Arts & Entertainment

Serving as headquarters for the Birdseed Collective, Westword MasterMind Anthony Garcia Sr.'s nonprofit arts and community-building organization, Alto is a space with heart, bringing known and unknown artists to the forefront with imaginative and adventurous exhibits, much in the way more established yet under-the-radar galleries like Dateline and Leon do. Since opening Alto a little over a year ago in the Tennyson Street Cultural District, curators Garcia and Raymundo Muñoz of 1/1 Magazine have been bringing in national street artists (including Miami's Luis Valle) as well as showcasing local talent; they've allowed Orchid Z3ro to envelop the space in video projections, along with other innovative shows. Alto means "high" in Spanish, which is appropriate for a gallery that's clearly going places.

You expect to check out books and movies from the local library, but did you know you can also check out experiences? If you have a Denver Public Library card, you can visit the DPL's website to book a free pass to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver or the History Colorado Center up to thirty days in advance. Each museum offers different plans for families, but they typically start with free admission for two adults; at the DMNS, the one-day membership also includes discounts on ticketed exhibits and IMAX shows. You're more of the outdoorsy type? You can also check out a free, one-week Colorado State Park pass and activity backpack at any DPL branch. Way to go.

denverlibrary.org

Readers' Choice: City Park Jazz

The National Center for Atmospheric Research offers plenty of ways to expand your brain while exercising the other muscles in your body. Noon tours on most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays provide primers on atmospheric science and current NCAR research, and free tablets loaded with audio, videos and additional content are available as well. Visitors can also conduct self-guided tours of the facility's sprawling campus; our favorite jaunt is the Walter Orr Roberts Weather Trail, which offers signage explaining wind, cold fronts, climate zones and even the notorious brown cloud along a nearly half-mile loop. But you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing: All of these options are free.

Readers' Choice: Coors Brewery

Natives and transplants alike can get a crash course in all things local by exploring History Colorado's tours (two- to six-hour jaunts around the metro area that might involve walks, bikes or buses) and treks (overnight trips to areas fifty miles or more away from Denver). Many facets of the state's history and culture await: walking tours of Denver alley art or its lesser-known parks; an overnight canoe trip on the Colorado River; a visit to Sugar Beet Days in Sterling; tea at Cherokee Ranch Castle; the wineries of Grand Junction — the list goes on, and with a little advance planning, so can you.

historycolorado.org

Who says the best things in Denver have to be shiny and new? Riverside Cemetery is the city's oldest functioning cemetery, located between the Platte River, the train tracks and the industrial Northside. But what makes this spot, where many of Denver's founders are buried, so remarkable is the diversity of tombstones. Sure, there are plenty of standard rectangles, and the more recently people were buried, the less interesting their markers seem to be. But go back in history and you'll see remarkable horses, life-sized sculptures of city founders, a decidedly not-religious tree stump, puzzling babies, a tombstone to a Serbian soldier that looks something like a hot-air balloon, and so much more.

friendsofriversidecemetery.org

Lakeside Amusement Park's storied past never fails to amuse its faithful fans. A true place of mystery on the northwest edge of town, Lakeside has always played second banana to the tonier Elitch Gardens (inasmuch as an amusement park can be tony), but that's what makes it so charming: It's a place stuck in time, a neon anachronism that's slowly crumbling (physically, even, after a car recently crashed into a parking structure next to the welcoming Lakeside tower). Author David Forsyth endeavored to put that charm and mystery into words by digging deep into the park's history for Denver's Lakeside Amusement Park ($34.95, University Press of Colorado), a fun read that uncovers Lakeside's untold stories.

Those who were teenagers in the '80s and '90s may remember collecting funny and edgy print publications like Adbusters and MAD magazine and plastering your bedroom walls with torn-out photographs from their pages. Denver's Birdy aims to re-create that culture with original, often humorous art pieces printed on high-quality matte paper. Even the advertisements are custom-created by artists known to Birdy editors Jonny DeStefano and Christy Thacker. Since launching in 2014, the free monthly publication — distributed in such trendy spots as Twist & Shout and Pablo's Coffee — has developed a cult following. It's even become a favorite of DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh, who has contributed his own art pieces, as well as a platform for writers of both fiction and creative nonfiction. Each issue is numbered and meant to be collected; be sure to grab a copy as soon as you see one at the beginning of each month; they disappear quickly.

Denver has more than its fair share of engrossing storytelling events, including the Narrators at Buntport Theater and StorySLAM competitions hosted by the Moth. Amber Blais wanted to create something different, and she's succeeded with Raconteur Denver, held every two months in a different location around the Mile High City, including bars and art galleries. While these nights start out, as the others do, with a pre-selected list of storytellers, the spotlight is then ceded to audience members.The idea is that one story often inspires another, and so people who might not have thought of a particular experience to share may hear something that reminds them of a relevant story. Raconteur Denver also records the evenings and reproduces them as a podcast, but they're more fun in person. Consider that upcoming themes this year include "Spectacular Failures," "Tales of the Tour," "Pets" and "Lost and(or) Found."

BreckCreate aims a little higher than the usual mountain-town arts organization, taking simple "festivals" to new levels. WAVE, an early-season spectacle inspired by Scottsdale's Canal Convergence that debuted in Breckenridge last summer, spread interactive artworks and music throughout the town, inviting tourists and townies alike to experience a big-city art experience at a higher elevation. WAVE will return this year on June 1, bringing another round of exciting water projections and adventures in light and sound to Breckenridge as it gears back up for the summer season.

Readers' Choice: Punching Mule Music Festival

Suzi Q Smith is a slam poet, spoken-word artist, teacher, activist, author and performer, and her fierceness with words is matched only by her drive to bring the world of slam poetry to Denver. The founding slam master of Denver's own Slam Nuba team and executive director of Poetry Slam Inc., she's won national championships herself, and thanks to her efforts, the 2017 National Poetry Slam will be held in various venues throughout Five Points this summer, bringing poets from across the country to the Mile High City. Thanks to the work and wisdom of artists like Smith, Denver has secured its place as a proud and supportive hub for a long-overlooked but deserving arts and culture community.

Do you love the smell of aerosol in the morning? Do you realize that street art is so much more than graffiti? Then you'll have a crush on Crush. Now heading into its seventh year, the festival welcomes over eighty local, national and international street artists who paint walls in RiNo spanning the ten blocks from 2500 Larimer Street up to 35th Street and sometimes beyond — all with the property owners' blessing. Crush founder Robin Munro has been working hard to push the RiNo Art District as a leader in the urban arts scene — not just in this state, but in the country — and many street-art legends have made their mark at Crush, including Tats Cru, Woes, David Shillinglaw, Lauren YS, Max Sansing, Dulk 1, Blaine Fontana, Birdcap, Scribe, Jose Mertz, Sense, Rodwasworld, Elle Street Art, Shalak Attack and Bruno. Crush usually crushes it for two weekends in September; watch westword.com/arts for an announcement of Crush 2017 dates.

Readers' Choice: Great American Beer Festival

After pop-culture dreamer Charlie La Greca parted ways with Denver Comic Con, which he co-founded, he turned his sights on something more community-oriented and artist-friendly — a more manageable, true-hearted comic con that allowed fans to get face-to-face with comic creators. The Denver Independent Comic & Art Expo might not break attendance records or send cosplayers in droves out into the streets of downtown Denver, but its first installment last spring at the Sherman Street Event Center was a small miracle. This year's followup will take over the McNichols Building, with special guests the Hernandez Brothers of Love and Rockets fame, Kitchen Sink Press founder and underground comic artist Denis Kitchen, Denver expat Noah Van Sciver and dozens of other independent comic artists from near and far, as well as a fresh trove of comix, small-press publications and zines.

dinkdenver.com

Being a comic artist can be a lonely life, but in Denver, those artists like to stick together. The Blacktail Collective gathers occasionally for multimedia public readings and road trips, spreading the joy of independent comics originating in the active Rocky Mountain region. Members include Westword cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz, Alan Brooks, Alex Graham, Jake Fairly, Ted Intorcio, Dan Landes, Kevin Caron and spokesman Lonnie MF Allen, who says Blacktail is taking a quick break while the collective prepares for the 2017 Denver Independent Comic & Art Expo. Find the group's schedule on its Facebook page.

