Last June 25, Texas state senator Wendy Davis made history when she filibustered for ten hours in an attempt to prevent a law from passing that would severely restrict abortion in Texas. Although the bill did become law, Davis prevented the vote from taking place that night, and her efforts…
From Trekkies to furries, just about every fan group has its own convention in Denver. Now we can add bronies to that diverse group, with the first-ever Running of the Leaves Con. Not familiar with this new star in the ever-growing constellation of fandom? Let the con’s head of cosplay…
According to Pirate gallery founder Phil Bender’s records, it’s the thirtieth anniversary of the co-op’s annual Day of the Dead Show and Celebration, which, in its earliest incarnations, was really the only DOD game in town. In the present, such art-driven celebrations have spread from community stalwarts like CHAC and…
When Phamaly, Denver’s theater company for actors with disabilities, puts on a formal production, it’s all business from start to finish, usually to rave reviews. But once a year, Phamaly stalwarts get to cut loose a little while performing material they’ve written and developed themselves for the comedy-sketch show Vox…
Steeped in controversy, The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard is author Stephen Jimenez’s examination of the 1998 murder from a new angle — one that views the killing as a drug-related crime rather than the hate crime it is commonly considered to have been…
A shorthand history of American music wouldn’t be complete without mention of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where a white sharecropper’s son, Rick Hall, pumped the spirit of the South into several decades’ worth of rock and soul hits alike. Using a stable of local session musicians, Hall produced…
The 40 West Arts District invites you to “get your galactic groove on” with its sci-fi-themed Fall Arts Harvest Exhibition, opening today in Lakewood. The intergalactic display will showcase artists who are interpreting space travel and scientific innovation through paintings, glass art, sculpture, photography and digital art. “We have scientists…
Artist Alicia Bailey spent time with her great-aunt Ruth Wheeler — an educator and naturalist — before the elder relative died and left behind a trove of found artifacts, photos, letters and specimens from nature that Bailey had naturally gravitated toward as she got to know Wheeler more intimately. “She…
The Arvada Center is returning to “earth” this fall with a series of shows exploring how art — and especially ceramic art — evolves alongside culture by building upon and tweaking its traditional roots. In the main gallery, the center will present Earth Moves: Shifts in Ceramic ArT and Design,…
On Thursday, October 31, the Laughing Goat at 1709 Pearl Street in Boulder will be the host of a Halloween party to help Boulder flood victims — and also to introduce some of the 200 people getting tattooed in the Boulder Tattoo Project, which we profile in this week’s cover…
Halloween is upon us, and Denverites are pulling out all the stops with their costumes this year. One striking look we spotted on the streets was painter Pippa Klipstein’s unicorn get-up. Keep reading to learn who inspired Klipstein’s costume, who designed it, and her favorite accessory. See also: Womenswear Wednesdays:…
Dia de los Muertos is a cause for celebration, a reason to gather with friends and family to remember the souls who have passed on. Mandie Erickson will make November 1 a day to remember by curating her first art show, which will have a grand opening from 6 to…
On this week’s Voice Film Club podcast, our critics discuss the upcoming Dallas Buyers Club, the late Lou Reed, 1983’s Get Crazy, 1979’s The Visitor, and 2008’s In Bruges.Matthew McConaughey extends his streak of taking on challenging roles in Dallas Buyers Club (opening in Denver next week), playing AIDS victim,…
Think of Denver Arts Week as a celebration of all our city has to offer culturally, with the added incentive of sweet deals, from discounted memberships, restaurant meals and original artworks to a free Night at the Museums. But as a trip online to Denver Arts Week central reveals, there’s…
The entertainment industry, with its long-established allergy to new ideas, often mines the bestseller list for source material. Studios are more likely greenlight a scary story after it has been officially vetted by the reading public, and less likely to interfere with a proven earner. In horror cinema, however, the filmmaker’s vision of a story so often becomes definitive in the minds of viewers that it overshadows the books that inspired that vision in the first place. With that in mind, the Westword Book Club has compiled a list of 6 cult classic horror that were inspired by novels and short stories, deliberately avoiding canonical works like Dracula and Frankenstein as well as blockbusters like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby in favor of slightly obscure titles that deserve more eyeballs. Then we Lars von Trier’ed ourselves into a corner by only selecting movies that are available to stream instantly, so you’ll have time to check these out before the Halloween spirit is buried beneath the snows of November. Enjoy your nightmares.
Where you find zombies, you will also find gore. Sure, there are zombie films that aren’t particularly bloody, but they are the exception, not the rule. This is, after all, a genre where disembowelments are standard operating procedure. To stand out in this viscera-clotted field, a movie’s got to be…
Calling all aspiring auteurs: Here’s your chance to get your six seconds of fame. We want you to submit your best arts-and-culture-related Vine videos by uploading them with the hashtag #DenWeb2013. We’ll pick our favorites to play at the annual Westword Web Awards party at Galvanize on December 5, where…
Reading is about more than following a narrative or learning facts; it can also be a profound shared experience that culminates in a better understanding of ourselves and each other. In that spirit, welcome to the Westword Book Club, a weekly feature celebrating the books that inspire Denver artists.
With Halloween on the horizon, the time was right to touch base with Miguel De La Torre, author of The Quest for the Historical Satan, to find out just how scared we should be this season. De La Torre is an ordained Southern Baptist preacher as well as a social…
Saturday’s Denver Gorilla Run not only broke the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed in gorilla suits, but also featured an encyclopedic number of variations on the theme: There were pink gorillettes and samurai gorillas, Big Bang Theory nerdillas and some folks who plainly weren’t gorillas…
Art gets intimate tomorrow night at The Savoy with the inaugural edition of The Craft, a semi-monthly gathering of artists, live music and local fashion houses. MC, activist and spoken-word champion Bianca Mikahn will be at the center of the action, sitting down for a live interview that will be…
The Internet was made for judging. It sort of functions the same way that passing notes detailing a fellow eighth-grader’s period mishap used to, except the shit-talking is done on the world’s stage, and can be as vitriolic and hateful as the author chooses. (It can even be anonymous, in…
