Rant: DIA

Whoever conceived, designed, and green-lighted Denver International Airport deserves a sound smack upside their collective heads. From its interminably long terminals, to the lone train that runs between them, to the 13-mile driveway that is Pena Boulevard, the entire complex is a sadistic ode to bottlenecks. Wherever you are at DIA, be assured that there is one way in and one way out, and if that way is congested for some reason, your only option is to sit there and stew.

The ire is fresh, because this morning’s ordeal featured the usual hassles on the meandering drive into the terminal, which has only recently become less circuitous because they finally finished the long-term construction project that rerouted incoming cars like rats in a maze. Because the DIA planners evidently never learned that whole thing about straight lines and their relationship to shortest distances, you’ll never be able to drive directly to the airport. Slightly less meandering is the best we can hope for.

Today’s adventure featured a new wrinkle: Being literally parked on the lone road out of the airport for about 15 minutes, owing to the fact that (sub-rant) so many local drivers treat anything more intense than snow flurries like a trigger for apocalyptic panic.

Some relief from this transportational equivalent of root canal is on the way, when the rail line from downtown opens (we can only desperately hope) this spring. It should’ve been completed years ago, as part of DIA’s original design, but we rats will take whatever cheese we can get.

Rave: Wilson Harwood’s New Single

Nothing soothes an agitated commuter like some dulcet tones, and local singer-songwriter Wilson Harwood delivers a welcome dose of mellow with “Lines of Chances.” Available for listening on Soundcloud, the gently rambling alt-country track is pure Colorado, with sweetly rendered invocations of nature, meaning (the big-picture kind), and hope. Harwood played with local bands such as Rocktin and Mbanza before branching out on his own, creating a sound that’s like Donavon Frankenreiter tinged with M. Ward and Bon Iver. He’ll be playing a release party for his newest single, “Saturated in Sunshine,” on Thursday, February 11 at Swallow Hill (ticket info here), so if you need a good chill, Harwood will provide it.