Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was born a hundred years ago, and a century later, he’s left quite a legacy. David Amram, a legend in his own right who met Guthrie in 1956 and was commissioned by the Guthrie family to write a symphony piece based on “This Land Is…
In the 1980s, the Rotary Club of Denver held massive Artists of America auctions, which raised more than $2 million for charitable projects around the world. Those annual events stopped in 2000, but the concept has now been reborn as Artists of the World, an online auction that will raise…
When it comes to home-grown decoration of military aircraft, Matthew Burchette knows it all — from topless cherry-picking pin-ups of the ’40s to the consumer-culture imagery of the present. And the high-flying Wings Over the Rockies air and space museum curator will share his knowledge during a free lecture at…
Keystone hasn’t yet fired up its snow guns in the race to open the first white ribbon of a run for early-season shred, but that’s not stopping the mountain from hosting the first rail jam of the season: The A51 River Run Rail Series kicks off tomorrow, September 15 –…
As owner of Primos Hardcore & Wrestling and the Butcher Shop wrestling gym, Joe “Joey Terrorfyn” McDougal is now gearing up for Primo’s biggest throwdown of the year, Slave to the Deathmatch III this Sunday, September 16. The organization will join with the Juggalo Wrestling League and other fighting federations…
In Rudy Ch. Garcia’s debut novel, The Closet of Discarded Dreams, a man awakens in a strange, surreal world made up of dreams — his own, and everyone else’s. In this bizarre place, Che Guevara and Marilyn Monroe debate philosophy and no one ever dies, but not everything is as…
Cleo Parker Robinson is a Denver institution. Her dance company is now in its fifth decade, and tonight will perform the long-forgotten Southland, which Katherine Dunham had danced more than sixty years ago. This production should be a real revelation, but when we spoke with Cleo about the dance, we…
There are so many ways to spend your money, so why blow it on an expensive night out when there are so many other options? This weekend is full of stellar events that won’t cost more than ten bucks — from a dramatic reading from Fifty Shades of Grey to…
Remember when you turned eighteen? Maybe you felt like you’d seen it all — but more likely, you knew that a grand personal story was about to unfold. You felt excited and afraid. But how about a theater company? What about Brian Freeland and the LIDA Project, a company that’s…
Have pit bulls gotten a bad rap? That’s the premise behind Beyond the Myth, Libby Sherrill’s documentary on the misconceptions about the animals that screened last night at the Mayan, in the heart of a city that bans the breed. And despite all the information that Sherrill lays out in…
Denver is no stranger to pit bull controversy. As one of the pit-bull hotbeds of the country, the city has seen breed-specific legislation prevent the animals from residing within city limits. But tonight, director Libby R. Sherrill hopes to enlighten residents of Denver with a special, one-night-only screening of her…
The annual Westword Music Showcase is always a good time, but in one small but noticeable way, this year’s event has become a permanent street party. During the course of the 2012 musical mayhem, eight local artists shared their time, paint and skills with Westword to completely re-envision our traditional…
Few Denver natives have made as lasting an imprint on this city as Cleo Parker Robinson. For over forty years she’s been dancing her way through Colorado’s cultural scene, establishing a dance troupe and a school, winning countless awards and bringing social awareness to controversial subjects along the way. Her…
Three of the companies featured in our January cover story on Colorado’s “microbrew” ski industry just made the cut in Freeskier Magazine’s Top 10 Skis list of the best microbrew and independent brand skis for the 2012-2013 season. And Folsom Custom Skis took the top spot with its Rapture skis,…
Over the last four decades Gary Hart has been a major force in politics — from “inventing” the Iowa caucuses while managing George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, to unintentionally creating the template for political sex scandals with the “monkey business” photo during his 1987 run for the Democratic presidential nomination,…
If you were at the Denver County Fair in August, you might have caught a steampunk vibe in the air — thanks to the amassed presence of the Colorado Steampunks and the Denver Victoriana & Steampunk Society, all decked out in their beautiful costumes. Among their ranks were world travelers…
The city of Denver is known for its various breeds of beer geeks, outdoor enthusiasts and sports nuts, but the varied climate of the Denver music scene inspires a particularly diverse group of enthusiasts. Over on the Backbeat blog, our field guide to music fans offers some useful tips for…
Founded by curator Dianne Vanderlip in 1978, the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Denver Art Museum is one of the institution’s most important divisions — if not the most important. Occupying nearly all of the third and fourth levels and the atrium of the Hamilton Building and…
Clyfford Still. For the opening of the Clyfford Still Museum, director Dean Sobel has installed a career survey of the great artist that starts with the artist’s realist self-portrait and features his remarkable post-impressionist works from the 1920s. Next are Still’s works from the ’30s, with some odd takes on…
Slick and grown-up as Richard Gere himself, this intricate fiscal thriller gets a dead bead on extreme privilege, with Gere’s Madoff-like billionaire fund-runner scrambling to keep his personal empire from crumbling like crackers. He has everything — including a loving family, a hot French girlfriend (Laetitia Casta) and that warm…
It’s pretty Pollyannaish to complain when companies that are in the business of making money on movies make certain movies solely to make money. And yet it seems to be widely acceptable to be cynical about big-budget movies that are made, marketed and released in order to sate an appetite…
The blitzkrieg of award season is right around the corner, and with it, we can expect an onslaught of stunt performances designed to wow Academy voters and feature editors (and also viewers?) with their evident degrees of difficulty and demonstrable totality of transformation. With Daniel Day-Lewis having strapped on the…
