roldo

or retail marijuana dispensary, then it’s legal to sell it. It’s legal to carry it, but only if you’re holding an ounce or less. It’s illegal to consume it in public, but the anti-prohibition folks in some of Durango’s sister-type cities like Denver are working on it, thanks to ballot measures like Initiative 300, which was recently approved to allow for new rules and regulations on social use. But Durango wouldn’t dare go that far, would it?

Colorado marijuana law allows for hotels and private rental properties to decide for themselves whether to allow guests to consume marijuana on-property. Most hotels are smokefree, wherein restrictions apply to every type of smoking, but the coloradopotguide.com website purports that many Colorado hotels will accommodate the use of vaporizers in-room or in a designated outside areas, like patios or balconies. And this seems to also be the case in Durango, for the most part.

I made exactly 10 phone calls to local establishments asking if they had any designated smoking rooms.

None of them do. And then I drilled

down if they let me, with questions about whether guests can vape nicotine and/or marijuana concentrates in a guest room or in a designated outside area. Nine out of 10 times, my inquiry was welcomed and I was treated with dignity and respect as a potential customer, even when they couldn’t accommodate my request for cannabis-friendly digs. Only one of 10 hoteliers treated me otherwise.

During a call to one locally-owned and operated hotel, the front desk attendant described their policy like this: “It’s legal here in town for adults over 21, but you can’t smoke anything in the rooms. I mean, you’re not even supposed to light a candle in your room for insurance reasons. Edibles are OK though, and we don’t really mind if guests vape in their rooms, within reason of course. But if you want to smoke, you have to go outside, and we ask that you be as discreet as possible so as not to offend the other guests who don’t want to be around it.” Perfectly reasonable.

But another inquiry to a franchise hotel in Bodo with corporate offices in Arizona and Maryland brandished this hypersensitive result: “Absolutely not! No chance.

We do NOT allow marijuana on this property at all – no matter what, legal or not. Have a nice day.” And by “Have a nice day,” she must have meant “Goodbye” because her next move was a rather abrupt end to our conversation – she hung up on me. I found no comfort in the experience at all, but I guess that just means reefer madness is still alive and well in certain corporations.

As far as I know, there is not a hotel in Durango that chooses to

openly admit that they are OK with the smoking of marijuana on hotel property. This means there is no place in town other than private residences and vacation rentals that offer cannabis-friendly lodging for pot smoking patrons, with vacation rental permits of course, but many hotels are open to allowing its guests to vape and/or consume edibles with discretion and something they call “quiet enjoyment for all” being of the utmost importance.

Jennifer Knight is a freelance writer, thanks in no small part to her day job at Durango Solar Works. (jenn@bathtubjenn. com) Roldo (the illustrator) is an ink-slinging angel, an investor or true talent.

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[love and sex]

Savage Love | Dan Savage

Nope, that’s probably not how she got the yeast infection My wife and I have a decent sex life. Pretty vanilla, but we’re busy with work, chores, and life in general with two small kids, so I can’t complain too much. About a year after having our second kid, I went down on my wife. As usual, we both enjoyed it greatly. Unfortunately, about a week later she got a yeast infection. She attributed the YI to the oral, and since then, I am strictly forbidden from putting my mouth anywhere near her pussy. I understand that YI are no fun, painful, and embarrassing. I understand her reluctance. But I’ve never heard of oral sex causing YI, although I realize I might be misinformed. How do I win back her trust to let me go down on her?

No one is about to mistake me for Sting when it comes to my endurance during intercourse, so having the ability to pleasure her without penetration is important.

It’s not, BOMB. Your marriage is a part of your past – it shaped the man you are today, the man your current girlfriend claims to love – and your children are a product of that marriage. Even if you never looked at those items again, even if they held no sentimental value for you (and it’s fine if they do), one day your children might want to see those pictures or watch that video or handle that dress. And any attempt to erase your first marriage – by stuffing those items down the memory hole – could be interpreted by your children as evidence that you would have erased them, too, if you could have.

