Mike Jones, Denver’s male escort who brought down Colorado Springs evangelical leader Ted Haggard, is out with his book “I Had To Say Something” – and he says a lot.
His radio and TV appearances surrounding the revelations were a wink-wink, nudge-nudge affair. The book, on the other hand, is extremely graphic about his exploits with Haggard. Fair warning.
Jones imparts some escort wisdom early in the book: “Escorting is a thankless job.
“Being an escort is like being a bartender. I may not always remember someone’s name, but I always remember what they like.”
What Denver readers might find most interesting is what Jones goes through when he decides to tell the world about Haggard and his hypocrisy. It wasn’t easy.
Jones first writes an e-mail to 9News’ Paula Woodward on Aug. 15, not mentioning Haggard by name but delivering the deets of the affair. Woodward gets right back to Jones, who goes to the station for a meeting. When he tells her it’s Haggard, Woodward gets news director Patti Dennis and assistant news director Tim Ryan in the room. But Jones feels they are not interested or aggressive enough on the story – and he leaves Ch. 9 feeling “hurt and rejected.”
In late October, he takes the story to Patricia Calhoun, editor of Westword. “She brought me to her office, and I took a seat amid her clutter,” Jones writes. “Papers and reference materials were scattered all over. It wasn’t dirty, just extremely cluttered. Somehow, she seemed to know where everything was. Perhaps it was my gay sensibilities, but it was all very unappealing to look at. She needed the ‘Queer Eye’ guys bad.”
That got a laugh out of Calhoun on Wednesday.
Once again, Jones doesn’t feel the love, so he goes to Peter Boyles, who puts him on the air Nov. 1 without mentioning Haggard’s name. Ch. 9 runs with the full story that night. And the rest is history.
Jones signs the book at 7:30 p.m. June 18 at Tattered Cover LoDo.
Grand Canal to California
Venice Ristorante is a pass-the-pasta hit in LoDo and Greenwood Village – so owner Alessandro Carollo is taking the show on the road to La Jolla, Calif. He plans to open the joint June 29.
Play ball in Beantown
Mayor John Hickenlooper heads to Boston next week to talk to big cheeses about how they handled the Democratic National Convention in 2004. He’ll also have some fun – throwing out the first pitch at the Red Socks vs. Rockies game June 14.
City spirit
A reader wants Bill Romanowski to change the title of his upcoming movie, “Weiners,” where he plays a gay cowboy trucker, to “Brokebrain Mountain.” … Cherie Booth, wife of Tony Blair, stayed at Hotel Teatro after Monday night’s Unique Lives speech at the Buell, and left a present of 10 Downing Street cuff links for GM David Craig. … Sez who: “I toss and turn for hours until I realize that making salad isn’t going to relax me.” Garry Shandling
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Husted also appears Tuesdays and Fridays on “Good Day Colorado” on Fox 31. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at