Denver's art scene has come a long way in a handful of decades, with a rooted group of homegrown talent now being joined by out-of-state creative types. Tilt West wants not just to document that growth, but to discuss it — taking a critical look at the arts and their role in this city. Headed by a small group of artists and art-world operators, Tilt West encourages elevated discourse through curated conversations among artists, teachers, gallerists, architects and writers. The unmoderated, unadvertised setting creates a level playing field where all voices can discuss topics like "Regional History & Potential" and "Technology & the Body." The salons are recorded, and the audio is archived online for public access; Tilt West is also working on a publishing platform, in hopes of taking the conversation about art in Colorado to a wider audience in the near future.

tiltwest.org

Arts Street works with Colorado kids, offering real-world experiences to help students move toward careers in the creative industries. The nonprofit program works primarily with inner-city youth and young people who struggle in traditional schools; it has a wide understanding of what art can be and do, and offers lessons in visual arts, music, theater, dance, video and web skills. By teaching these skills, the organization hopes to empower kids to take a creative approach to growth.

Thinking about how to raise money for creative projects kinda takes the fun out of funding. Not so with Art Tank, the Denver Foundation's Arts Affinity Group's Shark Tank-like competition through which local arts organizations compete for dough. After a lengthy application process, finalists attempt to wow a panel of arts funders and an audience of arts enthusiasts. The group with the best presentation (Arts Street in 2017) wins tens of thousands of dollars, and everybody takes away a little inspiration. This year's competition was filmed by the Colorado Film School and broadcast on public television, but watching the process in person is the real thrill.

Angela Astle's Athena Project doesn't take its mission lightly. Every spring, the woman-centric arts roundup hosts a month-long series celebrating metro-area women who participate in all of the arts. There's always a sharp focus on theater, as evidenced by the inclusion of an annual centerpiece play and a string of plays in progress, but Athena also makes room for music, art, dance, fashion and serendipity, and strives to be a safe haven for women artists working in every discipline. In the best of all worlds, there wouldn't be a need for an event like the Athena Project Festival, but for now, we're glad it's there.

athenaprojectfestival.org

Denver's been blessed with great street art over the past few years, thanks in part to Denver Arts & Venue's Urban Arts Fund, led by Mary Valdez, which pairs paid artists with walls all over the city: under Globeville viaducts, on the sides of RiNo buildings and, last year, along the Cherry Creek Trail. This urban gallery is too impressive to whip past on a bicycle, though. You need to be able to walk between pieces and stop to study such marvels as the ode to Denver created by Nigel Penhale, and "City of the Sun," a deep-blue and gold mural by Colorado mandala artist Gemma Danielle that caught the eye of Americans for Arts.

Readers' Choice: 2700 Larimer Street, by Joshua Mays

There's been a lot of ugly talk about the plan to replace the crumbling I-70 viaduct. But it inspired something beautiful this past year: 'Duct Work, a project that put 38 street artists to work creating murals under the viaduct at 46th Avenue and York Street. The viaduct is slated for demolition by 2018, but in the meantime, it's a great urban canvas. "We want to make sure we get the whole viaduct painted eventually, so we're going to have lots of chances for more artists," says organizer Kendall Peterson of CIG, who worked with the Colorado Department of Transportation, Urban Arts Fund and North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative to create this massive urban-art project, curated by renowned local artist Yiannis Bellis. Contributors to the mural include Thomas Evans, Ricks, East, Jolt, Tuke One, Robin Munro, Jesse Frazier, Patrick Kane McGregor, Koko Bayer, Chris Haven, Thomas Scharfenberg, Sandra Fettingis, Paige Madison and many more; enjoy their work while you can.

The train to DIA — the University of Colorado A Line — has had its share of troubles, including intermittent stalls and malfunctioning crossing barricades. The least troubling aspect of the RTD project has been the public-art component, with each of the stations along the route augmented by a piece of public art. The best of the batch — in fact, the best new piece of public art commissioned in metro Denver this past year — is Sean O'Meallie's "Balloon Man Running," at the Central Park Station at Stapleton. The Manitou Springs-based artist typically creates whimsical pieces that have a childlike sense of wonder; O'Meallie is a successful toy inventor. With "Balloon Man Running," he tips his hat to both Casper the Friendly Ghost and to the related balloon-animal sculptures of Jeff Koons. And somehow, the piece also manages to convey the idea of hurrying to catch a train. The twelve-foot-tall piece can be seen for blocks, as it stands on a two-story-tall plinth that brings a humorous touch to a boring parking lot.

Readers' Choice: Project Colfax

Development has severely cut into Denver's arts districts, but the Art District on Santa Fe keeps chugging along, with thousands of people coming out every First Friday to experience the offerings of dozens of arts-related enterprises that line the sidewalks between West Fourth and West 11th avenues. In this time zone, you'd have to get down to the original Santa Fe — in New Mexico — to find as many art spots in one area. Among the attractions are some of the city's great commercial galleries, including Mai Wyn Fine Art, Space, Rule and Michael Warren; co-ops, notably Spark and Core; and arts groups like CHAC, as well as numerous artist spaces and studios. There are even a couple of small museums: the Museo de las Americas and MSU Denver's Center for Visual Art. But it's not just the fine arts that drive this stretch of Santa Fe; you'll also find the Denver Civic Theatre, home to Su Teatro, and the Colorado Ballet in its ambitious new home. The main thoroughfare for Denver's Latino community for generations, the strip also sports a fine assortment of Mexican restaurants, perfect for recharging between art shows.

Readers' Choice: Art District on Santa Fe

The tiny, artist-run Dateline has built a big reputation among both underground- and commercial-art lovers for putting on risky exhibitions that showcase works by a diverse array of Denver artists. The shows themselves provide plenty of food for thought, but gallerist Jeromie Lawrence Dorrance ups the ante with openings stocked with actual food and drink, often thematically tied to the art on display. The party atmosphere and the gallery's location in the heart of RiNo make those openings a big draw for artists and fans alike, an ideal place to shmooze about booms and busts in Denver's art world. Don't forget to look at the exhibit while you're there!

Readers' Choice: Mirada Fine Art Gallery

The people behind MCA Denver know that to survive as an arts institution, you have to attract a broad array of patrons — and keep them coming back again and again. And so at regular intervals, MCA Denver turns into one of the city's hottest clubs, luring people in with karaoke nights, House of Style cocktail parties, performances by musical acts and much, much more. The price of admission includes entry into the galleries, and some of the youthful partiers actually wander back to see what's on display. Right now a trio of shows lets Denver's twenty-somethings travel back in time to see what twenty-somethings from past generations were up to: New York in the '60s and '70s is highlighted in Wall Writers, in the '70s and '80s by Basquiat Before Basquiat, and in the '90s by Ryan McGinley. MCA Denver has made its mark on the city not just with smart exhibits, but with smart marketing...and great parties.

