Were this mural of Barack Obama to depict the same sentiment about John McCain, the city wouldn't ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/letters http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/america-s-promise-to-protect-asylum-seekers-gets-lost-in-the-paperwork Eleven years ago, Peter arrived in America, desperate for a place to hide.

In his native Uganda, he had been a rebel, a human-rights activist who fought for a multi-party system in a country ruled since 1986 by a one-party regime. Peter, who did not want his real name printed for fear of ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/america-s-promise-to-protect-asylum-seekers-gets-lost-in-the-paperwork http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/are-columbus-day-protestors-burnt-out-after-the-dnc For Denver, the annual Columbus Day Parade and accompanying protests, arrests and ear-splitting rhetoric is a seasonal rite as familiar as the changing of the leaves. By this point in October, the anti-Columbus Day groups have held press conferences, hung posters and announced events several mont...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/are-columbus-day-protestors-burnt-out-after-the-dnc http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/were-democrats-dumb-enough-to-write-this-idiot-memo A purported 2006 memo from the Colorado Democracy Alliance, an organization that funnels money to liberal candidates and causes, looks benign at first glance. It's mainly a roster of names and contact info for cash-happy heavy hitters such as Tim Gill, Pat Stryker and Rutt Bridge...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/were-democrats-dumb-enough-to-write-this-idiot-memo http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/adam-cayton-holland-bagman-for-the-city When I found my house, part of what sold me on the property was the xeriscaping. While the back yard is a fecund mecca of non-nativity, bursting with species that suck water from the soil till it's drier than my mother's tear ducts from years of disappointment, the front yard is a tasteful tribut...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/adam-cayton-holland-bagman-for-the-city http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/why-does-the-mexican-call-us-gabachos Dear Readers: I don't like to rerun columns, 'cause it makes me look like a lazy Mexican, but as my column invades foreign terrain (Steamboat Springs!), I realize that new readers might not understand some of my commandments. Following, then, are the two most frequently asked questions abo...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/news/why-does-the-mexican-call-us-gabachos http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/t-i While other MCs have created their own bogeymen to battle — Kanye has his ego, Eminem had Kim, Lil Wayne has those cough-syrup Martians — T.I.'s got real problems: Released from house arrest and in the midst of 1,500 hours of community service, he still has to serve a year in the clin...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/t-i http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/kings-of-leon Caleb Followill and the other members of the Kings family once seemed content with updating '70s Southern rock for the new millennium — but no more. Only by the Night is a bid for mass popularity and critical acclaim of the sort typically associated with Chris Martin, not Tennessee-b...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/kings-of-leon http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/the-fleet-foxes-hit-a-soft-spot-with-their-pastoral-brand-of-baroque-pop I think a certain kind of person settles down to raise a family in the Northwest, and that breeds a certain kind of kid," says Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. "I definitely feel like a product of my environment in that way, and really can't imagine dying anywhere else. I say 'dying' because ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/the-fleet-foxes-hit-a-soft-spot-with-their-pastoral-brand-of-baroque-pop http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/modern-witch-at-glob-glob-glob Mario Zoots and Kristy Fenton, the duo behind Modern Witch, are better known in the world of visual art. Just the same, on their first musical project, the two have successfully translated their artistic talent from one medium to another. In the live setting, the group seems equal parts pe...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/modern-witch-at-glob-glob-glob http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/calvin-locklear Although the moniker slapped on "You're Fired!," the lead track from Calvin Locklear's new EP, can't help but conjure Trumpian expectations, the ditty itself is an improbably buoyant affair, replete with jangly guitars and chooglin' percussion that build up plenty of pop pleasure. The cuts that f...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/calvin-locklear http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/requiem-in-black Requiem in Black isn't breaking new ground with this release, but it's an artistic breakthrough for the band. A lot of the more recent goth and dark electronic music is completely lacking in anything human, but rather than plunge into the EBM morass, Requiem draws on more vital, older influences,...