“It’s one of those magical movies where you have Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey in a story about surfing bank robbers,” says Karla Rodriguez, audience development manager for the Denver Film Society. “It sounds like it should be a shitty movie, but it’s actually amazing. It’s this crazy…
Dutch textile artist Claudy Jongstra creates from the earth up. Rather than working alone in a studio, she heads a fiber-art atelier in the Netherlands that’s also a farm for keeping bees, growing plants for dyes, and raising a flock of long-locked Drenthe Heath sheep. Following a strict DIY ethic,…
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town might be a quiet story on paper, but when composer Ned Rorem turned it into an opera, he must have relied on the characters’ inner fireworks to turn it into something big — because everyone knows that opera is neither quiet nor softspoken. And the modern…
Bill Dreyer has one of the best jobs in the world: He’s the curator for the secret art collection of the beloved children’s author Theodor Geisel, more widely known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss. Because Dreyer has spent so much time in the Geisel home, he’s familiar with something…
Don your boots for a majestic journey through the alpine tundra when the Denver Botanic Gardens kicks off its annual series of Mount Goliath Tours in the Arapaho National Forest near Mount Evans. The day begins at the Dos Chappell Nature Center at the base of Mount Goliath, where experienced…
While the summer continues to scorch this town, so do the looks many women are sporting on Denver streets. This week we spotted Jasmine Douglas during the lunchtime rush downtown; she was a standout with her earrings and what she calls “swag.” Keep reading to learn where she shops, her…
Local artist Camryn Forrest is featured in a new edition of author Art Donovan’s The Art of Steampunk that’s coming out this month. It’s already received extreme praise from publications like Wired and New York Journal of Books for its inclusive look at steampunk, a genre that is growing in…
Yesterday on the Pepsi Center grounds, Cirque Du Soleil raised its blue and yellow Big Top tent in advance of its latest show, Amaluna, which debuts on July 18. The Big Top is nineteen meters high and has a diameter of 51 meters. It will be secured to the ground…
Colorado Native Noah Dorsey will release his first solo comic, Saint Chaos, today with production help from Mile High Comics and illustrations by Zsombor Huszka. Dorsey took time out from preparing for his comic’s release to answer a few questions about how he got into comic book writing, his partnership…
More than 500 homes and all their contents were destroyed by fire in the Black Forest last month; now commercial photographers Jody and Zach Zorn of Zorn Photography have announced a program to help some victims of the blaze rebuild memories. See also: – The Black Forest fire destroyed the…
Captain America made me the patriot I am today. I’m sure there were some other influences. Probably a little Red Dawn, a splash of GI Joe and perhaps even some stuff that didn’t come from comic books, movies or after-school cartoons. But it was Captain America, specifically a two-year story…
You get a lot for your buck at Gorinto, the occasional Wednesday-night, outside-the-box performance series at the Mercury Cafe. And tonight’s edition, the first Gorinto in 2013, will be pouring it on and turning your ears and eyes inside-out with a program called Piano Mutations Live! See also: – Best…
As the proprietor of the Fine Gentleman’s Club, and host of the Squire’s ignominious tuesday night open mic, Denver comedy fans already know Sam Tallent, but what they may not know is the he contains multitudes, and not just within his corpulent frame. Surprisingly well-read for a public goofball, Tallent may instinctively eschew any pretentious-seeming affectations, but he’s often already devoured a literary classic or two before I wake up in the morning. An example of what persistent dedication and self-starting can achieve, Tallent is local treasure and a good friend. Not incidentally, he helped me come up with the idea for this very column. This week, Westword checks in with Tallent to discuss his love for Southern Gothic literature, how existentialism warped his adolescent mind, and the biographies of his Falstaffian forebears.
Six college students are pedaling for a purpose for 3,200 miles for Bicycles Against Poverty, and on Wednesday the team will make a pit stop at the Denver Bicycle Cafe. Bicycles against Poverty (BAP) is a non-profit organization that distributes bicycles to low-income entrepreneurs in Africa who pay for the…
Put on your stars and stripes and your red, white and blue: the Fourth of July is just days away. Across the United States, fireworks, parades and barbecues will celebrate Independence Day — and Denver has no shortage of patriotic pride. Here are ten ways to celebrate this year. See…
Update: Congrats to kakoivisto! Check your email for details on how to claim your prize. Original post: Last week, world-renowned author Temple Grandin stopped by the Tattered Cover LoDo to sign and read her latest book, The Autistic Brain. Before she did, we caught up with her in an interview…
Last Friday night, a breathless crowd of lucky ticketholders, mostly Denver Art Museum members, took their seats in the DAM’s Ponti Hall for one of the museum’s most anticipated events of the year: an exclusive performance featuring the famed Chicago artist’s Soundsuit creations, wearable art pieces that move to their…
Being a 21st-century comedy fan, I love nothing more than watching standup comics geek out on whatever esoteric subjects they’re into — the weirder the better. Establishing an audience for the niche topics of history, tabloid gossip or D&D is what living in the Internet age is all about, and…
The original Maniac hit theaters in 1980, and quickly became a slasher classic by heralding a new era in on-screen depravity. The grimy, gritty film about a serial killer who scalps women and collects mannequins famously depicted a close-up of a shotgun blast to the head, multiple scalpings and other…
For the little bit of time I spent living in New York City, there were many times when I found myself homesick for Colorado. The only things that seemed to quell the unnecessary self-sorrow were trips to Target and McDonald’s. Those places were reminders of my somewhat suburban American existence,…
#60: Collin Parson Collin Parson grew up among artists, helping his father, the prominent Colorado sculptor Charles Parson, in the studio and experiencing the milieu as a firsthand observer and eventual participant. But as an adult, the younger Parson stands in nobody’s shadow, working as a light-installation artist and the…
For some, a refined style is acquired through age and maturity. Others decide that it’s time for a more refined look. That’s the case with Christopher La Fleur, a sales advisor at H&M who decided to go for a more sophisticated look. Keep reading to learn who inspires his style,…
