inside longmont the magazine - march 2015

insideLONGMONT.com March 2015

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March PhotoGolden Ponds Natural Areaby Brian T. Wolf


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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brian T. Wolf

WRITING & PHOTOGRAPHYBrian T. Wolf

Mari Wolf

MARKETING & ADVERTISINGMari Wolf

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COVER PHOTO: Roosevelt Park by Mari Wolf

insideLONGMONT The Magazine is published monthly by Inside Longmont, LLC.

Copyright 2015 by Inside Longmont, LLC. All rights reserved. The entire contents of insideLONGMONT The Magazine are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the publisher. Inside Longmont, LLC is not responsible for unsolicited materials.


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Feature Stories

In The CommunityRobots Rising, Part One

In The Community A Winning Performance

For BPA

Arts & Entertainment“The Good Old Days Now”


Contents

In The Community: Robots Rising, Part One

In The Community: A Winning Performance For BPA

Arts & Entertainment: Bub Comedy Is No Joke!

Arts & Entertainment: “The Good Old Days Now”

Happening In Longmont: March Meltdown

iL Non Profit Community

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28Happening In Longmont

March Meltdown


In The Community

The robots are coming!

There is no denying that in today’s world technology is growing and becoming a more frequent partic-ipant in our daily lives at a record speed. What used to be thought of as only happening in the movies is happening right now in the world around us. If you have any doubt about that, an upcoming exhibit at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center will put the world of robotics in perspective and really open your eyes to the possibilities that exist today.

On May 9, a brand new special exhibition called Robots Rising is coming to the Longmont Museum to showcase the world of robotics. The entire exhibit, made up of nearly a dozen unique displays, is cur-rently being built entirely from scratch with contributions made by a variety of volunteers from Long-mont and Boulder County. We were recently invited by the Curator of Exhibitions, Jared Thompson, to tour the location where the displays are being built and to get a special look at the various robotics being created.

Over the past several months, Robert Van Deest and his company Blue Point Engineering have been building three complete robotic displays specifically for the Robots Rising exhibit. Robert has been working in the robotics industry since the 1970s and Blue Point Engineering, based here in Longmont,

ROBOTSRISING

part one


has provided contract services for companies in the entertainment industry like Universal Studios, Jim Henson, and Disney. On the day we visited, we were fortunate enough to have been given a preview of their creations by Robert himself, as well as demonstrations by Ryan Van Deest, his son, who has also been designing and building their robots.

The first of the three robot displays we were shown was an animatronic character that has been de-signed to mimic human motion. Visitors to the museum will be able to operate the robot by man-ually controlling the movement of its head, arms, shoulders, wrists, and body. The only features that won’t move are its legs. The robot will have a head with a functioning mouth and will be able to look left, right, up, and down. Typically, a design like this would be covered with a silicone skin, but

for this exhibit they will leave the skin off so that everyone can see all of the moving parts. This will also give it a cool “Terminator” look. In addition to the manual controls, the robot will also be programmed to operate through a series of movements and actions to create an animatronic playback that will include sound effects and light-ing effects to go along with its motions. This will allow the robot to perform a variety of actions like introducing itself to visitors or even singing and dancing!

As part of the Robots Rising exhibit, this display will represent pneumatics, the use of compressed air to create mechanical motion. Made of alumi-num and pneumatic cylinders, robots just like this

are used in anima-tronics every day at places like haunted houses and theme parks. However, this display is also meant to show peo-ple that the only real difference be-tween a robot you might find in a fac-tory and one in an amusement park is simply how it is used.

The second display we were shown is being designed to allow visitors to activate a set of buttons that operate different types of pneumatic cylinders and linear actuators. While the pneumatic cylinders use compressed air, the linear actuators use electrical signals to activate motors to move gears. The display will feature a large, transparent board with a variety of cylinders and actuators of different styles that are used today in both the entertainment and factory industries. Using these same components, a per-son could build any kind of machine that would be able to lift things or move them either pneumati-cally or electrically. The goal of this exhibit is to be able to show the mechanical muscles working to produce movement.

part one


The third display they are building is called a pick-and-place robot. This is an example of a real robot you would find in many small factories around the country and around the world. Robots like these are used to pick up something and place it in a

different spot. By adding sensors and switches as well as a custom-designed control console, the dis-play will allow visitors to control all of the various movements of the machine. People will be able to reach out and pick something up just like the robot would in a factory setting.

