Sweet Treat

You can never have too many cute little boutiques featuring fashion, accessories, small gifts — and wardrobe design services, naturally. That’s what Lauren Metz and Erica Walters thought, anyway, so they’re opening up their new Greenwood Village shop, Delish Demure, this afternoon at 4 p.m. with a fashion show featuring…

Divine Femme

Denver is home to some seriously talented women. Want proof? Look no further than Femme Fatale Three: Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle. It’s the third installation of the Femme Fatale Art Collective’s showcase extravaganza, and there are some additional enticements this time around. “We added the dancers,” notes founder…

Canine Carnival

Bastardino sounds like a rude name one Italian might call another, but it’s actually a term for a mixed-heritage dog (aka mutt). There’s even a Festival of the Bastardino in Italy — a celebration of mutts, if you will. “Our organization rescues dogs from shelters to train them as service…

Ride On

Robert M. Pirsig is a fascinating human being. In his bestseller, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values — which follows Pirsig and his son, Chris, on an epic 1968 journey by motorcycle toward a greater understanding of value and quality — the author struggled to…

Myth Conception

“The Book of Lies started when a woman came to me and told an incredible story,” says Brad Meltzer about the novel he’ll read from and sign tonight — and he’s not exaggerating. The woman in question turned out to be the niece of the late Jerry Siegel, who came…

Heroine Chic

“Before Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…There Was Red Heroine.” Those words flash across the screen to introduce the Devil Music Ensemble’s trailer for the silent 1929 kung fu film, accompanied by a taste of the original score the band has created for the movie. A lively drumbeat…

Raising the Bard

Even Michael Pennington, the acclaimed English actor who’s appeared in dozens of Shakespeare’s plays (as well as Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, in which he portrayed the small role of Imperial officer Moff Jerjerrod) admits that he doesn’t know everything there is to know about the Bard. It seems…

Second to Nan

The world of anime (Japanese animation) is far deeper than Dragon Ball Z reruns. From the visionary science fiction of Akira and Ghost in the Shell to the noirish, surreal visions of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue and the perverse sexuality of hentai, anime is a deep and complex medium that…

About a Boy

Directed by John Crowley, Boy A is a brutally soulful film that tells the tale of a young man trying to forge a new life after serving time for a murder committed as a boy. The film’s strengths are many: marvelous performances; a challenging script that makes seamless connections between…

Fairy-Tale Sorrow

For Bay Area poet-turned-playwright Marisela Treviño Orta, the Latino legend of La Llorona has always been more ghost story than parable: “She is kind of a bogeyman, a scary figure,” Orta says of the woman in white who is damned to roam the earth in search of the children she…

Rhymes With Orange

“Orange County: A Personal History is really three books in one,” explains author Gustavo Arellano. “One part is a history of Orange County and the way it’s influenced the United States. I’ve tracked the big trends that have influenced the country, like religion, the horrible television shows, the idea of…

Chucking It

These days, the memoir is arguably a hotter medium than the novel. So why did Chuck Klosterman, who made his name chronicling his experiences in books such as Fargo Rock City, decide to tackle fiction with Downtown Owl, an alternately amusing and grim book he’ll discuss and sign tonight? “I…

An Affair to Remember

Get the dish on more than thirty of your favorite Denver restaurants at Westword’s Menu Affair, featuring complimentary food and wine samplings, seven open bars and live entertainment by the Ron Miles Group. Food Network personality Keegan Gerhard hosts as Goose Sorenson takes on James Mazzio in the Mile High…

One Day, Seven Seas

Avast, me hearties! Once again, it be time to strap on yer peg leg, dust off yer eye patch an’ practice yer sea walk, for today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, the day when landlubbers channel their inner sea scoundrel. And the Sunken Bones Society — who talk…

Beetle Mania

From the slumping economy to the war in Iraq, there are plenty of reasons to grumble. However, if you live in or near the mountains, pine beetles and their red carnage are probably high on your list. Today starting at 10 a.m. on Main Street in Frisco, BeetleFest is your…

Convergence of Thought

Jim Kunstler keeps a blog called the Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle, and his latest book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, depicts a startling post-cheap-fossil-fuel future in which the American way of life — suburbia — crumbles, along with our economy, as the world endures a…

Think Ink

I love tattoos. I got my first tattoo shortly after I turned eighteen, and I’ve since had it redesigned and re-inked, as well as added another, larger tattoo to my body. The only thing stopping me from getting a half-sleeve — the next ink addition on my wish list —…

River Art

Art is about individual vision, about seeing and interpreting similar objects in vastly different ways. It’s a reflection of our humanity that a group of artists can go to a specific location — like the Platte River — and come away with entirely different ideas as to what they witnessed…

Poetry in Motion

Within its dreamy, artsy framework, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is as much a film about the unseen director, Steven Sebring (who first began filming Smith more than ten years ago after meeting her during a Spin photo shoot), as it is about the rock poetess Patti Smith, coming across…

Short Stop

Comedian Martin Short, who steps into the spotlight tonight, makes most of his income from movie and television work. But if Shakespeare’s line about all the world being a stage were true, he’d be thrilled. “I like doing all three mediums, but I think my favorite has always been stage,”…

Greener Pastures

What’s new at the Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair? Growth, for one thing: The festival of everything renewable under the sun has become a great green behemoth and will move this year to a new outdoor location on twenty acres at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Center in Fort Collins. And…

Roll Out

There’s no denying that roller derby has experienced a revival, which explains why Denver is able to support two roller derby teams, one of which is headed to Colorado Springs today to participate in a double-header bout. The Rocky Mountain Rollergirls’ 5280 Fight Club will take on the Fort Collins…