Holliday Season

Wednesday, Oct 31st: On Halloween, thousands of fans (some dressed up in frightening costumes) gathered at Skyline Park in LoDo to honor the Rockies for their successful clinching of the National League Pennant, their remarkable run winning 21 of 22 games, and their first ever World Series, even if it ended suddenly with a four game sweep by the Boston Red Sox. After Dinger, the Rockies mascot, and local Denver funk rock band Opie Gone Bad warmed up the crowd, Mayor Hickenlooper and Governor Ritter heaped praise upon the Rockies. Members of the team on stage included Coach Clint Hurdle, left fielder Matt Holliday, center fielder Ryan Spilborghs, third baseman Garrett Atkins, and pitcher Jeff Francis. The team thanked the fans, with Clint Hurdle notably thanking their supporters for their ‘unconditional and conditional love’ and Mayor Hickenlooper promising to bring the World Series to Denver next year and win it. If you were looking for an apology from Rockies management for the World Series ticket fiasco, you definitely left disappointed. Read on …

Hillary Fever

Tuesday, Oct 23rd: Senator Hillary Clinton, the leading contender for the Democratic nomination, was in Denver for two private fundraisers and a public rally at Metro State College. The native Colorado jam band Big Head Todd and the Monsters opened up the show by playing a few of their hits, including “Bittersweet”. Lending his support, former Denver mayor Wellington Webb pumped the crowd up, introducing Hillary as “the next President of the United States”. With an air (and language) of already having won the Democratic nomination, Hillary took a few shots at the Bush Administration and pledged to end the war in Iraq, rebuild the American middle class through a ‘new energy economy’, and undertake a review of the excessive executive powers accumulated by Bush and Cheney. Read on …

Also Played by Dustin Hoffman

Monday, Oct 15th: It was the night of the Rockies fourth (and perhaps final) game against the Arizona D-Backs and the city was buzzing with baseball fever, anticipating with giddy disbelief the prospect of the Rockies going to the World Series. Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Bernstein, the intrepid reporter who along with Bob Woodward investigated the Watergate break-in that sank the Nixon presidency, strode into the room wearing a purple V neck sweater (probably unintentionally), and said, “Well, I guess you’re the non-baseball fans”, to a quiet round of laughter, before launching into a brief tour of the life of that iron lady of American politics, Hillary Rodham Clinton, based on his new 628 page biography, A Woman In Charge. Read on …

Gratuitous Bikini Shot

Friday, Oct 12th: I had a hell of a time finding Mile High Station, tucked away in the gritty labyrinthine industrial district near West Colfax and I-25. And my iPhone was no help, the map showing two locations, so I wandered around until I stumbled upon the bar, all lit up and beehive busy for the Winter Fashion Flurry. The Winter Fashion Flurry is a skateboarding demo, live music, breast cancer charity event, and fashion show featuring the women’s athletic clothing (skiing, snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, skateboarding) of Core Action Sports, a company run by Denver entrepreneurs Lisa and Courtney Pugh. The world’s top female skateboarders, Cara-Beth Burnside and Mimi Knoop, were also there, ripping it up on the half-pipe. Read on …