July 2
Fans of Boogie Nights already know that the porn business is both an ugly business and a funny business. In that spirit, Ronnie Larsen's off-Broadway success story, Making Porn, takes on the phenomenon as it occurs in the gay world, with strong shots of street wit, raunch and touching irony propelling the funny-gritty action. Now it's here, opening tonight for a five-week run at the Acoma City Center, 1080 Acoma St., with real-life porn stars Steve O'Donnell and Chris Green doing what comes naturally in their roles as a newcomer to the gay-porn universe and a worn-out veteran. Shows are at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday, through August 2; for tickets, $20 to $25, call 623-0524.
Friday
July 3
In the beginning, there was Colorado Rockies baseball. Then there was the grand opening of Coors Field and a Rox-solid bid for the pennant. This year, of course, it's the 69th All-Star Game, taking place right here in the heart of LoDo, but as is often the case at our posh downtown ballpark, if you don't already have a ticket, you can just fuggeddaboudit. But that's also no reason not to join in the fun. The five-day Pinnacle All-Star FanFest, today through Tuesday at the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St., is a public event sponsored by Major League Baseball and designed to entertain you and the rest of the fan overflow pouring into town. A virtual wonderland of baseball-related stuff, the FanFest features all manner of interactive and hands-on activities, a chance to meet some of the game's greats and get their autographs for free, and an exclusive display of memorabilia on tour from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today through Monday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday; tickets, $8 to $14 for timed-entry admission (kids two and under free), are available at Rockies Dugout and King Soopers stores or by calling 1-800-388-ROCK. For more information call 1-800-449-3267.
While the Cherry Creek Arts Festival may be the biggest news this weekend in the Denver art world, that's no reason to leave the city's thriving galleries in the lurch. If the festival piques but doesn't quite satisfy your inner art-viewing urges, keep on walking--right into this evening's monthly First Friday Art Walk, which has spread in the last year or so from LoDo to all of Denver's gallery enclaves. On the north side, catch an opening at Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis, 3659 Navajo St. (458-6058), where works by a number of local alternative artists go on display beginning at 7. And across the street at Zip 37, 3644 Navajo St. (477-4525), wall installations and mixed-media constructions by Patty Ortiz are on display through July 12. LoDo is well-represented by the Robischon Gallery, 1740 Wazee St. (298-7788), where a mishmash of fine works, including prints by Robert Motherwell, paintings by Sam Scott, sculpture by Creighton Michael and more are on display, while Ron Judish Fine Arts, 1617 Wazee St. (571-5557), features The Body as Metaphor through August 1. Or haunt the Broadway corridor, where Artyard, 1251 S. Pearl St. (777-3219), continues to show new three-dimensional works by Virginia Folkestad through July 15. For more information on gallery openings and First Friday tours, call 640-7972.
Saturday
July 4
It's the Fourth of July--no time to be a stick-in-the-mud. So, please, no excuses: How about an educational Dinosaur Discovery Day, today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dinosaur Ridge Visitor Center, Alameda Pkwy. and Rooney Rd.? You can view a cast of a possible T. Rex footprint or a race car on loan from Bandimere Speedway at the center, or set out on foot to explore the ridge's dino tracks and talk to strategically placed guides; bus rides up the ridge will also be offered for $2 a person. Call 697-DINO.
Or take a gander at another rarity: For the first time in recent history, the Denver Art Museum will open its doors on the holiday for tours through the current Egyptian exhibit, as well as strolls through first- and sixth-floor galleries. Of special note during this diamond-studded baseball week is photographer Jim Dow's famous collection of National League stadium shots, on view through September 8. For information call 640-2793.
An all-day family affair will take place at the Hudson Gardens Fourth of July Celebration, which kicks off with a hearty, all-American pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., followed by a plethora of fun things to do in a garden setting, including slurping cones at an ice-cream social, rooting for your favorite during a series of rubber-duck races, ambling through a juried art show or enjoying ongoing games and live entertainment. Riverside seating for the Columbine Country Club fireworks show tops it all off at 9 p.m. Entry to the gardens, located at 6303 S. Santa Fe Dr., is $1 to $2 at the gate (kids under six free). Call 797-8565 for details. Fireworks also wrap up tonight's Colorado Rapids professional soccer game at Mile High Stadium. The Rapids kick up a storm against the New England MetroStars at 7 p.m., but the real pyrotechnics start after the game; call 288-1599 or 830-TIXS for information and tickets.
Once a couch potato, always a couch potato? Tune in to KRMA-TV/ Channel 6 tonight at 7 for a patriotic-themed night of television viewing capped by a national fireworks show aired from Washington, D.C. Or check the calendar listings, beginning on the next page, for additional ideas on how to spend your Fourth.
Sunday
July 5
It's little more than a length of bamboo drilled with five holes, but the shakuhachi, an ancient Japanese flute known for its haunting tone, is starting to show up all over the musical palette--in jazz and new-age music, in movie soundtracks and even on television commercials. Hence the arrival of the World Shakuhachi Festival today in Boulder and Denver, a week-long tribute to simplicity featuring some of shakuhachi's greatest stars, including one so bright--Goro Yamaguchi--that he's earned the title of Living National Treasure in Japan. The bulk of the fest's public performances and discussions are free--including today's world-pop shakuhachi session with David Zasloff at 2 p.m. in the Dushanbe Teahouse, Boulder Central Park, and a classical Japanese music recital in the Denver Art Museum's Asian Galleries at 100 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy., also at 2 p.m. But there are three major concerts as well: Shakuhachi Odyssey, 7:30 p.m. July 7 at Macky Auditorium, CU-Boulder campus; Shakuhachi at Chautauqua, 8 p.m. July 8 at Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Rd., Boulder; and Living Treasures of Japan, 7:30 p.m. July 9 at Boettcher Concert Hall, 14th and Curtis in the Plex. Admission ranges from $8 to $20 for each concert; call 735-1790 for information or 440-7666 for tickets.
Monday
July 6
One of the week's more prestigious All-Star Game visitors, George F. Will, may have popped into town to watch the cream of baseball's crop compete, but that won't stop him from signing a few autographs of his own: The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and political analyst, who's also a rabid fan of the national pastime, will drop by the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th St., today at noon to sign copies of Bunts: Curt Flood, Camden Yards, Pete Rose and Other Reflections on Baseball. For details call 436-1070. Will also makes an early-morning appearance tomorrow during a Denver Press Club Book Beat Breakfast, where you can talk stats with him over muffins at 1330 Glenarm Pl. The 8 a.m. breakfast is $12, and reservations are required; call 571-5260.
Monday
July 7
Writers traditionally gather each summer at the Naropa Institute to tap a rich vein of literary events in the Boulder area, and Naropa's Summer Writing Program Readings are a mainstay. Tonight at 8, local authors Jennifer Heath, Jack Collum and Cindy Dach read at Naropa's Performing Arts Center, 2130 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder; tomorrow, institute stalwarts including Anne Waldman, Ed Sanders and Bobbie Louise Hawkins appear at 8 p.m. at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. For information on these and upcoming readings, call 546-5296.
Wednesday
July 8
If you somehow managed to get through an entire Fourth of July weekend without attending a picnic, here's one that's easygoing, family-friendly and held in the relative cool of the evening. This week's Swallow Hill Picnic Concert, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the backyard of the Swallow Hill Music Hall, 1905 S. Pearl St., features Denver folk fixture Harry Tuft and sweet-voiced Mag Hayden backed by guitarist/pedal-steel player Ernie Martinez. Admission is $2, and the picnic part is bring-your-own; call 777-1003.
