City Cast Denver

When city officials threatened to shut down yet another hip-hop club late last week — this time Roo-Bar Lounge at 3480 Park Avenue West — co-owner Jugurta Tighrine made a provocative allegation: “They don’t want hip-hop.” And in a city that has never made waves on the national hip-hop stage, we take on a big question: Does Denver have a hip-hop problem? Longtime promoter and champion of the local music scene Ru Johnson joins host Bree “Coco” Davies and producer Paul Karolyi to offer an insider’s take. Then we tackle a doozy of a listener-submitted question and hear from Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca on this weekend’s annual Feed-a-Family event in honor of “Daddy” Bruce Randolph and Rev. Ron Wooding.Wanna volunteer or donate to support the Daddy Bruce Feed-a-Family Thanksgiving drive this weekend? Here’s the link to volunteer for a shift, and here’s the link to donate. For the latest on the Boebert-Frisch race in CD3, here’s a report from last night from the Colorado Sun. Subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866.Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: How to Buy a Home Podcast Mental Health with Marielle Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With enrollment declining across Denver Public Schools and funding as scarce as ever, Superintendent Alex Marrero has thrust the highly dysfunctional DPS board into a controversial and traumatic debate over school closures. Parents, students, and activists are up in arms over his proposed “consolidations,” and for many board members, the issue is personal — past school closures motivated them to run for the board in the first place. So will the board approve his list of closures or somehow find another way out of this mess? Host Bree Davies talks to producer Paul Karolyi about how the district got into this situation; then she sits down with DPS board member Michelle Quattlebaum to talk about about why she’s approaching this vote differently than any other she’s cast before.For more on the proposed closures, check out our friend at Chalkbeat Melanie Asmar’s recent reporting.For even more news from around the city, subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866Follow us on Twitter @citycastdenverLeave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: How to Buy a Home Podcast Mental Health with Marielle Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How long would you wait in line for a killer mimosa and huevos rancheros? What about a great bloody mary and a stack of pancakes? One of Denver’s most divisive brunch chains, Snooze, is opening a new location at 101 N Broadway this week, so we’re talking all things brunch. Host Bree Davies, producer Paul Karolyi, and newsletter editor Peyton Garcia are breaking down the best simple brunches, brunches for big groups, vegetarian brunches, and the big kahuna: What’s the best brunch in Denver?Brunch spots mentioned in this episode: Snooze Rupert’s at the Edge Pete’s Kitchen Bob’s Diner Village Coffee Shop Lookin' Good Restaurant and Lounge Zaidy’s Deli & Bakery Mercury Cafe The Broadmoor The Empress Star Kitchen City, O’ City Watercourse Foods The Wooden Spoon Syrup Breakfast on Broadway The Cookery at Myrtle Hill Denver Biscuit Company Lucile’s Creole Cafe Dozens For even more brunch, check out this piece from the Denver Post about the recent surge in brunch options around Denver. And for all the Snooze-heads out there, here’s a great article from Denver Eater on how they cracked the brunch code. Subscribe to our weekday morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenverLeave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: Youth on Record’s Underground at the Showcase podcast How to Buy a Home Podcast Mental Health with Marielle Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holidays are right around the corner. Wouldn’t it be fun if you could add a little something extra to your turkey and mashed potatoes… you know, like weed? Colorado’s decade of recreational weed has ushered in a growing movement of ambitious cannabis chefs — experts who have found new, interesting, and tasty ways to marry fine dining and fine bud. Today on the show, decorated culinary champ Jarod Farina of Chef Roilty cooks up a game-changer for the City Cast Denver crew. Farina explains how to easily make edibles at home, how to dose your meals properly, and answers our burning question: did he get Bobby Flay high on TV or what? Plus! We’re giving away a night of in-home fine dining with Chef Farina! All you have to do is leave us a voicemail with your worst edibles experience, and you will be entered to win a private dinner for four with a decorated cannabis chef — a $500 value. Call 720-500-5418 and tell us your worst weed-eating story. Deadline to enter is midnight on November 20, 2022. But if you don’t want to risk it, you can book Chef Farina through his website and peruse his various how-to guides there too. Check out Hey Denver, our weekday local-centric newsletter: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/We are on Twitter: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: How to Buy a Home Podcast Mental Health with Marielle Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Holly” debuted at the Denver Film Festival earlier this month and caught a lot of local attention. Based on a book by investigative journalist Julian Rubinstein, “The Holly” centers on Terrance Roberts, a former gang member who left that life behind and returned to his Park Hill neighborhood to work as a community activist. But things went sideways and Roberts found himself targeted in an alleged conspiracy involving Denver police and local government officials. The book and the documentary have generated a lot of interest over the last year, only to be made more fascinating when Roberts announced his candidacy for mayor. Regular contributor Theo Wilson also grew up in Park Hill, and met Roberts through various community circles. He joins host Bree Davies to talk about what makes Terrance Roberts such a