Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i 5280 Magazine

The Pioneer Dr. James A. Harris Founder and Medical Director, Hair Sciences Center world-renowned pioneer in hair transplant surgery. The Proof Doug Mazza Full head of hair. All smiles. Wishes he had done it five years earlier. Actual patient who had a hair transplant. 303-694-9381 | hairsciencescenter.com…

The barrier to entry for skiing is nearly as high as the mountains themselves: On top of lift tickets and ski rentals, newbies often have to outlay hundreds on the “soft” stuff, such as jackets, snow pants, and gloves. Now, though, a new Denver company offers a middle ground between financial destitution and skiing in soggy denim. Slope Threads rents a full kit of skiwear—jacket, pants, goggles, and gloves, all from Obermeyer—for $35 per day. (Adding a helmet bumps the price to $40; customers can also buy nonreturnable items like socks and base layers.) Founder Sarah Laughlin, an MBA student at the University of Denver, dreamed up the concept after her out-of-town friends mailed their winter duds to her house before embarking on a ski trip. Following suit, Slope Threads…

When Fran Belibi began playing basketball during her freshman year at Aurora’s Regis Jesuit High School, she wasn’t aware that women almost never dunk. That naïveté served her well. During a January 2017 game against Grand Junction High School, the then sophomore became the first female to throw down in a Colorado high school game. After the contest, which Regis won, the dunk became a viral sensation, with many designating Belibi as the future of women’s basketball. Ahead of the senior’s likely final appearance in the state playoffs (February 17 to March 9), those who were there take a look back at Belibi’s historic slam. MACKENZIE YOUNKER, sophomore guard for the Grand Junction Tigers: It was during the first quarter. They were pressing us, and I got the ball in…

Forget royalty, presidents, and celebrities. Artist Jordan Casteel’s paintings portray regular people. On walks near her home in Harlem, New York, the 29-year-old painter, named to Forbes’ 2019 “30 Under 30” art and style list, introduces herself to strangers, photographs them, and then re-creates the scenes in her studio. The large-scale results—which depict people of color emitting auras of resolute power—will be on display during the Denver Art Museum’s Jordan Casteel: Returning the Gaze (February 2 through May 26). Her first major solo museum exhibition, the show is a homecoming for Casteel, who was born and raised in Park Hill. Its title refers to her only request of her subjects: that they look straight at her, forcing engagement at a time when many avoid direct human contact in favor of…

I sent a lot of people to Safta after it opened in the Source Hotel & Market Hall this past summer—advance scouts who returned with tales of pita revelation, as if they had eaten an ur-bread. The pita really is that good. It arrives from the wood-fired oven as hot as coals, charred, and puffy. Tear into it immediately; your fingers may smart, but you won’t care. Wheaty steam will rise like a blessing sent from Mother Earth, and the bread will be soft but chewy, slightly tangy, and dotted with bits of bran. Anyone avoiding gluten as a lifestyle choice will, post–Safta pita, repent and reform. The man behind the pita is Israeli-born Alon Shaya, who branched out to Denver from New Orleans, having gained fame there with two…

THE PROCESS 1. GROWING Over the winter, Felton and his team carefully prune Colterris’ 75 acres of Vitis vinifera; the vines produce buds in April, and grape clusters flower in June. Felton irrigates and manages pests throughout the year; tasting and lab-testing the grapes and monitoring growth and “veraison” (changes in color and firmness) continues until the acid-sugar balance in each variety is ideal for harvest. 2. HARVESTING Felton sends his crew to handpick the grapes into five-gallon buckets, which, when full, are dumped into half-ton bins; five to eight tons of grapes are gathered in a given day. 3. PRESSING For white wines and rosés, grapes are mechanically pressed as soon as they reach the winery (the days of crushing via foot stomping are long gone) to extract the…

English-born John Sutcliffe didn’t set out to establish one of Colorado’s preeminent wineries. When the former restaurateur, polo player, and self-proclaimed cowboy bought his McElmo Canyon property in 1990, he envisioned a sprawling cattle operation; the decision to plant grape vines around the house was purely aesthetic, at the suggestion of his architect. Soon, however, the vision of a full-blown vineyard took hold, and Sutcliffe now has vines snaking across 56 acres. He also sources fruit from two vineyards in Palisade and produces 3,000 to 5,000 cases of wines annually. The temperate Four Corner region’s hot days and cool nights give Sutcliffe’s award-winning wines—including his subtle, gently oaky 2016 Chardonnay—irresistibly crisp acidity and, as Sutcliffe is fond of saying, “charming noses.” Not one to rest on his vines, Sutcliffe is…

