I last caught up with Wes Isbutt, owner of West Side Tavern in Longmont, in August 2025 for our Indulgences issue. Wes—a four-time restaurant owner with 26 years of experience from living in Las Vegas—is full of anecdotes and insights. So if anyone has an idea of “the Taste of the Month,” it’s him.

When we sit down together, this time on an unusually warm night in January, I ask him what’s been going on. He grins at me.

“With the world, with West Side Tavern, with food?”

I can’t help but laugh and shrug because, fair. Where do you begin with what the “Taste of the Month” is?

“It’s hard out here,” Wes says. “The cost of food is crazy now. Restaurants will have two choices: raise prices or cheapen the quality. And I can see who’s choosing which. More places will have to close. Automated service is becoming more of a thing. I don’t want to look at my phone to order food. I want to be one of the last places in the country that holds out for what the finer things in life stand for.”

I ask him how he feels about accessibility to “good” food.

“Texas Roadhouse turns thousands of tables every day. But what’s your experience there? It’s accessible, but is it good?” Wes says. “When I think of the best meals I’ve ever had, it’s because of the atmosphere I’m in, the people I’m with, the unexplainable thing we all go looking for. The better things in life can be accessible too, so I have to ask: what are you choosing to enjoy?”

He says it’s like film photography.

“It’s hard to pick up and tricky to learn, expensive to get into. But the ones who want to do it, they’ll find a way—and when they get it, they get it,” Wes explains. “That’s my advice to everyone: ‘Rock your food.’”

It’s a quiet Tuesday night at the West Side Tavern. A couple laughs over a bottle of red wine. At the bar, two brothers from Denver sit together.

“They drove all the way up here from Denver,” Wes says. “Brother and brother from out of town. One just had a baby. They’ve been coming here for a while because they know we have the best f***ing whisky selection around.” Wes pauses thoughtfully. “It’s wholesome. These experiences don’t have to be expensive. It’s not something any “where” can just create. But we’re always going to keep trying.”

So, maybe the Taste of the Month is enjoying the finer things. Consider your intention. Is your food a matter of convenience, comfort, or both? Don’t cut corners, even when it’s hard out here, because what you’re passionate about is going to carry you forward.

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The post Taste of the Month: West Side Tavern with Wes Isbutt appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

From the Basement Up: Slug on Art, Grief, and Home

“I’m sitting in a basement in South Minneapolis right now, the day after an event [the murder of Renee Good], and it’s, uh, it’s really a… interesting time to try to promote anything. But I’m gonna do my best. I’m gonna meet you where you meet me.”

Sean Daley, otherwise known as Slug, the lyrical half of the group Atmosphere, has been writing and rapping about the human condition for over thirty years. His authenticity came from being an up-and-coming rapper in Minneapolis in the 90s; to be noticed, he needed to be himself, explaining that no one was going to notice an artist from the Midwest who was just copying their favorite rapper from one of the coasts.

Daley reminisces, “I followed the rule of, I guess you would say, keeping it real. I know it’s a cliché at this point, but at the time, in the 90s, it wasn’t a cliché—it was everything. I was young, and authenticity was all I had. I didn’t grow up with much.”

He goes on explaining that he never felt adequately educated or resourced, having to work two jobs at a young age. Daley explains he felt like part of the machine; his heroes and mentors encouraged him to dig deeper into his mind. “Chuck D from Public Enemy wanted me to reach into my brain. Aaron Swan wanted me to reach into my brain, and my brain didn’t have a lot […] So I went into the heart and that shit worked.”

As he aged, his music began to speak to what he was struggling with, what he was angry about. But it also spoke of love, of fatherhood, of joy. Daley’s words are a postcard to those moments in his life—who he was and who he would become.

In his authenticity, Daley was able to define success. It was not a mansion or a lavish life he dreamed of; it was a reliable car that could start during the harsh Minnesota winter, it was food in the fridge, it was being safe. From this core, he wrote what he believes to be his breakout album, Lucy Ford.

