Your guide to the 2013 Biennial of the Americas

Next Tuesday, the second Biennial of the Americas will kick off a crammed four days of programming — July 16 through 19 — that promises to run fast and hard, giving you little time to catch your breath. To help you plot your course, we’ve compiled this list of the…

How I joined the Volkswagen cult by accident

When my best friend was describing a near-perfect date that her boyfriend took her on last summer, I couldn’t help but cringe. He got tickets to a show at Red Rocks — and drove her in a rented, mint-condition vintage Volkswagen bus. There is nothing romantic about a ride in…

Author Beth Groundwater on grammar, mysteries and whitewater rafting

A Breckenridge resident and self-described “river rat,” Beth Groundwater is a writer of mystery stories. After retiring from a software engineering position in 1999, Groundwater pursued her lifelong interest in writing and mysteries and set to work on her craft, eventually seeing her short stories published in anthologies before moving on to writing the ongoing RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series for Midnight Ink Publications. In advance of her upcoming signing appearance at Broadway Book Mall, Westword Book Club chatted with Groundwater about mysteries, her struggles with grammar as a young writer and her own book club.

The five Patrick Swayziest films of all time

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the cinema of the ’80s and early ’90s knows the majesty of Patrick Swayze. Over the course of a handful of films, Swayze crafted a composite character who was somehow the toughest of tough guys while simultaneously the sensitive sweetheart who knew just…

100 Colorado Creatives: Pangloss Gravitron

#59: Pangloss Gravitron Pangloss Gravitron: Not a person. Rather, it’s a diverse six-person collective of local artists who share a certain speculative, surreal and fantasmic scope in their works. “Pangloss” references Voltaire’s optimist Dr. Pangloss from Candide; “Gravitron” is a spinning, flying-saucer-like amusement park ride using centrifugal force to elicit…

The best scenes from First Friday: July 5, 2013

The tradition continues! Over the weekend, crowds of arts enthusiasts took over the Santa Fe Art District for the latest First Friday art walk — and roving nightlife photographer Danielle Lirette was there to capture the action. For more photos from First Friday, check out our full First Friday, 7/5/13…

(NSFW) The five weirdest sex toys

There is nothing wrong with consenting adults using sex toys to spice up some otherwise boring bed-sport, and the adult-toy industry has come up with a truly dazzling selection of every possible implement for every possible body part/orifice. But for every pair of pink, fuzzy handcuffs and every benign blow-up…

Photos: Meet the 2013 Colorado Burlesque Festival headliners

The 2013 edition of the Colorado Burlesque Festival is bigger and badder than ever, offering up classes and performances featuring many of the names that put Colorado on the map when it comes to the flirty, coy, artful striptease that’s more tease than strip. The festival shows run from Thursday,…

3 things to do for free in Denver this week, July 8-11

Summer is heating up, and so are the options for free entertainment. Sample natural foods at the grand opening of a new Sprouts, watch a classic political comedy from 1950, and look out on the Denver skyline while you enjoy music and comedy. Share other bargain activities in the comments…

Repertory Cinema Wishlist: The Last Waltz

Guitarist/songwriter Robbie Robertson of The Band turned seventy this month, and that milestone got me thinkng about The Last Waltz. Some folks call it the “best concert movie ever made,” and it has a lot going for it in that respect: Martin Scorcese, who has a deep feel for the…

Ten of the dumbest things you can buy on the Internet

The Internet is a black hole of poor decisions — whether you’re trading sexual favors to someone on Craigslist for IT support or accidentally paying for a year-long membership to the Jam of the Month Club. There’s no shortage of stupid things available for purchase on the Internet — tasteless,…

ArgusFest hosts Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer Saturday at Mercury Cafe

When three members of activist punk collective Pussy Riot were thrown in jail in February 2012 for a forty-second performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the world was watching. And earlier this year, HBO released Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, a documentary detailing the musicians’ work…