Robischon Gallery, a LoDo landmark for decades, is the city's flagship contemporary gallery — not just because the place approximates the size of a small museum, but also because so many of the artists whose work is shown there also exhibit in actual museums. Figures from art-history books like John Buck, Ann Hamilton, Manuel Neri, Judy Pfaff, Kiki Smith, Bernar Venet and others are represented by the gallery, and if you want a Christo or an Ellsworth Kelly, for example, Robischon can get that for you, too. The gallery has also assembled a roster of some top local talent — Kim Dickey, Ana Maria Hernando, Trine Bumiller, Gary Emrich, Terry Maker, David Sharpe and many, many others — and their works often wind up in museums as well. Another thing that sets Robischon apart is how elegantly and intelligently every exhibition, regardless of the theme or topic, is installed; credit for that goes to Jennifer Doran, who along with husband Jim Robischon selects the first-rate work by first-rate artists that the gallery displays.

Readers' Choice: Mirada Fine Art Gallery

Just about everybody in the art world is interested in the next big thing to emerge on the contemporary scene, which is why a number of galleries offer the work of newer — read: younger — artists. A lot of young artists have come through Rule over the years, often freshly minted BFAs, and twenty- and thirty-somethings are still over-represented in the gallery's stable. Co-directors Valerie Santerli and Rachel Beitz are always scouting local talent: If someone's about to get hot, Rule will be among the first to get there.

Readers' Choice: Mirada Fine Art Gallery

Abstract-expressionist giant Clyfford Still had only the most casual association with Colorado, having briefly acted as a visiting artist at the University of Colorado Boulder. But a huge hunk of his life's work is right here in Denver at the Clyfford Still Museum. So how did it wind up here? When he died, Still left a stipulation in his will that any American city that would build a museum to house his pieces exclusively could get his enormously valuable collection of work. In 2004, then-mayor John Hickenlooper worked out an agreement with Still's widow, Patricia Still, pledging to build such a museum; the next year, she threw her own hoard of her husband's work into the deal. As a result, the CSM contains 95 percent of the artist's output. If you want to see Clyfford Still's work, you need to come to this museum — and people from around the world do. If you have friends from out of town already visiting, take them to see something they won't find anywhere else on earth.

Readers' Choice: Denver Art Museum

Since artist cooperatives don't charge commission on sales, they're good spots for finding affordable art, because you're starting with what amounts to a 50 percent break over commercial galleries. But times have gotten tough for this city's alternative spaces, so the cash-conscious collector has fewer options. That makes Spark and CORE, two co-ops that have long shared an address, real standouts. The artists at Spark, the city's oldest arts co-op, are more established than those at CORE, so the prices are usually a little higher. But you can still find bargains at both spots, with small- to mid-sized paintings, prints and photos sometimes for sale for as little as $100 each — and rarely is anything over a couple thousand dollars. As you contemplate the price tag, remember: Not only will you be buying a bargain to hang over the sofa, but you'll be helping out Denver's beleaguered DIY culture. Now go buy another piece or two.

Readers' Choice: Affordable Arts Festival

For decades, the David Cook Galleries specialized in historic art of the American West, in particular Colorado, New Mexico and other nearby states. In recent years, Cook has become more and more focused on prints and paintings created in the first half of the twentieth century, as modernism overtook impressionism. The inventory varies, but it typically includes pieces by the storied artists of Taos and Santa Fe, as well as those associated with the Broadmoor Academy and others of the sort. The quality of the material is tremendous, with pieces that often rival those of museum collections. Adjacent to the fine-art section is Cook's American Indian gallery, with jewelry and ceremonial items made over the last century and a half by members of various Native American tribes from the Southwest. A trip to the David Cook Galleries — located in an old red-brick LoDo storefront — is just about as close as you can get in 2017 to the region's romantic Western past.

Bill Havu, whose namesake William Havu Gallery is one of the top art venues in town, focuses on work by artists living in this part of the country — not just Colorado, but New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, Wyoming and even such unexpected places as Nebraska and Kansas. While all of the artists are from the West, the work Havu selects reflects international trends in contemporary art, though often with a distinct cultural tweak reflecting the region. Artists represented by Havu are typically mid-career, with substantial talents, including Amy Metier, Emilio Lobato, Virgil Ortiz, Nancy Lovendahl and Tony Ortega. A lot of people have the idea that art made by people living in this part of the country will be filled with kitsch depictions of cowboys, Indians, horses, buffaloes and coyotes; one visit to William Havu Gallery will dispel that false impression once and for all.

The Center for Visual Art, the mid-sized museum that's an off-campus division of Metropolitan State University of Denver, often shows work by contemporary artists who live in different parts of the world. There have been exhibits devoted to Chinese artists, to African artists, to artists from the Middle East — as is the case with the spectacular Presence, a spring show that includes the work of three immigrants from that region who now live in Denver: Laleh Mehran, Sami Al Karim and Halim Al Karim. The international focus is key to the exhibition program put together by Cecily Cullen, the CVA's managing director and curator, but as shown by the local artists in Presence, she's interested in staying on top of the art of our region, too.

To maintain the lively exhibition schedule at his eponymous gallery, David B. Smith travels the country, checking out cutting-edge artists in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, even Boulder. He's always looking for new talent for his aesthetically tight exhibitions, and his current offering, Range, is proof of that. New Yorker Penelope Umbrico uses iPhone apps to riff on the history of landscape photography as inspired by the work of the masters of that medium. The resulting digital photos infuse the original black-and-white views of the mountains made with film with colors from computer codes, in the form of shooting stripes or bars in toned-up shades, running right through the scenery. This show is part of the Month of Photography; at other times on the exhibition calendar, you might encounter interactive installations, or paintings that rise a foot off their surfaces, or sculptures that light up, or any number of imaginative takes on contemporary conceptual art.

The Denver Art Museum has mastered the art of hosting a blockbuster. The secret to the DAM's success is the wide variety of offerings it presents, as well as the relentless frequency with which it presents them. Some of these major efforts are dead serious, like the groundbreaking Mi Tierra, which looks at the Mexican-American experience in the age of Trump via conceptual art; others are mostly fun, such as Star Wars and the Power of Costume, a major attendance hit. The addition of the DAM's Hamilton Building just over a decade ago was designed to allow the possibility of regularly presenting temporary exhibitions with several running at the same time — and the building has beautifully fulfilled that aim. These blockbuster shows really bring in the crowds and kick up the receipts — a goal for any cultural institution these days.

With an unusual setup that combines exhibition spaces with fully subsidized artist studios, RedLine has upended the local art world during its brief existence, discovering scores of noteworthy emerging artists through its residency program. The nonprofit space launched by artist and mega-wealthy donor Laura Merage selects fifteen to eighteen artists to work alone in a series of modern studios, and also to work together as a community. The studio doors are always left open, allowing visitors to RedLine's always compelling exhibits to catch sight of the artist-residents at work on their pieces; if the artist isn't there, viewers can still see what they're working on. In addition to the upstarts, RedLine selects three mid-career artists to provide guidance, and they receive free studios, too. With so many local artists, especially young ones, priced out of the studio market by Denver's soaring rents, having free space to work downtown is a real gift. Too bad there aren't more RedLines around town; Denver could use a couple dozen immediately.

Denver's exhibition venues are currently swamped with photo shows inspired by the biennial Month of Photography. Otherwise, art shows devoted to photography can be hard to find in Denver. That's why the Colorado Photographic Arts Center is something to celebrate: It focuses on fine-art photography all year long. Founded in 1963 by Denver photographers who felt that their medium didn't get enough respect as an art form, CPAC has always fought that perception. Although the group had its ups and downs over the years and moved around a lot, this past year it landed in an ideal location on Bannock Street, only a couple of blocks from where it all began more than fifty years ago. At the new space, executive director Samantha Johnston puts together a crowded schedule of shows, along with classes, workshops and lectures.

