tonight on studio 12.

The latest buzz from Colorado startup Week from our state's top business leaders and influencers to expert advice on teens and social media.

What parents need to know.

Plus, what you can plant now and fall for your best crop for spring.

And a first of its kind art exhibit celebrates South Asian creativity in Colorado.

We're giving you an inside look.

Then we sit down with the creator of Colorado Soundstage to hear how a homegrown idea is now streaming nationwide.

All of that and more right now on studio 12.

From the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm Bosie Kanani, and I'm Ryan Hare.

Thanks for joining us.

Colorado Startup Week wrapped with a surge of energy from Denver's most influential business leaders.

CBS 12 had a front seat to it all and sat down with 17 different voices in the heart of Colorado startup scene.

From founders and CEOs to investors and community leaders.

We learned why Colorado is leading the charge in business innovation.

These conversations touched on big ideas and bold risks.

They highlighted how our ecosystem is thriving and why Denver has become a hub for entrepreneurs nationwide.

Take a look.

Oh.

Come on.

Colorado startup week.

We're at Colorado startup week.

Colorado startup week.

Colorado startup week.

Colorado startup week is so important.

Colorado startup Week, where we find the best subject matter experts across Colorado.

The community, I feel, is back.

This has been such a vibrant time this week to see people engaging, to see folks from different parts of the state coming around, and this truly is a showcase of our ecosystem here in the state of Colorado.

All of the people who we know are here all the time, but really bringing everyone together in one week creates some really, really special impact.

We're matching founders with investors, were recording venture capital.

We are learning about new businesses and really the magic of the startup community are sort of these accidental connections that you make.

It's really about possibility.

I feel like it's this incredible moment when founders can step out of the grind of day to day and connect with people who really understand what they're going through.

Colorado Startup Week represents the best that Colorado has to offer.

It's a who's who of the startup ecosystem here.

It's a chance to see old friends and meet new ones.

It's a chance to meet great entrepreneurs.

I've been coming to Startup Week almost since it started, I think probably now 17 years ago.

And what was so amazing is so many of the founders here were people who had a dream.

They wanted to start a business, want to start a company.

You know, this is a pioneering spirit state.

People come here because they have a can do belief.

They can do hard things.

The last decade, Denver has set itself apart by having a community that comes together at all different stages.

So you have startups, you have later stage growth companies, public companies all getting together and comparing notes and connecting and making introductions, providing encouragement, advice.

That's one of the things that makes this community special compared to some other places where it's more cutthroat or adversarial.

It's not a zero sum, and this is really the embodiment of that, and it reinforces that ethos.

Every year brings a different flavor, but every year serves the same purpose of bringing this community together.

And for us as investors is an amazing week to bring people together.

Shake hands.

Talk about what they're seeing, mistakes.

People are making it.

It provides an epicenter that we can build off of for the rest of the year.

So our goal like first of interested, is to be a catalytic investor.

And this event just encompasses everything we strive to be.

Folks can be inspired to create the next great company by learning about startup stories in Denver.

Networking with other folks who are working in startups, understanding how to support a startup, maybe by being an employee, but also, maybe founding your own company and understanding that, it's not as mysterious or challenging as it might seem.

And often the step of just saying yes is as the most important first step.

The startup community in general is a significant pillar of downtown Denver.

This is an industry that is predisposed to take risk, predisposed to love an urban environment.

Again, you find these sort of accidental connections.

We call it serendipity, whether that's through social or through business.

You're at a coffee shop, you might be working on an idea.

You run into someone who has a similar idea or may be able to help you.

So we want this to be the best place to do business in the country.

So for you to start a business, grow your business, working in business.

We want to be the safest big city in America.

We're on the path to do that.

But our goal is that anyone in Denver who grows up with a dream of starting a company knows they can start here.

What rings true is that we've got a group of entrepreneurs that are sort of born and bred here in this Front Range area that are exceptional.

They're resilient.

They know kind of how to use resources.

They're better with people.

They're great culture companies for the most part across, you know, the Front Range, if you're a startup, you're also doing so many other things.

Right.

And so it's really hard to get out of out of the day to day.

Or, you know, from my perspective, it's the rock that I live under.

You know, and to see the light.

And I think that Colorado Startup Week is a really great place for people to be able to come and be with other like minded people who are just passionate about starting something new and starting something that they really believe in.

Everybody just kind of assembled in this one place at this time, and it's been really, really special.

Stay with us here on studio 12.

In the coming weeks, as we dive deeper into these stories, the challenges, the breakthroughs, and the connections shaping the future of our state.

