ColoradoBiz Blogs
- Executive Wheels: 2009 Chevrolet Aveo5 2LT
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08.10.2009
Finally, a worthy subcompact competitor from Chevy
I’ve really been in a “green” car mood the last couple of years, and I have been very impressed with many of the subcompacts out there on the market. The Toyota Yaris, the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa, the Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, and especially the Suzuki SX4 Crossover, are all excellent automobiles, with a much larger feel than they appear, great in the snow, and way above average gas mileage. So I was really looking forward to getting my hands on a Chevrolet Aveo as I wanted to see how far GM has come in direct competition in this now-suddenly hot car category.
- Executive wheels: 2009 VW Jetta SportWagen TDI
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06.16.2009
Finally, a diesel to love in America
Just over a year and a half ago, my wife and son and I visited Italy. Florence to be exact. We booked the trip through a website and arranged, blindly, to have a rental car waiting for us at the airport. Having no idea of what to expect, we were at first a little stunned to get a Renault Modus, a French car, because we thought it was a little on the small side – it was more than enough in the room department, mind you, but it looked small there in the airport parking lot.
- Executive wheels: 2009 Audi A4 Sedan 2.0 T Quattro Tiptronic, Audi A4 3.2 and Audi A3 3.2
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03.31.2009
Mid-year 2008 a friend of mine, a very picky person, went looking for a new car, or rather a new car to him, and he went round and around with BMWs, Hondas, Lexuses, Acuras and others. He worked with a broker for a while, talked with dealers, checked out Web sites, and test drove a bunch of cars. This wasn’t a desperate situation; being the person he is, he was going to keep looking until the right car and the right deal came along. I was convinced at the time that he would eventually buy something and then, not too long into driving it, he would have buyer’s remorse. He’s very particular.
- The Rocky Mountain News got me singin’ the blues
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02.27.2009
Friday morning, I walked out to my driveway and for the last time picked up a blue plastic bag stuffed with news I need to know written and reported by people I trust. Rest in peace Rocky Mountain News, the newspaper that changed my ways of thinking about the tabloid format and the biggest newspaper that ever carried my by-line, however briefly.
My wife, Maria, lay in bed as I wrote this, sleeping off a later night than usual. She and her colleagues at the Rocky would show up in the newsroom later that morning, bleary-eyed and numb, to finish cleaning their desks, swap stories and commiserate about what the hell they’re going to do next. Some of them, a handful of reporters and columnists, appear now in the Denver Post, including Mike Littwin, who told Colorado Public Radio a few weeks back that most of the people leaving the Rocky would never work in journalism again.
- Umphrey’s McGee plus Isaac Hayes, Count Basie and Coleman Hawkins revisited
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02.25.2009
UMPHREY’S MCGEE Mantis (Sci Fidelity Records)
Chicago-based Umphrey’s McGee has been branded as a jam band, but that tag—which often represents aimless noodling—doesn’t begin to describe what these guys do. While the extended instrumental experiments might win the band the praise of young fans, the adventurous music on Mantis, packed with stop-start arrangements, crunching power chords and gorgeous vocal harominies, will appeal to the classic rock generation that grew up on Kansas, Yes, Steely Dan and Rush. The nearly 12-minute title track takes in all of those influences and more. You can imagine Todd Rundgren crafting a piano-based snipped like “Cemetery Walk Two.“ And the ghosts of the Beach Boys and XTC hover over “Prophecy Walk.“ Progressive rock has long been maligned for pompous excess and just plain goofiness (say, the new age nonsense lyrics of Yes). Umphrey’s McGee makes it cool again.
- 2009 Suzuki SX4 Crossover FWD Technology: If you drive it, you’ll buy it
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02.20.2009
When last I had this car, two Christmases ago during a raging snow storm, they didn’t refer to it as a crossover, but rather just the SX4, and I pronounced it one of the finest cars I have ever driven.
What’s changed in the interim is that Suzuki has launched the SX4 as a sedan model, so this hatchback model is now the Crossover.
What hasn’t changed at all is that it is one of the finest automobiles I have ever driven. Well, maybe a little change: I loved it more this time.
I wanted one then, and I want one even more now.
