Arts & Culture

During the first two years of Boulder’s International Fringe Festival, something about its “Pick of the Fringe” component didn’t seem right. A panel of judges chose the Fringe’s best works for an end-of-festival showcase, relying in part on audience votes that were prone to ballot-stuffing mischief — not the kind…

Milan Records operates in a niche, yet its diverse boundaries seem endless: Specializing in film soundtracks, along with Latin, electronic and generally uncategorizable musical varieties, Milan embraces the ambient nature of music like no other label. Accordingly, a Milan-inspired film festival is a complete no-brainer: Such a purveyor of music…

“The mid-century-modern style has been near and dear to my heart since I was a little kid watching The Jetsons,” says hostess Dana Cain. “Modern design is so popular in Colorado right now, and it seemed like the ultimate thing I could do for Denver,” she adds, explaining the motivation…

One of my favorite First Friday diversions is the monthly mini-shop hosted by clay sculptor Marie Ev.B Gibbons at her cozy EvB Studio Collection, nestled next door to the Oriental Theater, at 4343 West 44th Avenue. Gibbons invites art strollers to stop in and create a different miniature clay work…

“It’s just an opportunity to get some stuff really cheap,” says Kathleen Martindale, coordinator of the no-frills KGNU Book and Music Fair and Artists and Their Crafts show taking place today. “Short of us having the radio turned on, I think the entertainment lies in the little bit of chaos…

In the ten years that Russian emigré Masha Surprena has been in the United States, she’s noticed how little Americans really seem to know about her native Russian culture: The rich food, the dances and music, the fashion sense and the very heart of the Russian people all seem to…

Ancient roots run deep under Boulderite Betsy Tobin’s multi-layered performance works, which unfold in an eerie, non-linear combination of shadow play and silhouette, puppetry and superimposed video imagery. And despite the use of modern technology, it’s not hard to imagine such works being acted out around campfires thousands of years…

The subject of this week’s Message column (see page 16), Dave Navarro, is comfortable in a slew of mediums, including music, as guitarist for the Panic Channel and onetime string-stroker for Jane’s Addiction; television, as the centerpiece (with ex-wife Carmen Electra) of two MTV reality shows and a judge on…

Although Teague Bohlen’s book The Pull of the Earth is set in Illinois, the backcloth of the story might as well be rural Colorado. The novel, which is up for a Colorado Book Award, invokes the universality of the small town where a father and son contend with commitment to…

If we used the same title for chefs as we do for poets, then Sheila Lukins would be America’s chef laureate. Without knowing it, you’ve probably sampled her menu on board a United flight (back when they fed their passengers) or in a recipe from Parade magazine, where she’s reigned…

Maybe we have completely different ideas of daytime fun, but can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon than in the warm embrace of Uncle Beam and Aunt Sapphire while popping finger food in your mouth and then washing it down with your choice of more than…

Ten years ago, “Ponderosa” Harv Teitelbaum caught a segment on CBS Sunday Morning that would change his life. The piece highlighted Peter Jenkins, an Atlanta-based arborist, climbing giant redwoods in California, showing off the new sport he had invented: recreational tree climbing. “I was working for the Colorado Division of…

There’s no denying it: Firefighters are damn sexy. And the Fired Up for Kids organization knows a good thing when it finds it: The group’s Colorado Firefighter Calendar has raised almost $100,000 to date for the Children’s Hospital Burn Center, and those numbers will only continue to heat up tonight…

Each year, television critics across the country go to industry-sponsored sessions where they sample forthcoming shows and interview the people who made them. In contrast, attendees at Rocky Mountain PBS’s Backstage Pass With PBS Producers, which takes place tonight, won’t be professional couch potatoes. Rather, they’ll be station members and…

The Front Range offers a plethora of striking vistas, and when you add in a gaggle of bulbous balloons floating in the deep blue skies, it’s a view that’s hard to beat. Unless, of course, you factor in an evening illumination of said balloons — perhaps adding some live music,…

Before Christopher Guest rocked the mockumentary world with Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, he played lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel in the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. The plot: Fan/filmmaker Marti DiBergi (Rob Reiner) follows his favorite band through what will prove to be a…

If you’re smart, you probably love books. If you’re not, putting a bunch of them on a shelf might help fool people into thinking you are. Either way, everyone needs books, and this weekend’s Used Book Sale at the Denver Public Library is an excellent opportunity to fill that need…

Broken English (Magnolia) The Ex (Weinstein) Exorcism: Special Edition (BCI) The Far Side of Jericho (First Look) The Films of Michael Haneke (Kino) House of Games: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) House: Season Three (Universal) JAG: The Fourth Season (Paramount) Man About the House: The Complete First and Second Series (BCI)…