In the meantime, if you can't wait, you can catch our full Colorado Startup Week conversations on our YouTube channel or listen to the podcasts on Spotify, Apple and Amazon podcasts.

Social media is a big part of how many teens communicate with each other, and there are more social media platforms than ever before.

From group text to apps like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.

But for parents, this hyper focus on social media raises a lot of important questions, like how much time on social media is too much?

Should I say no to it altogether?

And what's the best way to respond when concerning images and information pop up?

To help families navigate those tough questions, we spoke with licensed family therapist Ryan Long, who's worked with teens and parents for nearly three decades.

Here's what he had to say.

Parents.

Social media.

It is tricky.

Some parents say no social media, no Instagram, no nothing.

And I know that there are some parents that truly believe in that and think that that's what's going to be best for their kids.

Also, some parents, it's unlimited social media, you know, every day, all day scroll every platform from TikTok to to Snapchat to Instagram to, you know, all of it.

I have noticed with the parents that I work with, somewhere in the middle is the best for the kids.

I'll tell you what, if they have no social media.

I've noticed a lot of kids.

They're almost not even connected to their generation.

Like to the means and the humor and to to all those different things that are being spread.

Now, I know a lot of it's not good or healthy to see, but it is the way they connect when they don't have any access to it.

They're kind of like at times I've noticed a lot of kids are like losing out.

On being able to connect with other peers when there are no limits.

That is also very scary because that is.

Yeah, as you read in and see all day long in the news and media.

Higher suicide rates, higher depression, higher self-harm.

So I have noticed that having some limits is what's best.

I have five of my own kids between the ages of 11 and 21, and all go down stairs in the basement and I'll look around and a lot of the kids I know, I know, it's different.

I know it's different than my generation, but a lot of them are looking on their phones, sharing different memes and TikToks with each other and just laughing their heads off.

It's a little tricky because you want them to have it, but that you don't want them to be overly overexposed to it.

Parents, it's important for you, though.

Whatever you do, decide that you're making it clear and realistic boundaries around it.

And the reason I'm saying that is a lot of parents try to limit all access to their kids, and a lot of kids will find very creative ways to get their social needs met through social media in other ways or formats.

So a lot of times, parents just don't know.

Our kids.

Hide.

Hide it.

Parents have to realize it for a lot of kids.

Being a part of group text messages, snaps, DMs, that is the way teenagers communicate.

The number one way teenagers communicate nowadays is through Snapchat.

So if you don't allow Snapchat, you are now cutting out the way kids communicate.

So parents, if you do decide to be a house or a household that limits or doesn't have any access to social media, make sure that they have ways.

Creative ways are figuring out creative ways for them to communicate with their friends.

We had telephones.

It'd be like saying, no, you can't have a telephone in the house.

That's how we talk to each other in my day.

We called each other on the landline.

So when parents take away cell phones and social media, they're isolated.

When you find something through a text message or you overhear a conversation with your kid, they'll be talking to their friend on the phone and they're talking about, you know, drinking or drugs or sex or vaping or maybe, yeah, maybe you find a vape cartridge in your kid's room.

How do you approach it?

Most parents just jump right in and it becomes this all on battle fight screaming match.

You can't this don't do this.

It becomes like, you know, like a war in the house.

Typically, as therapists, we don't recommend that.

I know it's hard at times because when we find that, you know, vape cartridge or we find or that text message where our kids are engaging in sex, we're scared.

We're worried, we're freaked out.

We're also shocked.

And we come across as maybe angry, judgmental.

The key for us as parents is almost, in a sense, to do the exact opposite, to allow for whatever you find are here, allow it to be a conversation.

Allow it to be a time to connect.

Allow it as a time to figure out what's going on or how or why or when.

Use it as a way to to know your kid better rather than focusing on punishments and anger and focusing on the the rules.

And you're you're not going to be able to do this or that.

Sure, some of that.

Yeah, that can come later, at least temporarily, or at least at the beginning.

It is about finding out what is your kid doing.

Maybe why are they doing those things?

Maybe how long have they been doing it?

What safeguards are maybe in place?

Really just trying to listen to them and know them and validate them and see their side.

Sure.

Can there be a time later where there's punishment?

Can there be a time later where you're able to say, hey, I've noticed that I have felt shocked or angry or maybe even disappointed?

Sure.

But the initial needs to be connection.

And why parents?

It's because when we lead with that, our kids are going to feel safe.

And when our kids feel safe and seen and heard and cared for, guess what they're going to do?

They're going to come talk to us when something else happens, or when something else comes up.

