Arts & Entertainment

Slam poetry is a growth industry in this city, with local spoken-word performers regularly winning national honors, even making their case before Denver City Council, as University of Denver student Jose Guerrero did to mark the release of Imagine 2020. The report came complete with a new poem by Guerrero, which included a classic line about another arts icon in this town: the Big Blue Bear.

As an educator

I often find myself arguing for the

Importance of art in our classrooms

I go on and on about its potential to empower

Our youth and its

Ability to turn traumatic life experiences

Into beautiful pieces of art

For those who remain skeptical

I challenge you to take it up with the

Big Blue Bear and as

You stand there staring right into the

Big Blue Bear's Butt

You will smile, and realize

That small moment of joy

Could be the most important lesson we could

Teach our youth...

Best Book Club

Words Beyond Bars Project

This book club has everything: great titles, a dynamic facilitator, interesting company all deeply engaged in relating works of literature to their life experiences. The only hitch is you have to be in prison to join. Ex-librarian Karen Lausa's largely volunteer effort to bring serious books into the Colorado Department of Corrections, which began with a group of lifers at Limon in 2012, has expanded to several other facilities, demonstrating that incarcerated men and women, adults and juveniles are all hungry for a good story — and a chance to reflect on what it can teach them about their own wrong turns and possible paths to redemption.

This book club has everything: great titles, a dynamic facilitator, interesting company all deeply engaged in relating works of literature to their life experiences. The only hitch is you have to be in prison to join. Ex-librarian Karen Lausa's largely volunteer effort to bring serious books into the Colorado Department of Corrections, which began with a group of lifers at Limon in 2012, has expanded to several other facilities, demonstrating that incarcerated men and women, adults and juveniles are all hungry for a good story — and a chance to reflect on what it can teach them about their own wrong turns and possible paths to redemption.

Founding troupe member Evan Weissman has been missing from the Buntport stage for a while. "It's like breaking away from family," he says. "Even if you want to, you can't, and I don't want to." So it was a joy to witness his return as Alec the Amazing and All Powerful in this season's terrific revival of Jugged Rabbit Stew. Alec is a magician filled with delusions of grandeur but unable to perform a single trick, since the real magic lies in the paws of his angry and vicious white rabbit, Snowball — who has actually magicked away Alec's right arm. Alec doesn't seem to mind, however. He's filled with bouncy joie de vivre, along with inexplicable love for nasty Snowball, a love he celebrates in a full-throated song about "That Special Hare." Perhaps it was Weissman's delight at being back on stage that made him perform with such fizz and brio. Whatever it was, bravo, Alec!

We've seen Cajardo Lindsey playing thoughtful, temperate people for a few years now and doing it very well, but before he appeared in Curious Theatre Company's The Brothers Size, we'd never understood the man's sheer power as an actor. In this myth- and dream-saturated story, Lindsey played Orgun, owner of an auto shop. His younger brother, Oshoosi, had just been released from prison, and Orgun expected him to enter the same trade, but Oshoosi preferred to laze in bed and fantasize about freedom, car rides and pussy. In the Yoruba tradition, Orgun is a blacksmith, and Cajardo, beating metal into submission, towered over the evening, terrifying in his anger, heartbreaking in his grief, both human and larger than human, and sometimes — like the play itself — wonderfully and unexpectedly funny.

We've seen Cajardo Lindsey playing thoughtful, temperate people for a few years now and doing it very well, but before he appeared in Curious Theatre Company's The Brothers Size, we'd never understood the man's sheer power as an actor. In this myth- and dream-saturated story, Lindsey played Orgun, owner of an auto shop. His younger brother, Oshoosi, had just been released from prison, and Orgun expected him to enter the same trade, but Oshoosi preferred to laze in bed and fantasize about freedom, car rides and pussy. In the Yoruba tradition, Orgun is a blacksmith, and Cajardo, beating metal into submission, towered over the evening, terrifying in his anger, heartbreaking in his grief, both human and larger than human, and sometimes — like the play itself — wonderfully and unexpectedly funny.

Seth Caikowski has played sidekicks and leading men, dignified figures and cartoonish clowns. In Boulder's Dinner Theatre's The Full Monty, he got to display another aspect of his versatility as working-class Jerry, tough-minded and humorous, but emotionally vulnerable in his relationship with his young son and ex-wife. Since this is a musical about regular guys putting on a clumsy strip act, the dancing can't look too professional — but it should still be an audience-pleaser. Caikowski handled this contradiction with skill, athletically light on his feet without appearing dancer-trained. And he imbued the entire role with dignity and strength.

W.C. Fields is supposed to have said, "Never work with children or animals," but he could never have imagined the scene-stealing ability of a charming adult woman like Jamie Ann Romero playing the role of a dog in Sylvia. Sylvia is a stray brought home from the park by Greg, who's going through a midlife crisis. She's cute and appealing, and she worships him from the get-go, so naturally Greg becomes obsessed with her — to the distress of his wife, Kate. Sylvia can seem sensitive, thoughtful and empathetic, but she can also be a manipulative nuisance, peeing on the carpet, chewing Kate's shoes, humping a visitor's leg or snarling furiously at a passing cat. Romero threw herself into all these actions with relish, swinging enchantingly from mood to mood, and her playful presence made the entire Lone Tree Arts Center production magical.

She was so ordinary, this woman Emma, who burst into her dying ex-husband Ulysses's dilapidated trailer twenty years after she'd left him, absconding in the middle of the night with their son. She looked like anyone you'd find parking her car at the supermarket or sitting on the porch sipping beer and catching the rays of the setting sun. Low-key, affectionate, manipulative by turn, Kate Gleason's Emma was furious with Ulysses — and she also loved and wanted to take care of him, attempting to tidy up and, having seen the hideous contents of his fridge, buying groceries and cleaning supplies. But she also had her own kind of toughness. The strength of the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company's production of Annapurna lay in the interchange between these two people, the grubby familiarity, old jokes and memories, banked-up fires of anger and betrayal. With strong support from Chris Kendall's Ulysses, Gleason brought Emma to profound and convincing life.

Niki is the ingenue of Curtains, an odd combination of murder mystery, farce and heartfelt tribute to musical theater. In the role, Erica Sweany was charming throughout, long-limbed and graceful, with a lovely singing voice. In the Arvada Center production, she really got to strut her stuff in a gorgeous Rogers-and-Astaire-style duet with Jim Poulos called "A Tough Act to Follow," a number that provided such pure, dizzy pleasure, you wanted it never to stop.

The Raven and the Writing Desk tapped artists Emi Brady and Tim Tindle to design the cover art for its luminous 2013 EP Scavenger. True to the band's imaginative aesthetic and songwriting, Brady and Tindle created a fold-out raven, colorful on the outside and black and white on the inside, where you'll find the bird's skeleton along with hand-lettered lyrics and credits. It's the perfect accompaniment for the group's literate, baroque pop songs. Many bands want to create a secret musical world, but The Raven and the Writing Desk went beyond the songs, providing a real work of art in which to wrap the music.

By holding its release show for (compass) at the Eron Johnson Antiques warehouse and incorporating a sort of treasure hunt, Chimney Choir made good on much of its mystique. The space truly is a warehouse, where the band held shows long ago amid architectural artifacts from old houses. The performance featured sets from similarly minded artists such as Laura Goldhamer and Ian Cooke. Chimney Choir created skits that were performed throughout the show and tied in to the album's central theme of finding one's own compass in life. Thanks to the band's care and attention to detail, it felt almost magical.

Native American art has been dominated by traditional forms such as weaving, jewelry, pottery and baskets. But for the past few decades, American Indian artists have also plunged into the international contemporary-art dialogue while still maintaining their heritage. For Cross Currents, at the MSU Center for Visual Art, creative director Cecily Cullen invited a group of these Native American artists from across the country. Two of them, photographer Will Wilson and installation artist Marie Watt, are fairly well known, but it was emerging artist Merritt Johnson, a creator of paintings and costumes, who was the show's great revelation.

Cabaret Otaku is in a theater class all its own, a troupe that brings traditional opera to the stage through the heart and vision of the local anime and cosplay communities. Led by classically trained opera singer Christina Marzano Haystead, this dedicated group of professionals takes conventional stories made for the stage and gives them a modern twist, adding elements like gamer music and contemporary humor. While they may initially attract the anime-savvy crowd, Cabaret Otaku's productions are for anyone who enjoys beautiful voices and a laid-back approach to opera.

Pin a blue ribbon on fair directors Dana Cain and Tracy Weil: The Denver County Fair is our winner — and still champion! If the goal of the fair, now in its third year, is to represent every stratum of our city's culture, it's no surprise that at this year's edition, August 1-3, there will be a paean to pot: the first county-fair Pot Pavilion in the nation and probably the world, where blue ribbons will be handed out in such categories as "Most Potent Bud," "Best Brown Infused Recipe" and — ta-da! — "Best Homemade Bong." Though there will be no actual weed in the building, its legal presence will still be felt, and the adults-only pavilion will also house live music, tie-dye and paraphernalia vendors, light shows and comedy. And right next door: The Beer Pavilion, also new, with tastings and a slate of blue-ribbon contests of its own.

Patrick Dupays of Z Cuisine is as much an aficionado of local artists as he is a great chef, which is why it's not surprising that he turned the hole-in-the-wall spot between Z and its sister brasserie, À Côté, into a gallery space where artist friends — many of them also his restaurant patrons — could show their work. Entre Nous — which means "between us," in the coziest, most private sense of the words — opened last fall, giving the block a new element of high-street society as well as a place to hang out before or after eating. The wait for an open table has never been so pleasant.

Adam Milner: Wave so I know you're real was a conceptual exploration of the world as seen through the quirky filter of the artist's everyday life. The initial impression of the exhibit was of a quiet, contemplative world, something like a library or an archive. But as you looked closer, it got pretty wild — as with the video of people, mostly men, masturbating online, or the one in which Milner's open mouth catches the light reflected off the chrome on a public urinal. Both pieces were charged with sexual content but had been abstracted to such an extent that they came off as smart rather than vulgar, which was quite a feat.

When money was being raised for the Daniel Libeskind-designed addition to the Denver Art Museum, oil zillionaire Frederic C. Hamilton, then chairman of the board of trustees, met the challenge by throwing $26 million into the pot. That's why the addition is called the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. But Hamilton wasn't done. A couple of months ago, he announced that he was turning over his collection of impressionist paintings to the DAM, including pieces by Cézanne, Monet, Manet and all the other big names. The Hamilton paintings were on display in Nature as Muse when the announcement was made, allowing everyone to understand how the bequest beefs up the museum's impressionist holdings and makes the DAM a major repository of the style in the American West.

The project of artist Donald Fodness, Showpen provides low-cost housing and studio space where select young artist-residents can build and exhibit bodies of work for a given amount of time. Showpen's success rate is its best advertisement: The majority of its "graduates" move on from the incubator to grad schools, teaching jobs or other art-related work. But the real beauty of Showpen is that it's something Fodness does not because it's his job, but just because he wants to. His reward lies in the work that results: Showpen makes champions.

Back in 1974, a group of women in Boulder who also happened to be artists noticed that they were routinely rejected from exhibits because of their gender. Motivated by feminism, and as part of a national movement, they formed the advocacy group Front Range Women in the Visual Arts. Times have changed a lot, something that was demonstrated well by the decision of two members — Margaretta Gilboy and Sally Elliot — to approach William Biety and ask him to put together a fortieth-anniversary show for the group, which includes artists who embrace a wide variety of styles. That's right: These old-line feminists asked a man to curate, which is a pretty post-feminist thing to do. The poetically dubbed Transit of Venus kicked off a series of shows on women and art at RedLine.