I enjoy getting stoned—just not in front of other people. It makes me way too paranoid. Even when I’m alone with my wife, if she doesn’t laugh at one of my THC-induced jokes, I think, Are we going to get a divorce? So I was dubious when Jenni Skyler, a Ph.D.-credentialed therapist at the Intimacy Institute in Boulder, explained some of her patients were inviting Mary Jane into the bedroom. In the bedroom? A space already teeming with insecurity? None for me, thanks. Then the guy who was supposed to write this essay bailed. Studies show that marijuana can ramp up frequency with daily use and heighten arousal. But it was the promise of a stronger bond—created by weed’s capacity to relax the mind—that most intrigued me. Like many, I’m…

THE CHARGE: Public indecency What you probably did wrong: Had sexual intercourse, lewdly fondled or caressed another person, or knowingly exposed your genitals in public or where the conduct could cause alarm to an unsuspecting passerby. The penalty: A class 1 petty offense, which carries a maximum sentence of a $500 fine, six months in jail, or both. THE CHARGE: Indecent exposure What you probably did wrong: Exposed your genitals with the intent of arousing or satisfying another person in a way that might cause affront to an uninvolved onlooker or performed an act of masturbation in a way that exposed that act to an unwitting person. The penalty: A class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by six to 18 months in jail, a fine of $500 to $5,000, or both.…

In Denver, a city transformed by growth, no neighborhood has been immune to change, and Five Points has seen more than most. Still, something about the historical area feels constant, even as boxy new apartment buildings line Welton Street and cranes reach into the sky. Five Points remains the heart, the beat, the pulse, the soul of a city in flux. At the very intersection that gave the area its name sits Coffee at The Point. The place is buzzing at 6 p.m. on February 2, 2018, but not with overcaffeinated gig economy workers typing away on laptops. This evening, the coffeeshop is packed with politicians and poets. At the center of the crowd is state Representative Leslie Herod. Dressed in black, she wears a kimono-style jacket patterned with white,…

GENERAL or COSMETIC DENTIST EDUCATION AND TRAINING • No formal training with implant surgery. • Minimal training in attaching teeth to implants. • Worked with less than 6 implants during school! • Often asks implant sales reps and laboratory technicians how to put teeth on implants. PLANNING • There is often no planning and relies on a surgeon to “guess” at implant locations. SURGICAL TIMELINE • Healing times often extended by 2-3 months out of concern for “what the general dentist might do to the implant.” TEMPORARY TEETH • Uses removable dentures that may fall out while eating. • Can damage the gums and implants. PERMANENT TEETH • Has to “work-around” implant positioning problems due to poor planning. • Average-quality labs. • May substitute after-market parts to increase profits. MAINTENANCE…

This time 10 years ago, it appeared Crocs, the footwear line many had condemned as a fad, would become exactly that. Over-expansion and the recession were pushing the Niwot firm, founded in 2002, toward bankruptcy. “The company’s toast,” an analyst told the Wa shington Post in 2009. “They’re zombie-ish. They’re dead, and they don’t know it.” Crocs has largely treaded water ever since—until 2018, when its stock suddenly became one of the most virile on the market. We spoke with the company’s senior vice president and chief product and merchandising officer, Michelle Poole, to rehash 2018 and find out how refocusing on the original clog, trendspotting, and Post Malone helped turn Crocs from a bear into a bull. JANUARY 8 $13.23 Actor turned fashion icon Shia LeBeouf is spotted in…

“Transplant” is an embattled term in the rapidly growing Mile High City. But one migration no one seems to mind is the recent influx of acclaimed restaurant brands—especially when they give diners a localized take on their fare, as four-month-old Uchi, of Austin sushi fame, has done. James Beard Award–winning chef Tyson Cole brings a dash of Southern hospitality to his Curtis Park stunner, where the staff hands out free snacks while you wait for a table at which to revel in the eatery’s signature nigiri, maki, and sashimi. Meanwhile, chef de cuisine (and Johnson & Wales University grad) Brandon Brumback also created a handful of Denver-only dishes. Paired with fresh greens grown by Uchi’s rooftop aeroponic neighbor, Altius Farms, Brumback’s exclusive menu items lend a little cachet and a…

