2 westword.com WESTWORD MAY 22-28, 2025 | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 6 DID YOU KNOW THIS WOMAN? A Denver waitress may have been “the most dangerous woman alive.” BY HANNAH METZGER 4 SUMMER SIGNUP While immigrants laid low for a while, they’re signing up in unprecedented numbers for ACC’s summer camp. BY BENNITO L. KELTY 12 FUNDS AND GAMES Colorado arts organizations comment on their lost NEA funding BY KRISTEN FIORE 17 SPECIAL DELIVERY Cocinita Mexicana cooks up Denver’s best comfort food in a ghost kitchen. BY HANNAH METZGER 19 BREAK FREE Ben Perea is revealing unseen photography that captured Queen’s fi nal performance in Denver. BY EMILY FERGUSON 12 Culture 17 Cafe 19 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 25 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 26 ASK A STONER ......................................... 26 VOLUME 48 NUMBER 39 MAY 22-28, 2025 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Interim Food and Drink Editor Gil Asakawa Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Catie Cheshire, Brendan Joel Kelley, Bennito L. 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PHOTOGRAPH BY DARREN VARGAS “PIPE DREAMS,” GIL ASAKAWA, MAY 15 O R G A N M E E T S I was so excited to see the article about the documentary on the Organ Grinder. Along with being a fantastic place fi lled with music, fun and memories, it also gave families an entertaining night and a really good pizza! I worked as the dancing mouse for two and a half years, and I still believe it was the best job I ever had! So many memories and fun times there. It was such a beautiful building, and the music was almost the best. I don’t think Denver realized what it lost when it closed. I still can’t drive by the corner without remembering be- ing outside, waving at people. During my time there, I dated the Mr. Mouse and we were the Best Man and Maid of Honor at a couples wed- ding. When the restaurant was auctioned off, all the equipment and furniture, I went and I purchased the Mr. and Mrs. Mouse heads, and I still have them today. I also have the bouquet from the wedding. I’m quite sure I have lots of pictures from the restaurant and I would love to contribute if I can. This was one of the special places that should never have gone away. I’m excited to see Bob Nicholson bring it back to life. Traci Anderson Denver I read the interesting article about the Or- gan Grinder in the latest edition of Westword. I have a fl yer from the Organ Grinder saved from about 1980 with promotion of a per- formance by Al Fike and organist Ed Benoit. Maybe Bob Nicholson would like to see it. Walter Spita Aurora I enjoyed “Pipe Dreams,” and thought I would take this opportunity to let you know of two other pizza restaurants that had giant organs. The Organ Stop Pizza at 1149 East South- ern Avenue in Mesa, Arizona, is still in opera- tion. It has a huge organ that emerges from the fl oor on a rotating platform. The pizza is good, too. One of the issues is fi nding people who can play the organ. The second restaurant was located in Lansing, Michigan. It featured a Mighty Wurlitzer organ that emerged from the fl oor on a rotating platform. There were only three Mighty Wurlitzer organs pro- duced. The restaurant provided sing-a-long songbooks for the patrons. It also served beer and wine. My friends and I used to go there when I was in law school in the 1980s. Unfortunately, it is no longer there. Marjorie K. Nanian Westminster Thanks for doing a great article on a clas- sic old establishment like the Organ Grinder pizza spot. I was just a kid when the place was in existence (I was born in 1975), so de- tails are hard for me to recall, but my family and I had many wonderful dinners there. I remember something about a monkey with cymbals; it was defi nitely part of what made the nights more fun. Looking forward to future articles. Jake Battala Littleton “BUZZ OFF,” ABBY O’BRIEN, MAY 8 S T U N G ! “Buzz Off” was incredibly disheartening to see. I’m born and raised in Denver, and have been working with bees and pollinator conservation here for thirteen years. This is not a topic that can be distilled to a catchy headline. It is not okay to place our divisive ideologies on nature, and it is not the fault of honey bees. This is a deeper conversation on the commercial bee- keeping industry that is heavily infl uenced by industrial agriculture and is causing great harm to honey bees and all bees. In my work, I only work with swarms of honey bees, those that are already living within my bioregion. A group of us are coming together to support honey bees and native bees. We are building tree nests for wild honey bees to naturally inhabit. One of us has started a native plant nursery and is doing big work to create native pollinator habitat in the town of Lyons. I’m a beekeeper and I’m also leading a project in the mountains to grow native pollinator habitat. What I am saying is there is a third story. This is far too complex a topic to be discussed in this way. Courtney Cosgriff Morrison