Northwest Denver is changing fast — in fact, most of the southern end of the 3600 block of Navajo Street has been scraped flat. But the other end remains home to one of Denver's first art districts. Pirate: Contemporary Art got its start as an artist co-op for rebellious types more than three decades ago, and when it moved here, it quickly established this block as the best place in the city to catch up-and-coming painters, sculptors and multimedia artists. And so it remains today, with Pirate joined by the well-established Edge, Next and Zip 37 galleries, plus the Bug Theatre, Clear Creek Jewelry Academy and Patsy's, the family-owned Italian joint that's been slinging red sauce since the '20s. First Fridays are always off the hook on Navajo, but our favorite event is the district's annual Día de los Muertos celebration. Long live the Navajo Street Art District.

Just as Month of Photography overtook Denver galleries across town last March, Mo'Print 2014 — aka Month of Printmaking — did the same this year, sharpening its focus on the art-world's most underappreciated skill set. The centerpiece, the Open Press 25th Anniversary Exhibit, at the McNichols Building, is as much a 25-year retrospective of the local art community as it is a tribute to the longevity of Mark Lunning's fine-art printmaking studio (see it through April 12). Though its reach is more subtle than MoP's, Mo'Print is bringing a cascade of amazing work by artists around the region before the public. Keep the presses rolling.

The form of the Broadway Triangle, by Mike Moore and his tres birds workshop, is fairly rational: a cluster of volumetric rectangles held in place by dark-painted girders overriding the outside. But then the craziness begins. The lower parts of the walls have been clad in salvaged bricks, with random ones having been painted in garish colors. Above that is a changing set of murals, with the first batch, organized by Melissa Belongea, having a street-art kind of flair and including individual works by Jolt, Jonathan Lamb & Michael Ortiz, the collective Palabros/Collabros, and Deepti Nair & Harikrishnan Panicker. Dada Art Bar, inside the building, is all arty, too, intending to present exhibits in addition to cocktails. The whole thing is set off on the 25th Street side by a cluster of lighted directional arrows on a spike, called "One Way," by Mike Mancarella. That piece has been there for years, but it feels like part of the project.

The punk band Wiredogs finally found a name to fit its sound, just before releasing last year's The Resistance. Frontman Dan Aid and his crew of mighty punk men finally got it right, as the handles they'd used in the past didn't quite fit. As White Leather, the band could have been mistaken for an '80s outfit like A Flock of Seagulls. The Hate captured the group's ferocity, but casual observers might have taken it for an emo band on a tirade. Wiredogs fits just right.

Everyone discusses the "secret bathrooms" at Red Rocks in hushed, reverent tones, but those aren't even the best ones in the venue. That prize goes to the bathrooms in the Visitor Center, at the top of the amphitheatre. They are so luxurious that we frequently hear first-timers in there gushing over how fancy they are. There are private toilets with full walls and real, lockable doors in between, a lounge for families, and TV screens on the floor. Combine those amenities with an attendant who keeps things orderly, and you're left with an experience that more resembles hotel living than the bathroom adventure awaiting you at most concerts. Stay hydrated on the Rocks and experience sweet relief at the prettiest potties in town.

Inkmonstr turned the Exdo Event Center's parking lot at 34th and Larimer into a gigantic beach party with a trio of events last year. The Denver print studio brought in a couple of stages, a sixty-foot slip-and-slide, a dunk tank and a pool, along with booze and live music from Lama Squad, DJ Manos and a slew of others for three of the biggest summer blowouts in recent memory. A who's-who of Denver scenesters showed up, lingering late into the afternoon hours on the makeshift beach.

Now in its fiftieth year, Ziggies is Colorado's oldest blues bar. No surprise, then, that it's also Denver's main spot for catching the area's finest local blues talent every night of the week. But Ziggies brings in its share of national touring acts, too, and even some international players. While there's a flat-screen that displays upcoming events and specials, there are no TVs broadcasting anything else, one more clue that it's all about the music here. And like any blues club worth its salt, Ziggies is a great place for musicians to hone their skills: In addition to its legendary blues jam, it hosts three other weekly jam or open-mic nights.

Ziggies has been around for five decades, and it boasts the state's longest-running blues jam. Every Sunday, whether you're looking to hone your chops or just listen to some great local players, Ziggies is your spot. The Blues AllStars and Doc Brown switch off hosting duties every week, getting things started and then opening the stage to other players. Ziggies also hosts an acoustic open mic on Mondays and a Hump Day Jam on Wednesdays, where you'll hear a variety of music, including rock, funk and zydeco. Step right up...

Architecturally speaking, Mary Voelz Chandler loves every design triumph and structural flaw that makes Denver Denver. She spent years covering art and design for the Rocky Mountain News and used her expertise to compile the Guide to Denver Architecture, which saw a second edition released in 2013. What makes this writer most valuable, though, is not just her experience, but her insight: While she can lament the loss of an architectural marvel like I.M. Pei's hyperbolic paraboloid to demolition, she's hardly stuck in the past, since she also champions such modern builds as the Merchants Row housing development in Curtis Park.

Last year, the reigning madam of Denver's burlesque scene premiered Cora Vette's RestoMod at the Voodoo Comedy Playhouse. The Thursday-night extravaganza takes its name from car culture: A "restomod" is a vintage car that's been rebuilt for speed under the hood but maintains its classic appeal everywhere else. And Cora Vette has done just that with this production, which is a stylish meld of classic burlesque with the more modern offerings that have proliferated since the burlesque scene exploded here a few years ago. Attendees are treated to songs from the lusty gal herself (whose alter ego, Reyna Von Vett, held down major roles on Broadway before turning to the darker side of the stage curtain), as well as performances by the VaVaVettes and other special guests. It's the biggest, baddest burlesque night that Cora Vette's ever put together — and that's saying something. Wowza!

Hair is a musical that doesn't have very well-defined dance numbers. Yes, there are big songs and dances, but at the Town Hall Arts Center, the entire production was a swaying, shimmying, surging celebration, with action and music so intertwined that director/choreographer Nick Sugar must have found both his roles merging into one. His fine cast brought Hair into the present while maintaining the ethos of the hippie '60s — easy sex, casual nudity, idealistic ideas and rebellious romances between black and white that were highly unusual in those racially tense years. Sugar's smart, sexy choreography, along with the exuberant musical direction of Donna Kolpan Debreceni, made for a transcendent evening.

A monthly club night that's been going strong for close to five years, Mile High Soul Club is the place where Northern Soul and Motown fanatics can share the dance floor with folks just looking to get down to the throwback sound. DJs Dogboy, Tyler Jacobson and Steve Cervantes rotate on the ones and twos, curating sets of well-known favorites by Aretha Franklin and the Five Du-Tones and more obscure tracks by the likes of the Showstoppers and Rita & the Tiaras. The DJ trio has recently started booking live acts under the Mile High Soul Club name, but the focus is still on providing the right sonic atmosphere for busting out the bird, the pony and the watusi.

The rooftop patio on the building that houses Bar Standard and Milk Bar is rarely open for business. But when it is, it makes for one hell of a party pad. After climbing up the metal staircase to the top of the building, you'll find a tiered space with ample seating and a large shade to protect you from the sun, as well as a sound system that carries music to every corner. But best of all is the view: an unobstructed panorama of the Rocky Mountains that's particularly lovely during the summertime. On warm Sundays, the patio plays host to an array of local DJs, who wind down the weekend with gorgeous music. And the well-stocked rooftop bar almost always has drink specials on offer.

The rooftop at Vinyl is easily the coolest place in town to light up and party down. The spacious open patio includes fire pits surrounded by cushy seating, breathtaking views of the downtown skyline and Front Range, and bar service featuring cheap drinks and sexy bartenders. In this rarefied setting, you're sure to find kindred souls — or at least someone with a spare lighter. But even if you don't indulge, Vinyl's rooftop is one smokin' place to be.

Good music deserves good drinks to go along with it, but not all venues offer great cocktails. Compared to the watery whiskeys and eight-dollar Heinekens found at many clubs, the Soiled Dove Underground is a booze-lover's oasis. Along with the venue's classic Colorado cocktails, all made with spirits from local distilleries, there's a beer roster heavy with local craft beers — and it's a good bet you won't find another music venue in town where you can buy a bottle of O'Lillo Super Tuscan wine. Fancy-pants drinks not your style? The bar also sells PBR tallboys and pours its well drinks nice and strong.

There's almost nothing as funny as watching people behave really badly — and though Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage doesn't have a lot of depth, when the playwright lets loose the force of her ferocious, unforgiving intelligence, there's definitely a lot of bad behavior. The two couples involved, Michael and Veronica and Alan and Annette, exhibit no real feelings; their rages don't make sense, their quarrels are meaningless, affection is non-existent. These people are like human bumper cars set loose on a track — and in the Curious Theatre production, with its elegant set and first-rate cast, their collisions were hilarious.

Those looking for laughs without a pesky two-drink minimum can find solace on the last Sunday of every month, when the glamorous Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret hosts Propaganda! At Matt Monroe's free comedy night, you can catch priceless sets by such local favorites as Adam Cayton-Holland and Ben Kronberg, as well as big touring names like Sean Patton and Beth Stelling. As a bonus, street parking is always free on Sundays — and Sexy Pizza even provides free-slice cards. This night comes just once a month, but you can laugh all the way to the bank in the meantime.

Prince doesn't obey regular human rules. Last year, despite his arena-filling popularity, he announced that he would do a tour of small venues across the country, playing multi-night runs in each city. In Denver, that meant a three-night, six-show residency at the Ogden Theatre. The kicker was the $250 ticket price. But anyone who ponied up the money got to spend some relatively intimate time with the Purple One and his new band, the all-female 3rd Eye Girl. Drawing from the considerable breadth of his career, Prince treated audiences to alternate versions of classic songs in addition to more faithful renditions.

The prime challenge for a representational artist working in the contemporary-art arena is to come up with something that looks new. And since artists have been mining realism since the days of the cave painters, that's not so easy to do...which made the handsome and tastefully installed Roots — New Drawings by Heidi Jung a show to remember. Jung zeroed in on the roots and shafts of plants, which she rendered with staggering accuracy in charcoal and ink on architectural vellum. The vellum was laid on birch panels, making frames unnecessary. Jung's drawing style is elegant, with the tangled complexity of the roots and shafts set against the bareness of the surrounding blank vellum in just the right combination. Despite being examples of straightforward realism, depicting dead plants, no less, Jung's drawings somehow looked utterly fresh.

Canadian-born Denver artist Ian Fisher has an interesting strategy for picture-making: Create photo-realist paintings of the sky unmoored from the landscape. For Critical Focus: Ian Fisher — which is still open — MCA curator Nora Burnett Abrams took an in-depth look at the artist's recent cloud paintings. Despite Fisher's careful realism, there's an undeniable abstract quality to the compositions, and at times they seem to almost melt into color-field territory. Though each depicts the same subject, every canvas is different and has its own unique palette — just like the clouds.