They're going to be like, you know what?

My family, my parents, they can handle it.

That they get me, that they see me, that I know that they're going to be on my team and then they care about me, and then I can open up about what I'm going through.

The key is, as parents, we want that safe place.

We want that safe space so that our kids can feel safe opening up about the things that they're involved in.

I have been listening, careful to what many experts have to say on this topic, as my own kids are growing up and it seems like the thing I hear consistently, including from Ryan, there is just moderation in all things, including social media.

Moderation is important, but also keep those conversations going continuously checking in on your kids.

What are they saying and can you have a conversation about it?

Staying connected for sure.

Well, next up, PBS Twelve's Erica McLarty stops by Denver Urban Gardens.

She finds out from Jungle Judy what we can plant now for a late fall harvest, and also what we can get ahead on in our spring crops.

So if you're thinking that summer is over and you're not supposed to be planting things for the fall, it's too late.

It is not too late.

This is jungle duty.

And she's here to tell us why there are so many things you can be planting right now.

So we're thinking cool season vegetables, Erica.

So if you think about our spring veggie garden, what would we grow in our spring garden, do you think?

If we're thinking salads.

Kale, spinach, lettuce.

I don't know, all those leafy crops.

Leafy.

I got my emerging garden expert.

Absolutely.

Right.

So we've got masculine here, our salad crops that we're repeating, mixed lettuces.

Not iceberg head lettuce, but leaf lettuce.

Then we have arugula, which, when grown in fall, is a little bit less bitter than it is in spring time.

And then we have spinach.

So for a crop like spinach that's got a hard coat on it, I soak it for a couple of hours in water and then plant small quantities salad crops, spinach, regular lettuces.

They love the cool temperatures and shortening hours.

The trick on these guys is that you need to plant them soon enough.

Plant them a little bit deeper than you would in spring to account for warming soils.

Make sure you dig in, compost beforehand and mulch them after you plant them so you the soil doesn't try to harvest the outer leaves, young salad greens will fall.

A great look at some other things here.

Okay, we are moving on to root vegetables am I right?

Look at these root crops that we have such difficulty growing in the hay radish you can harvest in less than 30 days in less than 30 days you can have a brand new radish.

We have brand new.

And you harvest any of these things when they're young.

The same thing with beets.

Make sure that you soak beets, seeds, and turnip seeds for a couple hours to soften that seed coat and use the package directions for the planting depth, but they're super hearty.

Being a root crop.

Just mulch over them very often.

You might be able to harvest some of these in late fall beginning of winter.

If your soil doesn't get all the way to beginning of winter, it's amazing as long as you mulch over that with leaves.

Don't forget to mulch.

Don't forget to mulch any of this stuff.

And we have.

And another crop, which is a super high nutrition.

Oh I love kale.

So kale hits the hot summer temperatures.

Do choose a variety like this Premier kale that says what are the days to harvest you with it?

Let's see 55 to 65 days to harvest.

But probably less than that because you're harvesting the outer leaves when they're small.

Got it?

So don't look for full size.

Keep this going.

Any variety of kale actually will love the cool weather.

So kids for an hour or so in water to soften its seed coat, keep harvesting those leaves.

We have an herb here too.

Cilantro or cilantro?

It hates the spring weather because it gets too hot and lengthening days.

And if you plant it, I adore my garden.

Without cilantro.

It does not exist.

I love making salsa.

Oh, I love making salsa with my summer vegetables.

And you need cilantro.

Yes.

So you plant it in false, soak it again for a couple of hours to soften its seed coat you use to package directions according to the depth planted a little bit deeper.

Mulch it with straw.

You know the thing.

Water it well.

Cilantro is one crop that, if you mulch it with enough leaves, will overwinter.

And you can get that first early spring cilantro.

Yeah that's a cilantro.

And we got one last one here.

All right.

Our very last which is kind of iffy time was what if we got we have some if we if I say the peas are iffy because I'd like this to be in by mid-August.

Okay.

But if nothing else, peas are what we call a lagoon.

Choose a shorter variety.

That means one that does not require a long tomato cage like support, and that matures in shorter days.

This has 80 days to harvest, even if you don't get a full harvest of peas.

It's a legume, so it's going to help to improve your soil.

Wonderful.

So much the selections for our seeds for fall.

Let's move on to bulbs.

Oh, we have other things that we can do.

Bulbs and other things.

And these are things that I would suggest you not plant until second week in October.

And those are everything from our beautiful spring blooming bulbs.

Those can be a crocus and daffodil and tulips.

