It’s wonderful to discuss Shakespeare with someone as intelligent, insightful and, above all, passionate as Tina Packer, who brings her Women of Will: The Overview to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival this weekend. Packer, who led Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts for three decades, talks about Shakespeare with reverence, but also…
In September 2010, an unknown artist dropped off one of his original creations at the Westword office. The abstract sculpture depicts an open hand covered in different colors, shapes, textures and other miscellaneous items, including green plastic army men at its base. The sculpture was accompanied by this note: “The…
Next Tuesday, the second Biennial of the Americas will kick off a crammed four days of programming — July 16 through 19 — that promises to run fast and hard, giving you little time to catch your breath. To help you plot your course, we’ve compiled this list of the…
There’s really no reason for Christopher Titus not to be as famous as Louis C.K. or Marc Maron. After his brilliant sitcom, Titus, was cancelled in 2002 following a dispute with the network president, the bleached-blond comic has released five brilliant comedy specials, addressing his profoundly dark childhood with a…
The Denver Public Library is honoring two of its oldest branches on Saturday, July 13: the Decker Branch, at 1501 South Logan Street, and the Woodbury Branch, at 3265 Federal Boulevard, with both mark their hundredth birthdays with parties featuring family-friendly activities, photo booths, live performances and refreshments from 9…
The LIDA Project is teaming up with Metropolitan State University of Denver for a two-part project on an issue that hits close to home: global warming. The project will illustrate the realities of both too much water (the first installment) and not enough (the second) by using the actual physical…
Let’s be honest: children’s birthday parties suck. Especially the ones for really young kids, who are basically just a bunch of bald, mini-people who lack all self-awareness running into each other at a Chuck E. Cheese while a few pedophiles watch from the sidelines and parents are forced to eat…
When my best friend was describing a near-perfect date that her boyfriend took her on last summer, I couldn’t help but cringe. He got tickets to a show at Red Rocks — and drove her in a rented, mint-condition vintage Volkswagen bus. There is nothing romantic about a ride in…
A Breckenridge resident and self-described “river rat,” Beth Groundwater is a writer of mystery stories. After retiring from a software engineering position in 1999, Groundwater pursued her lifelong interest in writing and mysteries and set to work on her craft, eventually seeing her short stories published in anthologies before moving on to writing the ongoing RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series for Midnight Ink Publications. In advance of her upcoming signing appearance at Broadway Book Mall, Westword Book Club chatted with Groundwater about mysteries, her struggles with grammar as a young writer and her own book club.
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the cinema of the ’80s and early ’90s knows the majesty of Patrick Swayze. Over the course of a handful of films, Swayze crafted a composite character who was somehow the toughest of tough guys while simultaneously the sensitive sweetheart who knew just…
Becoming a comedian will get you laid, and becoming an author will get you respect, but from the perspective of a professional audience member like myself, the two really aren’t all that different. When I’m doubled over by the lyrical whimsy of local comic Jordan Doll, I could be cracking…
#59: Pangloss Gravitron Pangloss Gravitron: Not a person. Rather, it’s a diverse six-person collective of local artists who share a certain speculative, surreal and fantasmic scope in their works. “Pangloss” references Voltaire’s optimist Dr. Pangloss from Candide; “Gravitron” is a spinning, flying-saucer-like amusement park ride using centrifugal force to elicit…
The tradition continues! Over the weekend, crowds of arts enthusiasts took over the Santa Fe Art District for the latest First Friday art walk — and roving nightlife photographer Danielle Lirette was there to capture the action. For more photos from First Friday, check out our full First Friday, 7/5/13…
There is nothing wrong with consenting adults using sex toys to spice up some otherwise boring bed-sport, and the adult-toy industry has come up with a truly dazzling selection of every possible implement for every possible body part/orifice. But for every pair of pink, fuzzy handcuffs and every benign blow-up…
The 2013 edition of the Colorado Burlesque Festival is bigger and badder than ever, offering up classes and performances featuring many of the names that put Colorado on the map when it comes to the flirty, coy, artful striptease that’s more tease than strip. The festival shows run from Thursday,…
Reverend Charles Cox is a Spiritualist minister, which means he performs the rituals most ministers do: weddings, christenings and funerals. But Charles Cox also communes with the dead, and Cox will teach a class tonight at Isis Books and Gifts on the history of mediumship and the meaning religion of…
Summer is heating up, and so are the options for free entertainment. Sample natural foods at the grand opening of a new Sprouts, watch a classic political comedy from 1950, and look out on the Denver skyline while you enjoy music and comedy. Share other bargain activities in the comments…
Guitarist/songwriter Robbie Robertson of The Band turned seventy this month, and that milestone got me thinkng about The Last Waltz. Some folks call it the “best concert movie ever made,” and it has a lot going for it in that respect: Martin Scorcese, who has a deep feel for the…
The Internet is a black hole of poor decisions — whether you’re trading sexual favors to someone on Craigslist for IT support or accidentally paying for a year-long membership to the Jam of the Month Club. There’s no shortage of stupid things available for purchase on the Internet — tasteless,…
When three members of activist punk collective Pussy Riot were thrown in jail in February 2012 for a forty-second performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the world was watching. And earlier this year, HBO released Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, a documentary detailing the musicians’ work…
Denver comedian Sam Tallent has been a rising star in the standup scene over the last few years, hosting The Squire open mic and performing as part of the Fine Gentleman’s Club at the comedy quartet’s wildly popular Wednesday night show, Too Much Fun. Still, many fans may not know…
Though the grills have been extinguished and the fireworks are over, there’s no need for the fun to end. July is full of events that won’t drain your finances, from art openings to dance parties to a film about Russian feminist punks. Read on for ten events this weekend that…