Take a tour through Denver's art galleries with a little one and you'll realize just how not-child-friendly the commercial art world can be. And we're not talking content, either. While most gallery staffers will gingerly thank a parent for teaching the next generation how to be art consumers, they seem afraid (somewhat rightly) that the children will destroy the place. But at Michael Warren Contemporary, owner Michael Warren not only happily greets children, he lets them roam the gallery and occasionally offers age-appropriate instruction on how to look at a painting or understand an artist's intentions. He appears genuinely excited that kids are in his space, and while many of his peers talk a good game about cultivating the next generation of art connoisseurs, he's really doing it — and making the process thoroughly enjoyable for both parents and children.

Infuse Gallery is based in Longmont, but its reach is global; its mission as a nonprofit is to serve organizations around the world, empowering at-risk artists. The brainchild of entrepreneur and artist Kyra Coates, Infuse invites artists both established and emerging to sell work on its website. A percentage of every sale gives back to the artist's nonprofit of choice, including such Infuse partners as RedLine's Reach Studio for the homeless, the Blossomy Project for young women and girls caught up in human trafficking in India, the victim-empowerment organization PAVE, and many more. In turn, artists served by those nonprofits can also market their work on the site. No need to say that this concept is a win/win — but we'll say it anyway. Coates has plans to open a physical gallery space later this year in Denver, which means we'll win big, too.

infuse.gallery

Wonderbound, which used to be known as Ballet Nouveau, has been defying traditional assumptions about what dance companies should do: recycle fairy tales, stick to proven works and dance to classical music only. Under the leadership of Garrett Ammon and Dawn Fay, the group has collaborated with contemporary musicians and artists, expanding its audience and also the boundaries of dance. This season, the dancers will be performing alongside members of the Flobots, who will perform their new album, as well as dancing to music from such local acts as Chimney Choir, the Ian Cooke Band, Jesse Manley, DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman, and even the Colorado Symphony. Passionate about arts education, the company shares its work with more than 25,000 community members each year.

Too often, opera companies discourage new audiences with their exorbitant ticket prices and stuffy environments. Boulder Opera Company, which has been around for three years and recently became a nonprofit, wants to bring opera to people who might not have access to it. In April, the company will be performing Goyescas, by Enrique Granados, and a program of zarzuela pieces; in its upcoming season, Boulder Opera plans to put on more innovative original operas for children and people uncomfortable in traditional opera venues. Boulder Opera is willing to take risks on both unknown composers and its audiences; even when presenting works for kids, it refuses to dumb shows down.

boulderoperacompany.com

Opera on Tap may be a New York-based nonprofit, but the Colorado chapter is going strong. Like Boulder Opera, the company takes opera out of the stuffy concert halls — but Opera on Tap brings it to bars. Instead of encouraging funereal attitudes and stiff bodies in stiffer seats, Opera on Tap allows audiences to drink and make noise, all while bringing the crowd up close and personal with the performers. Each month the group puts on a show at Syntax Physic Opera, and it hosts a yearly festival showcasing other companies' efforts. We'll drink to that!

operaontap.org/colorado

Hamilton arrives at the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex on February 27, 2018. No need to say more.

Children's theater is tricky. The best productions keep young squirmers absorbed while also entertaining their parents, and that can be tough. But Bitsy Stage makes it look easy. The little sister of the innovative all-Shakespeare company Betsy Stage, the group adapts international folk tales for the stage, incorporating lively casts and fun costuming with age-old stories that only improve with time — and then it offers up performances for free. Not surprisingly, shows fill up fast, so grab your gratis tickets now.

Readers' Choice: Arvada Center

Some of the world's best academics and scientists make Boulder their home (though given proposed federal budget cuts, perhaps not for long), so it makes sense that the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company should have a strong interest in presenting smart programming for adults. The latest of its many scientific offerings is Lauren Gunderson's Silent Sky, the real-life story of Henrietta Swan Leavitt and the female "computers" of the Harvard Observatory, which runs April 6 through April 30. But co-founders Stephen Weitz and Rebecca Remaly are equally interested in history, literature, dramaturgy, feminism, zany humor and human nature, and the coming season offers a brain-teasing mix of new, established and soon-to-be-established playwriting talent — including Guards at the Taj, by Rajiv Joseph, author of the brilliant Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.

Readers' Choice: Buntport Theater Company

Edge Theater Company stages interesting, well-done productions ranging from classics to contemporary, hilarious to soul-rending, but beyond guaranteed seats for this impressive repertoire, there's another reason to pick up a season ticket. The Edge gives out its own annual awards at the end of the year — the Edgys — and if you've seen all the season's shows, you get to vote for your favorite actor, actress, ensemble, etc. Even if you haven't voted, you get to enjoy one of the warmest celebration parties in town, where you'll enjoy drinks and good food (served, at the last Edgys, in massive martini glasses), mingle with the theater crowd as everyone vamps, laughs and chats, and watch a comic-serious presentation ceremony. Artistic directors Rick and Patty Yaconis have found a great way to make their audience — which grows larger, more loyal and more exuberant every year — an integral part of the Edge community.

The five core artists who make up Buntport write all of their original plays together, experimenting with words, ideas and form, tossing out or subverting convention. They play with myth and literature; their sets are miracles of low-cost, high-labor ingenuity; the four performers who appear in almost every production are major talents, and they also work brilliantly with guest actors. Everything's experimental, but the shows are never stuffy — they're playful, funny, unpretentious and inviting, and if there's a deeper meaning somewhere, it'll be as unexpected as a drop of rain from a clear sky. This is where you'll find all the adventurous young theater-goers that every other company in town is trying to attract.

The Denver Center's annual New Play Summit, established by now-departed artistic director Kent Thompson, is a boon for playwrights, new or established, but it's also a window into how strongly the DCPA supports new work — and this translates into a boon for audiences, because the company stages full productions of the summit's most successful readings. As a result, we get a window into the wider theater world and are regularly introduced to some of the country's most fascinating up-and-coming talents. Watch for the next round of productions to be announced in April.

Over the past decade, 60 percent of Curious Theatre Company's offerings have been written by playwrights of color, LGBTQ playwrights or female playwrights. The company introduced Denver to Tarell Alvin McCraney, hailed as a successor to August Wilson, producing three of his plays over two years in what artistic director Chip Walton calls Serial Storytelling. There were also four plays in this program by Pulitzer winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, as well as outreach in the form of audience talkbacks and three panels. Diversity is often discussed in cloudy clichés, but Curious has been talking clearly and walking the walk for a long time.

There's no better way to see Shakespeare than in the fine, old outdoor Mary Rippon Theatre — particularly since amplification was provided a few years back (before that, actors' voices were sometimes drowned by traffic on Broadway) and comfortable seats are provided to set atop the stone benches. The atmosphere is magical. This year's outdoor offerings at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival are The Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar, and there will be a special reading of Henry VI, Part 3, presented on two nights. Hamlet and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead will be shown inside, at the University Theatre.

coloradoshakes.org

Repertory companies employ a team of actors and stage shows in rotation: You can see the same actor play Hamlet one night and a silent bystander in another play the next. This is fun to watch — over time you develop your own favorite performers and start feeling a kinship with them — and it also brings stability to a shifting theater scene. But repertory companies are very rare these days, which makes the Arvada Center's new Black Box Repertory Company something worth celebrating. Under director Lynne Collins, the center has assembled some of Denver's best thespian talents for its company, which started out with a production of Tartuffe and will end the season with Waiting for Godot, described by director Geoffrey Kent as "King Lear meets Duck Soup." Jump on the merry-go-round.

