Teresa Shear, director of cheerleaders and game entertainment for the Broncos, used to get calls every year from people asking if they could come watch cheerleader tryouts. The answer was always no, because she didn’t have the right space or setup to accommodate an audience. But this year, she thought,…
When there are no more open lanes in hell, the dead will roll on Earth. Or at least that seems to be implied strongly by the existence of the Zom Bowl-A-Thon tonight, a fundraiser for the upcoming locally produced movie Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer from Bizjack/Flemco productions. “I thought…
“It’s been around for a long time,” Rose Berner says of the Royal Gorge Rodeo. Try 137 years. It almost makes the 34 years Berner has been attending the event sound paltry. The 66-year-old was asked twenty years ago by the Royal Gorge Rodeo Association if she would stand in…
Meet Tracy Weil, tomato farmer. After the local painter and graphic designer saw the potential on his expanded RiNo studio grounds, he planted nearly 250 heirloom tomato starts this spring, with dreams of planting his own little urban farm right in, yes, his own back yard. Okay, so maybe Weil…
In high-school psychology class, we took an IQ test biased toward black men growing up in the 1970s. Oddly enough, I got a perfect score, primarily because I had watched every black-themed film of the time, from Shaft to Foxy Brown to Blackula. I couldn’t get enough. And now I’m…
Among the most pleasurable entries in director Orson Welles’s filmography are those projects that find him trying to wedge his eccentricities into a standard genre template and failing to do so with fascinating results. The Lady From Shanghai, a late-’40s noir elaboration being screened on Tuesday, May 5, as part…
If you thought belt sanders were just for sanding wood, you’d be wrong. Nope, in the spirit of American ingenuity and, well, competition, belt sanders can also be used to race against each other since they will move themselves forward if you lock their triggers. Rockler Woodworking and Hardware will…
Although any hope of finding gold in Denver quickly went bust, on May 6, 1859, prospector John Gregory discovered a real treasure trove in a gulch outside of what would soon be known as Central City, triggering the “Rush to the Rockies” — and setting Denver up as the jumping-off…
The jury is out on this question: Is it better to let the chef cook those epicurean concoctions for you, or would you just as soon whip the same dishes up yourself? Each boasts its charms, but if the latter lights the fire on your shiny Wolf gas range, better…
SETH was at the very first Poetry Rodeo, which took place twenty years ago at the now-defunct Muddy’s Java Cafe. He got together with his poetry-performance partners at that event, “so for that reason, it’s dear to my heart,” he notes. That weekend-long poetry extravaganza is far in the past,…
As a child, I was fascinated by rocks and beads and all things small and shiny. As an adult, I’ve outgrown my old habit of filling my pockets with found stones every time I go for a walk, but I still find handmade artisan beads enchanting. If you, too, delight…
You’ve got to be willing to stick your neck out to be a great talk-show host, and that’s one thing www.elephantjournal.com’s Waylon Lewis has going for him. And, okay, maybe Lewis tries so hard that he’s stretched his into a giraffe’s neck, but his big mouth and big ideas do…
In 1970, Gil Scott-Heron became one of the godfathers of hip-hop with the release of his debut album, Small Talk at 125th & Lenox. His playful wit and incisive rhetoric developed more fully on later releases such as Pieces of a Man and Winter in America, establishing him as a…
Work Options for Women, otherwise known as WOW, deserves the acronym: According to spokeswoman Christian Hawley, the non-profit organization, which gives impoverished women a step up the societal ladder by providing job and life-skills training, places 100 percent of its clients in the restaurant workplace at the end of a…
For 355 area restaurants, today will see more than the average service. From Anthony’s Pizza to Zuni Cafe, eateries all over the metro area will be celebrating Dining Out for Life, an annual event presented by Project Angel Heart. Participating restaurants will donate 25% of their profits to Project Angel…
In the last decade, the green movement has gone from the commune to the halls of Congress, from activist groups to ad agencies. Everywhere you look, there are green building and green businesses and green lifestyles. And while it’s easy enough to buy energy-saving light bulbs or ride your bike…
Embark on a magical mystery tour of the tumultuous ’60s through the music of the Beatles in When We Were FaB, a unique opportunity to see beloved songs — from the early innocence of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” through the complex, heady tunes of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts…
The kids, ages eight to 23, who are good enough to make the prestigious Denver Young Artists Orchestra, are works of art all on their own. But it’s still a fitting tribute to their hard work and big dreams to help bankroll their endeavors through another form of art. That’s…
When Hungarian artist/photographer Agnes Vigil married an American, she struggled with a lot of what came out of his mouth. “Let’s just say he had a colorful vocabulary,” she says. “He would use slang and sexual phrases, and I would think, ‘Now, what does that mean?’” Once explained, a lot…
Maverick author Tom Robbins is known for his whimsical (yet well-researched) forays into little-known crevices of our planet — from peyote trips to Salome’s forbidden Dance of the Seven Veils to the unknown whereabouts of the model for Henri Matisse’s “Blue Nude.” Now, Robbins is boldly going where no psychedelic…
It’s not hard to fall under the spell of that psychedelic poster show currently wrecking the walls at the Denver Art Museum. The Victor Moscosos alone brought me to my knees, they’re so trippy, but let’s not belittle the rest of the artists on display there, including Stanley Mouse who,…
For a slide show of these exhibits, go to slideshow.westword.com. Nationally known San Francisco artist Rex Ray has had a long relationship with Colorado, where he spent part of his youth, and he still has many friends here. I’ve known him since I was in graduate school and have always…
