Night & Day

Thursday
June 24
It's Greek to us--and you, and everybody else--when the Greek Festival '99, one of Denver's oldest ethnic celebrations, returns for its 34th year. Featuring a craft market, import bazaar, taverna and live entertainment, the festival has always been its own best advertisement. But maybe everyone's favorite reason to go is for the authentic Greek food: a scrumptious, redolent spread of gyros, lamb sandwiches, dolmades, souvlaki and dripping, sweet homemade baklava. Festivities begin today at 4 p.m., last until 11 p.m., and continue Sunday at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 4610 E. Alameda Ave. Admission is $1 (children under twelve and seniors get in for free) but rises to $3 after 9 p.m., when the music and dancing in the taverna area pick up steam. Call 303-388-9314 for more info.

Get a head start on Fourth of July festivities and help raise funds to support programs that fight youth violence tonight, at An Evening of Stars and Fireworks hosted by the Colorado Rockies Charity Fund. The event, which takes place at Coors Field (20th and Blake streets) and features a celebrity batting practice and softball game presided over by team captains Bubby Brister and Larry Walker, begins when gates open at 6:30 p.m.; a spectacular fireworks show follows the game. Tickets, which range from $2 to $15, can be purchased only at the stadium or Rockies Dugout Stores; for information call 303-ROCKIES.

There simply couldn't be a more suitable choice for a concert under the stars than Beausoleil, the king of Louisiana's Cajun bands and a sure bet to sweep the entire audience off--or, actually, onto--its feet tonight at the Denver Botanic Gardens outdoor amphitheater, 1005 York St. Led by Michael Doucet, a champion of the age-old bayou musical traditions who's still not afraid to try new tricks, Beausoleil's performance begins at 7:15 p.m.; for tickets, $20 ($17 DBG members), call 303-777-3836.

Friday
June 25
To each his own: Everyone has his own way of getting festive. In Titanic's massive wake comes Molly's Garden Party, a Victorian-themed benefit for the Molly Brown House Museum that includes several of Brown's descendants and Brown biographer Kristen Iverson as guests. The evening begins with a 6:30 cocktail hour and book signing by Iverson, followed at 7:30 by the very sort of garden dinner Brown herself might have thrown, and ends with a silent auction of Titanic and Brown memorabilia. It all takes place at the elegant Grant-Humphries Mansion, 770 Pennsylvania St.; tickets are $75 for dinner or $100 to include preceding events. Period dress is encouraged but not required; call 303-296-9887, ext. 11, for reservations.

Less formal, but no less charming, is tonight's kickoff of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, featuring a free dessert reception at 7 on CU-Boulder's Norlin Quadrangle. Then, the curtain rises on Henry IV, Part One at 8:30 in the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre (also on campus); this year's repertory, which continues through August 15, also includes Henry VI, Part Two, The Comedy of Errors and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Admission ranges from $14 to $38; call 303-492-0554. Even more informal, yet: Another new music hall enters the local fray this week when the refurbished Gothic Theatre in Englewood reopens its doors at 3263 S. Broadway. As a way of extending a warm welcome, the folks there are throwing a Get to Know the Gothic weekend, featuring free shows at 9 tonight (the Czars and Space Team Electra) and tomorrow (Slim Cessna's Auto Club). For the skinny on who's coming there to perform in the weeks to come, call 303-380-2333 or log on to www.gothictheatre.com.

More indescribable than the average art show, The Zippy Bones 'n' Bugs on Edge Show, opening tonight at Edge Gallery, 3658 Navajo St., is touted as a tribute to the north Denver block's little arts venues, the Zip 37, Pirate and Edge galleries and Bug Theater. The show features a juried selection of works dealing with zippers, bugs, bones or things on the edge--to be awarded by a zipper manufacturer, an insect exterminator, an anthropologist and a therapist. Oh, boy. Want something alternative, but maybe a little more like what you expect from a gallery show? Hop across the street to Pirate, a Contemporary Art Oasis, 3659 Navajo St., where new work by Stephen Batura will be featured in the main gallery, along with a sideshow by Michelle Baldwin in the associates' gallery and an installation and performance in Pirate's Treasure Chest by Batura's little kid, Lydon. Receptions take place at both galleries from 7 to 10 p.m.; shows continue through July 11. Call Edge, 303-477-7173, or Pirate, 303-458-6058, for details.