Crafting mavens Becky Hensley of Denver Craft Ninjas and Anne Davidson of the Colorado Bead Company got together last year to create a haven where crafters of all skill levels can share ideas and techniques or just work together side by side. The huge Park Hill facility offers a dizzying selection of classes that cover not only a cornucopia of crafting skills, but also such market-savvy subjects as "Etsy for Newbies" and "Crafting Your Blog Pitch." Share Denver's DIY spirit makes it a go-to for all crafters, whether they're hobbyists or looking to craft a living out of making things by hand.

Do you feel a need to dance in the dark with strange people, to music your parents don't understand? According to Rolling Stone, Beta is the best place in America to do it. Beta's immense reputation and even bigger sound system draw some of the greatest electronic musicians from around the world. In addition to the main stage, there's the Beatport Lounge, an intimate club-within-a-club where you'll often find local DJs spinning their own brand of dance music. Beta is a LoDo fixture, and it's a large part of what keeps late-night thrill-seekers coming back to the neighborhood.

What started out as Rave on the Rocks has transformed into the biggest dance-music festival in the region. Global Dance Festival has pushed the boundaries of the genre in past years with headliners like Empire of the Sun, Kid Cudi and LMFAO, but festival promoter Triad Dragons Entertainment remains dedicated to its EDM roots. Global stages are packed with the biggest dance acts in the world, many of whom are making their first appearance in the Denver market. All dance styles are represented at the equal-opportunity festival, from chill downtempo to feverishly upbeat drum-and-bass, and they'll have you on your feet well into the night.

Last year's Decadence was the largest indoor EDM event in North America, with an attendance of nearly 40,000, and it happened right here. Colorado favorites Bassnectar and Pretty Lights headlined alongside Tiësto and Above & Beyond — and those were just a few of the acts to grace the stages of the Colorado Convention Center. Decadence has listened to the concerns of fans over the years and now offers free water stations and organized ticket lines. And the production features much more than just the DJs, with confetti cannons, balloon drops, lasers and panels upon panels of mapped LEDs.

Art collecting can be a tricky business, one that requires a shrewd eye, knowing what you like and a knack for telling the future. The CSArt Colorado project replaces that trickiness with a treat. It invites "shareholders" to join for a $400 annual membership; in return, they receive a selection of five diverse works twice a year, drawn from a pool of twenty participating artists, both established and emerging. Shareholders choose from two ten-artist packages offered each year; 2014's first distribution event will be an outdoor party at the Denver Botanic Gardens in May, while BMoCA will host a second distribution and reception in the fall. It's the way to go if you like art — and surprises.

Last year, octogenarian Roland Bernier attempted to retire by mounting The Last Picture Show at Walker Fine Art. But it was not to be, as Bernier is still working. Moreover, his pieces are still being shown around town. For this attempt at retiring, though, Bernier created an array of pieces, all of which were covered with facsimiles of his last name. In one series, he covered women's high-heel shoes in paper emblazoned with his name. In a group of wall-hung pieces, "Bernier" was carried out in plastic mirrors laser-cut to form the letters. Bernier's been at it for sixty years, making it high time for him to be given a proper retrospective — before he really does quit for good.

Plus Gallery's Ivar Zeile and digital artist Ryan Pattie brought a different kind of spectacle and a feel for the future to the streets of downtown Denver last summer when, with help from the Denver Theatre District, they presented Denver Digerati, a series of curated motion-based artwork on the DTD's jumbo second-story LED billboard at 14th and Champa streets. The five programs changed focus each month by featuring works, sometimes on a theme, from a local and/or international pool of artists, ending with a presentation of works commissioned from seven artists by the DTD for its permanent collection. A gallery showcase by the artists coincided at Plus, and all seven received stipends, which smoothed the road for their contributions. We're looking forward to seeing what this season brings to Denver Digerati's big screen.

Denver Disco has gathered the previously disconnected nu-disco scene in Denver at a weekly night featuring some of the genre's best acts. The synths of yesteryear, pumped up with some modern-day bells and whistles, are still getting people out on the dance floor — and then some. Bar Standard, the host venue for Denver Disco's weekly event, creates the perfect party ambience, with a wall-sized mirror, a VIP area behind the stage, and a 360-degree bar for serving drinks all around. Who says disco's dead?

John Moore, the onetime Denver Post theater reviewer who now works at the Denver Center, started the Denver Actors Fund last year to help theater people with medical crises. The goal, he says, is "immediate, situational relief" in cases of "great and sudden medical need." The amounts of money aren't huge, but they're enough to cover wheelchair rental, for instance, or other medical supplies — and anyone who has lived in the area three months or more and worked at a theater in some creative capacity is eligible for help. Moore's idea galvanized the theater community: Several companies have donated a percentage of ticket revenues, other supporters have mounted benefits; and there's an online merchandise store selling posters, puzzles and T-shirts. Moore is now staffing action teams with volunteers who will run errands, plan meals, organize fundraisers and help with needed construction projects, such as ramps and railings.

Professional concert promoters are rarely seen at their own concerts. They're so busy (or jaded) that fans almost never catch them in the crowd or at the bar, let alone swinging windmill fists in the mosh pit. But Zach Smith is not your average concert promoter. He's not even a professional in the strictest sense: At 24 years old, Smith has promoted concerts at "unofficial" venues in New Mexico and Colorado since before he could legally sign a contract. Denver's hardcore scene has benefited to the tune of at least one or two extra ten-dollar shows per week featuring rowdy local bands, touring acts that could not get booked elsewhere, and groups that would rather play a warehouse than a bar. Zach faced adversity in 2013 as property owners forced him from two different locations, but he continued undaunted to Helm's Deep II. It's a venue that touring bands would write home about — if only they could give out the address.

DJ Ktone was once dubbed "The Turf DJ," and even though he rarely uses the moniker these days, he is still Denver's favorite turf DJ. Every year at the beginning of March, the often disparate corners of urban culture join together to celebrate Ktone's birthday, bringing out old favorites and new blossoming stars. This is the sound of Denver music, encompassing West Coast and East Coast, R&B singers and street characters alike. Every year, Ktone gets a break from the tables while fellow DJs take over. Last year's host was Turner Jackson, who caught the crowd off guard with his energy and style. But rapper Foo Man stole the show, performing his song "Me So Horny" in a bathrobe.

Cold Crush is a little slice of hip-hop heaven, layered with morsels of goodness at every level. You might accidentally catch a legendary DJ there, just doing his or her thing on the wheels. DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill stopped in on June 22, delivering a truly surprising set that went way beyond his more well-known production work. If you're headed to the popular bar/juice bar/venue, arrive early. The place fills up with patrons of all backgrounds, and you never know what big names might walk in.

In recent years, Denver's electronic-music scene has gained a reputation as the place for new and rising talent. Success stories like Big Gigantic, Pretty Lights and Paper Diamond have drawn both emerging and established artists to the area. And thanks to the Sub.Mission crew, those newcomers have an outlet. Electronic Tuesdays has thrived where other weekly events have failed, thanks to Sub.Mission's careful curation of fresh faces. "E-Tuesdays" does an exemplary job of showcasing new producers' music to fans whose tastes change as quickly as the bipolar Colorado weather.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a high-octane, savagely funny play about desperate, isolated lives. Mother and daughter Mag and Maureen live together in a state of mutual dependency and mutual loathing. Their neighbors are a pair of brothers: sweet-natured Pato, who just might bring a ray of joy into Maureen's bitter life, and insanely irrational Ray. The script is by Martin McDonagh, so you know violence will erupt. Edge Theatre Company's production was one of the most shocking and entertaining shows of the year: Between Michael Stricker's direction and a powerhouse cast willing to go balls-out, the audience was left breathless — though whether from laughter or sheer horror, it was sometimes hard to tell.

There is no one quite like Koffi Toudji. Depending on the day, the drummer, dancer and teacher can be found sharing his fancy footwork and rhythm skills at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance; playing music with the West African Drum and Dance Ensemble or his thirteen-piece Afro-fusion band Koffi Togo Vibe; or organizing family-friendly music and arts events to fund the cultural center he's building in his home country of Togo in West Africa. And here in Denver, Toudji's work with kids and adults alike in the realms of music, dance and cultural education brings nothing but positive vibrations.

This knockout show of neo-abstract paintings and sculptures done by the husband-and-wife team of Conor Hollis and Amorette Lana and ably curated by Adam Gildar, was eye-dazzling with all its toned-up colors and in-your-face forms. The paintings combined freely executed automatist passages with carefully rendered extensions of them. Interestingly, the compositions were completely unified despite the touch of two different pairs of hands. The paintings provided the perfect backdrop to the sculptures, in particular the large tabletop one, "Alterity," which was made of extruded and painted foam. It was an unforgettable debut for the couple.

Edge Gallery underwent some transition last summer when many longtime members quit and were replaced by a group of new ones. Heralding this change was Conceptually Scattered, featuring work by the new generation of Edgesters, almost all of them up-and-coming artists new to the scene. The majority of the pieces showed tremendous talent and great skill, with all of the artists having contributed things worth looking at. The show included pieces by Nouman Gaafar, Faith Williams, Michael McGrath, Jessica Loving, Dennis Stowell, John Cross, Rachel Prago, Genevieve Yazzie and Frederick Pichon. Edge has long been one of the co-ops in town, and surely the secret to this success is the way it constantly reinvents itself.

The MCA's Adam Lerner has a thing for art propelled by socio-political movements, and that predilection threw him in the direction of Devo musician/composer/artist Mark Mothersbaugh, a man who Lerner says is the most creative person he's ever met. Those are strong words to describe a pop-culture anomaly who can't let a day pass without churning out twenty or so postcard-sized drawings (he's been creating them for dozens of years). In the interest of sharing Mothersbaugh's postcards, quirky compositions and installations with the public, Lerner coaxed the object of his obsession to let the MCA put together the show Myopia. This will be Mothersbaugh's first-ever exhibit in a museum — in fact, at a series of museums, since it will travel to other venues after its inaugural run at the MCA this fall.

Mark Mosher organized the Boulder Synthesizer Meet-Up to connect with others interested in using technology in music. He found kindred spirits in internationally touring trombone player Darren Kramer and Victoria Lundy of the Inactivists and the now-defunct Carbon Dioxide Orchestra. The trio played through Mosher's audio rig, with Kramer processing his trombone through analog and digital devices and Lundy joining him on her theremin. Playing separate sets with a collaborative performance at the end, Kramer, Lundy and Mosher presented a tour de force on the current state of electronic music and its future.

Without officially branding its programming a feminist endeavor, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art brought women into the spotlight in force in 2013. As part of its Present Box series, BMoCA invited bridal dressmaker Maggie Evans to sew live and artist/lawyer Vanessa Place to present her confessional performance art. The museum's fall series, Craft Tech/Coded Media, gave multiple generations of technology-based artists a great platform for their multimedia work, and companion events like Femcees: Lyrics Decoded brought female musicians into the mix. BMoCA showed that curation doesn't have to be labeled in order to be empowering, engaging and effective.

Join nearly 55,000 film lovers making their way through more than 200 films at the Starz Denver Film Festival, Denver's preeminent, audience-friendly movie event of the year — for thirty years! Whether you want to watch future Academy Award nominees or gems that might never again see the light of day, the Denver Film Festival has got you covered. And where else in town can you rub elbows with Hollywood directors, brave documentarians and independent auteurs talking about their craft and showing off their latest work? Even without the bonus red-carpet events, multiple parties and panel discussions with film-industry players, this fall festival is a chance to pack a year's worth of movie viewing into ten glorious days.

