Africa

Find your rhythm at DanceAfrica Denver this weekend

Dr. Charles "Baba Chuck" Davis founded DanceAfrica almost four decades ago as a unique celebration of Africa and its diaspora. For the next two weekends, DanceAfrica will partner for the third time with the forty-year-old Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble on DanceAfrica Denver, which will feature ... More >>

Professor Melinda Barlow talks boobs in film history and Jayne Mansfield's genius IQ

Since Feminism & Co.'s inception, Melinda Barlow has a been a favored speaker at the MCA Denver's engaging spring series. Associate professor of film studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Barlow is also a well-versed film and video historian and curator who focuses on contemporary women ... More >>

This year's Oscar-nominated short films are scant on dialogue but heavy on eloquence

Backbeat's top five spins: This is what we're listening to this week. What's on your playlist?

As people who think about, talk about, write about, listen to and make music, it's not surprising that the most common (and favorite) topic of conversation among us is the same: "What are you listening to right now?" Stick a quarter in us, and, boy, wouldn't you know it, off we go, on and on about t ... More >>

The movies to know from Sundance and the year ahead

Jimma Reat's family sues Denver over botched 911 call that led to his death

Earlier this year, we told you about the tragic death of Jimma Reat, a Sudanese immigrant who was killed after a 911 operator told him and his companions to return to Denver after escaping a racially motivated attack. Now, his estate, among others, is suing the city over the incident, alleging that ... More >>

Refugees in Focus Film Festival to screen six documentaries starting tonight

The only heavy-metal band in Iraq. A charter school in the most diverse square mile in America. A letter written by a Maine mayor asking Somalis to keep out. Those are the subjects of three of the six documentaries to be screened at the three-day 2012 Refugees In Focus Film Festival, which starts at ... More >>

Photos: Safari Cafe opens in River North

A steady trickle of African immigrants has made the Denver metro area, and Aurora specifically, a haven for quality African cuisine. But closer to downtown, and just down from the white-hot TAXI development in RiNo, is a taste of Somalia at the Safari Cafe.

Meet Atomga, a homegrown outfit specializing in traditional Nigerian Afrobeat and funk

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 bring their white hot melodies, thunderous vocal stylings and high vibration rhythms to the Boulder Theater tonight. But while Seun, the son of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and his band are clearly the main draw this evening, you won't want to miss the opener, Atomga, a ... More >>

Reader: Beer made human civilization possible!

Did beer save the world? According to this infographic, beer has been a boon to mankind since the time of the Egyptians (who used it as medicine), an economic driver behind railroad development, commercial refrigeration and, yes, the automatic (and hypnotic) bottling process.

How beer saved the world: An infographic on the historical benefits of beer

Dating back to the time of the Egyptians, beer has benefited man (beer was prescribed as a medicine, naturally.) Through the modern age, beer was an economic driver behind railroad development, commercial refrigeration, and yes, the automatic (and hypnotic) bottling process. Below is an infographi ... More >>

Take the Middle Passage

Support DJ Cavem on his Bold Food Initiative travels to Africa

DJ Cavem, the local O.G. (organic gardener), has been literally feeding the community through events geared toward the "green" movement for years. Using a hip-hop agenda (even rocking with a children's choir), Cavem has broadened his audience to include discussions that involve enhancing the communi ... More >>

Youn Malual: Killers still at large in slaying of Sudanese refugee, father of five (35)

Youn Malual.​Update below: While suspects have either been captured or named in the holiday-season slayings of Andrea Roan and Elia Anastacio, there have been no such developments released in the December 26 murder of Youn Malual. Meanwhile, the extended Sudanese community is continuing to ra ... More >>

Le Havre takes a sentimental look at the port city's working class

The history of candy -- very short and sweet

Flickr photo​There's something so sweet about sweet. The cavemen knew it, and were willing to risk limbs and whatever other body parts weren't covered in hair in order to grab honey from beehives. Over many, many thousands of years, the preferred form of sweet evolved from honey to all kinds o ... More >>

Peter Hessler: Q&A with winner of MacArthur Foundation genius grant and cool half million

Peter Hessler.​Colorado-based writer Peter Hessler, best known for his articles and books on China, won a MacArthur Fellowship. Colloquially called the "genius" grant, the $500,000 award, paid out over five years, is a blank check for the recipient to pursue his or her creative ambitions. For ... More >>

What do you call half-Mexicans?