So those are wonderful Allium which are ornamental type of onion that produce big purple seed heads, onion flowers, all these things require the cooling temperatures of soil and air in order to develop deep roots, and then give you that wonderful burst of flower and spring.

The other thing that's mid-October, planted at the edges of your garden would be fall garlic.

Ooh, garlic, garlic seed garlic.

You don't want to plant garlic from the supermarket.

We have sources of garlic right now on our website Doug Ford.

But these are, it comes as a bulb.

You need to break the bulb apart and then you have the individual cloves plant.

You do not remove the skin from the from the cloves.

Take the largest cloves and plant them about 3 to 4in deep, about four inches apart the flat end of the bulb.

That's where the root was down.

Cover them with some nice moist compost to enrich soil.

You know what's the cover we want to use on top of the soil?

The straw, the straw, the straw, the mold for leaves, straw, water.

It will water it well, but don't pat it.

Don't hurt it.

I don't think you're looking for bad garlic.

You need to take a watering can at a couple of times during the winter if we have adequate snow, cover water well, and that's what produces your garlic that you harvest in late June, early July.

Planted just in time.

Just in time.

And if you're never done full garlic in your own home, it's far superior to supermarket garlic.

Oh, I can't wait.

My mic is falling down.

Who knows where I germinate?

Erica.

So.

In conclusion, there are plenty of things that you can plant right now.

It is not too late.

Correct?

That's correct.

One of the most important things is to not leave your warm season crops growing till the point where you say, I need to take every shade up from the house in order to cover them.

No, they're past their prime.

Lots of them.

Let's plant our garden salad crops and root crops that are more important.

I love that and what do you think about this whole we need to always be taking care of our garden.

Working on our garden all year round is not really a seasonal thing, right?

So when we garden, we're committing to following a season of growth and a season of sustainability.

So when I think about a garden, I don't just think about the crops that I harvest.

I think about the increased person that I'm becoming because the garden has accepted me into its very essence.

So a garden teaches us that the more we nurture it, the more we are nurtured back with it.

So what a way to learn patience and learning from other people and learning.

That's not a race.

It's not a race to put the largest tomato in it.

And it's just a place of reflection and wonder.

And I am in awe.

The garden is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you so much.

That is it for today.

I'm Eric, I'm Clarity, and I'm Judy.

And I'll see you next time.

By the way, if you would like to support Doug, you can head on over to their website where they also have so many great fall workshops so that you can sign up for.

And we will see you there.

Happy gardening!

Next, in our heart of the West series, we're taking you inside an art exhibit that's making history here in Colorado.

It's called Roots and Roots, the very first South Asian visual artist group show in our state.

For these artists, this is more than an exhibit.

It's about representation, visibility and community from landscapes inspired by the Colorado Plateau to art tied to cultural traditions.

These artists share their personal journeys through their work.

Take a look.

For me, light and shade and bright colors, beautiful colors are what inspired me.

So this is the colored corn that you do get here in the US.

These are part of a stream of landscapes that I, have been doing.

I started a series of landscape painting based on the Colorado Plateau.

My career was in abstract, so behind me is one of my traditional Pardon Radium Dancer paintings.

It's, named after a goddess.

And in this, it's, the idea is that women are constantly on the move.

You know, so.

But we move with grace because there's just so many things to handle.

Right?

So that's what I'm trying to bring in this painting.

Hi, I am Paula.

Yeah.

Gretchen.

We are here for the opening night of Roots and Roots.

It's a South Asian visual artist group show.

This is the first time a group of us are getting together for an art show like this in Colorado Springs, you know?

So, stations, we've been here for so long.

It's just that that artist who are particularly visual artist and not performance artist, have just been so disconnected.

It's nice to have a community to get together and come together and be able to tell the broader community who we are and what we do.

She had approached me during the Caro Creative Industry Summit, saying, I never see my community represented in spaces and this is a problem.

And I'm like, I agree with you.

This is a huge problem on myself.

Essentially, after the conversation, around what she was hoping to do in collaboration with the South Asian artist community that she was not seeing represented.

She's I asked her, what does she need?

And she said she needs access to space and access to resources.

And I said, with, the space, I think I have you covered.

I really couldn't figure out where my community was.

And I lived in the suburbs.

I had two children.

And so for this to happen and to have the kind of artists that have come out, it seems from the woodwork, out of the woodwork, it's unbelievable to me to see this energy, to see people starting out, see people who have been doing things in isolation for a long time.

This show is all about visibility, representation and community.

To me, representation is not just having four walls and somebody put art on the wall, right?

It's when people actually engage with one another.

