The Colorado Rockies were blessed with about 2 and a half feet of snow, early in the week before Halloween of 2010. Arapahoe Basin and Loveland Ski Areas opened up to the public with pretty stellar conditions. We went up to A-Basin today and enjoyed soft, packed powder snow and the mountain's new express quad!
Conditions did get a little more firm and slick later in the day as the snow surface was scraped and swiped by the throngs of shralpers that navigated the one open run. The terrain park so far consists of a short flat box and tall short down rail with landings that became quite ravaged by noon.
The lift line dies down considerably by 2:00 so if you are looking to ride, stick it out all day to get the most turns in; that is unless you go this weekend, which will obviously be spooky crowded all day.
LCD Soundsystem came through Denver with the british act Hot Chip last Wednesday and performed at the largest sized, traditional music theatre in Denver, The Fillmore Auditorium. The show was listed to start at 8:00PM with doors opening at 7:00. A 8:15 arrival yielded the LARGEST line we have personally seen at a theatre ever. Five heads wide and going almost half way around a major city block, the line was evidence that showgoers were very excited to see opener Hot Chip, who, rarely perform in the United States. However, Hot Chip started promptly at 8:00PM and played their set while at least a thousand people missed it in line.
This disappointment for theatre goers left most puzzled as traditionally there is at least one local act warming up the crowd for the first hour or two of showtime. After Hot Chip there was 40 minutes of intermission while the stage was re-set. LCD Soundsystem then played a great set, which ended at about 11:15PM. Since the event we have seen on LCD's Twitter that this early start time for Hot Chip has been happening many places so if you have tickets for one of their duo shows, SHOW UP ON TIME!
There is an especially shiny gem in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. It's called RedLine Gallery and it is one of the more impressive open art rooms in the city. The floorplan is spacious, with rolling monolith like exhibiting walls peppering the perimeter of the space.
As a registered Section 501(c) charity, RedLine is a community place with many of it's showing artists keeping studios in the gallery. Laura Merage, the founder is in the business of helping emerging & mid-career artists develop their portfolios and build their careers.
The gallery is at 2350 Arapahoe Street in the city of Denver and is open to the public 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday and 11 to 5 Saturday & Sunday. Swing on by!
This week our good friend Jack Boyd graduated from the Art Institute of Denver. With a focus in action sports photography, Jack will be entering this coming work week as a full fledged adult, currently doing work with Spyder in Boulder, CO. He has received some extra hype on the blogosphere recently with recognition from the Denver Egotist who called him a "grad to grab." Check out his website for some beautiful Colorado imagery.
This past season the Jiberish Clothing Company produced their first ever team movie featuring skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding. "Right Back Where We Started" The film runs 40 minutes and features an especially memorable 6 minute skateboarding section that is impressive for a company that had no athletes outside of snow sports just a year ago. It is a complimentary film that has been hosted on one of the most promising and popular creative commons viral video sites, Vimeo, for less than one month and has garnered 59,000 views. The movie is also slated to be released on the Level 1 Productions 2010 DVD of their movie 'Eye Trip'. Level 1 is arguably the best modern ski movie company around at this point, and has been a partner with Jiberish for years. The two brands collaborate on cut and sew clothing and athlete relationships.
For another year, one of the most staggeringly massive unofficial events passed at 4:20PM on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. It was overcast almost all day, until about 3:30, when the clouds broke to lighten up the green and lush, spring, Rocky Mountains; proving once again, that the sun gods smile fondly upon marijuana.
The demonstration ended without serious incident, as police and smokers coexisted peacefully in the Norlin Quadrangle for about an hour. Following this session, there was the customary mass exodus from the commons areas to respective eating and drinking establishments.
I took my Mamiya C330 Medium Format and shot a triple paned panorama on Provia 100F Color Slide Film. Click here for FULL PANORAMA
Jiberish Clothing has spent months supporting local designer and construction man, Drew Witmer, while he renovated a dull, sand tone wine shop in the Lower Highlands Neighborhood of Denver into a vibrant and stylish garment showcase suite. Part of this was made possible by a creative loan from the Denver Office of Economic Development, which helped out Jiberish with lending during a time when traditional lending institutions were not doing so.
As a result Mayor JohN Hickenlooper made a stop by to cut the ribbon at the grand opening. I was told that news cameras and reporters would be present for this but when I showed up, I found otherwise. I ended up being the only person with a video camera there that day which was quite exciting. I took Hickenlooper aside for a few of my own questions, and finally got to put my University of Colorado Journalism degree into action.
The first decade of the new millennium is in the bag. Drag yourself out of the post holiday season party slouch and start making it happen. May you excel at your passions and thrive with the company of friends and family.