compelling mayoral candidate.Bree mentioned this earlier City Cast Denver episode with Terrance Roberts himself and author Julian Rubinstein.Subscribe to Hey Denver, our kickass morning newsletter, by texting “Denver” to 66866Hi, we’re on Twitter: @citycastdenverLeave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬Learn more about the sponsors of this episode: How to Buy a Home Podcast Mental Health with Marielle Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Election day might be over, but Colorado’s still reckoning with some big decisions voters made this midterm, annnnd we have questions: What’s going to happen with Congressional District 3, where MAGA darling Lauren Boebert is in a shockingly close race with Democrat Adam Frisch? And what about the decriminalization of psychedelics? This is the beginning of what could be a massive industry, but will it even be commercialized in the first place? And does our back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokić have a role in our electoral outcome? Producer Paul Karolyi, host Bree Davies and Westword editor-in-chief Patty Calhoun tackle all these questions and more, plus some special hot takes from some of City Cast Denver’s favorite contributors. Paul mentioned the city’s new Business Facade Improvement Program, the Colorado Sun’s oral history of the fight for legal weed ten years ago, and Westword’s interview with indigenous comic Josh Emerson about the Native Comedy Showcase at the Hi Dive this Sunday. Get more deets on the City Cast Denver official “maybe” event of the week (as in maybe we’ll be there!) in editor Peyton Garcia’s newsletter, Hey Denver!  You can also subscribe by texting DENVER to 66866.We are definitely still on Twitter, ‘til that ship sinks: @citycastdenverLearn more about the sponsors of this episode: Denver Film Festival (11/2 - 11/13) Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like so many other Coloradans, we are watching with bated breath as the race for Colorado’s Congressional District 3 goes down to the wire. We never saw it coming, but it seems like MAGA celebrity congresswoman Lauren Boebert could actually lose. Ballots are still trickling in from across the southern and western Colorado, so host Bree Davies called up Pueblo Chieftain politics reporter Anna Lynn Winfrey, who has been camped out at the Pueblo Clerk and Recorder’s office reporting on what could turn out to be the upset of the year.Check out Anna Lynn Winfrey’s coverage of the CD3 race for the Pueblo Chieftain. Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are the baristas at Thump really rude, or is there more going on with Denver’s coffee scene than we realized? Our episode on the best (and worst) coffee shops in the city really struck a nerve with our listeners, and today on the show we’re sharing some of those responses, as well as other questions and comments you all had on Denver’s recent bout of “tipping fatigue” and Denver’s role in the West’s water crisis.Catch up on our recent episodes on coffee, tipping and water: Roasted! Denver’s Best (And Worst) Coffee Shops Should Tipping Have a Place in Our New Normal? ‘Tipping Fatigue’ Hits Denver These Service Industry Vets Have Choice Words For Your ‘Tipping Fatigue’  Could Denver Run Out of Water? Is Denver Hoarding Water? Water Woes in the ‘Burbs, Touchdown Trouble at Mile High In his voicemail, Nate mentions these five coffee shops as Denver’s best: Sweet Bloom, MiddleState, Corvus, Little Owl, and Huckleberry.Here’s the New York Times article on Illegal Pete’s that we talked about.Bree mentioned this explainer about why “hipster coffee” tastes sour.Also, here’s the Denver Post article we mentioned about the closing of Amethyst Coffee this fall. And don’t miss our conversation last year with Elle Taylor, the shop’s co-owner. Subscribe to Hey Denver, our kickass morning newsletter, by texting “Denver” to 66866Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenverLeave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬Learn more about the sponsor of this episode: Denver Film Festival (11/2 - 11/13) Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The midterm elections were tight across the country, but the Democrats held their ground in Colorado, with Governor Jared Polis and Senator Michael Bennet cruising to reelection yesterday. But what about the other important state offices, ballot measures, and all those local ballot initiatives — sidewalks, eviction defense, recycling, library funding, etc.? The City Cast Denver crew was up late to bring you the results and context for what’s to come.For a full breakdown of all the latest results, we’ve got you covered in our newsletter Hey Denver: https://denver.citycast.fm/newsletter/ Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenverGot something to say about the election results? We’ll be talking more about the fallout from this one, so leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬.Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:Denver Film Festival (11/2 - 11/13)Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When “How to Build a Sex Room” premiered on Netflix in July, it took the home renovation reality show formula to an entirely new, R-rated place. Oh, and it was filmed almost entirely in Denver with local couples! With its screening at the Denver Film Festival this month sparking new conversations about the show and the many diverse sexual proclivities of Denverites, we decided to bring some of these conversations to the podcast. Today, producer Erin O’Toole talks with the show’s executive producers Scott Feeley and Corinna Robbins about why they filmed here, what the reception has been so far, and what exactly a sex room is.Go vote!Subscribe to our morning newsletter Hey Denver by texting “Denver” to 66866Follow us on Twitter: @citycastdenverLeave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (720) 500-5418‬Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:Denver Film Festival (11/2 - 11/13)Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices