Arts & Entertainment

Denver's exhibition scene is overwhelmingly contemporary, and the David B. Smith Gallery is the most contemporary of the bunch. At his namesake gallery, Smith presents what used to be called cutting-edge art and today could simply be termed "advanced"; nearly everything at Smith — not just the video projections and interactive installations, but the paintings and drawings — is conceptual. Smith has brought in an intriguing group of artists from around the country, and also tapped a lot of progressive local talent, including Tobias Fike, Donald Fodness, Dylan Gebbia-Richards, Sarah McKenzie, Don Stinson, Joel Swanson and Michael Theodore, among others. No matter the particular show, you can count on seeing something new and improved here.

Readers' Choice: Museum of Contemporary Art Denver

There are many good reasons why Colfax Avenue is the most famous street in Denver, and none of them has anything to do with Schuyler Colfax, the disgraced vice president of Ulysses S. Grant. Colfax is defined by its people, a mix of working stiffs, high-schoolers, day laborers, concert-goers, bus drivers, moms and kids, construction workers, grannies, bicycle enthusiasts and the occasional — but very Colfax-centric — shiftless, shirtless creep. Sure, most of these people could be found on any street in any city, but there's something about Colfax that makes basic interactions between these humans binge-watchable. No matter what office window you're peering from, what restaurant you're dining in, what corner you're standing on or what bus stop you're impatiently waiting at, the city's most notorious strip is a like a live, 24-hour news network. People meet, fights break out, drugs are dealt, road races are routed, spare change is panhandled, ladies are hassled and strangers help each other. As Denver grows, Colfax might be inching toward a "cleaner" facade, but its diverse, human element will forever be a reminder that the "longest, wickedest street in America" cannot — and will not — be tamed.

Readers' Choice: 16th Street Mall

Sweet! Every half-hour, free tours travel through the Hammond's factory in north Denver, where you can learn interesting tips about the homegrown company and a century in the candy business while seeing your favorite confection get pulled, twisted, shaped and packaged by hand — just as they have been since 1920. Of course, back then you didn't watch the process on large video screens installed throughout the factory, but technology has improved not only the viewing, but the hygiene, as well. Although the tour ends with a treat fresh from the factory, you'll want to save time for a visit to the Hammond's store, with its huge selection of signature candy canes and lollipops, an old-fashioned chocolate counter, and the Oops! Room, filled with discounted, if slightly distorted, candy at bargain prices.

Readers' Choice: Coors Brewery

The legendary Coors Brewery tours have calmed down from their rowdier days of decades ago; instead of just showing up at the brewery, you now must meet at the parking lot at 13th and Ford streets in Golden, where you pick up a free ticket and hop on a bus that will take you on a free tour through Golden to the brewery. There you can drink up the history of the legendary Coors Brewery, which got its start here in 1873 and today is the world's largest single-site brewery, during a thirty-minute self-paced tour. At the end, if you're 21 or over and have a valid ID, you'll be treated to a limited (very) quantity of MillerCoors beer while you view Coors memorabilia. Conveniently, you'll also be close to the Coors & Co. gift shop, if you've developed a powerful thirst for shopping.

Colorado has plenty of liquid assets. Not only does it rank near the top of the country for craft breweries per capita, but this state's craft distilleries are booming, too. Want proof? Follow the Colorado Spirits Trail. Working with the Colorado Tourism Office, the Colorado Distillers Guild created the Colorado Spirits Trail, a map that tracks 45 (and counting) of this state's independent distilleries by region, offering background on each and helping you plan an itinerary that will let you drink up as much of the business as you can handle.

coloradospiritstrail.com

Take a self-guided tour of Lower Downtown, the area where Denver got its start. Download the Explore LoDo app, created for the LoDo District in partnership with Historic Denver and the Denver Public Library, and then start walking. The tour will take you to more than 25 historic locations, and at each stop, you can read the story of the site while comparing historic photos to the current reality. Denver is changing fast, and the rich past of this area makes its present status as a city hot spot all the more meaningful.

lodo.org

For both lovers of old-time acoustic music and lovers of the outdoors in general (which covers just about everyone), RockyGrass is an absolute gem of a festival. The four-day get-together takes place on the beautiful twenty-acre Planet Bluegrass, home base of the Telluride Bluegrass and Rocky Mountain Folks festivals, and the magnificent wooden stage here has seen the likes of Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Alison Krauss, Steve Earle and hometown heroes Hot Rize, among others. The vibe is fun and family-friendly, and most fans camp out and bring instruments for jam sessions that stretch into the night. The St. Vrain River runs through the property, so you can hang out in the water all day, right next to the stage.

bluegrass.com/rockygrass

Readers' Choice: Underground Music Showcase

Leave it to event-meister Dana Cain to discover the next big thing: Her first Unicorn Festival turned Littleton's Clement Park into an enchanted world last summer, one where princesses, wizards and mermaids frolicked and unicorn rides seemed required for all ages. The even bigger, better 2018 Unicorn Fest will return on June 23, with two special guests: Morgan and Me author Stephen Cosgrove and his magical companion and favorite book character, Morgan the Unicorn.

Readers' Choice: Truck Stop

SUPERNOVA Outdoor Festival of Digital Animation and Art is one of the few Denver film festivals exclusively programming short films at the cutting edge of technology. This free festival, held in and around the Denver Theatre District, democratizes the movie-going experience, giving audiences a look into the future of the medium. Running an entire weekend, SUPERNOVA includes a juried competition, educational opportunities, presentations by filmmakers, and outdoor screenings of artist-made movies from around the world. This year, the festival's third, promises to be as forward-thinking and fun as ever.

supernovadenver.com

Just beneath the thin, glossy veneer of a new Denver that has emerged over the past decade lies the real city — and the @OldDenver Instagram account is making sure it isn't forgotten. A loose-knit collective of regular contributors share stories of the people, places and neighborhoods that define old-school Denver: a black-and-white photo of cooks working the flat-top at 20th Street Cafe comes with the simple caption "in operation since 1946"; images of paleteros hustling popsicles in Civic Center show up alongside snapshots of Federal Boulevard on a Sunday that include classic cars with shiny rims showing off in the parking lot of Grandpa's Burger Haven. The @OldDenver account is an equal-opportunity Instagram: Use the hashtag #OldDenver on an image and your documentation of a Denver gone by could be featured in the feed.

The ever-evolving alley between the 2500 and 2900 blocks of Walnut and Larimer streets provides endless inspiration for Instagrammers. Long before this place became a canvas for the annual CRUSH festival, the ancient warehouse walls on both sides attracted graffiti artists as well as fans of urban grit. As big, shiny buildings pop up all over River North, this stretch remains an unexpected oasis of Colorado cool, layered with ever-changing art that's both official and definitely unofficial. As a result, you're not likely to take the same photo twice while shooting these colorful walls. Just be sure to credit the artists!

Readers' Choice: RiNo District

The unassuming Ramada Inn at the corner of Speer Boulevard and I-25 is just the right spot to capture sunrise in Denver. From its perch overlooking downtown, you see an urban landscape stretching from Coors Field to Mile High Stadium, with everything in between, including Elitch Gardens, Confluence Park and the downtown cityscape, with bonus points for Pikes Peak off in the distance. Get a coffee on your way, look for the glowing "Hotel" lettering, grab your camera...and turn east to start your morning right.

Readers' Choice: Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Denver is blessed with many parks with stunning views, and it's no secret that both Cheesman and City parks offer some phenomenal sunset photo ops. But for the best, head over to the east side of Washington Park, near Arizona Avenue and Franklin Street. Through your viewfinder, not only will you catch the sun going down behind the mountains, but Grasmere Lake provides stunning reflections of the west for your photos. Just watch out for the geese and their nemesis, the Goosinator.

Readers' Choice: Red Rocks Amphitheatre

The Rocky Mountain Land Library has added a Denver outpost to the original in South Park, where the organization devoted to a growing collection of books on natural history is turning an old ranch into a very special world devoted to words. But it has one project that you can participate in no matter where you happen to be in Colorado. The first and only requirement of the Cloud Atlas Project is that you look up — and, if you can, record what you see, as weather changes and sunsets occur and cloud after cloud rolls by in the Colorado sky. Whatever you capture, you can share it, helping to build an archive of imagery destined for a book. Other goals include related public programming, a gallery show, the building of cloud-spotting stations in prime locations and more. Things are definitely looking up!

cloudatlasproject.org

If you know a little something about architecture and read Denver's skyline like a book, it tells a story: that most of this city's downtown is anchored and defined by large and extremely tall buildings from the oil boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with only a few newer elements. But that story is now turning a page, as the current development boom has finally inspired new skyscrapers. With its theatrical shape, the standout is definitely 1144 Fifteenth Street, by Pickard Chilton architects and developed by Hines. Rising forty stories, the building has distinctively faceted elevations, with an outrageously sculptural skyline that's split into parts by complex naturalistic curves. The building's departure from rectilinearity is pronounced by the all-over geometric grids of the curtain walls, which introduce true horizontal and vertical orientations. Nearing completion, the striking new building will be occupied by the offices of Chipotle, Optiv and Gates, among other tenants.

Believe it or not, some people hate the main building of the Denver Art Museum, a silver-glass-tile-clad brutalist fortress designed by big-time Italian modernist Gio Ponti and completed in 1971, and over the years they've repeatedly suggested that it be demolished. Instead, DAM director Christoph Heinrich and the museum's board of trustees dismissed any thought of tearing it down, and instead decided to spruce up the place. The $150 million-plus project, which has just gotten under way, is being designed by Fentress Architects with Machado Silvetti and headed up by Jorge Silvetti, a lifelong admirer of Ponti; the plan is to fix what's wrong and add an adjacent pavilion intended to visually link the Ponti to the Hamilton Building across West 13th Avenue. Look for the revived Ponti to reopen in 2021, just in time for the building's fiftieth anniversary.

Patrick Marold is one of Colorado's most accomplished conceptual artists, and he was tapped to create "Sun Silo" for Community Park at Boulevard One, an extension of Lowry. The sculpture is a multi-story cylinder made of rings of steel with a bronze-like patina; the overall shape accounts for the "Silo" part of the title, while concave sections of the rings that allow light to reflect and shine through account for the "Sun." Marold is well known for his interest in manipulating natural light, but right now, "Sun Silo" could use a little time in the spotlight, since the surrounding park has yet to be landscaped and the adjacent town center is under construction. But if you can make your way to the piece, you'll find it illuminating.

Community Park, East Lowry Boulevard and Pontiac Street

Readers' Choice: 'Duct-Work 2

Outside the new Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art are five abstract sculptures that embody the last half-century of modern art in Colorado. The earliest piece is 1964's "Yin Yang," a two-part bronze fountain of interlocking organic shapes by Edgar Britton, the region's foremost mid-century modernist sculptor. There are two pieces by the state's dean of contemporary sculpture, Robert Mangold, one from 1980 in the fenced-in sculpture garden, and another done in 1982 that's mounted on the front of the building; both are tubular constructions from Mangold's "Tetrahedralhypersphere" series. These twentieth-century works are joined by two more recent sculptures: Near the historic Vance Kirkland Studio is "Celestial Echo," a bifurcated folded-plate form by Michael Clapper from 2004, and, marking the main entrance, "Procyon," by David Mazza, a tall and thin zigzagging piece from 2008. The greater Civic Center area already boasted the city's most significant public art; this new group puts it over the top.

Anthony Garcia Sr.'s serape style is everywhere: The Denver native's multicolor patterns have wrapped surfaces across the city, from bus benches and bus stops to dumpsters and electrical boxes. His designs are simple, clean, vivid and immediately recognizable, often imitating textured fabric and weaving patterns that pay homage to the Mile High City's indigenous history. Now he's making history with his most magnificent public work to date, on the new Federal Boulevard bridge running over 6th Avenue. The massive pillars on the bridge have been adorned by Garcia with bold blacks, pinks, greens and whites, acting as a welcome sign to anyone coming into the city from the west. While Colorado's flag is all red, yellow and blue, Garcia's kaleidoscopic hues and nod to Denver's colorful past truly capture the city's diverse cultural identity.

Readers' Choice: Anna Charney

RedLine, the downtown studio complex with expansive exhibition spaces, celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2018 with a major retrospective. One of the show's pieces is a permanent addition: "R-P Curvature," by Clark Richert, which was painted right on the wall adjacent to the entrance of RedLine. This particular part of town is lousy with wall-sized murals, but few rise to the level of real art, as Richert's geometric abstraction does. The composition is derived from physics, with the precise trajectories of the multi-colored curving lines entangling with one another and running across an underlying grid predetermined by equations. Laura Merage founded RedLine a decade ago with the goal of creating an "art incubator," and she's succeeded, bringing Richert — one of the founders of Colorado's Drop City artist commune in the '60s — together with the under-forty art crowd.

The mythology of the galaxies contained in decades of video-game history were the inspiration for Victor Escobedo's mural on the side of Level 7 Games. Influenced by figures from such classic games as Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros., along with a more niche series like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Escobedo drew from his own trove of ancient archetypes and futuristic imagery to create a classic scene of good versus evil. Fitting well with Level 7's embrace of all gaming systems and series, the freshly imagined characters come alive on a floating scroll background, referencing the timeless rolling credits of Star Wars. Escobedo's black-lined hieroglyphs pop against the stucco-colored background, creating the perfect homage to the well-loved, aging mini-universes of video games.

Lakewood's 40 West Arts District, first designated as such in 2012, is finally gaining ground along the West Colfax corridor, thanks in part to the recent exodus of Denver co-ops priced out of the city, which are now putting down new roots in the suburb to the west. Anchored by the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design campus, RTD's Lamar light-rail station, 40 West headquarters at 1560 Teller Street and even the iconic pink tower of Casa Bonita, the district hosts unified First Friday art walks, an annual MuralFest devoted to beautifying walls and an underground community of artmakers and galleries. Go West, young art fan.

Gentrification has taken its toll on many of the city's art districts, but against all odds, Denver's Art District on Santa Fe has persisted. Though the official boundaries are somewhat more expansive, on the blocks going north (along with traffic) between West 4th and West 10th avenues you'll find Space Gallery, Rule Gallery, Mai Wyn Fine Art, Artists on Santa Fe, Michael Warren Contemporary, CHAC, Museo de las Americas, Artwork Network, Spark Gallery, Core Gallery, SYNC Gallery and the MSUD Center for Visual Art, among many other art-related spots. But nothing demonstrates Santa Fe's primacy better than the success of its monthly First Friday Art Walks, which attract so many art (and fun) lovers that the district even sponsors a shuttle to deal with the crowds.

denversartdistrict.org

Readers' Choice: Art District on Santa Fe

As many Denver neighborhoods find their identities swallowed whole by development, the west side's Lincoln Park has stood strong, thanks in part to cultural hubs like Museo de las Americas. Subverting stereotypes of Latin American art, museum shows blend fine art with street art, showing the work of both new and established artists, who take on such topics as religion and iconography, weaving and textile traditions, immigration issues and the power of resistance. Tapping into the surrounding community is part of what makes this institution so strong: Museo's programming and artists reflect Denver's own cultural identity, but from a global perspective. And its First Friday bashes and other special events should persuade anyone that a museum visit doesn't have to be a stuffy experience.

Independent curator Cortney Lane Stell launched Black Cube in October 2015, as artist Desirée Holman's sci-fi-themed multimedia performance unfolded under the stars at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, lit up by video-mapped imagery across the landmark's stone walls. You might say Black Cube started with a bang, but that kind of drama is all in a day's work for Stell, whose dedication to trying new things with trusted artists both local and international continues to pay off. In just the past year, she helped local artists Joel Swanson and Laura Shill mount a show at the 59th Venice Biennale, pulled off a major site-specific installation on the Denver Wastewater campus with the artist collective Institute for New Feeling, and instigated two pop-up iterations of the Drive-In series, in which artists use vehicles to express personal stories and themes — and more. This year, get ready for Stuart Semple's "Happy City: Art for the People," a six-week collaboration with the Denver Theatre District.

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When you're headed to an opening at RedLine, it's hard not to recall what this part of town was like ten years ago, when parking was plentiful. While that situation has changed dramatically, RedLine has stayed true to its mission of providing an arts incubator for Denver. And on opening nights, a refrigerator. There's often a generous spread to match the free booze, which gets conversation flowing just as freely. This is a see-and-be-seen scene, but don't get so caught up in socializing that you forget to look at the art. Not only is the work in the show opening that night worth your attention, but many of the studios in back will be open, too, where artists will be happy to part with recent pieces to anyone carrying cash or a checkbook.

Readers' Choice: Denver Art Museum

Don't wait for an opening-night to party at MCA Denver. There's always something going on at the museum, from a spring series that features comedic storytelling captured on a live podcast to yoga in the galleries to a new lending library of art by local artists to discussions on matters great and small to, yes, exhibit openings. And if by chance you happen by the MCA on a day when the only official activities are viewing already-open (but invariably interesting) shows, you can always pop up to the rooftop cafe and make your own party. Mark your calendar for the MCA's upcoming fundraising bashes, which have become legendary around town.

Understudy, a project operated and funded by the Denver Theatre District, debuted last October as 700 square feet of unfettered creative experimentation, offering free, short, changing residencies in a dedicated nook of the Colorado Convention Center. Since then, we've seen musical collaborations, art installations, art discussions, new models in art marketing, hands-on activities and, ending March 30, "The Little Chapel of Our Holy Motherboard," an interactive device stoked with digital animations poking fun at the deification of 21st-century technologies. It's the kind of place where you can slip in and out during lunch hour — or spend hours chatting with Denver creatives.