Thirty-six-year-old owner-winemaker Garrett Portra’s energy brightens any space he enters—even the noisy, industrial fermenting room in Carlson Vineyards’ 4,000-square-foot Palisade production facility, which sits atop Orchard Mesa. Portra bought the winery from its original owner, Parker Carlson, in 2015, and he’s been digging deeper, so to speak, ever since. Although Portra inherited Carlson’s reputation for award-winning sweet wines—made from Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Colorado fruits like peaches, cherries, and plums—he’s now branching into bigger (translation: full-bodied, high alcohol by volume) reds and dry wines in all hues. Part of his motivation is a desire to address personal pet peeves. “I don’t like that people think wine can only be consumed on a special occasion,” Portra says. His answer: a line of nonvintage, nonvarietal, easy-drinking wines dubbed NSFW (Not Safe For Work)…

You’d never know it from a sip of Snowy Peaks Winery’s tropical-fruit-forward Viognier or silky Elevé (a Rhône-style blend of Syrah, Petite Syrah, and Mourvèdre that was chosen for the 2018 Governor’s Cup Collection), but co-owner Erik Mohr only moonlights as a winemaker. Even though he’s produced every drop of Snowy Peaks’ wines since its opening in 2005, Erik continues to work full time as an ecologist while his wife, Candice, runs the winery’s charming Estes Park tasting room. Perhaps it’s his science background that makes Snowy Peaks’ wines so appealing: Erik uses just enough commercial yeast and sulfur dioxide to maintain clean fermentation and retain the grapes’ delicate flavors and aromas. Erik and Candice source 100 percent Colorado-grown grapes, including Riesling, Traminette, Tempranillo, and cold-hardy Frontenac and Lacross hybrids.…

What do you get when you cross bourbon, tequila, and rye whiskey barrels with wines made from Colorado-grown Chardonnay, Sémillon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc? Four-year-old Red Fox Cellars’ best sellers, of course. “We make traditional wines like everybody else, and then we make our ‘avant-garde’ style wines,” says owner-winemaker Scott Hamilton, who runs Red Fox in Palisade with his wife, Sherrie, and 30-year-old son, Kyle. “That’s where we experiment.” Even Red Fox’s straightforward wines have a touch of novelty; consider the sparkling Sémillon Blanc de Blanc that the Hamiltons produced in 2016 using “méthod champenoise,” a traditional French method that includes a secondary fermentation inside the bottle. Or the collaboration between Red Fox and Denver’s Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales, which resulted in what they describe as a “respectful…

1. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF FIFTY SHADES OF GREY? A Terribly written, but the sex scenes piqued my interest.B Terribly written, and the sex scenes are nothing new.C It’s the work of a deviant, a manual for Satan—and also, it’s terribly written. 2. WHAT MOST CLOSELY REFLECTS YOUR MOOD DURING SEX? A Comfy—like watching a rerun of Friends.B Excited—like watching the opening credits of the newest Star Wars.C Insides-quaking anxiety—like watching The Shining. 3. HOW SOON DO YOU TELL YOUR SEXUAL PARTNERS YOUR TRUE BEDROOM DESIRES? A Once we know each other well.B During our first sexual encounter or soon thereafter.C Never. What if my partner thinks I’m a weirdo? 4. IF THINGS GO BAD IN THE BOUDOIR (E.G., ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION, INABILITY TO ORGASM), YOU RESPOND BY: A Ignoring…

DIAMOND CABARET Upsides: Elegant room; experienced dancers; walk-in humidor with quality cigars; private suites for one-on-one dances at Diamond After Dark upstairs; downtown location Downsides: Borderline stuffy atmosphere; smoking is allowed PT’S SHOWCLUB Upsides: Upbeat atmosphere with good tunes; acrobatic, diverse, and flirtatious talent; male dancers on at least one stage; all-nude room upstairs Downsides: $7.25 Coronas; a rougher crowd; smoking is permitted BOYZTOWN Upsides: The only gay male strip club in Denver; comfortable dive bar atmosphere; Baker neighborhood location Downsides: Dancers don’t start performing until 10; there aren’t enough entertainers to engage with customers; bachelorette parties can kill the vibe for gay patrons DANDY DAN’S Upsides: No cover; lax supervision when it comes to those no-contact lap dances; tongue-in-cheek (we think) marquee declaring, “This is a nongrimy establishment” Downsides:…

