The musician, writer, performance artist and event promoter known around Colorado as Orangepeelmoses recently took a step away from the spotlight.
But that was only because he had to.
“It was a benign tumor,” George Swartz, 30, says of the lump that grew undetected in his throat for years. “It gradually popped up, and then someone noticed it.”
He sits at a bistro table in the kitchen of his City Park studio, where the only guests are his girlfriend and, every now and then, his parents. Before the Orangepeelmoses benefit and subsequent surgery earlier this year to remove the tumor, most people noticed this guy when he was performing his Johnny Cash homage at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, stilt-walking in full makeup at Elitch’s, delivering singing telegrams, writing songs alongside the Denver band Friends in Stereo, or helping run the local nightlife ‘zine Image as that publication’s managing editor.
“I didn’t know exactly how I was going to pull this off,” says the renaissance entertainer whose fascination with the color orange began during his high school days in Ordway. “I just knew I wanted to be a songwriter.”
At home, Swartz surrounds himself with creative inspiration and personal mementos. The Denver Post dropped by to take a closer look.
Upcoming nightlife events co-hosted by Orangepeelmoses include his Umpteenth Annual Unbirthday Party on Friday at the Santa Fe Tequila Co., 901 W. 10th Ave., and In Bloom V, April 25 at Beta, 1909 Blake St. Details at .