The album spoke with raw vulnerability, helped shape by his musical partner, Anthony Davis. “I think he saw something in me that I had not yet seen as far as just what he thought would be my ability to communicate from this space, as opposed to trying to compete with all the other rappers who were occupying one small space. He wanted me to step into a space that wasn’t occupied by so many.” Their partnership has flourished and grown over the past three decades, combining life experiences and sounds as they have evolved as humans.

To Daley, his albums are like offspring:“It’s like I have 30 kids and I love them all, but I also know they’re not perfect. None of them are. They’re all flawed, just like me, and I embrace that. I don’t do a lot of looking back.” It was with this belief that he released Atmosphere’s newest album, Gestures.

He explains the album is not perfect, and he doesn’t want it to be. He wants to show people what he has been going through for the past two years—that it is okay to have extreme joy and extreme paranoia in today’s world.

“I want to show people that what I experience, health or emotions, is just part of this human experience. I feel like that’s the only way that I get to connect with humans.” He then relates this back to how the interview started, with deep sadness for what is going on in Minneapolis, the killing of Renee Good. “I am writing a song in this basement today. I get off the phone with you, which means that I can go to the grocery store and actually be a human with these other humans, and I can interact with these other humans, because I proved my humanity to myself with the eight bars I wrote, or a full song I wrote before I went there.”

Daley, who has paid homage to his hometown of Minneapolis in multiple songs, goes on to speak of troubling political times that have impacted his state over the past few years: “Just like anything that you love, there’s a lot of room to be let down, because you put it on a pedestal. You, you, you know, you look, you adore it, and then if it does something that upsets you, it hits hard. It’s, you know, very destructive.”

Daley ends with a note of heartbreak: “I love this city, obviously, but also, I would really love a farm at this point: a couple of animals, grow some food, and maybe an underground bunker. [Minneapolis] is not a big city. So, for us to continue to be so active in the news cycles, it drives me crazy.”

This interview was conducted before the shooting of Alex Pretti. Atmosphere’s new album is Gestures, released in September 2025. They will be performing at the Boulder Theater February 20th.

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The post Spotlight: Sean Daley of Atmosphere talks about the Human Condition appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

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Screenshot via rhymesayers.com

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I follow a lot of rappers online, whether on their email list or their social media. I smiled just a month ago when Sage Francis posted a picture of himself hugging Slug, of Atmosphere. The caption in the photo reads, “Big happy bday hugs to big bruv Slug. It’s been 20 years since he scooped me up on an @atmosphere tour and I’m forever grateful for everything that’s unfolded from there. He’s been a great friend. ?” The photo is by @alarmpress (IG).  Slug and Ant, of Atmosphere, with Brother Ali, Grieves, Prof, Sa-Roc, Nikke Jean, and DJ Keezy came through the Mission Ballroom to remind us of the history, and the future, of hip hop.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2HugXPgxP4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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20 years ago was 1999 – a good year for hip hop in general – and I’m reminded that Atmosphere began as a group based in Minneapolis, Minnesota with Slug, less well-known as Sean Daley and DJ / producer Ant, Anthony Davis. That was 1996.

*cue nostalgic hip hop instrumentals*

I remember being a young hip hop head in California when It’s Overcast! Dropped and everyone around me being confused that hip hop was coming from Minnesota. I doubt many of us could’ve found Minnealpolis on a map. I remember the Lucy Ford album. I remember when God Loves Ugly came out, continuing the hip hop love affair, singing along to “I wanna say Fu*k you, Lucy. But the problem is I love you, Lucy”. I even dated a Lucy… I looked at Slug’s face on the album cover recently and he was so damn young; I see his face and I think ‘wow, either he’s older I’m old, or both of us are old, but damn I still love hip hop and, damn, they still make such good hip hop’. I remember in 2008 trying to paint that shit gold and I remember Frida Kahlo versus Ezra pound and the most recent, the last two of which are Latin sounding, Mi Vida Local in 2018. 

