The universal appeal of larger-than-life masked men engaged in an epic battle of good versus evil is brilliantly manifested in Mexico’s lucha libre tradition. Its history and rivalries cross generations, inspiring fierce loyalties among its devotees. But lacking such a background is no handicap to becoming a fan. “For me,…
After 400-plus years of adaptations and reinterpretations, Romeo and Juliet remains a compelling stage (and screen) production, not because the story is that goddamn good left alone, but because of the creative directorial liberties and contextual revisions that keep it contemporary – as a gay teenage awakening, for example, instead…
Michael Chavez curates shows at Foothills Art Center in Golden, where he must cater to a specific suburban constituency; Christoph Heinrich, new modern-art curator at the Denver Art Museum, came to Denver over a year ago with a continental sensibility and the high-heeled shoes of the departing Dianne Vanderlip to…
Grab your skis, silly costumes and thinking caps, because the New Belgium Loveland Scavenger Hunt presents the perfect opportunity to have fun for a great cause. “When you can get people dressed up in costume and acting silly and letting go of anything that usually holds them back, it turns…
People are facing hard times these days, and tonight’s production of A Little Frayed at the Edge features characters navigating tough circumstances that take them to the edge of despair and determination — something many of us can relate to. “These are stories that might be about the life of…
Jack A. Weil was the oldest still-working CEO in the country when he passed away last summer at the age of 107 – and the founder of Rockmount Ranch Wear hasn’t quit working yet. Cleaning up the store at 1626 Wazee Street last month, his granddaughter-in-law came across a manifesto…
Sandy Widener, Westword’s original managing editor, was a force of nature, a ball of unstoppable energy – never more so than when she took to rollerblading along the Cherry Creek bike path. Today’s second annual Parr-Widener Scholarship Walk-Run, a benefit for graduates of the East High School A+ Angels mentor…
Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, who work collaboratively as Kahn + Selesnick, have made a name for themselves by creating works meant to document phony historical events. Their current offering, Eisbergfreistadt, which roughly translates as “free floating iceberg,” is loosely based on an actual iceberg that struck a Baltic port…
CORE New Art Space member Mark Penner-Howell will celebrate his second show in the CORE fold with the March 26 debut of Too Big to Fail: Handsome Paintings for Ugly Times, a sophomore display of his big, bright paintings satirizing popular culture. Reminiscent of some new painting coming out of…
When Simon Zalkind first met Paul Gillis in the ’80s, he was immediately enamored of the unpretentious artist’s work, with its dreamlike take on our times, its Zap Comix imagery, robotic figures and surreal symbolism. “I was taken with how smart and funny he was, while working through a set…
I went to Ireland last fall with realistic expectations: good music, strong whiskey, great beer and green landscapes. What I didn’t expect was much in the way of food. But I was pleasantly surprised to find the grub wasn’t just the atrocious smoked butt and cabbage with boiled potatoes that…
Ashes of American Flags, Wilco’s live concert film and documentary, portrays a reality that is almost the antithesis of the typical glamorized rock-and-roll road picture. In the place of sex-crazed groupies and stylized drug-binge montages, we see the band icing up sore limbs and necks after strenuous performances, eating chips…
Think you don’t know how to make things? Once you’ve met Wiley Sherer, the resident jack-of-all-trades at the TACtile Textile Art Center, that outlook will change forever. Every Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., Sherer hosts DYIFri, a free, drop-in workshop series with changing projects created from ordinary materials. Sherer…
As a women’s studies professor, Elissa Auther was frustrated by narrow, stuffy discussions that never engaged anyone outside of academia. So last year she founded Feminism & Co., a Lab at Belmar series that brings a campy, irreverent style and creative performances to critical debates on women’s issues. The series’…
The Tang Dynasty, which ruled over China from 618 to 906 A.D., is considered by many scholars to be the acme of progress and prosperity in that nation’s history. Tang Concubines tells the story of two women – both concubines — who helped shape the Tang Dynasty, but their similarities…
Ballerina, a documentary that premieres at Starz FilmCenter on Friday, March 27, may not be an especially daring piece of work, but its subject matter is so fascinating that the results are regularly compelling anyway. Director Bertrand Normand’s look at Russia’s Kirov Ballet is primarily a celebration, and the five…
Poetry is not all old-fashioned hearts and flowers. As delivered by members of the Slam Nuba Team, poetry is vital, thoroughly modern and not remotely well-behaved. See for yourself tonight, when National Poetry Month gets off to an invigorating start Friday at Slam Nuba Team Slam Off 2009, at Crossroads…
The nightly news is unremittingly gloomy, and it just seems to get worse every day, which is why we need something to cheer us up — something fun and artsy, like the 18th annual Aspen Shortsfest. The five-day film festival starts today and features a variety of shorts, from Academy…
The Tony-nominated musical Quilters began its run 26 years ago when the Denver Center Theatre Company breathed life into the production. “Even though Quilters wasn’t the first production we did, it was one of the first world premieres, and certainly the first premiere to go on to critical success,” says…
If you are free through April 4 and have an extra $1,000 lying around, you might want to load up the Escalade and drive up I-70 for the nineteenth annual Taste of Vail. The four-day event, featuring thirty chefs and fifty winemakers, will consist of a variety of tastings, classes,…
Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burns: When the Denver Auto Show opens to the public April 1 at the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th Street, GM will be touting new Corvettes and Cadillac station wagons for 2010, while Chrysler pushes out its all-electric Town & Country EV wagon and…
During the early ’90s, the Samples helped put Colorado on the map. Led by gifted pop songwriter Sean Kelly, the band signed with a locally based label, What Are Records? (W.A.R.), toured incessantly from coast to coast, released a slew of albums, endured a series of personnel and business changes,…
