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"She Blinded Me With Science" was released one year prior to "Whirly Girl", but I don't think I paid much serious attention to college-dro pout Thomas Dolby until I went away to college, when his "Hyperactive" became the de rigueur basement speaker blast during Saturday morning cleanup at the frat house.   "Hyperactive" was the thinking man's version of "Whirly Girl", more introspective but wound just as tightly on the drum.  I love how "Hyperactive" threatens repeatedly to unspool, each time catching itself as the bass line walks a tightrope over fiasco canyon. MTV was just 1-3/4 year old, and Thomas Dolby 2 4 -1/2 , when "She Blinded Me With Science" topped out at #5 on the Billboard chart But SBMWS gets all the attention now, especially the video, a play on British eccentric s and silent movies, supposedly storyboarded before the song was even written.  (Dolby himself admitted the composition

One of my guilty pleasures from the 80s was a throwaway pop song called "Whirly Girl" by the band OXO (pronounced Ox-Oh), which peaked on the Billboard charts at #28 around the time of my 18th birthday.  It is often ranked among the top #10 worst songs of the 1980s by whoever bothers compiling these sorts of lists, but I refuse to apologize for the silly lyrics or the high school prom band bass line or the senseless "whomp whomp" welcome to the next verse.  I especially enjoy the giddy "calliope on crack" synth keyboard settings, but enough background - You have to turn your brain off to enjoy "Whirly Girl", and the less you know about Ish Ledesma (except for the fact that he is Cuban, which may explain the frenetic propulsion driving the beat, whose coda may be a car crashing into a telephone pole, for all I know) or the fact that the bass player's son later filmed a documentary about his step-father, forced to live in their basement after h

Entire song of 27 different words (six of which were borrowed from a nursery rhyme), chorus with the same two words repeated over and over.  Accompanying totalitarian-themed music video that feels more like an excuse to work female desk jockies "oh-ohs" into choreographed backup.  Favorite closing number of college a cappella groups everywhere. What a car Ultimate road movie, ultimate Chevy Chase at his smarmiest movie ("This is no longer a vacation.  It's a quest.  It's a quest for fun."), ultimate John Candy at his earnestly dopiest movie ("You couldn't even break the skin with that thing"), ultimate Beverly D'Angelo (before she went all crazy on us, although not Ellen Barkin crazy, and still packed with"walloping gorgeousness", as a critic once wrote) at her harriediest movie (Tomorrow you'll probably kill the desk clerk, hold up a McDonald's, and drive us 1000 miles out of the way to see the world's largest p

The Baldpate Inn sold at absolute auction earlier this month for $1.3 million.  The build-up to the sale was impressive by northern Colorado newspaper standards, with the Estes Park, Loveland, Fort Collins, Boulder, and Denver newspapers not just reprinting the Concierge Auction press release, but assigning a reporter in each case to write a distinct feature story. So it is with some confusion that, after hitting the alarm clock this morning, I found this on my Google news feed: 4900 S. Highway 7 is the Baldpate Inn.  What happened, and why are we going through this exercise again?

"I'm an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily every after"  - Cat Stevens (born Steven Georgiou, 1948) I moved to Estes Park "permanently" a decade ago at 42 years of age, and no matter what you thought about me back then, you had to acknowledge I arrived full of energy, passionate about causes I advocated for and believed in.  It is one thing to be passionate about fringe beliefs, and as I've repeatedly acknowledged, if I was passionate about demanding the shelves at the Estes Valley Library be stocked with Nazi literature, or sex toys, I could understand the pushback.  But at the time of my arrival, seeing the decrepit state of assembling and preserving Estes Park newspapers for future generations (or pretty much any ephemera related to Estes Park history) and the seeming unwillingness to make what had been haphazardly saved of this material available to the public (and no

Nederland's "Mountain-Ear" newspaper began life in 1977 as a twice-monthly publication, changing to a weekly in 1980, the schedule it adheres to today. Colorado high school girls track was still something of a novelty in the 1970s, and one of its biggest stars later went on to referee disputes in other civic fields. Nederland [Colorado] "Mountain-Ear" newspaper Tuesday, 11 April 1978 If this scan proves difficult to read, here's a transcript:  [Headline:]  Olympic Star To Ref All-County H.S. Meet.  [Body:]  The second annual Boulder County High School Track and Field Championships will be held Saturday, April 15, 1978, at Centaurus High School [in Lafayette] beginning at 9:15 a.m.  Sponsored by the Town & Country Review, this will again be the only county track meet attended by all boys' and girls' teams from throughout Boulder County.  Honorary referee for the day will be track star Wendy Koenig Knudson, best known for her 800-meter run