Four years ago this month, Fifty Shades of Grey hit American big screens and did two things. First, it made BDSM acceptable in American culture in a way it never had been before. And, second, it made the entire kink community scream a collective,“Oh, my God, nooooooo!” It wasn’t the eyerollingly bad screenplay or the one-dimensional characters or even the unattainably perfect bodies that set kinksters off. Instead, it was the disregard for consent (Ana clearly was hesitant; Christian didn’t fully communicate his intentions) that made them abhor what could have been a coming-out party of sorts for the BDSM world. “In our community, consent starts from a place of safety,” says Ali Wyles, technical and media director of A Kink in the Cure, a Boulder organization that explores how…

Kama and Urvashi have no problems with graphic sexual imagery. The Larimer County residents, who asked us to use their stage names, own an erotic photography business and are active in the local swingers community. It’s adult videos—the kind that depict women more as tools than humans—they take issue with. “Porn upsets me as a female,” Urvashi says. In addition, pornography, they believe, too often has become a replacement for sex. So, four years ago, the couple launched a production company called Spark Erotic. Their videos, available for $10 each, feature real couples doing real couple things, like making dinner or getting ready for bed. Even without the aid of an unexpectedly chiseled cable repairman, things take a turn toward the sensual. The resulting vignettes are explicit but not gratuitous,…

I was 15 and living in the balmy South when my friend gifted me one of the new lacy thongs her bawdy aunt had bought for her. The barely there black G-string was the first piece of noncotton lingerie I had ever owned—and I loved not only the way it looked, but also how it made me feel. Which was equal parts beautiful and coquettish, especially when I wore a skin-dusting sundress. At that age, no one else was seeing those undies. The exquisite shape of the satin triangle, the delicate lines of the ruched bands, the way the “V” in the back sat just below those little feminine indentations…it was all just for me. Fast-forward oh, about 25 years, add a few booty indentations that cellulite-free teenagers don’t have,…

Kent Denver Summer Programs Englewood, CO (303) 770-7660 x541 kentdenver.org/summer2019 Explore our amazing 200-acre campus this summer! We offer outstanding camps in the visual and performing arts, technology and design, athletics, and academics for students ages 3–18. Crow Canyon Archaeology Teen Camps Cortez, CO ♦ (800) 422-8975x451 crowcanyon.org Explore the archaeology of the Mesa Verde region and help excavate an actual dig site. Learn about Native cultures and their connection to the past. JCC Denver Camps Denver, CO ♦ (303) 316-6445 jccdenver.org/camps Unlock your summer potential with JCC Camps! Enroll in Camp Shai, Tennis, Art, or Wolf Theatre Academy classes for Summer 2019. Summer sessions run June 3 through August 16. Art Students League of Denver Denver, CO (303) 778-6990 x0 asld.org/youth-programs Serious art instruction from professional artists in a fun,…

[ FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR ] Politics (Not) As Usual Lately, I’ve found myself vacillating between abject hopelessness and tempered optimism when it comes to politics. There’s no need to enumerate the reasons for the former here; as for the latter, just a few weeks ago I was buoyed by the swearing in of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is far more female and far more diverse than it has ever been. One day later, Colorado’s legislative session began with an even more heterogeneous set of lawmakers, including more women, Latino, and LGBT representatives than ever before. These historic legislatures signal that something unusual and potentially exceptional is stirring in the political sphere—the notion that voices which have long been underrepresented in positions of power are finally being heard.…

Whether the funny Adam Sandler of Billy Madison or the groanworthy Sandler of Jack and Jill will show up to his February 5 show at the Bellco Theatre. Why local nonprofit Change Gangs: Virtual Giving Circles is trying to set the Guinness World Record for longest line of toothbrushes on February 26. (Spoiler alert: to raise awareness of the many Colorado children who can’t afford dental care.) How excited you are that Boulder-based Snarf-burger—yes, the burger version of the mouth-watering sandwich chain—is finally opening a Denver location this month in Capitol Hill. The odds that University of Colorado Boulder professor and Grammy Award nominee Donald J. McKinney will win for Best Classical Compendium when this year’s ceremony takes place on February 10.…

It’s exhilarating to watch a person ascend a 60-foot wall of ice—essentially a vertical American Ninja Warrior course—using only ice tools, crampons, and muscles. Yet despite its thrills, competitive ice climbing hasn’t received much love in the United States—outside of Colorado, that is. Not only does the Ouray Ice Park throw one of the few festivals for the sport in the country, but the American Alpine Club (AAC), the governing body for top-level U.S. ice climbing competitions, makes its home in Golden. Centennial State denizens currently hold 11 of 16 spots on the national team. And from February 22 to 24, the World Cup Ice Climbing finals are coming to Denver’s Civic Center Park, marking the first time an American city will host the event. Naturally, one of the country’s…

