The endorsement

The heels on my favorite boots were wore down, and I didn't really want to buy all new boots. So I dropped them off yesterday at Cobbler's Corner, down on 17th St. between Champa and Stout. Today I got them back, with new heels, and they were shined and buffed up, for a total $8. A+. Note: they don't do large bags or suitcases here because they don't have much storage space. You can try your luck on smaller items and see if they're feeling in the mood, but mostly it's shoes here. Right now, there's a half-off sale on Red Wing boots, if you need those.

Random notes

UMX is still going on today, 3/29, at Bender's Tavern (on 13th between Grant and Logan in Denver) where they'll be picking bands and musicians to play at the People's Fair.

The International Association of Culinary Professionals is hosting its annual conference in Denver this week. Dan Barber (Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns Center) and Armandino and Marilyn Batali (Salumi) are among the highlights. But how big will the crowd be this year? They've opened up sessions to the public, if they're willing to pay. And quite a few items from the original agenda have been cancelled, according to the Web site. Convention attendance has been down for other organizations too.

Ski Scavenger Hunt at Loveland! New Belgium is sponsoring this 4/4, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants will be looking for objects, stationary and moving. $10 to play, and lift tickets are only $35 for participants. The $10 goes toward supporting sustainability. Earlier scavenger hunts were held at Taos and Telluride.

Wynton Marsalis continues the publicity push for his new album "He and She." The Wall Street Journal did a video piece with him, you can listen to the whole album on iLike, and he's going to be the commencement speaker at Northwestern University.

Wall Street Journal on Vie de Merde haha

Lala's Wine Bar

If you haven't tried Lala's Wine Bar + Pizzeria yet (on 7th between Logan and Pennsylvania), head over for Sunday supper. It's just about the classiest all-you-can-eat deal I've ever seen. You get all the pizza, pasta and salad we could eat for $9.95 per person, and there's no buffet: The servers bring out plate after plate, and you just ask for more of whatever you'd like. First came the bruschetta plate. Then a basic salad with croutons and a sprinkle of cheese and dressing. I'd say skip the pasta, unless you request the vegetarian version. It was much better with just the sauce and cheese. Next came the pizza -- thin crust, with some slices having olives, some with mushrooms, and then some with mushrooms, pepperoni and olives. My favorites all night were the pizza and bruschetta. If you don't save room though, you might fill up on the doughy pasta and rid yourself of the chance to taste the great pizza. The wine list has choices of glasses, bottles and 1/3 bottles (a good option if you want more than a glass of one wine). During happy hour (there's two each night), glasses are as low as $5.

This restaurant formerly held Sparrow and Sacre Bleu. Cozy restaurant with bar and open kitchen, with bar-style chairs available right where you can see the cooks working. There's also a patio outside, with heaters when it gets chilly. Sundays are understandably busy with the specials, but the place starts to clear out toward 9:30, even though they're open til midnight. There's plenty more on the menu here, but the Sunday supper is a nice introduction to this relaxed spot.

Another viral video

Did you like the Elmo and Gervais video?
Here's another you might like. Check out the rapping flight attendant!

Ricky Gervais and Elmo : AP interview outtakes!

The National, Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo, The Walkmen and more are playing Pitchfork Music Festival this year! July 17-19 at Union Park in Chicago.

Here in Denver, The Broken West head to the Hi-Dive on Wednesday, 3/11. And Bad Weather California is at the Hi-Dive 3/14, with LoveLikeFire as one of the openers. $6 in advance or $8 at the door

Meese

Meese played their new album the whole way through at the Larimer Lounge Tuesday night for about 200 people and invited everyone to stick around and introduce themselves afterward. DJ Hot to Death (Monolith Festival co-founder Matt Fecher) was spinning to warm up the crowd. We saw Meese get a sold-out crowd dancing at the Bluebird last year, and they've played at Red Rocks too. So in the tiny LL, it might have been nice to hear them play unplugged, but that's just a quibble. We heard songs like "Count Me Out" (originally sort of dark but now with MORE POP! whiz bang) and "The Start of It." Patrick Meese said one of the songs that will be on the new album was written after the band was asked to write a song for the "Twilight" soundtrack. They had two days to write it. Then it got chopped. Boo! But it's on the new album. The album will be Meese's first for Atlantic Records.

Jimmy Eat World in Denver

(photo from Jimmy Eat World's Twitter!")

It was a sold-out crowd tonight in Denver for Jimmy Eat World at the Ogden, one of the 10 stops the band is making on the Clarity Tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the album. They played the whole album. So as lead singer Jim Adkins said, no surprises. But then they came back out for a lengthy encore, which included songs from Futures (including "23" and "Work") and of course (from the Bleed American album) "The Middle" and "Sweetness."

Scott Campbell of the Larimer Lounge booked this show, which is funny, because he also booked the band's Denver show on the original Clarity tour.