Over the past few years, artist Jonathan Saiz has been experimenting with different and self-generated ways of approaching the business of art while bypassing gallery representation. The latest is 7000 Reasons, a collaboration with friend and fellow painter Wes Magyar that pitches colorful seven-by-seven-inch portraits with a happy theme over a period of seven months. Each painting goes for $143, a fair price for works by the two established artists, and they're taking orders through July. While their goal is to sell 7,000 artworks in that time and to collect them in a book, that's not really the point, they say. After all, here's 7000 Reasons' motto: "We know life isn't all rainbows and unicorns, but 7000 Reasons will be!" Catch a rainbow for yourself.

Boulder artist and University of Colorado Boulder instructor Steven Frost is a disciple of Carol Frances Lung, aka Frau Fiber, whose Sewing Rebellion movement invites people to commemorate sweat-shop laborers and their essential work through sewing projects. Frost, an official "Faux Frau," carries on Lung's mission locally by mentoring free monthly DIY sewing workshops at the Boulder Public Library's BLDG 61 Makerspace, where he encourages participants to upcycle used materials in creating everything from bike caps to Halloween costumes. Visit the Facebook page for a schedule and register in advance, as classes fill up fast.

Clyfford Still Museum archivist Jessie de la Cruz and photographer Sigri Strand put their heads together to create Arthyve, a nonprofit with the goal of helping Colorado artists document their work for posterity in digital and/or physical memory banks. To accomplish this, they've hosted workshops and symposia to get artists started on their own boxes, with plans to expand in the future. It's their way of acknowledging how our state's arts community makes Colorado a better place to live, now and in the future.

arthyve.org

Denver real estate is at a premium, and the squeeze is putting artists in an especially difficult position, as studio space is limited and affordability is even more rare. Welcome to Camp Kalamath. The warehouse — owned by visual artist Tom Bond — is tucked away in an industrial area of Englewood, and the low-slung mid-century modern building doesn't look like much from the outside. But inside Camp Kalamath, the possibilities are endless, with room after room and garage after garage packed with muralists, woodworkers, welders, sign fabricators, industrial designers and even a car-restoration expert. Some of Denver's most-seen public artists have found a home here, with the likes of Jaime Molina, Anthony Garcia Sr. and Victor Escobedo sharing studio walls as well as inspiration. Happy campers, indeed.

Denverite Sommer Browning is many things — a librarian, a poet, a comic artist and sometime standup — but last year, she added gallerist to her résumé by opening up her garage near the Art District on Santa Fe for exhibits and happenings on a small and intimate scale. Georgia Art Space, named after her inspiring daughter, is part of a think-small movement favoring artist-run spaces on the edge of a rapidly commercialized art world, and it's not over yet. After a break, Browning is now in the throes of planning for 2018 events.

Musician, archivist and Colfax enthusiast Jonny Barber (aka the Velvet Elvis) makes no bones about his love for Denver's longest main drag, but he turned it up a notch last year by opening Denver's first and only Colfax Museum, a loving repository of Colfax lore, trivia and historical collectibles. The museum recently relocated from West Colfax to East Colfax, where it now resides inside the Ed Moore Florist shop on the boundary of Denver's Montclair and Park Hill neighborhoods. Regular hours are Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and, yes, the museum has T-shirts.

People from around the world come to Denver specifically to visit the Clyfford Still Museum, so if you've got friends and family coming to town, they should see it, too. Still, an acknowledged master of abstract expressionism, had only the slightest association with Colorado before his death. In his will, he dictated that any American city willing to build a museum to house his oeuvre would receive the collection, and Denver stepped up in 2004 when then-mayor John Hickenlooper committed to meeting the requirements of the will. Housed in an austerely elegant concrete pavilion, the Still is home to 95 percent of the artist's output, so if you want to see his classic, often massively sized compositions, this is where you have to do it. But the museum is a great place for in-towners, too, because director Dean Sobel keeps things lively by constantly changing out pieces.

Readers' Choice: Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Works in this town's major galleries typically trade for healthy prices, but Zip 37 regularly shows pieces that sell for just a few hundred dollars — and even less if those pieces are in the gallery's Back Room. An artist cooperative founded more than twenty years ago, Zip 37 numbers such well-known local artists as Zoa Ace, Pat Cronin, Katie Hoffman, Jennifer Melton, Louis Recchia and Jean Smith among its members. Just a couple of years ago, Zip 37 was part of a thriving alternative scene along this block of Navajo Street, but Edge, Pirate and Next left in the face of rising rents. Today, Zip 37 and the Bug Theatre are the last survivors.

Readers' Choice: Affordable Arts Festival

Last holiday season, Tracy Weil of the River North Arts District gave the idea of opening a shop selling artist-made merchandise a hard trial by filling a vacant spot at the Source on Brighton Boulevard. Chock-full of unusual art wares designed and created by RiNo artists and makers, the temporary store made a good impression with handmade holiday cards, artist prints, clothing, jewelry and a wealth of items produced by neighborhood residents. RiNo's had its share of struggles and growing pains, spawning arguments about whether the district still serves the artists who put it on the map as a destination, but RiNo Made attempts to prove those arguments wrong. And it's sticking: A permanent RiNo Made store is now open in the new multi-purpose Zeppelin Station development at 35th and Wazee streets, within walking distance of the Blake Street light-rail station.

Robischon Gallery, the city's flagship contemporary-art venue, opened in 1976 and moved to its current LoDo location close to thirty years ago. The charming red-brick building holds a series of swanky, high-ceilinged exhibition spaces that spread out over more than 9,000 square feet. That's about the size of a small museum, which Robischon could well be, given the quality of its exhibits. Works by dozens of the best Colorado artists, as well as many of the big names in national and international contemporary art, are regularly shown at Robischon. Over the decades, co-owners Jim Robischon and Jennifer Doran have made an outsized contribution to Denver's art scene; long may they continue to do so.

Readers' Choice: Denver Art Museum

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, paintings, drawings, prints and photos depicting the American West made our region world-famous, turning the mountains and high deserts into celebrity locales familiar around the world. This art was produced by homegrown talent as well as a legion of artists who flocked to the area. Denver's premier purveyor of the resulting material is David Cook Galleries, a pair of linked storefronts with one given over to Western art, the other to Native American art. Cook features the all-stars of New Mexico and Colorado, with work by the Taos group, the giants of the Broadmoor Academy, and on and on. Fair warning: Their work has been collected for generations, so if you have to ask how much something costs, you can't afford it.

Readers' Choice: American Museum of Western Art

The century-plus tradition of depicting the Western landscape still thrives in contemporary painting, but the renderings are done in an array of up-to-the-minute styles, with the scenery translated into formalist reductions, expressionist riots or hyperrealist recordings. You can see them all at the William Havu Gallery, where the work of artists such as Jane Abrams, Jeff Aeling, Lynn Boggess, Michael Burrows, Stephen Dinsmore, Rick Dula, Jean Gumpper, Jeremy Hillhouse and Jivan Lee, among many others, is readily on hand. And if you hurry, you can catch The Modern West, a duet showcasing the meticulously painted yet cartoonish parodies of the mountains by husband-and-wife artists Tracy Felix and Sushe Felix.

After being declared all but dead at the end of the twentieth century, abstraction has unexpectedly come on stronger than ever during the first couple of decades of the 21st. As a result, abstraction is just about everywhere in the art scene, from co-ops to museums. In Denver, you can always find some form of abstraction at the impressive Space Gallery, which occupies its own custom-built, neo-modernist building. Space's owner, Michael Burnett, is an abstract painter himself, and he features like-minded artists here. Many abstracts are large, if not enormous, making the double-height main gallery, with its long walls, an ideal place to present them. But even smaller pieces work beautifully in the exhibition rooms at Space.

Readers' Choice: Museum of Contemporary Art Denver

No major venue in the metro area has focused as intently on contemporary art in Colorado than the Arvada Center. Collin Parson, director of galleries for the past eight years, often presents sprawling group exhibits in the very spacious lower galleries that are based on some kind of theme or topic, and he populates these shows with pieces by dozens of artists from around the state — not just the well-known names, but less familiar artists from the ski towns, the Western Slope and southern Colorado. At other times, Parson curates compelling solos that explore the work of individual Colorado artists in depth. But regardless of what's inside, there's always a large ensemble of three-dimensional pieces by Colorado artists in the sculpture garden just south of the building and, yes, Parson curated that, too.

Since Jeromie Dorrance and Adam Milner opened Dateline in 2014, the house gallery on Larimer Street has mounted shows with a sense of adventure while acknowledging the need for a critical eye. These days, 2016 Westword MasterMind Dorrance holds down the fort by himself, but he sticks to Dateline's original aesthetic as a place where experimentation, virtual residencies, brave installations and new faces — artists and curators alike, both local and national — control their own destinies. Every city needs a proving ground; in a town where nurturing artist-run galleries are now popping up everywhere, Dateline was one of the first...and remains the best.

Readers' Choice: RedLine

From the get-go, Leon Gallery was conceived as a showplace where artists could thrive and show their most experimental work, unsullied by the constrictive forces of the commercial art world, even if Leon was technically a commercial gallery. Now owners Eric Dallimore and Eric Nord have carried that commitment further by going nonprofit, a rarity in any art scene, and a trusting model that essentially turns the space over to an exhibiting artist for a given period of time. You might not always see the most polished work there, but it's certain that you'll see some of the most ambitious, created by artists whose imaginations have been set free from financial restrictions.

Just as artists have been doing for decades, three art venues came together last year to form the innovative 1412 Collective and share the old Mike Wright space in LoDo. While Abend Gallery and Gallery 1261 both tilt toward traditional art, K Contemporary has been hosting some of the hottest shows in town. Artist Doug Kacena is the force behind the new space, and with K Contemporary, he's shown himself to be an able curator who's already assembled a formidable stable of high-profile Colorado artists, including Monique Crine, Michael Dowling, Kevin Sloan, Suchitra Mattai, Karen Roehl, Scott Young and Mario Zoots.

The first thing you notice when you walk into Le Méridien hotel downtown is the stunning work by artist Jonathan Saiz called "Marie." It includes 1,100 tiny portraits of Marie Antoinette, all situated to form the silhouette of a mountain peak. It's just one example of the 1,700-plus pieces of art found throughout the property, and guests can go on a self-guided art tour of the ground floor to check out paintings by artists Laura Guese, Mia Mulvey and many more. Head up to 54Thirty, Le Méridien's rooftop bar, and catch even more works along the way, including Ramon Bonilla's "Netherworld: The Front Range." If you're lucky enough to be staying here, you can also peruse the original art in the guest rooms and hallways.

Forget stale popcorn and Junior Mints. Greasy hands down, Alamo Drafthouse Sloan's Lake has the best food of any movie theater in metro Denver. Start simple with popcorn (not stale), which can be doused in herb parmesan, truffle parmesan butter or clarified butter; move on to appetizers like Buffalo cauliflower or edamame hummus; then keep going to entrees of pizza, salads, burgers and more. You can finish up your meal with a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie or an adult milkshake or other alcoholic beverage. And that's just during the movie! After the final reel, enjoy a nightcap or three in Barfly, the Alamo's excellent bar that's worth a visit all its own.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse

Ooh la la! Bistro Vendôme, the charming French restaurant in a courtyard off Larimer Square, introduced a tasty treat last year: Monday Movie Night. Twice a month, the restaurant hosts a special screening of classic food, French or French food movies paired with a three-course, prix fixe menu created by Bistro Vendôme's culinary team. The cinematic offerings have ranged from Sabrina to La La Land; Babette's Feast is one of April's offerings. The intimate atmosphere is ideally suited for movie-watching, but the exquisite food is the reel draw.

Luxury movie theaters are becoming status quo — which means the competition for most comfortable theater gets steeper each year. After all, multiplexes have to take on the fiercest competition: living rooms. AMC movie theaters in particular have taken up the challenge of re-creating that coziness, and nowhere is this more true than at AMC Bowles Crossing, where the seats, which you pick out yourself, are more comforting than a baby blanket. Drink, eat and be merry — and, most important, kick up your feet and recline, just as you would back home. But don't fall asleep: That would defeat the purpose of leaving your living room.

Readers' Choice: Alamo Drafthouse

The Sie, backed by the movie-loving Denver Film Society, has never wanted for good programming, at least not on the small and artful level, but this year, things are changing in a big way. Sie programmer Keith Garcia, who recently returned to the theater after leaving in 2014 for other pursuits, now has the ability to program higher-profile mainstream films around a continuing slate of festivals, series and select indie and art-house fare. Garcia says his job is to decide what's appropriate for the Sie's faithful fan base on all levels, which allows for more varied programming that will bring in new faces and continue to satisfy the old ones. It's the best of both worlds!

Readers' Choice: Landmark Mayan Theatre

If you're a major nonprofit or a corporation, it's possible to book compelling movies. But what is a DIY microcinema programmer working on a shoestring budget supposed to do? In Denver, Adán de la Garza, curator of Collective Misnomer (his title is a misnomer, because he's the sole brains behind the operation), manages to offer a challenging mix of short films and experimental documentaries, and even hosts traveling filmmakers at a variety of spots, including the Dikeou Pop-Up, the Sie FilmCenter and the Alamo Drafthouse Sloan's Lake — all with money he brings in from the door and donates himself. He does this with his ethics intact, by ensuring that his filmmakers get a cut of the door.

collectivemisnomer.com

When it comes to putting on a stunning festival, it's hard to beat the Denver Film Society's annual Denver Film Festival, which offers up nearly two weeks of programming each year, including blockbuster independent films, documentaries and a handful of experimental works and animation. In addition to movies galore, the festival also gives Denverites the opportunity to hobnob with actors, directors and producers on the red carpet and in theaters and bars. The fest just turned forty, and we can't wait to see what the next four decades bring.

Readers' Choice: Denver Film Festival

denverfilmfestival.denverfilm.org

In the social-media world of inspirational-quote memes and viral feel-good videos, it can be hard to find authentic voices. Fortunately, Denver has Lady Speech. The poet, performer, tarot reader, intuitive, spellcaster and Westword MasterMind takes to Facebook several times a week to share her thoughts on the current state of the world, centering feminism, blackness and mental and physical well-being through her mini-orations. Sometimes she shares her wisdom with brief status updates; other times, this life guide will post stream-of-consciousness videos. If her Facebook briefs have you energized, the witch-of-all-trades also conducts private tarot readings, teaches ceremonial healing for trauma survivors and is even an ordained minister. Tune in to the Lady Speech spiritual network on Facebook to be enlightened and energized, but be forewarned: This queen is passionate with her words, and some of her mini-sermons are NSFW.

facebook.com/LadySpeechSankofa

Whether putting on a show inside a music venue, a brewery, a pizzeria or the basement of an old Denver mansion, Audacious Theatre is the master of transforming a space. This small, local immersive company has a knack for creating ambience with a just a few yards of fabric and some simple lighting tricks. It converted the Parkside Mansion into a murderous dungeon for an original production, Lady Killers, and was able to perfectly capture the sleaze of a '70s pick-up bar for its own version of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago. For Audacious, immersive also means highly interactive, as artistic director Ren Manley and company break the fourth wall by inviting audience members to perform karaoke, throw darts at pictures of ex-lovers and beat the crap out of piñatas.

audacioustheatre.com

There are decent dinner-theater offerings throughout the area, but nothing as tasty as the evenings hosted by BDT Stage, previously Boulder's Dinner Theatre. For starters, the food is several cuts above most dinner-theater fare — we found housemade burrata on the menu last time we visited — and artistic director Michael J. Duran always casts reliably talented performers who know how to carry a tune. And then some, as in the case of Always...Patsy Cline, currently playing through May 20. Fall brings the updated I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. And we know that you're sick of Disney's The Little Mermaid by now, but we're betting your three-year-old isn't, so plan on under-the-sea enchantment and a happy toddler this summer.

Three plays in rotation, all completely different from each other: a crazy comic version of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility in which the flying, sliding, hopping furniture is almost a character in its own right; a magic realism piece centered on a sick child called The Electric Baby; and a powerful production of Arthur Miller's tragic All My Sons, about a man haunted by a crime he committed during World War II that led to the deaths of several young pilots. The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities has brought back the concept of repertory with its Black Box Theatre, and one of the pleasures of attending all three well-staged productions is seeing the versatility of some of the area's finest actors in a variety of roles. The plays are shown in rotation through the first week of May, but we can expect another worthy round next year.

The Miners Alley auditorium is one of the most pleasant in the area. Even better is the lounge, where you'll find a full bar called Lillie's Saloon that's open for an hour before showtime. Yes, you can carry your drink into the theater — and you'll also have a chance to mingle with the actors in the lounge afterward. It doesn't hurt that under the direction of Len Matheo, the company is doing a very interesting mix of contemporary and traditional work these days. We're particularly intrigued by Aaron Posner's District Merchants, a sharp and humorous take on The Merchant of Venice, running from May 18 to June 24. Remember: free beer and wine on opening night.

As the first offering in its new and permanent space in Lakewood (first pioneered by Edge), Benchmark presented A Kid Like Jake, a thoughtful and well-executed play about a four-year-old who loves princesses and wants to dress as Snow White for Halloween, and the efforts of his worried parents to get him into a first-rate preschool. The rest of this inaugural season will introduce local audiences to interesting and critically acclaimed works that are still relatively unknown here, along with a new play by local author Jeffrey Neuman. And then there's the second annual Fever Dream Festival, a "celebration of science fiction, fantasy and horror featuring new and original works." Helmed by actors Haley Johnson and Rachel Rogers, Benchmark promises to bring an entirely new sensibility to town.

There's been a bit of an identity crisis at the shabby, comfy old Fox over the past year — a handful of fantastic shows, as well as a couple that completely misfired. This summer, a new executive producer, Helen R. Murray, takes over, and her hire says a lot for Aurora's commitment to theater and the arts. An actor and writer, Murray founded The Hub in Fairfax, Virginia, a decade ago. She's a multi-award winner, known for working with playwrights and commissioning new plays. Before Murray takes the reins, however, the Fox will present Passing Strange, an exuberant and unusual musical by songwriters Stew and Heidi Rodewald that won the kind of praise you rarely hear from East Coast critics. Sounds like a fitting way to lower the curtain on the Fox's most recent act and prepare for the next.

You've got out-of-town guests who think Denver's still a sleepy cowtown? Or perhaps a onetime cowtown that's been leached of all individuality and character by developers? Take them to Buntport for one of the five-member writer-actor troupe's original plays. The company occupies a small, friendly, unpretentious playing space which it uses with incredible ingenuity, and we promise you'll have an evening packed with wit, insight and surprise that's funny as hell, completely unexpected, but also thought-provoking and often deep. We also promise that you won't see anything like this anywhere else — not in London, New York, Chicago or Podunk, Iowa.

A number of local theaters have taken up the flag for civil, women's, gay and lesbian, racial and immigrant rights in these murky and difficult times, but it's fair to say that Curious, under artistic director Chip Walton, got there first, taking risks and talking politics under the slogan "No Guts, No Story." At twenty, Curious continues to tackle new, grown-up challenges, without presenting predictable, preachy work. Through April 15, it's offering Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures. Remember the Lakewood baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple, a case that's gone all the way to the Supreme Court? Come September, Curious will stage The Cake, by up-and-coming playwright Bekah Brunstetter. "Faith, family and frosting collide in this timely new comedy," Curious hints. Sounds delicious...and very adult.

Readers' Choice: Curious Theatre Company

Children's theater is at its worst around the holidays: How many times can you take the kids to see A Christmas Carol without turning into Scrooge? Cleo Parker Robinson Dance's annual Granny Dances to a Holiday Drum defies the odds; it's a family-friendly, multi-generational, multicultural holiday extravaganza about an aging dancer sharing with her grandchildren her memories of performing around the globe. The production is jam-packed with myths from more than a dozen cultures that reflect on the winter holiday season. And like all Cleo Parker Robinson performances, it's a perfect high-energy mix of song, dance and acting that will keep kids of all ages engaged and learning at the same time.

Readers' Choice: Arvada Center

Every now and then, while watching a swift new play about clever young people or a piece that strains to be socially and politically relevant, we long to hear the strong, sure and deeply musical voice of August Wilson, one of America's foremost playwrights, chronicler of the black experience, and creator of an extraordinary community of black folks in his ten-part Pittsburgh cycle. Fences, sixth in the cycle, tells the story of Troy, a flawed and difficult man newly released from prison and struggling to care for his family. It's coming in April 2018 to the Lone Tree Arts Center, a venue whose productions, though few and far between, are always professional and meticulous.

We always like finding a playwright who's rising steadily through the ranks and just might become one of the next major names in theater. Bekah Brunstetter — the same Bekah Brunstetter whose The Cake will be showing at Curious Theatre in the fall — wrote Going to a Place Where You Already Are, which the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company will present starting April 12 at the Dairy Arts Center. The play begins with a couple cutting up in church during a funeral; these aren't teenage kids, but folks in their seventies, and the script is full of humor and heart.

betc.org

What a privilege to see The Who's Tommy — the musical based on the band's iconic 1969 album about a boy who retreats into silence after a traumatic event and rediscovers himself through his genius for pinball — directed by Britisher Sam Buntrock. That's the same Sam Buntrock whose amazing Frankenstein created all kinds of depth and meaning through the extraordinary technical capabilities of the Denver Center two years ago. What will he do with pinball? We're all humming, "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me" in anticipation of the show, which opens at the Denver Center April 20.

The Denver Center is the behemoth of the performing arts scene. When there's excitement and genuine artistry happening there, it vitalizes the entire community. When the offerings feel stale, hackneyed or half-hearted, a lot of energy leaches away. Chris Coleman, longtime artistic director for Portland Center Stage, has been hired to head the DCPA Theatre Company and will start his job in May. We can't predict what he'll do — he's currently feeling out both the city and the organization — but interviews indicate that he's smart, eclectic, confident and energetic, likes both classic and contemporary plays, finds the center's immersive pieces of the past two years impressive, and is fond of musicals. "I think what television and film do well is photographic, super-naturalistic," he told us. "What I want is something more theatrical or imaginative, something that asks the audience to finish the story."

denvercenter.org

After an almost yearlong hiatus, the Black Actors Guild returned last fall with "Show Ya Teef," the monthly improv night that first put this group of young artists on the map. Formed in 2009 by classmates then attending the Denver School of the Arts, the Black Actors Guild quickly earned a reputation beyond the student body, putting on plays, hosting standup comedy nights and offering its now-famed improv sets in venues across the city. With hundreds of shows under its collective belt, today the ever-expanding troupe of comedians, actors, playwrights and musicians displays a winning mix of humor and realism, youthful optimism and cool cynicism. Catch the seasoned performers on the intimate stage of the Voodoo Comedy Playhouse, where they take on topics such as politics, identity, social media, the environment and interpersonal relationships...all with good humor.

facebook.com/blkactorsguild

For years, El Charrito's erstwhile dining room lay dormant, a storage area that its patrons mostly ignored. But thanks to the joint efforts of local comic Timmi Lasley and proprietor Matt Orrin, the dusty little dive bar has turned into a second home for Denver's standup community, and the host venue for several of its best comedian-produced showcases. From the goofy experimentation of theme shows like Nerd Roast, Designated Drunkard and We Still Like You to improv, sketch and even a dystopian live podcast, El Charrito's Comedy RoomRoom has become an indispensable component of the scene. With audiences regularly outnumbering available seats these days, it's safe to say that Orrin and Lasley's efforts have paid off.

Denver is positively lousy with comedy open mics; nary a day goes by without an opportunity for some aspiring standup to get stage time. That wasn't the case a dozen years ago, however, when Troy Baxley founded the weekly Monday night open mic at the Lion's Lair, creating the city's first and only opportunity for local comics to practice their craft away from the watchful eye of the clubs. Though the hosts have changed often over the years, the Lion's Lair mic has thrived during Denver's comedy boomlet, growing without ever losing track of its essential chaotic nature. Currently hosted by Roger Norquist and Westword's own Byron Graham, it's still the best place for comedy nerds to get their weekly dose of weird — including, but not limited to, heckler-shaming chants, standup duels and puppet parties. Sign-up begins every Monday at 10 p.m.

Readers' Choice: Comedy Works Downtown

The newest resident on one of downtown's most bustling corners, Oskar Blues's Black Buzzard defined itself early by forging relationships with local creatives, including a strong partnership with Denver standup supergroup the Pussy Bros. Boasting a cavernous subterranean stage with great sound, frothy brews and twice-weekly comedy shows, the Buzzard has proven a godsend for both the city's hardworking comedians and the crowds who love them. Don't miss Christie Buchele's rotating roster of weekly standup showcases, every Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.

Before Lucha Libre & Laughs marks its fifth anniversary in June, we're presenting another award to this outfit that just keeps expanding on its already heavyweight charms. For the sadly uninitiated, Lucha Libre & Laughs combines standup with gravity-defying pro wrestling to the delight of a loyal, bloodthirsty crowd. In addition to booking brawny lineups on the stage and in the ring, producer Nick Gossert handles promotions and referees the matches in theatrically bumbling fashion. The year ahead promises even more ringside domination as Gossert goes to the mat with new mediums while still maintaining the mark-pummeling splendor that Denver comedy fans have come to know and love.