Traditionally, the Aurora Fox wasn't a place where you'd find surprising, knock-your-socks-off productions, but under the leadership of executive producer Charles Packard, the venue has been taking on risky and ambitious ventures. Porgy and Bess, for example, which requires a plethora of African-American talent and a slew of operatic and near-operatic voices. Or Chinglish, which requires Mandarin-speaking actors and "perfecting the comic rhythms in two languages and subtitles," according to the Fox's website. "We suspected that early 2017 might be a fine time to reflect on America's place in the global economy and how to begin to find out what we don't know." The play runs until April 9 and will be followed by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, directed by Colorado Public Television's Eden Lane.

The shows at Miners Alley are never boring — a mix of old and new, dramas and musicals, with an occasional surprise thrown in. Even on opening night, the atmosphere is light and casual, and jeans are fine. Best of all, your very reasonably priced ticket — $18 to $28 — lets you attend the opening-night celebration, held in the bright, art-filled lobby with its well-stocked bar. Here you get to relax, chat and, if you want, congratulate the performers, who will be coming out for a snack or a drink as soon as they're out of costume.

Readers' Choice: Edge Theater Company

The Catamounts don't go by the motto of "Theatre for the Adventurous Palate" for nothing. Always fresh and vital, often weird, sometimes witty and now and then profound, the Cats ferret out intriguing scripts and produce plays unlike anything you've seen around here. They're talented theater professionals, but they're also crazy about food, and they prepare feasts for their Saturday night shows. We're not talking cheese plates or chocolate-covered strawberries, but delicious chef-created dishes that coruscate with metaphorical meaning. And the crew makes cocktails to match: Catamounts artistic director Amanda Berg Wilson's favorites include last fall's Fish House Punch, a blend of plain and peach brandies with lemon juice, and the Milton, mixed in tribute to the English poet John Milton and concocted from Rittenhouse rye whiskey, McGillicuddy's peach liqueur and other drips and drops. "We like boozy cocktails," she says, and she's counting on you to like them, too.

thecatamounts.org

It took decades for movie snacks to rise above the basics of popcorn, hot dogs, candy and soda, and decades more to deliver drinks and full meals straight to audience members in their seats. Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse really cracked that code, and when it opened its Littleton outpost in 2013, Seth Rexroad was in the kitchen, ready to lead his team through a lineup of dishes and adult drinks that viewers would find just as tasty as the film they were watching. And Rexroad's menu just keeps getting better. For a reel treat, he's created the Beer Dinners and Feasts series, taking classics like Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill saga or Coppola's Godfather films and building delicious, multi-course dinners — complete with paired beer from Colorado's best breweries — around the movies' characters, themes and general awesomeness. Recently these special events have been coming fast and furious, giving film fans multiple opportunities every month to feed their stomach and their soul. And you'll soon have more opportunities to sample Rexroad's work; he's been promoted to executive market chef for Colorado as the Alamo readies a second location at Sloan's Lake and three more spots soon to be finalized around the state.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse

With all the satisfying and eclectic programming at the Sie FilmCenter, you need to keep your attention on the screen — which means you can't be distracted by uncomfortable surroundings. While some mainstream theaters are putting in fancy recliners, the Sie recognizes that those are more an excuse to grab forty winks than watch the program. So instead, it's kept the same comfy leather seats in its theaters for years; they're perfect for sinking into and soaking up the film. But the Sie isn't entirely averse to change; it recently remodeled the forty-seat Clausen theater with slightly larger Italian leather seats, which make you feel like you're sitting in that private screening room that you dream of installing in your basement someday.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse

The Denver Film Society is turning forty years old this year; it birthed the first Denver Film Festival back in 1977. Two decades later, the organization expanded its mission to running a year-round arthouse, which would allow the audience to experience the quality offerings of a festival every single day of the year; when it moved into the SieFilm Center six years ago, the DFS really developed its daily dose of movies. With three screens, the Sie maintains a perfect balance of new and classic cinema, augmenting regular showings with popular mini fests like Women + Film, CinemaQ and CineLatino, as well as guest programmers like Theresa Mercado, with her magnificent and macabre Scream Screen series. And every November, the Sie is again home to the Denver Film Festival. This theater just keeps on spinning like a reel of film, only with no end in sight.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse

Over the last decade, television has often stolen the limelight from filmmaking with shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, the rise of Netflix and all that "binge-worthy" original programming. As a result, what you find on the ol' boob tube is often better than what you see on the big screen at the multiplex. This televised revolution in storytelling caught the eyes of Randi Kleiner and Kaily Smith, who saw an opportunity to keep that momentum rolling with SeriesFest, a homegrown event that follows the film-festival model but focuses on television pilots instead of cinema, bringing the talent behind the industry out to the fans. Joining forces with the Denver Film Society, which produces the Denver Film Festival, SeriesFest proves that the best festivals can fill any size screen.

seriesfest.com

Readers' Choice: Denver Film Festival

Since 1955, First Person Cinema has brought some of the world's greatest experimental filmmakers to Boulder — and when we say "filmmakers," we mean it. The artists the group showcases often work entirely alone, sometimes painting or marking the film strip directly, other times crafting intricate, essay-style documentaries. Whatever these artists do, it's sure to be innovative. Most of the filmmakers use their own voice, as the name of the series suggests, and all are pushing the limits of what cinema can be. First Person Cinema has a couple of screenings left this spring and will resume at the start of the fall semester.

For nearly a century of filmmaking, 35mm film was the standard: a touchable and tangible material called celluloid that captures visuals at 24 frames a second and, when projected in front of a bright xenon bulb, shoots images onto a screen. Sadly, the advent of digital filmmaking has nearly put an end to this classic format, but there are still lovers of the medium — and movie houses that love to show it. At the Sie FilmCenter, the experienced projection team doesn't just show films; they love and respect the magical material on which they're made, and during screenings, they take care that every frame is in focus and the light and sound are perfect. As a result, the next time you watch something digitally, you may wish you were seeing it on film at the Sie.

Launched in 2012, Process Reversal is a nonprofit that has offered dozens of workshops in processing and developing motion-picture film by hand with chemicals, in DIY darkrooms and with hodgepodge gear. The group, which recently launched a screening series with the Sie FilmCenter, has taken equipment from now-defunct film laboratories and post-houses and has begun to use it in workshops; it hopes to ultimately open a community film lab where we can all process our own films.

processreversal.org

Hands down, Collective Misnomer offers the best experimental film and media programming in Colorado. Screenings take place every few weeks, and despite the DIY nature of the endeavor, they're well-attended by punks and established artists alike. What makes each evening's lineup of shorts so strong is that programmer Adán De La Garza digs deep through online archives for the films he chooses, in the process creating programs that are both challenging and watchable — a coupling rarely found in experimental media circles. While other series scour familiar lists of filmmakers, De La Garza has a knack for finding up-and-coming artists and still managing to draw a crowd.

collectivemisnomer.com

Drag is exhausting. You need to spend hours creating a look, an outfit, a number, and then even more time walking in shoes so high they'll give you nosebleeds. Anka Shayne, aka Jordan Gilbert, doesn't just display a willingness to do the work; she takes it to the next level. In or out of guise, you can see her wheels turning. What would happen if I poured this liquid latex on my face over my makeup? What would happen if my nails were five inches long? What if I came out wearing nothing but this sticker? Anka is a mover and a shaker who knows how to slay a stage.

