Temples of the Ancients

For anyone who fell in love with the history of ancient Mayan culture as a kid, half the attraction was in learning about its discovery by archaeologists in the 19th century. That’s one reason why Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed, opening today at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, sets…

Too Much Information

After hitting the ball out of the park twice in fascinating form with This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession and The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, Renaissance man Daniel Levitin — a musician, neuroscientist, behavioral psychologist and author…

Hot Dogs

Quentin Tarantino’s debut, Reservoir Dogs, is rightly considered a classic, and most fans know it backward and forward. That doesn’t mean there’s no new way to enjoy it, though — like, for instance, at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s Reservoir Dogs Beer Dinner. “We like to take a movie that people…

Cultural Kickstarter

The city’s slowly jelling Imagine 2020 cultural plan might feel difficult to unravel to us laymen, but as Arts & Venues deputy director Ginger White notes, its real challenge is in finding ways to engage both the creative community and the general community at large with limited resources. But because…

Rent

Ignite Theatre continues to dazzle with musicals in this big summer production of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning La Bohème update, Rent. The rock musical places Puccini’s plot in an artsy community on New York’s Lower East Side, under the rising specter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To keep the Broadway feel…

One-Armed Attack

Matt Sesow lost his dominant arm in an accident as a child, but that didn’t stop the now-famous self-taught outsider artist from expressing himself. He picked up a paintbrush nearly twenty years ago, learned to wield it with his other arm, and has been painting ever since, often basing his…

Actor Cajardo Lindsey on Ferguson, the law and his own dramatic story

“Playing Ogun, Cajardo Lindsey towers over the evening, terrifying in his anger, heartbreaking in his grief, and sometimes — like the play itself — wonderfully and unexpectedly funny.” Westword review of The Brothers Size at Curious Theatre, for which Lindsey received a 2014 Best of Denver award. Denver theatergoers know…

Review: The Naked Truth About Pop Artist Tom Wesselmann

In the 1960s, when Tom Wesselmann, whose work is currently on display at the Denver Art Museum, first gained national attention, and into the ’70s, his name was mentioned in the same breath as that of Warhol, Johns and Rauschenberg. Today, not so much. On a personal note, I teach…

Playbill: Three Plays and Performances to See in Denver This Week

Performances traditional — and untraditional — set the stage this week, from an impromptu dance in an art gallery to the revival of a chilling, tried-and-true tale. Here’s what you’ll find this week on late-summer stages. See also: Five 5ths of the Wizard of Oz: A Fringe Benefit!…

Kate Berlant on Returning to the High Plains Comedy Festival and Enjoying Confusion

Kate Berlant’s performances defy easy categorization. Verbally non sequitur and tonally absurd, Berlant has crafted a truly sui generis comedic persona untethered to the traditions of the surprisingly hidebound medium of standup. An NYU alumnus, Berlant gained renown in the New York comedy scene, earning her glowing (if befuddled) profiles in Playboy and The New York Times. A highlight of last year’s High Plains Comedy Festival, Berlant also has a groundswell of fans among Denver’s comedy community who turned up to see her at one of the first few Sexpot Comedy showcases. Westword caught up with Berlant before she returns for this year’s festival to discuss touring with musicians, finding her unique style, and her contingent of bro fans.

Another 100 Colorado Creatives: Caleb Hahne

#62: Caleb Hahne Only 21 years old, artist Caleb Hahne is a classic draftsman who’s not afraid to explore new digital media, while still embracing the same tools artists have been using for hundreds of years. A member of Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design’s 2014 class and one…

Pete Holmes on the High Plains Comedy Festival and Silver Linings

Pete Holmes is a comedian whose irrepressible spirit has endeared him to audiences nationwide. His last special Nice Try, the Devil aired last year on Comedy Central to widespread acclaim, including within these very pages, where we named it one of the best comedy specials of 2013. Until a couple months ago, Holmes also hosted the Conan O’Brien-produced talk show The Pete Holmes Show on TBS. His podcast You Made It Weird, features in-depth In town this week to co-headline the locally produced High Plains Comedy Festival with his friends and early colleagues Kumail Nanjiani and T.J. Miller, Westword caught up with Holmes to discuss doing festivals with his friends, the silver linings in the aftermath of his show’s cancellation, and Adam Cayton-Holland’s ridiculous name.

The Fountain Tarot: Three Friends From Denver See the Future in the Cards

Does the world really need another tarot deck? Writer Jason Gruhl, fine artist Jonathan Saiz and artist/designer Andi Todaro think so, though there are already hundreds, and possibly thousands, of themed sets circulating out there, some of them dating back to medieval times and others cheaply modern, all kitschy and…

Photos: Skaters in Togas at Roll’s Animal House on Wheels

John Belushi was surely in the building for this month’s Roll at the Exdo Event Center: The August edition of Denver’s roller disco was all about the classic comedy Animal House, with costumes and antics to match — on wheels! Keep reading to see what was skating around the rink…

Photos: Taking Steps Against HIV/AIDS at the 2014 Colorado AIDS Walk

Thousands of runners, walkers, mutts and whole families hit the streets around Cheesman Park Saturday for the annual AIDS Walk Colorado, before celebrating their stamina in hot and sunny conditions with a festival in the park. Side events included a volleyball tournament and the Diva Dash Stiletto Fun Run for…