Wheelchair Sports Camp MC Kalyn Heffernan has had a busy year. In addition to aggressively touring North America with her band, she's also been speaking out against the border wall between the United States and Mexico, drumming up support for accessible venues, decrying economic injustice, and fighting for access to health care for all. She led a multi-day sit-in at Senator Cory Gardner's office in June, trying to persuade the Republican to vote against a GOP repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and recently took City Councilman Albus Brooks to task over gentrification.

wheelchairsportscamp.co

Long before the #MeToo movement captured national headlines, the Colorado Springs-based punk band Cheap Perfume was railing against rape culture and misogyny. The group offers up angst-ridden yet liberating, often crass declarations against sexual assault, all while advocating for sex-positivity and against the patriarchy. On top of all that, the act's brand of Riot Grrrl-inspired pop punk is impossible not to dance to. If the #MeToo movement had a soundtrack, Cheap Perfume would definitely be on it.

cheapperfume.bandcamp.com

Hans Meyer is a legend in Colorado's immigrant-rights community. He's a smart-as-a-whip attorney who has mastered the art of fighting for undocumented people and their families in court. Watch him in action, and he's as buttoned-up and professional as a lawyer can be. But put a mic in his hand and things get a little...sweaty. As one of the lead singers of the Denver punk band Wild Lives, Meyer rips off his clothes, leaps on and off amps, and dominates whatever venue he's performing in, flaming through covers of punk classics and originals alike. That he gets up and goes to work like the rest of us the next day makes his shows that much more incredible.

facebook.com/wildlivesmusic

The Denver-based Roka Hueka plays radically cross-cultural ska music, borrowing from punk, Afrobeat, reggae and occasionally hip-hop to make music that's rooted in Latino culture and fierce as all get out — not to mention fun. The band founded an annual benefit concert to raise funds for immigrant causes, using its music-industry ties to help a community that has been under attack by the Trump administration.

facebook.com/roka.hueka

The best Denver musicians are hardworking, highly collaborative and willing to take risks and try out new sounds. Few have exemplified those traits like Nathaniel Rateliff. He has worked both as a singer-songwriter and as a frontman for Born in the Flood, the Wheel, and the soul act Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, which just released its new album, Tearing at the Seams. Traveling the world, playing at the Grand Ole Opry and the Apollo in the same week, and garnering headlines in the biggest publications, Rateliff, who was born and raised in Missouri but has lived in Colorado since the late '90s, has become synonymous with local music, and has brought acclaim to this city with his work ethic, songwriting chops and performance skills.

nathanielrateliff.com

The guys in Under a Blood Red Sky take the music of U2 very seriously; in fact, frontman Billy Bunting has been channeling Bono for so long it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. The band will occasionally arrange its set lists by era, changing outfits and stage visuals to align with what U2 wore on various tours over the years, and has even re-created the legendary 1983 Red Rocks show from which it gets its name.

uabrs.com

Good music. Good message. Good people. Those are three things that make Roots, Rice & Beans Denver's best new band. Rapper Molina Speaks formed the project in 2017 with fellow Westword MasterMind ILL Se7en, Roka Hueka bassist Ric Urrutia and Wild Lives/Roka Hueka drummer Blake Pendergrass. Merging experimental jazz beats with tight bars courtesy of Speaks and ILL Se7en, Roots, Rice & Beans ditches the preconceived notions that hip-hop should be driven by a rapper alone and that a pre-recorded track or jazz must be relegated to background music. Instead, these artists favor innovation, genre blending and putting on a stunning, moving show. Unlike many bands that labor at branding and promotions, Roots, Rice & Beans instead focuses its energy on music and poetry.

molinaspeaks.com

Readers' Choice: Decatur

The influence of Jessi Whitten, music director and assistant program director for Colorado Public Radio's OpenAir, can be heard across the airwaves. The radio veteran's taste is vast and eclectic, but her secret weapon is an intense knowledge of her home state's music scene. Whitten's programming blends local and international acts, and she helped push the likes of Esmé Patterson and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats beyond state lines. Prior to helping launch CPR's OpenAir in 2011, she was at Boulder's famed Radio 1190, a college station known for producing listener-favorite on-air personalities. In addition to deejaying and directing OpenAir, Whitten contributes to NPR Music and has made appearances on NPR's Morning Edition and All Songs Considered, as well as on New York public-radio station WNYC.

cpr.org/openair

For more than two decades, active rock station KBPI has occupied the 106.7 position on the FM dial. So it was a shock to longtime listeners in Denver when the outlet jumped to 107.9 to make room for The Bull, a new country offering. And while there have been some technical difficulties with this transition that are in the process of being fixed thanks to the perseverance of station vet Willie B, the switch will ultimately have an unexpected benefit for Coloradans who love rockin' down the highway. Because the station can also be heard at 107.9 FM in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, it will soon be possible to drive from Cheyenne to Pueblo without ever having to change the channel. Before long, you'll have no reason to take your hands off the wheel — unless it's to play air guitar.

kbpi.iheart.com

Glasss Records is guided by ethos, not genres. Musical outfits like RAREBYRD$, Abeasity Jones, Pearls and Perils, and EVP crisscross hip-hop, post-punk, noise and electroclash and find themselves right at home on the vinyl- and cassette-centric label. Run by musical power couple Vahco Before Horses and Amanda Gostomski — who perform in various projects themselves, including Glasss acts Gold Trash and Princes Dewclaw — the label seeks to collaborate with the artists it signs. Glasss Records also backs the idea that artists can be studio producers and record engineers, putting them squarely in control of their own product. Before Horses and Gostomski serve as curators and helping hands, demonstrating how local music can become next-level when everyone works together.

glasssrecords.com

It's hard to categorize Erin Stereo. This mixmaster has been a guest DJ at Mile High Soul Club and Funk Club, fought the power through music at the 45s Against 45 fundraisers, and celebrated all things house with her Everybody's Free dance parties. She spins records between acts at the Skylark and the Bluebird Theater, creates one-of-a-kind sets for KGNU, has celebrated the LGBT community behind the turntables at X Bar, adds a musical component to standup comedy shows, and entertains all-ages crowds at DIY venues like Seventh Circle Music Collective. A true music connoisseur, Erin Stereo mixes funk, soul, house, hip-hop, pop and just about any genre with a good beat.

erinstereo.com

After practicing on some turntables in a friend's garage, DJs Laura Conway and Meghan Meehan decided they were ready to heat up the dance floor for real, and the NightShift was born. Three years later, the all-vinyl post-punk, Italo disco and carefully curated pop night has gone from a small Thursday evening gathering to a bumping monthly Saturday night event at the Meadowlark. Conway and Meehan found that when women are behind the decks, more women feel comfortable on the dance floor, helping NightShift's popularity grow as a true "ladies' night." The duo recently created NightShift Karaoke, a nomadic pop-up night of YouTube karaoke, with vinyl deejayed between songs to maintain the party's vibe.

facebook.com/dancethenightshift

Back in 2016, local artist Dante Dixon, aka Dante ThatGuy, noticed that there were no spaces in Denver that showcased up-and-coming hip-hop, neo-soul and R&B artists. So he decided to launch the Vibe, a weekly open-mic night that provides space for local musicians to perform in front of a crowd and get more comfortable with their style and in their craft. The Vibe, which rotates between clubs, is also a chance for hip-hop lovers to hear new music made in their own back yard. Check Dante's Facebook page for Vibe locations.

facebook.com/dantethatguy

In our technology-driven world, finding new music is as easy as going to a website and popping in some earbuds. But where's the fun in that? Every year, Denver Got Next brings a stacked lineup of artists to Cervantes' to showcase the local hip-hop scene. Last year's Denver Got Next included hip-hop artists Maleman, Bigg Stroke and Jay Triiiple. The event — organized by DJ K-Tone and open to any and all performers — makes it easy to find local talent without hitting up twenty different concerts and gives music lovers a chance to participate in their community. Live a little!

officialdjktone.com

Environment can be key when sharing songs with strangers for the first time, and Syntax Physic Opera provides an ideal setting for singer-songwriters trying out new material or performers testing older material on a new audience. Veteran songwriter Anthony Ruptak hosts these Tuesday night sessions at the warm and inviting Syntax, where musicians get three songs to show what they've got. A couple of times a month, established or emerging artists stop by to talk about their work and songwriting in general.

Readers' Choice: Lion's Lair

While all stripes of LGBTQ people have club nights devoted to them — from leather-and-lace lovers to queens, bears and line-steppers — queer punks have been mostly SOL in the Mile High. That's what makes God Save the Queens: A Queer Punk Dance Party such a watershed event. Not only are the DJs spinning the best, darkest and edgiest industrial, punk, goth and alternative music, but the crowd is bending gender and breaking down sexual barriers — and having a helluva good time doing it.

Denver has no shortage of stunning club nights, but how many let you shake your booty to killer music while doing something that might just make the world a better place? 45s Against 45: An Anti-Trump Dance Party gives Denver's denizens the chance to do both. The night is the brainchild of DJ Jason Heller of Mile High Funk Club and Mile High Soul Club, who's been throwing these parties at various venues over the past year and has no plans to stop spinning until 45 is out of the White House. The quick-to-sell-out shindigs benefit groups like Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and, most recently, March for Our Lives. Armed with 45 rpm records and a whole lot of spunk, Heller and his guest DJs throw one of the best parties in town.

facebook.com/funkclubofdenver

Readers' Choice: The Black Box

Over the past decade, San Francisco's Temple Nightclub has built up a strong following, and last year, CEO and founder Paul Hemming opened an outpost in Denver, in the former City Hall location. The super-futuristic three-story venue, which Hemming calls "a love child of Burning Man and Las Vegas," has presented heavy-hitting EDM talent like Fedde Le Grand and Benny Benassi, who play jams pumped through a booming Funktion-One sound system. The club's LED-covered walls and laser light shows give the space a sci-fi-flavored ambience.

