Once again, it’s the season to cheer about stupid lights turning on at Downtown Denver’s Grand Illumination. Sorry if I sound, well, bitter. As a waiter for a private dinner club, I once had to serve champagne and hors d’oeuvre in the rain — in a tuxedo shirt, no less…
This year, it’s Nathaniel Merrill’s turn: The founder of Opera Colorado is being honored today at the Tesoro Foundation’s annual Farolito Lighting at the Fort restaurant, which each year draws attention to a different community member in the celebration of light, carols and pinecones. The farolitos — tiny lanterns based…
As fans of Denver’s 9th and Lincoln Orchestra know, this is one big band that’s not likely to break into “Cherokee” during its monthly gigs at Dazzle. A conglomeration of musicians from such progressive bands and ensembles as the Czars, Hamster Theater and the Future Jazz Project — as well…
The Nutcracker has got to be the most-performed holiday production in the history of mankind. In the Denver/Boulder area alone this year, ballet aficionados can enjoy no fewer than seven — yes, seven — different Nutcrackers, each affiliated with a different ballet/dance company, including a one-night-only performance by the Moscow…
It was love that made Carson Williams do it. When he and his wife moved to a new house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Mason, Ohio, nine years ago, she asked him to put up some Christmas lights. “For the first few years, I just made them blink. Then I…
Why, yes, I have been working out. Sweet of you to notice. I’ve gotta say, though, it’s not all glitter and hot pants. Some days I just don’t have the motivation to sweat nicotine residue all over the treadmill, screw with the seat settings on the weight machines and restrain…
“We never put anybody on stage unless they’re a home run,” asserts Carol Givan, co-owner of Castle Rock’s Theatre of Dreams Arts and Events Center. She’s that proud of tonight’s performers, the Handsome Little Devils, featuring real-life brothers “Handsome” Mike and “Devil” Dan. After touring Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada and…
Reading was a daily, integral part of my secular Jewish education, no matter what I read. The Earth for Sam, Misty of Chincoteague, Robin Hood, the beautiful advertisements in the New Yorker — all were part of my rite of passage. Our walls were lined with books, and that’s the…
If you like to do your holiday shopping in July, then you’ll be stoked to pre-game your winter theater, too. Beat out the slackers tonight at the Denver Performing Arts Complex for special engagements of A Christmas Carol and Season’s Greetings. Even sans Muppets, the musical adaptation of the classic…
Okay, so Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott were asking for it by naming their latest mega-production Déjà Vu. These dudes aren’t exactly paragons of innovation, unless taking rhetorical hysteria to awesome new heights counts. As the opening credits roll — by which of course I mean roll, zip, flicker, fade,…
The first few minutes of Tenacious D in “The Pick of Destiny” are something to behold: a four-minute rock opera cranked to eleven. A doughy young boy with dirty-mop locks (Nacho Libre’s Troy Gentile, once more playing li’l Jack Black) laments his tragic plight: He’s stuck in Kickapoo with “a…
Solemn, flashy and flabbergasting, The Fountain — adapted by Darren Aronofsky from his own graphic novel — should really be called “The Shpritz.” The premise is lachrymose, the sets are clammy and the metaphysics all wet. The screen is awash in spiraling nebulae and misty points of light, with the…
For progressives lifted, however temporarily, by the swell of a turning tide, Bobby can be seen clearly for what it is — an Airport movie with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as the central calamity and an all-star cast deployed like multiple George Kennedys. Juggling some 22 main characters…
The nifty premise of Unknown owes a large debt of gratitude to the twin brain-teasers Memento and The Usual Suspects, but first-time screenwriter Matthew Waynee and music-video/commercial director Simon Brand will need a tad more experience before achieving the atmospheric intensity or narrative dexterity of those two films. Five battered…
I had a great time at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre’s Crazy for You, and now I’m trying to figure out just why. First and foremost, I suppose, were the songs. You know how it is with musicals, especially those from the first half of the twentieth century, on which this show…
The Big Bang. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to think too much, to just settle back and watch a couple of frenetically energetic guys working really hard to earn your good will — and your entertainment dollars. Oh, and to make you laugh. The Big Bang posits the following…
With all the excitement — and criticism — caused by the unveiling of Daniel Libeskind’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building, the inaugural exhibits installed inside have gotten lost in the crossfire. Now that the smoke is beginning to clear and it’s Thanksgiving week, I thought it would be a good time…
A couple of years ago, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy opened a funky gallery dedicated to showcasing artists who were doing experimental work. This gallery is called Capsule (554 Santa Fe Drive, 303-623-3460), and it was the immediate successor to Murphy’s boutique, Pod. But, as they say, all good things must come…
Colorado Classic Architects, et al. Many of the finest buildings in town were done by firms with offices right here in the Mile High City, and they’re the subject of Colorado Classic Architects, a handsome and informative exhibit in the Western Art Gallery on the fifth floor of the Denver…
An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount) This isn’t exactly the kind of DVD you buy to watch again and again; the ending doesn’t get happier, and there are no twists to decipher with repeated viewings. The producers hope instead that you buy it and share it; it’s less movie, after all, than…
Guitar Hero gave party games a much-needed kick in the ass. No one expected this rhythm game — sold with a miniature plastic guitar — to play to sellout crowds. But it became the most addictive game of the year and one of the most attractive to non-gamers. The reason…
American Slapstick (Image) Alias: The Complete Fifth Season (Buena Vista) Boston Legal: Season Two (Fox) The Cry Baby Killer (Buena Vista) Devil Times Five (Code Red) Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist: Season Two (Paramount) Fall Out Boy: Solid Gold Uncertainty (Music Video Dist.) A Fish Called Wanda: Collector’s Edition (MGM) Freedom…
