FRI, 9/3 If the title New World My Eye sounds a tad polemical, don’t be daunted: The group exhibit debuting today at the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council may cast a critical Chicano eye on the dominant American culture, but it’s intended to educate rather than to incite conflict. With…
FRI, 9/3 Eddie Brill has one of the most coveted jobs in the comedy world; yet it’s also one of the hardest. Brill is not only is the talent coordinator for comics appearing on the Late Show With David Letterman — a job that requires enormous dedication to stand-up –…
It’s amazing how vast the contemporary art world is, including as it does a full array of expressions — from the most edgy forms, such as video, to the most conservative, such as landscapes, still-life scenes and portraits. Within the realm of representational art that’s being done in the area,…
There’s a show at Andenken Gallery (2110 Market Street, 303-332-5582) with the cutesy title of Peachy Keen. Though the phrase has a retro ’50s feel, the show itself has more of a ’60s thing going on. You can’t really blame this confusion on Morgan Barnes, the kid who put the…
Common Ground. The Sandra Phillips Gallery specializes in abstraction, as is shown off in the current show, Common Ground, which combines neo-abstract-expressionist paintings by Jennifer Scott McLaughlin with neo-constructivist sculptures by William Mueller. Gallery owner and director Sandra Phillips discovered both artists at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art’s…
I was sorry when I heard that Denver actor Brett Aune was leaving his home town to try his fortune in Los Angeles. Aune, who departed last week, has featured prominently in some of the most memorable theater experiences I’ve had in this town. I remember him as a swan…
Cabaret. Cabaret is grim and distressing, and there’s not a hint of redemption anywhere in it. Quite the contrary. But this is a bloody good production, the kind of production that could — and should — attract all kinds of people who might never think of setting foot in a…
It should go without saying that when one goes to see a movie about giant killer snakes, the main point of the whole endeavor is to watch people get eaten by giant killer snakes. Hardly rocket science, that. But while Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid does feature a…
Some of the people who helped bring you dank, morose amusements such as The Crow, Dark City and The Matrix have a new movie to offer. Like The Matrix, it features a dork who flies through the air. As in Dark City, we witness the protagonist’s world radically changing shape…
The 12th Annual Denver International World Cinema Independent Fall Film Festival — quite a mouthful, no? — will feature three days’ worth of feature films, documentaries and shorts from around the globe at downtown Denver’s Acoma Center. British actor/director Leon Herbert will appear in person with his new feature, Emotional…
Here in the metro area, where small theater troupes tend to crowd the cultural landscape, even the staunchest supporter of independent theater must give little thought to the Bas Bleu Theatre Company. Based in downtown Fort Collins, the ensemble has performed in its tiny salon-style space since 1992. But the…
Thursday, August 26 This is one girl with credentials: Brazilian vocalist Bebel Gilberto carries on the samba-riffic dynasty begun by her father Joo, mother Micha and stepmother Astrud, all bossa nova icons whose cool voices, bittersweet lyrics and gentle rhythms defined the genre that caught fire internationally in the 1960s…
Some people consider them only half a step above the Hell’s Angels. To others, they look pretty damn cool with their cut-off pants and messenger bags. They’re bicycle couriers, those misunderstood and vilified daredevils who dart around downtown in flagrant defiance of the laws of both traffic and physics. But…
TUES, 8/31 Americans are so darned smug. They think they own the world. But set foot into the University of Denver’s globally conscious language program, and you’ll begin to see a different picture, reflective of DU’s cosmopolitan student body and business-minded international bent. The school gladly shares its strengths in…
SAT, 8/28 There’s probably no better locale for a cheerleading competition, an event that’s generally full of perky preps, than a suburban mall that pulls in the same demographic. That’s why the location of today’s New Spirit Cheer/Dance Championship — a fenced-in, bleacher-equipped space in a parking lot at Park…
THURS, 8/26 It was August 26, 1964, general-admission tickets were $6.60 apiece, and parents feared the worst. They were utterly certain that when the Beatles took the stage at Red Rocks forty years ago today, the crowd, high on that mysterious evil force called rock and roll, would surely riot,…
SAT, 8/28 “There ain’t much time left,” poet Jim Carroll once said. “You’re born out of this insane abyss and you’re going to fall back into it, so while you’re alive, you might as well show your bare ass.” In a life of mythic proportions, Carroll has followed his own…
On the morning of August 9, Mayor John Hickenlooper stood on the front steps of the City and County Building and made a stunning announcement: The City of Denver had formally committed to building a museum to house the work of abstract-expressionist giant Clyfford Still in exchange for a promise…
Walking into the front space at Pirate: a contemporary art oasis (3659 Navajo Street, 303-458-6058) is like stepping back into the early ’90s when half the shows at the alternative galleries were installations of questionable quality. There’s a reason for this: Wake Up Little Susie: Pregnancy & Power Before Roe…
Colorado Clay. Colorado has been a regional center for ceramics for just over a century. The reason is obvious, at least to gardeners and structural engineers: It’s all that darned clay. This sets up Colorado Clay, which has been held at Golden’s Foothills Art Center since the ’70s, to be…
Bovine Metropolis is a fine, cozy venue, the people who run it are lively and friendly, and I’ve seen good comedy there. But The Mammas & the Papparazzis is simply not ready for prime time, either in terms of material or performance quality. Each and every one of the six…
A year or two ago, the Industrial Arts Theatre Company took over an old movie house on Federal Boulevard. It’s always a good thing when artists move into a funky neighborhood, and the Industrial group is no exception. But the company needs to put more thought and care into the…