Nina Montaldo, Denver's Grand Dame of Drag, will turn 68 this year. Back in 1968, a young James Martinez began to create Nina — borrowing her last name from a high-end department store that once graced our city — because it was the fierce thing to do at a time when being gay, much less a queen, was illegal. Nina's reign at the top of Denver drag has always stood for a few things: professionalism, beauty, glamour, joy and, most important, persistence. Today's drag babies may dismiss Miss Nina's aesthetics as "old-fashioned" — but there's nothing old-fashioned about fighting for your art for fifty years. If you see Nina Montaldo on a bill, do yourself a favor and take in the show.

For some performers, drag only runs skin deep. But for Ultimate Queen Yvie Oddly, aka Jovan Bridges, drag is about more than putting on makeup and a dress and lip-syncing to a pop hit, more than entertaining the masses. For Oddly, drag is a way of expressing your innermost personality, coloring outside the gender lines and using the platform to make a real statement. As a result, there's crackling electricity whenever Yvie takes the Drag Nation stage or leads her own Odd Hour show at Tracks: What you're about to watch is not only going to break the rules of everyday life, but the rules of what drag is supposed to be, as well.

The last few years have seen the drag population in Denver expand tenfold, which means that more and more queens are looking for a spot where they can lip-sync their hearts out. While Denver lost a few stages over the past year, it gained Blush & Blu, a cozy bar and coffeehouse that has been expanding its relationship within the gay community and offering its space for many different types of performances. And no one has embraced the place as much as this city's drag stars. Blush & Blu takes pride in its new role, and has secured a critical item any would-be drag stage needs to be legit: a spotlight to show off the faces and hard work of our fiercest performers. The future looks bright!

For nine years, RuPaul has turned every season of RuPaul's Drag Race into a gay holiday; viewers make a fourteen-week commitment to see who'll emerge as the next drag superstar. Here at home, that devotion inspired the Ultimate Queen Competition, which takes the best new drag talent in Denver and stages its own battle royale. If you want to take Denver's drag temperature, catch an Ultimate Queen night; you'll soon see who's polished and who's about to become polish remover. Gentlemen, start your engines — and may the best woman win!

"This is the top of the nation!" For eight years, Tracks has taken host Nina Flowers's clever tagline to heart when describing its Drag Nation show, a drag spectacle on the last Friday of every month. On this stage, a queen can realize the fantasy she's been dreaming of her whole life, complete with lights, stage decor and dancers — via the talents of the hot and nimble Denver Dance members. Most important, these performers get to share the spotlight with Nina and the talented cast members who've all earned their place on the showbill. While Drag Nation also celebrates the guest talents of RuPaul's Drag Race, our own homegrown hotties are the real stars of the show.

If a single party has earned the right to be engraved on your calendar, it's the Circuit Saturday jam that takes over Tracks every first Saturday of the month. The fun themes are announced weeks early so that you can start pulling together a look that will draw attention while you're dancing to the beats of world-class DJs. The night's producers are always out on the floor, making sure everyone is having a good time — whether they be butch queen, twink, daddy, diva, Becky with the good hair, Basic Betty, club kid or just John Q. Public looking for the best place in town to party.

It's easy to kill the soul of the nostalgic things we love by upgrading. Take, for example, the arcade experience. For children of the '70s, '80s and '90s, it isn't purely what we knew back then anymore; now arcades offer booze, food and other distractions to entice adults, which just ends up alienating the die-hard fans (and making things sticky). Behold Hyperspace, which started as one person's warehouse-sized collection of nearly 200 games and has become a massive arcade with a simple twist: Instead of buying games with quarters, players have access to unlimited games with a $12 day pass. Load up on soda or energy drinks and finally reach the score of your dreams on Galaga.

Readers' Choice: The 1Up Colfax

Geeks need to gather in the safe surroundings of other geeks, doing the things geeks do: playing arcane fantasy-card games, drinking tea and French-press coffee, shopping for cosplay geek-wear and figures, sucking on e-hookahs — the usual stuff. Lair of Abraxas is a clubby den for square pegs looking for like-minded companions who unironically love to play games. The place bills itself as a never-ending gaming convention, which translates to gaming heaven. Entry to the late-night gaming palace is by a flat-fee admission price, which buys you all of the above. That's a lot to love.

Back in the days before Fakebook and power-texting, we used to sit around tables together, playing games. Remember that? The hours of Monopoly, Risk and gin rummy, spent eye to eye over silly conversations, snacks and beverages? Now Denver has a place that brings all that back. Board Game Republic glamours up the old-fashioned family game night for adults with a reasonably priced menu, brews and cocktails and a 700-game library to choose from. The place is suitable for parties of all sizes, at a $5-per-person table charge. You have friends, right? Go do something with them, IRL.

Colorado is awash in basic breweries, dozens of seemingly identical establishments that treat entertainment and aesthetics as afterthoughts. But Ratio Beerworks, a cultural hub in RiNo, defies this trend with its bold, constantly improving decor and fruitful partnerships with local creatives. Activities abound every week, from crafting and yoga classes to silent discos and trivia nights, which means that Ratio's loyal patrons nearly always have something to do besides drink. It's the live performances, however, that truly set Ratio apart. The Ratio Sessions concert series draws bands like the Menzingers and Beach Slang for intimate concerts where fans can meet and greet (and drink) with musicians in the colorful taproom. Meanwhile, Ratio Comedy puts on inventive showcases like the Battle Royale, Doom Room and the Dirty Laundry Dating Show nearly every Wednesday, keeping the laughs flowing as freely as the beer.

Alternative venues and comedian-produced showcases abound in Denver, but the gold standard for standup will always be Comedy Works Downtown. The subterranean club provides the ideal acoustics for basking in the warmth of a crowd's laughter, making it the perfect setting to record standup albums like The Funches of Us and Skanks for the Memories. While rooted in more than 35 years of tradition, Comedy Works doesn't shy away from such innovations as locking cell phones in Yondr bags, which not only removes distractions from the showroom, but also prevents nascent material from leaking out into the public. While remaining a top draw for headliners from around the world, Comedy Works has also nurtured the careers of local comedians dating all the way back to Roseanne Barr, and it continues to create platforms where its roster of comics can try out new ideas, including shows like Mentalpause and Infauxmation.

El Charrito already had a strong reputation as a karaoke haven and a great bar in the Ballpark neighborhood, but it's recently become a second home for local comedians. Since the Comedy Room Room opened in El Charrito's repurposed dining area last year, the "five-star dive bar" has hosted an open-mic night and at least one showcase every week. In addition to creating a supportive environment for comedy shows, proprietor Matt Orrin has befriended many local comics, even hiring them to work the door, bar-back and host karaoke. When they're not working there, these comics are often at El Charrito anyway, nursing High Lifes around tabletop board games or feeding quarters into the massive arcade machine. While the cheap drinks are certainly a boon to Denver's perpetually destitute creatives, it's the constant presence of familiar faces that make El Charrito the Cheers of Denver comedy.

Thanks to herculean behind-the-scenes effort and consistent improvement, Lucha Libre & Laughs again claims the crown. No other Denver comedy show contains so many moving parts; no other night promises so much delight per minute. With an increasingly dense and entertaining mythos, Lucha Libre & Laughs rewards its loyal fans with sagas of ringside drama, wacky recurring characters, heel turns and stunning reversals. Though the thrillingly acrobatic matches are LLL's main draw, producer/ bumbling referee Nick Gossert doesn't neglect the laughs side of the equation: The improvised color commentary from comedians Nathan Lund and Sam Tallent is as nimble as the wrestlers themselves, and the lineups are tightly curated, with headliners such as John "Hippieman" Novosad and Bobcat Goldthwait. While there's typically a Lucha Libre & Laughs show every month at the Oriental Theater, dates and showtimes often shift from month to month; watch the website for updates.

luchalibreandlaughs.com

Readers' Choice: Comedy Works Downtown

One of the last of the endangered Colfax dive bars, the Lion's Lair has been a celebrated punk-rock venue for almost thirty years. But it's also been host to something even more brutal and hardcore: open-mic comedy. A vital training ground for Denver standups, the Lion's Lair is where local legends such as Ben Kronberg and the Grawlix performed their earliest sets and where the current generation of aspirants go to have their dreams nurtured and crushed in equal measure. Founded over a decade ago by Troy Baxley, the open mic has cycled through a series of guest hosts but always maintained its spirit of benevolent chaos, a tradition carried on by current stewards Roger Norquist and Westword's own Byron Graham. A cultural institution that harks back to a bygone Denver, the Lion's Lair open mic is unusually fraught with absurd occurrences, like a mid-show seance or a comic being heckled by his future wife. Sign-up begins at 10 p.m. every Monday night.

