After Katrina, some of the hardest-hit public buildings were libraries. Entire collections were ruined by flooding and mold. When the American Library Association initiated a program encouraging libraries to help their colleagues in the Gulf Coast region, the Denver Public Library “adopted” the NOLA Public Library system and donated $15,000…
As a Denver native, I take comfort in the unchanging landmarks and traditions that were part of the city back in my grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ day — like the National Western Stock Show, opening this morning at 9 a.m. at the National Western Complex, 4655 Humboldt Street. In the ’50s…
“What now?” is the question plaguing many parents whose tweens have graduated from kiddie theater but aren’t quite ready for long, “boring” grownup productions. Thankfully, Buntport Theater has the answer: tRUNks. Featuring a cast of young actors and writers who still remember that age when they were too cool for…
Gary Culig is back in town tonight and will pull on a pair of striped stockings and the pointy velvet hat belonging to the snarky elf in David Sedaris’s The SantaLand Diaries — for the eighth year in a row. “It would be weird not doing it,” Culig says. “I…
Parents tired of standing in long lines at the mall to see Santa should take their kids bowling with the guy who best impersonated the jolly old elf: the Grinch. This morning from 10 a.m. to noon, Splitz Bowling Center hosts the tall green one for its second annual Grinch…
The tinny sound of ragtime-era recordings is not entirely listenable; technology was too new and primitive to capture the real spirit of the raucous, danceable music. Most people think of “The Entertainer” as the embodiment of the genre, but there was a wider variety of ragtime that has been mostly…
While Halloween focuses on being scared by unknown ghouls, its Mexican counterpart, El Día de los Muertos, is all about hanging out and partying with the ghosts you knew in life. Pirate Gallery, at 3655 Navajo Street, has a long tradition of honoring the holiday; soon after the art co-op…
How do you make graffiti a collectible art form? By using magnets. They allow the Magnet Mafia to deftly straddle the street and gallery worlds, keeping the public-art aspect of tagging while creating something fans can collect. Tonight at the Fabric Lab, 3105 East Colfax Avenue, the Mafia hosts Magnet…
Where has the summer gone? Were you stuck in your office all season? Did you miss the boat for that cruise around the world? Were your kids limited to playing in the sprinklers all summer? If you weren’t able to escape the greater metro area, don’t despair: The Northern Aurora…
Disc golf is the perfect poor student’s sport — the friendly competition of “ball golf” without the high-priced equipment. The first course was installed at the University of California at Berkeley in 1970, and most of the courses are still near colleges (like the picturesque School of Mines course tucked…
Mother’s Day seems to be all about food. Bringing Mom breakfast in bed, taking her out to brunch — anything to help keep her out of the kitchen for at least one day. Denver Cooks!! continues that tradition with its Great Big Mother’s Day Bash from 1 to 4 p.m…
Indian tabla drums have delicate clay discs at the centers of their membranes that can easily be destroyed under the wrong hands. The drums — which originated in the sixth century B.C. — echo and reverberate, producing unexpectedly melodic tones far beyond basic percussion. Masters such as Zakir Hussain can…
April 15 can be depressing. Even if tax day means getting a decent return, you still know that the government is spent a good portion of your money on programs you’d rather not support. Ah, but that’s democracy. Change your outlook by stopping at the Mercury Cafe tonight for the…
More than a hundred years ago, settlers edged the Arapaho Indians away from their home at the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek. But every year, native people return to a spot just a few miles east of there for the Denver March Powwow, the region’s largest gathering…
Kick off the Mardi Gras season with a Masquerade Ball tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the elegant and historic Parkside Mansion, 1859 York Street. A more refined alternative to other booze-and-bead fests scheduled around town, the ball requires revelers to wear cocktail attire and masks. In keeping with the New…
SAT, 11/19 Winter is a despondent time for motorcyclists. As the weather turns cold and the roads get icy and unsafe, they unenthusiastically nestle their cycles and motorbikes into a warm, safe space for ninety days or more of hibernation. And though those motorcycles totally have it made, the owners…
In the Upper 15th Street shopping district, centered around 15th and Platte streets, low-key commerce thrives to the distant tune of freeway traffic and an unmistakably downtown beat. The shops here are all about marching to your own drummer, whether that’s expressed by what you wear, what you feed your…
SUN, 10/30 The Walnut Room, 3131 Walnut Street, hosts the weekly Entertainment Industry Night to give film and music laborers a place to belly up to the bar with their own type. Most Sundays they bring in DJ K-Nee, and every fourth Sunday they feature “Movieoke,” where cinephiles can act…
FRI, 10/21 In the age of slasher films, sometimes it’s nice to reach back into the roots of horror and experience to something that is truly frightening and shakes the psyche. Edgar Allan Poe’s works come to mind. He’s considered the first master of horror because he penned works dripping…
WED, 10/19 There’s nothing hotter than bisexual vampires — especially bisexual vampires played by the world’s most gorgeous celebrities. Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie star in The Hunger, a slick 1983 horror flick that is one of five films in Starz FilmCenter’s Evil-ution of Horror cinematic monster mash…
THURS, 9/15 Fancy-ass limited-edition sneakers are oh, so in. You’ve got your retro snakeskin PF Flyers, your handmade ostrich slip-ons from Creative Recreation, your New Balance Classics and the Asics Onitsuka Tigers, a trendy retread of the legendary Japanese sneaks that first sported their trademark stripes back in, well, practically…
SUN, 9/11 You may have done a double take last fall while driving along 14th Street past the gutted Auditorium Theatre, wondering why it was suddenly reduced to a shell filled with giant construction cranes. Then you remembered checking a ballot box in support of a bond issue two years…
