Friends and filmmakers Jesse Zook Mann and Evan Kleinman decided to go deeper into Judaism, in search of the more edgy side of contemporary Jewish life, and the result was the documentary Punk Jews. It’s a sixty-minute, multi-faceted portrait of a global community, told in six stories, including that of…
While researching his new book on Charles Manson, Jeff Guinn was surprised to learn that the criminal sociopath’s explanation for the Tate-LaBianca murders, which he instructed his “family” of followers to commit, was nothing new. Through interviews with new sources, including Manson’s sister and cousin, Guinn discovered that even as…
The Italian film industry is known for its knock-offs — cheap, tawdry, ramshackle productions that would borrow elements from popular films to create second-rate copies for a quick buck. Despite the methods, several of these Italian genres produced some beloved films — most notably the so-called “spaghetti Westerns” — while…
Editor’s note: Longtime Denver fashion designer Francis Roces, whose brand name is KimonoDragons, is half of the inaugural pair of PAIR residents at Denver’s Powerhaüs Studio. As part of his three-month residency, he and his fine-art counterpart, Charlie Boots, will be reporting from the real world via Show and Tell,…
Comedian and Westword feature subject Ben Roy is about as widely known as comedian can get in Denver. In addition to performing at the upcoming High Plains Comedy Festival, Roy will be headlining a show at Comedy Works downtown at 7:00pm on August 25th. Westword caught up with Ben to discuss his politics, being a comedy outsider, his motorcycle, his non-fictional reading habits, and how he’s like Bill Cosby.
For more than a decade, Susan Cooper has helped make your wait for an RTD train a lot more pleasant. As a member of the art team, she’s helped with projects at many of the stations. She’s also the creator of the Tufts Flyover that connects Tufts and Santa Fe…
The next four weeks in Denver will see a tsunami of comedy events. There are four killer standups at Comedy Works (Craig Ferguson, Mike Birbiglia, Marc Maron, Kevin Nealon), two comedy festivals (High Plains, Funstival) and the Oddball Comedy Tour (Dave Chapelle, Flight of the Conchords). It’s raining microphones in…
My reasons for a trip to Shotgun Willie’s were two-fold: I had read our recent cover story on the thirty-year-old institution’s revamp and I wanted to get a glimpse of the original location before it was torn down, and my sister was moving to Seattle and the girl loves strip…
From the dark days of two years ago, when the Colorado Symphony Orchestra was facing big losses and worse morale, the situation keeps getting brighter, with innovative programming attracting more support — and expanded audiences. And this morning the spotlight will shine on the CSO’s new music director: conductor Andrew…
If you believe that podcasting saved comedy, then Marc Maron is a messiah of humor. After enduring divorces, a flaccid comedy career and losing his job on Air America, in 2009 Maron launched the WTF podcast, recorded in the same garage he often contemplated killing himself in. Today WTF is…
#52: Michelle Baldwin Seems like burlesque shows are a dime a dance these days in Denver. But back in the twentieth century, real vintage burlesque had pretty much died out here, along with the Curtis Street girly shows of a bygone era, after changing times and urban renewal wiped away…
Menswear has been back to school, now that the fall semester is in full swing on the Auraria campus. We spotted University of Colorado at Denver student Jason Giving waiting in a long line of students, where he was a standout with his leather shoes and coral-colored pants. Keep reading…
The three tall sculptures at the Arapahoe at Village Center light-rail station look like they could fit together as a puzzle. But as it turns out, there’s nothing puzzling about the concept behind this piece: Sculptor Michael Clapper created it to represent Greenwood Village itself. He recently talked with us…
Even as the third annual US Pro Challenge takes off from Aspen today, a bicycle-art show is taking off a Denver International Airport. Using bicycles, artists have created representation of all the cities involved in the US Pro Challenge: Aspen/Snowmass, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, Beaver Creek, Vail, Loveland, Fort Collins and…
In 2012 Peter and the Starcatcher left the Tony awards ceremony with five trophies, including best performance by an actor, best sound design of a play, best costume design of a play, best scenic design of a play, and best lighting design of a play. Now the company is on…
Millennials aren’t getting the memo that living on their own is good for them — and their put-upon parents. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, the number of adults aged 18 to 31 living at home rose to 36 percent last year — the highest percentage in forty years,…
The summer-slasher Sleepaway Camp has been slowly amassing a cult audience over the past thirty years. In many ways it’s a standard slasher, built on a series of gruesome murder set pieces, but its odd moments and bizarre-twist ending go a long way to set it apart from its more…
Sometimes the best things in life really are free. From looking at dinosaur bones at the Museum of Nature & Science to learning about fungi to enjoying a music and art festival, you have plenty of fun, free entertainment options this week. For more activities, visit the online Westword calendar,…
The influence of Sid Caesar’s early television variety series Your Show of Shows runs deep, and the 1982 comedy My Favorite Year, inspired by an actual appearance on the show by the charming but washed-up actor Errol Flynn, plays like an inside joke. As with TV’s The Dick Van Dyke…
Zoe Yabrove has been profiling RTD’s public-art pieces, and this Monday, her series reached”Winter Crossing,” the stunning mural by Denver artist Stephen Batura that hung at Union Station for a decade — and then disappeared when the historic facility was closed for major renovations. “RTD removed the work more than…
The members of the Fine Gentleman’s Club make no secret about how much they love getting high. Over the last year, some of us at Westword have had a lot of fun smoking up with comedians and musicians and asking them oddball questions that have nothing to do with anything…
What’s better than one classic horror movie transmogrified into a stage musical full of blood, gore and dance numbers, right in front of your eyes? How about three classic horror movies given similar treatment, and then tagged with a sweet name like Trilogy of Terror? Now, what’s even better than…