Your girlfriend is a grown-up, and she needs to act like one. She’s free to think it’s [effed] up that you still have those wedding mementos, of course, but it’s ultimately none of her business and she needs to STFU about it.

Dirty Mouth Guy “Yeast is not an STI,” said Dr. Anika Denali Luengo, an ob-gyn in Portland, Oregon. “Yeast (candida) is a normal denizen of the vagina, and an infection simply means there is an overgrowth of it on the vulva or in the vagina.”

People are likelier to get a yeast infection – or likelier to experience yeast overpopulation, since yeast is a citizen of Vagina City – when they’re on antibiotics, they have diabetes, or their immune system has taken a hit.

“Oral sex can be a slight risk factor in transmission of candida,” said Denali Luengo, “but the frequency of candidiasis is not increased by the frequency of sex, so it may not happen next time. Also, if her symptoms developed one week later, it could have been pure coincidence.”

A coincidence – that was my hunch when I read your letter, DMG. “Luckily, they are easy to treat – over the counter miconazole or the single-dose pill fluconazole – and are basically just a nuisance and present no major health risks,” said Denali Luengo.

I got divorced five years ago after a 15-year marriage that produced two children who are now 13 and 6. When their mother moved out, she left pretty much everything. I took the wedding mementos – dress, video, photo albums – and threw them in a trunk. I have not looked at them since. Last night, my girlfriend of almost a year told me she thinks it is “really [effed] up” that I still have this stuff. Is it?

Box Of Mementos Bothers

I’m a 31-year-old gay man. I grew up in a conservative town and got a late start exploring my sexuality. I lost my virginity at 26, but I lacked the confidence to really allow myself to enjoy sex until I learned how to enjoy the present moment. I really hit my stride a couple of months ago, and now the floodgates have opened. I get on Grindr and have sex up to three times a week. I feel in my gut that this isn’t a compulsion so much as an exploration, and something I need to get out of my system while I search for a monogamous relationship. As long as I’m safe, do you see any problem with me [effing] around for a while?

Please Don’t Use My Name You’re on your cumspringa, PDUMN. Most gay men have at least one. Be safe, get on PrEP, remember that HIV isn’t the only sexually transmitted infection (use condoms), enjoy yourself, and be kind to the guys you meet on your cumspringa (even those you don’t expect to see again). And if a monogamous relationship is what you ultimately want – and monogamy is a fine choice – telling yourself that sexual adventures are something you have to get out of your system first is a mistake. People who convince themselves that serious commitment means the death of sexual adventures – particularly people who enjoy sexual adventures – will either avoid commitment entirely or murder the ones they make so they can have sexual adventures again.

I’m not saying you have to be nonmonogamous, PDUMN. I’m saying a couple can be exclusive and sexually adventurous at the same time. I’m also saying the person you are now – a person who enjoys sexual

adventures – is the person you’re likely to be after your cumspringa is over and you’re ready to make a commitment.

I’m a straight-identified guy in my early 30s. I am married, but my wife lives in another part of the country and we’re doing an open relationship until she moves to live with me. Last weekend, I met a girl at a bar who ended up coming home with me, and she turned out to be a pre-op trans woman.

I’d never been with a trans person before, so I decided to just roll with it and ended up having a pretty good time. Over the course of the weekend, I started to get the sense that she really liked me and maybe even considered me boyfriend material. I want to see her again, but I’m not really available for a serious relationship. Knowing the kind of unbelievable shit trans people have to deal with, I feel like it would be unfair to string her along. She is not aware of my marital status. What should I do?

Can’t Think Of Funny Acronym O brave new world that has such straight-identified guys in it.

Anyway, CTOFA, here’s what you should do: Get in a time machine and go be completely – what’s the word? – oh right, go be completely straight with this woman before you take her home from that bar.

You’re married and doing the LDR thing and the marriage is open and you’re available for fun but nothing more.

No time machine? Then handle it the same way you would if you’d deceived some cis woman – excuse me, if you’d accidentally gotten some cis woman’s hopes up by failing to mention the wife.

