MINI Copper

MINI Coopers pack a big punch — they’ve been named both rally racing championships and European Car of the Century — and they contain ten million possibilities for “Ultimate Youification,” which probably explains some of the fascination with these bulldog-looking cars. Whether you already own one or you’re just a…

Mercury Rising

Mercury Cafe owner Marilyn Megenity keeps a diary to track Colorado’s produce, year in and year out. According to her estimation, the peaches in her backyard should be ripe just in time for the Organic, Local Food and Wine Pairing she’s hosting tonight. “This is the time when Colorado’s produce…

Prime Directive

Grab your phasers, glue on those pointy ears and practice, practice, practice that new Klingon phrase, because Trek 5280: Starfleet International Conference is beaming down to the Adam’s Mark Hotel, 1550 Court Place, tonight at 7 p.m. The four-day event includes four “Away Missions” to Coors Field for the Cubs/Rockies…

Shower Power

I always love catching the Perseid Meteor Shower, a rain of “shooting stars” visible in early August every year. Of course, normally I’m catching the shower by accident when leaving whatever bar or club I’m frequenting. City light pollution dims the effect, though, and who’s going to find a nice,…

Wining and Dining

Colorado now has 63 wineries. Yes, 63! That number alone was reason enough for the Front Range Winery Association to band together for a tasting. Throw in some food and live music and you’ve got yourself the first-ever Boulder Food and Wine Festival. Today from noon to 5 p.m., $40…

Bark for Joy

Every year, Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital’s birthday celebration gets a little bit bigger and a little bit better. “Last year was the first time we moved the event outside, brought in a band and had an agility course,” remembers Harrison’s Melannie Frantz. This year’s Harrison Memorial’s 17th Birthday Bark-B-Que features…

Spooktopia

Post 9/11, the future for William Gibson is now. Since his 1984 novel Neuromancer, Gibson has propelled cyberpunk as a science-fiction genre with postmodern thrillers that examine the impact of technology on politics and the human psyche. In 2003, he shifted from the dystopia of the near future to the…

Tricky Business

The first time I saw an Eames lounge chair in person, I sort of lost my breath. It was the first time I ever really felt speechless. I had seen so many of the iconic molded-plywood-and-leather lounge chairs in design and architecture magazines, but to come into physical contact with…

‘Room for More

Laccaria and boletes and telephora, oh my! They’re not plants, they’re not animals, they’re delicious and deadly poisonous and even psychedelic. Experience the wonderful world of mushrooms at the thirtieth annual Mushroom Fair of the Colorado Mycological Society today at the Denver Botanic Gardens, 1005 York Street. Have experts, including…

Howdy, Partner!

Littleton Western Welcome Week actually takes place over eleven days, so you’ve got plenty of time to partake in the festivities. But today is so jam-packed with fun, it would be a travesty to miss it — after all, between the family pancake breakfast, kids’ games of old, a concert…

Roll On

Producers Gary Schnell and Alex Ryer are uniquely qualified to stage The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which enjoys its Denver premiere tonight. The couple have a flair for music-oriented theater pieces, having earned plaudits for Pure Piaf, a one-woman show about French songbird Edith Piaf that starred Ryer. Moreover,…

Elvis Is Everywhere

Bubba Ho-tep Limited Edition (MGM) Intentional camp is difficult to do well. It’s a contradiction that usually comes off cutesy and forced. The old Batman series pulled it off, and it’s been B-movie god Bruce Campbell’s livelihood. But in a long career of overacting and mugging, Campbell’s peak may be…

Star Dreck

Stupid video-game logic, rule no. 154: When thousands of fugly, bloodthirsty aliens take over a spaceship, it’s best to send in a lone woman with a flamethrower. That’s the entire plot of Alien Syndrome, a pseudo sequel to Sega’s 1987 “run ‘n’ gun” arcade game of the same name. And…

Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:

Beneath (Paramount) Brigitte Bardot 5-Film Collection (Lionsgate) Luis Bunuel: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (Lionsgate) Disturbia (DreamWorks) The Dog Problem (THINKfilm) The Dresden Files: The Complete First Season (Lionsgate) 8 Simple Rules: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista) The Fly: Collector Set (Fox) Full House: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner Bros.) The…

Running for Water

I can’t be bothered to run. I feel embarrassed while I increase my pace; it brings back traumatic memories of high school gym class. So when I see people who do run, and do it gracefully, I look up to these people. And when people run for a cause, there…

Art All About

The premise of today’s Artabout Englewood is simple: “What we’re trying to do is bring awareness to all the artists and the art that we have located in Englewood,” explains Nancy Fenton, Englewood’s executive assistant of community development. “It’s a whole day of art within Englewood.” That day starts at…

Coming Up Rosen

Rebecca Rosen claims that she was a lost soul, fighting a losing battle against depression until her grandma Babe — who had been dead for ten years — came to her. Grandma Babe, who had also struggled with depression and taken her own life, would take over the pen when…

Going Potty

Harry and the Potters are touring the U.S. all summer, bringing their wizard rock to audiences that, in most cases, have never seen a live band. “We were just kind of impressed by the fact these books had inspired so many kids to get into reading, not just the Harry…

Reliving History

There comes a time in maybe everybody’s life when they idolize the Woodstock generation. All of us, at one point or another, yearn to have been there for the protest marches, for the drug culture or for the fashion. But most of all, people want the music. Everyone wishes they…

Bee There

Poor Scooter Brightman. As host of Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret’s Celebrity Spelling Bee and Quiz Show, the extravagant Irishman (the alter ego of Jefferson Arca, Lannie’s general manager) has to hold his own among local celebrities, burlesque girls and audience members. They’re all matching wits starting at 7 p.m., hoping to…

Food for Thought

The most generous people in this town may well be restaurateurs and chefs, who are always volunteering their time, services and good food for good causes. Tonight’s Straight from the Farmer’s Market will benefit Gilda’s Club Denver, and the food will be very good indeed, since the five chefs making…

Excitable Book

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, which author Crystal Zevon will sign and read from tonight and tomorrow, is as unflinching as her late ex-husband’s best compositions — and that’s just the way he wanted it. “He asked me to tell the whole…