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/requiem-in-black http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/peanut-butter-wolf The Peanut Butter Wolf born Chris Manak has been in the DJ game since the late '80s — but while he's played his share of swanky rooms around the globe since then, he's no trend-humper. He looks at the genre as an opportunity to explore as well as an excuse to dance, and his philosophy exten...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/peanut-butter-wolf http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/baroness Along with Mastodon, Kylesa and Harvey Milk, Baroness is part of a mini-wave of terrific metal bands currently roaring out of Savannah, Georgia. The group's mix of psychedelia, doom and raw '70s riffage makes it one of the most potent combos in contemporary heavy music. Early EPs showed a fair bi...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/baroness http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/city-and-colour No one can accuse Dallas Green of launching a side project that's a pale imitation of his main gig. He's best known for handling rhythm-guitar duties in Alexisonfire, a band that delivers growling/frothing emo on recordings such as 2006's Crisis. In contrast, City and Colour is an acoustic...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/city-and-colour http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/yngwie-malmsteen As much the butt of jokes as an icon — and deservedly so on both counts — Yngwie Malmsteen burst into the world of international music in 1984 with Rising Force. At the age of seven, Malmsteen says, he saw a documentary about the death of Jimi Hendrix and was so taken in by the...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/yngwie-malmsteen http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/dj-heather-at-bar-standard Hailing from Chicago, DJ Heather grew up surrounded by the very roots of house music. She got her first stint as a tastemaker in college, where she manned a low-wattage station and spread her influence over the cafeteria crowd at lunchtime. Later, she picked up gigs in a bar, playing a mix...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/dj-heather-at-bar-standard http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/soundbites Herbie Hancock, Then and Now: The Definitive Herbie Hancock (Verve). With all the songs that Hancock has written over the past five decades, it's a stretch to say this twelve-track retrospective is "definitive," but it gives a good sampling of the pianist's career through his years ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/soundbites http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/meet-two-central-figures-in-denver-s-burgeoning-underground-scene Travis Egedy, who performs under the name Pictureplane, is becoming one of the more well-known figures in the underground scene, having been name-dropped by HEALTH on Pitchfork this past summer. Together with the artistically like-minded Nick Houde and Ryan Mcryhew of BDRMPPL, Egedy is releasing ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/meet-two-central-figures-in-denver-s-burgeoning-underground-scene http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/spontaneity-is-a-big-part-of-stereolab-s-approach-to-making-music Among the most critically acclaimed and widely known of experimental bands, Stereolab combines thoughtful social commentary with breathtakingly lush atmospheres and catchy yet visionary lounge pop. We caught up with guitarist Tim Gane in Washington, D.C., on the first leg of the band's national t...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/spontaneity-is-a-big-part-of-stereolab-s-approach-to-making-music http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/pendulum-s-move-toward-rock-challenges-its-original-electro-fans Vocalist/producer/synthesizer player Rob Swire and the other members of the Aussie-born, British-based group Pendulum first established themselves as dance-savvy drum-and-bass practitioners — so when they infused more rock into the songs on their latest CD, In Silico, Swire expected ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/pendulum-s-move-toward-rock-challenges-its-original-electro-fans http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/jet-entertainment-group-is-taking-off What began as a boutique hotel with a cool lounge has turned into the start of a nightlife empire. In early September, Jet Entertainment Group — those folks who bought the Luna Hotel at 1612 Wazee Street and turned it into Jet Hotel — acquired the Purple Martini clubs in...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/music/jet-entertainment-group-is-taking-off http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/ice-cream-alchemy-makes-sorbet-out-of-a-sow-s-ear It didn't take long to learn who'd done that amazing cupcake gelato served at Relish up in Breckenridge (see page X). In fact, had I turned just a few neurons to the matter, I probably wo...