What started out as a little sample sale ten years ago — conceived as an opportunity to offer more one-of-a-kind prototypes to the public by collaborating designers Debi Belk of Lele Knitwear and Laura Woodward of Garden Girl — has turned into a holiday tradition. The dressmakers have been joined…
Nirvana put out some of the most exciting and influential music of the past quarter-century, yet these sounds are nowhere to be heard in Kurt Cobain: About a Son. According to the documentary’s production materials, director AJ Schnack had been planning to use a single Nirvana tune near the film’s…
So you’ve put away your Elmo costume, and you’re coming down off your candy-corn-fueled sugar high, and you’re asking yourself, “Why exactly do we go door to door in silly outfits, demanding that outright strangers give us vast quantities of candy?” If you’re looking for a macabre holiday with a…
Swallow Hill has long been Denver’s main haven for folk, roots and acoustic music. But Chad Johnson, who’s been giving private drum lessons there for the past seven years, is throwing something a little heavier into the equation with Rock Academy, which he started in August. He wanted to teach…
Although a classic in its own right, Run-DMC’s version of “Walk This Way” isn’t the type of reimagining that the Marcus Roberts Trio has in mind. No disrespect to the guys sans shoelaces, but Re-Creative Fusion is a more complicated animal. Tonight, starting at 7:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium on…
About three years ago, Jimmie Lee Smith and his wife were having sandwiches and coffee at the cafe in New York’s Angelika Film Center. They wanted to take the sandwiches into the theater, but they weren’t allowed. Although Smith — a Denver native who spent sixteen years in New York…
“Rocketman” Jimmy Descant and his wife moved to Salida in 2006 under less than auspicious circumstances. “I’d been a lifelong resident of New Orleans, but it was getting time for me to go out west somewhere,” Descant says. “When Katrina happened, we were at the end of a few-month trip…
After watching the 1999 World Trade Organization protests unfold before their eyes in Seattle, Jill Dreier and some like-minded friends returned to Denver energized and ready to do something to further the message of the burgeoning anti-globalization movement. Dreier says that at any of these large protests, you can find…
Much like Ol’ Saint Nick, Elvis Presley was a giving man. As well as contributing to a long list of favorite charities, Elvis handed out cash, cars and even houses to friends and to strangers in need. That’s why Christmas was his favorite holiday, according to Chris Barber, aka the…
Most of us don’t think being audited is especially amusing — but perhaps we might if our accounts were being examined by David Waters, a tax collector who’s among the participants in tonight’s Denver’s Funniest Fed Finals. According to event organizer Scott Shirai, the executive director of metropolitan Denver’s Combined…
Bongs, beers, Facebook and heartbreak. What is…me cowering in the corner of my dorm room freshman year? Nope, it’s actually a couple of the issues covered in KollegeTV, the new “webisode” series premiering today at www.kollegetv.com. KollegeTV features online clips that run about two minutes. The first season (roughly 25…
There’s something innately impressive about being the DJ with the most releases in the Global Underground series, arguably the best known and best respected series of DJ mix albums. And Nick Warren (due at the Church on Thursday, November 1) has six excellent releases in the collection. Those mixes, coupled…
So I’m driving up that hill on McCaslin Boulevard just before South Boulder Road, and this guy in a station wagon is merging into my lane, only he’s not really merging — he’s speeding up when he should be putting on the brakes and letting me pass. I move over…
The term “art rock” has fallen out of favor in recent years, largely because of its close association with certain pretentious and tedious ’70s-era acts. (Can I name one of the worst offenders? The answer is…Yes!) Last year, however, a gaggle of enterprising locals decided to resurrect the descriptor by…
60 Watt Kid, 60 Watt Kid (Absolutely Kosher). On their eponymous debut, San Francisco Kids Kevin Litrow, Derek Thomas and Garrett Pierce strike an appropriate balance between the twisted past and the unknowable future. On cuts such as “Every Day” and “Time of Mad Scientists,” the three pit retro keys…
Eagles Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit may all love music, but they don’t make it collectively unless there’s a mammoth payday involved. Maybe that’s why this set, which is being released through a profit-maximizing deal with Wal-Mart, seems more inspired by commerce than art. The…
A more accurate title for Carrie Underwood’s latest effort would be Kiddie Coaster, because this is one boring ride. The sophomore release from country music’s favorite Idol provides few thrills as it mechanically runs around in circles, all the while showing just how little Underwood has matured as a vocalist…
“Prescription Kills,” one of the catchier tunes on the Daily Afflictions’ new CD, Dive On In, pivots on the phrase “blah, blah, bullshit.” And while these words can’t be applied to the disc itself, production woes prevent the al-bum from making much of an impression. Lead singer Timothy Ott’s voice…
One of the last places you’d expect atmospheric and uplifting music to emerge would be Montrose, Colorado — but that’s where Cody Crump resided until a recent move to Denver. The First Movement is his debut solo release. As a member of post-rock band Edison Gale, Crump honed his ear…
Over the course of twenty years, eight studio albums and one live offering, Prong has shared musicians with Swans, Danzig, Ministry, Killing Joke and, uh, Madonna. While copping to backing that last artist is probably a confession best left to the dance floor, consider that bassist Monte Pittman also provided…
Why did My December, Kelly Clarkson’s latest CD, cause such a stir? Because it was better than anyone anticipated. Clarkson, of course, smooched fame thanks to American Idol, and while many of her subsequent recordings — particularly “Miss Independent” and “Since U Been Gone” — were mighty catchy, they remained…
While Amy Winehouse mined the albums of ’60s girl groups and Phil Spector for inspiration on Back to Black, the three gals in the Pipettes take a much more playful approach to that era. On its debut, We Are the Pipettes, the British group takes a few vocal cues from…
