We chatted with Emanuel Martinez a few weeks ago about his murals that brighten the streets of Denver. This time around, we’re talking with him about his sculpture “Mestizaje,” which stands tall at the Tenth and Osage light-rail station. See also: – RTD art: Brian Swanson’s chess pieces at the…
Dana Cain has been involved in fandom since she first came to Denver, so it’s no surprise that in her capacity as director of the Denver County Fair, she went geeky. Last year, she launched the Geek Pavilion, making Denver’s fair “the only county fair in the world with a…
As I sat down to pen another love letter to Casa Bonita, I realized Westword has done that many times, in some form or other. In fact, just as I love Lakeside, other writers love Casa Bonita…certainly far more than regular diners do. But it wasn’t just a trip to…
Taylor Gonda co-hosts and produces the Denver-based podcast These Things Matter, which features writers, filmmakers, musicians, academics, comedians, and Taylor’s mom engaging in wonky discussions about their guests’ beloved pop-cultural obsessions, which range from Superman to Wu-Tang Clan. Gonda and her co-host, local snarkmeister Kevin O’Brien, shared a victory when These Things Matter was named best podcast at the Westword Denver Web Awards. Each episode opens with a clip of the John Cusack soliloquy from High Fidelity that inspired both the podcast’s title and the intensely personal nature of the minutiae-dissecting conversations contained in each episode. Gonda also produces Adam Cayton-Holland’s podcast, My Dining Room Table. This week, Westword caught up with Gonda –who endearingly came to the interview prepared with tidy, careful notes– to talk about her favorite books and the shared mission statement of These Things Matter and Westword Book Club.
#55: Matthew Hunzeker Back in January, our first 100CC subject in 2013, artist Donald Fodness, chose Matthew Hunzeker — a northern Colorado ambient musician who performs using hybrid instruments of his own invention — as his favorite Colorado Creative. It was an intriguing choice, purposely drawn from outside Fodness’s own…
First Friday in Denver can be quite a show, especially on Santa Fe Drive — and Westword photographer Danielle Lirette was there on Friday night to document the scene. Below is a sampling of the scenes she snapped; see the full gallery here: First Friday on Denver’s Art District on…
The Brûlée Kinky Circus Burner party heated up City Hall on Saturday, with performance artists and music. The event was a fundraiser for “Camp Brûlée,” a campsite that Denver locals will set up at Burning Man in late August. Keep reading for more photos by Jim Wills. See also: Brulee…
Sometimes people get fashion inspiration from a favorite genre of music. That’s where Cole Ritter, a college student who is interning at KS 107.5 this summer, finds his style leads. Keep reading to learn which musicians inspire his look, where he shops, and what his jam is for 2013. See…
It was the urgency of preserving art that inspired Anne Waldman’s newest book. The visionary poet, activist, and co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University was working on transferring the school’s collection of fragile tapes of performances by artists like John Cage, Allen Ginsberg, and…
The Western is dead. For years, even decades, the Western genre has been a wasteland, with few new films coming out and even fewer hits. Luckily, horror fans know what to do with dead things: make them undead, so they can stand up again and start biting faces and murdering…
For the first time in almost a decade of living in houses, I’m looking for an apartment/condominium to rent. And much like dating after getting out of a long marriage, there are many things about renting that have changed over the years — almost everything, in fact. From predictable factors…
Start off your week with a classic family film about a children’s baseball team, continue the fun with a vampire Western flick, and end it with a trip to the Clyfford Still Museum. What do all of these outings have in common? They’re all free. Read on for more details,…
In a string of films in the 1970s, Robert Altman placed his alternative spin on everything from crime movies (Thieves Like Us, 1974) to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe (The Long Goodbye, 1973). But Altman’s self-proclaimed anti-Western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which followed popular comedy M*A*S*H in 1971, might just be…
With class schedules already being decided and summer break inching closer its end, Southwest Plaza is gearing up for the back to school shopping season. This Saturday, August 3, the mall will be hosting Jeans & Teens, an afternoon of fashion shows, make-up tips and giveaways. Along with the clothing…
Want to eat lunch with a king and queen? Brian Swanson’s piece, “King and Queen,” makes that possible at the light-rail station 16th and Stout streets. Swanson wanted the public to be able to dine with life-size chess pieces and he took time to talk to Westword about his piece…
August is all about summer fun, and there’s plenty of fun to be had this weekend without digging too deep in your pockets. Celebrate the first weekend of the month with outdoor movies, a laser show under the stars, and tons of other cheap happenings. For more events, visit the…
Editor’s note: Artist Charlie Boots is part of the inaugural pair of PAIR residents at Denver’s Powerhaüs Studio. As part of his residency, he and his fashion-designing counterpart will be reporting from the real world via Show and Tell, as they learn the ropes from studio mentors Mona Lucero, Lauri…
For Gutter Kids, Ben Chavez’s latest art-minded production through his company Chubby Robot, the curator, party thrower and MC once again looked into his past. Inspired by the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards he once collected, the self-proclaimed “80s baby” reached out to his friends in the local creative community…
Simply put, Lucha libre is fun. Stand up comedy is fun. Put them together, and you have fun overload. The idea came to me after the 2012 Too Much Funstival, during which we put together a few tag team lucha libre matches from the MxW Pro Wrestling promotions before the stand up comedy and music at a show. The crowd was entirely a comedy crowd, but they ate it up. They were loud and rowdy, cheering the good guys and booing the bad guys. Seeing this planted the seed in my brain that eventually sprouted Lucha Libre & Laughs.
At the heart of the RTD system, the Civic Center bus station, is a shiny mural that represents friendship, business deals, introductions and Douglas Kornfeld’s inspiration for the piece: reunions. Kornfeld’s “Welcome!” transforms as you get closer to the work, and he took a few minutes to talk about its…
Welcome to a new column called Geek Speak, in which we take on an aspect of geek culture each week. The world championship of Magic: The Gathering is in Amsterdam this week. For the next four days, some of the world’s best players will compete individually for the title of…
While previous summers have given comedy fans a handful of semi-decent shows to look forward to, this August is so packed with top-shelf talent that it’s difficult to limit a list of the highlights to just ten shows. In the month ahead we have two female comedy duos, two local…