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/ice-cream-alchemy-makes-sorbet-out-of-a-sow-s-ear http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/a-meal-at-relish-is-something-to-relish Lemon-braised artichoke with roasted garlic herb butter. Venison carpaccio with Humboldt Fog blue cheese, organic olive oil and black pepper. Steak Diane with truffled garlic mashed potatoes, and a New York strip with white cheddar sweet-potato fries. There was also a quote/unquote Niçoise...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/a-meal-at-relish-is-something-to-relish http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/umenishiki-gorgeous-plum-sake-at-sushi-sasa Many people tell me they dislike sake. When I mention sake to neophytes, they complain that it's just hot turpentine served in small, white vases — or, worse, that concoction of bad sake and Chambord called Purple Haze. But saying you don't like sake based on this dreck is like saying you d...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/umenishiki-gorgeous-plum-sake-at-sushi-sasa http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/is-gelman-s-a-good-bar-there-s-no-debate Watching Chine inspect wine glasses — the way he delicately scoops each stem from the counter, elevating it high above his head and rotating it below the track lights at the recently reopened Gelman's Restaurant & Bar (2911 West 38th Avenue) — is like watching poetry emerge fro...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/is-gelman-s-a-good-bar-there-s-no-debate http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/cafe-bisque-joins-the-brunch-bunch Before there was Limón or the Arvada Grill, chef Alex Gurevich had Cafe Bisque. I first wrote about the restaurant not long after it opened, and excoriated the harebrained international floundering of the menu. I was much more effusive about the restaurant in 2005, and even welcomed Cafe B...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/dining/cafe-bisque-joins-the-brunch-bunch http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/body-of-lies-ridley-scott-s-latest-is-the-post-9-11-tech-savvy-terror-thriller-we-deserve A new kind of war movie for a new kind of war, Body of Lies is about the War on Terror as it is being waged on the ground, in the air, but most of all in cyberspace. Directed with terrific verve by Ridley Scott (coming after the listless American Gangster) from a smart screen...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/body-of-lies-ridley-scott-s-latest-is-the-post-9-11-tech-savvy-terror-thriller-we-deserve http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/a-lost-classic-1961-s-the-exiles-gets-its-long-overdue-theatrical-debut The old people remember the past," a narrator says early in The Exiles over a prologue of Edward S. Curtis photographs — faces of aged Native Americans who may have had their lands taken away, but not their history or memories. For the length of Kent MacKenzie's 1961 feature, ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/a-lost-classic-1961-s-the-exiles-gets-its-long-overdue-theatrical-debut http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/call-response Thankfully for the United States of America, slavery is one aspect of our past that we have struggled with and overcome. Or so most of us think. The fact of the matter is, there are more slaves on the planet today than were taken from Africa in more than 400 years of trading, and in 2007, slave t...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/film/call-response http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/the-denver-art-museum-goes-big-with-daniel-richter Christoph Heinrich, the Denver Art Museum's curator of modern and contemporary art, must be a workaholic. In recent months, he's unveiled two new dedicated spaces: a paper-works gallery in the museum's Hamilton Building and a new-media space called the Fuse Box. Then he took on the ambitious rein...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/the-denver-art-museum-goes-big-with-daniel-richter http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/mediamockracy-takes-aim-at-the-politics-of-the-news-business Although there was only a small audience for Listen Productions' Mediamockracy on the night I attended, its members were intensely involved in the play. As I discovered during the actor-audience chats inserted into the performance, these were media-savvy people, deeply aware of the ...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/mediamockracy-takes-aim-at-the-politics-of-the-news-business http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/the-trip-to-bountiful-starts-slow-but-is-worth-the-trek I was so bored during the first act of The Trip to Bountiful that I had trouble staying in my seat — and this despite a powerful performance from Kathleen M. Brady as Carrie Watts, the elderly woman trapped in a Houston apartment with her son, Ludie, and his disagreeable wife,...]]> Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/the-trip-to-bountiful-starts-slow-but-is-worth-the-trek http://www.westword.com/2008-10-09/culture/ann-daley-leaves-the-denver-art-museum I was really disappointed to learn that Ann Daley (pictured), associate curator of Western art at the Denver Art Museum, had decided to step down after more than a decade in her present post and after having worked for the museum for a lot longer than that.