4 FEBRUARY 9-15, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 9 A SNITCH IN TIME What city had an FBI informant at the George Floyd protests? Denver. BY CONOR MCCORMICK- CAVANAGH 14 SILVER SCREEN DREAMS Denver’s Walt Keller is working toward his big Hollywood break. BY TEAGUE BOHLEN 17 OUT WITH THE OLD New Belgium continues to innovate in an ever- changing craft beer scene. BY RYAN PACHMAYER 21 FREEDOM’S PRICE Yan Soe was a famous DJ in Myanmar. As a political refugee in Denver, he drives for DoorDash. BY DAVID GORDON 6 News 14 Culture 17 Cafe 21 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 24 30 Marijuana TOKE OF THE TOWN ................................ 30 ASK A STONER ......................................... 32 STRAIN GANG .......................................... 34 VOLUME 46 NUMBER 24 FEBRUARY 9-15, 2023 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun Editorial Operations Manager Jane R. Le News Editor Kyle Wagner Culture Editor Emily Ferguson Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Cannabis Editor Thomas Mitchell Staff Writers Catie Cheshire, Conor McCormick-Cavanagh Senior Contributors Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Amy Antonation, John Bear, Staci Berry, Teague Bohlen, Jake Browne, Hyde Chrastina, Jacqueline Collins, Linnea Covington, Justin Criado, Susan Froyd, Lizzie Goldsmith, Nick Hutchinson, Marty Jones, Danielle Krolewicz, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Kristen Kuchar, Katrina Leibee, Cleo Mirza, Abigail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Michael Paglia, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Ashlee Redger, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman, Juliet Wittman Music Listings Chris Speed A R T Art Director Jay Vollmar P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Chris Arneson, Tori Bohling C R E A T I V E S E R V I C E S Senior Graphic Designer Allie Seidel A D V E R T I S I N G Account Manager Natalie Proctor Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke, Danelle Trujillo Multimedia Account Executives Trayl Chaffee, Quincy Lynch, Katelyn Meeker, Ari Rothschild, William Savoie, Allison Wissink Operations Administrative Coordinator Heyward Manning Event Marketing Manager Britton Sacharski House Account Manager Anna Hortik Operations Manager Maddie Miller Digital and Advertising Sales Manager Taylor Wheeler Advertising Director Teri Driskell C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Ty Koepke B U S I N E S S Business Manager Sarah Dunahay Financial Accountant Robert Scribner AR Coordinator Stacy Phillips Receptionist Cindy Perez Associate Publisher Tracy Kontrelos Publisher Scott Tobias V O I C E M E D I A G R O U P Executive Editor Christine Brennan Executive Associate Editor Andy Van De Voorde Corporate Controller Beth Cook Legal Counsel Steve Suskin Chief Financial Offi cer Jeff Mars Chief Executive Offi cer Scott Tobias V M G N A T I O N A L National Advertising: 1-888-278-9866, www.voicemediagroup.com Senior Vice President of Sales Operations Joe Larkin D I S T R I B U T I O N Westword is available free of charge. 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Periodicals postage paid in Denver. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $50 yearly. Postmaster: Send address changes to Westword, P.O. Box 5970, Denver CO 80217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 5970, Denver, CO 80217 Street address: 1278 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203 For retail or classifi ed advertising, call: 303-296-7744 For general information, call: 303-296-7744 For Editorial, email: [email protected] “LORD OF THE ANTS,” EMILY FERGUSON, FEBRUARY 2 I T A N T N E C E S S A R I L Y S O Was Emily Ferguson tripping when she wrote last week’s cover story? I can’t believe Ant Life exists. Or if it does, that Westword took it seriously. Joe Martin Denver That was one crazy story! Congrats to Ant Life for keeping Colorado weird. CeCe Townes Denver “BACK AT THE RANCH,” PATRICIA CALHOUN, FEBRUARY 2 R A N C H I N G O U T What’s winter without El Rancho? No, they aren’t hiring divers like Casa Bonita, but it’s so great to have snow and El Rauncho this winter! Actually, it’s a great stop if 70 eastbound is screwed up. Heck, you didn’t spend your last dime yet! Bill Weck Lakewood Hell of a history, a building with charac- ter. Most places these days — especially the chains, of course — have the same boring design with a different label/sign and the same design across the whole country: Black Eyed Pea on one corner, Starbucks on the other, etc., etc. You don’t know if you’re in Maryland or Louisiana. Greg Cocks Denver So glad it’s open; El Rancho should be historic. I remember going there when I was young. Linda Reed Kess Westminster We used to stop on the way back from skiing in the mid-’70s: great memories. Now we need to create some new ones. Darin Goldy Aurora Remember when it was the El Rancho exit? It stood alone on U.S. 40, before I-70, before Evergreen and Bergen Park were commuter suburbs. So much has been lost. I remember well when Denver was known as a “cowtown,” with little else happening. I remember when the Security Life Building was the tallest in town, capped by Top of the Rockies, our date-night paragon (when we saved suffi cient funds to eat there). Now it’s blocked from al- most every direction by new(er) construction. I no longer recognize our beloved state. Michael Douglas Smith Fort Collins Would love to visit, but I’m not going to pay a 22 percent service fee instead of tip- ping. Tips are legally a gift from a customer directly to staff, and have to be treated as such. A service fee, on the other hand, can be redistributed however the owner sees fi t. They could pocket 100 percent of it for themselves if they wanted to. No, thanks. Tommy Newnes Vail Would you rather the cost just be included in each menu item and make the price of a hamburger $19? The cost of the employees is always a part of the fi nal good to a consumer. Zachary Johnston Denver What happened to Westword last week? First Molly Martin goes all “waugh” about The Fort, and then Patricia Calhoun gets nostalgic for El Rancho. How will they keep their hipster credentials? Bill Parker Aurora “HIGH PRICE OF WEED,” ASK A STONER, FEBRUARY 2 T H E N A N D N O W I don’t understand why people are always crying about prices. Weed is considerably cheaper than it was before 2014. Graeme Smith Highlands Ranch ON THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SAM PIERSON LETTERS T O T H E E D I T O R YOU CAN COMMENT ON ANY STORY AT WESTWORD.COM; SEND LETTERS TO [email protected] Don’t miss a word! The stories in this print edition are just a fraction of the pieces we publish every week on westword.com. For a cheat sheet on all that content, subscribe to our daily newsletter at westword.com/ profi le?newsletter=12003988. You can also follow @Denver Westword on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And it’s all free! ART BY JAY VOLLMAR
