“This year, especially, I think people are looking for ways to cut back but also make meaningful gifts,” says Moondance Botanicals’ Tonja Reichley. And what better way to reach that goal than Moondance’s DIY: Handmade Is Best workshop, taking place today from 1 to 5 p.m. at Moondance Botanicals, 601…
If you’ve ever been to Santa Fe, New Mexico, this time of year, you already know how beautiful thousands of flickering luminarias — candles in paper bags placed throughout the city — can be. And we have a little taste of the experience right here in Denver: For one night…
Anyone who thinks ice is merely frozen water should spend some time with the Rock on Ice team based in Columbus, Ohio. A particular type of ice is so important for carving that last year, team members loaded down a tractor trailer with Columbus-made ice and drove just over 1,400…
In these parts, Christmas on the slopes always has a nice ring: the powder, the icicles, the lights and the nightlife – they’re all part of the total holiday experience that Colorado’s mountain resorts work overtime to help create. But there’s nothing more spectacular than a torchlight parade down a…
Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you have to admit that there’s something lovely about a story of two wanderers seeking shelter and an innkeeper offering up the only space he has left — in his stable, where a woman soon gives birth to a special baby boy. Every year,…
Some of the most inspired, hilarious and touching comics I’ve ever read have been self-published zines drawn by indie comic artists laboring out of love. John Porcellino, the Denver-based creator of King Cat Comics and Stories and godfather to the indie comic movement, has been self-publishing his mostly autobiographical comic…
Muddy Waters on the Platte, better known simply as Muddy’s, first opened its coffeehouse/bookstore/theater in the block of 15th and Platte Streets in the late ’70s. In a time that was intrinsically different from our modern era, whether you looked at it from the left or the right, Muddy’s was…
Three items stand out on the list I was given of reasons to attend design studio MATTER’s annual Holiday Party and Print Sale tonight: Ian Cooke and Astra Moveo will rock you (gently); there will be many gallons of mojitos (possibly up to 25); and, most strikingly, Rick Griffith (founder,…
The PlatteForum formula — teaming a professional artist with at-risk youth to build a unique art show that showcases the work of all — never seems to go wrong. Without losing a beat, PlatteForum’s Judy Anderson finds artists who are not only enormously talented, but who also inspire in rare…
Into the rush of the holiday season, some sorrow must fall: I just got the news that local bead-sprite Joy Barrett is closing her Studio Bead boutique in Highlands Square at the end of the month. “I thought that the shop might be a platform for building something bigger —…
“Even the poorest cottage welcomed the festive season with green decorations of bay and holly — the cheerful fire glanced its rays through the lattice, inviting the passenger to raise the latch, and join the gossip knot huddled around the hearth, beguiling the long evening with legendary jokes and oft-told…
I’ll bet you remember the teacher’s pet in your school, the one who always got to lead the line and erase the board at the end of the day, or whatever typical tasks Teacher gave out to his or her favorite. If you still feel bitter and left out from…
Love holiday theater but feel downright nauseated imagining another year of salty Scrooge and pathetic Tiny Tim? Of dancing nutcrackers and Rudolph with his nose so obviously lit by a battery-powered forty-watt lightbulb? Who can blame you? If just one more anthropomorphized tale of redemption or adventure is likely to…
You gotta have music at Christmas, because it ain’t Christmas without it. But you, like most everyone else, have already decided that you might explode if you hear even one more rendition of “Frosty the Snowman,” anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Relax. There are holiday music programs for every taste this time…
Comic books have always been an inspiration to graphic artist/photographer Marc Hughes. “Growing up,” he says, “comics were a big part of my art research. I followed artists and writers through the different books they drew and wrote, and it got me interested in different aspects of art and science…
You’ll never understand Santa until you’ve walked a mile in his boots, so what are you waiting for? Put on his boots — and his hat, suit, beard and various other festive accoutrements — and join up with a bunch of other St. Nicks for SantaCon 08, a Denver Cacophony…
Christmas music is one of the most hallowed holiday traditions for me because it brings all the memories back and provides the soundtrack for new ones. Unlike the rest of the songs I’ve worn out, these retain their magic because I listen to them only a few days a year…
You might be familiar with Barr Lake State Park’s monthly full-moon hikes, but did you know that once a year, the park also hosts a Solstice Moon Hike? Bundle up on the shortest day of the year for this short hike (naturalist Larry Zanetell says it’s about two and a…
“I just thought that The Jerk is one of those films that, as funny and fantastic as it is, to me is kind of a heartwarmer,” explains Keith Garcia, programming director for the Denver Film Society. “Part of the Seeing Double program is looking at two films that share some…
After years of following the skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross events of the Summer Dew Tour — the most-watched and best-attended action-sport competition in the world — Breckenridge freeskier Colby West is psyched to compete in the first-ever Winter Dew Tour. “Circuits come and go, and this one I have…
“This year’s Academy Screenings has a powerhouse lineup, not only in terms of directors, but also in terms of actors,” says Aspen Film executive director Laura Thielen. “However, alongside these marquee-value films, we also have films like Soderbergh’s Che, with Benicio Del Toro, or the French film The Class, which…
Tired of all the holiday hoopla yet? If you could use a few moments of sheer escapism from this hectic season, then the Curtis Arts and Humanities Center has just the solution: Cartoons — More Than Just Comics, an exhibit featuring work by Lonnie Allen, Daniel Crosier, Amy Reeder Hadley,…
