4 OCTOBER 23-29, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | W ® 13 MILE HIGH HAUNTS! Denver’s most celebrated spirits and spooky sites. BY TEAGUE BOHLEN 6 CRANKED UP Colorado Springs billboard targets congressman over Epstein fi les release. BY MICHAEL ROBERTS 8 OF FIRE AND FRIENDSHIP Nederland’s Brightwood Music is coming out of a dark time. BY MICHAEL ROBERTS 18 A SPIRITED COMEBACK The Brown Palace is back...and the ghosts never left. BY PATRICIA CALHOUN 21 MILE HIGH PRIDE Rapper Malcolm Whyz3 can’t be boxed in. BY CLEO MIRZA 13 Culture 18 Cafe 21 Music CONCERTS/CLUBS ................................... 22 27 Marijuana CANNABIS CALENDAR ............................ 28 HIGH NOTES ............................................. XX VOLUME 49 NUMBER 8 OCTOBER 23-29, 2025 E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers 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 general information, call: 303-296-7744 For Editorial, email: [email protected] ON THE COVER DESIGN BY MONIKA SWIDERSKI 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 BRADLEY HANSEN “BUCKLE UP,” HANNAH METZGER, OCTOBER 16 T A K E N F O R A R I D E I have mixed feelings about Waymo. I’m not one who usually wants to avoid human inter- action, but the benefi ts of human interaction as described in the article (when it comes to rideshare and taxi drivers) just aren’t there. We’re already in a situation where it’s a race to the bottom, and taking the driver out completely is literally the bottom. Obviously, the solution is to raise the stan- dards much higher and raise the pay to match so that people don’t feel like they have to spend every waking moment driving a death machine around with someone else in it. Absent those changes, I welcome this system, and I welcome not having to feel like I have to give a steep tip at the end of the ride as well. I tried Waymo in Phoenix a few months ago, and I’m sold. The car knew where to go, drove smoothly, didn’t take any chances, had no close calls or near misses, and didn’t lose focus. While I lament the loss of the human experience, I didn’t have to worry about any awkward chat or silence. This system is safer; we just need to make sure it is regulated with common sense to avoid the inevitable enshittifi cation that comes once these services are common. I look forward to seeing it operate in the snow. On dry pavement, it’s already a much better driver than most humans, and the is- sues with it that you see reported sensation- ally on the news are rare exceptions rather than the rule. In time, it will become a much better driver in the snow. Scott Frisby Denver I choose them every time over a cab/Uber in San Francisco. It will be interesting to see how far they’ll run beyond downtown. James Wedding Denver New Denver resident here. Coming from Phoenix, I saw dozens of Waymo’s every day. Very safe vehicles. When Phoenix had heavy rain a few weeks ago, the Waymos drove into flooded streets and Waymo suspended service. Guessing Waymo will fi gure out snow or suspend service for the day. Denver does not receive 365 days of snow. Harvey Reiss Denver Nice. Can’t wait to get into the backseat of a driverless car and fi nd vomit from the last drunkass who was in there. Matt Holden Englewood Pay drivers better and get less surly driv- ers. Autodrive is anti-employee tech. Neil Paz-Cruzat Denver “DEN-MEX DIARY,” GUSTAVO ARELLANO, OCTOBER 9 T H E M E X I C A N S T A N D O F F The fi rst thing I would suggest to Gustavo Arellano is instead of the smothered bur- rito at Brewery Bar II, get the smothered crispy chile relleno. Seriously, I lick my plate after eating that bad boy! The second thing I would suggest is to keep promoting La Fiesta. I really appreciate you mention- ing this place, because it’s my favorite as well. We need to keep the old-school places around to counteract this yuppie bullshit! Lastly, check out Curtis Park Creamery. It’s a classic. Chris Pedone Golden I used to love Gustavo’s column! A for- mer Colorado native from age sevenish until I left in 2017, I recently arrived back for a year-long stay and I, too, am glad people in Denver are fi ghting the good fi ght when it comes to supporting immigrants. For the fi rst time in my life in Colorado, I am living in the heart of the immigrant community and I must say I’m enjoying the diversity. I’ll have to check out this Cocina Libre suggestion. Never heard of it, but I’ll trust “Ask a Mexican.” Melissa Davis Denver