In addition to controlling movement, the control console will have support electronics that monitor the voltage and temperature. In the real world, this would be used by operators to learn when the robot is being loaded up too heavy or if there were a problem with the motor. Generally, robots like this are built to be connected to a computer system where they are programmed to perform a series of functions independent from an operator. However, this particular robot is being built with a one-of-a-kind design that will allow anyone to use is simply and effectively without needing to have

any programming knowledge. And it will also give people the chance to think about the logic behind what really happens in industrial applications and the step-by-step processes that go into program-ming an industrial robot.

One of the keys throughout this entire exhibit is that everything is visible. “Nothing will be hid-den,” Robert told us. “You are going to see the wires, you are going to see the pneumatic tubes. You are going to actually see the working parts.”

These are just three of the robotic displays that will be part of the Robots Rising exhibit when it arrives at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center on May 9th. Be sure to look for next month’s issue of Inside Longmont The Magazine where we will continue our behind-the-scenes look at some of the other displays that will be part of this amazing new exhibit.

To learn more about the Longmont Museum, visit www.longmontmuseum.com.


In The Community

Last month, 7 dancers from Broadway Performing Academy (BPA) traveled to the Colorado Conven-tion Center in Denver to compete in StarQuest’s 2015 regional competition. StarQuest is a regional dance competition that is held in more than a dozen cities across the country. Traditionally known as a place where students prepare for performing on stage, not for competition, Owner/Artistic Director Kimberleigh Spencer decided that this was the right time for BPA to participate in its first competition.

Having come from another studio that participated in competitions, Skylar Daniels was one of the dancers who really pushed for the members of BPA to enter a competition. Kimberleigh was reluctant at first to bring her students into a competition. Like most people, she was aware of the cutthroat na-ture many competitions are perceived to have and she didn’t want to put her dancers in that kind of negative situation. However, she also realized that competition could be something healthy for them to experience. So, in the end Kimberleigh took a chance with StarQuest, and she couldn’t have been happier with the result. “We met a lot of nice people and a lot of nice studio owners. That changed it for us,” Kimberleigh said.

A Winning PerformanceFor BPA


In preparation for the competition, Kimberleigh and her students settled on a few of their favorite numbers. The entire group took the stage to per-form “Hard Knock Life” from the show “Annie”. They also prepared a two dancer lyrical piece title, “So Close,” from Disney’s Enchanted.

To their surprise and delight, BPA’s performance of “Hard Knock Life” won the award for First Place in the Classic Teen Small Group category. And dancers Kara Querubin and Marci Parker won the award for Fourth Place with their perfor-mance of “So Close” in the Classic Senior Duet/Trio category.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, BPA was awarded the Apogee “Classic” Award for “Hard Knock Life” coming in first among all of the studios, small and large, in the “Classic” category! “We were like, this is our first competition, we’re just going to go out there and have fun no matter where we place. And then they called our name for first place and we were like, this is amazing!”

Because they had never competed be-fore, the girls didn’t expect to place, let alone walk away with top honors in their categories. “This is

such a great group of girls,” Skylar told us.

This may have been their first dance competition, but it most certainly won’t be their last. As one of the top winners at the StarQuest regional competition, the studio’s dancers are eligible to com-pete at nationals. “It’s a huge thing for us,” Kimberly announced.

Since its inception, BPA has always been more focused on performing than competition, but now they are going to expand into doing more competitions as well. This is because many compe-titions offer a category for song and dance. While most dance companies just do dance or they do musical the-ater, where the performers lip sync to a

recording, BPA prepares its students to sing and dance on stage.

Congratulations to Kimberleigh and Broadway Performing Academy dancers for such a tremen-dously successful first competition! If you have a son or daughter who is interested in performing, visit www.broadwayperformingacademy.com.

Kimberleigh Spencer with dancers Marci Parker, Samantha Stroh, Skylar Daniels, Kara Querubin, Avery Meinke, Amelia Wilcox, Ava Nolledo and their two trophies.


Arts & Entertainment

In recent years, Longmont’s arts and entertainment scene has really flourished. Our community is fortunate to have a variety of venues and businesses that feature or promote live theater, local art, and local music all across this town. And thanks to the work of Emily Andrews and JoAnn McIver, we can now add comedy to that growing list.