Ethan McCarthy is best known for his work as a musician in extreme-metal bands like Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire, Keep and Primitive Man. He's also had experience running the DIY venues Kingdom of Doom, Blast-O-Mat and Aqualung's Community Music Space. A disarmingly gregarious and compassionate person, in seeming contrast to his bleak, aggressive and sometimes forbidding music, McCarthy has been a truly positive force in the local music scene. Recently he's gained notice for his visual art, as well. The dark, detailed and imaginative fliers he's made for various shows immediately pull you in and make you curious as to what event could warrant such powerful imagery.

Have you ever gone to a movie theater and pulled a refillable popcorn bucket and soda cup out of a trash can, washed them off, then sheepishly approached the concession line saying, "I'm here for my refills," praying that the gawky kid behind the cash register won't bust you? To avoid that humiliation, check out the Landmark Greenwood Village, which doles out free popcorn and carbonated corn syrup for every ticketed customer. The quality of the popcorn and the soda selection are better than average, and you can fearlessly fill up to your heart's content — even beyond it. The comfortable theater also has a selection of pub grub and drinks for VIP customers — but it's the UIP (unimportant people) who really get a good deal.

Not many film screenings come with syringes full of human blood. But that's the sort of thing that makes "BloodThirsty Theresa" Mercado's seasonal horror-film series at Crash 45 so special. The impeccably curated films, which show on the first Tuesday of the month and are grouped into Cruel Autumn, Cruel Winter and Cruel Summer, run the horror gamut — from classics like 1974's Texas Chainsaw Massacre to more obscure flicks like the ridiculous alien-abduction movie Xtro to Kathryn Bigelow's vampire tale Near Dark (when those syringes were handed out). Mercado creates handmade souvenirs tailored to each free screening, and the bar concocts movie-themed drink specials to enjoy along with the scares.

For Western not Western, Bill Havu and his assistant, Nick Ryan, surveyed the many artists in the gallery's stable to find pieces that use Western-art vocabularies but aren't traditionally Western in style. They included straightforward realists like Jeff Aeling, James Cook and Rick Dula, as well as Tracy Felix, Sushe Felix and Tony Ortega, all of whom pick up Western subjects and then push them through their own individual sensibilities. There were even artists who do abstracted landscapes, among them Sam Scott, Lui Ferreyra and Jeremy Hillhouse, and two, Emilio Lobato and Nancy Lovendahl, who do pure abstractions. The show was right on time, because contemporary art with a Western twang is currently a hot topic.

Contemporary-realist painter Don Stinson depicts intrusions on nature, using the Western landscape in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to make his point. Often he'll include a derelict drive-in theater or some other abandoned symbol of modernity that he finds amid the breathtaking vistas. In this show, the title painting included a weathered motel sign alone on the plains, with the motel itself long gone. In a twist on this program of finding ruins in the garden, Stinson has also depicted works of art by others, rendering the famous "Spiral Jetty," by Robert Smithson, in the Great Salt Lake, and depicting the landmark Colorado home in "Sculptured House," by Charles Deaton, at dawn. The landscape is Colorado art's claim to fame, and artists like Stinson are keeping it contemporary.

The Robischon Gallery is so big that it's easy for co-directors Jim Robischon and Jennifer Doran to mount large and impressive group shows in which each artist is given his or her own spacious berth. And not incidentally, they also have the curatorial talent to be ambitious. That was surely the case with Out of Line, in which an overarching, unified vision of contemporary abstraction was achieved through the sum of its individual artist parts, including mostly conceptual abstract pieces by Jason Karolak, Wendi Harford, Ted Larsen, Derrick Velasquez, Kate Petley, Annica Cuppetelli + Cristobal Mendoza, and Bernar Venet. The results were spectacular, and by mixing up nationally known artists with prominent locals, Robischon and Doran showed how good the hometown team really is.

An old saying advises that if you fall off a horse, you get back on, but what if it's a ladder? Back in 2011, Colorado artist Ania Gola-Kumor fell off a ladder while painting — her kitchen ceiling, not one of her sumptuous abstract canvases — and was so seriously injured that she had to give up painting for a year to recover. When she started again, she went slowly, doing small works on paper. But it was immediately apparent that she wasn't out of practice, and she soon began creating her large signature paintings again. Ania Gola-Kumor: Moving Paint marked her triumphant return.

Denver's gay scene has no shortage of drama: It seems like every time we look up, somebody is boycotting one gay bar or another. Take a time-out at the Barker Lounge, where the staff is friendly, the regulars are always happy to strike up a conversation, the drinks are cheap, and you can even bring your dog. While this bar might not be the best cruising ground, it's a comfortable spot for LGBTQ people of all ages and desires to hang out in a drama-free zone. Some nights are quiet, with just a few people chatting at the bar or shooting pool; other nights you might find a pantsless dart tournament or a dancing crowd of queens with yapping dogs.

The Catamounts' productions not only provide food for thought, but occasional feasts after certain Saturday-night shows, when a truck rolls up to the Dairy Center for the Arts and attendees line up for a plateful of food inspired by the play they've just attended. There's also beer — again, brewed specifically to mesh with the evening's theme. For example, after There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, the Heirloom food truck served a lamb-and-fig tagine over saffron couscous, accompanied by a fig-and-fennel saison brewed by Wild Woods Brewery. Tickets to these feasts are hard to come by; we're sure the Catamounts would like to feed everyone after every performance, if they could just figure out how to finance it.

Every Sunday morning, DJ Ginger Perry sets up shop at Table 6 for a breakfast that could double as a dance party. Discerning diners can enjoy their Hollandaise with a side of hip-hop, their biscuits with boom-baps and beats — and their Bloody Marys with, well, another round. Nothing says "hangover cure" like good food, good drinks and grooving tunes.

With a name inspired by a late-'70s hip-hop group from the Bronx, Cold Crush opened on Upper Larimer last May and immediately became part funky lounge and part artist haven. Most nights of the week, DJs spin all manner of hip-hop, funk and soul, and occasional guest musicians stop by to test out the Crush's killer sound system. The hip bar serves up shots of the wheatgrass and ginger varieties for teetotaling rockers, but it also boasts an extensive wine-and-beer list.

Kirkland Museum director Hugh Grant has spent the past several years rediscovering forgotten or all-but-forgotten Colorado artists who were once prominent and giving them shows. But he did something different with In Thin Air: The Art of Phyllis Hutchinson Montrose. Since the artist had never been prominent, Grant became the one to discover her. A protégée of Angelo di Benedetto, who was the reigning dean of the once-vibrant art scene in Central City, Montrose chose not to exhibit except on rare occasions; as a result, no one knew who she was, and there was no awareness in the community of her very finely crafted representational surrealist paintings, which were carried out with a meticulous technique. When Montrose was starting out sixty years ago, abstract expressionism ruled, so she was behind the times. But seen in retrospect at the Kirkland, her work looked pretty cool.

If art truly heals, the proof is in programs like the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art's Flood Project. Activated quickly in the wake of last fall's devastating floods in Boulder County and beyond, the project went straight to the people affected in a variety of ways. Denver artist Viviane Le Courtois visited towns turned upside down by floodwaters to gather stories and artifacts salvaged from the mud for a book and public sculpture. Members of the bARTer Collective gathered treasured recipes from flood victims, and Preston Poe of YouTunes wrote songs inspired by their testimonies. The design team of Berger & Föhr created a limited-edition poster with Lyons print studio Shark's Ink. These small but powerful ways to commemorate the floods made a difference in the lives of the people who lived through them.

In the wide world of comedy, improv can get a bad rap — but Governor Jack is working tirelessly to change that perception. This group of funny dudes hosts various events at its Voodoo Comedy Playhouse home, including The Duel: Improv Cagematch, which pits local troupes against each other in heated improvisational throwdowns. But the quintet's signature show is Governor Jack Watches You Sleep, a night when Denver "celebrities" — like television lawyer Michael Sawaya and rapper Mane Rok — are interviewed on stage and their answers twisted into a hilarious improv show. Governor Jack is also instrumental in the planning and execution of the Denver Improv Festival, which last year saw groups from all over the country perform for hundreds of fans at multiple venues in downtown Denver.

Artist and gallery owner Mai Wyn Schantz took over the former Sandra Phillips space on Santa Fe Drive in the arts district after the latter decamped for the Golden Triangle, and thoroughly remodeled it. The result is a nice exhibition room and a spacious studio. Influence — the inaugural exhibit in the newly rehabbed space — surveyed the artist's own influences. There was Gregory Euclide, whom Schantz met in high school in Wisconsin, before he became nationally known, and other artists from her home state. Once in Denver in the '90s, she'd shared a studio with Bryan Andrews and was a student of Chuck Parson, Clark Richert and Bruce Price. Last but not least, there was the work of her partner, Zach Smith. Despite being a highly individual take, the works held together.

When the curator of the 2013 Biennial of the Americas left the program, the job of planning this exhibit fell to Denver-based curator Cortney Lane Stell, who had just one week to finalize a list of participating artists and just a couple of months before she needed to install their work. Despite those challenges, First Draft was a winner, in part because Stell chose to include many interesting local artists -- something that should be standard for any biennial being held in Denver.

Phamaly is the only company in the country to use performers with every kind of disability in its shows, whether those handicaps are physical, cognitive or emotional. The company stages a musical in the Space Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex annually and puts on a second, non-musical production at the Aurora Fox. There are also evenings of wry and revealing sketch comedy in both Denver and Boulder. When you watch a Phamaly production, you can't help being aware of the tremendous effort most of the actors made simply to arrive at rehearsals and perform. Yet what you feel is anything but pity: Rather, it's tremendous respect for the talent on stage and joyous amazement at the strength of the human spirit.

Dazzle has won numerous Best of Denver awards from Westword over the past decade or so, primarily because it is, hands down, the best jazz club in town. DownBeat magazine even thinks it's one of the top 100 jazz clubs in the world. Over the past year, music manager Kevin Lee has done a noble job, bringing in jazz legends such as Jimmy Heath, Houston Person and Eddie Gomez, as well as younger nationally recognized players like Terence Blanchard, Chris Potter and Dave Douglas. He's also found time for some of the best in local jazz and blues talent. The music is stellar, obviously, but the food at Dazzle has star power, too: We recommend the burgers and the mac and cheese.

There are a number of high-school and college jazz programs in the area, and they're turning out some incredibly talented young musicians. But while music theory, jazz standards and note transcription are important, sometimes just jamming with other folks is the best way to learn. Over the past few years, the Monday-night jazz jams at the Meadowlark have attracted some fiery and exciting players, on horns, guitar, keyboards and drums. Whether you're playing or listening, Mondays at the Meadowlark are the jam.

It makes sense that the jukebox at the Skylark Lounge has plenty of rockabilly and classic country on it, with tunes from the likes of Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and Patsy Cline; after all, that sound complements the overall vibe of the retro-centric bar, which is lined with vintage movie posters. What might be a better-kept secret, though, is that the Skylark's juke is also one of the most eclectic in town, offering everything from the punk of the Clash and the Sex Pistols to the jazz of Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt and Dave Brubeck — plus a whole lot in between. You'll even find a few discs by local bands that have played at the 'lark, like Halden Wofford and the Hi*Beams and the Dalhart Imperials. Mosey on down and give it a spin.

