To my ten-year-old daughter, the term “American Girl” means “that store my meanie of a mom — unlike all the other, higher-quality moms — won’t let me go near.” While we’re on the defensive, why should I? She hates dolls, and I — creeped out by row upon row of…
A topsy-turvy Escherland exists where Dario Argento’s The Mother of Tears is considered a twisted classic, and it is a magical place. Up is down, sour is sweet, sewer rat tastes like pumpkin pie and Hitchcock never made a more ripping yarn than Jamaica Inn. A once-great director’s near-worst work…
I wasn’t prepared to like I’m Through With White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks), but I did like it — I liked it a lot. Despite the title, the film isn’t really about race; it’s about finding someone to love and sticking with them, despite their quirks and…
No one really knows whether there was a barber in Victorian London who slit his customers’ throats and passed their bodies down a chute so that his harridan lover could make meat pies of them. There are evocative snippets in an old newspaper, a couple of popular nineteenth-century serials, an…
I’m generally a fan of playwright Steven Dietz’s cunningly constructed, verbally agile and often thought-provoking theater pieces, but I was surprised by Honus and Me. Although it wasn’t listed as part of the Aurora Fox’s children’s series, it turns out that Dietz adapted the play from a book by Dan…
The Last Five Years. This intimate two-person musical involves the breakup of a marriage. When Jamie and Cathy met in New York, he was an aspiring writer and she an actress. Success came for him fast, while she continued to inhabit the dreary, ego-pummeling world of auditions and summer stock —…
Fort Collins is somewhat off my beaten path. Like Colorado Springs, it’s more than an hour away, but Fort Collins doesn’t have a major art-exhibition venue comparable to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Last week, however, I made my way up there to be a juror for the 2008…
The name Walter Netsch isn’t a household one, but it should be, especially in Colorado, because he’s the man who designed the 1954-1964 Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, unquestionably among the most significant cycle of buildings in the country. At the time, Netsch was a partner at the prestigious…
Abstraction. A group of untitled abstracts by Ania Gola-Kumor launches this exhibit, which was organized by Sally Perisho. Gola-Kumor is little known around here; in fact, she could be called the best unknown artist in Denver, though she had her first show in town back in 1982. She’s represented here…
Trilogy Wine Bar and Lounge, a Boulder institution for eight years, changed ownership a couple of months ago, became the b.side lounge and underwent a renovation. So it’s appropriate that Fast Forward Press, known for its literary renovations, will release its annual collection of flash — or very short —…
The filmography of director Julie Taymor isn’t especially lengthy — just three features that played in cinemas (1999’s Titus, 2002’s Frida and 2007’s Across the Universe) plus a trio of made-for-TV projects released in the ’80s and early ’90s. However, Aspen Film executive director Laura Thielen feels that Taymor is…
There’s a lot of love on Colfax Avenue, especially inside the Neopolitan Gallery, where the Colfax Cruise Picture Show is currently on display. Brought to you by Taj Moore — the same guy who created ColfaxLove.com — this exhibit covers a day in the life of the very special place…
The dead will walk tonight when Film on the Rocks presents Shaun of the Dead, one of the finest zombie movies ever made. The film takes the standard tropes of zombie filmdom — the chaos that ensues when dead people start inexplicably walking around, hungry for human flesh — and…
According to Judah Friedlander, who begins a four-night comedy run here tonight, there are some similarities between his standup stylings and Frank Rossitano, the trucker-cap-wearing character he portrays on 30 Rock, the funniest sitcom on television — but there are important differences, too. He concedes that his on-stage material is…
If you feel more at home in cowboy boots than dress shoes, then rustle up your posse and mosey down to the Colorado Rifle Club and May Farms for a weekend of Wild West fun. Today starting at 8 a.m., the High Plains Showdown rides into Byers for four days…
Freeze! No, this isn’t a stick-up, and we’re not playing freeze tag, but if you’re good at freezing in one place and you’re up for some lighthearted fun with a performance-art element, go to Civic Center Park today at 2:30 p.m. to learn about and participate in Freeze Denver with…
The 1975 War song “Low Rider” is so popular that it’s been covered by dozens of musicians, including Blues Traveler, George Clinton, Korn, Cypress Hill, Phish and Barry White. It was Eric and Donna’s song in That ’70s Show. George Lopez has even dubbed it the “Chicano National Anthem.” Why…
The Classic Crime is perfect for those who prefer their rock slightly edgy and perfectly groomed, with soaring, uber-melodic choruses. In this way, the Seattle-based band is nearly indistinguishable from the hordes of pretty-boy MySpace acts currently littering the modern-rock landscape. If you can make it past surface-level aesthetics, though,…
Enjoy Tango Music and Dancing With the Just Desserts tonight at the Mercury Cafe. Hailing from Austin, Texas, Lisa Shawley and Michael Shay of the Just Desserts will bring their cello-and-accordion duet to the Merc, along with a sound that fuses the folk traditions of Argentina, Romania, Serbia, Italy and…
The yo-yos will be out in force today in front of the Wizard’s Chest, 230 Fillmore Street in Cherry Creek North, their discs a-spinning, their strings woven into endless permutations. That’s right: The twelfth annual Rocky Mountain and Colorado State Yo-Yo Championships rock the sidewalk today, beginning with registration at…
“It seems as though all the new authors, the hip ones with the big book deals and best agents, have exotic names and exotic backgrounds.” So says a character in Denver author Rayo Casablanca’s debut novel, 6 Sick Hipsters. We don’t know much about Casablanca’s background, his book deal or…
The longest day of the year may have passed a week ago, but that’s no reason to pass up a celebration. Estes Park’s Scandinavian Midsummer Festival is a traditional festival of light, flowers, food and music; the history of this tradition dates back to pre-Christianity, when people gathered midsummer plants…
