In the eyes of comedian Billy Gardell, life isn’t that complex, and there’s plenty of joy to be found in simple pleasures like drinking, bad food and giving people you love a hard time. His material mines a down-to-earth, common-sense vein of comedy based on his blue-collar Pittsburgh roots. From…
Full disclosure: I’ve never read Twilight, the 2005 young-adult novel by Stephenie Meyer that spawned three additional novels and a serious fan following. But I know dozens of people who are addicted to the series, from adults to my thirteen-year-old niece, who read Twilight “in, like, a day,” she says…
One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I…
By the time I was five, my mom had already figured out I was a little too chubby and clumsy to be a ballerina, but when I decided I wanted to be an ice skater, she didn’t have the heart to tell me that might not be the best fit,…
You might say that local designer Tran Wills of the Fabric Lab learned the fashion-design business the hard way, by starting out not knowing exactly what she was doing and then slowly but surely finding her way. But it’s certain that Wills knows a lot about it now. “It’s hard…
It’s a Wonderful Life is “one of the classic Christmas stories,” notes Rod A. Lansberry, artistic producer at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. That’s why this year, the Arvada Center is wholeheartedly embracing the holiday spirit and producing a stage version of the tale of George Bailey…
When self-pity is easier than humor, laughter is suddenly invested with a courageous strength of character. That’s what makes VOX PHAMALIA: Tales From the Crips such an extraordinary event. Written by eight physically disabled writers, Tales takes an honest and darkly funny look at what it’s like living with a…
Many folks aren’t huge fans of illusions, manipulations and being tricked. But when it’s under the umbrella of the wondrous thing that is magic, we’re drawn like moths to a flame. Who doesn’t enjoy magic tricks? Whether it’s “got yer nose,” sawing a lady in half or reading minds, the…
Bust out the gold lamé hot pants and French maid outfits, because The Rocky Horror Picture Show Experience is alive and well in Denver at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, 1601 Arapahoe Street. Come down and thrill to the ultra-campy cult favorite, indulge in its elaborate audience-participation rituals and dance the Time…
You might be thinking about hopping on the local-food bandwagon, but how do you launch such a daunting project as winter approaches? By attending the Cornucopia of Local, an indoor/outdoor farmer’s market with live music, presentations, displays and more, hosted by the Boulder County Farmers’ Market, Boulder Independent Business Alliance,…
Arguably my favorite aspect of the holiday season is that it’s also home-tour season. What could be more fun than strolling through someone else’s beautifully decorated home, soaking up the atmosphere of cheer and goodwill? And the granddaddy of Denver holiday home tours is back for the 32nd year running:…
Chris Armijo’s whimsical and often beautiful light fixtures take functionality to a whole new level: Fashioned from such everyday plastic items as paper clips and Wiffle balls, they represent the collaborative spirit of the Downtown Aurora Visual Arts gallery’s holiday show, Luz: a little bit of light in a big,…
History is never very tidy. Technically, we could have celebrated Denver’s 150th anniversary on September 24, the day in 1858 when William McGaa and other min-ers founded St. Charles on the northeast side of Cherry Creek. Or on November 1, when William Russell founded a competing settlement, Auraria, on the…
Small could just be another way of saying “affordable” where artworks are concerned, but in the case of WEE: A Small Works Photo Show, which opens today at FLASH, A Working With Artists space in Belmar, gallery spokeswoman Valerie Photogoddess thinks there’s more to it. “Small images are asking something…
36 Hours of Keystone, we hardly knew ye, brah. For four years, we had to ingest an arsenal of trucker speed and energy drinks in order to shred groomers at 4 a.m. and chillax with local brews and live music for a day and a half straight. It was brutal!…
Do you like to savor a good sauvignon? Does the mention of pinot perk you right up? Then the tenth annual Beaujolais & Beyond Festival is for you. Don’t speak French? No problem. All you need is one handy little phrase: Vin rouge/blanc, s’il vous plait (“Red/white wine, please”). The…
When it comes to tea, I’m undeniably spoiled. My father used to take frequent business trips to China, and he’d return laden with loose-leaf greens, blacks and oolongs that tingle the tongue. And now it’s possible to get high-quality Chinese tea right here in Denver: You’ll find it at Seven…
What goes around comes around, and as the contemporary success of neo-burlesquers, jug bands, Gypsy jazz and vaudevillian revivalists proves, old-timey is new-timey for a whole new generation of strongmen and tattooed ladies. So it’s the perfect time for a band like the Wiyos, a new York City-based acoustic string…
Nothing says vampire like blood, so celebrate the release of the sure-to-be megahit Twilight — a teen-angst melodrama about vampires in high school — by giving up some of your precious bodily fluid for a good cause. The Cinebarre Theater, 10001 Grant Street in Thornton, is sponsoring a blood drive…
The art tidal wave that’s hit Denver in the past few years hasn’t just led to a museum-building boom. It has also led to an explosion of galleries. I haven’t sat down to count all the commercial art venues in town, but I know it numbers more than a hundred…
Performance art, which has been around since the early twentieth century, is pointedly non-commercial because it’s so ephemeral. It literally comes and goes with little remaining but memories — and a few photos and props. It’s the opposite of object-based art and has as much or more to do with…
Adam Helms. This solo in the MCA’s Paper Works Gallery is the New York artist’s first museum show anywhere. In his works on paper and in a monumental sculpture that conjures up a shooting blind, Helms explores political themes, especially armed struggle. He takes images of different radical and extremist…