Music Showcase Freebie: You put your weed in there, man.

​There's nothing worse for a pot-smoking music fan than to find your concert joints crumbled into a broken mess at the bottom of your favorite hiding spot. All that work rolling them beforehand, stashing them in your hat and making it through security is gone, and you've got to spend the rest ... More >>

Hessini Roots International combines Southern soul with West African and Mexican dishes

Review preview: African Grill and Bar

Mark MangerThe owners of African Grill and Bar serve dinner with an education.​I love it when an unfamiliar cuisine forces me out of my comfort zone, sending me into a post-dinner frenzy of research as I try to understand a culture through what it eats. When I first sat down at African Grill ... More >>

Ethiopian Restaurant's veggie dishes are simple, but special

​You've probably driven past the Ethiopian Restaurant dozens of times without giving it a second glance -- unless it was to scope out the green, yellow and red paint adorning the entire building. But if you stop and go inside for a meal, we're certain you'll never overlook this spot again.

Gay immigrants need asylum from persecution at home

The Sudan Struggle

Photos: Lions at DIA portend of the vast Illuminati conspiracy

Clever ruse, Bob Barker, but we know of your nefarious designs.​If there's one thing we've learned from Dan Brown, it's that, when the Illuminati get a vast conspiracy reaching to the very highest levels of the world's centers of power going on, they like to drop little hints about it. For exa ... More >>

Birds in Arkansas: Ten more crazy things that fell from the sky

Courtesy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette​More than a thousand blackbirds, grackles and starlings fell from the sky on New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas. So far, there has been no official explanation for the avian precipitation, but we thought we'd look to other unexpected things falling fro ... More >>

Five weird foods to get your Monday off to a scary start

It's Monday, and in case you're worrying about what you did this weekend or worrying about what's ahead at work, here's a heaping helping of weird food to divert you: ​To fuel your engine, how about the candy bar with the world's worst name, asse. ​Or to get your engine running, a nic ... More >>

The Container reminds us that immigrants are people, too

JBS Swift lawsuit: Greeley meatpacking plant accused of descrimination against Somali staff

​"There's No Place Like Home for Somali Refugees in Greeley," a November 2008 feature by ex-Westword staffer Lisa Rab, told the tale of the Somali community in Northern Colorado, and those members who'd lost jobs in what Rab described in a followup post as "a clash over prayer breaks at the JB ... More >>

Soldiers in a barrel: Restrepo belongs to the soldiers in Afghanistan

Ray LaMontagne, the Walkmen, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars shows announced

​Ray LaMontagne and his backing band, the Pariah Dogs, visit the Boulder Theater for an eTown show Thursday, August 12, five days before before his fourth album, God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise hits stores. The live radio show taping hosted by Nick and Helen Forester also includes music and ... More >>

Eating at the Africanna Cafe is a shiro thing

You'll have a swine time at the Cherry Creek mall

Time Travelers

The twists and turns of Cloud 9 will take you there and back again.

Ethiopian Dreams

Either/Orchestra blows through the Horn of Africa.

Stand and Deliver

Going Ape for Wynkoop Beer

To Africa, With Love

Beyond the Bush

The Urban Bush Women join forces with Compagnie Jant-Bi.

Howling with Laughter

Animals get funny at the Pet Comedy Challenge.

African Delight

Culture abounds at the fifth annual African Extravaganza.

Uoki Restaurant

A Seoul survivor.

African Rhythms

A dance troupe shimmies for literacy in Ethiopia.

Seeds of Hope

Chic Cause

Mama's House

For Ghanaian immigrants, there's no place like home.

The Message

The Pope's DJ

Various Artists

An Afro-Portuguese Odyssey (Putumayo)

Check, Please!

Readers give our food critic something to chew on.

THE NAKED APE