Recently, these two Colorado natives created Bub Comedy, a comedy troupe that believes “comedy should be accessible, should be universal, and should be funny.” Formed here in Longmont, their mission is to bring theater-style performances back to popularity by focusing on comedy. But make no mistake, these two women take their comedy seriously. Both have degrees in Theatre/Film/Television Production from the University of Colorado Denver. Emily has studied physical theater in Italy, spe-cifically a type of theater called commedia dell’arte. JoAnn has studied improv in Chicago with Second City. And they are determined to make comedy a major part of Longmont’s arts and entertainment scene.

“We want to really open up the comedic world to people up here, not only for audiences but for people who want to perform,” JoAnn said.

Bub Comedy Is No Joke!


Bub Comedy has already begun by part-nering with 300 Suns Brewing to present Barley-Har-Har Comedy Open Mic Night. Once a month, 10 brave people take the stage to perform a 3-minute open mic com-edy routine. They have already had four very successful comedy nights with a nice mixture of comedians, community locals, and even one of the owners of 300 Suns Brewing, Dan Ditslear, entertaining the crowds! The audiences are always atten-tive and the hearty laughter is always loud!

The success of these open mic nights are helping Emily and JoAnn build a new Longmont brand for comedy. While they do have comedians coming from Denver and Boulder to step behind the micro-phone, they are also actively looking for Longmont performers, too. No experience necessary!

“I love encouraging people to get up there and do it,” Emily said. “I love creating this atmosphere. It is a community space, not a professional space. It’s our comedy club. It’s a place where you can be completely comfortable.”

Also in the works for Bub Comedy is an original musical comedy show that will be held at Grossen Bart Brewery. This show will feature live musical performances that are all comedy based. There will be original songs and song parodies as well as comedic performances of classic songs. Some per-formances may include sketches, too. Along with JoAnn and Emily, Dave Hartman and Sara Nitke will help bring this unique show to life. Look for their first show on March 31st!

Ultimately, their goal is to be able to offer a variety of shows at different locations around town every week. Along the way, they also want to create a following for comedy in Longmont. “This year is all about building an audience,” Emily said.

Once they have that audience, their vision is to build a comedy club right here in Longmont. While most comedy clubs offer a specific theme, typical-

ly either stand-up or improv, Emily’s and JoAnn’s vision is to present everything in the world of comedy. In addition to stand-up and improv, they would bring comedic plays, sketch comedy, and musical comedy to their stage for a total range of experiences for their audience. Their goal is to create the type of space where people will want to come every week. “We want to be the spot where people hang out,” Emily said. “We want to make that community.” They plan on doing this by fo-cusing on reasonable ticket prices, comfortable at-mosphere, and above all quality shows. “There is smart comedy. There is quality comedy.”

We are excited to watch as Bub Comedy brings a whole new world of entertainment to Longmont and we can’t wait to see what else they have in the works.

You can find more about Bub Comedy online at www.bubcomedy.com.

JoAnn McIver (left) and Emily Andrews (right) clowning around with a few props.


Your opportunity to be part of Barley-Har-Har Comedy Open Mic Night at 300 Suns Brewing is only a month away! The next event is already scheduled for April 16. Whether you want to try your hand at stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, or even something musical, there will be a crowd ready for you to make them laugh. Sign up for one of the ten 3-minute slots by going to the 300 Suns Brewing website at www.300sunsbrewing.com/comedy.

Or if you love to laugh and just want to come out for an evening of comedy and delicious craft beers, they need you too. After all, a comedian is nothing without a crowd to entertain. Have some fun and support these brave souls!


Arts & Entertainment

Their intention seems to be of celebrating the life they’ve discovered in Longmont, CO. Love songs of several varieties grace the project and a healthy dose of whim in their lyrics gets you to giggling along. - Denny Driscoll

Jess and Andy have crafted a local masterpiece, that I believe will become a standard in local recording quality. They are the hardest working independent artists in the business, and it shows with this record. They have been a vital part of building a com-munity, and their philosophy shines within the stories on this record. - Nick O’Connor

Earlier this month, Longmont’s own The Prairie Scholars, husband and wife duo Andy and Jessica Eppler, released their brand new 20-track double album, The Good Old Days Now, much to the delight of their growing number of fans. This is their first studio album since 2012’s Wasteland Ramble and has been many months in the making.

Both the album itself and the title track are meant to celebrate the community that the Epplers have be-come an important part of and that has been so supportive of them. “We named the album even before all the songs were written for it, even before the title track was actually written,” Jessica said. In fact, the title track grew out of the process of recording the album and was written to tie the entire project together. “We ended up capturing what Longmont feels like right now,” Jess said.


