YOU CAN COMMENT ON ANY STORY AT WESTWORD.COM; SEND LETTERS TO [email protected] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR “CARRY ON!,” CONOR MCCORMICK- CAVANAGH, MAY 5 T A R GET PR A C TI CE Denver City Council should also ban bullets and require fi rearms to be insured. Steven Giles Denver Because criminals follow gun laws and would never bring a gun where law-abiding citizens can’t bring a gun. Warren Burgert Denver Once again, the stupid Democrats think this will stop the criminals. All this does is stop the responsible, law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves — which is guar- anteed by the Constitution. Dusty Powell Littleton “SCRATCHING THE SURFACE,” ALEX BERRYHILL, MAY 5 THE VINYL WORD This is massively necessary. Vinyl sales make up for a huge chunk of music sales and an even bigger chunk of revenue for smaller artists. Unfortunately, wait times are insane due to major artists backing up pressing plants for years on end. Very few new press- ing plants have emerged since the massive surge in vinyl, and record releases are getting signifi cantly delayed to account for it. An entire industry completely and totally relies on smaller pressing plants to keep popping up. With there being little-to-no revenue to be collected from streaming, vinyl is absolutely essential to the continuing of the music industry. Harry Springer Denver A neighborhood isn’t truly gentrifi ed until they build a vinyl-pressing plant within. Cedar Diegel Posted on Facebook Revitalization and gentrifi cation are two entirely different things! This was primarily an industrial area, with lots of buildings and Don’t miss a beat! Follow @DenverWestword on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On target: Every day, we publish so many stories at westword.com that some people asked for a cheat sheet. The answer? The Latest Word, a new newsletter from the editorial team that arrives in your inbox at 8 a.m. every weekday morning. Sign up at westword.com/profi le?newsletter=12003988. land that hadn’t been used for years. Not just some low-income neighborhood where people are forced out of their generational homes. Chris Neises Denver “A PARTY TO DIE FOR,” CLEO MIRZA, MAY 5 FROM DRA G T O RI CHES Drag queens are literally the shock com- mandos of fun. Don’t want to have fun, too bad. You will have fun regardless. You’re welcome. Bo Falcon Denver This looks awesome! Rachel Davis Denver “POWER TO THE PEOPLE,” CATIE CHESHIRE, APRIL 21 X CEL, UNPLUGGED I’ve been so frustrated with Xcel being al- lowed to reap monstrous profi ts year after year, yet when something needs improve- ment, the cost is always passed on to the consumers instead of the profi ts used. Katrina Lundin Davis Denver Xcel loves to lie to its customers and be kind to their stockholders! Xcel wants to put Smart Meters in your neighborhood. Did you know you can opt out? If they put in a Smart Meter, you can have it removed? I had to call to opt out. I got a call a week later, with Xcel really pushing hard for me to change my mind to put in a Smart Meter. You need to have a Smart Meter so you can install solar. The solar company that “is working with Xcel energy” did an audit. I don’t use enough electricity to make it worth my while to put in solar. That was last summer. I just got another call from the same solar company. It appears that now I am eligible for solar (all that money, all those rebates). I said no thanks to those “rebates.” Shop around. Barb Wasko Englewood VOLUME 45 NUMBER 37 MAY 12-18, 2022 W AR T Art Director Jay Vollmar PR ODUC TI ON Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Chris Arneson, Tori Bohling, Danielle East CRE A TIVE SER VI CES Senior Graphic Designer Allie Seidel 17 WHERE THERE’S SMOKE... The fi re has been reignited at the former Owlbear, where Pit Fiend is preparing to open. BY MOLLY MARTIN 10 PRESS FOR SUCCESS A student journalist in Delta County learns some tough lessons. BY CATIE CHESHIRE 14 DAD OF THE YEAR Scott Brazelton builds backyard roller coasters for his sons. BY CLAIRE DUNCOMBE 21 JOIN THE CLUB Black Fret tunes in to the Front Range music scene. BY EMILY FERGUSON 6 News 17 Cafe 21 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 24 32 Marijuana TOKE OF THE TOWN ................................ 32 ASK A STONER ......................................... 34 STRAIN GANG .......................................... 36 AD VER TI S ING Account Manager Claire Holt Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke, Danelle Trujillo Multimedia Account Executive Katelyn Meeker Operations Administrative Coordinator Heyward Manning Marketing and Promotions Manager John Davis House Account Manager Anna Hortik Operations Manager Maddie Miller Marketing and Events Director Will Wytias-Sobel Digital and Advertising Sales Manager Taylor Wheeler Advertising Director Teri Driskell C I R CULA TI ON Circulation Manager Ty Koepke Circulation Coordinator Chris Speed BUS INESS Business Manager Sarah Dunahay AP/Payroll Specialist Robert Scribner AR Coordinator Stacy Phillips Receptionist Cindy Perez Associate Publisher Tracy Kontrelos Publisher Scott Tobias V O ICE MEDIA GROUP 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 VMG NA TI ONAL National Advertising: 1-888-278-9866, www.voicemediagroup.com Senior Vice President of Sales Operations Joe Larkin DI S TRIBUTI ON Westword is available free of charge. 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Le Culture Editor Emily Ferguson Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Cannabis Editor Thomas Mitchell Staff Writers Catie Cheshire, Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, Michael Roberts Senior Contributor Alan Prendergast Contributors Hilal Bahcetepe, Nathalie Baret, John Bear, Alex Berryhill, Teague Bohlen, Jacqueline Collins, Linnea Covington, Claire Duncombe, Susan Froyd, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Kristen Kuchar, Katrina Leibee, Cleo Mirza, Michael Paglia, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Jonathan Shikes, Jon Solomon, Chris Walker, Kastle Waserman, Juliet Wittman Editorial Interns Jehu Iyema, Ana Ortega ON THE COVER PHOTOGRAPH OF MICHAEL GRAUNKE, JUAN PABLO LLANO AND ESTEBAN GALLARDO BY EVAN SEMÓN 5 westword.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | CALHOUN | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | WESTWORD MAY 12-18, 2022 BERMIX STUDIO ON UPSLASH