Karaoke is a curiosity: Alcohol, peer pressure and occasional untapped talent all combine in one extremely public display, making for entertaining and unpredictable results. Armida's draws a consistently big and diverse crowd, ensuring a night high in both drama and comedy. And while its popularity guarantees a considerable wait for the spotlight, there's plenty of free entertainment to enjoy in the meantime. Whether you're looking to have a few drinks, show off your pipes, make a fool of yourself, or all of the above, there are few places better than Armida's.

If you love the salty smell of leather and sweat on a beautiful man, wrap your hands around the phallic doorknob at the Eagle and walk into paradise. Despite a few burly men looking Hells Angels-scary (and most people who frequent the Eagle like that sort of thing), the bartenders are some of the sweetest guys in town. And like the patrons, they're as warm as they are hot. Tuesday through Sunday, the Eagle has an all-you-can-drink happy hour from 4 to 8 p.m.; it often sponsors themed events including leather, denim, sportswear and underwear parties with Denver's hottest guys of all shapes and sizes. And while this is definitely a male-oriented space, the Eagle welcomes everyone into the nest.

Jody Bouffard has had the corner on Denver's lesbian bar scene for years. While other venues and owners have come and gone, Bouffard has continued to create safe, comfortable spaces where lesbians and the broader LGBTQ community can drink, socialize and flirt. Her newest enterprise, Blush and Blu, is no exception; it's gained a reputation for friendly bartenders and a warm, inclusive environment. Located at the site of her former tHERe Coffee Bar and Lounge, right next to Voodoo Doughnut, this is a bar and coffee shop wrapped into one venue that promises everything from Texas Hold 'Em tournaments to drag-king performances, pool, standup comedy and even yoga.

If you want to get sweaty in a tight room with a bunch of hot women who like women, head to Tracks Nightclub on First Fridays for Babes Around Denver (BAD), which has been touted as the largest lesbian night in the country. The evening starts with line dancing and turns into a party that rages till the bar closes, with a mob of women — ranging in age from 21 to 75 — getting sweaty and shaking their booties into a frenzy.

Collin Parson's day job is as the visual-art director at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, but he moonlights — emphasis on lights — as an artist who uses light as a medium in his strikingly bare-bones wall sculptures. Last summer, Parson mounted a survey of sorts called Reworked: The Collin Parson Experience, which focused on his pierced boxes with internal light escaping through various slits and openings. These sculptures are strikingly simple, being merely boxes with lights in different colors. But their effects were great, even in the daytime, when the lines and bars of light in the boxes gently glimmered. But at night, with the gallery's lights out, it was out of this world, looking something like a minimalist disco.

Makers work in many fields, but they all have a few things in common, including an entrepreneurial spirit and the talent for something — be it brewing or crafting or cheese-making or canning homemade pickles or providing chemical-free beauty services — that people need and want but can't find just anywhere. That's why Colorado Makers was started: to give small, artisanal businesses the benefit of a like-minded community for networking, while also creating a stronger public face for members as a whole. A lot of what's happening at the grassroots level in cities like Denver begins with such local communities; Colorado Makers helps assure a bright future for small-business growth.

Metal may sound like a frenzied assault of cruel screams and wicked drum-pounding made by what looks like a crowd of shabby, bearded misanthropes. But TRVE Brewing owner Nick Nunns is out to prove that it doesn't have to taste like cheap domestic garbage. TRVE has made metal palatable for Denver's music scene since 2012, creating beers named for bands like Absu (Eastern Candle), Darkthrone (Circle the Wagons) and Denver metal favorites Speedwolf (Death Ripper). Patrons sip Stout O))) with fellow metalheads at the brewery's long Viking-style table, while bands like stoner-metal legend Sleep replace the bubbly Top 40 hits one expects elsewhere. The occult-oriented work of local artist Sam Turner adorns the beer's labels and the brewery's walls. Denver's metal-and-beer scene has its first landmark.

Denver's metal kingdom has flourished in recent years, partly because of contributions from transplants like Sherwood Webber of the New York-based death-metal band Skinless. After his band broke up in 2011, Webber moved to Denver and worked behind the scenes producing concerts for AEG Live. Using his industry connections and a Skinless reunion as bait, Webber and AEG's Danny Sax worked with Denver's Black Sky Brewery last year to assemble a lineup headlined by Dying Fetus, Exhumed and Ghoul and featuring up-and-coming acts like Weekend Nachos, Power Trip and Iron Reagan. No band refused the invitation to join the fun. Speedwolf, Call of the Void, Primitive Man and Black Sleep of Kali were just a few of the local names that completed a nineteen-band, three-stage slate that took over the Gothic Theatre and Moe's BBQ. Plans for the 2014 edition are under way.

Lola Black's badass copper mic stand made its concussive debut last June, when the band performed at Broadway's during the Westword Music Showcase. The stand was given to lead singer Lola by a seriously devoted fan, Josh Saucier, who's a metal fabricator. The idea for the head-butting brass-knuckle design came from the band's merch dude, Brad Tachibano, and guitarist Paige O. It's an eye-catcher, always a crowd-pleaser and a friendly reminder that Lola Black can — and will — kick your ass.

What better soundtrack for Denver's finest comics than tunes from the city's best indie bands? As obvious as the pairing may seem, it took the combined efforts of the Greater Than Collective, Illegal Pete's and the folks from Lannie's to make it happen — and the partners have cooked up a monthly gathering that's bound to become a cherished local tradition. Past events have featured A. Tom Collins, the Ian Cooke Band and Snake Rattle Rattle Snake on the music side, and comics Kristen Rand, Ben Roy and Sean Patton on the other. One of last year's installments even tapped into community goodwill for a bigger, nobler cause: The show featuring Adam Cayton-Holland and Bad Weather California was a fundraiser for Mike Marchant, a well-loved local musician undergoing chemotherapy. Forecast for 2014? More of everything.

When you snuggle up with a dreamy date, the stiffest, smallest movie-theater seats start feeling plush. The true test of movie-theater comfort is to go solo and sit between two strangers in a crowded theater — and there is no theater to which we would rather go alone than the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Here even a giant among men would have sufficient legroom and enough space to wiggle, shuffle and lean back and forth without annoying his gargantuan pals. The Alamo also provides ample space for servers to walk, crouch and bend, so if you need to escape mid-movie, you never bump knees, stomp toes or whack someone in the face with your oversized posterior. The tables provide plenty of room for concessions, and the seats are easy on both your back and your butt.

Could a chocolate-chip cookie save the world? Until you bite into the warm, crispy exterior and molten inner gooeyness of the cookies at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, hold your bets. Even home-baked cookies taste stale compared to these. Beyond the cookies, the Alamo offers melted butter — real butter — drizzled over popcorn that is served up in silver bowls, and burgers with patties charred to perfection on buns that caress your mouth and come with a panoply of toppings: prosciutto, goat cheese, pesto and Hatch green chile, to name just a few. There's also a hefty list of adult milkshakes, such as the Grasshopper Shake, with crème de cacao, crème de menthe and vanilla ice cream, as well as standard-fare cocktails and a long list of craft beers. If you're looking to pack dinner, drinks and a movie into one unforgettable binge, get to the Alamo Drafthouse, now.

Denver has killer blockbuster multiplexes and a few arthouse-chain theaters, but none of those corporate programming teams can compete with our hometown curators at the Denver Film Society. As a nonprofit, DFS has multiple funding streams that allow the Sie FilmCenter to show movies no other venue could. Last year, when the crown was passed from former programming manager Keith Garcia to Ernie Quiroz, Denver cineastes held their breath. Would the newbie build on Garcia's legacy? He has. Whether you want to scream and giggle through an '80s horror flick, scratch your head through an experimental documentary, analyze porn with an academic or meet some of the most innovative filmmakers of our age for a post-screening cocktail in the intimate Henderson's Lounge, the Sie has programming for you.

Last fall, the Denver Art Museum bundled three related shows — Court to Cafe, Drawing Room and Nature as Muse — as a unified blockbuster called Passport to Paris. Like previous blockbusters at the DAM, Passport to Paris attracted huge crowds who drove up ticket sales, membership rolls and gift-shop receipts. This kind of successful audience-building is the culmination of a dream of former director Lewis Sharp. But it was his successor, Christoph Heinrich, who carried it out. Using his wits and sensibilities rather than stats and charts, Heinrich figured out the formula for getting attention by mounting blockbusters — or beacons, as he calls them. The next point of light: Modern Masters, which just opened.

Former Nordstrom exec Chuck McGothlin has an impeccable eye honed during a career buying for the department store's Fifth Avenue boutique in New York, and his experience there clearly translates well at the beautifully upscale Denver Botanic Gardens gift shop. What makes this a must-see stop before or after any visit to the gardens (or even when you're just gift-shopping)? Brilliant merchandising — and a well-selected mixture of art, jewelry, repurposed materials, books, cards, pottery, plants and elegant home accents, along with many nature- and garden-oriented items. And with a much-awaited outdoor exhibit by glass artist Dale Chihuly coming to the DBG in June, the shop should be even more spectacular.

When the DIY Brass Tree House collective came to an end in 2012, the excellent Brass Tree Sessions series of live concert videos ended as well. But with their background in video and television production, the heads behind Brass Tree were able to team up with former Teletunes host and Pindowns member Heather Dalton, a producer on the arts program Out of Order, to produce Sounds on 29th. The program, which airs late on Saturday nights on Channel 12.2, features comedy sets alongside a handful of songs performed by local bands. Hosted by Sid Pink, Sounds on 29th is the less surreal — but no less entertaining — cousin of Dalton's other show, Late Night Denver.

Colorado has had a nice share of video cyphers from different hip-hop crews in the past couple of years. But most stay confined to their own group — or they add so many people that they lose the attention of their fans. Rarely does one video capture a careful cross-section of the hot artists of a given moment. But "Culture Over Currency Vol. 1" does just that, delivering some of the best talent the town has ever seen in one video: Squizzy Gang is well represented, with Trev Rich and AP, and Welcome to the Dope Game has Hustle Man and Turner Jackson. You'll also see appearances by Mr. Midas, F.L. of the Foodchain, and Koo Qua.

A lot of elements make up a great musical: a tuneful, clever libretto; fabulous singing and dancing; expensive tech. But The Full Monty, directed by Scott Beyette, wins hands down for pure heart, daring and soul — as well as talent and skill, of course. Set in Buffalo, the musical follows a group of desperate, out-of-work guys who decide to make some money and win back the respect of their wives by staging a strip show. They may not have impressive biceps, gorgeously defined abs or sinuous dance moves, they figure, but they do have the essential equipment. The terrific cast at Boulder's Dinner Theatre let it all hang out emotionally as well as physically, which took a lot of guts in a venue so small that audience members could reach out and touch flesh at any moment. It was a perfect choice of material when so many are facing hard times, executed with passion, intelligence and style.

Forget the dusty sonatas, stuffy tuxes and holier-than-thou cultural attitude. In the past year, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra has blown those tired classical-music clichés right out of the water. Instead, the organization has shown itself to be a dynamic and vital cultural force in the local arts scene, with a fresh group of collaborations and a renewed push to reach untapped audiences. That includes a string of impressive partnerships with pop, rock and folk musicians, including local indie-rock heroes like Nathaniel Rateliff, DeVotchKa and Gregory Alan Isakov. The CSO has also worked with different community organizations, ranging from the Jewish Community Center to the Denver Art Museum. The group's success in redefining the civic role of an orchestra is all the more impressive considering its stormy recent history. Three years ago, the CSO was cutting musicians' salaries and wrestling with its board of trustees as it faced a million-dollar budget shortfall. It took the innovation of new CEO Jerry Kern and his wife, Mary Rossick Kern, to turn the orchestra around, and the city is richer for it.

