2 westword.com WESTWORD JANUARY 1-7, 2026 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 13 PEOPLE TO WATCH Keep your eyes and ears on Monica The Great in 2026. BY EMILY FERGUSON 4 NEWS From politicians to pundits, these are people to keep your eye on. BY WESTWORD STAFFERS 8 CULTURE Seven creatives in the spotlight in 2026. BY KRISTEN FIORE 11 FOOD Three pairs of partners should add up to some tasty times in 2026. BY MOLLY MARTIN 14 MORE MUSIC BY EMILY FERGUSON 8 Culture 11 Cafe 13 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 16 19 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 20 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 18 JANUARY 1-7, 2026 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Bennito L. 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ILLUSTRATION BY BRADLEY HANSEN “2025: YEAR IN REVIEW,” PATRICIA CALHOUN, DECEMBER 25 W E ’ V E G O T Y O U C O V E R E D Wow! Best cover ever! Congratulations to Bradley Hansen. This cover is a keeper, even if we’re all ready to throw this garbage year of 2025 in the trash, where it belongs. Janet Fowler Denver While I appreciated the “Trumper Tan- trums” section of Patricia Calhoun’s Year in Review essay, I think she let Denver Mayor Mike Johnston off too easy. His tantrum about ICE is costing Denver millions that it doesn’t have, and the situation is only going to get worse in the new year. We count on Westword to keep an eye on the city and tell the truth. Don’t get soft now! Shawn O’Malley Denver In regard to Calhoun’s article, just WOW! Never really read Westword because it’s a free, woke rag that survives on marijuana ads. Free and full of misinformation! The pedes- trian walkway was so Jared Polis doesn’t have to walk past the drug market that is on Broad- way! No one is allowed to sit on Civic Center grass! Fulltime cop there! No schoolchildren, no anybody! No one would be safe there! About Tina Peters, she is a political pris- oner who was not allowed to present her case properly! She tried to prove the machines were fi xed, which they are. Denver’s Jena Griswold leaked passwords for fi ve months (to steal elections) and? Nothing! Democrats are blocking about 200-plus Trump appoint- ments: Unprecedented! Mark Kelly is a trai- tor to the nation and will receive the death penalty according to law! Colorado brought in 44,000 Venezuelans plus other illegals; we know the people who own the hotels! Colorado is broke and will get no help from the feds because we are a sanctuary state! Do some research, Patricia Calhoun! Stop the lies! Sure, you won’t print this letter...not in line with false woke narrative! Calhoun is the problem! Spreading lies to uninformed progressives! Kristie Hernandez Multigenerational Coloradan The pedestrian bridge was a setup so Polis could appear responsive to the populace. He will use it as part of his presidential run. Brian Bee Denver “GOING IN CIRCLES,” BENNITO L. KELTY, DECEMBER 4 C I R C L E J E R K S All this discussion of traffi c-calming and all Thomas Topero can discuss in his letter is how people use the wrong “names and phrases for our little part of Denver.” While I agree SoBo is stupid, there’s nothing wrong with other residents using Wash Park, rather than reserving it for your “internal” discus- sions. Internal conversations that aren’t shared with the entire city are defi nitely one of the problems in Denver; abbreviations are not. More communication, not less. Lesley Myers Denver We need traffi c circles in lieu of traf- fi c lights. They are faster for traffi c to get through, they don’t break down or malfunc- tion and have proven themselves to be much safer. Europe has way fewer traffi c lights and tons of traffi c circles- drivers got used to them and now won’t give them up. Mark Baker Denver Bicycling is my primary form of transpor- tation and I actually really dislike these traffi c circles and fi nd them dangerous. Most people in cars just speed through these like nothing and don’t even bother signaling. And then there’s hardly any room for large trucks, so I fi nd myself being stuck behind them in their blind spot. I have more near-misses at traffi c circles than I have ever had at just a regular stop-sign intersection. It’s also annoying that the bicycle community lobbied for years for stop-as-yield laws, only for the city to add these terrible traffi c circles everywhere -- which make these intersections less safe for the bicyclists they are designed to help. JT Trujillo Denver
