2 westword.com WESTWORD APRIL 11-17, 2024 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 9 ¿HABLAS ESPAÑOL? Colorado’s top politicians don’t want to lose anything in the translation. BY BENNITO L. KELTY 14 GET INKED! The Long Live Tattoo festival debuts with top-tier artists and major draws. BY JOHN FLATHMAN 17 MOVING UP Little Brazil makes a big comeback in Wheat Ridge. BY CHRIS MARHEVKA 21 LONG LIVE ROCK The Rocker Mountain Ripper returns to Denver for a weekend of rock and roll. BY JUSTIN CRIADO 14 Culture 17 Cafe 21 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 25 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 25 ASK A STONER ......................................... 28 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 33 APRIL 11-17, 2024 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun Editorial Operations Manager Jane R. Le News Editor Thomas Mitchell Culture Editor Emily Ferguson Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Senior Staff Writer Chris Perez Staff Writers Catie Cheshire, Bennito L. 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Peri- odicals postage paid in Denver. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $100/year or $50/six months. 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] BEST OF DENVER 2024, WESTWORD STAFF, APRIL 4 H O W T H E B E S T W A S W O N Really cool cover! Loved the use of ’84 graph- ics with your cow theme! Keep them coming! Joy Ingalls Denver That was your best Best of Denver yet, and I’ve seen almost all of them. Congratulations on forty years. Susan Fletcher Denver What does it take to get listed in the Best of Denver? Is there a vote number requirement? Do you have to advertise with Westword? I was looking for the Best MMJ Doctor category and didn’t see it. I know there were many votes cast for this category under “Best...it’s up to you.” Lenny J. Sujdak Denver Editor’s note: More than 133,000 people voted in 178 offi cial categories in the Best of Denver Readers’ Choice poll; the winners refl ect the people, places and things that got the most votes in those categories, not who may or may not advertise with Westword. “Best...it’s up to you” suggestions will be considered for categories on next year’s poll, although some of those nominations were already chosen by the editors, who created their own roster of 360 awards. “WORD WITHOUT END,” PATRICIA CALHOUN, APRIL 4 T H E R E S T O F T H E B E S T Fun idea to give the top forty things to do. But nothing on Washington Park? Randy Nixon Denver Here’s 41: Visit the marker in front of the Key Bank on Speer where the cheeseburger was invented. Josh Graham Denver Ride the 15 or 15L and decide if they really wanna move here. Derek Turner Denver “ARMED AND DANGEROUS,” CHRIS PEREZ, MARCH 28 N O T K I D D I N G A R O U N D How does a thirteen-year-old get a gun? Does he think it’s just a game to shoot someone? Fred Jefferson Denver “Youth violence is at crisis levels” de- scribes the disaster that is Colorado’s decade of “common-sense” gun control. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann sheds a lot of crocodile tears about youth vio- lence involving guns; however, as a frequent expert witness supporting yet more gun laws, she’s certainly well aware that none of these laws have done or will do a damn thing to keep kids (or adult criminals, for that mat- ter) from shooting and murdering others. DA John Kellner says he is “calling on people to take notice of this deadly increase,” when in fact the state legislature has for years ignored warnings about rising youth violence because it’s easier to virtue-signal with more useless gun control than it is to do the hard work addressing the underlying problems of poverty, economic and educa- tion inequities, and criminal justice reform. Mario Acevedo Denver The stories of these young killers are heartbreaking. Where are their parents? Lydia Fox Denver Why in the hell would you print an article named “Armed and Dangerous” with art- work depicting an African American youth with a hooded sweatshirt and a gun? Are you out of your fucking minds? John Grywalski Boulder Editor’s note: The fi gure in that sweatshirt was blue, to avoid linking it to any particular group. ON THE COVER ART BY JAY VOLLMAR 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. You can also follow @denverwestword on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. And it’s all free! ILLUSTRATION BY JAY VOLLMAR
