Josh Ritter Fox Theatre October 18, 2007 I expected Josh Ritter to be one of those cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking troubadour types who is too “real” for this world. His songs channel just about every great American singer/songwriter before him and have that back-roads twang of authenticity. But Ritter has the persona…
Last night, Village Voice Media (VVM) Executive Editor Michael Lacey, and VVM Chairman and CEO Jim Larkin were arrested by plainclothes officers in Phoenix on misdemeanor charges related to the alleged revealing of grand jury information in a Phoenix New Times feature story. Westword is a part of the VVM…
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday: Hopping back on my bike in the morning nearly brings me to tears – I can feel my ass having an argument with my saddle, my ass trying to work things out with it, the saddle not wanting to budge. Nobody is really willing to compromise…
With the Rockies in the World Series (it still feels weird to type that) and the Broncos two last second field goals from 0-5, Denver’s sports hierarchy is in disarray. But lost somewhere between the praise and the panic are the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets, the two teams…
Or was it the Great American Beard Fest?…
It’s not looking good for the University of Colorado. On the second to last day of the U.S. Energy Department’s Solar Decathlon, CU is ranked eleventh overall. They haven’t scored in the top three for a single juried competition, but the major contest – engineering – has yet to be…
And then there was one. Rather than face the possibility a life without parole sentence, Matthew Davies plead guilty to second degree murder for shooting and burning a 20-year-old with whom he was dealing drugs and guns in Colorado Springs. Davies faces 40-48 years at his December 18 sentencing. Davies…
Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle, the Dead Kenny Gs, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey October 17, 2007 Fox Theatre Better than: Doing bong hits and listening to Sailing the Seas of Cheese As I entered Boulder’s landmark Fox Theatre for last night’s jazz jam extravaganza, two visibly inebriated sorority sisters stumbled…
Vonnegut, The Frequent Sea and Stars of Track and Field October 17, 2007 The hi-dive Better than: My usual weeknight plan of quietly drinking myself into oblivion – but only barely. Kurt Vonnegut, the writer, was incisive, witty, brilliant and unique. So I expect a lot – a lot—from a…
The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News are clearly going to ride the Colorado Rockies’ horse until it breaks the tape first or winds up as dog food. Rockies-related matters dominated the covers of both dailies again on October 18, even though the only real development of note involved…
The October 18 edition of the Message dissects a confrontation at an October 2 class taught by recently fired University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill involving Heath Urie, a reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera. Among the additional developments: an article in the Campus Press, CU’s online newspaper, featuring comments…
We don’t hear many stories about prominent artists going the extra mile for fans – particularly if it means a hit to their wallet. But Underworld is currently doing so by giving away a copy of its just-released CD, Oblivion With Bells, to each ticket buyer who attended a troubled…
Member papers of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) this week are providing links on their websites that direct their readers to the many places on the Internet where the home address of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is listed. AAN papers are doing so to show solidarity with the…
The tenth annual Denver Public Library Booklovers’ Ball revolves around the theme “Elements,” so it’s no surprise that the DPL is attempting to make the event as green as possible. The menu comprises either locally grown or organic food, the ball’s organizers will compost and recycle absolutely everything they can,…
There’s nothing funny about Denver’s sequential art storytelling scene (that’s comics to the layperson). A local community of cartoonists has been rising slowly in recent years, thanks in part to projects like the Denver 24-Hour Comics Challenge. “Every little thing like this can help,” says Jim Brown of Enchanted Grounds…
Each October, the Mercury Motley Players put together an original dramedy to entertain the masses. This year’s Allied Witches: Hot Colombian Nights is no exception — though the Players may have outdone themselves in terms of scope and meaning. “It’s about the drug war in Colombia, it’s kind of about…
Who doesn’t love a scary story this time of year — especially one that was written by the king of creepy, Edgar Allan Poe? That’s why the Hunger Artists Ensemble Theatre’s presentation of An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe is so brilliant. Director Maggie Stillman moved the Halloween favorite to…
Fade in. Three twelve-year-old Mississippi boys find themselves enraptured by the 1981 Lucas/Spielberg classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s summer, and they’ve yet to discover girls. Or maybe it’s the girls who have yet to do the discovering. The guys rent a video camera and enlist anyone willing to…
The capital-punishment issue has rarely been handled more poignantly than in Sister Helen Prejean’s book, Dead Man Walking, and its 1995 film version, directed by Tim Robbins and amply brought to life by the tour-de-force performances of Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. Both, too, were spun from the very stuff…
Today’s FastFilm Festival in Boulder is so quickly paced that filmmakers will enjoy just ten minutes of fame rather than the requisite fifteen. But that’s kind of the point. The compendium of seven-minute films (with three minutes at the end of each movie for a mini Q&A session) is the…
According to PlatteForum founder and artistic director Judy Anderson, current resident artist Rory Golden is a fascinating character who paints into the wee hours, creating images drenched in an honest, egoless interest in righting wrongs and taking on social issues. A book artist with branches, Golden works with unusual materials:…
Most Americans know the late Mario Moreno, aka Cantinflas, from 1956’s Around the World in Eighty Days. But his resumé is much longer in his native Mexico, where he was a beloved performer once dubbed “the world’s greatest comedian” by Charlie Chaplin. According to Su Teatro artistic director Tony Garcia,…