Readers' Choice: The Black Box

The folks behind Oskar Blues have a two-decades-long history of hosting live music at their various spots around the state, so it's not surprising that they did a superb job renovating the downtown basement space that was once home to the original Brendan's Pub and, more recently, Pat's Philly Steaks & Subs. Since opening late last year, they've filled the stage at Black Buzzard with local acts at least three nights a week. The Delta Sonics host a weekly blues jam, and the venue hosts comedy shows and comedy open-mic nights, as well.

Readers' Choice: Levitt Pavilion Denver

Although Denver lost its oldest blues club when Ziggies closed last year, Lincoln's Roadhouse has long been home to a steady stream of primarily local blues talent — most notably, the Delta Sonics, Maynard Mills and David Booker — as well as the occasional national touring act. Any time is a good time at Lincoln's, which serves up some mean Southern fare alongside the tunes, including po' boys, grilled Louisiana hot sausage and Cajun popcorn — but things can get downright rowdy on the weekends.

Readers' Choice: Dazzle

Dazzle already had a great thing going for nearly two decades at its former location at 930 Lincoln Street, but since moving downtown to much bigger digs in the old Baur's building, the jazz venue has grown into even more of a world-class establishment. With more than twice the capacity and a much bigger stage and sound system than those at the former space, the new Dazzle offers a better listening experience all around. The venue continues to book the finest local jazz talent as well as internationally known luminaries; in March alone, the club brought in the Bad Plus, Dr. Lonnie Smith, James Blood Ulmer, Jane Monheit and Chris Speed.

Readers' Choice: Nocturne

While La Rumba is the best place in town to get down to a variety of Latin music, the venue is also a great place to learn how to dance through its salsa and bachata classes and workshops, which are offered most nights of the week. Whatever level dancer you are, La Rumba also puts on popular Latin nights, especially Thursdays through Saturdays, when the club heats up and the dance floor is packed with people dancing to some of the best salsa and bachata DJs in town.

Readers' Choice: La Rumba

For nearly three decades, the Grizzly Rose has been the city's main outpost for country music, and the Country Music Association named it one of the best clubs in the U.S. The 40,000-square-foot venue, which hosts live music six nights a week, has seen rising stars on their way up — like Taylor Swift, who was still a teenager when she played there — as well as such seasoned veterans as Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. With its massive dance floor, the Grizzly Rose is also an ideal place to learn how to line-dance or two-step during monthly classes.

The fact that Swallow Hill has not only survived, but thrived over nearly forty years says a lot about the nonprofit's dedication to folk, roots and acoustic music of all kinds. Since its beginnings in 1979 as an outgrowth of the Denver Folklore Center, Swallow Hill has hosted local, national and international artists on its stages and taught countless students through its music school and, more recently, its outreach programs. Here's to another forty.

Since opening in 2010, Lost Lake has gone through a few changes, both in ownership and aesthetics. Nearly a decade ago, the club's interior sported a cabin vibe, but after renovations, the feel is more industrial, with exposed brick behind the bar. Welcome upgrades to the stage and sound system have made it the best intimate spot to see live bands most nights of the week, from acts that tour nationally to the best in local talent.

Readers' Choice: hi-dive

The folks behind the Black Box have shown time and time again that they've got dubstep down. That could be because Nicole Cacciavillano ran Sub.mission, a successful dubstep production company, for nearly a decade before opening the club in November 2016. But even though that music sounds amazing run through the Box's specially designed Basscouch sound system, there's a lot more than just dubstep here: The dual-room venue also hosts a wide variety of EDM acts at least four nights a week.

Readers' Choice: The Black Box

With Beta nearing its ten-year anniversary in May, it's safe to say that the venue is the king of dance clubs in Denver. Beta consistently pulls in the biggest names in dance music and electronica, like the Crystal Method, Infected Mushroom, Cedric Gervais and Ferry Corsten. But you don't have to take our word for it: Billboard named Beta one of the 25 Best Dance Clubs of All Time in 2015, and world-class DJ Paul Oakenfold, who has spun at the club multiple times, has called it one of the best venues in America.

Readers' Choice: The Black Box

Looking for a stiff drink and a stiffer man? Located in the building that once housed the Barker Lounge, Trade offers an unpretentious spot for gay men to congregate. This isn't a bar for the buttoned-up set: Expect underwear and leather nights, pulsing house music and hairy men galore. While some bear bars in town have garnered nasty reputations for being transphobic and misogynistic, Trade has established itself as a queer-friendly bar that's as welcoming as it is delightfully cruisy. The bartenders are fast and friendly, the beats are good, and whether you're in the market for a beer or a bear, Trade is ready and willing to serve up both.

Readers' Choice: Charlie's

Karaoke at Armida's is special because of the potential for greatness that every night holds for wannabe singers. The drinks are good at this Best of Denver stronghold, and the food is tasty (hello, Macho Nachos), but the real draw is that absolutely anyone can walk onto the stage and become a star for three or four minutes. While karaoke in front of strangers can be intimidating for first-timers, Armida's crowds are almost always engaging and supportive. And if none of that helps, there's always tequila.

Readers' Choice: Armida's

Despite a flood of development, Denver has suffered from a lesbian-bar drought in recent years. While there are plenty of open spots where queer women in this town feel welcome to drink and dance, Blush & Blu is no longer just the best lesbian bar in town; it's practically the only one. But even if there were twenty more, Blush & Blu would likely top the pack. From poker nights and poetry readings to dance parties and comedy nights, the space has got something for people of all tastes. And unlike many gay bars in Denver, Blush & Blu is transgender-inclusive.

Readers' Choice: Blush & Blu

Yes, the Pepsi Center is home to the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets, but the 18,000-seat arena is also the place to see music megastars — from legends who've been touring the globe for decades, like the Who and U2, as well as artists who've moved up in the ranks over the years, like Lady Gaga, who played the Gothic Theatre in 2009; Arcade Fire, whose first stop in Denver was the Larimer Lounge in 2004; and Lorde, who headlined the Fillmore four years ago. If you're looking for a big show with big production, you can't beat the Pepsi Center.

There are many excellent things about Red Rocks Amphitheatre, one of the most striking places in the world to see a concert outdoors. But the venue just keeps getting better, with an expanded concert season that gives music lovers even more opportunities to enjoy their favorite acts in a spectacular natural setting. While previous seasons have generally run from May until September, this year's Red Rocks calendar is jam-packed from the third week in April to late October, showcasing a wide range of talent that includes locals Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Gregory Alan Isakov and Big Gigantic.

Readers' Choice: Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Part of Levitt Pavilion's mission is to build community through free music and education, and the outdoor amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park started doing exactly that when it opened last July with an inaugural concert from Slim Cessna's Auto Club. The venue will host fifty free family-friendly concerts this season, which means fifty chances to check out a variety of local and national acts in a gorgeous lawn setting with an awesome view of the Denver skyline. When not being used for Levitt's concert season, the amphitheater is available to schools, arts organizations and other nonprofits.

Denver has long been an incubator for musical talent, and venues like the Oriental Theater really facilitate the scene. A team of booking agents packs the Oriental's calendar with live music, comedy, burlesque, live podcast tapings, film festivals, fundraisers and more, with most events having a local tie-in or including local talent. The music- and business-savvy team running this vintage venue has its finger on the pulse of the local creative community and knows how important it is to support artists at every level, giving new and established acts a chance to perform. Artists can aspire to playing the Oriental's bigger stage without worrying about having the right connections to do so. As corporations control more of Denver's music scene, the Northside gem continues to work hard for the community by creating a welcoming space where arts and music can flourish.

Despite much ado from the city about its support of DIY spaces, most that were here before the 2016 Ghost Ship fire in Oakland remain shuttered, and the few that have reopened are operating on the down-low, preferring to stay out of the spotlight. In the face of such changes, Seventh Circle Music Collective maintains its reign as Denver's strongest and longest-running aboveground DIY space. Booking more shows than some of the city's major clubs (up to five a week), the west-side venue is housed in a garage run by a motley crew of punks. The 2018 Westword MasterMind winner provides a home for local acts looking for a break as well as major and utterly obscure touring bands that prefer to play outside the bar circuit.

Readers' Choice: Upstairs Circus

A great all-ages venue does more than set — or do away with — age parameters. It cultivates a space where people can engage in cultural offerings without being judged for being too young to drink or too old to be hip. No space in Denver maintains that kind of energy like Mutiny Information Cafe, which has hosted dozens of concerts from national and local bands, book readings, live podcast recordings and more. Metal, jazz, folk and hip-hop artists and fans have all found a home at Mutiny, where they can sip coffee, play pinball, and browse comics, vinyl and books between sets.

