In Spike Jonze’s new sci-fi romance, Her, Joaquin Phoenix plays a divorcé who rebounds by falling in love with his smartphone. On a recent Wednesday, however, he’s a delinquent boyfriend, leaving his iPad abandoned on a chair in a Lebanese restaurant as he bounces off to the parking lot for…
For professional film critics, you’ll notice, the year in film tends to conclude prematurely. Those “Best Of” lists you see popping up everywhere around now have often been tallied, decided and finalized by mid-November — and in the web’s ever-harried race for clicks and page views, that date seems to…
The only common thread that ties the performers together at tonight’s Soundscapes+Performance Art+Live Art is that they all fall under the wide category of avant-garde, says facilitator Claudia Woodman. With a bill that includes Victoria Lundy’s ambient theremin playing, healing sounds produced by Of Earth and Sun on instruments handcrafted…
For some people, the best — and most frightening — thing about middle school was heading to the roller rink on a Friday night. Would your friends be there? Would they get along? Would your mom embarrass you? Would you be alone for the couples’skate? And while that nostalgia is…
Any casual Star Wars fan can tell you that the Force has a light side and a dark side. This weekend, the Denver Film Society is illustrating that split with two very different Star Wars films. Tonight, see the light side in 5-25-77, a film about a young fan who…
“There is this energy between pizza and marijuana and comedy,” says Sexy Pizza owner Kayvan Khalatbari. “Eventually, I’d like to have a venue where all three of those can coexist in a legal environment.” That’s not the case quite yet, but you’ll be able to find two of the three…
“I think the holidays are for families, which is great,” notes Denver burlesque queen Vivienne VaVoom (aka Michelle Baldwin), “but sometimes you want to step away and go to an adult-themed event. And that’s definitely what this is.” So if the sugar-sweet tone of the season has already got you…
Over the years, Brian Polk has learned that being a loudmouth isn’t always the best way to incite change. “We’re all a little bit older, and the machine has won — kind of,” laments Polk, the man behind Suspect Press, a new zine celebrating its release tonight at the Deer…
Mona Lucero and Lauri Lynnxe Murphy of the Powerhaüs Studio decided to wait for the last minute to throw their Holidayhaüs market, and there’s a reason for that. It’s because people just naturally procrastinate about holiday gift-buying, only to find themselves up a creek, with no alternative other than the…
The Winter Solabration started 28 years ago as a feast celebrating the holiday season, and has since evolved into a full-on party (minus the potluck). “We do a lot of the same things every year because people love it,” says organizer Chris Kermiet. “There’s a continuity to the event. We…
The sweet sound of more than 300 tubas and euphoniums will fill the air today for the 39th annual TubaChristmas Concert in Skyline Park, a gathering of amateur, student and professional players from around the region. “It’s a beautiful sound; tubas don’t play the melody in a band or orchestra…
Krampus, as you might or might not know, is the anti-Santa, a hairy horned beast of Germanic and Eastern European origins who takes care of all the naughty children by carrying them away in his sack. And because some people just have to be different, Mar Williams of the Concoctory…
While all of Boulder ramps up for the January National Cyclo-Cross Championships, the Dairy Center for the Arts is right in step: Its huge Bike Art exhibit opened earlier this month, and there’s plenty of bike-centric programming to go with it at the multidisciplinary venue, from art to films to…
Art Lande, Jeff Jenkins and Eric Gunnison, three of the best ivory ticklers in the state, will each play sets of solo piano tonight. It’s a unique chance to hear these outstanding pianists, who have shared the stage with many legendary jazz musicians throughout their careers, perform outside the confines…
You might think of it as a New Mexican Christmas pageant, but the tradition from which Luis Valdez’s adaptation of La Pastorela comes goes back centuries, all the way from Europe to Mexico to New Mexico to the San Luis Valley of Colorado…and now, to the stage of Su Teatro…
Ana Penalba is a triple threat: She’s an architect, urban planner and artist, but sees no delineation between the three. “It’s all just thinking,” she says. Penalba, who hails from Spain and now lives in New York, has called Denver home for the past couple of months. She’s the current…
Colorado has a rich history, influenced by many cultures, and the Tesoro Cultural Center aims to preserve and celebrate those influences with community-based events, music and re-enactments. Tonight at the Fort Restaurant in Morrison, the organization will host its annualLas Posadas procession — a Spanish- and Mexican-themed Christmas tradition honoring…
E-3 Events has been bringing Denver’s Jewish community together for two decades in the form of Heebonism, an annual Christmas Eve tradition that’s also the largest local gathering of young Jewish professionals all year — and an event where every dollar raised goes back into the community, to fund future…
Jews generally don’t have much to do on Christmas Eve, which is why Jim Bailey and Lost Tribe vocalist/guitarist Hal Aqua started Klezfest two years ago at the Mercury Cafe. This year’s edition will showcase three groups, each with a different approach to klezmer, which is a kind of Jewish…
The Christmas spirit manifests itself in many ways, but for the average Denver barfly, December 25 is just another excuse to haunt his or her local public houses like the ghost of Jacob Marley. As usual, 3 Kings Tavern, one of the city’s stalwart rock-and-roll dives, will not only be…
The annual Blossoms of Light and Trail of Lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens’ two locations have been holiday traditions for years, and with each turn, the displays have gotten bigger and better. And although both include hundreds of thousands of LED lights, each display still has a distinct feel…
What goes on behind the scenes at an art museum usually stays behind the scenes. That’s about to change as MCA Denver turns its local-themed Critical Focus series spotlight on its own installation team. The exhibition, Critical Focus: MCA Installation Team, which opens to the public tonight, consists of diverse…