And art is a great means for that engagement, because I kept thinking, there must be a few other artists, because when I came here, there was nobody.

And I often thought to myself, I'm in a wilderness.

Because in 40 years ago, Colorado and Denver was a very different place.

This is the first time we've come together as a community of South Asian artists.

They're all wonderful people as well, so it's a lovely community that that's expanded suddenly from just knowing 2 or 3 of them to, you know, more than 20.

It's about the artist journey, their identity and their experience, what they bring to Colorado and what they have been creating here.

You know, I was just so inspired to paint this because, the Thanksgiving festival here kind of mirrors the Thanksgiving festival that we had back in India.

We make offerings to, the gods for a great harvest, and for all the good things that we receive.

And I really found this, mirrors that culture and that tradition.

Personally, one of my collectors called my artwork access to an art that it brings me to people, and it brings people to me.

And this exhibit is like that, except it's bringing an entire community of South Asian artists to the broader Denver metro.

And it's the same thing we are hoping to get so many people to come in, look at the artwork and engage with it.

Hopefully it sparks some curiosity and conversations and maybe lasting connections.

Not only were the colors amazing and vibrant, but just the mediums that they were using too.

So impressive.

Yeah, from paintings to sculpture.

Really beautiful to see all that.

You can catch the Roots and Roots exhibit at Inglewood's City Center this Friday, October 3rd and again on October 5th for their closing reception.

For more information, go to Ko.

South Asian artists.com.

when it comes to fighting crime in Colorado.

One local police department is looking to new software that it believes will help solve crimes faster.

Some see this as a needed tool to make communities safer.

And on the flip side, there is the concern over possible overreach.

Let's listen in to what Kyle Dyer and her panel of insiders had to say on the latest episode of Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, Basie and Ryan.

You know, there's no doubt we all want crime to go down in our communities.

First it was fingerprints and then DNA that were crucial in identifying suspects and prosecuting criminals.

Now Aurora has another idea to add to their crime solving.

And we talked about it on Colorado inside out.

Let's talk about police in Aurora.

They want to boost their ability to identify suspects, make more arrests and solve crimes.

And to do that, the department is asking the city council to let it use facial recognition software and add it to its biometric toolbox.

So along with like fingerprint matches, DNA matches those kinds of things.

Now, if the department gets the okay from the city, it will be able to take an image and compare it to a mugshot or internet images.

But critics are worried about the misidentification that could happen and also their concerns over privacy.

So, Alvina, these are valid concerns.

It'll be interesting to see where the Aurora City Council stands on this.

You know, at a time when the Supreme Court said anybody who looks brown or has an accent is, probably undocumented and not allowed to be here.

To add this element of, inserting themselves into people's daily lives.

It's very dangerous.

People of color, I mean, even when, you know, there's automatic lights in a building for black and brown people, the lights don't turn on for us.

Like, the technology's not there to be specific.

It's gonnabe more mistakes.

It's going to be more imprisonments.

It's going to be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

And, Yeah, it's not it's not the way to go.

It's interesting because I remember, like when DNA first came out, people were like, oh, can you really be sure about that?

And that's like, you know what?

Everyone goes on now.

It'll be interesting to see if this works.

If it flies.

Chris, your thoughts on it?

Sure.

And, Kyle, I actually agree that anytime you have new technologies that do you have to figure it out that do have bugs in them, that you need to be fixed and made better?

People often object and have hesitations, and I think those hesitations make sense.

But what I think we have to do is put the right safeguards in place.

When we're using new technology, it doesn't mean we can't use new technology and have to reject it, because I think we have to realize the problem this is trying to solve.

In Colorado, we have a big problem with not solving enough crimes.

There's about half of crimes in Colorado that are not solved.

The suspect isn't found and therefore more people are victimized.

U.S.

News and World Report says we're the second most dangerous state in the nation.

And part of that goes because we part of it is our state laws.

And then the other part is that we're not catching these criminals.

And so the software I really looked into it actually, because I was like, if Aurora is going to put up videos everywhere and try and do facial recognition on people like China does, let's say no.

But what they're actually doing is using, images that are already public of people publicly available, and then images that are released by people who willingly do it, like they're their security cameras on their home when a crime is committed in their neighborhood.

And then I also notice that some of the safeguards in place, I think, aren't going to violate constitutional protections that everyone has.

For example, the video cannot be probable cause.

It is a piece on the path to going and finding a suspect.

And so I think what Aurora probably needs to do is put an oversight committee in place where people who are really deeply concerned about privacy issues sit on that committee, watch what happens.