ZIP Gallery members Valerie Savarie and Karrie York lucked into a wonderful space when the Colorado Photographic Art Center vacated its Belmar digs for a more urban location; together they forged something new — an artist-run and -owned gallery and studio space that, while it partly adheres to the co-op model by having member artists, is something else entirely. Valkarie also offers wall space to guest artists — with an emphasis on local ones — while asking only a minimal percentage of their sales in return, so prices can remain reasonable and artwork more salable. For artists clamoring for more community and grassroots collaboration and less divisive wheeling and dealing, Valkarie has solutions. Ditto for collectors, who can only reap the benefits of more affordable work.

There are restaurants that hang art, and then there is La Cour: Run by a family of staunch Francophiles, the new blue-brick cafe brings a little bit of Paris to South Broadway for folks longing for charcuterie and cheeses, a tasty tartine or quiche, affordable French wine and/or pastries from Trompeau Bakery, all served with a view of artwork. But La Cour deliberately bills itself as an "art bar," so in addition to the food and relaxed atmosphere, there's a gallery that offers changing shows ten times a year. C'est si bon!

Museums and art centers are typically in purpose-built structures, often with dramatic architecture to set off their aesthetic cred. On the other hand, galleries are almost always in rehabbed spaces. This is certainly true in Denver, where until recently there were only two galleries in specifically designed buildings: the William Havu Gallery and Plus Gallery. Now there's a third: the soon-to-be-completed new Space Gallery. The structural elements of the building came from a kit, but instead of erecting a barn or hangar with it, Space owners Michael Burnett and Melissa Snow commissioned architect Owen Beard to create neo-modernist interior and exterior skins. Beard's beautiful handling of the details, like the horizontal ribs cladding the second floor, which is also pierced by a seemingly random pattern of windows, makes it look like a miniature contemporary-art museum.

Nine artists, some of them graduating RedLine residents, joined together early in 2013 to realize a dream by building out TANK, a revolutionary new studio space in Overland. The flowing circular blueprint worked so well that they've since added a second buildout of interconnected, doorless studios, including an area reserved for residents selected through Adam Gildar's nonprofit Art-Plant. Imagined in the working spirit of other precedent-setting spaces like RedLine and Ironton (which also got a new building this year), but with an added layer of grit, TANK proves that Denver's art community is ready for its close-up.

The Golden Triangle is looking at a glittering future, with the new Vance Kirkland museum soon to join such monumental achievements as the Clyfford Still Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Byers-Evans House Museum, the History Colorado Center, the Denver Central Library and the revitalized Civic Center. But many of the welcome developments in this neighborhood are on a smaller scale, with new galleries and arts-oriented businesses making a home here. Golden Triangle Museum District founders Robin Riddel Lima (of the Native American Trading Company) and Christine Serr (of Gallery 1261 and Abend Gallery) have worked hard to get the district off the ground, and the results are solid gold.

Griffith Snyder of Inner Oceans spent a few years as a member of the Americana-inflected pop band Dovekins. The popular band appeared headed for a national audience before dissolving suddenly, leaving Snyder with a lot of time to contemplate his next move. He wrote expressive music that came from his imagination, and formed Inner Oceans in order to share those songs. The band rapidly gained an audience, appealing both to fans of well-crafted pop and those with a taste for the experimental. Snyder didn't actually spend a winter at an abandoned seaside resort, reflecting on his life and writing this music, but it sure sounds like he did. Listening to Inner Oceans, you can practically see the fog rolling in.

Despite the surge in online learning, the Auraria campus has undergone a full-blown bricks-and-mortar boom in recent years. The latest building, which is still under construction, is the University of Colorado Denver Academic Building, by Anderson Mason Dale. Its mass is very complex and its materials rich and varied. And although Auraria's standard red brick is carried out in the tower block, the more dazzling white stone that covers much of the lower floors is more eye-catching. Prominently situated at the northwest edge of the campus, it provides a gateway that links Auraria to the rest of downtown.

Lotus Clubs founder Francois Safieddine, who owns Chloe and Suite Two Hundred, clearly knows a thing or two about dance clubs. He took a slightly different approach with ViewHouse, which opened just before the start of the 2013 baseball season, in the former home of Mori Japanese Restaurant. Safieddine pulled out all the stops to honor the ViewHouse name, transforming the venue into a 20,000-square-foot party palace topped by a deck with a breathtaking view of the mountains and Coors Field.

The ArtStir open-air art market debuted last Memorial Day weekend at the Denver Pavilions, and we can't wait to see what it will stir up this year. Featuring a vendor list made up exclusively of Colorado artists, ArtStir went out of its way to create a mix that doesn't look like that of every other outdoor fest, keeping an open mind and digging deep to find new artists. With the insights and seasoned eye of this year's new event curator, I Heart Denver's Samuel Schimek, ArtStir looks to be avoiding sophomore slump and keeping its fresh, youthful, trendy appeal.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is growing like a weed, most recently with an elegant if enormous klipp architects-designed addition. With it came the lyrical "Iridescent Cloud," by Seattle's Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan. The piece, constructed by Demiurge Design, is a canopy of sorts, supported by three canted pillars that hold a woven mesh of stainless-steel cable that's been adorned with transparent tetrahedral prisms made of acrylic. As the sun passes over — or when artificial light hits them at night — the prisms sparkle with iridescent reflections.

The impressive "I Know You Know That I Know" is a public commission granted to Denver artist Sandra Fettingis, who was asked by the Colorado Convention Center to cover an astounding 160 feet of wall space with murals. What she came up with is a highly sophisticated and complex set of triangular patterns that look something like trellises. These patterns — painted or in the form of cut acrylic panels — are essentially the same save for size and color (though all of them are black, white or red). The piece is meant to demonstrate how things change over time yet remain the same in some way — and it enlivens a corridor that had an unwelcome gloominess to it before.

When Kyle Ramirez and her husband opened the Sidewinder Tavern, they imagined a place that would host live music, serve quality food and be open to everyone. The venue is co-managed by Ramirez's son, Fernando Guzman, best known for his multi-faceted drumming skills in bands like Fissure Mystic, Fingers of the Sun and Tjutjuna. Not only has the Sidewinder become one of Globeville's most welcoming stops for local bands and underground touring acts, but it's also a comfortable hangout for drinking and non-drinking patrons alike.

When the initial designs for the Daniel Libeskind addition to the Denver Art Museum were unveiled, there were the jagged Hamilton Building, the canted Museum Residences, the blocky parking structure, and a hotel in the form of a vertical shaft at the southeast corner of the site. This tower was meant to serve as a bookend of sorts, linking the whole thing back to the Gio Ponti tower on the Civic Center, thus creating a harmonious whole. But financial times being what they were, the hotel was never built, and the Broadway face of the complex was marred by a plot of gravel, above which sat the blank wall of the garage. But ground has finally been broken for the building, which will be going up soon. Designed by Guadalupe Cantu, a former partner at Studio Daniel Libeskind and now at the Davis Partnership, the new building, the Museum Center + Art Hotel, will house offices on the lower floors and luxury hotel rooms on the upper levels.

The Denver Central Library, the Denver Art Museum, the Clyfford Still Museum, the Byers-Evans House Museum and the History Colorado Center all occupy a small area around the Civic Center, giving the state a cultural heart. And in a couple of years, the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art will join the club, with plans unveiled a couple of months ago that call for a new structure on the parking lot at the northwest corner of West 12th Avenue and Bannock Street. The new museum, which will be twice as large as the Kirkland's current Capitol Hill location, is being designed by Seattle-based Olson Kundig Architects, a firm known for its neo-modern aesthetic. The building is expected to be completed in 2017.

Mutiny Information Cafe is first and foremost a bookstore/coffee shop. But this Bermuda Triangle of weirdness in the sea of ultra-hip South Broadway is also a space that throws some of Denver's best all-ages concerts and art happenings. Stop by any night and catch zine readings, noise shows, performance-art pieces and the occasional jazz quartet getting down in the front window of the sprawling shop. And even when there's no entertainment, Mutiny captures Denver's truest self: It's a quirky, welcoming space where you can find good used books, excellent coffee, and an experience you never knew you were looking for.

Opened in the historic Navarre Building in 2010, the AMWA has been a tough booking for fans of Remington, Russell et al., with curated public tours only a couple of days a week. But now Wednesdays are "Open Range Day," with self-guided tours available from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. One lunch hour can't possibly cover the vast range of this collection, but a few visits might get you from Bierstadt to Birger Sandzén. Yeehaw.

The yarn artists of the Ladies Fancywork Society proved last year that their work, though rooted in the street, transcends the underground designation. The LFS created not one, but two major yarn installations at a pair of Denver's most prestigious art museums: MCA Denver and the Denver Art Museum. The MCA kicked off 2013 with the LFS curtain installation "Fancygasm" adorning its chilly entryway in wintry shades of white and blue; later, in conjunction with its blockbuster textile exhibit Spun, the ladies draped a massive knitted floral carpet off the roof of the DAM that was later disassembled by museum patrons, who were invited to take home a piece of the work. A sneaky art idea has become a welcome part of the landscape.

Joan Didion's husband died suddenly one evening while she was preparing a salad for dinner in their New York apartment. After some time, Didion explored her terrible loss in a memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, which was eventually staged as a play starring Vanessa Redgrave. This year, Wendy Ishii took on the role at Bas Bleu Theatre Company, and her performance was mesmerizing. Didion, according to her own account, is a "cool customer," and her prose is wry, strong, musical and sometimes almost detached. Ishii, whose great strength as an actor is her emotional depth and expression, reined herself in to take on Didion's persona, shaping her own large talent to the contours of another artist's consciousness — which made the single moment when she revealed the chaos and anguish within doubly moving.

Before they became the sort of international superstars who headline places like Red Rocks, the Lumineers played many an open mic at the intimate Meadowlark. Every Tuesday night from 9 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., the venue gives local singer-songwriters a chance to test out new material, refine older songs or just show people what they're made of during their fifteen-minute allotment. At the Meadowlark, you just might see — or be — the Next Big Thing.

Dedicated theater-goers know that opening night is often the best time to take in a show — not just because you're the first to see the completed production, but because many companies celebrate their openings with snacks and drinks. After every opening night, Miners Alley sets out a lavish spread on a long table in the beautiful anteroom to the auditorium, loading it with cheeses and fruits, some hot selections, candies and sweets. And you can buy drinks at the well-stocked bar.

The original plan for the 2013 Biennial of the Americas called for downtown to be turned into one big art fair. That didn't happen, but we did benefit from the brilliant "Mine Pavilion," a timber tower designed by the Chilean architectural firm of Pezo von Ellrichshausen. The multi-story piece, which emerged from the median at Speer Boulevard and Larimer Street, was a skeletal tower with periodic set-backs as it rose to the sky. Made from Colorado beetle-kill wood set on a base of broken local stone, "Mine Pavilion" functioned as a visual link between downtown and Auraria, a goal that has eluded Denver since the '70s.

