If the dream of every comic is to have his humor live on long after he’s left the stage, then the late Bernie Mac has exited this world on a high note. Soul Men, a comedy completed shortly before Mac’s untimely death in August, is no classic, but the comedian,…
Movie cults are born, not made. A youthful audience discovered Donnie Darko on its own, even as another demographic transformed The Sound of Music into sing-along karaoke — to name two of the 21st century’s most notorious cult attractions. Still, no less than rocket science, show business relies on tested…
Playwright Neil LaBute is a king of nasty, but I’ve also always thought of him as tough-minded, daring and original. Now that I’ve seen Fat Pig, though, I’m wondering whether I’ve been fooled. Is it just that nastiness almost always strikes us as clever; that we tend to think the…
Paul Rudd wears a constant look of glazed-eye amusement; everything seems to tickle him, even that which annoys or frustrates or disappoints him. He’s frat-boy handsome and therefore almost anonymous when he stands in a movie-star lineup; in Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things (2003), Rudd received a supposedly extreme…
For anyone who observes a piece of art and wonders what it says, now you can truly listen. This Tuesday, art will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder when the school’s Visiting Artist Series, one of the oldest lecture series in the nation, presents British native Clare Twomey…
I’ve always envied Henry Rollins for being unafraid to speak his mind; of course, it helps when you look as intimidating as he does. Outspoken and impassioned about topics ranging from pop culture to politics, the man probably has a lot to get off his chest in this pivotal year…
Not many 88-year-old women would decide to lean out the window of a small plane to take photos of the Rio Grande — but then again, not many women are like legendary Colorado photographer Laura Gilpin. You can’t talk about artists of the American Southwest without Gilpin’s name being dropped…
“I’ve always resisted the idea of the string quartet as an art form that exists for Sunday-afternoon soirees. I feel emboldened and empowered and enabled to make programs of our music that, in their own way, examine things in our society.” So says David Harrington of the musically outspoken Kronos…
Hey, wine-drinkers: Do you feel confident in your ability to select a top-notch bottle of European red wine? Think your taste buds trump those of other vinophiles in the metro area? Then you truly won’t want to miss Uncorked 2008, a competitive wine-tasting event hosted by Mile High United Way…
Times are hard. Why, just last week, my scooter was stolen, my dog needed expensive dental surgery and an 800-pound hangover sat on my face, crushing my skull. Don’t even get me started on the economy and the whole wretched election season. I need some relief. “There’s some pretty heavy…
“I’ve lived everywhere from the Middle East to Europe to Canada, and what’s special about Denver is they have no attitude problem,” says Habitat Gallery director Georgia Amar. “They have a sense of self that’s very stable. They’re well-educated, and they’re participants in creating their own culture.” With such a…
See revered hip-hop icons in a unique light at Reflections: Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together, a show that pairs photographs of the musicians by so-cial documentarian Rachel Crick with paintings based on her work by the Signtologist, an artist who paints on recycled street signs. Crick’s portraits are…
It’s no secret that the Brown Palace Hotel’s annual Champagne Cascade is the most lavish, spectacular way to kick off the holidays. And this year will be even grander: Not only is the Brown Palace cascading earlier than ever in honor of Denver’s 150th birthday, but there will also be…
Underground Wrist Deep Productions has crawled out of its lair at the Squire Lounge to get high. The alt-comedy troupe (which includes Westword’s own Adam Cayton-Holland) is leaving the Mile High City and heading for the Laughs and Lifts Festival in Breckenridge to help the next gen of funny guys…
One thing I love about the start of the holiday shopping season is that I get to see all my old entrepreneurial and handy friends — all the tried-and-true gift markets that I’ve grown to love, come back for another year, full of unlimited browsing potential and good buys from…
Everyone loves the Great American Beer Festival, and with good reason. But sometimes I find the sheer magnitude of that event overwhelming. Sure, I love watching people make fools of themselves during the Silent Disco, and you do learn a lot at some of those seminar sessions, but you know…
Back in 1898, Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, two young artists fresh from studying in Paris, decided to take a sketching trip through the West. They were headed from Denver to northern New Mexico when the wheel of their surrey broke. Had the accident occurred earlier — in Pueblo, say,…
The work of visual designer (and Resident Wizard at the Museum of Outdoor Arts) Lonnie Hanzon is often fueled by the ephemeral, lost in time and tinged with the brown edge of a daguerreotype. And that’s no accident. Hanzon’s own fascination with the toys and media of a bygone time…
“Bare is a rock opera similar in style to Rent,” explains Mike Scheneman of Broken Leg Productions. “But Rent follows the story of La Bohème, and this sort of follows the story of Romeo and Juliet. But instead of Romeo and Juliet, it’s a little bit more Romeo and Romeo…
If you want to see the world through a different lens — have your preconceived notions about society and reality upended and rearranged — then you need to attend one of Vox Feminista’s fantastic performances. It’s tough to explain a Vox show; suffice it to say that the group will…
Ski season’s almost upon us — which, if you’re anything like me, means that you missed Sniagrab, still haven’t bought a season pass, never did upgrade those boots like you meant to last year and have just looked in the closet to find your old ski pants and puffy jacket…
Charlie Chaplin is best known for his “Tramp” films, but the little-known Monsieur Verdoux is something entirely different for the gifted comedian. Although it’s gone on to become a beloved cult classic (many consider it to be his finest work), at the time of the film’s release, in 1947, Chaplin’s…