And there's a lot of accountability that goes on as this is developed.

And I also think software companies absolutely need to get better at identifying people of color.

And when there's problems, you have to fix them.

You can't just keep on using it as it is, but I think it's the technology that will help us solve more crimes.

And so it should be used with caution.

I'm going to agree some with Christy and disagree.

But first the disagreement, which is does U.S.

News and World Report figures are old?

They're a couple years old and Colorado is definitely doing better.

And Denver in particular has dropped down on the crime level.

But I think we could use a tool like this if it's properly handled.

And when you think about Aurora and all they have gone through and how they have been under the state to really make sure their police department is doing better and how you at least have Police Chief Todd Chamberlain out there talking about the different incidents, the it's not technology so much that is the concern in Aurora.

It's making sure officers are trained appropriately and deal appropriately with suspects.

And that has been the big issue, how they've handled people once they've gotten them.

So we need to be very careful on one level that you're not identifying someone as a suspect who in no way was involved in that crime.

And then when you are going after a suspect, how to behave?

Because in Aurora there have been way too many bad incidents.

All right.

And, Alton, I'm going to cosign with Elvie.

And she made a really good point.

So I am a sort of fair skinned black person.

You should see me even trying to wash my hands in a public restroom.

I put my hand under the faucet in May or may not work, so sometimes I have to go to the faucet and go to the soap at different basins because of my complexion.

And when it comes to Aurora, Aurora's under a consent decree for a reason.

So to echo a couple of Patty's points, they definitely need to do a bit better job of dealing with suspects.

So technology is great, but I also think that Aurora needs to go back to basics.

Let's try to start with not shooting unarmed black men.

Let's try to have that as a baseline.

And then we can work on the technology and those issues.

And also there have been instances of misidentification.

So I would rather aurora concentrate on the basics of policing.

And then we can start adding technology as layers on top of that.

Okay.

All right.

That was just one of the topics we talked about on the latest episode of Colorado Inside Out.

There are three others, so check out the entire show on PBS 12.org.

The PBS passport app, or the CIO YouTube channel.

Or if you're a fan of podcasts, you can check out our conversation on Apple or Spotify.

And yes, there's already a show in the works for this coming Friday.

Join us at 8:00 Friday night here on PBS 12.

Tomorrow, October 1st, marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In honor of that, we captured a unique story about how women living with breast cancer are finding healing through fly fishing.

In tonight's viewfinders segment, PBS 12 photojournalist Rico Romero takes us inside casting for recovery, a program here in Colorado that combines nature, healing, connections and fly fishing to support women in treatment or recovery from breast cancer.

Here's more.

I think we should start here.

Guys, let's meet your nature guide.

I think I need to find out what we're fishing with.

I am learning to fly fish.

All right, all the guides.

Come on over.

Hi.

My name is Maddie Brennaman, and I'm a fly fishing guide for casting for recovery.

This is my mother in law, Amy.

Hi.

This is Shannon Charnas.

If you do full time guiding here.

Yeah.

My name is Stacy Benham.

I am the volunteer program coordinator for casting for Recovery Colorado.

Front Range casting for recovery is a retreat put on for breast cancer survivors is a wonderful group.

Really able, capable, ready to, like, take this by the horns and get after that.

So, it's going to be a really great day right here.

We're on the Front Range of Colorado.

We have 14 women this weekend.

One, two, three, one that are all in different stages of breast cancer.

I really want to be out on the water.

We take them out and it's all about fly fishing.

And on the final day we take them on the river and they have a blast and catch fish.

Well, we're having a great time.

I got a bit, so jump in and then it's just we're going to try and not move it.

Why fly fishing?

You know, it's a really great story of how casting for recovery started.

30 years ago.

Doctor Benita Walton, who's a breast reconstructive surgeon, was invited by her friend Gwen Perkins Bogart, who was a fly fishing guide to go spend the day on the water and go fishing.

This happened 30 years ago in Vermont.

While casting Doctor Walt Walton thought, you know, this could be really amazing physical therapy for my patients who have undergone, radiation and reconstructive.

And so it's really great for the scar tissue, and to be in nature, you know, it's it's really paired together.

Is is amazing that medicine.

Great.

Perfect job.

Good job.

So from there, casting for recovery was born.

And 30 years later, here we are in Colorado.

See if I can get it out past that rock a little bit.

So when I got the news, I was one of the people who got to come.

I was just like, this is awesome.

I go, I'm helping out with the casting for recovery today.

I'm helping these wonderful women.

On this beautiful Sunday day, guide for some cool fish.

