Byline: Penny Parker
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Colorado Symphony Music Director Marin Alsop will tape a Today show segment on Monday in New York City.
Alsop will work with 24 Juilliard string players while she teaches cutie Katie Couric how to conduct.
Couric and Today cohort Matt Lauer were introduced to Alsop's work during their stint at the Salt Lake City Olympics. One of Alsop's staff members dropped off a CD of the CSO at their Park City hotel, which caught Couric's interest.
The air date of the segment will be announced.
TV TIME: Some would say that the city's business gets taken care of during Monday night Denver City Council meetings. But do those meetings make great TV?
Yes, according to the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, who named Denver 8 TV's coverage of the City Council meetings as the best city council TV coverage in the United States. For the second year running.
``Denver 8 TV has been invaluable to the Denver City Council and its constituents, giving them better access to important information,'' blah-blahed council President Cathy Reynolds.
But Councilman Ed Thomas had a different reaction. ``My question would be, 'Iis this the insomnia award?' '' Thomas said. ``I mean, what should I do? Get a prescription from the doctor for sleeping pills or turn on Channel 8?''
SUCH A DEAL: The bottomless glass of wine promotion at Nicois (pronounced KNEE- swah) lives up to its promise. I took a handful of wine lovers (or willing winos) to the 17th Street restaurant the other night, and we wined and dined our way through the evening.
Here's the deal: For $35, you get to sip any or all of seven featured glasses of wine, and order off the special three-course menu.
I had spicy gazpacho with avocado and toasted almonds, sea bass with Mediterranean vegetables and TDF (to die for) chocolate ganache cake with caramel ice cream and chocolate soup.
For $45 apiece (we inflated the tip, as they suggest on the menu, because of the discounted wine), we enjoyed a great sip and sup fest.
SMOKE SCREEN: Adde Bjorklund, owner of Bistro Adde Brewster in Cherry Creek North, banned smoking from his tiny bar June 1. ``I had some customer complaints,'' Bjorklund said. ``I thought I'd better go with the times and go nonsmoking.''
But his decision to go smokeless cost him customers. ``On Wednesday at 4 o'clock in the afternoon a customer said, 'Adde, can I smoke please?' I said, 'Yeah, I don't care. Just don't smoke in the dining room.' ''
So light 'em if you got 'em at Adde's. Apparently the nonsmoking customers didn't make up for the butt brothers and sisters who used to hang at the bar.
GOOD WINE: Mondo Vino, a boutique wine shop in the Highland neighborhood, has been chosen one of the 18 ``best wine shops'' in the country, according to Food & Wine magazine's October issue.
The store, owned and operated by the adorable Duey Kratzer, is lauded for ``its thousand-plus wines from around the world, and star Super-Tuscans such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia.''
BABY BOOM: State Democratic Party Executive Director Mike Melanson and his wife, Jacqueline Esquibel, welcomed son No. 1 into the world Thursday. The little heavyweight contender tipped the scales at 9 pounds.
BILLBOARD BONUS: Bone up on your sports knowledge. That billboard at Sixth and Kalamath is revealing a little leg on the five men behind it. Do you know who they are? The person who correctly guesses all five names of the hidden men wins a prize.
Here's clue No. 2: His nickname is ``Huge'' and he was named last week to Team USA in his sport's Heritage Cup.
EAVESDROPPING at the mammogram, massage and manicure Sally Jobe Mammography Center inside the Cherry Creek mall: ``The manicure is scarier to me than the mammogram.''
