Winners of ‘poo poetry’ contest announced

Aspen Daily News Staff Report

The city of Aspen has chosen its favorite poems, limericks and haikus for its first-ever “Dog Poo Poetry Competition.”

The competition was held in response to Aspen’s number-one summer complaint: Dog poo in parks, open space and on city sidewalks. According to a press release, the city wanted to emphasize the importance of picking up after pets “in a fun and creative way,” and received “tons of poetry submissions, with some from as far away as Seattle.”

THE SCORE — Musicians serve with pride and conviction

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Editor’s note: The following is the last of three columns adapted from remarks given at the Aspen Music Festival and School’s opening convocation on June 16.

Community Briefs

Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Construction on Highway 82 and Highway 133

The Colorado Department of Transportation started a resurfacing project on Highway 82 between mile markers 17.5 and 21 in the El Jebel and Willits area this week that should be completed this fall.

Three cited by USFS for illegal filming

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

The U.S. Forest Service has fined two filmmakers and a senior marketing executive at Aspen Skiing Co. $500 each for “conducting an unauthorized commercial activity” on Forest Service land last winter while shooting promotional film footage.

The fines resulted from a federal investigation that began after 22-year-old Wallace Westfeldt of Aspen died in an April 4 snowboarding accident in Tonar Bowl outside of the Aspen Highlands ski area while being filmed by a company hired by SkiCo.

Thanks to cool spring, flood threat mostly over

by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

Call it the flood that wasn’t.

In Basalt, homeowners were stacking up sandbags. In Glenwood Springs, a trailer park owner hacked down trees along the Roaring Fork River. After a winter of heavy snows, valley residents were preparing for an onslaught of runoff from the high country.

Nunn for VP in a ‘hot, flat and crowded’ world?

by Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer

Former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia said he’d consider being Barack Obama’s vice president. Columnist Tom Friedman previewed his forthcoming book titled “Hot, Flat and Crowded.” And journalist Jeffrey Goldberg turned an interview with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff into a comic affair.

So went an “Afternoon of Conversation” at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Thursday, which served as the close of the first half of the week-long conference and the opening of the second half.

Truck surfer runs free; 1 arrested for brawl

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
A report of a man surfing in the back of a white Chevy pickup truck on Highway 82 led Pitkin County sheriff’s deputies on the lookout for the rogue thrill-seeker last Thursday night.

The truck reportedly pulled into the Buttermilk parking lot, and authorities never caught up with it.

Bridge construction complete

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Construction of the new Maroon Creek Bridge is complete, aside from work on lighting and landscaping.

On Tuesday afternoon, July 8, all eastbound and westbound traffic will be directed off the old structure and onto the new bridge, so that bus lanes contractor Castle Rock Construction can complete the upvalley lanes of the bus lane extension project.

Quiet in the Kitchen

by Christine Benedetti, Time Out Staff Writer
Kitchens - especially those that are professional - are noisy places, consumed by banging pots, sizzling vegetables and shouting orders. Servers come and go in systematic chaos delivering courses that have been doted over for days, placing it in the right place, with the perfect wine and a well-practiced smile, and it's all in the hope of bringing a good meal to the diner.

The only sounds in the kitchen of a local couple's home on Sunday evening were the soft humming of a torch crisping crème brulee, and silence.

An Independence Weekend Art Celebration At Highlands

by Damien Williamson, Time Out Staff Writer
It was a rare day at Aspen Highlands' LivAspenArt gallery last Wednesday, as all three artists currently working in the joint studio and display space were milling about, talking and creating art. And it seemed only appropriate as the gallery - as well as several of the other merchants in Aspen Highlands Village - were preparing for their Independence weekend artist reception.

The event takes place this Sunday, July 6, and features music by Aspen Music Festival and School's Sybarite Chamber Players; receptions at several Highlands galleries including LivAspenArt, Harvey/Meadows Gallery and the Aspen Gallery; brunch deals at Willow Creek Bistro; and catered food and drinks sponsored by Pravda Vodka, Aspen Sojourner and the Ritz-Carlton Club. But, as should be the case, the art is what takes the front seat.

One Single Tree

by Christine Benedetti, Time Out Staff Writer
Hamilton Aguiar is a Brazilian artist who immigrated to the United States in the late '80s. Sitting down at the E.S. Lawrence Gallery about a month ago with him, one can tell he's held onto those roots but embraced his New York and Hamptons influences.

As he casually sat back on the leather couch in the side gallery, he talked about his work - iconic silver leaves on oil canvases - and then pulled out his iPhone to show images from his new sculpture series. The installations are a set of panels in mixed media depicting his leaves and in-air butterflies. He only showed two of the complete set, which should have several panels when it's done, ranging in size from 1 foot wide to 5 feet wide. In total, the series will be about 36 feet long and 8 feet high, as it wraps around in a curvacious line.

Black Francis

by Jason Hood, Time Out Staff Writer
December 19, 1990, was a night I will most probably, unless begged by some random, catastrophic brain injury, never forget. On that precious evening a friend and I attended a concert that, and I declare this with the utmost sincerity, was nothing less than pure magic.