That is something you, when.

We got her.

We got her.

It's an opportunity for healing and community and connection.

It's big in the company of other, breast cancer survivors who, are all here to experience nature, learn something new, have a lot of fun.

And it's, for me, I'm, three and a half years out, from my what I call no evidence of disease.

My, that's my the day I count.

So two years since I finished chemo this month.

So I have here is I did not know.

No hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes.

Yeah.

You know, I think this weekend away offers so much more than in a clinical setting and in a waiting room.

The isolation of cancer treatment is real.

The women come here and they're with a peer support group so they can finally share, you know what?

What they've really been feeling in a safe space and be vulnerable.

Then what was your dad's name?

He.

He he Stover.

Come on, give me some.

Give me something to do.

Diane's an incredible woman.

She is one of our participants this this weekend.

And he, is fishing with her dad's fly rod and her dad's fishing bass.

Her dad has passed away, and it was a promise she made to him that she would fly fish with his staff.

He was really my, role model for how to deal with cancer.

He was already gone when I was diagnosed.

I feel like this is a full circle connection with him and with, how to be a good human being.

He would have been really happy, to see me doing this.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, but my dad was also a, cancer, patient for many, many years.

He was, a great fly fisherman.

Just because it's too early for us to fall.

Yes.

Nobody wants to fall now.

So often, you know, they're taking care of families.

They're taking care of careers.

They're taking care of aging parents.

They're taking care of their kids.

And they have to show up for everybody else.

And this is a weekend that they can show up for themselves.

Just drag that worm right over that fish's face.

Marguerite, I found out, November of 2022.

I went through surgery two rounds of chemo and a month of radiation.

But when they told me what chemo they were going to be giving me.

I've been a pharmacist for 30 years.

They were giving me meds that I started when I first started out in the 90s was making them.

And I'm like, there's nothing new.

So and I knew how hard it was going to be because we're kind of clear right here.

So over the top like Sylvester Stallone.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let go of that line.

Yep.

Rod tip up on the yay super rainbow.

Yes.

At the bottom.

Thanks.

There we go.

We're on to yes.

Let's get a bigger getting out here and hit it.

Dealing that strike and being able to actually set the hook was like super.

Just the joy of that.

Being able to bring it in without losing it was just the best fun.

And I'm hoping for number two and three and four.

Yeah.

Do you have a new hobby now?

I am not sure.

Possibly if I can get the casting down every day.

Every day I've done this, I haven't left this ranch without having some tears.

Being on a river, whether you catch any fish or not, just remind you that you're part of this world.

And it's not about clinics and surgeries and all the things that go with cancer treatment.

Unless you've really been through it or walk with someone to go through it, it's hard to understand.

So to get out here on the water with these incredible women who all have had a different journey, that connection is super special.

And then to actually catch a fish on top of it is just like icing on the cake.

And now I got another support group, which is wonderful.

Maddie.

Maddie's the vest.

Not only has she been with us all weekend, but come over here.

She's taught us, like, so much.

We're.

And like, look at that smile, right?

That's like my dad's smile.

And, like, people who really love life, I don't miss a weekend.

So I plan my summers around casting for Recovery Weekend, for sure.

You're just getting so many, people who care and you know what they're talking about, and that is so special.

So I got the best guide I got, I did I got the very best guide.

Sorry, everybody else, but I got the best guy.

I'm just feel very blessed to be out in the nature and meeting all these amazing people.

Perfect.

These life changing experiences are offered at no cost to women living with breast cancer.

To learn more.

Go to casting for recovery.org.

There is no shortage of beautiful places to explore in Colorado.

Whether you're hiking, camping, skiing or catching a live show and that's the inspiration behind Colorado's Sound stage.

The PBS 12 original series that takes viewers on a journey through some of Colorado's most stunning and monumental venues, with live performances from artists from all different musical backgrounds.

Now that season one is streaming nationwide through PBS, we sat down with our own Tom Brainard to learn how the show came together.

By the inception of Colorado Sound stage and like how that came to be.

Kristen Blackmon, who was the GM at the time, had a buddy named, Ginger, who was the head of of arts and venues for Denver and arts and venues, owns Red rocks.

And then we got to thinking like, we should do something with concerts, because it wasn't really happening.

And that was just a seed that that was planted.

And not much happened to it for a while until I had a, a brain fizz one night, and I had a, an acquaintance, an old buddy of mine that I'd worked with on some stuff before.

He manages, John Denver estate and a bunch of, like, 50 different acts, one of which was being hit on The Munsters, which I was a super fan of, because when I was going to college, I was blasting that stuff out the window, going up and down Broadway at that.

