Gary Hart on his new novel, Citizens United and stubborn Republicans

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,…

Help Luminous Thread Productions kickstart their dream in Denver

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…

Reader: Noah Van Sciver’s illustrations suck

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…

Now Showing

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…

An amoral Richard Gere explores extreme privilege in Arbitrage

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…

Sleepwalk With Me tells more than it shows

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…

By going undercover, The Ambassador earns its suspension of disbelief

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…

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is absorbing, funny and smart

The opening moments are pulse-poundingly exciting — music, live wrestling, flashing lights, tons of adrenaline from an already hyped-up audience. But the actual scripted beginning of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety is quiet, as a Puerto Rican kid called Macedonio Guerra — Mace — describes his lifelong fascination with…

Paul W. S. Anderson, game boy

The big movie event of September will be the anticipated latest from a certain filmmaker who signs his films with the surname Anderson and a pair of initials, a prodigious talent who burst onto the scene with a stylish entry in the mid-’90s crime-thriller wave and never left. The master…

Previews in Living Color

Off-Center at the Jones, curated by Emily Tarquin and Charlie Miller, began last year like a beautiful little secret, and, tucked away in the Denver Performing Arts Complex’s well-hidden and intimate Jones Theatre, the kick-off-your-shoes-and-have-fun improv series that always ends in a party can only go up from there. But…

There’s a RIOT! Going On

The fledgling 40 West arts district in Lakewood is off and running, and tonight’s 40 West Arts RIOT! cultural variety show might be considered the next step. “40 West has delivered several community-focused events in 2012, and we look to expand our calendar of events in 2013,” says district boardmember…

A Smoking Pistolera

Every year, the Museo de las Américas paints the town red with a “rojo”-themed fundraiser exploring a different stratum of Latin culture. This year, it’s going for a song: Rojo Canción will revolve around music, but with plenty of partying in between at Su Teatro, 721 Santa Fe Drive, just…

Ride the Rails

Mass-transit advocates will rejoice today as bicycles and trains come together for Tour de FasTracks, a six-mile bike ride along the path of RTD’s West Rail Line expansion. Cyclists will begin at the 13th Avenue and Oak Street station in Lakewood at 9 a.m. and end at the Decatur-Federal station…

Story Time

Listening to stories is something many people have been doing ever since they were kids and Eloise and Goodnight Moon got top billing. Stories on Stage updated the concept for adults, however, bringing in professional actors each year to do the readings. It will kick off its twelfth season around…

Drinking Games

Since so much of Colorado’s identity is wrapped up in craft breweries, it only makes sense to close out the summer with a gathering of the tribes at the Vine Street Pub’s Uptown Block Party and Brewers Olympics. The seven-hour event will pit notables like the Wynkoop, Breckenridge, Odell and…

Express Yourself

“Almost every moment in my life is defined by what Madonna album was out, by what Madonna movie, by something that she performed,” explains artist Alon Paul. “Everybody’s got their crazy, and, ultimately, Madonna is my crazy.” Paul grew up in what he calls “the finest trailer parks in Nebraska…

Do or Die Time

During tonight’s third annual Slave to the Deathmatch tournament, Primos Hardcore & Wrestling will once again set the record straight: This isn’t play-fighting; it’s full-on bloodsport. The highly decorated and world-renowned hardcore-wrestling champion Tommy Dreamer headlines the evening of Japanese-style fighting, along with Necro Butcher (best known for his appearance…

Stay Young at Nan Desu Kan

This year marks sweet sixteen for Nan Desu Kan, the region’s premier anime convention, but as anyone who’s attended any of the previous fifteen years knows, the con is a lot more than just anime: It’s a celebration of a wide swath of Japanese pop culture. The latest addition to…