Twenty years ago, Salida was a sleepy mountain town on the Arkansas river with a few galleries. River rafters knew it; so did artists looking for a scenic but quiet spot to live and work, and it was (and is) a nice riverside stopover while driving through the Rockies. It…
Sometimes races aren’t hard enough on their own; you have to add obstacles like tunnels, mud pits, water crossings, sand-bag carries or a slippery mountain to really get your heart rate’s worth. If you’re the part of the population that actually agrees with that, then the Merrell Down & Dirty…
From the way he’s loading our plates with stuff this spring, it seems Adam Lerner must have had one of those good Jewish mothers: Three shows — Bruce Conner and the Primal Scene of Punk Rock, Richard Peterson: Artists and Rockers and Guarded, an installation piece by the artist collective…
Following up on the overwhelming success of 2009’s Precious (the Hollywood adaptation of the dark novel Push), author Sapphire continued the story in the 21st century with The Kid, this time following the dramatic and disturbing life of the son of Push protagonist Precious. “The Kid presents even more of…
After three successful years of celebrating life on two wheels, Cactus brings its annual Bike From Work Bash to the intersection of Little Raven and 15th streets, where the agency’s office is located. In light of the pedal party’s exponential growth since its 2008 inception, Cactus has plans for the…
This year’s Beaver Creek Documentary Film Series features five films with Colorado roots, including the opening act, the Academy Award-winning Saving Face, from Denver director Daniel Junge and Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. “The idea for doing a Colorado-based film series came out of a conversation I had with a woman…
When Reese Witherspoon agreed to star in the 2001 vehicle Legally Blonde, she probably had no clue that the lighthearted comedy — about a sorority sister who follows an ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School to prove she’s, like, got substance, too! — would be nominated for a Golden Globe, spawn…
The Addams Family debuted in the pages of The New Yorker in 1938 as cartoonist Charles Addams’s creepy creation: a wealthy family who loved all things macabre — from dressing in black to reveling in misery. More than seventy years later, the family is deeply embedded in cultural history, with…
Last weekend was jam-packed with events all around Denver. The inaugural Denver Comic Con, PrideFest, Juneteenth and Father’s Day, to name just a few, brought very diverse crowds out around the city. And that meant that very different fashion styles were seen on the street — everything from the rainbow-clad…
The joyous weekend of PrideFest was not without its misfortunes, in the form of chance interactions and longing gazes that left one party wanting more, but not knowing where to find it. Enter Craigslist Missed Connections, questionably the only matchmaking tool worse than The Bachelor/Bachelorette TV series, but nonetheless entertaining…
Custom cowboy boot maker Mickey Mussett didn’t start out fancying up the elite. He’s 65 now and only started making boots ten years ago, after leaving his job in advertising. The lure of leather and glue is what pulled him away and what keeps him busy now. “It’s a very…
Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran minister and founder of the House for all Sinners and Saints — but her sleeve tattoos and sailor’s mouth are an immediate tip-off that this woman ain’t your momma’s minister. Beyond these obvious social cues, Bolz-Weber’s view of theology also sets her apart: Tapping…
One of the best things about the Heineken Lads Night Out at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park/? Lassies are welcomed to partake of the promotion, too, which includes two each of everything — Colorado Rapids game tickets, Heinekens, hot dogs and scarves for you and a buddy — all for only…
Like a good ghost story or a reality show in eternal reruns, Tiffany Fitzgerald’s “Ghost Adventures host Zak Bagans comes to Denver, meets Phil Goodstein, acts like a child” lives on, and on. And the comments keep coming…
Though she was born and raised in Salt Lake City and has lived in New York for nearly a decade, painter Jenny Morgan has maintained her presence in the Denver art scene with regular exhibits at Plus Gallery. Her latest effort, Kith and Kin: New Paintings by Jenny Morgan, includes…
Bryan Nash Gill. The front space at Goodwin Fine Art is filled with an installation by nationally known Connecticut artist Bryan Nash Gill, who uses wood as both his material and his method. Nash has created two cubes made of cut-up pine beams. One, left in its natural color, has…
Apocalypse movies are a venerable enough genre (and reliable box-office cash spigots) to support a few lightweight, funny-sad-romantic entries every once in a while. Given the right touch, this approach can be just the antidote to the idea-free, effects-laden blockbusters and art-house pity parties that dominate the form; it’s conceivable…
With her flame-colored ringlets, Merida, the barely adolescent heroine of Pixar’s thirteenth feature, looks like a wee Rebekah Brooks, maybe a pint-sized Florence Welch. Despite these resemblances, Merida remains an original: Brave, set in the Scottish Highlands in the tenth century, is the animation studio’s first film with a female…
A few days after I’ve seen Love Child, the notes on my pad — a mix of observations, reminders and actual quotes — make absolutely no sense. “I have no name.” “Xander’s in a trance.” “You’re firing me? Your own mother?” “Chef from Greece…big knife…” “She never screwed Richard.” “I…
The Oscar Wilde Experience feels less like a full-fledged theater production than a warm, pleasant evening spent with friends. The show is in the Byers-Evans House, which was built in 1883; with its dark wood furnishings, shadowy corners and shelves of old books, it provides the perfect backdrop for an…
A blanket of white covers Montreal inside and out in Monsieur Lazhar, the understated, affecting Canadian drama recently nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. The schoolyard where Alice (Sophie Nélisse) and Simon (Émilien Néron) exchange their usual morning jabs is capped with snow, and their classroom is filled with…
Editor’s note: Westword cartoonist Noah Van Sciver paints the town like nobody else, as demonstrated in his recaps of visits to the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, our own Artopia, MCA Denver and StarFest 2012. (Make sure you read Noah’s blog for more comics and…
