Denverite Jessica Harvey graduated from Tulane in New Orleans in June – and I was there when her parents, Edward and Stephanie Harvey, gave her a graduation present – a lifetime pass to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
“We all loved it so much,” said Jessica, who moved back to Denver in July. “It was the coolest event of the whole year, even more than Mardi Gras. This was going to be a way to always go back to this amazing city. This is so sad.”
Stephanie Harvey, a writer and teacher, says when Jessica went to Tulane, her entire family fell “head over heels in love with New Orleans.” She tearfully talked of the loss of the city – and worse, the humanitarian tragedy unfolding before our comfortable Denver eyes.
To lose New Orleans is unthinkable. To lose it like this is unspeakable.
Puff puff
My ex-wife, Nancy Sagar, somehow persuaded Marco Colantonio to put a smoking section in the bar in his newly opened Steak au Poivre.
“Due to extreme pressure and cajoling and my desire to see people enjoying themselves, Steak au Poivre will allow smoking in the rear portion of our bar and lounge,” he writes. “We do have a smoke eater … to ease the pain and the piano bar and front lounge will remain nonsmoking. Those of you who look forward to a smoking environment have Nancy Sagar to thank.”
Well, if anyone can make you take up smoking, it’s my ex-wife.
Dog day
Flying Dog Brewery gets a nice mention in the current Penthouse Forum. This is a fine publication known for its letters section.
Anyway, the editor was kicking around the Flying Dog website, flyingdogales.com, looking at Hunter Thompson stuff when he noticed Humphrey the Humping Dog. For $32.50 you get the battery-operated Humphrey, a stuffed animal that you can tie to a beer bottle or, say, your leg – and watch him act like a dog. Penthouse Forum names Flying Dog’s Humphrey the magazine’s new Guilty Pleasures Mascot. And he’s honored. Woof woof.
Home again
5280 magazine’s executive editor, Maximillian Potter, is just back from Iraq – where he was working on a piece for Denver’s cityzine and a big name national glossy. Women’s Wear Daily’s Web page covers his trip – and notes how Potter’s journey changed his opinion on the war – “one that might not make him that popular with his liberal friends back home.”
Potter e-mails his WWD pal from his plane ride back to Denver: “I am convinced that regardless of how the U.S. got to where it is in Iraq, we absolutely must stay until we get the training wheels of civilization screwed on that place.”
City spirit
Concerned reader Melissa Manassee was confused at the recent city decisions to 1. Remove more than 70 portable toilets from the parks while 2. Allow more alcohol to be imbibed in the parks. Following an outcry last month, the toilets are being replaced … Sightem: Kate Hudson with son Ryder and husband/rocker Chris Robinson at Hotel Teatro … Add Kathy Bates to the star roster coming to Aspen Filmfest on Sept. 30 … Sez who: “Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.” Storm Jameson
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears on Fox 31 News. You can reach him at 303-820-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com.