See you.

Maybe he would entertain the conversation with me about this.

So I got on the phone with and we start talking about it, and I was like, you know what?

We want to make a show at Red rocks.

And I got this idea that nobody makes music content, in Colorado, about the outdoor venues, which is our that's our piece de resistance is like this outside stuff that we have here is unlike anything else in the world.

And, that can be the hook.

So what if we did that?

And what if bigger Todd did that as our first show?

And what if we didn't pay him and and he was like, okay, okay, okay.

I was like, oh, but it's for PBS.

He's like, oh, okay.

Because that just gets you in the door, man.

Like, especially when you're only, proper finances to fund stuff.

People give you a lot of leeway because they know it's for a public good and it's legit bigger.

Todd was into it.

We went and filmed the show, and as we were developing that, I had another brainwave, which was what we just talked about, a music show.

And I watched a bunch of them, like Austin City Limits, and there were a few others.

And I'll do credit to Austin City Limits doing 50 years.

As of last year, I was feeling that I was having a hard time paying attention in today's environment to a show that was just music for an hour.

No disrespect to the artist, it's just there's too much going on and I needed another hook to get invested.

So that was I went back to my toolkit, which was as a filmmaker and a storyteller, and I was like, we could film the concert, or we could have a conversation with these guys and really find out what makes them tick, because I'm super like touchy feely, emotional guy about having those kinds of conversations.

What I do and I sort of documentary filmmaker world, and I was like, what do we mix that in so that you kind of hook people with some storyline and wanting to hear maybe a new take on the history of the band and some universal views and values and sentiment that goes on in their brains as they're writing music and have that segmented throughout the show.

So that idea outdoor venues bigger.

Todd went to Red Rock, shot the concert, did the interview in, Jeremy the keyboardist, basement in Walsh Park and and which is also their rehearsal space.

And, we had absolutely no idea what we were doing.

Yet it was a fantastic conversation, and I was super giddy about it because I had listened to probably YouTube, by the way, over 1000 hours of their stuff and over the last decade, like, or more, and just how much it impressed me as a person.

I was now having those conversations with Todd and, and that about what he was writing and what it was coming from.

And he was super vulnerable about it, talking about some really delicate things in his life and some very quotable, like genius level things that he had come to in his career.

And yet he's still a dad who lives in Littleton trying to get his I think he said, I'm just trying to get my kids to eat breakfast.

And, and it was like this very human thing that came out of these conversations attached to this very creative, artistic expression, stuff that most people see and that combine force, I thought made for a really interesting thing.

And so that was it, man.

And then I was just off to the races like, and Brian back like, who else you gotta want to do more.

And we got in touch with other folks over the preceding two years.

Because it's taken a while and so Shane Smith, which is another one of Brian's clients, they're out of Austin.

They came up, we got them last year.

Another conversation.

And then got in touch with, Ferg Craig, who owns, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

I don't even know how we met him, but what a character that guy is.

And we ended up being he gave us the the the blessing to come, shoot the Telluride Bluegrass Festival with elephant revival.

And for those of you who haven't been to Telluride, I mean, it's heaven.

Have you ever been there?

You know?

Okay, not yeah.

Telluride is like heaven for even for Coloradans.

Like, it's just ridiculous how beautiful that place is.

So we went up there and shot that.

And and obviously the landscape played a role in the, Bonnie and Elsa revival were amazing.

And so we did that and then and then got, Trampled by Turtles, which I hadn't heard of at the time.

And I thought that was just the best name.

And in rock and roll, it turns out they weren't rock n roll.

It kind of are, though.

They were called, speed grass at the time.

Like fast, the grass speed grass.

I don't think they like that term anymore.

But at the time it was speed grass.

But they were just awesome.

We got them at the Grand Lake Folk Festival, which didn't happen this year, happened last year.

Did the interview downtown Denver with Dave, who again, like an amazing creative spirit.

We also just a dad taking his kids to baseball games.

And there was something so endearing about these stories.

We did it in our town.

season one of Colorado Sound Stage features performances from all kinds of bands, from Shane Smith and the Saints, Big Head, Todd and the monsters, Elephant revival and Trampled by Turtles.

You can stream every episode now with PBS passport.

In the coming weeks, we'll also be showing our own special Colorado Soundstage spotlights here on studio 12.

Thanks for joining us tonight.

You can follow us on social media and on YouTube and join us again next Tuesday night at eight.

I'm Bosie Kainani and I'm Ryan Hare.

Have a great week.

See you soon.