Five years ago, Seventh Circle Music Collective took over the former home of long-running Denver DIY space Blast-O-Mat. At the time, Aaron Saye, who runs Seventh Circle, said of the new space, "Every scene of music is going to be welcome. I want anyone that wants to be to be a part of this place." Today, that sentiment still rules, and the DIY ethic is strong. After the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland in December 2016, municipalities around the country started doubling down on inspections of DIY spaces, enforcing building codes. Places in Denver that fell victim to code enforcement were mostly those that were also used as residences but weren't zoned as such, like Rhinoceropolis. Seventh Circle passed its inspection and has continued its busy schedule of concerts, often hosting up to five shows a week. In particular, the venue welcomes young musicians, offering them a safe place to develop and showcase their talent. The bastion of youth culture is essential to the arts scene, whether city officials like it or not.

Readers' Choice: Upstairs Circus

When Matty Clark and Josh Terry assumed ownership of the hi-dive half a decade ago, the local-musician hangout only got more popular. Also a favorite tour stop for national acts, the bar is mostly known as a training ground and networking hub for Denver's music scene. Those qualities were amplified when the veteran musicians got involved, and the hi-dive continues to be a go-to spot for anyone looking to see a good show, play a good show or rub elbows (and possibly start new bands) with fellow music lovers.

Skyrocketing rents aren't just impacting how creative Denverites live; they're also driving out cheap practice spaces and studios. RocketSpace aims to combat that by offering affordable space for musicians to hone their craft. Musician Kate Innes started the small but mighty operation a few years ago and has expanded it to two locations that employ full-time staff (all musicians themselves). Folks looking to get some private time to write and play songs can rent RocketSpace studios by the hour, starting at just $8. All rooms are equipped with top-of-the-line gear, and the staff is ready and willing to help find cables, fix microphones and do anything else renters may need.

An island for hip-hop heads in a sea of hipster establishments, Cold Crush brings the beat to the RiNo and Curtis Park neighborhoods. More than just a bar, this corner spot has a low-key club vibe, its sound system pumping out highly curated sets of hip-hop, funk, soul and old-school. The artwork inside Cold Crush changes regularly, while its trademark "blank-canvas" exterior wall has hosted thought-provoking murals by Scot Lefavor, Joshua Mays and Gamma. After a shooting nearby last year, some neighbors sent e-mails scrutinizing Cold Crush to the city, which temporarily shuttered it. But the business soon reopened, and has proved itself as resilient as the Cold Crush Brothers, the hip-hop pioneers the enterprise was named after.

From making music to playing shows and putting out records, figuring out what it takes to become a successful musician can be a tough journey. Test Kitchen is a bi-monthly showcase at which up-and-coming and established talent can try out new material in front of an audience — and a panel of industry experts. A creation of hip-hop guru Ru Johnson and her Roux Black creative consulting team, Test Kitchen (which currently holds court at the Black Box) provides musicians with the constructive criticism needed to take a track or album to the next level. Echoing Motown Records founder Berry Gordy's question for all potential talent, Johnson and company ask: "With your last dollar, would you buy this record or a sandwich?"

For years, Jonathan Bitz was mostly known as a proponent of the singer-songwriter music scene; as the talent booker at the Meadowlark, he fostered more than a few noteworthy acts, like the Lumineers and Science Partner. When he acquired the building at 554 South Broadway, he could have kept to what he knew and brought in mostly acoustic sets. But since opening Syntax Physic Opera in summer 2014, Bitz has booked a spectrum of bands in the underground genre, making the venue a cornerstone of the local music scene. Some venues tend to play it safe, but Syntax regularly showcases less-mainstream acts like Anklepants, David Liebe Hart, Clock DVA and Sister Grotto.

As a combination coffee shop and books, records and comics store, Mutiny Information Cafe offers a slice of counterculture for every palate. But its real magic lies in its performance space. While there's no actual stage, Mutiny offers plenty of room for live entertainment, whether it be a comedy show, a podcast taping or a dude screaming into a microphone while pounding his fist into a synthesizer. Truly, all art forms are welcome. Mutiny Information Cafe is not your average bookseller, java roaster or concert hall; rather, it's a beautiful, noisy mishmash of the creative scene, serving up good books and no-bullshit cappuccinos.

In true dive-bar fashion, Timeo's Theatre Bar, located in the Aztlan Theatre, is only open whenever owner Tim Correa feels like unlocking the door and letting folks in. But a curmudgeon he is not. Correa is a friendly face on the Santa Fe Drive strip, serving up beer and cocktails for First Friday artwalk patrons and his west-side regulars. The bar hosts local blues, Latin and rock acts, and whenever Correa is in the mood, he opens the bar for Broncos games, which play on the ancient but fully functioning big-screen TV in the corner of the joint. The barkeep and son Vincent serve the suds and tell jokes while Correa's wife, Aurora, doles out smiles, stories and, if you're lucky, a little of her menudo or a homemade sandwich. Look for upcoming-concert fliers posted on nearby telephone poles or call ahead for operating hours: Timeo's is timeless and doesn't bother with modern inconveniences like the Internet.

The Buffalo Rose, situated in the pretty town of Golden, is an oddball place. Hair-metal bands like Ratt and Faster Pussycat usually end up playing there when passing through metro Denver, so it's a bit of a time warp. It also has perfect bar snacks to nosh on while watching the aforementioned spandex-clad bands. What goes best with L.A. sleaze band Jetboy? How about some fried cheese curds? Jersey hard rockers Danger Danger should be paired with a pile of chicken strips, while an L.A. Guns show calls for the El Cubano sandwich.

There are three things we look for in a weekend brunch: good food, good booze and good music. Ophelia's Electric Soapbox excels at all three. Listen to a selection of Denver's best rock and alt-country bands while noshing on traditional breakfast fare with innovative twists. The sound system is top-notch, a projector amplifies what's happening on stage on a screen, and the venue's decor is captivating. All this plus bottomless mimosas.

We hope the Lakeview Lounge sticks around forever, but development going hog-wild along the popular lakefront stretch of Sheridan Boulevard makes us more than a little nervous. Before this spectacular — and spectacularly grungy — dive bar falls victim to yet another chain restaurant, we'll spend our mornings there (the bar opens every day at 7 a.m.), toasting the finer things in life and enjoying tunes from the bar's free jukebox, which churns out classics from Patsy Cline, Benny Goodman, George Strait and more.

Readers' Choice: Bar Car

Not much in the Oxford Hotel's resident bar has changed since it opened the day after Prohibition ended — except for the jukebox, which was out of commission for years. It came back to life recently after a thirty-year lease on the bar (and the adjacent, now-defunct McCormick & Schmick's) ran out and hotel owner Sage Hospitality's restaurant group finally assumed control of the Cruise Room. Sage acted fast, recruiting longtime jukebox repairman Jim Francis to tune the beauty back to life. Now she spits out 45s from Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra, among other classic artists.