Readers' Choice: Red Rocks Amphitheatre

For the past decade, Youth on Record has been changing the course of many Denver Public Schools students who are on the brink of dropping out by bringing music and activism together in the form of educational programming for school credit, taught in classrooms and at its own recording space, the Youth Media Studio. Recently, the organization has taken this approach to the next level with a ten-month fellowship program, which digs into music as a business while teaching financial literacy, marketing strategies and more to the next generation of the music industry. Emcee, poet, performer and scholar Molina Speaks guides and supports ambitious musicians and producers — with an emphasis on amplifying the voices of young people of color — as they learn the ins and outs of an often opaque industry. The students write and track their own goals, and at the end of the program receive a financial reward to put toward future professional goals. Youth on Record knows that in a growing city like Denver, cultivating homegrown talent is good for any business — and that includes music.

Isaac Slade of the Fray is a buddy of Governor John Hickenlooper's, who is, in turn, a passionate music fan. When Hick recruited Slade to join forces for Take Note Colorado — the governor's initiative to get a musical instrument in the hands of every child in Colorado — the singer couldn't say no, either to his friend or to a cause he felt was important. As a political independent, Slade has relished collaborating with folks on both sides of the aisle on a project that could transform the lives of children statewide.

takenotecolorado.org

It takes more than musicians, record labels and venues to make the music industry. Where and how you hear new sounds depends a lot on companies like Color Wheel Music. The music-placement and -licensing company brings Colorado artists to the national stage, using their tracks in advertisements for the likes of Jack Daniel's, Glad and Bank of Colorado. The company's secret weapon is its founders' experience in the business: All four are musicians themselves, having toured the country in acts like DeVotchKa, the Damnwells and the Fray, and among them, they've got dozens of years of combined experience as music producers, audio engineers and composers. Color Wheel Music's work helps the local music scene find new audiences while doing something truly revolutionary in the digital age: paying artists for their music.

colorwheelmusic.com

Balanced Breakfast began as a music-industry meetup in San Francisco, but the Denver version has been thriving for more than three years. Overseen by musicians Reed Fuchs and Mona Magno, the gathering has found a home at the Mercury Cafe, where anyone is welcome to join in the discussion and share a meal. Each month presents a theme or topic — past breakfasts have tackled music promotion through social media, finding revenue streams for musicians in a digitized world, and the ins and outs of booking tours — and music-biz professionals are brought in to share their knowledge. The idea is to give new and experienced musicians a chance to learn from experts in a no-pressure, non-academic setting. Balanced Breakfast gatherings are free (though it's nice to throw down some cash for coffee or a meal to support the Merc) and open to anyone wanting to learn more about how the music industry functions.

blncdbrkfst.com

Nocturne is a superb venue presenting some of the finest in local jazz and the occasional touring act in a lovely RiNo setting. It also offers an impressive food menu that's a step above the fare at similar venues in town. Start off with Nocturne's small plates, or Sound Bites, an array that includes house-made burrata, barramundi ceviche and roasted bison meatballs, then move on to the roster of large plates, with items such as pan-roasted scallops, celery-root gnocchi and muffaletta sliders. There's also the Chef's Daily Composition, which is an improvised dish inspired by seasons, moods and ingredients, and the rotating Renditions Tasting Menu, five courses inspired by iconic albums.

Readers' Choice: Marquis Pizza

Although Moe's has multiple locations around town, its Englewood outpost is the only one that brings in live music on a regular basis. And while the barbecue is a big draw here, that doesn't mean the music takes a back seat. Moe's in Englewood sports a good-sized stage and sound system and can hold a few hundred people, and some big names — surf-guitar legend Dick Dale and The Head and the Heart among them — have graced that stage, along with a variety of local talent in genres like punk, metal and blues.

At first glance, Ophelia's Electric Soapbox looks like a super-hip restaurant top to bottom. But walk inside and you'll notice a big square hole in the middle of the main floor that opens up to a decent-sized stage and dance floor. While the Justin Cucci-owned venue offers eclectic menus for brunch and dinner and pays homage to its days as a bordello with its sultry decor, live music is clearly a star all on its own here. Stroll in on any given night and enjoy some with your dinner.

The folks at Black Shirt Brewing clearly take their beer seriously, but when they built a stage out of pallets on their patio a few years ago, they showed they were passionate about music as well. The outdoor live music starts up in March and runs through the summer, with an assortment of acts that play a few nights a week. The brewpub has been hosting bring-your-own-vinyl nights inside on most Thursdays and also occasionally teams up with local record club Vinyl Me, Please to showcase significant albums during listening parties dubbed The Spins!

The Lion's Lair is equal parts dive bar and music venue. Before a show, the 100-person spot is one of the few remaining classic Denver dives where the drinks are somewhat cheap and the conversation is bound to be colorful, given its Colfax location. But come 9 p.m. or so most nights, when bands start playing, it becomes a different monster entirely. The lineups lean heavy on the punk and rock side, with occasional visits from legendary acts like John Doe, Mike Watt and the Blasters.

A visit to the Cruise Room at the Oxford Hotel feels like a step back in time: The longest continually open bar in Denver has been serving spirits since the day after Prohibition ended. Adding to its allure is a free, recently restored jukebox that plays 45s from Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra and more. Order a classic martini from the bar, saunter over to the electric-blue jukebox near the front door, and play something your grandparents would dance to. You'll be partaking in a Denver tradition that dates back nearly ninety years.

Readers' Choice: Sancho's Broken Arrow

The rule of thumb for venue restrooms is this: The more nondescript and bare they are, the better. Too much decor and we'll linger, missing precious concert time, and too cluttered or dirty and we'll spend more time avoiding the puke on the floor than taking care of business. Ophelia's bathrooms somehow hit the sweet spot of having just enough character to stand out and being comfortable enough to serve as a retreat from all the chaos outside the door. They're clean and private, everything works, there are ample ledges in the men's rooms to hold beers, and the stall doors are made of rulers. Think you'll measure up?

Denver's oldest jazz and blues club offers an impressive roster of talent throughout the week, and it never charges a cover. The dimly lit bar at the corner of 20th and Market streets might not look like an integral part of Denver's nightlife from the outside, but El Chapultepec's free music and dancing make for one of the best nights out in the city. Catch weekly regulars such as the Diana Castro Band and the Freddy Rodriguez Quartet, or spend a weekend with Eef & the Blues Express. Either way, you won't leave disappointed.

Chautauqua Auditorium is heated and cooled by nature, and you won't get rained on. The venue, which was opened in 1898 and can seat 1,300 people, has long been an ideal spot for summer concerts, and over the past few years, the folks at Z2 Entertainment, which operates the Boulder and Fox theaters, have done a noble job booking talent for its summer concert series. Last year's shows included a variety of national acts, like Blind Pilot, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers and Punch Brothers.

Every summer, talented musicians from around the country and world gather in Boulder for a classical jam session, as it were. For six busy weeks, they become the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, delivering a sizzling variety of offerings, from full orchestral evenings to chamber groups, experimental evenings and family-friendly concerts. Housed in the lovingly preserved all-wood Chautauqua Auditorium, the festival has been a welcome tradition for more than forty years. The friendly, informal atmosphere is infectious, and you can visit Chautauqua Park on a warm summer day and listen to the bands rehearse.

comusic.org

No regional opera company has worked harder than Opera Colorado to keep the art form vital. Since its birth 35 years ago, it has brought in vocal greats such as Placido Domingo, James McCracken and Denyce Graves. More important, Ari Pelto, Greg Carpenter and company judiciously balance the more crowd-pleasing performers, such as La Bohème and Aida, with exciting new work such as the innovative restaging of Nixon in China in 2008 and the world-premiere production of Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter in 2016. And Opera Colorado offers an array of enviable education and outreach programs, to boot.

operacolorado.org

Denver's old Auditorium Theater was a nightmare — atrocious acoustics, bad sight lines, and all the ambience of a dilapidated grange hall. The "Ellie" was literally carved out of the older, cavernous space, and since opening in 2005, it's been a wonder. The house's flowing, warm design can hold more than 2,000 people, and the back of each seat has a screen that translates shows for opera-goers. The acoustics are impeccable, and the versatile Ellie hosts a variety of arts events year-round. More than a decade in, it has become the go-to venue for top-of-the-line cultural events in Denver.

The Boulder Phil turned sixty this year, and it's more popular and innovative than ever, reaching deep into the community to share great music. Its programming is a bracing mix of familiar works and adventerous new compositions, all played with precision and energy. Under the baton of its music director and conductor for eleven years, Michael Butterman, the Philharmonic has chalked up collaborations with 45 local organizations that dabble in arts, science, nature, social services and more. And its educational and outreach programs are growing a new generation of music lovers.

boulderphil.org