I don’t know shit about jazz. Sure, I own a few jazz CDs. I’ve been to a few jazz shows. I even wrote a paper in college on Miles Davis. But I don’t have a clue about tonal structures or chord progressions or whatever, and honestly, that’s not why I…
Once again, you’ve got the post-Valentine’s Day blues. You braved your insecurities, bought those expensive flowers — and then, in the middle of your carefully planned date, your Valentine let loose those four vicious words: “Let’s just be friends.” The Hot IQs feel your pain — and they have the…
It’s nearly impossible to get a good soul-stirring in Denver these days. You used to be able to venture down around 26th and Welton to get your grits, gravy and gospel, but now even Five Points is overrun with tight-pantsed hipsters. If you want soul in Denver, you have to…
Legend has it that the animals of the Chinese zodiac were challenged by Buddha to race across the river to decide which creature would lead off the traditional twelve-year cycle. Because the wily rat had the foresight to leap upon the back of that strong and stolid swimmer, the ox,…
Kathy Beeck, director of the Boulder International Film Festival, will not be shredding any imaginary strings Saturday evening. However, the much-anticipated air-guitar competition, which will be held at the after-party for the film Air Guitar Nation, is bound to attract wannabe musicians the world over. Well, at least from all…
The annual Salsa Central Denver fiesta — the Red & White Salsa Ball — has grown too hot for the Mercury Cafe to handle; this year, the party had to move to the Doubletree Hotel at 3203 Quebec Street. That just means more room to maneuver during the salsa lesson,…
In December 2002, ABC’s 20/20 ran a story on Eric O’Neill, an undercover surveillance specialist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The piece was titled “Spycatcher,” because it was O’Neill who, at a mere 27, helped bring down Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who sold thousands of secrets to the…
Ticket-buyers to Factory Girlare in for a drag; not even the drag queens will like it. Cookie-cut from the biopic assembly line, this life and times of Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) is the least-fabulous movie imaginable about the most fabulous persona in that most fabulous of scenes, the Warhol Factory…
You remember Andrew Ridgeley, don’t you? He was the other guy in Wham!, the one who found himself stranded in 1986 after George Michael had faith enough in his own talents to break up the act. Ridgeley went on to record one solo record before CBS Records decided, yeah, no…
Split more or less neatly into pairs, the four short Oscar-nominated documentaries prove again that the old style-versus-substance debate is never sillier than when it’s applied to non-fiction film. That is to say, if the collection includes works about children orphaned by AIDS in China and extreme poverty in Guatemala,…
For King Lear, perhaps Shakespeare’s bleakest tragedy, Denver Center Theatre Company artistic director Kent Thompson has the characters argue, fight, rage, torment each other and grieve on an almost bare stage within the confines of high, forbidding gray arches and pillars. The beginning of the story has the symmetry and…
Bad Dates has the familiar feel of a long night spent with a girlfriend after she’s suffered a breakup, one of those nights when you can offer nothing but a shared bottle of wine, anything sweet you have lurking in the fridge and a loving ear. Playwright Theresa Rebeck provides…
Aphrodisiac. Playwright Rob Handel’s inspiration is the affair between Congressman Gary Condit and intern Chandra Levy, which erupted into the media when Levy disappeared in 2001. Her body was discovered a year later; although suspicion clouded his career, Condit was never officially accused of murder. Aphrodisiac approaches this story obliquely…
An art exhibition — even those devoted to the work of a single artist — is typically made up of anywhere from a dozen to three dozen pieces. Some exhibits include more than that, with a blockbuster generally having between seventy to a hundred different things on view. It’s unusual…
When I was at the Lab the other day checking out that impressive Liam Gillick piece, for obvious reasons the installation at the staggeringly ugly University of Denver Station on RTD’s light-rail line came to mind. Like the Gillick, John Goe’s “Reflective Discourse” uses words as a key component. Considering…
In 2003, Connecticut collector Virginia Vogel Mattern donated some 300 pieces of contemporary American Indian art to the Denver Art Museum. For one of the special shows inaugurating the new Frederic C. Hamilton Building, Native Arts curator Nancy Blomberg has selected over a hundred works for the impressive Breaking the…
Marie Antoinette (Sony) Sofia Coppola’s third feature grabs you by your frilly lapels from the jump, with Gang of Four’s “Natural’s Not in It” showering guitar chords all over the credits as Kirsten Dunst nods to the audience, as if to say, Hang tight — this thing’s gonna be a…
Lately, the Nintendo DS has become a virtual Monster.com. You can play a defense attorney (Phoenix Wright), surgeon (Trauma Center), and even a cook (Cooking Mama). Now, thanks to Hotel Dusk: Room 215, you can add private eye to that list. But don’t expect the sexy detective work of Chinatown…
Bicycle Thieves: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) The Boy From Lebanon (Picture This) The Butcher Boy (Warner Bros.) The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Tartan) The Departed (Warner Bros.) Devil’s Den (Starz) F**K (ThinkFilm) Green for Danger: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) The Hills: The Complete First Season (Paramount) Hustle: Complete Season…
The 2006 MasterMind winners: MasterMind, Visual Arts: KATIE TAFT MasterMind, Literary Arts: CAFE NUBA MasterMind, Design/Fashion: DEB HENRIKSEN MasterMind, Film/Video: JOHNNY MOREHOUSE MasterMind, Performing Arts: DRAGON DAUD Visual Arts: Katie Taft Katie Taft is a self-made woman, which makes her “self-made” salon, at Mario’s Double Daughters Salotto, quite apropos. Every…
The 2005 MasterMind winners: MasterMind, Visual Arts: Lauri Lynnxe Murphy MasterMind, Literary Arts: Denver Zine Library MasterMind, Design/Fashion: Brandi Shigley MasterMind, Film/Video: Emerging Filmmakers Project MasterMind, Performing Arts: Buntport Theater MasterMind Award, Performing Arts Buntport Theater It’s no crime to have a good time — not even at a night…
“I know a lot of people dread Valentine’s Day,” says Silke Reuthlinger, founder of Hip Chicks Out, “so I tried to put a party together where people who are single can make light of it.” Ladies, you can thank her in person tonight at Red Velvet, a girls-only celebration of…
