Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature that celebrates the books that inspire Denver artists…
Denver’s thaw couldn’t have come at a better weekend. This week only, National Parks throughout the country are waiving their admission fees — so you can enjoy the spring weather by exploring the natural beauty of this state, for free! And even if the great outdoors aren’t your thing, we’ve…
Set in the depths of a Denver recession, Manuel Ramos’ new novel follows Gus Corral as he gets caught up in a gritty world of warring gangs, murder and a missing religious artifact. Out now on Arte Público Press, Desperado: A Mile High Noir uses the North Side of Denver…
Since it opened two years ago in the former home of the Atrium, the Bar has earned a reputation as not just a community watering hole, but a place with a very broad definition of community. This was a spot where everyone was truly welcome, and the entertainment lineup was…
After the organizers of the Denver Dark Arts Festival decided to close up shop a few years ago, Brent Heinze saw an opportunity. “The team that did it before haven’t put the Denver Dark Arts Festival on in seven years; it got to be just a pain in their ass,”…
Update: Congratulations to laymanscott! Check your email for details on how to claim your tickets. Original post: Do you love the ’80s? Let’s be real: We all do. In fact, we totally do. We’re giving away two tickets to the third annual Totally Tennyson pub crawl, an ’80s-themed drinking tour…
Some people look good even when they dress down. That is the case with health-care worker Erin Orland, who says we spotted her on “an off day.” Continue reading to discover her style mantra, what her favorite accessory is, and how some “seedy people” have inspired her life, just not…
Between his standup performances and his Comedy Central show, The Jeselnik Offensive, handsome asshole Anthony Jeselnik has slapped the PC button of just about every sociopolitical demographic the world over. Whether you’re a liberal female with an eating disorder or a conservative Catholic who survived cancer, this sharp-tongued mockster will…
#75: Conrad Kehn The opening sentence of Conrad Kehn’s professional bio kind of says it all: “Conrad Kehn is a composer, improviser, performer, educator, writer and artist.” But that’s the glib definition of a guy who, under the skin of his basic vita, is hellbent on spreading the joy of…
Chuck Sink, who died on April 12, just six weeks shy of his ninetieth birthday, was one of the greatest mid-century modernist architects to have worked in Denver. Born in 1923 in Indiana, he was first exposed to modernism at age ten, when he attended the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair…
Georgia O’Keeffe. Georgia O’Keeffe has been done to death — on greeting cards, calendars and posters. That’s why it’s easy to forget that in the first half of the twentieth century, she was one of America’s most significant early modernists. And with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, she crusaded for the…
An ostensibly feel-good French-Canadian comedy about artificial insemination gone awry, Ken Scott’s Starbuck mainly makes you feel like taking a shower. The protagonist is a hapless forty-year-old Montreal bachelor named David (Patrick Huard, resembling a younger, hunkier Daniel Auteuil, without the wild-eyed intensity), whose life is turned upside down when…
The meek shall inherit the Earth,” somebody said once — probably Truffaut. Two pictures into his thrilling career, writer-director Antonio Campos seems determined to show us that that might not be anything to celebrate. Campos’s feature debut, 2008’s Afterschool, was essentially one part Blow Up to three parts Rushmore-as-psychological-horror-flick. While…
Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) believes life has cheated him. Doesn’t America promise riches and luxury to people who deserve it? He’s worked hard to build his body into a hulking knot of muscles; success should follow. But Lugo — the lead in Pain & Gain, Michael Bay’s neon-noir ode to…
Though he’s long been among the most recognizable celebrities in the world, Tom Cruise has always seemed vaguely irritating, like the popular kid at school everybody secretly dislikes. His is an odd sort of fame: Globally recognized but rarely acclaimed, he remains more reliably bankable than nearly any other actor…
Just as Mad Men charms its viewers by using sex, drugs, snappy banter and pretty people to make heavy topics (sexism, racism, dreams diffused) palatable, the editors of Mad Men, Mad World trust that some TV glamour will get readers interested in digesting academic theories. It’s not wrong. Full of…
When Michael Haneke’s sobering end-of-life drama Amour premiered at Cannes last May, many critics reflected on the presence of a shared cultural legacy. Its stars, Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, evoked the iconography of the New Wave, the once-young faces of Hiroshima mon amour and My Night at Maud’s now…
In The Client List, Lifetime’s pseudo-steamy take on the world of sensual massage, Jennifer Love Hewitt plays a struggling housewife who takes a rubdown side job in order to support her kids after her husband disappears. The show, which jumps from scenes of Hewitt pleasuring executives to her dancing with…
Getting in shape is never easy. But if you need extra motivation to exercise, how about running from a hungry, undead predator in the Vampire 5K? “People always say they’d never run unless they’re running from something,” says race co-founder Scott Jones. “And what better to run from than a…
The Denver Art Museum’s monthly after-hours event will sizzle with electricity tonight, energizing its adult audience with interactivity and sparkling lights. The centerpiece of Untitled #56 (Current), notes DAM educational program manager Jaime Kopke, is a collaboration between the musicians of Musica Sacra and DAM Fuse Box artists Annica Cuppetelli…
Today marks the grand opening of RTD’s West Line, serving the West Colfax corridor from Union Station in downtown Denver to the Jeffco Government Center in Golden. Rides will be free all day not just on the West Line, but on the entire light-rail system, and community celebrations are planned…
Dive into a world of sky pirates, menacing cephalopods and bustier-clad lasses in Queen Victoria’s Floating Garden of Secrets and Natural Wonders, the world’s first full-length steampunk opera. Set in a dystopian future, the show tackles issues such as climate change while mashing up influences from Jules Verne to Gilbert…