Though she was gravely ill this past winter, Robin Rule, who earlier in the year had closed her bricks-and-mortar gallery in RiNo, was still determined, after decades in the art business here, to remain a part of it. Together with Adam Gildar, she co-curated Dimension and Symmetry: Clark Richert at the Gildar Gallery. It was a handsome solo given over to one of her closest friends and one of the most loyal artists in her former stable. Poignantly, the show was still up when Rule died, in December, and remained up for many weeks after. It proved that though life is short, art is long, and Rule's contributions are lasting ones.

The motion-based performances dreamed up by Patrick Mueller and Control Group Productions cross so many disciplinary lines that it's hard to know what to call them, and perhaps it's ridiculous to even try to pin it down. For the second leg in the troupe's journey called Salon Romantik, Control Group threw a party where the audience could wander through as participants; the third portion of Salon Romantik, which took place last fall, loaded up buses for a tour of staged performances at locations along the route. Where to next? The sky's the limit. And no matter where they end up, Mueller and Control Group are sure to being new levels of sophistication to the Mile High City. Find out how high in June, when the next installment of Salon Romantik goes live.

Vintage Theatre has come up with a clever scheme to solve the where-do-we-eat-before-the-show conundrum, partnering with Copacabana Grill Catering so that play-goers can order anything from full meals to appetizers to dessert and coffee, and eat — comfortably seated at a table in the lobby — before or after the show. This is not your typical dinner theater, and the food is just as adventurous. Theater offerings include musicals and dramas; entrees range from Brazilian-style lamb chops to bacon-wrapped chicken breast. Perfect combinations are possible.

At first the idea of a death cafe might seem morbid — a place designed for goths and very sad people. But in fact, the Denver Death Cafe is not like that at all — instead, it's a healthy forum where people can talk about death in self-actualizing ways. The free Sunday-afternoon meetings, part of a global movement that started in London in 2011, unfold over coffee, tea and cake at changing locations every month, and are meant to be life-affirming rather than the opposite.

We plop down our dollars to drink wine while creating identical paintings, but deep down inside, don't we know that's not really art we're making? PlatteForum's make.workshops go the extra mile by pairing creative drinkers with storied members of the art community to create projects of lasting value. Past instructors have included painters, sculptors, fiber artists and more, leading such projects as jewelry making, sun printing, poetry writing, felting and collage. Fees benefit PlatteForum's real reason for being: programs pairing underserved youth with artist-mentors.

When Aaron Saye took over the space formerly known as Blast-O-Mat in August of 2012 and renamed it the Seventh Circle Music Collective, he had some impressive boots to fill. Fortunately, the gregarious filmmaker and music fan had organizational skills honed during his years of tour managing, and he competently took on the challenge of helming a DIY venue. Saye brought together an invested group of volunteers and established a booking policy that welcomes all styles of music. As a result, most shows feature solid bands that are still below the public radar, and young people who have yet to navigate the realm of bars or other commercial outlets have become regulars here. For these reasons and more, Seventh Circle offers an essential resource in a thriving music community.

You can't go wrong with season tickets for Curious Theatre Company: Give them to friends, and they'll be thinking about you with gratitude several times over the course of the year. Curious brings the best and most-talked-about contemporary work to Denver — plays you've read about with interest but assumed you'd never get to see — and stages them with skill, artistry and integrity. The price for a five-play season ranges from $115 (for seniors) to $210, and there are added perks, like getting a discount on the second ticket if you bring a friend and — if you buy the expensive package — opening-night parties where you can mingle with the actors.

The extensive art collection at Denver International Airport has paid for itself in publicity alone. There's "Mustang," the all-but-fire-breathing stallion by Luis Jiménez that still inspires fear in the timid, and the enigmatic Leo Tanguma murals that have spawned a thousand conspiracy theories. But there are also works with a quieter presence, like Betty Woodman's sumptuous "Balustrade," which many travelers miss because it's on level six of Jeppesen Terminal. Woodman has taken the baluster shape and put her own signature spin on it, creating rows of them out of expressively worked ceramics.

The Biennial of the Americas returned this past summer, an odd three years after its debut, and Denver Night alone was reason to welcome it back. Masterminded by the MCA's Adam Lerner and sound artist Chris Kallmyer in the spirit of blurring the edges between art and fun, the climactic gathering, which qualified as a "happening" of major dimensions, included an opera for dogs, an interactive light installation by Boulder artist Jen Lewin, Viviane Le Courtois's welcoming Human Grazing Experiment and, most notably, a fine finale to Nick Cave's stay in Denver — HEARD•DAM, which let loose an army of Cave's flowing horse Soundsuits into the park, to the delight of all. It was a world-class evening for a world-class town.

Pablo Kjolseth of the International Film Series is more than a curator: He's a man with a mission who juggles a mixture of new and old art-film and pop-culture oddities, current sleepers and cult favorites on IFS screens every fall and spring semester at CU-Boulder. And the series has only gotten better over time: With new digital equipment, Kjolseth can present the contemporary films everyone's talking about while still offering the celluloid classics and archival prints that have always been the backbone of the series. Kjolseth loves film, and it shows in every knowledgeably sculpted schedule. Long love the IFS!

After singer Shawn Strub left 40th Day in 1993, the band struggled on for another couple of years before splitting. And while its influence could be heard in bands like Space Team Electra, 40th Day faded into almost complete obscurity. Then, in 2012, bassist James Nasi and guitarist Neil Satterfield played a show with a set list that included a handful of 40th Day songs, and from there, the plucky Nasi contacted the remaining members from the band's heyday, finding all but original drummer Sid Davis available to relive the Denver classics found on albums like Lovely Like a Snake. With Davis's blessing, the group got together with Sympathy F's Tony Morales on drums and made 40th Day's hard-edged yet ethereal music feel anything but dated.

There's no better place for a sculpture show than at the Denver Botanic Gardens, what with all those curving walkways, clearings and water features. And exhibitions director Lisa Eldred has used the grounds to her advantage, mounting one great exhibit after another. The most recent one was Catalyst, devoted to pieces by some of the top contemporary sculptors in Colorado, including James Surls, Linda Fleming and Robert Mangold, along with mid-career masters Emmett Culligan, Kim Dickey, Nancy Lovendahl, Terry Maker, Andy Miller, Patrick Marold, Pard Morrison, Carl Reed and Yoshitomo Saito. All were working in abstract and/or conceptual modes, with nary a bronze cowboy or marble ballerina in sight.

Conceptual artist Patrick Marold hit the big leagues last year when he was awarded a $1.5 million commission to create a work that will occupy the under-construction "valley" where the rail line will meet the new station and hotel at DIA. But even though Marold is adept at orchestrating massive works like these, he's also good on a more intimate scale, as he proved in Patrick Marold: Strata. Marold likes to use simple repeated shapes, like the cluster of metal rods that were used to create a standing sculpture, its shiny surfaces reflecting the room around it; or the rusted rods that were stacked precariously into a leaning pyramid. But he also uses ideas, which explains why his pieces are so smart.

Over the past seventy years, Colorado has built a strong tradition in hard-edged abstraction and pattern painting that flourishes even today in the work of some of the most advanced artists in the state. That's doubtless why Collin Parson, the Arvada Center's visual-art director, decided to put together Perception: Color/Line/Pattern. The expansive exhibit included some mid-twentieth-century works by the likes of Charles Bunnell, Vance Kirkland, Bev Rosen and others, moved on to those from the late twentieth century, including Clark Richert and David Yust, and finished up with younger artists working now with patterns, shapes and lines, among them Jaime Correjo, Adam Holloway, Wendi Harford, Emilio Lobato and Lewis McInnis.

Ever since Marcel Duchamp inverted a urinal a century ago and called it a fountain, artists have been exploring conceptualism — art about ideas. This has been especially true in the past thirty years or so. But, truth be told, most conceptual art puts the idea front and center, so that the art becomes an afterthought. That didn't happen in Joel Swanson: Left to Right, Top to Bottom. The show's title refers to how we read in English, and the works were all about the written language, including the spaces between words. Everything was employed to illustrate Swanson's thoughts on language, but despite all these intellectual referents, the show was chaste, minimal and elegant.

One Denver art trend from last year was the less-is-more aesthetic. Many venues took on this topic, but Space Gallery's Lines and Grids stood out. That's because everything in it was reduced to its most basic expression, with the works all but invisible aside from the paper or canvas on which they were done. The exhibit was organized by Marks Aardsma — a master of the light touch herself — who invited like-minded artists to join her for the fourth rendition of a series on the subject. Among the Colorado artists on board were David Sawyer, Tonia Bonnell, Sophia Dixon Dillo and Scott Holdeman, whose work was shown alongside that of artists from across the country. The show really proved how little it takes for some artists to convey a fully formed visual message.

Theatre Esprit Asia, a local company bringing together pan-Asian casts with culture-centric works, has proven in its first season that the concept is no flash in the pan. Not only is TEA, the theatrical brainchild of actors Maria Cheng and Tria Xiong, strong on talent, but the fine acting has been put to good use in challenging works that are new to the region. It was a leap, no doubt, to even start an all-Asian company in a city where independent theater groups often struggle, but we read the promise of continued success in TEA's leaves. All theater troupes do not look alike.

Steve, the uni-monikered leader of the folk ensemble FaceMan, figured he'd draw on the hypnotic power of scary sharks and funky folk rock when he planned a gig at the relatively small Lost Lake Lounge last October. Inspired by the bogus Discovery Channel documentary about a (fake, as it turns out) prehistoric shark called the Megalodon, Steve commissioned a monumental piece of stagecraft. Designed and built by Justin Hicks, Katie Webster and Keli Sequoia of Incite Productions (who also work as carpenters and set designers for Denver Center for the Performing Arts), the final shark-shaped set took up a big chunk of the bar's back room. Featuring razor-sharp chompers, crimson shark lips and life-like grey skin, the shark stage proved the perfect complement to FaceMan's brand of ambitious rock and roll. Here's hoping FaceMan and his crew of creative geniuses find a way to top themselves this year. Maybe there's a way to build an accurate re-creation of the polar vortex...

The witty The Most Deserving described the travails of a small-town granting agency that has $20,000 to award to a deserving artist. Except that there aren't many artists around, and no one can agree on a definition of deserving. The closest thing to a real visionary is Everett Whiteside, an African-American who makes sculpture out of trash and seems to be the real thing, a guy touched by the genuine wonder of creation. But he is also a crazed, uncontrolled loser who takes Tea Party paranoia over the top as he fulminates about the government having crawled up his ass (and he means it literally). The role is a gift for an actor, and in the Denver Center Theatre Company production Jonathan Earl Peck seized it with both hands, rambling, ranting, muttering, conniving and endowing every crazy moment with conviction and passion.

At first, John, a thief and joker, seems to be around for light relief in The Whipping Man, Matthew Lopez's audacious play about a Confederate soldier returning home from the war with a gangrened leg and celebrating Passover with two of his family's freed slaves, who have been raised in Judaism by his father. But in the second act, John delivers a long, impassioned speech that electrifies the audience — and also clarifies the meaning of the play's title. As John, Laurence Curry spoke these words with strength and deep feeling — but impressive as this climactic sequence was, it wasn't the most impressive aspect of his work. Even while joking, teasing, ducking and weaving, he communicated John's deeply ambivalent response to the dance of blame and reconciliation playing out in front of him. It was in his silences, the way he listened and moved, the angle of his head, the unexpressed rage that sometimes blazed into his eyes.

