10 DECEMBER 28-JANUARY 3, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | be. The sound will be perfect, the lighting will be highly intentional, and that gives people a draw to connect with each other,” Champion told us. “But some of the major thematic differences will be that it’ll be more of a lounge, something that offers a little bit more warmth, and more caters to a broader range of audiences, especially in the earlier hours.” As at Beacon, though, the owners will put an emphasis on patrons coming to connect with others and fi nd their tribe. Nocifera furthers that mission with his podcast, He- roic Hospitality, in which he’s interviewed everyone from Youth on Record’s Jami Duffy to chef Troy Guard. So keep your eye out: A brand-new venue is on the horizon, and with Champion and Nocifera behind it, it’s bound to be the city’s next top club. As Nocifera promised: “The secret sauce is coming with us.” — EMILY FERGUSON Poetic justice: Andrea Gibson Colorado has its tenth poet laureate: Andrea Gibson, who took on the two-year role in September after being appointed by Gov- ernor Jared Polis. “Andrea Gibson is an inspiring Colo- rado artist. Colorado’s poet laureate is an ambassador of the arts and someone who can truly share their talents while inspiring the artistic abilities within ourselves,” Polis said in making the announcement. “Andrea’s voice holds a fi erce conviction in inspiring others to pursue art and take action toward solving social issues, and they personify our Colorado for All spirit. I know Andrea will be a strong advocate for the arts and art education as a way to bring us together, has a strong desire for unity and to bring people together through poetry.” The nonbinary Boulder-based slam poet, queer activist and author replaced Bobby LeFebre, the state’s youngest poet laureate and fi rst person of color in the position. “I admire Andrea not only for their extraor- dinary talent, but also for their unwavering dedication to building a more just world, one we have yet to see but long for,” LeFebre told us after Gibson was announced as his successor. “Their poetry and life’s work are a force that empowers us to confront the internal and external challenges of our time with empathy, courage and compassion.” LeFebre took part in more than 130 events during his four-year tenure, and Gibson hit the ground running. Named one of Colo- rado’s top-ten must-read writers by Westword in 2019, Gibson told us that they want to use this new platform to highlight LG- BTQ+ and social-justice is- sues — a focus of the artist’s work since they got started as a slam poet in 1999. Gibson grew up in rural Maine and attended Saint Joseph’s College, earning a degree in writing. A year later, Gibson moved to New Orleans before settling in Boulder in 1999, which has been home ever since. Over the past 24 years, Gibson has been a four-time Den- ver Grand Slam Champion in poetry; won the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Detroit; and placed fourth at the 2004 National Poetry Slam and third at the 2006 and 2007 Indi- vidual World Poetry Slam. Even with such recognition, Gibson has always stayed rooted in the local scene, promoting local artists and assets. In July 2020, Gibson wrote “When I Die, Scatter My Ashes at the Mercury Cafe,” a Westword essay “in support of the space in which I learned how to write.” Social justice is always at the forefront of her work, which includes seven books of poetry. Most recently, Gibson wrote You Better Be Lightning while fi ghting through a successful battle with ovarian cancer. As poet laureate, they plan to continue working alongside LGBTQ+-centered organizations such as A Queer Endeavor, which helps educators understand queer youths’ needs, as well as offering poetry readings at nursing homes and studying how poetry can impact anti-bullying programs. These are all “things that I hadn’t even considered before that are coming my way because of this new position,” Gibson told us. “It’s just amazing.” — EMILY FERGUSON A long, strange trip: Joshua Kappel Business owners, lawyers and lobbyists across Colorado have been scurrying to carve out pieces of the state’s emerging mushroom space since voters decriminal- ized and legalized certain psychedelics late last year. As one of a handful of attorneys who co-wrote the groundbreaking Proposi- tion 122, Joshua Kappel had already secured a seat at the table, and his plate should be full in 2024. The Vicente LLP lawyer began his career in the trenches of the fi ght for cannabis legal- ization in 2007, taking leading roles in Stu- dents for Sensible Drug Policy while at the University of Denver, then with the Amend- ment 64 campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Colorado. After developing a “deep relationship” with psychedelics and being approached to help with the effort to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms in Denver about fi ve years ago, Kappel began wading deeper into psychedelics and away from cannabis. Now, a year after pushing through the most comprehensive set of psychedelics reform laws in the country’s history, Kappel fi nds himself consulting on simi- lar efforts across the United States, with influential roles in Massachusetts’s current psychedelic initia- tive and on the board of the Healing Advocacy Fund, an organization that helps with the implementation of new psychedelic laws in both Colorado and Oregon. “I learned that anything is possible when we were part of the first state to legalize cannabis. People said it couldn’t be done, and people at law school said I would never get another job,” he says. “Now my duty and drama for the next year is to make sure this keeps working, that we put to- gether regulations that are safe and respon- sible and inclusive — regulations that honor the indigenous medicine keepers who’ve been working in medicine for so long.” Kappel isn’t on any government boards right now, estimating that around 90 to 95 percent of his clients work in the psy- chedelics space. He calls himself a “nerdy policy attorney,” but recognizes that he’s in a “unique position” as one of a select handful of psychedelics attorneys who have the ear of government offi cials. Kappel works hard be- hind the scenes as state psychedelics boards convene with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs and the Colorado Depart- ment of Revenue, and is regularly consulted on his legal interpretation of Colorado’s new psychedelics law. Not all of Colorado’s psychedelic com- munity agrees with Kappel’s strategy, how- ever; some factions are critical that he and Prop 122’s co-authors didn’t pursue more allowances for personal use and spiritual guidance. Other critics believe he has too much influence over Colorado’s natural medicine regulators. “If you’re making positive change in the world, there are always going to be people hating on what you’re doing,” Kappel says. “There was a group of people who wanted the policy to be better, and ‘better’ is gener- ally more liberal or permissive. It’s not like I don’t share those goals, but at the end of the day, you have to make changes that the people of Colorado are comfortable with. I try my best to listen to everyone, and there are many decision makers in any movement.” Kappel plans to be busy next year moni- toring how state and local governments implement the medical psilocybin program. Applications could be available for Colo- rado mushroom cultivators, processors and facilitators as early as late 2024 or early 2025; while local municipalities aren’t al- lowed to ban such businesses, they can add time, place and manner rules. All of this will shape how medical psilocybin is viewed in Colorado and across the country as more states consider similar action, he says, and it could impact upcoming DORA decisions about the future medical legality of DMT, ibogaine and mescaline. “It will be very interesting with how lo- cal governments zone these businesses and what is put in place around them, and how these conversations and lessons learned in Colorado affect other states,” Kappel notes. “So this is my duty right now: to help make this program work in Colorado.” — THOMAS MITCHELL People to Watch in 2024 continued from page 9 EMILY FERGUSON MEGAN FALLEY Robert Champion (left) and Mario Nocifera Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson Attorney Josh Kappel VICENTE LLP
