The Pajamas Letter – Part Two

As you may remember, trusty readers, I recently came upon a mysterious, unsigned letter in the deposit-envelope receptacle of a downtown ATM machine requesting that I draw a picture of my “normal pajamas” and send it back in an included self-addressed stamped envelope. Since, as a rule, I always do…

Temperature Rising, Prices Dropping at Fahrenheit’s

Inveterate browsers haunting the scruffy book row on Broadway were left out in the cold when Ichabod’s closed, but Fahrenheit’s Books has been making things cozy again. This long-time comer at 52 Broadway, a block south of the Mayan, has blossomed from a cramped, barely navigable hole-in-the-wall to a spacious,…

Look of the Day – What the Hell?!?

A friend of mine forwarded me several pictures like the one shown here claiming that theses skirts are all the current rage in Japan. According to my “source,” the skirts are not really see-through, but designed with these prints on the back to make them appear see-through. As we all…

Look of the Day – Elgin Kelley

This thriftonista is living “La Vie Boheme” as a working actress, here in Denver. Her artistic being is reflected in all aspects of her life, including her fashion sense. Elgin’s low rise black cords and sky blue knit top play peek-a-boo with the black panther tattoo on her hip. To…

Look of the Day – Erin

It takes a little sass and a great set of stems to pull off a pair of ankle boots with anything other than a long skirt or a pair of pants. Retail Sales Rep., Erin, knows exactly what she’s doing, though, by keeping her skirt a couple inches above the…

Paranoid Park

The pleasing circularity of Gus Van Sant’s masterful Paranoid Park is not only a function of the film’s narrative structure, but a reflection of the arc of its maker’s career. Few directors have revisited their earliest concerns with such vigor. Van Sant’s debut, 1985’s Mala Noche, was a moody drizzle…

Chicago 10

The Democratic insurgent is the most charismatic candidate since RFK, and the party’s convention could be the most convulsive since the debacle in Chicago. The Vietnam War has returned in the personae of Johns McCain and Rambo. George Romero, whose Night of the Living Dead remains the definitive celluloid expression…

The Witnesses

Sex and chance brought them together one furtive summer night in the cruising grounds of a wooded Parisian park. Adrien (Michel Blanc), a doctor: bourgeois, middle-aged, world-weary, on the prowl for boys. Manu (Johan Libéreau), a boy: beaming, naive, freshly arrived in Paris, on the prowl for experience. Flattered by…

Drillbit Taylor

Owen Wilson’s a bad fit for an ass-kicking bodyguard. Rare is the star vehicle that’s as poorly matched to its star as Drillbit Taylor, which casts Owen Wilson as a homeless Army deserter and con man, able to fool people into believing he’s both a substitute teacher and a master…

Fuzzy Fights

Sometimes it’s the terrible ideas — say, a TV show about nothing, or stirring corn into your mashed potatoes — that turn out to be genius. Super Smash Bros. landed on the Nintendo 64 nearly 10 years ago, kicking off a concept that initially sounded nauseating: “lovable Nintendo characters in…

Three the Hard Way

No Country for Old Men(Paramount)”A horror comedy chase” is how a grinning Tommy Lee Jones describes No Country for Old Men in the making-of — meanwhile, his fellow actors add to the list such adjectives as “a very primitive ride,” “a rabbit chase through Texas,” and “a very powerful story…

Stones in His Pockets

Stones in His Pockets is a small play — charming, wistful, not quite sure what it wants to be. It starts out as one of those clash-of-culture satires. A film company has plumped itself down in a village in rural County Kerry, Ireland, disrupting everyday life. Caroline Giovanni, the lead…

Now Playing

The Baseball Show. Evil, malaprop-prone Vincent Vascombe, owner of the Beloit Bulldogs, is determined to hold on to his star player, Bill “The Bomber” Dawson. But Dawson — aided by his smart, competent fiancée, Helen — has plans for the majors, and there’s a talent scout hanging around. So Vascombe…

Still Moving

When I woke up on the morning of March 3 and prepared to attend the unveiling of a design for a new downtown museum dedicated to abstract-expressionist genius Clyfford Still, my heart filled with dread. I really didn’t want to see it, and had even less interest in meeting its…

Now Showing

George Carlson. Put together by curator Ann Daley, who has shaped and defined the Western collection at the Denver Art Museum, George Carlson: Heart of the West deals with the career of an accomplished neo-traditional artist who looks to the century-old Impressionist style for inspiration. The Carlson exhibit includes nearly…

Full Fusion

“It’s going to be really interesting,” says Jillian Crandall, director of marketing and public relations for the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra. “The ballet style from Lemon Sponge Cake is obviously contemporary, not storybook ballet. It’s a high-class, New-York style event, if you will.” She’s talking about the BPO’s latest foray into…

In Stitches

Forget everything you thought you knew about quilts. Even Grandma’s most extreme quilting patterns never hinted at the possibilities realized in the work on display at Don’t Fence Me In: Contemporary Quilting, on view today through May 18 at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, 400 Quail Road in Longmont…

Hip-Hop History

The glass ceiling in hip-hop remains to be broken. Back in the day, artists such as Queen Latifah and MC Lyte rocked the mike as hip-hop spread from the underground to the mainstream, and Denverite Day Acoli grew up with the music as other artists like Lauryn Hill represented for…

Dork Dynasty

The future of art is in the hands of dorks. More accurately, in the hands of Dorkbot — an international organization of hackers, artists, builders, modders and makers — whose motto is “people doing strange things with electricity.” “I’ve always been into experimental electronic art,” explains Jane Crayton, founder of…

Jilted Lovers and Mad Kings

Take a multimedia tour through the jagged world of the deeply insane, exploring the aftermath of a broken mind’s civil war. In these twisted worlds, a jilted recluse keeps her wedding-day house untouched for thirty years — in case her fiancé finally shows up — and mad King George III…

Down Pat

Even the most accomplished guitarists do a double take when they hear Pat Donohue on A Prairie Home Companion, where the versatile finger-style picker has masterfully performed in the shadow of host Garrison Keillor for at least a decade. Donohue can finesse anything acoustic — jazz, blues, folk, you name…