4 MAY 21-27, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 17 URBAN RENEWAL Keenan TreVon could fi nally put Denver’s growing R&B scene on the national map. BY CLEO MIRZA 6 CAPITOL IDEAS Denver Parks & Rec has grand plans for Cap Hill. BY THOMAS MITCHELL 8 RENTER’S REVENGE Law fi rm stands up for tenants against lawless landlords. BY SAGE KELLEY 10 OPEN SECRETS Denver recently lost several open mics, but you can still fi nd places to sound off. BY SARA ROSENTHAL 15 SEEDS OF CHANGE At Milpero, Johnny Curiel is planting the future of Mexican fi ne dining. BY ANTONY BRUNO 10 Culture 15 Cafe 17 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 20 26 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 26 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 38 MAY 21-27, 2026 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Antony Bruno Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Sage Kelley, Hannah Metzger Senior Contributors Brendan Joel Kelley, Alan Prendergast, Michael Roberts Contributors Gil Asakawa, Teague Bohlen, Justin Criado, Audrey Ferrer, Nick Hutchinson, Karl Christian Krumpholz, Skyler McKinley, Abigail Nueve, Ryan Pachmayer, Kristin Pazulski, Adam Perry, Evan Semón, Amber Taufen, Toni Tresca, Kastle Waserman Music Listings Matthew Jones Cover Designer Monika Swiderski Editorial Intern July Ramirez P R O D U C T I O N Production Manager Michael Wilson Assistant Production Manager Erin Kirk Graphic Designers Caleigh Gearheart, 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 Senior Multimedia Account Executives Amy Camera, Aaron Lembke Multimedia Account Executives Remy Diamond, Rachel Gilmore, Keith Gordon, Trey Konsella, Kirby Quick, Dalton Wilson, Allison Wissink Operations Manager Carver Hodgkiss Digital Sales Coordinator Anne-Grace Hartman Director of Digital Sales Alan Heath C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Ty Koepke B U S I N E S S Director of Business and Operations Russell Breiter 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 Executive Editor Chelsey Dequaine-Jerabek Editorial Operations Director Bridget Thomason Director of Membership and Community Development Jennifer Robinson Digital Operations & Audience Strategist Allison Stephenson Audience Strategist Lauren Antonoff Hart 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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DESIGN BY MONIKA SWIDERSKI “JOIN THE CLUB,” DAVID DUBERSTEIN, MAY 14 T H E G R A S S I S G R E E N E R Wonderful piece on Wellshire Golf Course. Thanks for the history lesson! Al- most makes me want to play golf. Jeannie Conners Denver It is outrageous that the city allows that clubhouse lease to continue at Wellshire. The concessionaire is getting a bargain, and the citizens are getting screwed. Jack Wilson Denver Been a while, but Wellshire’s got lots of history and it’s smack dab in the middle of the city. Maybe they’ll have a special for the an- niversary. What could they do for a fl at $100? I’m sure I could come up with something. Richard Ramsey Denver Why is a city even in the golf-course busi- ness? Denver should take care of the parks that all people can use. There’s plenty that needs to be done there. Jose Martin Denver “GOING TO CHURCH,” MICHAEL ROBERTS, MAY 7 P R A Y A S Y O U G O I love Regas Christou’s project to renovate the church into a new venue. As a long-time lover of the Church on Lincoln, this would be a really cool addition to the Five Points/City Park West neighborhood. I would defi nitely partake in events there. It could be one of the venues included in the Five Points jazz fest. As a resident of the City Park West neighbor- hood for many, many years, it would be nice to be able to walk to and from a venue close to home without having to deal with all the Uber bullshit. I hope the neighborhood sup- ports this. Hopefully, Regas has much success. Chris Pedone Golden Regas Christou is still around? That’s a name from the past. I wish him luck with his new church project, but this is a very different city from the one where he opened his fi rst clubs. Now it doesn’t seem to like people having fun after 8 p.m. Good luck. Sam Robinson Denver “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR,” MAY 14 A R E A D - L E T T E R D A Y What happened to the Letters to the Edi- tor column last week? It’s my favorite part of the paper, and the fi rst page I turn to every week. Ray Rodriguez Aurora Editor’s note: We were short of letters for the column last week...but that drought could end soon. Every week, we fi ll this column with comments about recent Westword stories that were emailed to the offi ce or posted on Facebook and approved for publication. And now you have a new (read: old) way to tell us what you think. If you’re a longtime reader, you might remember that years ago, you could leave comments on our articles on westword.com. But due to limited re- sources and some bad behavior, we turned off that feature. Well, it’s now 2026. Technology has evolved, and we’re hopeful that we can make this work a second time around. Partner- ing with Arena, we can more easily monitor comments to help ensure a safe, respectful, welcoming space for all on westword.com, so you can once again post comments at the end of every article. (There are rules, but they’re reasonable.) We hope readers will enjoy not only sharing their thoughts but reading the opinions of oth- ers in this section. And if you’re commenting on a story that was in the print edition, there’s a good chance you’ll see your comment in this column. As always, you’re welcome to communicate with us by sending an email to editorial@ westword.com...or even by going really old school and calling the offi ce at 303-296-7744.