Yeesh, I said I’d have this up sooner. I love having a real job outside of this blog. Someday I’ll be able to do more. That day is coming actually, so just you wait! However, I managed to cobble together the video portion (anybody remember DenverCast? I do!) and here it is! The channel itself on youtube is still around so prepare for more as I get motivated to get around my town on weekends and mornings.

Fellow authors and readers take heed. I’d love to see you getting involved in showing us many of the 5,280 reasons why Denver is flippin’ awesome. Check out the channel and the video below. The fun starts…NOW! :)

Channel is located here.

I just got a flyer in the mail about Films on Fillmore, a series of outdoor movies on Thursday nights this summer. Has anyone ever been? The movie selections aren’t bad. I’m kinda bummed I missed the showing of Raising Arizona, but I’m debating going to see The Devil Wears Prada this week.

Apparently the fun starts at dusk each Thursday, and everyone’s welcome to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and picnics.

The upcoming showings are:

July 24 The Devil Wears Prada
July 31 The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl in 3-D, brought to you by The Children’s Hospital
August 7 The Great Muppet Caper, brought to you by The Children’s Hospital
August 14 Transformers
August 21 Wag the Dog

Once again I attended a midnight showing at the Continental 10 at Hampden and I-25. Needless to say, it rocked the house. And of course I interviewed and shot photos and video. Stay tuned as I should have it uploaded Saturday early afternoon or Sunday. To all those that allowed me to interview you, thanks! Especially the “we’re so boss” girls from the Indy midnight showing.

Space to be filled soon!

UPDATE: Due to my work schedule, it’ll be Tuesday Morning before it hits.  My apologies.  Darn Real Life Jobs!  :)

So first things first, yes I’ve been here two years and some change, and yes last night was my first time to Wash Park. In my defense, from Highlands Ranch it’s a drive and I was never motivated. Now that it’s 5 miles from my house, less a problem. Though parking is a problem, as in there’s virtually none.

Our friends invited us to hang out in the Gaylord st shopping area, so since it was the last night before a long weekend, and work was done, we were game.

We stated at the Wash Park grille which has some very cool atmosphere. The food, meh. They recently (we were told) switched up the menu and so things like calamari were in the Tapas menu, ‘Tapas’ is spanish for pay a lot, eat a little, and the appetizers that remained were uninspired and not tasty sounding. So we got a pizzeta which was good and not too expensive, not at all filling.

Thursdays are lady’s night so my wife and our friend enjoyed inexpensive wine and martini’s and I drank over priced heinekens. Our waitress was nice, though she forgot our calamari order, and a drink for our friend, and had to be reminded. The upside, she took both things off the tab, so that was a good gesture and redeemed a lot for us.

I’d definitely go back to the Wash Park Grille, for drinks, but I’d eat first or have dinner plans for after.

We decided to abandon the Grille, and move across the street to Reivers. the chips and salsa are pretty good, and our friend Doug said the burger was incredible, so that’s something. The wait staff was certainly more attentive, which was nice. and we were able to sit on their back patio/courtyard so it was very comfy out.

I’d probably hit up Reivers before Wash Park Grille, the next time I’m in Wash Park. I’ll also probably ride my bike if I can and avoid having to hunt for parking, that’s sorta whack.

…and not for the reasons you might be thinking! Minds out of the proverbial gutters y’all. :)

My new job has me working in and around the University of Colorado Hospital over at Colfax and I-225.  I love this new job for many reasons but one of them is that I have found myself drawn to the street that is one of the longest in the country.  For the longest time it was known as a bad place and people would drive miles around it to avoid touching or looking at Colfax.

To those people I say…whatevah!  To me, there are dangerous parts in any city you go.  Slide on over to Detroit and tell me there are places that you’d like to walk down in the dark of night flaunting and taunting.  Here’s the thing.

Denver is beautiful.  And not just because of those Rocky Mountains and the sunshine and the amazing parks and great trails.  No, our city is beautiful because there is still character left within her.  There are still places that exude the culture, the love and the ideas of what has made Denver and the metro area that unique.  Colfax is just a piece of that.  There are so many points in Denver and the metro area that create the character of our city that seem to be moving to lukewarm territory it’s a little saddening.  And maybe even scary.

And so tonight I did the unthinkable.  I drove from Colfax and 225 all the way to Race Street at around 30 miles an hour windows down and playing my music softly from my speakers.

I loved this journey as the neon lights blazed on on the darkness.  The closed storefronts with unique facades.  The streets littered with the random walker and talker.  The old signs  that evoked the neighborhood of old with the stark comparison of newfangled buildings and business.  As I voyaged deeper down Colfax there were parts where my nervous soul skittered a bit but regained composure.  I passed icons (“Pete’s” numerous Restaurants anyone?) and fading memories throughout this drive.  I passed the dying and the thriving as the darkness consumed the path behind me.