Level with her – you’re married – and let the nips fall where they may. She might be angry or she might not give a wet squart (she may not be as interested as you think she is). If she accuses you of making up a wife because you don’t want to date a trans woman, it shouldn’t be hard to prove your wife – and your marriage – exists.

Finally, CTOFA, you say it would “be unfair to string her along” because of the “unbelievable shit trans people have to deal with.” It would be unfair – it would be wrong – to string a cis woman along, too.

Stringing people along is wrong, period.

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.

18 | Thursday, March 9, 2017 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[happening] Turn it up with nOOnz & Friends

Calling all wild rovers It’s a dirty old town and someone’s gotta sing about it. The Durango Celtic Fest is back Thursday, March 9 to 12. Get your St. Patrick’s Day pre-game on with four days of concerts, workshops, and whiskey. Bands like Solas, Colcannon, Goitse, and Barrule will play at the Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., and the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave. Workshops include how to handle a button accordion, Gaelic singing, Irish dance, bodhrán (an Irish frame drum), and more.

You can buy a whole festival pass that includes all performances and workshops for $85. There are also options for only-workshops, single-show passes, and VIP seating. To see details through the foggy dew, visit www.durangocelticfestival.com.

Thursday Four Corners Horticulture Conference, all-day event, Fort Lewis College, www.

fortlewis.edu.

Sorrel Sky workshop, 9 a.m., $250-$450,

Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave., 247-3555.

Acoustic lunchtime cafe, noon, Smiley

Cafe, 1309 East Third Ave. Art history lecture, 4 p.m., Durango Arts

Center, 802 East Second Ave., 259-2606.

Tim Sullivan, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle

Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Hella good times are to be had at Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., Friday, March 10. Funked Up Fridays with nOOnz & Friends will host Moe’s First Annual DJ Throwdown. Starting at 10 p.m., six DJs will battle it out for who makes your ass move more. The night will feature I CITE, Squoze, Ralphsta, DNA, Kid Konsume, and nOOnz. No cover but be 21 or older to get in.

»» Barrule

403-1200, www.thebean.com.

Joel Racheff, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spiritori-

Open Mic, 8 p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main Ave.,

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

um, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

259-9018.

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

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

The Railsplitters with the Clods, 8

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

p.m., $5-$7, Balcony Backstage, 600 Main Ave.

Saturday

Monday

Bird Walk, 9-10:30 a.m., Rotary Park, 1565

Four Corners Arts Forum, 9 a.m., KDUR

91.9/93.9 FM, www.kdur.org.

Greg Ryder, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Acoustic jam, 6-8 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub,

Pierre Bakery, 601 Main Ave., 385-0122.

People’s Practice in the Park, 12:30

League of Women Voters La Plata “legislative lowdown,” 10:30 a.m.,

p.m., Buckley Park, 247-8395, www.turtlelakerefuge.org.

Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave., 375-3380.

Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Ska

Durango Celtic Festival, 1:30 p.m., $25-

$420, Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160.

Joel Racheff, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

um, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Jack Ellis, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Spoken Word, 7-9 p.m., Steaming Bean,

Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m.,

Banff Mountain Film Festival, 7 p.m.,

$420, Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160.

Robin Davis, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spiritori-

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

Karaoke, 9 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

East Second Ave., www.durangogov.org.

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

Brewing Co., 225 Girard St., www.skabrewing. com.

Durango Celtic Festival, 7 p.m., $25-

Wednesday

$15, Community Concert Hall, Fort Lewis College.

Greg Ryder, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spiritori-

downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.thebean.com.

Ace Revel, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spiritorium,

699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.theirishembassypub.com.

Geeks Who Drink trivia, 6:30 p.m.,

BREW Pub & Kitchen, 117 West College Drive, 259-5959.

Pub quiz, 6:30 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.theirishembassypub.com.

Two-step and swing lessons, 6:307:30 p.m., $10, Wild Horse Saloon, 601 East Second Ave., 799-8832.

