Ear to the ground

“I need to get sworn in, and then I can get sworn at.”

– A newly appointed public servant discussing his upcoming stint in office


Toon town

TheDurango Telegraph is leaping out of newsrack and into the bookstore, thanks to our renegade political cartoonist, Shan Wells. Wells is releasing two compendiums of his Telegraph cartoons – What a Lovely Piece of Land You Have, My Dear and One Day I Shall Pillage Again. Maria’s Bookshop is hosting a book release party for Wells next Tuesday.

What a Lovely Piece of Land You Have, My Dear is a collection of more than 100 installments of Retooned. The book focuses on  the life and times of Southwest Colorado as caricatured by Shan’s pen and includes musings by Los Jefes, Wally White, Michael Rendon, Ted Holteen, Bryant Liggett and Judith Reynolds. The wordophiles down at Maria’s got an advance look at the collection and have high praise – “It’s not only a fun read, but a poignant visual history of Durango in the first decade of the 21st century.”

Also from the “InfamousDurango Telegraph” comesOne Day I Shall Pillage Again. The book morphed straight out of this paper’s Fun Page and includes dozens of installments of Wells’ “When Animals Attack” cartoon strip.

“Thrill to the action, the spills, the hijinks, the writhing melodrama that is barely contained within the quivering, stained pages of this superspecially-bound edible homeopathic volume,” Wells writes in a shameless bid for book sales.

Shan has also reached across the aisle with the release of the books in an appeal to the nonreaders in the audience – “Suitable for all bonfires, accelerated or otherwise.” The release party meets at Maria’s at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 16. For more information, call 247-1438.

 


Nice cans

Euphoria is sweeping the region. Ska Brewing recently added a second canning line to its world headquarters in Bodo Park and has doubled its canned beer output.

Ska has been a big proponent of the once-lowly aluminum can since 2003. What started with red cans of ESB grew into green cans of Modus Hoperandi in 2008. The local brewers watched in amazement as cans of Modus outsold bottles nearly 2-to-1. Now, we can also enjoy Ska Euphoria and True Blonde from the comfort of a koozie.

Cans result in a smaller carbon footprint and reduced transportation costs; have the highest recycling rate and recycled content of any beverage container; and are more durable and portable than cumbersome brown bottles. “Cans rule,” said Ska Brewing’s Dave Thibodeau. “They’re better for our customers, better for our beer, and better for the planet. If a brewer can can more beer than one canner can can, then can’t it can more than before with two?”