Horror fans looking for a return to the golden age of anthology horror were disappointed by the initial installment of V/H/S because of its lack of real scares. Keith Garcia, who’s one of those fans, is also programming manager for the Denver Film Society, and he wants you to know…
The 2013 Biennial of the Americas is finally here, one year late and ready to blow through Denver in four short days with a kaleidoscopic concentration of programming both political and cultural. BotA will kick off with a couple of high-profile events tonight: “Unleashing Human Potential: Reinventing Communities, Business, and…
Culling a series of documentary films from the immense number produced each year can be daunting, but Aspen Film’s annual New Views: Documentaries & Dialogue presents engaging, relevant topics in a concise, four-film collection. Starting with tonight’s showing of Blood Brother — a look at one man’s journey to find…
Michael Paglia visits Z Art Department and Goodwin Fine Art in this week’s art review, taking in two solo shows that focus on sculpture. The show at Z Art Department features work by David Mazza, while Goodwin Fine Art is showing pieces from Patrick Marold. Continue reading for photos from…
It’s wonderful to discuss Shakespeare with someone as intelligent, insightful and, above all, passionate as Tina Packer, who brings her Women of Will: The Overview to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival this weekend. Packer, who led Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts for three decades, talks about Shakespeare with reverence, but also…
In September 2010, an unknown artist dropped off one of his original creations at the Westword office. The abstract sculpture depicts an open hand covered in different colors, shapes, textures and other miscellaneous items, including green plastic army men at its base. The sculpture was accompanied by this note: “The…
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…
There’s really no reason for Christopher Titus not to be as famous as Louis C.K. or Marc Maron. After his brilliant sitcom, Titus, was cancelled in 2002 following a dispute with the network president, the bleached-blond comic has released five brilliant comedy specials, addressing his profoundly dark childhood with a…
The Denver Public Library is honoring two of its oldest branches on Saturday, July 13: the Decker Branch, at 1501 South Logan Street, and the Woodbury Branch, at 3265 Federal Boulevard, with both mark their hundredth birthdays with parties featuring family-friendly activities, photo booths, live performances and refreshments from 9…
The LIDA Project is teaming up with Metropolitan State University of Denver for a two-part project on an issue that hits close to home: global warming. The project will illustrate the realities of both too much water (the first installment) and not enough (the second) by using the actual physical…
Let’s be honest: children’s birthday parties suck. Especially the ones for really young kids, who are basically just a bunch of bald, mini-people who lack all self-awareness running into each other at a Chuck E. Cheese while a few pedophiles watch from the sidelines and parents are forced to eat…
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…
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.
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…
Becoming a comedian will get you laid, and becoming an author will get you respect, but from the perspective of a professional audience member like myself, the two really aren’t all that different. When I’m doubled over by the lyrical whimsy of local comic Jordan Doll, I could be cracking…
#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 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…
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…
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,…
Reverend Charles Cox is a Spiritualist minister, which means he performs the rituals most ministers do: weddings, christenings and funerals. But Charles Cox also communes with the dead, and Cox will teach a class tonight at Isis Books and Gifts on the history of mediumship and the meaning religion of…
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…
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…
