Coyote Poets of the Universe (or CPU) are a Denver based 'jammin' band with world influences; they know no boundaries and work under the motto Unity in Diversity. Originally formed by Gary Hoover, Coyote Bill and Andy O'Leary their eclectic and inventive visionary style has made them favorites in the Colorado music scene.

I discovered the CPU entirely by accident; scouring the internet for a potential blog about the urban trickster (AKA 'Silver Dog') I discovered many things and people; a crazy 14 th century Mexican/Aztec poet called NezahualCoyotl or 'Hungry-Coyote. Composing his mystical verses in the ancient language of Nahuatl he specialized in complex flower-songs called xochicuicatl which are incredibly difficult to understand but the term sounds a lot like a blend of chocolate and intoxication to me!

Ah, yes: I am happy, I prince NezahualCóyotl, gathering jewels, wide plumes of quetzal, I contemplate the faces of jades: they are the princes! I gaze into the faces of Eagles and Jaguars, and behold the faces of jades and jewels! Ohuaya ohuyaya.

And then I remember seeing the painting in the Denver Art Museum by the native-American artist Harry Fonseca. Here the creature is portrayed in his traditional mythic form as a trickster character, dresses up to the nines in a leather jacket and top hat prepared to convince us into buying something we don't really need or steal our most precious possession to teach us a lesson. Here I am also reminded of the 'Loony Tunes' cartoon with Roadrunner. Woops... there he goes with a stick of dynamite!

But the Coyote is a real character roaming our streets. I have seen two racing down a road near my home in Aurora early in the morning and one last week close to Washington Park. Sometimes they get too close and eat peoples pets or bite; last year several individuals in Denver came too close, a 2 yr old girl was bitten, an 86 year old contracted rabies after an encounter and many experts came to the conclusion that a coyote was responsible for introducing the bubonic plague into the zoo causing the death initially of a capuchin monkey.

Many are on the killing path; Steve Nordstrom a Parker based hunter has created a special horn which he calls a 'Silver-Dog Howler' which is used to attract the wild canines into shooting range. Denver Wildlife Research Center is doing its darn best in the annihilation category and using its most toxic poisons to deplete the population (with sodium cyanide and diphacinone), combined with snares, frightening devices and aerial hunting. In Colorado Springs there is a bounty in force; $7.50 for a pair of coyote ears... but Donald Balser of the DWRC is skeptical about how effective all these efforts really are, he says; "they alone have managed to re-adjust in the shadow of civilization. There are coyote populations in every major metropolis in the West today."

I find it interesting, this love hate relationship between man and coyote; it is as if your worst nightmare is also a dream of the beauty of the wild, roaming through an unchallenged land... a free spirit! Maybe it is only when this dark prince comes into your yard and steals your fluffy kitten for a snack that we all get up in arms. Yet we are still content to indulge our imagination, write books about the old coyote myths like Professor William Bright at Colorado University or visit bars like 'The Coyote Ugly Saloon' on 16 th Street for entertainment and refreshment.

But my investigations got me back to the Coyote Poets of The Universe and their dreamy, psycho-scientific bardic-bopping. Their funky mystical style is the ideal accompaniment for a drive down to Santa Fe on a weird weekend filled with creative potential. And once you get there you might just want to eat the brilliant food of Chef Mark Miller at the Coyote Café

Coyote Poets of the Universe have three albums currently; the self named 'Coyote Poets of the Universe', 'Movin' To The Moment' and 'Unmistakable Evidence.' Their website can be found on;

http://www.coyotepoets.org/index.html