I’ve been in Colorado for about three years now and I’ve been covering music for about two and a half. I’m hard-pressed to remember any other artists I’ve seen more than Atmosphere and the Rhymesayers crew, who continue to make Colorado a second home, stopping through on virtually every leg of their many tours. Colorado loves it’s hip-hop, especially this true school, old school, underground, backpacker, real hip hop. 

I’ll be honest in saying that I arrived at the Atmosphere show a tad late, given the Mission Ballroom’s less than user-friendly parking situation and my tendency to not want to pay inflated costs to spend five hours at a show. I parked down the road at one of the many breweries and walked over to the Mission. We arrived too late for Nikki Jean and, dashing my hopes, found out that neither Prof nor Sa-Rock was on the schedule for the first night that we were given access. Wack. 

I was really excited to see Sa-Rock, who I’ve never seen in person, and whose music litters my playlist. Nicki Jean and Prof are also in my files but I was too late for Jean. I showed up instead, after photo pit access expired, halfway through the Grieves set. He legit had the crowd on their feet, “hands in the air, wave ‘em if you don’t just don’t care” style. DJ keezy, per usual, set the tone and kept the music flowing in between sets. 

Now, this review might be a bit late considering they graced Denver on September 20th and September 21st but, honestly, is there ever a bad day to reminisce on great music In your vicinity? No. So let’s continue. I like shooting concerts with an old-school Sony Alpha 100. It’s good enough to capture, if you know the settings, great photography no matter the lighting but it’s old-school enough to give you a grainy, gritty feel reminiscent of the heyday of a concert photography, like Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock or Janis Joplin anywhere. Snap the photo, run through them with some filters and some saturation and some cropping, and oila. Photo editing is a meditative process for me and, as photographs have a way of doing, I was transported back to the concert during my work. 

One thing I would say is, having witnessed the full sets of both Brother Ali and Atmosphere, I’m disappointed in one of Brother Ali songs. On one he raps about going to a newsroom to talk about his art and how everyone there wanted to take photos with him and the writer had done the research to interview him. He raps that he asked them why they never placed him in the broader hip-hop conversation, to which “that joint got quiet real quick”. I never would have thought about it but, listening there in the Mission Ballroom, I realized that the song is literally about them placing him in the hip hop conversation, otherwise why would he even be in a newsroom with people that knew his music and wanted to support him? Since then I can listen to that song the same way and I have officially deleted it from my personal playlist. Otherwise, B.A. continues with his genuine style of love based, conscious hip hop, with the adoration of the crowd evident.

Atmosphere, as usual, killed it. The “smile now, cry later” faces he makes are literally iconic in Hip-Hop, like the mole on Nas’ face, or the everlasting crown in the aura of Erykah Badu. It’s just exactly what it needs to be. Slug is an emcee of such skill and acumen that, as expected, he takes the audience on a voyage, through history, story by story, rap line by rap line, and leaves them in need of more. Sage Francis once rapped that he is “different,” and that most rappers “don’t know how to speak to a crowd in an intimate environment”. 

The Mission Ballroom, with it’s 3,950 head capacity, is anything but intimate. The way Slug raps, the way Ant prowls the crowd before DJ’ing, the way Brother Ali amps up the positive energy, the way Grieves get the crowds ready for a workout and Keezy keeps the vibe up, you would never notice the venue was anything but intimate. This is what good rap, what showmanship looks like. This is why Colorado is a second home to Atmosphere (and the Rhymsayers crowd), and why Coloradans keep showing up for them. 

The post Atmosphere Continue Making Colorado A Second Home appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research focuses on atmospheric science and education, so it’s fitting that it would display art fixated on the sky—NCAR is currently housing the renowned Kim Abeles’ “Shared Skies” exhibit at its South Boulder campus.

Abeles is known for using both conventional and unique forms of media to bring attention to critical issues in society. She has explored everything from gender roles to the environment through her artwork, and has been exhibited in 22 countries. This collection of digital prints specifically incorporates photos of the sky taken from all over the world; by comparing them, she tells a story of unity. The photo strips depict different weather conditions, such as a thunderstorms and clear blue skies. One section of red sky was taken here in Colorado during the Hyde Park fire, for example.