Brennen Bryarly has built a bit of an electronic-dance music empire over the past several years. Bryarly releases house music as Option4 and has organized shows locally and nationally that offer an array of dance-oriented artists. And every year since 2014, he's put his wide net of contacts and great musical taste to use at Cloak & Dagger. The now-established EDM festival at City Hall and Vinyl brings together commercial and underground acts, and Bryarly invites both local and national performers. Nowhere in Denver is the EDM scene more diverse, or more alive, than at this festival.

cndmusicfest.com

Damian Burford had been organizing and booking shows for years in both Colorado Springs and Denver. He used to work with the Triple Nickel Tavern, a famed punk-rock venue in the Springs, which gave him the opportunity to learn about all aspects of the music industry, from booking to organizing a show with integrity. When he moved to Denver, Burford remained connected to the music world through his Mostly Harmless podcast. He even booked shows occasionally, though not in any official capacity. A chance conversation with a friend at The Fest, a punk-music festival in Florida, inspired Burford to try his hand at organizing a festival of his own. Working with Vincent Fasano of 3 Kings Tavern, Burford was able to pull off Don't Panic!, a bona fide, small-scale yet well-attended festival at various South Broadway venues, headlined by Off With Their Heads and Chicago punk legends Pegboy. The festival will return to Denver next year.

dontpanicfest.com

Heavy Dose Records head Brian Castillo and Reed Bruemmer of the band Poison Rites came up in Denver's underground music scene, regularly catching shows at local dive bars and DIY venues. Eventually they joined forces to re-create that small-venue neighborhood vibe at a musical festival they'd both want to attend. Scheduled in the summer across four days at venues between Larimer Lounge and Meadowlark Bar, Rocky Mountain Low brings together legendary punk bands like DRI with exciting underground bands including Protomartyr, Echo Beds and Hide.

facebook.com/rockymountainlow

Steve "Faceman" Schnepel always puts on ambitious concerts. Even his bar shows involve some kind of elaborate costuming or set design — like when he turned the stage at Lost Lake Lounge into a giant shark's mouth a few years back. Last November, Schnepel helped organize Faceman's 100 Year Storm, which took inspiration from epic storms that dump tons of snow on a city. The festival presented live performances by a hundred bands at a single venue (the Oriental) over the course of two days. Somehow, the logistical nightmare all worked, and Schnepel is expected to put on the crazed event again this year.

facemanmusic.com

Mutiny Information Cafe has always been a home for misfits and rebels, so it makes sense that it would host the annual Mile High Parley anti-music-festival festival. Located smack-dab in the middle of a certain other, larger, more well-known music gathering that takes place on South Broadway each summer, the Parley takes an accessible, all-ages, punk approach. Hosting local acts on stages indoors and out all weekend long, this counter-fest highlights the underground music scene and all its weirdos and freaks.

facebook.com/milehighparleydenver

The tiny, picturesque city of Niwot, situated near Longmont and Erie in Boulder County, is as well known for Chief Niwot's Curse as for anything else: Legend has it that the chief puts a curse on any resident of the city who tries to relocate. Fortunately, those who stick around out of fear have a great little jazz festival to keep them occupied. Jazz on 2nd Avenue takes over the main strip in town, and last year's lineup included Liquid Soul and Jeff Coffin of the Dave Matthews Band. Sure, some local and school bands play, too, but the musical quality on display is still exemplary. Taking place in September, when the weather is nice but not stifling, Jazz on 2nd Ave is Niwot's crazy little secret.

jazzon2ndave.com

Textures got off the ground at the now-defunct Gypsy House Cafe, where it happened semi-regularly for five years. Now held at Mutiny Information Cafe every last Sunday of the month, it showcases the breadth and depth of the area's ambient music scene. The brainchild of Wesley Davis of bios+a+ic, the series remains relevant by not sticking to a strict definition of the ambient genre, having included modular-synth wizards like Kuxaan Sum, musique concrète artists like Victoria Lundy, and internationally known visual-synthesis pioneer Mark Mosher.

symbolicinsight.com/textures

Theresa Mercado has long organized unique film series, hosting events at the now-defunct Crash 45 and the Alamo Drafthouse. Most recently, Mercado has been hard at work on Scream Screen, a month-long event at the Sie FilmCenter that presents modern horror classics and performances from bands like Echo Beds, Vought and Denver Broncos UK. The mementos that Mercado hands out at the end of the night, whether small figurines she made herself or buttons with touches from the just-screened film, set these events apart. Not one to shy away from theatrics, Mercado likes to play the part, as well: For this year's showing of The Brood, for example, she dressed as Samantha Eggar's character and reenacted the scene in which Eggar licks the afterbirth off her mutant baby.

facebook.com/pg/ChannelZMovies

A parent's musical world can feel pretty grim at times; there are days when you'd almost kill for something even a little meatier than another rendition of "The Ants Go Marching." That's why the 45-minute Tiny Tots program from Inside the Orchestra is perfect for all ages. Accompanied by parents and other adults, children sit on the floor (at History Colorado, Boettcher Concert Hall or other fabulous locations) and are surrounded by Tiny Tots' thirty-piece-plus professional orchestra. As the music plays, the conductor talks directly to the little ones, asking them questions and walking them through the experience. Afterward, they have a chance to meet the musicians and get a little closer to the instruments. Even better? Admission is a mere suggested donation of $9.95.

insidetheorchestra.org

Believe it or not, the Denver Public Library is an active player in the local music scene. It offers upwards of 200 local albums for download at volumedenvr.org, making current and rare records available to the public. Last year, librarian Dave Wilkinson, a longtime fan of Denver's music scene, proposed a limited-edition seven-inch record with local bands that promoted the library and local culture. The library higher-ups approved the idea, and in March 2016, 300 records were pressed, showcasing bands like Accordion Crimes and The Raven and the Writing Desk.

volumedenver.org

Kids can be a death sentence for parents who like to attend concerts. Fortunately, Denver Public Library's Cherry Creek branch has music-loving families covered, organizing a monthly concert the second Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. Stroll in, grab a Voodoo Doughnut treat, pour a cup of Dazbog coffee, make your way to the middle of the storytime room, put earplugs in your ears — and definitely in your kids' ears — and prepare to rock. The event has showcased the Milk Blossoms, SPELLS and the Pink Hawks, proving the Ross-Cherry Creek branch is about much more than books and boring lectures. These days, it might just be the punkest thing in Cherry Creek.

denverlibrary.org

The first issue of Barf came out in September 2016 with comedian Ben Roy on the cover, looking mortified in a bubble bath. The issue had interviews with bands, a chat with Roy, and an article titled "How Many Hot Dogs Is Too Many Hot Dogs?" The candid and humorous interviews and the rest of the content fit the publication's motto: "Sex, Drugs, Barf." Barf founders Micah Morris and members of the band Dirty Few continue to improve the zine's content; the most recent cover had a semi-glossy finish. Barf offers irreverent material that's as glorious and intentionally dumb as a great Ramones song.

facebook.com/barfmagazine

Founded in 2012 in the Boulder area, the Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meetup gives synth enthusiasts the opportunity to meet, network and share ideas, methods and gear. Group founder Mark Mosher has performed his own synth music nationally and is a gifted practitioner of visual synthesis, which combines audio with a visual component. The Meetup was small in the beginning, but when the meetings moved to Denver in 2015 (first to the Walnut Room, then to Globe Hall), the group expanded to include over a hundred members, demonstrating an undeniable enthusiasm for synthesizers and electronic music that goes beyond the dance floor.

meetup.com/rocky-mountain-synth