Kicking off the night was an almost unheard of band called Primus. They were young, eccentric and so ridiculously talented and precise, predictions of superstardom swept through the crowd. The closing act was Jane's Addiction, a fierce beast of a band bent on self-destruction. It was the infamous "Birkenstock" show that ended about one-third of the way through their set because some overzealous and inconsiderate attendee threw a sandal in the general vicinity of Perry Farrell's head. Farrell's classic line "... the guy threw a Birkenstock! I mean this guy is a real moron. He doesn't even understand fashion," will forever be lodged in the rock 'n' roll creases of my mind.

Editor's Picks: Fun on the Fourth

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Time Out Staff Writer
America's birthday is a time for family, friends, food and fireworks. This weekend has an enormous schedule complete with all the ingredients. Here are our favorites:

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A Dancer's Day

by Linda Gerdenich, Time Out Guest Writer
So what does a dancer do every day? I sat down with Katie Dehler and Sam Chittenden, dancers with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, to discuss just this.

Aspen is fortunate to have a world-class ballet company as the jewel in the crown of our many outstanding arts organizations.

Bonny Doon, Ca' del Solo Muscat and Our Fearless Leader, Randall Graham

by Drew Stofflet, Time Out Wine Critic
Summer is apparently in full-swing, as many people seem to be enjoying the crisp, slightly sweet muscat. Personally, I get excited when the shift to summer sweets, like muscat, from drier white wines takes place. The food pairings with muscat are seasonal, fresh and offer many possibilities. Right now, we are loving it with fresh East Coast pan-fried soft-shell crabs and open-faced raviolis of squash, goat cheese, fresh garden greens and pancetta.

Tonight I opened a bottle of Ca' del Solo Muscat, Monterey County, from the Bonny Doon Winery out in Santa Cruz, Calif. You may know of Randall Graham and his line of Big House wines. Equal parts agent provocateur and thesaurus freak, and educated in plant science at the University of California at Davis, Graham even has an asteroid named after him: the Rhone-ranger. It's a title earned while trying to grow the fickle Californian pinot noir, but realizing that Rhone-varietal grapes like marsanne, rousanne and syrah, and other "ugly duckling" grapes like muscat and riesling actually were his raison d'etre. He left his vineyard behind in the hills around Bonny Doon, just north of Santa Cruz in 1994, the same year he was named "Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year," and acquired the Ca' Del Solo vineyard near Soledad in Monterey County. Here he began to perform his wizardry with plants and soils to produce European-style Californian wines.

'Hancock' Searches for Style and Tone

by Michael Phillips, AP Movie Critic
The idea sounds ripe: Will Smith, one of the screen's most engaging movie stars, playing a surly wino of a superhero, making a mess of Los Angeles as he comes to the occasional aid of those in need. But not even Smith's charisma can mitigate the chaos that is "Hancock."

It depresses me to think of all the preteens who'll be sitting through this, since it squeaked by with a PG-13 rating; the violence and the general abrasiveness are a genuine drag. Then again, adults won't be much better off. In this highly superheroic summer of "Iron Man" and the forthcoming "The Dark Knight," "Hancock" can offer only an A-list headliner in a D-list project.

The Burlingame blame game

by By Tim Semrau
If you, too, want to play the Burlingame blame game, here is the set up: The cost of the Burlingame Phase I housing project doubled due to Aspen City Council discretionary decisions and a terrible cost estimate of infrastructure by city staff. It was NOT due to construction inflation, since it was a fixed bid. It was not due to a delay in starting Burlingame in 2005 instead of 2002, since the city’s cost to produce housing per square foot was less in 2005 than what the city paid in 2002.

In 2005 City Council got a fixed bid to build Burlingame Phase I for $150 a square foot, which included infrastructure inside the site. This contract got executed successfully with minor changes. At the time, city staff were responsible for estimating additional external infrastructure and future changes to the project.

It’s not the man, it’s the movement

by Amy Goodman, Aspen Daily News Columnist
I was on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week when Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter asked me, “Is Obama a sellout?”

The question isn’t whether he is a sellout or not — it’s about what demands are made by grass-roots social movements of those who would represent them. The question is, Who are these candidates responding to, answering to?

We deserve better

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

A rocket scientist I’m not. I’m a “beer guy from Cleveland” who has enjoyed and been so welcomed into this wonderful valley we all get to call home.

Terrorism and sabotage

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

There is an important distinction between terrorism and sabotage. Terrorists aspire to have their victims make emotionally-based decisions that result in more self-inflicted damage than possible by simple sabotage. The goal of the terrorist is to induce governments to make policy decisions which are the equivalent of a mob stampede in self-destructiveness. In that regard, the 9/11 terrorists have won the “war on terrorism” hands-down.

Poetry Night moves

Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Editor:

Live Poetry Night, co-sponsored by aspenpoetsociety.com and The Hudson Reed Ensemble, has relocated to the Hotel Lenado.