Terry Rickard, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

um, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Tuesday

Friday

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

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Cribbage Club, 5 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub,

p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., 259-9018.

Durango Celtic Festival, 4 p.m., $25$420, Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160.

900 Main Ave., 799-3457.

Full Moon Medicine, 9 p.m., Balcony

Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m.,

Backstage, 600 Main Ave.

Terry Rickard, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

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

Sunday

Acoustic jam, 6-9 p.m., Steaming Bean,

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Andy Janowsky, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond

Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Divorce Care Group meeting, 6 p.m.,

$25, First United Methodist Church, 2917 Aspen Drive.

Community dance, 7 p.m., $20, VFW

Hall, 1550 Main Ave., 247-0384.

Robby Overfield, 7-11 p.m., The Office

Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

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

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.

Blue Moon Ramblers, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Open Mic, 7-11 p.m., Steaming Bean, down-

Jazz church experienced musician session, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main

stairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave.,

Ave., 247-5440, www.derailedpourhouse.com.

downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.thebean.com.

Super Ted’s Super Trivia, 6:12 p.m., Ska Brewing Co., 225 Girard St., 247-5792, www.facebook.com/supertedstriviaatskabrewing.

Useless Knowledge Bowl Trivia+, 7 p.m., Durango Brewing Co., 3000 Main Ave., 247-3396.

Tim Sullivan, 7-11 p.m., The Office Spirito-

rium, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Pingpong and poker tournament, 8

Submissions To submit listings for publication in DGO and www.dgomag.com, visit www.swscene.com, click “Add Your Event,” enter the event info into the form, and submit. Listings at www.swscene. com will appear on www.dgomag.com and in our weekly print edition. Posting an event on www.swscene.com is free and takes one day to process.

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Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19) This week, you want to get to the bottom of something. You want to solve a mystery or find a solution to a problem.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) This is a powerful week to address a group and tell them your ideas. It’s quite likely that you’ll want to introduce ideas that will improve things for everyone.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) This week, you might encounter a strong boss or a parent in an intense and purposeful way. Someone wants to shake things up in order to make them better.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

Bizarro

Discussions about religion, politics or racial issues will be intense and powerful this week. Don’t get too

carried away. Remember to maintain a common-sense approach to things.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22) You might see ways to improve how you handle your debt or how you deal with a bank. You also might see a better way to discuss an inheritance or deal with shared property.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) Be careful during discussions with others this week because people are tempted to give someone a “makeover.”

(Nobody really likes this.)

LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Act on your ideas about introducing reform or improvements to your job.

Meanwhile, you might have other ideas about how to improve your health.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) You might be concerned with the edu-

cation or welfare of children this week.

If so, you want to help them. Others might be concerned about making improvements in the entertainment world or the hospitality industry.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) During a discussion with a parent or a family member, you might discover a better approach for improving your home, or possibly even a familial relationship. See what you can do.

are shopping. You might feel as if you need to have something. Easy does it.

PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) Take a realistic look in the mirror and ask yourself what you can do to improve your appearance and the impression you give to the world. There’s always something.

BORN THIS WEEK

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18)

You value justice and will always stand up to bullies. You tend to be a rescuer.

This year will begin quietly. In fact, you might not see major changes until next year. However, it will be a year of growth, construction and building. Do what you can to reduce your debt and strengthen your financial position because you are building for your future!

You might be a bit obsessed with something this week, especially if you

© 2017 King Features Syndicate Inc.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) Your style of communicating this week is so persuasive that you will be successful if you sell, market, teach, act or write for a living. No one will be able to resist you!

weekly bestsellers Feb. 26 – March 4 »»1. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (Paperback) »»2. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman (Hardcover) »»3. Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting, by

Patty Wipfler (Paperback) »»4. The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George (Paperback) »»5. Indelible, by Adelia Saunders (Hardcover) »»6. The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery (Paperback) »»7. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders (Hardcover) »»8. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch (Paperback) »»9. Apocalyptic Planet, by Craig Childs (Paperback) »»10. The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down: How to be Calm and Mindful in a FastPaced World, by Haemin Sunim

