Jim Norton is an advocate of brazen uncompromising honesty. A comic’s comic who honed his skills in the unforgiving rooms of New York city, Norton has developed a cult following over his long career. In addition to his longstanding co-hosting gig on the massively popular radio program The Opie Show…
You may, like me, have seen all of the Fast and Furious movies, and you may, like me, have enjoyed most or many of them. You may also, like me, have a hard time remembering exactly what happened in each film. You needn’t worry. The franchise’s Wikipedia page is filled…
Clueless rich guy Tom Perkins rightly became the laughingstock of the Internet last year after comparing America’s “war on one-percenters” to the Nazi Kristallnacht. However detestably fatuous Perkins is in real life, it must be admitted that he’d make a fascinating fictional character, perhaps in a Greek tragedy about a…
If you’ve ever played music or even just attempted to coax a pleasing sound from a keyboard or a guitar string, you may have some sense of the dissonant signals that the desire to make music can set off: Are you playing toward some idea of perfection, perhaps in the…
Celine Sciamma’s pained, thrilling observational tale of growing up broke and black in slab-like Paris flats is no rebuke to Boyhood, but its besties-dancing-to-Rihanna rhapsody eats the lunch of that bit where Richard Linklater has Ethan Hawke drone on about Wings. They sing: “We’re beautiful like diamonds in the sky!”…
The Stanley Film Festival — our winner of the Best Film Festival in the Best of Denver 2015 — has sent a transmission from “the other side,” detailing the first wave of special guests who’ll be making the trek up to the haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park at the end…
For its contribution to the Month of Photography, which straddles March and April, Ironton Gallery is presenting 50 Years in Your Face: Photographs by Donna Rae Altieri. Though best known as a successful businesswoman and arts advocate, it turns out that Altieri is also a photographer. Altieri began taking photos…
This past weekend, I traveled to Boise, Idaho to perform at Treefort Music Fest, a four-day event that takes over downtown Boise featuring live music, art, food, film, theater and interactive activities. I was part of the activities portion, DJing a live amateur dance battle hosted by my roommate Piper’s…
Goggles and rayguns and fancy hats, oh my: A reimagined Victorian age came alive over the weekend at AnimalyCon 2015, Colorado’s premier steampunk gathering for cosplay, mustache-grooming contests, author talks and the study of all things “more science than fiction.” Go back to the future with these photos by Danielle…
On my birthday this week, someone threw a rock through Tiny’s largest window. The rock, only about two and a half inches across, went through both panes and bounced off the opposite wall twenty feet away, leaving a constellation of sparkling glass shards and a disappointing comment on humanity. I…
Despite the snow-chasing warm weather, Left Hand Brewing’s Hops & Handrails combined a slushy display of snowboarding derring-do with a good old-fashioned beer festival in Longmont over the weekend. Photographer Brandon Marshall brought back these images from the party. Now see the full Hops & Handrails slide show…
T.S. Eliot said April was the cruelest month, but that was clearly before he got a good look at all the sweet geek events happening in Denver in the coming month: Classic sci-fi, fantasy and horror movies, two conventions and our own homegrown horror-film festival are all on the calendar…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. Bodhi means enlightenment in Buddhism, and so it’s a fitting name for…
Book-lovers can turn the pages this week with a very different pair of Colorado genre authors or immerse themselves in the world of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe at a class co-sponsored by Lighthouse Writers Workshop and the Art Students League of Denver. Whether you fancy sci-fi, noir fiction or…
Spanning decades of spinning records, Motown: The Musical hits town on Tuesday, March 31. The touring Broadway show pours out the story of music legend Barry Gordy, who went from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul. The brainchild of Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum (Rent, Avenue Q) and Gordy himself, Motown…
A seminal figure in the world of cartoons and illustration, Lynda Barry has been creating award-winning comic strips, books and graphic novels for the better part of four decades. Along making those contributions to popular culture, Barry is also a teacher; she’s currently an associate professor in interdisciplinary creativity at…
Has everyone been planning and practicing their #classicgags for April Fools Day? Put some detergent on your neighbors lawn (pray for rain), wrap the latrine with Saran Wrap. But this week’s free events are no joke: You can catch comedy, dig into new concepts or party to loud music —…
Fandom is a universal language. Once a TV, book or game series has sunk its hooks into you, you begin to understand all those other weirdos. That’s part of what makes local documentary Mile High Magic a must-see for anyone who even dabbles in geek, whether they’ve ever picked up…
You don’t have to wait until First Friday to see new art in Denver — there are plenty of shows up right now that include thought-provoking content that’s just plain beautiful. Here are a few exhibits opening tonight to get you started. Joel Swanson: A.K.A. David B. Smith Gallery March…
Between his tireless work on the comedy scene and as co-host of pop-culture podcast These Things Matter, Kevin O’Brien has collaborated with a lot of creative folks in the city. For his latest live show endeavor, Service Stories, O’Brien wanted to tap into this collection of interesting people and curate…
When we spotted visual merchandiser Liz Hastings, we had to learn more about her unique street style. “I also make jewelry and thrift and up-cycle clothing and sell it on Etsy,” she says. “I make flower crowns and paint skulls as well.” Nonstop Feeling by Turnstile is her album of the…
Smooth characters have smooth moves, and one of the smoothest moves around is showing your friends a good time without spending too much green. This week, our column has a surplus of smooth events for everyone to enjoy. Preview Boulder Arts Week, drink Iron Maiden’s beer and eat free pizza…
