As a co-founder of Denver’s longest-running rock festival – the 23-year-old Underground Music Showcase (The UMS) – the news was like having the arm of a guitar jammed up into your stomach: HQ, a beloved live-music venue at 60 S. Broadway that was long known as the 3 Kings Tavern, will be closed for six weeks or more because of a catastrophic water-main break.

The venue has been a central hub for UMS performances ever since the festival moved to the Baker neighborhood in 2006. While dozens of bands played for up to 450 sweaty rock fans on the main floor, the huge basement served as a place to cool off or host side events, like, one year, a huge gallery exhibition of local rock photographs. Since June 2020, when the business was bought by Peter Ore and Scott Happel, the basement space has been known as HQ Underground, which has hosted drag and burlesque performances multiple times a week.

Now, the owners have posted unbelievable photos showing the entire basement filled with water all the way up to the main floor. That’s 12 feet of water.

“On Tuesday, Aug. 15 around 5:30 p.m., the water main underneath South Broadway and directly in front of HQ broke and shot high-pressure water directly at our basement brick wall,” the owners said in a statement. “The pressure (that) built up caused our basement wall to bow and eventually break open, pushing a ton of dirt, mud and water into the basement.

“Our entire 3,200-square-foot basement was completely filled with water. Denver Water barely got water turned off to the block in time to prevent water from reaching our main floor.”

The basement, and everything in it, is “100 percent destroyed,” the owners said. “The wall is compromised and will need to be repaired for the safety of the building.”

All upcoming concerts and events, obviously, have been canceled until further notice. And, yes, that means no Corey Feldman appearance with his “40 Years In Entertainment Tour” stop that was scheduled for Sept. 13. HQ Underground, they say, “is completely destroyed, with no hope of reopening until sometime next year.”

And talk about gut-punches: “HQ has business insurance, and our landlords have insurance,” the owners said. “However, all Colorado insurance policies have what is called a ‘Water exception’ that removes them from liability ‘if water from outside of the building’ is the cause of the damage. Since the water main was located on city property underneath the street, we expect zero insurance coverage.”

They also do not expect the city to cover the damages – at least not voluntarily.  “This will likely end in a lawsuit that will take a few years to resolve,” the owners said. In the meantime, HQ must front all of the expenses, including legal fees.

Best-case scenario? HQ will clean up enough to reopen the main floor for concerts – temporarily. An eventual full rebuild of the wall later this fall will force the owners to close again for another two months.

The owners are not yet estimating what this disaster is going to cost, not only in repairs and ruined equipment but also in lost wages for employees – many of whom already are scrambling for other work.

A crowdfunding campaign is being hosted on a website called tickets.holdmyticket.com, but it’s not like GoFundMe, which publicly displays how much money has been raised. This site is a ticketing website where your purchase is effectively your donation toward keeping HQ alive.

“With your help, HQ will 100 percent survive this, and come back better and stronger than ever once it is done,” the owners said.

No curfew violation for Sheeran concert

One thing seemed certain after Ed Sheeran’s historic, lightning-delayed concert at Empower Field did not get started until after 10 p.m. on Aug. 19 and did not end until 12:15 a.m. the next day: If the city of Denver has an outdoor concert curfew, Sheeran’s performance surely violated it. But it doesn’t.

The city has a noise limit. But not a curfew.

We’re far more used to hearing about curfew violations at Fiddler’s Green in neighboring Greenwood Village, where artists face stiff penalties for going past 10:30 p.m. because of the close proximity of neighboring residents. The city of Denver has a more case-by-case arrangement with the Town of Morrison when Red Rocks shows go late. But Empower Field at Mile High Stadium is really its own animal. It’s not managed by the city’s Department of Arts & Venues, like Red Rocks. Near as I could find, the closest thing to a responsible party is actually the Denver Broncos.

I went in search of an answer to whether a curfew applied to the Sheeran concert, and I didn’t come back up from my Denverland rabbit hole until I met up with my new Fairy Godmother of all Things Noise: Emily Williams of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.

“Denver does not have a timed ‘curfew’ like some other metro-area counties,” said Williams. “However, our noise limits decrease to 50 decibels after 10 p.m., and some activities – like waste-hauling, are entirely prohibited at night. Fines of up to $5,000 can be levied against organizations that have been found to be in violation of Denver’s noise ordinance.”

These concerts can get loud. The loudest rock concert in history is believed to have been a 2008 set by Sleazy Joe at a stadium in Sweden at 143.2 decibels. Sheeran? Not so much.

Denver does have a team of noise investigators (a job I desperately want to have just long enough so I can add that business card to my personal collection), but you will not be shocked to learn no such investigators were pre-emptively assigned to the Sheeran concert – which, while well-amplified, was not exactly a neighboring roof-rattler. So no one was measuring noise across the street at midnight.

When it comes to issuing fines for concert noise violators, Williams said, the city largely depends on complaints from neighbors. But for the most part, fines are only issued as a last resort to repeat violators.

“I’ve confirmed that we did not receive any complaints on Saturday night around Empower Field,” Williams said.

I thought it might add even more lore to the Sheeran concert – now confirmed to be the largest concert in Colorado music history with 85,233 in attendance – had Sheeran’s team been slapped with a curfew fine. Because you got the feeling that Sheeran would have happily kept that party going well into the morning for his fans, at any price.

Denver rally for striking actors

A few weeks ago, Denver-born film and TV actors John Carroll Lynch andGustavo Márquez told the Denver Gazette why the simultaneous writers’ and actors’ strikes should matter to folks in heartland cities like Denver. Now,local members of SAG/AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) are holding their first local rally in solidarity with the picketers from 9:30-11 a.m. Friday at the City Park Bandshell.

SAG/AFTRA represents more than 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, recording artists, background actors, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and more. They are asking for increased compensation because their largely modest livelihoods are being compromised by streaming services and their rapidly outdated revenue-sharing models. And they want guarantees that artificial intelligence can’t be used to replicate their voices or likenesses in new projects without their consent.

No word yet on who might be speaking on behalf of the strikers at Friday’s rally. More info at sagaftrastrike.org.

$4 movies all around town Sunday

Most movie theaters across the country are offering $4 tickets all day Sunday (Aug. 27) as part of the second annual National Cinema Day. AMC Theatres, Regal Movies and the Alamo Drafthouse are among the many chains participating in the event – and offering discounted popcorn. Approximately 30,000 screens in 3,000 locations are taking part in the one-day event.

The $4 deal applies to all titles and formats. The irony? Last year, all tickets were just $3 – an increase of 33 percent in one year. (But to be fair, the last time the cost of an average movie ticket was $4 was 1994.)

Check your favorite theater’s app or website to confirm participation and reserve tickets …

Separately, if you are in the Vail area, Pluto TV is hosting a fully free movie weekend at the Riverwalk Theater in Edwards. From Friday through Sunday, you’ll get “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” popcorn (and, no doubt, a few Pluto sales pitches) for free at 34253 Highway 6. Showtimes at (970) 855-2182 or riverwalktheater.com