First Lady

Back in 1999, when journalist and All the President’s Men co-author Carl Bernstein began researching A Woman in Charge, his new biography of Hillary Clinton, he thought she’d probably run for the U.S. Senate, but he had no idea she’d be the Democratic Party’s leading candidate for president. Still, he…

Brain Waves

Daniel Levitin had always had an innate curiosity — a “why” kicking around in his head. But one moment in the studio as a record producer stands out. “It was sort of a typical day in the office,” he says. “We all showed up for work, bleary-eyed, at the crack…

Thundercade

If rap was the new punk in the late ’80s when Public Enemy, NWA and Boogie Down productions came along to give it a real edge, then the latest incarnation of experimental electronic pop may just be the new indie rock. Thundercade (due at the Meadowlark on Friday, October 12),…

Beer Bonanza

Three days, 400 breweries, 1,700 beers and — finally — me. Although the Great American Beer Festival has earned a spot on my calendar for each of the three glorious years I’ve lived in the Mile High City, the fest always comes to a close without me wetting my whistle…

Shakedown Sequel

Lovers of low-brow art, hot rods, custom motorcycles and beer, pay attention: Aaron Hoffmeyer has heard your pleas for a party that caters to all your needs. After the success of Mile High Shakedown this past spring, Hoffmeyer has put together Mile High Shakedown Part BOO, and it’s bound to…

Bill Callahan

In a July interview with Pitchfork, Bill Callahan goes on at length about the reasons he decided to start performing under his own name rather than Smog, the handle he’d used throughout his recording career. He speaks about a “transformation of some sort, an upheaval” — one he decided to…

On a Scroll

The Denver Public Library is on a scroll this week, with three free events inspired by Jack Kerouac. Today from 2 to 4 p.m. in the B2 Conference Center of the Denver Central Library, 10 West 14th Avenue Parkway, John Ventimiglia (The Sopranos) and David Amram, a composer who was…

Storytime

An inventor of jelly-bean erasers and glow-in-the-dark books leaves home, only to discover that his family is his true inspiration. A pirate-chasing woman and a king get married and realize that their baby is the best adventure yet. A possum goes to the store to buy some baking soda and…

All Ears

When asked if playing last year’s inaugural Cornstock festival was the most entertaining thing he’s ever done involving corn, Rick Lewis, Fox radio personality and member of a band called the Groove Hawgs, says, “That’s a little too personal.” But he obviously enjoyed it, since Lewis, broadcast partner Michael Floorwax…

Don’t Be A Fan-shion Disaster!

I am a sports fan. I am not one of those girls who throws on a baseball hat who can’t name any of the players on her “favorite” team. I understand the sports “fashion” draw. When attending a Broncos game, I have painted my face, stomach and even worn a…

Are you f*cking kidding me!?!

US Weekly recently came out with the “25 Most Stylish New Yorker’s” list. Among the lucky few were Tim Gunn, Stephen Colbert, Stacy London, Natalie Morales, etc., but as I was scrolling through the few and the proud I came across someone so astounding, a little of my breakfast actually…

Into the Wild

To some, the story of Christopher Johnson McCandless, the 24-year-old Emory University graduate who starved to death in the Alaskan wilderness in the spring of 1992, will never be anything more than a case of a spoiled bourgeois brat with half-cocked survivalist fantasies (and possible suicidal tendencies) who ran away…

Across the Universe

After Hair, Hairspray, and the mass marketing of tie-dye, can the ’60s be shrunk to fit any further? Yes, indeed, here comes Julie Taymor to run the revolutions of sex, class and race through the PG-13 sieve. Not that one turns to musicals for deep thought, but John Waters at…

The Bubble

Had Israeli director Eytan Fox’s new film, about a passionate affair between two men on opposite sides of the Israeli-Arab conflict, been released in the early 1970s (when I was the same age as its twenty-something hipsters and living in Tel Aviv), the movie would have attracted a smattering of…

Party Pooper

Billiards is one of the few sports that’s as taxing on a computer screen as it is in real life. It’s played in pubs, after all, and its legendary star was named “Fats.” Unfortunately, most virtual billiards games are behind the 8-ball in terms of quality, with poor physics and…

Fist Things First

Caligula: Imperial Edition(Penthouse) (Spoiler alert: Fisting!) One day back in the swingin’ ’70s, somebody mentioned how “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and then Bob Guccione, Gore Vidal, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren and Peter O’Toole said, “Let’s make a big-budget movie about that, with come shots.” And Caligula was born. Actually, Penthouse…

Up and Coming

Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (Paramount) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Collector’s Edition (Sony) Christmas Television Favorites (Warner Bros.) The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the Troubadour (Image) Criminal Minds: The Second Season (Paramount) Day Night Day Night (IFC) Entourage: Season Three, Part…

My Name Is Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie has been a lightning rod for controversy since her death in Gaza at the age of 23, when she was run over by an Israeli soldier while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. But Rachel Corrie was more than just a symbol; she was a…

Third

From everything I’ve heard about her, Wendy Wasserstein — who succumbed to cancer last year at the age of 55 — seems to have been one of the nicest people imaginable: funny, warm and kind. Still, her plays have always tended to leave me cold. So perhaps it’s a step…

Now Playing

Anna in the Tropics. The setting is a small, Cuban-run cigar factory in Ybor City, Florida, at the turn of the last century. In those days, such factories employed lectors to read aloud to the workers. The lector in Nilo Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics has chosen Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. As he reads,…

Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures From the Louvre

For its first big extravaganza of the fall, the Denver Art Museum will unveil Artisans & Kings: Selected Treasures From the Louvre on October 5 in the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. Bringing the show to Denver was a smart move, as it’s guaranteed to have broad popular appeal. You don’t…

Paul Ecke and Ryan Anderson

The Space Gallery (765 Santa Fe Drive, 720-904-1088, www.spacegallery.org) is one of only a handful of spots in the Santa Fe Arts District that can be counted on to have exhibits worth seeing. For its first effort of the fall, Space director Michael Burnett has paired two interesting abstract solo…