A good portion of Tim Burton’s output over the past decade has been concerned with slipping the “Burton treatment” to susceptible texts: Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — and now, Dark Shadows. A supernaturally themed soap, Dark Shadows…
The bar where Amateur Night at the Big Heart takes place is what sociologists call a “third place” — the first being home, for most people, and the second the workplace. A third place can be a pub, diner, coffee shop, library, post office or anywhere that people congregate and…
Jonny Copp’s credo for the Adventure Film Festival he founded in Boulder was “Make Your Own Legends,” and while the climber/artist/musician/writer/adventurer made many legends of his own before his death in 2009, one of his greatest legacies may turn out to be posthumous, thanks to the Jonny Copp Foundation that…
After a winter hibernation, new retail merchandising vendors are wheeling out their wares on the 16th Street Mall. And not only have the offerings grown, but so have the hours: The Downtown Denver Partnership now requires vendors to be on-site between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and…
When I was in my early twenties, I carried an aluminum baseball bat in the back of my car. It was initially gear for summer seasons of Chilihead softball: I worked at Chili’s for a few years — and, like many corporate chain restaurants, Chili’s really wishes it were a…
It seems counterintuitive for a business book to tout the virtues of unpopularity, but author Erika Napoletano has thoroughly embraced the concept of unpopularity — which is not a pejorative term, as she explains in the Q&A that follows. Basically, unpopularity means you don’t have mass appeal for everyone, which…
There are a few places where women without hats would seem dangerously close to naked: a Baptist church, the Kentucky Derby and Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration. And for a hat to appear in conjunction with the latter — the Queen, in her sixtieth year of Queendom, is known for…
After months and months in the shadows of construction trucks, Tennyson Street has finally emerged, newly paved and curbed. And last Friday, Kevin Curry’s “Face the Sun” a new piece of public art paid for (like the construction project) by the 2007 Better Bond Project was unveiled at 41st and…
There are a lot of great exhibition spaces around town, but I’m always struck by how good shows look at Ice Cube Gallery, even though it’s the humblest of venues: a co-op. In a typical arrangement, the handsome space with the big windows and high ceilings is currently divided roughly…
On the calendar of nerd holidays, May 4 is certainly below Comic Con but at least a few pegs above the pirate convention that takes place each year near the airport. Yes, “May the 4th be with you,” is a day every Star Wars fan can get behind obnoxiously –…
On Friday a new piece of public art, Kevin Curry’s “Face the Sun,” was installed at Tennyson Street and 41st Avenue. The piece was part of the 2007 Better Bond Project that paid for the finally-finished street improvements along Tennyson. The piece is embossed with the words “Face the sun…
If you haven’t been down to Santa Fe in a while for First Friday, you can see what you’ve been missing through these photos shot by Laura Easley for Westword. This month’s art walk included more than a few nods to Star Wars (“May the 4th be with you” and…
There was great fashion, loud music and heavy-pours, and probably some hooking-up and broken hearts: Yes, it was Derby day again in Denver! Apparently, there was also a horse race in Kentucky or something, but those people are all backwoods rednecks, anyway. There were giant hats to be worn, people!…
Do spirits haunt Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret? Magician Aiden Sinclair seems to have all the answers, and he’ll be conjuring up the afterlife all this month on Tuesday evenings at Lannie’s…
Since long ago, the Cat Care Society has employed a truly creative method of raising money for its various cat-related endeavors: Tails of the Painted Cats, in which artists around town are called upon to doll up fabulous fiberglass cat statuettes which, after a couple of months of showcases (they’re…
A group of University of Colorado Boulder students are commemorating “oddballs” by creating a “Change the Way You Think” Tumblr page, providing an open forum for anyone to read or post personal stories (referred to as an “ode to the oddballs”) with the topic of prejudice. Their mission statement: “If…
The EarWarp chamber concert series — which regularly spotlights some of Colorado’s best classical musicians — is still growing, but it helps to have friends like Kenji Bunch, a nationally recognized violist and modern composer, whose work is derived from contemporary folk/roots music, as well as the classical canon. Bunch…
Britt Chester has been riding around the metro area, asking people to guess where he’s biking — for the chance to win a season B-Cycle pass. Some of these areas have B-Cycle stations, some — like Park Hill — do not. And if they don’t, advises, one reader, then they…
When she set out to create the online clothing retailer DapperGirl, Molly Barrett drew from her own experience, and the difficulty she encountered finding clothes that fit. But “fit” wasn’t just about the physical aspect — Barrett wanted her clothes to encapsulate her style, personality and who she was –…
Darren Bousman gets all the fun gigs. He directed Saw II, III and IV, the cult classic Repo! The Genetic Opera and his newest soon-to-be-cult-classic, The Dark Carnival. Has all this success turned him into an unapproachable ass-melon? Not even a little bit. We recently had a chance to talk…
Along with all the other things that Denver is friendly for, bicycling is definitely at the top of the priority list. We have Denver’s B-Cycle program, bike trails, designated bike lanes in automobile traffic areas, and even constructed bike terrain parks for the extremists. Here is a list of the…
From Cinco de Mayo celebrations to the First Friday art walk, Denver has plenty of stuff going on this weekend that won’t totally demolish your savings. Whether you fancy mariachi music, watching a chihuahua race or meeting a grunge legend in-person, we’ve got it all here for less than ten…