Estes Park didn't get its first traffic light until the late 1940s, and even then, it was turned off and covered up each winter.  This was 35+ years after the traffic signal was invented in Salt Lake City, Utah, which housed red and green lights in a structure resembling a birdhouse, and required manual switching between signals. The yellow "change is coming" light was added to the mix in Cleveland eight years later.  While we're on the subject, the blinking green light as used in Russia, which follows on the heels of the solid green light as a warning that the green light is growing "stale" and you should get a move on (or, at the other extreme, I've heard in China the combo "red-yellow" means the light is preparing to turn green, so start revving your engines), is a brilliant idea, and if we borrow nothing else from our former enemies, we should at least consider borrowing this. The Russian traffic police are notoriously underpaid, and

The name Azel Galbraith should be familiar to anyone claiming to be an Estes Park resident, but my guess is, 99% of long-timers will need to quick Google it before nodding their heads in agreement. Azel Day Galbraith is buried in Canon City, his wife and son in Fort Collins.  This discrepancy alone should give one pause, but provide the dates of burial, and suddenly the tragedy becomes nearly self-evident.  Jennie S. Galbraith (maiden name Lamb ring any bells?) and her 8-year-old son both died within minutes of each other on a cold morning in Russell Gulch, Gilpin County, 22 February 1904, while Azel Galbraith died shortly after being fitted with the hangman's noose on 7 March 1905. Jennie had so much going for her, while Azel was a gambler, womanizer, drunkard, and idler, an all-around waste of breath.  What did she see in him, what redeeming features penetrated the glare from his dome?  Did they meet prior to her graduation (as valedictorian) from Fort Collins High S

When Joyce and Robert Holcomb purchased property in the Magnolia/Coal Creek Canyon section of Boulder County southeast of Nederland in 1975, it entitled them to run for office in the High Country Fire Protection District, which, while primarily a Gilpin County enterprise (formed in 1972), covering sections and townships near Rollinsville and Pinecliffe and additional areas north of Black Hawk and Central City, also included old mining districts southeast of Nederland with mostly dilapidated cabins used as summer homes, and a wedge of Coal Creek lying in Boulder County. At the time, the Holcombs lived in Arvada, or at least this was their address in 1984.  Prior to this, in 1978, Joyce Holcomb ran for a 2-year term on the High Country Fire Protection District, and when she was elected and set up the 1980 board election as secretary, she provided a Golden mailing address in the announcement of the upcoming election in the legal notice section of the Weekly Register-Call new

The High Country Fire Protection District, staffed by approximately 50 volunteer firefighters and one paid fire chief, is no more, having been absorbed into the Timberline Fire Protection District a few years back.  When extant, it covered most of Gilpin County and a portion of Boulder County, large in area but small as far as population - the typical number of ballots cast for board members in any given election was less than 350, and in the 1980s, rarely made it above 100. Estes Park town trustee Robert Holcomb's resume includes serving for a time as president of the board of directors of the High Country Fire Protection District.  This would require residence in this district, and indeed, Boulder County grantor-grantee books and the Weekly Register-Call, a Gilpin County newspaper, confirm that, beginning in 1975, Robert Holcomb owned property in Boulder County. December 2014 Weekly Call-Register "30 years ago" retrospective Gambling became legal in Blac

The Estes Park Economic Development Corporation (EPEDC) is patting itself on the back because "the award for 'Small Community of  the Year' was presented" to them by the Economic Development Council of Colorado (EDCC) "on behalf of a town that sets its sights on building a more resilient, inclusive, and vibrant community and economy after recovering from the devastating Colorado floods in 2013." How has the following economic development been beneficial to Estes Park? The Estes Park Event Center, completed in spring 2014, has not brought all the big events expected from outside of our community.  It is not profitable. The Estes Park Medical Center (i.e., Park Hospital District) did not have the money to build the EPMC/Anschutz Wellness Training Center within the two years specific in the "Contract for Sale of Lot 4" to John Cullen, owner of the Stanley Hotel (i.e., Grand Heritage Hotel Group, LLC).  Since the money was not raised, according

