Author: John Moore The Denver Gazette
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The Oscars envelope often fails to deliver
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Just because it’s the Academy Awards doesn’t mean the judges always get it right As the world girds for “Sinners” to battle it out with “One Battle After Another” for Best Picture at the Academy Awards tonight, now seems like as good a time as any to reassert my claim that the two best films…
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A grieving Lumineer sings for his brother – and his health
A year ago, standing in the backyard of his immaculately manicured backyard in central Denver, Wesley Schultz engaged me in a lively exchange about the urgent need to destigmatize mental-health therapy in this country. The co-founder of the Grammy-nominated band The Lumineers and his wife were hosting a book launch for a friend who had…
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Cheap Perfume: These grrrls are about to punk you in the face
“It’s OK to punch Nazis.” There, somebody had to say it. And Cheap Perfume did just that (in song) back in 2019. Cheap Perfume — not to be confused with the all-female NYC punk band from the late 1970s — is a feminist punk-rock band that grew its spiked fists in Colorado Springs in 2015.…
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Wife reveals Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson’s last words
Megan Falley, wife of Colorado State Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, issued a statement today revealing one of the final things Gibson said before dying Monday of ovarian cancer. Falley did not sugarcoat the fact that Gibson, who used them pronouns, “desperately wanted more time on this planet that they loved so much. This planet of…
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Matt Zambrano: On your (aching) feet!
Matt Zambrano, an actor, director and nationally recognized slam poet, thrives, he says, “when I have lots of little fires burning.” If that’s the case, 2025 is a five-alarm fire. (Please do not call the fire department.) Forget Zorro. The Mark of Zambrano is everywhere in 2025. “I would say that this has been a…
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Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson dies
Colorado’s poet laureate, Andrea Gibson, died Monday at age 49 after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer. The Boulder-based queer activist, author and slam poet was named the state’s poet laureate in September 2023. “It is with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of Andrea Gibson, an inspiring poet and Colorado’s current poet…
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Hot 100: A late father recounts his life in bullet points
It was, by literal definition, a once-in-a-century opportunity — and obligation: On Monday, my father, Ralph Moore, a hall-of-fame sports writer for The Denver Post, would be turning 100 years old from the great beyond. As Willy Loman says in “Death of a Salesman”: Attention must be paid. On July 6, the day before three…
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Colorado Theatre Guild rolls out historic gender change with 2025 Henry Awards nominations
Actors will be considered in gender-neutral categories; Denver Center leads with 29 noms
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A theater club at the Air Force Academy? It’s Elle-mentary | John Moore
COLORADO SPRINGS – Michelle Ruehl grew up in Detroit wanting to be a pilot, not a Delta Nu. More Maverick than pretty in pink. You say it was hard for Elle Woods to get into Harvard Law? Only 14% of applicants get into the Air Force Academy. And fewer than 30% who do are women. Ruehl…
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Creating a safe space for connection in Colorado Springs
When you have a cognitive disability, you spend much of your life waiting to be invited. And when you finally are, in Kelly Hunter’s words, it often goes something like this: “Oh, please come over for a visit. And bring your elder son. But for God’s sake, don’t bring the younger one because he’s autistic,…