- Colorado’s new energy in the sun as Obama signs stimulus package in Denver
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02.17.2009
Playing to a roomful of Colorado colleagues that recalled last summer’s Democratic convention, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package Tuesday afternoon, promising to lead the country toward economic recovery as he celebrated Colorado’s new energy industry.
“We are taking big steps toward energy independence,“ Obama said, noting the plan will double the amount of renewable energy produced in the United States within three years.
That’s good news for people like Blake Jones, president of Boulder-based Namaste Solar, which installed solar panels on the roof of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science—the setting for Obama’s historic bill signing—as well as the Colorado governor’s residence.
- RFK Jr.: ‘Free energy for every American!‘
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02.12.2009
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the United States doesn’t need 20 or 30 years to go from gas-powered cars to electric. Israel is doing it in three years, and so could the U.S., Kennedy told a crowd of about 850 on Thursday at the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Click here to watch an excerpt of his speech.
- Spare a dime for news? Rethinking free content on the Web
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02.11.2009
Since Colorado Public Radio secured a spot on the dial last year for a news channel (KCFR at 90.1 FM), I’ve come to rely on it during my 40-mile commute to and from work. In a world of shrinking newsrooms, CPR and National Public Radio continue to do great work.
During a pledge drive promo this week, a CPR announcer asked listeners to imagine their lives without the station. Sure, it’s a strange business model, the announcer noted: The station provides content and then people send in contributions to keep it running.
Doesn’t sound strange at all, actually. - ‘Low Budget’ blues: Deja Vu with the Kinks on the road to recovery
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02.06.2009
As the DJs used to say on top 40 radio—the hits just keep on coming! In January, the nation lost 598,000 jobs as the unemployment rate hit 7.6 percent. Since we entered a recession in December 2007, we’ve lost 3.6 million jobs, the government reported this month.
Read on if you dare. Lyrics courtesy of British Invasion rockers the Kinks, from 1979’s Low Budget album – 30 years later, they fit our current economic woes like a (dusty) glove.
- Recession, green movement, make backyard chickens a natural
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02.05.2009
This morning while I was outside putting a set of sheets on the clothesline, three men from a tree-trimming service on behalf of Public Service let themselves in the backyard. They were on assignment to cut down a few trees that were getting in the way of the power line leading to my house.
They all spoke Spanish primarily and were immediately captivated by the four chickens running around my backyard. One of the men asked if I wanted to sell one of the birds foraging near the house. “No,” I said. “Me gusto los juevos para comer.” (I like the eggs to eat). The men smiled and nodded.
- Bee Gees’ lost classic; Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue at 50; power pop from Blue Ash & the Replacements
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02.01.2009
Disco made the Bee Gees superstars, but it tended to obscure the band’s previous run of pop song craft, such as this ambitious 1969 double-album. Odessa, the group’s fourth effort, blended acoustic folk (“Marley Purt Drive”) with lushly orchestrated ballads (“Odessa (City on the Black Sea)”) and represented a major creative leap for Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
- Jeff Rundles’ Executive Wheels: 2009 Nissan Maxima 3.5 SV
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01.22.2009
A giant leap, but the noise…
Nissan has always been an interesting automaker, as it has always played third fiddle to its Japanese counterparts, Toyota and Honda. It always seems to be a little behind the curve, with some notable exceptions.
- 2009 Toyota Yaris 5-door liftback; 2009 Scion xD 5-door wagon
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01.12.2009
Economy with style and performance
I’m in an economical mood, both as it relates to price and to gas mileage. So it’s cool that Toyota has come to my rescue, and it has done so in ways that don’t insult my sense of quality. - 2009 Nissan Sentra
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12.29.2008
Nissan hasn’t been high on my list of potential rides over the past couple of years because I found too many faults in comparison with the competition. Chief among these has been the noise. In many models, including the line’s upscale Infiniti models, I have found the road noise unsettling. They may have fixed that problem if this new Sentra is any guide.
