12/28/09

Public Enemy No. 1

Aspen saw an absolutely unforgettable performance last night at Belly Up by one of the most influential, important and legendary groups of all time: Public Enemy.

Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, DJ Lord and the S1W crew offered the audience a reminder of how powerful hip-hop can be. It was a smaller version of PE; their performances for much of the last decade have often featured a bigger band, including a horn section. But for me, the pared-down PE was even more special. The one-DJ-three-rappers-and-four-stage-minders arrangement and the ridiculous intimacy of the 450-capacity Belly Up made the...

Posted at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1

12/03/09

Filling the Voids

The combination of opening day at Aspen Mountain and Snowmass, Thanksgiving and the women’s World Cup ski races made for an energetic start to the season. Some bemoaned the lack of snow, but anyone with perspective knows that the skiing was more than satisfactory for late November.

What likely surprised folks who were back in Aspen for the first time in a year wasn’t the sparse snowcover, but the abundance of empty storefronts. The blackness of the former D19 space coupled with a curiously unopened Pacifica made for a dead spot next to Wagner Park, where things are normally quite hopping, and there are many other prime retail spaces currently sitting empty. In fact, Aspen's vacancy rate...

Posted at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

10/29/09

Winter Predictions

If you didn’t have the ski bug yet, chances are you’ve got it this morning. Snow does that to a snow-slider. Here in Aspen, we may not be receiving the pounding Denver and Boulder are, but, well, they don’t have a ski area abutting their towns, now do they?

Aspen Mountain is wearing the past 24 hours’ snow in much the same way locals have donned their puffy down jackets over the last week—with a swaggering anticipation that says, "Winter's here, and we’re ready." If you're a skier or snowboarder, you see it everywhere. I swear I thought my new Kastles winked at me this morning.

As I've been able to think of nothing but skiing for the last 24 hours (having breakfast with Klaus Obermeyer this morning only added to my fixation),...

Posted at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

09/13/09

Sweetgrass World Premiere

Have you ever felt, as a ski-town local or dedicated visitor, that the essence of what you love about life in the mountains never quite makes it into ski movies and magazines? Ski media tends to distill things down to the most bluebird of days, the most hardcore of skiers, never delving into the rich layers and rituals that are the spirit of mountain-town life.

Without a doubt, ski movies are the guiltiest offenders. “Ski porn,” the preferred cliché used to describe the genre, arrives every autumn to offer a minor variation on the same theme: aggressive music, location-specific segments and an abundance of mind-numbing, dude-I’m-gonna-rip-this commentary. Does it get you excited for winter? Maybe, but it surely doesn’t stir your soul or stay with...

Posted at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

08/18/09

Book Signing: Well Read and Dead

I had read Judith Barnard’s review of Catherine O’Connell’s “Well Read and Dead” (labeled a high society mystery novel) in Aspen Sojourner’s Summer 2009 issue. It intrigued me enough to drop by O’Connell’s book signing at Explore Booksellers on Aug. 6..

Bookworms sat knee-to-knee in Explore’s pint-sized back room while O’Connell read a couple of excerpts and offered an explanation of what it’s like to be an author publishing a book these days. Her short bob, red-framed glasses and hearty, but perhaps a little...

Posted at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

08/03/09

Did Somebody Say Food Cart?

Wedged between two buildings on Cooper Street is the latest and tiniest addition to the Aspen culinary scene: Dark Horse Alley. Unlike the big wigs that surround the quaint space—Boogies, Paradise Bakery and Little Annie’s—this spanking-new venue is carving out its own forté.

A black wiry fence and cobblestone path lead to a fancy food cart with a European twist, serving up flaky breakfast and lunch items from dawn ‘til dusk. The ambience is certainly appealing, with flowers crawling up the surrounding stone walls, a vintage Coca-Cola machine holding thirst quenchers in cool glass bottles and tiny hanging white lights. And it’s all within fifteen square feet, give...

Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

07/28/09

Aspen Sojourner on Dateline NBC!

The entire Aspen Sojourner staff tuned into Dateline NBC last night. In part, it was for the subject matter. The investigative news program devoted an hour to the murder of Arizona businessman Gary Triano. As anyone who’s read the Aspen papers knows, Aspenite—and Triano’s former wife—Pamela Phillips has had an arrest warrant issued for her alleged involvement in the crime. But the bigger reason we were sofa-bound from 9 to 10 p.m. was that Aspen Sojourner editor in chief Jay Cowan made a 30 second appearance on the program.

This past winter, a Dateline producer was in Aspen doing research on Phillips. He reached out to us because Phillips had appeared in our magazine...

Posted at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

07/06/09

First Time Food & Wine

It’s mid June. Rows of white tents have suddenly appeared in and around Paepke Park and crowds of visitors with passes around their necks can only mean one thing: the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. And this year’s three-day event was sure to be nothing short of a hit. Or so we assumed. After all, we--interns at Aspen Sojourner--had never attended. So when we were offered the chance to go to a wine seminar, we immediately accepted. But which seminar would we attend? As Food & Wine virgins, we weren't sure where to start.

Undecided whether our interest fell more with celeb chefs, like latest Top Chef winner

Posted at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

07/06/09

Aspen Poetry Night

The Aspen Poets’ Society’s Live Poetry Night on Sunday, June 28, at the Hotel Lenado drew a near full house crowd.  Songwriter/guitarist Steve Koch opened the evening with several of his songs, which warmed up the audience for the entertaining live auction that followed.

The spotlight next shone on 10 open mic poets who preceded the very animated and accomplished guest poet, Aaron A. Abeyta. The audience attentively listened.  They smiled, they laughed, they were moved by very personal expression. And, once again, all were reminded of the power of the spoken word.  If you weren’t in attendance, do not miss...

Posted at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0

04/23/09

An Atypical Off-Season

Aspen has its own calendar. Sure, we have the twelve months of the year like every place. And we do have four seasons, though our spring and fall are measured in weeks, not months, and winter tends to stick around for half the year.

But it is now, in late April, that Aspen's most marked seasonal transition occurs: On-season to off-season. It is a time when the skiers have stopped coming and the summer crowd is still some weeks away. After months of tourists, which in Aspen brings dozens of languages and swells the town's population to five times its year-round numbers, the streets seem to empty overnight. Just a few weeks ago, town seemed --no, was--an international hub. Now you know almost everyone you see. Parking is available everywhere, traffic has evaporated, signs in...

Posted at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments: 0