“You could make five different N.W.A movies. We made the one we wanted to make.” That’s director F. Gary Gray during an audience Q&A after a recent screening of Straight Outta Compton, the long-awaited N.W.A movie. In our review, Amy Nicholson writes that there’s much more to the group’s story:…
Summer might still be going strong, but there are signs that fall is right around the corner: The mornings are cooler, the kids are going back to school and theater companies are beginning to announce their 2015-2016 seasons and opening up ticket sales. Keep an eye on Westword’s theater listings…
Kids today have it too damn easy. I’m not talking about the prevalence of iPads and Xboxes, or the fact it takes fewer than ten seconds to look up any fact known to humanity. I’m talking about the fact that kids today aren’t traumatized by pop culture. Consider The Dark Crystal:…
In an ever-evolving art scene, a new space will challenge Denver’s perception of the typical museum. Black Cube, a large container and “nomadic contemporary art museum” set to launch at the end of September, will function as a pop-up exhibition space, a gallery and a museum shop that will travel…
What do disco, a dress made out of condoms and Celia Cruz have in common? They are all part of COLOR’s seventeenth annual Viva la Diva fundraiser this Friday. COLOR, short for Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, hosts this event each year to raise awareness for reproductive…
Jillian and Sam Liebl have headed into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho, leaving their gadgets in their car and society at the trailhead, and plan to stay in the wilderness for a month with four other primitive-skills practitioners. For the Liebls, this trek is part…
The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities is one of the shining lights of Colorado’s cultural scene. As an exhibition venue, it’s very large and includes space not just for art exhibits, but also for theater, dance and art education. And the exhibit program is a standout, thanks to…
There are many storied blocks in Denver, but none has more stories than the1400 block of Larimer Street. This stretch is only a few steps from where Denver got its start in1858 on the banks of Cherry Creek, just down from the confluence of the South Platte River, where gold…
It’s difficult, maybe impossible, for small, local bookstores to compete with the Amazons of the world. It’s just as hard for local authors with a smaller audience to compete in those marketplaces against the Stephen Kings and Dale Carnegies. Faced with those realities, Longmont based author and financial professional Ron…
When I read about plans to demolish the 115-year old building currently housing the Tavern Uptown, I had to drive by and see the structure again for myself. It is a stately piece of real estate on East 17th Avenue — one that I had walked, biked and driven by hundreds…
Clyfford Still Museum director Dean Sobel has a vested interest in Brad Cloepfil’s Portland and New York-based Allied Works Architecture: The firm designed the museum’s building, which utilizes natural light in the galleries in groundbreaking ways. But the Still Museum shows just a slice of how AWA as a team creates…
The intimate artist cooperative Spark Gallery is hosting three small solos. Installed in the east side of the space is Lydia Brokaw: Life Here…but a Different Reality Over There, which is made up of sculptures employing natural materials that are sometimes altered, like the gold-painted milkweed pods used as elements…
Rocky Mountain Aerials is a photo company that goes where very few photographers can. High above the city in a tiny Sesna 182 plane, RMA founder and photographer Jeff Perry captures unreal images of the very real Mile High City. RMA was founded in 2013, and has been flying high…
Oscar has morphed into Olive and Felix into Florence in The Odd Couple — The Female Version, Neil Simon’s 1980s take on his 1960s hit play, The Odd Couple, which morphed into a movie with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau and then a sitcom featuring Jack Klugman and the inimitable…
From the beginning, the idea behind the Mayday Experiment was to try to change the conversation from being about “whether or not climate change exists” to “how can we be more sustainable regardless”? Because whether you believe in climate change or are among the very few who still deny its…
Is it in honor of its subject that the high-flying doc Being Evel indulges so often in hilarious overstatement? “He opened the door and invited people to buy a ticket to watch truth,” one talking head insists, somehow keeping his face straight. Another speaks of how in the early 1970s…
Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra is a bloody valentine attached to a bomb. It’s violent, brash, inventive and horrific, and perhaps the most romantic film of the year. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart star as Mike and Phoebe, two West Virginia stoners blissed out on weed and each other. “We’re the…
Niche fans of Harry Potter, Firefly, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones and Supernatural gathered over the weekend at the 2015 Myths and Legends Con for an in-depth weekend of exploring their favorite fictitious worlds through games, panel discussions and cosplay. These images from photographer Danielle Lirette…
The Meininger family decided to do something amazing with the Biemedia wall facing the Meininger Art Supply store at 499 Broadway. Equipped with a grant from the city, Judd Meininger reached out to some of the most talented artists in Denver, and commissioned seven of them to create side-by-side works on the…
“Poetry can be dangerous,” said Jalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî, “especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.” But poetry can also be provocative, entertaining and amazing, as three literary events this week will show. Anne Waldman, Eleni Sikelianos and Roger Green Syntax…
Exuding giggly lovability as well as a zen-like center of calm, the comedic persona of Ron Funches is completely sui generis. Like a human Pokémon, Funches is almost cartoonishly adorable — so it’s no wonder he’s found a home doing voiceover work for animated shows like Bob’s Burgers and Bojack…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we take a look at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. “I’m seventy,” says artist Bob Johnson. “I worked at everything: I…