Folks in Estes Park are to the point where they don't even wait for proper introductions at a gathering before relating how much they dislike our current commander in chief.  I'm so thankful I'm not related to the man, because imagine how uncomfortable things would get if I fired back, "Oh, yeah, good to meet you, I'm his nephew." We used to have a filter, we used to think, I think, if others were milling about who might overhear a casual conversation we were having with a friend, we ought to be a bit circumspect before offering up assassination jokes or cutting insights into the ignorance of registered voters.  Now we just launch right in, apparently, because who could possibly be offended by demeaning the body habitus and speech impediments of the holder of the highest public office in the land.  My country tis of thee, DT sucks - do you downhill ski? Did 10 really went?  Or did 10 intend to went? Having said that, I'm all for a good public dem

Awaiting only the final official results 6-month term    (total votes  change from first unofficial count  percentage change) David Batey 1839       +152     +9% Linda Hanak 1386      +164     +13% Sandy Begley 2006    +161     +9% John Meissner (write-in) 213   +28   +15% 3-year term Monty Miller 1566      +126     +9% Bill Pinkham 2066      +183     +10% Bert Bergland 1243     +127     +11% Bruce Carmichael 1394     +129     +10% Diane Muno 1930      +158      +9% ~2500 ballots were included in the first unofficial count.  The final unofficial count included votes from these ~2500 ballots plus another ~250 ballots. Percentage of registered Larimer County voters who voted in this election:  96,153 / 251,257 = 38% Comparison with the 2016 PHD election results: 4-year term Van Der Ploeg 317 Mayo 298 White 224 Bergland 172 2-year term Murphee 310 ~400 ballots were cast in the 2016 PHD election, leading to this interesting fact:  80% of the ballots cast in th

Posted by the Larimer County Clerk and Recorder at 7:31 P.M. Mountain Standard Time 6-month term David Batey 1687 Linda Hanak 1222 Sandy Begley 1845 John Meissner (write in) 185 2-year term Bill Pinkham  1883 Bert Bergland  1116 Bruce Carmichael  1265 Diane Muno  1772 Monty Miller  1440 Other local results: 1a  Yes  43,252       No  30,813 3a  Yes 1936       No 1838 [Note:  Updated totals posted at 9:29 P.M. MST increased the numbers slightly for each candidate/proposal but the results remain the same.] Thank You Everyone For Voting For comparison, here are the May 2016 Park Hospital District election results: 4-year term Van Der Ploeg 317 Mayo 298 White 224 Bergland 172 2-year term Murphee 310

Disclaimer:  Portions of the following are NSFW. Disclaimer:  This means not safe for work, for those of you new to the internet. Disclaimer:  This means don't view this at work, unless you want to get yourself in hot water. Disclaimer:  You may prefer to avoid viewing this in the privacy of your own home as well. Attached are articles of incorporation filed with the Colorado Secretary of State in 2008, and a summary of the life and times of a business called "Karma 67 Studios LLC".  If you think these forms have somehow been "doctored", you are free to pull them up yourself at http://www.sos.state.co.us.  The business is delinquent, meaning that it has not paid the money to continue being listed as an incorporated business.  It has not been dissolved, which is a better way of getting defunct businesses off the books.  From internet mentions and a still active website, it may still be operating, or at least may have been accepting customers beyond the 20

After having a productive meeting over coffee with League of Women Voters (LWV) vice-president Liz Zornes and her husband, who is also a League member, I wish to apologize for stating or implying in any way the LWV behaved unethically or improperly regarding candidates at the most recent LWV trustee/mayor candidate forums preceding the April 2016 election, as far as potentially providing candidates with questions beforehand, either in a written or verbal form, either finalized or as a list of potential topics.  The League is adamant that they do not, and have never, provided any candidates with any questions or potential topics beforehand, other than providing all participants with topics for opening and closing statements.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the 600th addition to the Sanborn R-series set Another (artificial) milepost was passed this week with the acquisition of Sanborn R-series real-photo postcard R-1305, a view of the switchbacks heading down to Glen Haven. This is now the 600th different Sanborn postcard from the high number (inventory numbers above R-750) R-series added to the collection, a not particularly relevant accomplishment in light of the fact Sanborn produced a total of 1034 different high-number views of the Estes Park region between 1933 and 195 6 , so 600 doesn't even equate to a nice round percentage like 60%, but still worth noting, as this has now become without question the third-largest collection of different R-series postcards on the planet, behind only the master set at Sanborn headquarters in Commerce City (which was obviously not assembled years later on the open market, so is kind of an unfair competitor), and the private collection of Denver-based colle