- Box sets 2008: Roy Orbison, Rod Stewart, Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder
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12.12.2008
Rounding this year's crop of compilations and box sets (part 1)
- 2009 Kia Borrego EX V6 AWD
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12.07.2008
You won’t believe how nice this vehicle is. I’ve always been a fan of foreign automobiles, almost since I was old enough to drive, mostly because I have always appreciated innovation and it seemed like true innovation in American cars ceased in the model year just before my 16th birthday
- U2 at Red Rocks, The Clash at Shea Stadium, plus Warren Zevon revisited
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12.04.2008
THE CLASH — Live at Shea Stadium (Sony/BMG)
U2 — Under a Blood Red Sky/Live at Red Rocks (Universal)In the early ’80s, the Clash and U2 both vaulted into superstar status, but the British punkers hit the stratosphere just before they flamed out while the Irish rockers were just beginning to stake their claim as the most popular band in the world (sorry Rolling Stones.)
- Revisiting Creedence Clearwater; plus Little Richard and Televison’s Tom Verlaine
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10.06.2008
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL Creedence Clearwater, TOM VERLAINE Dreamtime, LITTLE RICHARD The Very Best of Little Richard
- Dance of the dinosaurs: Yes and Black Sabbath
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09.26.2008
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Yes, the group is heading out on tour this year -- minus ailing singer Jon Anderson. And, Black Sabbath's recent reunion with early '80s Ozzy Osbourne replacement Ronnie James Dio was a surprising success, prompting the lineup -- touring for legal reasons as "Heaven and Hell" -- to follow up the tour with its first studio album since 1992.
- Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis dig into the blues
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09.09.2008
Willie Nelson has challenged convention throughout his career so it’s hardly surprising for long-time fans to see him teaming up with Wynton Marsalis for an evening of jazz-tinged blues.
- New Orleans fundraiser borrows DNC spotlight to push for post-Katrina relief
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08.27.2008
The Mile High City got a big dose of N’Orleans flavor on Sunday as Louisiana luminaries and some of its finest musicians whooped it up at the Fillmore to raise money and draw attention to post-Katrina rebuilding efforts three years after the levees broke.
- The chickens came first, then the eggs - maybe
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08.21.2008
It’s late August and the Green Giant’s urban farm hasn’t yielded enough produce to justify the effort and expense I’ve put into it. All I’ve gotten so far is a handful of green beans, a bowl of peas and some basil.
- 2009 Jaguar XF Premium Luxury Sedan
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08.20.2008
The 2009 models are beginning to stream into the marketplace, and while I am sure there will be some surprises - like Chrysler touting large trucks and SUVs, some with massive hybrid engines, at a time when the marketplace is headed in another direction - there couldn’t possibly be anything more surprising than this new Jaguar XF.
- U2 rises from ‘Boy’ to ‘War;‘ plus Blondie radiates ‘Parallel Lines’
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08.19.2008
Revisiting U2's first three albums offers a refreshing journey back to a time when Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. were just four young lads from Ireland hoping to forge a career as rock musicians.
- A chicken in every backyard? Fort Collins ordinance seen as good step toward sustainability.
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06.04.2008
Looking to lead the nation out of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt painted a picture of future prosperity with the promise of "a chicken in every pot."
- Weekend pickup sets poultry farm in motion
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03.19.2008
Back in August last year, the Green Giant announced that he would be raising chickens in his Denver back yard. Well, I got 'em.
- Spitzer bites the dust, and he’s very, very sorry he got caught
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03.12.2008
Eliot Spitzer didn’t have many friends on Wall Street so how fitting it was to see the markets shooting up Tuesday while the New York governor’s stock was spiraling down.
- They’re no spring chickens ... wait, yes they are!
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03.05.2008
Arrival of chicks in farm-and-garden stores signals onset of backyard farming season.
- Who’s right about the economy?
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01.18.2008
As the Dow flirted with 14,000 last summer, I argued that Wall Street had lost touch with Main Street - that high stock prices driven by consumer spending overshadowed housing issues and inflation. I thought there was a 50/50 chance the market would back up dramatically in the fall.
- Mitt Romney goes to Washington – to save the US auto industry
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01.15.2008
To hear Mitt Romney tell it, the anecdote for what ails the U.S. auto industry is help in Washington. One presumes that in addition to fighting inconvenient things like federal mileage standards, Romney will emulate George Bush, Senior and work to close American markets to foreign producers until Japanese consumers begin buying Dodge pickups.
