Arts & Culture

“Poets used to be national heroes,” says Charly Fasano. Somewhere along the way, though, their art form became elitist and institutionalized. In an attempt to bring accessibility back, Fasano is releasing Not Good With Names, a poetry-based combination of illustrations, written word and audio published by Fast Geek Press. The…

Started in 2004 as an open-mic night, Cafe Cultura is now a full-fledged nonprofit, and the Art in the Park monthly summer series is just one of many events the youth-oriented organization puts on each year. Tonight’s installment includes an open mic for the community, along with performances from national…

Merry Widow’s Artisan Operetta is so named because each show draws its theme from a different artist. “I started out doing really classical burlesque, so originally it was pre-1960s artists,” says Tamara Pidhayny (aka Merry Widow). But then she started branching out, incor-porating more modern inspiration — all of which,…

For ten years, The Room has been confounding and entertaining audiences. The film’s strange blend of inept performance, oblique writing and haphazard direction has earned it an ever-growing cult audience that can’t get enough of its unique charms. By most standards, it’s a “bad” film, even a terrible one, but…

Ever wonder what goes on in that maze of rooms above the Capitol Hill eatery City, O’ City? You might know the jewel-box room Deer Pile for its recurring alternative shows, but the rest of the building’s second story is home to a hive of artist, yoga and recording studios…

Today’s AIDS Walk Colorado, at Cheesman Park, is a multifaceted event as well as the largest fundraiser for HIV and AIDS in the state. Aside from the annual 5K walk and a 5K qualifying run for the Bolder Boulder, the day will include a “Celebration of Life” Festival, with races…

Living car-free takes a little extra effort, which is why LiveWell Colorado is providing some extra incentive today with its third annual Viva Streets party — this time in the Berkeley/Regis neighborhood. The organization, which celebrates healthy and green lifestyles, will close off Tennyson Street around 46th Avenue to cars,…

Perhaps it’s the “fantastic awfulness of Vegas” that makes it a fitting place for two strangers — a famous motivational speaker and a tollbooth collector — to kill themselves…together. That’s how the action goes down in Suicide(s) in Vegas, which opens tonight at Spark Theater. “With its seductiveness, spontaneity and…

PlatteForum’s ArtLab projects usually involve resident artists working indoors with students to create a culminating installation and exhibit. But this summer, the nonprofit art-making machine branched out to work on a community project outside of PlatteForum’s usual boundaries, in collaboration with the Denver Urban Art Fund and city councilwoman Judy…

In its third year, the Denver County Fair is leaner and more user-friendly than ever, without having forfeited one iota of what made it great in 2011 and 2012: The urban-alternative celebration once again combines the traditional and the quirky, breaking the mold with everything from drag shows and zombie…

Whether it’s used to end wars or just win a basketball game, withholding sex can be a powerful tool. Aristophanes recognized that when he wrote the classic Greek comedy Lysistrata, in which the title character empowers a group of women to stop the Peloponnesian War by denying their husbands sexual…

Early this year, it looked as if the Colorado Shakespeare Festival might be on its last legs. But after some re-organization, a strong marketing push and a tightening of the festival’s focus, the New York Times named the CSF one of the summer’s hot tickets — and A Midsummer Night’s…

Throughout history, there have been accounts of “demonic possessions,” during which seemingly normal people suddenly go haywire, experiencing a whole spectrum of unusual and psychotic behaviors. In modern times, it happened to journalist Susannah Cahalan, who flew off the handle — out of the blue — in a haze of…

Colorado’s most productive growing season is upon us, and if your garden (or your community-supported agriculture box) runneth over, let Chef Michele Morris, author of Tasting Colorado, teach you how to make the most of it at Tentiko’s Craft a Family Meal From a Farm Box. Co-founded by Jim Chesebro…

Back in 1986, Ann Bolinger-McQuade had a gut feeling that she should get a mammogram; she followed her instinct and discovered that she had breast cancer. Due to early detection, the writer was able to get treatment and recover, but the experience ignited an interest in following intuition and messages…

There’s a long and involved process that goes into creating a finished graphic novel, and artists Samantha Reveley and David Balan will give the public a behind-the-scenes view of that process in their new multimedia exhibition, Sequentially Speaking: the Art of Comic Books. The show examines everything that went into…

The theme for Amaluna came from a statement that Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté made when the organization decided to embark on the production. “He said, ‘This time around, I want us to showcase women,’” explains Cirque company manager Jamie Reilly. “That’s the only thing he said.” Crafted by…

What do the great escapist Houdini and the scientific phenomenon of déjà vu have in common? How about sinkholes and wormholes? Or refrigeration and the Austrian avant-garde? All are topics teamed up for this season’s Mixed Taste series, opening tonight at the MCA Denver. Now in its ninth year, the…

Walter White’s final stand is at hand. For five and a half seasons, the chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin has built his empire, and now, in its final eight episodes, Breaking Bad is going to chronicle it all falling down. And if you can’t stand to watch the final days of the ultimate anti-hero…