A car struck Division of Real Estate head honcho Erin Toll last month as she was commuting on her bicycle from her downtown office to her home near the University of Denver.
Toll, wearing a dress and high heels, was catapulted to the pavement, where she was knocked unconscious by a driver who left the scene but may not have been aware of the accident.
“I try twice a week to be green and not drive my car to work,” said Toll, who spent the night in the hospital. “I rode my bike to the train station, worked all day, took the train back to my bike.”
The accident left Toll with a bent collarbone and injured rotator cuff, ending her mountain biking season.
“I’m an avid mountain biker, and I won’t be able to mountain bike this year because I won’t be able to go downhill,” she said.
But she summoned up the courage to get back on her commuter bike Wednesday.
“I literally started shaking when I got to the spot where I crashed.”
Westword’s new way.
Just because Westword is about to get a posh makeover with a glossy new cover, don’t think the feisty newspaper is losing its snarkiness.
“It’s what we’ve always been, a true weekly city magazine with our same Westword grit,” said Scott Tobias, president and CEO of Village Voice Media, the company that owns Westword. Westword’s makeover debuts Thursday. Village Voice first tried out the slick cover on its Phoenix newspaper, but Tobias predicts the change will become companywide within the next two years.
In addition to having the glossy cover, the paper will be stapled together in three places.
“It’s a paper you can hold onto all week because it won’t disintegrate in your hands,” said Patty Calhoun, Westword editor and founder.
The free alternative weekly will go to press Mondays instead of Tuesdays because printing will be a two-step process, with Publication Printers printing the glossy cover and The Denver Post printing the guts of the paper.
“That just means I’ll be crankier on Monday and really happy on Tuesday,” Calhoun said. “And even though we’re glossy, you can still turn the page and find profanity like you won’t in a family newspaper like The Denver Post.”
Laughalot.
During the touring show of Spamalot at the Buell on Wednesday night, the leader of the Knights who say “Ni!” (played by Matthew Greer) said, “We are no longer the Knights who say ‘Ni!’ We are now the Knights who say ‘(gibberish) — aaaaand with 6 minutes left to play, it’s Dallas 97, Denver 107!’ ” The opening-night audience went ballistic.
Later in the show, King Arthur (played by John O’Hurley) greeted an audience member who had been brought up on stage, telling him that he will now be as famous throughout Denver as John Elway, “a great knight who has mastered both the gridiron and the New York strip.”
Burger bash.
Food Network Magazine’s current issue features a story about “one burger you absolutely have to try in every state.”
The foodie mag contacted former Rocky Mountain News restaurant critic John Lehndorff to ask him about the must-bite burger in Colorado.
Lehndorff deemed best burger The Juarez ($8) from Jack-n-Grill, 2524 Federal Blvd., which is topped with ham, a hot dog, guacamole and chile peppers. Check out the 49 other picks at 50-states-50-burgers/package/ index.html.
Wine time, meal deal.
The Oceanaire Seafood Room, 1400 Arapahoe St., is ready to drown 2009’s tough economy and raise a glass to a better 2010.
Starting Monday, the seafood eatery will offer a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine for $20.10. But there’s more: Executive chef Matt Mine will create three-course meals from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday for $20.10.
Eavesdropping
on a woman talking to gal pals about men at Elway’s Cherry Creek: “When you’re 18, they pant, pant, pant for you, then they get you and freak out. When you’re 36, you take a bunch of Zoloft and don’t care anymore.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224, e-mail pparker@denverpost.com, or .