The photos are collected from Abeles’ and other artists’ travels, bought through stock photo sites, and from international friends via social media—it’s as if she has curated her own exhibit, through an image crowdsource. World landmarks appear, such as Egyptian pyramids and the top of the Eiffel Tower, so the images chosen by Abeles portray a sense of community within the larger world. Abeles also uses seemingly simple photographs to depict the effects of environmental decisions on the world.

Abeles’ work has won many awards, and last year she received a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship for her creative ability. She presents basic facts about contemporary problems in unorthodox ways that renders her art to the next level. The overall message? While it may look different depending on where you stand, we all share the same sky.

Shared Skies is on display at the National Center for Atmospheric Research through June 30, 2014.

The post Sharing the Skies appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When I last visited (and reviewed) Colorado Coal Company in Erie a few years back, I remember being impressed by its elegance and near-fine-dining atmosphere. I remember being shown to a table by a host and seated with a hardbound wine list reminiscent of any big-league steakhouse. I remember a delicious steak and a very reasonably priced bottle of Cabernet. I remember being very well taken care of by our server, despite some youthful predispositions. I remember, in short, wanting to come back.

Well, I finally did, and my most recent visit, on a sleepy Tuesday evening, produced considerably different memories. The feel this time was much more congruent with a neighborhood bar and grill than it was with modish cuisine. Patrons are seated by the bartender.

Instead of a handheld wine list and a list of nightly specials recited enticingly by a server, diners are presented with a large chalkboard of specials and wines by the glass on the far interior wall.

Flat screen televisions grace both corners of the large bar (it’s possible that these were here all along, but the point is that on my last visit the atmosphere superceded them). Whether this is a conscious change in style or I was just there a little early on a quiet evening, I do not know.

All of this is not to say that the Coal Company has fundamentally downgraded. If there has indeed been a change in style or approach, there is presumably a good reason for the adjustment and one must judge their experience based on that strategy. Having settled myself into this new territory, then, I began to accentuate the positive.

The upshot of this more casual feel is an atmosphere of neighborly good nature. I was greeted by a friendly, attentive bartender who informed me of the selection of beers on tap, of which I chose local favorite Hazed and Infused (a dry-hopped beauty of a brew from Boulder Beer Company). Looking around at the storefront layout, which essentially splits the space in two with the bar on one side and the dining area on the other, I spotted the exposed brick wall on the north side of the space that I found so enchanting on my last visit.

The photography and memorabilia celebrating Erie’s coal mining past remained from before, and the notices announcing Happy Hour specials scrawled in chalk behind the bar evoked the most comfortable of local watering holes.

Being on my own this time, I decided to let my carnivore flag fly with a half-rack of blissfully sloppy pork ribs ($15.95 with fries and cole slaw). These beauties are of the three- maybe four-napkin variety, a fact my bartender graciously acknowledged by bringing me extra. Tender and generous in their meat-content, the ribs were slathered in a smoky, spicy barbecue sauce that immediately gratified.

I also tried an appetizer of—get this—deep fried Pickle Spears ($5.95), which were in texture and flavor surprisingly satisfying. An order comes with eight spears, far too much for one person awaiting mass amounts of pork but just right for a pair or a trio looking for an appetizer, which is (sort of) not so bad for you. Be warned, however: Taking them home for a reheat is a supremely disappointing exercise.

In the end, I couldn’t get past the dissonance of my past and present visits, but the food was tasty, the portions were generous, and the service was friendly and attentive. As my grandmother says with surprising regularity, “Can’t complain!”

And I didn’t, leaving the Coal Company feeling the drive to Erie was a worthy culinary trip.

Colorado Coal Company

303.828.4005
578 Briggs St, Erie
Bottom line: More “dining,” less “fine”; an unimpeachable neighborhood spot.

The post Things Change appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.