June 26
24 carrot gold: Any Jew worth his or her chopped liver knows there's nothing more priceless than bubbe's home cookin'. So for ethnic gastronomes, the name of Jewish-music group Tzimmes makes perfect sense. The band's Yiddish title refers to a chutney-like stew of carrots, raisins, prunes and honey that epitomizes all that is excellent in your grandmother's kitchen. Don't complain, it's good for you--and so is the music of this Vancouver quintet, which simmers sounds from various Jewish quarters, including Sephardic, Ashkenazi and modern Israeli cultures. Tzimmes will kick off an outdoor summer music series tonight at 7 at the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center, 350 S. Dahlia St. Admission is $12 ($10 students and seniors); call 777-3836.
Opposing views: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder--an adage that takes on new meaning when viewing Landscape/Cityscape, a juried group exhibit now on display at Republic Plaza, 370 17th St. The featured artists--more than thirty of them, working in a variety of artistic mediums and styles--will be on hand tonight from 5 to 7 for a reception. The show, located in the building's lobby and concourse areas, continues though August 21. Public viewing hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday or 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; for more information call 733-1868.
Friday
June 27
Fest up: Long after we've grown up (sob!) and entered the real world, we still can't quite manage to shake one of childhood's most unshakable rules: Summer is for goofing off. And one of our favorite ways to goof off is at the frivolous and balmy US West Buskerfest, entering its fifth summer on the 16th Street Mall this weekend. This year's well-oiled fest features more than thirty top street entertainers from the four corners of the world, including former Harlem Globetrotter Twirlee Delite (as seen in White Men Can't Jump), "Whimsical Waiter" balancing act Jonathan Park, and Scottish wild man Mark Segal, who specializes in something called the "Ladder Walk of Death." It's all free, and it's a great excuse for you and the kids to hang downtown; catch the buskers' routines as they perform along the length of the mall. Food vendors and a special children's area will also be available. Buskerfest hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday; between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, the fun moves to bustlin', buskin' Larimer Square. Call 478-7878 for more information.
If you like to sample a little activism along with your amusements, Boulder's free-form Colorado Freedom Festival--billed as a multicultural pre-July 4 event honoring human rights and independence--ought to fill your needs admirably. Taking place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today through Sunday at Boulder Central Park, this free fest's got it all: everything from live music and arts and crafts to food vendors, get-down drum circles and political rallies. For details call 665-2733.
Shakespeare, rattle and roll: Shakespeare's works are awash in references to the moon and the stars--one reason why the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which takes place under the moon and the stars, always ends up being a good time. The annual summer feast of repertory theater at CU-Boulder opens with one of the world's favorite star-crossed romances, Romeo and Juliet, tonight at 8:30 in the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre; repeat performances continue through August 15. Other outdoor offerings include Much Ado About Nothing, which opens July 5 and, for non-Shakespearean variety, Moliere's The Would-Be Gentleman, which opens tomorrow. For those who prefer to remain indoors, Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida opens July 6 at the University Theatre, also on campus. Single-performance tickets range from $12 to $36; tickets good for all four plays run from $36 to $108. For information and reservations call 492-0554.
The latest Crais: Counterfeiting, the Russian mafia, deadbeat dads and Disneyland: This has got to be L.A., right? Those Angeleno elements fit together neatly in Indigo Slam, the latest installment in the Elvis Cole mystery series by Hollywood hipster Robert Crais. In Crais's latest, the likable Cole, along with forbidding sidekick Pike and hot Cajun girlfriend Lucy Chenier, gets mixed up with an abandoned Seattle family hunting for their shady patriarch. The author will clue you in on the action when he reads tonight at 7:30 at the Tattered Cover Book Store, 2955 E. 1st Ave. Call 322-7727.
