Fancy-ass limited-edition sneakers are oh, so in. You've got your retro snakeskin PF Flyers, your handmade ostrich slip-ons from Creative Recreation, your New Balance Classics and the Asics Onitsuka Tigers, a trendy retread of the legendary Japanese sneaks that first sported their trademark stripes back in, well, practically prehistoric times. They'll cost you somewhere between 50 and 200 bills, but they'll fit you like a glove, put a bounce in your step and make you look good, to boot.
That's what Randy Kleiner of The 400, a new Golden Triangle specialty lifestyle store focusing on limited-edition sneakers and accessories, is banking on. "The Golden Triangle is a burgeoning neighborhood that's culturally ready for what we're doing," he says. "Every brand offers top-tier, boutique-level offerings that combine interesting materials and colors, and represent lifestyle more than functionality."
Check it out: Tonight the 400, at 1010 Bannock Street, throws its Recycled Soles Benefit and Block Party, featuring a collaborative live-art performance, a silent auction of artist-painted sneakers, food from Wahoo's Fish Taco and drink specials at the neighboring Bannock Street Garage bar, from 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is free, but donations of new or gently used adult and children's shoes will be accepted for entry in a raffle; those items and all auction proceeds go to the Sewell Child Development Center.
For more info, call 303-446-0400. -- Susan Froyd
All Inside the Peace Tent
THURS, 9/15
Peace. Kids. They go together hand in hand, and when they do, grownups sometimes join in. Let's hope so, anyway.
Peace-making activities of all kinds and for all ages will be happening over the next few days in the Peace Tent, a transient space within the Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Boulevard. Kids can create peace mandalas and dance while adults participate in workshops, video screenings, discussions, dance improvisations and more, today beginning at 11 a.m. The event culminates Sunday with a presentation of the children's projects from 2 to 4 p.m. in the BPL auditorium; admission is free. For details, call 303-447-3037 or go to www.boulder.lib.co.us/youth/ events/peace.html. -- Susan Froyd
The Show Must Go On
The Carousel Ball moves uptown.
SAT, 9/17
BJ's Carousel lives up to its claim of being the friendliest gay bar in town. When drag queens and strippers head off the gold-curtained stage, shamelessly flirting for tips, patrons pay up, because they know that they are supporting both a good cabaret and the favorite charity of that evening's hostess. It also doesn't hurt that the cocktail slingers behind the sunken bar loosen up imbibers' pockets with stiff, cheap drinks.
For the past twenty years, the annual Carousel Ball has taken BJ's on a merry-go-round of fun and fundraising, bringing in more than $464,000 for the Colorado AIDS Project. This year the ball -- which was originally a burlesque spoof on the Carousel Ball attended by Denver's upper crust in the 1980s -- has moved uptown and will be held tonight at the Executive Tower Hotel, 1405 Curtis Street. It will still be a poor man's gala, however, with tickets costing just $15. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the first of thirteen full-production numbers goes on at 7 p.m.
For more information and tickets, visit www.coloradoaidsproject.org or call 303-837-0166, ext. 508. -- Michelle Baldwin
Changes
It's a man's world for Matt Kailey.
THURS, 9/15
Matt Kailey lived for 42 years as a straight woman before becoming a gay man. The Denver author/speaker/ activist's recently released book, Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience, describes his journey adjusting to his new body and life. "It's definitely of interest to GLBT people, but it's very accessible," he says. "It's a non-clinical and easily understandable look at trans issues. It's also just a fun read. People have said, 'I would give this to my grandmother to read.'"
Hormones recounts the oftentimes humorous dilemmas Kailey encountered; for instance, once he was seen as a man, nobody would stop to help him change a flat tire. These episodes led him to the realization that becoming the man he is didn't necessarily mean he had to stop being the woman he was.
"There are a lot of people who are not comfortable with traditional gender roles," says Kailey. "They like the notion that, 'There are other options for me out there. I don't have to be the way my culture says a woman has to be, or a man has to be.'"
Meet Kailey and hear more about his adventures in manhood tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street. For more information, call 303-436-1070 or visit www.tatteredcover.com. -- Debra A. Myers
