Twenty minutes into the first full-length movie based on L. Frank Baum’s most beloved novel, a duck pukes into the face of Larry Semon, the star and director. Semon’s 1925 flop, titled The Wizard of Oz, opens and closes with a Geppetto-esque toymaker reading to his granddaughter from a well-loved…
In the music business, timing can be everything. Immortalized in the new documentary A Band Called Death, Detroit-area brothers Dannis, Bobby and David Hackney lived this reality as Death, an early-’70s proto-punk band on the verge of stardom — but for whom fame never came. Screening tonight as part of…
After leaving Colorado for L.A. and New York, comedian Ben Kronberg gained a lot of momentum on the national circuit: He landed a gig on John Oliver’s New York Standup Show and has recorded a half-hour special for Comedy Central. But as one of the original members of Wrist Deep…
It might seem like zombies and fashion would mix about as well as oil and water, but that’s just because you haven’t thought about it nearly as much as Summer Jackson. Her annual March of the Zombies fashion extravaganza is kicking off its fifth year, and the combination of high…
The drama, the excitement, the smackdown — it will all be at the 1STBANK Center tonight during the WWE Raw World Tour: Road to Wrestlemania. This massive main event has pro wrestlers John Cena, Sheamus and Ryback teaming up in a tag-team match against the Shield — superstars Dean Ambrose,…
Never mind the lingering winter weather: Spring has sprung with the arrival of today’s Sugar Plum Bazaar. The two-day artisan market set inside the beautiful Parkside Mansion will be bursting with handmade items and vintage finds from vendors across the state. Selling one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces, up-cycled clothing, refurbished furniture and…
Once dominated by cocky oafs, standup comedy has made way for the pop-culture nerds. A look at the top comedy podcasts on iTunes (the late-night television of our time) is guaranteed to reveal a handful of BuzzFeed-style chat shows — often standup and Super High Me star Doug Benson’s cinema-drenched…
Embodying the American archetypes of confidence, show business and law-breaking, the story of con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. has enchanted the world since the publication of his 1980 memoir, Catch Me If You Can. Living dozens of lives in cities around the globe, Abagnale posed as a doctor, a university…
What were the chances that a musical like Jersey Boys, inspired by the ’60s-era street-corner crooners the Four Seasons, would be a hit on Broadway? Pretty darn good, considering the number of Tony Awards the show swept up in 2006. It turns out that the idea of an all-male vocal…
About ten years ago, this sort of thing — a little bit vaudeville-ish, a little bit carnivalesque — started to happen, and bands of saw players and burlesque dancers began to rove the country like gypsies, putting on shows reminiscent of evenings in the hobo town. And it’s evolved over…
Death comes in many forms, so it seems like naming one form for each letter of the alphabet would be child’s play. Or, in the case of The ABCs of Death, an excuse to gather 26 rising stars of the horror genre and give each of them five minutes and…
Before the talkies took over Hollywood, actors made the most of the silent screen. One of them was Joan Crawford, whose performance in 1928’s Our Dancing Daughters transformed her from a sideline player to an enduring star. The film plays tonight as part of the Vamp: Femme Fatales of the…
Update: Congratulations to nicage1125! You’ve won twenty free movie passes. Check your email for details on how to claim them. Original post: We’ll cut to the chase: Movies are one of this planet’s greatest pleasures, and there’s nothing quite like seeing a film at a real theater. Show and Tell…
With its just-announced 2013-’14 season, the Denver Center Theatre Company remains true to its mission of promoting interesting and exciting new playwrights. Four of the playwrights whose work received readings at the New Play Summit last month are included in the next lineup. See also: – Marcus Gardley debuts Black…
With the wacky weather this past week mixing snowflakes and sunshine, many people dressed for one season or the other. One stylish Denverite we spotted among the crowd is Haley Swenson, a visual-arts student at Metropolitan State University of Denver who dresses with flair and packs a punch. Continue reading…
Fresh from filming his half-hour special for Comedy Central, Ben Kronberg returns to Denver this Friday for a show at the Oriental Theater, his first hometown performance in over a year. And that’s generating a lot of excitement in the local comedy community, which has been tickled by Kronberg since…
When a 1974 demo tape was discovered of music by Death, the Detroit proto-punks, it was like a missing link. Ahead of its time and now all but forgotten, the trio’s harsh, fast sound was the precursor to that of bands like Bad Brains, Ramones and Minutemen. A Band Called…
“I gave an interview to some asshole out here, from some crunchy newspaper,” Adam Carolla said from the Paramount stage Wednesday night. “He’s probably here somewhere tonight.” And he was: Josiah Hesse was in the audience as Carolla proceeded to launch a Big Mock Attack directed at Hesse’s discussion of…
The annual Women + Film Voices Film Festival officially opened yesterday, offering a well-curated sampler of feature films, shorts and documentaries — by, for and about women — that continues through Sunday. But this afternoon, the fest will kick back a little by presenting a bona fide chick-flick matinee screening…
Over the weekend, BAD girls (Babes Around Denver attendees) took over Tracks with a party celebrating the lesbian club night’s tenth anniversary in town. The fun fete brought out brave dancers, bold dressers and even one dapper space man to ring in Babes Around Denver’s birthday on the scene. Westword…
After twenty years, Ballet Nouveau Colorado has made the leap. The dance company is splitting in two, and the portion now known as Wonderbound has moved into Denver, to 1075 Park Avenue West — at the confluence of Arapahoe Square, Curtis Park and Five Points. Wonderbound is sharing the building…
I understand that the planet needs snow, and I respect that. I don’t hate moisture, or the differing climates or seasons changing or anything else involving the beautiful Earth doing what it needs to do in order to keep us selfish humans alive. But what I don’t understand is people…