Saturday
June 28
To market: Regional art by well-rooted Southwestern craftsmen is the focus of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center's first-ever Indian-Spanish Market, an extensive indoor mercado and cultural festival overflowing with good things to look at, listen to and eat up. More than 75 artist-vendors will be represented in the market, displaying an amazing collection of santos, beadwork, kachinas, pottery, weavings, wood carvings, jewelry and more. Storytellers, musicians and dancers from both Indian and Hispanic cultures will be on hand to keep things lively, and fiesta foods will be served. Admission to the event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at the center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, is $5 (children age twelve and under free with a paying adult). For more information call 719-634-5581.
Missing Link: Some say he wrote the book on rock 'n' roll, but guitar legend Link Wray would probably settle for author's credit on the chapter about raw, gritty guitar licks. Wray, who punched a hole in his amplifier to get the dirty sound he made famous on his famous Fifties instrumental "Rumble," is as rebellious as they come, applying an evil rattlesnake twang and a powerful Harley-Davidson growl to every riff he plays. The man responsible for "Rumble" slithers into the Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., tonight at 8; for tickets, $14-$15, call 322-2308, 830-TIXS.
Sunday
June 29
Sunday outing: Twenty-eight years after the famed Stonewall riots in Washington initiated a visible gay-rights movement in the U.S., Denver's annual PrideFest, considered one of the top six such events in the nation, continues to draw attention to gay causes. This year's gay-and-lesbian-pride celebration opens at 10 a.m. with a PrideParade down Franklin Street and Colfax Avenue, from Cheesman Park to the State Capitol Building and Civic Center Park. Then, from noon to 6 p.m., it's time for a major rally and some major revelry, with vendor booths and entertainment including Elvis impersonators, drag queens, gay choruses and cast members of Always...Patsy Cline.
Just another wrestle stop: Is it real or is it the World Wrestling Federation? Make up your own mind: The WWF LIVE Tour dumps all its corny rivalry on our doorstep for one vainglorious night when it bruises its way into McNichols Arena at 7:30 p.m. The campy card includes a three-way "Triple Threat" championship title match between the ominous Undertaker, Bret "Hit Man" Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin; other favorite strong men performing in the ring include the British Bulldog, Vader, Jim "Anvil" Neidhart and the Honky Tonk Man. Ya gotta love it. Admission ranges from $12.50 to $20.90; call 830-TIXS.
Monday
June 30
Angels in the outfield: Remember seeing Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees? By the end of the flick, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Baseball's beloved Iron Man, eulogized on screen after he was cut down in his prime by ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the ailment since named after Gehrig), will be remembered during Lou Gehrig Day at Coors Field, a fundraiser for the ALS Association's Rocky Mountain Chapter. For $15 a head, you can enjoy an evening of touted interleague play between the Colorado Rockies and the Anaheim Angels beginning at 7:05; $35 will buy you a 5 p.m. picnic buffet in the stadium's Platte River Rendezvous. Discounts are available for multiple buffet/ game ticket purchases; call 759-9790 for more information.
Tuesday
July 1
Richard the King: In the pop arena, musicians come and go, while others just ripen and mature. British guitarist/songwriter/ singer Richard Thompson--enigmatic, gloomy, inventive and downright droll--belongs to the second group. He's been lifted to cult fame mostly by his striking wit, an attribute well-displayed both in his idiosyncratic songs and his dancing fretwork. And whether working with a band or all by his lonesome, Thompson is always worth seeing. He makes his annual summer pilgrimage to Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Rd., tonight at 8. Tickets range from $18 to $23; for reservations call 440-7666 or 830-TIXS.
Wednesday
July 2
Citizen Wayne: Maybe you didn't get it all out of your system when Link Wray was in town the other night (see Saturday). Craggy Wayne Kramer, the "Kick Out the Jams" guitarist with the MC5 in the late '60s, could have been the heir apparent to Wray were it not for the lost years he spent pocked by drug abuse and prison. Kramer has done his best to earn those six-string stripes, though, releasing a series of albums marked by thoughtful material and, of course, stinging guitar work. It merits a listen: Kramer performs tonight at 9 at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder; for tickets, $7.35, call 443-3399 or 830-