(Hardcover)

22 | Thursday, March 9, 2017 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[Durango’s stories, told in their own words]

First Person | Cyle Talley

‘I want my work to be so good that my clients aren’t

Gradually, and then suddenly: It’s how Hemingway once explained how people go bankrupt. It’s also how Charles Thomas (Chuck) Newmyer II speaks. Heavily tattooed, he has a thick mane of bull-black hair and a chuckle that is equal parts mischievous and satisfied. When I interrupt his cup of coffee to ask him about the Roman numerals tattooed on his knuckles, he invites me to have a seat. He tells me about his work as a freelance designer, and how living in his van helps him to appreciate spaces more. I tell his story here, in his own words.

PAYING ATTENTION TO MY

TATTOOS’

“Living in the van has influenced me to think about and try to use space in a smarter, more efficient way.

It’s 45 square feet of van, and that really makes you think about the bare essentials of what’s needed and how you can include those in design in a useable, intuitive way that makes people feel good about the space they’re in. I really want to work on tiny houses at some point, because I feel like it would be a really natural jump to make, and I’d have some innovative ideas about it. Architecture has to respond to the place that it’s in, the parcel of land it’s on, the space it takes up, the city it’s in. Otherwise, it’s just noise.

I haven’t heard of anyone else who lives in a van and is a freelance designer and architect, so it’s sort of cool to be the only one. When I worked in Boulder, especially during the winter – well, the van is really cold. So, as soon as I’d wake up, I’d think, ‘Well, I don’t have anywhere else to go, and it’s freezing, so I guess I’ll just get up and go to work.’ Then I would work later because again, I don’t have anywhere else to go, so ... Living in the van influences my work flow and also forces me out more. I’m constantly at the li-

brary and coffee shops and at friends houses. It’s like being back in college and working in the studio. Professors didn’t make us work on projects in the studio, but you could tell the difference between the people who did and who worked from home. The subtleties, the skills, the design, the finished product, all so much better and cleaner from the people who collaborated and had their thinking pushed. I take a lot of pride in the product. A lot. I’m very much a perfectionist. I want my work to be so good that my clients aren’t paying attention to my tattoos or the way I dress or that I live in a van. I want them focused on an amazing product that has every detail tended to.

Pitch perfect. Something that I’m really excited to share with people – friends, clients, whatever.

Being an architect sometimes doesn’t feel “professional” to me because it’s just so much fun. I get to draw houses for a living! There’s a bit of stress, I suppose. But I mostly feel stressed because of how much attention I’m paying to the fact that I’m designing a home that people are going to live in for years. I want them to live happily, easily, without too

many hazards.

I originally got into architecture because I’ve always liked working on houses. Sprucing up my parents’ house and whatnot. I’ve always been into art and music. I saw architecture as a way to make art that is inhabitable. The shape of buildings influences how people live, which is scary because it’s a lot of responsibility. It’s intimidating if you think about it too much. Music and architecture – any of the arts, really – are so interwoven. I’ve been around music my whole life, and have played the drums since ... forever. There’s a rhythm to music, which is sorta stupid to say, and there’s a rhythm to architecture. Sequences, you know? Visually, or how a person moves through a building. I’ve always got that musical part running through my brain when I’m designing. Rock drummer to architectural designer, but it kind of makes sense. Probably. [laughs]” Cyle Talley would like to cordially welcome you all to another bipolar Colorado spring-type season. Feel free to email him, if you’re in to that sort of thing: cyle@cyletalley.com

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SKY UTE CASINO RESORT EVENTS CENTER

APRIL 22,2017

SATURDAY 8PM DOORS OPEN AT 7PM $45 VIP, $35 Reserved, $30 General Admission

Owned & operated by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe

SKYUTECASINO.COM 888.842.4180 IGNACIO, COLORADO

Purchase tickets online at skyutecasino.com, by calling 888.842.4180, at the Sky Ute Casino Gift Shop or at the door.