There’s a drive underway to bring Colfax out of the red light days and into something bigger and better…and yet somehow manage to retain the identity.  Urban change and renewal is a complicated beast and the longest street in America.  As a new transplant from A-Town (Aurora, woot!) I’m venturing outside my mild comfort zone in an attempt to get to know my city that I love.  There are also others who love Colfax and they’re really into the street.

There’s even business working at it too.  As time goes on and I get used to driving Colfax I’ll try and do some photo reporting and posts about it.  It’s a great part of Denver (and the side street journeys are also fun to do) and you should check it out…although I’d say daytime would be better for first timers.

…you get some pretty cool views.  This is looking out from Iliff and University…and it was with my cell phone camera set low.  A nice dusk view that made me pause and enjoy it for a few.

A couple weeks ago we were in Manitou Springs for their wine festival, where they featured wines from across Colorado. We didn’t get a chance to try many wines because we brought our 1 year old beagles, Charlie and Howie, who are in training to be therapy dogs. This was there first festival environment and they did wonderfully, although Charlie was caught dipping his head in the waste bucket. They got more attention from the crowd than we were able to spend on the wine though. So we are off tomorrow, without the pups, to the Boulder Wine Festival.

I read on the festival website that wine making started on the Western Slope a century ago. Also, many vineyards were turned into orchards during prohibition. An interesting piece of state history. Now we have more than 60 wineries. Read more…

Colorado is really moving up in quality of wines. A year ago there was a blind taste test done with California wines, and Colorado won!

I’m really looking forward to Boulder’s wine fest. They’ve done a pretty amazing job of paring the wine tasting with the top local restaurants, so the experience should be flavorful. Any opportunity to head up north to Boulder is also a treat!

It is with great sadness, and a sinking suspicion that I am not the first on the scene with the news, that I announce the passing of Cafe Play from the Hill.

Cafe Play was an excellent idea. To my knowledge it was Boulder’s only true LAN Cafe - there were computer stations you could rent time on to play World of Warcraft with your buddies - and it was certainly the only place you could rent time on a Wii, a Playstation, or an Xbox, and while away several hours playing the games of your choice on huge plasma-screen TVs. And of course it had wi-fi. The space was huge and comfortable, full of deep leather couches as well as office-style desks, and its walls featured the work of local artists. Plus there was live music on the patio all the time. Also coffee, tea, soda, Udi’s sandwiches, and at one time Global Chili offerings. And it was open laaaaate.

It was where I went when my own cable internet was on the blink. It was where I encouraged fellow Boulder NaNoWriMo participants to meet up for write-ins. And now it is gone, and I am a sad puppy.

Cafe Play, you will be missed.

(Oh, by the way, Lulu’s on the Hill is gone too. Has been since something like a month or two after their grand opening. It’s Album’s Bistro again, which is great for aficionados of Album’s, but not so great if you really liked Lulu’s. For what it’s worth, the first space they were in - the restaurant outlet in Steelyards - seems to be still available. Hint. Hint.)

So, let’s do the bad news first.  All those videos and photos from the Indy midnight event?  Gone.  My error in hitting the wrong blasted button on my camera and hitting the next “ok” button.  Doh!

Good news?  For the first time in five years, Monday Night Raw/WWE hosted a live televised event in the Pepsi Center.  And guess who was in section 126, row 6, seat 4?  That would be me, the eternal WWE wrestling fan.

You ever been in Pepsi Center when the Avalanche play?  Pepsi Center doesn’t shake…it’s roars and thunders.  Same story tonight.  I would say that Denver fans tend to be gigantic energy machines when we’re into what’s going on either on the ice, stage or as it was tonight, the ring.

Tonight at 5,280 feet we rocked the house.  We were on Live television.  We got Randy Orton to yell “Shut up!” at us when the whole stadium was yelling “YOU SUCK!”.  We cheered, we booed and we had way too much fun.  All the superstars were amazing to watch in person and it was a rousing version of The National Anthem from Lillian Garcia that opened the show.  It was pure silence as a tribute to the troops played on the trinitron followed by pounding round of applause and cheers for our men and women in uniform.  We had Vince McMahon at the end of the yelling at us ’cause we kept saying, “WHAT?” as a crowd.

It was an amazing sold out show.  The house was packed to the rafters and each person that was there…wanted to be there.  Thanks to WWE for coming to Denver after such a drought…and here’s to hoping you come back.

Colorado Springs plays host to ECW and Smackdown tomorrow night.  You can check ticketswest.com to see if they have any seats left.

And if you’re not down with that…I got two words for ya…