Gala Gaga

Because she hopes that one day an AIDS diagnosis need no longer be branded the end of the world, local drag queen Ginger Sexton (aka makeup artist Briceson Ducharme) is throwing the Apocalyptic Ball, an AIDS Walk Colorado benefit with an end-all theme. The event, which includes drag and burlesque…

Lala’s Hops on Hops

Lala’s Wine Bar is known for its brilliant late-night happy hour, an oenophile’s nirvana of half-price wines by the glass that, thankfully, never include a godforsaken Kendall Jackson label. It also has a great menu, a smart board of thin-crusted pizzas, charcuterie, cheeses and sandwiches that pair perfectly with our…

No One Goes Hungry at Share Our Strength

If you ask Matt Selby, executive chef of Steuben’s and Vesta Dipping Grill, why Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation shindig should be on every grubnik’s food calendar, here’s what he’ll tell you: “It’s hard to argue with Share Our Strength’s tag line – No Kid Hungry — and…

It’s Hip to Be Square

If you like canopies of bright-white lights, big-city restaurants and the prospect of open-air feasting under a galaxy of stars, then you’ll love An Affair on the Square, which takes place tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. between 14th and 15th streets on Larimer Square. The splashy, flashy culinary block…

Booked Solid

Abecedarian Gallery — the name means learning or teaching at a primary level — is an unusual art resource in Denver in that its specialty is artist-made books. The space, founded and directed by Denver artist Alicia Bailey, is in the 910Arts complex, a creative center in the heart of…

Finding the Heart of Art

In addition to the official events associated with the Biennial of the Americas, there are a number of unofficial ones, especially in the city’s many art galleries. Among the most promising is the installation show Perceptions at Walker Fine Arts, which was put together by gallery director Bobbi Walker. “I…

Documentaries in the House

Between running the Aspen Filmfest in the fall and the Aspen Shortsfest in the spring, Aspen Film never really sleeps. This summer, it’s bridging the gap with New Views: Premiere Documentaries, a thoughtful series of docs that officially began a couple of weeks ago at Aspen’s annual Ideas Festival. The…

Point and Trick

This weekend, SolVista Bike Park hosts the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships for the second year in a row, bringing the top cross-country, downhill, 4X mountain cross, super-downhill and short-track competitors to Granby Ranch. Some of the bike park itself will be closed to the public to make way…

The Rhythm Is Gonna Move You

It isn’t every day an arena-packing icon throws a free concert at the park, but that’s exactly what’s happening tonight, courtesy of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs. As part of the office’s annual Latino Rhythms series, DOCA brings Panamanian pop star Horacio Valdés (really, the guy is huge there)…

Fattening Up

The National Sports Center for the Disabled and the American Red Cross are expecting more than 500 riders for this weekend’s Fat Tire Classic mountain-bike pledge ride at Winter Park, up by more than 100 participants over 2009. “It’s a great way to introduce people to the mountain-biking trails up…

The Kids Are All Right

Serious comedy, powered by an enthusiastic cast and full of good-natured innuendo, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right gives adolescent coming-of-age and the battle of the sexes a unique twist, in part by creating a romantic triangle between a longstanding, devoutly bourgeois lesbian couple, Nic and Jules (Annette Bening…

The latest shows at Ice Cube Gallery are a delight

Although it has only been a going concern for a few months, the upstart Ice Cube Gallery (3320 Walnut Street, 303-292-1822, www.icecubegallery.com) has surely become one of the most impressive exhibition spaces in town. It’s not just how beautiful and spacious the facility is; it’s also the high quality of…

Now Showing

Altered. This duet pairs abstract sculptor Mark Castator with realist painter Marie Vlasic, and though their works are unrelated, the show looks good anyway. Castator, a master with welded metal, is best known for his marvelous spheres and columns made from small pieces of sawed steel tubes. For these latest…

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The grim and bloody adaptation of the second volume of the late Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium trilogy — featuring journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) — moves the story into a very different register from the stand-alone murder mystery of The Girl With the…

The childish, funny, 3-D delights of Despicable Me

As the lights were dimming before a preview screening of Despicable Me, the six-year-old who lives in my house leaned over and said, “I hope this is funny — not like Toy Story 3.” Now, don’t misunderstand: He adored that movie. It’s just that whenever the subject comes up, the…

The Killer Inside Me’s tormented self gets simplified for the screen

Implicit in its title, the premise of The Killer Inside Me — directed by Michael Winterbottom from Jim Thompson’s 1952 crime novel — could be summed up in a classified ad: Texas cop with pleasant boyish demeanor seeks compliant dames for sadistic sex games culminating in murder. What complicates this tale is…

The Apple of Carrie Vaughn’s Eye

To fans of Carrie Vaughn’s best-selling Kitty Norville series, her new stand-alone novel, Discord’s Apple, may seem like a big departure. The Kitty books focus on a radio talk-show host who happens to be a werewolf, while Discord’s Apple is a much more sprawling story that weaves together magic, mythology,…

Think Globally, Paddle Locally

Dreaming of paddling Patagonia’s Rio Futaleufu on an upcoming adventure? Lyle Phetteplace, co-owner of Renaissance Adventure Guides, suggests starting your journey a little closer to home — like Clear Creek’s Whitewater Park in Golden. That’s where you’ll find Renaissance on the River 2010, a free kayaking workshop, tonight and every…

Eat on the Street

Denver’s street-food scene is exploding, what with all those cupcake trucks, biscuit-mobiles, gastro-carts on wheels and upscale taco wagons hawking their foodstuffs all over town. And the trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Denver Public Library’s free Fresh City Life programs, which integrates culinary demonstrations, recipe contests and other food-centric…

Breaking Away

Immerse yourself in the art and culture of hip-hop today at the Urban Culture Collective, a free event in Skyline Park. Music, graffiti, fashion and dance performances and competitions are all on the agenda. And while old-school heads will feel right at home, it’s a great opportunity for the curious…

Northern Lights

As expressed in its title, the shared topic of events associated with the Biennial of the Americas, which is being rolled out this month, is the Western hemisphere. Most of the countries in the Americas are south of us, but Canada is also on the docket with You Are Here,…

A Novel Romance

Lust-drunk vixens and bare-chested he-men still grace the occasional cover of a romance novel. But the genre has gotten much more savvy and eclectic over the past couple of decades. With sizable crossovers into other genres like urban fantasy, science fiction, mystery and even horror, romance is back in a…