The bear has replaced the wolf as indie rock's preferred animal, so it's appropriate that Bear in Heaven is one of the buzzier members of the genre, propelled in part by props bestowed upon it by — who else? — Ed Droste from Grizzly Bear. Droste's band is an okay place to start when... More >>

There's just something about the name Frogs Gone Fishin' that, well, kind of screams "jam band." That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're hoping to take some folks on a "phishing" trip. But at the same time, it might keep others from actually giving you a fair shake. In the Frogs' case,... More >>

First there's the noise — the random, free-form fiddling musicians do at practice, waiting for everyone to get set up, dial in their tone. Bassist Dave Lierman slaps out a funk line while drummer Victor Acquilla pounds out a few rolls and adjusts a pedal. In terms of cohesion, it's not... More >>

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s zany parodies of hit songs like “Beat It” (“Eat It”) and “Like a Virgin” (“Like a Surgeon”) catapulted him to infamy in the ’80s, back when pop culture was in dire need of some deflation. He never got critical... More >>

There's more to fresh food than eating it fresh, says author and speaker Eugenia Bone, who specializes in canning and preserving food as a way to keep the goodness going. “The kitchen ecosystem is an idea that you can apply to your kitchen that will help you understand why the food you... More >>

There's no better way to describe Denver mover (and Westword MasterMind) Ashara Ekundayo than the way she does it herself: “I'm an artivist,” she proclaims. Her goal has always been to instigate change through a cultural lens, taking the sting out of race issues by blazing pathways of... More >>


As action sports go, downhill freeride mountain biking is about as gnarly as it gets. This weekend's Crankworx Freeride Mountain Bike Series will combine guts, glory, gravity, grime, and some good old-fashioned gruesomeness as riders from around the globe battle their way through... More >>

“This is an exhibition of really 3,000 years of Egyptian history,” explains Kristy Bassuener, spokeswoman for the Denver Art Museum. “We were really excited and certainly, this was the exact type of exhibition that the Hamilton building was meant for. We have the climate control,... More >>

Terry Dodd loves environmental theater, and any play performed in the lobby of the historic Barth Hotel, built in 1882 and a longtime LoDo assisted-living facility overseen by Senior Housing Options Inc., is nothing if not environmental. That’s why the local stage director thinks Steve... More >>

In one of Ravi Zupa’s bits of film minutiae, a man rises out of the sand, brushes himself off like a newborn creature and runs up a dune before dissolving back into the sand. Walking among Zupa’s prodigious artworks, currently on display at Illiterate gallery, is a little like that: a... More >>

Set in a sad, colorless town in the Midwest, All Shook Up is a combination of Twelfth Night, The Music Man and Pleasantville set to 24 Elvis Presley songs. Opening with "Jailhouse Rock,” the show is about a young drifter who is released from a lockup and helps lift a deeply flawed, 1950s... More >>

Every year, the Vail Valley Foundation brings some of the best dancers in the world to the Vail Dance Festival, which was showcasing hot moves before So You Think You Can Dance was even a glimmer of an idea in some television executive’s head. This year is no exception: The festival kicks... More >>

It’s concert season all over the Front Range, including at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, where the spirit of the music lives on this summer, not only on the outdoor stage, but in the galleries. Three music-inspired summer shows — Two Fisted Art Attack: Denny Dent... More >>

Pismo is Denver’s premier specialist for contemporary glass art, and the gallery is now celebrating its twentieth anniversary with Lino Tagliapietra. “There are two glass artists that every glass gallery on earth aspires to represent: Chihuly, the most well-known glass artist in the... More >>

Dale Katechis, owner of Oskar Blues, gave up his office to provide a home for Lyons Classic Video in the lower level of his restaurant — but it was worth the sacrifice to save a life. Kevin Carroll, owner of Lyons Classic Pinball (located next to Oskar Blues), "has this illness," Katechis... More >>

Lakewood’s Heritage Center has a huge toy collection, and the institution is showing it off in a new exhibit called The Science of Toys. “What we have is all your favorite toys from your childhood, divided up into five different science concepts,” says Heritage Center curator... More >>

"It's one of the coolest things to do in Denver right now," exclaims dive guide Shane Taylor. He may be right. In landlocked Colorado, the Downtown Aquarium's scuba and snorkel activity is a way for ocean lovers to don their wetsuits without the debauchery of a Cancun vacation. Taylor gives his... More >>

On Christmas Day, 1945, American serviceman Walter Lutz found himself — as did so many others of his comrades — in Japan. He was stationed there with the United States occupation forces immediately following the end of World War II. But Lutz’s life would take a decisive turn that... More >>

Italian sculptor Maria Cristina Carlini has come up with an interesting idea, though it’s difficult from a logistical standpoint. She creates bodies of monumental abstract works that travel the world. The vagabond Carlinis have now landed here for an ambitious two-part show at the Rocky... More >>

Abecedarian Gallery — the name means learning or teaching at a primary level — is an unusual art resource in Denver in that its specialty is artist-made books. The space, founded and directed by Denver artist Alicia Bailey, is in the 910Arts complex, a creative center in the heart of... More >>

If there's one thing we Coloradans love, it's our mountains. We hike up them, climb up them, ride trains up them. We have guys named after our state capital sing songs about them. Now we even have a museum dedicated to the exploration of them: The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering... More >>

Artists’ Footprints is an eco-friendly exhibition of artists and architects from across the Americas -- everywhere from Boulder to Quebec to Ecuador – whose works share the themes of sustainability and innovation. Using materials such as plants, compost, moss, food, recycled wood,... More >>

Ask Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art associate curator Petra Sertic what’s special about a trio of shows opening today, and she’ll tell you straight up: “Everything.” A mixed bag of shows by two strong artists with local ties — Tony Ortega and Gary Sweeney — and... More >>

It’s not surprising that visitors to Body Worlds — which runs today through August 15 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science — take away lessons as varied as the human population: The exhibit, which consists of plastinated human bodies and organs, offers viewers an unusual look... More >>

You’ve seen them bounding up walls and hurtling across rooftops in the latest action film, maybe even streaking across town. The ordinary rules of physics don’t seem to apply to them, as if their hands have suction cups and their feet are shod in Go-Go Gadget sneakers — but, in... More >>