World of Wonder

When asked about today’s screening of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Britta Erickson, director of industry relations for the Starz Denver Film Festival, says, “I can’t think of a more perfect film for ‘Saturday at the Movies,'” a fest event aimed at families. “It’s a film everyone can enjoy seeing —…

Awarding Altruism

I haven’t bought anything from Wal-Mart in more than five years. Why? Because I believe in putting my money where my mouth is, and there are many aspects of the retail giant’s practices that I don’t like. It takes a little more time and research to find the same deals…

Cory Branan

All too often, contemporary performers who wave the Americana banner squeeze the juice from the music they venerate, presenting dry, academic variations on rootsy styles as if fearful that having fun with them might appear disrespectful. Fortunately, Mississippi-bred singer-songwriter Cory Branan knows better. On his most recent CD, 2006’s 12…

Smart Art

There’ll be more art — way more art — than you can shake a mint Louis XIV walking stick at when you stop by the Gilmore Art Center, 2119 Curtis Street, where the Mile High Bargain Fine Art Fair opened yesterday for nine days of business. Hosted by Gilmore, Gallup…

Ride the Line

If you’ve ridden the light rail, you’ve probably noticed the plethora of public art at the stations — unless you were wearing a paper bag over your head. And if you were just passing by one of the amazing sculptures, walls, windscreens or benches, you might have had the desire…

Home on the Range

There’s a new club in town, one with a big name for itself that’s picked Stapleton, a corner of town not yet known for its rockin’ nightlife, as a home. That’s almost comic, but in this case, comic is a good thing: It’s the nation’s 22nd Improv Comedy Club —…

Kurt’s Mile-High Celebration

Some of you may know that I am neither moralist nor ethicist, nor a particularly good person of any sort. I am a journalist, which means that I have tried to report facts in a way that both advances my self interest and garners me more readers than my professional…

Giving Arts the Business

It used to be that companies thought they’d done their bit for the arts when they slapped a couple of cheesy LeRoy Neiman prints on the wall, piped in Montovani and put an old copy of the New Yorker in the waiting room. But over the years, Colorado companies have…

Life After Forty

“For me, it’s sort of a personal mission to show the North American culture — in a very entertaining way — how sensual and vibrant and beautiful women over forty are,” explains Nancy Cranbourne, who choreographed and organized Sweet Release, the first-ever full evening of performances by Cranbourne’s 40 Women…

PJs and Pentagrams

Enter the dark ether and macabre mayhem of the Gothic Slumber Party tonight at the Old Curtis Street Bar. The boisterous beddy-bye bedlam will offer the traditional slumberfest fare of junk food, scary stories and Ouija boards, along with fortune telling, henna tattoos and chair massage, all accompanied by the…

Bite It

If you want to eat like a king but pay like a serf tonight, go to one of the Boulder restaurants participating in First Bite Boulder — a week-long event during which forty Boulder restaurants offer a three-course prix-fixe meal for only $26. First Bite Boulder — thought up by…

Write Field

Soccer and poetry might go together like outdoor kids and indoor kids, but one local after-school program is making the combination work. America SCORES coaches at-risk students in eight Denver elementary schools to play and write. The thinking goes that those who scrimmage together can also compose together. And can…

By a Thread

Still depressed because you missed the New York and Paris fashion weeks? So are we. Fortunately, Denver Art House is hosting a local fashion show that can scratch that particular itch. Pull out your oversized glasses and get some relief at today’s Denver Threads Fashion Show at the Oriental Theater,…

Color 101

Divide abstract expressionism into two camps, with one defined by explosive painters such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, who famously flung, splashed, poured and dripped paint in an attempt at primal expression. On the other side, you have Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko concentrating single colors in a…

Talking Shop

What’s new at this year’s Gifts for Yule holiday antiques and handmades sale is that little is new: What was strong before is simply stronger and fresher than ever, at least in part because the many returning, tried-and-true vendors of art-fair entrepreneur Samantha Robinson’s annual shopping extravaganza will generate excitement…

Cheers to Beers

Can you think of a better way to spend the afternoon than soaking up more award-winning beer than you can drink? (That’s a challenge, lightweight). Today from noon to 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., the All Colorado Beer Festival rolls out the barrels at Mr. Biggs Event…

Ladies’ Days

If you’ve ever been to a Crave Party — or even if you haven’t — you’ll love how the Crave folks have teamed up with KB Homes this holiday season to host a series of Crave/KB Homes Holiday Marts, all housed in model homes at KB developments throughout the metro…

Making Magic

Enter a spellbinding world of mystery and suspense tonight at the premiere of Depth of Illusion, a show that combines stories, dynamic music and incredible acts of illusion in a captivating performance that goes well beyond the traditional magic show. Created and performed by Nick Felix, the act includes the…

Star Power

The original Star Trek series lasted less than three seasons, but in the forty years since it first aired, it’s created a cultural legacy of which few other entertainment properties can even dream. It’s spawned four additional TV series, an animated version, ten feature films and a seemingly infinite number…

Taste vs. Humor

You’d think humor this raunchy would have to come from the States. But the fart-blowing, semen-producing, squid-hat-wearing genius that is the Canadian reality-TV series pitting roommates Kenny and Spenny against each other in weekly competitions of will and sabotage has taken three long years to make its way south. Having…

Art Brut

No one will ever mistake Art Brut for a hip-hop act; musically, the London-based combo specializes in power-pop edginess, new-millennium style. Nonetheless, frontman Eddie Argos’s vocals are every bit as declamatory as any rap MC’s, if considerably wittier and more jaundiced than the vast majority. On It’s a Bit Complicated,…

Dethklok

Metal has always been a little cartoonish, so it’s no surprise that the biggest, best, most brutal metal band of all time is literally a cartoon. Utter masters of shreddingly awesome metal, Dethklok, stars of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, have descended to utterly destroy college campuses across the nation. This may…