When the original idea for BoomBaptricks — a variety show debuting tomorrow night at the Oriental Theater — was conceived, it was about creating an evening celebrating multiple art forms. A producer of comedy events around the city through her company 52Eighty Entertainment, LaRae Martinez had been working with Corin…
“I feel like you kind of curate a space, no matter where you are, it’s really important to remember and feel the intimacy that DIY shows so often provoke,” says Harmony Tividad when asked what it’s like playing in bars.Though neither member of Girlpool is old enough to be in…
My best friend is a funeral director. We talk about death — a lot. Over the last decade of our friendship, I’ve watched as she expertly moves through social situations, carefully choosing to reveal (or not reveal) what, exactly, it is that she does for a living. For all of…
Paddy Johnson has been on the cutting edge of online criticism since she launched Art F City in 2008. Tonight, pop-up exhibition space Black Cube hosts this art critic for the Internet era at Redline, where she will discuss the history and evolution of GIF art — the animated-image format that was born…
It seemed like it was all coming together for Corin Chavez, an actor, comedian, writer, producer, teacher and master improviser who passed away on Friday, October 9, at the age of 23. Over the past few months, his closest friends had noticed that Chavez was really settling into himself —…
As a writer who covers local issues in art, social justice and city growth, I use the word “community” on a regular basis to describe both tangible settings and loose associations between people. This past weekend, as I made hundreds of laps around DIY space Dryer Plug Studios, where I…
Architect Rick Epstein sees so much potential in Boulder’s built environment. “Boulder, while it’s a really beautiful city — the built environment is pretty bad. Denver, architecturally, is way more interesting,” he says. Epstein hopes to change that — and tonight, as part of Month of Modern, the architect from…
https://www.westword.com/restaurants/fire-closes-denver-dinerfor-now-6046043 If you’re like me and have a late-night ritual that involves eating out in Denver, chances are you’ve got your favorite spot. I’m not talking about the after-midnight fourth meal experience of shame-eating Taco Bell in your car — or a prideful trip to the Tacos Rapidos or Viva…
If you considered yourself a Denver Diner regular, then it feels like forever since the 24-hour greasy spoon suddenly closed its doors after a kitchen fire. In reality, it’s been just under a year since the popular diner at 740 West Colfax Avenue, a classic ’60s-era White Spot that was…
In 2017, Denver will become one of the hubs for the National Poetry Slam, the biggest slam event of its kind in the country and certainly the largest for Colorado. This major throwdown of America’s best slam poets is coming to the Mile High City in part because of one…
Traffic in Denver sucks. If you drive along Speer Boulevard after 3 p.m. on any given day, you have to battle not only congestion, but new development construction that is apparently permitted to stop traffic whenever it pleases. Then there’s the nightmare known as Colorado Boulevard, a street where no…
For the past three decades, Marilyn Minter has produced images that are explicit, engaging, and up-close and personal as she explores human sexuality in popular culture while blurring the line between highbrow and lowbrow art. The New York artist’s fascinating career is now being highlighted in a major retrospective opening…
I’ve spent the last few years arguing that the ’90s were one of the best eras of popular music for women, because as musicians and fans, we seemingly had the same access to mainstream visibility as the men who have always dominated the music industry. As an early teen in…
Glob turned ten this month. As the sister DIY venue to our city’s flagship all-ages spot, Rhinoceropolis, Glob often doesn’t get the same kind of credit for its existence. But like Rhino, Glob is an all-ages, all-welcome, donation-based music and performance venue that has been providing Denver with some of…
For the twelve years John Moore was a theater critic for the Denver Post, the journalist kept finding himself wanting to do more within the creative community he was covering. Moore had become well-acquainted with the players in the scene and, as a result, he’d learned just how many of…
While I was sitting in the hair salon getting my own bangs trimmed the other day, the woman in the chair next to me remarked that she was getting a bang trim just in time for Burning Man. Of course, I relayed this humorous social tidbit to Facebook via a…
Any time of the year is great time to visit one of Colorado’s many mountain hot springs destinations, but with fall right around the corner, a dip in a warmer pool is definitely on our minds. There are many different kinds of springs, from full-size, human-made pools warmed by earthy…
Within the town hall that is my Facebook newsfeed, I recently raised an issue that has been bugging the shit out of me — parking, and Denver’s increasingly frustrating lack of skills in this arena. As Denver gains hundreds of thousands of new residents with this latest boom, the ability…
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats released their self-titled debut album last Friday on the legendary Stax Records. This week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over the…
In the last half-decade, Denver has lost quite a few places where our counterculture once thrived. Paris on the Platte, Gabor’s, Cafe Netherworld, Unit B, Old Curtis Street, even Smiley’s Laundromat and so many more places I could name (and I list quite a few in a love letter to…
There’s not a lot I feel I need to explain when it comes to why I love Lance Bass. As with any boy band of any era, if you’re a person who gravitates toward that stuff, you pick a member that you think is cute and you stick to him…
What happens when the pioneers of a movement get left out of history? The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, screening August 24 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, explores that very question. The documentary takes an in-depth look at The Damned, one of the punk era’s most influential yet…
