Steve Chavis

After five months of meeting,  Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has finished its work. Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce joined “First Take With Lando and Chavis” to discuss the highlights of their work. 

“Those on the environmental side of the task force,” Boyce says, “are actually going so far as to call it a failure because it didn’t address the core issue the task force had, which was to give local communities more legal say.”

Boulder jazz fans have organized a jazz education event for June 2015 called the “Jump for Jazz Festival.”  Boulder’s "Jazz Gossip" Miriam Paisner sat down with “First Take with Lando and Chavis” to describe the community outreach.

“I have wanted to know for sure (about the making of jazz music) since about ten years ago when I went to the Boulder Jazz Jams at the Broker Inn and Brad Goode was leading," said Paisner, who sends out weekly jazz listings to hundreds of people via an e-mail list.

Proceeds from NEA Jazz Master Paquito D'Rivera's concert at Mount Vernon Country Club this week will benefit Damas de Blanco, the "Ladies in White" who have worn white to Sunday Mass in Havana and around Cuba since an incident of mass arrests in 2003.  To explain this quiet protest movement, Dr. Orlando Gutierrez Boronat from the Cuban Democratic Directorate based in Miami joined "First Take with Lando and Chavis."

The 3rd annual Local Food Summit is March 2-3 in Denver.  Mickki Langston, executive director of the Mile High Business Alliance, visited "First Take with Lando and Chavis to describe the growing momentum behind the local food movement.

"The intention is to help build relationships between people who are working inside the food economy all the time," said Langston.  "Food is the foundation of our community, and it's delicious!"

In light of his new television series, "Chef Driven," chef  and restaurant owner Frank Bonanno visited "First Take with Lando and Chavis" to talk about public TV and food artistry.

"I really wanted to showcase what Denver has to offer,” said Bonanno. “...We are as good a beer town and wine town as any city the country.” This Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS, the next episode of "Chef Driven" covers  soul food in Denver (Feb. 21). Previous episodes have focused on beer, burgers, and bread.