“The Bible is a book. It’s a good book, but it is not the only book.” So said Henry Drummond, the Clarence Darrow character played by Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, the film that fictionalized the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, pitting science against religion in a twentieth-century courtroom battle…
The Chinese New Year is the biggest, best and most colorful of the traditional Chinese holidays, celebrated not just by the Chinese, but by many of the cultures they’ve influenced during their long and storied history. Here in Denver, there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate the Year of the…
You just naturally expect Design After Dark, the annual benefit for the Denver Art Museum Design Council, to be a little cooler than other glitzy fundraisers: uptown enough for society bigwigs (or at least the ones with artsy pretensions), downtown enough for the rest of us cutting-edge design groupies. And…
The final piece of August Wilson’s ten-play chronicle of the twentieth-century African-American experience, Radio Golf is the story of progress and greed versus tradition in the historic Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It’s set entirely in the office of a development company, where a young African-American developer — who’s also…
There’s only one actor from generations past who can still make my heart skip a beat: Paul Newman. I’ve mourned him quietly since he passed away on September 26, because I’ve yet to find another leading man who can bring such nuance and conflict to a character — and no…
Just about anything local artist Lauri Lynnxe Murphy does is a-ok with me. Whether it’s making art, promoting art or teaching it, she’s always in the driver’s seat, full of purpose and brimming with creativity. And now she’s offering a class so propelled by what drives her that I (and…
Some of my favorite Chinese New Year memories revolve around China’s many fantastic culinary contributions to the world: Buddha’s Delight, moon cakes, dumplings and any number of other treats. But while Chinese food may be the most easily accessible link to this holiday, the country’s traditional dance, song and other…
There are thirteen member societies at the non-profit TACtile Textile Arts Center, each of them specializing in arts as old as the hills, yet somehow completely contemporary in a time when doing for yourself is back in style. They embroider, tat, knit, bead, weave and quilt; know their way around…
One of Colorado’s more remarkable citizens, Dr. Temple Grandin first distinguished herself in her chosen field of animal science and as an advocate of humane treatment of animals. She went on to further garner attention as a best-selling author and lecturer, unique in that she is also autistic and unafraid…
Valentines go 3D – with an added Latin inspiration – when the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council hosts its annual fundraiser, Milagros del Corazon, a laid-back evening of classical guitar music, snacks, drinks and bidding scheduled this year for Friday, February 13. But the event’s lifeblood must circulate through your…
It’s a well-known fact that behind every great artist’s print, there’s usually a great printmaker to serve as master technician, problem-solver and perhaps as a muse, as well. We Coloradans have been lucky enough to count one of them, Bud Shark of Shark’s Ink studio in Lyons, as one our…
When’s the last time you saw a musical that just stood right up and kicked its gams in your face and screamed, “Broadway!” to the rafters? When I saw Chicago last night at the Buell Theatre, I thought I’d died and gone to the Great White Way, clutching a top…
For most of the past hundred years, the terms “abstraction” and “contemporary” were more or less synonymous when it came to fine art. In the last twenty years, however, conceptual realism and other non-abstract approaches have come to dominate the field. But despite the constant challenges abstraction has faced, it…
Damien Hirst. You’d have to be living under a rock — or have absolutely no interest in contemporary art — not to know that Damien Hirst is a superstar, and that everything he makes is worth millions of dollars apiece. The tight solo at MCA Denver (formerly known as the…
Gemma Wilcox has developed a considerable following with her series of related, fantastical and original one-woman shows. These have played around the United States and Canada, as well as at the Boulder Fringe Festival, winning several awards along the way. So the theater was full for the opening of her…
Brendan “Kids’ Choice” Fraser returns to the multiplex daycare as “Mo” Folchart, antiquarian-book-repairman-cum-adventurer. In Inkheart’s opening chapter, he’s identified as a member of a race of “Silvertongues” — those who, when they read aloud, can suck people out of and into the texts they’re reciting from. Mo has abstained from…
Doubt. Set in 1964, when the second Vatican Council was convening, John Patrick Shanley’s play follows a priest who may have molested a twelve-year-old boy — who just happens to be the sole black kid in the predominantly Irish and Italian school where the priest teaches — and the nun…
Good grief — what a production! It took about 175 actors, writers, crew, support professionals and musicians to come up with this original television mini-series, which premieres on Rocky Mountain PBS/Channel 6 tonight. The thirty-minute ‘dramedy,’ called Good Grief, is about the lives of three Hispanic sisters who run a…
Fulfill your yearning for the sounds of futures past tonight at Explicit Electronica, a showcase for Marcel Peelen’s Music From the Future project, an unapologetic celebration of the synthesizer in all its squelchy, sci-fi-sound-effect glory. “I kind of got the idea from commercials for shows where you’ll see warnings for…
City dwellers aren’t exactly known for their balanced, peaceful demeanors. After all, what is it to be “urban” if you can’t be tough, cynical and not particularly inward-looking? Save the hippie stuff for the country, homie. Who has time for self-discovery with bills, rent, traffic, bums, cops and general downtown…
Colorado has its fair share of beautiful Victorian buildings, and today from 1 to 3:30 p.m., you can peruse one of the finest at the Hotel Boulderado 100th Birthday Tea and Tour. “It’s such a venerable grand dame of hotels,” says Bobbe Hultin, tour director for the Colorado Historical Society,…
If the Colorado Rockies’ season opener is your only game of the year, or if you can only afford Rockpile tickets, or if you just go for the hot dogs — basically, if you don’t bleed purple-and-white (and dead presidents) — then the first annual Rockies Fest is a little…
