The painting depicts a shapely blonde woman, dressed in cowboy boots and a line-dancing dress, flying through the air with a pistol in her hand. Done by Fort Collins artist Tracy Stuckey, the piece was inspired by a folk tale about Slue Foot Sue and Pecos Bill, whose romance was…
The female-scream decibel level is sure to reach epic proportions tonight at the Colorado Firefighter Calendar Tryouts. “It is a night that’s on fire,” says CFC boardmember Crystal Mackey. “It’s literally a runway show of shirtless firefighters, with tons of crazy, screaming women.” Those women will watch as men in…
Although Mommie Dearest has become a cult favorite, its star wants nothing to do with the 1981 film. Faye Dunaway, who plays a raving, cold-cream-wearing Joan Crawford in the tale of tyrannical motherhood, once said that the film effectively ended her career, then refused to elaborate. But there’s one person…
When was the last time you took a walk to the post office or the grocery store? Today’s NE Walk Fest, both a celebration of walking and a learning event focused on two-footed activities, wants you to think twice about how you get around. Put on by the Stapleton Area…
CultureHaus, a young-professionals’ support group for the Denver Art Museum, works all year to raise funds for selective DAM programming. But Banner — a big party with changing artsy themes — is its annual blowout, and this year’s event, Banner 2014: Art of Light, will be particularly illuminating, as well…
Failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, says Laura Ann Samuelson, dancer and artistic director of Hoarded Stuff Performance. “I find when I talk to artists that I’m interested in, the things that are actually really interesting about their narratives are the things that didn’t quite work out, because it led…
Everyone loves Batman. The world’s greatest detective has managed to become the world’s most popular superhero over the course of his 75-year existence, all without any actual superpowers. Along the way, his bravery, his mission and his ability to hang with heroes who can throw cars around like toys have…
Stories of the Squire Lounge, which turns 75 this weekend, are woven into the character of Colfax Avenue, itself Denver’s most distinctive street. While the recently spruced-up Squire may no longer qualify as a true dive bar, it still serves strong, simple drinks at dive-bar prices, which has allowed the…
“Most of Denver’s academic historians are venal and have taken money from corporate interests. They do shoddy research and bless the establishment altogether,” says renegade historian and self-proclaimed crank Phil Goodstein, who will be leading today’s unofficial bicycle tour of Five Points, a neighborhood he describes as an extreme transition…
“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.” It’s vaudevillian lines like this, uttered famously by Groucho Marx as Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding in the Marx Brothers classic Animal Crackers, that let you know you’re not anyplace even resembling modern…
The stage is set for Monday Magic Madness, the fourth annual celebration of the art of close-up magic. The showcase, which will feature six magicians, benefits the Mile High Magicians Society, a nonprofit that supports the magical arts in Colorado and is one of the largest magic clubs in the…
While debate continues over the city’s handling of public art projects, there are some promising back-door efforts in the private sector. One of those, the OneWall Project, sponsored by Bellco and the Denver Theatre District, will get off the ground tonight when its first effort, MASSIVE, a celebration of work…
The power our phones have over us is scary. We stare at them constantly. They contain huge amounts of sensitive, personal data. They can be used to track us. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine them taking things a step further and becoming downright deadly. That’s the premise…
We don’t often get to see busy actor-writer Jessica Robblee on stage, and it’s a treat when we do. Now she’s lending her smart, vibrant presence to Melissa James Gibson’s ambiguously titled and much-lauded This, about a group of people approaching forty, being presented by the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company…
For (Residency): Process to Consumption, a new work-in-progress exhibition opening this week at the McNichols Building, Lisa Gedgaudas wanted to make people uncomfortable — in a good way. As program director for Create Denver, Gedgaudas is the brains behind this project, one that unites artists with art enthusiasts to create…
As Denver’s crankiest historian, Phil Goodstein takes his audience on a journey into civic corruption, greed and corporate maleficence. He sniffs out stories of scandal and blasts ruling elites for degrading the potential of the Queen City of the Plains. Since the 1980s, Goodstein has walked and biked around Denver…
James O’Hagan Murphy didn’t set out to specialize in playing members of the Kennedy family. But he’s currently portraying Robert F. Kennedy in the one-man show RFK at the Avenue Theater, a role for which he won our Best Actor in a Drama in the Best of Denver 2013. He…
It’s the little things that help a community thrive, and that’s where ArtPlant artist residencies fit into Denver’s scene, spreading the wealth by creating an atmosphere of good will and collaboration. Last fall the program’s first resident, Kansas City installation artist Rashawn Griffin, took full advantage of the ArtPlant offer,…
Everyone loves Batman. The world’s greatest detective has managed to become the world’s most popular superhero over the course of his 75-year existence, all without any actual superpowers. Along the way, his bravery, his mission and his ability to hang with the heroes who can literally throw cars around like…
Last summer, Ivar Zeile and Ryan Pattie of Denver Digerati brought a quiet revolution to the Denver Theatre District’s giant LED screens: Between the ads and promos most often seen flashing on the screens, Zeile and Pattie’s curated series of short Friday Flash programs traded commerce for cutting-edge digital art…
We love Dixie — have since she invited us to Dixie’s Tupperware Party a couple of years back (the show returned last month), calling people up from the audience, improvising seamlessly, indulging in bawdy humor and sharing with us everything about her trailer-trash life. And we still love her now…
It’s a common trope among people who grew up in Colorado to express their preference for Lakeside Amusement Park over Elitch Gardens. Which is fine, your preference is your preference, however misguided. What really rankles my ankles, however, is when snarky Denverites try to argue that Lakeside is better than Elitch’s. Unless they have a vastly different conception of what the word “better” means, Elitch Gardens is the superior theme park by every metric that matters. I’m utterly convinced that Lakeside defenders are either clouded by nostalgia for a pre-Elitch era or are possessed of the knee-jerk contrarianism Coloradans sometimes develop around tourist attractions. Now that I’ve sufficiently trolled a healthy portion of the Westword readership, allow me to explain why I prefer Elitch Gardens, which opened for the season last week with the debut of a brand new ride.
