The brand new History Colorado Center opens on Saturday. Last week, in my column about the wonderfully-designed museum, I pointed out how poor the two debut shows, Colorado Stories and Destination Colorado, are. Rather than trying to elevate the discussion, the museum and History Colorado chief operating officer Kathryn Hill,…
Artists, by virtue of being trained in aesthetic representation, usually have interesting jobs. Russ Beardsley, for example, takes his skills as a sculptor and applies them to his job as a stone worker. Beardsley, who is also a co-owner of Ironton Studios, took some time from lifting rock to talk…
If Denver four-year-olds make small talk about literature, surely Maybe a Bear Ate It! would come up. The picture book has been selected as the book in the state’s One Book 4 Colorado preschool reading campaign. In theory, every kid in the sandbox will be reading it. The story by Robie E…
Bike culture rolls strong in Colorado, where every sort of cyclist thrives — from leg-shaving, spandex-wearing road racers to evening pleasure cruisers. Whether reliving our childhoods or taking it a little bit too seriously, we seem to love everything on two wheels in these parts, so it follows that we…
Does a bear shit outside the woods? That question was answered by the pranksters who placed a pile of blue poo under “I See What You Mean,” better known as the Big Blue Bear, which stands outside the Colorado Convention Center. That prank inspired another former Westword art critic Renna…
Last year it was a wine tasting, but this year, in conjunction with the Denver Art Museum’s Yves Saint Laurent extravaganza, the Museo de las Americas is hoping to lure a younger demographic into the galleries with Fashion of the Americas, a fashion show fundraiser featuring a diverse quintet of…
It’s a sad day, but not as sad as it could have been for the fanatical keepers of the O scale Colorado Midland Railroad and the smaller HO scale Platte Valley & Western Model Railroad, who’ve been tending to their train setups in the basement of Union Station for almost…
Among its many interests, the Royal Bank of Canada operates RBC Wealth Management, which has established an art collection made up of some 400 works. The organizing theme is the depiction of the figure, which makes the collection unusual in the corporate world: Big companies tend to prefer abstraction in…
When Ietef Vita, aka DJ Cavem Moetavation, recently turned up on Ugandan national television, he introduced the African nation to Denver’s most dedicated “OG” — an organic gardener — on a mission to green the block. Visiting as a Bold Food fellow, the northeast-Denver-reared hip-hop artist spoke about the issues…
What was once a gaping hole in the ground has become a handsome building, at least on the outside, and that bodes well for the new History Colorado Center, which opens to the public today. Once inside, the history museum’s long-waiting constituents will also find handsome innards, along with updated…
Hailing from the same tough country that birthed the Stooges and the MC5, Michigan’s Nervous But Excited specializes in hard-edged folk music that carries melody, harmony and a social consciousness. But Nervous bandmates Kate Peterson and Sarah Cleaver never take themselves too seriously, even when their live show gets intense…
When a dance troupe like Control Group — an independent organization known for its avant-garde movement and theater — takes on classical romanticism, don’t expect whatever you were expecting. That’s because Control Group mastermind Patrick Mueller has a habit of turning things evocative in ways one can’t anticipate. And Salon…
The organizers of Totally Tennyson have gone out of their way to ensure that everybody will have a good time at the blocks-long party showcasing Tennyson Street’s restaurants and boutiques. Event co-chair Kristen Speth says the idea for the party came from a group of parents who wanted to put…
Emily K. Harrison of Square Product Theatre can hardly stop laughing long enough to talk about 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, a comedy she says is “ridiculous, but still completely believable in a way that makes you think this could actually be happening.” Though it was originally developed by Chicago’s…
In her comedy, Amy Schumer gets boldly, hilariously personal, whether she’s discussing HPV, divulging ridiculous sexual encounters or playing the ditzy blonde who just wants to catch a man (“I know this shirt’s a little weird — it kinda makes me look pregnant,” goes one of her jokes, “but, you…
The Cherry Creek Sneak marks its thirtieth anniversary today, and the iconic race will attract close to 10,000 runners of all skill levels. Over the years, the Sneak has added races for walkers, sprinters, visually impaired participants and even toddlers. To celebrate its birthday, it will tack on a new…
The Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown and Gameroom Expo will offer a far-reaching blend of arcade nostalgia this weekend, whether you’re a curiosity seeker with a pocketful of quarters (though you won’t need them if you have a ticket) or a serious gamer looking to win one of nine different pinball…
Say you like to ride your bike. And you like to eat, right? Vegetarian? All the better. You’ll feel right at home taking advantage of the BikeDenver fundraiser at WaterCourse Foods, where a percentage of every meal ticket today will go to the bicycle-advocacy group. And it’s no accident that…
For a rootsy duo, the Black Keys have proved themselves far more open to experimentation and collaboration than the tradition would dictate. From opening for Radiohead to being covered by Kelly Clarkson to working with a variety of MCs on the hip-hop project Blakroc, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick…
“When I first started writing, I remember there was an ideal intended reader in my mind: Myself as a young boy, wanting to read an adventure story that had cool ideas and was thrilling and dangerous and had a certain amount of ass-kicking involved in it,” says Paolo Bacigalupi, a…
Gorinto, the Mercury Cafe’s Wednesday-night performance hodgepodge curated by Corey Elbin, is still showing signs of life after Elbin’s departure, thanks to the Gorinto community, which is pulling together to curate shows individually. Tonight, longtime metro-area musician/multimedia artist Mark McCoin will serve up Automatica, a culminating performance by students in…
At Access Gallery, the most visible wing of VSA Colorado, one expects to see work created by people with disabilities: The nonprofit organization primarily offers services and programs for the developmentally disabled, with the idea of giving them better access to the world at large. But Outside In, a new…