1 Focus on the subject, not the writer. In other words, the letter should say “you” more than “I.” FROM THE HARDT: “Everything about you is beautiful, Erin. From the top of your head all the way down to your pretty little toes.” —Undaunted 2 What made you fall in love? Put that into words using vivid adjectives and verbs. FROM THE HARDT: “But I’d seen her in all her glory—walking down the aisle in a light blue sundress with an orchid in her hair, barefoot on the beach in a miniskirt and tank top, and—the best—naked….” —Twisted 3 Don’t forget sensory details. Describe their scent, the taste of their kiss, the sound of their laugh. That’s all good stuff. FROM THE HARDT: “I want to kiss those lips of…

Many years ago, long before Colorado embraced craft beer as some sort of divine nectar, a bar owner shared with me what he called his “Bud Light” theory of social profiling. I had asked him about his clientele, and he explained how the beers he served influenced the type of individuals who showed up at his establishment. “That’s why I won’t sell Bud Light,” he said. “Because then you get Bud Light people. I don’t want Bud Light people.” As a predictor of human behavior, this struck me as at best imprecise. At worst, it seemed harsh and judgy, even absurd. How could a ubiquitous Anheuser-Busch beer be a reliable gauge of personal ethos? How could a simple brand choice predict noxious behavior? I didn’t put much stock into his…

Wine director Mary Allison Wright’s choice to pour 100 percent natural vino at Morin, LoDo’s four-month-old contemporary French restaurant, may not sound radical. But in its own way, it is a statement. The vast majority of wines on the market do not fall under the “natural wine” heading, which, at its core, rebels against mainstream methods by following common threads: Add nothing (commercial yeasts, sugar, acid) to the grapes; remove nothing (leaving the wine unfined and unfiltered); and use modest, if any, amounts of the preservative sulfur dioxide (which is natural, after all).“It’s a truer expression of the grape and the land,” Wright says. Truer or not—a matter of debate in the wine industry—one thing is certain: These wines are anything but cookie cutter, or even predictable from year to…

THE INFINITE MONKEY THEOREM Founder Ben Parsons is considered the godfather of Denver’s urban winery scene, having built his reputation as a skilled local maker over eight years at places like Canyon Wind Cellars and Sutcliffe Vineyards before opening the original Infinite Monkey Theorem location in the Arts District on Santa Fe in 2008. Now at home in a 15,000-square-foot RiNo winery frequented by food trucks (there’s also an outpost in Austin, Texas, and a couple more taprooms across the Front Range), Parsons has been a driving force for innovation—and a lack of pretension—by helping to spearhead the modern kegging and canning of Colorado vino. TASTING NOTES Scene: Industrial-chic, laid-back, hip Grapes: Western Slope for bottled wines; Washington state fruit for canned wines Tours: Public and private tours with tastings…

But is it always good sex? That’s debatable. We can say with authority, however, that when it comes to making love there’s always room to improve. Fortunately, our city is home to a growing sex-positive community. We asked them to explain—often in NSFW detail—how our sex culture is evolving, and how we can learn more about a natural act few of us are naturally good at.…

G ood news: One initial step toward sex-positivity encourages you to be a little selfish. “The first thing we always recommend,” says Angela Wells, founder of Denver-based online sex store Vibrant,“is for people to explore their own bodies.”In the past, that was difficult for women. But both Vibrant, founded by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains as a fundraising arm in 2016, and Awakening Boutique, which opened in RiNo in mid-2018, aim to upgrade the sex-toy-shopping experience for women. That begins by exclusively stocking products that are safe for lady parts. Because the industry is unregulated, mainstream toys often contain chemicals—such as parabens and phthalates—that can leech into the body from certain rubbers and plastics. To ensure your gadgets don’t leave unhealthy stowaways behind, Wells advises purchasing toys made of…

There are sound arguments for not having sex where the wild things are. Chief among them: dirt, twigs, rocks, insects, and other rash-inducing things no one wants in their crevices. But that little bit of risk is part of the thrill. After all, in our helmet-outfitted, knee-padded, safety-glassed world, a small dose of danger can amplify that other dose of excitement you’re hoping for. Besides the rush of playing Russian roulette with your nether parts when canoodling in a questionable patch of ivy, having sex outside takes you beyond your comfort zone. The aforementioned twigs and rocks preclude any notion of going missionary. That means you have to get creative—bent over a beetle-killed pine, up against some smooth Colorado granite, or maybe even beneath the surface of a secret San…