It’s that time again. The white stuff is building into a thick blanket over Denver’s backyard playground, and Westword is here to remind you how lucky you are to live in Colorado. In The Edge, area insiders offer advice on where to find the sickest powder stashes you never knew…
Ski season’s almost upon us — which, if you’re anything like me, means that you missed Sniagrab, still haven’t bought a season pass, never did upgrade those boots like you meant to last year and have just looked in the closet to find your old ski pants and puffy jacket…
When high school principal Michael Johnston settled in, like 33 million other Americans, to watch Barack Obama’s thirty-minute prime-time infomercial on October 26, he had no idea the school he leads was about to get a nationwide shout-out. The $3 million commercial was a feel-good address with clips from Obama’s…
Zoe and Kim Boekbinder aren’t like any duo of singing sisters you’ve seen before. While my siblings and I were imitating Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen’s White Christmas song and dance, the Boekbinder girls were honing their skills in clown boot camps and digging through dumps for instruments. Vermillion Lies, their…
Running through Washington Park at dusk with ghouls and vampires on your coattails might constitute a bad dream most nights, but tonight it’s just the Scream Scram, a spooky way to get in shape for any actual running you might have to do from monsters (or cops) on Halloween. This…
Eight years ago, a group of transgendered Christians at the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco created the world’s first transgender gospel choir to shatter the view that there’s something unholy about changing one’s gender. “We began with a desire to express spirituality, that there’s God…
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more inspirational speaker than Erik Weihenmayer. In 2001 he became the only blind man in history to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The next year, the 33-year-old completed his seven-year quest to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountains of each continent. His…
There’s something strange and wonderful about capturing the darkness, says Denver Darkroom director Standish Lawder, whether a scene is illuminated by streetlight, moonlight, or — better yet — the thousands of tiny bulbs that make a Ferris wheel glow. Tonight, Denver night photographer emeritus Chris James will lead a Darkroom…
It’s been several years now since Eddy Joe Cotton was a little-known hobo, hopping freight trains and playing hand-made instruments in a three-piece jug band. His 2003 book, Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America, helped launch his Yard Dogs Road Show into the internationally traveling…
Jim Kunstler keeps a blog called the Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle, and his latest book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, depicts a startling post-cheap-fossil-fuel future in which the American way of life — suburbia — crumbles, along with our economy, as the world endures a…
“Before Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…There Was Red Heroine.” Those words flash across the screen to introduce the Devil Music Ensemble’s trailer for the silent 1929 kung fu film, accompanied by a taste of the original score the band has created for the movie. A lively drumbeat…
If you’re starting to feel depressed about the first chills of sweater weather, hold those tears until next week, because tonight is the Summer Blowout 2008, a steamy evening of jazz, Western swing, blues and comedy at the Roxy Theater in the historic Five Points neighborhood. “We’re excited this is…
It’s September, that rare and glorious time when seasons merge and you get best of summer’s weather along with the beginning of fall’s greatest attraction: football. Finally, your excuse to drink to excess on Mondays has returned. At Lola, Football With Spice mixes Monday Night Football with tequila and sangría…
It’s rare to find an animal that can be both a smart, gentle companion and your source of wool for the winter, but that’s the alpaca for you. Already cuter and more intelligent than their friend the llama, alpacas are a hard breed to beat — at least they were…
Seeking a way to celebrate the Democratic National Convention, Tai Beldock decided to throw a viewing party. Her business — the Erico Motorsports dealership in a 20,000-square-foot 1930s warehouse north of Coors Field — seemed like the perfect venue from which to watch Obama speak on a big-screen TV. To…
When Charlotte Ciancio became superintendent of Mapleton Public Schools in 2001, she took a long, hard look at the district that had always felt like home. After all, she’d attended elementary school in Thornton and worked for Mapleton in various capacities — as a teacher, special-education coordinator and administrator —…
At 3:10 p.m. on May 28 — dismissal time on the last day of school at Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton — 500 students in the seventh through eleventh grades gave a final cheer that echoed through the gymnasium. “Have a great summer!” a teacher shouted, giving…
How do you define democracy? How about with a film contest explicitly bound to the results of the popular vote? Cinemocracy Rocks! is a short-film festival for which more than 115 citizen reporters, activists and filmmakers submitted five-minute videos about democracy. The ten that garnered the most praise, interest and…
In 1994, just before getting her master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dixie FunLee Shulman performed her thesis concert, titled “The Thinnest Woman With the Fewest Wrinkles Wins,” in Boulder. It was a 25-woman show whose participants included members of the community — all of whom had…
After a ridiculous affair — one that was fantastic and completely absurd and ultimately not what she wanted — Shana Cordon sat down and wrote the proverbial list of every single person she’d ever been with. In looking at her own love life, she found something tragically gorgeous and funny…
The popularity of Guitar Hero speaks to a classic American desire. We all fantasize about being guitar players — because nothing looks, sounds or feels cooler. This weekend, Copper Mountain invites you to dream big for free at Guitar Town. Not only does the festival feature legends like Jimmie Vaughan,…
As a kid, I always wondered what the zoo was like after closing time. Tonight, it will be transformed into the enchanted fairy tale land I once imagined, complete with characters such as Snow White, Shrek, Tarzan — and real live animals, of course. ZOOmily, taking place from 6 to…
