Top Design premieres tonight on Bravo

The second season of Bravo’s interior design show Top Design begins tonight at 10 p.m. Hosted by India Hicks, the show also features designers Todd Oldham (sure, he designs sofas for La-Z-Boy, but he still has a pretty good aesthetic) and Jonathan Adler, alongside Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief at Elle Decor…

Back to Basics

Back to the regular school schedule means going back to tests, homework and classes — and finding a way to be comfy and still stylish. When I returned to school, I noticed that every class has its own style. For seniors, it’s super casual — a simple T-shirt and jean…

A D.C. bagman attacks my new Ariat purse

I have not been one with my new purse. At Cheyenne Frontier Days in late July, I searched through every booth and shop, looking for a replacement for the tooled leather number I’d picked up a few years before at the National Western Stock Show — a bag now held…

Searching for bargains after the DNC

I was just certain that there would be a plethora of fashion bargains — and by “fashion,” I mean “T-Shirt,” which is admittedly stretching the definition of fashion pretty far — to be had today on the 16th Street Mall now that the Democratic National Convention has officially ended. Just…

Michelle Obama is the Bomb-a

It makes not a whit of difference to me whether or not Michelle Obama wears pantyhose. She is beautiful and poised, looks good in those jewel tones, and I love her. And I’m especially fond of this political pin-up girl’s collection of Erickson Beamon flower brooches, which she’s been seen…

These Crocs were made for walking…if nothing more.

Colorado is all over this week’s New Yorker, which not only has a piece on Denver, but this diss on Crocs in the opening graph of “Sole Sisters”: Boys have cars, girls have shoes — nineteen pairs, on average, according to a Consumer Reports poll. And so: I’ll take a…

DNC Post Party and Fashion Show

Celebrate the end of the DNC in fashion at the Kid Dangerous Grime Couture fashion show at 24K and Monarch, 1416 Market Street. The party is from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and admission is free if you call 303-888-0655 for reservations. For more information on Grime Couture, visit www.kiddangerous.com…

Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle can’t save the ho-hum “thriller” Traitor

Despite his reputation as that rarest of creatures — a Hollywood intellectual — new evidence suggests that Steve Martin reads…prepare yourself…thrillers and spy novels. Or at least that’s the only conclusion one can draw from the “story by” credit the comedian receives on Traitor, an uneven yet engrossing terrorist thriller…

The Eyes of Babylon reveal the thoughts of a gay marine in Iraq.

At the very beginning of his one-man piece, Jeff Key appears in his underwear, so the first thing you find yourself focusing on is his beautifully toned body, an image to which your mind returns periodically — and pleasurably — throughout the course of this very serious and soul-searching exploration…

Retro Loud offers nostalgia both cheesy and sweet

In many years of faithful attendance at Heritage Square Music Hall, I have never seen T.J. Mullin lose control of an audience. Sure, he always gives the jokers in the seats some play, letting them interrupt or yell out a comment or two — but he was having serious trouble…

Now Playing

Iraq War, the Musical. Unlike so many political satires, Iraq War, the Musical has teeth. It’s a sustained and ultimately serious attack on the Bush administration’s war and the lies told by Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney in order to launch it. Through skits and songs, writer-creator Paul Cross tells the…

The Denver Art Museum likes its figure

The Modern and Contemporary department at the Denver Art Museum gained official status in 1978 when the institution hired Dianne Vanderlip to head it up. During her nearly three decades in the post, Vanderlip facilitated the acquisition of thousands of works for the permanent collection. But between shopping sprees, she…

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center welcomes a new director

Last week, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center concluded its nearly year-long search for a new director by hiring Sam Gappmayer (pictured). The job represents a big promotion for Gappmayer, who is currently the director of the much more modest Sun Valley Center for the Arts, in Idaho. Second only…

Now Showing

About Us… et al. In the West Gallery at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is About Us…, put together by freelance curator Mark Addison, who brought in two dozen works of conceptual realism by a raft of internationally known artists in addition to pieces from his own collection. Addison…

Ultimate Rush

One of my favorite pastimes growing up was playing what we called Ultimate Frisbee (also known simply as “Ultimate,” leaving out the trademarked Frisbee name). Sort of like football or rugby, the game involves passing the disc from one player to the next until the end zone is reached —…

Flick Pick

Until the untimely death of singer/guitarist D. Boon at the end of 1985, the Minutemen were one of the most exciting and creative bands of their era. The documentary We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen — which kicks off a four-part film series called Our Band Could Be…

Going, Going, Gone

Mary Mackey closed her groundbreaking gallery space at the corner of 25th Avenue and Eliot Street nearly ten years ago, but she never left the building: As an artist-turned-gallerist returning to her creative roots, she continued to rent studio space in the old red-brick commercial building, along with a variant…

Leader of the Pack

The first time I read The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, I was twelve and on a family visit with friends in New Mexico. The book, an elegant old hardback volume that had belonged to their then-grown son, was on the bookshelf in the room where I stayed,…

Moon Over Boulder

The Moondance International Film Festival has returned to its roots. Founded in 2000, the fest moved to Hollywood during its 2006/2007 run — but let’s face it, the Los Angeles area has nothing on Boulder, where fest films will screen at Chautauqua Park (900 Baseline Road) and the Boulder Shambhala…

Blogs and Beers

Serious blogging is a world unto itself. There’s the main story, of course, but each story is also punctuated with links and pictures and videos. Enough! For an easily distracted flake with a compulsion to finish reading and listening to everything he starts, there is nothing more maddening. And these…

Music for the Masses

Need to get out of town over Labor Day weekend? Look no further than our neighbor to the north: The city of Cheyenne is hosting two (count ’em) festivals this weekend, featuring the best of the West’s musicians, storytellers, poets, vendors and artisans. The Americana Music Festival (which comprises both…