“That’s really the message of the album, the good old days are now,” Andy told us. “It’s easy to be in a negative place, but the truth is that the world is what you make of it. We can all make a better one together.”

The 20 song set was arranged to feature the coun-try side of The Prairie Scholars on the first disc and their rock’n’roll side on the second disc. For those who have had the pleasure of seeing a live perfor-mance by The Scholars, this will have a familiar feeling as their shows typically start with an acous-tic set and finish with an electric set. Arranging the songs this way has, of course, led many of the fans of The Scholars to settle on one of the two discs as their personal favorite. “It’s fun to see who goes for which style of our music,” Jess said.

As with their previous albums, Andy and Jessica once again took on all of the music and production for all 20 songs. In addition to Jessica on piano and Andy on guitar, both electric and acoustic, as well as the two providing all vocals, you will also hear the Epplers playing accordion, organ, bass, drums, mandolin and more. “It’s not a matter of what instruments I play,” Andy pointed out, “it’s what does the song need and can I physically make that happen on the instrument that it should be on.”

The hardworking duo also split duties on the song-writing for the album. Most of the songs were written by either Andy or Jess individually before bringing it to the other. “I think the lyrics tend to stay the same, but the music morphs once the oth-

er person gets involved,” Andy said. There were a few exceptions, though, that were co-written by the couple. Andy wrote the chorus to “Lost in You” before passing it to Jess who filled out the verses. On the song “Oh My You,” Andy wrote the first two verses and Jess wrote the third.

Even though they have only just completed this ex-haustive project, don’t expect the Epplers to slow down anytime soon. After taking a break from songwriting, they are already working on new songs for future projects. Also, Jessica will have a solo album of her own coming out a little later in the year and Andy, who drew all of the artwork for The Good Old Days Now, will be continuing to spend more time on his painting and writing. And this is on top of their busy schedule of live perfor-mances here in Longmont and across the Front Range. It’s no wonder they are often considered the hardest working musicians in Longmont!

If you haven’t gotten your copy of “The Good Old Days Now,” you can purchase your own from Andy and Jessica at any one of their live shows in the area. Or you can buy online at their website, www.prairiescholars.com. Get it today and let the good times roll!


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March Meltdown

With Spring just around the corner and warmer temperatures on the way, the time has come to say farewell to the Longmont Ice Pavilion at Roosevelt Park, at least until next winter. On March 8, the Ice Pavilion hosted its annual March Meltdown celebration to mark the end of the season. The weather couldn’t have been better as everyone turned out to get in one last day of skating and it was such a joy to see so many families together out on the ice to take part in this Longmont tradition.

When they weren’t skating, visitors enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine and eating delicious ice cream that were given out for free. In addition, cups of paint and brushes were available for the annual painting of the ice mural. Starting at one end of the Pavilion, a section of the ice was marked with cones so that kids and adults could leave their mark on the ice. Some painted pictures, others left messages, a few just wrote their names. And throughout the afternoon the mural grew as more and more people joined in the fun.

Public skating at the Longmont Ice Pavilion ended on March 12, so it’s time to hang up those skates until winter comes back around.

Happening In Longmont


Visit www.insidelongmont.comAnd Learn More About

The Caring Non Profits In Our Online

Non Profit Community

The Inn Between strives to help families and individuals who are facing homelessness in our community to be self-sufficient and sustainable - to no longer be homeless. By providing housing and critical services, we work with our residents to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence needed for self-sufficient living.

The Family Garden is a resource hub offering education, inspiration and networking for families throughout pregnancy, birth and early childhood. Many different philosophies and approaches to child birth and parenting are presented without judgment or advocacy for a particular view.


The OUR Center helps people move toward self-sufficiency by unifying community resources. The organization provides emergency services to help people through short-term financial crises and also works in partnership with our clients to develop case plans for those needing longer-term assistance.

Mountain States Children’s Home extends Christian services to wounded children in an effort to meet their physical needs, heal their emotional hurts, challenge their minds, and teach them moral principles in order to reach the goals of reuniting them with their families or preparing them for independence.

Longmont Dance Theatre strives to enliven and to elevate the human spirit by means of dance, specifically ballet. A technique of movement born in the courts of kings and queens, ballet has survived to this day to become one of the most elegant, most adaptable, and most powerful means of human communication.

inside longmont the magazine - march 2015

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