I got my first job when I was fourteen. I was a gymnastics instructor during the school year and a camp counselor in the summer at a place that was nice enough to employ a cigarette-smoking teen like me (which still surprises me to this day).So during those non-school months,…
Once known as Inspiration Point because of its unparalleled view of the Rocky Mountains, Cranmer Park has long been a sacred green space in the middle of busy Denver. But the park is also well known as the home of a giant sundial, one that rests on a deteriorating flagstone…
This past weekend, my sister was visiting from Seattle. With a new boyfriend in tow, she wanted to show him all of the must-see Colorado sites possible during the quick, three-day trip they had planned. Of course, this miniature See Denver! excursion included visits to Lakeside and Casa Bonita. When…
The massive music festivals throwing down in Colorado this summer need no introduction — big bashes like Riot Fest and the Underground Music Showcase are well-known, promising great line-ups and fun times. So what about the little guys? There’s a statewide network of smaller scale but equally vibrant and viable…
In May, I wrote about the mundanity of talking about the weather and how we should all just suck it up and deal with the rain and stop complaining. Last week, I finally broke. I took everything I said back and begged for summer to come, praying the afternoon thunderstorms…
Denver’s annual Pride events have grown bigger and more prominent in the city each year — but two DJs and event organizers see a glaring misstep in the celebration’s focus. “I feel that a lot of our community has forgotten our history, our struggle and the lives that have been…
Milton Melvin Croissant III uses the layered realms of digital animation to build wild, visual art realities. The Colorado native is also a longtime musician — and one of the co-founders of storied all-ages venue Rhinoceropolis — who has embedded himself and his work in the crossover worlds of DIY sound…
Denver band Reno Divorce has toured the world and released a lot of music in the past decade and a half, all while staying firmly rooted in the Mile High City — a place that founding member, vocalist and guitarist Brent Loveday didn’t even realize had a music scene before…
Have you been to the River North Art District lately? You know, The RiNo? Maybe you’re thinking — what in the hell is River North? Where is it, even? You’ve definitely heard a lot about it — it’s recently been declared one of Denver’s hottest up-and-coming neighborhoods. Even TEDxRino has…
The Kholghy family, owners of Authentic Persian & Oriental Rugs, are at war with the City of Glendale over the fate of their property on Colorado Boulevard. In the rug business for more than thirty years — with 25 of those years at their current location at 550 South Colorado…
When I was offered a tour of Lumina last week, I jumped at it. Although not my favorite new building in town, Lumina has done many things right where other developments have done so many wrong — especially on the Northside. It’s a big structure for the neighborhood, but at five…
Visible from I-25 — just like the lot’s former occupant Pagliacci’s was — the Lumina building at 33nd and Navajo is an eye-catcher. Unlike much of the clunky, boxy new Denver architecture that has strung up around the city over the last half-decade, the Lumina stands out with its rounded…
Colorado has every amenity an outdoor enthusiast could ever desire — except a beach. But there are still plenty of water attractions across the state. From Broomfield to Glenwood Springs, you can get in the swim at everything from natural hot springs and cool reservoirs to acres of man-made rivers,…
There’s a point in City Park, on the backside of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where you can see the city skyline just perfectly. The foreground is patched in with rolling acres of green surrounding Ferrill Lake and its companion boathouse and bandstand. In the background, you can…
I remember once, an old bandmate’s boyfriend told me “a rock star plays their bass like this” (motioning to an imaginary low-slung guitar hitting around the waist) and “a real musician plays their bass like this” (plucking the strings of an invisible instrument at his chest.) He was implying that…
When Tran Wills opened her latest business venture, Base Coat Nail Salon, in 2013, the concept was simple: offer customers and employees a safe, non-toxic beauty experience in a charming, art-minded environment. But less than a year after the longtime Colorado entrepreneur’s shop had found a home on Tennyson Street,…
There is so much more to Colfax Avenue than what appears on its often misunderstood surface. As an advocate for the 26-mile drag and its unique history and culture, local non-profit 40 West Arts set out to collect information about Colfax — West Colfax, in particular — through a survey…
There’s no talking about a storied DIY venue in Denver history without taking a look back at the fliers for shows at Rhinoceropolis. Sometimes these works were a collaboration between a visual artist and musicians; other times the pieces were made by musicians themselves. But fleirs have always been a…
Ronda Rousey, the reigning UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, was a Judo bronze medalist in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games; she’s also an actor and author with the charisma and wit to match her athletic ability. On Friday, May 29 she will be at Tattered Cover Aspen Grove to sign copies of…
After spending half a decade in Los Angeles, going to school and working in the fashion industry, Boulder native Vanessa Barcus brought her skills and knowledge back to her home state and started Goldyn, a purveyor of adventurous couture — first as an online shop and then as a brick-and-mortar…
With the exception of yesterday’s torrential downpour that occurred late in the evening and temporarily turned Federal Boulevard into a river, I have yet to have seen a weather pattern over the last few weeks that was worth talking about. Yet, in this fourth week of May, as pools stay…
Colin Ward seemed to be an endless river of music. Ward wrote, played, recorded and produced more than forty albums between 2008 and 2013, releasing a new piece of work every three or four months through the Bandcamp page he held under the name Alphabets. But in late 2013, it…
