Tell me everything you know about Colorado Springs
 

As the title says.

ready?

Go!

Ten hut! :ipray:

Lon Chaney, the actor is from there.
And doing a google search on "Colorado springs strange", "dangerous", or "obscure"
won't tell you anything interesting...

<A HREF="http://www.googlism.com/index.htm?ism=colorado+springs&type=2">Googlism</A> says:

6,035 feet above sea level. (exersion may induce vomiting)

My cousin has lived there for the better part of 20 years. She was an instructor at the Air Force Academy until retiring a few years ago. She loves it there.

We might be moving. More details as I know more details, but from anyone who has lived there, or spent time there, how drastic a culture shock are we talking here? Is it on par with from LA to Portland, or on par with NYC to Opalika, Alabama?

I live in the Springs. It's a love/hate thing. I like the North side of town, especially the NW side. Focus on the Family is based here, and you can tell. There's a lot to do in this town, everyone will find something they like.

Love:
Proximity to the mountains
Garden of the Gods
My neighbourhood
A couple of the bars downtown. I'm especially fond of Southside Johnny's

Hate:
Focus on the Family
Almost everything South of say, Cimarron St.

I guess I always thought of LA as a liberal town (is that accurate?). The Springs is very conservative, which may or may not appeal to you. But the area is beautiful, and escape from civilisation is only about an hour West. I would be happy to try to answer any specific questions you may have.

Compared to LA, it's sleepy, backwards and rural. The Californian equivalent would be Sacramento, only with snowcapped peaks. Oh, and NORAD. You can rest easy at night knowing that you are in the shadow of the world's most expensive Santa-tracker, now that there's no USSR.

There are, however, some really talented musicians that call Colorado home (and I'm talking about real ones, not just metal noodlers like me), but the scene is really horrific. People here don't care about original music in the slightest, or at least not enough to make it financially viable. The independent music movement starved itself out in this part of the country, and as a result you're lucky to have 100 people at any venue unless you're a national act. Speaking of that, John Mayer came to town a few years ago, before he hit it really big and there were about 20 people in the place. That was Ft. Fun though, not the Springs.

Corporate musicians do well, as there are any number of Silicon-Valley-type companies that have really stellar parties and pay well. Otherwise, you're looking at a day job and only weekend gigs in "intimate settings" for live music.

It's really not as bleak as it looks upon first read, though. Denver's an hour north at most, and they have some great jazz and blues clubs, as well as a pretty cool world-music subculture. Bela Fleck and Vic Wooten and Hal Ketchum and Nickel Creek and any number of other roots/bluegrass-influenced people play here a bunch, too. There are also scads of "fests" at the ski towns for any musical palate. You just have to be willing to drive around to find the stuff you want to listen to/play, and don't expect the size of the crowd to reflect the coolness of the music.

More plusses: people are getting jobs around here again, we're about to come out of the drought (weather-type) that's been plaguing us for 5 years, and if there's a prettier place in the world, I don't know what it is.

Oh, and bring guns. Shall-issue concealed carry state :D

here's the deal.

There's a church in CO Springs, Woodmen Valley Chapel, that's asked me to look at moving out there to head up their worship arts program. It would be a fairly cool mix of alot of the things that are important to me, but the driving question for me is this:

I know how to build a community of artists in a place like LA. Every spiritual community we've been a part of has been deeply tied to innovative artists who are daring, complex, and vibrant in their work.

What's the artistic community like in a place like the springs? I'm not talking about in the church, I'm talking in general. Are there groups of people doing interesting and creative things? Does the culture in general value innovate work? Or am I going to be eternally frustrated by trying to foster community among people who are nothing like me?

-sm

Not much creative comes out of the springs, IME. I lived there for 2 years or so, and it felt like a wasteland...especially for someone who has a passion for many genres of art. The lack of water for so long in the Springs keeps the neighborhoods from looking pretty and green. It is rare to have a house that actually has a yard. But compared to LA, the cost of real estate is dirt cheap, so maybe you can use the savings to creat your own little oasis in Colorado. Now, Manitou is another story. It's like the Anti-springs. Beautiful place with lots of fun little shops and events going on. Problem is, a lot of christians from the springs think manitou is a "mecca for satanists" (meaning, not christian...I know, ridiculous generalization, but if you lived in the springs you would hear that a lot). My impression was that C Springs is an extremely narrow minded town with a sort of angsty population with "god on their side". Although, it can be a bit exciting...my friend and I witnessed a fight (about 30 guys all trying to beat each other senseless) in a Waffle House at about 3 in the morning. I guess if you live there, those things are about as exciting as it gets. On the upside...if you can get past all the social issues in that city, there are about a million christian churches there, if that is where your occupation lies.

I am thinking Colorado Springs is like rotten Calliflower to L.A. being an ice cream sundae with hot fudge and a cherry on top...the calliflower is nasty, no matter how you prepare it or how little you eat. The sundae tastes good, sounds good and looks good, but if you become too intimate with it, you will find yourself sick. Maybe I shouldn't compare them, though...I have never lived in LA...only visited.

Sorry to be such a downer on the springs...there are a couple of things I really like about it, for instance, my son and my good friend, perth live there, but other than that, I don't like the place too much.

A place like Boulder or Denver is going to have a lot more art. If you like independent radio, check out radio1190.com. It is put on by CU Boulder and they play *nothing* that isn't indie.

the short answer is, there's a vibrant arts community if you know where to look. again, things are spaced differently geographically, so your circle of "local" artistic friends might live anywhere from Taos to Cheyenne. Naturally, Southwestern/Native American art is king, but it's not all blankets and dreamcatchers these days. (currently the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center has a Dale Chihuly exhibition, and he represents modern Native American-inspired visual artistry as well as anyone). Unfortunately, there's a strong Precious Moments/Thomas Kincaide vibe as well, but that's mostly in the touristy parts.

But yeah, the coffeehouse bulletin boards are chock full of events celebrating art and culture. You have to head downtown, away from the Applebees and Cinemark Theaters, but you can find em, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

edit: case clicked submit before me. I have to say she probably knows more about it than me, since I haven't spent too much time down there recently.

I know there's an artist's guild in town; my aunt is a member. I'll try to remember to ask her about it. There is art in this town, it's just not quite as prevalent as some other towns. There's a couple colleges, and it seems to me that "artsy" culture tends to congregate in those areas. I think the fact that art is subdued (not suppressed), is probably more because it's a military town than a religious town. It's there, you just have to look. You could do a lot worse.

My gut instinct when people ask about the town is to bash it, much like Case. But in all honesty, it's really a great town. Not my first choice, but it's probably in my top ten, if not top five.

Eh, sorry to have been so harsh about the springs. I suppose the sour taste I was left with had a lot to do with some of the experiences I had in the corporate world, there and the few bad experiences I had elsewhere in the springs. I still don't feel that art is very important to that community in general, but I suppose if you go out looking for it, you will find something. After all, I found a great band there, whose CD I still cannot locate after 2 moves. They are called Eyes Caught Fire, and the show in which I first heard them was amazing.

L.A. being an ice cream sundae Oh my insert word of your choice.