The last time we saw Stephen Day play a leading role was as Albin in the Arvada Center's The Birdcage some years back, when he was a fussy, silly delight. For the most part, he shows up in supporting though significant roles, as he did this year in A Christmas Carol: The Musical, also at the Arvada Center. And whenever he does, he adds warmth, assurance and a rich, strong baritone to the proceedings. As the Spirit of Christmas Past, he evoked every nostalgic, Dickensian thought you've ever had about the meaning of the season.

Failure: A Love Story is a swift, sad-funny theater piece featuring three lovely sisters: giggly, luminous Nelly, athletic, swim-obsessed Jenny June, and patient, practical Gertie. Metaphorically, they could all be facets of a single, fascinating woman, as each, in turn, enjoys a passionate love affair with the same man. In the Catamounts' intellectually elegant production, the women were all beautifully portrayed — but as played by Trina Magness, Gertie seemed to embody the depths and sorrows of all three sisters. Magness imbued this character with a radiant, low-key warmth that centered the entire evening.

Emily Paton Davies seems to get better every year, and her portrayal of lonely, angry Maureen, trapped with a crazed, manipulative mother in Edge Theatre's production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, was a revelation. Her timing was impeccable, her emotional responses beautifully and passionately modulated throughout. Even as Maureen's longing and despair broke your heart, her rages froze it.

Most productions of Hair just don't get Sheila, the anti-war agitator with the vulnerable heart. They make her a caricature, or some sort of hippie-ish but tight-assed, lean-in corporate boss. But director Nick Sugar cast the perfect actress in the role in his Town Hall Arts Center production: Norrell Moore, red-haired, strong-featured, down-to-earth and passionate. You could easily imagine this woman inspiring a crowd into action or leading a march. It didn't hurt that she has a terrific voice and got to shine in two of the show's most memorable songs: "Easy to Be Hard" and "Good Morning Starshine."

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is a national chain, yes, but the Texas-based theater house still leaves room in its monthly lineup for programming unique to each location. Enter Keith Garcia, a devout cinephile who left the city after a decade with the Denver Film Society and took his eclectic taste and unique event-planning skills to the Alamo in 2013. He's already invited Hollywood badass Pam Grier to the theater and started the new, late-night cult horror-film series Channel Z, all while bringing great, underappreciated films and forgotten classics to a brand-new audience.

It's worth visiting Curious for the building alone, an intimate, beautiful structure that got its start as a nineteenth-century church, with a heavy wooden door and, along the walls, the frames of long-gone stained-glass windows. And whether you're feeling holy or just plain thirsty, it's definitely worth mounting the stairs before the show or during intermission to visit the Sanctuary Bar, where you can get beer, whiskey, soda or a glass of wine and chat with fellow theater lovers in a cozy, time-burnished ambience that recalls a traditional English pub.

Graduation, major birthday, visiting parent anxious to treat you, date you want to impress? The Buell is where the big, glittering Broadway shows land — and increasingly, Denver is the first stop for the most acclaimed and successful of them. Ticket prices vary from show to show and according to seating, going from as low as $20 to as high as $100 — and quite a bit more for a major hit like The Book of Mormon. But if you've been reading the reviews for the New York production of, say, Kinky Boots and salivating at the idea of actually seeing the show, this is the place.

Each production at Buntport is completely original: The plays are written and acted by the five company members, all of them terrific actors. They may find themselves inspired by a literary work, an anecdote someone read in the paper, a floating thought or idea, and then they're driven to make their own crazy kind of sense out of it. Operating on a shoestring, they've also come up with the most inventive sets in town: an ice rink, with the actors skating through the entire evening; a van with scenes painted on its sides that gets pushed from place to place as needed; a wall made entirely of glass jars, each one containing some specific, meaningful object. Hang around after the show and the cast will come out and chat with you.

It's been a long day, and you need to unwind in a comfortable place where you can slip off your shoes under the table, get a drink and enjoy entertainment that really does entertain. At the Garner Galleria, you can sit at a counter along a rail or at a table with friends and co-workers and watch — depending on the schedule — anything from the tuneful I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change to a Second City revue from Chicago to a song-filled Sinatra retrospective to the outrageous improvisations of Dixie Longate (aka Kriss Andersson) as she holds a real Tupperware party on stage and tosses off a series of smutty bon mots that will have you laughing helplessly for weeks afterward every time someone says the words "collapsible bowl."

Plays, films, music, classes, comedy — the Bug does it all in a long, narrow auditorium watched over by a white-faced puppet figure of Richard Nixon. Resident theater company Equinox creates a year-round schedule that alternates crazed musicals with serious work; local filmmakers screen their work regularly. And if you've always wanted to perform, you can try out your material — any kind — at one of the Bug's monthly Freak Trains, when you'll get five minutes on stage under the eye of charming and indomitable emcee GerRee Hinshaw.

If you have slightly conservative relatives visiting who are interested in a night on the town...in the suburbs...head to the Arvada Center. Skip the Black Box Theater, where riskier plays periodically appear, and go for the Mainstage shows — mostly large, professionally staged musicals like Camelot and Don Quixote, with beautiful sets, gorgeous costumes and some of the finest singing you'll ever hear in the area. And during intermission, be sure to check out the impressive art galleries.

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is in transition and its last season was uneven — but Geoffrey Kent's A Midsummer Night's Dream ransomed the summer. Set in the fizzy, elegant era of Downton Abbey, it provided one of the funniest, liveliest and most joyous evenings around. The show was both welcoming to Shakespeare newcomers and a delight for experts, and it boasted a zillion crazed comic bits that somehow never detracted from the play's magic and poetry. There were a slew of memorable performances, too, including a Bottom whose improvisations had the audience howling; a lazy, slow-moving Puck; a quartet of delicious young lovers; and a fairy king and queen as dopey as they were majestic.

For three years, Rick Yaconis's Edge Theatre Company has mounted an eclectic mix of new plays and classics and encouraged the work of local playwrights with an annual Festival of New Plays — one of which gets selected for full production each year. This year, that play was Gifted, a flawed but vivid and thoughtful exploration of the dynamics within a mixed-race family: The protagonist is the teenage son of a widowed white American mother and an Indian father. Edge also mounted an excellent production of the 1960s absurdist comedy House of Blue Leaves; brought in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which caused a stir in New York a couple of years ago; and knocked it out of the park with The Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Readers' choice: Denver Center Theatre Company

People often say that if going to the theater were as easy and informal as going to a movie, they'd do it a lot more often. They have this idea that they have to book weeks in advance and then dress to the hilt — but that's not the case at Miners Alley in Golden, a friendly, community-spirited and casual theater with a lineup of pretty serious shows. No one's going to glare at you if you wear jeans and want to take your drink into the auditorium.

Looking for a reason to wear your diamond earrings? At the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, the fashions in the lobby might be almost as interesting as what's on stage — an opera, ballet, maybe a musical. As a bonus, inside the auditorium the sound system is superb, all the sightlines work, you get to sit in the most comfortable seats imaginable, and — if it's an opera you're attending — the translations glide sweetly across the back of the seat in front of you. You're gorgeous. Everyone here is gorgeous. Just sink into that plush seat and enjoy.

Don't be confused by its suburban location: Edge Theatre Company has one of the coolest homes of any theater troupe in the area. There's interesting artwork displayed in the rooms adjoining the lobby — including, on our last visit, a giant fabric pin cushion — and the decor is colorful and inviting. The plays are an interesting mix of modern and classical. So why shouldn't you wear jeans with holes in the knees if you feel like it? Or a tiara and ball gown? Or the tiara with the holey jeans? We guarantee whoever's handing out the tickets in front will be both warm and unfazed.

Lights, foam, action! That's the idea behind Crowdsurf Concerts, a company that has mastered the art of bringing theme parties and huge dance acts together. It starts with an incredible lineup of dance-music acts and adds theme parties such as the aptly titled Parade of Lasers and Foam Wonderland to enhance the experience. Other events have more specific sonic themes — TrapFest, for example, is designed for the bass enthusiast — but whether you're being bombarded by light beams, getting blasted by soapy bubbles or just dancing your ass off, music and fun are at the top of Crowdsurf's agenda.

The Hundred has become the best source for amazing music that isn't floating near the top of the iTunes dance charts. The group scours the ranks of underground acts to find artists for its Home concert series. In addition, founder Brennen Bryarly provides free entry to all Hundred events for exactly one hundred lucky fans each year, as a reward for those who are positive representatives of the scene and who contribute to underground dance music.

It has no actual Mafia ties that we're aware of, but Lannie's Clocktower Cabaret, run by the inimitable Lannie Garrett, could certainly pass for a speakeasy. It sits on the 16th Street Mall, looking like nothing more than an actual clock tower. But when you walk downstairs into the cabaret section of the building, it feels like you've stumbled right into the 1920s. The lavish adornments and hushed atmosphere, along with the mood-appropriate food and drink, make the Clocktower feel like a secret hideaway for the classy set. Although Lannie's often presents burlesque and variety shows, it's also hosted local musicians including The Raven and the Writing Desk, Chimney Choir and Dan Treanor's Afrosippi Band, as well as national artists such as Suzanne Vega. Cool and comfortable, the underground venue is truly a world away from the busy downtown streets above.

Going to Untitled at the Denver Art Museum is kind of like going to your imaginary rich best friend's fabulous loft party. Rock and roll and fine art may seem like strange bedfellows, but the DAM has found a way to successfully marry the two. On final Friday nights of the month from January through October, the DAM opens its doors to all manner of artists, musicians and generally curious weirdos for what it dubs its "mixed media late night program." For the price of regular admission (free if you're a member), you can catch some of the city's best music — along with dance, theater and comedy — while sipping on a Fat Tire.

The doctor is in! You've probably seen Dr. Fart's work around the city — on electrical boxes, lampposts, the occasional dumpster. It's hard to miss, as the elusive Dr. Fart — the alter ego of an up-and-coming comedian — has found the ideal prescription for inducing a smile: writing "Dr. Fart" in very public places. In the ever-evolving world of graffiti, Dr. Fart's work falls under the sub-category of toilet-humor "tagging" or "getting up." And spotting another Dr. Fart eruption gets a laugh out of us every time.

Artist Nick Cave uses buttons — tens of thousands of them — along with bangles, sequins, doilies, pot holders and even animal statuettes to create his distinctive sculptures, and there were plenty of them in Nick Cave: Sojourn, the centerpiece of Spun, last year's salute to textiles at the Denver Art Museum. The biggest attention-grabbers, though, were his signature Soundsuits, luxuriously appointed hooded garments. Cave's over-the-top, more-is-more piss-elegant aesthetic makes him the RuPaul of conceptual art, with his sojourn in Denver clearly the artistic high point of last summer.

It's rare for a Colorado artist to be feted in a solo at the Denver Art Museum, so Bruce Price: Works on Paper: 2007-2012 was worth noticing for that reason alone. But the works on paper included here used patterns taken from swatches of gingham and plaid, and they fit right in with Price's idiosyncratic aesthetic — one that he developed after working with fellow artist Clark Richert twenty years ago. The show also dovetailed with the DAM's multi-departmental textile extravaganza Spun.

Compared to the vending machine at the Larimer Lounge, which offers a new pack of 100-percent-cotton T-shirts and socks, other vending machines just seem naked. The chance to go home to that special someone feeling fresh as a daisy after a show is worth way more than the few dollars you'll spend for said comfort. Puke, sweat, blood, gallons of spilled PBR: Whatever comes your way at the Larimer, you're prepared.