2 westword.com WESTWORD APRIL 18-24, 2024 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 17 ON THE ROCKS A new season dawns for the country’s most spectacular concert venue. BY EMILY FERGUSON 6 MEASURE FOR MEASURE Three more proposals are expected to get on Colorado’s November ballot. BY HANNAH METZGER 10 LOCAL LAUGHS Adam Cayton-Holland is celebrating a twenty- year comedy career. BY TONI TRESCA 13 DOPE EATS The best places to dine when you’re high — or just really hungry. BY MOLLY MARTIN 10 Culture 13 Cafe 17 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 25 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 30 HIGH HOLIDAY ......................................... 34 VOLUME 47 NUMBER 34 APRIL 18-24, 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. Kelty, Hannah Metzger Senior Contributors Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Amy Antonation, Teague Bohlen, Hyde Chrastina, Jacqueline Collins, Linnea Covington, Justin Criado, John Flathman, Susan Froyd, Lizzie Goldsmith, Nick Hutchinson, Danielle Krolewicz, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Kristen Kuchar, Abigail Nueve, Julianna O’Clair, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman, Helen Xu 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 O’Connor 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 Jack Baker Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke, Danelle Trujillo Multimedia Account Executives Trayl Chaffee, Remy Diamond, Nick Naglic, William Savoie, Allison Wissink Marketing and Promotions Manager Heyward Manning Event Marketing Manager Jenae Bone Sales and Operations Manager Anna Schoening Operations Coordinator Carver Hodgkiss 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 IT Systems Manager Kris Robinson 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 Editorial Director Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek Audience Development Director Dallon Adams 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. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1, payable in advance at the Westword offi ce. Westword may be distributed only by authorized Westword distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of Westword, take more than one copy of each issue. C O P Y R I G H T The entire contents of Westword are copyright 2022 by Denver Westword LLC. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, with- out the express written permission of the Publisher, Westword, P.O. Box 5970, Denver CO 80217. Back issues may be purchased for $2 each plus postage from the Westword offi ce (issues older than six weeks subject to availability). The Best of Denver 2023 is $6 plus postage. Story reprints are available for $1 plus post- age; call 303-296-7744 to place an order, or check our archives at www.westword.com. Westword (USPS478230) is published weekly by Denver Westword LLC, 1278 Lincoln Street, Denver CO 80203. 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] “ARMED AND DANGEROUS,” CHRIS PEREZ, MARCH .. W E S T W O R D M I S S E D T H E M A R K We cannot begin to express our extreme anger and disappointment that the “Armed and Dangerous” cover was published by your team, and how we feel this cover is a disgusting perpetuation of a narrative that promotes the slaying by law enforcement of Black children in and outside of our com- munity. This cover perpetuates the narrative that Black children are dangerous and should be feared by our community, which is exactly the type of thinking that led to the demise of Elijah McClain and a plethora of other young Black people who were murdered by police. We are heartbroken that we feel the need to include below a non-exhaustive list of names of Black children who were murdered at the hands of law enforcement: Kadarius Smith, 17 years old, killed March 21, 2024; Terrell Miller, 4 years old, killed March 16, 2024; Vernard Tony Jr., 13 years old, killed October 28, 2023; Dhal Pothwi, 17 years old, killed Sep- tember 6, 2023; Lueth Mo, 15 years old, killed September 6, 2023; Delaneo Martin, 17 years old, killed March 18, 2023; Nasanto Antonio Crenshaw, 17 years old, killed August 21, 2022; Brett Rosenau, 15 years old, killed July 7, 2022; Cedric Lofton, 17 years old, killed September 24, 2021; Fanta Bility, 8 years old, killed August 27, 2021; La’mello Parker, 3 months old, killed May 3, 2021; Angelo Crooms, 16 years old, killed November 13, 2020; Kwame Jones, 17 years old, killed January 5, 2020; Isaiah Lewis, 17 years old, killed April 29, 2019; Michael Elam Jr., 17 years old, killed February 16, 2019. We are urging you to please consider the negative impact that this cover has on the community that you live in, specifi cally your Black and Brown audience and neighbors. As avid consumers and promoters of the Westword brand, we hope you understand how heart- breaking to us it is that this cover was created, approved and published by your team. We sincerely hope you take the time to reevaluate this and understand the mistake you have made. Khalil Sellers Raina Madrid Denver I am here to advocate for our BIPOC com- munity in Denver. The recent cover image is harmful, racist, anti-Black and just plain wrong. We are no longer in the Dark Ages. We now are aware and educated on the dam- age such propaganda and images have on public perception. It is like advertising spe- cifi cally for Black people for anti-psychotics during the ’60s, when the Black community was targeted, gaslighted and oppressed by being overdiagnosed and institutionalized with schizophrenia for having “delusions of the system oppressing them.” I am highly disappointed in Westword’s racist image directly on the front cover. It’s gross. The damage is done. But amends are still helpful to the BIPOC community. We all make mistakes; it is what we do moving forward that matters. I challenge Westword to do better and be better. Abbie Kelley Denver Patricia Calhoun responds: We hear you, and we will do better. Our intention with “Armed and Dangerous” was to offer a deep dive into the crime stats, going below the surface to report on how challenges facing youth today could account for the rise in youth violence. From the comments we’ve received, our re- porter captured the situation accurately. But our cover did not, and for that we apologize wholeheartedly to the BIPOC community, and the community at large. Our concept was to use a fi gure of a young boy not tied to any specifi c race, but the fi nal version did not accomplish that — and again, we apologize for that harm and hurt. So, moving forward, we are replacing that im- age in the online version of the story, which we think is important to keep available at westword.com. We are also improving our internal systems, to make sure that our cov- ers (and all illustrations, for that matter) accurately and fairly depict the stories. And fi nally, through stronger outreach efforts, we will bring more diverse voices to Westword. If you are interested in contributing to that discussion through art, writing or simply conversation, feel free to reach out to me at
[email protected]. ON THE COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY ROSS JONES LETTERS T O T H E E D I T O R YOU CAN COMMENT ON ANY STORY AT WESTWORD.COM; SEND LETTERS TO
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