In the past, author Richard Russo, the guest of honor at a book-signing tonight, has described himself as essentially a comic writer. Nonetheless, Bridge of Sighs, his newest offering, is “a deeply melancholy book,” he concedes. “This is the first book of mine that’s probably tipped over into, if not…
Maybe it sounds like bad sci-fi, but I’m writing today because of an extraterrestrial alien. Forget mind-control beams or flying saucers: My alien involved an eighth-grade science project in which everyone designed an ET evolved to a specific foreign environment. I mark that assignment as the moment I started taking…
An accident in I-70’s Eisenhower Tunnel uncovers a forty-year-old conspiracy at the heart of American history in the first chapters of The Mongoose Deception, the latest CJ Floyd mystery. Floyd is up against the biggest mystery of his life, and perhaps the biggest of all time: Who really killed JFK?…
Ever wondered what a Björk song would sound like interpreted by a barbershop quartet? Or what if someone decided to play Philip Glass using glasses filled with water? These are just some of the many original musical performances that have taken place in the past two years during the School…
When fashion crosses over into art, the subtle collision really hits on why we care about what we wear in the first place: It’s an aesthetic choice we make every day that keeps us in touch with our creative innards. What happens when fashion designers cross over to become fine…
Already got your board and boots waiting by the front door? Take a break from watching snow reports to view something that’s sure to make you even more frantic for the season’s start: the Denver premiere of Enjoy, the newest ski film from Rage Productions, which takes place tonight at…
“Who doesn’t want to put on cowboy boots and swing around a couple of six-shooters?” asks director Geoffrey Kent about a new production of Macbeth that has undergone a downright do-over. An eighteen-member boots- and bridle-shuckin’ Colorado cast, led by William Hahn and Karen Slack, has carved the classic Shakespearean…
At this year’s Warped Tour, a gaggle of fourteen-year-olds engaged in a passionate debate about Tiger Army that went something like this: One side said, “Tiger Army rocks!” and their opponents countered with, “Tiger Army sucks!” Truth is, both groups have a point. The combo, which shares this bill with…
Back in the mid-’90s, when Earlimart opened for business, the Los Angeles band, which is currently touring with Office, specialized in the usual punk-rock products. Since then, the merchandise has undergone substantial changes: The group’s membership is down to two, Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray, and while the tracks that…
Paolo Nutini’s star has risen so fast in the last year that you almost have to wonder who the kid has on the payroll. Even if Atlantic Records thinks it’s found the Scottish James Blunt, Nutini doesn’t need much more than a piano or an acoustic guitar to turn the…
The music of Black Moth Super Rainbow seems custom-fitted for a Sofia Coppola film. It has that daydreamy, otherworldly sound favored by acts like Air and Broadcast, with low-end buoyancy propelling sparkly, soaring waves of sound — sort of like Stereolab without the political agenda and driving, droney guitars. And…
What is it about these indie folksters using pseudonyms? Samuel Beam goes by Iron and Wine, and Will Oldham has recorded under Bonnie “Prince” Billy and various Palace monikers. Then there’s Matthew Houck, who’s been recording and performing as Phosphorescent for the past seven years. Fittingly enough, Houck’s latest effort,…
Gear Fab Records’ Roger Maglio, who recently relocated to Littleton from Orlando, Florida, specializes in reissuing obscurities from the ’60s and ’70s — and the majority of tunes on Psychedelic States, a two-CD set that’s part of a U.S.-spanning series, more than qualify. Even local-music experts are unlikely to know…
The Pornstarrs are MC J-Von the JiggaL.O.W. and producer Chili Fantastic, who are both known primarily for their production and remixing skills. D.O.P.E., the duo’s latest, is a collection of pre-Pornstarrs work — or, more specifically, that of Zero Hour, J-Von’s previous outfit, and subsequent projects that came about after…
The genesis of Mac Lethal’s new album reads like a classic struggle between art and commerce. After years of annihilating the competition at Scribble Jam, the Kansas City MC signed to Rhymesayers in 2005. His mother had died the previous year, and he turned in an album full of poignant,…
It’s lucky for Kid Rock that he’s an egomaniacal dipshit, because otherwise his music would be about as memorable as a Molly Hatchet eight-track sans “Flirting With Disaster.” Still, the former Mr. Pamela Anderson’s good-humored salutes to his own cocksmanship, not to mention his skill at Xeroxing classic boogie, can’t…
There’s one thing that all the best DJs have in common, an ineffable quality that’s completely subjective yet somehow universal: good taste. And no one has better taste than DJ Sasha, which has made him one of the world’s premier superstar DJs for almost a decade. Sasha (due at Vinyl…
On stage, Weird Turn Prose resembles the average post-slacker-phase indie-rock band. The players look relatively clean-cut, despite their informal style. They also seem to have taken the time to actually learn how to play their instruments — so well, in fact, that there isn’t a poorly executed moment. While it’s…
Last New Year’s Eve, Charles Trujillo and Paul Piciocchi opened the sleek and sexy Sutra Room at 1109 Lincoln Street, and soon followed it up with Left on Lincoln, which took over the front portion of the building as well as the patio. They were essentially separate clubs under the…
Keyshia Cole, Just Like You (Geffen). Judging by the way Cole is marketed, the You in her sophomore CD’s title is Mary J. Blige. But if her vocalizing isn’t always as distinctive as it could be, she’s got a knack for soulful, take-no-crap dramas such as “Shoulda Let You Go”…
Although Arizona’s Scary Kids Scaring Kids are generally stamped with the emo label, the performer they name-check most frequently is Michael Jackson. Is that because most kids would find him far scarier than any of the allegedly Scary Kids? Not quite. “We like to have dance parties on the bus,”…
Plenty of jazz musicians and aficionados think Kenny G is the Antichrist. Still, there are millions of people who think he’s a godsend. Those same people would hate the Dead Kenny G’s, whose music is a far cry from the sappy drivel dished out by its namesake. Skerik and Mike…
