Visiting my daughter and her family after Thanksgiving, I discovered that my two-year-old grandson was entranced by the lights outside of people’s houses. He kept wanting to drive or walk down the street and gaze; he couldn’t figure out why we couldn’t just remove the twinkling strings and take them…
La Cage Aux Folles. This is a big, splashy musical with lots of big, splashy song numbers. But unlike many such musicals, La Cage Aux Folles also has heart, humor and a good story to tell. In a time of intense mean-spiritedness and prejudice, it carries a message of tolerance…
As you might imagine, I see a lot of art shows in the course of doing my job. I figure that since this time last year, I’ve seen something like 250 exhibits — not counting the informal efforts in restaurants and coffee shops that I encounter in everyday life. It…
In 1890, Benjamin F. Woodward, a tycoon who helped bring the telegraph to Colorado, commissioned Denver’s premier architect, Frank Edbrooke, to design a mansion. Edbrooke, who had just completed his masterpiece, the Brown Palace Hotel, worked in the Richardsonian-Romanesque manner, the most important architectural style of the day. Constructed of…
American Art Invitational. Art, like politics, can be divided into liberal and conservative camps, with contemporary art representing the left and traditional art the right. But unlike politics, where the baton can pass back and forth between the two opposites, the art world has been run decisively by the liberals…
First-place Winner Broken-hearted by Chris Burns In the spring, I wasn’t feeling well. I imagined a doctor saying, “Well, you need to start taking better care of yourself. Get some exercise, be more careful with your diet, and let’s slow down on the drinking. Here’s something to help you sleep.”…
Tired of hanging out on the slopes? There are a million things to do in this fine state without suiting up and freezing your tail off! Why bother when you can enjoy a relaxing weekend at a fabulous spa and resort? How about a nice, healing hot spring? Ease those…
Running late is a bitch. It’s worse when you’re under-dressed and a tad sweaty, which was my dilemma last week. There’s a point when late turns from fashionable and sexy to stood-up, and my mark for reasonably behind schedule is 25 minutes. Racing down Larimer, I realized I had a…
The best part about karaoke is pretending to be a rock star for the duration of a song — or an entire evening, depending on how brave you are. And whether you’re getting down to “Billie Jean” for the first or thousandth time, there comes a moment when you’re hitting…
The annual Function as Fashion fundraiser will shine brightly tonight, with cancer survivors illuminating the catwalk in yoga-inspired athletic wear from lululemon athletica. The Boulder boutique is featuring the cancer fighters and their triumphant stories to launch the official countdown to LUNAFEST 2008 (a national short-film festival coming in January)…
With a French name, it’s only fitting that Denver’s Amélie advertising company would have a fondness for food. So when charged with planning a five-year anniversary celebration, Anita Ashfield-Salter thought cupcakes. She wanted to pull together Denver’s best pastry chefs to generate the same kind of trendy cupcake buzz happening…
Take a break from the onslaught of sickly sweet and sentimental Christmas music with Babushka’s Naughty XXXmas Carols tonight at Cricket on the Hill, 1209 East 13th Avenue. Sing along with twisted tunes such as “Hark, Satanic Santas Sing” and “Oh, Drive All Ye Drunkards” while Babushka’s partner in crime,…
I’m that rarity, a native Denverite, and fascinated by my cowtown’s historic layers, many of which I’ve watched overlay the old ones with my very own eyes. Okay, so it’s not really a cowtown anymore, but I’ve been here long enough to remember when it was one — or at…
Katie Taft’s work is all about plaster and papier-mâché, creatures and cameras: First she creates her creatures, quite solid “Imaginary Friends,” then reinterprets them in more amorphous photographs. To date, the figures have been small, like toys, but for Friendzilla — a new exhibit at PlatteForum Gallery of work by…
Putting together a group show for last week’s massive Art Miami gallery expo — an international fete offering first-class exposure to artists and gallerists alike — can’t be an easy job for a curator in Denver. But for Ivar Zeile, the brains behind the forward-facing Plus Gallery, limiting himself was…
Grab a boombox or some speakers for your MP3 player and join in the performance of Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night tonight in Boulder. Here’s how it works: Participants will meet at 7:30 p.m. at the corner of 15th and Pearl Streets in Boulder with a portable sound system in tow…
Put down that boring glass of eggnog and enjoy a smokin’ night of holiday fun at A RED HOT Burlesque Christmas, tonight at 9 p.m. at the 4th and Main Night Club, 380 Main Street in Longmont. The high-energy show will feature ’70s-infused dance rock performed by 8TraC, a funky,…
Is stodgy style at the superstores getting you down? Ditch the humdrum of the departments and dart over to today’s frosty Freeze fete, where the trends are cool and the couture is haute. DJs Japadapta, Uplifter and Bobby Collins will help ignite your passion for fashion as you peruse the…
The press has an uncircumcised hard-on for the comedic music duo Good for the Jews — think a Jewish Flight of the Conchords — who play the Soiled Dove Underground tonight as part of their “Putting the Ha! in Hanukkah” tour. In fact, Blender would shower them with an infinity…
There are no shortage of flicks about dead singers these days — but The Gits, which debuts tonight, is a documentary with a difference. The movie, directed by Kerri O’Kane, tells the story of the Seattle-based title group, which was on the cusp of breaking nationally when charismatic lead singer…
There are many good reasons to miss being in school: summer vacation, lunch breaks with friends and even those occasional classes with inspirational teachers. But no one in his right mind misses homework. Rest assured that Buntport Theater’s Teacher’s Pet series, which takes place every other month and does include…
John Pizzarelli, who sits in with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra tonight, is a jazz guitarist with an impressive pedigree; he’s the son of Bucky Pizzarelli, a gifted string-bender in his own right. That’s not what pays the bills, though: Pizzarelli is also a vocalist, and he’ll join the CSO to…
