The Yellow Scene Shuffle

If you’ve picked up a copy of the May issue, you may have noticed a little disclaimer below Jim Spencer’s column. This was, in fact, his final piece for us.

Jim was the former Denver and the West lead columnist for the Denver Post—he was laid off and we were lucky enough to lure him for nearly a year. But Jim needed health insurance, a check that could cover his mortgage, and basically all the other bells and whistles that come with a full-time gig.

So when the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine offered him a pretty sweet deal, Jim couldn’t refuse. We wish him the best of luck.

Faced with the difficult task of replacing him, we hit up Craigslist, friends, former co-workers and a few bums on Pearl Street looking for our next marquee columnist. Through the process, James Burrus’ name popped up.

You may remember him from such publications as the Boulder Planet (he was the first editor), Freeskier Magazine (managing editor) and the Denver Daily News (editor). Basically, Jim’s been around the block and we convinced him this was going to be a really fun job. Little does he know.

Check out his first column in the June issue.

We also found out recently that our longtime, beloved food critic Rob Peaslee was also leaving us. Rob just finished his doctorate work at the University of Colorado and landed a tenure track prof position at Texas Tech University. We couldn’t convince him a few free meals a month was worth giving up a lucrative position in academia. While they certainly have some good BBQ in Lubbock, we think Rob will be missing the culinary diversity of the North Metro region.

Starting in the July issue, Jeffery Steen will be taking his critical palate to area restaurants. He is a graduate of Johnson and Wales culinary school and currently serves as an editor at Dining Out Magazine.

We think you’ll love both Jeffery and James.