What Jaime Kopke absolutely gets is how the modern world is like an atom, all neutrons and protons smashing around one another the way those spinning motorcyclists do in a globe at the circus: a place of contained yet constantly moving energy and synaptic explosions that are gone as soon…
What do you get when you mix traditional theater with poetry, storytelling, rap, gospel, jazz riffs, bluesy laments and Spanish boleros? Something like Slanguage, a performance by Universes taking the stage for one night only at the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts. Universes member Steven Sapp…
Singapore-born violinist Kailin Yong calls himself a “fiddler for peace,” and he does so without a shred of irony or self-consciousness; in 2003, Yong was even awarded year-long possession of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, an instrument built in the memory of the American reporter slain by terrorists (Pearl was…
It’s been several years now since Eddy Joe Cotton was a little-known hobo, hopping freight trains and playing hand-made instruments in a three-piece jug band. His 2003 book, Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America, helped launch his Yard Dogs Road Show into the internationally traveling…
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from people who want to hear about the history of contemporary art,” explains Adam Lerner, director of Belmar’s Laboratory of Art and Ideas. “People want to learn more about the art they see in museums around the country. But we didn’t want to…
No one does creepy and surreal quite like Neil Gaiman. So it’s easy to see why his latest book is so hotly anticipated — and so far, it’s received glowing reviews from Peter S. Beagle (who wrote The Last Unicorn) and Holly Black (co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles). The Graveyard…
“It looks as if all of Colorado is burning today,” said then-governor Bill Owens after catching an aerial view of the Hayman arson fire in Southwestern Colorado. Although this wasn’t one of the area’s more notorious crimes, the fact that it was started by a forestry officer burning a letter…
“We’ve developed these habits that we can have any food at any time,” notes David Bravdica, director of alumni and student services at the Cook Street School of Fine Cooking. Which is all well and good, but what about appreciation for in-season foods — at the peak of their yumminess…
It used to be that if someone called me “green,” he meant I was sick, sad, immature, inexperienced, unsophisticated or naive. Now it means I’m an Al Gore quoting, gum-wrapper-recycling, water-conserving, non-littering, canvas-grocery-bag-carrying, Styrofoam-refusing, wouldn’t-be-caught-dead-with-my-engine-idling pain in everyone else’s ass. And it’s all true, save the Al Gore bit (I…
In the 1930s and ’40s, screwball comedy was an often-manic remedy to the Depression-era problems surrounding people on a day-to-day basis. With the economy once again in a nosedive, wouldn’t it be great to forget about all the political bickering, government bailouts and rising gas prices for a little while?…
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, released in 1981 (and recently reissued), was an attempt by David Byrne and Brian Eno to forge new territory via found sounds, samples, and assorted Africanisms that foreshadowed a good many musical trends. In contrast, Everything That Happens represents a retrenchment, albeit an…
What do The Daily Show, New Yorker cartoons and standup comics have in common? This weekend, the traveling Colorado Art Ranch comes to Denver to find out. Its Artposium, titled “What’s So Funny About Art?,” will explore the ways that writers, artists and even yoga teachers use laughter to open…
Multi-talented local performer Amy Fisher was larger than life, and her death in early August sent a shock wave through the Denver community. “So many people were touched by her and felt that she was this close, close, wonderful friend that they couldn’t imagine living without,” remembers Anne Medina, aka…
Ralph Roberts probably thinks he’s seen and heard everything there is to see and hear about beards and body hair. Since he began crossing the country in May on a 38-foot-long mobile barbershop for the WAHL Let It Grow Tour, he’s seen a contender for Most Hirsute Homeless Guy shaved…
If you were a gay Catholic, what would you do to foster understanding and benevolence between the church and your gay community? If you’re federal prosecutor and gay erotica writer Scott Pomfret, then you live in Boston, and you’re in a perfect position to stalk — er, we mean, find…
“Most of the peace events today involve marches or holding signs, stuff that I don’t think is fun, even though I love peace,” says Dana Cain, local collector, event planner and child of the ’60s. “Why doesn’t anybody do it like John and Yoko did it?” Such was the inspiration…
A wise man once said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And that’s particularly true when it comes to Hollywood, which retells story after story in celluloid form. The question becomes, then, which is better — the old version or the new version? It’s an issue the Denver Film…
Thankfully for the United States of America, slavery is one aspect of our past that we have struggled with and overcome. Or so most of us think. The fact of the matter is, there are more slaves on the planet today than were taken from Africa in more than 400…
Though Damien Hirst was on her radar well before he sold a lot of art for nearly $41 million at Sotheby’s in September, departing MCA director and curator Cydney Payton says the time is right to be showing the controversial British artist’s large-scale works in Denver. It’s his moment out…
University of Colorado at Boulder dance professor Michelle Ellsworth is like the Roz Chast of performance: neurotic, quirky, concerned with the minute. But humor isn’t her intention when she creates a new work, which invariably employs choreography as a vehicle for something much more complex than sheer movement. “People think…
Sure, you can peruse Vogue’s fall fashion issue to see the latest trends, but a better option awaits you at the third annual Absolute! Fabulous! Gorgeous! drag and fall fashion show presented by the Boulder Country AIDS Project tonight at the Diary Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in…
Just as Star Wars wouldn’t have been complete without the music of John Williams, the stirring, grandiose work of Nobuo Uematsu has helped to elevate the Final Fantasy series to a legendary gaming experience. Now gamers and music lovers alike can experience Uematsu’s music live, on stage, performed with a…
